The Tactical Panda's Sometimes Funny Great White Money Pit Build and Observations on Life thread.

Some of you have seen my home-built camp shower system I installed on my rig. Even though I have gotten a lot of Oooos and Ahhhs over it, the system was sort of awkward to use. So I decided I would build a new one this summer and try to correct all the flaws discovered in the first one.

In the meantime, quite by accident, I stumbled upon this thing. And when I added up the cost for materials to build a new shower by myself, it turned out that this product was actually less expensive at $250.

So I scrapped the idea of building a new one and went with this instead.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTB1QhdVaRY

 

You've come a long way, Baby.

 

Drink water from the spring where horses drink. The horse will never drink bad water.

Lay your bed where the cat sleeps.

Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm.

Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit.

Plant the tree where the mole digs.

Build your house where the snake sits to warm itself.

Dig your fountain where the birds hide from heat.

Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days golden grains.

Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest.

Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in the water.

Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear.

Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.

- St. Seraphim of Sarov

 

The Tactical Panda was invited to be a "Featured Vehicle" at this year's Carlisle All-Truck Nationals in Carlisle, PA. Here's my rig all set up. Got lots of compliments and questions.

 

When I was driving home from my ill-fated trip to Colorado last month, I stopped in Huntington, WV for a couple of days to do some sightseeing. I shot some video footage and put together this video. Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dl7k6H5jOPs

 

As of August 12, 2021 I am no longer Salty_Dog. I am now Tactical_Panda; named after my Tacoma.

 

I wondered how this thread ended up in my watched thread list.

 

And...... My wife has the 'Rona. FML.

 

Sorry to hear that. Hopefully, it's a mild case.

 

So far, it is. It's like a bad case of the flu. We're hoping she's better by the end of next week.

 

And..... I took her to the hospital today, and she was admitted.

 

Dislike.....

 

She's back home now but can't go back to work until October.

 

Home is good. Much better than the hospital. Hope her recovery is quick and smooth.

 

Installed these nifty industrial-strength battery terminals. Now all the accessories connected to the battery aren't such a rat's nest and I can disconnect one without disconnecting them all.

 

I drove over to Charlottesville today and as I was driving by the airport I caught this US Navy E-2 Hawkeye doing a bunch of Touch and Go exercises.



Whole video here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xERRTS8LCKE

 

So here I sit with my dog in what was once my Mom & Dad's home in the little town of Greencastle, PA. The house is nearly empty now save for a couple of chairs and a sofa on which I will sleep tonight; the last time I will ever sleep here.

The place goes on the market next Monday after the rest of the furniture is gone and the carpet cleaners come do their thing.

Out in the driveway sits the Panda hitched to a 12-foot U-Haul trailer loaded with a bunch of their stuff. Tomorrow we set off on a three-day journey to Baton Rouge to take said stuff to my sister's house.

Just trying to process this latest turn of events in my life. Never again will I be able to visit and spend time with them.

Oh, I can still go see them at the senior facility where they now live but it won't be the same. My mom's condition has deteriorated to the point that when I was there over Thanksgiving she hardly knew who I was. Dad's mind is still sharp but he does not get around as well as he used to.

Where did the time go?

 

Well shit.

Last week we had a big snowstorm in my area. I had a big cedar tree that fell on the trailer, but caused no damage. Today, my next door neighbor is cutting up some of his own storm-damaged trees when a six-inch diameter sweet gum tree decided to fall in a direction not intended and lands square on the RTT. I don't think this is repairable.

Fortunately, my neighbor is a cool guy and said he would make good on it.

 

Update: My neighbor has gotten with his insurance adjuster and has promised to repay me by early next week. Stay tuned.

 

I was bored so I decided to give the Panda a bath and to take advantage of the semi-decent weather for a quick photo-op. This is at the end of Leeland Road in Stafford County, VA which more-or-less ends at this bridge. This is the Potomac Creek Bridge (not to be confused with the Potomac River; several miles to the north) which carries the CSX railroad across the creek valley.






The crossing dates back to 1842 when the original bridge was built but it was destroyed in 1862 during the Civil War by the retreating Confederate Army. That same year the United States Military Railroad was formed under the command of Union General Herman Haupt who had been a railroad construction engineer in civilian life. After the 1862 destruction, Haupt, using common infantry soldiers untrained in construction, harvested two million feet of local lumber and constructed a serviceable replacement bridge in only nine days.

Here is the original 1842 bridge:




Here is the bridge built by Herman Haupt's soldiers in 1862 after the original bridge was destroyed:





Construction of this bridge prompted president Abraham Lincoln to quip "That man Haupt has built a bridge four hundred feet long and one hundred feet high, across Potomac Creek, on which loaded trains are passing every hour, and upon my word, gentlemen, there is nothing in it but cornstalks and beanpoles." This bridge stood until June 1863. The Union Army built as many as four railroad bridges atop the same abutment over the remaining years of the war.

Here is the Panda in front of the abutment of the original bridge:



One more pic: