LOVE being back up north. I was never a good fit in the south; the fast pace, hustle-bustle and “azzholes” are where I thrive. Hit up a couple old friends, stepped right back into the “groove” from before the Marines. Been gone for 15 years and the towns have changed a bit but the people I knew/know are still the hard working, honest, dedicated folks that I left. I already have a ton of work stacked up, word of mouth travels extremely fast in the “working man” circles here. I’ve only done 2 saws for people around here (not including the 2 for my brother) and I have more than a dozen guys who want saws done ASAP. My buddy Shaun has a garage the next town over and offered me a corner of the shop to work in. He already gave me a key to the shop and told me i’m free to use anything I need (3 lifts and an alignment rack, 2 tire changers and 2 wheel balancers). Hell, he is STILL using my Smith torch from before I left, still using the original gauges and 50’ hose. He loves that torch so much he threw away the other 2 setups he had. Grew up with the guy who runs the Matco truck here and he is hooking me up with some trade-in tools and is tracking down a stainless “bench top” from a trans shop to go on top of a short roll-away box. I am going to invest in a good rotary head (leaning towards Mastercarver) and get set up with a more “flowing” bench set up than what I had.
It snowed last night, just a heavy dusting, but it was great. I definitely miss it. My brother just bought a brand new v-plow for his Cummins, replaced the 12 year old setup he had. Now I can clean up when it snows to reduce the work load on him. No contracts or anything like that, just his place, a few neighbors and the firehouse parking lots (he is a Captain in the VFD in his small town, all volunteer fire/ems).
Life is pretty good right now.
