The Maine International R-110

                                

I have been seeing a lot of these lately, including one of my all-time favorite trucks  in Colorado Springs last month. They have lean and simple lines and I guess were/are pretty hardy. 

I remember trying to buy one when I was a kid working on a ranch in Sundre, Alberta.

I looked the truck over in the lot at Sundre Motors, tried to seem cool. Asked "How much?"

Salesman said, "You take a look under the hood?"  

"Uh, no."

"That truck don't have an engine, son."

Saw this one yesterday in Arundel, Maine. I think it's for sale. Call Larry 207 590 6170. My last Maine truck for a while: I'm heading to Wichita, Kansas for a month. I suspect that Kansas, like Saskatchewan, is another retirement zone for old trucks, so I will be looking for some interesting machines. I was last in Kansas when I drove across the country on U.S. 40, trying to follow the exact route George S Stewart had taken on his classic work of photojournalism/geography, "U.S. 40", published in 1952. I had a camera and I did my best to capture the same frames he had shot 50 years beforre, to see what in the landscape, roadscape and townscape had changed, and what hadn't. Most of the changes were not improvements. For a people who talk a lot about patriotism, we certainly treat the actual, physical land of our country like, well, dirt. I intend to post those photographs along with Stewart's on AL once I have enough time at home to dig through the files.

So....Wichita. I've heard the Flint Hills are wonderful. I like the plains a lot. I'll miss this October sea, however.