sobo

In a nutshell, do what Thinker and MtnBoy say. Get a passport (if you don't already have one) and hand it to them, and answer their inane questions. Tell 'em you ate (or threw out) the fruit. Works going north and south. I make about 4 to 6 cross-border trips per year, and have never had a problem, except the time we were travelling in two cars, and my mates got to the border first, and told the guards that there was a crazy drunk guy following them, and that they should really check him out. FYI: Beginning in 2007, you'll need a passport to get back in. Even from Canada.

Or maybe, after spending a good chunk of my life designing and constructing things that look strikingly similar to what you turn into rubble, we can choose to agree to disagree. I will not engage in an argument about whose point of view has more validity in this regard. I build; you destroy. Such is the way of things... Peace.

There is no way that is real. I'm checking snopes (and doing some google image searches) If it isn't, then this one isn't real either...

It's got an awfully long boom then. I guess it's one of those extra long reach ones. The Hyundai 290LC can be ordered with a "long reach" boom and arm option, as indicated below: However, I don't think that combination was in place on this machine. I say this because a machine with that kind of attachment would have required removal of the boom and arm for transport purposes in order for the boom/arm combo to clear the rear of the tractor cab. You can sort of picture this if you look at the available range of motion of the two hydraulic pistons that control the boom in the pic above. Even with the available forward pivot of the pistons, you would never lower the boom/arm combo low enough to ever get a permit to run down the highway. A typical boom length (from the anchor hinge at the excavator body to the "elbow") is along the order of 22 to 28 feet, manufacturer dependent of course. That's easily long enough to produce the results shown in the pics.

You are correct in that it is not an 8-ton machine. It is a Hyundai 290LC, which is about 40% heavier (28 MT, or about 31 tons) than the Cat models (20 MT, or about 22 tons) you cite. There are many different sizes of rebar that are incorporated into your typical interstate highway overpass. Since your eyes deceived you with respect to the size of the machine, I would venture to say that they are deceiving you again with respect to the size of the rebar. I would suspect the word problem part is just some shit some know-nothing data entry schmoe came up with to make the snopes.com article appear more appealing to the masses. Kind of like the way reporters come up with schmaltzy headlines to grab interest for an article. It has nothing to do with the validity of what actually happened. To draw the conclusion that you do from your analysis is, shall we say, banal. This really did happen. End of story.

Yeah, that shit only happens about every 100,000,000 years or so. A lot less often than trucks hitting bridges on the highway. About five or six years ago in Yakima, a Waste Management driver was hauling one of those huge, trailer-sized dumpsters through town on Nob Hill Boulevard at some ungodly hour of the morning. Apparently, he'd forgotten to lower the dumpster completely onto the trailer bed, and headed for Yakima Valley Community College. Welllllllllll, five or six years ago at YVCC on Nob Hill Boulevard, there used to be this overhead pedestrian bridge... It was finally replaced about two years ago.

more pics...

During transit, the boom and arm are typically lowered in the forward position. That is, the excavator is loaded in the same orientation as the transporting vehicle with the "elbow" in the most forward position on the excavator. Therefore, the elbow (or more likely the back (top) side of the boom) would be the first thing to hit the underside of the overpass. Immediately upon impact, the arm/boom combo would attempt to reverse upon itself (think inverted cam, hyper-extended knee, etc.) as friction grabs a hold of it, and also because it can't deflect downward because of the excavator body and the low-boy trailer upon which the excavator sits. With no place else to go, the arm/boom combo begins to hyper-extend and lifts to a higher elevation as the transporting vehicle combination slows to a stop, and thereby continues to slice through the bridge deck and ultimately appears as it does in Pic #2. I've got about a half-dozen more pics of this if anybody's interested is seeing them.

Pic 2 is indeed NOT PhotoShopped, nor is it unrelated. These pictures (and many many more) made the rounds several months ago in many of the trade magazines that come through my engineering consulting office. It's not a joke. Nobody got hurt, but I think the driver went looking for a new line of work...

Nice work, Kurt. I was worried that I'd have to set up the slide show shit and tarps at Rope-Up all by myself!

A hearty congratualtions from me to your family, Luke! She's a real cutie! Glad to hear that all are doing fine. You still want that pack-n-play?

That I can indeed rappel using the EDK and not die. Three times, no less! Who sez you can't teach an oldskewl new tricks?

Yes, it's me, mattp! So I went climbing with CatManDoo over the weekend at Lightning Dome, and when it came time to rappel, CMD tied an EDK. We discussed this thread for a second, and had a laugh over it. Before departing, he grinned and said, "Well, you can re-tie any knot you want after I'm off." or something similar. So I watched the knot as he rapped to the next station, and I was reassured. I completed my first three rappels on an EDK this past Saturday, and am proud to announce that the EDK has found a new protagonist in me!

God bless us, everyone!

If you remember, Marty, I posted afterwards that I was kidding... old thread

I studied this for a few moments and I still can't figger WTF that clusterfuck is about!

Thought so. Poor Mr. Carlsen...

I might change my signature to this... When I read that, your name came immediately to mind. You should do it.

Well, we know who's wearing the pants in that relationship, eh? Wait until he marries her!

Horse packers... Pack it in, leave it there. Glad you had a nice time. Snow looked sweet.

wes, Is that a dog? Looks like he's having a blast! and who packed in the goddamn kitchen pantry?

That's funny even the second time around. Nice autosig, foraker. WKRP in Cincinnati?

tying two for a snack I wouldn't begin to infer that I'm more skilled at anything any more than anyone else, except how bad I suck at everything. As you surmised, I do harbor an inherent fear of the EDK, not having used it and fearing it too much to use myself as the test subject. I'm well aware of all the test data, yet I still find it uncomfortable to even contemplate using it. All it takes is once... Refering to the discourse from another thread, maybe I should add to my parting words at rappels: "I hate rappelling - and I especially hate the EDK!" Agreed that your course of action regarding partners and the EDK is a wise compromise. No sense having a fistfight over it on a belay ledge 500 feet off the deck!

Pax, You're assuming that I untie the doubled rope at each rap station. Eu contraire, mon ami, for I leave the knot together and feed through the anchor during the pull-down for the next rap. Ergo, according to your calculations, it's only 1,000 minutes of wasted time over 20 years! That's less time than I've wasted on this board in 5 years!

matt, I also understand and can appreciate russ's thought process, but I just don't get the extremism of the clan that embraces the EDK with such ferocity. I've been climbing for over 20 years, and using the DF exclusively for raps, and only once that I can recall in that time did I ever get something stuck enough that I had to ascend to retrieve the rope. And in all that time, I have never had much trouble untying the knot at the end of the day's raps. And that includes rapping in the rain, while ice climbing, and wet snow. So I just don't get all the plaudits surrounding the EDK. Frozen rap knots are another matter, though...