Monday 20 October 2008

Its been awhile

Hi all I know its been a while but I have been really busy. I have done my 3 days with Bruce and lived to tell the tale lol. I met some nice people on the course we even went for a meal and drink and it was a good night. Met 2 great guys, owner drivers from Winnipeg. On Thursday I was asked to fly to Toronto to pick up a truck so on Friday morning David picked me up from the hotel and took me to the airport, I waited in the airport for about an hour. Half the flight was not bad watched a film and some other stuff then it was time to land. I was met at the other end by a guy called Shaun he took me to my truck. Well what can I say other than... if drivers want to take dogs with them then thats fine but please clean the truck when you finish with it! There was so much dog hair on the bed its taken me ages to clean and its not fair on me why should I have to do it (moan over lol). I waited for my trailer then I had to find a scale (I did Bruce) but its was closed for repair so I paid $12 for another weigh bridge the weights were fine I filled up with fuel and off I went. I was up at 3.30am so I only went up the road a few hundred miles then called it a night. I was up early the next day as I had over 1,800 miles to travel it was a long bumpy ride but a good one. Had no problems at all some very good sights its just a shame my camera man Lyndon wasn't with me lol, there was not one weigh bridge open on route. We use Husky fuel stops in Canada so I had my free shower after filling up then off to do a few more miles. I very nearly made a big mistake with fueling up, the fuel gauge on the truck seems to bounce about a bit and I didn't think I was going to make it to one of my stops my bum was starting to twitch a bit as I got close to Winnipeg but I had enough as I came round the bend about a mile from the fuel station it went up, by the time I got in the fuel station it was showing low again lol, won't be doing that again mind you I do know now this truck does about 800 miles on 2 tanks. I parked up for the night about 280 miles from my delivery point on the third night. I got up the next morning and got dressed had on a T-shirt got out to check my fifth wheel and my oil and other bits and it was getting a bit chilly. When I got back inside the cab I could see the outside temp was -8 won't be doing that again in the morning. When I got to Saskatoon I could not find the delivery point it was not on my sat nav or streets & trips so I sent a macro asking where this place was 1 second after I sent the macro I looked up and this very large white building with the name of the company in big letters about 10ft high was in front (lol what a plonker) mind you it was a very new building they were still doing the road. I had to drop the trailer and wait for my next job I waited for about 2 hours but didn't I enjoy the sleep lol it had been a hard 3 days. I have to take an empty trailer to Brooks so it was around to the Huskey truck stop to fuel up the truck and myself and go and have my free shower then off down the road again I stopped in Kindersley at the Wal-mart to buy a couple of things then off again to a place called Oyen in Alberta. I am parked outside a super 8 motel using there internet about time I got something for free. I wish we had internet in the trucks I do know you can get them because I have spoken to guys who have the internet in their trucks it comes in with the satellite they use, it would make life so much easier for the drivers who are away from there familys. Anyway time for bed no rush tomorrow as I have only got 134 miles to do I said I would be there for 8am, 5.30 am start should do.

4 comments:

Graham Parks said...

OK tipp #1 never accept a really dirty gungy truck...allways inspect the thing before you take charge. And if its been used as a kennel inform ya "boss" saying politly you will drive once its been detailed ie. thoughly cleaned. i am 99% sure they will get it cleaned..
have fun gremmie (graham)

terry said...

ello mate,
that sounds to much like hard work to me....1800 miles in 2.5 days..got to be mad.
hope your getting on ok and its everything, and more, you thought in was going to be.
the pics look great although I dont think thats real mountains in the background !!!
all you`ve done is parked next to a "bill-board" :-)

englishmike said...

hi Graham its been sorted now so it will be nice a shiny for when I leave for waterloo on Thursday hows everything with you are you on the mend now did Lyndon tell you about my bad smash I very nearly lost my left arm and right foot. get well soon mike

englishmike said...

Hi Terry how are you and George. When I was in Saskatoon yesterday I saw an ad looking for carpenters they are paying $29 an hour not bad money. Anyway how can you say doing 1800 miles hard work I just sit there on cruise control the trucks are automatics so no gears to worry about. Everything is great over here you will love it over here if you do move over here chat soon mike