Back to work now

The first thing I would like to say is a big thank you to the guys at H&R for sorting me out a nice run to Vancouver then to Kelowna then up to Edmonton. Well as you know from the bit my wife put on my blog I met Dee at the airport & I made sure I was the first person she saw when she came through the door. It was nice to get a hug and kiss after being away from each other for 12 weeks we stayed the night at the Flying J in Calgary. It was so nice to cuddle up but Dee couldn't sleep because of the fridge (Its got to be the loudest fridge H&R have) Then in the morning we left for Vancouver driving through the Rockies you get to see some stunning sights it had been snowing so most of the trees were white Dee got a bit scared of the roads I told her there was nothing to worry about lol. We stopped at a place called Golden for something to eat it was a shame it was a bit foggy I wanted her to see much more of Golden than she did but never mind. We got down to Kamloops weigh station got a red light told to bring in papers after checking all my papers and log books they said the reason they called me in was my axles on the back were to far forward so out came the tape and my over hang was 1.2 mtrs too much! They showed me where they wanted the axles and after I adjusted them I had to re-weigh. When I went back in they told me they would of given me a ticket if I was 35% over but I had gone way past that much and because my weights were OK it was obvious to them I was new and I had just set them wrong by mistake so they let me off with a warning! If I had got funny with them I would of got a big ticket that's why it pays to be polite and friendly. Then we got down to a place called Chilliwack which Dee liked very much so we stayed the night in a hotel and went for a meal. The next morning I tipped out in a place called Surrey then off to Delta yard to drop the trailer then we did some shopping and went to look at a show house just by the Delta yard which was nice but we both agreed it was to posh for us. Later that day picked up my trailer to go to Kelowna we both loved that area so I will be getting some more info over the next 1.5 years. Now when you get your jobs at H&R it comes to you via satellite onto what we call a qualcom. You read the jobs if you can do them then fine you have to accept them. Once accepted they're yours, so when mine came to me I looked at them and saw I had to go to Kelowna drop and swap and then take a trailer to Edmonton which is what I asked for. Well I looked at the date for the Edmonton job and it said 11-28 so I looked at my calender and saw it was Sunday I said to my wife we don't have to be in Edmonton till Sunday she said what time I looked again and said 0030 Sunday night so I took my time thinking I had plenty of time then when we got to kelowna I got a message saying hi don't forget you have to be in Edmonton in 6 hours then the penny dropped when I looked again 0030 on the 11-28 is 30 minutes past midnight Saturday night not Sunday night well there was no way in hell I was going to do it in time so I went and rang H&R and explained my mistake! The guy on the other end was very good about it and could see where I went wrong so it was re booked for Sunday night. The best thing about the whole thing was at no point did H&R get upset or have a go at me they could see where I made the mistake that's why I like it here so much because if you make a mistake its not the end of the world like it is with some company's in the UK. We parked in a Husky truck stop for the night then we made the rest of the trip the next day. I dropped the trailer for the city driver and spent the next 3 days in Edmonton shopping. We stayed in a nice hotel not far from West Edmonton Mall we loved it, it was like walking around the shops back home but much bigger spent loads of money to!! I kept in touch with Andy (my dispatch guy) he sorted me out an empty to take to High River via the airport to drop my wife off. As we left Edmonton I thought great no more spending how wrong was I lol. I parked the truck in Wal-Mart right by the airport and right next to another shopping mall we had a look around and spent loads more money lol. Over the week with hotels and food and shopping I spent about $2000 but it was worth every penny to be with my wife. Then came one of the saddest things I have ever had to do, take my wife to the airport it was very hard to say good-bye. For those that don't know us we have been together for 20 years and the longest time we have had apart was 2 weeks and that was hard. But we both want a better life for our family the only way to get anything in life is to work hard for it no one is going to knock on my door and say here you are Mike & Dee a new life for free. As a child I spent most of my life in children's homes and boarding schools so I know only too well you have to work hard for everything you want and all I want is a better and safer life for my family & if that means we have to be apart for a couple of years then so be it. The drive down to Highriver was a very sad one for me I dropped the trailer on the wash bay as I was sat there I could see planes going up in the sky over Calgary it was the time my wife's plane was due to take off so I sat there for a while then right on the time she was due to fly I saw a bigger plane that's when it really hit me I got really upset and had to stay even longer lol (I didn't want people to see this hairy ass truck driver upset) Then when I got to the main gate I was told to wait so I went and sat in my truck and I met another H&R driver by the name of John we had a very long chat (what a nice guy) Then Ian an old friend of mine turned up we came over on the plane together and did our driver training together, it was nice to see him again after 2 months. we had a long chat then my paper work was ready for my trailer I couldn't pick my trailer up because some dipstick had left it to high for me to pick up and because the trailers are parked so close I could not get in to wind the legs down so I got my mate Ian over and he picked it up with his shunter and pulled it out so I could wind the legs down. (thanks Ian) Then I went down to Lethbridge for the night.