Wednesday 29 July 2009

Down to Denver and over to Montreal

I had a load to go to Nebraska but that was taken off of me at the last moment instead I was given a load to Aurora Colorado it was cat litter so no meat inspection. I got to the border at 6am they did their normal checks to make sure the radiation was coming from the cat litter and not a nuke I was smuggling into America lol.


I drove down to Billings Montana to buy a 1.5 TB hard drive and to do a bit of shopping at wal-mart. I spent 2 hours walking around and spending money then made my way down to Casper but I mucked up I spent too long shopping and was out of time so I had to stop at a place called Buffalo Wyoming that will teach me but as luck would have it the place I stopped had a big hotel and I used their free Wi-Fi lol.


I spent the night watching TV in the end, but called it a night at about 8.30pm I was shattered so I set my alarm to wake me up at 3am but guess what.... my tri-pac packed up again (how many Canadians does it take to fix a tri-pac.... 7 so far)! Well the tripac cut out and knocked out my alarm so instead of waking up at 3am I woke up at 7am this is what happens when they get you to start at different times of the day it mucks up your body clock.


I sent in a macro telling them what had happened and said I would be late I got a message back saying this is not acceptable yep you guessed it it was my fault the tri-pac went again even tho they know how many times I have had problems with it. When the shit hits the fan its always the drivers fault well you can guess how happy I was when I got that message so I sent a few comments back myself!!


This place in Aurora is well known for making drivers wait for days if you are late but the guys in the office picked up on my accent and asked me what football team I liked but I am not into football so I was just chatting to them about man united as the guy was a big fan of them! After 10 minutes of chat a guy came out and cut my seal off and told me to back on a door. Because of my bad arm cutting a bolt seal off is the one thing I can't do so when ever I have a bolt on I show them my arm and they do it for me.


I was tipped in an hour which made the guys at H&R happy and I was told to go and swap trailers at fort Morgan Colorado. I was planning on doing a quick swap and drive on for another 1.5 hours but when I got there was loads of trucks waiting for their trailers, even an H&R truck was sat there. A bit fed up at seeing that I pulled into drop my trailer and gave them my pic up number. Well it was my lucky night, my trailer and paper work was ready so a quick chat with Eric the other H&R driver (who had been waiting since the day before) then I did a very fast drop and swap.


I got up to the Flying J at Julesburg which is the edge of Colorado. I went in and had a nice hot shower this was the worst Flying J I have been into it was manky, now I have my full years worth of Internet at the Flying J I plan my routes so I go from one to the other its been a lot less hassle and its great I wake up an hour before I set off and I can chat to my wife and daughter.


A couple of guys who are coming over here have asked me which is the best Internet to buy.
The one at the Flying J cost $149.99 for the year that works out at .41 cents a day and it works in some Pilots, TA and Petro truck stops so I think its well worth getting the Internet from the Flying J. You can get a small booklet from the J telling you where all their stops are and another little booklet telling you were all of their hot spots are so if you can't make a J there could be a TA or Pilot on your route.


After I left Julesburg my next stop for the night was going to be the Flying J at Davenport Iowa but because of the muck up the day before it meant I didn't have time to fuel up. I got my card open so I could fill my tanks up at the next truck stop that would give me enough fuel to get back on track with my fuel stops. Some people think its a pain to be told where to fuel up but I don't I like it this way and its no great deal if you want off route fuel.


I made good time, no hold ups, no dramas. Got to Davenport then had a shower then time for bed because my body clock has been mucked up I just go to sleep as soon as I have had my shower. The next day was the muck up bit. I got as far as the bridge that crosses the Mississippi into Illinois and the road was closed so I had to take a detour but no great shakes it was Sunday and most sain people were still in bed. I got back on to I80 then made my way to Sarnia where we cross into Canada. Don't know what was wrong on the border but there were cops everywhere and big queues. It only added about 15 minutes that's all, when I got to the other side I saw Martin and Val, there was a muck up with their paper work and had lost about 4 hours at the border.


I went and sorted my paper work out and had another skip load lol I have been doing this job 10 months now and everyone was a skip load. You watch... me and my big mouth, I bet my next load will be a full inspect lol. Martin and Val were just about to leave when I turned up. They waited for me to get my m-cap then we parked at the Flying J in London Ontario we went in and had a bite to eat then we had our showers they never had any left so they were just about to cough up $10 but I still had a few left so I gave them one of mine we said our goodbyes as they had an early start and I had something else planned and could not start early.

I had a quick look at the fuel stop it was the Husky at Mississauga but that is a real pain in the arse so I went along to the next stop an Esso at Belleville. What a dumb ass... if I had read it properly I would of seen it was for trailers only so I made a quick call to the lady on fuel and told her what I had done....she was great, she said just fill your tanks up (see I told you its never a problem).


I parked at the Flying J at Montreal then made my deliver in the morning it was a very quick tip. I was parked up in my favourite spot where you get free Internet and spoke to my wife and daughters on and off all day my trailer would not be ready until the next day so I had a day off.

6 comments:

BOB said...

Nice one mate. I bet you can not wait till the girls are over there. have a good one mike.

englishmike said...

Thanks Bob

mickfly said...

Hope you get your bonus sorted mate.

Drive safe.

mickfly said...

Just had an e-mail from the Flying J.
My last chance to get wi-fi for $119 for the year.
I was getting a month at a time.

It's amazing who you have managed to meet up with in such a massive continent, now Dave Caldwell.

Unknown said...

HAHAHA Hey Mike,

Long time no chat. I am in Beaverdam OH. The Flying J here is doing a system upgrade so they are all screwed up. No fuel. HAHA good thing I fueled in Knoxville TN on my way up from Temple GA. HAHA I guess you will have to get an alarm clock like mine. HAHA you know which one I am talking about? I will get you one. HAHA. Anyways buddy I will be switching trailers tomorrow (Saturdday August 1) and then heading out to Nova Scotia. I hope it is Cape Breton. I will do A reset and take some nice pictures for you. Cant wait to catch you again.

T.J

englishmike said...

Hi TJ see if you checked your bloody e-mails abit more I could of met up with you where you live and then I could of met your wife but never plenty more time to meet up.My wife is over on the 6th until14th so if your over towards calgary send me an E-mail letting me know we will be going up to edmonton on the 11th for a couple of days before they fly home it would be nice to meet up so you can meet my family chat soon buddy Mike I will chat to the wife and see if she will let me go on the ice roads with you next season lol then we can have a bbq there lolololol