Back driving in America

The one thing I have found out is I do not like driving in BC too many hills and winding roads. I am on my way to Waterloo now and it has been a very nice drive no hassle no stress just bloody deer running across the road lol. The one thing I really love about this job is you get to see some amazing sights my planned route is to go across US 2 which I had said before I didn't like because of all the starting and stopping but this time there was no road works and it was a nice run but you have to be very careful because of the deer. They like to wait until the last moment then run across in front of you I had 2 very close calls then I came around the bend there was a young deer by the side and the young ones are the ones you have to watch so I came to a full stop the deer looked at me then without a care in the world he just walked across in front of the truck to the other side of the road what a cheek it made me laugh tho. I called it a night at a place called Glendive Montana. In the morning just a short trip to Beech North Dakota to fuel up. While I was there I met another H&R driver called Chris. We chatted on the CB while we drove all the way to Fargo North Dakota we stopped and had a meal in the Flying J. I brought a Sirius satellite radio for my truck because I am getting fed up with hearing only half the song before I lose the radio station so over the next day or 2 I will fit it and get it sorted for my long drive across Ontario. I am parked in Fergus Falls now behind the KFC because I was here last time I know I could get free Internet oh well time for bed its Saturday night I have only got 404.2 miles to go and don't have to be there until 6 am Monday but I will leave here at 4am and get there just after 1pm tomorrow. If there is no trailer then no worries will have time to fit my sat radio and do a couple of little jobs in my truck the cabinet I made for my microwave just needs the drawer finishing off so I can fill it up with crap... like you do! It makes life a lot better in here with this cabinet I made, its just a shame the guys at Freightliner don't use a bit more thought when it comes to making cabinets for trucks instead of just putting in cabinets like they do they should see it from a truck driver's view. My microwave is at the bottom then I have a shelf with my water bottle on and my cups kettle and dishes and a couple of tubs with porridge in and then I have made a drawer so I can put stuff in. All it needs is a paint job and it will look nice my laptop sits nicely on the top (yes I can open my laptop fully).

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.

A Truckers Buddy I Am Not!!

Hi all I thought I'd leave a post on here until Mike gets time to put summat on here. As you all know I arrived here on Weds and seeing Mike was pretty amazing after 3 months. There he was waiting 4 me at the airport and the first person I see as I come out of arrivals, it was most definitely worth the 9 hr flight even tho I'm petrified of flying! I got a result on the flight, booked economy & got a free premium plus seat (summat like that). Anyway, Calgary was cold when we got out of the airport but when we actually got 2 a truck stop that night I felt like the whole of my head had been stuck in a freezer 4 a week, christ it was cold.
The Rockies have been the most amazing sight I've ever seen, every turn has been breathtakingly stunning but whilst mindblowingly beautiful the roads also scared the shit out of me coz you see I don't do mountains, we just don't agree with each other! Beautiful to look at but should never be driven up! Whenever we've been away Mike always finds a bloody mountain he just has to drive up and it always results in me screamin 'get me off this f*****g mountain'!! I spent a lot of time just looking at the floor being too scared to look out of the window. Being a typical brit I've only got to see a snow flake and I'm lookin out for the snowploughs! This is why
we have to pick an area over here with little snow and we've actually found somewhere, Kelowna. All going well proper research can now start.
I'm the realist in our marriage and I'm often bringing Mike down a peg or five! So I've not come over here looking through rose coloured glasses as some would. So here's what I've found out it just a few days of being here. No louts on street corners, that's coz you aint gonna be drivin on the estates to find out so do your research on the area's you wanna live, on some estates there are problems with yobs. Vancouver so I've been told is beautiful, well look up and you wouldn't know you weren't in the UK, it's so wet & apparently they can have as much rainfall as a monsoon, no thank you very much, too much like home! Be careful of the food, my god, I couldn't believe how expensive it is, a lot more than UK but on the other hand people have said that they don't find it that expensive so maybe it depends on what you're buying.
You're also not gonna come over here and take it easy, Mike works bloody hard and long hours (I'm actually not impressed at all the pressure) tho he has said it's not usually this bad when he's driving in America. Emotionally it's the hardest thing he's ever done, either of us has ever done. But hey I'm not all doom and gloom even the not so good stuff hasn't put me off.
My admiration to those couples who are doing this and traveling in the truck together.....my god ladies you deserve a medal or lockin up one of the two!! It's only been a couple of days and already we know we couldn't live in such a confined space 24/7, I actually would kill him if he hadn't killed me already!! Soooooo.......If your about to come over & live with your hubby in the truck then think hard and do this following exercise before you come........
Sleep in garden shed with a sleeping bag or quilt (yr choice), make garden shed airtight and place heater by your feet, this is important. Bring washing machine out of kitchen and place directly touching the actual shed, plug in and put on constant spin speed. Put heater on hot and leave. Now, go to sleep! Can't sleep? Ok well swing your legs out of covers and leave feet by heater until you burn skin, all this time you cannot wake up hubby coz he's got a long day ahead, still can't sleep? Ok, now do this every night for 2 weeks until you're hallucinating enough to mutter these words and actually beleive what you're saying is true, 'this is fantastic darling I wouldn't go home for anything'. Welcome to sleeping in a truck with a friggen fridge. OMG what a bloody nightmare, we're in a hotel tonight, nice and warm so you can breath and no fridge, heaven!
Another exercise for you ladies.........get hubby to dig a hole in the garden shed, a deep hole til you can't see the bottom then place a ceramic toilet bowl over hole and proceed to take a pee. Not nice? No it aint but thats what you'll get when your breaking your neck to go to the loo in the rockies. Thinking about it it's obvious that they aint gonna have a row of six toilets an attendant keeping everything clean and never ending rolls of toilet tissue but when I went in I was pretty shocked and hoped that what I saw was in fact me hallucinating through the lack of sleep! No, there it was, I peered down the hole and felt dizzy, the previous women who used that loo need putting to sleep coz they are no good to society the filthy mingers, I'm grinning whilst typing this coz I actually feel like I wanna gag, nuff said!
Today we went to the Edmonton Mall, ladies you just gotta go. Leave the old man in the truck but take his card, it's amazing. It's enormous, we spent so much time just stopping between shops and watching the ice skating, spent all day there, took in the sea lion show and the aquarium, took stacks of photos and going back tomorrow to do the top level!
Another thing I've noticed that no matter where we've been we have seen so many places that are needing staff which is encouraging, unemployment seems to be low. No doubt in my mind a better place for our kids and grandchildren, far more opportunity for them.
Anyone who knows me knows about my unhealthy addiction to coffee and I hate visiting places who cant accommodate this, well thumbs up for Canada on that score, I can't get enough of it its beautiful and just about to have another so bye for now, stay safe x

Reset in Lethbridge

I dropped the trailer in the Calgary yard and picked up a clean trailer to drop at Highriver and then picked up a loaded trailer to get me back to Lethbridge. I have to reset my hours so after making a cupboard for my truck to take my microwave (which was kindly given to me by Lyndon & Jan) I have booked myself into the Sandman hotel for the night. I will spend an hour or two getting my washing done then I might have a bath its been months since I last had a bath (I shower everyday). Over 5 years ago I was in a very bad accident I very nearly lost my right foot I don't Know if its the cold but my foot is hurting me now so I will just have to rest my foot I left my tablets in my truck (what a bright spark). Nothing else to say really I just hope my dispatch guy can sort me out a nice run on Wednesday for Vancouver after picking up my wife from the airport and were hoping to go to Edmonton shopping mail afterwards.

The I 94 in North Dakota

The I 94 2 weeks ago

This pic was taken 6 days ago on the I 94 going across North Dakota

3rd part of my trip

After crossing the Border I was following a couple of trucks and I was listening to them on the CB. They started to talk about food and the guy in front said he knew where there was a good place to eat as I didn't know where is was they said to follow them. It was in a shell fuel station, they asked me to join them. I did and had a good laugh. We spent a couple of hours in there telling stories of things you have got up to over the years. When we left one of the guys knew the place where I was going so he told me which junction to turn off when we got there. 2 nice guys shame there's not many of them about. I got to my place to do my deliver and there was a big sign saying no one will be tipped before their booking time but he liked my English charm and wit and told me to back on the bay I was tipped in an hour!
The next day I was loading out of Mississauga for Calgary I got there a few hours before my time but again because of my English charm they loaded me after the guy came back from his break. I had half tanks of fuel and I looked at my streets & trips and saw I had enough fuel to get me to North Bay so off on my merry way to North Bay and fueled up which means I do not have to fill up at Hearst. There was loads of snow but not one bit on the road these guys over here know how to clear roads. I stopped at Nipigon to fuel up then I stopped in this cafe it was called Tower Hill truck stop at Ignace Ontario wow what a great place it was like an old English truck stop the food was great the staff were friendly and you had free internet. Whenever I am crossing Ontario again I will use this place all the time. I have got so fed up with the same rubbish you get in the Huskey truck stops I am finding it much better to stop at these smaller truck stops than the big chain ones.
I stopped in Winnipeg to fuel up and shower then off again for another 5 hours. Not far from the Manatoba and Saskatchewan border I saw a sad sight, there was a big rig on its side in the ditch. In the middle of both east and west lanes the first thing people say is 'bloody truck drivers' but no-one knows why, it could of been an animal or prat car drivers fault whoevers fault it was I feel sorry for the truck drivers family.
I am parked in a Esso fuel station in a place called Grenfell Saskatchewan. I turned my computer on but no internet so I plugged my wifi booster in and yep internet, it seems this thing works after all! I have another long day tomorrow so I am off to bed now but before I go I rang in to see if I could take a cabinet out of my truck the answer was yes. I was told the guys at H&R seem to be pleased with my work rate. I have done 10,000 miles in 20 days so for all the knockers out there who say there isn't any work at H&R how come I can get the miles! I have done everything by the book I have worked my max hours and had the right rest days I just get on and do what I am asked to do. Like I have told so many people, I only work one way thats my way! I do everything legal (well nearly lol) whats an extra 10 ks an hour! In Ontario the cops leave you alone as long as you drive safe and drive to the road conditions (and not park on the shoulder.... got that one in before you did Lyndon lol). The work is here if you want it but don't think you will get good work all the time, you have to take the rough with the smooth. Well its less than a week before I see my wife its been 12 weeks now since I last had a kiss and cuddle and I can't wait. I am hoping my buddy steve w has sorted me out a trip to Vancouver then up to Edmonton for a couple of days off so I can show my wife (all the pain we have both been through not being together is worth it). The reason why I am working 4,500 miles away from home and hopefully she will get to see a fraction of what I have been looking at for the last 12 weeks. Its been very hard for me working here on my own, me and my wife are very very close and the longest we have been apart was 3 weeks and that was bad enough! I ring my wife everyday, she'd like me home but I know deep down she will love it over here and once she sees it she will feel the same as me. Well its time for bed another 4am start tomorrow and only got 546.4 miles to do lol.