Met Lyndon & Jan

I rang Lyndon to have a chat about the mentor trip on Tuesday, he invited me to his house for a Sunday lunch (after 21/2 weeks of burgers and fries how could I say no lol). Lyndon and his lovely wife Jan picked me up from the Sandman hotel and took me for a drive around Raymond. It's a small town but very nice and no yobs on the corners of the streets. They showed me around their house which has 5 bedrooms & I met Luke their son. We sat down to a roast dinner and spent the rest of the night chatting about their move to Canada and how much they love it over here. We also chatted about ways of saving money when you're out and about in a truck & where to get the free showers and coffees when you fill up with fuel. I stayed the night in their guest room, I have been finding it hard to sleep since I've been here & I fell alseep as soon as my head hit the pillow. In the morning I had a very bad headache and I didn't feel too well, Lyndon and Jan got within 200 feet of H&R to drop me into work then they had to stop and let me out where I was sick!! They dropped me back to the hotel & it seems there is a nasty bug going around. I spent the rest of the day on the bed asleep. I woke up at about 7pm. Later on I had a shower & I have made a number of complaints as one minute the waters boiling & the next freezing. I had just covered myself in soap when it turn burning hot I moved out of the way pretty sharpish but I lost my footing and fell backwards through the shower curtain I hit my bad arm and head on the side where the sink is and landed on my back on the floor if it wasn't for the shower curtain slowing my fall down I could of been really hurt but as it is it's only my arm that hurts a bit (yeah ok you can stop laughin now)!!

couple of pics of me driving look how empty the roads are

Saturday

I asked if there was any work to be done & I was offered a run up to Calgary with a new Freightliner Cascadia now how could I say no to that! It was great, at long last I was out in a truck driving in Canada. I had to pick up my ol' mate Eddie from a hotel in Highriver and take him to Calgary so he could pick up a truck. Then we both bobtailed to High river to pick up 2 trailers heading for California. The laws in California are a bit different than the rest of America so we had to set our axles and weigh the trailers. Then off to Lethbridge where we dropped the trailers in the yard and picked up 2 others to go to a place called Brooks. We didnt know where we were going but we did have a sat nav yeah great (not)!! The poxy thing took us into the town to a post box in the post office! (I bet you cant guess what I said next lol). If you think that was bad it gets worse, I went round a tight bend at nr Jackknife Point & the springs that hold the air lines up stretched too far and the lines dropped between the wheels! Then after near hitting my my nose on the windscreen in the middle of the road the truck stopped at the lights, I got out & saw the lines wrapped between the wheels (I bet you can't guess what I was thinking lol) yep you're right (you lot know me too well)! I made a call to H&R and waited for someone to come and help . This guy turned up within 15 minutes & within 30 minutes I was in his work shop with the truck fitting new hoses... now thats what you call service. All the time Eddie was sat behind me because I had no lights. After the guy fixed the truck he told me he saw us driving in the town he said he was going to stop us and tell us we are in the wrong place but he said he was in a rush to get home. I said if you had stopped us and told us you would be in bed now and not fixing a bloody truck late at night! which we both laughed at. We stayed at his yard for the night which was next door to where we wanted to be so in a roundabout way he did show us where to go lol. Next day we did the trailer swap with couple of other H&R drivers. But it was a great chance to get behind the wheel. Take out all the hold ups (Ed lol) I had a good time and enjoyed myself, as for driving in Canada it was one of the best things I have ever done no traffic and beautiful sights, I'm happy :-)

A big thank you to everyone for the nice comments

Thank you for the nice comments. I am sat in my hotel room now waiting on a possible trip over the mountains to British Columbia. If the trip comes off I will be going tomorrow and should be back Monday. I will be going out for 2 weeks with Lyndon (so I can get him to show me how to do all the fancy bits on here lol) and while I am with him he can show me all the other bits like what to do at the border and paper work etc. Don't know where they will be sending us, I would love it to be New York because that is one place I would like someone at my side plus I just love New York. Its got very hot and sunny again it seems to be chilly in the morning and too hot in the afternoon (no I'm not moaning). I can't wait to get my truck. I have already brought some things but I know I have loads more to buy but i'll wait to cross into Montana (no tax to pay lol) Gotta get the big things like a fridge microwave CB etc. I brought my 10.5 inch digital tv from england with me and it works over here so I won't be spending money on that. The last 2-3 days I have spent all my spare time transfering my music from my laptop to my new ipod (and no I didn't use that rubbish itunes software to do it), been a nightmare but I got there in the end, well it's the first time I've had an ipod so had to learn how to do it, it's taken up some time though because once the driving lessons stop and everything is sorted it can get pretty boring. I have to go to the launderette soon and that'll be the highlight of my day, how sad is that. Can't wait to get out on the road!

What a good day

Wow I passed my class 1 driving test today. Hopefully from now on I don't have to change any more gears lol. The examiner was a really nice guy he made you feel at ease through the whole test. Most of the time we were chatting about camper trailers. On the vehicle inspection I forgot to put in the red button, I knew I had forgot but couldn't remember, I looked at him and said this is where I push in the red button and he said yes, other examiners would of said nothing! The rest of the inspection was good and he was happy with that. Forgot to look in my right mirror as I was reversing so he gave me 10 points for that (and no, points don't make prizes over here lol). After that had a good drive, gear change was good with no muck ups. I have just been down to see the women at the licence office to change from a class 5 to a class 1. Just rang Steve at H&R now I am going to take a nice slow walk up to H&R so they can get a photo copy of my licence. Well happy.

Some pics of some of the houses behind the hotel

Wednesday

Another great drive today everything was good to day no muck ups. My instructor said I am ready for my test but tomorrow looks fully booked up so I might have to have another day driving then do my test Friday. I am back at my hotel now so I am going to spend the next few hours sorting out my music then once that is done I will just add the lot to my ipod that should be fun. Not alot else to say really the weather has turned a bit cooler I had to have the heater on in my room this morning. Some people I have chatted to are saying the snow will be here by the end of the month.