No Air-con

We had a great Friday and Saturday after my son got back from school. We went down to Fredericton to Toys r Us for him to pick his own birthday presents, then onto a themed restaurant for our diner. Even though he came home from school with a note from his teacher saying he had only written eight words in half an hour due to chatting all the time. Nothing new there lol kids are great at his age. He is so honest. It is hard to tell him off when he drops himself in it lol Has we was celebrating his birthday a week early with me going back out on the road, I let him off.

My truck came back to Woodstock a day early, so I went out on the Sunday. My first trip was straight down to Laurens, South Carolina. One I had done many times before, and has usual, only two days to do over 1300 miles again. Ayr do it all the time. We are so busy with work. Lots of trailers sit around waiting to be delivered in all our yards due to the fact we do not have enough trucks to cover the work we have. I’m told we have 256 trucks on the road, including owner operators, and going on 400 trailers. Most of them are full at any one time, so some have to wait to be delivered. Its great for us drivers for miles, as we never have to wait for reloads. We are kept rolling all the time, but sometimes it can be a push to get there on time. Like my load got picked up on the Friday. Sat in our yard till Sunday evening when I got my truck back. For delivery Tuesday morning. I had to drive throughout Sunday and Monday night to get there on time. Luckily it was just a drop and switch, so it didn’t matter that I got there at 3am. I had max-ed my hours out so had to park up at this crappy truck stop just across the road from my drop. I only like stopping at the big chain truck stops. They are nice and clean and the drivers get well looked after. Little crappy ones are not normally open 24hr and the showers, well you need another shower after you have used them. So I try to stay clear, but your hours don’t always let you get to the big ones, so I just have to make do. Dispatch then woke me up early sending me a question over the satellite. One that I had already answered without been asked before going to sleep. So I sent a sarcastic message back a couple of hours later, when I finally got up to go for my reload. I’m very laid back so don’t rush. I don’t bother with an alarm in less I really have to I just wake up naturally, you get the best rest then. My reload was an hour down the road in Lexington, SC going back to Ontario. The weather was red hot, about 25 degrees. Emma said it was the same in Woodstock. All the kids ended up with red faces while they was playing outside, even though they had sun cream on. I put the air con on for the first time this year to find it blowing warm, so I had to drive with the windows open all day to keep cool. It was a pain as I had to turn the stereo up so I could still listen to Howard Stern. Brilliant guy, the five hours he is on each day, I could not tell you where I had been driving, I’m that engrossed lol listening to his show is one reason why I can drive for hours without stopping. The air con is the first thing I need to be sorted when I get back to Woodstock. My load was another drop and switch for an empty then they wanted me to go to the Mississauga yard for my reload, But I was already running out of hours fast, so I got a day cab to meet me with my reload, and I drove straight back into the states to Falconer, New York. It was only just over 2hrs away so I went straight there arriving early hours again. The customer woke me for the paperwork, off loaded me then I went shopping in Walmart, which was right near my reload, 5mins down the road. With me been so close to the border, I had to wait for my load to clear customs before I could cross back into Canada. That took a couple of hours but it was not a problem. It gave my hours chance to catch up again. My delivery point was near Niagara Falls. I have been past many times but never have time to call in, plus Emma would kill me if I went without her lol. Once off loaded. I had to take my empty to one of our big customers and then bobtail down the road for my next loaded trailer. That was going over to Winnipeg. It was nice going along the 17 again. It had been five months since I had been along that road, where all those lakes are. We are not allowed to take that route in the winter, as it is really bad. At Winnipeg, I then swapped for a load going to Plano, Illinois. My hours would not let me get there the night before like I normally do. So this morning, I had to set off at 3am local time. On the way down it rained so hard, I’m surprised I still had paint on the truck. Saved me washing it lol. The lightning just made it like daylight each time it went off. After I made the delivery, the day started to get hotter as it went on. By the time I had made my collection in Mount Morris, Illinois, it was 25 degrees outside and 35 in the truck. I should be back Friday, so will get the air-con fixed then. I’m delivering in Toronto tomorrow. Then I’m picking a driver up and taking him over to Woodstock, which should get us there Thursday morning. I’m told I will probably be going to Nova Scotia or something till Friday. Emma wants me back for then so she can go party again. lol She deserves the brake though. Anyway my cab has cooled to 28 so I think I better get some sleep. Bye for now.

The last of the ice floating down the St John river behind our house

These are fields flooding the roads now the snow has melted

same here

That little hut is found at alot of houses. It is for the kids to stand in, in Winter while waiting for the school bus. they come in all shapes and sizes. this was Thunder Bay where they have real bad weather.

One of the lakes on the 17

I was suprised to see this. Mind you it was near Winnipeg and it is still only making 10 degrees in day, and freezing over night.

nice sunset on the 17

They want $3500 for this. I missed out on a pic of some old Muscle cars for sale Like Dodge Chargers etc.

Biker weather again

Mix Up

Well I got to my delivery a couple of hours early the following morning, so had to wait till my appointment time. Once off loaded, my reload was 40 miles down the road in Lebanon, Tennessee. Got there only for them to take 4hr to load me. Which meant I was out of hours by the time I was done. Luckily there was a little truck stop at the end of the drive so I stayed there. I needed to weigh the truck but could not do it in my off duty time, so planed to do it when I got up about 2am only to find them closed. What a bummer. So I took a chance and went to the Flying J in Franklin, Kentucky. I knew I would be ok for overall weight, and the weight on my drive wheels as the truck tells me. So I was pretty sure I was safe. The load was going to Toronto. I planed on stopping in London, Ontario, but that was only an hour and half from our yard so dispatch wanted me to carry on. I then had to wait up for someone to fix my satellite GPS on the truck as it kept going wrong and dispatch would know I was moving because they can see how fast the truck is going all the time, but did not know where I was. The guy finally turned up at 9pm, I had been up since 2am. So was well tired. My reload was going back to Woodstock. I was not looking forward to that. That night they had shut the 20 off due to a bad accident in the snow in Quebec. They had a real bad storm. I got a message, once I got back did I want to go home. I had already told them, I didn’t want to go home till the 31st as I wanted to be home for my sons birthday, so said no I will continue on. When I got back yesterday, they wanted me to go to West Virginia for delivery today. I had the hours but when Joe asked me what hours I had left, he miss understood what I meant. So he thought I had not got the hours. Anyway with the mix up. I said I would go home. The fleet manager was not happy as Joe was screaming at him to get someone to get in my truck to take the load, while im off. Least I will know how to explain it to him next time, so there is no mix up. The pain is I will now miss my son’s birthday even though Joe did say he will try and get me back to see him. Instead we are going to do something while I’m off. So I better get dressed as he is due home from school soon, so till next time, have a nice day.

This was Ontario nice and sunny, then...

2hr later in Quebec

lots of snow again

They have these Sandwich vans here too, but in Quebec they are permanently fastened up to those sheds to make snack shops at rest area’s

That train to the right was a mile long

Oooops

Thats what you call an RV trailer

Shadow of my truck on a tanker as we pass

Snow....Again

Well I had my 24hr off and set off about 2am, getting to the yard to drop my trailer then they gave me another to deliver in Winnipeg. Wow it was cold in Winnipeg, still in the minus and Emma told me it was +15 degrees in Woodstock. I do remember watching the temps in each province last winter before we came out and Winnipeg was the coldest throughout, except northern Canada of course. Once I was empty it was down to Carman, MB to reload going straight back to Le Vergne, Tennessee. Because I have to preserve my hours now so I never run out. It meant I had to do three over nights again, so I have been setting off at midnight local time then sleeping late afternoon till time to set off again. Yesterday I got to Sioux Falls again. They had got flood watch in South Dakota. The fields was flooding with the melting snow and over flowing into the roads.

Sun rise over South Dakota

Today I drove nine hours straight to Warrenton, Missouri. Where I am now, Then tonight I will drive to the customer for delivery in the morning. I got a bit of a shock by the time I reached just before Kansas City. They had had a lot of snow. Luckily the roads was clear but black ice in places. At first I kept looking at the snow thinking was it there the other day. Driving at night in the US or Canada is not easy as 98% of roads do not have street lights or cats eyes in the road etc. The painted lines do not reflect either so all you can see is what your lights show. So at first I was not sure if I was just seeing what was left or fresh, till I got to the city where the streets had lights. Wind was bad too. I was having to steer into the wind just to go straight. I soon slowed down when I went down this hill where the roads started to be wet and this bridge was just black ice. I was half hour away from here before I had passed all the snow. I thought I had seen the last of it, but nope. There was more cars in the ditch, I lost count after about 40. Anyways time I was asleep again so will leave you with a few more pics.

That one is not going to be easy to get out. some while it was really dark was on their side.

Two cars here

Hospital Trip

Well the logs never got moved. The ground is really soft with the frost melting out of the ground so I would have needed wellies (Canadians don’t recognise that word lol) not sure if mine made it to Canada or not. We are having unusual nice weather, even though it was only about 7 degrees, which without wind is nice and warm, on the Friday we decided to take the kids to the park. We was there a while having a great time till my eldest tripped on some plastic stepping stones, bashing his chin, splitting it open, and the more he cried the bigger the split got. So off to hospital we went. He his a very bright boy and knew exactly what was coming. He was not going to let it happen either. He kept getting up asking the doctor what he was going to do. The doctor turn out to be one of our neighbours. As he would not keep still. They ended up wrapping him up like a baby and holding him down so they could put four stitches in him. He put up a fight but was ok once they had finished. He got a great big banana split from Dairy Queen out of it and he polished it off too. Now we will have matching scares. I was about 12-13 when I did mine though.

My truck did not get back till Saturday afternoon, so it was tea time before I was getting back in. I managed to have my inverter fitted so I could put my Microwave in the truck and start and save a lot of money on food while im on the road. Next thing will be a fridge. It is real easy to spend $150 a week on food and I only have two meals a day just to save some money. So I’m already saving loads on food. It his tempting though every time I go into a truck stop to have a buffet meal or a big fat 18” pizza, but so far I have been good and cooked what I had in the truck. Sometimes its not easy parking a big truck in a supermarket car park though, but its not unusual to see either.

Anyway my first load was to Chicago, which was just over 1300 miles, but I had to be there by 6am Monday morning. So as always it was the night shift for two nights getting there on time. Now I have my own truck I cant do like I did when I was slip seating and max out my hours each day. So I do not run out of hours early, I should only average 8.75 hours a day in the States. Canada you can do more. Because I only had two nights to get there I had to do the US maximum of 11 hours each night to get there, so already I was running out of hours. My reload I expected to go back to Canada, but I had to do a switch at a customers and take a load down to La Vergne, Tennessee. Excellent I so prefer driving in the states. My reload was in Batesville, Mississippi which was four hours away but in the direction I need to go as it was going to Winnipeg. Luckily I had three days to get it there and I was still doing the night shift, I was still doing to many hours just to get me to the truck stops I wanted to stop at. So by the time I reach Sioux Falls, South Dakota, I only had 19 hours left to do over three days, and I knew my reload was going to bring me right back into the States, which would mean I would run out of hours. Well I was due to arrive tonight, a day early, so I let dispatch know, I was taking 24hrs off and setting off tonight and get there early in the morning. They could see it made sense, so that’s where I am now, but should get some sleep before I set off so I’m off, till next time, night night.

Entry and exit ramps here are like going round a roundabout. They all have speed limits on everyone of them. If you don’t follow that and go to fast. This is what happens. It was one thing they drilled into me when I was training, as i never slowed down enough at first

This women met the side of a van

He had a rottweiler dog in that truck. No one was going to nick his truck lol. I don’t know how people can take pets with them. The trucks must smell well nice. ..Not lol I notice women are the worst for it. I pulled at the side of this women’s truck the other day. She had the biggest fluffy cat sat on the dash I have ever seen. Cat litter trays in an house is bad enough but in a truck Wow I just could not do it. lol

Un-Marked Cop car

I think this was a Baseball Stadium in Kansas City

Somewhere in Missouri

Thats World of Fun in Kansas City

Long Loading Days

Well got off loaded Monday morning then it was off to Albion, Michigan which was just under an hour south. This meant I had to cross at Detroit. It is not easy to cross there as you have to go through the city more or less to get to it, and its all messed up. Yet it’s the busiest port crossing in Canada, letting over 6000 trucks a day cross.

This is me crossing the Ambassador Bridge from the US on the left to Canada on the right of the picture.

Once across the border, my load was going to Ottawa, Capital of Canada, but I was just dropping it at our yard in Toronto and switching for an empty to go to another part of the city to load. The only down side to running single is you have to wait to be loaded and unloaded. Teams just drop and switch trailers saving hours upon hours. Canadians and Americans are just so laid back. They don’t worry about how long they take. Sometimes it can be only an hour, other times it can be six hours. Its ok for them, they get paid by the hour. Me I get a loading fee, but I can earn loads more driving than loading. So the longer I’m unloading/loading, the more I’m out of pocket. This is why now I have my own truck, I would like really long runs. As the less actual delivery days I have, the more miles I can do. Delivery days are always long days, that’s if you try and do your average daily miles too. Like this time, my off loading in the morning took 3+ hours and my reloading at night took 3hrs. Then to do at least 500miles a day, that takes eight and half hours. So delivery day I end up doing my maximum working day of 16hrs, just to do as many miles as I can.

When I pulled off the bay, I jokingly made a sarcy comment, “Wow, the three hours it took you to load me, I would have expected to have a trailer full to the brim.” It was only 25% full. I then drove till the early hours leaving me 10.5 hours left to get back to Woodstock the following day, which got me back late last night. This meant I had no more US hours left, so decided to come home for a couple of days to reset my hours. Then I will be back out on Friday, hopefully with the truck left as clean inside and out as I left it. The outside of the truck was Black,

Joe would have not been happy seeing it this morning in that state. So I took it to the truck wash early hours this morning. It took him an hour to do it. Then into the shop for maintenance.

We have had great weather these last couple of weeks, still only reaching 4-8 degrees but the snow has gone except the odd patch. Which is great except for one reason. I now have to find time to landscape my land as it still looks like a building site, all 5058 square meters of it.

Guess I better get dressed and get started by stacking the logs I just chucked out of the truck, so off I go till next time. Have a nice dayyyy

This is Montreal. All the housing estates in the cities are no Different here as back in the UK.

All the houses are packed in like sardines

No more Ice here either

Back running single again.

Well I made the collection and off to Hearst we went 660 miles away. Gets there and sent the message, ETA on the other truck. Gets one back, carry on to Winnipeg. I was not impressed. I don’t think they had intentions of switching us, even when an eastbound team pulled in at the side of us, so off to Winnipeg we went. Luckily after we left New Brunswick, the weather was clear skies and dry roads all the way to Winnipeg, except a couple of flurries near Longlac. We then switched for a load going to Plano, Illinois, which is near Chicago. We stopped at Fargo, North Dakota to fuel and shower etc. when I got back to the truck, we had a message to switch in St Cloud, Minnesota, for an urgent load going back to Toronto. That was good as we was going to be 12hr’s early for Plano anyways. Then from Toronto, we got a load back to Woodstock to drop Ion off as promised. We got back about 4am. It was great to finally get my truck back to myself. we did do some excellent miles though. 1200miles a day, so was not a bad week really.

I was not expecting a reload till the morning, but when I handed my paperwork in for the trailer I just brought, he gave me my reload straight away. Great I could get straight off as the night shift in the shop had just gone home and the day shift was not due in till 6am. So could skip that and go. That was till I scaled the load to find it was only a few pounds short of 80,000lb which is the max you can take into the states. Canada you can carry more, so the trailer wheels was not in the right place to balance the load, neither was the fifth wheel. It took nearly an hour to find the right balance for the drive wheels and the trailer wheels, but the only way it would do that was to have 100lb to heavy on the front wheels. My fuel tanks where only half full at that, so I had to keep running the tanks down to nothing before just filling them less than half full to keep the weight down. Had I been here before I would have known there was no scales to cross once I got in the states as a thousand miles of the route was through Canada anyway. The other two hours was in the states, so all that hassle I had, I could have just left the trailer alone. Anyway that brings me to where I am now. Lansing, Michigan, waiting for the morning to off load. So time for bed. Till next time, have a nice day.

Notice the snow is starting to melt in most places, gone in others.

This is Ontario, the snow has already gone here. hopefully its that last we see of it, but i won't hold my breath. its too early yet.

Must be getting warm, the first splat on my windshield this year

These are the new trikes they have here. No point having two wheels, your not allowed to filter down traffic here anyway.