Sweet home Alabama

Hay guys, so I guess you have been wondering what I have been up to. Well I made it to Houston on time luckily. I had to drive from midnight the last couple of nights to get there on time. I dropped my trailer and picked up one of our empties. I then had to go to Silsbee, Texas which was just over 100 miles east of Houston. When I got there. I backed onto the bay. A few mins later, one of the loaders came and knocked on the truck door and told me they could not load the trailer because they could see a tiny little bit of daylight coming through one of the top front corners. They said I was not allowed to fix it as they wanted a receipt to show it was properly done. I was gutted as I had a choice of two trailers where I got this one from, and trust me to pick the one with a little hole in. anyway my place arranged for me to go 20 miles down the road, to have it repaired. It took them 2mins as it was just one rivet that had popped out. They even knew the company that I was picking up from, as they do it all the time. Anyway I then went back and got loaded, then went to the truck stop down the road as I was then out of hours that day. The following day, instead of taking the load to Ontario where it was destine. I had to take it back to Houston, drop it outside the place I had dropped the day before and pick up the other empty. One of our other drivers was making another delivery there later that day so he was going to take that load to Ontario. I then took that empty to Orange, Texas to collect there. That load was going to Nova Scotia, but I was just taking it to Woodstock. Because I had run hard down to Houston. I was running out of hours too fast so after my collection I decided to have the rest of the day off. Well it was 27 degrees. At midnight it was still 20 degrees. Just like been on holiday in Florida, walking around in T shirt and things. The following morning I gets three messages, two from dispatch wanting to know why I’m still in Orange and one from Joe asking me to call him. They are all just way to busy to just look at my hours to see why I had not moved. They would have realised then, but I had to explain it to Joe anyway. He was ok about it just said lets get a move on then now. So off I went, my hours back inline again so I would not run out before getting back to Woodstock. Then on the Saturday, my second day on the return journey, Seth, Joe’s son sent me a message asking me if I would switch trailers in Pennsylvania on the Sunday for one going to Moody, Alabama. Wicked, I get to stay south in the sun. To me that’s the way it should always be if you are a US driver. I’m sure I have mentioned before, but you can drive for more hours in Canada. So we can do 3500miles in the US a week and get paid the same as doing 4000miles in Canada. Your daily average hours should be 8.75hrs in the US and 10hrs in Canada so you never run out of hours. To me if you are a US driver, It is unfair in the middle of your two weeks out, they give you a load going across Canada. Because you would then probably be going into the US after, so you really have to stick to the 8.75 hours or you will run out of hours early, which makes you short on your daily pay with you getting paid per mile, as that would mean I would be about 80miles less a day while I’m doing loads in Canada. That’s a really long way of saying a US drivers should just do US loads all the time. You take a reload back to Canada then just pick another US load up and go straight back down again. It does not always work out like that though, but you know what I mean. I explained it a bit more this time, as some of you that have applied to come and work for us will not be long before your on your way. So you need to know these things. Anyway I made the switch yesterday and I’m currently sat in Knoxville, Tennessee waiting to set off again in the morning to make my delivery tomorrow. My reload is picking up at the same place. I just need to swap trailers for one going back to Ontario. From there I’m sure I will be going to Woodstock and going home for some time off. I should be home Friday privided there is no delays. That will mean over the 13 days I will have covered 6900miles which is average for me in the US. so have a great week and I will update you when I’m back on the road.

These roads our raised due to the fact for 28 miles we are driving through Marsh land.

Bikes and trikes out and about

Thats not suppose to happen

Best Cab over i have seen so far, and its from Canada

Thats the most RV's I have seen in one truck stop

The Amish people on their way back to their farms after church

Its not fair, His condo is bigger than mine.

I want that jacked up car. I used to own the standard version back in the UK as you can see below in the next picture.

These was both my cars in the UK. One of the reasons why I like living here as I love American Cars

A convertible Sebring and Ford Excursion

Texas here i come

Hay people.


Well when I got back to Woodstock on the Thursday. Instead of carrying on, I went home. The other driver I had to pick up in Toronto, I was so glad to get him out of my truck when we got back. He never shut up moaning from start to finish. He seamed to be one of these people that no matter what you do, you cannot please him. He kept stopping as well, which made us run behind time with a very urgent load. On the Friday morning while I was off, work phoned me up to apologise for having to put up with him. They must have read my mind knowing what he is like lol I just said, the next time they want me to pick a driver up, that no looser’s are allowed lol.

I had a great couple of days off. On the Saturday, we all went down to Fredericton to take the kids to a in door play place, but ended up in the shopping mall instead. They have a little play gym in there also, so they had fun on that for a while. We can not walk past a kids ride without the kids going on every single one. Luckily they are not bothered if they are moving or not. lol So they had loads of fun in the mall. Then it was off to McDonalds where they have another kids play gym so again we stayed in there for a while. Then it was the usual one hours drive back home.

My truck came back early again. Late Saturday night in fact. So Sunday morning I got back in the truck to have a great load going to Houston, Texas. A four days drive, but again the trailer sat in the yard for a day leaving me three days to get there, so I maybe late. They had not fixed the air-con when we got back last week as the truck have to go after a quick greasing. So before I hooked up, I got them to fix it, as I knew the weather is 27+ down there. Im sat in Wytheville, Virginia at the moment, just over half way. Im going to be setting off early hours in the morning, then the same on delivery day, so with the 2hr time difference and me setting off early, I may get there more or less on time. I will let you know.

My route im taking

Great to see some Colour on the trees again

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