I had a shot gun passenger over chrismas and even though it started out a disaster we ended up having a wonderful time.

I had an older truck due for replacement, the problem was it had an exhaust leak and made the cab smell,i told my boss and he said i had a new one in lethbridge. So i picked sophie up a the air port and we went staight to the yard and picked an mt trailer to go and load,we go to the customers gate and the clutch broke on the entrance, this is a good start me thinks, so undetered i called the breakdown company.3 hrs later he arrived in a van, this is not looking to good.After a lot of deliberation he pronounce the the truck we and truly dead. A wrecker arrived 2 hours later with a spare truck, we transfered all my and sophies belonging over, while the old truck was taken awy. we were all ready to go when we hit a small problem, we could'nt turn the interior light off, 20 mins later we still could'nt find the switch, in the end we took out the bulbs, job done. Apparently this is a common fault on these truchs you can turn the lights on but not off and the bulbs are missing from most trucks, american trucks eh.

Finally made it to lethbridge and jumped in a brand new shiney red truck. Dumped all our gear in picked up trailer then off to Chicargo.

I'm back

I cant beleive it s been nearly a month since my last update mainly because i have been flat out running illinoise area and back and having difficulty in finding the internet. Last week i ran down to saltlake city with cat litter, the weather was glorious and i caught the sun waiting to load. the destination was toronto driving right across the us on I 80,through utah,wyoming,nebraska,iowa,wisconsin,michigan,crossing into canada via winsor nr detroit to toronto.approx 2000 miles 3 and a half days driving.the first part takes you over the rockies, i parked up at rawlings flying J truck stop so i could veiw the sun rise in the morning, being at high altitude about 7000 ft i was'nt dissapointed.the following day i went thru laramie and cheyanne two well know cowboy programs, its strange seeing the places and assosiating them with the tv. i even went past desoto iowa,the birth place of, (i;ve come for my boy) yep, you got it, big john wayne.as you now may have guessed i seem to go thru a lot of places but i never stop at any.the problem is i could spend time at these places only parking can be a problem so im documenting these place of interest an im will come back on a holiday.
I dropped thr trailer in brampton,weather cold now and had to wear my coat, so a city driver could deliver it the next day and i took a couple of days off.i normally park in walmarts so i can shop and refill my ladder with lots of goodies,don't tell the missus.
I reloaded out of kitchener with chicken for mc donalds saskatoon unfortunatley the truck had ran out of its safety cert and had to go to the garage for a test so here i am sat in a hotel for the night, problem is i now have missed my reload out of saskatoon for california wat a good trip that would have been with loads of miles,hey ho life.s a b.

would you beleive it

H ad a lovely rest sat and got away 0430 sunday, so i would miss any holiday traffic. An hour down the road at a small town of Harve got stopped on the scales for a weight check. 5,30 in the morning and the lovely police man wanted to check my records, all was in order and sent on my merry way, half an hour down the road got stopped again in another scale, luckily the previous officer gave me a receipt of my check so i showed it to the policeman explaining that i had been stopped already,he let me go with a have safe day. Nope i could'nt let it go, being sunday i asked if all his mates were out this morning and earning double time. he didnt hear me, lucky i thought, as i did'nt want to spend the rest of sunday banged up. I swear i didnt see another vehicle for 2 hrs it was jus me and the open road, wonderful.
Found Bettendorf Iowa and went t bed and tipped early next morning. i had to wait till the next day for a trailer change so i went to the biggest truck stop in america,the TA at I 80 iowa. It was huge 800 truck places, a truck shop containing everything your budding trucker would need, i could have spent a fortune, even the wifi was free.Spoke to mum on skype.
Left next day for Montreal, didnt see much as i arrived at night and went to an indusrial est. tipped in the morning and picked up a loaded trailer for calgary 2100 miles away along the trans canadian 1.this road is the most pictuesque but the road kill can be upsetting, i saw a black bear cub by the side of the road dead, real shame, but the worst are skunks, they smell so bad, you can be driving along when suddenly it hits you thru the air vents, no warning nothing, and these little suckers can be a kilometer away and the smell gets progressivly worse till you see the carcase and drive pass up wind.

Holy Sunday

This service only runs on sunday,if the crossing is good enough for JC then its good enough for The Canadian Pasific Railway

things are cooling down

You'll be glad to know that things are cooling down, today was a bit cloudy, im getting fed up with all this sun,had to turn down the a/c,its now in the lower 80s during the day, last week in vegas it was 120 and 85 over night.
Comming up from vegas the truck started to back fire and blow out black smoke, i was told to continue, let it develop they said.made it to the yard and changed trucks to continue to edmonton.dropped the trailer there.I was told off by a pipsqueek manager winging that i didnt have load bars holding the load up in the trailer,ye right at 50 bucks each and u normaly you have 3, at your own expence.i said i was a pro driver and i didnt need them,the git took my name and reported me,what a T-----ser. anyway got sent to load at calgary, destination bettendorf iowa, not a clue either, but its about 1500 miles away, so here i am sat in shelby tstop sat tea timewriting a blog. I thought i would have an easy day, and set off early tmrw morning as the sunrises are spectacular, see you in bettendorf. i know iknow, more pictures, im working on it.

Still trucking on

Again appologies for the long delayed update,the truck stops (flying j) i use for tinternet is updating its service so its more difficult to find sites, any how this one is free at a TS called DADs in Idahi Falls,so here we go.
Loaded out of Toronto For calgary a trip across the trans canadian 1,1days driving 13 hrs to get across ontario.I drove only during the day because of all the warnings about moose wandering on the road at night,they are like cart horses and weigh about a ton,if you hit one, at best you come out second.Again the countryside was beautiful.2000 miles later i found myself in calgary.
From here i loaded for Los Angeles,down thru Great falls, Salt Lake City, Las Vegas to LA.Arriving sat night.Because the load was not tipping untill mon i spent the day in the TStop with me ole mate martin and a canadian driver and caught up with old times, which reminds me i had some bad new a couple of weeks ago.My mate died, came to canada to retire, a good o'l boy,heart attack, well he was over 25 stone, driven in reverse further than some forward,forgotten more than most know, so i went to his funeral as he was a loner.Trouble is i could'nt find the church, then got held up in roadworks and when finally arrived everybody had gone, there were just the two workmen with shovels standing there.So i thought id better go and see.I stood by them and said a few kind and sympathetic words and told a few old stories of what he was like and the fun we had, choked me up a bit so i decided to leave. As i was about to get in the car one workman said to the other,that was the most moving and sentimental speach ive heard in 20 years of putting in septic tanks.
See you later

Down to New York

Im starting to find out where all the good stops are now, so life is becomming a lot easier. Im making alot of friends here now, real genuine people that only want to help as they have all been in my situation as a newby.
loaded out of canada for new york this week, the bronx of all places, a bit of a rush job, it dos'nt matter when the suppliers load you, you must still deliver on time, this really sucks as there is a lot of pressure on the driver to deliver.any how being a true proffesional i was still late, no not really i got ther early by being a bit creative with the log book,24 hours driving in 34 hours,1600 miles, thats like going from soton to aberdean and back.wont do that again in a hurry,on the plus side i got some brownie points.
Didnt get to see much of ny as i was watching where i going, i drove over geo washington bridge, 40 dollars toll, to get to the bronx, its as bad as the tv shows i was glad to get out with all my wheels attached.It was stange looking down the hudson river and seeing all the tall skyscrapers on manhatton island. As a point the new yorkers are a bit upset as they are going to build a mosque on the site of the twin towers, how insensitive is that.
I got my next job to run 595 mt up to toronto this is about 10 hrs driving, then load for calgary,i didnt realise new york was a state, and what a beautiflul one too.its mountainous with a lot ski resorts in the winter and it heavily forrested.Everyone seems to have camper vans or caravans, there are even people with campers the size of coaches towing 4x4 cars, amazing.The weather is really hot still, mostly in the 90s, and when it rains it becomes very humid.
nice too see my followers are increasing( hi josh an amy)im glad that im not forgotten yet