Well it is Christmas

Christmas

Someones being dressed up after her wash tomorrow

First Casuality

This is the first casuality of winter I've seen. Thing is it was only  a dusting of snow in Quebec. Just bad driving. The tractor was a mess, not that morbid to picture it.

Fuel stop in Baddeck, Nova Scotia. One beautiful sun rise.

Second load of Christmas Trees of the year. This was the first delivery of six. It was a Fire Hall in Stony Creek, just North of New York City. Will tell you more about the trip later.

Dirt track construction

Nicely kept old cab over

Ron leading the way

Jozsef on the back door. Notice the salt on the mirrors, the US had a bad snow storm a couple of days earlier

Jozsef again in my mirrors

Ron's truck again, well the back of it.

3 Amigos parked for the night outside of Harrisburg PA

Convoy, big 10-4

Well Monday morning soon comes round. We’d had a great weekend, went to friends Saturday for a Halloween party. Met up with some friends Sunday morning for breakfast and simple had a chilling weekend. Anyway call dispatch at 8am and with no hesitation Wade says come on in. First words Ron had to say to me when I walked in the office were to thank me for helping them out in Ohio. It’s nice to be appreciated. Anyway I was told to hook up to an mt and head for a load of paper in St John, NB. When I arrived there a good friend of mine, Ron, was there already. Apparently there were 6 loads going from there down to York, PA. As we sat chatting a 3^rd Clarke truck pulled up, nice guy called Donovan. My phone then rang and it was my best mate Jozsef, telling me he was also on his way to join us. Hell this looks like a start to a Convoy. The 4 of us loaded there and then headed to the paper mill in St George to collect our paperwork and to use their scales to check on our weight. There was a delay in getting the paperwork which meant Donovan couldn’t cross the border with us that night. He’d started a 3 that morning, which meant his time was up at 5 pm. So he stayed in St George for the night while the rest of us headed for a truck stop near Bangor, Maine. No problems at the border so we were soon on the “Airline”. Ron took front door, me in the rocking chair and Jozsef at the back door (10-4 Rubber Duck). Safely parked for the night in Dysart’s Truck stop, we all agreed to kick off at 630 the next morning. It’s nice running together, plenty of banter and laughs over the cb. First stop that morning was Kittery, Maine to fuel up. Fuel’s not to expensive there, about $3.96 a gallon. You can pay up to $4.30 in the States, so those places are avoided if possible. The one thing I liked about running with Ron is that he’s like me, doesn’t like stopping. So the next time we stopped was a rest area, 41/2 hrs later, in Wallkill, New York State. Never seen the look of relief on a persons face as I did then in Jozsef’s that day. Ron said to me “think we pushed your friend a little hard there”. Sharen and Ron’s wife should meet up, they have one thing in common, they don’t like travelling with us because we never stop. Quick p, brew a coffee and we were on our way again (no law here to say stop for 3 quarters of an hour). Next stop now was going to be Madanahill, just outside Harrisburg, PA, and that was where we would stop for the night. York was only 40 mins away, so a good spot to stay. We agreed to start at 6 the next morning, which would put us on the customers dooorstep fpor when they opened. About 15 mins before we left the next morning, Donovan pulled up. So now the convoy was up to 4. Ron had led all the way down, but had never delivered to this place, so it was Jozsef’s job to lead us down there (he’d been there the previous week). Unfortunately he went out the wrong entrance of the truck stop, which put him at the back, so I over took Ron and took the front door (I’d looked the place up on Google earth + I’d got the gps set so roughly knew where to go). 2 of us were booked at w’house 2 and the other 2 at w’house 1, so within an hour of arriving we were all tipped. Now it’s was down to Dispatch and sales to get us our reloads. Jozsef headed for Leesport,PA, Ron for Lancaster, PA and Donovan and me headed for Aberdeen, Maryland. Unluckily for Donovan his load wasn’t ready till that night, mine was loaded and ready to go. So quick swop of trls and I was on my way to Brampton, Ontario. I stayed just outside Buffalo, NY for the night. I was in no rush as my load was’snt officially booked till midnight the following day. But hell, booking times are things not to be late for, so I arrived at the customer at 8 the next morning. Plenty of b’shit, smiles and chat to the girls in the receiving office and I was put on a door and unloaded within an hour. My pre plan soon came through, reload in Whitby, ON and deliver to the docks in Nth Sydney, NS. Well that was the plan. While waiting to load a message came through “they were in trouble in dispatch, they’d got a load sitting in our yard in Concord that needed to be in Temperance, MI the next morning. Could I help them out”. More miles, not going to turn it down. Just let them know I needed to be back Sunday as I’d booked my truck in for a service and annual MVI on the Monday morning. “ no problem and thanks for doing this for us” was the message back. So once loaded in Whitby I went to Concord to swop trls. Faxed my p’work to the custom broker and headed off. Again plenty of time to get there so parked about an hour away from the border in Detriot for the night. Next morning set off and was in Temperance for 7. A pre plan came through for a reload out of Ohio, trouble was the only mt trl in Temperance was the wrong sort for the job. So dispatch had to come up with another plan. 30 mins later a message came through “head for Stirling Heights, MI for my reload”. 5 skids of alluminion going to 2 places near Toronto and they had to be there that night. No probs. Got to the first one in Woodbridge at 7 pm and what a p' about. No one was interested in unloading it (as I found out it was coming to shift change). I eventually got hold of the manager of reciving (a Chinese guy, they were all bloody foreigners there) who said go and do my Mississauga booking then come back. This was like a red rag to a bull. I told him I would do my Mississauga delivery, but that’s where his stuff would be left as there was a trl waiting for me in Mississauga for me to take home. I told him I’d got to him on time, and he could explain to his boss why the coils they were waiting for were in Mississauga. Grabbed my p’work and headed for the door. Next thing he’s calling after me and asking me so nicely to back on a door and he would unload me. The 2 nd delivery came off with no problems so headed just down the road to M&G to pick up the poolcar for the Maritimes. Usually park there and go to bed as the trl can be ready anytime between 7pm and 3am. But I didn’t have to wait long, the trl was ready by 10, so headed to a little truck stop down the road for the night. The rest of the run was straight forward and I dropped the trl in Moncton at 5 Sunday morning. Got home about 8, washed her, then dropped her at Penske so she’d be there for when they start Monday morning. End of another nice trip, good miles again. I’m on my next run at the moment, I’m resetting my hours at Madanahill, delivering down in York again Monday morning. Just heard some bad news from one of our drivers on Facebook, Christmas tree season has started. Oh bloody joy of joy. Not looking forward to doing any of those loads again. Oh well suppose it’s all part of the Canadian dream. Catch you all soon

10/21/2011

Quick synopsise
Left Halifax and picked a load up from New Glasgow bound for Temperance, Michigan. Left on the Thursday and crossed over into the States on Saturday morning at Detroit. Glad I crossed early as the Border guards were searching every truck. Cab and load. Well they didn’t search through my trl as when I opened the doors and they saw a wall of tires they said it’ll be okay. Headed down the road and parked at Monroe, Mi till Monday morning. Needed the reset. Dropped the trl in at Temperance early Monday morning and hooked up to an mt. Pre plan came through, reload Columbus, Ohio and deliver Columbus. Strange request, but a quick call to Wade in dispatch explained the situation. A truck had come down on the Friday with 2 deliveries, got the 1^st off but the 2^nd wasn’t booked till Sunday night, so they’d left it at another transport company. I was to pick it up and take it to the other side of town and deliver. Seemed straight forward, BUT. Arrived at the customer just after noon only to be told they don’t accept deliveries during the day, start receiving at 7pm. Another quick call to dispatch, they called sales, only to be told “yes that’s right, he’s booked in at 10”. Not all was bad as I was told I’d be paid for waiting all day, result. 7pm came round and I got in touch with receiving over the cb to let them know I was outside(a lot of companies use the cb to communicate with us drivers, saves walking to and fro from the office all the time). Gave my booking ref only to be told it was booked for 1am, what a piss off. Okay nothing I could do about it, so bed here I come. At about 9 though they called for me to come in and back on a door, they were quiet so could get me in early, sorted. Within an hour I was heading for the Pilot truckstop in Marengo for the night. It was a short hop from there the next morning for my reload in Marion, Ohio. Got loaded there mid morning and was back in Canada that afternoon. Dropped the trl in Concord the next morning, did a quick local job to Ajax, left that back in Concord, then headed down to Mississauga for my load back to the Maritimes. I dropped that trl at the docks in North Sydney, NS early Friday morning then hooked to a loaded one going to Dartmouth, NS. North Sydney is where the boats sail from to Newfoundland. Arrived at the customer in Dartmouth at lunchtime and dropped the trl. Job done, home for the weekend, or so I thought. Called back in the office on my way home, only to be told by safety I was on their list for a random drug test and could I pop back across to Dartmouth and take it. Good job they caught me BEFORE I’d been to the washrooms. Anyway test taken, then home. Catch you soon

Good Boy

First of the year

Poorly Girl

Okay lets go back a little ways and explain the suspended tow. The trip started with a simple load at Bedford NS and delivering to LaSalle PQ the next morning. They then gave me a trl from our St Laurent terminal to Vaughan ON. This one was booked in at a Sobeys (it’s a superstore over here) distribution center 5 am the next morning. I cringed, a bloody RDC, memories of Tesco came flooding back. I arrived at Sobeys and was amazed a the size of the place. The place was fully automated, as soon as a plt is taken off a bar code is slapped on it then a 2^nd flt sticks on the conveyer belt and within seconds is whisked off and put in the appropiate racking in the warehouse by the automated system. Apparently 150 people are employed in the warehouse, where as without the automated system it would be moe like a 1000. It was amazing watching it. From backing on the door (and there was no wait for it) to leaving through the security gate took 20 minutes. 36 skids of mixed fruit juice, not bad. The next job they gave me was to take my mt up to our terminal in Concord (just down the road) and pick up a loaded trl for Fairfield, Iowa. Cool another new area to travel through. Previously the furthest west state was Michigan. Now I’d started to get some vibration on the driveline, nothing to bad and it seemed to come and go. Now the roads through Michigan, Indiana, Illinois and Iowa are mainly paved in concrete so vibration of some sort was always present, plus the rough patches where they had construction. Michigan as I’ve said before Michigan en’t that special to travel through, but when you get out to Illinois and Iowa the scenery changes. It’s farming country. By christ you want to see the size of the equipment they use in the fields. Seen pictures before but to see this giant machines for real it’s amazing. Carl if you read this tell Brian they “back scuttle” big style here. It was a pleasant trip to Fairfield and arrived at the customer at 10 30 or as I thought, forgot I’d crossed another time line and now I was 2 hrs behind Atlantic Time. Most of the goods where hand ball so it took them a couple of hours to unload. Meanwhile they had sent me my preplan for my reload, a short 52 mile trip down the road to Burlington for a load bound back to Ontario. Easy booking time 8am Saturday morning(it was Thursday lunch time at the time). Reloaded at Burlington I headed for a truckstop in Illinois for the night. My plan was start of early, cross into Canada by lunch time and be parked up in Milton ON for mid afternoon. Then a short trip to the customer Saturday morning. Well that WAS the plan. The journey started off okay Friday morning, but as I got into Michigan the vibration on the driveline came back with vengence. I knew I had to get it shorted, but I wanted to choose where, but “my girl” had other ideas. The vibration was bad so I pulled over onto the paved shoulder, as I got onto the shoulder the vibration went. The reason it went? She’d thrown the driveline off. I called Penske roadside, explained the situation and told them she’d need a suspended tow. So 45 mins later a guy comes out in a pick up truck, takes a look and says he can’t fix it on the road she’ll need towing in.. der hadn’t I said that? Hour later the wrecker comes out and towed me into the shop. The guys there were fantastic, they rang round and soon located the parts required. Now the thing that really p’d me off was that “my girl” had been in for a service 10 days before and they’d fitted a new UJ, but not correctly, as this was the problem. They fitted a new yolk and UJ and I was on my way. Well 7hrs wasn’t too bad, plus I got paid for it. Wade told me the load was rebooked for first thing Monday morning, so we agreed I was going to get back into Ontario Saturday and reset my hours. That way I could keep moving the following week. Again that was the plan. I rang dispatch on the Saturday morning and Wade was off and Carla was on. She told me to take the load to our Terminal in Concord, pick up an mt and then pick up a load in Whitby ON then bring it back to the Maritimes. Okay I was cool with that. Reloaded Whitby and started to make my way back. Now the load was bound for Newfoundland, so I needed to know which drop yard I needed to leave the load so I rang dispatch on Sunday morning. Wade was back on and couldn’t believe Carla had changed the plan. As he’d booked me on a load back to the US from Ontario… Never mind shit happens. I stopped at Aulac on the Sunday night (after quickly doing them a favour in Moncton, got paid 7hrs for an hours work, sorted), dropped the trl at Truro and bobtailed home for a reset.. The one good thing that came out of this is the truck is better than she was before. There’s always been a vibration and Penske have always said “it’s a Freightliner thing”. Well those guys in Sodus, Michigan got rid of that “Freightliner thing”.
Are well that’s the story behind the pictures. I’ll try and get up dated. Sat unloading furniture in St John NB at the moment so had a little time. Once mt here off to who knows where, no pre plan through yet. Anyway you all stay safe and I’ll catch you again soon…. Got to dig that picture of Malc in that TK yet……

And Malcolm need'nt think I 've forgetten him. Got some photo's somewhere of a skinny chap driving a Bedford TK in Nth Ireland........

Hair today......

God this seems like another life time... Thanks Mick for digging them up..... i'll get you back

Lazy

At least Sharen has something to run round in, in the winter

Hi everyone promised I'd tell you what happened to "my girl". I'm working on it promise. As you can see we try and make the most of the time off and the nice weather. So when I'm at home it's wash "my girl", cut the lawn, then go out and enjoy ourselves with our friends. Winter will soon be up on us so I'll have plenty of time to keep the blog up to date then. Will try and bring it up to date before, I'll try. Just going out, swimming in the sea, sea fishing,bbq'ing on a small island, spending time with good friends, great home cooked meals and generally having fun takes residence at the moment. Getting to slip into the Canadian way "work hard, play even harder"... Did I tell you we have a car know (Sharen keeps telling me it's an SUV).

Take care and I promise to get you up to date soon

Taking a long weekend off with some friends. Life's hell here, but someone has to do it....

Mmm this story yet to come

Bought our first motor this weekend

Now this is the way to holiday. This is a private vehicle. Talked to Sharen about it and the retirement plans are being made already

Part 2

Well I left Newport early Tuesday morning as planned. Thing was the day before it was so hot I broke out the old shorts, and planned on wearing them the next day. Problem is it was chucking it down, so shorts put away and jeans back out of the wardrobe. The joourney was going okay till I cleared Brewer ME and was just getting towards the "Airline". Someone had knocked a Skunk over and it lay in the middle of the carraigeway. So I aimed the truck so the wheels passed either side of it, did'nt want to squash it and get smeely skunk on the truck. It was still the wrong thing to do. The heater sucked in all the smeel as I passed over the top. Oh boy what a stink, never smelt anything so bad. Took ages to get that horrible bloody smell from the cab. Air freshner spraying, even shut the windows and smoked a cigar to get rid of the stink. Let me tell you if you've never smelt a Skunk, let me tell you, you don't want to. Anyway besides that the trip up to Bridgewater went well. Dispatch had asked what my plans were when I was back and I'd told them home for the night then straight back out on the Wednesday morning. Trl dropped at Mitchelin, hooked up to a loaded one, dropped that back into Halifax, then home. All be it for one night, but home just the same. The following morning I went into dispatch at 8 and Chris gave me a job, down to Lake Eutpia NB to pick up a load of paper then onwards to Schenectady in New York State. Easy run as it was'nt booked in till the Friday morning. But on the way to pick the load up Chris sent a message asking if i could be there for 1345 the next day. This was no problem as Schenectady is'nt that far and it was still going to be an easy run. So loaded, crossed the border and headed for Newport again for the night. On the way down the next day the Qualcom went off with my reload instructions. Could'nt believe my luck, I was reloading at the same place as I was delivering. Again easy run back up to Quebec with 2 deliveries the next day. So with the 2nd delivery off by lunch time on the Friday my next pre-plan was sent through. Into our terminal in Saint Laurent for the poolcar that night. Nice one home for Saturday night, Sunday off and back out Monday. Heck must have needed the sleep more than I thought because I missed the knock on the cab door and did'nt wake up till 3am. Never mind there were 3 trls to choose from and took the light one bound for Dartmouth. Still be home for 5 that night. It was a good run back, dropped the trl at Armour in Dartmouth and bobtailed home. Bath and down the "Tavern " for a drink. Sunday was spent chilling (after washing the truck of coarse) on the deck. It's unbelievable where we live it's so peaceful and relaxing. Well catch you again soon with the next instalment, but for now got to get another cold beer out of the fridge and chill some more... It's a hard life...

Q'ing on Peace Bridge heading into the States

I 95 North Carolina

The above 3 are in a rest area in North Carolina