South Carolina

Right I'll miss out the first couple of trips of the year. They were pretty hum drum, a trip to Lawrence MA, a trip to Rotterdam NY and some local stuff to make up the milage. Well Monday the 23rd looked like it was start off the same. I was told to go to Lake Utopia NB and pick up a load for Schnectady NY. This is an easy run, in fact I call it a local run. Now I could have been there Tuesday afternoon but the booking was'nt till Wednesday morning. So parked up just after lunch time Tuseday the day was mine. Feet up watching a DVD when the sattelite went off. Apparently the customer had had some cancellations and I could head in and get unloaded if I want. Might as well, get them wheels turning. 8rolls of paper unloaded and MT message sent to dispatch then the silence came. I headed for a Pilot Truckstop down the road and rang Dispatch. 2choices either run mt up to Montreal or sit there till morning and see if they could find me a load. Well I knew there was no guarentee of a quick load in Montreal so it was either sit here and get a load or sit in Montreal waiting for a load. So I decided to sit still. In my mind it was in Clarkes interest for me to wait there, why run mt when you can have something paying the miles on board (I get paid mt or loaded). So Wednesday morning came round and to my surprise it did'nt take Sales too long to find a reload, head to Saugerties(58 miles away) and pick up a load for Montreal. Hell this guy did'nt mess about I was turned round within 30 mins, paperwork sent to the Custom Broker as well. On to the I-87 and Northward bound. The Pre Plan said the load was'nt due till Thursday morning but i thought i'd try it that night. But on route i had to go through a State Trooper check. In the States they have their weigh stations but they also use rest areas along the Interstates. It's like a procession of trucks through the parking lot and they stand there and take their pick on who to check. Well today was my turn, I was informed they were going do a Level 2 inspection. Thats paperwork check, log book, truck and trl documents, diesel receipts(to make sure they match the log book) and load paperwork. The tractor and trl go through inspection for faults as well. There are 3 levels of Inspection, Level 3 thats just log book and vehicle documents, Level 2 as I've just explained and Level 1, this is the big one, paper check and the truck and trl go through a check equivelant to the safety certificate check(MOT). Within 20 mins I was back on the road with a sheet of paper saying I'd passed, no infractions at all. Result $15 bonus for me. Clarke give us $15 for a clean Level 2 and $25 for a clean Level  1. Nothing unfortunately for a Level 3, which is a shame as I've had 3 of them in the last 6 months(all clean as well). Anyway border crossed and into Montreal. I found the place and went into see the guy and he was very helpful(for a French man) and within 25mins of backing on the door I was mt and ready to go. Quick call to Penny in Dispatch and because I was'nt due there till the following morning nothing had been put on the screen for me. So I informed her I'd head for our terminal in St Laurent and give Ron a ring first thing. Thursday morning rolled round and sat in the terminal till about 11am, then the sattelite went off. "If they place a trl for me in Moncton NB, could I be in Laurens, South Carolina for Monday morning". So I rang Chris in dispatch (he runs all loads in Quebec and Ontario) and said to him getting to Laurens would'nt be a problem but I needed a load asap to get me from Montreal to Moncton. "Working on it now" he said. Not bad within 30 mins i got a message to hook up to an mt Tridem and head to Baxters soup in St Hyacinth to load for Moncton. All sounded well, St Hyacinth is only 43 miles away and when I got there, there were only 2 trucks in front of me, but then it went all pear shape. The load was'nt completely finished yet. Informed Dispatch and they could'nt believe it as it was a PDQ load. It was needed in Moncton asap. "Ah well Penny said you can only do what you can do, give us an eta when you know". It did'nt worry me much, not my f' up and I was being paid for waiting, just don't like sitting around. I eventually got out of there at 7 that night....... miss a bit here......... Next morning Ron asked what my eta would be and I informed him 1230. About 11 Penny asked if my eta was still going to be 1230. I sent a message back "eta now 1215". Got there 1207. As they were unloading me a message was sent to me from Dispatch " the customer wants us to give you their thanks for getting the load there so quickly. Awesome job Buster". It makes it worth while when you get thanks for doing your job. Anyway mt and a short hop across to our trl yard to drop this mt and hook up to my load. Called at the truckstop in Salisbury NB and faxed the paperwork to the custom broker and the ACE details to Dispatch. The out bound trips the Custom Broker handles the PAPS (Pre Arrival Processing System)  and Dispatch do the ACE (Automated Commercial Enviroment) paperwork. It all speeds up the crossing. If everyone has done their bit by the time you get to the US border they know who you are and what your carrying as you pull up to the booth. I hand them my ACE form and passport, it's checked on the computer and off we go. Well not at Calais ME every truck has to go through X-ray before heading off.

I love going to the Carolinas, told you before, such a beautiful drive down to there. Well shit weather behind me time to call in at Roosters to get "my girl" washed. Rooster (Fritz is his real name) is a great charecter, his place is just South of Hazleton on the I-81. Value for money, he and his buddy do one excellent job. Truck a nice and clean,soI run my hours out for that day and park up at Carlisle (no not the BP truckstop), Carlisle, Pennsyvania. 10hrs off and an early start Sunday morning saw me pulling into Mitchelin drop yard in Laurens at 2pm that day. Ezpeze, drop loaded one hook up to mt for a reload from Mitchelin in Greenville SC about 38 miles away. Hang on though one little problem, there was no pick up number. Call Wade in Dispatch "sales were'nt expecting you there til tomorrow so we'll get it to you that number ASAP in the morning" was the response. So a message back "okay will start pestering you about 8am" "looking forward to all your messages already "Wade replyed. I've a reputation for continually sending messages and pestering dispatch when I'm sat waiting. Well got to keep them on their toes. I headed down to Mitchelin the next morning dropped my mt and waited for my pick up number. PU# received and was soon on my way to London, Ontario. Now this was my 8th day on the road and I had'nt reset my hours, but there is a way of working it (and it's legal) were you count back 7days(in the US) to get back your 8th days time(count back 6 in Canada). It doe'snt give you all your hours back but enough to keep going. This is why they brought a law in where on the 14th day of working you have to take 24hrs off. A reset of 36 hrs is not mandatory, it's crazy. Oh what a drive from Greenville, them Cherokee foothills, AWESOME. My journey back took me through Tennesse, Kentucky, Ohio and Michigan. When I arrived at London I was too early for my booking (day and a half in fact), they could'nt take it so I ended up dropping the trl at our Terminal in Concord ON. Next plan of action bobtail to Mitchelin Trl yard in Hamilton ON, hook up to a load going to Mitchelin drop yard in St Laurent, E Z life. Next day dropped the trl bob'd to our yard picked an mt up and went for a load from St Leonard QC bound for Halifax. Now this was Wednesday and with the way I was running my hours I'd only get as far as  Moncton on the Thursday and I'd be parked up by lunch time, so an idea came into my head. A quick call to Ron was needed. I explained what was going on and he said "no problems your not due back into Halifax till Friday" "I know I said but you got any Loblaws need doing Thursday night". Sorted he had, easy job and good money, think I've explained before about Loblaws. While I was parked up Thursday Ron sent a driver to meet me to take my trl as he'd got another load for me to pick the next morning to drop at Truro. 10am Friday morning I was unhooking from my trl in Truro, so a message was sent "next pls". A pre plan was sent to me Truro to Dartmouth but no street address and no trl numbers, so a quick call was made. "your on the random drug test list so can you bobtail to Dartmouth and take it, then when done come in and see us". Once the p was taken a quick visit to the office to drop my paperwork off and home.... Lovely weekend at home.

  My thoughts are with all the Kents at this most difficult time. Richard will be missed. They were some great years when I worked for the family, ask Mick, ask any of the old drivers. Rich was a lovely guy and was taken from this earth far too early.
You all stay safe catch you soon