Chrimbo Trees

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL



Okay lets go back a little while. Are you sitting comfortably, then i'll begin. It all started on the Monday, I remember it well as it was the day after Sunday. I rang in about 8 and was told to come in. When I arrived at the yard my friend Jozsef had just arrived. We were both told to bob tail to Bridgewater and pick up our trls full of those loverly Christmas trees. I ended up with 4 deliveries in Connecticut (not tooo bad). Now the thing is with delivering these trees, en't the unloading(handball everyone), it's the fact your taking a Highway truck where even a city truck would'nt go. So that night was spent looking at Google earth, so I could at least know what to expect when I arrived at each delivery. Now my 4 dels were garden centres(of sorts), the 2nd one was in a back water town selling animal feed and all sorts(s**t hole place actually). "You'll have to go down the road to turn round" he said. " I need you to back into my parking lot" (fit all of 4 cars and a bike in it) " plenty of room for you to turn round down the road" What a prat, I belived him. There was just anough room for Del Boy to turn his Reliant round in. Ahh well couple of shunts and it was done. When you deliver trees they always want them where the people can see them, which sometimes en't the best place for my truck to be. Take the last del, bloody great Garden Centre, big parking lot, big goods in area, where did they want them? In a small parking lot in front of a dog grooming place. High kerbs, fire hydrants and cars. No got to admit love a challenge, to get 72 foot of tractor and trailer in some of these places and coming out un scathed, is quit rewardind in it self. Now this was the Wednesday I was doing these dels, now Penny in Dispatch told me my reload was from Tottawa, New Jersey and I had to be there before 4. Whats the problem with that I hear you say. Well the following day was Thanks Giving in the States, and if I did'nt get loaded that night I'd be stuffed till the following Monday, as they took a long weekend. Well I think everyone had headed out of New York on the Tuesday as the GW bridge was moving pretty good, which was a relief, and I made it to Totowa just before 4. The load was heading for Ajax, ON so it was a pretty straight forward run up to there. Delivered that on the Thursday morning, picked another load up from Concord bound for Dartmouth. Sorted, I was going to be home Friday night, take Sat and Sun off and head back down the road Monday. Well it sort of went like that. Through October and November they have a Winter Safety meeting most Wednesdays, keep you up to date with any changes, tests and all that B' s**t. It just to show the DOT that the drivers are kept up to date on training etc (like I said B' s**t). Well I'd managed to avoid going to one and the following Wednesday was the last one of the year. I did'nt drop my p'work in on the Friday night so I popped round and dropped it in on the Saturday morning. Ron (head of Dispatch) was in so I asked him if I really needed to go. "Yes" was the reply "but don't worry i'll keep you busy on local work Monday and Tuesday" he said. He's good like that, the local miles soon add up and anything round the City is paid by the hour so I've never lost out. 2 days resulted in 860 miles and 7 hrs pay, which en't bad.

Going for a smoke catch you with part 2 in a bit

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