Story so far

Quick catch on next trip. Quiet on the USA front so Ron asked me to go to Dartmouth load then take it to the boat in Nth Sydney. But while i was loading noticed my radiator was leeking coolant, so once loaded dropped the trl in the yard and across to Penske. New radiator needed, lot of empty promises and I did'nt get "my girl " back till Tuesday afternoon. So load down to St John NB for Wednesday morning, then down to Lake Utopia for a load to Hatboro PA. No rush, did'nt have to be there till Friday morning. Tipped Friday and up to Newark NJ for my reload going to Toronto. But again I'd be up there too early so I dropped it in our yard in Concord Saturday morning. Oh shit what a crap journey, it snowed Friday night. The driving was good until all the f'ing idiot car drivers got on the road Saturday morning. I say " if you don't like driving in the snow STAY AT F'ING HOME, don't drive down the highway at 30mph with your 4 ways on". Hell they really p me off. Once i'd dropped my trl I bob'd to Mississauga to pick up a load bound for Dartmouth. Result be home Sunday afternoon. Well the Sunday the roads were in pretty bad shape, lots of snow and it was freezing fast. Still made it to Dartmouth for 230pm, dropped the trl and bob'd back to the yard. Told them I'd be back in Monday morning as I wanted a full weekend at home the follwing weekend. No problem. Then Mark asked if I could be in Middleton for 7 the next morning, it's only about hour and half away. Easy, he said someone had gone to the rail port to pick up the container and it'll be in the trl park for me the next morning. Well 430 Monday morning saw me driving up and down all the trls trying to find mind, after the 3rd lap I gave up and parked by the office to await Ron's arrival at 6. Ron arrived checked the computer to find the container was still at the rail port. So PU# in hand I bob'd to CN. Things were not going to go my way, the container was on the chasis twisted so I could'nt do the front 2 locks up on it. So a couple of slow laps round the parking lot finally made the Container drop into place. Next problem, the right hand turn signal was'nt working, so a trip to PFT was called for. There they tried to tell me it was my truck and not the chassis at fault. Balls I'd had no problems with it, as a hook up to an mt in our yard proved. It was to late now to go to Middleton so I hooked to an mt Tridem and went to St John to load for St Laurent. Left that in our yard there and hooked to another load going to the boat in Nth Sydney. It was on the way back I heard the tragic news about Richard. Trl dropped at the boat hooked to an mt and back to Halifax. There Ron gave me a job load in Dartmouth, deliver to St John NB then spot the trl at Irving Tissue St John. Then bob to Moncton, hook to a loaded on there and bring back to Halifax. Shit when I hooked to that one in Moncton boy she was heavy, and in all the wrong places. I was over weight on my drives and even sliding the trl bogies all the way to the front did'nt help much. Decision time leave it or run the risk, i took the latter. First scale at Amherst and an amber light was given to me (report inside). He told me I was 800lbs over on the drives(tell me something I did'nt know) and could I slide the bogies. Well there was only one way and that was to take the locking bar out the front and pinch one more hole. Mean while he's inside going through my log book. Back on the scales and back inside. 400lbs now over. Okay he says forget about the weight ticket I'll give you a level 3. Nice guy, clean level 3. He then told me Enfield scales were open and to tell them I'd been let off with a warning and that they'd let me through. There was no problem there and I was soon back in Halifax. Home for the night, i went in Friday morning at 6. Ron looked up and said " thought you were going home for the weekend?" It's only Friday I told him and I'd stilll got hours to use. He looked at the screen told me there was'nt much about and to go home and have a nice weekend. Belive me I did. Work hard, play even harder. Awesome meal at The Keg Saturday night with my georgeous wife. Monday though comes round far to quickly........
Later

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

update

Parked up for the weekend in South Carolina, so I'll catch up with my blog

 Unloading in Jacksonville, Florida

 Get the Willie Nelson CD out

Richard Kent RIP

04/26/65 to 02/14/12

A Father, Husband, Son, Brother and a Friend.

Taken away from us far too early

Your going to be sadly missed Rich



Nice trip to South Carolina

Truckstop in Carlisle PA

Awesome views

Hope never to use one of these.

Cherokee foothills. Now this was one fantastic drive through the Cherokee National Park. Twisty road through the mountains, speed averaged 50 mph, but oh the awesome scenery.

This is the way to do it, make the inmates earn their keep. Cheap way of keeping the highways tidy as well.

Journey back took me through Tennesse, Kentucky, Ohio, Mitchigan then back into Canada.

And welcome back to Canada.

This was actually good going, got worse as night drew on, but speeds did'nt drop to much below 60mph.



It's here again

Quick diesel stop in Perth Andover NB

Shopping time at Wal Mart Newport ME

This was on the I90 NY State the other day. The truck in front was from Ontario and as it got worse it was only him and me in the outside lane overtaking.

Crossing the border at Lacolle QC Saturday morning. Just a quick visit to Canada, as i dropped my trl in our terminal at St Laurent, picked up a loaded one and headed back down the States. Them wheels en't turning I en't earning

Morning rush hour heading for Boston

Okay who watched "Boston Legal"? This is the bridge they show in the beginning credits to that great show. Never thought one day I'd be driving a truck over it.

When you come off the bridge it's down to the centre of the earth as you drive underneath the great City of Boston

Boston and Halifax(where i live) have such great ties. When there was the Great Explosion in Halifax, Boston was the first City to send food, workers and materials to help rebuild our City. Now each year we send them a Christmas Tree for the City Square



Part 2

Well Wednesday morning rolls round and saddo here (thought i'd say it before any of you did) got up early to wash the truck before turning in for the safety meeting which resulted me turning up 15 mins late(had to wash her properly). John(head of safety department) had arranged for 2 DOT guys to come in for a Q and A session and to show how they do a level 1 inspection. Well John had got the 1 st person who turned up to hook up to a trl with his truck so they could do sed inspection. Oh boy what a f**k up, the guy had'nt taken enough time off the previous night, his rear brakes where out of adjustment, air leak and play on the 5th wheel (someone has'nt been doing there pre trip properly). He was meant to be heading out after the meeting insted he had to put his truck in the shop and sit on his hands for a couple of days. Anyway the meeting was all over by 130 (did'nt tell you we get paid for turning up to these meetings) so I headed up to dispatch to see what they'd got for me. I should of slowed down and let someone else go up first cus as soon as I walked in Penny looks up at me and gives me a big smile and says" Buster just the person we need". Ron then gets up and walks across with a smile on his face, I knew then I should have made a run for it. "We're in trouble with a load can you help us out". My own bloody fault, should of asked what it was before saying yes. I'd just landed myself with a second load of trees. Each year a driver is expected to do one load of trees only. Now our usual work is just one delivery, if the load includes more we get paid extra for each delivery, Christmas trees is an extra $20 on top of the usual pay. Now this was my second load so Ron told me i get $100 on top. Result, that took the pain away. Now this load had 6 deliveries on, starting in Stoney Point NY and finishing in Virginia Beach VA. Right mixed bag of places to go to, 2 Fire Halls (fire stations), 3 garden centres and a church. Friday morning saw me backing into the small parking lot at the back of the Fire Station, the guys had'nt turned up so I made a start on the unloading. Thats where the pics were taken, the trees had'nt fallen out, i'd thrown them out. Firat 70 trees were delivered and i was off to my second Fire Hall in Merrick, which is on Long Island NY. Plenty of people on hand to unload and I was soon on my way to Raritan NJ. The place was easy enough to find, the only problem was was his gateway. G's with taking all the road up outside she only just got in there with inches to spare each side. Turning round inside involved a couple of shunts but not to bad. When the trl was loaded they must of counted them wrong as the guy ended up with 3 extra trees, which because i said he must of counted them wrong resulted in a $20 tip. Getting out was just as tight but was managed without incedent.  My next del was in Poquoson VA, I was'nt going to make it that night so just drove my time out, ended up south of Washington DC. Was going to call in for tea with the old President but did'nt think they'd appreciatte me parking on the Whitehouse lawn (bloody snobs). That first delivery Sat morning was one of the easiest I'd made, next was the Church in Chesapeake VA. Now this was the best part of the journey. Anyone driven Germany up to Sweden? Well they have the same system of getting over and under the water. You drive over a low bridge first and you see these ships crossing in front of you, next it's down we go into the tunnel under the sea. Anyway only had to del 30 trees here but they were all 12 footers and boy are they heavy. Some folks must have some lge houses for these beauties. Out of there and onto my final delivery, 200 for this one. Found the place and saw the tree lot at the side of the store, so swung across the main road and backed in. Mistake should have done it the easy way and walk in as they want them in the yard at the back. Wow easy, bloody great yard to turn round in. So trees off and trl swept out and onto my reload. I'd been sent the pre plan earlier, reload Aberdeen MD, which was ready Monday morning. Early shower, supper and reset my hours Sunday, or so i thought. I was just parking up at a TA in Baltimore(only 30 mins away from Aberdeen) when the satellite went off " pls ring me asap, Penny". I knew then my plans were going to go out the window and sure enough they did. They'd had another truck doing trees around Long Island and he'd ripped the roof off the trl. Thats the trouble with the area around NYC so many height restrictions and if you don't know the area you can soon be in trouble. Anyway he was meant to be picking a load up from Hazleton PA and delivering the first drop at 3am Monday morning "can I do it". Bit p'd off but I said I would. Now I'll skip over the next day as to do Hazleton PA to St John legally in a day is questionable, so mum's the word. Oh god I love my log book. The load had 3 drops on, St John NB, Fredericton NB and PEI. Ka ching, ka ching just listen to them dollars mounting up. Done at PEI and it was take the mt to our yard in Moncton, pick a loaded on up and head for Nth Sydney. Now i was planning on having the following weekend off, but by the time i got back into Halifax on the Tuesday morning my hours were 'cooked'. "No worries" Ron said," take Wednesday off and I'll keep you busy Thursday and Friday local so you can be home". Any other trucking company would have said 'tough, reset Wednesday then Thursday get back down the road'. Tell you I really landed on my feet when I got this job at Clarke, there one hell of a firm, so remind me of Draycotes. They know how to look after their drivers. In fact they have just been named as one of only two companies in the Atlantic Provinces to be named " Employer of Choice". This designation means they have met or exceeded the trucking Industries best practices, one of them being driver retention. No surprise there for me cus they treat you as a person and not a commodity.
Now it's Jan 15th and I'm sat reseting my hours in Bloombury NJ. I'll try and fill you in with work since the begining of the month later. Am going to make the most of the time now catching up on my emailing. You stay safe and I'll catch you soon. Thanks for reading my ramberlings.

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