Thursday, January 24, 2008

Shoppers Paradise. Mall of America


Hi everyone. As it turned out the load from Milwaukee is pizza so its full speed to Calgary as there is not much weight. My hours were running low again and yesterday I managed to get half a day at the "Mall of America". According to the internet its the biggest mall in the USA and to be honest I believe that the Metro Centre is bigger even though statistically the Mall of America is twice the size on paper. I didnt take many pics as its the same as any other mall. One thing I did notice was the lack of cash points (ATM)in the mall which I suppose is a tell tale sign of how the Americans rely on credit cards. The stores inside you can find anywhere and the big designers have kept themselves away, Las Vegas is the place for them.
I did have a go on a Nascar simulator and was terrible on the 11 lap race coming 19th out of 20. It threw me about so much while crashing at 200mph that I felt a bit sick when I came out and had to sit down for a while. Not sure if I would recommend going out of your way to see the Mall, its not even that impressive to look at from the outside.
Last night was really cold and the temp gauge in the truck said it was -12f (-24c)outside. You cannot really appreciate these temperatures until you witness them, within minutes the pain is terrible in your ears and hands. Oh yes I fell over last night on the ice when walking back to the truck from the Mall and gave my head a good crack, luckily nobody saw me.
I am going to have a think of how I can easily explain the driving hours over here and why some days I only have a few hours available to drive but the next I might have 12hrs.
At the minute I am at Fargo North Dakota and under 1000 miles from Calgary. Going to put a fresh brew of coffee on and then punch out another 6hrs driving.
Think thats it for now, bit boring as not much has happened but thats the way things go.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Monte,

A laymans view of the driving regs would be great. They all look a bit confusing to me. I looked at one site and it said you need to have a full 11hrs rest before entering the US, is this right?

Looking forward to this item mate.

Take it easy, hope the head is OK?

Andy

Montedarlo said...

Hi Andy. You do not need to have a break before you enter the states but you must be legal when you cross the border. For example if you driven for 12hr in Canada you need to take 10hr off as you can only drive for 11hr in the states.
I will try to explain it as basically as I can. Dont panic. Haha