Monday, June 30, 2008

Out of High River and not before time.

Well things got steadily worse and the smile was quickly slipping from my face along with my patience.
The load was finally ready to collect at 6.30pm so into the yard I went and hooked up to a trailer with a bad airleak, so bad the brakes would not release or the airbags inflate. I unhooked and called the mechanics and at 9pm they arrived and said they had looked at the trailer and it was fine. I felt like an idiot but they said they wouuld rebuild the leaking valve and it should be ok.
At 11.30pm I finally pulled out of High River and called it a night planning a little lie in as meat inspection didn't open until 12.
Called in at Lethbridge to collect my mail and the Ace manifest then set off to the border which was cleared in a matter of minutes.
The computers were down at the meat inspection so I joined the line of 14 trucks and wasted 4hrs waiting until I was ready to go.
I am now at Great Falls Montana and feel exhausted even though I have had so much time off. Hopefully there will be no more hold ups and the rest of the trip goes well.
There is a glimmer of hope to the last few days as Steve W has authorised a 36hr layover for the time in High River and has promised to look into the outstanding layovers that I have.

What a crappy week !!!!

Hi, well things have been pretty grim the last few days due to a number of factors.
The load to Saskatoon was dropped at the customer and the plan was to reload at 10am out of Saskatoon with a load for Calgary. I finally picked up the load at 5pm and after fueling was on my way by 6pm. Drove through a few storms and arrived in Calgary at 1am on Thursday morning.
I had been asking to have the truck serviced at Lethbridge as its been over 3mths since I have spent any time there and I was preplanned on a load from High River which would get me there. This was promptly cancelled and I was informed that I not only was to have the service done at Calgary but I also had to reset as well.
So, the truck was taken to Penske who look after the trucks and I was told it would be a few hours so I sat in the sun and waited until 3pm when I found out the truck wouldn't be ready. A hotel room was booked and paid for by H&R and a $24 cab fare later I was in possibly one of the worst hotels in Canada. I know H&R bosses read this so can I suggest that alternative accomodation could be found for drivers who need a room whist in Calgary, the place is a dump!
Friday morning after forking out $26 on a cab fare back to Penske I found out that I needed to take the truck to Thermoking as they would fix the aircon so I first called at the yard as H&R were throwing a BBQ lunch which was very nice so thanks for that. Sat at Thermoking for 4hrs and was told that the truck aircon is Penske's responsibility so I gave up on the idea of getting that fixed and drove to a truckstop just down the road.
Saturday morning I arived at High River to collect a load for Spanish Fork (Utah) and Pueblo (Colorado) which I was looking forward to as I would run through the ski resorts of the rich and famous, Vail and Aspen. Well, arriving at High River happened almost 24hrs ago, the paperwork is not ready, the load needs to be rebooked and at 6am sunday 29th June I am writing this and still waiting.
The USDA meat inspection closes at 1pm today so unless I am out of here in the next 3hrs I will miss that and it doesn't reopen until Monday lunchtime.
What it all boils down to is that since 8pm on Tuesday 24th June when I dropped the trailer at Saskatoon until the present, 6am Sunday 29th June I have driven the grand total of 394 miles.
To put it into monetary terms 394 miles = $157 before tax. To this "may" be added a 24hr layover of $150 if I am here for another 4hrs although this depends on wether I get paid it as I still have pending payments from months ago.
So, I am a little bit miffed and not looking forward to spending any more time than I have to in this place. The sun is warming up, its 6.30am and its 64f so it wont be long before the stench of a meat factory is overpowering.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Camera working when it wants.

As you may of noticed there has been a lack of pics lately which is due to my camera sometimes deciding not to focus. So I think it may be time for a new one and I need your help.
I am looking for something that is small enough for my pocket,has a good zoom and has plenty of features. A cross between a point and shoot and a digital SLR would be ideal.
Anyone with any ideas please leave a comment. Thanks

ps. at the minute I use a Sony Cybershot 7.2 megapixel

Back working days.

Hi all, after 2 shifts of starting a midnight I arrived in Winnipeg and was swiftly offloaded. With no time left for the day I had the pleasure of relaxing,doing some laundry and then enjoying a good nights sleep.
Woke up this morning and headed into Winnipeg to collect a loaded trailer which I predicted would cause me a problem as H&R reckoned there was 66000lb in the back of the trailer and this would push me well overweight. As it turned out there was no where near this amount so I fueled and headed to Saskatoon which is a trip of about 500miles. Dropped the trailer in the customers yard and I am now sat at the Flying J here and planning another early night.
I need to call dispatch in the morning and find out what they have in store for me as the truck is due a service and there is a few jobs that need doing.
Speak soon, see ya !

Sunday, June 22, 2008

Running nights in Canada

Hi, just a quick note as the internet connection is terrible here.
Picked a trailer from the yard at Mississauga loaded with a delivery to winnipeg and having to run through the night to at least get there sometime around the booking time. Started at midnight last night and have to do the same again tonight, the weather is awful so I am sure you can imagine I am a bundle of joy.

Friday, June 20, 2008

New York added to list.

Yellow cab and a cop in the Bronx
This sign is eveywhere you want to be.Throgs Neck Bridge to Long IslandFirst impressions after crossing George Washington Bridge
For some unholy reason, god knows why but not for one second did I think I would have to go into New York.
Beep went the satellite, sh*t went me........... Load from Long Island NY.
I needed to find a truckwash, the customer and I hadn't planned any of it.
Nobody nearby knew of a truckwash but thankfully I managed to borrow a weak internet connection from a nearby hotel and found one 2 miles from the customer so that was that sorted. Next was how to get onto Long Island, I didnt know which bridges/tunnels trucks could use or how much they cost but I remembered lads talking about the George Washington bridge so after tapping the address into the (Not so much use in NY) satnav I set off.
Queued to get onto the bridge, trucks use the upper level and duly paid $40 for the pleasure. The traffic stopped while crossing and I was shocked at how much the bridge bounces and sways.
The going was really slow and guess what ? There is not too much to see other than signs pointing you in the direction of places that previously belonged in movies.
Things sped up and before too long I was heading for Throgs Neck Bridge still unsure if trucks could cross it onto Long Island. All was ok and $27 paid I was rolling on. TomTom found the truckwash ($60} and the customer and I was starting to feel a little more confident about the whole thing.
Loaded up and headed off back the way I had just came when traffic stopped. There had been a major wreck on the Long Island expressway and this cost me a good few hours.
Then it all went a bit wrong !!
TomTom totally lost its sense of direction and was trying to send me through low bridges and other limited roads and before I knew it I was heading straight into the heart of the Bronx. I planned my route out with the map but evey turn had some sort of restriction...deeper into the bronx.
In the end I was so stressed I just thought screw it and planned on just staying on that road until I hit a major highway I could use regardless of where it took me. Fortunately this happened sooner rather than later and I was heading north on the I-87. You have no idea how relieved I was.
From there its pretty much the same road into Canada and I dropped the 10 pallets of brake shoes I was loaded with in Cornwall Ontario and the ran empty to Mississauga where I dropped the empty trailer.
As much as I was stressed and initially a bit wary of New York now I have a rough idea of "how it works" I will have no problem going back.
Speak soon.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

Empty in New Jersey




Well, its all over. Arrived in Carlstadt New Jersey last night and unloaded this morning.
i have had mixed thoughts about this trip, financially its a really good run but it has been sooooo boring. I expected big things from driving through Pennsylvania but never once uttered "Wow". Last night was too dark to comment on New Jersey but one good thing was the customer was easy to find and I could park outside.
So, to ask myself a few questions...
Would I do the trip again?.....Of course, but 4 days to do 2450 miles is hard work.
Any highlights?......Finding I could park at the customer.
Plus points in going to New Jersey....Adding 3 new States to my list.
Any negative points?....Waiting for a reload.
Anything else?....Felt a bit claustraphobic in Pennsylvania because of the trees.

So that about sums it up, to be honest I feel a little down about the last 4 days but thats maybe due to the fact I might of been expecting too much from the trip in terms of things to see and also I feel really tired.

Fingers crossed my reload puts a smile back on my face but time will tell.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Still pushing on to New Jersey

Hi, well I am still on schedule to make my delivery time.
Pushed on yesterday and managed to clear Wisconsin, Illinios and Indiana. Thankfully Chicago caused no drama and the traffic was pretty light.
I still have about 400 miles to go but compared to how far I have come in the last 3 days its nothing.
The weather has cooled off a little and a few drops of rain splattered the windscreen this morning as I set off in Ohio, its 60f at the minute.
So, Ohio has been added to my list of States Visited and in half an hour or so Pennsylvania will be added along with New Jersey later on today.
Thats all for now folks, will write again when I get more chance.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Quick update.

Howdy everyone, just a quick update as I am on a tight schedule.
Ran flat out again yesterday and managed to transit North Dakota and Minnesota stopping for the night at the Wisconsin stateline.
It felt like someone was holding me down when the alarm went off this morning and to be honest, I didnt want to get up.
Received a voice mail from Trkrjim offering good advice regarding my delivery and parking in the area and then followed this up with a call which put any concerns I had to rest. I am looking forward to going to New Jersey but its all new to me plus I have heard horror stories about driving,delivering and parking when in the East.
So the plan today is to eat at Black River Falls Wisconsin, boot it through Chicago, fuel at Gary Indiana and get as far into Ohio as possible where I hopefully will of done enough to get me into Carlstadt New Jersey for the evening of the 18th. Fingers crossed.
I need to call the customer to see if there is any parking at his premises, which by the way, looks as if it backs on the Giants Stadium.
So, its time to get on with the rest of the day.
Speak soon

Monday, June 16, 2008

Running hard

Hi all. Well I am one day into a 4 day trip. Left Calgary yesterday morning, picked up a trailer from Brooks and ran to the Customs and meat inspection where there was a decent size queue in front of me. Fuelled at Shelby Montana then ran solid until I reached Circle Montana and called it a night after parking up at the scale there.
Total mileage was 1038km for yesterday. For me that is a big day and I have 3 shifts left like that to reach New Jersey in time for Thursday morning.
Its breakfast time at the minute in Beach North Dakota and if things go well I want to be a few hours into Minnesota tonight.
will let you know how things are going when I get chance.

Cya,Phil

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Lost email addresses



Howdy.
I have "lost" some email addresses from people who have tried to contact me regarding questions about life over here and especially about H&R as a company.
At the bottom of each post is a comments link where you can ask me anything you like or just leave general comments about the post/blog.
By using this other people can benefit from what you have to ask as it may also answer some of the questions they haven't thought of.
Cheers for now.

Rolling over my hours...the totals

Hi all, well rolling over my hours and seeing how long I could go without resetting came to an end last week.
I managed to go 30 days and in that time covered almost 13500 miles which means I averaged about 450 miles a day, 7 days a week.
By my reckoning I still had enough hours left to do a round trip to California in the timescale we are normally given and who knows after that as I didn't look that far ahead.
So 30 days is the record for myself to beat.

Its catch up time



Hi all, well I have been busy again following a bad start. I arived at the shipper to collect the load for 3 drops BC last week and sat for over a day which is a bummer as there is no facilities other than a portaloo and a phone. So left the next day and ran to Chilliwack where I did the first delivery then dropped the trailer in the yard at Delta. A loaded trailer was waiting so I hooked up and set away towards Edmonton. The road is a lot better than the one we use to get to calgary, its almost a pleasure to drive it as the scenery is great and I seem to see a lot more wildlife on this route.

The loaded trailer was dropped and again another was waiting for me to hook up to, destination .... Richmond BC.
So i set off again back the way I had just come but this time dropped the loaded trailer at the customers premises which was Coca-Cola. These loads are really heavy and it seems to take forever to drag them over the mountains.

So that was that over and done with and my next job came through, a loaded trailer from Richmond going to Calgary which meant going back over the rockies again.

At the minute I am parked at Calgary having to reset my hours for the second time in a week as my next delivery is to New Jersey and I wouldn't of had enough hours to get there.
All in all things are going well, the sun is shining pretty much all of the time, I still catch myself smiling to myself and the cash is coming in after I had some time off to go to New York.

I am looking forward to the New Jersey trip as I havn't been before and a few new States will be added to my list of "States visited".

Update soon

Hi all, sorry for the lack of posts but I will make up for it when I wake up. Been running BC for what seems like forever and as you should know by now getting an internet connection is harder than finding rocking horse sh*t.
Will bring you all up to speed in the morning.

Sunday, June 8, 2008

Waiting for trailer then off to British Columbia

The route for today, Calgary-Golden-Revelstoke-Kamloops-Hope and Chilliwack is under the Route 1 sign.


Good morning. Still sat in Calgary. I have been offered a preplan which will see me running into British Columbia and has 3 deliveries which are Chilliwack, Richmond and Annacis Island. The only hold up at the minute is I have to wait for an empty trailer to take to High River which is where I will pick up the loaded one.
I had to refuse a trip yesterday as I didnt have enough time to do it, it was a 4 dropper in Ontario and Quebec. The preplan showed the first delivery in Ontario but there was no way I could make it, however when I read the other load details the "actual" first delivery was in Quebec and there was not a hope in hell of me getting there in time. I got the feeling that despatch were not too happy about it and thought I was trying to swerve the load but there was no way I could do it so that was that.
The weather is still miserable in Calgary but at least it has stopped raining for the minute.
Well got to go, I am ready for the "off" as soon as I get a trailer number and I have a long day ahead of me. Its roughly 870km to Chilliwack and I need to be there for first thing in the morning, hopefully fingers crossed I will drop the partially loaded trailer at the Delta Yard so the city drivers can finish it off but hey, thats tomorrow and anything can happen.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

Back in Calgary.

Northern Montana yesterday


Well its been a bloody awful last few days as I have had to run nights to get this load here on time. Started at midnight last night and was told to drop the trailer at Lethbridge at 5am which was the time I estimated to be there. So I did as I was told and then popped into the office to see what was next on the adgenda. I was asked to take the trailer to Calgary and as I had enough time it wasnt a problem still its a mystery why I wasnt told to do that in the first place.
Made it to Calgary with 45mins to spare before the delivery time and dropped the trailer for a second time as the city drivers would put it on a bay when the customer wanted it.
So at the minute I am in limbo as I dont know whats next for me as I havent been planned on anything yet,time for a shower and some breakfast I think.
Cheers for now.

ps. its pouring down in Calgary,so much for the summer.

Thursday, June 5, 2008

Heading back north

Las Vegas Strip last night
The reason for my "out of service"
Virgin River Valley GorgeThe snow in Utah, this is actually a colour picture


Believe it I drove past Las Vegas and parked on the Nevada/California stateline.
The following morning I drove to the delivery in San Diego and was empty within the hour which was cool.
I had two collections, one from the docks in San Diego and the other was at Port Hueneme which is just above Los Angeles.
Fully loaded at 12.30 on Wednesday morning I set off north.
Over the last few days the Department of Transport has been doing a blitz all over North America, they are inspecting trucks,the documents and everything else that goes with it. I was pulled over yesterday morning in California and told to go into the inspection bay. All was going well until the inspector spent about 15mins under the trailer and found an airpipe had been rubbing on a sheath that is there to protect it. That was it, I was put "out of service" and was told the truck could not be moved until the fault had been repaired. A few phone calls later a mechanic arrived who was actually doing repairs to the truck in front of me and fixed the airline in less than 5mins. The repairs were re-inspected and I was given a clean bill of health. I personally believe that the "out of service" was harsh and an order to have the line fixed when back at base would have been more appropriate,still, it is the braking system and the inspectors were only doing their job.
Stopped in Las Vegas last night with Mark who is over here from Scarborough and who has followed my blog for a while. We spent a few hours wandering around,had some food and called it a night. It was good to meet you Mark.
The weather has been up to its usual tricks,hot,sticky and hazy in California, sand storms coming up through Nevada and last night in Utah a good couple of inches of snow fell. Unbelievable, its bloody June !!
So, I am on my way to Calgary,tomorrow is day 29 of rolling over my hours and so far I have covered 19340km (12087miles). My average daily mileage is still 431 per day.
Well, thats about it for now. Cheers

Sunday, June 1, 2008

Some panorama's from the last few days




My Log of Layovers.

Hi, layovers are a pain in the backside so a while back I started to log anything I thought I was entitled to and how they they took to get paid.
Its good news, I have been paid one of them but still have two older ones pending which I need to chase up.
The layover was requested on April 27 and was paid May 16 which is pretty quick and I cannot argue with that.
So its "thank you" to H&R for sorting that out, now what about the others !

Rolling over the hours.

Hi, I mentioned a while back I was going to see how long I could legally work for without having to reset my hours. So far the grand total is 24 days and I have tons of hours left.
I started this count on May 9th which was the day I came back from my hols and including today I have covered 16866km or roughly 10353mls. This equates to 431mls per day.
Included in this count are two 24hr break periods which keep things right for when I am in Canada so all in all its going well.
During this period every delivery has been made on time, I have not worked silly hours and all has been done legal.
Please remember that this is the way I like to work,if I had something to rush back for it would be totally different and thats one of the beauties of this job, H&R can pretty much accomodate every work ethic.
When I find a decent picture of North America that I can draw on I will post the pic showing my routes so far, cheers for now.

Its catch up time.

Storm brewing between Jasper and EdmontonRoad to Wenatchee, very green and very beautifulFancy black and white river shot
Enroute to Jasper
I think this is an Elk
Some sort of Deer, I am no David Attenborough

Hi all, its been a while but I have been a busy bee, plenty of work, plenty of time to get places and plenty of time off which is just how I like it.
I loaded apples from my last trip and took them to Calgary, dropped the trailer and hitched up to another bound for British Columbia. Dropped that at the Delta yard,picked up another and ran back to washington. In the trailer was a load of rejected apples so I unloaded them then reloaded from the same place before going to my second collection at Wenatchee Washington.
Back into delta yard, dropped trailer and picked up a load from Richmond BC which was bound for Edmonton. Its the first time I have done this run in the daylight and its a great drive with loads to see and fast roads.
Dropped in Edmonton yard, collected an empty and ran to High River, this trailer was put on the wash bay then it was bobtail to Lethbridge.

You all keeping up ??

Collected a trailer from the yard which is bound for Chula Vista (San Diego) California and at the minute I am parked just north of Salt Lake City Utah and due to deliver 12pm June 3rd.
Due to the way my hours are working out I have the choice of either spending tomorrow night at Las Vegas or driving passed and having an extra hour in bed the following morning, decisions decisions.......