Monday, June 30, 2008

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.

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