Greetings from billings Montana

Hello all. After waving tom goodbye it was work as usual which involved a switch (swap trailers) at a place called Craigellachie as I didnt have enough time to do the British Columbia load, reload and be back at High River in time for the load I have now which will take me to Sioux City Iowa.
Customs was a bit of a pain this morning as it was busier than usual and an hour was wasted in the line waiting to enter the States however meat inspection was a dream and I was there for no longer than 15mins.
As the title says I am parked at Billings as I only had 30 mins available to work. I think someone is looking over me as its notorious to get a parking space here but after fuelling I found what must of been the only free slot and low and behold I have a cracking internet signal. Glorious !!
Its a busy day tomorrow and will need to run the full 11hrs driving time which will still leave me a few miles over to run into Iowa for the delivery on the morning of the 31st. I prefer to get to the customer the night before but things dont always happen that way.
Most of my spare time lately has been taken up by photo-editing, I even bought a book on how to do it which is the size of a yellow pages. Things are slowly clicking into place but its all still a little confusing. The big pic at the top of the page shows the results of a lot of grief and swearing, the smaller picture is the untouched version which was taken running across to BC.
Hope you like them !!!

Tom's trip is over......

Since I was 17 and joined the army I have always found it easy to just get up,wave goodbye and go. The same was true when I did the European driving, gone for months at a time and didnt bat an eyelid about leaving people behind, I suppose its been bred into me.
Waving Tom off at the airport today was one of the hardest things I have had to do. To be honest it was bloody awful.
You all might not know that before I came to Canada Tom and I didnt see eye to eye on a few issues and I left without really speaking to him. While over here I didnt really think about him that much (thats horrible I know) The last 6 weeks have woken me up, he is almost an adult now and has grown really quickly into a very nice young man, just as I had hoped he would when he was a baby.
Tom, if you read this, and I hope you do, I love you very much indeed and will miss having you around. Who is going to make my coffee on a morning or fill my mug at the soda fountain? The truck windows will never be as clean again.
Make sure you carry out or at least try doing some of the things we spoke about, Darlington is not everything and your mates wont be there forever. Give life your best shot, look at me !
I hope your flight is a good one, as I write this you will be sat in the departure lounge no doubt checking out the air hostesses or trying your luck with some lady who is on the same plane.
Good luck Tom, I will always be here for you.

To bring you up to date...

Well, after a few trips across the rocks I find myself sat in Calgary. Tom flies home tomorrow so its been difficult to get any decent work as I dont want him to miss his flight. So, just hanging around for the time being and waiting to see if anything needs running to Lethbridge or Edmonton which I dont think is going to happen.
The gossip factory seems to have been working overtime and word has got back that I am not happy with the way things are going. Its true and yesterday I had a chat with Steve W who said he would have a look into whats going on and fingers crossed things should get back on the same track they used to be.
Like I said, nothing has really happened this last week, I havn't even taken many pictures but come Monday things should get back to normal.

Just a scary thought to leave you with. Tom has found out that you can drive a truck over here at 18yrs old, now that puts the fear of christ into me....

Water Fountains at Bellagio Las Vegas.

Vivid setting on camera works well in Idaho

Survived Las Vegas so its homeward bound.

Called in at Peggy Sue's diner on the way to Las Vegas to get a few shots we missed the first time.

Cool backdrop


Caesars Palace


Waiting for the fountains to start at Bellagio

Hi, showed Tom the sights and came out pretty unscathed other than a lighter wallet and sore legs from all the walking.
Hit the Strip around 3pm and set off, first call was Excalibur then we took the skytrain to Mandalay Bay which was cool as its one of the casino's I havn't been into. Back on the train to New York New York then across to MGM Grand.
Basically we tried to cram in as much as possible which is not really advised as there is so much to see and do.
Toms highlights were Caesars Palace, the fountains at Bellagio and possibly the one he will never forget which was having his pic taken with a Hooters girl.
The day flew past so quickly and before we knew it the hands on the clock were pointing to 4am...oh my god. Luckily I could start driving until after midday but yesterday was a tough one and last night we both slept like babies.
Parked at Payson UT last night and have now called it a day at Butte montana.
Have left myself with 477 miles tomorrow which is no big deal, I could of done some more driving tonight but I wanted the internet to be able to put up this post.

Screwed again by Consignee's

Once again the customer is always right, or so they say !!
Arrived at my last delivery bright and early this morning, 6am to be precise, only to be told that the goods inwards opened at 7am. OK....
Went back at 7 and was told I wasnt booked in....OK....
Said they would unload me at 9am, cool...
Went back at 9 and was fobbed off with "we will call you" ...OK
Eventually I was put on a bay at 2pm, was told I might be a while and was asked for $150 to be unloaded. I was furious, called them 'effing' bandits then stomped back to the truck to arrange an EFS Cheque.

Time was now running out, USA despatch had worked out a trip for me that was loading a day early which meant that I had an extra day to make the delivery appointment back in Calgary, or to put it in other words I had time to reset in Las Vegas. Thanks to Mark/Doug for arranging the load, its much appreciated.

Arrived at Port Hueneme to load bananas with 30mins to spare, was loaded in less than 20 mins and set off on my merry way.

Today could of been so much easier and less stressful, the blame lies totally with the consignee and the way I was messed about. I wonder if these people have the same laid back attitude when there cable goes off and they are told it will be a few days before it can be repaired. Welcome to my world.........!

First delivery off, one to go.

After ploughing through the snow we made good time and parked at Payson Utah for the night then ran the next morning into Arizona and Nevada. The plan is to stop at Las Vegas on the return leg of the trip so we bypassed The Strip and ran to Primm to do a little retail therapy in the outlet mall there.
Spent more than I bargained for as Toms face lit up when he saw the Nike store, Kenneth Cole and Tommy Hillfiger.

Left there and then called it a day parking at a really cool place in California which was Peggy Sue's 50's Diner. Peggy Sue was a Hollywood Starlet and in 1954 opened a Diner in favour of acting. The place is full of old memorabilia, signed pictures of Hollywood stars and the food is really good. I recommend a visit, dont forget your camera like I did. If you are lucky you may see an old man sat at the end of the bar called Pops, who will happily chat away and ask you a ton of questions, it was after our meeting with him we found out he is Peggy Sue's father and lives next door to the diner.

So, arrived at the first delivery this morning and after a bit off a carry on getting onto the dock was unloaded in quick time, all for a lumpers fee of $40.
Tom spotted another huge outlet mall and once again adidas ,Timberland ,Rockport and suchlike did there best at offloading my hard earned cash.

Its now Tuesday night, we are parked at Ontario California and are an hours drive to my last delivery in Vernon. Hopefully, fingers crossed we will get a load of bananas and be parked in Las Vegas for tomorrow tea time.

Little Bighorn battlefield

Bit late with this post as I forgot we had been.
If you drive south through Montana heading for wyoming you come across the place where General Custer and 210 of his men got there arses wupped by Indian Warriors from Cheyenne, Arapaho and Lakota tribes in 1876.

There is no commercial access to the battlefield, parking is available either on the road or if you are lucky next to the gas station, then there is about a 2 mile walk to the site. Entrance is $5 and allows you entry to the site and the visitors centre.

To be honest, unless you have a genuine interest in that sort of history then it might be considered a bit of a disapointment i am sorry to say.

Taken this morning, snow...arrgghhh

Winter is here.........already !

From this.......
To this in less than 2 days
First casualties of the snow and ice

Howdy, on my way to sunny California, taking Tom to Las Vegas and winter decides to kick in, bloody awesome !!!
Woke at Helena to a light covering of snow which got steadily worse the further south we headed. As far as I am aware the Interstate is closed about an hour down the road so I will sit and keep an eye on the Idaho website until it opens. An easy trip is now going wrong...again.

The last week.

Tom at the observation tower in vancouver
The tower in Vancouver is on the far right
The Chinese gardens in ChinatownWierd and wonderful stuff for sale at the Chinese Markets

Hi, sat in Delta for a while then decided to go into Vancouver itself and check out the city. Caught a bus from just outside the yard which took us to the skytrain station then jumped on the skytrain which took us to Metropolis which is Canadas second biggest Mall, back on the train to the Waterfront where we checked out the observation tower which isnt that tall when you compare it to the picture (tower is far right).
Then it was off to Chinatown where our eyes were opened by the stuff the markets have for sale and what is offered in the restaurants, no part of any animal is off the menu.
So, picked up a trailer and headed in Washington to deliver on 9th Oct then reloaded fries back to Lethbridge. Yesterday morning ran to High River to pick a trailer up for Palm Springs and Vernon california which is good news as Tom will get to see Las Vegas plus add a few more States to his list.
All was going well until this morning, Sunday 12 Oct...........

1880 Town South Dakota

Hi all, I am still furious about the waste of time that was the last few days so I am saying nothing else about it.

The I-90 through South Dakota is a pleasant enough drive, it also has its fair share of things to see. Today Tom and I took some time out to visit the 1880 Town.
Although not an original town, all of the buildings and artifacts are. It was the brainchild of Richard Hullinger in 1972 who set upon himself to build an original attraction using period buildings.

I can recommend visiting, the cost is $9 and you can spend as much time as you like inside, for a meagre $5 you can rent period dress and walk around talking pictures whilst looking the part.
There is ample parking for big rigs although there was a sign saying "No overnight parking".

Just shoot me !

Its at times like this when I feel like saying "Just shoot me".
Collected an empty trailer yesterday from Waterloo and ran just over 3hrs to Storm Lake Iowa where I was reliably informed by security that I should drop the trailer and it would be loaded promptly.

What a load of arse!!!!

26hrs later,the trailer is loaded but suprise-suprise the paperwork is not ready.
So now a nice easy run back to Langley British Columbia is rapidly turning into a flat out race to make the delivery time. Thing is, I will now have to run big hours and my logbook might not agree with the delivery schedule and the time I have to do it in, I need to look at that.

The thought of asking for a layover is rearing its ugly head again, do I argue the toss I have been here for over 24hrs or keep my mouth shut and just grin and bare it? I think if you read my blog regularly you know the answer to that.

In other news, the weather has been great, Tom isnt bored yet and I have just stocked up on Mountain Dew (Soda), all of which make the world a better place.

Fingers crossed I get out of this place soon, like I said its pretty warm so the smell and flies are grating at my patience.

For those interested the route back is as follows: Storm Lake Iowa....Sioux City Sth Dakota....Sioux Falls Sth Dakota....Spearfish Sth Dakota....Broadus Montana....Butte Montana....Kellog Idaho....Spokane Wasington....Ellensburg Washington....Seattle Washington....Blaine Washington....Langley British Columbia.


TomTom (satnav) has the trip calculated at 1756 miles which now instead of having 4 full days to get there I have 3, courtesy of bone idle office staff at the shipper, sort of makes you wonder how office managers justify cashing there paycheck !!!!!!!!

Made it to Waterloo.

Montana going into North Dakota

Tom, looks like a fat kid in his first candy storeI am saying nothing but he felt it was something he had to touch !!!!Rambo! Eat your heart out


Hello all.
All in all it was an easy run to Waterloo and the trailer was dropped off tonight.
Spent an hour or so in Cabella's which is a huge hunting store where Tom showed an unhealthy interest in the guns and hunting knifes and I am sure he would of gladly spent all day in there.
The route down took us through Montana, North Dakota, Minnesota and Iowa.
I have tried to introduce Tom to the local foods, such as huge doughnuts, 64oz drinks, burgers that you cant get your hands or mouth around and all you can eat buffets, all of which he takes in his stride.
Have had a preplan through but not holding my breath to do it until its confirmed as I need the same trailer as the one I have dropped off tonight.
Will update soon. See ya !!!