Cath In Canada

Boo Hoo, no Barbie.

2012-02-20T01:24:00.003Z

We were promised a BBQ at Lexington South Carolina this weekend with some of the other boys from Watt and Stewart who were waiting for loads there, but we got loaded there on Friday afternoon and went up to Paducah, Kentucky to wait until Monday morning when we can legally run through Illinois.

Making the best of our reset here, we chose to book into a motel (Americas Best Value) for two nights to give us a break from the truck.

There is a well known BBQ place in Paducah with a good reputation, and wood stacked up outside which we had pegged yesterday ready for a lunchtime visit today.

We went 'round there today, and it's closed on Sunday!

I looked through the windows and as I did it smelled like the smokehouse in Whitby.

Oh well, maybe next time.

Picture by Cath

In 1996, the Paducah Wall to Wall mural program was begun by Louisiana mural artist Robert Dafford and his team on the floodwall in downtown. The over 50 murals cover a number of subjects, including Native American history, industries such as river barges and hospitals, local African-American heritage, the old Carnegie Library on Broadway St., steamboats, and local labor unions. (Wiki)

Picture by Cath

Steamboat traffic on the river.

The Coca Cola plant, closed in 2005.

Steamboat crews waiting for guests.

I always struggle taking shots of other peoples art work because they need to be seen in context, ie, full size in the correct setting. The pictures above are all along the flood wall alongside the river, and it's nice to see that they haven't been covered in graffiti, but the USA always seems so much more civilised, and well mannered place (in general).

Downtown Paducah

Tomorrow we head out for Alberta via Illinois, Ohio, South Dakota, North Dakota and Saskatchewan.

If we get back without any problems we should be able to turn and burn back south to who knows where.

Big Donuts.

2012-02-12T05:16:00.000Z

We are setting off tomorrow with big reels for Oklahoma, taking a zig zag route to avoid all the low bridges.
Our break went quickly, but we managed to meet up with some of the other lads who work for Watt and Stewart, including two of the newest drivers, who seem to be getting along great with the company.
A quick visit to Micks new house near Claresholm, a look around the vicinity and some shopping, followed by a meal at Roys Place in town left us relaxed and ready for an early night and a fresh start in the morning around 6am.

On a frozen lake with Mick Mc Garry. The ice was at least a foot thick.

Dereliction in North Dakota.

Just a few bits of video from the last trip, no fancy editing (no software) but may be of interest to other drivers.

The long road.

2012-02-09T04:54:00.001Z

We drove through 21 US States and 3 Canadian provinces in this last trip of about 7,500 miles.

The numbers are waypoints, not overnight stops!

Time to chill out at the Lazy J for a couple of nights.

Paducah, Kentucky

2012-02-05T03:05:00.000Z

Sitting at the Pilot truckstop in Paduchah where we have stopped for the night, showered and fed, with good internet access.

After unloading the tyres in Cochrane Ontario on Tuesday morning we ran down to Missisauga and squeezed into a spot at the really crap Pilot truckstop late in the evening, ready to run to our pickup in Brantford Ontario the following morning.

We were at the yard ready to load in a timely fashion, but they took an absolute age to get around to us!
The load was for two separate drops in South Carolina, Spartanburg, then Greenville which we duly set off with, crossing into the USA over the beautiful Bluewater Bridge at Sarnia Ontario.

The electrics in the truck had been playing up a little the last few weeks, but I had checked everything I could, and I assumed it might just be tired batteries, but on the way south it became clear that the alternator was buggered!
A quick call to the boss, Ryan got us a stop at a Peterbilt garage in Knoxville Tennesse, where after about an hour we pulled away with a new alternator fitted and working a treat. This was much better than the Pete dealer in Lethbridge where a simple service had us sitting in the workshop for ages before anyone even put a hand to it, apart from tipping the hood, and the whole deal took two days, for a simple service and some small repairs, and they clearly didn't see a problem with the electrics!

We crossed mountains in North Carolina at night, and feel sure that we will have missed some beautiful scenery, if the views we got in the mountains further north were anything to go by.
The two drops were done quickly and we kept on running, down to the tyre yard in Lexington to load some small (smallest we've carried yet) 11'4" off road tyres for Alberta.
An early overnight stop in Madison, Georgia due to the curfew time, and after greasing the truck and trailer at 5am, we ran up to where we are now, Paducah. We would have liked to have got to Mount Vernon, but an RTA on the highway stopped us for a while, so we lost some daylight time.
Tomorrow we will get up into Iowa, then Monday should see us stopping at Watertown South Dakota , where fellow trucking blogger Chris Arbon recommended a good place to stop.
These few shorter days should see us rolling the hours around without busting them and having to reset anywhere, and letting us get up to Claresholm for a cosy couple of nights at the Lazy J Motel. on Wednesday night or Thursday morning (weather permitting).

Late post.

2012-02-02T01:25:00.003Z

I wrote this post on Sunday, hoping to post it sooner, but we've been without internet, so since I wrote it we have cracked on a bit and we're now south of Detroit on the way to South Carolina with lumber from Toronto.

It's always nice to find small town USA, where the pace is laid back and the people seem more friendly, and Grand Marais ticked those boxes whilst we had a relaxing break there due to being unable to run our oversize load into Canada on a weekend.

Cath feeling the chill in front of the frozen bay.

On Friday night we had a wings and pizza supper at Sven and Oles and a couple of beers in the Pickled Herring bar.

We did try another bar, but the food was aimed at the hippy clientele, ie tofu and wild rice style concoctions, they also were charging $9 a glass for wine, which, although I don't drink wine much, gives an indication of the other prices for beer etc, and being a tight Yorkshireman, it was more than my delicate disposition could take, so we had a quick beer and moved on.
Saturday night we went back to Sven and Oles and had another good value, tasty, filling supper, and a couple more beers, but not the 'Blue Moon' beer which I tried the night before, which was served with a slice of orange, and according to Cath smelled like rotten veg.

We had wandered around the lake front on Friday, taking pictures in a bitter wind, but when we went back down on Saturday morning we were surprised to see that half the bay had frozen over during the night. It was also a nice blue sky on Saturday, so the pictures didn't look like black and white shots.

We had booked a room for two nights in one of the local hotels which was warm, clean and very comfortable, with nice staff, and our only disapointment was the 'fuel surcharge' scam, which is, what it is, a scam!

The bill for the room was as we had agreed when we checked in, but apart from the tax (which is always added) there were two other charges, one for the use of the amenities, and one for the fuel surcharge.

There was an explanation at the foot of the bill, which says it was a 'compromise' to avoid increasing their room rates, which is clearly ridiculous, so I told them I wasn't willing to pay either of the extra charges as they had never been mentioned at the time of checking in.

The extra cost was only $4.50 total for the two nights but, it wasn't the principle, it was the money!

We returned to the rest area near the border for Sunday night, and took the half mile walk up to the very impressive 'High Falls'.

High Falls waterfall near Grand Portage on the US Canadian border.

Much better in real life!

If we get this way again in summer we would definately try and make time for a stop here in this stunning area of Highway 61 Minnesota.

It's a gold mine!

2012-01-28T04:11:00.003Z

After an uneventful run down to Texas with a hay load, we were routed to Topeka Kansas to pick up some 13' 4" tyres to take to a gold mine in Cochrane Ontario.

Stopped for an inter-trip near St Pauls (couldn't spell Minneapolis)

We had to run short miles until we were given an exact plan, and only got final instructions when we were near the Canadian border.

The permit restrictions in Ontario mean we can't run on a weekend, and as we couldn't even get a pilot car to run us up to Thunder Bay on Friday, we had to find somewhere to park from Friday until Monday, so as we weren't near any facilities it meant running back down the northern shore line of Lake Superior to Grand Marais, Minnesota.

Originally we were told we would be delivering right to the mine which is 198k's from the town on a winter road, but now we shall only be going to a yard in Cochrane, which is way better for us.
The company will pay us layover pay for the weekend as we were willing and available to work, but the circumstances were beyond our control.

We left the trailer in a secure place close to the border crossing, and will pick it up on Sunday and run to the rest area at the border ready to cross first thing Monday morning.

Tommorow we will try and get some nice pictures from around town, if it's not snowing too much, but here are a few which we both took on the way here today.

Me snapping some icy rocks on the foreshore.

Pebbles frozen in spray.

Amazed at the strange sight.

Frozen waterfalls down on the right at the edge of the lake.

Life goes on...

2012-01-19T16:25:00.002Z

We returned from our last trip on Monday night, unloaded the tyres near the yard, slept in the truck and went to load hay on Tuesday.

One off, four to go.

The hay load took a while as there was some confusion about how to load the bales, with our boss on the phone to the farmer, who then relayed instructions to his loader about which way to place the bales.
After 2 hours outside in the bitter -26 temperatures I was all strapped, and ran back up to Claresholm to begin tarping, but, unfortunately, when I got back and we measured the height, it was too high to be permited for some of the US states as it had been loaded wrong, so we had to return to the farmer to have it re-worked!
When we finally got back to Claresholm for the second time it was getting dark, and the weather had deteriorated, so we went up to the Lazy J Motel to take a couple of days off and re-set our hours without attempting to tarp.

We will be setting off on Friday morning, for a similar trip to this last one, and looking forward to a bit of warm weather.

It's a very sad time for us just now, as my mother passed away on Tuesday, but she hadn't suffered too much, and still had all her mental faculties, and at 91 years of age she had done pretty good.

She had wished for her body to be donated to medical science, and my brother and sister back in the UK made all the arrangements to fulfill her instructions, but that means there won't be a funeral for about 12 to 18 months until her remains are released back to the family, so life goes on as usual for us here in Canada.

A long way from home.

2012-01-18T07:13:00.001Z

Died peacefully today, after a short spell in hospital.

My Mum will be sadly missed.

A much better person than I will ever be.

I hope she meets my Dad again somewhere.

Dad and Mum, always lots of affection and love around them.

Curfew woes for Mick McGarry.

2012-01-14T03:19:00.000Z

We left the Pilot at Dalton this morning and picked our pilot car up at the scale before the Tennessee border, along with Paul and Mick, which would escort us all across Tennessee and Kentucky, leaving us to continue unaided as we passed over the river into Illinois. (Thanks Jimmy).

Cath, with Kay from Apache Escort Services on a previous run at the scale near Ringgold Georgia.

Unfortunately for Mick, he didn't get across the river to Illinois, and had to shutdown early as he didn't have enough driving hours left to get much further, and won't have enough left tomorrow to get him out of Illinois before the Martin Luther King holiday curfew comes into effect for oversize loads, so he is stuck in Paducha Kentucky for a few days, poor lad.
Paul pulled in at jct 52 on the i55, but we carried on to 100a to use up all the daylight time that we could, pulling into the Pilot truck stop at Springfield IL bang on half hour after sunrise. I'm sure we'll run together tomorrow sometime, as we both push for Sioux City Iowa.

There's a cafe/diner at the truck stop, called the Star 66 cafe, and whilst we got seated and served pretty quickly, there was a queue of 15 along the corridor by the time we were done (it's that popular)! The place is the busiest diner we have ever seen in the USA, and the generous portions, large choice and great prices, as well as the friendly staff mean we will call in here again.
I took some good video shots of the trucks on the road today, well I thought I had, but it was set to photo, so I'll try again tomorrow.

Mick avoiding a low bridge in Casper Wyoming on the way south earlier this week.

It looks like winter may have arrived here now, with sub zero temps and snow.

For my fellow Brits who don't have a choice as to where they work, but (quite rightly) complain about the crap in the UK, ie no parking, or expensive, unsafe, unhygienic places... sign the petition here.., it has to start somewhere.

Southern Bar B Q

2012-01-13T02:58:00.001Z

On the way across to South Carolina we called in at the Cherokee Trading Post for breakfast, but spent so much time looking around the shop that we didn't have time to eat and had to crack on.

Cherokee Trading post and restaurant Oklahoma.

Piggy back tractors in the parking lot.

We picked up the tyres on Wednesday lunchtime and only got as far as Madison near Atlanta before we had to shut down for the curfew, which is half an hour BEFORE sunset in Georgia.
Another short day on Thursday as my driving hours were short and I wouldn't have enough time to get a pilot car and make it up to Illinois before my time ran out.

We got parked up at the Pilot at Dalton, exit 326 off the 75 nice and early and Mick McGary arrived shortly afterwards, although Paul shot through to Ringgold a little further up the road, so he missed out on a great meal at Miller Brothers Rib Shack, just across from the truckstop.

Mick had a big plate of nachos, meat, cheese, sour cream, barbecue sauce and jalapenos as a starter, and it would have filled me up without a main meal!

Me and Cath had a plate of BBQ wings to start, which, like Micks starter, were delicious.

Main for Mick was a pile of buffalo wings with coleslaw, onion petals and potato wedges. Cath had a half rack of ribs, not the little baby back ones, with potato wedges, onion petals.

Cath looks drunk!

I had a pork plate, with beans, corn on the cob, an extra side of whole deep fried (perfectly cooked) catfish and all these came with Texas toast.

A nice friendly place which was very quiet as there was an impending storm and it was very cold out.
The server and cook (owner?) both asked if we had enjoyed the food, and of course we said yes, and we'll be back again.

We will be all meeting our pilot cars up near the border in the morning, but can't go around Chatanooga until 9am, so a little lie in tomorrow, then flat out, to beat the Martin Luthor King holiday curfew in Ilinois, which means we have to cross into Iowa before Saturday noon, or else we will have to park until Tuesday morning!

I was hoping to meet up with fellow driver and blogger, Dave Caldwell, but once again we will probably cross on the highway running in opposite directions near Nashville, so catcha later Dave.

Dutch Lady Trucker

2012-01-09T06:06:00.000Z

Met up with a colleague yesterday who is from Holland, and has worked here for a while since driving all over Europe for years.

Corina by Mick.

Carina is pictured here with me, Mick Mc Garry and Paul Mannion having a quick break.

Photo by Cath.

We followed Mick, Paul and Carina for some of the way, but me and Cath were going to Texas with a hay load, and the other three were going a bit further south with large reels of tubing.

Big reels by Mick.

Running south through Wyoming.

I'm typing this at the Flying J in Amarillo, and tomorrow we will be heading out towards South Carolina where we will be loading some 13' 3" off road tyres to take back up to Canada.

Truck fun

2012-01-04T18:12:00.002Z

We had to call in to the Pete dealership yesterday before going to pick up a hay load in Brooks, but a half hour job turned into a much longer one, so, seeing as I was suffering from a bit of a cold and sore throat, we took ourselves off to a hotel in Lethbridge for the night instead of sleeping in the truck. The truck won't be ready until this afternoon, so we won't get the load sorted until tonight or tommorow.
I don't mind the delay as I feel like death warmed up, and don't fancy clambering about a load of hay in these high winds, trying to set up the tarps anyway.

Happy New Year.

2012-01-01T20:00:00.002Z

A Happy New Year to our friends and family, near and far, and the new addition from Gareth and Lyndsey, Seth Emmett.

We had a good run up from Houston with our reload of tyres, but were constantly chasing the time, due to the holiday curfew in Montana. The curfew in Montana started half an hour after sunset on Friday, which meant we had to cross the border by 5.08pm otherwise we would be shut down until Tuesday morning.

We arrived at the Canadian border window at exactly 5.08pm and sailed through without any problems.
There is a Government scale just north of the border, which is always open and we went through there with no problem also.

Then... a short way up the road we were pulled over by the cop from the scale, who had followed us. I had forgotten to slide my extending lights out from the side of the trailer as it had got fully dark, and it cost me a $230 fine after a level 2 inspection at the side of the highway.

Although I was completely at fault, it would have been much fairer to give me the light at the scale to come inside, where they could have simply reminded me to pull out the lights before I left the scale.

A great New Years at the Leasks in Medicine Hat with their friends, starting at the Captains Cabin in town, where I was the only civilian in a pub full of squadies, and ex squadies. Great fun, seeing in the New Year there at 5pm, then back to the house to see in the Canadian New Year, with a few drinks and some fireworks for the (big) kids.

Houston, not so dodgy after all.

2011-12-28T02:51:00.001Z

Well there were a few pan handlers and polishing crews in the Flying J, but nothing to make us feel unsafe, and we had a nice quiet night there.

The plant where we were picking up was just across the street, so after a truck/trailer wash at the Blue Beacon next door, we went to load at 8am local time.

It took them 3 hrs get their fingers out and load four tyres, but they did apologise for keeping us waiting.
We have 12' 4's so will need a pilot car to cross Oklahoma, but we can run solo everywhere else, although we have to shut down half hour after sunset everywhere along the route back, except when we cross into Canada.

We managed to get to Wichita Falls, Texas today before we ran out of daylight running time, and picked up the OS permit for Oklahoma which the boss had faxed forward to the truckstop, and we hope to get to Aurora Colorado tomorrow.

Houston Texas, dodgy, or not?

2011-12-25T19:43:00.000Z

We will be running up to Houston during the day on Monday to stage for our pick up on Tuesday morning.
The problem is, our company suggests that we stay out of town the night before as it's a dangerous place, and just run in on the morning.
There are two truck stops opposite the plant, a Loves and a Pilot, and one of our drivers advises that the Loves has security.

So.

Should we go to the Loves or Pilot truckstop (I would), or park somewhere outside of Houston, which would mean driving through the city at 6am anyway?

We are coming up from the South West and loading in the North East, where the arrow is.

The next problem is to try and get back to Alberta without running into holiday oversize permit restrictions, which could see us shut down in Montana for three days!

I don't know which is the best route back yet, and we have to follow the routes we are given on the permits, so no use planning until we get the paperwork.

Michael Mc Garry heading north in Wyoming November 2011.

We are picking up 12 foot 4" tyres which are a little bit bigger than the ones in the picture above, but not as large as the 13 foot 3" we have had for the last two trips.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

2011-12-23T23:56:00.001Z

Taking off around 11am on Monday from Claresholme, we had a short run down to Eddie's corner in Montana for the night, then ran down through Wyoming, to the Flying J in Cheyenne for Tuesday night, with pretty good weather all the way down.

Wednesday saw us continuing south through Colorado, around Denver.

A few miles East of Denver we turned south again to head through a portion of Oklahoma and into Texas, but not before we were slowed down by the remnants of a sizeable snowfall around Eads and Lamar in Colorado.

Just north of Boise City we came to a halt for an hour whilst a wreck was cleared further south of us.

Then off again in clear blue skies, but at a very slow crawl for quite a few miles.

As we'd been delayed and it was now dark, we just ran down to Vega for the night and parked in the manky Shell station beside the I40.

We had an uneventful drive down to Odessa for our first drop, then a scenic route drive down to San Antonio, which saw us pulling into a Wallmart car park with only minutes left on my log as we kept finding 'no truck parking' signs off all the bloody exit ramps near the city!
During this part of the trip we drove through what must be the prettiest and most extensive Christmas light show in any small town in the USA, Frederickburg TX... sorry, no pictures, but it was magical all through the town.

The last leg was a quick jaunt down to the Mexican border at Pharr where we had to go and get our paperwork stamped (after a long wait in line) at customs before going to a shipper to be off loaded.
We are now stuck in a truckstop in Edinburg as we can't re-load until Tuesday AM in Houston, but at least we get paid layover pay!

2,250 miles.

This is a nice video of the lights by Mike Starks...

Fredericksburg TX Christmas Lights 2011 by mikestarks

Pharr, Texas

2011-12-21T03:26:00.005Z

We picked up our load on Monday which is two drops, one going to Odessa TX, then on to Pharr TX, on the Mexican border, where we hope to be finished before Friday evening, so we can run over the Christmas weekend to wherever they send us.

View from the office door.

I've also added a couple of new links to the sidebar of other drivers including one in Ireland (Luke) who travels all over Europe and also does video diaries. The dead links ill be removed soon, unless they get updated, which I doubt.

Near Sheridan Wyoming.

News from home is not so good, with my Mum in hospital after a fall, which makes us realise how far away we are, and also bad news from a friend in Iowa, and bad news from a friend in Holland. Life can be pretty crappy, but although we feel privileged to be here and healthy, and our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Cath being artistic.

Not sure if we'll get internet much on the rest of the journey down to Texas, but we're not chasing (the internet) it and will stop overnight wherever it is suitable, although I am posting this from the Flying J in Cheyenne where we have both just had a nice shower after realising that if you ask for a 'team' shower they give you two, but only deduct one from your loyalty card.

The long haul.

2011-12-18T19:21:00.002Z

A recent trip for us at the new company.

Chillin' at the Lazy J Motel in Claresholm Alberta, from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning when we shall be setting off on another similar trip. I just need to study the permit restrictions for running oversized loads in the USA, otherwise we might get stuck in a lay by for Christmas.

We were going to spend Christmas with the Leasks in Redcliff Alberta, but it would be silly to turn a good run down, so hopefully we will get back in time to have a wee dram with them during the New Year period.
If we don't get back up, then we may have a meal or drink with some of the other guys who are running south. I might even make some Nasi Goreng for the Dutch drivers.

Back to the grindstone

2011-12-18T17:08:00.003Z

Well, we left Canada in spring 2009 and after an eventful time back in Europe, including the best summer we have had for many years working in France, we are now back in Canada.
We are based in Claresholm Alberta and are working for a different company than last time.
Hopefully I will get time to start taking pictures again and post them here, along with a few video clips, to give anyone who's interested, a little insight into what it's like to work in Canada as a long haul trucker.
There are a few links on the sidebar to other guys who do the same kind of work, and they are worth a read, as they are full of info on all aspects of the job.

This was then...

Mick.

They can't keep everyone down!

2011-06-24T10:56:00.000+01:00

Just to be clear: This post is from a friend of ours who beat H&R in court.

I tried to post this on Micks Blog H&R Transport Lethbridge but I couldn't get on it.

Last year Mick wrote a post regarding his pal who had been sacked from H&R, this post received many negative comments about him and Brits in general.

Well his pal is, as you know, my husband and I would like to tell all those H&R lovers and mindless morons out there that we reported H&R to the Labour Board as soon as it happened and in February this year, almost 11 months after his sacking, myself and my husband went into an adjudication hearing which I could only describe as like a court case but not so formal.

I would like to note that we have no legal training and at no point did we seek legal advice, the knowledge that he had done nothing wrong and the protocol H&R followed drove us to persue the company and after compiling evidence and questions we entered into the unknown to face them across a table and went in with both barrels! It was like a court case in that they presented their "evidence" and witnesses which I could then cross examine and then we presented our evidence and witnesses to which their HR person could then cross examine.
The hearing lasted 7 hours with only 30 mins break for lunch and 2 short comfort breaks. To say we were exhausted at the end of it is an understatement, it was both mentally and physically draining.
After a mountain of documents, policies, etc being entered as evidence first by H&R then came a written witness statement, followed by their next witness the , "Driver Recruitment and Compliance Coordinator" , and we all know who that is, well to say that I took great pleasure in pulling that "man" apart is an understatement as his last email to my husband after his sacking was along the lines of "let me know when you would like a flight booking back to the UK", after all this is what they probably expected us to do.

Next came their "Vice President of Loss and Compliance for H&R Transport". He proceeded to give a long statement relating to the regulatory environment for the Department of Transportation in the USA. Again it gave myself and my husband great pleasure to cross examine him and pull holes apart in H&R training and pre and post trip inspection.

Finally it came to our turn my husband was a witness and we had another witness who flew over to give his evidence and a witness who gave evidence over the phone, only my husband was cross examined by H&R Transport.
Finally we both sides had to give closing statements. It was made clear at the start of the hearing that this was the last stop for the complaint and that no further action could be taken after the decision by the adjudicator was made.
The adjudicator stated that, if a decision of unjust dismissal was awarded, she could only compensate our personal financial loss that had be incurred since the dismissal. We offered into evidence figures to show the amount of loss we had from the date of dimissal to the date his contract was due to end with H&R Transport, deductions and to be made for wages from other employers during this period.

In May I received by email a copy of the decision that the adjudicator had made.
I cried when I read that she had upheld the complaint and that my husband WAS unjustly dismissed. H&R Transport were ordered to pay the sum that we had put into evidence by the 10 June 2011. On the 8 June H&R finally did the first decent thing and sent a cheque by courier post dated to the 10 lol!!!

Back in the UK

2009-06-05T10:40:00.010+01:00

Thanks to everyone who has been reading my blog since I started it last year, and especially to those who have commented, but as some of you know, there were reasons why the posts got thinner as time went on, and unfortunately there will be no more posts from Canada as we have returned to the UK.

There are many things we will miss about working in North America, but the main thing will be the fantastic people we met whilst we were over there, and hopefully we will have made some lasting friendships, even amongst the people we never met in person, but just corresponded with.

We both wish everyone still working at H&R, and elsewhere the very best of luck in the future, whatever that might bring for you all.

Click to enlarge.

Lots of people are missing off this picture as I didn't have any snaps of you, but I'm sure you know who you all are.

Summerland, near Kelowna B.C.

2009-05-29T23:35:00.002+01:00

Earlier this year, a fruit cooler in Summerland, where we waited all morning (after being told we must be there at 8am) to be loaded.
There is a hand written cardboard sign inside here which basically brags about how long they will take to load you if you complain!

2009-05-05T15:38:00.005+01:00

We are currently visiting Micks cousin near Cowichan Bay, and then we'll return back over the Rockies to Calgary to fly out to the UK, where we will take stock of our situation, and when we are definite about our plans I will post something on here, or probably Mick will.

Luckily we arrived here in good time as H&R got us a load from Calgary down to Lethbridge to begin our vacation after trying to send us on a load which would have brought us down very late, but they did try bullying Mick into doing that one first after telling us that our time off didn't start till midnight (we had been available for work since 7am that morning).

We are hoping to meet up with the music writer Homercat today... woot!

Homeward Bound.

2009-04-30T02:39:00.005+01:00

We are flying home next week, but will be visiting one of Micks cousins out Vancouver way before we go, thanks to Mike Nash, who has lent us his car whilst he is back in the UK on a visit.

Here's Mike in the middle, with Mr Broon on the left, and my Mick on the right.

This is a really nice lady trucker called Nathalie, who we met today in Red Deer.

This is Mick playing around with his new camera (Canon 1000D)

There'll be more posts soon, but probably by Mick.

This was the weather in Montana the other day, and it's nearly May!

The Rockies.

2009-04-24T16:23:00.005+01:00

Here's a couple of pictures from 'ten mile hill' in the Rockies, it looks lovely in the sun, but imagine those drops when there's packed ice and snow on the road!

It's great seeing all the beautiful scenery, but Mick is not too happy with the company at the moment.

Truck Pics By Mick

2009-04-15T04:11:00.007+01:00

Pictures only today

2009-04-12T17:46:00.005+01:00

Things seem to be picking up a bit workwise now, and the training money has nearly stopped destroying the pay cheques, so here's a few pics taken recently.

Click to enlarge, then look at the cowboys.

In the southern BC Rockies.

This shop was closed, but like many places here, everything is left outside, and no-one steals it!

Taken near in Bonners Ferry, the barber ship lol.

Diner in Wenatchee

Wooden drilling rig, and mine train in BC

This mine train was made in Leeds!

"Here sits a 100 horse-power Gardner-diesel’d Huwood Hudswell locomotive that the Hudswell-Clarke and Company, Limited, of Leeds, England, built in 1948 and sent to the International Coal and Coke Company operation at Coleman, Alberta. It was the first diesel locomotive to be employed underground in Canada. When the International mine was closed in 1954 the engine was transferred to the Cheakamus Power Tunnel Project
at Garibaldi, BC, where it worked until recalled to the Coleman area in 1959. It was acquired by the Fernie Chamber of Commerce after it was
retired in 1975 when the Vicary mine adopted a belt system to convey coal from the working face to the tipple. "

The few below were taken in Montana.

Click them to enlarge.

Whinging Brits LOL

2009-04-08T17:37:00.002+01:00

Here's a picture of the whinging Brit from the last post, taken near Mount Shasta in the Cascades, California.

Negative?

2009-04-04T22:55:00.013+01:00

Post by Mick

I have been getting a little stick on a forum for truckers because there was nothing negative on the blog, and it all looked a bit too rosy, but it's Caths blog, about our travels, not the company I work for, so if you want any info about the actual company, just ask me... but, I would advise anybody who is coming over as a single driver, couple or team driver, to do their research thoroughly before burning any bridges, and always have an escape plan.

The last weekend was a bit of a downer for us, visiting a driver in hospital who we had befriended, and hearing of other people who we have become friends with, who are also on their way home for various reasons, because it is not a bed of roses here, and although some of the problems can be attributed to the downturn in the Canadian economy, the company I work for really needs to learn how to handle people (which would also help it's profits, I'm sure).

It has been said on other blogs, and I will say it again, be prepared for hard work, long hours and waiting around for hours or sometimes days (unpaid) at pick ups, drops, etc.

Our last trip to Arizona was quite a good one, apart from all the hours waiting about at pick ups, with loads not being ready etc, the waiting around does get to you, especially when it is hot and you have no air conditioning (and cold nights) because your Tripak is not working.

On our last trip we spent six hours in the dusty yard at Thermo-King in Las Vegas whilst Cath whinged at me because we couldn't go and see the sights as they tried unsuccessfully to fix the Tri-Pak.
When we got back to base the truck wa staken to the local Thermo-King where it returned the day after with lots of shiny new bits and pieces... but, IT STILL AIN'T WORKING!

Which means no heat/cooling , (the truck wion't idle either) and no electric, so we are having to buy food out instead of cooking, which can make the trips expensive, and as the batteries get low, the beeper warning is driving us nuts.

At present we are sitting in Salinas, California, waiting to pick our load up nearby, but even though we arrived at 9am, we are not booked till 9pm, so, another wasted day as an unpaid security guard in the truck!

We could have stopped at a beach about 100 miles south on the way up if we had known about the length of time we would be hanging out in an industrial estate.

Normal service will resume as soon as possible.

Southern Utah

Arizona

Near Lake Powell

Lake Powell hydro

Antelope Gap

Ceva

Livestock caught in Arizona

On the way back north

Salt Lake City Mormon grafitti

Typical front yard in many of the places we've seen Stateside

What sort of critter is this?
Click all the pictures to enlarge them.

This post by Mick

Breakdown

2009-03-29T04:08:00.002+01:00

A quick post, but a big one should be on the way as we are on an enforced reset due to a TriPak breakdown (a thing that provides electricity and keeps the truck batteries charged) so I'll have time to catch up.
We are at the Lethbridge Lodge for Saturday and Sunday, which has great internet access.
P.S. Mick and Barb, look us up if you are there.

Wolf and Callie on tour

2009-03-20T23:45:00.000Z

Our next trip was to Iowa, we were supposed to pick the load up near Calgary on the Saturday, waited all day for a trailer to take up there, but eventually went up on Sunday and without a trailer, so quite a wasted day Saturday.
While we were sitting in Calgary waiting for the load, we bumped into Gid (Wolf) who was actually going to the same place as us, he was picking up on Sunday, so we ran in with him and Callie all the way.

This was the weather on Saturday morning.

Wolfs new cowboy hat.

The journey down through Montana was quite nice, our load was due in Waterloo in two days time so, although it was tight, we knew we could do it, Wolf's was due the day after ours.
As we were heading towards North Dakota, we ran into an awful snowstorm, there was a travel advisory in place asking people not to travel on the i94, so we managed to get to Fargo and shut down for the night, although there was not much choice because the highway had become a sheet of ice and on the weather news it was not looking good for the next day either.The load was already 24 hrs late because it was not ready for us on time, so with that delay and the weather delay we we ran the rest of the way down with Wolf and Callie.
We left the truck stop early in the morning to try to crack on and not be too late for the delivery,
the westbound I94 was still closed in that area, even though we were travelling east we passed a 10 vehicle accident as the weather was still very poor, but if the 'wheels are not turning we are not earning', so on we went.

Better weather, and Callie keeps a lookout.

It was nice to be able to catch up with Wolf again, we both have cb radios, and Mick and him found plenty to talk about, in fact you could not shut them up, we also had a really good laugh, it must have made a difference to his trip, having someone to talk to, as it certainly made our trip go quicker.

Fargo N.D.

North Dakota

When we had dropped in Iowa,we split with wolf and Callie as they were picking up further north than us as our next assignment was three pick ups to do around Milwaukee.

We did the first one, no problem, quickly loaded, off we go, the next one we got there dead on time ( the time stated on the load assignment) only to be told we were booked in for 1:30pm, so we waited for a couple of hours, then we were told we could load a few hours early,got on the loading bay, then they told us, that we could not be loaded as they could not fit in 51 pallets in the 12ft space which was left at the back of the trailer after the first pick up. Mick rang dispatch who then told him to pull off (It was a mistake, but thanks for wasting your morning) that job and go to 3rd pick up.

On the way back up we bumped into Wolf again so ran up with him the rest of the way to Calgary and grabbed a few pics, because he says Clare and the kids read my blog and like the pictures .

Big flag at Swift Current Saskatchewan

Mick with Wolfs hat squashed down against the wind

Posers

The lovely Callie

G'it'r dun

Our next job was BC (not a good earner) yet again, and we took this job because we did not want to be waiting around for days waiting for US work.
The day after that our next job came through, BC again, to Kelowna, on the first drop we had to wait 4 hours to load, so we went for a walk in the lakeside town of Summerland, a really nice place.

We had breakfast in an excellent deli/cafe, so any drivers going there check it out whilst you are waiting for the lazy loaders to finish.

The next pickup was North of Kelowna and a quick load, but it still didn't leave enough time for us to get to Calgary legally, so a shut down and a short miles, low earning trip in Canada again.

Right now we are doing a reset in Lethbridge, where we just bumped into Phil, Montedarlo at the Sandman Hotel and had a good catch up with him.
We have not had much Internet lately, it is not very good in Canada at the truck stops so I'm making the most of it while I am in the hotel.

Calgary Tower

2009-03-07T01:42:00.003Z

We delivered our last load at 6am in a freezing blowy snowstorm on Saturday morning with Mick full of cold, and then decided to take our reset in a hotel, which is quite expensive but would hopefully give him chance to shake off the bug.

So first thing this morning we set off to walk two miles into town (he said the -17 cold air would kill all the cold bugs) and had a nice visit to the Calgary Tower.
The hotel must be in a seedy part of town because we were surrounded by down and outs and beggars as soon as we started our walk!

The views from the tower were worth the ticket price (12.95) and they also allow you a return visit on the same day, which we intended doing at dusk for some more pictures, unfortunately Mick is still laid up and we have to work early tomorrow, so, maybe next time eh!

Click the little pics to make 'em bigger.

Vancouver

2009-02-28T13:52:00.004Z

We have just been looking at Javi and Ingas pictures of Vancouver which they managed to visit whilst they were delivering near Delta.
Once again they (I am not sure who takes all the pictures anymore, LOL) have got some great shots , which are worthy of a travel brochure.
They have both been in Canada trucking in 2008, where they had not such a good experience with the company they were with, so we hope they are enjoying it better with the present company.

Whilst we were in Vancouver the other week we managed to take some pictures of the house Micks Great Uncle built around 1911 when he emigrated there, and the lady who owns it now was kind enough to invite us in for a tour and a cup of tea.

This was the house in the early days ...

This is now....

The owner, Lorraine, showed us around the house, which was really spooky considering that Micks Grandmother and grandfather had walked through the same rooms many years before.

He still has many relatives in Vancouver who he hasn't met, but he keeps in touch with his cousin Betty who lives with her husband, Don on Vancouver Island.

Thanks Brother Truckers

2009-02-28T04:34:00.002Z

Since we have been on the road in Canada and USA, we have met a great number of friendly people and we have been given lots of advice, tips and help from other people on the road, in particular:

Mike Nash

Martin and Val

Martin and Debbie

Lyndon

Phil Henderson

Kerry

A couple of Canadian drivers

And especially George Anderson, who has e-mailed Mick with a lot of information.

I am sorry if I have forgotten to mention anyone else.
It has been one of the nicest things about being here so far, the fact that ordinary people have been so helpful to us

Weather Advisory

2009-02-28T02:53:00.003Z

Since our last trip to the Rockies, we were offered two other jobs, but Mick turned them down because they could not be done, so we were stuck in Calgary for Nearly 3 days without any work.

When we eventually got a load, we ran it to Lethbridge and parked up for the night .
After a none eventful first day, we planned on setting off early and running to within a hundred miles from the drop.

The first few hours of the journey went well, then we ran into some really bad weather, high winds and snow drifting across the highway. we had a few trucks overtake us blinding us with their snow clouds, but as one truck passed us, he hit a snowbank in the second lane, and completely blinded us causing Mick to swerve as we too hit the snow bank, the next thing we were heading towards the central reservation(median).

Mick managed to keep the rig upright, and, as there was nobody on the opposite highway he went straight onto there and got across to the hard shoulder where he pulled up.
He tried to drive slowly to the next on ramp so he could get off the highway, but decided to stop because the visibility was getting too bad.

If there had of been something coming towards us on the westbound side when he swerved he said he would have had to just bury it in the snow in the centre, like we had seen two other trucks further back.

We had to wait for the Police to arrive to escort us to a crossover point, back to the correct side of the road.

After Micks documents had been checked by the Police officer, we went up to the next exit where Mick checked for damage and cleared snow out of the engine compartment, then we carried on driving for another two hours.

At this time a traffic advisory had been issued, and with two foot snowdrifts in places across the road, we pulled off to a truck stop, where we were lucky to get a spot as an hour later the place was packed with sensible drivers.

Whilst I was quite shook up by the whole incident Mick was fine, so he sent a message back to the company giving them the information about the incident. Today we left the truck stop at 3am, to try and get the load delivered as soon as possible, as we knew it would be late because of what happened yesterday.

As we got on to the highway, we were soon passing other cars and trucks which had ditched in the bad weather, including one semi on it's side, so we were indeed very lucky.

Thanks to my husband Mick for, no truck damage and delivering the load (even though it was late), and for the way you handled this incident.

We sit in the truck stop waiting for another job now because we were asked to do two different pick ups, which we could not possibly do because we started at 3 in the morning, and finished at
2.30 in the afternoon, and they wanted them doing in the evening.

As I type he has been offered a run to be picked up 300 miles from where we are on Monday morning which he has just accepted.

To all you Truckers, be careful out there.

Canadian Internet

2009-02-22T06:14:00.000Z

Hello Folks.

It has been some time since I have done even a half decent post, but we seem to be running back and forth over the Rockies,and seeing as we paid 25 bucks for a months flying J internet access, we have only used it in one truck stop in Canada, the Calgary one, and Mick says it is like being back on a 56k modem (whatever one of them is).
It is too slow to even send pictures up. I thought I would be seeing more of the USA ( and getting my moneys worth of internet) but for some reason, even though Mick is US capable, we seem to be stuck in Canada.

I should not really complain though because at least the wheels are turning which means we are earning.

If Mr Broon is reading this and he sees us on the road in 3093 he can give us a shout and he can collect his bits and pieces which he left in the (spotless) truck when we stole it from him lol.

Belated Birthday wishes to Mike Nash, tried to comment on your blog Mike but I could not even send that up with this damn slow connection.

Apart from all this, we are enjoying the stunning scenery of the Rockies, it looks different every time we go over them as the snow is melting, and the rivers and lakes start to thaw.

As soon as I get a good internet connection I will do some more posting.

Icy Lethbridge

2009-02-18T17:13:00.005Z

Another short post due to time and internet restraints.

We have just returned from our third consecutive run across the beautiful Rocky Mountains of BC and Alberta, and are currently having a reset in Lethbridge, where we managed to meet Wolfs wife Clare and go for a nice meal with them both last night.

They also took us out for a spin to Taber where they are hoping to settle eventually, and it gave Mick a chance to chill out after 1800 miles of hard mountain driving.

View from the Sandman yesterday

Rockies on a clear day.

Gid (Wolf) and Mick having lunch in a Taber Deli.

The lovely Clare, and Wolf

Hopefully my next post will be a bit more informative, and I will have a nice story about Micks ancestors home in Port Moody which we visited.

Attacked by bears

2009-02-13T06:13:00.003Z

We are currently in Calgary waiting for a run, and have bumped into Mike Nash who has just returned from a visit back to the UK.
Mr Broon should also know by now where his truck disappeared to whilst he was visiting the UK... yes, we were allocated it and we now have it hidden away at a truck stop.
Internet access continues to be sporadic and I have taken way too many pictures, but here's one from Oregon (I think) and a few from our last run from Vancouver through the Rockies.

Snow in the rockies.

2009-02-08T03:37:00.003Z

Running at 60mph on the snowy mountain roads.

Las Vegas, and the Virgin River Gorge.

2009-02-08T01:06:00.006Z

This is near the town of Baker where you will find the worlds biggest thermometer, northbound on the I15 on the way to Vegas.

Viva Las Vegas

A few shots as we ran through the Virgin River Gorge.

We then went up through Montana where we met some snow and ice conditions but then got to clearer weather.

Truck front all iced up, and it stayed that way for two more days.

A proper post to follow soon, but we are on a quick re-set and will be off out again tomorrow morning.

Wot no posts?

2009-02-06T04:43:00.002Z

Now I see why the trucking bloggers here in North America sometimes don't post for a while as it's sometimes a bit difficult to get time for the internet!
Post to follow...

Quick post

2009-01-27T22:46:00.002Z

Mick grabbed a few truck pictures as we had a comfort break on the way to L.A. so he wanted me to post them for our sons mate at the fire station back in the UK.

Click on pictures to enlarge them.

This is one I took at a truck stop in Utah

Mick took this 'dog and pup' picture northbound on the I15 near Salt Lake City.

Rolling, sort of!

2009-01-26T16:43:00.007Z

The rental truck was fixed, and the trailer had been taken to SF by another driver, so we were dispatched to Salt Lake City to pick up an empty trailer for loading in Los Angeles.

This is in Montana.

Great Falls Diner.

Whilst we were waiting in Great Falls for the rental to be repaired we took a walk into town and back over the Missouri River, which as you can see was still partly frozen over.

Plenty of birds here.

Great slabs of ice everywhere.

This is an old converted railway station which has disgusting toilets.

Tiled Sign.

Court House Great Falls, MT.

The bronze doors below are from St Ann's Cathedral in Great Falls.

St. Ann's Cathedral, Great Falls, MT, USA.

This house was just opposite the beautiful Cathedral of St Ann's, and Mick wanted to put a deposit down on it ...as if!

The rest of the journey was a bit of a pain, with more vehicle/trailer problems etc. but it was simply bad luck, and nothing to do with the company.
The scenery was stunning and I will be posting some more pictures later which I snapped from the window as we travelled down and back.
We are currently in the hotel in Canada again, waiting for a truck to be allocated to us so we can get Stateside again (where the motive power is needed).

Click on pictures to enlarge them.

Big Yellow Tractor

2009-01-19T03:16:00.006Z

Mick was offered a truck to take us to San Francisco, which needed to be returned to Penske, the idea being that we would bring back the repaired truck which had been left down there by another driver.

We were going to High River AB to collect a trailer to take down to Modesto CA, but when we went to pick the tractor up we realised it had no Tripak, so we wouldn't be able to stop in it overnight as it would be below zero.
After a little refresher and some tips from Martin and Val, and the loan of an inverter up at the yard (thanks you two) we took a trailer up to Calgary, then dropped it and went to High River for our California load.

The security people were really helpful to Mick when we went for the pickup (explaining the paperwork etc) , and it didn't take long to hook up and scale off at the plant before heading back to Lethbridge for a night at the hotel.
If there had been a Tripak (for heating), or if we could have idled the truck, we would have slept in it, but 'fraid not.

I took this picture of Mick to show the size of the rig (about 75') after we had slid the tandem to make it legal for California, but also to record a little bit of damage which was already on the trailer when we collected it.

Today we set off nice and early to the yard and after a pre-trip we had a quick short run down to the border where I quickly got my I94 which allows me to visit the USA, and is valid for three months.
The meat inspection is also at Sweetgrass, and we had help from yet another driver (thanks Adrian) who clarified the paperwork for us.
The inspection was a skip load, so we were only there half an hour.

So far so good.

Within a couple of miles of leaving the meat inspection Mick was complaining the truck was not pulling properly and a warning light had come on, and it certainly was chugging a bit, so we pulled over and he had a look under the hood.

He couldn't see anything wrong but he said it was still miss firing when he started it up again, and in the meantime another driver had stopped to see if he could help (thanks Jack).

We followed Jack into the truck stop in Montana and after a few phone calls we had two lads from a local company come out to us.

Their diagnosis was a faulty injector, and the instructions were to limp down to Great Falls MT and take it to the Freightliner garage in the morning, so off we went, and now it's another hotel stay for us and that's the story so far.

It was nice to note that we had plenty of friendly offers of help today from other drivers from the company, and it's just unfortunate that the truck let us down.
Mick will find out tomorrow what is happening with us and the truck, but in the morning he is going to the garage and another driver will be taking the trailer forward to California.

The rental truck still needs to be returned, and the company truck needs bringing back, but it may not be us that do it.

Rockies

2009-01-16T18:44:00.004Z

Mick got back from his mentor trip over the Rockies, he said he enjoyed it, but he did say it was hard going and tiring, also the scenery was stunning. There are only a few pictures as he was driving mostly at night.

We are just waiting now for confirmation for a trip to San Francisco, hopefully we will be off sometime today, meanwhile Mick has just gone to bed to get rest in case he has to drive late tonight. I will update more as soon as I can.

Fort Woop-Up Pictures

2009-01-12T15:30:00.002Z

Yesterday we paid a visit to Fort Whoop-Up as the snow was beginning to melt, and when we arrived we were told that the outside exhibit was closed, but some one came out of the rear office and said if we weren't worried about the snow in the compound we could take the key to the various rooms and go and explore at our leisure.

So we did just that!

The girl who was on the counter also said, when Mick asked if there was any coffee, she said "No, but I'll go and make you some", which she did.
What a difference in customer service attitude to the UK, and because it was partially closed, there was no admission charge, although we did leave a donation which was the equivalent anyway.

Santas sleigh?

Me cat napping, if you look there are some cougars, I think, and a bear.

We'd both like to come back in summer to see some of the activities which are here, because they have a smithy and lots of other interesting looking stuff, which were closed down for winter.

Washing hung out to dry.

This may not be in good taste for some readers, but it represents what was happening at the time of the original fort, when the 60 to 70 million Bufffalo were being wiped out.

This may also be in bad taste, but he was only trying the hat on!

Some info is on the High Bridge sign.

O.k I promise that there will be no more pictures of the bridge, and the one at the top of my page which Mick took will be removed soon and I'll replace it with different header picture.

Time for me to take a walk to the L.A. School of Hair Design, to get my cheap haircut, done by students (fingers crossed lol).

Click here to go to the Fort Whoop-Up website

Edit: I forgot to add this picture.

Mick found this little plate on the way back up the hill from the Fort.

Whoop-Up In Lethbridge

2009-01-12T03:10:00.002Z

Due to unforeseen circumstances , mainly the weather in BC and Alberta including mudslides, avalanches, Micks mentor trip over the Rockies did not go ahead, hopefully he will be going next week.

Wolf , Kelvin, Javi and Inga are now rolling, good luck guys, I am sure we will meet up again somewhere on our travels.

In the meantime me and Mick have been out and about getting some exercise in Lethbridge, including a walk down to Fort Whoop-Up.
These pictures were taken in the valley behind the hotel, where both the High Bridge, the Oldman River and the Fort are to be found.

Click pictures to enlarge.

This is the frozen up Oldman River.

These two pictures below were taken towards the East of Lethbridge, and yes, there is a car under the bottom picture.

We have been sitting in the hotel for nearly six weeks now, and as nice as it is (the company is quite rightly paying for it, till the training is over) we are itching to get down the road and start earning a crust.

Today is the first time in the weeks that we have been here that the temperature has risen enough to start melting the snow, and we went for another walk in the valley in a balmy six degrees.
Watching a train going over the High Bridge today, I saw it reach the other end (one mile and forty seven feet long) , and then kept my eye on the last wagon which was on the bridge, and that one nearly reached the other end before we saw the end of the train, so we reckon it was almost two miles in length!
I will post some pictures of the Fort tomorrow.

Roll on Summer

2009-01-04T17:59:00.006Z

A few pics from Florida to keep me sane whilst there is so much snow about the place up here in the wintry north.

This is me and my cousin Paddy from New York

Two fatties at Skinny's

Sun and Sea.

This is what we just had to eat.

One of the nicest places we have been for a lazy holiday.

This is the current view from our hotel in Lethbridge, brrrrrrrrr!

All these pictures go bigger if you click them.

Happy New Year

2009-01-02T21:47:00.004Z

Happy Birthday for tomorrow Inga.

Today we went for a stroll to the Cup and Saucer Cafe on 7th Street south, for a nice breakfast but it was a little bit nippy at minus 18 and a windchill of minus 32.

As soon as we got back to the hotel we decided to go for a dip in the pool to warm up a bit, as you can see below.

Mick is still waiting for confirmation of his second mentor trip, so could be here for another week or two, but we did choose to arrive in the Holiday Season, which affects logistic companies the same as everyone else.

New Years Eve

2008-12-31T22:42:00.005Z

Happy New Year, Y'Hear!

Lethbridge, Alberta 2008

Mentor trip to Los Angeles

2008-12-30T16:57:00.006Z

Post by Mick

My first mentor trip with Mike Nash down to L.A. and back went really well although the weather at times was pretty poor.
The choice to come over to Canada in winter was made with the weather in mind, as it would have been a massive shock to have a nice summer then get hit by stuff we hardly ever see in the UK, so I did my driver training in snow and ice, and then was out on the road driving at full pelt on snow covered highways.

The pictures above were taken at Idaho Falls truck stop (I think), where we had pulled in for the night.
The weather does not really stop people driving, but the American truckers seem to crawl along compared to the Canadians.

Thanks to Mike for the lessons and the laughs on the trip.

Mike leaning on the truck (don't know why!)

His usual pose with arms and legs crossed.

I could have taken this Sat Nav picture below, a long way back, but didn't realise how it looked at first.
The manoeuvre in 483 miles is not a turn, it's only a lane change LOL.

This flatdeck driver had his tractor fully chained up in the Dads truckstop, but we just powered on through all the snow and ice.

On the way back north we found that the Police had blocked the road at Dubois, so we had to pull off for a couple of hours while it was cleared and I had a chance to snap a few pictures.

The road prior to this had been solid ice and snow for hours and when you looked in the mirrors all you could see was a silver ribbon of ice behind the truck glinting in the sun.

All in all I had a great mentor trip with Mike, following a similar route to Javi, who managed to make some beautiful pictures in the canyons in Arizona/Nevada, which me and Mike travelled mainly at night.
Be sure to visit Javis blog to see the pictures by clicking here.

The main thing I noticed on my trip was the vastness of the landscape in every direction ...unbelievable!

Hopefully I will have a second mentor trip this weekend over the Rockies to Vancouver and back, then we (me and Cath) will roll together, and when we do get moving, she will be posting lots of pictures, and although her blog is not about the company I work for, I'm sure she will be happy to answer any questions from the women out there as we travel along.

Cath is not employed by the company so it will not be her business to comment about them or their methods, but if anyone wants any specific details about my job, please leave a comment and contact details.

HAPPY NEW YEAR to all Caths readers, and our family and friends.

Quick one ...

2008-12-28T02:38:00.002Z

Mick is back from his very enjoyable mentor trip to L.A. and back, more to follow...

Mick Is On The Road

2008-12-22T22:46:00.002Z

Just a very quick post, Mick has gone on his Mentor trip today, he has gone with Mike Nash and they have gone to LA.
I will be waiting for him to bring some pictures back to post on the blog, and he will probably do a post to let everyone know how he has gone on.
Thank you to everyone for the good wishes, Happy Christmas and have a great New Year.

Woo Hoo He Has Passed

2008-12-19T00:19:00.008Z

Today Mick passed his Class 1 Canadian driving test, in road conditions which would keep UK drivers at home and off the roads, so that's a little bit of his stress gone for now, but he still has to pass the theory test.
He was very happy with his instructor, Weldon at SK Driver Training who had lots of patience.
Andy asked some questions in the comments section of my last post, so I'll try to answer them here.

Yes Andy it is Christmas looking, and the decorations don't seem to get vandalised like they might in the UK.

Has the Volvo got a crash box too?

There are three tractor units at SK Driver Training Ltd, a Volvo, Kenworth and a Freightliner and they all have the Eaton Fuller 'crash box', which he says take a little getting used to.

What's it like doing your training in the sub zero temperatures? You must be spinning out all over the place?

One of the reasons for coming over in winter was so that we would not be surprised by the conditions, and Mick thought it was very important to get driving tuition with snow and ice on the ground.
Spinning out has not been a problem, but delicate use of the gas pedal is required, and minimum use of the brakes. Working outside the truck in sub zero conditions is required, as the pre trip can take 45 mins, but you should be well wrapped up and probably will end up sweating anyway.
The danger of wind chill should not be ignored even if you feel warm and all exposed skin should be covered to prevent frostbite.
It feels strange to us soft Europeans when we first feel the ice forming on the inside of our nose.

How are you coping Cath?

I am finding it very difficult to cope in the nice, warm cosy, Lethbridge Lodge Hotel, with free wireless internet access, full size fridge, microwave, large TV in the living room, TV in the bedroom, coffee making facilities and swimming pool and hot tub a minute away, but I struggle on lol.
On a serious note I am quite content and even thought it has been as low as minus 23 we have been getting out and about and enjoying the City and the Canadian hospitality.
As you will have read in earlier posts we have also been lucky enough to meet some very nice people since we have been here.
My feelings and emotions may change completely when we start to travel around Canada and the lower 48 US states in the truck (Mick has been lusting over Dave Caldwells new truck lol), but so far I am very happy.

Is the winter clothing expensive?

Mick bought some strong, warm, comfortable steel toe cap boots for $69, but his other clothing he brought with him, although the material on his English winter coat takes on the consistency of a crisp packet after 5 mins in the sub zero tempratures, but he did bring it strictly for work, and during the pre trip it gets pretty dirty.

He also has a couple of smaller jackets which, when combined with a hat and scarf are ok for short trips.
Tell Amanda to forget about fashions during Canadian winters as the choices seem very dull, and warmth and comfort seems to be more important.
I brought jeans, jumpers, tee shirts and long johns (not joking) because you will need them, the cold will cut straight through denim. My winter boots came from Walmart, they were graded to withstand temperatures of minus 20, they cost $40, they are nothing to look at but keep my feet dry and warm. I also bought a winter coat at Walmart, again it is not a fashionable one but it does the job, that cost $85.

Thanks for the best wishes guys.

This is just after Mick finished his test today.

The Bland Christmas House, Lethbridge.

2008-12-17T03:53:00.006Z

Hubby was training today until lunchtime so I just chilled out making a few phone calls back to the uk using Skypeout whilst we have internet access in the Hotel, as it will be a little harder when we get moving in the truck.

This evening we decided to call on Inga and take a walk to the Christmas house in Lethbridge, which is on 4th Av S and 13th street S, home of the Bland family.

The camera does not do the scene justice, as it's really very pretty with the snow and the thousands of lights, and the family allow you to walk around their garden, as long as you close all the gates to stop the dogs escaping.

Even though it was minus 7 there was no wind chill and we had a very pleasant walk and now Mick is going to bed early to try and study for his written test.

-43

2008-12-14T23:50:00.005Z

The temperature outside the Hotel this morning was between -20 and -23 with a promised wind chill this evening of -43...argh!

We took a stroll to the shopping mall today with Wolf, who is leaving first thing Monday morning for Mexico, and it's probably just about time for him after having to hang around with the old farts (Mick) for a week lol.
Good luck with the mentor trip Wolf.

This was taken in downtown Lethbridge whilst we were out shopping.
Mick is smiling here but he was in tears later when he found an audio cable for $4.99 and he had already bought one for $16 ha ha.

Still Driver Training At S And K In Lethbridge

2008-12-13T16:04:00.007Z

On Thursday we had a visit from Kerry of 'professional tourists', she was kind enough to come to the hotel and meet me and Inga whilst Mick was out driving.
She gave us a lot of useful information and advice whilst we were drinking lots of coffee.
Mick snapped this little picture of us when he met us at Timmies, it's not a very good one I'm afraid.
Thanks again Kerry it was a pleasure to meet you, hope we meet up again soon. Enjoy your visit back to UK at Christmas.

Congratulations to Wolf who passed his test yesterday, he has been training in the Volvo below. Mick has been training in a Freightliner and hopefully he will be doing his test next week.

The weekend arrived early yesterday as Mick finished his training around lunchtime so we had a walk to the Mall and had a chill out in our room.

We met up with Wolf in the early evening and then I went to Ingas room to see if she wanted to join us for some food in the bar area which she did, and one of the boys behind the bar was kind enough to take a photograph of us and even Jay and Nathan (nice lads) from the hotel managed to get in on the act.

Jan and Lyndon

2008-12-11T01:24:00.006Z

Mick has been out on the truck training, it was his first day on Monday and he was worried that he would not pick the gearbox up too quickly, but when he came back he was really pleased with himself as he thought it had gone very well.

Mick is training in the truck which is arrowed here...

He did his training in the morning, and Wolf's was in the afternoon, and when he came back we went to the shopping mall for a walk and had something to eat.
The only problem with the shopping malls is that you have to dress up for the low temperatures outside, but when you walk into the mall you immediately break out into a sweat and have to start pulling layers off.

Its the same everywhere you go indoors, but one thing I have noticed, is that even though it's cold it has been bright and sunny.

In the evening we met up with Javi, Inga and Wolf.
Javi has now gone on his mentor trip with Jim, one of the professional tourists.
He and Inga were in the Sandman Hotel but moved into The Lethbridge Lodge where we are based, Inga will be better off here whilst she is on her own because it is nearer all the amenities.
Hopefully Inga will keep me company and we will get a bit of exercise in the hotel pool.

Mick decided to give Lyndon a ring and say hello yesterday, as he has given a lot of info on his blog about coming out here to work. He got in touch with Lyndon using Skypeout and when he came online he sounded a bit groggy, but it was because he had just woken up, but after a short chat he said he would ring us back.

About an hour later Lyndon rang us back with a plan!
Another couple from Ripon were in the Sandman Hotel on a recce trip, and they were kind enough to pick us up in their hire car so we could all go down to visit Lyndon and family.

Jan and Lyndon had gone to a lot of trouble to put a spread on for us all, and they had insisted we stay the night, so we had a very good feed and drink and a good chin wag before turning in.
The other couple, Mick and Barbara, are hoping to travel together in the truck next year across Canada and the lower 48, the same as us, so we wish them all the very best.

We also got to see their (Lyndon's pride and joy) wood burning furnace in the basement, which keeps the den at a constant 400 degrees!
There was also a nice young Canadian sounding lad in the house, who we think was a Brit at one time, many moons ago (Hi Luke!).
Thanks again to Lyndon and Jan for the hospitality.

In the morning, Mick and Barbara brought us back up to their hotel and we had a walk back to ours, collecting our laundry at 'King Koin' on the way back, then after some breakfast and a bit of a chill out, Mick went off to driver training again, and I am slobbing about in the suite.

Meeting Nice People.

2008-12-08T01:47:00.011Z

Mick had a day off from School today, so we went to stretch our legs, around Lethbridge.
He starts driving lessons tomorrow (monday), so, depending on the weather I may try to get out and about to take some pictures around town, but at the moment it is snowing so who knows how far I will get.

We took the picture above, on our little walk, and the same picture is also on Javi's blog here.

The picture below is The Sandman Hotel where most of the other drivers from the company stay when they are reseting their hours or having their trucks serviced etc, and it is also where Javi and his lovely wife Inga are staying.

For people who read Javi's blog, they will already know he was trucking in Canada earlier this year so there is no need for him to retake his Canadian class 1 test, hence they will soon be away down the road, and we may not meet up with them again for many months, so good luck guys, it has been an absolute pleasure to meet you both.
Myself and Mick feel that the future holds great things in store for two such talented and beautiful people.

This picture is of me and the old man.

My best friend Paula will be going off tomorrow to take part in a very well known British game show (Deal or no Deal) so...

GOOD LUCK PAULA

We hope you win a fortune for you and your family, you deserve it love.

Finally Here.

2008-12-06T06:12:00.009Z

My emotions have been all over the place in the last few days. We have not sold our house so we have not burned our bridges but I take my hat off to all of you who have.
Seeing my son and his beautiful wife Joanne, to say goodbye was awful, I was sick inside just waiting to hug them and say goodbye but..... only for six months as we are going home in May to see what decision to make on whether we want to be in Canada permanently or to just work until the work permit expires.
It takes a lot of guts and courage to give everything up and start a new life and to those of you who have done it, I wish every single one off you the best of luck, because you deserve it.

Our journey begins, our lovely daughter in law Joanne took us to Manchester Airport for our flight to Gatwick, the plane was half empty and it was a nice flight, clear skies so good views all the way down. When we arrived we stopped into one of the bars to meet Wolf form Bonnie Scotland. I left Mick chatting to him while I went to do a bit of shopping,when I came back Javi was there as well.
We had a four hour wait for the flight to Calgary, but because we were all chatting the time passed very quickly.
After our long flight we had to queue to go through immigration, where there were only 2 officers on duty, we only had to wait about half hour before we got to see one, but poor old Wolf and Javi had to wait about an hour and half to get through, and Javis wife Inga had been waiting for him for a long time as she had got a different flight to him so got into Calgary early (9 hours).
After the two and half hour drive to Lethbridge we finally got to the hotel (Lethbridge Lodge) at about one in the morning, and boy were we tired.

The next day the boys were being picked up at quarter to nine by Hans from VRV Global, to go for medicals and switch their driving licenses, and get social security numbers.
Hans, what a funny guy, he is great, very down to earth, we had a good laugh with him.
In the afternoon they picked me and Inga up and we all went to open bank accounts, and stop off for the drug tests, after which Hans gave us a short tour around Lethbridge, and after a quick stop off at Tim Hortons for doughnuts, myself Mick and Wolf were dropped off at the shopping mall while Javi and Inga went back to the hotel.
Wolf got himself a phone, we had something to eat and then we headed back to the hotel in the very cold Chinook wind chill, with our eyes and noses streaming.

Javi has posted some nice pics around his hotel, and also of Hans and Wolf, here ...click

I'm posting this late on, as we have just been down to our hotel reception area to meet Mike Nash, from Mikes Jolly In Canada who had just rolled into town with George Anderson of 'The Big Trip' fame, who were both really nice friendly guys.

Mick and Wolf are in class tomorrow, and on Monday, the road work begins.

Woot, Eh!, finally got here.

2008-12-05T13:02:00.002Z

Post by Mick
Time to change the picture up top, of Bradford, and Listers Mill.
Cath will be posting later today.

Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow.

2008-12-02T15:10:00.006Z

Just a quick post in between rushing about trying to say goodbye to everybody.
Opened the curtains this morning and could not believe what I saw, Snow!
It's the most snow I have seen in years up here.

Here is a picture of Mick saying goodbye to his mate Mr Whippy, the famous DJ, radio broadcaster and Ice Cream Man.

I'll also say, that apart from friends and family, the other thing we will miss is Chris Wainwrights beautiful Fish and Chips, served by a great bunch of girls at Beacon Road Traditional Fisheries.
We took a picture to remind us of fish chips and a scallop, but please note, they are not full portions of chips on show here.

We found out that the other driver who is on our flight is meeting us in Gatwick along with Wolf, and it's Javi, who has a blog ...click here.
Javi and Wolf have both been trucking in Canada before, so Mick will be asking a few questions when we all meet up.
So, it's finally arrived, time to go, and it only seems like a week or two since we decided to go in April.

Leaving do, and Reindeer poo!

2008-11-28T15:05:00.013Z

Well, I've been a busy bee lately.

We went to meet Tony T and his wife Jill (pictured on the left) on Sunday, they had been to Leeds for the New Zealand Expo, so we met them at Frankie and Benny's in Birstal for a drink afterwards.
It was good to meet them and we talked about what they are deciding to do in the future , and about us going to Canada. Tony's brother is already a long haul trucker in Canada, so they mey even end up there, but they are a very nice couple and we both wish them all the best for the future wherever they get to.

Monday was my last day at work which was sad, as I have been at WA Shearings for three and a half years and I have been very happy there.
I had a great boss and great work colleagues who have all become friends and I would not have left my job if I had not been going with Mick to travel North America.
On Thursday evening I went out for a meal with my friends from work, we had a very pleasant evening and here's a picture of all the silly things they bought me as an "emergency kit" for Canada.

A lot of thought went into it, so, thanks to Paul and the girls, you brought a smile and a tear to my face.

It wasn't just silly stuff like hand warmers and reindeer Poo, they also bought me a beautiful wristwatch

It was Micks last day at work today, he has been there for over 10 years, and he will be sad to leave his colleague 'Jimmy G' behind, and also the lads at Redhead International.

Mick has also been speaking to 'Wolf', he is on the same flight as us so it will be good to meet him, and I think we will have a good old chat and laugh on that flight.
Wolf also sent Mick a picture of himself playing in the snow on a fertiliser bag (hope you did not twist your ankle too badly lol).
If any of our mates are reading this, and don't have our Skype/MSN details, just leave a comment and I'll let you have them because you know Mick is too tight to use the phone.

Furry Hats And Druggy Rioters

2008-11-16T17:01:00.005Z

After posting the picture of the furry hat on the last post, I was in Matalan and bought a similar one for a fiver, so at least my head will be warm when we get off the plane in a couple of weeks.
Mick says they are not the real McCoy, but will do till we can get some proper winter clothing sorted out that will keep us warm in the low winter temps.

Hubby was talking to 'Wolf' from Scotland the other night, who is going to be on the same flight as us, and has already worked in Canada as a trucker, so we should get some tips off him when we meet up in Gatwick.

Mike Nash, from 'Mike's Jolly in Canada' was on Skype with Mick this A.M, whilst he was in his hotel room in the Sandman, and it was great to hear the usual upbeat positive attitude which he has got, and which helps to put me (and Mick) more at ease with our move.
His wife, Dee, is over on the 19th to join him for a week in his truck, so no posts from him Lol.

Micks Mum had her shopping bag stolen from her shopping cart at Morrisons, Mayo Avenue branch on Saturday, and although the store manager was very sypathetic, the Police will not take any action whatsoever, so that s another reason to get the hell out of here.
There was also a mini riot in Bradford City centre last weekend involving two ethnic drugs gangs, but when it was finally reported in the local paper it was played down and no crimes were either reported or detected, so, like Micks Mum's bag theft ...it never happened.

Javi and his wife Inga should also be over at the same time as us, so we are looking forward to meeting them, as I have been following his blog since he was in Canada previously, and if you like nice photographs, he takes great shots for his blog, here... 'On The Road Again !!!'

Here's a picture from smack in the middle of our town, just one of the neglected unloved buildings which are being left to deteriorate in our once proud city.

Ice Road Truckers Wife?

2008-11-12T18:49:00.007Z

Mick received his emigration papers today, so every thing's on track for our move to the 'Great White North'.
He was on the phone yesterday to another driver, ' Wolf', who will be on the same flight as us, who gave him some good tips and advice because he has driven over there before and knows what to expect.

My biggest problem is what things to take and what to leave, you know what women are like, and even though there is a fair bit of storage room in the truck, we may be traveling from temperatures of -30C in Canada to parts of the USA which are still hot at this time of year, and back again within a few days.

Winter survival clothing is essential at this time of year in the northern United States and Canada, and they take up a lot of room when they are not being worn, so I have had to leave my Louis Vuitton suitcase full of expensive beach wear, shoes and designer ball gowns at home , LOL. My Tiara will have to stay home too, as the first thing I am going to buy on arrival is one of these ... and I'm not kidding.

You may well laugh (I'm sure you will when you see the pictures), but it will stop my head freezing in the chill factor of those Northern Arctic winds.

After receiving advice from people on the British Truckers Abroad forum and other trucking bloggers, we have decided to use calling cards to phone home from across the pond, although I will be taking my own phone and using a SIM card which I will activate when we hit the USA.

Hubby got the SIM off E-bay from cellplan4u123 and it was £11.49 with $10 credit already on it.

The seller provides full instructions for activation, so we will post here about it's use, once we get using it (or not, Lol). The stories about mobile phone charges are quite astonishing, and I will miss my O2 text and talk freebies.

Phones and sim card deals in the USA and Canada

2008-11-02T08:40:00.004Z

Post by Mick

We have been researching the cost and availability of Sim only deals for our own mobiles in Canada and the USA, but it's a minefield out there.

We would like to take our own phones over, and just use a 'pay and go' SIM for emergency calls, and we are happy to use a prepaid calling card from the truckstop phones for long distance.

Both Mike Nash and Lyndon have given us some advice as well as Gremmie, Rooster and Bob the Dog over at ...

British Truckers Abroad

Is that a big enough link Paul? eh?

I have been looking at the Chinese company, 'Red Pocket', who appear to have great deals, ie 1c a min to the UK, and if anyone has any experience with them, I would appreciate some comments and advice.

Post by Mick

Missing Friends And Family (not yet)

2008-10-31T21:19:00.009Z

Well, its been a week or so since Mick received his ticket, when he first told me he got an email with the flight details I did not sleep properly for two nights. You realise its really happening, and not a dream any more. There are many different emotions, happiness, looking forward to your new life, apprehension, wondering if we will be able to hack it, sadness, leaving friends and family behind especially our son.

Today I wrote my notice out, and that was hard, because I really enjoy where I work, I have a brilliant boss and really great work colleagues, I will really miss them. I finish at the end of November.

I know Mick feels the same way, he has been with the same company for ten years , so he is also bound to miss his workmates and friends.

This week I have spent time loading pictures of family and friends onto my facebook page (if you know me, you will be able to find me).

With a bit of luck we will be getting some runs down to the southern states of the USA and if there is an upturn in the economy maybe to Florida. We should also be getting regular runs from our base in Alberta to the likes of San Francisco on the west side and New York and Chicago on the dirty side. We will also be running a lot in Canada where winter temperatures get down to minus 40C so it is going to be a bit of a shock for me.
I will be taking all our photographs to remind me of the sun. Here are some we took this year while visiting my cousin in Bradenton Florida.

Alberta Bound

2008-10-25T18:47:00.002+01:00

Hubby has got his flights confirmed for our emigration to Canada, and I have also booked my own tickets, so, on December 3rd we will be on our way.

More to follow.

New House

2008-10-19T18:12:00.011+01:00

I've just started using facebook so I can keep in touch with my old workmates, and they have another way of following me (if they want to lol), so if you have arrived here from there, welcome.
BTW: I haven't a clue what to do on facebook, so please bear with me.

When we eventually get to Alberta, and hubby passes his class 1 over there (yes, you have to take their test) we will possibly be getting one of the Freightliner Cascadias to live and work in which the company run, but we would also be happy with one of the older Columbias.

These are Columbias ...The pictures below are inside and out of the Cascadia (ours would be red) ...

A bit more room in these North American trucks than there is in the truck which hubby normally runs, (see picture below), and there's room for plenty of creature comforts, although I will expect to spend some time in hotels when he needs to reset his running hours.

Panicking

2008-10-15T23:44:00.002+01:00

Well, not quite panicking, but although hubby was given a provisional date of December 5th for the brake qualifacation test in Alberta, we still need confirmation in writing so he can give his company notice.

He's back on nights for a week trunking up and down the M6 next week in the wagon and drag, so he may get chance to meet up with Tony T somewhere for a coffee.

Change of mind?

2008-10-12T10:45:00.003+01:00

Post by Mick

Maybe we should leave the UK and return as penniless Asylum seekers, to be housed in a £1.2 million mansion.

Afghan mother-of-seven Toorpakai Saiedi already pulls in a staggering £13,901 of handouts every month in rent and living allowances, but complained: "I'd like to take the children on holiday to Disneyland Paris but I can't afford it."

Full story here.

She recieves £166,000 welfare benefits a year, but meanwhile ..."Back in Afghanistan, Saiedi's husband was in business supplying the government army. He fled the Taliban and won political asylum here in 2001, followed by his family."

The family's biggest handout coup is their massive £12,458 a month rent, paid direct by the council to landlord Ajit Panesar who bought the property in March for £1.2 million.

Son Jawad, wearing a Tommy Hilfiger designer shirt and acting as interpreter for his mother, moaned that the property was much smaller than the massive house they used to have in Afghanistan.

He said: "Our house there was huge compared to this one. We laugh at this house and would give this space to chickens to walk around in a cage."

Post by Mick

Trains, Boats and Planes.

2008-10-10T20:07:00.008+01:00

Just returned from another journey back in time to the resort of Cabanas in the Algarve, where you can still see bikes left unchained and you can enjoy fresh local food at reasonable prices.

The hire car would have been great if hubby had not forgotten his driving license, but it meant that we did plenty of walking and also had a couple of nice train journeys.

We also met up with my friends Tony and Sue, who have worked hard enough to be able to retire to Cabanas a couple of years ago, where they are enjoying the fruits of their labours.

One of those fruits is a nice little boat with which they took us to a private little beach on the Ria Formosa to do a little fishing and sunbathing (on the only day the sun stayed in). Sue also made us a beautiful Sunday lunch.

On one of the days we followed a road sign which we never noticed last year, but instead of arriving early in Canada, we arrived in the Town of Tavira, and had a great time there before catching a train to Conceceau then walking the rest of the way home.

The last picture is hubby chilling out on what may be our last European holiday for a long while.
We are just waiting for a start date in Canada now as all the contracts and other documents have been completed.

The Tappan Zee Bridge

2008-09-30T21:56:00.005+01:00

That was the bridge crossing the Hudson river north of New York City in the previous post.
Mick took the photo on one of our visits to family who live in Yonkers.

Hubby received his contract yesterday so it will be on its way back to Canada tomorrow, and hopefully it will not be too long before we get a definite start date.

This weekend we are going to the Algarve for 5 days for a break and to visit a couple who live there, stopping in the beautiful seaside village of Cabanas.

Name That Bridge.

2008-09-25T22:46:00.011+01:00

Well done to Mike for passing his test in Alberta, I'm sure is the real start of a new life for him, Dee and their daughter.
I know my hubby will be a nervous wreck when he does the test, but it has to be done.

Here's a test for the drivers out there.

Hubby took this shot a few years ago of a well known bridge in the USA, but what's it called?

He also has a question for a visitor to my blog from Waterford in Ireland ...are you his cousin?
If so, leave a message and tell him where his uncle Pat has gone to live.

It was nice to see a return to blogging for Javi, who had been blogging from North America (with great pictures). but he disappeared and had gone back to Spain.
He has now got an interview with H&R in Lethbridge and has started to blog again, so maybe we will meet up with him in the future.
He's a great country singer as well, check the video on his page.

A Sunny September Day In Bradford

2008-09-20T20:46:00.007+01:00

Today has been a really lovely day. The sun has been shining all day and it has been lovely and warm. I have been taking advantage of this, sitting the garden most of the day, but in the afternoon we went for a drive around and hubby took a picture of this which is being built in our City.

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. In words spoken in 1997, Erdogan made mosque construction seem like part of a strategy of Islamization: "The minarets are our lances, the domes our helmets, the believers our army."

Hope tomorrow is gonna be another good one, only thing is I will not get anything done in the house.

George from The Big Trip left a comment about the weather in California, but maybe he's forgotten already what the normal weather is like here in England.
Here's a reminder from my hubby's truck in July ...

Big Rig Rollover On The Donner Pass

2008-09-19T21:02:00.005+01:00

It's not all fun.
This crash on the Donner Pass I80 in California claimed two lives, the video was from a camera on a Walmart truck.
Stay safe out there.

Find more videos like this on CDL of it

This was posted with the full story on Jims blog, thanks.

Christmas In Canada

2008-09-18T21:05:00.004+01:00

A phone call from Eugenie in Canada to my hubby today, gave him welcome confirmation of the job offer. With a view to starting at the truck driving school at the beginning of December, so it looks like it is going to be Christmas in North America.

A couple of new blogs here, one just starting out with trucking ... Starting Block--Trucking and one returnee ... Where's Al Now?

Good News, Bad News

2008-09-17T20:13:00.005+01:00

Some useful and interesting posts from the bloggers on my sidebar, including what phones to buy and use in both Canada and the USA from The Professional Tourists, and from Mike at Mike's Jolly In Canada you can see lots of pictures from where he (and all trainee drivers) stay, at the Sandman Hotel in Lethbridge.

Unfortunately it's not all good news as the readers of Spirited Away, and British Truckers Abroad will know, GREMMIE (Graham Parks) who disappeared for a while has now posted here ...Spirited Away the reason why he was absent.

He was both unlucky and lucky, and I'm sure everyone will visit his blog to wish him all the best, and a speedy recovery.

No respect for fallen heroes

2008-09-15T20:50:00.004+01:00

Following a post on the Coppers Blog, (he moved from the UK to Canada), I arrived at this story in the Daily Mail, which may explain why so many ex-squadies make a new life in Canada.

Don't forget to read and comment on the Mike's Jolly In Canada blog, as he has now arrived in Lethbridge and is detailing his progress.

Helpful Bloggers

2008-09-14T09:53:00.002+01:00

We are still very excited about our move to Canada, and now we are just waiting confirmation of the job offer, but as far as we know Steve W only went back to Canada last week, so he will be a bit busy after his 60 odd interviews.

Hubby has got the design of the blog how I like it, so now It is up to me to post more regular. The problem is, the whole idea of going to Canada is to have a more interesting life, so until then my daily life is the same as many other people in the UK, get up go to work, come home and chill out, still, I suppose I should make the best of my relaxed life, because I know when we start working in Canada it will be long days/nights, and hubby will be working harder than he does in the UK.

The general reaction (to our move) from our friend and family has been mostly positive but there has been the occasional bit of negativity from those who would never move outside their own comfort zone, and think we are crazy.

Anyone else reading this blog who is contemplating going to work for a Canadian long haul trucking company will find the links on my sidebar of great interest, as they are mostly by Brits who are already ’walking the walk’ whereas we have only just left the ’talking the talk’ stage.

We would once again like to thank all the other trucking bloggers who have been an invaluable help, even though we do not always get the chance to comment on their own posts.
Whether you are married or single and are contemplating a move to Canada they are all worth a read, and if you are a truck driver, this is a good site to start you off…

British Truckers Abroad

Ta Ta for now.

P.S: It'll be a shame to leave our vibrant city ...

9/11 : Never Forget

2008-09-10T23:11:00.002+01:00

Posting a few hours early, because I might not get chance on the 11th.

We will never forget the events of 9/11 ...we were there.

Hubby took this picture a few days before the towers were struck by Islamic terrorists, it's a view from the South Tower looking north up the West Side Highway, with the North Tower on the left.

The picture below was take outside the Good Shepherd Church in Inwood New York on the 5th anniversary of the attacks.

Top Lass

2008-09-07T17:17:00.005+01:00

I am sure most readers already know that there is another Yorkshire couple already trucking and
blogging around Canada

This is their site...

Kev & Lisa's Life From UK to Canada & USA

Lisa has just sent me a fantastic e mail with lots of useful information which will be a great help to us on our journey, for which I am really grateful, so thank you Lisa and Kev.

A Bit Of Background

2008-09-07T10:48:00.008+01:00

Hubby's Family

When we get to Canada, hubby will be following in his ancestors footsteps because his Hillary and Jones families emigrated to B.C. around a hundred years ago.

This is a view of the Jones house on Jane street, Port Moody about 1920.

His grandparents and close relatives settled in the area Port Moody, Vancouver.
Some of hubby's relatives (Hi Betty) are still in British Columbia, and we are looking forward to meeting them.

This is Robert E Jones and family outside the house he built which is shown on the other picture.

My Family

All my own relatives in North America live in the USA, in New York, New Jersey and Florida, so hopefully we will get to meet up with them again, even though we already visit them regularly.

Here is a picture of me near the 231st subway station on the elevated section of the 1 and 9 train route in the Bronx New York.

This is a picture of hubby on the balcony of my cousin Paddy's apartment in Yonkers, a lovely area near St Vincents College on Riverdale avenue.

Britain 2008

2008-09-01T19:14:00.005+01:00

Whilst I was messing about on Google search, looking for truck driving jobs (hubby is a class 1 HGV truck driver) I came across one particular site, which was a blog by an ex pat British driver living and working in Canada.

Here ... Living the dream

After we had both read Lyndons blog, and following links to other blogs, we made the decision to do some serious research into living and working in Canada, and we have both become regular readers of all the blogs listed on my sidebar.

With a lot of soul searching we finally decided that Canada could be for us, which brought us to August 2008 and the interview up in Newcastle, with the Canadian trucking company

The reasons for wanting to leave Britain are many, but for me the defining moment came a couple of weeks ago, in the city center, at my place of work (travel agency), when a man threatened a colleague and I , with a chair.
As soon as the man became abusive and threatening, we pressed the panic button, which is connected directly to the local police station, but it took them 15 minutes to turn up, in which time, the man had finished his rampage and after causing some damage to our computer monitors, and frightening the life out of the two of us, he simply sauntered out of the shop leaving us shaking with fear and anger.
The fifteen minute wait for the police seemed like an eternity, and when they eventually did arrive they did very little. The man was located and ‘spoken to’, but no action was taken.

As well as the little incident above, it wears you down seeing drug deals being made outside the store, and having to mop up vomit and urine, from our shop doorway on many mornings.

The positive aspects of living in North America seem to far outweigh the negative aspects of living in Britain in 2008, and, yes, we know there are drugs and crime over there.

On the way back from Newcastle, we stopped off in the beautiful city of Durham for something to eat, but after having to step over three comatose drunks, with their attendant bottles of White Lightning and Special Brew cans littering the area around them, we decided not to bother.

Woot, eh!

2008-08-31T13:47:00.005+01:00

Well not quite a 'Woot' yet, but we are hoping to be in Canada late November 2008 if all goes well.

My hubby Mick has been offered (and accepted) a job with a Canadian trucking company as an OTR driver, and I will be traveling with him as his unpaid office girl, and coffee carrier.

I will be making a few blog posts before we go, and then, a daily diary if we have internet access on our journeys.

Please feel free to leave any questions or suggestions in the comments.