Who the hell is Lyndon ???

First day at school i think

The Apprentice Meat Technition

The Explorer

My Best Uniform

Me as a "Hooker"

And this is me hooking

MV St Brandan

Vince bringing his girlfriends home

Tonights lucky girl

I only did what it said on the washing instructions

Saddam pulled out of Kuwait when i sent him this pic.

Hey Mum, Look what i turned into !!!

Well the blog is a year old now and I think it is a good time to tell you all a little about me, where I come from and what bought us to where we are now.

Well it all started one cold winters night in a land far, far away where the traditional greeting was "ah bin yer ay, 'ar I know ar 'ay"

There was a cry, a shove and a few choice swear words and baby Lyndon was delivered unto the world, kicking and screaming and probably clutching a corn-dog.

I think the doctor said" Ugly little trucker isn't he?"

So they knew even at that early age they knew I was destined to be a Highway Driver, forever destined to roam freely along the Highways and Bye-ways, delivering chilled food products to anyone who was prepared to pay the price.

So there it was, January 31st 1965, I was born to Leons and Muriel Lomanovskis, a little bouncing baby blogger.

But even before that…………………………………..

My Dad came over from Latvia (Google it) in 1948, it’s a long story but in a nutshell, when the German Army stormed thru Latvia in 194'whatever, all the young lads were drafted into the German military, my Dad was sent to the Luftwaffe and promptly despatched to the Russian Front where he manned an 88mm anti-aircraft gun. During the first attack the gun was blown up and destroyed, my Dad survived but was wounded and had his eardrums blown out so he was hospitalised, while in hospital he caught scarlet fever and never returned to the front line.

As the German war machine was pushed back into Germany, my Dad obviously got moved back too and in the meantime the Russians liberated Latvia then promptly occupied it and it got absorbed into the USSR. His meant my Dad could never return home to his family (he's never seen his family since), so he become a displaced person in Germany along with so many other Latvians, Lithuanians, Estonians and many others.

The Allied answer to this problem was to ship them all out to either Australia, UK or USA and offer them permanent Visas, my Dad chose UK.

Well he moved to Winey near Oxford and as he was a farmer by trade he worked a s a farm labourer but as time went on he decided to move to Birmingham and learn a trade, so off he toddles, gets a job, gets lodgings and married the landlord's daughter, there you go, job done.

Unfortunately my Mum hasn’t got such a colourful past, apart from marrying a Latvian immigrant who moved from Witney to learn a trade, when they got married they bought a house in a place called Coseley in the West Midlands and guess what, 54 years later they still live there, doing their thing and both as happy as Larry.

Well as for me………………….

Grew up in Coseley, left school and joined a meat processing company as an Apprentice Meat Technition (ha-ha I still cant spell it) but always ha a yearning to join the military, I was an Scout and an Air Cadet as a youngster, joined the Territorial Army as soon as I was old enough and by the time I was 18 I had joined the Regular Army, turned my back on Coseley forever and young Lyndon was off and living his life.

I really enjoyed the military life although I was a little bit of a rebel and did my fair share of getting into the trouble in those early days, it usually had the same end result, stinking hangover and in deep shit again, but it was fun.

I joined the Army as a Combat Driver in the Royal Corps of Transport, did my 3 months training at Buller Barracks in Aldershot (intake 151) and after that they shipped me off to a foreign land called Yorkshire to try and teach me to drive trucks, once this was done it was back to Aldershot for another week of bullying then they shipped me off to Bielefeld in Germany and to 36 Squadron, 10 Regiment.

During my 4 years there I was lucky enough to do 2 tours of Northern Ireland, first as an Infantryman, patrolling the streets and the second time out of uniform. I also had many more interesting jobs including patrolling the "Berlin Wall" and guarding "Nukes".

My next post sent me to RAF Odiham back in Blighty when I joined the Joint Helicopter Support Unit and I became a "Hooker". My 2 main roles there was preparing and hooking the under-slung loads for Chinook helicopters and also preparing tactical landing zones for various types of helicopter. This was my favourite time in the Arm and I was sad when I had to leave.

During this time I did 2 tours of The Falkland Islands, the first one was based at Mount Pleasant Airport and the second one was again out of uniform and based on board the cargo vessel MV St Brandon, I enjoyed both tours but the one on board the ship was absolutely fantastic.

Next it was back to Germany to Lubbecke where I joined 54 Sqn RCT and didn’t even get time to unpack before I was dispatched over to Saudi Arabia to help kick Mr Hussein's ass out of Kuwait, again this was one of the highlights of my career, I had a great time and got a great suntan. People asked me what it was like to live in the desert for 9 months, I say it was like being on the beach 24-7 except that the sea goes out a long way.

I started writing to a girl while I was out there, her name was Jan, can you guess the rest……………………………………………….

After my time in the dusty stuff I got a really shitty posting to Minden in Germany so I changed trades and become a Military Railwayman and within 2 years of changing trades I was running their training wing. I stayed there, living in Monchengladbach till I got another shitty posting to that same Squadron that was in Minden except that now the were back in UK just outside Oxford.

By the way Luke was born at this time at RAF Wegberg, just a few miles away.

I turned up at the main gate and just new I wasn’t going to stay there long, everything there was just crap, I didn’t like anything or anyone there and to be honest I went out of my way to cause trouble every chance I got. I got into a huge row with my troop sergeant and it was an unrecoverable situation.
In the end I had to ask for an interview with the Colonel t explain the situation. He basically said I had to put up with it so the same day I resigned, after 13 years service I just walked away.

I was supposed to work a years notice but The Army released me 4 months early (I think they were glad to be rid of me LOL) those last 8 months were interesting, my troop commander would have nothing to do with me and my Troop Staff Sergeant had given up, like I said I hated everything about the place and that included them.

So on that fate-full Friday I drove into the barracks in Civvies, went straight to the clothing store and dumped my uniforms on the counter, then drove round to the Sqn and asked in the office if they wanted all the spare stuff I had accumulated over the years, naturally they said yes so I drove into the hangar and emptied the contents of my boot………………… on the floor.

I got back in the car and with a wry smile on my face, drove off the base without even looking back.

And there ended Lyndon's military career………………………………………….

Monday morning I donned suit and tie and joined Toys R Us as a trainee Assistant Manager.

Two years later I changed ties and joined Tempo Electricals as a Manager.

When they went bust (not my fault) I changed ties again and become a salesman for DFS selling sofas.

When they threatened to fire me for being crap I went over the road selling Toyotas.

Ha ha, I was even worse at that so I dug out my truck licence and went on the road.

I did agency work for a few years and loved it till I got to Wincanton's, I liked it there but the agency lost the contract so I got a job with them directly and was with them when I overheard Jon Webley and Nick Woods talking about moving to Canada, that was last January.

And I think you all know the rest………………………………………….

My Typical Run

Okay folks, just to give you European and Brit based drivers an idea of times and distances that we do over here as North American Highway drivers, I have broken down my last trip. This is pretty typical of what we do and I have also super-imposed an image of Europe over the states so you can see the differences.

I left Lethbridge last Tuesday morning to do what I thought would be a standard 5 1/2 day trip down into Iowa, quick delivery and backload then back up to Canada to reset ready for the next trip. Now I want to point out at this point that I am totally out of sync for my dedicated day of leaving on a Friday so I am quite happy to stretch this one out. What I mean by that is if they send me further away for my backload or if they send me up to Toronto I'm okay with it.

Righty ho then………..

The story starts Monday afternoon, the day before I get back in the truck, I normally phone in about 13:00 to see where I am going the next day and check on delivery and collection times. This week I am told I am going to Beef Produ
cts Incorporated in Waterloo which is a "drop & wait" meaning I take the trailer in, leave it there, and go round to the J and wait. I like that run coz while you are waiting there's plenty of time to clean out the truck, grab a shower and a proper meal and chill out for a while.

Tuesday morning, Jan & I get up, Jan gets Luke ready for school and takes him, meanwhile I start packing for the trip. Most of my work clothes stay in the truck and only my laundry comes home with me.

So clothes packed, food packed, computer and cameras packed its breakfast time, typical Lomanovskis Canadian breakfast of Canadian bacon and cheese on a croissant and coffee. Jan comes back just as breakfast is cooked so we eat and throw all my gear in the car.

The drive into Lethbridge is about 30 mins so Jan drops me off and goes off shopping. I stow all my gear, pre-trip 3045 and log on to the satellite, the messages don’t come thru till you log on for the day. Once I'm happy with the truck and if nothing has come thru the satellite I take a walk into the office, grab the official keys off the hook (I have my own spare set), check the mail, check the licensing box to see if 3045 has any post then go upstairs to the dispatchers to see what's happening.

I am told that the load is still up at Cargill's in High River so I grab an empty trailer and scoot off up there, trouble is though, once I have crossed the border, meat inspection closes at 16:30 so I'm not going to make it. I plan to get the load, cross the border and park up on the meat inspection door s I can be first in the queue in the morning.

Soooooooo………………….

I grab the load (passed Kev & Lisa on the way up) and get down to the border, I got one extra little job to do this time, my I94 Visa waiver runs out in a couple of days so I need to go into immigration to renew that. The border guard keeps my passport and manifest so I don’t run off and I proceed thru the x-ray scanner and park up. I walk up to immigration and wait patiently to be sorted out, in the mean time another border guard managed to offend an Israeli man who had out stayed his welcome anyway. With that done I'm good for another 3 months and I toddle off to "Agri" to book the meat load thru. It was the same female officer in the other building so there must be a secret passage somewhere or a teleporter or something. Anyway she signs where she's supposed to sign and stamps where she's supposed to stamp and I smile, thank her very much, didn’t ask her if she had a teleporter then made my way back down to 3045 who was waiting patiently in the lot.

That little lot done I gunned the engine and we swiftly scooted the half mile or so round to meat inspection and pulled the curtains.

During the night the weather had turned nasty, a lot of roads were emergency traffic only and the road I wanted (needed) to take was closed. Anyway cleared meat inspection, drove down to Shelby and fuelled up, I spoke to another driver to told me that Highway 2 was now open so I happily drove off east. The roads started off okay but soon deteriorated and it was a hard slog to get to the Flying J at Beach North Dakota. That’s where I filmed the pickle thing, yuk!!

I sent a message to dispatch informing them about being out of sync and a run up to Toronto would put me right, hint, hint !

Next morning I started to pace my self for the delivery, I had nearly 2 full days before delivery so I planned 2 nice easy days, half an hour later I had a message asking me to get the load into Waterloo as soon as possible, pick up a trailer waiting for me and get it South to Ottumwa in southern Iowa.

Well that changed my plans a little so we drove as far as we could and ended up in a small rest area in Minnesota and the next morning finished the journey and dropped the trailer at BPI, this was after waiting over an hour for an asshole of a QA inspector to come out and check the seal, all he had to do was walk out of his office and walk 30 yards. Anyway he turned up and I was at my sarcastic best as usual so I hope I spoiled the Karma of his day.

Okay dropped the trailer and the one I picked up had a flat and half a dozen bald spots, oh yes and one axle was frozen solid which I promptly fixed with my trusty hammer. I phoned the shop and told then to get the "flat tire fixing guy" to meet me at the J, my plan was to get a shower while he was fixing it. Well that plan didn’t work out coz I had to drive to them, it was only a few blocks but it meant the shower had to wait. Anyway they changed the tire and I went back round to the J and had my shower.

I drove down to Ottumwa dropped the trailer at their wash-down and went to collect my load, its not a bad place they have all the facilities (except adequate parking) so I scaled off and waited for my paperwork, eventually a guy in white coveralls and a hard hat came over and waved a seal at me. Once I was sealed I headed North. Normally I would stop somewhere and do all the copying and faxing but this place does it all for you so I drove as far as I could and pulled over in a rest stop.

Next day drove to the Flying J at Sioux Falls and next morning fuelled up at the Pilot and headed west for the Flying J and Rapid City, from there drove to the Flying J at Butte Montana where I had a nice steak and baked potato supper. Next day drove to Moses Lake in Washington State and parked up there at a place called Ernie's Truck stop, its not a bad place but I've seen better.

Somehow I've managed to switch from driving days to driving nights but its not a problem as I am pushing hard and time is running short, the problem now is that I am running out of hours on my recap (weekly cycle) and I have to start planning hours carefully so I can make the deliveries on time. Had a message off Rick, one of the American dispatchers saying "Great run, well done, thanks" which was nice, he obviously knows what I'm up against here.

It was now the night before the deliveries in Vancouver and I was still in Moses Lake Washington so I needed one last big push. I left about 21:00 (Mountain Time)got over to Seattle and up thru the border at Surrey.

Now meat loads going down into the States have to be inspected by USDA at special facilities just over the border. Meat loads coming into Canada also have to be inspected but the Canadians do it slightly differently, once you have crossed the border coming North you go into the Brokers office which will be somewhere in the complex, he gives you a report called an MCAP and this tells you whether you have been selected for inspection or if it’s a "Skip", skipped loads just go on to delivery as normal. Loads to be inspected are sent to particular facilities where they are inspected then you go and deliver them.

Anyway I had one skip and one inspect so I delivered one load, drove down to the inspecting facility actually in Vancouver its self and a City driver took the trailer off me as there was no way I had the hours to get it to Chilliwack.

I bobtailed over to the Delta yard (15 mins) with 30 mins to spare and that’s where I am now.

I have taken 10 hours rest and I was expecting a load of coke-cola to get me back to Calgary, trouble is I am sill short of hours on the recap so I will have to do it it 2 shifts.

Now I have been told that the load wont be ready till tomorrow so I am planning to do a reset here in the yard and if I leave tomorrow afternoon I can get back to Calgary in one shift, it takes about 12 1/2 to 13 hours to get back then I just need a run down to Lethbridge for a few days off.

Well that’s my trip and that’s what I do as a North American Highway Driver, over the last week or so I have seen extremes of weather both hot and cold, met some great people (and a few assholes) travelled through 7 states and 2 provinces, I've been tired, exhausted, exhilarated, happy, sad, completely pissed off, confused, frustrated, proud and a mixture of all other emotions which I don’t think there are names for.

I've learnt some stuff, had some laughs and best of all been paid for it.

I guess that’s it, for better or worse, this is my "Trucking Life"………………………..

H&R Drivers - Wayne Read

There I was sat at the Delta Yard doing my paperwork and a truck pulls up next to me, the driver jumps out and says "Hey, you're Lyndon".

And that dear readers is how I met my new buddy Wayne.

Anyway we had a great chat about the usual trucker stuff and went to grab some breakfast at Tim's. It turns out we were both waiting for loads to get us back to Lethbridge.

He told me that some of his mates back in UK read the blog regularly so I thought it would be nice to take a couple of photos and put them up on the blog.

Anyway here's a bit about Wayne………………………………..

Wayne comes from Warrington and its his second time over here, he was up in Edmonton a few years ago working for Westcan driving the "Wiggle Wagons".

Wayne also mentioned Steve Whittaker and the job he does at H&R which I had never really thought about, suppose we all take him a bit "For granted" . Now I'm not really sure what Steve's role would be called at H&R, but he is he person who looks after the Brit and European drivers. Despite the common language and all being truckers, there is still a difference between the Canadian drivers and those that originate from overseas, we have different ways of doing things so we have to learn new skills. Both Wayne and I agree that companies over here do need a good "Go Between" because the average European driver does feel a little neglected and overwhelmed if he is just thrown into the driver pool and have to learn "The North American Method" the hard way. Maybe if Westcan or other companies had a go-between it might make it easier for drivers coming over here.

So after a brief spell back in UK it was back out here to good old Sunny, snowy, hot and cold Canada and he joined The Big Red Team, training at the same time as Kev Gray (Kev & Lisa's Trucking Life) and now drives 3148.

Wayne's views on H&R and driving in North America and pretty similar to my own, H&R equipment is good, the job is good, the pay is always there and its great fun. He's just got his load of paper which is a very light load so he should fly up that mountain, I'm not so lucky I got a heavy load of pop and my trailer isn't ready yet so I doubt very much if I will catch him up.

Anyway safe journeys Wayne and see you soon buddy.

Driving with your nuts out

The Long Haul

Since i was at Butte the pressure has stayed on and i have been driving hard. I have literally driven the maximum and rested for the minimum allowed and now i am getting desparate for driving hours.

I left Butte and got to Moses Lakes in Washington State then last night i set off, ran across to Seattle then North into Canada. i delivered the first load but the second load had to be inspected first.

I just had enough time to get it down here to Richmong and i have 30 mins to get to the Delta yard, now thats what i call close to the edge. A city driver was supposed to meet me here and taje the trailer off me but no-one has turned up yet, if they dont turn up by the end of the inspection then i will take the trailer.......................

inspections done see ya'll later.....

Wigwams, Wild Dogs and Mountain Ranges

Im sat at the Flying J at Butte Montana and just reflecting on the last few days.........

Since the last article i have delivered into Waterloo, picked up a different trailer that had a flat, bald tire on one axle and frozen brakes on another. The frozen brakes was a 2 second job with a lump hammer, the tire however had to be changed, luckily the shop was 3 blocks away so that was done in under an hour.

My backload was 2 drops just out side Vancouver (Abbotsford & Chilliwack) and was collecting at Ottumwa which was a 3 hour drive due South.

I picked up the load and i am now trying to deliver it on time which means i will be rolling again at 3 in the morning and i am trying to get as close to Seattle as i can. This is going to completely blow my hours so i will be looking to get back into Lethbridge sometime on Thursday.

I was driving thru one of the Sioux Indian Reserves this afternoon and was surprised to see a pack of wild dogs, they were of all different breeds and you could see that at one time they must have been pets but for whatever reason have been let loose.

The wigwams (teepees) are at the Custer National Monument.

Sorry this is a short one but i am completely shattered and i need some sleep before i get moving again.

My latest trip to Waterloo

Hello again, wow i wish i hadnt eaten that pickle now, i feel a bit sick so i hope this bag of M&M's i'm eating will cure it.

Anyway, i am at the Beach Flying J and this is day 2 of the expedition.

I got to my truck yesterday morning to find that someone had given her a bath, so thank you to whoever that was. I got my load assignment and sure enough it was to Beef Products Inc in Waterloo, i quite like hat one as you drop the trailer in their yard and bobtail round to the J for a few hours, then either get a load up to Ontario or back along the Highway 2 and up thru North Portal.

Anyway the load doesnt deliver till Friday afternoon which is just as well coz it was still sat up at one of the factories. So after saying a brief hello to Ron and Jim who started a few weeks ago i gunned 3045's mighty Detroit Diesel and pointed her little silver snout out of the yard and we were off on our merry little way.

Theres a ranch on the way up that looks really happy, i have been meaning to take a pic of it for a while now, hope you like it.

Got up to the factory, dropped my empty and picked up the load, all done in about half an hour, trouble was though is was going to be too late for meat inspection, but not to worry, its all in hand.

One thing did worry me though while i was there, you see there is a road that leads down the side of the building and that is where the cattle haullers go with their cargo of Moo cows making their final one way journey to meet Mr slaughterman.

Well while i was there i saw a coach full of people go down that road and come back empty, now that got me (and my warped mind) thinking, it might have just been a staff bus..............

But what if it wasnt, have they started selling the "Alternative Red Meat" ?????????

Anyway, got the trailer and set off for the border, cleared the immigration boothe but had to renew my I 94 (Visa waiver). i drove through the x-ray and took a walk up to the immigration office, being extra careful not to go on my ass again.

I had to wait quite awhile to be sorted out but it wasnt a problem as the entertainment was provided in the form of a border guard, an american, and an Israeli man.

To cut a long story short, the Israeli man wanted to leave USA for Canada but had over stayed his welcome (only by a year or so, oops), the border guard was firing loads of questions at the Israeli man who just stared back which infuriated the guard. Then the american (his brother in law) explain that the Israeli man didnt speak english, this enfuriated the guard even more who explained to the Israeli man (in about 105 decibels) to take a seat as he was going to be there a long, long time, the Israeli man just stared. His brother in law whispered something in his ear then they both sat down.

Now excuse me for being a little thick here but if the Israeli man had been in america too long already, why would the guard want to keep him there even longer ???

With the prospect of WW3 breaking out in the little town of Sweetgrass, i bid them all farewell and sauntered off to Customs then down to my dear old truck, being even more extra careful not to go over on my ass.

Drove round to meat inspection and parked up on a door ready for next morning.

Woke up this morning, got inspected first and heared the great news that the road i intended to take was closed, great !!

It wasnt too much of a surprise though coz when i woke up this morning, 2 inches o snow had fell and there was a state wide blizzard and most roads were emergency traffic only.

I left Sweetgrass and headed for Shelby for fuel and groceries, the weather stared to clear a little so once 3045 and i had both been fed we headed east.

The weather was very changeable, one minute sunny and the next total whiteout and most of the day i was driving on black ice, i dont mean patches, i mean completely black ice.

Like i said i got to Beach ND tonight so i didnt do too bad, were still on schedule.

Till next time............................................