Message from kelowna

Ive had a busy few days since Aurora, i woke up, grabbed a shower and bought a new camera to get me by till santa gets me a new one. Bought a cheap 5.1 mega pixel, got back to the cab and found it needed an SD card which i couldnt find anywhere in the States.

It was really annoying coz Seattle is one amazing place, you come over the brow of the hill and there it is sprawled out across the valley, Seattle is basically a big port and down town is right next to the harbour, never mind, next time ill get some pics.

Anyway, back into Canada, dropped the trailer in Delta and told to bobtail round to Annasis Island. I got the nod that the load wasnt ready yet so i drove round to Tim Hortons first and treated myself to a toasted chicken club and a few donuts.

When my belly was happy, i scooted over the bridge and followed the truck route round to Burnaby, again more fantastic things to photograph and no camera.

Got to the shipper and was told the load would be at least a couple of hours so i parked up and headed for the town. I took a thing called a skytrain to the nearest mall and found a Walmart where i got an SD memory card and some rechargeable batteries.

10 oclock that night the load was ready so i coupled up and pointed 3045 East. We drove over the Rockies thru the night and arrived in Okanagan Falls at 5 0clock next morning ready for a morning of multi dropping up the Okanagan Valley, now there is another beautiful place. I was delivering groceries to IGA convenience stores, not particularly exciting but different.

The drops were Okanagan Falls, Penticton, Summerland and Kelowna, leaving me with an empty trailer which i dropped in The H&R yard Kelowna.

I am now sat bobtail in the yard and at about midnight i am hitching up to another trailer and we are Calgary bound, i will get into Calgary tomorrow morning where i am old there is another load that i am taking to Lethbridge, the clock is ticking, we have to get back to Lethbridge PDQ as we are on a special mission on Sunday. A mission that 3045 is particularly excited about...

More news to follow.............................................

Camera is now so very unmended

Nice Lake


How Fidel funded his revolution

Found a curry house, cant remember where i took the picture though

Free coffee in the desert

Fruit Farm

Massive Sleeper

This is what old prostitutes get ???

Have you ever tried to shaft a Wasco ??

Well im at the end of my second day driving up the Interstate 5 and parked up in the "Travel Centres Of America"in Aurora Oregon Its not a paricularly fast road and so far has had a speed limit of 55mph but the scenery is great, ive driven through desert, mountains, snow, dust, over massive bridges that look down over beautiful lakes, oh yes and the last 10 miles it rained.

I even had mash potatoes and gravy with my KFC meal (and coleslaw) which was really nice this afternoon, but one thing spoiled it all.....................

I've made my camera even more broke.

I thought i would have one more go at mending it and now the lens has completely gone. Looks like Santa has got to get his s**t together and get his a**e down that chimbney.

I sent him a letter and even put a magic lapland stamp on it so theres no excuses.

This pics are since i left LA 2 days ago.

Pit Stop at Lebec

Got into Wilmington,Los Angeles on time for the delivery (20 mins early actually) then sat on the bay for 7 hours. My next job was a trailer swap on Cherry Avenue with another one of our drivers, he got my empty 007 and i got a heavy load of cooking oil to take into Vancouver.

I connected up to the trailer and got a cuple of hours kip, then it was round to the CAT Scale to scale off and head north. Just one minor hiccup, my drives were overweight by 80 lbs so i squeezed up a little (1 notch) on the trailer group and now i am inside the weight by 180 lbs, that means no corndogs till Canada i s'pose.

Got stuck in the hellish LA morning rush hour but now i am out of town on Interstate 5 and thats the road i will be on for the next 2 days, no getting lost then.

Somebody tried to hustle me for a dollar the other day while i was in Las Vegas. It was dark and i was manoevering round the Flying J, this scruffy individual stepped out in front of me and lagged me down, when i stopped he tried to open my passenger door which i always keep locked anyway. When wouldnt open he came round he drivers side and asked me if i would jump out and help him with his trailer, when i asked him what he problem was he didnt seem sure, i said no, and wound the window up a little. He said okay and would i give him a dollar for the phone, this time the window went right up and i drove off, im sorry he might have been genuine but there was no way i was getting out of the cab to find out.

Only 30 mins earlier i was talking to he reefer fitter and he was saying how he has just moved here from San Fransisco and he is moving back because of all he crime.

Anyway thats all for now as i have to get moving again.

DAI Public Scales In Canada

Remember what i said before about scaling. Everytime you get loaded or pick up a loaded trailer, you check your axle spacings then go and weigh each axle group at the nearest public scale. In Canada, H&R has got an account with DAI who have scales all over the place.

They are pretty easy to use;

1. Stop before scales
2. Enter your pin number and details into the machine
3. Go back to your cab and wait for the yellow light
4. On the yellow light, put your steers onto the scale, light goes out
5. On the yellow light, pull forward until your drives are on the scale, light goes out
6. On the yellow light, pull forward until all axles are on the scale, light goes out
7. Walk back to the machine and get printout
8. When all weights are legal then bugger off
9. If axles are over then adjust and reweigh
10. Go to instruction 8

These pics are of the scale in Lethbridge, about 5 blocks from the yard.

From Butte Onwards

Woke up yesterday morning at Butte, skated over to the shop, skated back again, gave 3045 and 113007 a drink and trundled off southwards.

Just after i got south of Salt Lake City disaster struck again, the reefer packed in, not good when you have a full load of frozen potato wedges. I tried a few things, none of which worked so i sent in a breakdown report.

We limped into a Thermo King work shop and 113007 got some TLC. I had dropped the trailer and was parked opposite, i think it was TLC but there was a lot of hammering going on.

Anyway 2 hours later, a new cooling thingy belt fitted and 007 sounded a lot healthier, we hen parked up and all got some sleep.

Today i am having a rest at the Barstow lying J and up dating this 'ere blog. Believe it or not i am still on schedule to make the delivery on time ??????????

Hopefully the delivery should go as planned and i can get a quick backload and get back up North.....................We'll see.

The Potato Wedge Disaster

It should have been a simple trip !!!

Got to 3045 at about 10:00, all the paperwork was ready and border crossing sorted, fired her up, backed under 113007 (the trailer) and dragged it round to the scale. It was heavy for California but still legal but with only about 200 lbs to spare, never mind, legal is as legal does.

Flew down to the border and hit the first hurdle, the paperwork wouldnt clear.............oops!

I will spare you the details but 8 hours later and i was still sat there and i had run out of ideas, and to top it all the broker was being a real pain in the ass. In the end i politely asked the customs officer to call the broker to see if that would help. To my surprise he agreed, made the call and it was sorted. I menion that because i slated some of his colleagues in an earlier post, this officer was great and really helpfull.

So, customs cleared there should be no more problems, trouble is though, with all the lost time, the furthest i could get south is Butte in Montana, not good but the delivery is still possible (just).

The pics are from the morning after at Butte, it was very icey and slippy.

If you happen to be in the bathroom at a Pilot and someone is washing their hands and singing "Happy Birthday" dont worry they proberbly work there !!

My camera is buggered

Well thats it, its official, my camera is knackered, there is a dark spot in the centre of the pictures now. Went looking at them today but it so difficult i think to shop for something like that. The shop assistants are so clueless, and which ever one you decide is the top contender, the sales person always seems to own that model and they are very happy with it.

So into Walmart i went and looked at a few of their offerings. Now for me and the type of pics i take, the most important things i need are, a fast shutter action (not shutter speed) which is the time delay between hitting the button and the picture being captured. The optical and digital zoom capability for obvious reasons and i also need stabilisation again for obvious reasons.

I would like to point out at this point that it is illegal to drive and operate a camera and that is something i would neither condone or participate in. All my pictures are taken by a very complicated device that sits on the dash and is hands free, wireless and thought controlled. These devices cost about a million dollars and no you cant see it because its invisible.........and top secret.

Willard to Lethbridge

Sent the night a Willard and set my sights on Lethbridge for tonight, tricky move as it is 12 hours away and in he States i can only legally drive 11 hours.

How's he going to do it then? i can hear you asking.

Well the distance to Lethbridge isn so important as the distance to the border which is just under 11 hours, once i am in Canada i can drive 13 hours which means i just gained another 2 hours, clever stuff eh?

I got back to Lethbridge okay, up in the Montana mountains was a bit icey but nothing 3045 and i couldnt handle, the only stop we made was at Butte (pronounced byoot apparently) for a drink for 3045 (she likes diesel) and a drink for me (coffee with a little milk and 1 sweetner).

I would have had a corn dog but i am on a 2 week corn dog ban as pennance for calling Gremmie "an ugly little spud", and true to my word i left them alone.

Just before i got to the border i recieved my next job, leaving Sat am, back down to Los Angeles with a load od potato wedges, delivering Monday 16:00. Bear in mind its Thursday evening and i havent even been home yet, still think of the money.

Got back to the 'Bridge at 21:00 and the next driver was waiting to take it onwards up to Edmonton. Jan turned up and we stopped off at KFC to grab some supper.

My plan when we got home was to scoff the KFC and sink a few "Cold Ones", unfortunately i was more tired than i thought and 2 beers later i fell asleep on the couch.

Next morning it was up bright and early (well early anyway) to grab a haircut and off we went shopping for a Christmas tree and decorations. Managed to get a great tree (7&half foot) and all the decorations, oh yes and nearly all the presents, just my camera to get now.

Got home and chilled out, tomorrow its back to the truck.

Barstow California to Willard Utah

I made pretty good progress today, woke up at the Flying J in Barstow and 1028 kms later, here i am parked up in another Flying J in Willard in Utah. I tell you what though, its flipping cold up here, i need to get myself back down to that desert.

If can make the same sort of progress tomorrow i will cross the border at Coutts late afternoon, park up in Lethbridge and have the night at home.

I noticed the cold when i pulled up here, i jumped out of the cab, took half a dozen steps then dived back in to get my coat.

Well done Kev on passing your Class 1 test today, enjoy your mentor trips...........

Welcome back to the fold Gremmie and best of luck in your new job matey..............

Those dots just keep on coming dont they.

Might have a bit of a problem with the camera, i think ive worn it out, some pics might have a dark spot in the centre but its done over 10,000 photos so ive had my moneys worth, better write a letter to Santa, if i tell him i'll give him a mention on the blog i should get a good one.

Port Hueneme

Woke up this morning and it was misty, proberbly coz i was in the mountains. I made my way down towards LA then swung left down the SR 126, what a fantastic road. It is basically a valley road that runs east to west and takes you from north of LA, right down to the coast. There are loads of fruit farms and everything is very hispanic.

I was collecting Bananas from Del Monte which is in the port complex. I went into the shipping office and asked if i could back onto a door.

And..............................

The man from Del Monte, he said "Yes". hehe.

Well it was an easy collection, scaled off round the corner an i will fax my paperwork over later.

While i was in the port i managed to get a picture of the Del Monte ship, just in case anyone was wandering what a banana boat really looked like. Also while i was there the food waggon and the owner ( who had ubelieveably shiny teeth)sold my some assorted burritos and a roll with an egg and some other stuff in it.

The other stuff was like sausage but only half cooked and very spicy, when i had ate it i thought "Oh Oh, im gonna get an icky tummy here" but i didnt, funny how you always think that after you eat something and not before. I am getting quite good at ordering mexican food, you just point and say"one of those please".

So, bananas loaded and weighed, it was back up the valley road and a back road of about 140 miles or so up to Barstow which is where i am now,

Ive had a hot free shower, stuffed myself silly at the buffet and now i am just letting my supper settle before i do some faxing.

Tomorrow i leave at the crack of sparrows, and its up thru Arizona, Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana and back into Canada, isnt life nice when its simple.

3045 bares all

This is for all those of you asking to see more of 3045's dirty little bits, these pictures were taken at a recent photo shoot for "Playtruck"

Her vital statistics are;

Detroit Diesel 2006 series 60
14 litre displacement
515 bhp at 1800
rpm

Also notice the TriPak which generates the 110 volt electrics, drives the night heater and air con and also monitors the battery charge and coolant temps, clever little thingy.

Those poles on the back of the cab are my load locks, they're handy for stopping the load falling over.

She's also got a 12 speed merritor automatic gear box.

Any more technical questions, please dont ask me coz i aint got a clue.