Dashing thru the snow - on a 455 horse open sleigh

So windy the bridge was bending

The last post was written in a Flying J truckstop in Corfu New York, i was loaded with goodies for Canada. Next morning i grabbed a coffee and headed for the border. The delivery was pretty simple followed by a run into Mississauga for a trailer swap then a dash thru the snow to Alberta for yet a few more days at home.

With the delivery complete i scooted round to H&R yard to find the trailer swap had been cancelled, damn, blast and buggery.

My new assignment was a load that would be loaded the following morning and i could collect it first thing. At first i wasnt best pleased coz i wanted to get going, the sooner i can get home the sooner i have my days off and the sooner i get back out earning again, plus its getting close to my christmas holiday.

I went to grab some food (spaghetti and sauce) from the Husky while i pondered the change. After i checked my recap (weekly cycle) i found that it wasnt really asa bad a deal as i first thought. I didnt have many hours left so on the origional dispatch i could only drive 11 or 12 hours per day to get home so obviously it would take a little longer.

Now i was forced to take another short day (5 hours driving) it freed up a load more hours, i could now work for 14 hours per day for 3 straight days which was enough to get me home. So really i wasnt any worse off.

Well the next 3 days were pretty draining, driving thru Ontario i was pretty much the last truck thru before the roads all got closed down, now that was a bit of luck. Most of the journey was blizzard conditions and driving either on ice or compacted snow.

Winterypeg was particularly fun, the roads were like sheet glass and in places there was no traction what so ever. When coming up to lights it was a very carefull and when about 2 truck lengths away just dab the brakes and see what happens. Usually there was no braking effect, just a slight twist in the direction of the truck as the tires failed to get any purchase.

As i was slip sliding across Manitoba i got a phone call from Mick & Barbara who were over here for a week for an interview with H&R. About an hour later i got another call from Mick & Cath who had just started with H&R, Mick was just doing his driver training. This gave me an idea and an oportunity to show off my barbeque and beer making skills, so Lyndon started plotting and scheming and trying to work out away to get everyone together.

The last leg into Calgary was particularly treacherous but before long i was trailer swapping and heading south down towards Lethbridge. I actually got into Lethbridge at about 03:00 in the morning, Jan said she would still pick me up (bless her heart) but i said it wasnt worth it. I closed everything down, completed the paperwork then got my head down for a couple of hours, Jan then picked me up on the way to work, i dropped her off and headed home for a few more hours sleep. I didnt realise how tired i was, when Jan arrived at the truck and woke me up i had no clue who i was never mind where i was, it did take her a few minutes to get any sense out of me.

Anyway i got back home, fell on the bed, i think i was back asleep in mid air long before i hit that lovely fuffy comfortable, kingsized, 3 matressed, 4 pillowed friend. God i love that bed.

Thru the hazy veils of my sleep world, someone was ringing a bell, im not sure what i was dreaming about but someone was definitely ringing a bell somewhere. As my blurry dreamword started to shift into focus and my sub consious raced back into the real world i realised it wasnt a bell ringer it was the phone.

Goodbye bed (for now), hello world................................................