Plan "B"

Sorry the blog hasnt been updated for a couple of days but things have gone awry.

I didnt go to Pensylvania as planned but had to take a "Hot" load down into Tracy in California and it had to be there as soon as was humanly (and Freightlinerly) possible.

This proved to be my toughest job yet, i had to do some cross border work first and i was to pick the trailer up in Milk River, clear customs and meat inspection then run with it.

Trouble was the customs people were on a "go slow" or work tob rule or something and the 2 inspection houses were sharing a meat inspector.

.............and to top it all the trailer was too heavy on the rear for California.

Oh how i laughed !!!!!

"How did you get on then", i hear you all ask.

Well i was running against the clock, i had 30 mins to get from milk river into meat inspection with a trailer that was ileagal for where i was going. The trailer axle was 34500 lbs (500 over)

Well to be honest i took a calculated risk and it paid off.

First i moved the axles back passed the 40 foot threshold to be States legal but not California legal, just to cross the border.

While in meat inspection the inspector kindly squeezed the load forward by rotating skids and gained 16 inches off the rear.

After the inspection i set the wheels right on the 40 foot mark and went down to Shelby to scale off.

The trailer axle weighed in at 33760 which was good to go.

Then we made a dash for Tracy, every minute was counting, i drove every minute i could and rested for the minimum alowed.

Two days later we arrived and backed onto the door with 9 minutes to spare.

Tah Dah !!! Job Done.............................

Wheres Lyndon 005

Clues to follow if you need them

Kev & Lisa in Calgary

While i was up in Calgary yard last night i met up with Kev & Lisa and Lisa was kind enough to make me a Tim Horton's coffee (double double) Nice to meet you both at last and i will email that stuff over today.

I cant remember if i asked you where you were going after the reset, we should have got a couple of pics but the lighting was crap.........

Anyway, have a safe journey where ever you end up going.

Oh yes i almost forgot...........................

Next time we are both in Lethbridge, why dont you come down to raymond and we'll have a rib night and a few games of ping pong, pool & air hockey.

We'll kick your arses LOL.......................................

Why my windows freeze up !!

I just wanted to clear some thing up about 3045 and the windows freezing up in the morning. The reason for that is because i have 2 sets of really thick (vinylly) curtains and i always use them both for insulation.

First of all there is a set that goes round the windows, then there is a set behind the driving seats then the night heater blows out from under the bed.

For that reason i am only heating half the cab so that makes the heater so much more efficient, take a look at the pics.

Going to pencil where ???

My Birthday In Fargo

Bills wife

I managed to fall over again on another bit of ice while trying to get photos, my own fault really, it said trail closed and i still tried to get in there, at least i know now why it was closed.


Anyway this is my birthday in a nutshell..............


Woke up at fargo, had phone call off Jan and Luke to wish me a happy birthday and was told i had messages off Claire and Colin.


Went and had a shower then had a lovely 10 oz rib eye steak and eggs compliments of H&R (thanks H&R).


Faxed paperwork, scaled off and drove to the Canadian border, cleared customs and headed over to Swift Current which was 1017 kms altogether.


Oh yes and i saw Yogi's Yellowstone Resort


Faxed of more paperwork then pulled the curtain.


There's more to this story but it can wait till the next post .............

No backload from Des Moines

Well i didnt get my backload from Des Moines after all, next morning i got a macro saying there was a load out of Darien in Wisconsin but it was for the following day. I wasnt too pleased but 10 minutes later there was another message saying they would load me when i got there as a "Work In", that was better news.

3045 and i charged across Iowa into Ilinois and did a 90 degree-er up into Wisconsin to get these Kraft Pizzas. We stopped a couple of times to get photos of the info boards and to grab cinnemon coffee.

We arrived at the cold store and after about an hours wait we were called onto a door, door 6 it was if anyone was interested. Anyway i backed on and walked down the side of the trailer to make sure all was okay, walked over some ice and went flat on my ass............. great, at least no-one saw me.

It was absolutely freezing so at least it didnt hurt when i went over, i was too numb with cold. Anyway, after i was loaded i was so hacked off i just drove round to the nearest J which was South Beloit just outside Chicago and pulled the curtains. Now that night was cold, proberbly colder than Winnipeg, just check out the ice on the inside of the glass the following morning.

So next morning we drove to Fargo in North Dakota and parked at the J there, had another message on the sattelite saying Happy Birthday, go have a nice meal and put the reciept in the envelope. I thought that was really nice, i could never see any of the companies i worked for in UK doing that.