April Fools everyone

Well, Here it is April 01 yup, guess I was fooled in advance cause the boss still hasn't called and I'm not doing any trips to Edmonton so Pftt. Tomorrow is resume day I already have one place to go as soon as #1 son brings my truck back from Airdrie tomorrow morning.

There You have it!

There you have it my first solo run to Wisc. and back, My experiences here are not uncommon and the industry wonders why they have trouble retaining people.

Tuesday, a chat with the boss

Tuesday, I went into the office and told them I didnt have the stamina for this sort of jerking around, both in Manitoba and Calgary and gave him my notice, he said he had another short run job starting in March which would be 2 or 3 trips per week to Edmonton and back I said that would be great, he said the money won't be as good as the long haul stuff I said thats not a problem because in the long run of things if you work it out per hour it's almost the same and I will get to sleep in my own bed. All in all I lost 1 day in Portage, one day in Calgary and drove 700 empty Kms on this trip ( no pay) Wonder why I was fed up

The Monday SAGA Walmart sucks!

>0430 alarm went off and I roused myself, It's snowing pretty hard, great, oh well off I go to the big city and got to Supply Chain Management at 0535 or so, well it seems that SCM is really Walmart, I parked the trailer at the door and went inside and gave the receiver my papers, he said " Where's you labourer" I said "HuH?" He siad if you dont have one you better get yourself a pair of steel toed boots and get ready to unload your truck, and if it's not started by 0715 you have to pull out and it's a $1500 penalty, well out to the truck, call the boss at home and ask about this swamper that's supposed to be there, she doesnt know and heads to the office to check it out, I went back in and the receiver says he ( the swamper) showed up and all is OK. I ask when can I get my trailer back and he says maybe 2 or so and gives me a phone # to call. So I unhook the trailer and call my sister-in -law Anne and ask if I can drop by for a coffee and a visit, meanwhile it's still snowing hard and the traffic reports have all the commuters banging into each other so I called her back and told her I was going to park for a while till the rush hour was over. Got to Anne's about 0930 or so

>1330 Called SCM and got an answering machine, so I decided to head back there, whilst on the way I called them again and the girl said no not even 1/2 done perhaps call back around 7 or so, sheesh but nothing I can do so I call Leth and advise them and head back to Anne's house.

1830 I call SCM and the receiver says that I should be able to pick up my trailer around 2230 or 2300 ??????!!!!

Called my boss and asked what the H*ll was going on and what did he know about this outfit, he sort of back handedly admitted during this call that he was aware that this was going to be about a 10 hour stop (nice guy eh! as this is something that he didnt choose to share earlier, like Sunday while he and I were talking on the cell phone and I was talking about a nice Valentines day supper I was going to have with Joan, he knew then I wasn't going to make it)

Anyway, he called the company that gave us this contract and then called SCM and talked to them and then called me back and told me to call SCM at about 2000 or so, I did and they said I could pick up the trailer at 2100.

2030 Thanked Anne for the company and the shower and headed out to get my trailer. Still snowing pretty hard, picked up the empty trailer and headed to LEthbridge ( 200 kms) Couldnt go over 80 kms or so for the first hour of the trip, stopped in Claresholm for a coffee and called Mac to make sure he could pick me up,

0030 parked the truck in the yard and was met by Joan and Mac, loaded my junk in the car and came home.

Sunday back in Alberta

>0900 Now for a leisurely drive to Calgary, Stopped in Medicine Hat for some fuel and then on to Calgary arriving about
>1530 or so. I went to the place I was supposed to be on Mon morn but they wouldnt let me leave my trailer there and said come back at the right time tomorrow,, just as I was leaving a guy flagged me down and said if my appointment was for 6:15 he recommended being there not later than 5:30 because they "Would be lined up to the street"

>Called my old friend Mike Ross in Airdrie and asked him if he wanted to go for coffee so I drove the 20 km to Airdrie and parked on a side street. His wife called while we were talking and we all wound up in a restaurant together for supper, then they invited me back to the house for coffee and some tv in the rec room, it was great, they took me back to my truck about 2300 or so.

Saturday Just driving n Customs

0800, Got up and had coffee, called the customs broker to make sure the papers were in order, they were not, some of the pages did not come thru on the fax so now I have to stop someplace and re-send them, drive 1 hour to Fargo and go into the truck stop and re-send the papers, wait 1/2 hr call the broker and make sure she is happy, good, now for some serious driving,

West on 94, north on 52 to Minot ND and north to North Portal Sask, cleared Can Customs at about 1900 hrs, stopped in Estevan for supper and then set my sights on Swift Current for bed,

2330 Swift Current, found a side street with other trucks on it and parked, went to bed

Wisconsin has nice people

Got up and headed to Waunakee WI for my 3pm appointment. Long story made short, many skinny roads , low speeds and it took forever to get there but I was about 2 hrs early, asked if I could get loaded early they said maybe, go wait in my truck and they would send someone out when my load was ready. 1430 they came out and got me,

1600 hrs hooray, I am outta there and my load is to be delivered in Calgary on Mon at 6:15 a.m.

2300 hrs Went as far as about Dalton Minn.about 1 hr east of Fargo ND, and went to bed, mind you I did make the mistake of driving around Minneapolis/StPaul on a friday night at about 9pm, I could have gone back through SD and if faced with this choice again you can bet Ill go the other way.

Day 4 Wrong address in Iowa

0600 get up, have breakfast and head south,
1200 Sioux Falls S.D. lunch, called Iowa and they say I can deliver any time up till 8 pm. good cause there's no way I'm going to be there much before.
1800 hrs, I'm in Waterloo Iowa and driving toward where the place is supposed to be but it's not there! I keep going, like in something this size I have much of a choice, anyway very luckily I see a sign on my side of the road for the place ( kind of like a "Home Depot" type centre) and drive into the yard and up to the security gate, Now they seem to have a problem because all of my paperwork has their old address on it, after a bit of discussion the place decided it would be ok to accept delivery.

1930hrs

I left Waterloo IA and headed E toward Wis. where my stop was sched for 1500 hrs Fri aft. I got as far as Dubuque IA and found a rest area and went to bed.

End of day 3

2000 or so I get to Grand Forks ND and park in a truck stop, go for supper, call Joan and go to bed.

Day 2 n 3 of the trip

0800 - Called MacDonalds Consolidated to make an appointment to deliver the juice, they say sure 0200 hrs door #50 Wed a.m. WHAT!!!!! I said, they said ya, we don't take deliveries during the day. So I sit all day in portage, watch some tv, (thank goodness I brought my little 12 volt b&w set), and read books, and try and get some more sleep with not much luck.09 Feb ( Wed)
0030 hrs leave the parking lot and head to Winnipeg, I want to get there early because I'm not sure of my directions,
0115, It dawns on me that I am waay too close to downtown and have missed my turn and I am lost, I pull over and stop on a side street that appears to be close to the Manitoba legislature, at least that's what the building looked like. Fired up my laptop computer and my mapping program and figured out where I was and where I have to go to get to MacDonalds.
>0230 , 1/2 hr late I get there, it takes 1 hr to get unloaded, now I need to go get fuel because I have sat in -28 for a day with the engine running, find fuel and head out of winnipeg by about 0400. Now I have to get to Neepawa ( 200 kms west or so) They are expecting me to pick up fencing material for Waterloo, Iowa
>0600 or so I get to Neepawa, find the place, it's closed, find a place to sleep and park,
>0930 phone rings, dispatcher says where are you, I say asleep, she says Neepawa place wants me there, so I rub the sleep out of my eyes and head over there, I get there and there are trucks all over the place and I am #9 in line to get loaded according to their shipper sheesh....
>1530 I get out of there, and have faxed all my paperwork to the broker so I can cross into US
>1900 At the border at Pembina N.Dakota, I have a heater in the van which I used to keep the juice from freezing on the first leg of the trip, this causes "Homeland Security" a great deal of consternation because I wrote it in on my computer printed manifest from the lumber yard, why was it there( because of the juice I hauled), why was it in the front of my trailer (because thats where the lumber yard wanted it) why did fencing material need to be heated. It didnt but I couldnt drive back to Lethbridge to drop it off... The yanks have really gone over the top with this homeland security crap... anyway after 1/2 hr or so of this debate they let me and my terrorist heater enter the country.

Wait... it gets better!

First trip Today

Left Lethbridge for Taber (30 miles) to pick up juice (tetra packs for grocery store sales ) headed for Winnipeg

1230 hrs finally got out of Taber with the juice.
2100 or so Regina Sask, colder than the devil -28 or so...

Tues Feb 08

0230 Portage la Prairie Man (70 kms from Winnipeg) tired, find a place to park go to bed still really cold outside

An New job

Well, after milling about Lethbridge for a while and even taking a brief foray back into the computer biz I have found a new job. I went on a test drive with their trainer in Jan and was offered a job with them. I was to start on Feb 01 because "things were slow". I stopped round there on Fri 28Jan and asked how it was going, the dispatcher just shook her head and, I said slow and she nodded, I said " So I shouldn't pack my bags for Tues?" she again shook her head . Mmmm, oh well patience is a virtue so here I get real virtuous I guess, anyway she said she would have the owner call me and let me know what's going on. well, it's now end of business on Monday 31 Jan and still no call. Time will tell.

Time for A new photo

Updated the blog title and changed the profile photo to show "1808" the 2005 Kenworth ( 600 HP, 13 sp auto, air, tilt, cruise, double bunks, fridge, microwave, and 1200W of 110V) that I drove beween Alberta and California.

A Call to David

Well, here we are someplace in Or. but I do have cell signal. I called the 800 no. and spoke to the director of operations. I told him my reasons for resigning and thanked him for the opportunity that he presented me with. I guess I'm too much of a type A person to do the reefer business. I figure, I show up on time they should load/unload me on time. but it doesnt work that way, be late and lose your bonus, be on time and get jerked round and if you have multiple stops there's a domino effect that really fouls you up. I think I'll look for a job driving a mail truck or whatever hopefully dealing with people who want to see me at each stop of my day. Oh well till that happens bigredtruck.blogspot.com will be less than active...

Not fit for the Reefer business

The first HnR truck that delivered in southcentral L.A. got into the dock quickly but sat for 7 hours at the next stop waiting to be called to the dock to be loaded, so although a little bit better, their day didnt go that great either. Oh and did I mention that they sat for 12 hours extra in High River waiting for a trailer that wasn't actually loaded when they got there and really wasn't ready until 10:30 p.m. the night before they were supposed to leave. ( Last Sunday) What did they get for that, nada, zip, zero, pfftt. What did we get outta this well my trainer actually gets some $$ for each extra stop that we had to make but as a trainee I get zip except one less night in my own bed in Lethbridge. I have reached a decision today, I like driving, I don't mind the long hours behind the wheel, my trainer and one other driver/trainer who evaluated me figure I'm just about ready to go. My problem? I do what is expected of me and expect the same from others, this doesnt happen in this biz. Because there is no downside to making a hauler wait there is no incentive to get you to the dock and loaded/unloaded if the rcvr/shipper takes a dislike to you the h*ll probably will freeze over before u get unloaded. I have decided to resign.

Off with the brakes and on with the zoom

One of my boys used to use that expression when he was young and it became our motto for the trip home. Routed through Ca. Or. Wa. Id. BC and Ab away we went. I drove till about 2:30 or so and the Mike took over. Ca. takes a long time to get out of when you're driving north, ever notice how skinny it is ? Anyway I went to bed, woke up and took over, Mike dozed, slept and finally went to bed again and by about 2:15 am early Sat. a.m. we were at Kingsgate ID border crossing. Mike took over the driving and I stretched out. I woke up when we stopped in Fernie and went in to buy some munchies at the 7-11. Scarfed down the munchies and laid out again. Next thing I knew it was 7:30am Sat morn and we were just pulling into the yard in Lethbridge. Glad to be home we finalized our paperwork, packed up our crap and called our respective spouses for a lift home. Drivers need to be compensated for all this hurry up and wait crap,

and so it goes

Thursday didnt go much better than Wednesday, 4 stops got jerked around at every one and the bottom line is that we got to pull out of the dock at the last stop in Salinas Ca at about 10:30 pm .

We'll try, ya right

10 pm someone pounds on the truck and tells us to back in, Have to call and cancell the other 2 appts for tonight being that the first one was for 10 and that's right now and it's 180 Km away. the midnight one is even further than that. *ssholes.

L.A. Wednesday Morning

Got to L.A. ( south central, yes that's right the same place you saw the guy get pulled out of his truck and hit with a brick during the riots here) Went to our delivery place at 4:30 a.m. hoping to get unloaded early, no such luck our appt wasn't till 8 a.m., went back at 8 a.m. and another HnR truck was there but her appt was for 6 a.m., went back to our parking spot after giving the receiver our ph#. - 11 a.m. still no call, called him (someone hung up on us the first time) and complained, fat lot of good that did, he finally called at 12:50 and we went over at 1 p.m. not bad only abt 5 hrs late, after unloading we called dispatch, no loads, we were advised to go park at Frazier Park (up I-5) and wait. Almost Frazier Park we received 5 satellite messages dispatching us to 5 different stops to pick up goods, appointments had been made for 8 pm 10 pm and 12 Mn.
Got to the first spot about 7:40 p.m. and checked in, all we needed from here were 2 pallets of oranges and I asked the shipper nicely if we could get squeezed in as we had other appointments to make. She said" We'll try" and handed me a card with a "28" on it to put on my windshield. Please note the trucks parked on either side of us had 23 and 25 respectively.

Off to L.A.

Off to L.A. in 1/2 and hour or so for a delivery Tues @ 6pm, will let u know how it's rolling. - JB

Calgary again then home to Lethbridge

Short week I guess, Dropped the O.J. in Cgy to go to Winterpeg and took 28tons of Pepsi to Lethbridge then off till Sunday when we leave for sunny Ca. again

Well No Ca This Wk

Here we are in spokane at min maid and dropped our concentrate. Now we r taking juice back to cgy 4 winnipeg.

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Updating seems messed up

Make sure you click on the link for the current month to see all the posts, seems my post of 12 OCT didn't make it to the top page like I wanted. It was there however if you click on October on the left side.

Will Be Home 2 Nite

Supper at Idaho Falls then jump in the drivers seat and n b we go.

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The Marine Layer

They have this funky stuff in L.A. called the "marine layer" we call it fog here but this is what the freeway looks like at about 6:30 a.m. when the "marine layer " is present. Click the link to have a look, mind you the camera can see thru it better than we could!

In Ont. Ca Last Nite

97 f when we got here last nite. Now @ our 1st stop them 580 km 2 our next 1.

Vegas At 4 Mdt

Whoosh, can u ever get thru vegas fast at 4. Still 70f and heading 4 ocean side

On Our Way

Cleared insp . Ca here we come!

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It.'S A Cluster

Great. Meat insp ends at 4 we got there at 428. Stuck in coutts till 8 a.m. Rats!

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On Our Way.,1400 Hrs

Loaded, scaled n headed for the border. Miles 2 go b4 I sleep

Oceanside On Monday

Good news! We have a destination and will be going monday.

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Posting Time Fixed

The posting time from this post forward will now reflect current mountain time.

Good News

Just got my drug test back, I am good to go for this weekend. Gotta tell Mike so that he brings some books 2 read.

Drug Test today sheesh

I agree that truckers, pilots, bus drivers and anyone else operating anything that has the potential to cause a lot of damage should be tested for drugs. I am not bitching about the test but man, don't put me in a room, seal off the toilet and the sink and give me a cup that holds maybe 4 oz. and then expect me to not make a mess, I didn't but sheesh, don't they have a clue about the amount of self control it requires to only whiz 4 oz.???????

Test Fm Cell

First test post from the cell. Remember the post times are all west coast!

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Posts from the Road

This is where I hope to keep my family friends and anyone else interested posted on where I am and what I am doing, it will also serve as a sort of daily journal of my escapades on the road.