4716 miles, 10 days.

Before.....

During.....

and after!!!!!

This was a very enjoyable trip where everything went according to plan, well almost. I had a collection in New Jersey which lost me about two hours and 50 miles trying to get to the place avoiding truck restrictions, weight limits and low bridges. It turned out to be a nightmare and wasn't any easier getting back out the place. I don't think I could find it again even after having been there!
The snow has completely gone and Manitoba has been experiencing some very nice warm and sunny weather, the shorts are back out and the bbq has been used, bring on the summer. 

2990 miles, 5 days

I94 Michigan

Minneapolis, MN

Left home Thursday morning with a delivery in Menasha, Wi. I had my reload Thursday afternoon which I would be loading in Appleton, Wi only 5 miles from my delivery and going to Mississauga, On.
I made my way to Appleton Friday morning to pick up my reload.
After loading  I was soon on  my way to Mississauga where I was to just switch trailers and head back to Shekopee, Mn for a delivery Monday morning.
On the bay 9am Monday and empty by noon, the poor guy on his own had to hand ball the full load off.
Now empty again it was up to Cloquet, Mn to switch once again and bring back to Steinbach.
3 days off now and will leave again Friday.

2916 miles, 5 days

2600 miles, 4 days then wrecker home

This trip took me to Kimper, Ky. I left Thursday mid morning and went out to Portage La Prairie, Mb to load and met up en route with Clarence, Bryn and Neal in Lebanon, Indiana Saturday night. These guys were travelling in style in Clarence's pick up truck going to Nashville to take delivery of two brand new Freightliners. I made my delivery Saturday evening and picked up my reload in Lawrenceburg, Indiana Sunday afternoon, going straight back to Steinbach.
On my way home I managed to catch up with Bryn and Neal again in their new trucks, unfortunately only one was able to make it home under it's own steam! They look really nice but maybe not on the back of a tow truck.
Got home Monday evening and leave again Thursday morning with two drops on, 1st in Wisconsin and 2nd in Illinois.

3179 miles, 6 days

Chilly

Winter Wonderland

Just had a few days at home after this last trip. During my time at home we had the heaviest snowfall this year, about 9" overnight, so I spent a couple of hours Tuesday clearing the drive while Sue cleared the path. It looked good until it snowed again in the afternoon.
Next morning we were going up to Steinbach and there was 5 cars in just a few miles in the ditch, the snow had frozen during the night and made the roads extremely dangerous.
The roads are mainly clear again now and tomorrow I leave to go to Kimper, Ky, a load I have done a few times.

A funny thing happened on the way to.......

4324 miles, 8 days.

This trip was going extremely well until........ I loaded and left Friday and delivered in Johnson City, Tn Monday morning. My reload was from Orangeburg, SC going to Mississauga, On to deliver Wednesday morning.

I informed dispatch I would be there Tuesday afternoon and was cleared to just switch in Mississauga and deliver my next load in Oakdale Mn. That's when my luck started to change.

I arrived at US Customs at the Detroit border Thursday 5.30am, the officer asked me the usual questions, handed back my passport and "FAST" card and said "Have a nice day", if only!

90 mile west of Detroit my phone rang, it was dispatch, "Dave, where are you?" "90 mile west of Detroit" "How did you manage to clear customs?" So I explained the process and the line went a little quiet then "ok I have a contact name and number at CBP (Customs and border patrol) Detroit that you need to call asap"

I called and it turned out that my load had been selected to go to x ray at Detroit before leaving, one problem..... the officer didn't ask me to go to x ray. There was no way around this, I had to return to detroit for x ray or they would come looking for me and if they had to do that I would be arrested.

5 hours later, a personal escort through the scanner and an encounter with the k9 unit at CBP I was now free to leave and head towards my delivery.

I arrived 3 hours late at my delivery because of this fiasco but they were very good about it, and I was now planned to switch trailers only 15 minutes away and take that load to Winnipeg. 

Back home safe now and don't want to ever repeat what happened this week, it's not a nice feeling.

A WORD OF WARNING

It came to light this week that a certain forum "British Truckers Abroad" has been getting paid by recruiters. That in itself is no big deal but they actively promote these companies as a good option to come to Canada, the latest pays 24.5 cents per mile, well below the average and would be almost impossible to live on. Their is plenty information out there and it is up to the individual to distinguish between fact and fiction.

I pride myself in being totally honest , although outspoken, and will continue to be so.

It seems I got banned from this forum for being abusive, I called the recruiter a liar when he claimed it was a great job with good opportunities, well sorry but 24.5 cpm is abysmal at best and would almost certainly lead to failure here in Canada.

If considering emigrating ask yourself a couple of questions before choosing your new employer. 

If the job is as good as they promise why are they having trouble finding drivers and keeping them? Why are they spending a huge amount of money hiring full time recruiters and trainers to recruit from abroad?

Also be careful of some of the drivers sitting in their ivory towers claiming to know best, a few on this forum have already claimed that this is a good opportunity but yet would not do that job for that money themselves.

*UPDATE*

It seems that it is acceptable to have a go at drivers as a group but not as an individual, that will get you a ban and reported lol
This doesn't count by britincanada
quote "bleating, moaning, pessimistic British truckers who quite frankly would not get a job back in the UK anyway. Lets face it would you want to employ these wasters who slag off and slate everyone who trys to give others a chance there are to many on here"

Fame but no Fortune

Found in Truck Stops Across Canada

I was approached a number of weeks ago by a writer, Kathryn Thorpe Klassen, and asked if I would like to be featured in an article in the magazine. I agreed and made it into the February issue.

The online version can be found here. I think it turned out rather well even if I do say so myself although the hard copy is much better.

MISSING

Buster has been missing since January 16th. He was out with our other dog, his sister Jasmine, when they both roamed off. That is not very unusual, they often go hunting together but what was unusual was when Jasmine came home an hour later on her own.

There has not been any sightings since then and we now fear the worst. It is possible he has been caught in a trap or maybe picked up by someone.

We still hope for his safe return but in our heart of hearts feel it may be too late. Jasmine has been very timid without him, it is the first time they have been apart from birth.

We have always accepted that something like this may happen, we do live in the country and hunting and trapping is a big way of life out here.

We will continue to hope that one day he may show up.

Left to right. Sue, me, Neal, Samantha, Tiffany, Clarence, Bryn,  Majka,  Annette,  Martyn.

We had a really special night out last week. Martyn and Annette were over on a visit and it was there last night in Canada before catching the flight back home.
A limo was booked and paid for, thank you very much you know who you are, and took us all to Tony Roma's in Winnipeg. The food was excellent as was the company, what a great night.

Merry Christmas & Happy New Year

3227 miles, 5 days.

Wishing our family and friends all the very best for 2012. I ended 2011 with a trip out to Watertown, NY with a reload out of Rotterdam Junction, NY going back to Steinbach. It was the perfect trip to fit in between Christmas and new year, giving me good miles and letting me spend time at home.

1915 miles, 4 days.

This short trip would have been 3 days and I would have got another trip done before Christmas but the shipper in Chicago didn't want to play. I waited 4 hours for them to load my trailer and start my journey home. That meant I didn't get out of Illinois before running out of time Saturday night and as a result didn't get home till 8.00 Monday morning.
Not to worry it has given me a nice break before Christmas.

How have GPS Trackers changed trucking? 

Satellite controlled devices are quickly becoming a standard piece of kit in trucks all over the world, if you work for one of the larger trucking companies the chances are they are using satellites to keep an eye on you and keep you safe, even if you work for yourself using satellites for navigation can make a days work a lot easier.  RAM GPS Trackers are a British company that install a lot of these fleet management devices and have written a brief explanation on how these devices work.

The origins of GPS

Like a lot of modern technology GPS has it’s origins in the U.S. Military the satellites that are used to help navigate and track your truck were originally designed to guide missiles and smart bombs.  Using satellites has completely changed the nature of warfare; during WWII bombs dropped from a high altitude could land over a half a mile away from their target and still be counted as a hit.  Now however missiles and bombs are guided by satellites and are expected to land within meters of the desired target.  This means it’s not only possible to hit individual buildings but sometimes isolated rooms of buildings.  The result is that civilian casualties can be minimised and fighting can be a lot cleaner.

As with a lot of technologies as GPS has developed domestic and business uses have been found for it prices have fallen and satnavs have become available not just to professional drivers but also to individuals.

How does it work?

There are two kinds of tracking systems, ‘active’ and ‘passive’ trackers.  If your trucks location can be monitored by your company or even your family online your system will be using active tracking, if you just have a satnav device that helps you determine your location it will most likely be using passive tracking.

The technology behind the two tracking systems is essentially the same.  The device in your vehicle searches the skies for signals being broadcast from navigational satellites orbiting the earth.  Your devices are able to work out exactly how far away it is from the satellite by calculating the time taken for the signal to reach you.  As long as the device has been able to read three or more signals it is able to triangulate your position and give an accurate reading of where you are.   If the device monitors how quickly your position changes it is also able to calculate the direction and velocity that you are travelling at.

There are twenty seven navigational satellite currently orbiting the earth (each weighing between three and four thousand pounds!), twenty four of these need to be operational at all times to ensure that the whole planet has satellite coverage, the remaining three are on standby ready to activate instantly if something should happen to the others ensuring that the whole planet can always be covered.

Passive tracking

Passive tracking devices are most commonly used for navigation, after calculating your position the device can compare it to internally stored maps and tell you exactly where you are.  It can then use its software to work out the best route to get to a selected location and give you directions.  Other uses of passive tracking include geo tagging photos, or offering you location based advertising on your cell phone.

Active tracking

Active tracking is where your position is then uploaded to the internet using a GPRS connection.  This is the same connection that mobile phones use, so it will only work if there is network reception.  Once your position is uploaded to the internet anyone who has permission to access this information can see exactly where you are and exactly what speed you’re travelling at.  This is useful for large trucking companies who want to see exactly where there assets are allowing them to check they are safe.  Some delivery companies use this information to quickly find out who their closest asset is to a pick up.  Families of truck drivers away from home for prolonged periods of time are often also able to access this information to keep track of their loved ones progress and check they are ok easily.  Outside of the trucking industry this technology is also very useful to the emergency services that can quickly send the closest response team to an incident and easily track their progress.

The future of GPS trackers

The price and sophistication of this technology are constantly improving, and new innovations seem to always be around the corner.  The latest cell phones can already use GPS trackers to completely change their behaviour depending on where you are but what are the next changes likely to be for truckers?  Well Google have just patented technology that allows a vehicle to drive its self using satellite navigation, the self drive car has been a fantasy for years but GPS trackers means it might not be too far from reality.  What could this mean for the trucking industry?

2740 miles, 5 days

My new iphone

Just a quick visit home to reset my hours and then get another trip in before Christmas. Christmas won't be the same for us this year, Gary and Craig both have their own place, the other side of their family to visit so this year we are planning Christmas dinner on the 23rd, it's the only time we could all manage to get together with work and family gatherings.
Sue goes back to work on 26th so I have decided I may as well do the same.
After a few weeks deliberating about which phone I should get I eventually decided on the iphone, once I work out how to use it I think I will be very happy with it ;-))

5113 miles, 10 days

Free ride

Hunting with Gary and Craig

My ride for 1 trip

No need to move house, take it with you.

In Laredo, Tx with Chris Arborn

Too much snow in 1 night.

Once again I have fallen behind with this blog so I have left a couple of trips out and brought you right up to date.
I am home for a few days and have our Christmas party on Thursday, once again Andy and Donna are taking us to Winnipeg for the evening for food and entertainment at "Celebrations".
I only managed to get hunting for 1 day this year and didn't have much luck, well didn't have any luck.
Work is still good and I had to do a short trip in Andy's truck while I had a new radiator fitted in mine.
My last trip took me out of the frozen north down to Laredo, Tx on the Mexican border. I arrived there on Sunday afternoon and soon discovered on Monday that I was unable to deliver until 9.00am Tuesday.
There was a few of us down there with loads from the same place, one of which was fellow Brit, blogger and author Chris Arborn so lots of coffee consumed that day.
One advantage of not being able to deliver until Tuesday was I had now reset my hours and was ready to go anywhere again.
As it happened I got a load out of La Porte, Tx going to Calgary, Ab. as I couldn't load until Wednesday morning there was no rush but that would only get me to Calgary for Saturday with the delivery on Monday.
The advantage we have at Penners is having multiple terminals and I was instructed to just switch trailers on arrival in Calgary and take the other load on to Winnipeg.
So all in all a very nice 5113 miles in 10 days which includes the waiting time in Laredo.

3395 miles, 6 days

First fall of snow 9th November 2011

A quick round trip this week leaving on Friday to deliver Ephrata, Pennsylvania Monday morning. Once empty it was a short hop north to switch trailers and take loaded one to Brampton, Ontario.
On arrival at Brampton there was a load ready to deliver in Winnipeg Wednesday afternoon.
Job completed by 4pm Wednesday just in time for the snow to start.

Craig sighting in his rifle.

Gary, Craig and I went and sighted in our rifles today ready for deer hunting season which opens in just over 2 weeks.

3137 Miles, 5 days

It's a dogs life.

A Spyder

Winter on its way.

143 Scania

V8 500

A proper truck

Home sweet home once again. I got to see this beautiful 143 in Ontario on the way home Tuesday morning.
The 143 I drove across Europe was by far the best truck I have ever driven, was really sorry to see that go.
Was talking to the driver of the truck and he runs 4 of them.
I had asked to get home before Tuesday as I had bought tickets to see Roger Daltrey in Winnipeg but didn't need to bother, he has cancelled the shows in Saskatoon and Winnipeg, nice one Roger!!!
No need to stay at home then so back to work tomorrow. All the wood has been cut now, got some help today from Neal to finish it off.