Sponsorship

Just a short blog to say we have received our sponsorship from H&R to support our application for PR... which we are delighted about.

Contact has been made with the immigration company we have chosen to assist us and now it is a case of completing all the forms with all t's crossed and i's dotted! The application will now be sent off in January as nothing really will be done with it before Christmas.

At present we have been told that the 1st stage will take approx 11 months or more, and not to expect the whole process to take less then 20 months.  With what we gain at the end, 20 months is worth the wait.

Now all we wish for is no major hiccups and the application is as smooth as we hope for.

We wish tho thank everyone who have given us some excellent advice on the process and who are still continuing to support us on our journey of PR.

Chris and Tina.

Christmas Lights...

Well it's that time of year (apparently!) to get the Christmas Lights up ready before the snow comes along.

For some reason I seemed to have alot of 'cooks' come round to 'assist'. Faron to help spot the ladder, Andy (Jag) to eat tea cakes & drink coffee and not forgetting the terrible twins Tina & Jojo to bark orders at us all and supervise that we were doing a good job...

Ladder hired and picked up thanks to Andy.. Sunday morning it started...

Seems i was the only one going up the ladder!

 Andy enjoying the view while eating Tina's tea cakes.

Andy & Jojo making sure i did the job right

Faron looking confused!

mmm.. if i move it a little to the???

And of-course our good friend Jojo always wiling to help.....

Jojo supervising and assisting...

mmm maybe left a little, and don't leave any slack in the wire, no no untwist that light.. hang them from the bottom.. that's not straight numbnuts!! 

Great advice Jojo!  

But i do wish to thank everyone for your help and Faron for a smashing Sunday roast afterwards.. just what we all needed after being out in the cold.

Out with the old in with the new

At the at off my last trip, I was half way through my days off when i got a phone call from my boss saying could i come down and clear my gear out of my truck as it was going back. OK i said ,then i thought what truck will i get now??

Then he said unfortunately i am going to have to give you a new truck. WOOHOO i thought.

Here she is (Emily) my new mobile home all shiny and red.

Halloween Pumpkins

 While I have been at home this week, Kane and I decided to do some pumpkin cravings for the first time.

Unfortunately i will not be here to go trick or treating but this made up for it a little.

 

This was our first Pumpkin... oh by the way bottom right corner is my shinny head, not another pumpkin! lol

Finished Pumpkin #1

 Pumpkin #2 which was Kane's choice... his favourite character, Scooby-doo.

Pumpkin #3 is of a Cat on the Moon made for Faron, Jojo, Ollie & Freya. 

I added some bats to the back of their pumpkin seeing as Jojo is as batty as a fruit bat!

The inside of the Cat on the Moon stayed in one piece so Tina decided to keep as she thought it looked good.  

Tina and Kane have also decorated the outside of the house with some spooky bits... we have a small graveyard now under the tree!

 

Kane dressed up today for his class Halloween Party... Spiderman is here!

Manteca CA

This trip saw me going down to Mantica CA for the first time and it was a nice easy 2 day run.  However I notice the weather getting colder on this trip.

Once unloaded in Mantica my preplan to collect was in Hopland CA.  Travelling around the area reminded me of the collections i used to do in Europe.  The the vineyards and scenery were very picturess.

 

The load was bound for Edmonton AB and i was routed up through Washington for Eastport border.  I travelled up the I97 which was a very whindy road but the scenery made up for it. 

 

 

Arriving in Edmonton i dropped the trailer in the yard and thought it was time for some sleep.  I was greeted in the morning with a lovely 4in of snow..

Picked up another trailer out of the yard for some supermarket multi-dropping 

(thought i was back in the uk!!). This finished me off however nicely back in Lethbridge for my 4 days with my family.

Waterloo

To start off this trip i had to take an empty trailer to Brooks to collect my load to head off to Waterloo..unfortuntely when i got there my load was not ready.  I had to sit around for a few hours, which does not please any driver but hay what can you do!! Finialy got going and off to meat inspection which was meant to be open until 7pm but for me and my luck today they decided to shut shop early!   So there i was sat until morning.

Meat inspection was  finally done come morning and then no more troubles all the way to Waterloo, where i dropped the trailer at the customers and already having my pre-plan which was a bonus, i collected an empty trailer.  Downside it had to be washed out as it looked like a massacre.

Once cleaned out i was off to Little Chute.  Collection went well and then off to H&R Calgary.  Drop off made and then managed to get the normal Calgary to Lethbridge run so it gave my reset at home for a change.  Kane was very pleased for me to be home which is always a reason to try and make it home. 

Took some extra pictures for Tina on the trip as she likes the numbers plates people pick out here. 

This extra shot is of a Hanson vehicle... my old man in the UK has 3 franchises with them and did not expect to see over the water.

Lucky Truck Driver

West to East

This trip was a bit different for me as i had another driver with me who i was helping  to train so he could go solo when we got back after our 13 day run.

We started off from Lethbridge heading for Pittston PA.  We had to rescue the trailer as the driver who originally had it was broken down.  We crossed the border, cleared meat inspection and away we went.  It was smooth drive down apart from the rain which took its toll.  Unfortunately for this guy by the looks of it to much speed added to the rain ruined his day. Lucky for us one lane was kept open and we were straight through. 



Got to Pittston and unloaded and was pre-planed to go to New Market VA to collect a load of chickens. This was an unusual load as we were told to back on the bay and we watched the live chickens enter the factor and exit no longer clucking into our trailer.

I took this picture of the skyline in Chicago for my Tina, not much to see as it was bit gloomy that day... she hopes to see it for real one day as she has always wanted to go.

On our way to ON i travelled through a small town called Kane... took this picture for my son Kane to show his name sake. 

From there we went to Burlington ON where we delivered the load of chickens and then went to Brampton to drop the empty trailer as it was due for service and picked up another empty one.  We were then pre-planned to go to Pickering ON to load for Calgary. 

On route to Calgary we received a message to stop Brandon MB to rescue another trailer and take back to Hurst to meet another team who would take to Quebec. We would then collect another trailer from them going back to Calgary, so it was all change again.

This has been my 6th attempted at getting this picture for my Kane of the Moose and Wolves as i have told Kane about them several times but never managed to get a decent picture for him.  Thank good i have now so i can just keep on driving through.

We arrived in Calgary, unloaded and decided to stay at the yard for a shower, grub and sleep. The following day we collected a trailer with 3 drops on it, which was Chilliwack, Langley and Annachis Island in BC.   All was going well until another message, ' don't go any further then Craigellachie BC as another trailer needs to be rescued'!! So yet again i turned around and off to Edmonton we went. 

On our way to Craigellachie BC we saw a white wolf and a moose... but damn it they were to quick out of view to get the camera out in time.

Got to Edmonton, unloaded and went straight to the yard.  We picked up the trailer which was loaded for Lethbridge, so home bound we went. Dropped the trailer in Lethbridge and relived to go home for my R&R

For me this trip was more interesting having someone to teach and also have in the truck.  Time flew by and Andy asked lots of questions and picked it up very quickly and can't wait to get his own truck and be living the dream! .

Brampton and beyond

OK reset done i went around to the customers to get my empty trailer as i had already got my pre plan . Load out of Madison NE to Ajax ON . IT was only half an hours drive to Madison NE so i got there as the customer opened and to my surprise was put straight on a bay to be loaded an hour later a guy knocked on the door  "OK PULL FORWARD AND I'LL SEAL YOU UP" bounce then he gave me the good news you paper work wont be ready until 1500 today if your luck "BUT IT'S ONLY 8 O'CLOCK NOW" ( little rant i can not for the life of me under stand why when we bring meat back to Canada the Canadian and American government can not get their act together as regards getting the required paper work to the customer so they can do what they have to do to get the load moving.This is the third time this has happened to me and i am not the only one or company it has happened to. It cost me money and wastes my time and also cost the company money as i can not  get the load finished and start the next rant over)anyway after a lot of phone calls and a lot of back and forth 1700 i had the paper work and was sent on my way (9 hours waiting) i ran 6 hours and had the night out at a rest area. Next day i had a hard 12 hour drive to make Brampton ON as they told me if i past meat inspection the trailer was to be dropped in the yard and pick up an empty to load and go with to Saskatoon SK.

I cleared meat inspection and headed for Brampton ON, 6 km from the yard the lorry in front swerved and there was a lot of load bangs then i saw why in the road were lumps of metal but it was to late to avoid bang so i pulled over behind the other truck and got out to inspect the damage. I had blown two tyres one o/s/outter and n/s inner but the poor guy in front had blown 4 tyres on his trailer and 1steer .When i asked him what we had hit he said the guy in front braked and his brake drum on his trailer exploded and that's what we hit. I rang in and was told limp to the yard which i did and dropped the trailer and went to bed as the tyre guy would no t be there until the morning . Next morning types done and around to the customer to get load . Two hours latter I'm loaded paper work in hand and three days hard drive to Saskatoon SK to look forward to .

I love these lazy mans mixer so the driver never gets his feet dirty.

Back in Canada lol

No problems going a cross Canada but the weather was very undecided one minute hot the next it was raining hard and windy and the nights are definitely getting colder plus we have had our first snow on the crowsnest pass so winters on its way something else i have got to get used to.

I love the small towns and there sense of humour this in a town called Moonbeam.

I got to Saskatoon SK at at 15 30 and dropped the trailer at the customer and picked up a empty . I was asked to ring in and spoke to dispatch who said could i get that empty to Brooks AB and pick up a loaded trailer and get it to Lethbridge AB before 1100 the next day for another driver to take on to California so after a bit of working out i said ill close my log now have my 10 hours of and be ready to leave at 0130. It will take me 6 hour to Brooks AB and change trailers then 2 hours to Lethbridge AB and i arrived in Lethbridge AB at 1030 dropped the trailer handed in the paperwork and started my days off at a nice time of the day. 

Columbus NE

Not much to tell on this trip so far , I left Lethbridge AB and had an easy two day run down to Columbus NE I dropped the trailer at the customers to be unloaded an went round to the truck stop to have my reset where I am now .

More crop awaiting harvest.

A couple of bridges on the way down.

It's a bit worrying when the storm chasers go past at high speed.

Corn Maze...

While Chris has been on his travels, I decided to go visit the Corn Maze on Saturday as they had the festival on.

There were activities for the kids, puppet making, face painting, pig wrestling, pumpkin sling shot and of-course the mazes.  There were also some small animals which the kids always  like to see.

Kane & Freya got into the spirit of it all and made puppets and had their faces painted.  Kane did not fancy the pig wrestling thank god!

We tackled the kids maze which was a bit eerie walking through of the corn... Jo and I were expecting some mass murderer to pop out behind us at any moment.. lol

There was a small BBQ area and we had a lovely hot-dog, and to  finish off the day nicely i decided to climb some hay bales.... however the climb down was alot quicker then i expected as in a true dramatic style tumbled down like a rag doll and landed in a big heap at the bottom.... and i would like to thank my friend Jo for asking how i was AFTER she got the camera out.... x