Battling Through The 'Flu.

____ Not much of a blog write-up for this trip and no pictures. The 'flu hit me on the second morning and I am still suffering the effects, over one week later. An aching body, head-ache, cough, loss of appetite, bouts of shivering and difficultly in sleeping. One of the worst weeks out on the road that I can remember. A load to Kentwood, Michigan, followed by a reload from Kalamazoo; an hour to the south. That one went to Cobourg, which was followed by an dead-head up to Saint-Laurent. A really heavy load back to Winnipeg rounded-out the trip. Luckily the last leg was run over the Easter Holiday weekend and all the scales were closed.

M-M-M-M-Muddling Through. Missouri, Memphis, Mississauga, Milwaukee.

Loads 1 and 2.

____ Load 1: Three drops in Missouri and each Bill of Lading is four pages long. One line for the load description and 3 and a half pages of instructions for the driver. A complete load of bollocks of out-dated information and conditions to be adhered to. If I am ever caught wearing a hair-net, or Heaven-forbid, a beard-net; you have my permission to shoot me. But first, I have two days of southbound driving in the rain. Interrupted by a Level 1 DoT examination at the Watson scale on the northern state-line of Missouri. Everything was in order except the brake-lights on the trailer, a violation that I was able to correct by switching a couple of relays in the Volvo's fuse-box. The throttle-pedal is now disabled but once the inspecting officer has given permission to leave; I can switch the relays back and continue. Clinton, the first drop, unloads me when I arrive in the evening; expecting problems. So much for the rules on the bills. On to Hazelwood before noon and down to Jackson with the last drop off before two.

Custom Kenworth T800, rarer than a "Vote Trump" sticker on a Prius.

____ Load 2: To Memphis, Tennessee, and a Mid-day pick-up at a logistics warehouse that has never loaded two trucks for Canada on the same day. Confusion reigns; a load of hardware for Home Depot and a load for a Home Hardware depot. I still don't know if I got the right stuff on my trailer, but as I was only taking it to Penner's Mississauga terminal, I soon gave up worrying. I was up to Monroe in Michigan when I began worrying when the customs clearance was going to come through. It didn't arrive and I muddled through by putting the load in "bond." The trailer still went to the terminal.

Loads 3, 4 and 5.

____ Load 3: Going back into the States, straight after bringing out a load, always causes problems with the log book hours. I have enough time to get down to Dwight, Illinois, so cannot refuse the load. An afternoon delivery gives me plenty of time; Sunday afternoon to Monday afternoon. A heavy load with the trailer legs sunk in the soft ground; a lung-bursting wrench on the handle for twenty minutes before I can hitch-up and go. Paper to a print works but six o'clock in the evening before I am empty and on to the Petro at Rochelle for the night.

Another day, another bay.

____ Load 4: A warehouse in the heart of Milwaukee and five Penner trucks, all loading for Regina in Saskatchewan. Just seven hours for the Tuesday and eight for the Wednesday; nights at Wilson and Bismarck, long nights. An early start on Thursday gets me across the border and to Regina; second to load, second to unload

Six red Prince Edward Island trucks weekending in Mississauga.

____ Load 5: A well trodden path, Regina to Yorkton for a trailer switch. But how I was detained for three hours is annoying. The mill wanted to load my trailer, then found glass on the floor of the trailer. It looked like ice-melting crystals to me. Eventually I get a loaded trailer to take back to Steinbach but my day is over. Sixteen hour spread-over and a spot at Yorkton's Humptys. Back to the yard on a Friday morning with snow flurries.

TIR plate and RO sticker; could have been Nadlac and not Windsor, Ontario.

Manitoba-Pennsylvania-Manitoba.

____ Six days, three days out, three days back. Western Pennsylvania, less than an hour over the Ohio stateline. Less than an hour from delivery to reload; Meadville on Thursday afternoon, down to New Castle for 10 o'clock on Friday. Nights-out at Wilson and Perrysburg on the way down. Rochelle and Fargo on the way home. An average of only just over 700 kilometres a day; so not a big earner but one of those trips where everything went smoothly. No complaints about that.

Well, it all went smoothly after I got the legs out of a frozen puddle.

Red River Valley sugar-beet factory still working in mid-March.

Lonestar Class 8 Motorhome by Renegade.