Mercury and Cougar crack on to Macon.

____Prologue: The same load to same place as the last trip; so to make it different, I have a passenger. She will be known as the Cougar and has kindly agreed to write down her thoughts. The Cougar will also be responsible for the photography, window cleaning and dusting. I will be known as Mercury.
____Day 1: The Company has two conditions when carrying passengers: one is that they sign an insurance waiver, relieving the company of the responsibility of any mishap. The second is that they are named on the customs declaration when entering the US in the truck. I have two conditions: one is that the passenger's presence does not hinder the progress of the trip and the other is that they allow their body to be ravished, as and when required. At the end of the first day, we are at Albert Lea, Mn.
____Hi, I get to hijack this blog for a paragraph or two, you can call me "Cougar" and I’m amazed that I’ve lived in North America all my life and it takes an Englishman who has seen more of it than me to let me experience it. Life on the road for this newbie, there was a vehicle that looked like a San Francisco trolley and the US Forces finest from the ND air show. I missed taking those pictures (got to be fast) especially the three air force jets flying over the truck stops. Tally for the day, SF trolley car, Minnesota afternoon delight, US air force jets and two US states.


Nashville, Tennessee, Music City, USA.

 ____Day 2: Having done the trip before and having plenty of time to get to Morrow in Georgia is a big advantage. I can relax, appear competent and keep the Turrettes under control. Fuel from Wayland, showers at East St.Louis and onto Mount Vernon, Illinois.
____Onward through Iowa where I see some eerie looking windmills against the grey drizzly sky backdrop of skyline which prompted a discussion about them with Mercury and a note to self to do a little web searching on windmill power as there were lots of these in Iowa. One thing I did learn is that some rest areas have free Wi-Fi.  One of my favourite quotes is by Mark Twain and it was Hannibal Missouri boyhood town that I got to see. At the end of it a fire truck was a putting out the last of the fire on his trucks trailer. A few miles down the road the cops were in hot race to the scene leaving their donuts behind or so Mercury stated. Tally for the day, Windmills, Hannibal, Mississippi River, Missouri afternoon delight, St Louis arch and three more states where I’ve never been before.
____“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines, Sail away from the safe harbour, Catch the trade winds in your sails, Explore. Dream, Discover" – Mark Twain.


Choo Choo Truck Wash : that'll be Chattanooga then?

 ____Day 3: Just 33,000 lbs of payload makes for an easy finale to the outward run; with three stops splitting up the day. Diesel and showers from the Petro Stopping Centre on the western bypass of Atlanta; before joining Lee Atkinson and Flying Eagle #25 on the bay at Morrow ready for unloading in the morning.
____Out of Illinois and into Kentucky, where I look around and wonder: where are all the horses? Unfortunately for the horse sight-seeing it's a short drive through Kentucky with no Tornado in sight either. Tennessee is a beautiful place with lots of rolling hills and the only place where a truck has to stop and check their brakes for a steep downhill grade. Everywhere I see signs for Ruby Falls or Rock city, but soon learn that it is one place I can mark to come back to, a city in the sky and a water fall in a cave. Out of Tennessee into Georgia and then back into Tennessee; I feel like I’m on a merry-go-round, but it’s short lived and we are finally in Georgia. Tally for the day, Ohio River, Tennessee River, Nashville, Chattanooga Choo Choo, no afternoon delight; giving him a break and three more states.


Gateway Arch : that'll be St Louis then?

 ____Day 4: Unloaded and instructions to run to Macon for the reload of paper going to Winnipeg. Macon, Georgia undoubtedly named after the Macon in the centre of France. A place well known to all truckers as the half-way point on the  run from Calais to Milan in northern Italy. My lasting memory of Macon: the over-powering stench of urine in the truck-park of the Autoroute Services. A multitude of British trucks waiting for the end of the weekend driving curfew; before driving over the Blanc, to be in Milan on Monday morning. Hot summer Sundays spent drinking beer and then pissing it over the trailer wheels. Loaded and north to the city-centre TA Truckstop in Nashville, Tn.
____Up at the crack of dawn as they unload the truck, we are heading a little further south in Georgia where the highways reminds me of Mars Sands a golf course out in Libau, Manitoba with its tree lined fairway. I keep looking for the fox that steals the balls but all I see is the endless beauty of boulevard of dreams I like to call it, marred here and there by a path taken by one of nature’s wild storms, remnants of past tornados that have ripped down the majestic trees that line Interstate 75.

Reloaded and out of Georgia, I am so special to have Mercury who is so considerate that he planned and made good time to let me spend the night in Nashville. As we leave the truck I notice birds flying over head, thousands of them reminding me of the movie The Birds. Mercury  figures Monday night in downtown Nashville would be quiet, boy, was he wrong? All along Broadway there were establishments open trying to lure unsuspecting tourists in. We had a light dinner at one rib place on the second floor that was open to the air reminding me of one of the many places in the tropics. It was right across from Bridgestone Arena where we could watch all the antics of people walking by and two motorcycle cops. On the way back from the truck, I stop to pat a horse and Mercury is slipped a sex card, can’t leave him alone a minute.


Just a 2 km walk from the truckstop to the heart of Music City and Rippy's Fine Restaurant.

 ____Day 5: This load is heavy: the truck scaling 80,280 lbs gross. Two hundred and eighty pounds over-weight; just about the same weight as the Cougar and her baggage. I did consider unloading her onto some other poor truck-driver and let her make her own way back to Manitoba; but decide on running with half tanks of diesel and staying legal that way. A long day behind the wheel gets us back to Nashua in Iowa, just within range of one-day-away.
____It’s an early start to the day to make up for the gift Mercury gave me yesterday of Nashville, and uneventful as we retrace our way back home. One side detour, another gift from my generous driver is going straight through St Louis so I can get a better look and picture of the famous St Louis Gateway Arch. It amazes me also the twists, turns and tiers of the concrete bridges on I64. Through Tennessee I get to see my first actually live wildlife, two deer grazing by the side of the highway. A long day finally stopping where there is internet connection.



I've always wondered who bought all that souvenir stuff they have at truckstops.

 ____Day 6: Nothing delays a roadtrip more than the dreaded phrase: "I need to pee." But the Cougar, point blank, refuses to slip into the driving seat and do a spot of steering whilst I nip into the sleeper and piddle in a bottle. This negates the big advantage of having two in the cab; so I have to pull over, as usual. Meanwhile the Cougar seems to have superb bladder control. A thousand kilometres, back to the yard with the paper, getting home  at dusk.
____Pushing back on early, through the last of the states, listening to music, it’s the first time during the trip I head into the back for a snooze. Waking up just in time for lunch in Fargo, then Mercury allows me one quick stop before the border for some nice Orange Patron; so I have something to fill all 9 shot glasses I picked up along the way, North Dakota, Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Illinois, Kentucky, Tennessee and Georgia. I actually got three in Nashville, which included a Jack Daniels Jigger along with another shot glass with Nashville and some instruments on it. Last of all; I thank my guide, advisor, confident and bunk mate for taking me to places I’ve never been before, a very pleasurable trip indeed.




Georgia: Destination State: Again.



Georgia Overdrive.

____Day 1: The last trip was to Aberdeen; this one's going to Georgia and there is a connection. What is "Aberdeen Overdrive" in the UK, is "Georgia Overdrive" in the US. The first and last time I tried that; nineteen-seventy-something. I had a Leyland Buffalo off the clock, northbound out of Swindon on the A419 with twenty tons of sugar. Coasted halfway to Cirencester; knocking it out of gear is easy, getting it back in is the problem. Niverville to the TA at Albert Lea on a Friday, after a midday start.
____Day 2: This is getting a regular run for me; but at 2650 kilometres across country, there is plenty of chance to vary the route and the stops. However, I find myself spending another Saturday night at the Interstate crossing of numbers 57and 64. A TA, a Pilot and the local independant: Hucks; three truckstops and all full, with a lot of guys resetting hours or waiting for work. The chat on the CB is about the total lack of hookers; offering company to the many bored drivers. Then some joker comes on and tells everyone that they are parked at the gay-trucker capital of America. Asking why do they think it's called Mount Vernon? It goes quiet after that.


Proof that you can have it all : and take it with you.

 ____Day 3: The whole route is pretty flat with the Pete staying in cruise at 104 kph. The one exception being Monteagle, a long twisting climb between Nashville and Chattanooga in Tennessee. I reach Morrow at dusk and with an early unloading appointment; decide on an early night. But it is overcast, hot and humid. I am  laying awake until the early hours; thinking that a thunderstorm would take a lot of the heat out of the air. Midnight rain in Georgia on my mind.
____Day 4: Unloaded; and a reload is already arranged from Pendergrass, 60 miles north-west of Atlanta. The rolls of geo-textile, a regular reload, going back to Manitoba. Enough time to get back to Mount Vernon again [lucky lad] with a payload of 34,000 lbs, about the same as the southbound trip.


Another trip,  another truck on a stick. Rush Truck Centre, Nashville.

 ____Day 5: At the truckstop diner's counter, I find myself breakfasting opposite the spitting image of Bernie Ecclestone. Whilst thinking of ways in which I can annoy him, another driver comes in and thinks the same. The Bernie clone says that, sadly, it happens a lot. Somehow, I resist the temptation to tell him that if an old man has a naughty school-boy haircut; then it has to be expected. Retracing my route has me back to Mount Albert Lea, that night.
____Day 6: The earliest start possible after a 10 hour overnight break lets me get round the Twin Cities By-pass before the early morning rush. A visit to the Northstar Truckwash at Fargo delays my arrival back at the yard; but the bugs on the bumper needed professional attention. It's just a shame that some more had taken their place by the time I got home.
____Overall Distance: 5424 km.



Nashville skyline.



Tip Aberdeen : Reload Suffolk.

____Day 1: After a 36 hour log reset, I'm leaving on a Thursday afternoon to load flour at Portage La Prairie; an hours drive west, on the Trans-Canada Highway. This is the sort of work pattern that a long-haul trucker has to expect in North America. Anything less and a company's profitability suffers as much as a driver's take home pay. When loaded; the truck scales heavy, but as it is the normal payload for this particular job, I will have to go with it. By sliding the trailer axles; the best I can get is a 240 lb overload on the drive axles. But as I have full tanks of diesel, that will soon diminish. Remember to refuel only to 75% capacity. The load is for Maryland, so south to Fargo for the first night.
____Day 2: Delivery is for Sunday, at a bakery in Aberdeen, a 24/7 operation. A full day's drive needed and that gets me to La Salle, Illinois; where something strange happens. I fuel up with my card at the pump with it's attached card reader. But when I go in for the receipt; the Flying 'J denies any transaction has occurred. $500 of free diesel. As my free shower has also failed to register on my loyalty card; I have to pay to get clean but get clean away with the fuel. The first time it has happened in four decades of driving and I only filled the tanks to three quarters full!


Did you know I went to the University of Kentucky?  ...........and bought a sticker.

 ____Day 3: There are enough different fast-food franchises across the US to let you eat at a different one; every day of the year. I'm working on it; but one of my favorites is Popeye's Louisiana Kitchen; chicken and biscuits. Found at most "Travelcentres of America" truckstops. Spicy Cajun chicken tenders, coleslaw, biscuit and sweet iced-tea; all for under $10. The trip is planned by thumbing through my TA directory; letting me finish at Breezewood, Pennsylvania.
____Day 4: Only a short run across the Appalachian mountain chain, down to the Chesapeake Bay area; where I have to wait for a shift change before being unloaded, early Sunday afternoon. Before leaving Niverville, I was given written details of the reload; which is ideal as it is 250 miles away, down the coast at Suffolk, a town in Virginia. Another day, another TA. Richmond for a three-piece chicken supper.
____Day 5: Suffolk is where you would expect to find it; just south of Norfolk. A big peanut-growing area; but I'm after a load of plastic granules; destined for Alberta. Soon loaded, signed, sealed and with just the delivery to do. West, back over the Appalachians, knocking the fuel consumption for six before leveling out at Kentucky.


Big seal for a load of plastic granules : still no problem for your average pikey.

 ____Day 6: Very hot: three digits on the US preferred  Fahrenheit scale. Over a thousand kilometres needed for the next two days. There will be a truck waiting at Niverville to take the load to Edmonton, for Friday morning 08.00 am delivery. My big worry is "Tyres"; high payload, high mileage and high temperatures mean it is highly likely something will go bang. The Peterbilt is still knee-deep in virgin rubber; but the trailer has a couple of retreads that could be on their last trip. Back to La Salle for some more fuel, same fuel card, same pump; but there is a receipt waiting at the fuel desk.  It was worth trying.
____Day 7: Just enough hours left to get back across the border on another hot day. The office phones and says that the Flying'J at La Salle has made contact about some fuel that was not payed for. Somebody must have cross-checked all the diesel sales with the CCTV footage of the trucks at pump 19. But it's not as if I drove away without paying; I stayed the night. The tyres stop the air from showing through; so I'm back in the yard before dark.
____Overall Distance: 6209 km.

Legend has it that the truck was returned in this position after being abducted by aliens. The advertising was added later.

Eagle fighting Crow over Roadkill.

Lucky Hood-shot at 60 mph.

Calgary, Alberta.

Five drops in the City of Calgary, Ab.



The Great Wall of Canada.

 ____Day 1: Niverville to Calgary, at just over 1300 kilometres, is just over a legal days work for me and although there are many who have done it in one hit; I am not about to join their ranks. A midday departure and an early evening finish in Regina completes my Saturday shift.

____Day 2: Several times at a new employer, I have tried to prove how good I am by doing big mileages in short times. But if you do it once then it becomes expected and you have made a rod for your own back; burn-out soon follows. This time I am starting as I mean to go on: so Sunday is an other easy drive of less than eight hours. Through to Calgary's Flying'J truckstop.
____Day 3: With five drops, it's good that I am refreshed and ready to go with all the addresses tapped into the Sat-Nav. Rarely has it been so easy; each place starts on me as soon as I arrive and without hurrying: I am back at the Flying Hook before noon. Others, however, are having a nightmare! Flying Eagle #28, with a new driver doing his first week as a truck-driver in Canada, has lost his wallet. I wait for him to arrive before filling his diesel tanks and loaning him a fuel card. It's a delay, but not costly, the reload is insulation from High River. Only 30 miles south and I beat the 15.00 hours loading deadline by more than two minutes. It's a place where I have loaded before, which helped.
____Day 4: Loaded with just 6000 lbs, the trailer is brim full. A strong side wind doesn't make for the best of journeys as I drive the 1000 km from Redcliff to Niverville, back to the yard. The Peterbilt is now up to 50,000 kilometres and due a service, so the city truck can deliver the load. A short trip, but already time for another log hours reset.
____Overall Distance: 2814km.


Remembering the last time I loaded at High River: Brrrrrrr.





Atlanta Groupage To Alberta.



Searcy Volvo 202 with bits of Caterpillar bound for Red Deer, Ab.



Gateway Arch at St. Louis; why did I think it went over the river?

 ____Day 1: Weekend work is a normal part of a long-haul truckers life and as I leave on a Friday; for a Monday morning delivery in Atlanta, Georgia, I can console myself with the knowledge that I won't be wasting all my money on fast women and slow horses. Again. At Rothsay, I meet-up with Mr. Ramsden for lunch; before heading down to Iowa.

____Day 2: With all the miles that I drive; it is inevitable that there will be occasions when I unintentionally hinder the progress of a fellow traveller. I instinctively know when someone is going to "flip me the bird". To counter this; I slip on my reading glasses, pull down my cap, stick out my chin and lean right forward while white-knuckling the steering-wheel at ten-to-two; eyes front. A black Dodge Charger with all-round privacy glass and 22 inch chrome rims comes alongside with the passenger window descending. But when the irrate driver looks up and sees such a gormless pratt; he knows that any gesticulation would be completly wasted and speeds on: thankful to have escaped without any panel damage. It works well for the old and unshaven.  Otherwise, it was a easy days drive down through St. Louis and onto Mount Vernon.

____Day 3: South, through Nashville and Chattenooga; where I avoid the worst of a traffic jam by listening to advice on the CB radio. I don't often have the radio switched on, but with traffic tail-backs, it is the best thing for on the spot information. Through Atlanta at dusk; parking on the unloading bay at the customer, ready for the morning.

____Day 4: Unloaded and breakfast at the Petro Iron Skillet; before loading two roller shutter doors at Lawrenceville. Then an hours drive down to Grffin, to load a 32 litre diesel engine from the Caterpillar parts distribution warehouse. A quick glimpse at the invoice shows that the price is more than the whole cost of my 386 Peterbilt when it was new. The astronomical price of todays earth-moving plant makes me shudder.

____Day 5: Still plenty of room on the trailer and the office is looking for goods going to Alberta; the destination of the doors and the engine. They find nine pallets of aquarium equipment; waiting at Edwardsville, Il. Nearly a days drive, but the shipper is open 24 hours and I get loaded. Northbound out of St. Louis on Highway 61 at the end of the day.

____Day 6: Space for two more pallets; one from Elkhart, Iowa, and one from the nearby town of Nevada. In my quest to drive new roads everyday, I often waste a lot of time on fractured cross-country routes. But this time the Iowa State Highway 163; from Mt. Pleasant, north-west, to Des Moines, stumble across a hidden gem. It looks nothing special on the map but is a well-surfaced four-lane route with no traffic lights or stop signs. Finally fully loaded; as far as Hasty, back in Minnesota.

____Day 7: Although all the consignments are for Alberta; I'm told to bring it back to Niverville. Resetting my log book hours before continuing with the load. A visit to the Northstar Truck Wash at Fargo clears the bugs from the bumper and the new bug deflector on the hood. Also the twenty-four new LED marker lights on the cab get their first taste of a high pressure hose-down.

____Overall Distance: 5446 km.



Waterway traffic on the Tennessee River.



Brand new Freightliner in British Racing Green; just arrived at Niverville.

 


Flying Eagle # 31 dripping wet, outside Northstar Truck Wash.



Minnesota Rest Area Closures.



Closed Rest Areas now mean Minnesota's queers will have to drive out of state for a pee.



____Day 1: A load of oat animal feed, presumably for horses, going to Grinnell in Iowa; booked in for 08.00 monday morning. The familiar route of Interstate 29 through North Dakota; then Interstate 94 in Minnesota. The rest areas in Minnesota are now all closed for the second week; as the state government tries to cut costs. A big safety issue in my mind, as tired drivers now have to push on through. Also they are a handy and economical piss-stop that saves precious diesel with an easy-off, easy-on short detour. I stop the night at the Iowa Rest Area at Ames; which is, not only, open but has free WiFi Internet.



Mid-west's year of severe weather continues.





Loading at old style warehouse in Mason City, Iowa.

 ____Day 2: Woken and shaken, by a violent thunderstorm, during the night; I don't realise the severity of it until driving the one hour across country to Grinnell in the morning. Trees and power lines down and structural damage to farm buildings and homes. My delivery point is intact and I am soon unloaded; then up to Mason City for animal feed going to Manitoba. This time, 18 big bags of whey powder. Straight back to Canada, with a  night at Sauk Centre's Trucker's Inn. It's vast parking lot fuller than I have ever seen it before; due to the lost spaces at the Rest Areas.

____Day 3: With the hope of getting home for the night, I am up and away early. Back through Canadian Customs by midday and over to the New Rosendale Feed Mill, west of Portage Le Prairie, south of Highway 1. A Hutterite Colony enterprise; whose good work ethic always makes for a quick turn-round. They insist that I am Australian and only stop going on about it when I admit that I arrived from New Zealand at the end of Febuary. Which is true. Then, empty, back to the yard to complete a short trip.
____Overall Distance: 2876 km.

Troup, Texas.

____Day 1: Independence Day in the USA, no reason for them to celebrate as the unemployment rate is about to soar when 100,000 firework-selling outlets close down overnight. Not many  trucks on the road as I head south to York in Nebraska; finishing at dusk, just as the pyrotechnics begin.

____Day 2: A second day of 1100 kay with the peat moss, parking overnight at the pot-plant nursery, just south of Troup. Three things are needed to grow good plants: sunshine, water and fertile soil. Texas has plenty of sunshine and irrigation takes the place of regular rainfall. Fertile soil is trucked in from Canada. The US does have it's own unlimited supply of peat moss; but it is in Alaska. Therefore Canada is the number one supplier and Manitoba, the main source for Texas.

____Day 3: After unloading; I set off for a reload of abrasive powder destined for Blackfalds in Alberta. Only one hours drive away; at Lufkin. Given the vast expanse of Texas; 57 miles is just next door. I'm heading homeward by noon, but not an easy afternoon's drive with the urban sprawl of Dallas/ Fort Worth and thunderstorms. Fuel from Oklahoma City; splash and dash. Crack-on to the Cimarron, a truckstop in the AmBest Group.

____Day 4: A round-trip in the truck can be compared to a frame of snooker, with some drivers happy just to sink a red: which equates to the next cup of coffee. I am always planning to be in position to sink the next six reds and six blacks; at least. After three difficult, long reds; I'm in a frame-winning position, left with just the colours on their spots. Avoiding self-inflicted snookers, such as speeding into sleepy townships on Highway 81; I reach Watertown, South Dakota. Keeping the daily kilometre average at over a thousand.



Not my favorite style of customising: but you have to admire the dedication needed to keep it clean.

 ____Day 5: As I bring the load back to Niverville, in the early afternoon, for onward delivery by another truck; it proves to be the least economical of the Peterbilt's trips. Over 40,000 lbs in each direction and very little empty running. But as the truck only ever earns money when it is carrying a cargo; the very short dead-head makes this a profitable run for the company. The high daily-average mileage makes it a nice little earner for the driver.

____Overall Distance: 4762 km.

Cruisin' the 'Peg.

Sunday Evenings in Summer



Cars and Bikes, Old and New.



The parking lot at the Pony Corral on Grant Street.



A blue car looking a little blue.



Thelma and Louise Thunderbird.



Fastback Mustang looked like it had been pulled from a barn and fired up for the first time in 25 years.



Some did look very good for their age.



Mercury Cougar, an underrated classic.



Flying Eagle to Eagle Pass.






The crest of the flood moved from the Dakotas to Missouri State during the trip.

  ____Day 1: El Paso and Laredo are the best known of the Texan border towns leading into Mexico; but there are others and this trip takes me to Eagle Pass, one hundred miles upstream of Laredo on the Rio Grande. As there are only 15,000 lbs of quilted fabric in the trailer; I opt for the direct, two-lane route that takes me to a first night halt at Yankton. Where the state line between South Dakota and Nebraska runs down the centre of the Missouri River.



Old Freightliner on Mexican plates; smarter than most.

 ____Day 2: South on US Highway 81 and the temperature increases throughout the day. Just south of Oklahoma City, I stop at dusk with the thermometer showing 40 degrees C and am thankful for the air-conditioning from the trucks Tri-Pac. Normally I would be in the truckstop, buying a 12 volt, plug-in, electric fan to keep me cool at night. These cheap Chinese-made fans never last more than a couple of nights; so I always made sure I kept the receipt and the packaging: taking it back, first thing in the morning, for a full cash refund.



Directions to the packhouse: Dirt road 234 and look for the big stack of blue pallets.

 ____Day 3: Part three of the 1675 mile crossing of the USA, border to border. The last hundred miles; west from Interstate 35, across a flat landscape of endless head-high bushes, dry and dusty. To the small town of Eagle Pass, that relies on the business created by the transhipping of freight and the customers of a giant casino. Like border towns all over the world, the place puts me on edge.

____Day 4: The 185 rolls of quilting look like they are for making mattresses and it takes three hours to unload the trailer as they are loaded into the mexican trailer on the next dock. The reload is for Winnipeg; from near the town of Floresville, three hours drive to the east. Watermelons and it is no surprise to learn that they will not be ready until tomorrow.

____Day 5: Waiting for hours at a hot and dusty pack-house in Texas reminds me of the umpteen wasted days spent in southern Spain waiting for caps, cues, toms and iceberg. The language is even the same: Spanish.

    ``Carga, aqui, ahorra``---``Load-me, here, now``

    ``Lo seinto, manana.``----``Sorry, Tomorrow``

I hate hauling perishables, especially when I it`s not in a fridge. I open the fresh-air vents and at 5 o`clock in the afternoon, I am  ready to leave with 56 pallet bins of watermelons. Pushing on, north, out of Texas and into the late evening; as far as Calera in Oklahoma. To the Chocktaw Nation Casino, not the biggest casino in the world but the place with the biggest truck-parking of any casino anywhere.

____Day 6: The air-conditioning breaks down soon after I set off; now running a midday to midnight shift, with the windows open. Taking the four-lane route via Joplin and Kansas City. Then due to flooding of the Missouri River; detoured onto two-lane highways via Maryville, Clarinda and Avoca; up into the heart of Iowa.

____Day 7: The start of the big July Holiday week-end and a lot of people on the move. Armed with GPS equipment, many Americans who have never enhanced their driving skills since they passed their test, now venture out on ambitious trips. They have no lane disipline, driving etiquette and never use advanced driving techniques such as turn signals. In fact, many drivers are reluctant to indicate their intentions as they see it as an invasion of their privacy. But I`m the last person to deny someone the chance of a roadtrip. My solution: Integrate the GPS with the direction indicators of the vehicle; have the Sat-Nav work the winkers. It has to be better than nothing! Back into Canada by the end of the day.

____Day 8: The watermelons get dropped off. Not one of my favorite fruit. If I had to eat one; I would make sure I was sitting down in the bathroom. They go through me that fast. Then onto the Peterbilt dealer in Winnipeg for repairs to the air conditioning. Next week; it`s Texas again so it needs to be fixed.

____Overall Distance: 5569 km.