Aurora Lebanon

4667 km - 7 days

____ A seven day trip that could have easily been completed in five. A lot of time to do every thing and then, when I had a chance to push on and make up time, delay after delay. Out of Steinbach, down into the States through Roseau with two days of easy driving  to Belvidere in Illinois. A Friday morning trailer switch before an afternoon pick-up in nearby Aurora. Up to Mississauga for Saturday afternoon with another switch that led to a load out of Hamilton on Sunday morning.

Frozen Orr Bay on Pelican Lake.

____ Everything was pre-planned from then on in; but missing paperwork, a three hour delay at US Customs at Detroit and some bitterly cold weather, all conspired against a smooth flowing trip. A trailer change at Lebanon, Indiana, had me heading up to De Kalb for yet another swap. Re-tracing my wheel-tracks back past Aurora in search of a load for Saskatoon. Osseo proved to be the coldest night-out of the week; minus 24 and the truck only just started. It would hardly idle at 500 rpm but a quick trip to the all-night fuel desk for some 911 Emergency Fuel Treatment brought the fuel filter back to normal. I should have kept the engine running over-night but when I turned in at 9 o'clock,  it was only minus 14 and a warm cab didn't set the alarm bells ringing. The load went back to Steinbach for onward delivery by some other truck; I went home thinking that if I am going to be away in freezing cold temperatures then I would rather keep moving and not sit so long.

The Ambassador Bridge that links the cities of Detroit, Michigan, and Windsor, Ontario.

Drinking Juice And Cutting-Out The Crap.

Two examples of the green mush that is available.

____ Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead is a film I recently watched with my good buddy, Ross Duthie. It is the story of an Australian called Joe Cross who is overweight and suffering from a buggered-up immune system due to eating too much of all the wrong foods. His answer to this crisis is to go on a sixty day US roadtrip where he only eats fresh fruit and vegetables after they have been put through a juicer that he carries around in the back of his car. A radical answer that gets the right results. He looses 100 lbs and gets his health and fitness back. Along the way, he meets a 420 pound American truck-driver called Phil who joins Joe on the juicing crusade and looses an incredible 200 lbs. A lot of the film is about the benefits of fresh juice but it also tells the viewer what foods they should steer clear.

____ I have never been on a diet in my life; preferring to keep fit by exercise and an active lifestyle. When I came back from a three month cycle-tour of New Zealand, I weighed 190 lb [ 13 stones 8 pounds ]; about as light as I have ever been. But as a truck-driver, it is easy to pile on the pounds when working, especially on  van work. I can quickly go up to 225 lbs, if I don't make an effort to go to the gym and do some cycling. I also eat all the wrong stuff; two slices of pizza for $5 is good value and fills me up but is all the wrong processed, fatty crap that does me no good at all.

____ The Food Pyramid is another thing from the film that also struck a chord with me. It shows that I should eat a lot of stuff from the base of the pyramid such as fruit and vegetables. Plenty of seeds, nuts and grains from the next ascending layer but less from the top layers such as fatty meats, sugary sweets and alcohol. As I was coming up to my medical for the three-year driving-test examination; I decided to give "Juicing" a try. I couldn't do the "Boot-Camp" type of detox fasting that Joe and Phil did but could try to cut out the crap and drink the juices that are available from the truck-stops and convenience stores.

____ Morning coffee and a danish pastry have been replaced by an ice-cold bottle of "Mean-Green." Mars bars and Bounties have been replaced by bags of Trail Mix; nuts and seeds and all good. The two-slice pizza deal from the hot deli has been replaced by a chopped salad with turkey from Subway. It is not a rigid regime and sometimes I have a proper sit-down meal but keep well away from the buffets. The results have surprised me; as I have always thought that people got fat because they did not exercise enough. I have gone from 225 lbs to 203 lbs in two months. My belt-hole is two holes smaller and my blood-pressure at the medical was only just on the high side of normal; not as high as it has been in recent years.

____ The most surprising thing has been how easy it has all been. I have not felt hungry or craved for any thing special. The Mean Green juice doesn't look very appealing but it tastes good and is satisfying. The bottled juice and trail-mix aren't cheap but when you consider that you can pay $15 for a sit-down breakfast; $10 for the good stuff is not going to bankrupt you. There is plenty of stuff about Juice Diets on the Internet and juices seem to be  more and more available on the road. The film is well worth watching; if just to see how a bloody great over-weight truck-driver gets his life back on track from a seemingly hopeless situation. Phil is a real hero and an example to all the thousands of over-weight drivers, like me, who eat the wrong stuff and too much of it. But the most telling piece of information comes at the end of the credits when it states: "Phil gave up driving trucks."

Rolling into 2016.

____ Day 1: Out of Steinbach on New Years Day, east-bound and empty on the Trans-Canada Highway but straight through Dryden and on to Thunder Bay. The pre-loaded trailer was ready to go but I chose to have the night at Santorelli's truck-stop before venturing into the paper mill.  a cold crisp night, alone among tractor-less logging trailers.

____ Day 2: First-light and my first-time running down to cross the US border at Grand Portage. Into Minnesota with a picturesque lake-side drive. The highway running right beside Lake Superior as fresh-water breakers showered rocks and fir trees with spray that instantly turned to ice. From Duluth, it is Interstate 35, south to Albert Lea and into Iowa for a night at the Williams Flying'J.

____ Day 3: Destination Tulsa and from experience I know there is not going to be any parking at the misshapen Flying'J when I get there. So it is Oologah for the night, just thirty minutes north of Downtown.

____ Day 4: Newsprint to the old-style city-centre Tulsa World newspaper; at 8 o'clock on a Monday morning. I knew it would not be easy and when three other Canadian trucks all arrived at the same time; things got chaotic as we all tried to squeeze into a yard built for horse drawn carts. Thankfully the two clamp-truck drivers shuttled in and out the trailers with commendable speed. A reload instruction soon appeared on the satellite and a good one it was to. Wichita, Kansas, to Port Coquitlam in British Columbia with just 18,000 pounds, Delivery was scheduled for Friday, so it needed a quick loading and a sprint up to Salina for fuel; then to Mittens at Oakley.

Big buffalo silhouette in Wyoming.

____ Day 5: Mittens is a classic truck-stop in the style that is everything good in the American transport industry. On the edge of a small town in the middle of Kansas on Interstate 70, part of the TA group. Clean, friendly with all the services a driver could need, fuel, food, fax the customs papers and push on towards Denver. Pressing-on to Buffalo, where Interstates 25 and 90 become one.

____ Day 6: Two thousand miles is a good distance for a load and the diagonal north-west route needs some driving. Montana takes all day as the first mile-marker reads 554 and counts down. The weather is cold but the roads are dry and bare. It saves on the screen-wash and the light load saves on the fuel as I tackle the hilly terrain that culminates with Lookout Pass and the drop down into Idaho.

Sea-Cans on a Wharf in Vancouver.

____ Day 7: A day of priorities; first, try the new Popeye's Chicken and Biscuits at the TA truckstop at North Bend in Washington State. Petro and TA are installing the Louisiana Kitchens in more and more of their truckstops; chicken tenders all the way to the northern border. Next, the Seattle ring-road; busy but not slow. Then the border called Pacific Highway [ aka Blaine ]; not busy and not slow. Finally the run across the Vancouver sprawl, dodging in and out of early evening traffic to the north-east suburb of Port Coquitlam. The clock on the dash says 6, but I have gained two hours in the time zones; it is 4 o'clock Pacific, the warehouse is still open and they unload me quickly.

British Empire Foods Shop and Cafe.

____ Day 8: Of course, the office did not expect me to be empty so soon and the next job doesn't come until the morning. A trailer switch at Richmond, a complete crossing of the Vancouver area and then back east on the Trans-Canada Highway, heading for Edmonton, Alberta. Fuel and food at Chilliwack; where I face the most daunting decision of the trip. Eleven o'clock on a Friday morning at the British Empire Foods Cafe; do I go for the Full English Breakfast or the cooked-to-order Fish and Chips. Cod and taters, pot of tea, then back round to the adjacent Husky Truckstop for an afternoon of  Highway 5. The Coquihalla, Kamloops and up to Clearwater as I decided to go the Jasper way.

Mount Robson and the Yellowhead Highway.

____ Day 9: The Yellowhead makes a change from the Rogers; an easier drive, if a little longer. A lot less traffic, cleaner road surface and milder terrain. Canada's highest peak, Mount Robson, is in splendid sunshine as is the National Park at Jasper. The really-rocky Rocky Mountains rock. I full days driving and a trailer switch in Edmonton. My light load of furniture swapped for an even lighter load at the Penner Edmonton terminal before I park for the night at the Flying'J; strangely deserted due to extensive roadworks in the Sherwood Park area and an important missing bridge.

Bighorn Sheep on the road through the park at Jasper.

____ Day 10: At last, a chance of a lie-in on a Sunday morning. First drop is only in Regina; an easy day. Bitterly cold now that I am on the eastern side of the Continental Divide and the weather comes straight down from the North Pole. The Volvo has tanks full of good Canadian Winter  diesel but I don't take chances and keep the Cummins humming all night long. You don't need a thermometer when the truck stacks are leaving vapour trails and it hurts to breathe.

Jasper National Park

____ Day 11: First drop is booked in for 8 o'clock, by ten-past, I am on my way to number two in Brandon. I ignore the fact that I am not booked-in until Tuesday morning. There is only slight dissent at my early arrival but as everybody there was sitting around, doing nothing; they didn't have a valid excuse not to empty my trailer so I could go home. Back in the yard by six and the car started at minus 25 after not having the block-heater plugged in for eleven days.

If Rudyard Kipling Drove A Truck.

If you can keep you head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you
If you know all there is about an air brake
And can pass the test that you must take
If you can endure days of desperation
Brought on by a week of orientation
If you just need a map to find your way
To drive a thousand kays a day.

If you can handle any rig that anyone's made
And run the back roads so you don't get weighed
If you can sidestep every speeding fine
And still make deliveries just in time
If you can sit overnight at a lonely border
While customs gets its house in order
If you can drive all night and have no fear
Of the eventual strike of a moose or deer.

If you have the patience not to explode
When it takes all day just to load
If you know the way to say it with flowers
When you go again in thirty-six hours
If you can throw on chains when needs be
Or drive across a desert with no a/c

If you can make a log look correct
To fool all of those who need to check
If you can change a filter at minus thirty
With no second thought of getting dirty
If you can ignore despatchers' games
And smile at the arseholes just the same

If you can survive the stabs in the back
And con yourself "it's just for the craic"
If you can take all this in and think for a minute
Yours is Canada and everything that's in it
Fly on over and join in the fun
And - which is more - you'll be a trucker my son.

Bringing Home The Mack.

____ The Sunday after Christmas, bright and early, we are on our way to collect the Mack. There is already a long line of Canadian cars waiting to go through into the States; mostly on shopping trips but none with a 1989 fire rescue truck on their list. A long day follows, more than would be legal in a truck. To Indianola, Iowa, the last town before Princeton, in Missouri, which has a motel.

____ There is quite a bit of paperwork and customs formalities before your can bring a vehicle out of the US and into Canada, Some of which need to be done before you take charge of the vehicle. Paying for it is the first thing. Carrying big amounts of cash across the border is problematic, so is sending money by post or wire to persons unknown. I was sending money to a county fire protection department so wiring the money to their bank was a lot safer than if it was to a private individual. Next step was to register the vehicle as an impending export at US Customs. They need 72 hours notice of any internal combustion engine vehicle leaving the country, so they can check to see if it is legitimate and not stolen. This has to be done with an accredited agent and cost me $75 with Border Parcel Services of Pembina, who did a good job and came up with the vital IT number.

____ Insurance is another necessity for the truck. This is done through Manitoba Public Insurance, the only insurance option for Manitobans. They need to see a copy of the bill of sale and title before they issue a temporary tag for the required number of days. $38 for five days for a 16 ton truck. All paperwork on the whole trip went surprising easily for someone doing it for the first time, Thanks to Matthew and Jesse for all the good advice and tips.

____ Three fire-fighters from the volunteer force show me the finer points of their old rescue truck. I get the all-important title and bill-of-sale before I set-off back to Canada. Smiling like a Cheshire cat, everything was going well even though it was snowing and Winter Storm Goliath was approaching fast. Then, just north of Des Moines on Interstate 35, at 60 miles per hour, the right steer tyre blew-out. It threw the truck onto the shoulder but luckily I held it from going into the ditch. Totally disabled after two hours of truck ownership.

____ Armed with the apps on my phone, I started calling tyre companyies, none of whom would come out and do road-side repairs in blizzard conditions. Anyway, only one company had the right size of tyre that I needed; a 10 R 20. The only option seemed to be calling for a tow truck but that didn't happen because the weather conditions had prompted the Highway Patrol to enforce a tow-ban. Eventually a cop car came along and authorized a tow; recommending "Dave's Towing and Diesel Repair" from nearby Ames. It was about to get dark by the time we got back to their workshops.

____ The truck is unusual in the fact that it had 20 inch wheels on the front and 22.5 inch wheels on the back. Dave had 22.5 inch steer tyres but not the rarer 20s. He did have a couple of 22.5 inch wheels that he could throw in with a deal for two new steer tyres. He suggested that the other old steer tyre cold quickly go bang too and I was inclined to agree. The good old boys at the repair shop showed a genuine interest in the old Mack; so while they agreed to sort out the wheels in the morning, we went to the nearby Days Inn for the night, not knowing that it was infested by bed-bugs.

____ The next morning with a freaked-out and badly bitten girl friend, we set off again; $1,300 lighter. But at least it had stopped snowing; we made good progress as the little blue Focus followed the fire truck through into Minnesota and up as far as Fargo for our third night in a hotel. The Mack was suffering from electrical problems; probably caused by the taking-off of the light-bars and the siren but added-to by the steer tyre tread ripping out some wires under the right fender. It wouldn't allow headlights and tail lights at the same time. I also wanted to change the anti-freeze/coolant to a good Canadian winter specification. The workshop at the Petro Truckstop did a good job for a set price of $50 plus the fluid. The Red Roof Inn was the best hotel of the trip.

____ Day four started with the two and a half hour run up to the Pembina/Emerson border. US Customs stamped the title with the date and time of export after checking the VIN and ITN on their computer. Then Canadian Customs did an efficient job of writing-up the import papers and relieving me of $1,500. Back home by early afternoon with a 25 year-old truck that goes well, stops well, but had a couple of old tyres that didn't have enough life left.

Annacis Island Switch

____ It is 12 Noon when a trailer, coming from Ohio, arrives at the Steinbach terminal. I have wasted half the available day-light hours but at least the snow-ploughs have had more time to clear the 20 centimetres that fell in the last 24 hours. A long-haul to Swift Current on roads in varying states of slippery-ness. I have three days to get the load to the West Coast and by the end of day two I have reached Revelstoke.

The snow-shed on the way down the Coquihalla Pass.

____ A truck-driver can average 60 miles an hour on the Mid-West Interstates and it brings in a decent hourly wage. But in the mountains, in the dark, in adverse weather conditions; that average can be cut in half. There is no double-time for working on a Sunday. I am an experienced driver with all the skills needed to handle an 18-wheel-semi in any situation, on any road in the World. Here I am selling my services for less than the minimum wage. Next time I look in the shaving mirror; I will see an idiot. But on the plus side; the falling snowflakes will save on the screen wash.

Changeable conditions on the Coquihalla Pass

____ Fuel and food at Hope, after a chain-less descent of the Coquihalla, and I decide to doorstep the load at the customer. Annacis Island is in the heart of sprawling Vancouver, an early-morning arrival would be problematic. Surprisingly the island is almost totally industrial with no private dwellings. Enough industry for the office to find a reload on the island. Heading East, in the right direction, but as only a far as Calgary. A long 16 hour day ends at Golden, back into the Rockies in the dark. A  west-bound super-B grain-hauler jack-knifes at the summit of the Rogers Pass. The wrecker has yet to arrive, but I manage to squeeze past on the shoulder. No injury to the driver but the unit is a mess, a highway closure looks certain. Golden was a good result.

Annacis Island in the Fraser River Delta Area.

____ Calgary is a trailer switch but only south, to Lethbridge. Another switch with the back-end and eastwards again. Driving home for Christmas, but only as far as Regina. Unloaded, and I expected a message to send me back to Steinbach; but no. One final trailer change, a grain mill just north of Yorkton and a pre-loaded trailer for Etobicoke in Ontario. I just have to take it to my home terminal where another weather system from Colorado has just dumped another 20 centimetres of the white stuff. A White Christmas for me and Happy Christmas to you all.

Low cloud on the summit of the Coquihalla Pass.

Tug Of War.

5004 kilometres - 6 days.

____ The trip started like so many have done since I started at Penners; an empty trailer from the Steinbach yard to the paper mill at Dryden. Snow flurries had died out before the Manitoba/Ontario border and temperatures were above freezing for the next five days in a mid-December warm spell. Into the States at International Falls with a heavy load going to Appleton, Wisconsin. Not a long-distance load; but when the re-load is a trailer switch at nearby Neenah going to Mississauga, then things start looking good.

The Inuksuk at Vermilion Bay, Ontario.

____ The company doesn't pay a driver anything to switch trailers but it never takes more than half an hour and the truck is back out on the road; earning cents per mile. How things have changed from when I was at Big Freight! Every load needed strapping down and usually tarping. At Flying Eagle, things got easier with just the opening and closing of the van doors. Now at Penners; at least half the loads are ready to go before I arrive. Another switch at Mississauga and I am heading back down Highway 401 towards Detroit on Saturday afternoon. Sunday is just a short drive to Carol Stream, a western suburb of Chicago.

The Dragon Wrecker.

____ But as with most trips, there is always a hiccup. Monday morning and the clamp truck at Carol Stream springs an hydraulic leak. It is the only thing in the factory that can unload my huge rolls of cardboard and it's 4 o'clock before it is working again. The office has a re-load organised from Brook, Indiana, luckily they work until ten in the evening so I do get loaded but it was a slow run through the Chicago evening rush-hour. Then in the morning I had a slow run through the morning rush-hour, going back in the other direction.

Early morning snow at the Big Chief Travel Plaza, Home of the Bison Burger.

____ The re-load was for Steinbach; so I put in the full 11 hours driving. Making it as far as Fergus Falls as the temperature dropped and the light rain started freezing on the windshield. Miler-marker 86 and things got tricky. The Big Chief Travel Plaza at MM 61 took a long time coming. The rain turned to snow as I slept and it kept snowing all the way home. The wipers on the Volvo didn't handle the conditions very well; I soon had great lumps of ice swishing across the screen. The only way to clear them was to stop, get out, climb up and bang the blades on the screen until the ice dropped off.  "Twenty centimetres of white stuff"; they said on the radio and from the look of the patio table on the deck; they were right.

What a time and place for a tug of war! Actually the little white bus was winching the big yellow bus out of the ditch.

Mack In A Million.

4559 km in 6 days.

____ An empty trailer to Dryden starts a trip that I have done before in its entirety. Then I switch for a really heavy one and go to the border at International Falls. Highway 502 which is nearly 200 kilometres of pure Canadian Shield; no houses, no traffic, just rock, trees and lakes. I wonder how long this route is going to be usable as we enter the Winter season. This time it is bare and dry but it could be unwise to use it in bad weather. I reach Minong in Wisconsin for the night; home of the Links family and their beef jerky empire.

____ South into warmer temperatures, first to Troy in Illinois; then an early Saturday delivery in Jackson. Instant reload information sends me south to Olive Branch, a few hundred yards south of the Tennessee/Mississippi stateline. On my previous visit, I was loaded and away within an hour: not this time. Three Penner trucks have arrived for two available loads and I draw the short straw. It is a 27 hour wait; Sunday afternoon before I am on my way.

Cab-over beside the Interstate 55 in Missouri.

____ But every cloud has a silver lining and I have an opportunity to call in at a rural fire hall to look-over a fine old Mack fire-rescue truck. Twenty-five years old with just 22,000 miles on the clock. Three hundred and fifty horse-power with a five speed Allison automatic transmission, 4000 lbs winch, 15 kilowatt generator and automatic snow-chains. Something that would make a unique motor-home conversion.

____ A light load of just 11,000 lbs helps for a good run back to Manitoba. Twenty-seven minutes to get shot of 22 pallets. A warm spell brings temperatures to positive degrees but makes for a mucky truck. Luckily the workshops also have a wash bay and screen-wash in bulk. A mid-week finish, a hours reset and out again on maybe the last trip before Christmas.

Built in 1989 in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

22713 miles.

Mack R688FC with bodywork by Saulsbury.

4000 lb Electric Winch on front bumper.

Allison Transmission shifter and plenty of extra switches.

No clutch; just two buttons for air-horns and siren can lead to noisy mistakes.

Even has a built-in wine-rack.

Blow Over Some Cherry And Carry On.

8437 km-11 days

____Day 1: The girl-friend is along for the ride. Her office is closed because a new computer system is being installed. We take an empty trailer to Portage La Prairie and once loaded; we wait three hours for the paperwork. Their computer system is down. The g/f has this effect on things. After a 7.00am start; it is getting dark by the time we cross the border, which would have been a one hour drive from home. Pushing-on to the maximum 14 hour spread-over; we make it to Sauk Centre.

____Day 2: The Sunday before Black Friday and it seems that most of Chicago's shoppers are saving their dollars for the big sale day. An easy run through the city and it's sprawling suburbs. The EZ Pass toll-paying tag sure makes it easier than the cash-paying Flying Eagle days. Eleven hours driving gets us to the Elkhart Service Area on the Indiana Toll Road, aka Interstate 80 and 90.

____Day 3: Totally toll road; into Ohio and then the Pennsylvania Turnpike. Then there is an accident at the required exit with horrendous tail-backs. We push on past; stopping for the second night at a toll road service area. It's good to know that some of the toll dollars go to these places. They are always clean and tidy; the one on the south side of Reading has a 24/7 Starbucks.

For most truckers; Great Dane is a make of trailer. For this guy; it's a cab-mutt

____Day 4: As soon as I enter the foodstuff warehouse; I smell "Union." This delivery will not be quick. Old men slowly going about their jobs and sure enough; when I do finally get allocated an unloading bay: they go for a break before starting to unload. All off and away at eleven; luckily the reload is at nearby Hanover. The rest of the day; locking horns with the relentless PA traffic, around Harrisburg and up into New York State for a night at Dansville in the TA Travelcentre.

____Day 5: The load is from the US warehouse of a company to their Canadian counterparts in Mississauga. A 10 o'clock delivery appointment means an early start and a dawn crossing of the Peace Bridge, connecting Buffalo, New York, to Fort Erie, Ontario, just upstream from Niagara Falls. No-one at the delivery point knows anything about my arrival and my load; great inter-company communication. But as it looks like everything else in their warehouse; they unload me by noon. The next job is a trailer switch, also in Mississauga, but it won't be ready until mid-night. The g/f has never been to Niagara Falls and it is just an hour away on the Queen Elizabeth Way; but then I wouldn't have the only Canadian girl friend who hadn't seen them. So we play crib in the truck at the shambles that masquerades as the Mississauga Flying'J.

2006 Volvo with 15lt Cummins ISX, Eaton-Fuller 13 speed and 1.75 million kilometres on the clock.

____Day 6: An early start is needed if we are to swap trailers and get out of town before the early morning rush; 5 o'clock Eastern, 4 o'clock Central. Plus 8 and drizzle turns to Minus 2 and snow flurries by the time we reach North Bay. Highway 11, west-wards into the weather; New Liskeard onto Cochrane, Kapuskasing to Hearst, darkness falls on the last leg as we make the final push of the day, to Longlac. Hard-packed snow on the desolate two-hundred kays to a freezing parking spot on a service road.

____Day 7: The cold wakes me just after mid-night. I fire up the Cummins and turn on the bunk-heater. Sleep doesn't return and dead on 10 hours rest, we are under way with enough time to get home. Sun-rise at Thunder Bay, clear skies, bare and dry roads. It is all looking good until the engine conks out at Kenora. A bizarre situation with one diesel tank brim full and one tank bone dry. The balance pipe between the two is plugged; probably with frozen diesel. A short walk to a handy chain-saw dealer and I return with 10 feet of five-eighth inch coolant pipe. I stuff one end in each tank and take the blue air-line from the trailer; pushing it in the full tank. Some old rags block up the rest of the filler orifice while the g/f works the brake pedal. In no-time a third of a tank  of diesel is blown-over. The big 15 litre Cummins ISX is self-bleeding, we are soon up and running. But our troubles are not over. The diesel pump draws fuel from the empty-ish tank and returns fuel to the full tank. Within 100 kilometres, the engine dies again; luckily within sight of the Coop Cardlock fuel stop at Hadashville. The power-steering goes into arms-strong mode but I make the zig-zag and glide up to the pumps. My sigh of relief sounds like I have set the trailer brakes twice.

____Day 8: The guys in the workshop stayed late and checked out the problem with the tank-link pipe. Apparently Volvos are fitted with a valve between the tanks that stop fuel leakage in the event of a truck roll-over. It could have frozen or may have been activated by filling empty tanks with the engine running. You learn something new everyday in this trade. It is Saturday and driving hours are now short; enough time to get to Moose Jaw and again wonder how Canadian Flying'Js fail to give the same customer satisfaction as their American counterparts.

Not me Guv! It was already sealed when I picked it up.

____Day 9: The load must be in Calgary by noon; so the earliest start of the trip is needed for the seven hour stretch across the Prairies. No problem as Saskatchewan has yet to see snow, bare and dry Trans-Canada Highway. It takes four and a half hours for them to hand-ball my load out of the trailer which finishes my work-day with just enough time to catch the final match of this year's Canadian Football League; the Grey Cup.

____Day 10: Homeward bound; changing the empty trailer for loaded one at Medicine Hat. It's due for delivery on Friday in Chicago but my orders are to take it to Steinbach. To Brandon for the night with an endless Dire Straits compilation blasting from the speakers. Ride across the river. Brothers in arms. Telegraph road. Running every red light down memory lane. Stirring ghosts from thirty years ago. Bitter cold Winters on the vast plains of Romania; so similar to the vast empty deep-freeze that is central Canada. We are Sultans, we are the Sultans of Swing.

____Day 11: Another night of broken sleep due to the cold; but not a lot to do, three hours. End of the month and a quick check of pages 1 and 30 on the log-book tells me that the kilometre count is over 22,000. It was 20,055 for October, so it looks like the job is going in the right direction.

A 30 year old photo, taken in a Romanian lay-by just after I had blown-over some cherry red diesel from the trailer's belly-tank and into the running tank. I made a mess then and made a mess on this trip too. Some people never learn.