Short Trip to Start 2012.

____Day 1: After a New Years Day that proved to be the warmest in South-east Manitoba since records began; I continue with the trailer load of plastic matting that I brought up from Georgia. Eleven hundred kilometres to Lloydminster, after coffee at Russell and tea at Saskatoon. Flying Eagle #31has been remarkably trouble free but has suddenly developed a big problem with the electronics. It's only the Sat-nav, radio, Cd player combined unit constantly switching off and on by itself; so it will not stop the truck. But the chances of finding somewhere that can fix it quickly seem remote. Also there  could be a safety issue: I might cut my knuckles when my fist goes through the display screen. Which will be pretty soon if the damn thing doesn't stop squealing a warning at every bend in the road.
____Day 2: The delivery address at Edmonton nonchalantly tells me that I am at the wrong place; giving me the details of a contractor in Nisku. The job has turned into a direct delivery; saving them time and money, while they want me to meekly go off and believe there is a mistake with the paperwork. I've seen that one too many times before: straight on the phone to the office. Asking for more money for the extra miles; letting everyone know what their game is. At Nisku, it's hand-ball unloading of the long rolls and the two Croatian guys in the trailer aren't too pleased to find that I'm the first of eight loads.

Waiting for pallets to be loaded at Regina, Sk.

____Day 3: The load of 500 blue pallets from Edmonton are at the Regina bakery early in the morning. Unloaded, and the reload to Winnipeg is from a food-service transport company; just round the corner. Blue pallets again; this time two-way instead of four-way. Back to the yard with them and a reset after only three days on the road. Combining the trip to Georgia and the run up to Alberta; probably my longest ever run with the shortest dead mileage between the four loads. Less than 2 miles at Morrow, ten miles from Nisku to Edmonton and half-a-mile in Regina.
____Overall Distance: 2835 km.

Sunset at the Husky refinery, Lloydminster