roadtrip chris arbon: After Hurricane Harvey.

9753 Kilometres in 13 Days.

____ My usual routine of Tuesday departures and deliveries on a Friday in Southern Texas was broken by my attendance at a wedding. I had the whole week off and a very good choice it turned out to be. Hurricane Harvey came ashore just when I normally be unloading and going for a reload. I left Sunday morning with television pictures showing floods and destruction. Nights-out on the way down at Norfolk, Nebraska and Thackerville, Oklahoma. Then down to Edinburg, Texas, close to Donna and south of the disaster area.

____ It was only after I was unloaded and on my way to Waller that I encountered Harvey's damage. Miles of power-lines with broken poles. Billboards ripped to shreds and then in the town of Refugio, I came across a town of roof-less homes and shattered businesses. From there to Waller, the carnage continued with detours to avoid flooded roads and fallen power lines. The factory at Waller was closed due to a power-cut but re-opened on the Thursday morning and I did the trailer switch before setting-off for Burnaby in British Columbia.

____ To Amarillo, followed by Monticello in Utah and on to Boise, Idaho, before the weekly driving hours were exhausted. 3983 miles in sixty-six and a quarter hours driving with just an hour of duty time left from the seventy; an average of just over 60 mph. Thirty-six hours of relaxation at the Boise TA; just over the road from the Flying J and a big retail park. It was the Labor Day Long Weekend in both the US and Canada so it didn't matter that I arrived in Burnaby on Tuesday morning after battling with the holiday traffic on a long hot Holiday Monday in Washington State.

____ The next leg of the trip was an empty run up the Coquihalla pass and across to Kelowna. If that was easy going then the 50,000 lbs of fruit juice put a stop to any flying-about on the Rocky Mountain crossing to Alberta and then onto Saskatoon, in Saskatchewan. Plenty of time to meet the Friday morning delivery appointment but fuel consumption rocketed. The office couldn't find a reload for the Manitoba region so I ran back empty to Steinbach; getting home just before mid-night.