Four Of A Kind.

The Way Down.

The Way Back Up.

____ For the fourth time in a row: the load back to Canada is destined for Calgary in Alberta. But it is a change from peat-moss and paper for the  south-bound cargo. Four drops of double-glazed windows, the same job that I have done previously for Flying Eagle and Payne Transportation. A lighter load that gives me a chance to run the back roads south of Watertown, South Dakota. Down to Hutchinson in Kansas for a Monday delivery, before exhausting the rest of the day, heading for drop Number 2 at Marshall, Texas.

____ Spread-out multi-drop work leads to shorter days but I do get rid of the third consignment at Austin. There is a bomber causing fear and panic in the Texas capital city; I'm keen to get out of town and down towards the last  delivery at Rockport. By the time I have an empty trailer the bomber has blown-up himself. My instructions are for re-loading at 2 o'clock in Laredo. More shop-fittings for the same new Asian supermarket in Calgary. The familiar run North, Highway 83, Highway 287, Interstates 70, 25, 90. A dust-storm on 70 before Denver and the usual Mistral on 25 between Cheyenne and Douglas.

____ Into Canada on Sunday afternoon and as I know the delivery site has ample parking, I put the trailer on an unloading bay ready for the morning. A good thing I did as two more Ruby trucks arrive at 8 o'clock. Then it's off to Saskatchewan for a cargo of salt; to be loaded on Tuesday, delivered on Wednesday at a hardware store in Arborg; one hour north of Winnipeg. Most of the daytime temperatures have been above freezing but the trip has a sting in the tail. I wake-up to a blizzard in Arborg. It is only two hundred yards from my parking spot at the hardware store to the Co-op fuel station but I am the coldest I have been all Winter by the time I get back to the truck with my morning coffee. Then by the time I have dragged 24 tonnes of salt to the back of the trailer, I'm soaked in sweat. Now I'm writing this with a runny nose after breaking out the shorts and sandals in Texas one week earlier.

Blue Beacon Truck Wash at York, Nebraska.

Bling Over-Load on  old Volvo.

Dust Storm on Interstate 70 in Colorado.

Peruvian Roast Chicken and Mexican Beer at Calgary, Alberta.

Icy Manitoba Highway 7 on the way back from Arborg.

Seeing Double with Sapphire Number 02.

12 Day Trip; the longest of the four of a kind.