Delaware.

____Day 1: The truck went into the Peterbilt dealer to have the regeneration particle filter de-coked and didn't come back until two in the afternoon. But one of the advantages of this job is that it is nearly always a pre-loaded trailer leaving from the yard with all the customs clearance in place for a  swift border crossing. So Sauk Centre in Minnesota is possible by early evening; before the snow comes down.
____Day 2: Indianapolis by the end of day two, only 7000 lbs of cardboard on the trailer, good fuel consumption as the weather warms up and the rain set in.

Patched-up RV heading south for the winter.

____Day 3: Springfield is a town name from every state; so it's difficult say where exactly Homer Simpson lives. Maybe it's Springfield, Virginia. The loads destination is just south of Washington, DC; a mile from the beltway.
____Day 4: When unloaded; the first of four pick-ups is just a few miles away at Dulles, the airport of Washington the capital city. The second is in Newark, Delaware, but not ready until the next afternoon.

Bladeless.

____Day 5: Short day-light hours means that the run across from Newark to Huntington, West Virginia, is driven in the dark. 478 miles between pick-ups but it is west-bound and in the general direction of home.
____Day 6: Huntington to Celina, Ohio, for the last collection. Then to Rochelle and a night at the Petro Stopping Centre.

Spread-axle fridge, colour-coded to match the cabover.

____Day 7: Not enough time to get home, just enough for Fargo.
____Day 8: Back to the yard with another time for the city truck to go to town and see what he could deliver.
____Overall Distance: 6123km.

Needle-nose Pete with late model air-cleaner and sleeper.

Shortest Trip of the Year

____Day 1: First drop is just 6 hours away; so no need to leave early and when I do set off it is with Flying Eagle 31 and 32 in convoy. We both have three deliveries of cardboard and both of us start with the same place at St. Cloud, Minnesota.

Big Sleeper Kenworth sporting stainless wrapped DEF tank.

____Day 2: Paul is unloaded first but stays to help me handball-off my third of a trailer. He then sets off for Fort Wayne, Indiana, and Manassas Park, Maryland. A lot more miles than my deliveries at Columbia and St. Louis in Missouri. But the second drop is 545 miles away and will be closed before I get there. So it's fuel and a shower at Altoona, followed by a cross country run on Highways 163 and 63.

Icy Road Ahead! Yeah, because of snow-making machines right next to Interstate 35.

____Day 3: Despatching trucks with the benefit of hind-sight is so easy for a driver and annoys the hell out of the office. After delivering to Columbia and then St. Louis; I have to back-track to Jefferson City for the reload. Why didn't they send me to St. Louis first and I would have saved two hours driving and gallons of diesel? Quickly loaded with electric transformers; I retrace my wheel tracks to Ames, for a night on an Interstate 35 Rest Area.

Possibly the oldest truck on a stick in existance.

____Day 4: Over a thousand kilometres from home but with only 24,000 lbs and a tail-wind; it's an easy day. Running the last stretch of Interstate 29 with old Big Freight colleague, Terry Fennell, who after five years with the big green machines is starting as a truck-driving instructor in the New Year. Good luck with your new career, Terry.

____Overall Distance: 3523 km.



Trucks in the auction at Richie Brothers : of course the orange one gets the podium spot.

Carhenge, Nebraska.

Carhenge, just outside the railroad town of Alliance in nort-west Nebraska.

____Day 1: The last trip of November and already Winter has been here for a month. Peat-moss load to Colorado; south on the Texas route to start the trip, for a night at Cubby Bear's truckstop in Norfolk, Nebraska.

____Day 2: Overnight snow and westbound on Interstate 80. Into Colorado on Interstate 76 before going across  country to Limon for fuel at the Interstate 70 junction. Finishing the day at the compost bagging plant, Fountain in Colorado.

Iowa, Chicago and Eastern Railroad.

____Day 3: The highlights of a driving career, that has spanned five decades, are always the visits to unique, out of the way places far from the tourist trail. Travelling in Eastern Europe before the fall of the Iron Curtain gave me the privilege of experiencing the lifestyle of the ordinary communist citizen. My reload location at an organic seed packing farm in north-west Nebraska would not have been out of place on the plains of north-east Romania in the nineteen-eighties. An aura of dilapidation and disorganisation, buildings that have not seen a lick of paint for fifty years and every piece of farm equipment that every generation had ever purchased. All covered with four inches of snow. It also reminded me of my despairing farm days in the Dordogne; where every task commenced with the bodged repair of some inadequate tool. Before the sunflower seeds are loaded; the aging Datsun fork-lift needs snow chains and the pallet truck needs hydraulic oil. Loading finishes in the reflected light of a full moon on the drifted snow. Fully-locked differentials help me negotiate the six miles of dirt road; back to the highway.

Loading point is the second farm on the left.

Backed-in, waiting to load at isolated farm near Rushville, Nebraska.

____Day 4: The Pilot/Flying'J truckstop group seem to be on a spending spree; all across North America. Independant travel plazas are being transformed overnight and the old Double H Truckstop at Murdo surprises me with it's new red and yellow livery. It puts more points on my loyalty card but a tank full of cheap "southern" diesel is not the best thing for a trip to north Saskatchewan. As I head north across the border, the temperature plummets and a top-up of good quality Winter diesel is needed from Moose Jaw. At -23 degrees C; I keep the big Cummins running all night, using the engines high-capacity fuel pump to circulate and warm the fuel in the twin tanks.

Rocky Mountain Double with long-drawbar pup hauling Frac-sand.

____Day 5: It's mid-morning by the time I unload the sunflower seeds at Parkside. Then it's more seeds; this time flax. A trailer to be loaded for Evansville, Indiana, but not available until tomorrow from Churchbridge, Saskatchewan. Down to Yorkton for another night with the 15 litre night-heater rumbling away as the snow came down again.

Churchbridge Seed Packing Enterprise in Saskatchewan.

____Day 6: A state of the art seed packing plant; compared to Rushville, Nebraska, has the trailer loaded just after sunrise. Then it's back to the yard with the flax-seed. A load to be re-powered as I take a log-hours reset.

____Overall Distance: 5191 km.

Snow-covered heap of Buffalo skulls.

On the hoof; waiting to go to the table.

Ride White Turns

Midnight Stupidity in Calgary Flying'J

____Day 1: The Gourmet Baker not only has icing on his cakes; he has it all over the yard as I go to deliver 20 tons of sugar on a Monday morning. Whilst being unloaded; I take the chance to clear a 40 foot stretch of concrete that will give me enough grip to launch me out of the sloping dock. Then its across town to the biscuit factory for a load of crackers; going to Pennsylvania. South to Wilson, Wisconsin for the night, away from all the snow and ice.

Errr Boss, there's a hole in the roof and I broke a mirror.

____Day 2: Only 13,500 lbs in the trailer; so it's good progress and good fuel consumption on the flat Interstates of Illinois and Indiana. Reaching Fort Wayne on the second leg of the 1650 mile trip.

Big-sleeper on a Volvo.

____Day 3: Busier traffic on Interstate 80 into Pennsylvania with west-bound convoys of utility company trucks coming from the States of New York and New Jersey. Electricity repair workers from Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska returning home after helping out with the chaos that was caused by Super-Storm Sandy.

Winchester and Western Railroad Locomotives.

____Day 4: The Regional Distribution Centre at Nazareth is quieter that usaaul and I unload myself and am out the gate before my 08.30 booking time; that's a first. Then down into West Virginia for the reload from Martinsburg; 210 mile deadhead. If the out bound load was light; the reload of perforated plastic trays is lighter still; 8,000 lbs makes it seem like I'm pulling an empty trailer. Great weight to have when tackling the ups and downs of Interstate 68 across to Morgantown.

Cheap Truck-on-a-stick.

____Day 5: From Wheeling, on the western Ohio stateline, to Rochelle, Illinois. A three day trip down; a three day trip back is on the cards until the office asks if I can continue with the load. It's for an oil refinery in Edmonton, so good miles; plus, it's "Thanksgiving" in the States and next weeks  south-bound loads would be scarce.

____Day 6: Now I need to carefully plan my days so that I don't run out of driving hours. Ten hours a day is the limit if I want to complete the trip without a reset. Fargo for Saturday night after meeting up with Mr. Cooper at Wilson for the excellent $8.99 lunch-time buffet. The Searcy driver has his longest-ever trip; an oversize load to Florida, good miles at a good rate. But he's not happy; it's a Tuesday delivery and all he can think of is the up-coming national holiday and whether he will get reloaded before everything shuts down until the following Monday. Five November days in Florida would not worry me.

Clean Wheels reflecting a snow-scape.

____Day 7: Back into Canada and the colder weather; through Emerson, the local border. But I don't have time to go home and push on into Saskatchewan. Dafoe for the night.

____Day 8: Seven hundred kilometres takes me to the Flying'J at Sherwood Park on the eastern outskirts of Edmonton. It takes me to 7,200 for the trip so far; a good average.

B-Train grain hauler comes a cropper.

____Day 9: Entry to the oil refinery needs an orientation session at the main gate security post before  PPE [ Personal Protection Equipment] is inspected. My white hard hat is rejected; only supervisors wear white hats and I am given a red " loaner." Which is far more comfortable than my side-impact, top of the range, expensive white thing. It only takes an hour to discharge the light plastic sheets which are part of cooling towers internal structure. The reload doesn't excite me at all. Furniture groupage, two picks in Edmonton, three in Calgary before delivering the  load to Saskatoon. Edmonton and one Calgary pick-up before another Flying'J night-out.

Yanke's Turnpike-Doubles keep running on the ice.

____Night 9/10: Things go bump in the night and instinctivly I know that it is two trucks coming together. This is followed by shouting that is louder than the bang.  I get up. I am never happy when the truck is parked on the end of a line, especially at the exit of a busy truckstop and this was a close call to having severe hood damage. A rig was leaving and took a wide turn to avoid #31; so wide that a bobtail customized Peterbilt thought he would overtake on the inside. The sort of thing that happens with cars everyday but you don't expect another truck to do something as silly and in a truck-park. If the truck and trailer had kept on going it would have pulled the bobtail across into Flying Eagle #31.

____Day 10: The last of my pick-ups fills the trailer with mattresses; then it's off to Saskatoon on Highway 9 that turns into Highway 7 at Alsask, a town on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border. Where else? Snow flurries all the way that give an eerie feeling to the landscape; particually the dramatic dinosaur laden cliffs at Drumheller.

RCMP Upside Down : Must have been tricky road conditions.

____Day 11: Five hours of sitting on an un-loading bay would normally be upsetting but as it is blizzard conditions out-side my passenger window; I don't feel in any hurry to go to Regina. One o'clock in the afternoon and the snow has stopped; or rather, moved on from Saskatoon to Regina. Probably the worst conditions I have driven in seven Canadian winters. Half an inch of frozen rain, coated by four inches of snow, greet me on the outskirts of Regina. Delivery done and a crawl to the Trans-Canada Highway before things improve on the way to Brandon.

____Day 12: The furniture store doesn't open until 10 o'clock and an hour later I'm heading home; only to pulled up by a broken break chamber. A quick fix with a clamp on an air pipe and finally home on a trip that stalled at Edmonton, Alberta.

____Overall Distance: 9164 km.

Set of B-Train Tanks on the back of Kenworth Cabover.

 

Scented Candles and Snow.

Sunset Shadow.

____Day 1: Waking up to snow covered roads leads to a slow drive into work and a late start. Peat-moss to Texas, again. A late lunch with Messrs. Cooper and Ramsden at the Grand Forks' Flying'J before they split eastwards at Fargo; destined for an evening meal with Flying Eagle #32 at Hudson, Wisconsin. Whilst I push on down the Interstate 29 to Percival, Iowa.

Red River Valley and Wisconsin Railway, south of Carrington, North Dakota.

____Day 2: Bobby Troup wrote the song,"I get my kicks on Route 66," but I don't think they named the town after him. This trip I avoid Troup by coming down Highway 71 in Arkansas and swinging across eastern Texas on Highway 259; taking me to the buzzing little Chevron Truckstop at Henderson for the night. It also by-passes Tyler; a town that conspires to stop me at every red-light, everytime I come through.

Tight turn for wind-turbine tower coming onto the Interstate.

____Day 3: Four Manitoban trucks are unloading peat-moss at 7 o'clock on a Monday morning: we're all away by eight. But I doubt if any of the others was up and running with a reload before me. Seventy miles North-east to Marshall and 30 pallets of scented candles are safely stowed and sealed in the trailer before 11 o'clock. Then it's back to Texarkana for fuel before retracing Highway 71 to the town of Nevada in Missouri.

Old Kenworth Cabover.

____Day 4: Two thousand, three hundred miles; from Texas to Alberta with a load of scented candles. Some would say it's a waste of precious fossil fuel that is denying a future for our children. But it gives employment to workers in Texas and Canada; making and selling them. Wages for the drivers who ditribute them. Ideal for presents at Christmas. Sure-fire sellers at the Summer garage sale and a thrilling 50 cent purchase for some aging hippie. I'll probably be at the tap-end of the bath when it finally gets lit.

Before the storm and ice is starting to form.

____Day 5: Mr. Cooper was also overnighting at Fargo; heading to Logan Lake in British Columbia with mining equipment, loaded in Michigan. A trapped nerve in his back was giving constant pain in his right leg; but Cooperman is "Old-School, North of England." Limping back to Winnipeg and going sick would never cross his mind. I follow him through the border at North Portal as we both push on to Swift Current for the night.

Friday morning at the Flying'J, Calgary, Alberta.

____Day 6: A snow-warning is in effect for south-west Saskatchewan; 25 cms. expected and it starts falling before dawn. Five hours and I'm done for the day; Calgary Flying'J and about half an hour from the RDC at Airdrie. Coops phones to say that the Rockies are getting tricky. Mr.Ramsden has been sitting for two days at the Florida/Georgia stateline; he phones to say that it's 18 degrees C and sunny.

Taking down pylons in a snow-storm.

____Day 7: Still snowing when I crawl up to Airdrie and into the RDC for a quick tip, considering the conditions. Then it's down to Taber for a reload of sugar that will get me back to Niverville. A three hour drive with very little sign to black-top. Driving hours are getting short by now and the maxxed-out state of 70 in seven arrives at Speedy Creek; aka Swift Current. Still snowing.

Double-trouble at the side of Highway 2, south of Calgary.

____Day 8: Three 18-wheelers in the ditch before Moose Jaw sets the tone for day: slow and steady. Twenty tons of sugar in the trailer is a great help. Getting dusted by the loose snow in the fast lane is the biggest problem; going to white-out conditions at 60 mph needs a steady hand on the wheel. I can't complain; as I dust-up others when overtaking. As they say on the CB radio: "If you can't run with the big dogs, then stay on the porch." I'm back in the yard before dark.

____Overall Distance: 7343 km.

Look Watt you're missing!

____Postscript: Mr.Cooper went from Logan Lake to Vancouver for a reload of lumber: eventually coming back over the Continental Divide and into the snow again. He came home about 24 hours after me. Mr. Ramsden reloaded with steel tube in Knoxville, TN. A load for Red Deer, Alberta; he had the snow to look forward to after a week in the Deep South.

Trion - Cottontown.

____A six day trip down to Georgia with a trailer load of used vehicle parts. Nights-out on the way down at Nashua and Nashville. A reload of cotton material from Trion and then to Cottontown for some stainless steel kitchen equipment. A night at Portage had me set up for a long day's drive to home but the office had other plans for the eight foot of space at the back. 9000 lbs of dumbells from Owatonna, Minnesota. But the last pick-up didn't clear customs and I had an extra night-out at the border.
____Overall Distance: 5540 km.

Steel-hauling Kenworth Cabover at an early morning Nashville TA.

Flat-top Marmon that last worked in 2009.

Autocar Truck at Cottontown, Tn.



 

So Little To Solon.

____Day 1: An early Saturday morning start; running Interstate 29 south, then Interstate 94 west to Tomah, Wisconsin. 1000 kilometres exactly from Niverville to the junction of the 94 and Interstate 90. Here, I get a phone call from Mr. Ramsden who is also at the junction of Interstates 90 and 94; but 1600 kilometres to the West, at Billings , Montana.

Smart fully-fendered Cabover Kenworth; nosed into a parking spot as if it was camera shy.

____Day 2: Another thousand kilometres takes me to the customers doorstep at Solon, near Cleveland, Ohio. A half-full trailer of steel cabinets that weigh less than 5000 lbs; so the truck goes well.
____Day 3: Workers start arriving at 06.00; five o'clock my time, still dark and far too early. I'm on the bay by eight [their time] and out the yard by half-past. The reload is the same as last week, the pallet racking for Calgary's newest and biggest warehouse. They are up to load number 34 and 35 is on the truck on the next dock. Retracing my tracks, I get back to the TA at Lake Station, a session in the fitness room, a shower and Popeye's chicken tenders.

Very clean and shiny Flat-top Kenworth with Tipping Trailer.

____Day 4: A late start, missing the worst of the Chicago early morning rush; then a day on the 94. An early evening meal at Wilson delays my arrival at the roadwork ravished Interstate 694 until after the evening rush hour; then it's on to Sauk Centre for the night. It's great when a little forward thinking pays dividends; finally.

Short wheelbase, steel wheels, rare Kenworth Cabover from the Landstar Owner/Operator Fleet.

____Day 5: A ten hour break and back to the yard, where the pallet racking will be re-powered and in Calgary by Friday morning. The truck is due an oil change and service; I get a mid-week log hours reset.
____Overall Distance: 4485 km.

Stone chips on the paint work; but this old KW has been treated to a new bumper.



Triple Crown Train.

____Crossing northern Indiana; this train of dry-freight van trailers stopped me in my tracks this week. Over a hundred trailers and not a tractor unit in sight. You often see van trailers that have been lifted onto railroad wagons but these trailers only have bogies at each end and the trailers are the train.

____The very tight coupling would make for good security but I wonder how tight you could turn. It shows just how strong the chasssis-less construction must be. All the trailers were from the Triple Crown company and they must have needed special attachments, back and front.