Wednesday was another odd day. Had to take Puff up to the hospital for her post-op check up. All seems well with that, and the scars are healing well enough although she really should avoid walking into things and opening them up.
After that, it was off to Walmart with the Mother in Law.. I managed to lose her twice, but damned if she didn't keep finding me!! Then it was up to Winnipeg International to collect Puffs "pathologically terrified of flying" friend, Lisa, who is staying with us for six months..

So Long Haul is really looking appealing right now!!!

Anyway, I grabbed a couple hours kip then kicked off for Calgary with the gypsum reels I had loaded in Cayuga. I was on site for 0530 and the man told me the dock to back onto. No problem... except.... as I was backing up, I had to shunt past a dumpster (skip) and I heard a little protest from the steering pump. In front of me was a little trail of oil. Up with the hood and, sure enough, power steering oil was pouring out. Made a hell of a mess. Once empty, I drove straight to the Flying J. I did the important thing first, got my coffee and breakfast sandwich, then parked up.. You ought to try steering this the Pete with no PAS oil.. I had to keep rocking to steer, and getting it into a space was hard work.

Called it in to the shop and was given the number for the Peterbilt dealership and the KW dealership. Neither of them were able to even look at it till late in the day, so the internet was consulted and RPM were discovered.. Yep, no problem, bring it on in. Dropped the trailer and bobtailed the few miles up to Kleysen off 84th street.. Straight in the shop and they got on it right away.. great guys. They had to get a new pipe made up as it is a pressure fitting, so it took a few hours, but it was done and I was out of there by just after 2pm.

My reload was out of Standens. We do quite a few loads out of there and they are really good at getting it loaded just so. I came out of there thinking I was heavy, and I am, but not illegally so. there was 400lbs difference between drives and trailer axles and the full tanks of fuel made up more than that.

After loading, I met up with the world famous Jody Ruth and his charming young lady, even more famous Jo Hall, at the Blackfoot diner. Between you and me, I don't think Jo was impressed, and I had chosen it so carefully for the ambience!!!!

After that, I drove back to Swift Current where I failed and had to sleep. For the first time this year, I woke up cold and so I put the night heater going. Big mistake as then it got that hot that I overslept and woke up really groggy. Still, one quick stop in Moosejaw, the Shell, for coffee and straight back to the yard. Managed to fit all the lumber from my load of reels in the back seat, got a routine stop by the RCMP, managed to get fuel and get home in one piece.

Load is bound for Missouri, I think for Monday, but the Mighty Pete is due a service on Monday morning so the load is not going to be there..

October 13th..early

Home by 10pm from a quick flit south.

No pics this time, although there are a couple on the camera but they are just more of the same. Left home at 2am Sunday and managed to get into Springfield, Illinois for 8am Monday. I managed to avoid having to go over the Red River scale by virtue of passing by at stupid oclock as they like to keep fairly normal hours.
I wasn't over, but the drive axles were real close and I didn't want the scrutiny. I had slid the trailer bogie forward another notch, putting the pin-to-mid axles to around 39 feet, but I didn't want to move it any more, so I just put in 100 gallons of fuel in Fargo and carried on.
The leaves in Wisconsin were absolutely amazing. they have the BC display hammered, but the light was crap and the traffic was bad so pics were not available. You will just have to take my word for it.
Anyway, I battled the construction through Illinois. I tell you, it is a joke. Almost every bit of interstate is dug up in that state. Now I like Obama. I think he has tremendous vision, unlike the opposing goons who just have deep pockets and short arms, but it is taking the piss a little that his entire state is getting their roads fixed up (except Chicago which would need levelling to fix)..

The drop was easy to find. Exit I74, turn right and follow for a few miles and, presto!! Of course, it was Columbus Day, and I found this out somewhere between I74 and the drop.. A tense little while followed, especially when my call to them was answered by voicemail! But they were open for business, and happy to take the load of lumber.
Now they have 5 loading docks. 3 are at the front and are a piece of cake to get onto. The other 2 are around the back and are total witches. Remember I said about the axles being at 39 feet instead of 41? Damned good job, too. If they had been at 41' then the truck wouldn't have made the turn.
Out of there for 0930, and the drive to the collection (Gypsum again... a little unnerving after last week) was 2 1/2 hours.. and my appointment was at 1300 hrs.. Easy as you like, right?
Well no. See, the collection was in Cayuga, Indiana. That part of Indiana is about a mile over the time zone line. It means that the last mile or so took me about 61 minutes. I got there 3 minutes late!!!
Not to worry. See, they have a minimum number of reels to load. In a van it is 7. The reels weigh about 5800lbs each so my worries for the load weight were unfounded. I came away light!!
Up through Illinois again to South Beloit, where I showered and got some grub, then I decided to hammer through to avoid the chaos which is the Twin Cities (as well as the Hudson scale... read the next paragraph, it explains why I wanted to avoid that one) So I got into the rest area at St Cloud and get some rack time.

In honesty, I had been a little tense the entire time, ever since Fargo. It was there that I discovered my wallet was not on my person, and not in the truck. It was, in fact, in the centre console of the Explorer, and it contained my driving licence, cards and, most disconcerting of all, my PR card for Canada!!!

I got to the border, having filled up and got my duty frees with the 30% discount, and explained that I had only my passport.. Canada Customs are the fairest I have ever encountered.. They couldn't care less about that. Once they zapped my passport they saw I am clearly an honest and upstanding person and let me in. I took advantage and went to get a copy of my B4 declaration which has my old gun listed on it so I should be good to import that at some point, and drove home..


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Interesting.... happyharry.03

I notice that the scumbag is buying from the US government via ebay.

Now, me being a nice man, and with the potential case moving ahead nicely, I thought I had best inform the Wisconsin people that they are selling to a fraud. When this gets official, it will be really embarrassing to the Paypal maggots when they realise their own government has been culpable, too.

Harry, you will be pleased to know that I received a response from the taxman.

Happy Harry

Just quickly, I see you are still peeking. Relax, I haven't forgotten you and you can expect the real trouble to start again now I have everything sorted here.

I have a new angle, and this one will work. I also have enough money to pay for flights to Melbourne......

Last trip

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Picture Postcard

The crack.. Not good.

Montana just goes on and on and on...

Met up wit Mr Trickett in Butte. He paid for coffee!!!!

Pretty leaves...LOL

The little pull in on the WY/MT line.

See the other side of the interstate?

Washington State.

Home again

OK, so I didn't manage to get any pics of the unloading as I was just too busy. I finally got the last machine unloaded on Vancouver Island on Weds morning and was able to catch an earlier ferry back, which meant I reloaded on Weds afternoon in Abbotsford. A full load of cedar shingles for Wichita to deliver Monday.. Loads of time!!

Only one small problem. BC is 2 hours behind MB, so my paperwork for the border wasn't set up that day. Not a big deal, I just went to Chilliwack and fuelled up then had a night off watching movies.

Just like old times driving off the ferries in Europe, and I had pole position so was able to blast off straight away.

Thursday morning I drove down to Sumas, Washington and crossed over. I chose to use the littler roads for a while instead of cutting across to the interstate. Seemed a plan to me.

Sumas seems quite a small border crossing, but it is much quicker and easier than trying to cross at Blaine.. Anyone who has read the Dark Tower books will know the phrase "Blaine is a pain" and it is, believe me.

Eventually, I found myself on the I5 heading to Seattle, then I picked up the I90 heading east. That is an amazing road to travel. At this time of year the scenery is spectacular with the leaves changing. But it is a hard road with the mountains. I started to hear a slight bark from the motor. I guessed it to be an exhaust manifold leak. I stopped and investigated but couldn't find it. Parked for the night in a rest area in the mountains.. I carried on on Friday morning but kept listening, and went on out past the Little Bighorn Battlefield onto the 212 through Montana. That is awesome out through there. It is the heart of the Badlands really, and you half expect mad indians to come charging after you..

I stopped for the night right beside the state line between Montana and Wyoming. The 212 cuts the north eastern corner of Wyoming and takes you into South Dakota. There is a tiny pull in right by the line and I often stop there as you get left alone..

Into Rapid City (close to Mount Rushmore) where I decided I should investigate the bark properly. It wasn't a manifold leak as such.. The manifold was cracked on no.3 cylinder, which is directly next to the turbo. That was that. Game over till Monday. I would have carried on if it had been anywhere else on the manifold, but that takes the entire weight of the turbo and it just wasn't worth the risk.

Into Butler CAT bright and early on Monday, and out again, new manifold section fitted under warranty, before noon. Now I had to punch on. Wichita was about 1200 kms ahead and I was intending to get empty first thing Tuesday. Stopped in Salina, KS, because you can usually get a spot there, and got into Wichita for 8am.

My reload was from Blue Rapids, KS. Ideal, I was there by noon and out again, still empty, within the hour. The load was 4000 lbs heavier than posted and I couldn't carry it. Plan B time then.

You have to hand it to our dispatchers. In short order I had another reload through, loading that night, from Norfolk, NE... None of this crap about not being able to find anything with this firm. I got loaded late, so I went to bed. Next day, Weds, I cracked on north. I was an hour out of Watertown when my friend called me. My shotgun was with the police in St Pierre (long story not worth going in to) but there was a problem.

It turns out that this gun had been reported stolen in 1970 from Detroit, MI. It didn't show on the registry of long guns in Canada. After some calls, the officer finally found that, although it wasn't on the long gun registry, it is, in fact, registered to me. Weird, huh?

So they gave it back to me on Thursday morning. Even though it has questionable provenance, they gave it back to me.........

Thursday evening I set out again for Saskatoon. I called the receiver at about 9am to ask for directions, only to be told that the earliest they could take it was Tuesday!!! Not good, Selwyn, not good at all!

Anyway, I spoke to them really, really nicely, and explained that I live in Winnipeg and could hardly take it back there and they very nicely took it off.

So now I am home again. I have another load on board for Springfield, Illynoy, for monday morning, and the reload is already on the system for loading Monday lunchtime. That is to go to Calgary for, I think, Friday of next week. Since I have to take Puff to the hospital on weds, and her friend arrives on weds evening, I think it should work out just perfect.