Look at the links on the left hand side of this page. There is one titled Help Vulnerable People. Please click and visit the site, sign the guest book and bear in mind that Domestic Abuse wrecks lives.
This is a real campaign to change the way that the Province of Manitoba handles the victims of Domestic Abuse because it is a crime in itself.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
Saturday, November 5, 2011
The Dog is BACK!!!!!
Hey, fans and followers. the Dog is returning to Long Haul again after nearly a year. I have a regular run and will be home 7 days out of 14 so will have loads of time to load all the wonderful pics from this years Winter Road season.
Yes, I went North again!
Please welcome my lovely young lady to the trucking scene, her name is Carla, she is lovely and I ask that you be gentle with her. Carla will be minding the Pup while I go trucking.
Yes, I went North again!
Please welcome my lovely young lady to the trucking scene, her name is Carla, she is lovely and I ask that you be gentle with her. Carla will be minding the Pup while I go trucking.
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
R.I.P., my beautiful Bride.
So this is it. there comes a time when you have to think again, and my time for this has arrived.
I lost my wife last week, on the 19th. I will post more, but the Obituary says what is needed, and that will do, selwyn.
I have a different job starting next week. Maybe it will be worth blogging, I don't know.
Alison Jane Menhenitt (Janey) aged 40, originally from Sittingbourne in Kent, UK, lately of Grunthal, passed away suddenly after an impossibly valiant battle on January 19th in St Boniface Hospital.
She is survived by her loving husband Rob and their son Michael, her mother, Jackie, brothers and sisters; Michael, Michelle, Stephen and Susan.
Janey was a wonderful, spirited and decent girl. She was the bravest of the brave who fought a lifetime of battles against ill health, and who never gave up the fight until God chose to take her home and end her suffering.
Janey always wanted to be a background helper. She was completely down to earth and accepted people for their worth as people, even if she was as stubborn as a mule and didn’t like them to know how much she cared.
Sadly, her health prevented her from working for long in Canada, where she chose to call home, although she always had ideas to try to be involved, and because she could not always get to the community, the community came to her. They became more family than friends and made her time here, with her battles and pain, more bearable, for herself as well as for her entire family.
She is missed so terribly, and we all have a hole in our hearts that the wind whistles through.
Her wish was that she be cremated, and a memorial service will be held on Friday January 28th at 4pm at the Birchwood Funeral Home, Steinbach.
If people would wish, in lieu of flowers, it would be a wonderful gesture to make donations for the Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit Education Fund as they were incredibly good to Janey and to her family who were by her side at the end.
Special thanks have to go to the Cardiac Care Unit and the ICU, and to the friends and family, old and new, who supported and care so very much.
Arrangements entrusted to Birchwood Funeral Home, 150 Penfeld Drive, Steinbach, MB.
.
I lost my wife last week, on the 19th. I will post more, but the Obituary says what is needed, and that will do, selwyn.
I have a different job starting next week. Maybe it will be worth blogging, I don't know.
Alison Jane Menhenitt (Janey) aged 40, originally from Sittingbourne in Kent, UK, lately of Grunthal, passed away suddenly after an impossibly valiant battle on January 19th in St Boniface Hospital.
She is survived by her loving husband Rob and their son Michael, her mother, Jackie, brothers and sisters; Michael, Michelle, Stephen and Susan.
Janey was a wonderful, spirited and decent girl. She was the bravest of the brave who fought a lifetime of battles against ill health, and who never gave up the fight until God chose to take her home and end her suffering.
Janey always wanted to be a background helper. She was completely down to earth and accepted people for their worth as people, even if she was as stubborn as a mule and didn’t like them to know how much she cared.
Sadly, her health prevented her from working for long in Canada, where she chose to call home, although she always had ideas to try to be involved, and because she could not always get to the community, the community came to her. They became more family than friends and made her time here, with her battles and pain, more bearable, for herself as well as for her entire family.
She is missed so terribly, and we all have a hole in our hearts that the wind whistles through.
Her wish was that she be cremated, and a memorial service will be held on Friday January 28th at 4pm at the Birchwood Funeral Home, Steinbach.
If people would wish, in lieu of flowers, it would be a wonderful gesture to make donations for the Medical Surgical Intensive Care Unit Education Fund as they were incredibly good to Janey and to her family who were by her side at the end.
Special thanks have to go to the Cardiac Care Unit and the ICU, and to the friends and family, old and new, who supported and care so very much.
Arrangements entrusted to Birchwood Funeral Home, 150 Penfeld Drive, Steinbach, MB.
.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Just Pics from the last week or so.
A selection of pics from the trip.. Can you tell I am bored?
A steaming lake, but it was -27 so I wasn't going to dip my toe in..
Net is farting around. I will do more tomorrow.
A steaming lake, but it was -27 so I wasn't going to dip my toe in..
Net is farting around. I will do more tomorrow.
Thursday, November 25, 2010
Vancouver Island Trip..
Winter hit hard on November 18th this year. From cool and dry weather to a snowstorm in a matter of hours, with nice cool temps to boot. So I started out from home on Thursday night to go down to Roseau, MN, for 0800 on Friday morning. You have to be through the border before midnight as they close till 0800, so I had to head down there anyway.
All the way down, the roads were in a hell of a state. I was ploughing snow on Hwy 12, but I have seen much worse and it didn't slow me down too much. Through the border and parked on the service road by the Subway buttie bar so I could scab the Travelodge wifi.
Pulled into the Polaris place for 0745 because I still had to set the deck up. I hadn't already done it because of the weather. I wwanted shelter from the storm, you could say. Anyway, they had meetings till 0900, so I was able to do the floor and get the coffee imbibed before they loaded 9 machines onto me. Because one of them was a Bobcat, I had to manually clear the load at Sprague instead of South Junction, but they are good as gold there and it didn't take long.
the drive back to the yard was tricky. The snow was largely hardpack and that tends to kick the truck around a bit. Still, I was back there for lunchtime, but the snow as I appraoched Winnipeg was awful. Visabilty was down to maybe 50 metres, so I gave up for the day and went home.
Saturday, I was in the yard for noon. I filled the cans up, got some diesel treatment and headed out. I got maybe 25 kms. There was a farting sound from my compressor and the air wasn't building up.. Bugger!!
Now you have to bear in mind that these trucks are about as manoevreable as a supertanker. They will fit most places but sometimes it takes a little thinking about. So a U turn was pretty much out of the question. I popped the hood and looked. Sure enough, the compressor relief valve was popping away, which meant there was a freeze up in the earliest part of the system.
So I drove up Waverly street, turned on Bishop Grandin, then chose to go down St Marys because traffic was a nightmare and they were all driving like kamikazes, and I only had the air in the tanks. By now, my buzzer was sounding and things were looking bad. Got to the yard and borrowed the paint stripper hot airgun. This is an essential part of the Canadian toolbox. With that, I was able to defrost the air dryer and we were good to go, just much later than I intended...
So out onto the highway, hammer down. I stopped for the night in Regina as It was late, it was snowing and I had simply had enough.
Sunday saw me on the road nice and early. It had finally stopped snowing and was a beautiful day.
My drive across the Prairies was largely uneventful. I fuelled in the Flying J in Calgary, which was a complete farce. It actually took longer to get my coffee than it did to get the fuel.. That place is really crap! Then onwards toward the mountains.
My first drop was in Williams Lake, in the Interior of BC. I got there at about 0930 on Monday, which is very good going all things considered, only to find they were closed on Mondays. Still, I was tired, so I parked on the service road by the Super 8 Motel.. Their wifi was passworded, so I decided to go and see how generous they were feeling. The lady there was really nice. She gave me the ticket, then asked why I was having to sit there. I explained and she was very sympathetic. I wasn't bothered. i had the net to play with..
2 hours later, the lady came out and told me she had spoken to the owner and he would meet me there!! How good is that!!!!?? So I unloaded 3 machines and headed down to Langley, 520 kms south. The air had got so cold so fast that the lakes were steaming..
Tuesday morning, I set up the ramps and ran the 2 machines in. Then it was off to the ferry in Tsawassen. I was booked on the 1515 boat to Nanaimo, but at the window I asked the lady how long it would take me to drive to Victoria. The upshoot was that, at 1059, I was then booked onto the 1100 sailing straight into Victoria...
Onto the island and down to drop #3 in Victoria. This was the Bobcat.. Bobcat means loading ramps, so I only had to put the ramps inside for the upper deck then drive it straight out onto their loading dock. I was out of there in 15 minutes and off up to Duncan.. Hell of a pretty road.
Got shot of their machine in Duncan, and called the last drop, but they wouldn't wait. The man said the roads were bad and it was slow going. He was halfway right.. the roads were bad, but it wasn't slow going.
No biggie. I parked in the supermarket car park and went on to the drop for 0800 (which is 1000 central time.. a lie in) got that one off then headed down to the ferry again. I changed the booking again so that I sailed into Horseshoe Bay, which is north Vancouver, then I was on the right side of the river to get to the collection in Maple Ridge. Got on the ferry at 1030, and the driver behind me came up to me to point out that I had no brakelights.. Bugger! So half the sailing time was taken up investigating and fixing the dead short on the drivers side tail light, the other half was taken up with washing up and drinking coffee!!
Took a while to get loaded but was done in the end, then I met up with Steve Frampton in the Dirty Dawg, Chilliwack.
From there I really pushed the boat out and parked up in Sicamous as it was snowing like hell again.
Thursday, managed to go for just over an hour before the whole lot came to a standstill.
Bugger again!!
Still, a mere 5 hours later and all was rolling again, and I hammered back to the J in Calgary (I must be a glutton for punishment!). Had another falling out with the person at the checkout when some twat asked something from behind me and he went off to get him a map while still serving me!!!
Anyway, I left Calgary and went on to Brooks. There is a hotel at the Shell there and the net is sound, so I parked up, but couldn't sleep. I finally left there and drove over to Swift Current. Unlike when Chris was here last week, the scale was closed.. I hit the freezing fog around Moosejaw, and was in that all the way to Portage, where I decided to call it a day. That may have been a mistake though. About ten miles further on, once I got rolling again, the fog stopped and the sun peeked out.
So it was back to the yard, drop the trailer (after adjusting the landing legs with my hammer as they were frozen solid), and home to the toils that await me.
6000 kms
View Larger Map
All the way down, the roads were in a hell of a state. I was ploughing snow on Hwy 12, but I have seen much worse and it didn't slow me down too much. Through the border and parked on the service road by the Subway buttie bar so I could scab the Travelodge wifi.
Pulled into the Polaris place for 0745 because I still had to set the deck up. I hadn't already done it because of the weather. I wwanted shelter from the storm, you could say. Anyway, they had meetings till 0900, so I was able to do the floor and get the coffee imbibed before they loaded 9 machines onto me. Because one of them was a Bobcat, I had to manually clear the load at Sprague instead of South Junction, but they are good as gold there and it didn't take long.
the drive back to the yard was tricky. The snow was largely hardpack and that tends to kick the truck around a bit. Still, I was back there for lunchtime, but the snow as I appraoched Winnipeg was awful. Visabilty was down to maybe 50 metres, so I gave up for the day and went home.
Saturday, I was in the yard for noon. I filled the cans up, got some diesel treatment and headed out. I got maybe 25 kms. There was a farting sound from my compressor and the air wasn't building up.. Bugger!!
Now you have to bear in mind that these trucks are about as manoevreable as a supertanker. They will fit most places but sometimes it takes a little thinking about. So a U turn was pretty much out of the question. I popped the hood and looked. Sure enough, the compressor relief valve was popping away, which meant there was a freeze up in the earliest part of the system.
So I drove up Waverly street, turned on Bishop Grandin, then chose to go down St Marys because traffic was a nightmare and they were all driving like kamikazes, and I only had the air in the tanks. By now, my buzzer was sounding and things were looking bad. Got to the yard and borrowed the paint stripper hot airgun. This is an essential part of the Canadian toolbox. With that, I was able to defrost the air dryer and we were good to go, just much later than I intended...
So out onto the highway, hammer down. I stopped for the night in Regina as It was late, it was snowing and I had simply had enough.
Sunday saw me on the road nice and early. It had finally stopped snowing and was a beautiful day.
My drive across the Prairies was largely uneventful. I fuelled in the Flying J in Calgary, which was a complete farce. It actually took longer to get my coffee than it did to get the fuel.. That place is really crap! Then onwards toward the mountains.
My first drop was in Williams Lake, in the Interior of BC. I got there at about 0930 on Monday, which is very good going all things considered, only to find they were closed on Mondays. Still, I was tired, so I parked on the service road by the Super 8 Motel.. Their wifi was passworded, so I decided to go and see how generous they were feeling. The lady there was really nice. She gave me the ticket, then asked why I was having to sit there. I explained and she was very sympathetic. I wasn't bothered. i had the net to play with..
2 hours later, the lady came out and told me she had spoken to the owner and he would meet me there!! How good is that!!!!?? So I unloaded 3 machines and headed down to Langley, 520 kms south. The air had got so cold so fast that the lakes were steaming..
Tuesday morning, I set up the ramps and ran the 2 machines in. Then it was off to the ferry in Tsawassen. I was booked on the 1515 boat to Nanaimo, but at the window I asked the lady how long it would take me to drive to Victoria. The upshoot was that, at 1059, I was then booked onto the 1100 sailing straight into Victoria...
Onto the island and down to drop #3 in Victoria. This was the Bobcat.. Bobcat means loading ramps, so I only had to put the ramps inside for the upper deck then drive it straight out onto their loading dock. I was out of there in 15 minutes and off up to Duncan.. Hell of a pretty road.
Got shot of their machine in Duncan, and called the last drop, but they wouldn't wait. The man said the roads were bad and it was slow going. He was halfway right.. the roads were bad, but it wasn't slow going.
No biggie. I parked in the supermarket car park and went on to the drop for 0800 (which is 1000 central time.. a lie in) got that one off then headed down to the ferry again. I changed the booking again so that I sailed into Horseshoe Bay, which is north Vancouver, then I was on the right side of the river to get to the collection in Maple Ridge. Got on the ferry at 1030, and the driver behind me came up to me to point out that I had no brakelights.. Bugger! So half the sailing time was taken up investigating and fixing the dead short on the drivers side tail light, the other half was taken up with washing up and drinking coffee!!
Took a while to get loaded but was done in the end, then I met up with Steve Frampton in the Dirty Dawg, Chilliwack.
From there I really pushed the boat out and parked up in Sicamous as it was snowing like hell again.
Thursday, managed to go for just over an hour before the whole lot came to a standstill.
Bugger again!!
Still, a mere 5 hours later and all was rolling again, and I hammered back to the J in Calgary (I must be a glutton for punishment!). Had another falling out with the person at the checkout when some twat asked something from behind me and he went off to get him a map while still serving me!!!
Anyway, I left Calgary and went on to Brooks. There is a hotel at the Shell there and the net is sound, so I parked up, but couldn't sleep. I finally left there and drove over to Swift Current. Unlike when Chris was here last week, the scale was closed.. I hit the freezing fog around Moosejaw, and was in that all the way to Portage, where I decided to call it a day. That may have been a mistake though. About ten miles further on, once I got rolling again, the fog stopped and the sun peeked out.
So it was back to the yard, drop the trailer (after adjusting the landing legs with my hammer as they were frozen solid), and home to the toils that await me.
6000 kms
View Larger Map
Saturday, October 16, 2010
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..
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..
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
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..
View Larger Map
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..
View Larger Map
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)