The Truckers Lair

After a much needed day off, I picked up my preloaded trailer and headed for the Trans Canada.  Just outside of Sorrento, BC, I came accross a tractor/trailer roll over and had to wait for a couple of hours while they removed the container and rig from the middle of the highway.  While driving through Roger’s Pass I came upon some mean icy road conditions and slowed down to 60 kms.  At one point I thought I may have to chain up, but my momentum kept me going.  As I came to Field the next morning another tractor/trailer had slid off of the corner because of the icy conditions.  Waited for an hour before I could continue on my way.  Made it to Calgary, Alberta with no further problems or delays and unloaded.   Headed for Acheson, Alberta to unload some lumber wrap and finally unloaded a single axle booster in Edmonton, Alberta.  Dropped off my empty trailer to get loaded with some pipe and headed off to find another trailer to load some cement grout to deliver up to Fort McKay, Alberta.  Along the way I ran into a good snow storm and parked for the night.  After delivering in Fort Mckay, Alberta I headed back to Edmonton and picked up the load of pipe to deliver to Delta, BC.  Ran into another snow storm outside of Valemount, BC, which lasted all the way to Clearwater, BC.  Arrived in the yard after six days on the road.  Took a day off, whew! Bye for now.

After picking up my peterbilt from finning (trying to track down engine fan issues) I picked up my preloaded trailer and headed for Edmonton once again.  The load consisted of a crane dolly and 13 crates of oilfield equipment which had to be tarped.  There were so many sharp edges on the crates that I had to use pieces of carpet to save my tarp.  It seemed to work well and I’ll have to remember the trick for a later date as we are into the tarping season.  Unfortunately, I had to head home empty as there was no back haul from Edmonton. Bye for now.

In case you hadn’t noticed, I purchased a new Sony digital camera and have been taking photos when I can remember to do so.  Here are some shots of the elk in Jasper National Park as I drove through on my way to Kamloops from Edmonton.  Kind of hard to park the truck on the side of the road so I had to walk a bit sometimes but it was worth it.  Bye for now.

Wow, here I am again hauling a super b trailer after only a couple of weeks removed from Foster Creek.  After dropping off the low bed and booster on the 21st, I hooked onto a super b chip van and set off to deliver it to 150 Mile House in BC.  It seems to track funny as the pup looked like it was dog tracking a little. Other than that it travelled pretty good.  Spent the night at Lac De Roche which I’d never seen before.  Pretty lake, but it looks like it is being developed quite heavily by real estate companies.  See photo. After dropping off the chip van I bob tailed it back to Aldergrove to hook onto a step deck loaded with a crane dolly and some steel crates of oil field parts for Edmonton again.  Bye for now.

Hooked onto a preloaded trailer in the yard and chained down the load before heading to Edmonton, Alberta to deliver it.  My engine fan is acting up as it is coming on around 150 degrees instead of 217 like Peterbilt tells me.  I have an appointment to get it in when I return.  Noticeable drop in fuel milage with the change in temp to a colder number (winter). Mind you, I’ve also picked up my speed a little to get to the customer on time.  Seems we keep getting loads with a deadline for delivery instead of taking a couple of days like before.  Must be something in the air. 

Bye for now.

Finally got to spend some quality time at home instead of sleeping in my truck all the time.  Although I must admit sleep didn’t come easy for the first couple of nights.  Spent one day fixing my leaky roof and bedroom ceiling.  Managed to get a lot of stuff crossed off of my truck to do list also.  It is amazing how it can pile up when your on the road. 

Winterized my boat and placed an electric heater in the cabin to help keep it dry.  My buddy Floyd will be checking on everything to make sure there isn’t a fire. 

Can’t believe how fast the time goes, one week isn’t nearly enough for my liking.  Oh well back to the ole grind. Bye for now.

Finally finished hauling rig matts into northern Alberta.  Wahoo!!  Now I get to haul a load home from Calgary and take some time off to catch up on a few things around my yard etc.  Never thought I’d burn out, but the stress of never knowing what is going on till you arrive on site was frustrating to say the least.  Made some good coin though so I guess it’s the price you pay.  Peterbilt still haven’t figured out what is causing my starting issues and this is starting to get expensive troubleshooting the wrong thing all the time.  The only thing that hasn’t been replaced now is the starter I bought back in May of this year.  That’s next I guess,  three hundred bucks down the drain.  Bye for now.

I’m spending the Thanksgiving weekend in Edmonton at the Super 8 Motel.  My truck is in Peterbilt once again to get a much needed service and hopefully to end my starting issues.  The best thing about the whole thing is that I’ll be able to watch my favorite sport at my favorite track namely the Nascar event at the Talledega Speedway. Hopefully one of these days Nascar will build a track in Alberta or BC as they’ve talked about it on my sirius satellite radio in the past. 

I had a bit of a nasty incident the other night in Thorhild Alberta, where a four wheeler came up behind me with his lights on high beam and wouldn’t dim them.  I turned on my load lights and he would dim them until I turned them off at which time he would hit me with his high beams again and get closer to the back end of my trailer. I put up with this for a few kilometers and then hit my brakes to make my point.  He then passed me and hit his brakes and sped up again before I hit him.  He would slow down in front of me to slow me down and then speed up again when I got to close.  I was finally able to resolve this idiots game when another fellow trucker caught on to what was happening and passed both of us when the moron slowed me down again.  We then put him in a sandwhich which spooked him I guess as he sped off never to be seen again.  I thanked my new friend and we talked about the difficulties truckers face on the roads in Alberta for a while and went our separate ways.  I cannot wait to get back to hauling in BC where there is a lot more respect for truckers by other motorists on the highways.  Not sure why Albertans hate truckers so much, but it is obvious to me that they do. Other truckers have confirmed this with similar stories as mine.  Oh well, what can you do?  Not going to let it ruin my life for sure.  See you later.

Went to start my pete the other day and voila, the damn thing wouldn’t start again until I turned the key on and off a couple of times.  I swear I’ve about had enough of spending money on this without it getting resolved.  I have another appointment with Peterbilt in Edmonton this weekend.  Still hauling steel rig matts into northern Alberta and it looks like I will be doing it for another week anyways.  Making good money so I don’t mind.  Other than the starting issues, the truck seems to be working just fine. 

Drivers in Alberta are pretty much brain dead in my opinion as I constantly get four wheelers neglecting to dim their headlights or dummy those new fog lights on most newer vehicles.  I even have them passing me on double solid lines on hills.  I am willing to bet that most of them are impaired in some way.  No wonder accidents are happening and people are dying.  Too bad that truckers are getting a bad rap over it though.  As far as I’m concerned most of these morons deserve to die when they drive the way they do.  I hope that the Albertan authorities get a handle on it soon or more innocent people will be affected. 

See you later.

Well so far my pete is starting every morning after being in the shop one more time to try and resolve the starting issues.  (spent over 2k so far) I’m still in northern Alberta hauling steel rig mats.  Looks like I’ll be here awhile as I may be hauling them back to where they came from when done with them.  Still no snow yet although it has been colder and looks like it may be any day now.  Been lucky with sun shine and no rain to speak of which is a good thing as the place is going to be a mud hole when or if it does rain before freeze up.   Hopefully I’ll get to go back to Vancouver Island to turn on the heat in my trailer before winter sets in or I may have to rely on a good friend once again to do this for me.  Sitting in Whitecourt Alberta right now typing this.  Small towns in Alberta are strange as there is never any place to eat after 10 pm like there is in BC.  Unfortunately, I very seldom arrive before 10 pm so I am eating a lot of junk food. Never have time during the day, although I may force the issue so I don’t end up starving to death.  Will cost me a trip however and that’s not good.  Can’t make any money by loosing trips to other lease operators on the same job.  Talk to you later.