Our Next Trip - California or bust

It's a bit small, but still shows the route. We'll be picking beef up in High River, AB and the first stop is USDA in Eastport, ID. First drop is Woodburn, OR on Monday. Second drop is in Oakland, CA, with the third and final drop in Tracy, CA. The we'll find a truckstop and wait for a reload back to Canada.

Sandy is certainly going to see some new country this time. We'll be crossing the Rockies in southern BC, then down to Post Falls, ID. Across WA to the vast farmlands around Pasco, and then following the Columbia River Gorge to Portland.
From there, south on I-5 to the San Francisco area. We'll be right along San Francisco Bay for about 40 miles. That should be good for some pictures. Wow, I hope this Blog can hold them all.

Here are some pictures of Reno, NV not as great as people say, no comparison to Vegas.

And God looked down!!

Thanks to Ken Ostrye for this one...

And God Looked Down

Most seniors never get enough exercise. So in his wisdom God decreed that
seniors would become forgetful that they would have to search for their
glasses, keys and other things misplaced and so do some walking.
And God Looked down and saw that it was good.

Then God saw there was yet a need. So God in his wisdom made seniors loose
coordination that they would drop things which would require them to bend
and reach and stretch..
And God looked down and saw that it was good.

Then God saw there was yet a need. So God considered the functioning of seniors
bladders and decided that in His wisdom there might be calls of nature more
frequently requiring more trips to the relief station that would burn calories.
God looked down and saw that it was good.

Seniors were obliged to exercise more from these senior Blessings and
did become more active as a result. So if you find you are required to get up
and down more as you age, remember it is God's will and in your best
interests, even though you mutter under your breath.

So there!!=============

 Amen! Let it be! And it certainly is.

Does this sound familiar?

I just found this today and thought it was worth sharing

Independent or what?

I was pulling into a little truck stop to make some lunch, but had to wait for this colorful flamingo (previously called "turkey" which some took literally) to cross the road.

At least he had the sense to use the crosswalk. I have no idea why he'd be coming from the truck stop. Maybe they make great coffee or something.

It was just too funny seeing a peacock right in  the crosswalk area.

Looks like he's heading home.

Sorry about the bugs on the window in pic #1.

Click on the pics to see the beautiful colors.

The Stud...

Two priests died at the same time and met Saint Peter at the Pearly  Gates. St. Peter said, "I'd like to get you guys in now, but our computer's down.        You will have to go back to Earth for about a week, but you can't go back as priests. What'll it be?" The first priest says, "I've always wanted to be an an eagle, soaring above the Rocky Mountains ." "So be it," says St. Peter, and off flies the first priest. The second priest mulls this over for a moment and asks,  "Will any of  this week 'count' St. Peter?" " No I told you the computer's down, There's no way we can  keep track of what you are doing." In that case" says the second priest, I've always wanted to  be a stud. "So be it" says St. Peter, and the second priest disappears.        A week goes by, the computer is fixed, and the Lord tells St. Peter to recall the two priests.        "Will you have any trouble locating them? he asks.        "The first one should be easy," says St. Peter, "He's somewhere over the Rockies, flying with the eagles.         But the second one could prove to be more difficult."        "Why?" asks the Lord.        "He's on a snow tire, somewhere in Saskatchewan " * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Some California Pics

It's nut harvesting time in California again. These are rows of almond shells, tons of them. It's an area South of Sacramento - a farming area that specializes in almonds, pistachios, and olives, and even some cotton...

It's so different from any farming I ever knew on the Prairies.

Below: Rice fields South of Sacramento, CA

A rude awakening in St. George, Utah...

It was 03:15 and I was having a great sleep, when the truck started shaking like an earthquake was occurring... I sat up to watch the truck beside me dragging his trailer over my left fender - wow - blow the air horn -  get my pants and shoes on - get him stopped!!! And as quick as I was, he still backed up a little and took another run at it - same result, more damage.

It's a very tight parking lot at the Pilot Truck Stop in St. George, but still possible to maneuver safely, if you pay attention to surroundings. There was nobody parked on his left, so if he had tried to exit that way, there was plenty of room, and room at the end of the lot to make a U turn and leave, without even waking anybody up.

Major damage to my truck...

His first comment when he got out of his truck was, "This will go on my record". Not, "I'm sorry", or anything to say he screwed up.

His name is Frank Deyoung from CO, and he drives for Andrus out of St. George. His truck # is 72935, or at least was that day, so watch out if you see him in the lot where you're at, and park far away :)

So, we did the "exchange of information" thing and I reported the incident to the cops. We waited for almost an hour and no cop showed up, so we assumed and were told, that they don't come to an incident on private property.

But I'm not going anywhere. My bumper is torn off, both hood mounts are broken, the headlight assembly is totaled, but the truck is drivable because nothing behind the grill was damaged, except I'm not about to head down the highway with this mess. DOT would have a heyday with this one.

Minor damage to his trailer...

Since his truck wasn't damaged much, and he had a delivery to make in Vegas, I released him and carried on with the reporting to my company.

 Now, the cop shows up, and put me thru the grill. That took about an hour with him, and I was almost sorry I had called it in...

But that was just the start of what turned out to be "another trip from Hell".

It took about 3 hrs after the decision was made, to bring me a rental truck from Las Vegas - about 120 miles south, and another 2 hrs to switch my stuff over in 100+ heat - sweat or what? Penske, our leasing company, sent a truck up on a tow truck, so they could tow mine back to Vegas for repair. Disappointment or what - the truck they sent is a real cheapie. There's no TriPak or inverter, so I don't have power for a fridge or microwave, or anything else needing power. I bought a small 300 Watt inverter, so at least I have my computer, but that's all it will run.

All the "nice" little options I'm accustomed to in my regular truck are not in this one, and it's also a 10 speed, which I just hate more than any other transmission :( but I'm getting on to it. It' been a lot of years since I had to shift a gear, and I keep forgetting to push the clutch in at stop signs :). But it sure move on a long flat road (71 mph on cruise) and completely chokes on a hill - lots of legs, but no balls...

I was pretty pleased with Fri., because I went 610 miles in less than 9 driving hrs. - pretty good day :)

So now, everything seems to be going OK again with this new truck (only 23,000 miles on it). That was until Sat. morning. I knew I had reefer problems, because the sensor error light was on, and I found out the alternator was shot, so I'm just running on battery. But being a diesel, it will run on battery for quite some time, or so my dispatcher claimed. He said to just keep going and get it fixed when I got back to Calgary.

Well, when the battery gets too low, like under 10 volts, nothing works because of the computer controlling the reefer, so when I woke up Sat. morning, the reefer had shut down. The temperature was still OK because it had been a cool night, but it was predicted to go into the 80's that afternoon, so I had to do something.

Our On-Road-Repair dept. tried to find someone in Butte or Great Falls who worked on reefers, but no such luck - nobody. This is when my old farm ingenuity kicked in. If I ran a wire from the batteries on the truck to the battery on the reefer, it might not know the difference. So, a length of wire, a couple of connectors, and voila - it worked. The warning light was still on because the diagnostic computer was trying to read the alternator on the reefer, but the battery was charging from the truck so I knew my load of bananas was going to be OK, and that's what counts.

I had to stop at Shelby, MT for fuel - low fuel light on - but I knew I still had enough.  Just before Shelby, there was a DOT cop picking up some remnants of a tire blowout. I moved over and was not speeding, but I saw him take a close look at me as I went by. The next thing I saw was him coming up behind me with the lights flashing. Now what? I guess he was curious about the TX license plate pulling a Canadian H & R trailer, or something. Anyway, he did a "paper inspection" on me, and everything passed - cudos for me, eh?

On my way again, stopped for fuel, went to Duty Free for cigarettes, and they're closed. I miss by 30 minutes - the time the cop took to do the inspection :(

So now I'm at the border - with a tractor that was not on the paperwork and a TX license plate. Well, the female officer didn't know what to do. I thought she was going to charge me duty on the truck. But luckily for me, a senior officer was in the booth with her, and told her this happens all the time with breakdowns, and that it was OK for me to go. Whew...

Well, not a lot more could go wrong now. I was in Canada and made it to Calgary by 02:00 PDT, which was the absolute limit of how much I could log that day - 16 hrs - Canadian rules.

But Monday, I came home and am taking 6 days off. After all that, I need them....

And Patches missed me too. When I got out of my pickup, he was on the steps and just vibrating. He's the coolest dog I ever knew.

A very patient bear...

It's been awhile, but there's so much going on, I just don't ever seem to find time to post in here...

I just had to put this up, though.

I was rollin' along Highway 1 just down the East side of the Rogers Pass in B.C. when a westbound truck told me there were cars parked on the side of the road watching a bear about 7 miles ahead of me.

Oh sure, I thought. As if they will be there by the time I get there.

But the cars were, and so was the bear. He could care less about who was watching him route out plants and eat the grubs and bugs that came with them.

Wow, how many grubs does a critter this size need a day to live?

As we all took pictures, he just kept wandering up and down the ditch and clawing up plants, mostly dandelions, and licking up the spoils.

Eventually, all the cars left and it was just me and the bear, and he was totally unconcerned about me being there, even with the diesel running. He just kept on "lunch".

I was there about 15 minutes before he headed across the road and disappeared into the bush. But I got a good shot of him crossing the road, and I don't think I've ever seen a bigger grizzly than this one. At least I've never been this close...

More coming soon, and just keep on keepin' on...

My Guardian Angel Is Working Overtime...

This past Monday, I was heading for Laredo, TX via US 83 that runs down from Childress, SE of Amarillo. Just North of Uvalde, there was a violent thunder storm. The wipers on high, couldn't keep the windshield clear, and I thought of finding a safe spot and pulling over. There was water running across the highway in places, deep enough to "grab the tires" and pull me over.

But, it did seem like a good situation for a tornado to develop. There was so much lightning that I probably have driven without my headlights - just one flash after another - what a light show... and the temperature dropped from 25 to 14 real fast,.

Because of the possibility of a tornado, I thought it best to keep going and get out of it. By the time I got to Uvalde, it was over, and became just another quiet night, and back up to 25 C.

Tuesday, I was talking to a driver who mentioned that there had been a tornado touch down near San Antonio, which is just a bit East of where I had been, but I really didn't give it another thought.

Wednesday morning, I got going North to Canada. Because of where I spent the night, my GPS routed me a different way from coming South, but that was OK, because I always like a "new road".

I'm not even sure which highway I was on, but just a few miles from the Interstate, all traffic came to a halt, and a couple of locals (Deputy Sheriffs) were directing traffic as it was one lane only at a time. I thought it was probably just construction, as it's that time of year again.

Wow, did I get my eyes opened when it was my turn to go.

The tornado was 2 days ago, and people are cleaning all the debris laying around. There is more tin on the ground than on the roofs of the mobile homes. I didn't see any tipped over, but exterior damage was mega...













Trees were splintered like cornstalks.


You can click on the pictures to enlarge them, and then just hit ESC to return to this page...

I could have been a lot worse, and I've seen the aftermath of worse tornadoes, but it came in the night and I don't know if there was any warning.

Tornadoes aren't like hurricanes, where there is several days warning to evacuate. They form so fast that a published "tornado watch" or "tornado warning" is the best that can be done.

This one covered a fairly narrow path of about 1/2 mile, and past that, everything was as it had always been.

Hot Hot Hot...

Sorry, no pics this time, 'cause I haven't got time...

I finally got out of the really vicious heat. I'm up
in Wisconsin tonight and it's under 70 F 20 C (whew, what a relief)
I was in Chicago today and it was over 100 F 39C. I thought
everything was going very well until I was loaded and the
USDA inspector noticed that they had put the wrong
product on my truck :(

So back into the loading dock and wait for another 2 hrs for
them to replace with the correct product - why would it
matter - it was only some kind of pork going to McDonalds
in Calgary, and I don't eat there, and neither do you.

Anyway, I had some issues with the reefer. The sensor
indicator light kept coming on showing problems with the
alternator, and the voltage was low. My first Thermo King
center was up in Madison, WI., 150 miles away. It managed
to keep running until I got there, and took the tech about
15 minutes to fix it - bad connection on a wiring harness.

Go figure, very new equipment - slight problem can shut it down.

Just an update for today...

Just sitting in the rain in Beaver, UT. What a cool relief after California and Nevada this afternoon. It was in the 80's there, and I have no A/C in either the truck or the TriPak. Such quality those Mexicans put into a truck. This one has less than 80,000 miles on it.

I looked for a photo to include with this post, but I have so many and they are all similar to what's already up here. I'll have to take pictures of something that isn't a rock, someday...

The business website is doing well. I've developed a marketing plan that works. Since nothing is in stone, there will still be changes along the way, but one thing won't change - WordPress is the only way to Blog :-)

I see there are a few changes to Blogger, too. I guess they are trying to compete.

In my marketing site, TheCashCowCorral.Com, I'm giving away a free video with 3 tricks that successful marketers use to increase their sales, stop commission hijackers, and capture pictures and content from other websites. This is all in Volume One of the 3 Tricks Video collection. There are five more volumes with some even more useful "tricks" and anybody that requests Volume One, will get the other 5 volumes in the next few weeks. How cool is that, eh? [eh? it's a Canadian thing]

So with that said and posted, I'm heading for bed. Must be in Calgary by 23:59 Tues. 1090 miles to go, and I can do that with half my brain tied behind my back,..,

Highway 191 in Southern Utah - breathtaking, eh?

It wasn't the greatest day for taking pictures, but since I've never been down this highway before, and may never again, I just took them. It was very cloudy and raining off an on, but the snow made the pics interesting.

These "buttes" are like the ones in all the old westerns, but I don't know where the huge towering ones are.

There are some interesting shapes out in the desert, and they just protrude with nothing around them.

Quite a pile of rubble

This one was near the end of the scenic area. I had hoped to see the "hole" that is on all the Utah license plates that's near Moab, but I guess it's off the main road.

There were signs to it, but no view. I have never heard of this one and I can't remember its name, but I was very pleased to spot it as I rounded a curve, and I was standing on the brakes to stop in the pullout at the side of the road to get decent pictures.

And then there's Texas... It's flat, but this is cotton country - thousands of acres of cotton fields, and the farmers are just starting their field work. By this fall, these lands will be white with cotton blooms, and that is when it's interesting to an X grain farmer like me. I love to watch the cotton harvest, and have seen more of it down by Childress, TX.

Today, I'm just sitting in Abilene, TX waiting for a reload. Yesterday, I unloaded in Hobbs, NM and deadheaded over here to wait for a load that is supposed to meet me in Austin, TX - about 200 miles farther south. This was as far as my log book would let me go.

So in their great wisdom, (H & R's) they are sitting me here for a logbook reset. That's 34 hrs without moving and you go back to 70 available hrs. Doesn't make much sense to me, because I've got over 60 hrs. for the next 6 days which is more than enough to get back to Canada. But this way, they don't have to pay me a "layover" which would put $100 in my pocket. They'll do anything to shaft a driver out of getting paid. I wonder how many days the planners and dispatchers put in without pay. :-)

About the only interesting thing here (Flying J Truckstop in Tye, TX) was these military jets landing. There were about a dozen of them and I was able to zoom in to get a pretty good picture.

Early this morning, I could hear planes overhead because the airport is just south of here, and that's what woke me up. Since I didn't have to work today, I was up after 02:00 working on my website, and I finally figured out the php program to cloak download links so people can't just help themselves to my files without paying.

Although it's very simple program after I got it working, the guy who did the video explaining the program wasn't the best, and I had to watch it about 12 times. I guess that's what happens when brilliant people try to explain simple things.

Breakfast at McTruckers Roadhouse

There's a great variety out here to eat, but I prefer making my own meals in the truck. It's a lot cheaper and a lot better for me.

This first one is what I see a lot of drivers picking up when they're signing for their fuel, and I do too, occassionally.

This next one is what I settled for this morning, and enjoyed a lot more. It was completely prepared in the truck.

I did forget to add the grapefruit juice and coffee, so there was nothing missing in this breakfast. And the cost was about $3.00 and took about 30 minutes from the time I started cooking to when I finished eating.

Going inside to a restaurant usually takes about an hour, so not only do I save a lot of money on food, but I'm back on the road a lot faster and resume making money.

Seems like a no-brainer to me, which is healthier and more revenue friendly...

Just some pics

Nothing to say right now, so I'll just upload some pics. I've got a pretty slack day since I was up so early but couldn't leave until 07:00 - US DOT HOS (hrs of service)

California Wetback Check

100's of miles of green trees

Old Texas Town

In the middle of nowhere

 More to come later

Near the end of my day...

It was a beautiful day here in Texas and a great sunset. Was around 100 F most of the day, but cooled down to a nice 75 F after the sun went down.

I got lost today without really getting lost. Got on a different road than I thought I was on and completely lost my bearings. I thought I was going North and was unsure of where my pickup location was, when I was actually heading South and was just a short distance away. I've never lost it like that before. (better buy a compass or get GPS)

It all worked out and I was on time. Loaded plastic resin pellets at Dow Chemical to take to Southern Manitoba on Monday. (nice trip - lots of time) That will give me time to work on my other blog, Prescription For Healthy Living.

Here's downtown Houston, TX. It is huge and again, there are "bugs". It was a bit hard taking a picture just then - 6:00 rush hour traffic and lots of it...

OK, so now I'd better get doing something else, and I'll try to post more often...

Statues of Liberty

Texas loves it's heroes, and yesterday coming up I-45, I caught a couple of them just standing along the road waving at the traffic. This was Stephen Austin who I've never heard of before, but I'm assuming he must have been very important to have the Capital City named after him.




And here's Sam Houston, who we know had Houston, TX named after him.
Please excuse the "bugs" on the window. Night driving here is a constant splat sound and when daylight comes, the windshield's a mess. I'll clean it today when I fuel.



And it is pretty early in the morning when I'm writing this. (03:00 my time PDT) I got up to Dallas last night and the Flying J was over full so I parked on the end of a line along with a couple of others. At 02:00 PDT (my time - 04:00 local CDT) there's a pounding on the door and I'm told in not so friendly terms that I had to move or be towed. So much for Southern Hospitality. Luckily enough, there were a few spots open now and I managed to squeeze into one. It's a lot easier though, when I'm wide awake. And after backing in, I'm wide awake, and have a great Internet connection because everybody else is sleeping - ha! At least with that kind of security, you don't have to worry about being pestered by "lot lizards".

Just gotta put something in here...

Hi everybody,

Sorry, but I haven't had time to keep up with this site. I've been driving a lot and working on a new website when I can. It's about living healthy, vitamins, minerals, and food supplements. A lot has to go into researching articles as I'm no health specialist, but learning a lot about it.

I also had to learn WordPress. That's a Blog format that works great as a website, but a bit complicated to start with. I'd be screwed if I didn't understand some HTML and PHP.

Anyway, I'm pretty proud of the outcome and would appreciate anyone visiting the site.

It's at: www.prescriptionforhealthyliving.com There's a lot of good information there about improving our health and I'm using a lot of it myself. Maybe you'll find it interesting, too.

It's been awhile...

Well, it's been awhile since I've posted anything here, eh?

Not that I've quit trucking, or quit taking pictures, or quit the internet. No, none of those. I've just been so busy driving long hours and trying to get a good website together. Well, its finally paid off. Now I'm pretty good at WordPress, the ultimate Bloggers' software, along with a lot of other great website scripts. And here's the result:

http://www.prescritionforhealthyliving.com

Enjoy

Lots of things have changed

Haven't posted for awhile - too much going on.

I've taken a short leave of absence from work and we've sort of moved. Right now everything is in a container at my son's place at South Slocan, B.C. But we're back in Edmonton because Sandy's Mom died on the 28. We'll head back when everything here is settled.

We can't stay in South Slocan because it's pretty isolated at Brian's place and without a 4 wheel drive, we wouldn't get out 'til spring. We'll probably end up in Kelowna and then I'll go back to work.

I'll try to post more frequently. Phil, if you read this, we really miss you and I hope things are going OK.