Xmas & New Year on the Road.

Well dear friends may I wish you all the very best for 2010, it is with some sad news I start this post, as most of you will by now know, Ian Sayer (peterlee-flyer) has decided to return to the uk. Ian had been a huge help to me in getting here to PEI and Bulk Carriers with an endless supply of information and advice and will be grately missed not only by myself but from other drivers and staff alike. I wish Ian the very best for the future and hope one day he gets to return to Canada with his family to continue his dream.

I guess by now most of you will know that at present my family are still in the UK waiting for the housing market to show signs of improvement so we can get a realistic price and eventually sell up and get them over here. So I requested to work Xmas and New Year to limit the impact of being away from Maxine & Elliott.

It was with great delight I recieved a load offer leaving Xmas Eve bound for Goshen NY for a boxing day delivery. So after loading off I set for Woodstock NB for the night, thanks to the people at the irving as I managed to get a wi-fi signal so not only could I speak with family and friends Christmas Eve But I got up at 4am Xmas Day to see Elliott open his presents via Skype. That made for a very happy drive to Goshen. It was a fairly uneventful drive with no scales open but loads of traffic on the road which lead to this unfortunate accident on the Massachusetts Turnpike.

Note the car on its side just between the 2nd & 3rd car. Not a happy xmas for these poor people.

One of the things that I had not thought of was what the hell was I going to have for Christmas Dinner?

No truck stops open serving food, even Dysarts in Maine were closed for food, fuel and coffee only, well at least the coffee was free. However salvation came in the form of two golden arches, yep McDonalds were open in a Service Plaza so Christmas Dinner consisted of a half pounder with cheese, large fries and a diet coke, I'm loving it - not!!!!! But it kept me going.

 

 
So after lunch! I headed off in the direction of New York State,

Not long now at least i'm i the right state!

Why is it every time I cross this state line all I can hear is Frank Sinatra singing New York, New York. any one else suffer from this?

Crossing the Hudson River

Crossing the Hudson

Eventually I arrived at my delivery point at 6pm and I got a wi-fi signal too, result, chance to speak to the family and friends again, all in all not a bad Christmas Day.

They were still using this old army truck to move crops around the farm

Up at 7am to speak to the family before the guys came in but I need not have bothered rushing they would not look at me before midday then the greedy b******s charged me $20.00 for the pleasure of unloading me. Merry Frickin Christmas yeah for them perhaps. So now running half a day late I set off empty for Loblaws in Cambridge nr Toronto, again a very uneventful run, arrived about 10.30pm got my loaded trailer and parked up for the night before setting out for Moncton NB some 18 hours drive away and doing battle with the christmas sales traffic in Toronto & Montreal.

Sunrise over New Brunswick.

Well arrived Moncton, tipped and back to PEI where I had to have some work done to the truck as it had developed an electrical short then grabbed a loaded trailer and headed for Amherst NS for the night tipping at 6am the following morning, from there to Summerside and dropping the rest of the load into Charlottetown.

Back to the yard with the weather getting worse by the minute, dispatched to Souris to pick up a load for Sacramento PA, thats went things went Pete Tong, The high winds on the Island were now joined with heavy snow which made driving near impossible, what have taken maximum 3 hours took 6! Arrived at the Confederation Bridge at 10.30pm to find it shut since 2.15pm that afternoon, so off to bed for a well deserved nights sleep. Woke next morning bridge still closed to trucks with no sign of it opening soon.

Here are some of the trucks waiting to get over the bridge, I counted over 30 that I could see.

Well at 2pm the shout came across the CB, the bridge was open so all hell broke loose and we were off and running, my load was booked for the 31st December, this was 2pm on the 30th, no way in hell was I going to be there in time so a quick message to dispatch and appointment changed to the 2nd Jan 2010 @ 6am. Great over 2 days to get there, so with some banging tunes on the sqwark box off I headed for the Border at Holton,  ME, decided as I was in no rush I would have dinner at Murrays in Woodstock.

New Years Eve, saw temperature down to -21 so off I go not sure how far I will get but not going to rush, stopped in Newport maine to stock up on groceries and get my TV&DVD player, so continued on through Maine into New Hampshire and into Masachusetts, decided at 7pm to park up and try to contact Maxine & Elliott to wish them Happy New Year, crap Wi-Fi signal so tried calling they were out so after 3 hours of trying gave up then spotted German Joe over in the far side of the parking lot. After a quick chat off to bed, could not be bothered to wait for the new year.

Next morning me and joe head off for the Flying J truckstop round the corner, a quick wash, coffee and chat with the family off I set for Sacramento.

 Arrived at 6pm and found a nice spot to park for the night, there were a few other trucks there already but my appointment was for 6am. At 7pm another Bulk driver George arrived then at 8pm the supervisor at the customer said we will unload you tonight as their line was running short of the potatoes we were carrying - RESULT! 9.30pm empty so we could get a flyer to

 Gloucester City NJ to pick up our re-load and start for Canada, yeah right got to the outskirts of Philadelphia then sat for nearly 2 hours waiting for the re-load address. So eventually we got the address and headed for the Benjamin Franklin Bridge over to New Jersey.

  

Entering Philadelphia.

Benjamin Franklin Bridge

We arrived at the terminal and within 2 hourrs were loaded and on our way to Canada Via a fuel stop at Carneys Point and a well deserved dinner for George & myself.
We travelled north and stopped at the Flying J at New Milford and early next morning headed in to New York State and into some terrible weather all the way through Syracuse and Buffalo and into Niagra before crossing into Canada at Queenston ON.

Early Morning In New York State

Approaching Buffalo

Looks like I got some cleaning to do when I get back.

Well the rest of the journey was fairly straight forward, up to Cambridge ON, reload in Burlington then down to Moncton where I did a quick delivery to Dieppe NB before heading back to the yard for a well deserved reset, 2 weeks on the road 5751 miles and a very tired driver, sleep me thinks, called into see what they got for me next so looks as if i'm heading out again thursday afternoon, to where? who knows? who cares?

Its all part of my great adventure, I'll let you know where I end up.

Have a fantastic New Year everyone, and here's to more Trucking Great Adventures in 2010

coming to a P.C in front of you soon. 10-4 Good Buddies.