Overdue Update.

Hey Guys, its been a while since my last post so time to bring you up to speed with the events of the past 3 months, and there has been a lot going on, so back we go to May.
As many will know there was a period of great unrest and frustration with the the way the company were expecting us to run. I am happy to say that I had a meeting with management and pointed out the concerns I had regarding the treatmant and lack of regard displayed towards us drivers. I will say it got a little heated in exchanges at times and I made my feelings known some times with a very forcefull approach. At the end we had agreed on several points and I hope to see a marked improvement over the coming months.
The company also had the small matter of a court case to deal with and were lucky to get away with an absolute discharge despite pleading guilty to misrepresentation.  A $2000 donation  to a local charity was ordered!  Canadian Justice, a joke just like the UK.   This was a perfect opportunity to send a clear message to companies employing immigrant labour that malpractice will not be tolarated.  This judicial system has basically said to companies yes go ahead treat your staff any way you want we won't peanalise you.
Anyway on to a more happier note I got to fly home to the UK on May 27th for a well deserved vacation  with my long suffering family.  But before I left I witnessed a sight that ranks alongside the Loch Ness Monster and Bigfoot.

Kent Washing His Truck.  A sight never before seen.

A couple of hours later I arrive at Charlottetown Airport to get my crop duster to Halifax NS and my connection to Heathrow. 

The Crop Duster. 23 minute flight to Halifax.

Looking Back at Charlottetown Airport.

The Coastline of  PEI heading west towards Nova Scotia.

On arrival at Halifax I had a 3.5 hour layover before my connection to London.  We were advised upon arrival at Halifax that the flight to London was delayed by 2 hours. Oh well only one thing for it.

5 Hours of this was murder. LOL

Eventually took off at 02.30 local time and arrived in Heathrow just after noon local time. By now I had sobered up and went looking for my lift home. My Brother, Sister in law and Nephew were picking me up and  after an hour of wandering Terminal 3 I found them. So off we head for a long overdue reunion with my lovely wife. Forgot one small detail, it was a friday and a bank holiday weekend.  Longest drive of my life. Welcome Home my brother announced. Bollocks I replied. 

When I left for Canada on October 29th 2009 I had a puppy that was 10 weeks old and could sit in my hand. 7 months later this is Finlay.

  

               Well I had a fabulous time. My wife cooked all my favorite food, I got to see my family

                                Well after 10 fantastic days it was time to return to Canada, for those of you who have read this blog at the very start will know I said how hard it was for me to say goodbye to my wife and son.  That was nothing compared to how hard it was to leave a second time. I was lucky in that my best mate Pete had offered to take me back to Heathrow. So I saw Maxine off to work and then Elliott off to school, said bye to our dogs, loaded the cases into the car and Me, Pete and our other buddy spike who was along for the ride headed east for Heathrow.

                                                           Me and Spike at Heathrow 

                                       Me and Mr Pete " Slinky " Evans upon arrival at Heathrow.

                               My transport back to Canada standing at the gate at Heathrow.

                            Windsor Castle through the clouds just after take off from Heathrow

The Fontaine Tunnel in Montreal.

                         Passing Montreal Airport to line up with the runway, landing from the West

Canada's Secret is out, they have invented and are testing Underwater Planes!!!!!!!

Transport for the last leg to PEI.

Many thanks to Mr Alan Douglas for collecting me from Charlottetown Airport upon my return and back to the reality of life back in Canada and the continuing quest to start the new life for my family. The only hurdle left is to sell our house in Pontarddulais. The housing market in this part of South West Wales has died and shows no sign of picking up in the near future, so the outlook for a sale looks bleak to say the least.

Well after a day off it was back to work.  A fairly uneventful triangle and back to the Island. My next dispatch was a slightly more interesting one.  I was sent to Caraquet in north east New Brunnswick to clooect a split load of frozen lobster and snow crab for Elizabeth in New Jersey. Nothing special there, so off  we go, collected the load and run to Woodstock NB for the night. Next morning through to the USA at Houlton ME, and the long drive to NJ. 

I had just reached the I495 when the qualcom beeped. " Steve change of delivery address, please take the load through to Vernon CA."  I sent one back asking had they got this right or did they mean Vernon MA?

The reply was not what I expected, the delivery address was Vernon, East Los Angeles, California!

At last a chance to see a bit more of the USA, so I punched in the address to the GPS and from where I was it told me it was 3341 miles.  Well with this information it was hammer down to LA  :-))))))))))

After a few text messages to some close friends and experienced USA drivers I had decided on my route.  Down through Mass, into Pennsylvania, into Maryland then West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Arkansas,  Oklahoma, Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and into California.  I left Caraquet on Monday and finally arrived in Vernon LA the following Monday evening.   To describe the journey on here would take days to write so I will just give you the photos instead with little notes of location and any interesting comments. 

 

Flag of the Boston Celtics Basketball team opposite the TD Garden arena.

One of the underground roads in Boston.

Philidelphia's famous sporting teams stadiums.

Photos From Tennessee

Crossing into Tennessee.

Early morning low mist in the distance.

Chooo Chooo

Calling Elvis

Memphis.

Pictures from Arkansas

To Be Continued  - Bed Time!