Awake 39 hours and counting!

I won't spend too much time here as my brain is rummy.  We drove all night to arrive at 7:30 this morning.  I finally got my new truck and and needs some work to get all my stuff in it.  We got to the hotel mid afternoon, took a short nap, did some grocery shopping and it looks like we will be spending the weekend here.  None the less, I will be back at the terminal tomorrow to get my truck road ready. 

Have a great July 4th everyone!

Tap, tap, tap! Wake up already!!!!

Come on my virtual truckers, it is 4 AM and the clock is ticking!  Let's hit the road  :)  Our new rust bucket awaits!

I can almost smell that......better be newer truck scent!

Good evening from Monee, IL!  I am getting so much closer to my new truck considering I only traveled 75 miles today!  I arrived at the drop at 7 AM and sat there until 10 AM!  Then I was given a pickup that was already an hour overdue, arrived at 12:30 because of that dang road construction and closed exit ramps.  I had to do one U turn and thought I might have to do another when my GPS told me I did not have enough clearance.  I pulled to the side, another driver without a load stopped, looked over my height, went under and parked and watched me drive under.  I cleared it by 6 inches but that was too dang scary with a turn around that would have been hell!

I arrived at my next pick up to find out that I was supposed to be there at 7 AM…….hmmmmmm, and they put me on a waiting list. On a good note, they let me drop my trailer so I could hit the truck stop a mile away for a shower, it pays to be nice!  But nice does not always mean fast as I left there at 5:30 this evening!  I have 1.75 hrs left on my clock, I still had to scale and there was no way I could drive anywhere around Chicago and find a place to park so I parked a mile from my pickup, where I took my shower ;)

This load was due at 4 AM LOL!  I might make it by 11 AM, the cutoff time.  I have been instructed to bobtail to the terminal in Springfield to trade in the Seattle Rust Bucket for a ……………. We will find out tomorrow!

Still having payroll issues and now mileage pay…………..it will be fixed soon, I hope.  See you all at 4 AM!

The spring wildflowers here are beautiful!

Gads! What a day..........

Got up early to only lock my keys in the dang truck in the fuel isle at the truck stop.  I sat there for nearly two hours waiting on a tow truck when three drivers got together and got me back into my rig.......MY HEROS!

Then........going across the border, I didn't wait for the green light by the inspector so he punished me by making me spend an extra 30 minutes there in order to get a trailer Xray.  AUGH!!!!

I then went over my 70 hours due to 45 minutes of 5 miles per hour highway construction and I did make it to the drop yard but was past the 70 by the time I unhooked and hit the truck stop 1.3 miles away. 

And......how was your day??

Is is a real french dish if made by a French Canadian?

Sometimes looking back can look quite pretty!

I can almost smell the border!

Good evening from the dirty and dusty truck lot of the 5^th Wheel Truck Stop outside of Toronto, Canada!  Yuppers, I am slowly returning back to the states and I am beat.  After accepting the fact that I am now on east coast time, I was up at 4 AM Eastern and drove nearly 460 miles before my body stated that it was on Pacific Time and is kicking my butt!  I will be heading to be here shortly, around 8 PM Eastern as we are back up at 4 AM to be the crowds back across the border.

This load is getting dropped off in a yard in Illinois and then to where ever the company sends us.  They denied my claim to pay that dang toll ticket so they will be hearing from me tomorrow as there is NOTHING in the Permit/Truck Guide that states anything about Canada tolls but covers everywhere else.  If I don’t know, let me know, that is all I ask………that ticket cost me a day of slave wages!

Sweet dreams everyone……….gads, it is only 4 PM in Seattle and I am off to bed, how pathetical am I?

Coffee is known in any language!

Good morning form the same place as last night but we have a very well rested woman enjoying fresh coffee surrounded by others who don’t understand a word I say except COFFEE!  None the less, the owner, who speaks English as well as French, contacted my client and I am approved for an early drop off!  Nine AM is much better than 4 PM! 

I so tried to stay on Seattle time but it has gotten increasingly more difficult the longer I am on the east side.  I was up at 3:30 AM Pacific as I could not stay awake past 7 PM last night (10 PM here).  I think I am better off joining the others and getting up with their sun, not mine. 

Enjoy your coffee…we will be leaving in one hour!

We had a lovely dew this morning.........

Gonja and I sat and watched the sun slowly set.......it was beautiful!

Oh Mom....think I caught the diamonds of the sun in this shot?

Par de vew fransay? Gads, who can speak this language, little on type it!

Good evening from 70 miles NE of Montreal, Canada.  We are stuck here for the night as the Planners thought it was a good idea to deliver one half of the load a week early (thank goodness they accepted) and the other half is due tomorrow afternoon (the place is locked tight for the weekend).  I just want to know how they were to get their load if the first drop did not accept their load early!  None the less, my day ended too early as well as my drive time.

Of course, everyone here speaks French but I did find one young lady at the client’s (out in the middle of farm land) that spoke little English and she sent me to this little Canadian oasis just 10 miles away.  It is surrounded by used and abused dinosaurs that have been a serious attraction for tourists stopping for gas and a good meal.  And of course, the five slot machines are never without some poor soul feeding it nonstop. 

The feeling of being somewhere so far from home due to the language barrier reminds me of my time traveling through the Yucatan where Spanish is the only language but at least here, there are toilet seats and FREE toilet paper!  LOL

Enjoy the pictures from today; it was a pleasure to get out of the truck here ;)

This snail is the same size as my pinky nail.....love my camera!

Time to turn around!

A bug on Gonja!