Houston, not so dodgy after all.

Well there were a few pan handlers and polishing crews in the Flying J, but nothing to make us feel unsafe, and we had a nice quiet night there.

The plant where we were picking up was just across the street, so after a truck/trailer wash at the Blue Beacon next door, we went to load at 8am local time.

It took them 3 hrs get their fingers out and load four tyres, but they did apologise for keeping us waiting.
We have 12' 4's so will need  a pilot car to cross Oklahoma, but we can run solo everywhere else, although we have to shut down half hour after sunset everywhere along the route back, except when we cross into Canada.

We managed to get to Wichita Falls, Texas today before we ran out of daylight running time, and picked up the OS permit for Oklahoma which the boss had faxed forward to the truckstop, and we hope to get to Aurora Colorado tomorrow.

Houston Texas, dodgy, or not?

We will be running up to Houston during the day on Monday to stage for our pick up on Tuesday morning.
The problem is, our company suggests that we stay out of town the night before as it's a dangerous place, and just run in on the morning.
There are two truck stops opposite the plant, a Loves and a Pilot, and one of our drivers advises that the Loves has security.

So.

Should we go to the Loves or Pilot truckstop (I would), or park somewhere outside of Houston, which would mean driving through the city at 6am anyway?

We are coming up from the South West and loading in the North East, where the arrow is.

The next problem is to try and get back to Alberta without running into holiday oversize permit restrictions, which could see us shut down in Montana for three days! 

I don't know which is the best route back yet, and we have to follow the routes we are given on the permits, so no use planning until we get the paperwork.

Michael Mc Garry heading north in Wyoming November 2011.

We are picking up 12 foot 4" tyres which are a little bit bigger than the ones in the picture above, but not as large as the 13 foot 3" we have had for the last two trips.

Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow.

Taking off around 11am on Monday from Claresholme, we had a short run down to Eddie's corner in Montana for the night, then ran down through Wyoming, to the Flying J in Cheyenne for Tuesday night, with pretty good weather all the way down.

Wednesday saw us continuing south through Colorado, around Denver.

A few miles East of Denver we turned south again to head through a portion of Oklahoma and into Texas, but not before we were slowed down by the remnants of a sizeable snowfall around Eads and Lamar in Colorado.

Just north of Boise City we came to a halt for an hour whilst a wreck was cleared further south of us.

Then off again in clear blue skies, but at a very slow crawl for quite a few miles.

As we'd been delayed and it was now dark, we just ran down to Vega for the night and parked in the manky Shell station beside the I40.

We had an uneventful drive down to Odessa for our first drop, then a scenic route drive down to San Antonio, which saw us pulling into a Wallmart car park with only minutes left on my log as we kept finding 'no truck parking' signs off all the bloody exit ramps near the city!
During this part of the trip we drove through what must be the prettiest and most extensive Christmas light show in any small town in the USA, Frederickburg TX... sorry, no pictures, but it was magical all through the town.

The last leg was a quick jaunt down to the Mexican border at Pharr where we had to go and get our paperwork stamped  (after a long wait in line) at customs before going to a shipper to be off loaded.
We are now stuck in a truckstop in Edinburg as we can't re-load until Tuesday AM in Houston, but at least we get paid layover pay!

2,250 miles.

This is a nice video of the lights by Mike Starks...

Fredericksburg TX Christmas Lights 2011 by mikestarks

Pharr, Texas

We picked up our load on Monday which is two drops, one going to Odessa TX, then on to Pharr TX, on the Mexican border, where we hope to be finished before Friday evening, so we can run over the Christmas weekend to wherever they send us.

View from the office door.

I've also added a couple of new links to the sidebar of other drivers including one in Ireland (Luke) who travels all over Europe and also does video diaries. The dead links ill be removed soon, unless they get updated, which I doubt.

Near Sheridan Wyoming.

News from home is not so good, with my Mum in hospital after a fall, which makes us realise how far away we are, and also bad news from a friend in Iowa, and bad news from a friend in Holland. Life can be pretty crappy, but although we feel privileged to be here and healthy, and our thoughts and prayers are with them.

Cath being artistic.

Not sure if we'll get internet much on the rest of the journey down to Texas, but we're not chasing (the internet) it and will stop overnight wherever it is suitable, although I am posting this from the Flying J in Cheyenne where we have both just had a nice shower after realising that if you ask for a 'team' shower they give you two, but only deduct one from your loyalty card.

The long haul.

A recent trip for us at the new company.

Chillin' at the Lazy J Motel in Claresholm Alberta, from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning when we shall be setting off on another similar trip. I just need to study the permit restrictions for running oversized loads in the USA, otherwise we might get stuck in a lay by for Christmas. 

We were going to spend Christmas with the Leasks in Redcliff Alberta, but it would be silly to turn a good run down, so hopefully we will get back in time to have a wee dram with them during the New Year period.
If we don't get back up, then we may have a meal or drink with some of the other guys who are running south. I might even make some Nasi Goreng for the Dutch drivers.

Back to the grindstone

Well, we left Canada in spring 2009 and after an eventful time back in Europe, including the best summer we have had for many years working in France, we are now back in Canada.
We are based in Claresholm Alberta and are working for a different company than last time.
Hopefully I will get time to start taking pictures again and post them here, along with a few video clips, to give anyone who's interested, a little insight into what it's like to work in Canada as a long haul trucker.
There are a few links on the sidebar to other guys who do the same kind of work, and they are worth a read, as they are full of info on all aspects of the job.

This was then...

Mick.

They can't keep everyone down!

Just to be clear: This post is from a friend of ours who beat H&R in court.

I tried to post this on Micks Blog H&R Transport Lethbridge but I couldn't get on it.

Last year Mick wrote a post regarding his pal who had been sacked from H&R, this post received many negative comments about him and Brits in general.

Well his pal is, as you know, my husband and I would like to tell all those H&R lovers and mindless morons out there that we reported H&R to the Labour Board as soon as it happened and in February this year, almost 11 months after his sacking, myself and my husband went into an adjudication hearing which I could only describe as like a court case but not so formal.

I would like to note that we have no legal training and at no point did we seek legal advice, the knowledge that he had done nothing wrong and the protocol H&R followed drove us to persue the company and after compiling evidence and questions we entered into the unknown to face them across a table and went in with both barrels! It was like a court case in that they presented their "evidence" and witnesses which I could then cross examine and then we presented our evidence and witnesses to which their HR person could then cross examine.
The hearing lasted 7 hours with only 30 mins break for lunch and 2 short comfort breaks. To say we were exhausted at the end of it is an understatement, it was both mentally and physically draining.
After a mountain of documents, policies, etc being entered as evidence first by H&R then came a written witness statement, followed by their next witness the , "Driver Recruitment and Compliance Coordinator" , and we all know who that is, well to say that I took great pleasure in pulling that "man" apart is an understatement as his last email to my husband after his sacking was along the lines of "let me know when you would like a flight booking back to the UK", after all this is what they probably expected us to do.

Next came their "Vice President of Loss and Compliance for H&R Transport". He proceeded to give a long statement relating to the regulatory environment for the Department of Transportation in the USA. Again it gave myself and my husband great pleasure to cross examine him and pull holes apart in H&R training and pre and post trip inspection.

Finally it came to our turn my husband was a witness and we had another witness who flew over to give his evidence and a witness who gave evidence over the phone, only my husband was cross examined by H&R Transport.
Finally we both sides had to give closing statements. It was made clear at the start of the hearing that this was the last stop for the complaint and that no further action could be taken after the decision by the adjudicator was made.
The adjudicator stated that, if a decision of unjust dismissal was awarded, she could only compensate our personal financial loss that had be incurred since the dismissal. We offered into evidence figures to show the amount of loss we had from the date of dimissal to the date his contract was due to end with H&R Transport, deductions and to be made for wages from other employers during this period.

In May I received by email a copy of the decision that the adjudicator had made.
I cried when I read that she had upheld the complaint and that my husband WAS unjustly dismissed. H&R Transport were ordered to pay the sum that we had put into evidence by the 10 June 2011. On the 8 June H&R finally did the first decent thing and sent a cheque by courier post dated to the 10 lol!!!