New Grand Daughter

This is the reason we came home...

 Somewhere way back in this blog I mentioned that my Gran and Grandad emigrated to Canada in 1911, then returned to England. They went back in 1913 (shown here) and were listed as 'Returned Canadians', I wonder if they had citizenship?

They returned to the UK once again for the first world war and never went back to Canada although my Grans brothers stayed there and made good lives for themselves.

One year on, and time to go home.

In October the one year work permit which I had from Watt and Stewart expired and rather than take a new 2 year permit which was offered we decided to decline it and return to the UK.

When we went home in April for a break we learned that our son and his wife were expecting a baby in December which would be our first grandchild, and Cath feels that she may not want to return to Canada afterwards.

This was a very hard decision to make, and we may still want to return at a later date, but, the work permits, or rather the LMO which is required to obtain a work permit are not easy to obtain for small companies, and if I had taken it, then not carried on working I feel it would have been very unfair as the company have treated us so well during our time in Canada.

Coincidentally, as I gave my boss the bad news he was able to change the name on the LMO to allow someone else to start working for him, whom we had met that same day, and who are also bloggers, Tom and Elisa. We wish them all the very best with a great company.

Douros' Bar Claresholm.

In the picture above are, Stuart from Oz, top lad and soon to be leaving Canada, Canadians Bob White and Jim Casey, fellow Yorkshireman Nick (Toe Tappa) Pritchard and the Irish lads, Mick Mc Garry, Mickey Treanor and Andy Sherry, along with me, Cath and Veronica.

Before we left, a little drink was taken in Claresholm which gave us chance to say goodbye to some of the great people we have been around this year, it's just a shame that some people were down the road at that time so couldn't join us, but that's the thing with long haul trucking, it's very difficult to arrange social events.

Mick and Martina took us up to the airport, with their kids and it was a very sad time for us as we have got close to the family during our stay, since arriving on the same flight as Mick in 2011 and we will miss the whole family.

Ethan Mc Garry's first Ice Hockey match.

We also managed by pure luck to meet up with Dave Caldwell in the Flying J at Calgary, and then a few weeks later Garren Perkins spotted us heading north on our last run back to Canada and we managed to stop for half an hour for a chat. Who knows, we may be back to Watt and Stewart in the future, never say never.

Dave Caldwell and me in Calgary

Garren Perkins and me in Montana.

Garren Perkins and me in Montana with his truck.

There were also quite a few people we both wanted to meet up with in Lethbridge, but never quite got around to it, so maybe next time.

Our total mileage from October to October, with a holiday off in May was 128,000, not a bad total, and we have now driven in just about every state in the union, except Hawaii, Alaska and the few little ones to the North East of New York.

I'll leave you with a few recent pictures, starting with our last load from Conrad coming off the trailer in Claresholm.

Getting the straps off, ready to unload.

Cath showing how big the tyres are. There's a  27" overhang on either side of the deck as well.

Dusty doing his thing.

Bob White getting his load sorted on his Super B.

Cath looking through the tyres in the Yard.

Our last load south went here in Wyoming.

Last load south for us, bags for the mining industry.

Last load south for us, bags for the mining industry.

The town in Wyoming where we shut down for the night after unloading at the mine.

Taken in Lavina MT on the way back north on our last trip. We were running empty to Conrad MT to pick up tyres.

Chaining slippery empty steel reels in Texas.

Pit BBQ at Coopers off the I10 in Texas, mouth wateringly delicious, I could eat their brisket every day!

Pit BBQ at Coopers off the I10 in Texas

Pit BBQ at Coopers off the I10 in Texas

Somewhere along a diversion route USA

One of our last mornings at The Lazy J in Claresholm, thanks to John, Lorraine and family for looking after us for a year.

The long road.

We left Claresholm on August 6th after pre loading lumber in Wynndel and ran down to Knoxville Tennessee, then, after unloading we carried on down to Lexington South Carolina to re-load for Canada.

5595 miles. The Yellow squares are NOT stops, they are put in to force the map to follow the permit routes.

On the way back up we had to stay overnight after arriving in Paducha KY on Saturday afternoon, through to Monday morning due to permit curfews in Illinois, then we carried on and hammered back up to Claresholm, where we unloaded and went straight to Calgary after changing trailers to load reels for Texas,

4690 miles. The Yellow squares are NOT stops, they are put in to force the map to follow the permit routes.

We ran to Texas, and, after unloading there we went to Houston to get a part load, then across to Big Wells for the rest of the load. 

A nice run back brought us to Claresholm on the 26th after 10,285 miles and one and a half days off.

We will be out again after a 36hr break, and could be going anywhere.

Temporary foreign workers have rights too you know.

No, unfortunately they don't really.

Not wanting to put a damper on anyones dreams, but after seeing a response to a friends request for assistance in solving a problem as a Temporary Foreign Worker in Canada via the British Government I feel that I should just re-iterate that until you actually have Permanent Residency you are on very shaky ground. Here's what the Canadian minister says in reply to a British MP...

" I can only say that, in general, temporary foreign workers only have status in Canada so long as they have an authorized job and the work permit which results from that.  Unlike the United Kingdom, Canada admits thousands of people every year as permanent residents from the outset - that is, they apply for permanent residence in Canada while still in their home country and enter Canada for the first time with permanent residence status.  Families who move to Canada with the object of taking up permanent residence on a basis of a temporary job and temporary status put themselves in a very risky position as there is certainly no guarantee that permanent residence will be granted. "

Once again, this is just a warning (to families) to make sure that you have a plan B ready.

I would like to say that Canada offers a great life to families, it does, BUT as a Temporary Foreign Worker you are exactly that... TEMPORARY, until you have the PR card.

Steam and Oil at the waterfront in Paducha KY

Waking up at Walmart in Jamestown ND

Most Walmart stores allow loaded or empty trucks to park overnight in their car parks, but if drivers keep dumping their rubbish there before driving off the privilege of parking there will be taken away. My bet would be that it is the recent influx of Europeans who make the mess, particularly the litter bug British!

Wyoming with big reels on the way to Texas.

Cath looking a bit dinky next to the 15'6" reels

In print!

I wrote an article for a UK magazine recently, and it was accepted and published in the August issue. They made a couple of mistakes from the copy which I sent, having Cath down as an ex Wallace Arnold driver, where in fact she was a travel agent, and also spelling 'many fold' as manifold, (EDIT : They didn't make a mistake with 'many fold', they corrected my mistake as it should indeed have been manifold!) but I liked the end result, and I hope people enjoy it.

The magazine is available from all good newsagents, or on-line here... CLICK

New truck time

We've been in the 2006 Peterbilt since October and covered over 100,000 miles in that time, but one of the more modern Freightliners came vacant recently so I asked the boss if we could have it as it has more room than the Pete.
Returned from our last run down to South Carolina and went out to Wynndel again to pre-load lumber for after the weekend which is going to Knoxville TN.

All pictures on this post taken by Cath.

Edit: Another reason to change trucks is so that Chris Arbon can spot us easier!

Lost post

I wrote a fairly long post the other day, but Blogger seems to have eaten it, so I will do it again later.

CLICK THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE THEM.

From the Crowsnest Highway. (tone mapped)

From the Crowsnest Highway. (tone mapped)

Loaded lumber in Wynndel B.C. (tone mapped)

Near Wynndel B.C.

Metropolis, home of Superman.

We did the day-tripper bit today whilst waiting for our Sunday driving curfew to finish. Taking a drive across the state line from Paducha to Metropolis. It's a very small, quiet town, more like Smallville than the big city where Superman was born, but it does have a giant statue of the Super Hero there, and when we arrived there were a few folks milling around and taking shots of it, but it was still pretty empty for a 'tourist' town.

Giant Superman statue in Metropolis, Illinois.

There’s a well-known casino river boat and hotel at the bottom of the town on the river, but we had a walk around town in 34 degree heat instead, taking a look at the various comic book related attractions, although the Hollywood Museum was closed.

Like Paducha, there are murals around town, and one which drew our attention was of the Fire Service painted by Lady Van Tiger featuring an old fire engine in the central panel.

Mural in Metropolis

Detail of Mural

The painting was on the same street as the Fire House and as we walked past we saw that the same engine was inside, so I went in an asked if I could take a look.

Built 1926, retired in the 60's and restored.

The guy there was very obliging and after we’d had  a look we asked if we could buy a Tee for our son who is a Fireman in England.

A willing model, note the Superman insignia.

They sell their shirts in aid of the Muscular Dystrophy Association, so we were happy to take one, and they are unique as they feature Superman (with permission from DC comics).

Keep awake Cath.

Fire House