The Truckers Lair

Hauled another load of pipe to Fort McMurray this weekend, should be the last one for a while.  The drive from the lower mainland to Valemount, B.C. was a good one with the sun out most of the way.  Rain started at Valemount and continued until Obed, Alberta where the sun broke free again until I got to Wandering River, Alberta.  There I ran into a fog bank that lasted all the way to Fort McMurray, Alberta.  Visability was only one hundred feet, lifting sometimes to a few hundred.  Kind of wish the fog would stay around while I drive that highway as it was the first time I could remember not having four wheelers pass me on corners or double solid lines up hills etc.  In fact, the only vehicles passing me were big rigs that I would slow down and pull over for.  Dropped off a dune buggy in Boyle, Alberta that I hauled as a favour it seems.  I was supposed to get two hundred cash on delivery, but that didn’t materialize.  After unloading and heading back to Edmonton, Alberta I loaded a section of a conveyor for a gravel pit to haul back to Aldergrove, B.C.  There will be eleven loads in all for this gravel pit as it is a big unit broken down into quite a few pieces.  Supposed to snow in Edmonton tomorrow just as I’m leaving. Bye for now.

I’ve been working hard for the last few months with a couple of weeks off in September but that is all.  Mostly I’ve been hauling 40′ pipe from Vancouver to Fort McMurray, Alberta.  The weight of the loads has been 60,900 lbs.  Just under my max for my truck.  I’ll be hauling drill rig casing to Edmonton shortly after the last load of pipe to McMurray is done.  My truck has been running good (knock wood) however today I noticed that my engine fan was acting up so I by passed the air valve until I can fix it.  Will have to hook it up again for every load of course so as not to overheat the engine when hauling freight.  Seen a couple of accidents in the last two months, one where a cattle hauler flipped over on his side (see photos) while negotiating an off ramp a little too fast outside of Edmonton, A.B. and the other today between Little Fort, B.C. and Clearwater, B.C. where a driver went for a swim (see photos) in the Thompson River.  Well thats all for now.

Cows Everywhere In Edmonton AB

Herding Cows into another Trailer

A Swim in the Thompson River

Another View of Thompson River Swim

After arriving in the yard I had a brief layover and then had to load a couple of lowbeds for delivery to Edmonton.  Again the weather was great all the way.  After unloading the lowbeds, I headed to Fort Sask, Alberta and loaded some rebar for delivery to Revelstoke, BC.  Apparently the wrong rebar was shipped originally and I had to get this load there asap.  It was a light load and I made good time.  Delivery was to the Columbia River Dam (see photos) which was pretty cool I thought. After that I had to go to Kelowna, BC and pick up another load of rebar to deliver back to Fort Sask, Alberta.  This load was heavier (57 k).  Ran out of hours for the day and spent the night in Golden, B.C.  There was a few pretty ladies walking around the town and I wish I had more time.    Delivered the next day in Fort Sask, and then headed for Edmonton to load some general freight.  After loading, I went to fuel up at Acheson and it was there that I ran into some trouble.  After fuelling I went to park my truck and the starter wouldn’t disengage and I had to disconnect the battery to shut it off.  I called Peterbilt the next morning and they sent out a service truck to fix it.  Replaced the ignition and a power block on the frame and it seemed to resolve the problem.  Figured I may as well reset my log book cycle and then head home.  Bye for now.

Loaded a gravel screening plant and headed for Fort Nelson. This was a heavy load and I had to get an overweight permit to haul it.  When I got to Dawson Creek I got held up a while for a grass fire (see photo).  The trip went off without a hitch and the weather was good until I left Fort Saint John where the skies got dark and I experienced some wicked lightening storms.  When I got close to where I had to unload outside of Fort Nelson, I came accross a vacuum truck on its side (see photos).  Looks like he was probably going too fast for road conditions as there was a lot of gravel trucks using the road also.  Spent some time in Fort Nelson at a truck stop while I reset my log book and by the time I started for home it was raining pretty good.  Heavy rains all the way to Cache Creek and then in the morning the sun came out again for the rest of the way home.  Bye for now.

Well its been a while since I’ve had to travel the Trans Canada Highway between Kamloops, BC. and Calgary, Alberta.  Even though the traffic was moderate on this long weekend, I had no issues to contend with.  Partly because I left on Sunday afternoon to try and mitigate this.  Also there were quite a few radar traps along the way pulling over speeders.  Took eight big loader tires without rims to Calgary and then had to head to Edmonton to drop off a small utility trailer and a double axle step deck trailer.  I also had a small wooden crate with some stainless steel tubing to drop off in Edmonton as well.  The weather was hot all the way there and on the way back I had a small travel trailer on board for delivery in Victoria, B.C.  Took some ribbing along the way for my “heavy” load (ha, ha).  Don’t matter to me as we get paid a good minimum rate for a rounder just for this reason.  Had to get the cross member by my fifth wheel welded as there was a six inch crack in it.  Sounds like I’m off to Fort Nelson, B.C. after this.  Another place I haven’t been for a couple of years.  Bye for now.

Well lately I’ve been hauling a few loads of new lowbeds along with the boosters and jeeps that go with them to Edmonton, Alberta.  The weather has been nice in Alberta with the exception of a couple days of rain here and there.  The traffic has been a nightmare especially in Jasper National Park where tourists insist on stopping in the road to view and photograph wildlife instead of pulling onto the shoulder.  This makes it dangerous for truckers and for four wheelers travelling through the park. 

I had to have some work done on my truck as the trailer brake lights weren’t working.  The cause was a cluster fu….. of wires going from the plug to the frame and back to the firewall.  Reminded me of the issues I seen on my boat due to corrosion from saltwater.  Some of the wires were split with green powder inside instead of copper wire.  Had it rewired and it works okay now.  Also replaced all eight of my drive tires with new ones as the old ones were getting bad.  The two goofs who changed them over made my day worse though as they were in a hurry to get through the day and were angry that I showed up an hour before quitting time.  I saw them abusing my rims (braking the beads on concrete instead of the rubber mat) and braking my lug nut covers when they removed them, so I complained to management and got the change over for free.  I won’t be spending any more money there no matter what they did to compensate me.  Sitting for a couple of days to reset my log book and then I’m off to Calgary, Alberta and then to Edmonton from there.  Talk to you later.

Took some more steel plate to Edmonton, Alberta.  This was a 12′ wide load with a jeep and booster on top to add more revenue.  I had to have a pilot car take me to the Alberta border, where I carried on alone the rest of the way.  When we got to Mount Robson National Park we had to wait for over 20 minutes while the road crews cleaned up a slide (see photos) that came down the night before.  Stopped in Acheson, Alberta to fuel up and caught a nice sunset (see photo) on my camera.  After unloading the jeep and booster, I headed to unload the steel plate then headed to load some foam for the return trip home.  Along the way home I went through the slide again, but it was a little faster to get through this time (5-10 minutes).  It was raining and the crew were worried that more rock and mud may come down.  I took a photo of a rainbow that looked okay over the Thompson River outside of Clearwater, B.C.  No pot of gold however.   Talk to you later.

Took a load of misc. construction equipment to Innisfail, Alberta and had to travel the dreaded Trans Canada highway which I dislike.  The trip went okay for a change and the weather was hot all the way.  After unloading in Innisfail I headed to Calgary the next day to load some scrap metal for delivery to Burnaby, B.C.  The weather in Calgary was very hot and I couldn’t wait to get home to the lower mainland where it was warm, but not hotter then the hubs of hell.  Talk to you later.

Sorry for my lack of posting, but I just can’t find the energy to keep this up on a regular basis like before.  If you’ll bear with me I’ll try and post when I can in the future.  I went to Vancouver Island to load some military equipment for delivery to northern Alberta.  Along the way I came accross a serious head on collision (see photos) where a helicopter was called in to take victims to the hospital.  We had to wait for over 1 and a half hours before traffic moved again.  After unloading the military equipment, I headed to load some foam for delivery to Langford, B.C. on Vancouver Island again.  Everything went well.  Talk to you later.