03/11 Cgy-Vcr

CLICK ON 03/11 CGY-VCR TO OPEN

Last time I made it down to Yuma, Az.



28 days 12500 miles







Off to the killplant, 4wd is awesome for winter .





It’s days like these I’m glad I don’t work in the gas/oilfields, fuck outdoor work in -40 .





He’s stopped to chain up??? There is hardly any grade here .





Well, we’re all stopped to chain up, authorities have made the decision .





Goin down.





Got to the town at the bottom and finally got the word that we didn’t need the chains the rest of the way, so off they came.





Snowplow on the front of the train .





At the brake check, grader is pushing the truck cuz he’s stuck .





Spun out on the hill .





All stopped to chain up to climb Smasher.





My lil notepad has finally self-destructed .





He doesn’t have his trailer with him like last time.





Snowblower in the distance.





Of course when I reach him to get a pic, he stops .





He’s spun out on the hill, I've stopped here in case he backs/slides down, impatient fuckers behind me are all over me on the CB, fine go the fuck around me and have him slide backwards into you...he did eventually get chained up and rollin.





Mobile home got blown off the trailer .





Turnpike in the ditch.





So they axe me what my plans are...





I tell them...








So the plan ended up being sleep when I got to Wpg, get up in the am and take off with a Vcr load...I was up early, so brought my laundry in, laundry done, go back to the truck, can't find it, its in the shop getting APU installed...see the shop doesn't talk to dispatch, so now there's a load that has no driver on it...but shop's wishes trump dispatch so I sit and wait for dispatch to decide whether to put me in the hotel for 2 days or if they has a truck I can drive in the meantime...They finally decided to get me another truck, they had too many loads they needed moved...After aboot 3yrs my inverter finally died, so I has no electricity for laptop and stuff...but I'm not sposed to need one, cuz Im sposed to has a truck that has an APU, that provides AC power, and thats why Im here in Wpg to get APU installed, it'll take 2 days to install it, so Im getting a different truck in the meantime.





One of the things I don't like aboot this truck is how small everything is, very narrow desk.





How tiny the closet is.





My name got pulled for the random drug test .





Finally have a new truck and load, go out to it and the trl needs work and shop is backed up...





To top it off the safety dept hides these tags somewhere on the trailers to see if we are doing pretrips, if you leave w/o finding it, they call you up and you get into trouble...





They put a tag on a trl that wasnt roadworthy .





So I get a different load, so go look for that trl and got another problem, this aluminum tube is sposed to contain registration and insurance ppwrk for the trl, its attached to the trailer and is weatherproof, no ppwrk, no drive...





Awww Moose Jaw awww .





Mountain roads in great shape.





Canadian army setting up the artillery to set off avalanche.





The big empty space used to be moar of the red steel buildings in the self storage yard, but it collapsed under the weight of snow .





Ironically they sell advertising space to an inflatable avalanche survival vest .





This guy’s rear axle looks off .





CEL lights are on......HAD been on a roll of no truck problems....they went out after 10 mins though.





Have the day off in Vcr, starting with brkfst next door to the yard...what is with all the feet washing ashore on BC’s coasts ?





Smart idea aboot how to attach the sirusxm antenna to a truck that has ZERO steel in it.





Car sounded soooo fucking sexy .





Didn’t know where to go, so drove to the port to see the ocean and eat my pizza .











Canadian army still at it .





There’s the truck I moved out of so they’d put the APU on, its sitting in Calgary, IDLING, not using the APU .











Prarie winter sunrise.





Trailer burnt to the ground .





Mobile home still there .





Fuel truck out of control, crossed the TransCanada.





Still stickin out onto the road.





Straddling the concrete island to make the turn, was just enough snow so I didn't get high centered, broked down truck in the other lane.





After fueling up, and coming back, there’s the broked down truck.





I like this cabover .





Moving back into the new truck with the APU installed, this is the motor, 15l Detroit.





Turbo side.





One thing I did like aboot the truck I was using in the meantime, is the gladhand extender things, made it lot easier, moar torque to attach and unattach the gladhands
to the trailer.





Rolling in the am.





Weather warning .





4wd is awesome for winter .





See above.





On the curve, snow piling up on the slowlane.





And idiots losing control, I’m empty and doing just fine .





Never seen a plastic utensil dispenser before ...they has one each for forks, spoons and knives.





Windmill staging area.





Loaded with cattle feed made of beet waste from sugar factory, its a heavy load,
can't really get much closer to the limit as I did this time (pen is legal limit) I
don't have enough fuel to go anywhere, so fueling up will add weight, but I'm sure
that the one scale left in NDak will be closed when I get there.





I was right .





Sandbags surrounding the electrical substation for the floods coming in a couple months.





As I left Fargo, there were blizzard warnings on the radio, I was hoping to make it to Wpg before it really hit...everything west of Wpg is closed, so need a place to park and wait it out .


















Next am, he’s stuck in the truckstop .







Not goin anywhere for awhile.





Glad to have not been out there .











24hrs later, finally rolling...wrecker bringing some casualties back to town.





There’s sposed to be a cover on the bottom as well, dunno why they didn’t attach it .





In Regina, Sk douchebag trucker parked on the street in order to walk inside to get coffee at Tim’s...cop nailed him .





Potato and jr cheeseburger from Wendys for dinner.





To conserve space, Im ditching my steel toe hiker boots for these steel toe insulated rubbers, good for snow and puddles and shit, and hell I'll wear them in the summer too, I'm only wearing steel toes 2hrs a month anyways.





Something new I'm seeing all over the place, instead of piling in gravel as fill, lotsa road construction is using big styrofoam blocks as fill.





Delivering at the Costco warehouse, someone crashed into their building.





That's the registration decal I needed to has on my reefer I took to Az last month in order to travel thru California .





On way to the house, coming to a bridge that at least 3 trucks go over every yr .





One of our went over last week, deadzeeola.





Out of the canyon, up into the ranchlands.





Got to town and these young punks were on their bikes using the ditch as a ramp and landing on the highway....its only 50kmh zone, but everybody speeds, and trucks come flying down the hill around the corner, and if one of the kids muffs his landing, truck will run him over...so I drove a block further to the cops and told them to clear the kids out, felt like an old man doin it, but its for their own good .





Daisy and Delilah in the snow .





Playtime!








































Delilah.





The warm temperatures make the snow unstable, so you just sink in, so out come the snowshoes.








Snow melting off the jeeps.





Dinner time, ribeye from neighbors ranch .








Love me some Kiran Chetry .





Tried Daisy off leash, she immediately ran away up the property , so I waited at the other side, thinking they’d just copy THE WALK they get 4x a day, and they did, I just stood there as they were returning, she and Delilah saw me from a distance, barked, I called their names in a nice tone and just waited for them, I didn’t even scold her, she immediately laid on her back in submission, the fucking bitch knew she did wrong and just did it anyways.





The rock is much moar buried.





As opposed to December



Snow off the garage roof blocking my view.





Some patches of ground starting to show.





When the contractor built the retaining wall in the summer, they needed to use the garden hose to operate the cutting saw, I told them to NOT constrict the waterflow, as its a straight pump, no pressure tank, if left running and hose constricted, the pump will fail...the switch for the pump is ~1000ft away from the end of the hose, so its a PITA to turn on/off, just leave it running, its water out of the creek...but they closed off the end of the hose, and the pump overheated and melted the insides, I didn’t notice til end of season to winterize the pump, now its time to figure out what parts I need to replace.





Lower yard and garden.





Nothing started in the greenhouse just yet.





Nice and warm inside.





Automatic vent keeping the temp in range.





60 degree temp difference between greenhouse and outside .





My mason bees arrived in the mail, they don’t go outside til the temps are at least 55 degrees.





Until then, they hibernate in the fridge.





And goin back to work .





At the Coquitlam Walmart, they had a donation table for the tsunami victims, consisting of an aquarium of WATER .





Bought a down sleeping bag to replace the queen size down duvet Ive been using all these years, it takes up too much room and is a lil drafty....I did fuck up and bought the wrong size drybag for it, doesn’t fit, I’ll buy the next size up and use this one for something else...I can use the downbag and drybag for kayaking trips. Note the topsheet turned out properly, gentleman, it makes the ladies wet .





The down bag out, for truck porpoises, it’ll be unzipped and I’ll lay under it.





55mph is the limit thru Banff, everyone does at least 65mph, finally a cop out there doing some work .





DEF pump at the yard, so don’t have to use those 2.5g jugs all the time...I didn't splain the DEF last time...its Diesel Exhaust Fluid, gets sprayed into the exhaust to lower emissions at the rate of ~30g per 3000 miles or extra $200wk in costs per truck.





4wd is awesome for winter .





All backed up for something...all the idiots moving into the hammer lane and slowing down .





4wd is awesome for winter .





Help on its way.





On the road, like a bauce....I can’t stress enough that this is THE TRANS FUCKING CANADA HIGHWAY...THE ONE FUCKING ROAD TO GET EAST TO WEST ACROSS CANADA. ARE ON IT.





Trees piled up in the avalanche pile.








Finally cut off the hair .





I was watching this guy pull away from his trailer and saw he hadn’t disconnected his airlines and electrical, but he didn’t listen to my horn...everything was fine, they’re sorta designed to release at full stretch, just embarrassing.





USA Walmart trailer spotted in Kamloops, truck must be up at the International dealer getting worked on.





This motorcycle did a dick move to merge in with me, but after seeing his patch, I’m glad I didn’t overreact .





Turn signal is burnt out, shop doesn’t have any spares, why would a shop have spare turn signals? How silly of me...anyways, you can’t just replace the bulb, you have to replace the entire unit at $22 each.








Lotsa those funky scancodes all over the motor.








Taking a load of scrap paper to the pump mill in Tacoma, at the border, old choppah getting inspected at US Customs.





Entering Seattle.





Always a rockbus at this club next to REI.





So, at the pump mill, I fucked up . I turned too quickly when leaving the platform scale and sideswiped it with one of my trailer wheels...tore the tire apart too...no moar safe driving for 2011.





Canada Geese at the pulp mill.





Delivered then looked for a spot to park, all that I could see was a fuel stop with no parking, so just parked in the fuel island, moved when someone showed up, which wasn't often...While waiting for the tire guy, a moving truck axed me to stand on the scale while he weighs his load...you see, movers get paid by how heavy the move is, so extra ppl standing on the scale equals extra $$ in his pocket .





At the tire shop...you can see the fuel stop on the other side of that train overpass, had I known it was here, I'd have parked over here new tire and wheel installed quickly and I'm on my way.





Highway patrol doin good bidness on the hill.





Doggah needs a bigger truck .





Bad fucking ass its amphibious rescue vehicle for the arctic.

ONE MEAN MACHINE

- 15 metres long, 3.6 m wide, weighs 32 tonnes, with a fibreglass-composite hull.

- Can operate in water, on ice, in water and broken ice, muskeg, mud or quicksand for 12 hours on full power.

- Power provided by two 260 horsepower Cummins diesel engines that use jets to drive the vessel at 5.5 knots in the water or up to 16 kilometres per hour on land, although military applications could be modified to go faster.

- Can manage a 34-degree slope or incline.

- Carries 52 passengers.

This is a ~6 mile 4 lane section...at the pace I'm gaining on this guy, I'm not gonna catch him , and I'll guarantee you he'll slow down in the 2 lane section.








Only a mile left .





Sure enough, got close to him, but the passing lanes ended, he slowed down, but there was no one coming, so was able to get around him.





Sweet rally car.





Sorta hard to see, but these guys haul lumber east, then walls are folded up (the lumber is on top of them now) and a tarp over top and they haul seed/grain west...can sorta see hoppers under the trailer...ingenious.





Aboot 4yrs ago when they widened the road, they added that fents to catch falling rocks.





Like that .





Dingbat lost control going uphill .





Surprise inspection on the off ramp over there.











Takin a leak .





Never seen a coach pulled over by cops before .





4wd is awesome for winter .





Nice XJ .





Hipsteriffic car .