I continued onto Calgary stopping en route in the town of Moosimon at the Red Barn,2 beers and a pizza later and of to bed. Drove on to Calgary on sunday and phoned Kev o northern chap i'd met on an Expats forum,what a gent and a schollar. With out batting an eyelid he drove to the Flying J and picked me up,me a total stranger,known only to him through such forums . Back to his wonderful house,its massive folks. His wee wife had cooked a lovely meal,home cooking,first class....just found her fluffy purpel slippers a bit suspect tho,,,,,, Many many thanks to you both. Made my drop in Calgary and set of for Vancouver in the morning... Mountain Driving Some thing not to be taken lightly,many companies ask for mountain experience when hirring a driver,DONT LYE ABOUT IT. the mountains dont forgive liars.
It had snowed over nite so the going was slow and cautious,using the Jake only when i was sure i had good grip and never on bridges,and never touching the splitter,a false neutral is the last thing you need on a 6% gradient 3 trucks didnt make the crossing of the Rockies that day,1 had jacknifed so hard it had ripped of the back off his cab on the reefer motor,another used the concrete barrieres as brakes,the third just went straight of the road and fell "only" 5 meters into the trees.
Got to Kamloops,my old home, only to have a full DOT inspection,Docs,logs and full truck check that cost an hour,,,they are nosey buggers,, Drove over the Couquahalla,coverd in snow and -15c....oh what fun,ask Koogs what thats like????? Tipped Van,knew instructions,load in Washington. Crossed the border into the US drove to Seattle then headed towards Spokane.What a beautiful drive,breathtaking scenery beyond my powers of description. And great roads crossing back over the Rockies,an absolute pleasure.
Loaded my onions,scaled at 79460lbs perfect and headed of towards Canada.
I am no fan of giant truck stops,i use them to fuel and shower and thats all. So i tend to try to find a small town some where to park up for the nite. By pure chance i disscoverd Athol ID, it boasted a 4 way crossing a general store a bar and Resturant. Parked Spirit 34 in front of the Bar and went in,,!!! OMG..!! was greeted by ultra loud country music,a dozen slightly drunk locals and a hot chick playing pool,,Woo Hoo.
Within 3mins i had been welcomed and introduced to them all,and invited to play pool with them. 5 Buds and 11 games of pool later i went to bed really happy,shit it had snowed again.. Woke the next day with a full bladder and a 1300km to drive,most of which in the mountains Again a day of breath taking views and roads and snow,lots of it.....Headed up through BC passing Cranbrook and then to the Crowsnest Pass,aiming for Lethbridge,i know that name from somewhere????? Got through the windy city and onto Medicine Hat and then to Saskatoon. At Medicine Hat the storm and blizzard started,100km winds whipped up the snow,driving was a nitemare,visisbilty was almost nill at times,just a white wall of snow and ice. It took me 61/2 hrs to do a 4 hr drive,got to SToon town absolutly shatterd,mentaly and physicaly. Offloaded the next day and reloaded at the same place in the afternoon.
Well rested i sped off towards Winnipeg,slept at Moosimon again,liked the barmaid there
Had 2 drops in Wpeg,swapt trailers and made 2 more drops and reloaded for Atlanta,only to be informed i shant be taking it I'm taking our one and only flatdeck to Florida.????
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