Vancouver 2010

From Laredo to Vancouver, 2500 miles.. This has been quite a good earner, all things considered. I am sat waiting to unload at 0800 in the morning.. I was hoping to get the envelope Teed-off tonight, but it looks like these miles from Texas will go on next weeks allocation..

I have a plan from here back to Calgary already lined up which is good, so I hope there are no hold-ups unloading.

This trip was pretty uneventful, but I can now add New Mexico to my "have been to list". I have also been on the "Devils highway". This road road was originally number US 666, so you can see why it got its name. The locals did not like this, so it was changed to the US 491. It has however retained its nickname and apparently is well know amongst the truck driving fraternity.

Canada lost their game against USA today in the hockey, so there are a few glum faces walking past my truck this evening. It was a good game by all accounts; I would have enjoyed watching it.

Texas

This is my second trip down to Texas and I quite liked the drive down. It takes three days to get down to the Mexican boarder and now that I am here I am regretting not packing any shorts. Its 22 degrees Celsius and is a vast difference to the -13 when I left.

I tried to get unloaded this morning, a day early, but the guy told me to come back tomorrow. So I am just sat at the truck stop, squeezing in a reset of my hours, ready for whatever job the satellite brings me. I think you have to be a special sort of person, to be able to sit around waiting for "tomorrow". I think I would be better suited to Team driving, as it is high octane non stop stuff. Trouble is though, you need somebody that wants to rush around like a blue arse fly, and I haven't met anybody like that yet. Everybody seems to like the, put your feet up lifestyle.

The first days driving involved 700 miles of Montana and Wyoming. The roads were quite slick most of the way, but I eventually made it to the Wal-mart in Casper. This is where I called it a day, once I had done my shopping, and I got a good solid six hours in my pit. Once I was up I sat staring at the clock, waiting to go. In America you have to have ten hours off in one block. I prefer the Canadian system where you only have to have eight.

The second day my Tom-tom showed me the way to Amarillo. The roads were much better and I was flat out all the way down through Colorado and the little bit of Oklahoma you go through, to get into Texas. Both days were thoroughly uneventful and some might say boring, but I like driving, knowing your bank balance is growing by the mile.

The third day was solely in Texas. It is a massive state, that reminds me a bit of Holland. The only difference is they have cows instead of flowers and boots instead of clogs.

According to the film "Full Metal Jacket", the only thing to come out of Texas, are Steers and Queers. I have now seen the Steers and if good fortune continues, I can carry on avoiding the Queers.

Lets hope I go east from here and clock up some good mileage.

"The New BBQ"

On Wednesday we purchased our new BBQ.. On Thursday we had our first BBQ of the year. There was the problem of building it in between, but we managed it and the result, as you can see was successful. We bought it from Canadian Tyre and the make is Napoleon. We chose it not from a professional BBQer's point of view, but solely on the way it looked and the fact that it didn't wobble when we shook it. It is a Canadian make and has a lifetime guarantee.

It took seven hours from the first screw going in, to the first taste of the prime Canadian steak. Best buy of the year... We have took out ribs and chicken for the BBQ dinner tonight and Sarah is going to make her own burgers.. Its February and the temperature outside is +6c, who says Canadian winters are bad..role on the Summer for more days like these.

Residency

Last week I had a meeting with my boss, to discuss our plans of permanent residency in Canada. The result was that H+R are going to sponsor us and we can apply as a family right away. The prospect of endless paperwork is somewhat daunting, but I'm sure we are up to the challenge, just like all the families that have gone before us.

We have decided to do the paperwork ourselves and not employ the services of an agency. Our decision to do this, is purely a financial one. It helps that we have friends who have gone through the process already and will share their experiences with us so that we might learn from any mistakes that they have made.

Our first hurdle is to download all the paperwork from the Internet, fill it out and submit it by March 31st. To have a deadline so close is our first element of pressure, which is not made any easier by the fact that the new printer we have bought is not playing the game. Or should I say playing games with us. (Either way we need to rectify this)..