Ok folks, well I’m sitting in a truckstop in the US because the shipper messed up my customs documentation and this was only discovered on Saturday when I was already several hundred miles towards the border and as nobody at the shipper can be reached on the weekend, I’m stuck here until monday. So I decided to do another diary of a trip i made a few months ago. I enjoyed writing my previous one and it seemed to go down well on here so heres another.
The trip in question started on the 16th of July this year.
Day 1. Woodstock, New Brunswick to Villeroy, Quebec. 567km. I received a phone call from the office telling me there was a load going to Idaho if I wanted it (of course I bloody wanted it!) and to come to the yard to collect an empty trailer and head up to Grand Falls, New Brunswick about an hour and a quater north towards Quebec and do a trailer swap and head on with the loaded trailer. After a year and a half on fridges in North America, its wonderful to be on box vans and hear words like “trailer swap”!!. Anyhow, off to Grand Falls I went and changed over and ran a few more hours in to the French speaking province of Quebec where I parked up at midnight. Only 6 hours driving today due to the late start.
Day 2. Villeroy, Quebec to Sarnia, Ontario. 1021km. An uneventful day running west through Canada, passing through Montreal and Toronto before finally making it to Sarnia on the US border. No point in crossing tonight as I’d done 10 1/2 hours driving today and we’re only allowed 11 in the US as opposed to 13 in Canada.
Crossing in to Ontario from Quebec.
Day 3. Sarnia, Ontario to Waukee, Iowa. 1094km. I crossed the border first thing in the morning with absolutely no fuss and was soon tramming on through the state of Michigan. I always find this state a bore and it seems to take forever to get through. Once past Michigan its time to hit I80 westbound around the bottom edges of Chicago, its usually very congested but fast moving so progress is good towards the mid-west. I ran my time out just past Des Moines, Iowa in a rest area with 11 hours of driving.
Queing for the border. Usually takes no more than 15 or so minutes if you hit it at the right time.
Time to change directions and head towards Chicago.
Interstate 80 just south of Chicago. The speed limit is 55 but everybody is going substantially faster so it would be rude for me to sit in the slow lane holding everyone up. Hammer down.
I want neither left nor right. Straight on for me.
Crossing the Mississippi river and in to the state of Iowa. This is the start of the mid-west for me and where things become more enjoyable, relaxed and less congested. American trucking how we imagine it. Not the hard cold realities of the eastern part of the country.
Almost time to park up for the night. Once Des Moines is out of the way its more or less clear running across the great plains.
Day 4. Waukee, Iowa to Laramie, Wyoming. 1138km. Another day of heading west across the plains. It does get incredibly boring after the first few times but I remind myself that I’d rather be bored and making progress than sat in traffic on the eastern seaboard getting wound up. Slightly over my time today but this isn’t Europe so nobody gives a ■■■■ about 15-30 minutes here or there so no need to worry on that count. Its not like I do it every day.
This is the reason I went a bit over my time. I’d never been to Colorado at this point and would be passing very close by so did a 10 mile detour just to say I’d been there and got a photo of the sign etc. This was on the state line welcome centre.
Same as above.
Heading west through the state of Wyoming.
View from my bedroom window.
Day 5. Laramie, Wyoming to Idaho Falls, Idaho to Ogden, Utah. 1068km. Started work this morning at 4:45 Atlantic time which was 1:45am local time and headed towards my destination in Idaho. Much of the distance covered was obviously during darkness so no photos then. After driving almost 5 days to get to Idaho Falls, I was tipped in 30 minutes and was then told that I’d have a reload for first thing Monday morning in Salt Lake City, Utah. I started to head down there but didn’t have enough driving hours to make it all the way so parked up 45 minutes short in Ogden. I could of run bent to get down there but there was no point, I’d still get 36 hours off by arriving on Saturday morning so stayed put in the Ogden Flying J truckstop. I was glad to leave the place in the morning, what a s***hole!.
Heading up through Wyoming on a two way road. Speed limit is still 65mph for trucks.
Crossing in to Utah briefly.
Tonights steak dinner in Utah?!?!
I stopped in a rest area by this lake for some photos. I’m in Utah and Idaho is on the other side.
Parked in said rest area.
As always, a snap of the state line sign. I wonder if the salmon bbq has truck parking? Judging by the affluent holiday homes lining the lake and the sort of people living there, I’d expect not!
…and on in to Idaho. Famous as a potato growing region. Incedentally my load is a load of potato sacks!
A truckstop in Idaho.
Heres a driving job for Carryfast. He’d like that truck I think.
Getting tipped in Idaho Falls.
Heading south through Idaho towards Utah. Its a hard life!
Tonights bedroom window view. Flying J truckstop in Ogden, Utah with the Rocky Mountains in the background. This is one of my favourite photos.
Day 6. Ogden, Utah to Salt Lake City, Utah. 65km! I decided there was absolutely nothing to stay in Ogden for so heading down to the Sapp Brothers truckstop close to downtown in Salt Lake City. Arriving early on Saturday morning there was plenty of parking, this was somewhat different by sunday evening! After parking I logged online using the free wifi from the truckstop and found a local tour company offering tours to the largest copper mine in the world nearby and to the Great Salt Lake. I made a phone call and managed to get them to come and collect me from the truckstop in the bus! An excellent day followed.
Great Salt Lake.
One of the tires used by the earth movers at the mine. This was taken at the visitors centre.
What a hole! Apparently along with the great wall of China, its the only man made thing visable from space.
Same again.
These earth movers can carry up to 400 tons, or so we were told.
Capitol Theatre in downtown Salt Lake City.
Salt Lake City.
Day 7. 0km. Sat around all day in the truckstop chilling out, doing laundry and having an excellent shower. Nothing else to report.
Day 8. Salt Lake City, Utah to Chapell, Nebraska. 936km. I headed round to the reload first thing in the morning just to find out they were open all weekend and were expecting me on Saturday originally until the load broker informed them I couldn’t make it there until monday! Not to worry, I’m glad I experienced Salt Lake City and the tour of the mine. Anyway, a full load of bottle caps for Coca-Cola in Toronto and Montreal was soon loaded and it was time to bid Salt Lake City goodbye and head east and homeward bound.
Heading out of SLC and in to the mountains through Parley’s Canyon. This is very much a snow chain area during the winter with several signs and pull off points for chaining up/off.
Echo resevoir in Utah. Time for more photos, it’d be rude not to!
Port of entry/scale in Utah. Note the removals truck with the custom built sleeper, some room in that! Makes my truck look like a day cab!
Heading in to Wyoming again, eastbound. Peterbilt heading west.
The endless highway. Interstate 80 in Wyoming.
Wyoming.
Heavy storm ahead. Not to worry though, everything is ok when you listen to the BBC World Service.
Got over taken by this. You dont see many of these old cabovers these days.
Day 9. Chappell, Nebraska to Walcott, Iowa. 1066km. A full day of plains driving today. Not much to report except finishing the day in the Iowa 80 truckstop.
Interesting Beetle in Iowa.
Resting place for the night.
Day 10. Walcott, Iowa to Brampton, Ontario. 1099km. I was in no rush to get the load back so had 14 hours off to make the most of looking around the worlds largest truckstop before heading on.
Crossing back in to Michigan, the last state before reaching Canada.
Port Huron on the American side of the border.
The bridge back to Canada between Port Huron, Michigan and Sarnia, Ontario.
Arriving at Canada customs. A quick stamp on the paperwork and I’m home dry.
Arriving at my first drop and parked in their yard until morning. Brampton, Ontario.
Brampton, Ontario.
Brampton, Ontario.
Day 11. Brampton, Ontario to Montreal, Quebec to Quebec City, Quebec. 845km. After backing on to the door first thing in the morning and tipping the first part of the load and pressed on to Montreal. I wasn’t booked in until the following day but a phone call soon sorted that problem out and the final pallets of bottle caps were soon removed and I headed to Quebec City for tomorrow mornings reload.
On the door in Montreal.
Wheel chock, French style.
Day 12. Quebec City to Woodstock, New Brunswick. 477km. A quick reload in the morning and then homeward bound. Job done. 12 days on the road and a total of 9389km. Not huge milleage but an extremely enjoyable trip. Sorry for all the photos, I hope you guys enjoyed reading.
