We had a small but nice memorial service for my Dad. It was good to see my Aunts and cousins again, it is just a shame to see them this way. I saw a lot of my Dad's friends that I haven't seen in a long time. He would've liked this service. I thank all of the people involved in making it happen.
Pops and I got moving again on Thursday. As they say, life goes on and no one was going to pay our bils so we had to work. I was glad for the distraction though.
We took a load that picked up near Pittsburgh and was going into Quebec.
To be honest, I don't really remember much about that load so I guess that it went okay. I do know that we came out in Vermont. We stayed for a little while at at rest area in the mountains but then traveled to another one closer to Albany.
We spent the weekend there. It was a real nice place and it was quiet. I did cry alot and couldn't seem to shake the feeling of heaviness that I was carrying around. I miss my Dad. The memories just keep coming. I talked with my sister and that helps because she is feeling like I do. It was a very emotional time for me.
On Monday we got a load picking up in Massachusetts and going to Ontario. So we drove to our place of pickup and then started toward Ontario. We were less than 2 hours away and realized that we hadn't heard from our company if we were cleared to cross the border so Pops called and sure enough we weren't cleared yet. So we pulled off and waited and by the time it was done it had been 12 hours since we first asked to be cleared. This is why a lot of drivers won't do Canada trips. It can be a lot of hassle sometimes.
But after that we went in and back out with no problems. We came back out of Ontario at Buffalo, NY and were sent to Rochester for our place of layover. We backed into the parking lot of the truck stop and I played outside with the dogs in the sunshine while Pops took a nap.
Late in the afternoon we were offered a load picking up in SnowShoe, PA and going to New Brunswick, Canada. We haven't been to that Province yet. It is above the state of Maine. We accepted the load and got it.
We drove on all little rural roads to Snow Shoe. It seemed to take a long time. But we finally got there and had to wait for the other truck to come. This was a transfer load, meaning that for some reason the first truck isn't taking the load into Canada.
There were no docks available to transfer the load so we backed up to the back of the other truck and put our liftgate inside their door and using the pallet jack, transferred the load in no time. It was cases of bottles and cleaning products going to a Canadian military base.
Sometime during the transfer we noticed that hydraulic fluid had leaked from our liftgate and now was in a big puddle on the parking lot. Pops checked it out and saw that our line was broken. We were lucky to get the liftgate back down and now we wouldn't be using it until we got it fixed.
We were also now having some problem with the tag axle and we needed to use it because of the weight of this load so we stopped at a truckstop to see if they could fix us. We found out that the tag axle problem was because we blow out a tire on the back, inside. When it blew, it broke the brake cams on both sides and so there was no brakes to our tag axle. So they fixed the brake cams and replaced the tire. We decided to wait on fixing the hydraulic line because we needed to get moving or risk losing our load.
We drove up through Maine and the further we went the harder it snowed. People were sliding off the roads. Pops drove really slowly. Finally we made it to the border.
But we got pulled in to inspection. Oh no, this is never good.
The people that we transferred with had done the original paperwork and Canada was expecting them and not us, so that threw up a red flag to them. I understand that. So we explained that we were on a transfer load. But they still decided to cut our seal and inspect our load.
Our paperwork stated that we were hauling bottles and cleaning kits.
The cases contained bottles, hoses, sprayers, and plungers. The customs officers wanted to know why these things weren't itemized. He wasn't happy about them being described as kits.
So we had to wait until our broker and then the shipper could be reached and questioned. Well since it was 11pm we had to wait until 9am the next day and by the time everything was okayed it was noon. We sat at customs all that time!!!
So now we were finally driving through New Brunswick and what beautiful scenery. There were mountains, wide rivers, big tall trees and so much natural beauty. I enjoyed that ride.
We got to the military base and found our delivery site and of course they needed our liftgate. We explained what happened and why it couldn't be used. They found a forklift and got us unloaded. They were so very nice and friendly.
So now we were turned around and headed back to New Hampshire for our layover. But this was going to take hours until we got there.
We did get there and went to a favorite Rest area that we like to wait.
The next day we got a load picking up here and going to Tampa, Florida. I was so excited to be going to warm weather. Yay!
Each day I am beginning to feel better and the grief is slowing leaving me. I know that life goes on and that it must.
No comments:
Post a Comment