Also Taff, don’t bank on getting out of there on time, I’ve seen drivers in there 24-36 hrs waiting after there drop-dead time. 
taffytrucker:
Well the latest round of interviews in the UK will be starting soon I wannna wish everyone who’s going all the best. Be straight up and honest with Lyndon he’s not a bad bloke o and Nigel Jones you’re welcomethere have been so many rumours over tthe years about H&R mostly from blokes slagging the company off so thought was about time the record was set straight.
Mick was that you going through Lethbridge last night bout 18:45 ish with a load of tyres on■■?
It could have been me, I have changed trucks whist mine is in the shop. BTW: The main person on forums slagging off H&R was me probably, and seeing the comment
("Also Taff, don’t bank on getting out of there on time, I’ve seen drivers in there 24-36 hrs waiting after there drop-dead time. ")
will give you an idea why… sitting about unpaid, even though I was willing and able to work. The company I am with now works us hard, which is all I ever wanted from H&R, I was sick of chasing miles with them!
There was a little union jack flack on window so thought might have been you Mick.
Cargill was a pain and bumped into neil who seems a sound bloke but waited 4 hrs for paperwork so missed the meat inspection so went through saturday morning and floored it down to Casper WY to spend the night in the stop there and wow talk about tight took couple shunts to get in but made it in the end to congratulations on the radio ‘nice backing up H&R’ n ‘great going’ found out after a Swift driver was trying for 5 mins to get in the same spot with no joy lol. Should be at drop off ontime in the morning after that no idea where be heading
That Flying J in Casper is a joke, the parking is ridiculous, last time I went in there the only empty slot was in the far corner, so meant a blindside jacknife reverse, which isn’t as hard as it sounds in a Pete, I just sit on the passenger seat and hang out the window, I can still reach the steering wheel and the clutch pedal from there 
Only trouble was the truck in the next bay was one of those ridiculously long removal outfits with the mahoosive sleepers, so it was 20’ longer than everything else, the driver was standing there looking at me to make sure I never hit his motor, I knew that there was no way I would get in the gap, I probably would’ve had to take a shunt if I was bobtail, so I asked the driver to either move into the end bay so I could go where he was, or drop his trailer and get his stupidly long tractor unit out of my way, he tried to move over to the next bay and it took him ten minutes of shunting back and forth, before he gave up and dropped his trailer, I was a bit ■■■■■■ off by then, so I rammed the [zb]ard in first time and was dead in the middle of the lines 
Nice steakhouse/bar next door to that place and if you walk up the bank you’re in Walmart’s parking lot, there’s a few eateries up there too and a Starbucks just across the road 
Talking of Swift drivers, I was in a truckstop once and there was a Swift trying to back in a ■■■■■■■■■■■■, he was shunting back and forth for about half an hour, but he just could not get it in the hole. eventually he came up to my truck and offfered me $50 to park his truck for him, so I did, but I refused his money, I said to him “That’s on me driver, but I would’ve taken your money if you’d had a trailer on the back”
Are Swiftys allowed to reverse 
This Swift seems to have parked it pretty straight; shame he didn’t know it was going to snow. It might be a bit tricky to get going again in the morning.
At least that ones dirty side down Chris
i don’t know what it is about Swifts ? It’s a huge company and they must have some intelligent drivers somewhere but lived here 12 years and never met one with an IQ more than 6, never met one who could reverse, never met one who could drive foreward either.
I actually met one of their women drivers one who was trying to close the doors on a trailer for 20 minutes before I went and showed her that the left door had to be closed first
taffytrucker:
There was a little union jack flack on window so thought might have been you Mick.Cargill was a pain and bumped into neil who seems a sound bloke but waited 4 hrs for paperwork so missed the meat inspection so went through saturday morning and floored it down to Casper WY to spend the night in the stop there and wow talk about tight took couple shunts to get in but made it in the end to congratulations on the radio ‘nice backing up H&R’ n ‘great going’ found out after a Swift driver was trying for 5 mins to get in the same spot with no joy lol. Should be at drop off ontime in the morning after that no idea where be heading
No Union Jack on my truck mate, and thinking about it, it would have been too late to be me.
Yes, Casper is crap, there’s a bigger truckstop a mile south on the opposite side, LOL, the Canadians and Americans will be gobsmaked to see you reversing into a slot in less than ten goes, and even more so if you blind side. I’ve seen loads of drivers here shunting for a while, then driving off and trying another slot (if it was bad visibility I would spot for them, but I’m talking about pretty straight forward back ups with plenty of room available!)
newmercman:
Talking of Swift drivers, I was in a truckstop once and there was a Swift trying to back in a ■■■■■■■■■■■■, he was shunting back and forth for about half an hour, but he just could not get it in the hole. eventually he came up to my truck and offfered me $50 to park his truck for him, so I did, but I refused his money, I said to him “That’s on me driver, but I would’ve taken your money if you’d had a trailer on the back”
Very good Mark
Nothing wrong with how that Swift truck is parked in the snow, you’ve just tilted the camera!
That’s the straightest I’ve seen one of their trucks lol
Made it down to the drop tonight ready for a 07:00 delivery so I’m happy with that. Was a monster of a drive mind no time for sight seeing although did try to get a phone from Veriszon in Billings MT yesterday and they was as useful as a chocky teapot
Not sure if to carry on with the diary or not after this trip as I have been running solo for about a month now (wow time has flown) and got about 10K miles under my belt already. I started it off so anyone who comes over has a first hand account of how H&R do things and how I found it because they have had a lot of bad mouthing online some probs deserved and a lot not deserved. I hope my diary is useful to at least one person then I not wasted my time although have enjoyed doing it, but if you guys want I not mind carrying it on as I can see it has had a lot more views then I thought it would.
If any ‘new’ guys got anything they wanna know then by all means fire away and ill give my honest opinion. Would like to say a big thanks to everyone that has helped me along the way with little bits of advise and help and ofcourse to everyone who has taken the time out of their busy lives to take a read, just gotta catch up with some of you now
Tipped out nice n early this morning. Dropped trailer at Excel in Schyler NE bobtail to pick up empty in Omaha NE nice n easy then the bombshell upto Little Chutte WI for reload that’s 550 miles up there empty plus the 180 miles empty this morning. O well eh lol gotta keep eye on the hours again though gonna be tight again and play around with couple shorter days I think
Hi taffy I was offered a job with h&r after the last interviews but as I have a young son I was worried I’d miss him growing up. Reading your diary I think I made the right choice not going as your on the road non stop.I’d love to travel the distances you do but ill wait until the wee Yin is older lol
nearly there:
Hi taffy I was offered a job with h&r after the last interviews but as I have a young son I was worried I’d miss him growing up. Reading your diary I think I made the right choice not going as your on the road non stop.I’d love to travel the distances you do but ill wait until the wee Yin is older lol
Hey nearly, don’t forget though I do the distance because I want to lol atm I got nothing to get back to Lethbridge for, I know couple guys who get home most weekends but don’t forget you don’t have to do USA they are looking for drivers for all sorts of contracts. Might be worth giving Lyndon a ring while he is still in the UK. I know they have one up in Edmonton for a blue chip client what it is etc I don’t know but could be worth a shot its a great place to bring up children
Yeah thanks taffy I think ill get in touch with him, cheers
Hey Nearly, what Taff said is right about hometime BUT you need to rack up the miles to earn any sort of liveable wage to support a family, you can’t have it both ways and running AB only or AB/BC and home every week will not give you that.
My advice for what it’s worth would be if you’re well off and not bothered about money come over and work with plenty of time off so you can see your kids grow up, or if money + hometime is a priority you are probably better off staying put.
Straight BC and back will bring in about $1K not including drop offs and collections. Here I spend no more time away then what I did doing euro work. Don’t know how much the city drivers are on but could be worth a call. Explore all options
Vanouver is 600miles from Calgary, 700 from Lethbridge and 725 from Edmonton, so getting a grand for a round trip works out to 83cpm from Calgary, 71cpm from Lethbridge and 69cpm from Edmonton, I think you may have your rates a little bit messed up there driver, there are owner drivers with funny headgear running around for not much more than that
If it is correct, sign me up for the Calgary run, I’ll do three a week and have the winter off to count my money
I thought I saw a message go round a while back about doing BC everyweek must been there and back twice then