I tipped out in Moncton NB and sent a message if they had a load i would do it if not no probs,reply, we will work on something but may take a couple of hours,no probs off for a shower and some breakie.A good few hours later, load offer, a load of Peat Moss from North East NB for Maryland but not loading till tomorrow 5pm humm.After a message sent requesting a layover due to the fact i had now sat most of the day (No probs mark one down was the answer)another message was sent asking if they would load me early, sure was the answer get there for dinner time.My place of loading was about 150 miles from where i was, a place called Lameque right on the coast and what a lovely drive it turned out to be, the more i see of New Brunswick the more i like, there are some trully wonderful little hamlets and villages.I get there really early (10am) and sorted off acted a little dumb when the guy explained i was extremely early,no probs i replied under gritted teeth i will just park over there, give us a knock when your ready.I hadnt even boiled the kettle when i get a knock saying they will load me, this may just turn into a very good day.I backed onto the ramp 20 mins later im weighing off, well to heavy, so after a little jiggle with the pallets and one taken off i was ready to go ( the weight was ok for Canada but not for the US).Off i set and it wasnt even dinner time making this trip so much more easier as i was due to tip till thursday morn.My plan now was to run down into Maine and park up, then i was going to head down to New jersey the next day, leaving me 1 1/2hrs to go thurs morning, my drop was about 10 miles north of Baltimore. I hadn't been into Maryland before so here was something new.How surprised at the pleasentries i got from the border guards at Houlton, Welcome to The United States he said to me, normally after the questions you just get given your passport back and the window shut on you,things are definately on the up at the moment.Everything went to Plan i tipped out this morning at 8am, a little garden centre and the guy who owned it invited me into his office and made me a brew while they were tipping me, it does make the job so much nicer when people take time out to have a chat.I was really impressed with what i saw in Maryland and the history of the State this is definately one place i will be coming back to as a tourist.Off i set i thought i would head back towards New jersey as that is where we always load from, Wrong just park up we are working on a load for you,ok after a few disgruntled messages saying you could off let me in on your little plan etc,what i have found here which sometimes really does p**s me off, they always seem to wait until your tipped before they start sorting you out a reload, meaning you can be hanging around for ages then all of a sudden have to rush like mad to get it loaded,I suppose this is down to the fact that your not paid by the hour and the down time doesnt affect them.Now this is where this trip now gets a little more interesting, Message your reloading in Georgia start heading that way we will send you details in the morning, i suppose that makes up for the messing about, i havent been that far down so i will be passing through Virginia,North Carolina,South Carolina then into Georgia.Before i came over here we had been to Florida for our Jollys and although we had a brill time it didnt jump out at me,i wasnt that bothered about the US when i started driving over here, but now i feel that im really liking what i see and feel that i really want to discover more and more of it,maybe the only way to do this is by bike, now thats a good idea not sure Lady Pen would agree but you never know. My load details came through the next morning it was out of Tifton South Georgia, i wasnt due to load till 5pm Sat giving me plenty of time so after little planning i decided i would take on a bit of shopping at the outlets.Anyone who has travelled down the i95 would of seen mile upon mile of advertisements for all the outlets and shops etc, so i decided to stop at the one in North Carolina also a big store called J&R which was advertised all the way down for about 50 mile, so i was more intrigued than anything, inside the actually shop was a Cigar shop it was like going back into the wild west days, in there what was more interesting everyone was smoking in there (smoking has been banned from shops etc longer tham the UK).I decided against buying anything in there, ive been given up smoking a few years but it was well worth a look.I do like the bargains from Calvin Kline's etc so i thought it would be rude not to help the ecomomy by not buying anything, so a few polo shirts from there and from the nike shop and off i set. My plan was to get to my reload about 1.30 and chance my luck,even though i really wasn't in any rush to get loaded as i wasn't due to tip Cambridge, ON till 6am tuesday morning, i was hoping to get in a few more sights etc.Well it didnt go to plan in fact it all went tits up,when i get there i was told it wouldn't ready till later which wasn't a problem,so i told the guy i was going off for a walk in which he looked at me and smiled,the walk lasted about 50 mins it was blisteringly hot infact 45 degrees in the shade hot,where i was loading was out of the town, in the countryside all the roads were the clay roads which you see on the telly it was really strange seeing these for myself .I took refuge in my truck the air con was working over time now at least it was having some effect. I have a satellite radio so with the footie fast approaching (England V USA World cup) i decided to just chill out and listen to that,well i lasted the 1st half listening to the commentry of that and decided i would see what was on the telly instead (anyone who has heard the Yanks commontate on soccer as they call it will know how crass it is),and what a result there in all its glory ESPN sports channel the footie with commentry by our one and only Jim Rosenthal YESSSSSSS and a brill piccy as well double YESSSSSSSSS.Thats about as good as it got though England did there usual job of dissappointing us yet again.Eventually i was given a bay not sure why though, we were instructed to pre cool the trailer 1st thing sat morning but they had me on a bay with the doors open for a couple of hours Derrr. I nodded off the next thing i knew was the guy was knocking on my cab telling me i was done,i needed to get the temp of the product before i could leave,this is where the problems started, after probing the product in which it should off been 45 degrees it was reading 64 i told the guy he must write this on the bills as it is a big problem if it hasnt gone down by the time i get to the customer,Well there was no chance of him writing that on them as then its his problem,so after little discussion me basically telling him i cant accept it, they unloaded it all and i went off to sleep.He gave me a knock next morning and let me know that the temp had now gone down to 50, so after a message to despatch to let them know, it was reloaded and off i set, i still had plenty of time but i couldnt stop to do anymore sights etc oh well maybe next time.My journey north was pretty straight forward basically straight up the i75 for about 600 mile with the exception off a few ring roads around Atlanta (Have you seen how many lanes there is on there ring road) and Knoxville and a couple of other places all the way to Detroit where i would cross back into Canada, my plan was to drive two 9 hour days then parking up in the customers ready for tipping in the morning,then having the pleasure of their company for a good few hours i guess, anyway this has got to be the best trip i have had so far lets hope the next isnt as long coming.
New States Visited:Maryland,Virginia,North Carolina,South Carolina,Georgia and Tennesse.
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