I have returneth.

Yup. So I'm back. I had to travel across 3 provinces to pick up a truck and load in Wainwright, Alberta. My first long-haul.

On the way out, I rode shotgun with Mike, in a rental tractor trailer. And let me tell you. Boring. Northern Ontario was nice, but once you hit Manitoba. Flat as a pancake. You could actually do navigation by using the hills.

We stopped the night in Hurst, Ontario. A small French/first nations town with a nice restaurant. Other then that, its pretty much a one-road town with the largest sawmill I have ever seen. So large, an overhead crane is used to lift logs.

The next night brought us to Headingly. A suburb of Winnipeg, Manitoba. We didn't get to tour the town, as we ate at the Husky and packed it in for the night.

The third night was spent in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. Again at a husky, and we went to bed quickly as the next location was Wainwright, and we had an 8:00am timing to meet.

Got into wainwright and had to Wait for 2 days for our loads, and also due to a very large fire on the ranges.

On the way back, We stopped the night in Regina. Nice city. We had supper across the street. I spent the night text messaging the lovely wife of mine. And prowling the streets with Garret, trying to find a power inverter.

The next day, disaster broke out. Or broke down should I say. My truck broke down in Moosamin and was unrepairable. We had to abandon it and carry on. So I rode the rest of the way home in Garret's truck. He was gracious enough to put me up in a hotel room for the night, as 50kms from where I broke down, a tractor of ours broke down as well. That driver hopped in with Mike. (Mikes truck was a double bunk). We pressed on to Hurst, Ontario that night.

That night I spent in another hotel as amazingly, one of out mechanics hotel rooms were equipped with a Hide-a-bed couch.

The next day we pressed on home. And of course the radio broke down, making for an excruciatingly boring trip. Painfully boring if your not the one driving. And I didnt get to drive. God. I was about ready to pull my hair out.

So what Have I learned? Well. Maintenance on the truck would have helped to prevent the breakdown to an extent. In this case, the truck was going to break and no one really knew it. No harm, no foul. Classic "Stuff Happens" day.

Claims. Clerks are evil, so next time I will be taking a full advance instead of the $300 I took the last time. $300 just simply was not enough money. Especially with the break down and me having to go to hotels.

Most truck stops have WI-FI access, so I really should get on someone to send me the old one for the next trip out. And a power inverter. I live on the internet and having it would have been a great source of entertainment. Not to mention having my mapping software would be nice.