At The Top Of The World Theres An Outpost Like No Other

The mission to transport prill from Edmonton to the billion Dollar diamond mines

across 350 km of frozen lakes and tundra in the

North West Territories

I will be leaving this week and will be keeping a diary and on my return will update the blogg with pictures and stories from the trip

My First Real Winter Storm and getting ready for Febuary and the Ice Roads

I was up in Wabasca about 130km north of slave lake Alberta, not really out the way but 90km from the main road in the woods, and the conveyor operator was beginning to get worried about the Storm coming our way

we got finished in quick time and i helped him pack up and get going, i only had about two hours left so would be parking up at the Husky in Fawcett Alberta , this was the first place i could stop after Slave Lake as there arnt many turn outs on this road

The road out of Wabasca is fairly twisty ,tree lined with a real good chance of deer or moose jumping out at ya, but it was dry and there was just an odd small flake of snow in the air

As i got into slave lake the road had i thin covering of snow

[not the picture above]
But by the time i hit the main road south there was more, and the weather turned real nasty in the next few kms,to late to turn round now so i kept my foot in , the thing is these super B trucks have absolutely no grip when they are empty on the drives and with the drag from the trailers you tend to get pulled around in the wind, it make life interesting.

so i hoped that there would be not to much traffic about now as i didn't want to get stuck on any of the hills on this road and have to chain up again,

A half ton had passed me as i came out of slave but had disappeared in the snow as anybody who drives out here they are mad and think they own the road especially in Alberta, then through the falling snow i saw lights flashing on the road so i started backing off as i didn't want to stop if i could help it, it was another truck and beside him in the ditch was the half ton, apparently he had passed the truck and then slid of in the ditch, just as i got there the truck moved off and i followed until he pulled off in the one and only turn out on this road, i took the opportunity and passed him the turnout was full and he then could follow my tracks and snow storm

i continued on at a steady 60kph i seemed to be the only one traveling south as there were no tracks to follow, and the snow laying on the road just got deeper and deeper, the odd convoy came the other way which just whited me out not a nice feeling even if you know the road is straight

i passed a few trucks off in the ditch and even a snow plow before arriving at the husky in Fawcett

The snow was aboiut 15 inches deep by now and i just parked where i could as it was faily full, and in the morning the road had still not been plowed so no rush we just waited for the plow before we moved out, Westcan would rather you sat untill safe than risk having a tow truck pull you out a ditch or get yourself wrecked

New Year In Saskatoon 2011

Happy New Year From Riverside Landing

Saskatoon

-25

House Move

When they move house in Canada they move house

spotted near Chipman Alberta today with

three pilot cars

I had to wait while they pulled over for us to pass and when they are on the highway
i have seen them overtaking at 100kph

cattle cattle everywhere

If you read any of the bloggs on the Internet about truck driving in Canada then at some point you will here the term Brooks crop up, well this is a small town in south east Alberta right on the side of highway 1, and if you have driven passed Brooks then you will have noticed the massive Canadian flag flying at a big facility on the outskirts of the city, this is in fact Lakeside packers, one of the largest meat processing plants that i have ever seen or been to, and if you don't notice the huge flag then the smell of the feed lot across the road will have grabbed your attention

search you tube for lakeside packers fly over and watch its just amazing how many cattle you see [i cant seem to get it on here]

The Feed lot holds 78.000 cattle when full

Once passed this point the cattle are put into holding pens and moved when there time has come, they move into smaller pens and then up a walk Way into the pant there they walk then are carried by a conveyor the last few feet,

lakeside packers work two shifts starting at around five in the morning, and can finish in the early hours of the next morning depending how the day goes and or if they have a breakdown and in this time they will process around 5.000 head approx 25.000 a week.
Now that's a lot of Beef


The salt i have taken there is used for treating the hides,[ three to four loads a week] once the hides have been fleshed and trimmed they are cooked in a strong salt solution before being packed by hand onto pallets and then loaded into containers ready for shipment all over north America and the world Hide from here often go to japan and south Korea and can be in containers for three months.
Hides are a commodity just like gold and silver and can change hands and be traded before reaching there final destination.


At the other end of the plant the Beef in packed and shipped all over North America and the company above is just one of many transporting it to customers


if anybody wants to add to this feel free and of course it is the opinion of myself and the information i have gathered
Canadian beef is the best tasting beef i have tasted
and is best served blue with pepper sauce and fries

Geese Geese And more Geese

This time of year the Geese head south for winter and the sky can be full of them if you look closely there are thousands here, these are heading north though cos i had just walked down the the small lake and made them fly off in my hi vis jacket

when they land on the stubble field to feed on the grain left after the combine and your not allowed to shoot them until after 12 noon

as they need to feed for the journey south

This is my office not at all like a European truck and there are gauges for just about everything, this one is a 2008 and comes with a satellite radio which is grate and has just about every type of music on there and even God channels if that's what you need in your life, i have Radio one, a new country channel called highway and NASCAR tuned in on mine it also has a CD, am, and FM too
And the reason i have all this time to take pictures is that its broke down again, i parked up in consort AB to tip salt the next day and when i came to start it next morning it started for 30 seconds then cut out . All electrical power had gone a 400amp fuse had blown in the battery box, so a major short out probably the starter and there are four battery's on here, its 12v but has 24v starting i think,just pleased i don't have to change the battery's as the wiring in there is like wow which one do if you know Wat i mean, anyway i was there all day until another truck was hauled out to me and i could tip and carry on.
The new truck is an automatic and really nice to drive as i don't have to think about
changing gears
this was my second load on my own the first was to Brooks AB and if you read these bloggs this place comes up quite a bit with another company also red trucks, they haul out of hear and we haul salt in but our side aint quite so nice as theres, i think there is another blogg on here that hauls the live cattle in
I will cover this place on anther page as its huge nothing like it in GB or Europe i think.

So Do You Want To Be A North American Truck Driver

So if you fancy joining me and becoming part of the Westcan team.

Professional Truck Drivers

class 1 or equivalent licence

1 year - 7 or 8 Axel experience

Clear driving abstract

Heavy duty Technicians

Journeyman or 3rd/4 year apprentice

Tractor and or trailer experience

Flexible shifts with variable start times- both day and afternoon shifts available

various terminal locations available in

Alberta, Saskatchewan and British Columbia

Please feel free to contact me so i can put you in touch with the appropriate people

markburton36@ hotmail.com

with the subject of jobs @ westcan