On March 19th, Tomo drove from Edson, Alberta to Albert Lea, Minnesota carrying lumber. He had a stop in Estevan, Saskatchewan for the night. So on March 20th, Sunday morning he headed off to Albert Lea, Minnesota. Tomo was out of hours and so had a full day off in Albert Lea, Minnesota. So he bought a new phone with Verizon phones and so anyone with Verizon can call him and his phone number is the same as before.
On March 22nd, in Albert Lea, Minnesota Tomo traded loads with another driver and picked up a load of office furniture that was bound for Edmonton, Alberta.
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On the way back up to Alberta, Tomo hit a snow storm between Carrington, North Dakota and Minot, North Dakota. In this snow storm, the visibility was almost nill. He was driving between 5 mph to 20 mph and the trip that usually takes 3 1/2 hours took 6 1/2 hours.
At points Tomo could only see the back of the truck but not the cab of the truck. There was no place to stop between these two cities. The US Hwy 52 was shut down due to this snow storm, but there were many trucks already traveling on this highway when it was shut down. So at this point the trucks made a convoy leading each other along the highway to Minot, North Dakota. At one point the lead trucker was only going 5 mph because he couldn't see. At this point, Tomo passed the lead trucker as he was moaning and groaning that he couldn’t see and so Tomo took the lead. Tomo finally made it to Minot, North Dakota and shut down for the night.
On March 23rd, Tomo left Minot, North Dakota at 1 pm for Edmonton, Alberta. The storm lifted and the roads from Minot to Saskatoon were beautiful and good driving. Tomo stopped for dinner with a friend in Saskatoon and a short sleep. This drive was a little slow as Tomo was too tired and was seeing imaginary trucks cutting in front of them. He had to stop a few time and climb out of his truck and wake up. Then back on the road to Edmonton, Alberta arriving at 5 am. He dropped his load at 8 am. The 24th of March he spent the day catching up with sleep and hours. Another reason was mainly because the boss didn’t have a load ready for him.
On Friday, the 25th, Tomo went out to Seba Beach, Albert to pick up a load of peat moss. It was finally loaded by 11 am and he headed back to Spruce Grove, Alberta for a few hours, until the boss contacted him. Finally another driver cam and they switched loads, Tomo now was carrying wood shavings. They both headed for Sherwood, Alberta. At this point Tomo ran out of hours and had to spend the night at this truck stop. Then it turned out that both Tomo and the other driver were to head back to the home yard. (No reason to swap loads since they were both going to the same place, but go figure!!)
Tomo left Edmonton, Alberta at 5 am and arrived in Anaconda, Montana on Saturday evening, March 26th. Tomo’s Big Red truck (mileage: 1,467,000) is still having issues!! Still keeps trying to die. So Jimmy the Chimney is bringing Tomo's truck back to the yard for more repairs and Jimmy wants his truck back. So..... Tomo is now in another truck 'Hawaiian Blue'(mileage: 920,000). Tomo is headed to Calgary, Alberta for two drops on Monday morning and then on to Edmonton for the final drop of office furniture on Monday afternoon.
The plus side is that on Sunday the 26th, Tomo gets to meet up with an old friend from High Prairie, Alberta and have time with him. Might even get to meet up with a few other friends and truckers along the way too.
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