Jake says....

....That all girl truck drivers are fat and ugly....

This is the beginning of our latest adventure over the past week. Meet BIG MAC....He is the latest addition to our online purchasing. I started calling this truck Big Mac as I thought it looked a lot like the colors of McD's. Back to the story....As we are well known for our "computer" vehicle buying, Jake bought a dumptruck in Montreal a couple weeks ago. It was on a open unreserved auction and we got it for a steal! (Just to compare, we would pay almost double for what we bought it for.) On the downside, another road trip was on the way.

We flew to Burlington, Vermont on Thursday (Katanya didn't have a passport so we couldn't fly into Canada.) Friday morning we took a taxi across the border into Quebec. Canada is a very pretty place, although Quebec is a lot different than the rest of Canada. My favorite so far is Ontario. I also like kilometers a lot better than miles for the fact they they feel like they go by twice as fast as miles do. Anyway we picked up the vehicle and we were on our way........We only had to cross this HUGE bridge across the St. Lawrence river 3 times to finally get "unlost". Pete said it best when he told Jake, "....let me get this right. You go into another country and know you are picking up a truck (that could have problems) to drive back and you didn't bring a map or tools?...." Pete was a life saver this trip! Jake owes you : ) Katanya came with (still attached). We had a custom seat built in the middle and bolted to the floor. This allowed her car seat to be buckled in and for her to enjoy a 2700 bouncy ride home. (it wasn't suppose to be as bouncy but this is another long story not for this post. Jake can explain if he wants to.) She was an angel. We have taught our kids well.Jake's new fashion. (Until we found his somewhere in the truck. Not a lot of room when you have 2 duffle bags, a babyseat and misc. bags we picked up from the trip.
We finally crossed back into the states in Sarnia, Michigan. We had to cross a toll bridge back into the US for $9.00. (for a mile long) We also forgot cash this trip so the cashier got paid in quarters and dimes. This trip added 2 new states for me plus the first time being out of the US.

We learned a few things this trip.....most importantly....always bring your family (wife and kids) into a place when trying to get something cheaper or faster. IE: We had a few hangups at Customs and the guard basically told us to "pray" that we got across. We had called ahead and thought we had everything we needed evidently we weren't even close. When we went in to see a different officer, he must have felt sorry or didn't want to hear a crying baby all day (she was hungry) and helped us out without any further delays. It was something rather simple but could have been a real problem.

After we got home, I added up the mileage of our road trips this year. Between March and July and a trip to NYC, one to Mesquite / Moab, one to South Padres, and the latest to Montreal, with 4 trips down to SLC we have drove a total of a little over 15,300 miles. That is not including any local driving around Idaho. I think we win the award for the Most Miles Driven for 2007. (It's not even over yet). This leads me back to this picture....

One other fun thing was about 2 days into the trip (while we were going thru Iowa) I got bored and Jake was tired. I took over in driving and it was actually pretty fun. It was hard getting used to the gears and not using the clutch while shifting but it made the trip for me not as long. It also helped Sunday when we couldn't get a hotel in Wyoming and drove all night. (not something I recommend often) Now learning how to drive, Jake has taken advantage of it and while we are swamped the next couple weeks he has me running the new truck with Cruz and Katanya while he is running his old truck with Kirsten. Twice the loads and twice the pay plus we don't have to lose any customers (it's only part of the day that I drive). He now has to eat his words about what he said earlier about girls!