Niagara Falls

Over the past 3 days, we have been in and out of Canada 3 times, so the border is getting easier to navigate . . . problem is, we've seldom crossed it in the same way twice. There is one set of paperwork for loads going into Canada from the US, one for freight coming into the US from Canada, and one for "intransit" loads that cross through Canada enroute to another destination. There are customs stamps and PARS stickers, and ACE manifests, and the customs agents expect you to be able to recite your tag number, weight, number of pieces, broker name, and several other items of information. We were in Detroit after returning from the second trip into Ontario, and we decided to relocate to Ft. Wayne, Indiana in hopes of getting a little closer to Indy (mailbox). Before we got 30 miles in that direction, they asked us to take a load from Ohio to Alliston, Ontario. The other 2 Canada runs were to the Chrysler plant in Windsor, just across the border from Detroit. We were in and out of Canada in under 2 hours. This one was over 300 miles north into Ontario. We drove all night to get it there, and wondered if they'd have anything to give us to get back to the US from that far up north. I looked at the GPS and realized that we going to pass within about 30 miles of Buffalo, NY and Niagara Falls. We thought about relocating in that direction in hopes of having some time to see the falls. Then, we got an offer for a load just north of the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, so it worked out perfect. Better yet, they load was destined for Ohio, so it got us back on a paid run instead of having to pay for an "empty move". I got to drive through downtown Toronto (pop. 2.2 million) during rush hour. There were 10 lanes of traffic in each direction! What fun~

When we got to Niagara Falls, we found a place to park about 10 blocks from the falls on the Canadian side and walked down, took some pictures, and had dinner before going over to load and head from the border crossing at Buffalo. When we got back to Ohio, we got a message from dispatch saying that because of our great record of service, they were offering us a "premium load", meaning a good paying load to one of Panther's prime customers. After all of the 200-250 mile loads, we were more than happy to accept this one, which was over 1600 miles, and best of all, it was from Cleveland, Ohio to Laredo, Texas. I almost cried . . . actually, I think I did cry a little bit :) because I've been so homesick. People are just friendlier in Texas - really! And I've been missing everyone so much. We've been gone a month, but it feels like a year. Of course, Laredo is a long way from Midland, Snyder, or Lubbock, but at least we'll be passing through the San Antonio area, so we hope to see Jonathan and Douglas. Then, we may request a couple of days off to go visit Josh and Jason, but we won't know until tomorrow if that will be possible or not. If not, we plan to take 3 or 4 days next week and request a load back into Texas for scheduled time off to visit them. Well, it's late, Jim's driving, and we're somewhere between Louisville, KY and Nashville. I'd better get some rest before it's my turn behind the wheel. Hope you're all doing well and that we see you soon - drop us a line anytime to let us know what's going on in your world. If you'd prefer email to commenting here on the blog, you can send it to us at jimnsandy0729@yahoo.com. Take care.