Hi everyone.

Well we are into the last month of my visa here in the land of obesity, there sure are some BIG people in this here United States or as we "aliens" call it The UnUnited States cause the sure as hell is nothing united about it. Some of the Visa drivers are going to work in Canada where they are being offered 2yr Work Permits with the possibility of Canadian Citizenship after that. I thought seriously about it but decided there are too many loose ends back in NZ so will come back in July and do what has to be done and then either come back to the States or Canada at the end of the year.

Margot has had her full License for a couple of months now so we have been doing some "Team" driving and have done quite a few 24hr stints. Margot drives during the day and I do the dark hours, consequently I don't get to see anything as I am in the bunk during the day and only see the road during the nite (night).

Actually driving at night over here is strange as you never get to put the headlights on full beam due to the fact that there is ALWAYS vehicles in front of you and coming towards you so you barrel down the road at 70mph on low beam out driving your lights and when a deer jumps out in front of you it's all over (for the deer) plus plastic truck pieces everywhere. I guess it's lucky that the deer are only small about the size of a year old calf and not the big suckers that we have. It is not unusual to see them grazing on the side of the Interstate at night but to date I haven't had one jump out in front of me. A couple of weeks ago we did a trip that left Little Rock and had  drop offs in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Massachusetts and then empty to upstate New York to pick up a load for Georgia and this involved a couple of continuous driving stints. We left the NY pick up in the afternoon and Margot drove until it got dark and then I took over. She got into the bunk and "John" and I headed south. "John" is the name of the voice on the GPS guidance system we have installed in the laptop. Now most of the time he gets it right but now and again he doesn't and I tell him in no uncertain terms his pedigree and remind him of the fact that his mother wasn't married and of course being a computer program he doesn't understand me - or does he?

I am trucking down the Interstate towards Baltimore expecting him to take me around the City on the ring road when all of a sudden I find myself in DOWNTOWN Baltimore at 1am.Shit what do I do now? I know pull to the side of the CITY street and say "Margot. John has got US lost." After all why should she be asleep and missing all the fun.M argot gets out of the bunk and after waking fully she consults John and they come to the conclusion that we have to go back the way we came, Brilliant, the Street has a raised grass median down the middle with gaps big enough for cars to cross over but certainly not big enough to turn a 53 footer without removing a number of the City's small trees plus the gaps all had "no U turn" signs however in the distance was an Intersection that looked promising. On arrival at the afore mentioned Intersection yet another of the cursed "no U turn" sign so a quick check to make sure that none of Baltimore’s Finest were lurking anywhere waiting for a poor unsuspecting Kiwi to commit a Moving Violation and I wheeled the Bitch around (the truck that is) and headed out of town. Must go back and visit it again in the daylight...on a pushbike. Anyway we were heading back up the hill out of the city, but bloody John hadn't finished punishing me, he kept telling me (yes the Bastard does actually talk) to take every exit we came to even tho it was obvious that they all went to Suburbia so I just ignored him until we came to the one that put us on the ring road and then he had the audacity to announce it like it was his idea.

A couple of nights ago going around Nashville he got me again tho this time instead of NOT telling me to exit he told me to take Exit 34A to the Left except that 34B went left and 34A went right. Quick make a decision at 65mph in 4 lanes of traffic driving 60plus feet of Rig weighing 70000lbs.I chose right.   WRONG!!!!! he got me again tho this time he was kind and rerouted me out of it and I didn't have to make any illegal U turns. It's a Love/Hate relationship that we have and I still maintain that his Mother was unmarried.

Margot is spending some time in Dallas at her Brothers so I am flying solo tho right now I am at a Truckstop in Roanoke Virginia doing a 34hr reset of my Log book hours, a whole day plus of John not giving me false information and leading me astray. Well I must say to date it has been a great experience hasn't really felt like work at all they just seem to pay me to drive around the country 58000mls/93000kms so far, I am sure going to do it hard when I get back to NZ and driving Log Trucks again, in the WINTER, in the MUD, in the FREEZING RAIN. Jeez I can't wait, maybe if I am lucky there won't be any work available and I can go on the Dole and live off y'all's taxes.

Oh well I'll cross that bridge when I come to it but right now it's lunchtime here at a Truckstop in Roanoke, Virginia so I had better go and have an obesity fix. I tell ya you won't recognise me when I get back, I have lost 2kgs, hardly any alcohol for the last 6mths, something I intend to remedy on my return.

Cheers for now. Murray.