Comments By Garth M.

After driving for my first company about 20 months I found a new one in the same town I live in. The move will save me about 6 hrs weekend time and lots of gas money. I can ride my bicycle to the yard. This company is only 10 trucks so quite a bit smaller and not as much maintenance support but they do seem to stay on top of things. The biggest change is they mainly haul to the USA and previously I had only hauled in Canada, mostly in Ontario and a few times to Quebec. I had previously hauled heavy with the truck licensed for 132,000 and am looking forward to now driving half empty lol, the difference being the variety of loads I will now have. So far I have had 2 trips to Wisconson and one to Pennsilvania all with reloads. Getting used to the different speed signs and the location of truck stops has been trying. My Garmin was set to avoid tolls but it would also try to avoid going over the bridges at the border and so I have had some interesting rerouting going on which has cost a few hours to say the least. It was iteresting reading another post on flatbedding here because I just finished a load of well casing, I had hauled square tube and I-beams, coils, slabs, billets and angle iron but that round well casing was as scary as anything. I put more straps and fed belly straps and still it moved, I guess thats why they use stakes. I have never tightend straps as much as this load and stopped as often to check them. On the other hand I also had my first load of insulation board. Stacked to the rafters so throwing straps was a good workout but then what? I never put a twist in them and I think the vibration caused them to compress the material and loosen so I climbed up on top at a stop and repositioned the corners then added some twist. I usually have had a pole to do this with but conveiently left it at home in the garage, its in the truck now. Anyhow looking forward to seeing more of the USA.

Trucking brings out the masochist in me too. Your lucky to have Rainy as a contact, I have found her posts to be excellent and they have really helped keep me on track.

I would say try to drive regional then you would have less variety to have to contend with. As you gain experience dealing with conditions in your area becomes easier and you can roll with the punches so to speak and earn your maximum.

They should be fine, I found that I hated laces so I bought a pair of cowboy boots steel toed and great sole but they gave me a heat rash so I’ll save them for winter. I’d worn out the heels in record fast time which I couldnt figure out with all the walking I do, I had taken them with me on vacation so I could get them repaired and forgot them in the rental car at the airport. My brother picked them up for me but I needed some new ones and since laces were out I was looking at Blundstones but they were expensive and looked like old peoples shoes, luckily the store had a house brand 6” slip on boot for less so thats what Im wearing now. I wish I had thought of that style sooner could have saved a lot of money on those western boots. Comfort and convenience beats vanity.

I was just looking at my last pay stub, I cleared $2084.50 for the previous 2 weeks. I will probably average $900 clear a week over the year by my best guesstimate. This past pay period was the busiest I have ever been, Almost 70hrs elogged in 5 days and if you count the time before logging in and after logging out I am close to 90 hours. I was totally bagged and looked forward to a good payday so believe it or not I was disappointed with the last pay. I must have jumped a tax bracket lol. But looking back at that time It was a good week and I felt the most satisfied with my performance since I started driving. Mileage is a luxury, I find reloads and mutiple drops to be a large portion of my pay so I look at how many hours I’ve put in to determine how things are going and 70 hours in 5 days is common though my elog does’nt show them. I’m going to celebrate my cdl 1st anniversary on June 6, I’ve been with this company since June 12. I am generally satisfied with my career choice and can see my driver abilities improving consistently which keeps me motivated. I wouldn’t be able to make near this money working for an employer as a carpenter and its all about the money right now.

Yeah, I had that figured out. I wanted to get the facts from a Canadian driver from Canada with a Canadian commercial license.

My trailer had 5 axles and was permited for 92,000 cargo, that seems to be what most of our trailers are. I haven’t been doing this long enough to pick up on all the rules so I call the office when ever Im in doubt. Our company has some 6 axle trailers but Im not sure what the max is for them. This load was only the 3rd 90,000 one Ive pulled. Its surprising how much difference every couple thousand pounds make to the handling the higher you go.

I hauled a load of concrete block on Thursday, my first load of this type ever. As I was starting to be loaded I asked what it weighed and was surprised to hear 96,450, wow so I stopped them and explained the max is 92,000 for this trailer and I wouldn’t try it without a scale handy. So after some deliberation involving my company the, the consignee and the consignor they lightened the load but I was still at about 90,000. I only needed to go 25 miles but it was into the middle of Toronto so like a fool without further thought off I went. I had’t been there for about three months and forgot that the street I was to go on was having a subway put under it so the intersection I needed to turn on had no left or rights allowed, the street was narrow with lane shifts, concrete barracades and lots of hills and intersections and I couldn’t get off for several miles past my turn. It was a tough drive and took me 3hrs to make the trip, lots of horn honking and a few very curtious drivers were required to make the 7 or so mile detour through some of the older residential areas I passed through. I made it unscathed and was consoled by the customer that the previous 4 loads the had came by the same route. I didn’t make any money but it was an enriching experience.

I never thought of not being covered if I was hurt while being logged off duty, that would be dirty. I do as much load securing and tarp handling as possible while off duty, I wouldn’t be able to get the work they want done if I did it any other way.

I was given a new mattress for my truck 4 months ago its thin and already showing signs of compressing at the edge where you sit and I have rotated it a couple times already. A foam topped mattress would be nice as long as it didnt take too long to warm up in the winter.

Into my seventh month I’m finally getting used to the daily grind and not as exhausted from concentrating on the driving, not getting lost or injured etc. It seemed that this life style was not compatible with good health and trying to cram all my living into the short weekends, I was getting frustrated to say the least. Now its getting easier and repeat customers more plentiful I can find the time to enjoy the drives and explore the stops, my diet is improving lol and I find myself making a lists of the possibilities when I get my trip info. Parking, truck access and how far I can comfortably walk figure in to enjoying the weekdays. With the coming spring I’m planning how I can secure my bicycle to the truck. Having an understanding girlfriend helps and since absence makes the heart grow fonder my weekends are short but intense which Is a good thing. I wouldn’t want to give that up by quitting now lol.