Getting Into Flatbed Life in Ontario, Canada

Day 5 (Week 2)

Hey guys, sorry for the delay. Honestly, I was so busy with driving and learning everything I forgot about this post. I also barely had time during the week to browse the net, with that 70+ hour work week and all that! So I'll get the recap going for you guys today and tomorrow.

For day 5, I met the trainer at the yard on Sunday. We left the yard around noon for a pickup in London, Ontario. After strapping the load the trainer drove all the way to Duncansville, PA. In total, it was a long 10-hour day on the road with stops for bathroom breaks, the border crossing, and a 30-min break for a WalMart supply stop.

Speaking of Wal Mart, I found it pretty expensive compared to prices in Canada! Even at the truck stops, coffee, snacks, drinks, and everything else at the Pilots/Flying J's we stopped at seemed more expensive than back at home. The border crossing was easy. Handed the agent our paperwork, told her where we were going, and we got waved right in.

Today was mostly driving down to Duncansville for our drop off. We arrived early, beating 2 other drivers from different companies, so we got unloaded first. My trainer backed into the building to unload our freight. I don't remember what it was. We were using the roll tight, which is a pain in the butt to get used to, but it's getting pretty easy now. Beats tarping I guess - something I haven't done yet.

After unloading it was time for bed. What happened was we went into SB and THEN spent an hour of the SB time unloading. That was kind of weird, since I would have liked the extra hour to wind down at the end of the day. Well, that's how the trainer is - a company yes man and a super hard working guy. With everything done we parked at the receiver, right behind the building. Nowhere to poop, no shower, no anything - i guess that's the flatbed life. It was a long day for me and I passed out almost immediately. That's all for Day 5 - I'll follow up with Day 6.

 

Day 6 - Finally, I was behind the wheel again ready for my first day of driving. It was a Monday morning and we left Duncansville relatively early for our pickup in Seneca Falls, NY. Today was really my 2nd day of driving overall but I felt pretty confident after having driven into Toronto the week before.

Getting to Seneca Falls took us about 6 hours with stops for fuel and bathroom breaks. It was a beautiful drive through some of the mountains in PA and up the western side of Seneca Lake. We passed through some lovely small towns, like Watkins Glen and Geneva, so there was some interesting city driving going on. My trainer took more of a round-about way getting to Seneca Lake. He knows the routes without having to refer to the Rand Mcnally and Google Maps, something i'll definitely be doing when I get started.

When we get to our pickup in Seneca Falls a sign told us to check in on the CB before entering the yard. Well, no one answered our CB call, so we pulled right in. This was a mistake as there was a line for the scale and nowhere to maneuver the truck around. I had to back the truck to let another guy turn his around, then snake it onto the scale. After scaling we went into the back yard to get loaded with aluminum sows.

For this load we strapped everything, and I'm starting to understand the fundamentals of strapping. I don't have any guidebook or anything, just going by what the trainer is telling me. After strapping we got on the road and made our way to the next destination, Mississauga. With traffic and the border this took close to 4 hours and we rolled into the receiver close to 11pm. By 12AM we had dropped our trailer and were back on the road towards Fort Erie. At this point I could barely keep my eyes open so I switched spots with the trainer and went to bed.

 

Day 7 - Woke up in Fort Erie and took the first (and only) shower of the trip. I guess my trainer doesn't like taking showers regularly. Anyways, the shower at the Flying J was surprisingly nice and clean. It reminded me of a hotel bathroom. I spent 20 minutes in there just soaking and wondering if I made the right decision to become a truck driver.

After that we hit the road to our next stop. We were pulling a dry van with garage doors with a destination in Orchard Park. No securement necessary but we checked the load to make sure everything inside was OK. No issues crossing the border and it was an easy drive to our destination. I made the attempt to back into the driveway from the road, but I botched it, and because we were tight on time the trainer had to take over. With the truck backed in we had to help hand unload the garage doors. Otherwise, a relatively easy drop.

From here our next destination was Rhinebeck, NY, another dropoff for the rest of the garage doors. It was a 350 mile drive with some incredible scenery, hills, and easy highway driving. With stops for bathroom breaks and fuel we didn't pull into the receiver until after 10PM. Thankfully, we were able to sleep behind the building. Unfortunately, it was another night without any bathrooms, nowhere to take a dump, and no amenities. The signal was too poor for mobile reception I couldn't even call my GF, who I'm starting to miss quite a bit.

Today was one of the better days - lots of driving and nice scenery. I'm already getting tired of sitting with the trainer, having to listen to his music, talk to him for 14 hours a day, and spend time with him in such a small space. It's not him personally, anyone would get on my nerves after that amount of time. I'm just not wired that way. I'm looking forward to getting on my own and doing my own thing. Overall, I'm grateful for his wisdom, experience, and I'm thankful that he's willing to give me a chance out on the highway. That's all for today, will post the other updates tomorrow.

 

Day 8 - Woke up behind the receiver and quickly had to get dressed to help unload the rest of the garage doors by hand. Finished with this, did the pre-trip, and started to the next destination in Fultonville, NY, only 100 miles away.

Reached the shipper, went in to check in, and the guy had no idea what was going on. I guess the freight broker never sent any information that we were supposed to pick up or sent any payment info. No big deal, the main guy hopped on the phone, made some calls, and an hour later we were read to get loaded. The load was canvas curing blankets. Since the guy was kind of mad at the broker, he had them tossed into the trailer, rather than on a pallet. This would turn out to be fun for our delivery the next day.

In the meantime, I tried to back into the dock they had. It was a tight jackknife back with some poles right in front of the pullup spot. Took me a lot of tries and I got about 90% of the way. Due to the time constraint, the trainer had to finish the backing for me. I haven't had much backing experience yet, but we're going to take time next week to practice in the yard. Plus, I imagine being out on the road on my own will help to hone my backing skills with no one around to help me.

After loading we drove back to Mississauga to get to our delivery point for the next morning in Markham. We stopped near Concord, in a commercial area behind a Wendy's/Tim Hortons that allows overnight truck parking. It was a 7-hour, uneventful drive, except for the loads of traffic coming into the city. Being able to drive so much reminded me what I love about this job - the driving! Parked for the night, went into Tim Hortons for the bathroom, and had a good sleep in the truck.

 

Day 9 - Woke up in the Mississauga, used the bathroom in Tim Hortons, and battled with morning traffic to the receiver in Markham. We had to pass a few no truck signs coming into the receiver, but there was no other way to get in. The dock was in a tight space, but I managed to get her done pretty well, with the help of my trainer of course.

For the unload, we had to hand unload the 1250lbs of curing blankets into the warehouse. This was a pain in the d*ck and we didn't earn any extra money for it, something that I found kind of annoying because it took us over an hour to setup and unload. After the unload we battled traffic getting back to the highway. I don't mind driving in traffic. It's slow paced, lots going on, and you just gotta watch your trailer. Toronto drivers can be aggressive but I sure let everyone know that it's not my problem if they get smoked, or if they slam into the trailer, when I have the right of way.

Like my trainer says - you own the road. For example, a guy tried to cut inside in a single lane turning lane when I was taking it wide. The trainer said just to give her, and if you sideswipe him on the inside then that's his problem, and not yours.

After getting out of the city we drove to London to pick up aluminum. There was another dock here that I couldn't back into, and we were short on time, so after my attempt and with a line-up building, the trainer took over. He said it's great that I'm not getting stressed out when I can't hit those tight backs. At this point, I don't really know much at all, so no reason to get stressed. I'm still learning and happy to get all the practice I can get.

With the trailer loaded we chatted with another company driver for a bit at the shipper. He had only been working for the company for 3 months and claimed he made $2200 (gross) for the past week of working running to Quebec and back. He also explained how he wanted to quit when he started out, just like I kind of do, but he toughed it out and now it's OK. It was great talking to the other new guy and seeing what the road ahead for me is going to be like.

Afterwards we made our way back to the yard, I backed the trailer in without too much difficulty surprisingly, and we packed everything up for the night. My trainer went home and I was able to spend the night in his truck. I live 1.5 hours away from the yard so driving back and forth wasn't an option. 12 hours off felt pretty good and I was happy to get some free time to shower, call my GF, and relax finally!

 

Day 10 - Started the day around 730. Local runs all day (the worst). Pretripped the truck and off we went. The first thing was to drop an empty trailer at one our main shippers 20 mins away. Easy drive with some good backing practice in their lot. Next, we bobtailed back to the yard to pick up the roll-tight we were going to be using for the day.

Hooked up to the RT, pre-tripped it, and made our back to another shipper about 20 mins away. There was a tight back here but somehow I managed to get it without too much help from my trainer. The guy inside even asked why they gave the new guy the hard dock. IDK but i'm happy for any of the practice I can get. Had the trailer loaded with boiler parts then pulled ahead to secure it. Got some load securement practice with straps - one of the main things i'm still unsure of is when to put straps THROUGH the load, rather than over it. But I think that will all come with practice.

Strapped up we made our way to the delivery location maybe 10 mins away. Unloaded by forklift, so had to unstrap and reopen the RT. We were supposed to get loaded here but it was a union place so they went on lunch right as we finished unloading. Spent 30 mins waiting in the yard. Got set up to back into the warehouse, the first one yet. The setup took me like 15 minutes, but somehow I got it into the warehouse on the first shot. I'm still confused about how to move the back of the trailer in small increments, rather than big movements. But it all worked out.

Got loaded with a boiler and racks. First time chaining and it seemed easier than strapping. The chains were heavy but there's obvious parts on the boiler where you're supposed to chain. Not as much guesswork as the straps in this case. Had a rack we had to strap so got that done as well. Made our way over an hour away for the dropoff location where they were waiting around for our load so they could go home.

Unloaded, got reloaded, and then made our way back to both of the same locations for dropoffs. Got another load, and had to drive back into the Guelph area for a crane unload. Backing under the crane was fun, with some tight backing, but I Managed to get her done. Had one more dropoff back near the yard and finally rolled in at the end of a long day. At this point I realized again how much I hate local flatbed work. Lots of tedious BS, waiting around, and not really any good driving.

So it's Friday night, i'm almost out of hours on my 70, and my trainer decides now is a good time to show me how to fuel and add DEF. He's also anal about his tractor getting parked perfectly in the space, and it took me 10 minutes to line it up. It turns out the tractor next to us wasn't lined up, and my original backing would have been fine. He also next spent almost 30 mins going over the paperwork we needed to fill out and getting really into the details about it.

I had to cut him off and say listen, I just worked 70+ hours, it's Friday night, I want to go home. He seemed to get a bit mad about it but said OK. I didn't end up getting home until after 10PM, having left the previous Sunday morning at 10AM. It was a long week for me - something I'm still getting used to. Overall though, I'm thankful for the training experience and I'm positive everything he has taught me will help me out in the upcoming weeks once I'm on my own.

Another thing, I let dispatch know that I want to run out west. I just want to get on the highway and drive. Being gone for up to 2 weeks isn't an issue to me, especially if you're getting the miles. The highest grossing drivers at this company are the guys running west as well. This back and forth stuff all in the same area seems so tedious and I'd have gone local if I wanted to stay so close to home.

That's all for now. I'm back to the yard tomorrow (Monday) for a day of backing practice and then hopefully we're hitting the highway on Tuesday for the rest of the week. I'll keep you guys updated.

 

We actually don't haul too much steel. A lot of Vic West stuff, boilers, racks, and aluminum. So far, no experience with any steel products. Definitely no coils. I think we do some lumber too.

On my own i'll be doing my own thing for sure and taking a slower pace. For now I'll be taking his advice, only because I really don't know any better!