Enjoying the Scenery

The weekend at home was very relaxing and truly enjoyable as I got to spend a lot of time with the missus and the little man Bogie. On Saturday, we took Bogie to the Pet Expo that was held at the EY Centre not far from our home. We were not sure how the little guy would do, expecting him to loose his mind with all the dogs and people that would be at the show. Well, we were pleasantly surprised that after just 10 minutes at the show, the little guy settled down quite nicely. So many people commented on how well he was behaving and what a handsome young man he was, which made us feel like proud parents. Of course, having him with us meant that we spent a small fortune on him but it was well worth it, as he brings us so much joy and entertainment.

Bogie

Sunday was a very relaxing day doing pretty much nothing other than washing my clothes and watching movies on tv. I finally got to watch the movie Spy and it was funnier than I thought it might be but I did go into it with very low expectations. I also put together my meals for the week and got them in the freezer to freeze. I have been trying to vary what I eat each week as I do not want my meals to become boring and I might be tempted to eat at the truck stops. Around 4 pm I got a call from dispatch asking if I want to take a load into Montreal that needed to be delivered at 7 am Monday morning and then proceed with a load to Toledo Ohio. I said yes of course because I want to get as much experience as possible and see as many places as I can.

Having agreed to the 7 am delivery in Montreal I was debating whether to go spend the night in the truck or get up very early for the drive to Prescott which is about 40 minutes away. In the end, I decided to head to the truck on Sunday night as it would allow me to get some extra sleep and I would not feel so rushed in the morning. I was up and at’em at 4:30, got cleaned up, hooked onto the trailer, pre-tripped both truck and trailer to be on the road by 5:15.

When I was considering this new career, I imagined all the places I would visit and the great sites I would see. On this Monday morning I was greeted with an awesome sunrise over the St.Lawernce. As the sun began to rise, the beautiful hues of yellow and orange lite up the sky, the river was dead calm with steam gently rising off the water and in the distance I could see the silhouette of a flock of geese heading south. Now, these are the memories I will cherish and remember more than the bad days.

I got to the client at 6:45 but unfortunately there was no dock available and the shunter was no where to be seen. The lovely lady in recieving said she had already called the shunt driver when she saw me pass her window. The shunt driver was out dropping a trailer in another part of the city so it took him another 40 minutes before he got back to the yard. This delay gave me time to plan my approach to backing in the trailer as it was a tight yard. To my surprise when the time came that I got the trailer in the dock with very little effort. What a way to build up my confidence for the week. The load I had was not on pallets so it took a little longer to off load than normal.

With the off load complete, it was a very short trip over to our Montreal yard to drop the empty trailer and hook onto the loaded trailer bound for Toledo. Once again, I managed to do a timely angle back into a tight spot, I almost had the feeling that I got this backing thing down. In no time at all, I was hooked onto the loaded trailer and headed to the Windsor/Detriot border crossing. It was another beautiful day for driving with the sun sitting high in the sky. It was a rather uneventful drive to the border other than the usual slow downs going through the GTA. I swear, the slow downs cost me about an hour to an hour and a half of good driving time. The province of Ontario really should build a road that goes around the GTA like Quebec did with the 30 and Montreal. I believe that was the intention of the 407 but when it was turned into a toll highway, people stopped using due to the outrageous price of the tolls. Can you imagine how many billions of dollars are lost each year in productivity due to the slow downs in traffic in the GTA?

I made it about 90% of the way to the client on Monday stopping about 90 minutes away as my clock was getting very low and the rest area I saw had ample parking. In the morning I was up early again to head to the client. Upon arriving I noticed that there were three other Kriska trucks there so I knew that I would be waiting a bit. The wait was much shorter than expected so I was assigned dock 1. The backing approach to this dock was going to be easy as it was a straight in back up. One would think that having just completed a couple of hard angle back ins that a straight back in would be nothing but that was not to be the case. The dock was on a down hill slope and for some reason everytime I tried to back onto the dock, the back end of the trailer would drift to the left (as seen if you were standing in front of the truck). It took six tries, that’s right, six tries to do a straight in back up to this dock.

Feeling relieved that I was finally on the dock I went around to talk with the employees to see how long they thought it would take to unload when I noticed that the right door of the trailer had struck a metal bumper. In my multiple attempts to get onto the dock, I totally lost track of this bumper thinking the one I was seeing in my mirror was the one I needed to avoid but the one I was seeing was actually one for the other dock. Luckily the damage was isolated to the inside of the door and it did not affect the opening and closing of the door.

When the employee told me not to worry that at least 5 trailers hit the metal bumper a week and that the damage on the trailer door was a lot less than most,  it did not do much to make me feel better. I was about to say why do you have the damn things if they do so much damage to trailers but knew it was not my place to challenge him about it.

Finally off loaded it was time to head back to our Mississauga terminal with a load and then to pick up another load headed to the Illinois/Missouri border. This was going to be a long trip that would take me through places that I have only seen on TV. Other than encountering some extremely high winds on the plains, there were multiple signs blown over and a couple on the road, it was a very pleasurable drive. Once again, I was pushing the clock so I stopped for the night at a rest area about an hour away from the client. In the morning, I arrived at the client to drop the loaded trailer, hook onto an empty trailer to take to the same client a short distance away, then drop that trailer and to hook onto a loaded trailer that was headed to the GTA.

With the trailer shuffle completed, I was headed north again for my longest trip ever, either solo or dual, since starting with Kriska, at 841 miles. With trip planning I use an average of 50 mph so this trip was going to take about 17 hours. I only had 4 hours left on my clock for the day and with being allowed to drive 13 hours under Canada regulation, I knew that any little accident or multiple construction zones and I would come up short of making it. Sure enough, I got only as far as Cambridge, so close yet so far away. This meant that it would be late Saturday afternoon before I got home. Oh well, this is always a possibility so I was prepared for another day on the road.

During the past week, I had to make a number of calls to load planning, dispatch, border and my DSR to answer questions or get help. Kriska has a great culture and you can certainly feel it when call the office as it feels like everyone answers the phone with a smile on thier face. No issue is too big or too small for them to address. I am sure they must get tired of having to answers the same questions from newbies like me but they sure do not show it. I appearicate their positive energy as it makes the transition into this new career much easier.

I mentioned earlier that I enjoy the scenery that I get to take in while on the road but there are a few other things I see that is not really scenery. On one of my crossing of the Ambassador Bridge between Windsor and Detroit, on the Detroit end, I saw a truck flipped on its’ side. With the events in Paris last week, I am sure the loud bang the truck made when it flipped, it must have sounded like a bomb going off. I bet the customs agents were a bit jumpy.

I wish that I could say this was the first truck I have seen flipped on its’ side since I started driving a truck but on average I see at least two a week. For the most part, the trucks that I have seen flipped were either on an off/on ramp or sharp corner. As with a lot of accidents, speed is the main cause. I respect the vehicle that I am driving and know that given the weight, I can get into trouble really quick. I am sure I piss a lot of drivers off as I begin to slow down a fair distance back to off/on ramps because I know what can happen if I take a turn to quickly.

What is going on with school buses these days? The bloody things are like traveling disco balls now. When I was growing up, school buses were yellow with black stripes, had head lights, tail lights and the red flashing on top. Now, they have red and yellow flashing lights on top, red and yellow flashing tail lights, a flip out stop sign with red flashing lights and on top of the bus, it seems a lot now have a white flash strobe light. That light is almost blinding in the dark of the morning to truck drivers as it is almost at eye level. Makes me wonder who came up with this bright idea and what purpose does this white strobe light serve?  Also, some buses are now coming painted white on top. Again, what purpose does this serve? If all this stuff is for safety, that is a joke. Like lights and a white roof will make a school bus more safe. If people want to protect their kids they should insist on putting seat belts on the buses and stop cramming the kids in them like sardines. I remember being on a school bus in my teens where there were three people to a seat, where the third person only had on butt cheek on the seat. The next thing the bus makers will be doing is bolting old tires to the sides of the buses.

I recieved a comment with regards to one of my posts regarding potential income for a driver at Kriska. The commenter based their figures on a 0.40/mile rate which was not accurate. Since I have started driving, more than 85% of my miles driven fall into the Regional Board which pays 0.45/mile once you have 3 months plus experience. Most drivers average 2500 miles a week plus all the add ons to the pay so most drivers make more than $60,000 a year. In my research, for a new driver, this is very good.

Not only does Kriska pay well, but they also save a new driver money. That is correct, Kriska helps drivers save money!! Kriska does that by providing drivers with well equipped trucks that come complete with fridges, power inverters and tv connections. Having the fridge alone, allows me to save so much on food. I stock the fridge with all the food I need for the week and then some at a cost of about $45. It would cost that or more to eat for a day or day and a half in truck stops and the food might not be as good or healthy. The TV connection will help be resist the tempation of paying for internet at the truck stops so that I can watch stuff online.With the power inverter, it allows me to have a microwave to heat my food and come spring, I will get an electric grill so I can cook on the cat walk of the truck. Using the tools the company provides will allow me to put more money in the bank at the end of the year. When checking out companies, some had a no inverter policy or you had to buy your own and pay to have installed. Also, those same companies had trucks where all you could install was one of those electric coolers which does not cool anywhere near the level that a fridge does. So my advice to new drivers is when looking at a company pay package, look at the whole package and not just the per mile rate. Pick the company that will allow you to put the most money in your bank account each week.

Since starting this blog, I have recieved a number of private messages asking me about Kriska. I am more than happy to give you honest answers but during the week, sometimes I cannot respond in a timely fashion. If you require answers quickly, I encourage you to contact Caroline or Greta. These ladies are more than happy to answer your questions and can be reached through the following contacts:

Caroline Blais
(905) 795-2770 or (800) 461-8000 ext 5222 recruiting@kriska.com

Greta Krasteva       
(905) 795-2770 or (800) 461-8000 extext 5245 recruiting@kriska.com

Still feel free to contact me if you have questions and I will respond as soon as I possibly can.

Total miles this week: 3184

Until next time….Keep the blue side up.