Archive for the ‘Truckers Talking’ Category

Hello from England once again. As some of you may know, I’ve been trying for some time now to find work in Canada, so that my family and I can start a new life there. I’m pleased to say I’ve been offered (and accepted) a job on PEI, with the same company that Grumpy works for.

So this may well be my last post from the UK, and I’m focusing on what I’m expecting from trucking in Canada and the USA. One thing I know for sure is that it’s not an easy option! Long hours, extended periods from home and inter-stellar mileages are what my employers will expect from me, and it will take some time to adjust to that – I know I can do it, as I’ve done it before – and this time it will be different and (at first) exciting.

We in Britain think of 400 miles as a full days work, but over there that’s just a warm up. One of the things British drivers struggle with is the amount of un-paid sitting around you have to do, but I’ll just have to learn to keep focused on the big picture, and rack up the miles when I can.  I`m also wary of the challenges of driving your vehicles. The steering wheel is on the wrong side for a start! Long ago we abandoned the the constant-mesh (or “crash” as we call them) transmissions, so I don’t doubt I’ll be playing a few tunes on the gearbox.

Border crossing will be another challenge, as will stopping at every scale, and moving axles around. One thing I’m hoping for is a little respect and appreciation for what I do from the public. Hopefully, truck drivers are seen as a welcome service provider, whereas we are treated with contempt over here. The people that design shops,supermarkets, restaurants and municipal areas deliberately set out to discourage us from parking, and, where we can stop, we have to move on after 2 hours or pay a fee. Yet, as I understand it, you can pull into a Canadian Wal-mart and do a little shopping without worry.

Naturally, I’m looking forward to the wide open American highways, and the challenges of driving through the big cities, and seeing the sights. And, most of all, I’m looking forward to a new life for my wife and children. I will be coming alone initially, so that I can be sure I’ll be able to make the money I need to support them, and that will be tough. When they do arrive, I expect life to be a struggle, especially until my wife can get a work permit. She’ll have to stay at home and deal with all the trials and tribulations of daily life, whilst I’m off exploring in my truck. No doubt there will be tears and tantrums from the kids (ten and thirteen), because they’re still wrapped up in the excitement of it all, and haven’t quite grasped the enormity of what we’re doing. When they have to try new food, make new friends and join new schools, it may be something of a shock.

So, to put it in a nutshell, I expect 2 or 3 very tough years for us all, followed by a life time of contentment and happiness – and I can’t wait to get on with it As things stand at the moment, I’m waiting for my LMO, which should be here in a couple of weeks. With a bit of luck I’ll be in Canada a couple of weeks after that – I hope to see you there. My next post should be a progress report.

Some of my readers will be interested to hear how the rest of my trip to Texas went after the breakdown, so here goes.

It took them most of the day Wednesday to diagnose the problem with the truck.  Finally about mid afternoon, after much consultation with Detroit Engines over the phone, they determined what was needed was an injector valve.  Only problem was they didn’t have one in stock and the nearest one was in Memphis.

If they had ordered it as a regular stock item, it would come via ground freight and likely not show up until Monday.  Or, I could pay the air freight, and they would ship it overnight. Duh. Not much choice if you ask me.  So then arrangements were made for the shuttle from the Quality Inn to pick me up.  That took a couple of hours and a second phone call but eventually I was checked in for the night.

The lady at Freightliner had told me this was a good motel, firstly, for the special trucker‘s rate, and secondly,  because there were several choices of places to eat nearby.  So once I had stowed my gear in the room and turned on the air-conditioner I sallied forth to find me some growlies.

What I really had in mind was some authentic Mexican food but I soon found out that was not to be.  After chatting with a fire fighter who was standing by a fire engine a couple of blocks up the street, I found out, that for some strange reason that even he couldn’t explain, all the local taco joints close up at 3:00 in the afternoon.  And as if in proof, I passed at least two of them that had CLOSED signs in the windows.

Well having found nothing but fast food joints in one direction, I turned and headed back the other way past the motel, and eventually found a Bill Miller Bar-B-Q.  By now I was suffering greatly from the heat, so I was eager for the chance to get inside with the A/C and sit down, no matter what the food was like.

Well this place was only one step up from a fast food joint.  Food was picked up at the counter, served on disposable foam plates and paid for at the cashier before you can  go and sit down.  Aside from that the food wasn’t too bad.  I had a combination plate of sausage and beef brisket.  This included baked beans, cole slaw, fried potatoes, onions and pickles, sweet iced tea and apple pie for desert.

Following supper I returned to my motel room and spent the evening working on my websites.  The free breakfast provided the next morning was excellent.

It was mid afternoon the next day before the truck was ready, (I won’t bore you with all my agonizing over the delay). My Laredo load had already been put off a day, and my dispatch was anxious not to have to call the customer with more delays.  However, once I got on the road I wasted no time in high tailing it south on I-35 and by that evening I was loading mangoes.

The load had been brought across the border from Mexico by a Mexican truck and driver, which backed into one loading dock, while I back my trailer into the dock right beside it, and the load was transferred onto my trailer.  There was a US Customs officer on hand to cross all the T’s and dot all the I’s and within a couple of hours I was once more northward bound.

Everything went more or less smoothly for the rest of the trip including the stop at US Customs in Detroit to get the transit bond cancelled after the load was x-rayed.  Sunday night I delivered the load in Cambridge, Ontario, end of story.

Hello All!
Yesterday (12 April 2009) a truck driver from England, Ian Sayer posted a comment in response to my post on Top Ten List. I liked what he had to say and how he said it, so promptly invited him to post some articles describing
trucking in his part of the world.

He quickly complied and here is part one. By the way, please take a few seconds to vote in our poll on the right of this screen. I would like to invite other drivers around the world to contribute to this blog but will
leave it up to the majority of my readers to decide how often this happens.

Hello everyone, and greetings from England.

Recently I made a comment on this site, and Grumpy very kindly asked me to submit a few articles on the differences in truck driving over there and over here.

Many European drivers have made the great leap across the Atlantic, and most love it. Yet, sadly, some simply can’t handle it, and the main reason is the MASSIVE culture shock they encounter when faced with the realities of what they’ve committed themselves to.

The most obvious difference is, of course, the vehicles. The American makes are rarely seen on our roads, although some are used as wreckers or show vehicles. Common over here are Volvo and Scania from Sweden, MAN and Mercedes-Benz from Germany, Renault from France and Iveco from Italy.

Because of the small, crowded nature of the British Isles, our trucks haveto be more compact than yours. Standard sized semi-trucks (or artics, as we call them) are about 55 feet long, and maximum weight is around 97,000 lbs running on 6 axles.

Because of the overall length restriction, we use “cab over” type vehicles, as this allows us longer trailers. Driving cabs are wider, but sleeper berths are much smaller than yours – generally a 24 – 30 inch wide bunk, directly behind the seats.

Engine sizes are broadly similar to yours, but our emission and noise limits are much tighter, and fuel is much more expensive, so we pay greater attention to economy. Aerodynamics and streamlining are important. We stopped using constant mesh transmissions long ago, and names like Eaton and Fuller are consigned to the history books now. The majority are syncro-mesh, and automatics are growing in number all the time.

We also have the Tachograph. All commercial vehicles, including vans, light trucks and buses are fitted with tachographs, which records all the informationyou would write in your log books, plus information about your speed. Since 2006 we’ve had digital tachos that record all the information onto a small plastic card, similar to a credit card, with a memory chip on it. We simply insert it into a small unit in the truck (same size as a radio) at the start of the shift, and remove it at the end. Once every couple of weeks, we take the card into the office, and download it into the computer, which stores all the information for 2 years.

The main purpose of the tachograph is to record our hours of service. Police officers and government inspectors carry card readers, so you can be checked at the roadside, and the penalties for infringements can be severe – up to £2000 fine or 2 years imprisonment, so we take it very seriously!

The big disadvantage of this system is there is no ability to “run over” by 10 minutes or so, say, to get to the truck stop or reach a customer. If you calculate the time you need, you’re screwed, and the details are stored for 2 years, so there’s a good chance you’ll be found out.

Oh, I nearly forgot – speed limiters. It seems that more and more of you are getting them, but we’ve had them since 1988 and it took a lot of getting used to. 56 mph is as good as it gets for us. The worst thing is trying to overtake a truck who’s limiter is set 1 mph lower than yours – it takes ages!

That’s all for now. I’ll write again soon and tell you about life on the road over here, and the day-to-day problems we face.
Take care

Ian

photo credit: Ack Ook

When I first started this blog it was with the intention of sharing my incites and opinions after 37 years out here on the road.
I was under no delusions that I could attract millions of readers or join the ranks of the top bloggers on the internet today or any day.
I did hope however I could attract a large enough readership to make my efforts seem worthwhile.
Slowly but surely that dream is coming true. I’ve wanted to write since I was old enough to string together a sentence. The first story I remember my mother reading to me (there were many others I don’t remember) was “The Little Engine That Could”. It was printed in the farm publication “The Western Producer” back in the early 50′s. Mom cut it out and kept it near my bed. I made her read it to me every night for weeks until the clipping literally wore out. By then, however, we both knew it by heart and I could correct her if she missed a word or a line.
I remember at the age of four or five huddling on a bed in a darkened room with half a dozen cousins, telling wild fantastical stories that I made up as I went along. I have no idea if the stories were actually good. But I was thrilled that my cousins listened so intently and kept encouraging me to go on.
Maybe that’s all any of us need is an audience. Someone to nod their head and encourage us to go on.
I don’t expect everyone to agree with every word I write. Sometimes a difference of opinion can influence or even alter the opinions I hold. Sometimes they only serve to solidify my opinion. Either way the exchange of ideas and opinions is a good thing.
My audience is slowly growing, and I want to share that audience with all of you. Please take a moment to comment on any of my posts.
As much as possible over the years I’ve tried to pattern my life after the Little Engine That Could. I think I can, I think I can, I think I can! I thought I could, I thought could, I thought I could!

PS. I have removed the requirement to register on the blog in order to make a comment. I hope this will encourage more of you to join in the discussion.

I understand that Top 10 lists are very popular. They may possibly be overdone, but if Letterman can get away with it, so can I.  Here are the 10 things I hate most about over the road trucking.

1. Tailgaiters. These people in my opinion are the biggest potential killers on the road. Why they think their day is going to get better by following scant feet behind another vehicle boggles my mind.
2. Automatic toilets that flush while you’re still on them. I understand that a lot of people these days are too ignorant or lazy to flush after themselves, but I also know there is a need to conserve water. Flushing three times before your even finished can’t be helping the water supply.
3. People who think speed limits, signal lights and dimmer switches are meant for everyone else but consider themselves above those sorts of things.
4. The shortage of truck parking in many parts of North America. Its all well and good to pass all these hours of service regulations but if I can’t find a safe place to park when my logbook says I have to, what good are they?
5. Restaurants, especially in truck stops, who think we should all have the appetite and capacity of Paul Bunyan. Very few make it easy to eat healthy on the road. And why do some of them think that beef is the only meat on the planet?
6. Dispatchers who tell lies. I’d rather be told something I don’t like and know its the truth, than be told something I want to hear and find out later it was a lie. The good thing I discovered is that dispatchers only lie when they move their lips.
7. The US government paranoia on security. First we needed a FAST card which we were assured would make the border secure.  $80.  Then we needed a TWIC card to assure security in the ports. Same information and data as the FAST card. $132. Now as of June 1st we’ll need a passport. Same information as the two cards already in our possession. Another 100 and some bucks and a huge hassle to acquire. When will it be enough? None of these measures are any guarantee of anything. Just a money grab.
8. People (mostly truck drivers but tow truck drivers too) who think it’s OK to talk gutter talk and obscenities on the public airwaves of the CB radio.  Would they talk that way if a young child was sitting on the seat beside them? Probably some of them would, as they seem to have no scruples whatsoever.
9. Driver’s who ignore the fact that I’m running out of driving lane in front of me and my signal light has been on for a mile already.  I don’t know if they’re born inconsiderate or just don’t see anything that’s not directly in front of them.
10. Drivers who have no regard for lines in a parking lot, and park wherever and however they please.  Whatever happened to plain old garden variety consideration for others?