Video summary
The video documents a truck driver's journey from the Ontario-Manitoba border toward Green Bay, Wisconsin, following an emotionally difficult night where he put his aging horse to sleep due to failing health issues. After arriving late at a rest area because of full parking lots and exhaustion, the driver sets out for another long day with twelve pieces of cargo secured under tarps that require extra straps to prevent them from catching wind. He notes that despite being on schedule, the road ahead is filled with distractions, including aggressive tailgaters in minivans who follow him closely regardless of safety concerns or heavy deer populations nearby. The driver expresses frustration with these drivers but resolves not to let their behavior ruin his day, maintaining a firm stance on ignoring them while continuing his route through varying weather conditions and traffic situations.
As the journey progresses, the driver makes brief stops at local businesses like Suit & Arrow for supplies before encountering significant environmental challenges caused by massive forest fires in Ontario. The smoke from these wildfires has drifted across Lake Superior, creating poor air quality that lingers even after crossing into Wisconsin, where street lights on a bridge were unexpectedly out but functioned properly once the border was crossed. This detour through Fort Frances and Duluth highlights the severity of the situation, with visible smoke obscuring visibility and smelling strongly of bonfires. The driver reflects on how climate change has made summer wildfires an annual occurrence rather than a rare event, expressing sadness that nature's beauty is increasingly compromised by human-caused or lightning-induced fires that often escalate into arson cases.
Upon reaching Dover, Wisconsin, the driver finds temporary relief from the worst of the smoke but acknowledges that Green Bay may still be affected as he plans to sleep at a rest area near a McDonald's before driving until sunrise. He shares observations about local landmarks like Dunkin' Donuts and recalls a previous incident where his trailer tire was replaced by helpful locals, emphasizing community support along his route. Throughout the video, he balances practical updates on navigation with personal reflections on life as an independent trucker who acts as host, producer, and editor of his own reality-style vlog without scripts or lines. The narrative concludes with him preparing to rest after a grueling day driven by necessity rather than leisure, hoping for clearer air tomorrow while inviting viewers to discuss the growing frequency of wildfire smoke in their comments section.
Read the full video transcript
Oh, that's bright. That's bright. There
it is. Good morning, everybody. I'm here
at the rest area at the border of
Ontario and Manitoba. Got here late last
night. Last night was that very hard day
when we had to uh
put Weiner
put Weiner to sleep. He was old. He was
tired and his heart was failing. He
actually didn't even have enough uh
blood pressure to stay conscious.
uh towards the end there while he was
standing up. So
that was yesterday and uh [sighs] we're
back at it today.
Everyone seems to be gone already cuz I
got here a little late. So let's get
going. I'm still on time. Don't worry,
I'm not late. But this is where I had to
park cuz all the parking was full when I
got here last night. I was tired. I had
to shut [music] down. I couldn't go any
further. But I got far enough that uh I
can get to my [music] destination, get
loaded and get to my destination or very
close to it tonight. Yeah, [music] we're
going to Green Bay, Wisconsin. After we
get loaded,
[music]
>> [music]
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>> Off we go.
Now turn right.
Got to get this windshield washed today,
don't I?
Well, it's not the prettiest, but it's
tarped.
This is going down to Green Bay.
Got 12 pieces in there.
Little bit all over the place, but I
think it'll be fine. I know it'll be
fine.
I'm just going to throw one strap over
here to hold this tarp in place cuz
they're barely over overlapped at all
here by about a foot foot and a half
right here.
Quickly throw a strap over that there.
Then the I don't have to worry about the
tarp sliding in the back tarp catching
wind turning into a big bubble behind
me. That's always fun.
>> Long day ahead today. We'll be driving
into the night.
Should be able to get unloaded tomorrow.
Well, I have to get unloaded tomorrow.
And then we head down to Indiana. Got a
load of utility trailers down there to
pick up. And I've once again got a
minivan so far up my rear end, I can't
even see. I know they're back there
because I can see the shadow of their
vehicle coming out from behind my my
truck.
a minivan, you would expect, you know,
that's probably a family inside there.
Who tailgates a semi-truck like that
with their family in the car, right?
Makes you want to judge what kind of
people they are? Makes you want to,
right?
Aren't you worried about your kids in
the background? Like
a lot of deer out here.
be really bad if one jumped out in front
of me and I hit the hit the brakes or
something happened and they smoked the
back of me, right?
Whatever. It's their choice.
We have oh 10 hours to go today yet. I
have 10 hours available to me. Oh, here
he comes. Here he comes. Give her bud.
Give her. Give her. Give her. Give her.
There you go. You happy now? God forbid
you have to do the speed limit. God
forbid. What an awful day. I just ruined
his whole day. I made him do the speed
limit for like 3 minutes.
Man, I'm an awful person. I know. I
know. Probably making a YouTube video
about me right now talking about this
crazy truck driver going the speed
limit. How dare he? How dare he
inconvenience me?
Oh, well,
better than being on the other part of
YouTube.
Uh,
so I'm going to stop in at uh suit and
arrows up ahead here at our friend's
store.
Trade some money for some stuff and then
we'll be on our way. Very few stops
planned for today. Very few. As few as
possible.
Just got to go go.
It's going to be a good day though.
Other than that minivan and the next
family vehicle that's behind me
tailgating me now. You just got to
ignore that cuz if you let them ruin
your day, your day is going to be ruined
every day.
They can do whatever they want back
there. I'm going to do whatever I want.
Right here
we got another one.
American plates.
That's bold.
It's coming into Sunaros.
Water off to the side here. Got water
off just on the other side of us, too.
Just behind the bush.
There's tons of lakefront properties in
this area.
Maybe, just maybe one day,
our name will be on one. Maybe.
We'll see.
Probably not, but I'm not going to count
it out. It It might happen.
Okay.
Heat.
Can't get rid of those two big bug
splats right there. Here
we are. Trading post
up ahead on the right.
Looks busy. Wow. Good. Good for them. I
hope they're doing well.
Pull right in here into our parking
spot.
There we go.
[sighs] Yeah,
I need a good coffee.
The weather's much better now than it
was the past week. The past week it was
so hot. And don't take that the wrong
way. Not complaining. Much better than
so cold. But
woo. Still it was noteworthy. It was
hot.
We were talking like
I think it got up to 38 Celsius
plus the humidity.
Yeah, it's what around 100 Fahrenheit or
so. A little over 100 Fahrenheit
somewhere in there.
with the humidity. It was just
surprised all of Canada didn't just
melt.
I guess technically it already has cuz
where we're driving right now used to be
under an ice sheet that was 2 miles
thick. Think about that. From the ground
where we're on right now, 2 miles up,
that's how thick the ice was
not too long ago, like a few thousand
years ago.
And the water that you see to our left
over there and our right and all around
us, that's that's the melt water from
that ice, it melted, drained away, and
this is what's left over here.
It's pretty cool when you think about
it, right? So, yeah, I guess Canada
didn't melt at one point. I'm kind of
glad that it did. Now I can live here.
be kind of hard living on the top of a
two-mile ice sheet. Imagine how long it
had to snow for two miles of ice to
gather up.
What happened, right? Like what
happened?
Be so cool to have a time machine just
to sort of go back and see like how did
that happen?
This is our detour in Fort Francis.
Looks like someone got pulled over right
at the
right at the intersection here. And I'm
going to need this whole space. Oh, wow.
There's a lot of cops here. Thanks.
>> Move recalculated. Now turn right.
>> Terrible spot for this to happen for me.
I can do it. I can do it. There's no
problem.
200 m. Turn right onto Cornwall Avenue
and then turn left.
>> No problem.
Look at that.
Wonder what happened there. Somebody's
getting a big spank and three cop cars.
Been a bad bad boy.
Give him one of one of these.
More than a spanking.
>> Turn right and [clears throat] then turn
left at the next stop sign onto Third
Street West.
Got to make sure that the next traffic
light continues straight ahead onto
Central Avenue.
>> Be quiet.
Got to be sure nobody comes in beside me
around this corner. Otherwise, my
trailer is going to squish them.
And then I take this lane. There we go.
The cars always get confused.
>> Now continue straight ahead.
>> That's great. That's nice. I know where
I'm going. Karen,
take the night off.
We're here in Duth, Minnesota, and it is
really smoky out here. I think this is
the smoke from the big forest fire up in
Ontario.
Trying not to heat up my brakes too much
going down this steep hill,
but
yeah, it's uh I don't know if the
camera's picking up the smoke. I know my
windshield's also very dirty,
but it's
the air quality here is really not
great.
Like, look at this smoke around the
street lights. I don't even know if the
camera's picking it up, but that's not
fog that you see around it there. That's
actual smoke.
So tired of there being wildfires every
single summer.
>> Every summer.
>> I don't remember it being like this ever
until a couple of years ago.
But anyway, we're going to go up over
the bridge here into well from Duth,
Minnesota into Superior, Wisconsin.
This is a dark bridge. These street
lights here aren't even working.
Thanks,
Up, up, and over.
Yeah, I think this bridge is supposed to
be lit up. I don't know what's going on.
Yeah, all these street lights are out,
man. I was going to show you the bridge.
Oh, the street lights are on on the
other side of the bridge.
Wisconsin's got their power figured out
right here. We cross into Wisconsin and
this is where the this where the traffic
lights start working. I don't know
what's up with Minnesota.
I got energy issues over there, I guess.
>> Keep right.
>> Welcome to Wisconsin.
>> Thank you. How nice. Got any cheese for
me?
Wisconsin, the land of cheese.
So, we're going to go up to Green Bay
for the night. And I'm really really
hoping that uh the air is going to be
better in Green Bay cuz I don't know if
I could sleep with this.
I could, but it'll probably stuff me up
quite a bit.
But just over the bridge here is where I
uh just off to the right.
>> Keep right onto North Third Street.
>> Like off to the right down there. Uh,
that's where I got my tire replaced on
my trailer when I had a flat.
I don't know if you guys remember that
video or not, but
so far so good. Today we have no flat
tires. Knock on wood.
>> In 400 meters, keep right onto North
Third Street.
>> North Thirdrd Street. Okay, this guy's
coming up here with his high beams on.
Should I give him mine? No. I'll be
nice. I'll be nice cuz there's a guy in
front of I don't want to blind
everybody. Turn your high beams off.
I'll just give them a stern look and wag
my finger at them.
>> Now keep right.
>> My pointer finger, not the other finger.
That one's reserved for people who
really deserve it. Believe me, it gets
used. It's It gets its fair amount of
use.
>> In 150 m, turn right onto North Third
Street.
>> See, now uh if I turn left here instead
of right, just around the corner over
there is that tire shop.
>> Now turn right. They helped me out. They
were really nice there.
What was it called again? I know how to
get there. I just forget what it was
called.
Which way am I supposed to go now?
Straight. Right.
Yes. this way. Okay, that's what I
thought.
This will take us on to uh US 53 south
and US2 east
all the way out to Green Bay.
Heat. Heat.
Heat.
So, we're on the south side of Lake
Superior right now. The north side is
Canada, obviously, and that's where
Thunder Bay is, and the the forest fires
are up that way on the other side of the
lake. So, all of the smoke is obviously
carried all the way across the lake to
here.
What can we do?
It's sad that most forest fires that
happen nowadays, it eventually ends up
being arson
or a lightning strike or something
something like that. But arson's the
worst one. Like, who does that? Why?
Hey, look to Dunkin Donuts on the right.
Dunkin Donuts. They're coming to Canada.
I'm gonna buy their coffee when they get
there.
It's a nice night. It looks like the
lighting has fixed itself on my camera
now. I don't know what was up with it
before. That last clip as we were going
over the bridge, it was so dark, right?
I think I got it fixed now. Sorry about
that.
Must have had the settings wrong then or
something. I don't know. There's so many
settings on these go on these uh
Instagram 360s. Almost called it a
GoPro.
And I got to be very careful that when I
switch positions of the camera when I
stop that I change all the settings
right away too to be prepared for that
shot. Otherwise, that shot is just it's
not always wrecked. I can still use it.
But well, you saw it in my last clip
though. The lighting was a lot worse
than this.
And then I got to just deal with it cuz
I can't go back and relive that moment
of my life. I'm not going to drive back
over the bridge and then come back over
just to film it again. That's
unrealistic.
Wouldn't be a realistic vlog then. It
would be more like of an acting gig
then. And this isn't acting. This is
just me. Just me talking. Whenever I
turn on the camera, I have no idea what
I'm going to say. No lines, no scripts.
I just talk.
That's what it's supposed to be. It's
supposed to be an actual real reality
show. This is just me. I'm the uh I'm
the actor if you want to call me that. I
just said it's not acting. It's not
acting. I'm the uh the host,
the producer, the editor, and the
publisher.
Looks like we're coming up to a
bit of a town here.
I think they have a truck stop in here
somewhere. Is it by that McDonald's? I
don't know.
I've been through here several times.
It's one place that I like to stop at. I
thought it was like a Casey's or
something or a Quick Trip, but they had
truck parking. I'm just going to go on
through. I don't want to stop anyway. I
just want to get to the end of my day,
shut her down, and get out of this
smoke. I have a feeling Green Bay is
going to be just as smoky, though,
unfortunately.
We'll see what happens.
This was going to be my halfhour break.
I'm at a rest area here in Wisconsin,
uh, in a town or area called, uh,
[snorts]
Dover.
I think that's how you pronounce it. Do
D O V R E, Wisconsin.
It's still a little smoky out here, but
it's not as bad as it was in Duth.
Can still smell it. It smells like
bonfire.
But it's late. Oh, hey,
that white truck over there
got loaded at the same place as me at
the same time. We were even in the tarp
bay together. Well, what do you know?
He's going this way, too.
And there I am. There's a pretty good
spot though. Hey, like right front row,
right in front of the building at the
rest area here. Pretty fancy.
Take for a walk back here.
I really want to keep going, but it's
just I'll be driving till the sun comes
up, and I don't want to be on that much
of a night schedule. I I have trouble
falling asleep when the sun's already
shining.
So
to bed, here we go.
I wanted to get further away from Duth,
further away from the smoke. Starting to
get really depressing how every summer
is being ruined by wildfire smoke.
Like at home there's no smoke right now,
but it's it's in Ontario.
Like, let me know down below in the
comments section, guys. Was it always
like this every summer?
Was I just a kid and just, you know, as
a child, didn't really pay attention to
it, didn't notice it. I just I don't
remember there being smoke everywhere
and wildfires everywhere every single
summer growing up.
Now it's every year. Every year. I was
just thinking to myself the other day,
I'm like, it's kind of nice. We have
clear air, no wildfire smoke. Then I got
here,
what is going on? Then I looked at the
news and then I found about found out
about the fires up in Ontario. And then
my mom messaged me too. She saw where I
was and asked how the weather and if the
smoke was bad here. I was like, "Yeah,
it's getting pretty bad. What's going
on?" And I looked online and no kidding,
do you guys see the footage of that uh
that train that got like circled by the
flames? The train engineers were like or
the drivers were inside the train
filming outside and there was just like
wildfire all around them
and they were just sitting there in the
middle of it. It's crazy.
Why
Why does it have to [music] be like
this?
But I'm tired. I'm not going to think
about it more right now. I'm safe and
the air is decent. [music]
So, I'll talk to you tomorrow. Please
join me. Hit that subscribe button so
you don't miss it. [music]
See you then.
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