Video summary
The video follows trucker Flying Jay as he navigates the challenges of getting home before his children go to bed on Saturday, driving approximately 600 miles from Wisconsin through Minnesota and North Dakota. His primary goal is to avoid unnecessary stops while ensuring safety by checking his load every few hours, though he humorously notes that hitchhikers riding on his windshield are an unexpected complication requiring a quick stop at Loves Travel Stops in Fargo for fuel and a mandatory thirty-minute break before continuing westward toward Manitoba.
Upon arriving in Morris, Manitoba, the driver observes preparations for the annual Stampede rodeo while also noting ongoing construction to widen a bridge over the Red River. The narrative then shifts to Tuesday as he begins a new week with an empty trailer in Ontario, where he expresses concern about wildfire smoke affecting eastern Canada but notes that his location remains clear due to wind patterns. He reflects on the difficulty of fighting remote wildfires and thanks the firefighters battling these intense blazes before loading freight destined for Minnesota friends.
After successfully unloading at night despite initial gate concerns, Flying Jay takes time to showcase his new 2025 Extreme triaxle trailer, which has accumulated nearly 70,000 miles since its purchase in November. He highlights the advantages of this specific model, including its lightweight aluminum construction that matches tandem trailers in strength without flexing under heavy loads, and a high Gross Vehicle Weight Rating that allows for future hauling needs he currently does not utilize.
The driver concludes by explaining how the triaxle configuration provides significant operational benefits beyond simple capacity; it grants access to heavier freight markets unavailable to standard tandems and offers redundancy through lift axles that can be raised when empty or lowered in case of a flat tire, allowing him to rotate spare wheels without paying roadside fees. Despite being less recognized than major brands like Dorsy or Retinour, he praises Extreme for their quality workmanship and durability, emphasizing his satisfaction with the investment as he wraps up another productive day on the road.
Read the full video transcript
Good morning everybody. Another new day
has arrived. It's here. The sun came
back the very next day.
I woke up here in Black River Falls
right where uh I went to sleep
conveniently.
Trucks all ready to go. Trailer,
are you ready to go? That's the
question. That is the question. Doesn't
matter. We're going.
Buckle up.
This is the Flying Jay, exit 116, I94 in
Wisconsin.
This is a convenient place for us to
stop because it's uh within 1 day's
drive from home. So, it will be a full
day today and I'm going to try to get
home as fast as I can. I want to get
home before the kids go to bed. That is
the goal. So, there won't be much
stopping today. only our mandatory half
hour break about halfway through our day
or so and uh the the regular, you know,
bathroom breaks and such, but those
don't count.
We will be a going and a going and a
going. I do have to mark every couple of
hours though, just to check my load. So,
I will get out when I have to stop for
the bathroom, you know, check the load,
all that responsible stuff, you know,
but you get what I mean, right? No stops
today.
I want to get home. It's already
Saturday and I
am not at home on the back deck in our
screen room or our gazebo. We don't have
a screen room yet. We will have a screen
room one day.
Until then, we use what we got. Right.
So, I'm going to get back on the
highway, start heading west.
We have about 1,000 kilometers to home
or about 600 miles
and we are on runway 116 cleared for
takeoff.
and liftoff.
I've gone ahead and picked up a couple
hitchhikers.
They're riding on my windshield.
Taking them with me. They wanted a ride
up to Canada. So said, "Hey, I'm going.
Let's go.
What they don't know is I'm dropping
them off in Fargo up ahead here.
Going to stop at the Loves, grab some
fuel, and scrub them right off.
We're going to turn that into our
halfhour break. So, we're going to grab
fuel and then go find a parking spot,
hang out there for precisely 30 minutes,
not a second longer.
and then continue down the road trying
to get home tonight at a it's not going
to be a decent time, but trying to get
home before the kids go to bed.
We'll see. So far, we're doing all
right. We're doing all right.
We're on to the flat plains in western
Minnesota. North Dakota border is about
15 miles ahead of us.
I was hoping to just go straight up to
Drayton, North Dakota, and fuel there. I
won't have enough fuel to get there. Or
I might like I might be able to get
there. I just don't want to risk it. If
I run out of fuel, that'll just ruin my
day. Then I'll definitely not get home
in time to put the kids to bed.
Be a great day for sitting outside
though. Man, is it beautiful out.
My fuel light just came on.
>> Roof recalculated.
Now turn right.
>> You have reached your waypoint. Love's
travel stop number 353, Fargo, North
Dakota.
>> There you go. Just in case I forgot
where I was. Thanks, Karen.
This is going to be a quick fuel up and
quick break. 30 minutes we will be out
of here.
I'll take this last pump so I can just
sneak around to the parking spots off to
the left there once I'm done fueling.
Oh, but I can't because that is out of
service. The satellite pump is out of
service. Okay.
All right. Let's pick a different pump.
Nobody's behind me.
They have that yellow wrap on the
satellite pump here.
Just going to go on the other side of
this guy.
Oh, that one's closed, too. Oh, come on.
And that one's closed. And that one's
closed. What?
All the pumps are closed except for this
one. Fine. I'll take this one then.
What's going on here?
Why are all the pumps closed?
Let's start fueling.
451 so we can leave here at
5:21.
Right. Oh, I'm tired. I'm not really
tired. I'm just tired of sitting. Need
to get out.
This is Morris, Manitoba. I guess the uh
Manitoba Stampede is in town today.
Look at all these people. Every year I'd
like to go to this, but I can never make
it one of these years.
They got like rides and everything
obviously rodeo.
Got to make a point of going maybe once
the kids are a bit older.
It's like a small version of the Calgary
Stampede, though. The Calgary Stampede
is sort of uh not what it used to be. I
saw the videos from it this year.
Still pretty good. Most of it, I think,
but there's they're definitely changing
parts of it.
Well, they're getting getting there.
They're making progress here on this
bridge. This is the uh St. Agath
of Gath, right? Again, bridge going over
the Red River here in Manitoba.
They're making it actually quite a bit
wider.
Taking their sweet time getting this
done, but
That's the Manitoba Way.
Looks like they're doing a good job at
least.
I'm not a bridge engineer, so how what
would I know? Looks good to me.
We're just cutting across from Highway
75 on Highway 305
east towards Steinbeck.
It looks like it's not too late cuz the
sun is still up, but it is almost 9:00.
The kids are supposed to go to bed at
9:00 or earlier, but I think they are
getting to stay up late today, so I can
see them before they go to bed and they
can see me. I think we will see. It's
the weekend. It's uh I got no problem
with them staying up a bit later.
We got nothing to be up for in the
morning, I think.
Good morning everyone. It's the start of
a new week. Starting a fresh
empty trailer.
We're gonna get going. It's actually
Tuesday, but it's the start of a new
week. Yesterday I delivered that load
that of trailers that we had on the
truck from Indiana. Picked those up,
brought them in yesterday afternoon, and
I have to pick my next load up today on
Tuesday here. So, I'm here in Ontario in
Canada.
Thankfully, there's no big amounts of
wildfire smoke here. Uh this is
northwestern Ontario. The the wildfires
that are smoking out the continent right
now are probably about a few hundred
miles east of me. I guess the wind isn't
bringing the smoke this way. Thankfully
for me,
not so great for the people who have to
live in it right now.
Hopefully they get those things all
under control. They're burning so far up
north. It's so remote. It's very hard to
get up there. A lot of these fires,
there's no road access to get there.
It's hundreds, if not a thousand miles
from any town. You got to fly these
water bombers out there. And where do
you land them? I guess can you land a
water bomber on the water? I guess so.
because they they go into the water to
scoop up the water and then they So, we
got like a 100 or 150 or so water
bombers I I believe up there. There's
thousands of firefighters up there.
We're doing our best uh to take care of
that. So, if you guys know any of those
firefighters or if you're one of those
firefighters, thank you. Uh it's got to
be a tough job up there. It's uh very
remote and it' be a very tasking job.
Hopefully, you guys are doing okay. Be
safe. I'm going to do my job.
keep the economy rolling. Going to put
some freight up on here. We're going to
tie it down. I'm going to throw a tarp
over it and then we're going to take it
down to our friends in Minnesota. Let's
go.
Everything in here is a bit of a mess
still. Oops. Oops. There goes my shaver.
I didn't have time to shave and stuff at
home. Hoping I can find somewhere I can
clean myself up a little bit this week.
If not, it can wait till next week.
Right. My hair is getting too long
again. I don't like it getting this long
because I don't have very much left of
it right here.
But the temperatures have finally come
down. It's nice and cool outside. It was
nice to step out of the truck just now
and feel that cool air. We've had like
two weeks of just deathly hot, deadly
hot
humidity. I think you saw that in my
videos where you'd step out of the house
or out of the truck outside and your
glasses would just fog up. It's crazy.
So today is 15 Celsius where I'm
starting now. That is 60 fah. So bit of
a cooler day. It's going to be kind of
nice to get this truck loaded in this
cooler weather. I won't sweat so much
and uh
can enjoy it a little bit more. I do
enjoy my work. I don't enjoy sweating
buckets. But again, let me remind you
that is still better than freezing your
nigh nighs off in January in minus 30.
It's just two opposite extremes. I like
being right in the middle.
In 400 meters, turn right onto edge of
the wilderness.
It's that detour on Highway 6 here in
Minnesota. Still haven't fixed that
bridge. It's probably going to take a
while. It usually does with bridges. I
don't know how to build them, but
apparently it takes time.
>> Now turn right.
>> It's nice countryside back here.
Follow the road.
So, they're expecting me there in the
morning
to unload.
I'm hoping I can maybe get unloaded
tonight. We'll see if the gate's still
open when I get there.
If it is, fantastic. If not, well, I'm
actually in no rush tomorrow cuz my next
load is only scheduled to be picked up
the day after tomorrow. So, really, I
have all day. So, I'll get this off my
trailer in the morning and then uh
mosey on up to my next pickup about 6
hours away.
and wait there.
I'd rather get there tonight, though.
Then I can have all day tomorrow just
waiting.
A little bit of a slower week, I guess.
I have holidays next week, so I was kind
of hoping to fill up this week a bit
more, but it is what it is.
At least there's work to do, right?
>> Roof recalculated.
Why?
>> Follow the road.
This is Big Fork, Minnesota.
Not Big Spoon. No, it's Big Fork.
Not a single boat on the lake. What?
What are you guys up to? Why aren't you
on the water? It's a beautiful evening.
That is a missed opportunity.
Look at that. Look at that. The gate is
open.
Nice. We are getting unloaded tonight.
Good, good, good, good news.
Empty.
That turned out really well. Actually,
I've always been asked, why don't I film
every time I load or unload? Some places
I just can't film that process. Some
places I can. All depends on where I go,
right?
You just have to trust me. Once it was
there and then it was not. Just poof. It
was magic. That's what I'm trying to
tell you right now. It's magic. I just
snapped my fingers and poof. Freight's
gone.
Ah. Yeah. It's all a little short video
today. Just ran down, dropped that off.
We're running back up to Canora. I've
got to grab another one and bring that
down for the day after tomorrow. So, I
have some extra time.
See what we got on here.
111,534
km
on this trailer
plus a little bit more cuz I didn't have
the habometer on when I bought it. I
wish I did. I waited about a month
before I put it on. So, there's probably
about another 10,000. Probably close to
120,000 km.
That's uh what 700,000 miles. No,
700,000 miles. I'm talking 70,000 mi.
700,000 m. Can you imagine 700,000 mi in
one year? It hasn't even been a year
yet. I bought this last November,
man. But I'd be trucking. I'd have a lot
of money though if I could do that.
That'd be amazing. But it's been doing
really good. Uh it's the extreme. It's a
2025 extreme triaxle rear lift. I've got
a toolbox on each side like this. That's
where I usually like hold my tarps. Half
of it is my tools, half it's my tarps.
And uh I just put the tarps on the deck
this time because I'm going right back
where I'm going to need them right aways
and it's beautiful weather outside. I
didn't want to I just threw them on the
deck. I'll need them later.
Came with two risers with the trailer.
It's got an 11 ft step up here, but with
my risers here, these are both 6 in.
That adds an extra foot. So I have 12 ft
up here, 41 ft down here.
All in all, 53 ft trailer and uh
it's been doing really well for me.
I really enjoy it.
These extremes are known for their
lightweight.
So, this triacle is actually the same
weight as a lot of tandem two axle
trailers that you see rolling around
and it still holds the same strength. I
haven't had any issues with that. Uh
I've seen some reports where uh there's
too much flex that the necks aren't
strong enough on these step decks, but
I've been using this for almost a year
now. Never. You've seen my pictures when
I'm fully loaded with like 50,000 lbs
right here. No flex in the neck, very
little, just what you would expect from
an aluminum trailer. They've really
fixed that problem at Extreme.
Plus, it's a triaxle. So, it has a
$100,000
100,000 I can't talk. What's wrong with
me? 100,000 lb GVWR. So, this thing is
built to be 100,000 lb, including the
weight of the trailer, which is 11,500
lb. Approximately 11,400 lb.
That means I can put about 89,000 lb on
this trailer and that's what it's rated
for. Now, that's more weight than I'll
ever be carrying on the routes that I
do. Usually, all that I put on the
trailer is about 40 to 50,000 somewhere
on there. So, I'm nowhere near the max
capacity of this trailer, and that was
kind of my point of buying the triacle.
I wanted a trailer that was uh a little
bit of overkill for what I haul. I
didn't want to have to worry about uh
stressing out my trailer too much. And
the good thing about having a triacel is
it opens me up to a whole new freight
market as well. So let's say I'm sitting
in Toronto somewhere down in uh southern
Ontario or something where a lot of
steel is manufactured and there's no
tandem loads. Everybody down there's got
a flat back flat bed or a step deck
tandem and there's no loads for any of
them. But there's one load but it's
really heavy. It requires a triacle.
Guess who's getting the load and guess
who's getting moving?
Me. It can get me moving. It hasn't
hindered me at all weight wise hauling
any kind of freight anywhere.
It's just been a complete asset to me
having that extra extra axle back there.
For most of the time, I just have it
lifted anyways, which is underneath
here.
I can just go under here and lifter
lowered there. I might be installing a
lift on my front axle as well, which
will probably go here.
Then I can decide whether or not to lift
my front or my back. Or I could lift
both of them when I'm empty. I only need
to run on one axle. Then as you can tell
now, I just lifted it up. So the back is
off the ground ready to go. These tires
obviously will wear down a lot faster,
but I get to save these ones. Another
benefit of having this lift axle back
here is if I have a flat up here, as
long as I'm not hauling triacle freight,
I can lift this axle up. Switch the
wheels around and I got four spare tires
hanging behind my trailer right there.
Switch them around and fix them when I
have time, right? If I have a flat on
the road or something,
I don't have to buy a new tire right
there on the spot and pay those roadside
fees.
But anyways, I got to wrap this up. The
report on the trailer is it's been
fantastic for me. I have really uh
really been impressed. Extreme is a
brand that isn't as recognized as bigger
brands like uh you know Dorsy, Retinour,
uh Mac, those are all the big names, the
big boys on the block, right? And
Extreme is a newer newer company. I
believe they started up in I knew this
when I bought the trailer about a decade
ago.
They're doing good work, though. Good
work. One thing you got to worry about
uh be careful with with any aluminum
trailer is this uh top deck, the plating
can be thin. So, if you have any freight
that's kind of pokey, always put a block
of wood or something underneath it.
Otherwise, it might poke through.
You don't want that.
Anyways, guys, I'm in Keller, Minnesota.
We're going to start our next vlog now
from right here. I hope you all have a
great day. and I'll see you tomorrow.
Take care everybody.