#3592 | VACATION OVER | My Trucking Life

Vacation time's over. It's always too short, isn't it? It's always too short. But we had a little over a week at home and uh you know, it was fantastic. It's just what I needed. I feel refreshed. I feel ready to get back to work and put a better foot forward. I really needed that break and that time with the family. So, I'll show you what we're working with right now. Same thing as usual. While I was on my uh sorry, while I was on my uh vacation, the truck and trailer was safety. So, I'm ready to go for the next year in that department. We're sitting here at the rest area in western Manitoba on the TransCanada. Man, they've lost a lot of trees here. Yikes. Another one here. There's some good firewood sitting right here. Just noticed that now. I got here when it was dark. Got a little bit of a head start last night. We're ready to go. Heat. Heat. So, I had taken most of my stuff out of the truck for the safety, right? So, they didn't have to deal with all my mess and clutter in here when they're moving the truck in and out of the shop. And, uh, got it all back in last night. Got it all organized. At least the stuff that I took out. I still got to, uh, organize a few of the shelves up there, but that's I don't know if that's ever going to happen. I keep saying, "Oh, I got to do it. I got to do it." And then there's days like today. Again, like a normal day, no rush rush, just a rush. Every day is a rush. And uh that's just the way it is. You got to find time to take care of things in the meantime, right? Including your mental health. And this last vacation was exactly what I needed. It's uh it's been a big year. A big year for us. Um, no, we had lost three out of the four dogs that we had in the past couple of years, and we lost Weiner a few weeks ago, and we just, uh, we're down to Chevy. Thank God we still have Chevy. He's he's a good boy. But, uh, there was that. Plus, uh, Micah was born a year ago. He's now a year old. You may have seen the birthday video already. I'm not too sure. I I put something together. Uh, and the first, you know, 6 months of his life were harder than the first 6 months of Theo's life. But man, has it been rewarding now cuz now we got Theo and Micah. And Micah has begun walking while I was at home. He can take about 15 to 20 steps already. I'm thinking maybe by the time I'm home from this trip, he might be he might be running already. I don't know. He's learning so fast. Just what I needed. We went to Tinker Town. on. I made a video of that as well. And a lot of the days we just, you know, we relaxed at home. We had this little inflatable pool. We got back there, filled it up with water, put our feet in it, let uh Theo splash around in it a little bit. It was hot, but it was good hot. So, anyways, it's time to get back to work. Let's uh let's stop procrastinating here. It's we got to put our nose to the grindstoneone now, and we need to work hard for a while. So, come along with me. Don't forget to subscribe. Just about forgot about my coffee back there. I had it in the coffee maker still without a lid on it. That would have been a disaster if I rolled away like that. I've only done that once. Twice. Once was really bad, though. Full cup of coffee everywhere. Why does this seat belt feel so weird now? What did they do to it? Did they give me a new seat belt? No, this is still my old seat belt. Feels weird. What's going on? Why is it so high up here? Let me move this guy. They they didn't mention a new seat belt on my invoice for the safety. So, no, it's just I'm just not used to sitting in this seat, I guess, after how much time did we have off? Seven, including the weekends. 10 10 days or so. It was it was going to be seven days, but I think it got stretched out into 10 because I forgot the first weekend in August is a long weekend. And uh we were waiting on a part for my trailer and uh figured we'd give it a little while longer to get that part in, but all is good to go now. All right, ladies and jelly beans. You guys ready? Let's rock and roll. Not counting me driving about an hour or whatever or 45 minutes yesterday to get here. This is the official end of summer holidays. This uh it's time to go. >> I got to tell you though, >> excuse me. She's already back to interrupting me. I got to tell you, this seat that we put in here has been a miracle worker. My back is 99% better after just a few weeks of sitting in it. Absolutely incredible what a difference a seat can make. So, to catch those of you up that don't watch my videos every day, uh, I bought a new seat for my truck. I was having severe back problems to the point where I couldn't stand for more than 30 minutes at a time in my lower back, right above my tailbone. It was so bad. I was going to see the chiropractor. I was thinking I might need to go see massage therapist or something, like a doctor to find out what's going on, get some X-rays. I thought I had some serious problems, which I did. I did have some serious problems. It was really, really bad. Never had any pain like that before. Everyone kept telling me, "It's your seat. It's your seat." But the thing is, when I was in the truck, I had no pain. When I was sitting in my my old seat, I had no pain. Well, I was not that I was being stubborn. I wanted a new seat, but I was putting it off a little bit because I I thought it might be something else. And a new seat was kind of expensive. Like, we paid about $2,000 for this one. But eventually, my wife actually laid down her foot and says, "You need to go get a seat." Like, when we paid our taxes, she's like, "We have this much money left over or whatever from our taxes. Go get a seat now." So, I went out. I found a good one. Went a little shopping. Uh, it's a Serta. No, it's a Bostonramm wide ride plus Serta seat. I think that's what they call it. And I've had it what, for a month now, that this whole week at home? Zero back pain. Like minimal, like 99.5% better. So, if you're having bad back pains after driving the truck or even when you're out of the truck, consider consider a new seat. It might just help you cuz it sure helped me fuel up the tanks before we go get loaded. I got to come back up here tomorrow yet. I got to have enough fuel to get there and back. You have reached your stop. Petro pass truck stop Canora on. The stop is on your right. >> That is definitely not my right. That would be my left, but thanks anyway. I just want to grab fuel so that uh I got about 12 hours of driving before I can get back up here. I could probably do the run twice without fueling, but I don't like uh I don't like running it that close. Even during summer, I usually fuel up every time if I can. Put myself on duty. Tell them I am fueling so that there is a legal record of it. put on my house hat so everybody knows who my friends are. You can find their link down below my video. I partnered with them for the next year. So, they're a really good company. They are. I've met them. Uh I actually got in their house hall of fame. Those of you who watched me for a while know this. But, uh yeah, I use their products all the time. And uh what? Oh, here it is. This time of year is still pretty warm. I probably put in house defender. This is diesel treat. Uh but you know, I have some diesel treat with me anyways just in case cuz once the weather starts getting colder, it could happen anytime. Up here in Canada, we could have a cold snap like that. I'm expecting it probably next month to get our first cold snap. But got to be ready cuz then you got to start moving over to diesel treat so that your fuel is uh ready for the cold weather. 509 lers or uh was likeund and some gallons 130 I forget. But uh fueled up. We're ready to go. Let's go get our freight. Everything's set. So I don't need this on. I got this uh headset from my father-in-law. This is his one that he was always using. It's actually a lot nicer than the one I had. Or is it the same? Oh, I got mine jammed in here. Whatever. Right there. Let's go make some money. Go make some money. Been spending a lot of money lately. It's time to go make some money. You're not making money, you're spending money. That is so true. In >> 250 m, keep right onto TransCanada Highway. Now keep right. We got loaded up and we're on our way. We're just pulling into Sonaros here. We're going to pull into our see our friends at the trading post. I need to get more cream for my coffee. I'm almost out. Should have got some while I was at home, but is what it is. At least I I can make my own coffee in the truck here now, right? But I still do need to have cream. I I can't drink my coffee quite black. Just a splash of cream. Just just a little splash. That's what I like. So, we're going to pull in here and uh be on our way. We don't want to waste too much time cuz I want to get down there as soon as I can. I'd like to catch up on some video work on YouTube, have some time in the evening to relax, and then we'll be up early tomorrow morning to get unloaded. I think they get there at uh 6:00, I think. 6:00 in the morning. And then uh on Saturday I'm spending the day with the kids. Brit has something to get to in the city. I believe uh she'll be gone for the most of the day, so it'll be just me and the boys at home. That'll be fun. I'm looking forward to that. I don't get them to myself that often where it's just me and the boys, you know. Usually I'm home on the weekends and we spend time as a family. So I don't want to just leave Brit at home and go do stuff. We always do stuff as a family, but Saturday I get to hang out with just them. And then Sunday we're going to Lake of the Woods. Spend some time there yet. Here we are. Gills Trading Post. Yeah, it's busy here today. Wow. Well, I guess it makes sense. It's summertime. This is their busy season. Ah, yes. I am off duty now. Not working. Don't bother me, government. Oh my god. Close my window. Shoot. I guess I could leave it open. But yeah, the flies could come in then. I left my window open at the shipper already, and two flies got in in that time. Still hunting them down. I know they're in here somewhere. Every once in a while they come and land on my leg or land on my arm. Just enough to bother me. Right. Just to remind me that they're in the truck, but I can't catch them. I got my fly swatter. Whoa. Right here with my Hopefully I can find them. This isn't a very good fly swatter cuz it it bends too easy. It's too bendy. I need one that's like stronger, like plastic or something. Whatever. It works though. I'm just the fly hunter. Well, here we are. Good old trading post. They have everything in there. And here's my load. This is what we loaded up here. So, it's 23 lifts in here. Actually, 8 footers. So, there's eight, 16, and five at the back here. Sorry, not five, seven. One less than the rows in front of it. And I've got a bungee over here that I should take care of. This is uh doesn't need to be there. It's not too bad. Not too bad. That's a good load. It's about 45,000 lbs of weight on my trailer. So, that's putting my gross weight of my Let's put that there. Putting my gross weight of my uh whole unit at about 79,500 lb. The good people of Minnesota decided to throw me another curveball this week and they closed a different section of Highway 6. Last week it was the bridge. The bridge is still closed, but now there's another part south of Deer River that's also closed. What is I think it's just south of uh Big Falls. Highway 6 from Big Falls South is closed way down to uh not all the way down to Crosby, but halfway down pretty much. So, they got us on this little loop detour on 169. And I don't know if I took the shortest way or not because it's my first time on this detour. I probably took the longer way. I'm about 30 miles from Brainard and Baxter. Minnesota, you've been keeping me on my toes this past year. If it's not the construction in South Minneapolis, it's the construction on Highway 6, south of Deer River. Now there's that bridge out north of Deer River. There's all the construction all over Brainard. You guys are getting like a whole new state. I'm happy for you. In their defense, pardon me, in their defense, they had lots of signs warning us that that road was going to be closed leading up to this. I just didn't do my homework and figure out where the detour would be. So, this is my first time following the detour. I just went through Aken, Minnesota. Now, having fun. First day back. Getting lost. I'm not lost. I know where I am. I just I think the detour took us back to six already and I went past that and now I'm just following 169 and this is just going to loop me right down into uh where I need to be in Brainard. And then I got to navigate all that construction there. And I don't know if that's changed in the last week or not while I was on holidays, but we'll figure it out. This is what we do, right? This is this is the fun part of it. At least it's not the same thing every time. That gets boring. Thank you, Minnesota, for keeping my job interesting. Switching it up on me every second week. I like it. Good job. But seriously, you're going to have like a whole new state by the by the looks of it. Everything's getting rebuilt. You want to come and rebuild Manitoba when you're done, please? We're just rolling into Crosby and I'm pretty sure that there's a bypass that I could have taken to go around this town cuz you guys tell me about it all the time. Every time I go through here, why do you go through town? You could have gone around. I know. I forget every time. Some cyclists on the road up ahead. I think hard to tell from here. They're not wearing any reflective gear and no lights. >> In 400 m, use the left lane and turn left onto Third Avenue Southwest. >> Oh yeah, cyclists. Ah, they were showing off for the girl on the sidewalk there. That's what's going on. Careful, guys. I'm coming up behind you. Definitely showing off for the chick on the sidewalk. Go get him, guys. I would have done the same thing when I was younger. Hey, look, a pretty girl. Quick, do >> left. >> Now, if it impressed them or not, who knows? Probably not. But hey, I tried. Hey, I'm married, aren't I? Something must have worked. I ended up catching a good one. >> When you're young, that's a big part of life, right? You got to impress the ladies. It's just when when you're that young, you don't really know how to impress the ladies. You don't know what really impresses the ladies. At least I didn't. But you try. You try everything, right? Try it all. Trial and error. Figure out what works. The point is you're trying, right? You got to try. Shoot your shot, man. Take a swing. See what happens. See if you can get her attention. And if you can, see if you can hold their attention. That's the hard part. Getting their attention is pretty easy. It's all you got to do is make a little scene. You got their attention. Now, hold on to their attention, right? This is lessons I'm going to be teaching my boys one day. Not that I'm any expert in it, but like I said, I'm married, so something must have worked. Caught myself a good one. I have years of wisdom. I can at least tell them what doesn't work. I can share with them everything that doesn't work. Maybe it'll work for them though. I don't know. We'll see. We got some time yet, right? Theo's only three. Slow down, Josh. Slow down. It's not going to be chasing the ladies for a little while yet. But you got to get them ready, right? Got to be picky. Find the one you like. Take a swing, man. See what happens. I think that would be my my biggest advice. We'll see. In like Well, he's three now. So, when's he going to start being interested in girls? Around like 15, 16. I That's when I started getting interested in girls. 15 somewhere in there. And, you know, start coaching them along a little bit. The best best advice that I'd have is take a swing, man. Give it a shot. What's the worst she can say? No, that sucks. Rejection sucks. Yeah, but 100% of the girls you don't swing for are a no. Okay, that that's I'm not saying go and swing at everyone, man. Be smart. You don't want to be a player. I don't know what I'm talking about. I'm no expert in this stuff. What do I I'm lucky I got the wife I got. I have no idea how I got her to be honest with you. I have no idea. I'm glad I did though. I'm glad I convinced her to marry me. Convince her to date me and marry me. Who did I get lucky? Man, I am h I probably wasn't like uh you know an allstar getting girls attention and stuff. I was more of a dork I think. I don't know. I don't know. I just didn't ask questions. I took a swing. She said yes. And I didn't ask questions. I'm like, "Yeah, yes is a yes. Yes is a yes. Don't don't think about it too much, you know. Just just just take the yes." And I married her. Oh, I was so happy when that happened. That was Britt is uh she's changed my life for the better. I definitely got very lucky. Very, very lucky. We have our issues like any couple does, but the fact that we can work through them so quickly no matter what they are, I think that's what's amazing about her. Like we have some pretty good fights sometimes and we can usually make up and make things right before we go to bed. Well, here we roll into the brainer mess. Oh, they made this really narrow here. What is this? What is this? I can make it. I can >> use the right lane and turn right onto 8th Avenue Northeast. >> Just scooch right on through there. Look at this. This is all paved now over there on the other side of the barrier. Wow. Oh, that means we're going to get a drive on it soon. Wow. Very nice. Very nice. I won't have to go around this loop to doop here anymore. This guy's got his high beams on. No, wait. Just really bright lights. Never mind. So, we're going to go around our little uh detour and uh find ourselves at the gates. And I'm going to try to get unloaded as early as I can tomorrow because >> recalculated. >> I have to run back for another one >> now. Turn right. >> Hold on. There's a red light. Karen, be so pushy. I can turn right on red. Right. Right. Yes. Where's this guy coming down here, though? I don't want to get in his way. Okay, he's going around there. All right. In 150 m, turn right onto 8th Avenue Northeast and then continue straight ahead. >> Now turn right and then continue straight ahead at the next traffic light onto 8th Avenue North. >> You know what, Karen? You're done. Turn her off. I know where I'm going now. Straight to McDonald's. I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. Though I would love a Big Mac. Actually, I'd love a double quarter pounder with cheese. No pickles. Fresh. A large fry. Also fresh. You know, if you want fresh McDonald's fries, you know what you do? Some of you may know this trick already. Ask for fries with no salt and then ask for salt on the side. Salt them yourself. They have to make you a new batch. Then you get fresh fries every time. This is our turn. Feel kind of bad rolling through this neighborhood at this time. But this is the detour. This is where we're supposed to go. I'll just try to keep the volume down. I don't really have a volume button on my truck, but if I keep my RPMs a little lower and don't, you know, don't floor it as quiet as I can be. Shh. Everybody's sweeping. They're all sleeping. Sh. There's a car coming. I'm going to have to wait for Oh, wait. He's He's waiting for me. Okay. What a nice guy. This guy flashed me so that I could come. Now I got to be quiet. Everybody's sleeping. We don't want to wake anybody up. Trigger Josh is sneaking through town. Sh. All right. Looks like this part here is pretty much done as well. Oh, I'm so happy this construction's almost done. You know, I paid for part of that road, right? I have to pay taxes to drive on these US roads. Fuel taxes. International fuel tax. That money is supposed to go to the roads. I don't know if it actually makes it there or not, but I do send my money in. They have taken it from me. So, you're welcome. We don't get to drive through here for free. Though, our neighbors are very nice. If we're going to use the roads, we still have to pay for the roads, right? All right. Now, how many trucks do we have in line in front of us? I see they're lined up all the way over here. One, two, three, by the looks of it. All right. Well, shouldn't take too long to get us unloaded in the morning and we'll be on our way. I'm just going to park back here along the side or maybe up there. We got this guy, that guy, and that guy. One, two, three. Yep, that's not bad. Maybe I'll just park up here. That'll work. Now I'm out of the way. Looks like Trevor is number one in line over there. What else do we got here? I don't know who these other guys are, but uh this is us here.