I'm sitting at the Blue Water bridge waiting for my ACE to get accepted. I have a waste removal system for a chicken farm that delivers 2,500 mi away in the State of Washington. It's a whole bunch of skids, a tank, a frame, and a dozen of pipes. The good news continues today as noone at Stop #2 asked me to tarp it! Jeeze - I can' t believe my luck - if I had to tarp it, the tarps would be damaged for good. There are too many pointy edges and sharp corners.

Late yesterday night I was checking the DOT web sites for Montana, Idaho, and Washington to determine what's the minimum amount of tire chains I shall pick up at the next truck stop. Looks like I need at least ... 7 (!): 4 singles for the truck, 1 for the trailer and 2 spares (the spares are required by law). I wonder how much that'd cost :) No fear - VISA just doubled my credit limit (it pays to own a truck after all) so I'm going to charge everything. I'll deal with repayment problems later...

Performance Diesel Inc that makes an extrude honed manifold for my CAT is only 1,000 mi away from my destination in WA and I've been talking with them about shipping the thing to a UPS store in the town of my delivery. They're now looking into the compatibility of their super-manifold with my International-based CAT. I gave the CAT's serial number and Shaun, the salestguy from PDI said on the  phone, "International? Hm, ... we might have a problem." So, I'm still waiting to hear from him.

I made sure I understood what was on my truck in case Customs becomes nosey at the border, and the clerk at the shipper showed me a flyer with a picture: basically it's a silo (tower) that gets put on some 'legs' and frame and it stands vertically - as a missile - and all chicken *hit is collected in it (I wish I was kidding) and then every 2 or 3 days a truck brings a trailer under it and they load this waste in the trailer.  What a romantic load :) But hey, as long as someone is willing to pay the big bucks to transport this "*hit missile" almost 2600 miles across the country, with no tarping, and with the gross weight of about 5,000 lbs; I can haul it all day long. I hope they have another one for me in WA to take back to Canada :)

I picked up that steel ingot (10 ft long, 39,300 lbs) and this is almost the easiest load I've hauled ever:

• 1 piece
• no tarping
• round shape so it's easy to strap and chain it

I put 4 chains on it to be sure and also wanted to add a strap but the ingot was ... hot! They did some work on it right before I got it so I waited with the strap until the next morning, when I woke up Harborcreek TA near Erie, PA.

As I was driving on the Peace Bridge towards the Canadian side, my mortgage broker called saying she had some "information" regarding my application for a home loan. We agreed she'd call me back in 10 minutes as I was approaching customs booths.

She called back and the bad news was they could give me only $105,000 on a condo and up to $115k for a freehold apartment or house. Well, you cannot buy a house in a city like Guelph, ON for 115 grand, so that's the bad news. The good news was that as soon as my truck's monthly payment ($1,600) disappears in December 2010, they could give me much more money, enough to buy a pretty good house here. It's all about the debt ratio and how much debt you have compared to the income. The down payment would be 5%, that's the minimum they can go with, because I'm self-employed.

So, I've decided to wait with real estate investments till December 2010. Travelodge, Days Inn, and Best Western - here I come :) I plan on paying off some debts, saving money for the downpayment and then getting something nice, where I can ideally have an apartment or two for "mortgage helpers".

Another important conversation I had today was with the President of Aero-Kit, the rolling tarp place. He said it'd cost me $800 to have my name and words, "specialized transport service" painted on 2 sides and the flat of the tarping system. When we hang up it hit me: 800 bucks for 6 lines of text!

I called a graphics company MacKinnon uses for their truck and trailer lettering, and the guy on the phone said they can have it painted for probably less than $400. Hm ...

The problem with the lettering though - whether I do it through Aero-Kit or these fleet image guys - is that the sign will be non-removable. That's not what I want and I was under the impression that the sign will be made like a sticker of some kind, something that can be removed if - let's say - I decide to sell the trailer in the future.

I thanked the "fleet image" guy and called back Aero-Kit and left a message saying I wasn't going to put any graphics on the tarp after all. Brian called me back in half an hour and said it wasn't a problem and that I might want to put my name on the Nose Cone in the front of the system. Because it's made of plastic, the Nose Cone can accept a sign made as a sticker, so it'd be easy to peel it off in case I need to get rid of it.

So, the red tarp on the trailer will be bare, with no signs, but I might put an inconspicuous 10" by 8' sign with my name on the Nose Cone :)

I can't wait till January 16th! Brian says I'll have to drop the trailer off on Monday, January 4th because they'd prefer to have a couple of weeks to work on it, so that everything works like clockwork.

And you wouldn't believe where my next load is taking me. I'll take a picture tomorrow but it's a pretty light bunch of farm equipment (a "silo"?), something to do with chickens :) and it goes to ....... Washington State, some 2,600 miles away! How's that for December? I knew this month should bring in some good trips, but this is unbelievable. I am very excited.

I picked up this load in a small town in Ontario and I'll go across Canada and US to the western coast - they want me to deliver on December 7th.

And guess what? No tarp! Maybe they'll catch me tomorrow (I have to stop in London to pick up a couple of skids that go to the same place with this load) but so far nobody said anything about tarps.

My truck service was due in some 200 miles, and with this super-long trip ahead of me I decided to get the service done now at our shop where I shut down for the night.

I'm going to do some serious miles over the next few days, that's for sure. I hope they'll have a return load from Washington back to Ontario and I won't have to wait a week for it. Another thing, I've talked to Dispatch and told them I"d be trucking all through December, no X-mas holidays for me, and that I'll take 2 weeks off in the beginning of January. Dispatch asked if I'd be willing to switch to Dry Van temporarily if flatbed freight dries up and I said, "Sure". Who wants to tarp, chain and strap things in winter? Not me, at least not before I have my shiny red rolling tarp sitting on top of the Wilson Roadbrute.

I dropped the machines at a plant in Erie, PA this morning. Actually, it was more like early afternoon: the first guys that showed up with an average looking forklift weren't able to lift even the smallest machine :) They said their forklift was rated for 10,000 lbs and I know that machine weighs about 12,000 lbs. Since Machine #2 was even heavier they called machinery movers and we waited for them for a couple of hours. Well, not exactly "waited": I was busy putting away all the chains, straps, bungee cords, and then the forklift guys helped me to fold the tarps. The bad news is the big hole I patched up last time got opened and now I can't fix it myself.

I only need these tarps to last till the end of the year but it's unbelievable how many holes I've already had in 3 months!

The machinery movers showed up on a tilt-n-load trailer with a huge forklift sitting on the top. It was quite big, with 10 ft long forks, and it looked like it was built sometimes in 70ies - I'm not kidding. It picked up Machine #1 relatively easy, but it struggled with the heavier Machine #2 (the one at the end of my deck - see the pic in the previous post). I saw its rear wheels slightly moving up and down a couple of times ... This machine #2 was probably heavier than 14,000 lbs.

They moved all the 3 machines inside the plant where they'd be used to make some locomotive parts; and I got a reload some 60 miles away, still in PA.

I called the shipper on the phone to find out if I can get loaded earlier (the pickup was for 8:30 pm) but the phone number given in the load offer was out of service. I emailed Dispatch a simple question: "Do you have a WORKING phone number for my shipper in XXX?" Surprisingly, they did and when I dialed this new number I was actually able to talk to someone in the Shipping Dept. They told me I can come 2 hours earlier (6:30 pm) and that I was picking one piece of steel (probably shaped like a log), and it was 31,000 lbs.

So, I'm now looking for some dunnage around the Pilot Truck Stop off x. 99 on I-79 north of Pittsburgh, PA :)

November numbers

• revenue $12,772
• truck repair/servive $408
• fuel $3254
• laptop $85
• software $45
• all insurance $775
• (truck and trailer) interest $314.82
• licensing $150
• phone/internet $285
• bank fees $25
• visa fees $75
• line of credit fees $65
• sales tax (gst) credit $201

Why I'm getting a rolling tarp system (November trip analysis for rolling tarp "friendliness")

Pickup/destination: Texas to Ontario
Load: utility trailers
Weight: 24035 lbs
Oversize: yes (2 ft in the front, 2 in the back
Tarped: no
Revenue: $1686
Rolling tarp friendly: NO :(

Pickup/destination: Ontario to Indiana
Load: marble stabs
Weight: 42,820
Oversize: no
Tarped: no
Revenue: $1645
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: Illionois to Ontario
Load: steel moulds (machinery)
Weight: 43,727 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (1 steel tarp)
Revenue: $1,012
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: Ontario to Ohio
Load: aluminum logs
Weight: 47,196 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (1 steel tarp)
Revenue: $668
Rolling tarp friendly: NO :(

Pickup/destination: Ontario to Pennsylvania
Load: steel coil
Weight: 29,790 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (1 steel tarp)
Revenue: $941
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: Ontario to Michigan
Load: machinery (various height/size)
Weight: 14,000 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (3 hrs tarping); 2 lumber tarps
Revenue: $674
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: Michigan to Ontario
Load: warehouse racks
Weight: 33,614 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (2 lumber tarps)
Revenue: $970
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: Ontario to Kentucky
Load: new automotive racks
Weight: 9,000 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: no
Revenue: $1280
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: Kentucky to Ontario
Load: steel coils
Weight: 39,260 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (1 steel tarp)
Revenue: $927
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: Ontario to Ohio
Load: aluminum bars
Weight: 44,317 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (1 steel tarp)
Revenue: $668
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: Ohio to Ontario
Load: roof rubber shingles
Weight: 47,086 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: no
Revenue: $716
Rolling tarp friendly: NO :(

Pickup/destination: Pennsylvania to Ontario
Load: superbags with steel melting powder ;)
Weight: 43,480 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (2 steel tarps)
Revenue: $590.43
Rolling tarp friendly: YES :)

Pickup/destination: New Jersey to Ontario
Load: dry wall sheets
Weight: 47,988 lbs
Oversize: no
Tarped: yes (2 lumber tarps)
Revenue: $845.71
Rolling tarp friendly: NO :(

4 "NO"s and 9 "YES"es meaning if I had a rolling tarp system, I could do only 9 of these loads because:

• 1 "No" was slightly oversized
• 3 "No"s were over 47k lbs and I wouldn't be able to haul them with the 2,500 lb rolling tarp system on. HOWEVER, I'd probably still get these loads, only in smaller quantities. The last "No" load was where I scratched the trailer so I wouldn't want to do it anyway. When I had a load of aluminum logs over 47k lbs, it was heavy only because I was light. This shipper doesn't pay anything extra for extra weight - if I can carry 46k lbs, they'll give me 46k lbs worth of aluminum. No loss there ...

COUNTDOWN TO ROLLING TARP INSTALL: 48 days

I got up at 5 am today and started driving at 5:30 am towards Toronto, so that I could get through before the rush hour. The plan worked and I didn't have to waste time in jams and flew through the GTA at 60 MPH, only hitting my brake pedal 2 times.

I was supposed to pick up a load of "rail parts" in Peterborough, and Dispatch told me yesterday I had to be at the shipper before noon. They didn't have a load offer and asked me to start driving and they'd send it to my truck first thing today. I don't like deadheading 120 mi wihout a firm load offer on the computer because if the load gets canned, I wouldn't get a dime. But what can you do? I shut down at the Fifth Wheel truck stop in Bowmanville just east of Toronto and prepared to wait for the load offer. I was 35 miles from the shipper but decided not to go another mile unless I had the information on my computer. I had been burned many times before.

Well, surprise! By the time I finished breakfast at the Fifth Wheel restaurant at 9 am, they did send the load offer so I sighed with relief and headed towards Peterborough. Once there I found out that the "rail parts" were actually three industrial machines that used to make locomotive parts. So, this time the load offer wasn't wrong by much.

I was loaded in a 'hole' where the floor sloped down so that it was dock height at the very rear and street level in the front (sort of like a swimming pool). When I told the machinery movers who were dismantling all these machines I had a step, they said I should still back into the hole but only half-way. What they did they removed one side railing and proceeded to load me from a side. They used one of those monster forklifts that can probably lift 20 tons without a hickup. It had what seemed like 10 feet long forks so it had no problem putting the machines in the middle of the trailer.

The machines were not that heavy but I made sure they put pieces of wood under the legs and that no legs were sitting on top of those weak wheel wells (they are covered by square pieces of metal). Actually the machine in the very rear was the heaviest - at 14,000 lbs - and if I knew the exact weight earlier I"d put it in the front. But it turned out okay at the scale after all, with the trailer axles weighig in at 27,000 lbs while the drives showed 25,000 lbs; and the steers were at 11,300. (I had slightly less than half a tank of fuel).

When all the 3 machines were loaded (the tarp in the picture covers 1 big machine and 1 small machine in the front), I moved out of the shop, parked, and started walking around planning where to put the chains and straps. As usual, this wasn't exactly a walk in the park as the people who design these machines rarely provide enough spots for chains and straps. It probably took me an hour to tie down everything to my satisfaction ...

The worst part of the job began as I covered all the "bad spots" with carpets and rubber preparing for tarping. I was moving the larger 8 ft drop tarp to the rear of the truck when a melody started playing in my head. The music was from the song about white Xmas, but the words were a bit more relevant :) The song in my head was:

"I"m dreaming of a roll tarp system ..." :)

I didn't get past the first line but this load was the perfect example of how a rolling tarp can save a ton of time. It took me almost 3 hours to fully tarp these 3 machines with two 8 ft drop tarps, and the hardest part was probably getting them up and then spreading them on the uneven load without falling into one of the many "holes". And this was happening on a relatively warm day (+3 Celsius, roughly 40 F), no snow, no rain, no wind.

Aero-Kit says my trailer will have the system installed on it by the end of the second weekend of January, 2010. All I have to do is take it easy till then and keep patching up the tarps. There is a light at the end of this "tarp" tunnel.

The load delivers in PA 275 miles away on Monday and today is Friday, so I can catch my breath and still enjoy the weekend. I'd enjoy the weekend much more had I been out of the shipper in 3 hours instead of 6 :)

I drive 85 km to a plant near Toronto, ON and the first question the shipper asks me is, "You have a 53 ft stepdeck, right"" and I"m thinking, "Here we go!" The shipper explains they have two sections of this machine they're shipping. One is 37 feet long and one is 45, I think. They were told I was coming with a 53 ft step. We correct that mistake by switching my pickup from the 45' section to the 37' section. But another problem pops up when I realize the thing weighs 42,000 to 44,000 lbs (the shipper isn't sure!) and it all needs to be on the lower deck where I have - that's right - a 61" spread axle group. So, the maximum I can take is 34,000 lbs on the trailer axles. We exchange a dozen calls with Dispatch and they tell me to get a scale ticket. The shipper attacks me from the other side asking if I can guarantee them I won't come back from the scale with an overload. I tell the shipper that of my closed axle tandems I may be around 1,000 lbs overweight. I could lie, but these guys are paying $500/hr to the machinery movers and then if I were to come back I'd have to move the two large tarps twice (since it's a new piece of machinery, it has to be tarped).

So, in the end the shipper decides to put this load on another stepdeck, the one that has just arrived DELIVERING a load. They take the old load off and then put the new section on. The guy's trailer has a 10'1" spread so he should be okay in terms of weight. However I"m still not sure how he'll handle the height: he has  regular 22.5" tires and the highest point of the machine is at 125". I could do it because I'm at 36" at the lower deck, but my axles are not good for this load.

Because the load wan't put on my deck at all, I get nothing for driving to and then from the shipper. It's 85 km one way and then 85 km (roughly 50 miles) back. I feel as they say in songs "blue" :(

I call the trailer dealer where I got the Wilson and ask if it's possible to move the front axle to 10'1" position. The shop foreman says it's possible as long as there's some space between the front axle and the spot where the frame drops towards the ground. Well, I check the trailer from the side and the maximum I have there is 6 inches: since it's a custom-spec'ed trailer, the Wilson plant shaped the frame specifically for my 61" axles. So, it can't be done.

Another exciting thing I did today was talk to a representative of the Russian Federation. My passport has expired and I'm thinking of visiting my relatives in Russia. So, I call the Consulate and they tell me it'd take roughly 3 months to get a new passport instead of the one that expired in 2005. I also must visit the Consulate in person - according to the new law - as they no longer do things by mail. I decide to travel on my Canadian passport that I'm renewing as we speak but I may run into some trouble at the border. Russian Federation prefers its citizens to travel with their Russian passports, no matter how many other citizenships they have.

Frustrated, I find the Consulate web page and look under "Citizenship Cancellation". The site says that you can only cancel the citizenship with a VALID Russian passport. I'm not kidding: because my Russian passport has expired, I have to pay $150 renewal fee in order to cancel it! The cancellation fee is $650 and - get this - if your request is granted, you have to pay another $150 for a 'citizenship cancellation certificate"! When applying, you must also include a letter from the Russian Tax authorities stating you owe no back taxes to Russian Federation. And no, this letter isn't free either: it costs 150 bucks!

Just another example of why I traded Russia for Canada in the first place :)

Today was the last day off before getting back to work - I'm leaving tomorrow for Georgia with a stepdeck load... My mind was on real estate all day. First I got excited when I picked up a new homes booklet and discovered a builder offering ... $24,000 "assistance". When I called the office, they explained $5,000 was from the builder but $19,000 was the grant from the Ontario Government to those who currently were renting. Since I already have a condo of my own, I can only count on the 5 grand.

The site is some 50 miles west of my town of Guelph but they are offering 2200 sq.ft. homes for $259,000, which is cheap by local standards. Since I had nothing better to do, I got into my car and drove there to take a look at the village of Norwich, which is 20 miles south of Woodstock, ON.

The houses were quite good and the entire area was growing but it took me over an hour to get there. There's no direct route and after some 30 miles on 401 you have to jump from one 2-lane highway to another. Another thing I didn't like was the absence of big stores: no movie theater, WalMart, no McDonald's, no Canadia Tire or Future Shop. Everything is in Woodstock, 20 minutes away.

Imagine this: I spend 2 weeks in the truck by myself and then park the truck, drive 50 miles on some backwood road to get to my "home" in the middle of nowhere. What would I do there? Watch TV 24/7? On my days off I like spending time among people, for a change, like going to a coffee shop or restaurant or a movie theatre. So, on the way back, I decided I should look for real estate in my area where I have the things I need: a Chapters mega-book store, a StarBucks coffee shop, and a modern movie theatre. A town called Cambridge right next to Guelph has some new construction going on and prices are cheaper than in Guelph.

I stopped by a new house site office in Cambridge in the evening and had a chat with the agent. The location is great, the prices are decent and I could get either a mid-rise condo apartment or a condo townhouse. Townhouses are $215k and apartments start at $130k. They will be ready to move in next year, probably in late fall or early winter. They want 2.5% down now and then another 2.5% within 30 days, and then there's nothing to pay until the building is finished. Of course, this means I'll have nowhere to live besides hotels for a year which is not good (unless my tenants decide to move out, which always can happen since we're on a monthly lease).

So, I'm still thinking ...