00:03 He says, “Yeah, the moose down there. You don’t have to look. They’re looking at you right through your window when you’re driving a semi.”

00:10 Yeah. The police even tell you in that area there, you know, after 8:00, the moose own the road. They own the highway.

00:17 Oh my goodness.

00:18 You know, Yeah.

00:22 Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, views, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking. And we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show. Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. This is a program here where we elevate and celebrate the truck drivers that move the freight to make this country and Canada go round and round. And joining us this morning on the Six-Figure Trucker is Timothy Pettton. Timothy, how are you this morning?

01:01 Not too bad. How about yourself?

01:03 I’m doing great. Doing great. It’s a Saturday morning when we’re recording this episode. Just had a couple of cups of coffee. Working on number three. What about you? Have you had your coffee yet, Timothy?

01:12 Yeah, I got out of the rain here and I just started on the first one or whatever this fancy coffee they call it.

01:19 What kind of coffee you got?

01:20 Can’t even pronounce it. Not something that you find at your truck stop. One of those espresso shots.

01:26 Oh, okay. Okay. Went for something a little different this morning.

01:29 Yeah. Better than diesel fuel, that’s for sure.

01:33 I got you. What’s your typical cup of coffee to get your day started before you hop into a big truck?

01:40 Oh, generally loves their Flying J. They make good coffee.

01:46 All right. Do you take it black or how do you take your coffee?

01:49 Just a little bit of milk in her. I got you. I got you. Now, Timothy, we’ve been in contact over the last couple days. Where are you now?

01:57 I’m in Fred Fredericksburg, Virginia.

02:01 Okay. I’ve got a nephew that lives in Fredericksburg. Say hello to him.

02:05 Okay. How you doing?

02:08 So far, nice little town.

02:09 Gotcha. Now, where when did you arrive in Fredericksburg and how did you get there? I just came down Amac and I just got here about 25 minutes ago. Yeah, it looks like I missed the heavy rain, too.

02:23 Well, that’s good. That’s good. Yeah. So, a big storm blew through here in the south last night overnight. Really big storm. Where are you headed from Fredericksburg?

02:33 Taking this truck up to Pennsylvania and then from there I got one I’m taking right across the country over to California. Pennsylvania to—

02:44 So, what kind of truck are you taking from Fredericksburg to Pennsylvania?

02:48 It’s a Kenworth 380 and it’s a tanker truck.

02:52 Oh, tanker truck. How What’s the weight on that guy?

02:56 It’s over 33,000. Yeah.

02:59 Gotcha. Have you driven many tanker trucks in the past?

03:03 Oh, I’ve driven a few. I’ve worked on a few, too. And the auto diesel mechanic all my life and get a lot of marine mechanics also. I was going to ask you about that because I saw on your email it mentions auto something in the email there. So you’ve been a mechanic all your life.

03:22 Yeah. And I did some transporting younger and off and on and I was pulling cars out of Arizona, Texas up to Canada and sale, you know, for sale and doing three four a time on deck trucks and—

03:35 Okay. So, it’s always been on the road and got to figure out how to get my 1 million mile certificate because I’m well over a million miles.

03:44 So, how close to a million miles are you?

03:48 Oh, I’m well over that. I’m probably in total two and a half million miles in professional driving over a million. And I’m driving everything else under the sun.

03:59 I gotta tell us about that million mile certificate, how you get it and what it means. You just basically apply to the government transport Canada and you know show them your logs and records and where you’ve been and it’s just like a milestone certificate for drivers.

04:18 I got you.

04:20 I get I got you now. You mentioned Canada for you people for the people listening to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Timothy mentioned Canada there and we’ve got a lot of drivers that go into Canada, but Timothy has a distinction. He lives in Canada. Tell us a little bit about where you live, how long you’ve lived there, and what it’s like living in Canada.

04:47 Well, I lived in Winnipeg and then I lived outside Winnipeg out in the country. That’s where I had my automotive shop. Lots of room, lots of wildlife and lots of hungry bears out there. But it’s a little different when you walk 200 feet from your house to your shop, a rifle on your shoulder. Yeah. They come in for dinner or whatever.

05:09 Gotcha.

05:10 Yeah. And it’s nice there. It’s Winnipeg’s in the center of Canada—

05:14 Right?

05:15 It’s nice country. Lots of good fishing, good hunting, and yeah, really enjoyable.

05:20 Now, you were talking about bear season. When do they start coming out of hibernation and you start seeing them pop up around the countryside there?

05:30 Well, they start coming around in April. They’re out already. And a bear will wake up in the winter time and it’ll wander around a little bit, but doesn’t go too far from its burrow, you know, and then they just go back to sleep a while cuz there’s no food for them. So, they don’t want to walk too far because that burns up their stored fat.

05:49 Gotcha. Now, you mentioned good fishing and good hunting there in Winnipeg, in the Winnipeg area, outside of the city, of course.

05:57 What do you hunt for?

05:58 I’ve gone for, well, bears, deer, elk gross. I’ve done partridge hunting and you goose, duck.

06:10 Now, what’s Tim, what’s Timothy Pedden’s favorite thing to put on the plate?

06:14 Oh, h to say. Gross is really nice. Elk is a really nice meat, you know, especially when they’re feeding off the grain fields, the meat is really tender, you know. Same with the deer. Beer’s a little bit gristly. Yeah.

06:29 Yeah. No pun intended, dear. No pun intended.

06:35 Yeah.

06:37 Now, when you are hunting, what’s your preparation in Canada? Do you hunt in the winter as well? I mean, is I would imagine so. Not so much in the winter. There’s not a lot to hunt in the winter. I mean, the elk are getting skinny, you know, from running through the winter, you know, so their body mass isn’t that good in the beach. Better off in the summertime and, you know, catch them in the fall. E, you know, same with the deer. They’re getting pretty thin, you know, through the winter, you know, because our winters can be well, you can get seven, eight feet of snow out there and it takes a lot of work for them to survive.

07:17 I gotcha. So, what is the season? What are the what’s the timeline season there for hunting for different types of game in Canada?

07:27 Yeah, it depends on the animal and every province is different. Most of the hunting is summer and fall. There’s a, you know, if you can get a card to go in the spring, like if you wanted to go for moose, you know, you get your tag and then, you know, you can do that. But the best hunting season for animals is in the fall.

07:48 I got you.

07:49 And, fishing’s year round. Ice fishing is great, too, up there.

07:53 I gotcha. Now, how far away I mean, can you hunt close to your property there in Winnipeg?

07:59 Oh, yeah. Well, my property was outside the city so I could hunt right on my back porch where I was.

08:05 I’m assuming you’ve done that.

08:06 Yeah. Oh, yeah. No, they come right to your door.

08:09 Very nice.

08:10 Especially the bears. Yeah. They seem to like to knock the barbecue around and see what they can get off it. So, gone through a few— Yeah. Gone through a few barbecues with those guys.

08:20 I bet they probably clean house on the barbecue grill there.

08:24 Yeah. And then if somebody drops their car off out in the country there and they’ve left food in it, well, the bear has a tendency to rip the doors off the car and have a meal.

08:36 Yeah. Not a good idea to leave food in the car, particularly in the area of Canada.

08:41 Yeah, exactly where you are.

08:44 What’s your favorite game to hunt and why? I like the elk because it’s very rewarding, but it also it’s a smart animal. You know, it’s got great senses and it’s a real challenge to catch up close to them.

09:00 What’s your secret to getting up close to them and kind of walk us through how you would approach a day of hunting for elk?

09:09 Well, your preparation is good. You know, you it’s not just your gun, but you know, your survival kit and you got to be dressed for the weather cuz the weather could change fast. As far as getting close to the elk, you got to use your terrain. Obviously, coming from downwind helps a lot because it, you know, changes the hear what they can hear and what they can smell. So, but you know, you can use the bush and use some hills and they’ll sneak up on the far side of the hill on them and that’s your best chance of getting one.

09:39 I got—

09:39 Cuz on an open prairie you won’t get within a mile of them.

09:43 They’ll hear you before you can.

09:45 I got you.

09:46 You know, they’ll smell you, too. Yeah.

09:48 I got you. So, you got to kind of—

09:50 Yeah.

09:51 Lay back a little bit. Now, do you hunt by yourself or do you have buddies that go with you?

09:56 I Well, we’re on my own property. Like I had a mile trail on my bush there and I goes a lot of times by myself. But you also got to watch out cuz we do have a odd cougar coming through and those are very dangerous animals. They will start hunting you after a while.

10:13 Yeah, that’s not a good ratio. They’re—

10:17 I’m assum— Have you seen some cougars out in the wild there?

10:21 Oh yeah. Yeah. I’ve had them sitting there watching TV in my house and they’re looking at me right inside outside the window, you know.

10:29 Oh my.

10:29 And cougars are— Yeah. No, they’re— But when I see a cougar around my place, I just take them out cuz they will hunt down children and they’re very dangerous.

10:40 What kind of gun do you use for cougars, elk, all the above?

10:45 I’ve been using a 308. I also got a 300 ultra mag. I’ve tried different guns over the years. I also had a 4570 which is good all the way up to elephants.

10:57 Not sure you find those in North America too much. But you know when you’re going for moose and that that’s a good gun to have.

11:05 I got you for the larger animals there.

11:08 Yeah. Yeah. A moose is a very large animal and you want to take them down with one shot, you know.

11:15 What does a good elk weigh? A good elk for you. What would what’s the weight on one?

11:20 Anything over 200 250 would be good. And that’s you basically when you’re looking at them, you look, you know, the girth of them and think it tells you how well they’ve been eating. You know, the color of their coat, you know, the coat’s m they’re not doing so well, you know—

11:41 But you can get a lot of meat off an animal that size. There are larger ones, but you know in that range you’re getting a younger animal. It’s got good meat to it.

11:53 Now in central west Canada there, what’s a moose go? I mean weight wise.

11:57 Oh, moose have gone up to 1500 pounds or more.

12:01 Wow. That’s a large animal there.

12:04 Yeah. A trucker friend of mine, he was down in eastern Canada around Newland and that and he says, “Yeah, the moose down there. You don’t have to look. They’re looking at you right through your window when you’re driving a semi.”

12:16 Yeah.

12:17 When you’re driving a semi. That kind of puts it in perspective.

12:22 Yeah.

12:23 Yeah.

12:24 Now, you got like a low boy Pete. Yeah. It’s— It’ll be looking down on you.

12:29 That’s going to be intimidating, I guess. Even though even if you are in a truck.

12:34 Oh, yes. Yeah. Cuz they’ve taken out trucks, those animals. They’re that big and heavy.

12:40 Oh my. Around north of Lake Superior there around Nipigon. The police even tell you that area there, you know, after 8:00, the moose own the road. They own the highway. So, you got to watch out for them.

12:53 How many have you come across from the behind the steering wheel in a cab?

12:57 Oh, like going out to our cottages in Lake of the Woods area, northern Canora there. I over the years I’ve seen at least 20 on the highway.

13:07 Oh my goodness. You know, it’s— Yeah, you got to really watch them cuz they’re very unpredictable. They’re almost like a deer. A deer will run away across the highway into the bush and all a sudden it’ll run right out coming at you. It’s just scared. E. But a moose, he’ll run into the bush, but he’ll come out cuz he’s mad.

13:27 And he’ll charge you.

13:28 Yeah.

13:29 I got you. Now, what about the grouse? You said that’s some of the better eating there. Where do you find them? Close to you.

13:39 They’re not too far off, 15 20 miles in the bush where there’s a lot of berries for them there. So they’re well fed in that.

13:49 Gotcha. You were saying that the hunting and the fishing is good. What kind of fish do you fish for?

13:55 I prefer the walleye the best. That’s kind of like the filt fish, you know, but we go for bass. Small mouth, large mouth. Musky is a, you know, that’s a trophy fish.

14:10 Got it.

14:10 They’re not very good eating, but they’re a fighter. They call those the freshwater barracudas.

14:16 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

14:18 Do you do more ice fishing or conventional or which one do— How do you break it up?

14:23 Yeah. Well, spring to fall, like our family has an island out Lake of the Woods there. And so, spring to fall, I do the most fishing. And I’ve done a lot of ice fishing though, but just haven’t had time lately. I’m trying to get my son into it. We winterize the cottage a little more and it’ll get them out there. And Lake of the Woods has got really good ice fishing.

14:41 How old is your son?

14:43 He’s 14 now.

14:45 Is he getting into the fishing and the hunting?

14:48 Oh, fishing. Yeah. Yeah, he’s got five tackle boxes and I got one. So, and all the best lures always seem to gravitate over to his tackle box, you know.

15:00 Yeah, I know how that works. Now, kind of take us down the path of ice fishing in Canada. Take us through, run us through what the preparation, what a day on the ice is like, and how what your technique is for ice fishing.

15:18 Well, generally go with a snowmobile. You got your ice auger. You can have a power one, but it’s also good to have a manual one. And, you know, you set yourself up, you know, good survival kit. You really got to watch your weather because even out on the ice, you know, you get a storm blow up and then you’ll have zero visibility and that case it’s nice to have a little ice tent put up, you know, and a little heater, too. So, you got to prepare just in case you’re stuck out there for a day or two.

15:50 And you let know people know where you’re going, too. That’s very important.

15:54 Gotcha. Have you ever been caught out there in a storm?

15:58 Yeah. Further up in northern Manitoba, we were up doing what we call the polar bear run where you will go from Thompson to Churchill and we do some ice fishing up there. But everybody’s got to have a rifle because when the bears come in, you got to warn them off or you got to take them down.

16:16 Polar bears are a meat eater and they’ll go after people just like a cougar will. Yeah.

16:22 What’s it like seeing a polar bear in person? You want to have your gun loaded and you want some distance. Yeah, they can run 30 miles an hour and on that polar bear run. I was in the back of the tribe and everybody has the rifle. I had two handguns with me and look over my shoulder and here’s got a bear running flat out behind you. Well, you don’t want to fall off that machine. You’ll be lucky to get one shot into before he’s on top of you. And those animals are well over 1500 lb. A lot of them.

16:54 Yeah.

16:55 Oh, yeah. They’re— You talk about it. You talk about intimidating when they go up on their hind legs. That’s something to see.

17:02 Oh, yeah. I got a friend of mine. He’s a taxiderermy shop. And he’s got one in there and the polar bear reach is 13t 4 in.

17:12 Oh my.

17:12 When he’s standing on his hinds.

17:14 Oh my. Oh wow.

17:16 Wow.

17:17 Yeah. That’s a— He’s a massive animal. And they look at the people just like a snack, just like they like seal meat and everything else. You know, it’s they’re a hungry predator, that’s for sure.

17:31 Now, when you’re doing the ice fishing from a snowmobile and you’d mentioned the ice tent in case weather pops up on you, what’s your preferred method of accessing the water?

17:44 Well, just using an ice. Some guys like to use a chainsaw cut a larger hole, but it’s really not necessary.

17:52 You know, you get a nice six, eight inch ice a hogger and you can punch nice holes into the ice and you can pull out even larger lake trout, you know, 20 pounds or bit larger, no problem. It’s and the cold water, it makes the meat taste a little different. It’s enjoyable.

18:11 I got what’s on the end of your line when you’re ice fishing?

18:15 I use the minnows. Blood suckers. I’ve used, you know, artificial lures and then, you know, some small fish, we cut them up.

18:26 You know, you get the scent on the water and that that’s what attracts them.

18:30 Gotcha. Now, do you have better luck with the live bait versus the artificial lures?

18:37 I think it’s about 50/50. You know, it seems like sometimes all they bite is on the live lures or the live bait and sometimes we do really well with the lures, you know. So—

18:50 Gotcha. Do you stay out for a couple of days, camp, and eat what you catch?

18:56 Oh, yeah. We go ice fishing. We always have a shoreline right there. Build a fire right beside an island somewhere and, you know, cook up some fish and then we take fish home, too. But it’s I’ve gone out with different guys at different cottages and we either spend three four days out—

19:13 And we bring lots of fish home too.

19:15 I got you. How invigorating is that?

19:17 Oh, that’s amazing. Yeah.

19:20 Is—

19:21 You like the outdoors at all? It really gets you going.

19:24 I gotta you’re listening to Timothy Pedden here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport telling us about life in Canada out in the bush and beyond there. What’s your favorite fish as far as on the plate?

19:38 The walleye is a and second would be trout.

19:42 Okay. What kind of trout? Because I’m a fly fisherman myself and—

19:46 Oh, yeah.

19:47 Mostly for trout. What’s the best trout up there in your neck of the woods?

19:52 We get rainbow and lake trout. They’re really nice. Some of the smaller streams and that they get the brook trouts. I don’t. They’re nice to catch, too. Being a fly fisherman, you probably enjoy those, too.

20:05 Oh, brook trout are beautiful. They’re those are beautiful fish.

20:09 And you got to handle them. You know, they got the soft jaw, so you got to handle them a little. You know, can’t sink the lure on them too hard.

20:15 Yeah. You can’t hook set too deep there on them. What do you fly fish as well?

20:21 I haven’t for a while. I when I was out in Alberta visiting friends, we went up on the side of the mountains there and we were fly fishing and one thing we forgot to do is bring the guns cuz then you get the grizzly bears coming in and without a gun they take the fish.

20:38 Yeah, that’s a one-way battle there. You’re going to lose every time.

20:43 Oh, yeah. Yeah. There’s no argument there. You just throw them in the pouch and let them have it and then you get, you know, gold for another day.

20:59 Well, let’s shift gears back to trucking here. You’re going up to Pennsylvania, I guess, from Fredericksburg. Is that a that’s a one-day run?

21:09 Yeah, it’s 300 miles. It’s a short run.

21:12 I got you. What part of Pennsylvania? It’s I haven’t been in that area. Mary’sville, I think it’s called. It’s actually have to look on the GPS and because that that area I haven’t been into yet.

21:25 I gotcha. Gotcha.

21:27 Yeah.

21:28 And then once you drop in Pennsylvania, it’s you’re on your way to California.

21:32 Yeah. I think another one up in Pennsylvania and then going to Santana, California.

21:36 And like all drivers, you love those long runs.

21:40 Yeah. No, I enjoy it. Driving in the states here also it’s beautiful country it’s one thing I hope all drivers would learn you know is slow it down a little bit you know step back a bit like I like to give keep a quarter mile ahead of me and you can see what’s going on with traffic you know you got lots of room to get out of trouble because you got that you know space and you can actually see the countryside better and enjoy it—

22:08 What’s your average speed on a long run. Let’s say you’re in a tractor. Well, we’ll talk about the one upcoming Pennsylvania to California. What do you like to keep it at?

22:19 I like to stay between 55 and 60.

22:23 And I like to vary the speed of it. Being the mechanic I am, new engines, I like to break them in. Even though they say you don’t have to break them in, it does make a difference in the long run. You know, it’s just a matter of bumping up your speed of mile or two and dropping it back. But it at that speed you that gives you that room up front there. So you know if there’s trouble up ahead you got lots of time to you know you got to stay away from it—

22:50 For you in your mind. Does it make that much difference in how much time additional time it takes you just to slow it back?

22:57 No, not at all. Cuz you see the guys racing ahead of you and just flying in there and getting mixed up in the crowd. And when you pull into the loves or the flying Jay, well guess who’s there? You’re just putting a lot more fuel in the tank.

23:11 It’s slow and steady.

23:14 Yeah. Like you’re on a run from, you know, coast to coast. You’re talking literally maybe hour and hour and a half, you know.

23:23 Not a big deal when you add it all up.

23:26 Yeah. Yeah. And especially with the price of fuel, you save a lot more on your fuel. You can actually get into the, you know, 7 8 n 10 mile per gallon range.

23:35 Right. Exactly. Speaking of the price of fuel, kind of give us a sense of where it is here, late March heading into April as far as the difference between the price of fuel in the states versus Canada.

23:50 Canada’s prices are higher gender pretty well across Canada. It’s maybe about a dollar more, you know, comparing it changing it from liters to US gallons, you know, is your 3.8 Eight, seven, eight gallons.

24:07 That’s about a dollar 20 a gallon higher in Canada.

24:11 I gotcha.

24:12 And that’s factoring also the price of the dollar.

24:16 I gotcha. Gotcha. Working the conversion there. Now, do you do most of your driving in the States or in Canada or a mixture of the two? Well, before I was mostly in Canada going coast to coast and I was doing custom hauling big cabin cruisers, oversized loads over length and I was doing some runs from Indiana to western Canada travel trailers and then after the co and I started with Gordon I’m doing 90% of my driving in the states and the roads are a lot smoother and better condition. You guys have a excellent interstate system and it’s honestly the driver support down here is really nice. You know, just the fuel stops and the clean restaurants and showers, it makes a difference.

25:02 Gotcha. How would you compare the quality of roads between— You’d mentioned that the roads in the states are in better shape than in Canada. How rough are the roads in Canada? Generally speaking—

25:14 It’s basically sections like, you know, being from Manitoba, we’ve put a lot of money lately into our, you know, TransCanada Highway in that province. So, it’s improved a lot. But, these roads in the interstate system in the States are, you know, three, four times better than what we have up Canada. There’s some provinces like the Northern Ontario run, it’s two lanes for, you know, a,000 mile. A lot of guys just don’t like driving it. And when it comes to winter driving, it’s you’re better off staying in the States and doing as much driving you can down here. Your infrastructure takes care of your roads and even road service like winter snow plows—

25:57 Right?

25:57 You know, it’s done far better here. You know, I love the country up in Canada, but we need help. Some of our provinces like Alberta have good roads. BC is getting a lot they putting a lot of money there. Highways, but you’re not going to find the big interstates, you know, up there is to get a four-lane highway is nice.

26:18 I gotta—

26:20 Yeah.

26:20 Now, you were saying you do more of your driving in the States than you do in Canada and I’ve looked at your load plans before and being based in Winnipeg, your load plans are different than a lot of diff other drivers. How do you attack that as far as give us I guess the game plan for Timothy Pett for a week let’s say we know what you’re doing next week but the week after how do you plan your loads because it’s definitely different for you for the travel in between.

26:53 Yeah. Well I like to get a load from Canada coming down to the states you know I love my flying but I’d rather be turning the wheels. So, I plan for a load from Canada down to the States and then looking for loads, longer loads that’ll take me back up and into the Canada area, you know, get me closer to home and then fly home. It’s Winnipeg is nice that it’s, you know, geographically centered in Canada and basically the states, but you just don’t get as many loads coming out of there. So, plan to get the long miles and then get home.

27:29 And what’s it like for you as far as, you know, you were talking about getting back to Canada? You ultimately you got to get back to Winnipeg as far as I would assume you’re a pretty frequent flyer in Canada.

27:40 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And that a lot of that’s because of the co and that I mean from Winnipeg we were getting flights three times a day to Chicago, Minneapolis and there’s none right now. Absolutely none. So you’re flying east to Toronto and then going from there or going west to Calgary or even Vancouver to the west coast, you know, to get a connection going into the states.

28:05 I gotcha. What’s a typical fair? Let’s say you’re going Winnipeg to Toronto. What’s that usually run? Oh, airfare can be you know sometime reasonable three 400 bucks and then there’s other times like it was spring break in Ontario two weeks ago and flights were going from a,000 to $4,000 one way. Yeah.

28:31 I no pun intended, but I guess that can ground you somewhat as far as when they’re that high, it’s just not worth it. Well, I spent my last run, I spent two days in Toronto at the airport waiting for a decent flight to get home. You know, I told him I don’t want to buy the plane. I just want to, you know, get a ride in one—

28:52 Right?

28:53 But yeah, it’s challenging right now. It’s but we also don’t have our bus system like Greyhound doesn’t run in Canada anymore. See, you know, it’s even nice to get on a bus and, you know, take a ride home that way, you know, you know, relax and enjoy it or even the train to be via a rail. But they can they’re pretty pricey compared to Amtrak.

29:19 I got you.

29:19 And—

29:22 Now you took Amtrak down from was it New Jersey? Yeah, I ran down from yeah, I flew from Toronto this run to Newark and then I took the Amtrak down to here and so I just got to jump on Uber and get over to the shop, pick up the vehicle, but you have the connections here that are a lot easier. In Canada, it’s tougher to connect to a lot of these places. Mhm.

29:51 Uber just hasn’t come on and a lot of the, you know, the shops, they don’t offer, like I say, the bus, the trains, and everything else. So, you really got to plan your routes up there and how to get to them?

30:02 I gotcha. Gotcha. Now, obviously you got a weekend pickup and does that factor into your load plans?

30:10 Yeah, it’s I got the two good loads, the short one and the long one to California. Then I got another one from California coming out.

30:20 Yeah.

30:21 And heading more towards the scent or they can get, you know, back up into Canada with.

30:28 So yeah, kind of feel like they’ll be home by next weekend.

30:32 I got you. Now the one from Pennsylvania, what do you what kind of truck are you taking from Pennsylvania to California?

30:37 That one is a Kenworth 380 tank truck.

30:41 Okay. Okay. And the one you’re taking from Fredericksburg up is also a tanker. That’s a Freightliner M2 series.

30:50 Okay. M2. I got you.

30:51 They nickname it the business class truck, you know, the class 7 trucker.

30:57 I got you. Now, what’s your favorite truck to drive as far as, let’s say you’re Pennsylvania to California. If you could pick, if Timothy Pedden could pick the truck that he’s going to make a cross country run in, what would it be?

31:09 The Kenworth. I really like those trucks, the Peterbilts. I’ve driven a couple actually internationals. You know, they were making these trucks. A lot more comfortable, a lot better ride. I’ve taken a couple Kenworth T88 series. One was a deck truck with a crane on the back and she was a solid truck. And then I just bought a custom box truck for it was for spreading soil and you know seeding. Mhm.

31:40 I took that one out of just south of Oregon. I took that all the way to Pickering, Ontario.

31:47 Oh, wow. Now, crossing the border, is it is is it easier to go from the States to Canada or from the Canada to the States or is it really about the same?

31:58 It’s both ways is a lot more efficient. And the biggest thing about crossing the borders, have your paperwork in order and just be respectful. You know, then, you know, you’re going to give them a hard time. You they’re going to give turn it right back on you. But, you know, I find coming into the States, I rarely had an issue unless it was a paperwork problem or, you know, this maybe a serial number off, but they’re really good that way. They help you out. You know, they’re going into Canada’s been pretty good, too.

32:31 Okay.

32:32 You’ll always get somebody that’s not too happy to be at work. So—

32:37 I got you. But, I mean, basically, Timothy’s rule of thumb is you get what you give.

32:42 Yes. Yeah.

32:43 Now, on the borders as far as for some of the drivers who may be listening, as far as crossing the borders are they different times as far as some are open later than others, some are open 24 hours? Is that something that you try to plan?

32:58 Well, most of the major truck crossings are 24 hours now. All the large crossings are 24. I haven’t run into one. It’s just if you’re going, you know, the in between the major interstates and that you’ll find, you know, small crossings you can take and those will have hour limits on them. You pretty well got to look on their website to find out. But any major city you’re crossing with is a 24-hour border.

33:26 Yeah. Niagara Falls, that one is 8 to 3. Is that right? Monday through Friday.

33:31 No. It was 24 hours last time I went through there.

33:35 Okay. Okay.

33:36 It used to be restricted hours, but—

33:39 Is there a port that’s tougher than another to cross? The Ambassador Bridge is if you’re taking you know heavy loads in there, it can be challenging sometimes driving through there and navigating. And they’re not doing anything more with that one. They’re planning on building a brand new bridge coming up to replace that ambassador bridge. It’s getting pretty old.

34:05 Okay. Okay.

34:06 But yeah, I haven’t run into one that was frustrating at all. I got you. Now, a common question we ask here on the Six-Figure Trucker of the drivers that are employed by Norton Transport is what are some of the most breathtaking things you’ve seen on the road?

34:28 Oh, that’s a tough one because there’s a lot out there. I was driving down the continental divide there and you know you got to watch out for the ice but the scenery is just amazing. You know it’s going down to from Alberta down to Vegas and that was a nice run and anytime you go through the mountains I really enjoy that and it’s you got to be on your toes about it but it is an amazing scenery.

34:58 Now how long have you been driving? You’d mentioned your past as a mechanic there, but how long have you actually been behind the wheel?

35:07 I off and on about six years and then even when I was running my shop, I would do the long hauls like the cabin cruisers and that it was kind of like part-time or when I’m hauling vehicles for my shop to sell. So, it’s been off and on, but like I say, I’ve accumulated over a million miles of just professional driving, but it’s just been over a longer period because run into business and that.

35:34 Okay. Now, has it helped you as far as gaining experience in Canada on rougher roads in the winter driving? Has that helped you driving in the States? As far as conditions you may run into? It does because the conditions can get over most of the states get your roads are much better and you guys are out there faster plowing them. In Canada, yeah, you can, you know, be driving and wondering where the road is, you know, some of these storms. And so it gives you some skill sets to, you know, handle that. There’s times where you’re going down the TransCanada and you’re plowing snow with the front bumper, you know.

36:21 So—

36:23 Yeah, it’s a challenge.

36:24 I was going to say, how do you approach that winter driving? I mean, like you just stated there plowing snow with your front bumper. How do you approach that and overcome it?

36:34 You got to really slow it up. Give yourself put your four-ways on. You make sure your headlights are on. Take your time. It gets to a point you got to feel the truck, too. If you feel your front tires losing grip or, you know, if you the back tires feel like they’re going to spin out, you got to adjust your everything, even your RPM and that because you don’t want to be, you know, in high RPMs and have those back tires or tandemss let loose on you cuz that’s a lot of weight that’s going into any direction that you but not where you want it to go.

37:09 Yeah. Too many RPMs when it’s too late, you can’t do anything about it.

37:13 Yeah, it gets you in trouble real fast. You know, some drivers like to drive right at the almost the rev limit so that if they do lose the traction, they don’t have a long way to go to over rev, which they say helps. I haven’t had that experience, but I guess—

37:30 But you got to feel the road, feel your truck, and there’s a point where you got to say enough’s enough and get off the road. You know, just find a safe place and sit out and wait for the plow trucks and the sanders to come.

37:43 Wait out the storm. I gotta good advice from Timothy Pedden here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now Timothy, how long have you been doing driveaway?

37:52 Driveaway. I just actually picked that up with you guys and on Norton Transport. That’s I’m enjoying it. I’m looking to get into doing some decking too and you know but yeah basically driveaway I started with you guys doing that and everything else with hauling—

38:11 Now when did you start with us?

38:13 Nine months ago now.

38:15 Okay 10 months.

38:16 I gotta what’s that 10 months been like—

38:20 You know challenging doing your planning. The biggest thing is trying to, you know, plan the loads. So, you know, you got more, you know, behind the wheel kind of compared to, you know, sitting on the big silver bird from Greyhound or in the air.

38:36 I got you. I got you.

38:38 But, planning your trips is that’s what I find challenging is, you know, make it more efficient.

38:44 And let’s talk a little bit about your relationship and interaction with your dispatchers. You’re on Dalen’s team, is that right? Yeah, Dalen and Stephanie is that’s right. Yeah.

38:55 And I think it was Latricia that helped you set up your last load and how important is it I mean for your set of circumstances—

39:05 Coming in and out of Canada is does that require more increased communication and how do you navigate that?

39:14 Yeah, the biggest thing coming out of Canada is you want to make sure you got your billing and your manifest set up. So you know have it as soon as you get going and then you don’t have to worry about it or and you have it printed at the border because a lot of the officers now don’t like it when you just show it to them on the phone.

39:31 Okay.

39:32 They want to have something to make it stamp, you know.

39:34 So you still work with a hard copy?

39:36 Yeah. Yeah. It’s just I’ve had I was coming out of DC there and officer said, “You know what? You make sure you have a car hard copy next time for me because I’m not going to accept it.” Yeah. And you run into it. I don’t know if that’s the policy there or but it makes sense because you know you like to have that stamp you know to send into the office you know—

39:59 And it finishes off your paperwork right—

40:01 Gives you some validation there what’s the typical time that it takes to cross the border from Canada to the states as far as when you’re at the actual point of crossing—

40:12 Most of the times 10 15 minutes maybe you know we had one run there but it was we got delayed a couple hours because it was actually the paperwork was wrong from I don’t know if it was from the contracting company itself or you know but the manifest didn’t match you know the numbers so that was a couple hour delay there to get that straightened out.

40:34 Does it take longer coming from the states to cross into Canada or Canada to the states as far as the amount of time it takes or is it pretty equal?

40:44 It’s now it’s a lot better. It used to be tough with Canada. They basically had a different attitude towards it like you know but now it’s pretty good that 99% of the time I’d say you know US customs and kind of customers are they’re excellent.

41:04 Fantastic. I’m assuming I don’t want to make too much of an assumption but you’re born and raised in Canada. Yeah, I was born and raised in Winnipeg and but I always had to get out of the city, you know, spending half my life on the boats and around the cottage.

41:18 You prefer the country life?

41:21 Yes. Yeah. I can jump right back there in the with the bears and have a battle with them again. Not a problem.

41:28 I got you. Now, what how old are you, Timothy? About 60. Is that right?

41:33 Yeah. Yeah. 62 now. Yeah.

41:36 62. 62 years in Canada. And you’ve spent quite a bit of time in the States. How would you compare the two as far as culture, lifestyle, that kind of thing?

41:48 In some ways, they have different cultures and lifestyle. I find every state I want to visit every state. That’s my goal. But I find they’re very friendly people, very helpful, you know. I really enjoy that they got good personality and it makes a difference too when you’re driving, you know. It’s similar to Canada. There’s some places in Canada people got an attitude and they just don’t want to be bothered with you. But I really enjoy driving in the States and I love the American people and their attitude. It’s great. Have you found where have you found the friendliest people in the states? What part of the country have you found the friendliest people?

42:39 Well there a lot of places I’ve only visited once or twice. I’ve never run into anybody that you know I couldn’t agree with or couldn’t accept them. It’s there’s a few the attitude in New York there. They were you know you ask them for you know the time of day and you forget it you know they can’t be bothered you know but overall I’ve been very pleasant. I find Texas very friendly. Arizona Montana greats down here in Virginia very friendly people. Some of the bigger cities. Yeah.

43:23 It’s kind of known here in the States. The people from the you know the southern hospitality. Have you been able to experience some of that when you’ve been making loads down south?

43:33 Yeah. Yeah. I really enjoy that too. It’s I haven’t been into Louisiana or anything like that. I’d like to go and I know my son’s picking all the spots that I’m supposed to be taking them in the future. He looks at some of the pictures and he looks at the lakes down here and he wants to come fishing down here with me.

43:53 Well, Louisiana is known I think they call it a sportsman’s paradise. The fishing is outstanding in Louisiana.

44:02 Yeah. But Texas, too. He wants to go to Texas and Arizona and he’s been to California and Florida’s on his bucket list, but he’s kind of like me. All 50 states I want to visit. How many more do you have on your list to check off?

44:21 Oh, I say about 25.

44:25 So, you’ve been to about half of the states. And—

44:30 Any particular state that resonates with you as a favorite?

44:34 I’d say Texas, Arizona, Florida. I like a lot of them. Everyone for different reasons like Montana. That reminds me of me being back in the country and but even going through Wyoming there. I sure enjoyed that. And I just actually met a couple people on train here. They’re from Alaska.

44:54 Okay.

44:54 And I’m going to be heading to Alaska now.

44:58 Gotcha. Now, have you thought about vacationing in one of those states? I mean, or have you done that already?

45:06 I’ve done a few of them, but yeah. I know I went on vacation in a lot of the states and I told my son when that was I like to hit every state in the US and take them across Canada and he’s been looking at those hunting shows like Bey and that you know the wilderness shows and he wants to go to Alaska and the Yukon too.

45:29 Gotcha. Now we’ve talked a little bit about weather but take us back to Winnipeg. What’s the coldest temperature you will see during the winter months and how warm will it get during the summer?

45:41 Summer is usually in Fahrenheit around 70s, 80s. It’s really nice. We’ve had the odd days where it’s over 100° and winter time, well, it’s quite 30. 30 below is not uncommon. 40 below, we’ve had that for, you know, sometimes two weeks on end and we’ve had it colder than that. So that’s when it gets dangerous.

46:05 And you just stay inside.

46:07 Well, as being a mechanic, I’d be the colder it gets, the more time I spend outside, you know, trying to get the car started. But it was more just hacking a hooking a chain to them and dragging them in the shop, letting them out and then trying to get them started that way.

46:22 How big is your shop?

46:23 It was 4,000 square ft. Had four hoist in it.

46:27 Okay.

46:27 I can put 12 cars in it.

46:29 Yeah. Now, do you work primarily on cars or do you work on diesel engines, too?

46:35 Yeah, I did quite a bit of diesels and that and I wanted to downsize from it. So, on the new shop, I put 12ft doors on it. So, that didn’t make too many truckers happy.

46:49 Yeah, that’d be cutting it close on some of them.

46:52 Oh, yeah. Just servicing the automotive and the marine end of things. I mean, that was over 480,000 tools and equipment, and it’s not enough.

47:02 Oh my goodness. What’s the most challenging car to work on or truck? What’s the most challenging?

47:08 Well, I say the big trucks I cut back a bit, but some of the Cummings engines were a bit of a challenge. You know, when you’re overhauling them, but I kind of stepped away from that because you we don’t have a good machine shop in Winnipeg anymore. You know, you’re sending everything out nowadays. And cars challenging wise, some of the Toyotas, they’re electrical. Some of the European cars, the BMWs, the Mercedes, they can be a real challenge. And they’re just built stubborn, those ones.

47:39 Gotcha. Do you have to I’m assuming on the mechanical side, you got to stay up to date on all these advancements in the—

47:47 Well, that the mechanical side, like I’ve cut that back on that quite a bit. I have sold the shop and I just want to stay in it just to sell vehicles a little bit. I’m not going to be a mechanic full side full-time anymore. I’m going to be concentrating on the trucking and then when I’m home, fix a few cars and sell them. But the trucking is going to be the main source of income for rings.

48:11 That’s going to be the bread winner for you. 62 years young for Timothy Pett and you mentioned you want to get into the decking. How soon do you want to do that? Well, I just well, in Manitoba, they changed the you got to even though I’ve driven semis over the years under the farm permits, all ingrained in that you got now you got to go through this melt program. It’s a mandatory entry level program and it’s like $15,000. So, but probably within the next two months I got to do the course. It’s a couple weeks and then I’ll have the Class A class one with a multi-trail endorsement.

48:48 Gotcha. Is do you I guess in your mind you’ve already determined that it’s worth the 15,000 for the payoff.

48:54 Yeah, it is. It opens up a lot more for you doing the piggybacks and that and it actually there’s more loads that way going into Canada than anything else too. So—

49:05 Yeah, exactly. How common is the decking internally in Canada? Is that a practice they use quite a bit?

49:14 Not so much just in Canada. It’s everything coming into Canada. There’s a rare decking loads going coast to coast, but not a lot. Like new trucks are built in the United States. Well, Freightliner Mexico. And the decking’s more norly than coming south.

49:34 I got you.

49:35 And going east to west is not there’s not that much there, but there’s still singles and that.

49:40 Any used truck decking going on in Canada? Not that I’ve seen. There’s a few, but those are random loads that when I’m talking to guys doing it, they’re usually just a single going here and there.

49:57 I got you.

49:59 Yeah.

49:59 Now, what about mixers? I know we’ve got contracts with a few companies that send mixers into Canada. Have you ever driven any of those up?

50:08 Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’ve taken three now to Texas. Went to California, went to Oregon. I had that one going from Old Alberta was going to go to Hollywood, Florida, but there was a new mixer on an old feeder built. Yeah. Had over a million on it and never had an inframe. So I was amazed they made it all the way to Georgia. Yeah. Yeah. But she was an old truck and she didn’t have a lot of tender miles, that’s for sure.

50:39 How much does it help you? I mean, obviously, it would be nice for more of the drivers to have the mechanical background that you do. I mean, how much does it help you as far as prevention from breakdowns, particularly when it comes to minor issues?

50:52 Yeah, it helps cuz the a big thing with the trucks I find is when you’re doing your inspection and you just look down on those, the brakes and the adjusters are way out. You know, having auto slack adjusters, which is a that’s all they have nowadays. You can actually set those up on the road. It’s a way they call it doing a six-pack where you pump the air up and you hammer on the brake three times and you can get them back into, you know, shape where you got a 90° on your lever arm so you’re back in, you know, spec. I had one there that it was a little bit out and I was going through an inspection at the border there and the guy says, “Well, you got one adjuster out.” And I said, “Well, just give me a minute with that one.” And I got it back in shape. And he was happy.

51:39 So—

51:40 Way we went.

51:41 Yeah.

51:41 That’s fantastic to have that kind of knowledge to make a quick fix right there on the spot.

51:46 Yeah. Yeah. There’s a few other things belt tensioner, serpentine belt tensioner. Sometimes they stick and you know it’s slipping on the belt. Well, you’re just using a pry bar and you know extending it, retracting it a couple times and gets it back get back into shape and keep the tension on the belt.

52:08 And there’s a few airline issues that I’ve run into on the roads, different vehicles.

52:13 Yeah—

52:14 You’re listening to Timothy Pedden sharing some of his knowledge and wisdom on the road here in the States and also in Canada. Now, Timothy, 62 years young. How long do you see yourself doing this in the industry?

52:25 Maybe retire by the time I’m 80.

52:30 So, you must love it.

52:32 I enjoy it. And, I really love driving, you know, out in the country. I’m a highway driver. Cities, those are for you know, going for dinner as far as I’m concerned.

52:45 Get me on the highway and I’m good.

52:47 There you go. Timothy Penn. Get me on the highway and he is good. Thank you so much, Timothy, for joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Last question is, not really a question. Just want to leave it open to you as far as what your advice or counsel might be to someone who’s considering this as a career. Oh, I’d tell them to look into it seriously because you know what? There’s a lot of potential as a career wise and you know it gives you a good balance too with you know home time. I can spend almost half the month at home and the other half on the road and it balances out really well.

53:27 All right. So, it’s nice to, you know, pick your loads and go when you want to go. And yeah, it sure makes my son happy cuz after this run, he’s going to be giving me a little bit of static.

53:41 I got— You’re going to be away for a while after this run.

53:44 Yeah, but the boats aren’t in the water yet. So, that’s a good point. So, I—

53:48 He’s not missing any fishing dive. I gotcha. Well, Timothy Pton, thank you so much for joining us and good luck and be safe out there on the road.

53:57 Thank you. You take care.

54:04 Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.