First Trip to Canada

Ambassador Bridge as you are coming back into the US

With our first load under our belt, we were relieved and left wondering, what do we do now? We were kind of in the middle of nowhere in Tennessee with no destination in mind. We were feeling a little lost. After having regular jobs all our life we were used to a set schedule. We had never been in a situation where it was completely up to us on what to do next. We searched our gps for the nearest truckstop and decided to head that way. We had no idea how long it would be before we got our next load. The biggest difference in expediting and regular truck driving jobs is the amount of sitting and waiting you do. You sit much more in expediting and at that point we were hoping that it would be awhile before our next load because we were physically and mentally drained from the stress of learning a new job.

We drove the twisty hilly back roads of Tennesse until we reached "the truckstop". Second lesson to be learned. Just because your gps says a place is a truckstop, does not mean it is a truckstop. It was a gas station that happened to also sell diesel. While we were filling up, and learning how to use our comdata card which is like a debit card that our carrier put an advance on each time we pick up a load so that we would have fuel money up front, a call came in from dispatch.

Looks like this guy is getting mighty close to the edge

They had a load offer for us, needed to be picked up asap and was delivering in Ontario, Canada. We told him to give us a few minutes to talk it over and we would get back with him. I hung up the phone, talked to John, and then called the owner of the truck. I told her they wanted us to go to Canada, that we did have our passports but because of Ontario and Quebec's laws, we would have to stop in Woodhaven, Mi and have a speed limiter put on the truck. This would limit our truck to a top speed of 64 mph. She said that was fine and if we felt up to taking the load to go for it. We really didn't want to, but being new to the carrier we didn't want to turn down any loads at this point. We wanted to establish ourselves as dependable contractors. I called dispatch back, told them we would take the load and had them give me directions on how to get the speed limiter taken care of.

So much for getting rested up, but we were out here to make money, so off we went. We were really pushing it to get to the shipper on time. I got stuck in a traffic jam, got a little bit lost on the way, thanks to the gps.  The pickup was in Hunstville, Alabama over near the airport. We got there with a minute to spare. Too close for comfort and again feeling like a nervous wreck because we knew it would not look good to be late on our second load.

 We checked in with the shipper and they were ready for us. Backed into the dock and they loaded us. Then came the paperwork. They went over it with us in orientation, but you go over so much it's hard to keep it all straight. We needed a Pars Sticker, which  I had. They gave those to us in orientation. There was confusion on both my part and the shippers part, I can't remember exactly what it was, but we finally got it straight. The shipper faxed the paperwork to the broker for me and I passed the info on to dispatch. Then we headed off to Ontario. I gave a follow up call to the broker and they assured me they got the paperwork faxed to them. I called back a few hours later and was told that the freight was cleared to cross the border. So that all went very smoothly.

Next challenge, we had to find the shop our carrier uses in Woodhaven, Mi to put the speed limiter on our truck. It's right off I75 next to The Detroiter Truck Stop. It was the middle of the night when we got there, but there was a guy working and he came out and hooked up a little handheld computer to our truck computer and set the speed for us.

 All that was left then was to get across the border. We were crossing at the Ambassador Bridge in Detroit. We are so inexperienced that we honestly had no clue how many ports there are to cross into Canada. Had never really even thought about it. John was driving and we managed to find our way to the crossing. All I could think about was that in orientation they drilled into us that we had to make sure the border guard stamped our bill of lading. If they didn't and we were pulled over in Canada without the stamp it was a $5000 fine. John pulls up to the first booth that we came to and the guy asked him for money. John paid him and the guy handed him a receipt. John handed him our paperwork and he handed it back and said he didn't need it. I started panicking and said, no no he has to stamp it!! The guy said he didnt know what I was talking about and then suggested we would need to go to some brokers office but since we were already that far we had to go ahead and cross into Canada and then we could turn around and come back.

I drove past this big truck that rolled up in Canada

 Oh my goodness, the nerves were starting up again. I did not want to go into Canada without that stamp!! John drove across the bridge and on the other end of the bridge there was another booth. He stopped there and  the lady asked for our paperwork. He handed it to her and she put a stamp on it and gave it back. We were good to go, no need to go to a brokers office. The first guy told us wrong. I was so relieved I could have cried. We continued on and it was about 250 miles up into Ontario for our delivery. We made it there without too much trouble, got unloaded and decided to deadhead back to Toledo.

Tow truck getting ready to pull out the rolled truck

We couldn't use our phones or internet in Canada so we didn't want to hang around there and wait. I was driving as we came back to the Ambassador Bridge to cross back into the US. Traffic was backed up quite a ways and the flashing signs were saying to have your ID ready. I started looking for my drivers license and couldn't find it. I went into total meltdown mode, had actual tears coming out. I was screaming at John, what did I do with my drivers license? He was yelling back at me. How could you misplace your license? I just knew they were going to haul me to a Canadian jail and it was going to be an awful mess. Here I was driving, no license and in a foreign country. That was one of the worst moments I've ever had. This drivers license search went on for a good five minutes. I was ripping everything apart looking for it. Turns out, it was right where it was supposed to be and I have no idea why I didnt see it the first 20 times I looked for it.

We finally got across the bridge and it was our turn to stop and speak to the US Border Patrol and convince them to allow us back into our country. Let me tell you something. Getting into Canada is a breeze. Getting back into the US, not so much. They ask the strangest questions, the whole time they are looking at a computer screen and then they look at you like they are seeing dirty little secrets about you on that computer screen. They ask the usual, like do you have any alcohol, tobacco, weapons? But then they have the off the wall stuff. How long have you been driving? What was your prior job? Why did you leave that job? How much do you get paid at this job? Are you two married? How long have you been married? What did you do while you were in Canada? What places did you stop at while you were there? Where do you live? How long have you lived there? Why doesn't your cell phone number match up to where you live?

 My goodness, I would love to see that computer screen they are looking at. Thankfully the torture was soon over and they didn't search our truck.  We were allowed to reenter and I drove us on down to Toledo.