 from Motel 6. We're in Motel 6 in Brandon, not the usual place to start the day, but if you go to yesterday you'll understand, and if you watch yesterday's video you'll understand yesterday was sort of a day that got sort of turned on its head and what we were going to do in the morning completely got changed and we ended up in Brandon and spent the night here because I've got some stuff to get done today and it's just cheaper and easier to leave me out here for the night than to get me to drive all the way back home and then drive all the way back here in the morning. So I didn't have a sleeper truck with me so we made do. The Motel 6's are actually all right, the beds are pretty hard though, that's okay, it's a bed. $65 a night for truckers, $95 a night for everybody else. So there's a trucker discount, I'm sure there's like a senior discount and stuff too, but I actually didn't know there was a trucker discount, they asked for my driver's license and I showed them and said oh you're a commercial driver. Yeah, am I not allowed to stay here? They're like no of course you're welcome, you just get a discount and that's a big discount, $60, $70, that's a $30 discount off a $95 bill. So what is it? That's like a 30% discount, not bad. So today on the agenda, I have no trailer on me. I'm driving from Brandon here in Western Manitoba, north into Dauphin. Got to grab a trailer there, that's pretty heavy. I've got some permits ready for it, and we've got to drag it over to Russell area, Manitoba, just 100 miles down the road, drop it there and then come back here, grab our trailer that we brought out here, it should be loaded with new stuff and then bring that back to Winnipeg. That's the plan anyways, we'll see if the plan stays, we'll see if it sticks. This is trucking so you know I'm ready for whatever they throw at me. I'm awake, I'm going to have coffee in just a second, I'm going to go out there, grab some coffee and some breakfast and we'll be ready to go. You know this place was so nice, I didn't want to leave my truck id like all night right, especially if I'm not in there, but I didn't want to shut it off either because it's so cold, it was minus 30 when I got here yesterday, so I said well if I shut my truck off all night I'm not going to get it going in the morning. And I didn't have a cord to plug it in because I wasn't expecting to have to spend the night out here, note to self, put a cord to plug in your truck in the cab. Motel 6 borrowed me this cord so I could plug in my truck overnight, I got to bring it back to the front desk. You got the front desk last night and he said oh I have a cord, you can plug in your truck in the back. Oh so nice, so not only did they give me a 30% discount for being a truck driver, they also made sure my truck would start in the morning, gave me a nice parking spot with like right under the light, gave me a cord to plug in and I'm going to go out there right now and grab some free breakfast and coffee, not bad service. I always go to Motel 6, it's always been my go-to because I don't need a big fancy motel, it's not a fancy motel, what is it like a two star, three star, three star, five stars to me because they're pet friendly and pets stay here free, so when Diesel would travel with me on the road, my dog, and I wanted a motel, I'd always go to Motel 6 because pets stay free and they're all pet friendly across all of Canada and the United States, so they're always a safe go-to for me and they're pretty budget friendly. So good news, it's going to be a lot warmer today, it's supposed to get up to zero which is the melting point, so we're excited about that but it's supposed to be a little windy but since it's going to be warmer, it's not quite warm yet but we're getting there, making sure my grill is open so it can breathe and as soon as the sun comes up and it starts to warm up, I'm going to open those other two as well so she can breathe all day, I don't want to forget that, I mean the engine is built in such a way that it shouldn't overheat but you don't want to test that either, it does need to have airflow and usually if it's minus 30, minus 35 outside and you close the whole thing off, it's still going to get enough airflow underneath there to keep everything cool because it's so cold but once it gets warmer, it will need more direct air straight in there on the radiator so you guys know what I mean, I'm preaching to the choir here again, I don't know why I do that all the time, let's get going, let's go get our trailer, make sure we got all our permits in order and here we go, nice relaxing drive, I got the wind coming out of the west behind me pushing me towards the rising sun sort of, it's still winter time so the sun, I'm pointed straight east right now but we're so far north that the sun's over there but in summertime the sun will be over there, I know I talk about it a lot but the change of seasons up here, like way up here in the north is fascinating to me, it'll always be fascinating, I'll be 100 years old and it'll still get me every year, cruising across the western Manitoba prairies here, bobtailing still, cars tailgate and me not realizing there's a passing lane right here, oh this guy figured it out, there you go, you can come pass me too if you want but I won't bite, I actually prefer it if they get in front of me, he's been tailgating me for like 10 minutes, oh well I can only do 100 kilometers an hour in this truck that's where I'm limited at, actually it's 99 kilometers an hour which is 60 miles an hour, so I'm one of those limited guys, so I always make it easy for people to get around me especially big trucks, if they're behind me for a long time I could tell they want to go faster because most trucks in Canada are limited at 105 kilometers an hour or 65 miles an hour, so they want to go that little bit faster than me but if I don't slow down you know it'll take 10 miles to get past me, so what I do when they pull out to pass me and I know they want to go a little faster, I slow down every time, make it easier for them to get past me, once they're in front of me I know that they'll be out of my hair, but I only do that once because if they get in front of me and they slow down that has broken my trust and I will never slow down for them again, oh that sun's getting bright now, beautiful morning here, beautiful morning it's a nice warm morning, we're gonna see some melting snow midday today and then tomorrow it goes back down to the deep race, welcome to Manitoba, I gotta wash my windshield and with this trailer I have a flashing beacon and a light on the back of this trailer, it says I can only run, this is my turn, I'm gonna find our gear and we're gonna get out of Dauphin, we're taking Highway 5 towards Roblin Manitoba and then headed south, we've got the grill opened up, the grill cover opened up on the front of the truck so that the truck can breathe because she's gonna be working hard, I've got a beacon on the back of this trailer that's flashing with a sign on there saying that this vehicle can only travel at 70 kilometers an hour and that's 45 miles an hour, we're gonna be on a two-lane highway where the speed limit is 100 kilometers an hour or 60 miles an hour so I'm gonna be that guy and there's nothing I can do about it, at least I have that flashing beacon and that sign on the back of this trailer, that is as fast as this trailer is legally allowed to be pulled, people upset, I hope not but understanding and patient, I guess all the signs and flashing lights on the trailer behind me help people to understand that hey this guy's not going this slow because he's trying to mess things up, he's going this slow because he has to, wow they need to plow their roads here a little bit don't they, yikes 83 this way, we're coming in from the other side of town now, that was my turn so I had to go and turn around and come back under Roblin, what does that say the park something, the park land, some parks around here or just a good place to come park your truck, come to park, it looks like a little residential road but that is actually a provincial road 83 or is it municipal road 83, it is the road I'm supposed to be taking anyway, but this one look at all these people living out here right, how many of you have ever been to Roblin, I don't know if I've ever been like down this road here, yeah see this this is it, it's pointed towards Russell, Russell, I always think of Russell Peters every time I hear the name Russell, so see here they have proper signs pointing 83 this way, coming from that direction, okay yeah it's a provincial road you see the sign there just off to the right, this is the provincial road, we have another 35 kilometers to go down here, Google says it's going to take me about 20 minutes, I think it's going to take a little longer than that, what a neat little town, a nice little area in here right, this is the uh southwestern or it's the western part of Manitoba and I'm from the eastern the southeast so I don't come out here that often at all, this is almost like a foreign place to me, these are our fellow Manitobans out here hanging out doing their thing, look at that guy's got a three car garage in town, it's garage, garage is bigger than his house, I like it, you get these houses that are sort of built sort of into the woods like this sort of makes you feel like you're in a cabin in town, oh you got the river or the lake right behind you there, oh we're definitely on the right, wait now and I only got one more turn before I have to drop this trailer off and then Bobtail back to Brandon, these must be the town offices up ahead here, you see our flags out here, the red one is the flag of Manitoba and the red and white one there is obviously our national flag, sustainable development, probably where the parkies are then, that's what we call the uh the conservation officers and stuff, the park officers, they're part of 15 years, I've seen more of Georgia than I have my own province, much faster than this anyway in this season, Manitoba is pretty boring in comparison, there's a bunch of ski hills over there, Manitoba skiing, did you ever think you'd see the day, Manitoba ski hills, to climb this, this is going to be tough, I can't even take a running start at it, I can't go past 70, this is a steep hill, okay, looks like they've got assaulted pretty good, that's good guys, you know I might need you to push okay, so get your boots on, get ready, up this hill and just around the corner so let's just not get stuck on this hill, that would not be good, all right, pedal the metal, let's go, see what this old piece got, much but hopefully it'll be enough on this hill, did I miss the sign, usually they say, this has got to be a 10% grade at least, feels like it anyway, e-hills over there, you see another good thing about being a truck driver, you learn all sorts of things that you wouldn't have known otherwise, I mean I guess I could have googled it but who's going to google that, who's going to go to google and be like hey where can I go downhill skiing in Manitoba, I'm in search, steady 20 miles an hour, 30 kilometers an hour, we got this, Cairo's getting a little bit hot there but she's still doing good, she's okay, she's okay, else she's still got it, hi they just switched gears, eating a lunch every day and buying groceries at the grocery store and not at Timmy's every day when you're on the road, it's a lot cheaper to do that than eating out all the time, I spent a lot of money on food when I was on the road, sure I would try to get as many groceries as I could at Walmart and stuff and as much as you can but there's only so much you can cook in a truck, you can get fancy and get portable grills and stuff sure but it takes time that you don't have all the time, so I've been eating out for the past day because I haven't been home yet, I don't have a lunch for today, it gets expensive but I got myself some Subway, Footlong and Timmy's coffee obviously because all the good stuff is right here in the convenience store in Russell, they got a Timmy's, a Subway, an SO gas station convenience store, what else do you need right, oh and there's a beer store too, I mean I don't need that right now but hey if you did need it they got that in the same building, sort of like the general store I guess you've got everything you need right here, Russell, Russell, do any of you watch Russell Peters at all, the comedian, it's hilarious, he's from Canada, he's from Ontario and the other part of the country, I always think of him every time I go through here, we have no trailer behind us now, we dropped that off, there was a whole crew of guys waiting there for me already so I just dropped it and got out of their way because they had to set it up for whatever they use it for on to the next mission, we got to go to Brandon, how do I get out of here now, go around here, okay, see if I had a trailer on I would never come in here, how do I get, how do I get across the road now, well we got to go way over there, oh no left turns here, oh and 45 service road this way, okay so they want me to go that way, okay let's go this way because we want to go that way, down that road over there, okay I think we've got ourselves figured out here now, I've got a little bit of a headache, I think I'm hungry, I need a coffee, I had McDonald's coffee this morning, decent, obviously didn't do the trick because my head right now is kind of hurting, it's like where's my caffeine, I need my caffeine thank you very much, that's the road over there we're going to go down, so we've got it all the way over here to get back on the highway, I'm probably about two hours or so maybe hour and a half to two hours from Brandon, then I got to tie the load down, hopefully it's not too much and then another two and a half hours back to the yard and another half hour home after that, that's gonna mean a long day, but Britt and I have some fertility appointments tomorrow, so uh I don't have to come into work tomorrow, we just have a bunch of doctor's appointments, so at least there's that, I don't think I get to sleep in though, the appointments are pretty early, I think, I think we got one in the morning and then one in the afternoon, if I remember right, and we'll be back to truck in the next day, maybe we'll make a video tomorrow at home, see what we get up to, I think these appointments are like virtual appointments or whatever they're doing nowadays, I don't think we actually go in in person, some kind of google hangout, something I don't know, well we'll figure it out, there we go, see all that work to go way around just to get back on the road, okay, no we're gonna wait for Ford F-150 over there and his buddy F-250, come on guys, oh he's turning, okay, I should have gone, I'm too nice, I'm too nice, oh that's not a 250, that's a regular 150, just a different generation, Ford's got some pretty nice trucks, they make some really good trucks, worthy competition, worthy competition, it's slippery, thanks, do that on purpose, to Brandon, after five and we're finally leaving Brandon, oh and somebody's parked in my lane here, find a spot to park those those pikes, I think there could have been a better spot to stop than that but no harm no foul, right, no one got hurt, we're back on the trans canada, eastbound, gonna leave this trailer full of old transformers and stuff in our yard, I had quite a bit lately, I just, I really like this view, it sort of gives a first person view, shows you what I'm seeing, it's my favorite view, so I've been using it a lot, I hope I haven't been over using it, but I mean this way I can just look at stuff and you see it, you know, when I'm checking my mirrors you can see what I'm seeing and I think, I don't know, I like it, hopefully not over doing just got back to the yard here, just gotta grab my equipment off here yet, but here's the load, transformers and stuff, so going into Winnipeg tomorrow I'm guessing, I'm not gonna be here, Britt and I, I was telling you before already, Britt and I, we have our doctor appointments tomorrow, so everything is still on the trailer, so that's good to see, it all made it back here, I'm glad nothing was lost on me, I stopped and checked a few times, it's two and a half hour drive, I think I stopped three times to check, so I've got to keep my straps because those belong to me, the next driver will use his own to bring it into Winnipeg, it's kind of inconvenient, I know, if I don't take them back now I'll never see them again, so that's just the system we got going on here, it'd be nice if we had little belly boxes or little toolboxes on all our trailers, we only have those on our roll tights, but if we had them on our trailers too then we could leave all the straps with the trailer, that would be pretty awesome if you asked me, maybe one day, we're getting there, we're getting there