What'sit really like?

UK PROFESSIONAL DRIVERS FORUMS EX-PAT BRITISH TRUCKERS (INTERACTIVE)
61

Doing it on a ‘Budget’

I came here this January with just enough money to get through my test (2000 dollars) and pay for the basics (food, work clothes and boots, Mobile phones for USA and Canada, stuff for truck, USA and Canadian Sat-Nav, Bedding, Microwave etc) for a month till my first paycheck came through (about 2000 dollars). I’ve lived (and am still living) in the truck since 30th of January 2013 (It’s like a small hotel room anyway… in fact it’s better!) and have worked practically every day (my family are still in the UK till end on this month) and I have managed to save up a fair bit of money.

I just bought myself a high miler 4x4 last weekend for cash $1500 + sales tax, plates, and insurance at $1100. (total on the road $2600) It’s 1 owner, 4200cc, Auto, dashboard 4x4 switch, full maintenance, everything works and it drives great!

I also got myself at the weekend a 2 bedroom ‘detached’ house in Cranbrook, BC town ($1000 per month +$500 deposit which includes all heat and electricity, water, NO council tax to pay… NO TV licence to pay… It has a washing machine, drier, dishwasher, pressure washer shower, driveway and all within 2 mins walking distance of a school (my daughter is eight) a park, a baseball stadium and a golf course :sunglasses: … errr a crazy golf course actually :cry: , but it looks fun :smiley:

Also just booked and paid the tickets for my wife and daughter ($2700) to come over at the end of this month… the staff at the company i work for have ‘donated’ their old furniture, sofa, wardrobes kitchen table and chairs (all better than the stuff we had in the UK) the rest I got from the Cranbrook ‘Salvation Army’ Charity shop. :smiley:

So up to now, Canada is good… yeah, i’m away from home a bit more than the UK, but the pace of life and work is just so much more… chilled out here and i think it helps that the Transport company and staff i work for are a great help also.

All the above was paid from my earnings here in Canada, so it’s possible to get here and stay here on a budget… but it’s tough at first because there is so much to take in!

Life is definitely improving for me (and soon my family) over here :smiley: !


My 4x4 Chevy Trailblazer with ‘Megamiles’ on it.


It’s a high miler but it drives great and it only cost ‘just over’ a weeks wages…

Col :grimacing:

62

She looks sweet , well done . First few years are the hardest but it’ll be worth it before you are aware , good effort .

63

Nice motor for the money Col, I bought a $1000 car when I got here, but I wanted a proper old yank tank, I got it too :laughing: Still have it, been pretty reliable on the whole, it had some issues, which a new alternator and battery solved and kr79 used it while he was here, it was his alternator and battery that fixed it after all :laughing:

I was out here on my own for a couple of years, bit of a shame looking back as the house prices dropped in the UK and the exchange rate went down too while we were sorting everything out, I would’ve been mortgage free if we had all come at the same time :cry:

Even so, during the time I was on my own and before it drove me crazy and I rented an appartment with a mate, I lived in the truck for a year or so, having my time off down the road and either having a quick reset in the truck or checking into a hotel. I was sending a chunk of change home, but still managed to live pretty good without looking at price tags. I saved enough to buy the Charger, went back to the UK a few times and the ball and chain came over here a few times too :wink:

64

You’ve done really well mate, I am so glad you found a company that really seems to care about you, I almost have tears in my eyes (happy tears that is).
Good job, keep it going :smiley:

65

taffytrucker:
they play rugby in the summer over here

Thats because they are too soft and whimpy to play in winter like they do in civilised countries :laughing:

66

whats it like living in NYC pat? is the traffic as bad as what the movies make out? lol I wouldn’t mind visiting ground zero , have you been ?

67

Smoggie89:
whats it like living in NYC pat? is the traffic as bad as what the movies make out? lol I wouldn’t mind visiting ground zero , have you been ?

I don’t live in NYC Smoggie, I live in NY which is a state about the size of England :laughing:
I actually live 240 miles north of NYC, I do work there most of the week so I can answer the question about driving… They are all dangerous, crazy and very ignorant idiots who have no idea about the rules of the road and courtesy.
I live in an idylic liitle mountain town where it makes headlines when a driver is stopped for having too many air freshners on the interior mirror :laughing:
(on saying that we actually had a drive by shooting here last week ) :laughing:

68

Pat Hasler:

Smoggie89:
whats it like living in NYC pat? is the traffic as bad as what the movies make out? lol I wouldn’t mind visiting ground zero , have you been ?

I don’t live in NYC Smoggie, I live in NY which is a state about the size of England :laughing:
I actually live 240 miles north of NYC, I do work there most of the week so I can answer the question about driving… They are all dangerous, crazy and very ignorant idiots who have no idea about the rules of the road and courtesy.
I live in an idylic liitle mountain town where it makes headlines when a driver is stopped for having too many air freshners on the interior mirror :laughing:
(on saying that we actually had a drive by shooting here last week ) :laughing:

Lmao at the last bit , I just seen NY and assumed NYC lol ,

69

It was just some local Hillbilly hick shooting at some other local Hillbilly hick’s mobile home in the trailer park on the edge of town, they put such places on the outskirts to keep vermin away from non flea bitten citizens :laughing:
I see the residents walk by my house at weekends on their way to the booze shop to return to their ■■■■ hole and get drunk.

70

Pat Hasler:
It was just some local Hillbilly hick shooting at some other local Hillbilly hick’s mobile home in the trailer park on the edge of town, they put such places on the outskirts to keep vermin away from non flea bitten citizens :laughing:
I see the residents walk by my house at weekends on their way to the booze shop to return to their [zb] hole and get drunk.

A bit like 8mile lol anyone got any random pictures you have took whilst there

71

We do a delivery in Ryan Rd, Detroit, you go down 8 mile to get there, it is full on gangland, it’s a lotta fun delivering there at 3am :laughing:

72

newmercman:
We do a delivery in Ryan Rd, Detroit, you go down 8 mile to get there, it is full on gangland, it’s a lotta fun delivering there at 3am :laughing:

Is that what the place/road is called or is it its unofficial name lol, might see papa doc running round at that time in the morning

73

When I was self employed I had a multidrop load ending in Detroit with a pick up near Kalamazo next day, I had spoken to the guy I needed to deliver to in Detroit that morning and he said ‘Just call me and we’ll unload you anytime’ then gave me directions to a park near the waterfront, I arrived there at 9.00pm and stopped to ask a cop how to get in, he looked shocked and asked if I was crazy ? LOL. I called the customer who said he didn’t mean late night when he said ‘anytime’ but he and a crew arrived withing 30 minutes, offloaded my trailer with two cops standing guard, who in turn told me to forget log rules and 'Get the hell out of here" :laughing:
Very rough area :exclamation:
Another time I had a early morning delivery on the outskirts of Washington DC and parked at the customers gates one very snowy Sunday night, then set out to walk to a KFC I had seen on the way in. As I stomped though the foot deep snow a cop pulled up and asked if I was ok ? I told him what I was doing and carried on walking. As I sat eating inside KFC I noticed the police car pull up and the cop walked in, said hi to the staff and then came and sat by me "It ain’t safe for a white dude to walk around here at night so I I am gonna get you back to your truck safely. He did as he said … Good cop.

74

The name of the road is 8 Mile, they have 1 Mile, 2 Mile, 3 Mile etc, it denotes miles from the city center I think :wink:

There are some proper shady characters mooching about at that time of the morning, but I’ve never seen anything to worry me, they’re not interested in trucks. When I was on Big Freight I loaded wire from a place in the heart of Chicago gangland, the gangbangers were out in force all wearing their colours and looking just like they do in the films, half of them were making the air horn sign at me as I went past them :laughing:

75

newmercman:
The name of the road is 8 Mile, they have 1 Mile, 2 Mile, 3 Mile etc, it denotes miles from the city center I think :wink:

There are some proper shady characters mooching about at that time of the morning, but I’ve never seen anything to worry me, they’re not interested in trucks. When I was on Big Freight I loaded wire from a place in the heart of Chicago gangland, the gangbangers were out in force all wearing their colours and looking just like they do in the films, half of them were making the air horn sign at me as I went past them :laughing:

After spending some time in the US now, I think the ‘films’ are actually superb at portraying typical America… from the ‘stetson’ wearing cops with their hand on holster ready to fire, the ‘gangsters’ you mention above to the crazy ‘horror movie’ bloke in dungarees, spitting into a bucket i saw two days ago living in a shack in the middle of nowhere who enjoyed hack sawing the back ends of cars into 1’’ squares (I walked over to take some photo’s of the car’s, but i bottled out when he stopped frantically ‘hacksawing’ but didn’t turn around to look at me… :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: :open_mouth: and I got scared, ran back to my truck and made ‘shaky’ a ‘drive by’ movie instead! :unamused:

The only thing they don’t portray is how well we (well i am!) are treated here in the US and Canada, American truck drivers (once they are out of their trucks) are sooooo friendly and helpful, willing to give you the time of day and talk about trucks, the cops and help with any trucking related problems (although the ‘fashion’ sense of some look like they have just stepped out of the ‘Blue Oyster Club’ :open_mouth:) they are a good bunch… I laughed when i was training to pass my test, my trainer waved at every truck that went by and the other truck driver waved back, i said… do you know them?.. and he would say nope… but we are truckers watching out for each other!, in the UK you would probably ‘cringe’ with embarrassment at a statement like that, but here it’s different.

Coffee is another strange one, i have a cup the size of a bucket which i can refill at most places for 99c :smiley: :smiley: and some place’s don’t even charge for coffee refills… they just say it’s on the house :slight_smile:

Well it’s time to put on my leather cap, tuck my jean’s into my shiny leather cowboy boots :open_mouth: … and do some miles… lol