All right, this crazy load is finally off my truck! I spent the entire Sunday at the same Irving truck stop in Goobies NL since I was only 150 km away from the drop point near St. Jonh's. Started moving Monday and was at the Hunt's Transport yard just past 9 am. The forklift driver who was supposed to unload me didn't show up and one of the managers was operating a small forklift! Needless to say he was a bit p***sed It took him almost 3 hours because instead of taking the rails off my truck and putting them on the ground they were re-loading the stuff on their company trailer which would deliver the rails to the construction site. I checked the Landstar loadboard out of curiosity and nothing shows not only in NL, NS, NB but even Quebec. I'm looking at some long dead-head. The goal now is to beat the coming storm and get to the ferry in Port aux Basques before they shut it down again.

 

I don't think you can beat it:

"In southwestern Newfoundland, residents are being warned of strong winds gusting 100 to 130 km/h Monday afternoon."

be safe.

 

They should have you guys tossing pots off the side and doing crab-fishing while your out there. Might help make up for some lost revenue LOL

 

The guy who signed for the load in St. John's NL told me my rails were going to a nickel processing plant that is being built in Long Harbor, NL. He said a couple of other big projects were in the works (one has something to do with oil), so we'll see a lot of Newfoundland-bound loads in the future. In case someone will be tempted by high numeric rates for these loads, here's the gist of what you should know before setting your wheels on the Island.

FERRIES

The island has 2 main ports connecting it to Nova Scotia: Port aux Basques (pronounced "port oh bask") in the South-West, and Argentia in the North-East, close to St. John's. Argentia-bound ferries operate only in the summer. The distance from Port aux Basques to St. John's is 550 miles which should be taken into account when negotiating the rate (plus the 550 miles back to the ferry!). The ferry operator is called Marine Atlantic and the website Welcome to Marine Atlantic has information about rates (hard to figure out!), departures, arrivals, delays and marine weather.

Ferries cannot operate in high winds, so you can lose a day or two at the ferry terminal both in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. This is again something that has to be taken into account when you negotiate the rate.

Pricing information

I measured the length of my truck before coming to the toll booth and that saved me $47. The ferry guy was ready to write up my length as "73 feet" and I told him it was only 68 feet. Vehicles over 70 feet are charged $441.75; vehicles between 60 and 70 feet long are charged $394.75. So, make sure you know the length.

Here's my ticket:

Bunk: $28 + $4.20 HST
Driver: $28.75
Truck and trailer (68 feet): $394.75
Fuel surcharge (truck): $77.77
Fuel surcharge (passenger): $5.65

TOTAL: $539.13

The bunk is a waste of money unless you can sleep like a log on a sea vessel and HST (the sales tax) is charged only on the bunk fee. On my way back, I'm going to forego the bunk and will save $32.20. The chairs in the lounge/TV room are very comfortable and look identical to the ones you'll find in an airplane.

Example of a marine weather forecast (today, Dec-22nd, 2010):

"Winds

Issued 03:30 PM AST 27 December 2010

Tonight and Tuesday Gale warning in effect.
Wind southeast 40 to 45 knots with gusts to 90 in the Wreckhouse area. Wind diminishing to southerly 25 early this evening then backing to easterly 25 after midnight. Wind diminishing to southwesterly 15 to 20 Tuesday morning and to variable 10 to 15 Tuesday afternoon.

Waves

Issued 05:00 AM AST 27 December 2010

Today Tonight and Tuesday Seas 1 to 2 metres building to 3 to 4 early this morning and to 5 to 7 this afternoon. Seas subsiding to 3 to 4 late overnight."

45 knots might not sound like much, but 1 knot equals 1.15 regular miles or 1. 85 kilometers per hour, so if you see the words like 'gusts of 90 knots at Wreckhouse' and you're pulling a lightly loaded van ... park the truck, because 90 knots is 103.5 MPH! The Wreckhouse is the spot on the TCH-1 some 10-15 minutes away from Port aux Basques where the highway runs right next to the ocean. It is famous for truck accidents.

HIGHWAYS

TCH-1 (TransCanada Highway) is the main drag on the island and it's a 2-lane with ocassional passing lanes here and there. Some 30 minutes before St. John's it turns into a modern freeway (4 lanes, divided highway) and in the summer when you can take the Argentia ferry, it cuts off 90% of the travel time to St. John's. If I were to do this trip again, I'd only do it in the summer when the Argentia port is open and my destination is St. John's. Then it's pretty much a piece of cake.

There's only a few truck stops on TCH-1, most of them are "Irving" and they do not take Comdata. If you plan to use cash to buy diesel, bring lots of it: 1 litre of diesel is $1.22 or $4.61 per US gallon (!). Fuel tax is about 50 cents per gallon. I tried to avoid fueling up on the island but with strong winds and constant up- and down-hills it proved impossible. I'm lucky if I did 5 MPG with my 47,000 lb load! The last place on the mainland where you can use Comdata are Irivings in New Brunswick; as soon as you cross into Nova Scotia the same Irving refuses to takie the card.

The Deer Lake Irving is the biggest, and you can also park at the WalMart in Corner Brook, which is about 2 hours away from Port aux Basques. Corner Brook also has truck repair facilities (including tires) that are hard to find in the ferry port. Pretty much all truck stops have restaurants so you're not going to starve, plus there's

MOOSE!

According to one sign I saw there were 660 accidents last year and moose signs are everywhere. I haven't seen a single beast on the way to St. John's maybe because I traveled between 8 am and 5 pm. This time of the year it gets dark just after 4 pm, and unless it's an emergency I'd stay off the road.

COMMUNICATIONS

My Verizon phone showed some kind of a signal most of the time, and I was able to use Internet via my Bell Mobility USB stick. The Satellite radio worked sporadically, probably because of the huge hills and it was better on the way back (my antenna is on the passenger side door). FM radio worked only around St. John's, so be ready for a total radio silence in the truck unless you bring along some CDs

TIME ZONES

Nova Scotia is on Atlantic Time (AST) which is 1 hour ahead of the Eastern Time; and Newfoundland is 0.5 hours ahead of AST or 1.5 hours ahead of the EST. 1 pm EST is 2 pm AST and 2:30 Newfoundland Time.

OUTBOUND LOADS

Zero! You'd probably have to deadhead to Quebec or even Ontario to get something going to USA. The rough estimate is 1,000 miles D/H from North Sydney, NS where the ferry drops you off.

Any questions - ask, while my memory of the horror trip is still fresh

 

I don't think, you'll ever forget it, besides it's not over yet.

 

If you get the Vision on the way back I'd go for a bunk. The one we had was very nice. The Vision also takes to the waves very well.

 

I just checked the schedule for tomorrow Dec-28th. 'Vision' is to leave Port aux Basques at 23:45 and arrive in Nova Scotia at 07:15 the next morning. That's a bit too much sitting in a lounge chair

 

Actually the lounge chairs on the Vision are very very nice. But if you get a bunk you can have a shower as well, plus you get a TV with several channels.

 

Don't forget about Maine...nuthin' coming out of there either though.

Ranger RDT 832-887-4397 has a Halifax and to Dallas. It's a Cummins engine, he thinks it may be no tarp. They will load a step. 15' of deck, 20,000 lbs. pays $3,000 to a LS approved carrier like me......didn't try to haggle him up from there. If I were you I would take this load. The law allows you to pick up US to US freight that is "incidental" to the original move. In other words, drop your 2nd pick before or near Dallas and it's not interstating. You can build a leveler out of lumber, load this on the top deck and still have 37 feet of trailer left for a US to US move.

67 miles OOR sure beats a DH to Ontario.

I'm just curious.....knowing what you know now, how much will you charge for your next load to The Rock?

 

I did beat the snow storm: the eastern part of the island where I spent the night saw only wind and rain, both of which stopped shortly after midnight. There was no snow at all. But when I started driving on the Tuesday morning (12/28/10) I saw lots of it, especially in the Deer Lake area, where the biggest Irving truck stop is. The snow was all melting thanks to the 40F or 4C temperatures but it was everywhere. It leads me to think that the eastern part of the island has a better climate than the western part... maybe that's why the biggest town - St. John's - is in the east, and the Wreckhouse with 200 km/h winds is in the west.

Before going to bed I had a brainwave: I took out my Comdata card out of the wallet, flipped it to the other side and just as I had thought there was a Cirrus ATM logo on it! And it took me only 4 months to figure this out I'm telling you, that Orientation I had in Hamilton ON was totally inadequate. First, they 'forgot' to tell us the fuel cards worked only when you had cash on them, and second, I don't remember anyone saying I can use it as cash/debit card and withdraw money from it directly - without writing Comchecks in my own name!

So, I went to the bank machine inside the Irving truck stop in Goobies and it worked! I was able to use the cash and buy fuel which on this particular morning cost me 'only' $1.23 per litre or $4.64 per US gallon.

Out of curiosity I set my cruise at 1,270 RPM and that's how I drove the whole day till I reached Port aux Basques, NL. It put me around 95-96 KM/H or 59/60 MPH. The empty truck had no problem pulling the 10,100 lb stepdeck and I decided that's how I should WHEN EMPTY IN THE FUTURE. I checked again the CAT manual and it specifically said the optimum RPM was between 1,200 and 1,600 RPM. So, even 1,200 should be okay as that's my maximum torque RPM. I wouldn't do that when loaded but if I'm empty and have nowhere to rush, why not? Might save me a few bucks on fuel ...

Well, I made only a couple of short stops on the way to the port trying to get there before dark, and when I pulled in to the toll/ticket booth it was 2:30 EST or 4 NT. I said 'no' to the bunk, insisted on my truck being only 68 feet long, and my ticket looks like this:

Commercial driver: $28.75
Commercial tractor trailer: $394.75
Fuel surcharge (truck): $77.77
Fuel surcharge (passenger): $5.66
TOTAL: $506.93

There were hardly any trucks in the lineup and to my surprise I was directed onto the boat (the same Ericson I had arrived in) within 10 minutes. Turns out Ericson was delayed and I got there just in time. I didn't even know it was sailing. I was shooting for the 23:45 boat and that's why I drove so slow the whole day.

So, I'm inside the lounge of MV Ericson and my Bell Internet still works while we are close to the shore. I should be in Nova Scotia in 6 to 8 hours, probably after midnight on Dec-29.

By the way, neither on the way to St. John's nor on the way back I have seen a single moose. And we're talking 1,100 miles! I'm beginning to think all those multiple signs with moose pictures are just a ploy of cops to make us drive at the speed limit