Trump5.ca
An Incomplete Record of an Incomplete Life….
It’s Been Awhile…
…As the title says, it’s been awhile, both for me writing a post and for me returning to an old(new?) career!
First, let’s do a quick recap of what’s been going on. In 2020, we and the little missus did nothing because, well, Covid happened. In the middle of doing all this nothing, I made the decision to retire from ATB, which is exactly what I did on March 31, 2021. My banking career lasted almost 23 years and gave me so much but nothing more than the love of my life, Michele. We met going on 16 years ago when we both worked for FCC and are still going strong!
So after retirement day, I loaded up the trailer and headed out to Creston to decompress and start some of the spring work out there. We did a couple of major landscaping projects that turned out great! Now this is where I have to apologize to my almost double digit followers. I took lots of pictures and videos but didn’t blog about the projects like I intended as I was very busy enjoying retirement!! I will put together a series of posts one day to capture everything that we did out there this year. It looks awesome!
So that brings us to present days. In September, I decided that I wanted to keep busier than I was, so I made the decision to return to what has always been a passion of mine and something I did for a couple of years when Michele and I first got married – truck driving. I applied to a few companies and was hired on with Boots Transport Ltd based out of Calgary but they also have a yard in Nisku where I am based out of. They are a strictly flatbed company and we haul everything – pipe, steel, lumber, etc. If it can fit on a flatbed, we will haul it (I’m sure at very reasonable rates too)
One of the criteria I had for returning to trucking was that I didn’t want to be gone for more than a week at a time. Even a week is long enough as I can’t live without my beautiful missus and awesome dog for that long. With Boots, I am home every weekend and gone from Monday to Friday which is just perfect, especially for Michele, because as many of you that know me, I am great to be around in small doses but too long, and I’m just annoying! So this gives her a break and then she’s happy to see me come Friday night! The other nice thing about driving for Boots is that we run just in Western Canada (Manitoba to BC) so there is no border to deal with and for the most part, good highways.
Now, doing flatbed work has another perk to it – you stay active. We are usually at least loading or unloading every day which requires throwing straps or chains and lots of physical work. This is great now that I’m 5 weeks into it as my body has adjusted but the first week or so, even my hair hurt. Advice for those thinking about getting into flatbed work – don’t sit behind a desk for 10+ years to prepare!! It was a tough transition but I can say now that I am used to the pain! Another key piece of advice – a 57 year old body never quits hurting. It’s always something!
As I said, I have been back driving for about 5 weeks and have been all over Alberta, Saskatchewan, and even went to Winnipeg. I always thought that you couldn’t pay me enough to go to Winnipeg but apparently they can! I am having a lot of fun being behind the wheel of a big rig and am learning so much and there is still so much to learn. I look forward to finding out each day what I’m hauling and where I’m going but there is definitely one thing I am not looking forward to with this job and that is when the temperatures drop to really frickin’ cold. But, hopefully that will be short lived (lol) and I’ll get through it.
As always, I am going to try and do some more posts about my adventures but don’t put off doing other things waiting, because, well, it’s been awhile!
JT
Trump5.ca 
Its fun to read about other’s lives. You write like you talk, like me. Looking forward to reading more and getting to know you better too. Its nice to hear you speak of Michele with such love too. Safe travels, Cuz.❤
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Thanks Cuz!!
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