After a nice couple of days relaxing at home it’s that time again, although my work for this week is a little out of the ordinary, I’m going to be joining up with Kerry Brandt and sharing some of the driving on namesake Paul Brandt the singer’s Now Tour, the tour starts in Ontario and Kerry is already out there in one of the company’s new model Peterbilts. He left as I was finishing off my previous trip to California and as well as the drive over to Ontario will have done shows in Brockville, Brantford, Kingsville, Belleville and Kitchener before I meet up with him.

But first I have to earn my keep and get some freight moved. My first run is down to Menominee, Michigan, then down to Frankfort, Indiana where I’ll be switching trailers to come back to the yard, turn around and head for Detroit, Michigan, deliver some more freight and then head up back into Canada to meet up with the tour and hopefully sample some of the Rock Star lifestyle.

I left home Thursday afternoon, popped into my local Coffee Shop for the obligatory Latte and made my way to the yard. I arrived just before everyone else was leaving to go home for the evening. My late start may appear strange, but it’s all part of the plan! That plan was to make it into Wisconsin tonight. The pick up in Frankfort was scheduled for Saturday morning, so the delivery appointment was made for Friday afternoon. Reaching Wisconsin tonight would leave me enough time to get to my delivery and then onto Frankfort before I filled my log book. By the time I could start again, my trailer home would be ready, another full day would get me close enough to the yard to be able to get there, switch trailers and head back down the road again far enough for me to be able to make it to Detroit by the following night, ready to deliver on Tuesday morning, that’s where the five P’s come in. Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

As you’ll have seen from the photos posted from the California trip prior to this update, the white stuff is here again, as usual it comes and goes for a while at the start of winter. I had a couple of full days in it on the last trip, so I’m good and ready for whatever Mother Nature has in store for me this trip, it turns out that it would be wind, lots of it, no matter which direction I was heading, the wind was coming at me at 45degrees. This makes life difficult, for one I have to drive the truck all day, rather than being relaxed and just running down the road doing my thing, in strong gusty winds I have to be ready to keep things on an even keel. Secondly it really makes the truck work hard, pushing a Peterbilt sized hole in a strong headwind takes a lot of power, so the big CAT is working hard all day, this increases the noise levels and drains the fuel tanks. I pride myself on getting the very best from the equipment and as fuel costs are so high, getting good fuel economy is paramount, running into the wind puts a real hurting on my fuel figures and weather like today will bring my monthly mpg figures down dramatically, all my hard work so far this month is going straight out of my exhausts.

Day two starts as planned in Wisconsin, the wind has died down and it’s a nice sunny day, not for long though as my late start means that sunset is not far away, thankfully I’m heading East, so the setting Sun fills my mirrors and not my drop visor-less windshield!

I make it to my delivery, drive over the scale, get weighed and hit the dock. Within 15mins my trailer is emptied and swept clean, I scale again so the receiver knows exactly how much product they’ve received and with signed paperwork in hand I make my way south along the shores of Lake Michigan heading for the Windy City, but first I make a raid on my mobile pantry, before leaving, my Wife, bless her, had made me a few dinners, I put one in the microwave and enjoy a tasty Shepherd’s Pie for supper, accompanied by a home brewed Latte.

Now a drive through cities like Milwaukee and Chicago may seem wonderful, but I’ve done it that many times now that it’s just another day, or in my case late evening. Traffic was light and soon I was crossing the line into Indiana, a little over an hour and a half and I was pulling up to the Guard Shack at my pick up in Frankfort. Switching trailers here could not be more simple, the guy in the Guard Shack gives me a location to drop my empty trailer and tells me the location of my loaded trailer, hands me my paperwork and that is it, all I have to do is switch trailers, do a walk around check of the new trailer, check the seal on the rear doors and head back to the gate, I give them the seal number and then I’m on my way north again.

I don’t make it too far though, I’ve done a full days driving, so I head for a truckstop at the intersection with the interstate and grab a shower before I lay my weary bones down to rest for the night. In my 13hr day I’ve managed to make a delivery, pick up a loaded trailer and do the maximum amount of driving that is legally possible, I’ve had to time to stop for coffee and dinner, read a few chapters of my book and feel totally relaxed, no wait a moment, my bosses read this, edit edit edit! After a grueling day’s work, I just about summon up enough energy to crawl into bed where I pass out from sheer exhaustion, there, that’s better!

Day three starts with a home brewed Starbucks Latte and after my pre-trip inspection I start putting the first of the day’s miles under the bumper, a return trip through Chicago passes without incident and I’m settled into a nice cruise, my Sirius Radio keeps me entertained as the miles roll by. I manage to make it as far as the Illinois, Wisconsin line before my first stop; I need some of Starbucks finest and 361 needs feeding too.

Fully refreshed 361 and I resume our journey, Wisconsin soon turns into Minnesota and after a run through the madness that is Minneapolis/St Paul I’m back in the wilderness for the final few hours of my day, destination as far as my log book will allow. Tomorrow when I pull into the yard I’ll be turning around and heading back south again and I want to get as far as I can so that I have no problems making my delivery the day after that. It all goes according to plan and I make it as far as Alexandria, this is four hours from the yard, so by simple math I can make it back as far as Wilson, Wisconsin the next day which will allow me to make my planned destination for the day after.

As I’m running things quite tight I have a relaxing night in the bunk, my morning coffee comes courtesy of the espresso machine and I’m on the road and heading for North Dakota as soon as the log book allows, I’m going to head straight to the border and then the yard, I’ll have plenty of time to stop later in the day, but first I want to get all the potential hurdles out of the way. It all went to plan fortunately and it’s still daylight when I approach Fargo for the second time today, 361 is in need of some food and I’m feeling a little hungry myself so I pull into the Flying J and kill two birds with one stone. I’m comfortably within my self imposed schedule so I also take time to shower before heading into Minnesota again, I’ve only got to put the state behind me and I’m done for the day, four and a half hours left in the log book and four and a half hours to my destination, perfect timing.

Owing to the late hour my journey is trouble free and I pull into Wilson, my home for the night with a few minutes to spare, the rest of the trip should be easy now, I’ve done the difficult part, all I have to do now is go to bed, sleep, wake up and drive the rest of Wisconsin, run along the top of Illinois, navigate Chicago, enter Indiana briefly and then make my way across Michigan to the outskirts of Detroit, piece of cake………

I hit the snooze button inside my head a few times today, my bed was just so comfortable I wanted to make the most of it, I even set up the espresso machine before I got out from under the covers, the aroma of the coffee proved too much to resist, I was up and dressed before the last drip had fallen into my cup, a very civilized way to emerge from my slumbers, I make a mental note to configure some kind of timer so that I can use the heavenly aromas of brewing coffee to peacefully bring me to life in the morning, rather than the incessant bleep of an alarm clock hammering into my brain cells.

Time to hit the road again, I’m running down to the Wisconsin/Illinois line before stopping for fuel again, I have plenty after yesterday’s stop at Fargo, but Illinois has cheaper fuel than the surrounding states so I top off the tanks there to take advantage. From there I make it as far as the first service plaza in Illinois before I stop again, this time I need fuel, coincidentally there’s a Starbucks on site, how about that!

My caffeine levels restored I’m now ready to take on all that Chicago can throw at me, which was absolutely nothing to slow me down from one side to the other, now that’s how I like it, easy miles are much better than hard miles for both truck and driver. By now it’s dark again, I also cross into the Eastern Time Zone so lose an hour, another reason why I like running out west, over there I’m an early starter, but out here I have to get up an hour earlier, sometimes it’s still dark, ughhhh the mere thought of it sends shivers down my spine! Tomorrow will definitely start in darkness, my delivery appointment is for 7am, the closest I can get to the receiver and still be safe and secure is at least an hour away, so it means that I’ll be setting my alarm for silly O’clock.

With that in mind I blast on through a wet and windy Indiana and cross into Michigan, here the weather is no different, but the traffic is lighter and I’m not dazzled by oncoming headlamps too often. I pull into the Pilot Truckstop where I plan to spend the night and have a choice of places to park; I choose the one that’s most level of the bunch. How the people who plan these parking areas think that it’s acceptable for trucks to park leaning over to one side or another is beyond me, you’re either sleeping with your head or feet in the air, neither of which makes for a good night’s sleep.

My choice of a level parking spot did nothing to aid my sleep, the wind was howling and driving the torrential rain against the side of my sleeper, but being a true professional, I soldiered on and managed a full 9hrs inspecting the inside of my eyelids. My pre-trip inspection had me soaked me to the bone by the time I finished, so a change of clothes was necessary, I also discovered a leak in my sneakers (trainers) so they went in the bin (garbage) and my spare ones were called into service. My coffee was brewed by this time so with a fresh Latte in hand I ventured out into the morning mayhem.

Fifteen minutes ahead of time I pulled into the receiver, the rain was still falling hard and I was again soaked through by the time I checked in and got the trailer doors open, my wet clothes were misting up my windows and this coupled with a very small yard made hitting the dock a lot more difficult than it needed to be, this was compounded by another truck who could not wait until I had positioned myself and started backing I to the dock next to mine, the only problem was that the driver needed to be where I was to complete their maneuver, I had to pull completely out of my dock to avoid their trailer joining me in my cab! I expressed my dissatisfaction with the driver and was met with a blank look, they never even knew that they had nearly run into me, unbelievable, yet judging by the condition of their truck, it wasn’t the first time…..

I kept a close eye on 361 until the other truck pulled out, I was empty soon after and from there I had to get to the other side of Detroit and the bridge with Canada, unlike the gale force winds at the top of the Ambassador Bridge, the border crossing back into Canada was a breeze. All I had to do now was reach the outskirts of Toronto and find somewhere to leave my trusty steed tied up for a few days. I managed to roll through the GTA (Greater Toronto Area) before the afternoon rush hour and parked in a truckstop half an hour north of the city. I had spoken to the staff at the truckstop and they were fine with me leaving 361 there, I found a spot out of the way in a corner and waited for my driver to come pick me up.

The rain was turning to snow as night fell, then through the gloom appeared a sea of lights, my ride for the next few days had arrived. I had packed all the stuff I would need and in the midst of a snow storm Kerry Brandt and I transferred my stuff to one of the company’s new Peterbilts. I took the jump seat and Kerry had the steering wheel, of this I was glad, driving with the boss sat next to you is a bit unnerving; you tend to worry so much about not making a mistake that you end up making mistakes. I never thought that the same applied to the boss too; there he was driving a truck up the road with not only a driver sat next to him, but a driver who is going to write all about it and post it on the internet for the whole world to see sat next to him watching his every move.

Kerry, you can rest easy, you did an excellent job, I’m not the best passenger in the world, but I was relaxed and felt safe from the start, even though we were heading into what would turn out to be a pretty decent Winter Storm. As we travelled north the storm really kicked in, we were making reasonable progress, but we kept encountering people driving too safe, even though we were on a multi lane highway it’s not as simple as just pulling around slower traffic, these drivers are not only driving far too slowly, they’re also unpredictable and likely to panic when they get passed by a big truck, some of them also panic when they see you in their mirrors and slam on the brakes, which is about the most stupid you could ever do in such conditions, all this has to be taken into account when you approach them. I’m ashamed to say that it isn’t only cars that do this; some of the worst offenders are trucks!

We were not the only ones facing this, the bus drivers had to contend with it too and although the musicians may disagree, the cargo on the buses is far more valuable than the instruments and equipment Kerry and I were hauling. The bus drivers, Dwayne and David were taking it real steady around the curves; my first thoughts on this were that they too were a little scared by the snow and ice. They come from Tennessee and that area is not known for its bad winters, but that was not the case, these guys are true professionals, they haul Music Stars around the whole of North America and are as comfortable in the snow as they are in the sunshine. The reason for their slow progress is that they are trying to give the passengers as smooth a ride as possible so they can get some rest. The million dollar buses are set up to give a really smooth ride, but the most important component in all of it is the man behind the wheel.

If you have read any of my earlier entries, you’ll know my feelings about Paul Brandt Trucking, I have a very good relationship with everyone there, so even though he’s the boss man, being on the truck with Kerry wasn’t awkward at all, we had plenty to talk about as we were in a brand new truck, it’s a new model so it was a first for both of us and we spent the night talking trucks, oh and I did some sleeping, how about that, I slept on the job and did it in front of the boss and never got into trouble.

Eventually we pull into our destination, North Bay and park outside the venue, ready for the load in later that morning, even though it’s still dark we’re soon swamped with fans wanting to meet the star of the show, Mr. Paul Brandt, obviously we never reveal his whereabouts, not that he’s a diva, but he needs to have a break from an all too public life.

I lose count of the times I’m asked which part of Australia I come from, in the end I revert to my normal practice of telling people my name is Mick Dundee and I’m from Sydney, it’s a lot easier than telling them that I’m English because then I have to go through the rigmarole of explaining that even though there are 60million people in Britain, I don’t know their third cousin and have never met The Queen.

Kerry introduces me to a few members of the show, at this time the most important is Chris, she organizes the people and to keep her people happy they need feeding, so she organizes the catering. I go to breakfast and get formally introduced to Dwayne and David by Kerry, we all hit it off immediately. Barb, Kerry’s wife is on tour with us too; her responsibility is to keep Paul and Liz’s kids entertained. All the Brandt’s are good friends so she knows the kids very well as they’ve spent time together before. Barb also works in the office, so I know her too, she comes over for a chat and soon wanders off muttering something about us four being a Wolf Pack, we all take it as a compliment, even though I don’t think it was meant that way!

During breakfast band members started to appear, at first I kept my distance, but without exception they all came over to introduce themselves to me. I didn’t know who any of them were, but thousands and thousands of people all across Canada were paying good money to see them play, so they must be good at what they do, music stars they may be, but they act just like regular people at work, it was quite an eye opener.

The next part really blew my mind, I was standing around taking it all in when Paul Brandt himself walked past, I’ve met him a couple of times before, but I was still shocked when he walked up, shook my hand and said ‘Hi Mark’ He is the big boss on the whole tour and he may have known I was going to be joining the tour, but I never expected he would remember me, I have to say, I was a bit nervous, but that one moment made me feel totally relaxed. As big a star as he is, the next Brandt I met was the best one, for purely selfish reasons, Liz was walking past and although we had met before she never recognized me until she heard me speak, we had had a long telephone conversation about our shared passion for Starbucks, so she made a beeline for me hoping that I had found the nearest one already. Unfortunately North Bay is a barren wasteland when it comes to decent coffee so I had no good news for her.

All the while I was mixing with the stars, the crew were setting up the stage, I have never seen anything like it before, there are a trailer full of boxes being emptied, there were wires and lights and pieces of equipment I’d never seen before everywhere, it looked like total chaos, but was in fact a well oiled machine, everybody knew their job and it all went as smooth as silk, I was impressed.

Even though I had managed a snooze on the ride up, I was getting tired now and with a long drive ahead of us tonight a few hours sleep seemed like a good idea, that’s when I got the next surprise, I was told that there was a Mercedes outside to take me to a hotel, no sleeping in the truck for me anymore, I’m now a superstar trucker! The Mercedes wasn’t a limo, it was in fact a young lady, she was driving a Hyundai SUV and she took Kerry and I to our hotel, we asked to be collected again at 6pm so that we could grab some food and catch the show and with that organized it was time for some sleep.

After being collected by Mercedes we went back to the venue for supper, on the menu was rock star food, the whole gang eat together, there’s no them and us. At this early stage I have no idea of the rest of what Chris does, but as a foodie I can tell you she is very good at organizing catering. I was also given an all access pass, so I can come and go as I please, the show was about to start so I spent a few moments backstage before going out to join the fans.

As I said, I’ve met Paul Brandt before, the first time was when he put on a private show at the Paul Brandt Trucking Christmas Banquet a couple of years ago, so I’ve heard him sing, I have to admit that I’m not a big fan of country music, not because I don’t like it, but it’s not big over in England and as I’m a newish arrival I’ve yet to find my way around the music scene over here. One thing I can tell you though, I’m a fan of Paul Brandt, the show was superb and the whole band really gave the crowd value for money. As I knew I would be writing about it I did a lot of people watching and the crowd, which was made up of all ages were almost all on their feet for the whole show, I was probably the only one there who wasn’t singing along, until Convoy came on, that one I do know the words too, so I never felt so out of place during his fantastic rendition of this all time classic. Any of you that remember the video from the Paul Brandt version of the song may recognize one of our company trucks in it, Kerry Brandt was Rubber Duck on that day and he has a piece of the gate that he crashed doing 98 in his home office. If you do a Google search for Paul Brandt, the video is one of the first things that pop up; I highly recommend that you take a look at it.

Soon after Convoy the show came to an end…..almost, it was time for an encore, by the time that was over the crowd was almost hysterical, Alberta Bound, was clearly everyone’s favorite, the screams and cheers were almost deafening.

After the curtain finally closed the army of behind the scenes guys got to work, everything had to be torn down and boxed ready for the load out so that we could be on the road as soon as possible, we had to retrace our steps back down towards Toronto, tomorrow night’s show is in Peterborough. While all this was going on Paul Brandt heads out to the front of the venue for a picture taking/autograph signing session with the fans and here I witnessed something that I’ll remember for a long long time.

The queue of fans stretched far away into the distance, Paul had signed a lot of ticket stubs and various pieces of paper, he had stood with each fan while his assistant Tammy took a photograph with the fans own camera or phone. A fan approached Paul, she was clearly a little bit challenged and Paul greeted her by her name and said it had been four years since they had last met, now in the brief time I’ve spent in his company, I know he meets a heck of a lot of people, to remember this young lady was something else, I was quite moved by it all and I’m a tough guy trucker….on the outside only it would seem!

Personnel and equipment were all stowed on board their respective vehicles and it was time to hit the road again, it was my turn to drive and it was with some trepidation that I fired up the Pete. Here I was in a truck I’d never driven before with a brand new type of engine, a brand new and therefore tight transmission and my boss was watching my every move. I try and do the best job I can and I haven’t managed to mangle good old 361 in the three years I’ve had it, so I’m quite a competent driver, but my position as a writer and road tester in trucking magazines means that Kerry knows I can talk the talk, but can I walk the walk?

As you’re reading this on the company website I obviously can, my nerves settled after the first few gearshifts and I was soon in my stride. The snow covered roads that Kerry drove on the way up had been attended to by the local highway departments and I had clear pavement all the way, oh yeah!

There’s a clear hierarchy when we get out on the road, lead vehicle is the band bus, followed by the crew bus, then the truck and the supporting artist’s bus brings up the rear. The support act is a group of three brothers that come from Alberta, they’re called High Valley, I had yet to meet them and because I was stuffing my face, I never saw their act either, their bus was driven by Ray, who had told me that he’d spent a lot of time in Britain during the seventies, he claimed to have dated one of the girls that used to chase after Benny Hill at the end of his TV show, he also mentioned that he used to wear a fur coat too, so I didn’t know quite what to think about that…..

The drive through the night passed without incident, we were all having a good chat on the CB radio, during lulls in that Kerry and I were talking trucks and trucking again interspersed with, hopefully enough, sucking up from me. I’m a bit of a night bird, so the run through the night presented no problems. I followed the excellent example being set by Dwayne and David in their respective buses and we motored on into the night, taking special care to give the precious cargo a smooth ride. Railroad crossings and sharp curves were the only thing to hamper our progress and soon we were nearing our destination. As we entered the city limits of Peterborough we had to make a few sharp turns, one of them was a 120degree turn to the right and as I made the turn Kerry was looking out of the side window at the trailer as it cut the corner. I told him not to worry as I had done this kind of thing once or twice before, I then missed a shift and Kerry chuckled as he said ‘Are you sure about that!’ perfect timing, well by one of us anyway.

As we had a long drive down, load in was going to be soon after our arrival, so after some shuffling of vehicles we were all in place ready for action. Today I elected to stay with the truck, there were two reasons for this, the first being that I wanted to watch the whole set up and secondly, we were parked on a city street, I wanted to be around just in case the truck needed to be moved for some reason, we were also in a high street location so amenities were close by, when I say amenities, I’m referring to a decent cup of coffee. I had also finished my book and wanted to resupply, on the drive in I had spotted a book store a sort walk away so I had plenty to keep me occupied before I hit the sleeper for some rest.

Breakfast time came and the crew bus doors opened and one by one the crew emerged, after a snack they had a lot of work to do, load in involves a lot of physical work, as well as careful planning, it is all organized by Rob, as Chris takes care of the people, Rob takes care of equipment. You would have to see the amount of stuff to believe it, but to give you some idea, it fills a 53ft trailer from front to back, each box has to be taken off in a specific order, some have to be unloaded before the next ones can be brought out, I stood around trying not to get in the way and watched in amazement at first and then bewilderment, finally I started going dizzy, it was like watching a movie in fast forward, I have no clue how they manage it all, but at the end of it everyone had a smile on their face, so they must’ve done it right.

After a successful shopping trip in the book store and freshened up with a Latte (or two) I went into the venue to watch the band doing a sound check, it was a spur of the moment thing and what a good decision it was, here I got to see a bunch of guys doing what they were born to do, unlike when they’re performing in front of an audience, during a sound check they are under no constraints and they really let loose on their instruments. It was amazing to see the chemistry between them all and there was a lot of humor involved too. I got the impression that the shows were work and this was play, they certainly seemed to be enjoying themselves. They have quite a grueling schedule. They had already been on tour for over a week, before that there was all the planning and promotion, rehearsals down in Nashville and then travelling around between shows, always through the night. Music fans will probably be very shocked to find out the amount of work involved in a tour, all they see is the band on stage, if they had any idea of the amount of work involved, as true fans I bet they wouldn’t want to put their idol through such a punishing regime, I get tired just thinking about it so I retire to Hotel Peterbilt and take a nap.

My nap was rudely interrupted, I had set an alarm so that I could watch the show again, I went with the aim of people watching again, but Mr. Brandt had worked his magic on me and I was now just another fan, I even recognized some of the songs, I wasn’t quite singing along yet, but I knew some of the choruses by now. The show itself has a few twists, one of which is from keyboard player and backing vocalist Greg Sczebel, he has a chart hit of his own and it’s nothing like a Paul Brandt song, his actions are nothing like a bit of foot tapping and guitar playing either, he dances/jumps around the whole stage as he sings the song, again, you have to see it to believe it. Greg is definitely one to watch, not only does he have talent, he also has personality. During the show a Gibson Guitar is up for grabs by the winner of a competition which has fans tweet during the show, the best tweet is the winner, during moments when he is playing the keyboard with one hand he was tweeting with the other hand, it was very funny and didn’t go unnoticed by Paul Brandt and the rest of the band, they shook their heads in dismay, but the crowd loved it. Another highlight came courtesy of a song from Paul’s new bluegrass album, first Paul gives a little history on his rise to fame in a competition at the Calgary Stampede, then tells of how he met wife Liz and then they, along with lead guitarist Jeff Senn do an acapello version of the first single from the album, this is my favorite song of the lot.

The curtain closed, it’s now time to load out, again I watch proceedings trying to make sense of it all, I fail miserably, but everything gets loaded on the trailer again and everyone is still happy, now it’s time for my part. Kerry had left earlier in the day to attend a meeting at a charity he’s involved with so I was on my own in the truck, we were only going a short distance and once we arrived I was then going to sleep the rest of the night before Kerry’s return the following morning. The plan was then to reunite 361 and I so that I could go and get a load on to take me back out west, my brief time as part of the crew was drawing to an end, I was sad to leave in some ways, but also glad to back behind the wheel of my trusty steed and doing some trucking again.

My load was just down the road from where we had left 361; those P’s are playing their part again! Once loaded I was the one who was Alberta Bound, heading for Calgary a three day drive away. The journey home had me knee deep in snow at times and poor old 361 lost its shine very quickly, but that’s what it’s made for. I managed to call into the house on the way through and see the family; I also picked up fresh supplies, not as fancy as the tour food, but just as tasty.

From Calgary I returned back to the yard and had a few days off, before heading up to Edmonton to rejoin the tour on the western leg, this time I would be copilot to Bill Brandt in yet another brand new Peterbilt, even though I was being unfaithful, 361 would wait patiently in the yard for me. You can read all about the rest of the tour in the next instalment of the Paul Brandt Trucking Blog, see ya soon…….