Ice Road Trucking e-book preview 10

This entry is part 10 of 13 in the series Ice Road Trucking e-book previews

Welcome to Ice Road Trucking e-book preview 10 where we get into the reality of pay for the hours worked.

I remember hearing a complaint once that someone worked a 9 hour day. It made me think, “Where could I get a job like that working half days?”

I have no idea how long it took me to drift off, or how long I eventually did sleep. Whatever it was wasn’t nearly long enough. That’s trucking. You just get up and go. You don’t take time off work with a sickness or an injury, you do what you have to do to get the job done.




I was once holding a wet rag near a moving belt working in the oil and gas industry. Before I knew what happened, the wet rag sucked in my hand and it crushed the ends of three of my fingers. Thankfully, the belt stalled out because the bones in my second knuckle were too thick to pass through the small clearance between the rollers. It could have been much worse, but I learned from that experience.

After my boss insisted I go to the hospital, the doctor drilled small holes in my nails as the blood shot out to relieve the pressure. I went right back to work.

With Ice Road Trucking if you aren’t working, you aren’t getting paid. There’s no calling in sick, or finding a replacement because there aren’t any. I’ve had to put in 15 to 20 hour days with illnesses that most people would go to a doctor or a hospital emergency room for. With the exception of giving birth, now I have at least some idea of what it’s like to be a mom.

A lot of people think that Ice Road Truckers are making the big bucks, but that’s simply not the case. What they’re doing is working twice the number of hours as a normal person, and doing it seven days a week for two months straight.

Later on in the book I’ll share my wage break down per hour with you. I’m pretty sure you’ll be quite surprised at how low it is.

Ice road trucking e-book preview 10. 2001 Kenworth W900 hotel Kenworth on ice.

Ice road trucking e-book preview 10. 2001 Kenworth W900 hotel Kenworth on ice.

So, we were up at 4 am getting ready to go like we’d agreed. My head wouldn’t hit the pillow again until just after 2 am the next morning. Day two on the ice roads was going to be another long one, but this is typical for an ice road trucker. If you didn’t feel awake enough to start your day, a pre-trip inspection or walk around check at -35 or colder is a great wake up call. Everything seemed good on the check and I was now wide awake.

 Please enjoy the lighter side of Ice Road Trucking with this cute video

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