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www.driverschoice.ca
RIG OF THE MONTH by John White
I was introduced to Cody Trasewich by good friend Mike (Motor) Rosenau. Motor said that Cody is a good example of a young driver who was raised in a trucking family and has a great work ethic and attitude. After talking to Cody, I can only say the industry needs more young men like him. My name is Cody Tarasewich. I was born in Kelowna, BC, in 1992 and grew up just north of it in Oyama. I have loved trucks for as long as I can recall. Growing up with my family in the industry is probably the cause. My father owns a trucking company consisting of logging and gravel trucks, and since I was a kid, I knew I always wanted to drive. I would sit in the passenger seat with Dad just about every chance I could. So many of my childhood memories are in the passenger seat of a western star. The first truck I drove was a 1986 Kenworth W900 five-axle long logger. I was riding with Dad in the bush like usual when he stopped and said, “You want to drive?” It was a forest service road just off Beaver Lake main, and he was the only one hauling on it. I was only 8 or 9, and I don’t even remember how we got the truck in gear and moving. But I still remember the excitement; even Pro-Trucker Driver’s Choice Magazine
though we were just idling along, I was over the moon. Dad’s advice was to keep that KW logo on the hood pointed to the middle of the road and follow the other tracks to dodge the rocks. We only went a couple of km before he took over again, but the passion for driving was definitely ignited that day. Once I got a bit older, I’d start moving them around in the yard when servicing and greasing and trying to teach myself how to shift in the process. And, of course, jumping in and backing it up to the trailer loader in the mill when I was riding along. In hindsight, with today’s world of safety, the mills would not tolerate that. One of my fonder memories was taking off of high school one day when I had a spare class to go up to the bush with Dad. We were in a 95 Western Star with a jeep and a pole trailer, and he let
Cody, Emmett and Katie
me drive up empty right to the landing. Dad was loading himself, so I sat in the driver’s seat, calling out the weights to him. When he finished, I helped him wrap the load, and then he said. “You might as well keep going!” I was ecstatic. It was my first time driving a loaded truck. It was a slow trip, and I remember constantly asking what gear I should be in to come down the hills. Dad would just say, “Oh, that one will work. Just feel out the truck.” I was a bit hard on the brakes here and there, but when we got to the bottom I was shaking with excitement. It seemed only fitting that I would take a truck to my graduation. It was 2010, and at the time, my favourite truck was a 2005 set forward Western Star tri-drive with a triaxle long logger. I was out partying with my friends the night before, but unlike the rest of them, JULY / AUGUST 2022
