Pro-Trucker Driver's Choice - May June 2024 ( Find Your Trucking Jobs)

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FROM THE EDITOR’S DESK

BY JOHN WHITE

Showtime!

I’d like to invite everyone to the APNA truck show at the Tradex in Abbotsford on June 8th and 9th. The APNA show is now the largest trucking trade show in Western Canada, and this year, it promises to bring many new innovative products to the trucking world.

The industry is changing at an ever-increasing rate, and this is your chance to see and talk to the companies that will be showing off their new products and services. There will also be a job fair where you can shop and compare different company offerings to connect with the company that meets your concerns as a driver. Now is the time to take control of your future and discuss things important to you, like wages, home time, and loads.

One of the most exciting changes to trucking is the Alberta Government’s long-awaited announcement of a driver apprenticeship program culminating in a Red Seal certification. Now is the time to pressure all the other provinces and the federal government to get on board and do the same. If brought in nationally, it would be the most significant change in the industry since the retirement of the horse and buggy. Young people coming out of school who would love to be drivers but recognize they need the security of a Red Seal Trade would have the option of obtaining a trade certification as a professional driver. There are many advantages to a Red Seal certification. Once existing drivers are grandfathered in, the top companies will insist on employing only certified drivers. Eventually, Red Seal certification would be mandatory for all drivers in Canada. This, in turn, would increase and standardize wages and ensure better working conditions for drivers. This will not change overnight; it will take time, but it will be a significant improvement for drivers and the industry when fully implemented.

These are exciting times in the industry, and I look forward to seeing many old friends and acquaintances, so please stop by the ProTrucker/Drivers Choice booth and say hello.

I hope to see you there.

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

John White: john@ptmag.ca

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RIG OF THE MONTH by John White

Regina Propochuk is our Rig of the Month for May/June. She has run everything from loader to big heavy haul. When I found out she also has horses and likes hunting, I jokingly told her that if she liked fly fishing too, she would be what I considered the perfect woman. She replied that she loved fishing! Wow! (Okay, you trolls out there – that was not meant as a sexist remark.)

I was born and raised in a small town in Manitoba called Sandy Lake. Horses and hunting were all I could think about at the time, so ending up as a truck driver was almost a shock for the first couple of years out of school. Considering

no one in my family has anything to do with trucking. This was a big problem with my dad at the time as he was an old-school Ukrainian who thought trucking was definitely not a job for a woman. It took almost four years to convince him

otherwise, but after he figured out that I wasn’t going to stop, he finally changed his mind and then couldn’t stop telling everyone what I did.

I started with Cando Contracting out of Brandon, MB, right out of

Regina Propochuk

high school, where I ran a loader in a tie yard. I ended up getting my class 1 in March of 2005 and have been doing it ever since. I was very fortunate to start my career with Cando, as I had a great teacher at the time, an old-school oilfield trucker, and a nice truck to start with. It was a 2005 9900i day cab. It’s also with Cando, where I had my first but not last substantial injury…lol. I lost my middle finger due to wearing a ring. So, the life lesson there was don’t wear jewelry while working.

After a few years at Cando, I ended up at an equipment moving company in Winnipeg. That is where I started to learn how to run lowbeds and bigger equipment. Then, after that, I ran my own truck for almost six years, brokering my loads, and for the last couple of years, I worked with Pinnacle out of Acheson, which got me more into the heavy haul side and pipeline work.

After that, I started with Q-Line out of Saskatoon and worked with them for almost six years. I learned a lot about oversized loads and everything in between. I’ve run ice crossings and been into Alaska. That’s where I ran into the biggest storm I’ve ever driven through. I parked for the night and woke up to 4 feet of snow on my hood. I’ve been across Canada and even got to go to Newfoundland. It was an interesting crossing in November with horrible weather. I’ve also been down to Arizona and a few other states with oversized loads. Thankfully, I’ve never had a bad border crossing.

Last year at Q-Line, I met my fiancé, Rafail Proios. We have a mutual friend that I visited at the truck stop in Acheson. He said he had a buddy who was going to stop in and say hi, and here was this pretty green Pete rolling into the

lot. After that, Rafail and I became good friends and never looked back. We decided it was time to move in together in Edmonton in 2021. So I left Q-Line to work for Sharp Oilfield, and I got the opportunity to pull some big wheels from the 13 axels to the 40-wheeler, which is super fun work, by the way, and I moved my biggest machine with them, a 670 Hitachi hoe.

I then decided to stay in Alberta and ended up with my current employer, Paradox Access Solutions. To date, it is the best place I’ve ever worked. I run a 2018 t880 heavy spec, 565 ISX, 18 speed and 4:10s with a set of specialty super b steps, hauling equipment and rig mats everywhere in Alberta. You can usually spot me, especially at night, from the insane green glow lights, thanks to Rafail.

It was in 2023 that Rafail took me to Greece to meet his family and proposed to me there, which was the

most amazing moment in my life.

In my years of driving down the highways, I’ve seen a few unfortunate accidents, some not so bad and some really bad, but one that will always stay with me as the craziest.

One summer day in 2012, I was bobtailing to Quebec. It was only around 8:30am, and I had just gone through Matheson ON. It was very quiet on the highway on a Sunday morning when I came to a passing lane, and an older couple riding a big Harley passed me going nice and easy. They didn’t get more than 100 yards in front of me when suddenly the bike flipped end over end, and both riders got thrown onto the pavement. I jammed the brakes as hard as I could and thankfully stopped. As I scrambled out of the truck, I yelled at my partner to call 911. Thankfully, the couple escaped with relatively minor injuries. When I asked the gentleman what

happened, he said he had hit a deer. So, after I made sure both people were ok, I started walking back behind my truck, and lo and behold, a big doe was lying in the ditch. I still, to this day, can’t believe they hit a deer on a bike and survived, and their bike survived too.

We’ve all had close calls with wildlife driving. Some, unfortunately, get hit. The majority are deer and moose, with the occasional bear. Up to 5 years ago, I had never hit any wildlife except the occasional bird, but did I ever get a crazy experience on one of my many trips to Yellowknife.

On one trip, I had stopped for the night north of Fort Providence NWT. In the morning around 5:30am

in the pitch black, I was traveling along when, out of nowhere, a huge bull Buffalo ran out right in front of me. I managed to dodge most of him but ended up catching him with the driver’s side of my truck. He dragged me across the highway, almost into the opposite ditch. Somehow, he didn’t total my truck but did some pretty good damage to the hood. I ended up being able to drive to yellowknife to grab my loaded trailer and go all the way back to Saskatoon. I later figured out I broke my thumb from him spinning the steering wheel when I was dragged across the highway. Since then, I have not encountered any more wildlife - knock on wood.

All in all, it’s been a great

career. I don’t think I’d do anything different. I love this industry. I know when I started, it was not as common to see a woman driving a truck, not to mention pulling decks and lowbeds. Thankfully, I’ve seen more and more out there, which is awesome. The trucking community, for the most part, is amazing. Ive had my fair share of meeting bad drivers, but they are very few and far between. The majority of my friends are truckers, and so is my fiancé. Who I’m sure a good majority of you know, especially drivers in Alberta.

When I’m not in a truck, whether it’s mine or Rafail’s, you’ll find me out at the barn riding and training my horses. So good luck trying to get hold of me when I’m not working.

1

Letters to the Editor

Pro-Trucker Driver’sChoiceMagazine

Hello John

A couple of weeks ago the province of Alberta announced an apprenticeship Red Seal trade program for truck driving. I’m extremely happy to hear about this program, but I also have a million questions that need answering. How many hours do you need in the apprenticeship program, and for how many years? Examples of other apprenticeship hours are hairdressers (1600 ) and carpenters 1200 to 1400 a year to qualify for your next year’s apprenticeship. So apparently, our 120-hour MELT system doesn’t have enough hours to provide quality drivers worthy of our roads. How many hours do drivers need to move to the level of Red Seal? Who will administer the program, and who will police it?

I have just a few questions, but as I’ve said, I’m extremely happy to hear about this program. Now it’s time for Alberta to hammer out the details and for the other provinces of Canada to follow Alberta’s lead.

Kim Wylie Humboldt, Saskatchewan

John,

Finally, the government has listened to what we’ve been saying for years. Kudos to Alberta for announcing a program to turn trucking into a Red Seal trade. While it remains to be seen how the apprenticeship will take shape, the details released so far certainly look promising. With any luck, they will run these through colleges and tech schools like the other legitimate trades.

‘ My wish list for the program would include:

• Limitations on operating radius for beginners.

• No mountain driving until you complete a course to qualify

• No super-b or multi-axle until year two and completed qualifying courses

• Mandatory cargo securement course

• No oversized loads until you have your ticket

• Instructors must have at least 1 Million safe miles under their belts

• The ability of DOT to send people back to school after too many violations

I believe they need all of those mentioned above to make this work.

The other great news is that Alberta announced hiring several new auditors for the current schools that are administering MELT and license programs. This should help stem the growth of the driver mills turning out the

steering wheel holders that seem to be taking over our highways. If the auditors could be tasked with checking out some of the Chameleon carriers at the same time, it wouldn’t hurt either! I am probably aiming too high, but I dare to dream, eh? At least it looks like the province is heading in the right direction.

Greg Evasiuk

Edmonton AB

Editor’s note: I have to admit that there have been very few real improvements that any provincial or federal government has made for trucking in the last 25 years that have made a real difference in favour of truck drivers. I remember you, Kim and Greg discussing this topic with me when each of you were our Rig of the Month. It has been a long haul, but finally, someone is moving forward. I can only hope they use experienced drivers like yourselves and Andy Roberts, owner of Mountain Transport Institute in Castlegar, BC, when deciding on the curriculum. It will take a lot of work between now and March 2025 to hammer out the details, but Alberta has taken a big step towards bringing respect back to the industry.

The MELT programs are an excellent example of a failed program where politicians attempted to show an unknowing voting public that they were doing something. That being said, there will always be naysayers who cannot or refuse to see the whole picture. I have read several comments from people who automatically say, without explanation or alternative suggestions, that it won’t make any difference. Then there are poorly disguised racists who put all the blame on all “foreign drivers,” black, white, brown, yellow or green. Here we finally have a provincial government attempting to ensure only well-trained drivers are on our roads, and we still have bitching instead of progressive suggestions.

Let’s face it the government has given drivers plenty to bitch about in the past, but I believe few things will advance conditions for drivers in the long run, as much as this will. How everything will be done is yet to be seen, but grandfathering in current drivers is a no-brainer. Safety, wages and working conditions will be forced to improve in the coming years when only well-trained Red Seal drivers are allowed behind the wheel of a truck. Finally, kids coming out of school will have another option for a certified trade, culminating in a Red Seal classification. Who knows, in time, drivers may be able to reclaim the title “White Knights of the Highway.”

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The Last Ride

Yesterday morning, my cell phone rang, and I smiled when I saw that it was Dave Madill. Dave and I had talked just the week before, and I told him I was coming to see him in Kelowna as soon as we went to print for this issue. Thinking he wanted to know when I would arrive, I answered with my standard, “How are you doing, you old bugger?” but my smile disappeared when his daughter Ruby answered with, “Not so good John. Dad passed away this morning.” It took a moment or two, but I finally managed a choked, “I am so sorry...”

Dave was our May 2001 Rig of the Month. Born and raised on a farm in southern Ontario, he was the consummate truck driver from a family of truck drivers. When he was nine, he drove the farm tractor and graduated to grain trucks at twelve.

Dave cut his teeth on B-model Macks and Internationals and was more than comfortable stripping them down to the bare bones and putting them back together – something that came naturally to farm kids of the time.

When Dave turned 16, his Dad asked him to take a load of grain to Barrie, and as he was pulling out, he threw in a pop crate where the jump seat should have been and told him to get his license while there. Dave told me, “Back then, the police didn’t bother us if we stayed on the gravel roads, so that was how I drove into town. At that time, there were only two types of license: operator and chauffeur. You could get your chauffeur’s license if you took the test on anything with a standard transmission. The examiner was used to farm boys showing up in odd vehicles but wasn’t quite prepared for this seating arrangement. Grumbling, he rode that pop crate through the test and gave me my license. I finally got to drive home on the highway.”

When Dave got out of school, he signed up with the Canadian Air Force as an aircraft mechanic. Then his first truck driving job was in a B61 Mack. Dave lived every trucker’s dream by marrying Betty, that pretty “waitress from the truck stop.” Betty was the perfect trucker’s wife, raising their two children, John and Ruby, while Dave was on the road providing for the family. She was under no illusions when she

married Dave. Working in a truck stop had prepared her. She already knew what this life had in store for her.

Son John followed in his father’s footsteps, becoming a driver himself, but tragically died about ten years ago. Betty and Dave had a full and loving life together until Betty passed two years ago. John and Betty’s ashes were spread at a lake near Kelowna, which will also be Dave’s final resting place.

Dave was a typical old-school driver who found it difficult to express his feelings openly, and one would have thought he was hardcore if it were not for his writings. His stories and poetry in ProTrucker showed the softer side of a very talented and thoughtful man. He wrote three books of poetry in a simple style I often call cowboy poetry. His stories in Pro-Trucker always had an underlying lesson he wanted to pass on to other drivers, and his sense of humour was a joy. Dave touched many people with his writings, leaving them with a smile on their faces. He will be greatly missed by all who knew him or followed his writing.

Rest in Peace, old friend.

Dave Madill

I would be amiss if, as a final farewell, I did not include this poem of Dave’s

The Big Rig

There’s a tale out on the highway, a legend I’ve been told

About a rig that’s made of silver, with wheels of solid gold

There’s crosses on the mud flaps, and if you look inside Jesus does the driving with St. Peter by his side.

I seen them once in Texas, and another time in Maine

Once on roads of ice and snow, and another time in rain

I know they took a side trip, just to help me find my road

And proudly I’ll go with them when I’ve pulled my final load.

As I travel down life’s highway, I’ll do the best I can

I know that I’m not perfect; after all I’m just a man

I know that I’m not perfect: I’ve cheated and I’ve lied

But God, he is forgiving, and he knows that I’ve tried.

I’ve cheated on my logbooks but God knows that’s no sin, With Jesus as my Saviour, I know they’ll let me in

So I’ll travel down life’s highway and when I pull that final mile

When Jesus stops to pick me up, I’ll greet him with a smile.

I’ll ask if I can drive that rig, with the wheels of solid gold

He’ll toss me the keys and say, “My friend, you’ve earned this load.”

Then heaven’s gates will open wide, when they hear that air horn blast

And the final logbook entry reads, “The trucker’s home at last.”

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Tourist Trucking

It all started in the summer of ‘69 when Dad brought home an R700 that had seen better days. It was in sad shape, but he got it for less than scrap value, and we had an engine, transmission, and lots of spare parts. Dad figured it would be a good winter project and we needed another highway truck anyway.

Dad wanted to do this one right, so he shipped our engine to a professional rebuilder to have them completely rebuild the engine. They put in oversized pistons and shaved the block, and a new engine came back with a little bit of extra horsepower. I went through the tranny and made sure it was like new, and installed it in the frame. From there, it was on to the cab and hood, and we started looking for a sleeper. I ran across what at that time was called a Super Sleeper, but it was a 60-inch mid-roof with double bunks and was in good shape. With a little bit of swearing and some elbow grease, we had ourselves a truck. Mom got involved in reupholstering the cab and sleeper, and I sent it out for a paint job. We named it Double Blue. We finished it off about midMay and sent it out on a couple of local jobs to get all the kinks out, and it ran like a Swiss watch.

At this time, Mom came up with the idea that Dad should take this truck, find a slow load to the West Coast, and take her on a trip. On the other hand, Dad said the bunks were too small for him, and there was no way he was giving up his R model for this piece of junk. Mom was an English War bride, so she crossed

the ocean and travelled from Halifax to Barrie, Ontario, but she had never made it more than 100 miles north or west of Barrie. I knew that Mom wanted to see the rest of Canada, so when the summer holidays came up, I found a load in a sea can that didn’t have to be at the Van docks for two weeks. I picked it up and told Mom that we were going travelling. She was a bit disappointed in Dad, but still, this would show her our country, so she agreed.

We were off Monday morning, and the first day, we made it all the way to the Sou. I gave Mom the bottom bunk, and after the novelty wore off, she got a decent rest. Tuesday, and since we had friends in Wawa, we had a short day and spent the rest of it visiting a lady that Mom had served with in the WAF.

Now the scenery opened up, and all day Thursday, all I heard was how beautiful and rugged the north was. We had a fairly short day and spent the night in T Bay. Friday, it was all gasps and oohs to the Manitoba border and then to Winnipeg. Saturday, I decided to push a bit, and Mom could not get over how vast the prairies were. Then, as we came into Calgary, she could see the mountains. Even from a distance, she commented on how large they were and asked how we would get through them. Sunday and the trip down into Golden was a white-knuckled ride with many more oohs and aahs, and we pushed on to Kamloops. Monday and the trip through the Canyon was more white-knuckles and gasps at the sheer

beauty. We spent the night at Chilliwack and delivered to the Vancouver dock early the next morning, then off to a friend’s place to visit and park the rig.

I rented a car the next day and hopped the Ferry to the Island to visit the Madill clan and across the Island so Mom could wade in the Great Pacific with nothing between her and Asia but water and then back to the mainland on the night boat.

I told Mom this would be the end of tourism, and we headed home. I was going to have to make some miles, and on Friday, I found a load for the Peg that I could deliver on Tuesday, so we actually took our time and took the Southern Route across BC and delivered on time. Thursday, I found a load that would put me 25 miles from home and was in no great rush, so I grabbed it and took Mom across the Northern route through Hearst.

Finally, the trip was over, and Mom was still in awe of all the things she had seen and how vast and beautiful our nation was. I don’t know when I had a more fun trip, but I know my mother never forgot the miles. It’s hard to believe, but we actually made some money on this trip, and it is one I will never forget.

Dave Madill

Consistency

Consistency is the lowest level of performance I look for in anything. We all love to see people, businesses and services that excel or go above and beyond. I would hazard a bet that the large majority of you are like me, if you aren’t going to get the “best,” you would at least like it to be the same. Take McDonalds, It’s definitely not the best hamburger out there, but when you order a McDonald’s cheeseburger, you are pretty sure to get what you expect. It’s at the core of every place you frequent. If your expectation for service and quality is met for the price you pay, you go back again.

This isn’t the part where I beat my chest over how best to provide service and how to turn customers into fans. You may have to wait for the book if that’s what you want. What has me bothered is the lack of consistency in permitting and rules. My job now is mainly multi-axle over-dimensional freight, and it opened my eyes to a litany of inconsistencies across the provinces and states. Now that I’m still on the road, I’ll leave out the identities of the offenders to protect my innocence!

I am writing this article from a truck stop in a certain eastern province while waiting on a permit that I applied for a week ago. This is an issue in a handful of places across the continent, but at least in the states, you can sometimes circumvent these slow permitting states by routing around them. The real problem comes when, like me, you have to pick up in one of these places. Customers like to have a reasonable idea of your ETA for delivery, which is next to impossible to predict. The permit I am waiting on falls well within legal weights for eight axles and is 10 ft wide and just

over height. My routing is a standard high-load corridor. I would have my permit within a couple of hours or less in Alberta, Saskatchewan, BC, Washington, Idaho and others. I can understand a longer wait for something extraordinary, but this kind of wait for a standard permit is unacceptable.

My next issue is the wide differential in weights and configurations, especially during the spring road ban season. In 198889, Canada took some steps to help, starting with the RTAC rules for tridems and super-b’s, but since then, there’s been little change. Take, for example, longer wheelbase tractors. You can run a 270” wheelbase in front of a super-b in Alberta, Manitoba and Saskatchewan, but not BC or Ontario. The legislation of one wheelbase for heavy haul configurations and weights is more confounding.

On this trip, I have a single jeep, tridem lowbed and single booster, what we call a 1-3-1. Given the time of year, my maximum weights per axle change four times across the country - and I’m not heavy. I will give you just the changes for my drive axles and jeep.

Ont. 16500kg and 7100kg

MB. 14500kg and 8300kg

Sask. 16000kg and 7200kg

AB. 16000kg and 8000kg

BC. 17000kg and 9000kg (but no more than 25000kg combined)

When you combine that with the different allowances on the back end, it means a lot of extra work, lowering and lifting the trailer to slide fifth wheels and changing shims to get the weight on the right axles. I’m not averse to doing a little work, but what

By Greg Evasiuk “Greg is currently an owner-operator with Bowline Logistics.”

sense does this make? Yes, we need rules on weights to save the roads, especially in the spring thaw, but they should be the same. Judging by the numbers I was given, the roads adapt to weights differently from province to province?

Here are some other rules that don’t make sense to me: in Alberta, we are allowed tri-drive tractors but not tandems with a pusher axle at the same spacing; Québec can have a quad axle altogether but not a single booster, BC even if you are permitting for length you cannot get a heavy haul permit with a tractor over 244” wheelbase.

I barely scraped the surface here and know that anyone trucking across North America has their own situation to add. It is understandable to have some local configurations that are specific to certain areas, but it would sure be nice if those were just regional exceptions without impacting the norm. I’d like to see lift axles get the same treatment across borders and the requirements for lights, signs, and flags be the same.

How about ordering a permit and knowing you will have a response within a couple of hours? I know there’s more hope in bringing consistency to my golf game than having uniform rules across Canada or the US, but can we at least work on it?

Tires and Trouble

This is a story about truck tires and my journey, about how I learned to take care of wheels and tires. First, I must tell you there are times when tire repair is an emergency on the road and other times when tire care is maintenance.

Back in the early days of my career, there were no inspections. The only tires were bias ply and split rims, which, in my opinion, were just one step up from solid rubber tires.

I was getting my experience on the highway with a broker and leased on with A&H Freight. It was a shoestring operation all around. I drove for 2 ½ months and only got paid $20.00 – that’s right - $20. He kept stalling me off, and I was gullible enough to believe him. During winter, I had a flat on a drive wheel in Davidson, SK, so I called the boss, who told me to go to the tire shop. He said they had a tire of his that they could repair to put on the steering, and the steering tire could go back to the drivers. I got to the tire shop, and the guy said the tire my boss was talking about had been run flat, and the cords inside the tire were broken. The tire shop got on the phone to my boss, who told him to “Give it a haircut cut,” which meant cutting out the broken cords and putting in a tube splint so the cutoff cords would not puncture the good tube. With this all done, he mounted the wheel and tire on the steer axle, ditch side. I left the shop and took it real slow to Saskatoon (about 60 or 70 miles). I made it to Saskatoon and had the tire replaced.

Much later in my career, I had a load of cars going to Whitehorse. I was hauling on Highway 37 between Kitwanga and Watson Lake, and it was gravel and rough. I stopped 25 miles south of Deas Lake to check the load and tires, and I found that

one of the new tires on the axle was flat. I limped into Dease Lake and asked at the only service station if I could get a tire repaired. He said, “Turn left into the bush right here, follow the trail about 4 miles, and you should find Chico. He fixes tires. I was nervous, but my options were poor, so I headed off. I finally came to a clearing with a log house painted green. I stopped on the trail and walked to the “shop,” where I found a guy working on repairing a backhoe tire. I asked if he was Chico, and he said, “Depends on who you are.” I guess there was a reason why he was out in the bush. I told him my dilemma, and he said it would be a while because he had to fix the backhoe tire first. I told him that I was running on B.I.C. – Best I Can. I told him I would wait and I could take the wheel off if he wanted. He said no, I’ll do it. I asked if he sold tires, and he said he just fixed them. I was sure I could feel my wallet heat up, but I didn’t say anything.

By Glen Millard

Glen “The Duck” was born in Saskatchewan. He has driven trucks for 50 years, mostly long hauling. He’s now retired, that is until another adventure comes along.

said it was bad, which I thought was an understatement as I was convinced it was completely shot. He first put a patch on the inside and lots of glue. Then he got out a drill and drilled holes on each side of the hole. He dug into a drawer and pulled out 4 feet of lace leather. He sewed it tight and let it dry. Then he put a section patch over all of this. The section was about 6” by 10” and lots of glue. He said we had to wait an hour or two until it dried.

I visited with Chico as he worked. He looked Mexican, so I asked him if he was, but he was born here. He said, “Hell no, I’ve only been here for 29 years. I’m a Mennonite from Winkler, Manitoba. We got along well, and time passed quickly. He said, “I’ll remove the wheel where it’s at,” and removed the tire. He found a three-sided piece of grader blade stuck through the face of the tire, so I asked him what he would do since he didn’t sell tires. He said he could fix it, and although I couldn’t go 100 mph if I took it easy, it should get me to Whitehorse.

He took the tire off the rim and

After drying, he mounted the tire on the wheel and blew it up. He stopped at 65-70 pounds. He said we had better leave it at that, or it would tear apart. He mounted the wheel on the trailer and put the tools away. He said, “Take it easy and keep an eye on it, and you will make it.” I asked him how much I owed him, and he said it was $40.00. I asked him if that was his regular rate. He said, “Hell no”. The other day, a guy came here in a hurry and was telling me how to do it. He had the personality of a boiled owl. When he asked how much, I told him $400.00. He went wild, and he said he would tell all his friends and that he would never come back. I told him that I hoped he would keep his word.

Chico told me that he doesn’t have a set price. You were patient and friendly and offered to help me, and we got along well. I hope you come back again.

(Tires and Trouble to be continued next issue)

• $300 0 sign on b onus

• Increased mileage rate 10/2021

• Fuel Cap of 47 cent s p er litre

• Fuel p er formance pay program

• Direc t dep osit, paid t wice monthly

• Fast cards and passp or t s preferred

• No cost satellite communication s ystem

• Insurance/ license subsidy is upto 50% , equal monthly payment s, no interest

• Late model tractor preferred

• Safet y b onus paid quar terly

• Scales/tolls/fa xes paid

• Group insurance

• Excellent home time and exible dispatch

• Paid pick ups and drops

• All miles paid/prac tical miles

• Stable company in business since 1954

Dave Madill Safe driving record • Mechanically sound

Nameless Ones

Idle time

Scott, the son of Bill “Diesel” Casey, is a second-generation driver. After leaving the military, while still driving a truck, he served as President of Military Minds, a group dedicated to helping soldiers and first responders with PTSD. Scott Casey is now the President and founder of The Rolling Barrage PTSD Foundation. The Rolling Barrage is an annual motorcycle ride from coast to coast across Canada in support of soldiers and first responders with PTSD. The public is encouraged to join the ride for the full or partial duration of the trip. Numerous overnight stops in towns and cities across Canada wholeheartedly welcome the riders. For more information, go to https:// therollingbarrage.com/

Being Professional – No Grey Areas

The other day, I travelled from Jasper, Alberta, to home in Merritt BC. I was making a brief stop in Valemount to visit my son and the local brewer. At this stop, I followed a commercial vehicle into town. There were a few vehicles in between the tractor-trailer and my vehicle. The driver made the left turn and an immediate right onto the service road and stopped momentarily. Then, without warning, he began backing up through the side road intersection, where I waited behind another vehicle. The driver was attempting to back into a posted No Thru Road. He not only backed through the intersection but parked in the right turn lane of the opposing side of the intersection.

Driving forward, we have limited blind spots and are continuously watching for hazards. When backing

up, though, our vision is obscured, making backing up a vehicle one of our most dangerous maneuvers. That danger is multiplied exponentially when it is a tractor-trailer because of the immense blind spots created by the vehicle’s sheer size. In this case, what this driver did was not only completely unsafe but also completely illegal.

I posted the video to a Trucking Fails social media page for educational purposes. The ensuing comments were loaded with ignorance, contempt for the law, and outright irreverence for professional conduct in the defence of laziness and deplorable standards.

Enter the social media super truckers. “But what about this, and what about that? He is just doing his job. Leave him alone. He is just making a delivery. This is nothing, you should see what happens in my city. Four-wheel superheroes are telling us how to do our jobs.” And my personal favourite, “I do this all the time in that same spot.”

There are rules that apply to almost every facet of driving a tractortrailer. So much so that many drivers, including myself, are lobbying for an industry standard, Journey Person, Red Seal Certification.

As professional drivers, we are implored to do the right thing. That’s what being a professional is all about

By Scott Casey Scott, our

Rig of The Month for May 2003 has written “Ghostkeepers” a book about his years as a gun toting truck driver while serving as a Canadian Peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia.

- doing the right thing all the time. Shortcuts lead to accidents, injury, or death. And believe me, the commercial trucking industry has more than doubled its accident statistics in the last five years.

It’s those very rules, and not just how loosely followed they are, but that they are completely circumnavigated for convenience by so many truck drivers. These drivers are so casual about how they’ve done such dangerous driving that they defend themselves and others vehemently as though it is an accepted behaviour. Even when they are ticketed for the violation, they chant to themselves that they have been done wrong because they don’t want to park and walk the extra 500 steps to the coffee stop. Many truck drivers today are too lazy even to use a washroom; instead, they stand on the running board and urinate while facing traffic. Trust me, no one wants to see that. I can confirm none of that is an accepted behaviour by any decent human being or professional driver.

These dangerous and reprehensible acts only detract from the trucking industry, making fertile grounds for further regulations and laws governing it.

The sheep spend their whole lives fearing the wolf, only to be eaten by the shepherd. Once you understand this statement the game changes and you start to understand politics.

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OUR REQUIREMENTS

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Dinner on the Road

As per usual, at least once a year, I get on a health kick where I try to eat better and exercise with the goal of losing weight. I do great for a few months, then I get tired and frustrated and give up because, honestly, it takes a lot of effort….big surprise, I know!! I tried to think about why I always give up and I think it’s because I get bored of eating the same old foods, day in and day out. I’m not a cook because I honestly don’t enjoy it. Therefore, I end up picking at foods or eating many processed foods. This go round, I decided to try to prepare actual meals instead of just grazing at the fridge. I’ve got a smaller air fryer, a microwave, a mini grill, and a waffle maker in the truck. I figured surely I should be able to put some great meals together. So, I went to TikTok and searched for high-protein, lowcalorie meals. I saved a bunch in my favourites that I thought I would like to try and that were simple to make with simple ingredients.

The next step was to put a shopping list together. I went back to watch all my saved videos and wrote down all the ingredients I needed. This included all the fresh produce, spices, sauces, rice or noodles and meat. I tried to find some alreadycooked options to have in the freezer. Handling raw chicken or beef in the truck isn’t ideal because I’m worried about contamination. I have a nicesized closet in the truck with sliding drawers inside and pockets built into the doors. I was able to organize my spices and condiments in there for easy access. I also bought some containers that have separate compartments. I figured I could make some meals in advance. That way, it’s grab-and-

go, and there is no excuse for fast food. The sectioned containers also help control portion sizes and track macros, which I don’t necessarily focus too much on. Macros are your protein, fats and carbohydrates per meal. I’m trying to up my protein intake as that’s what I find keeps me fuller longer.

Some people may think that the fact that many truckers are now eating in their trucks is the reason that many truck stop restaurants have closed down. I agree, but I often don’t have time to stop and have a sit-down meal. It seemed after COVID, they could never find anyone to work the late shifts, so restaurants weren’t open late anymore to stop at the end of the day. If I eat at a restaurant, I always tend to overeat and choose the greasy options. Therefore, staying away from that temptation is a better option for me.

If you think that eating greasy truck-stop pizza wreaks havoc on your bowels, try changing your diet to include healthier items with far more fibre values. It’s like a shock to your system! Your insides are screaming, “What’s all this leafy greens, fruits and nuts doing here?? Get out!!!” Thankfully, this appears to only last for the first few days.

I thought I would share my recipe ideas on my take on cooking in the truck in case anyone would also like to give it a go. I’m not a chef by any means, and I’m basically just following Tik Tok videos, but I can definitely give my recommendations on what worked and how to do it. I’m sure the possibilities are endless with

By Myrna Chartrand Myrna

was born and raised in Oak Point, Manitoba and was our April 2019 Rig of the Month driver.

all the different flavour combinations.

This is a good time to tell a little story about seasonings. This week, I went to do a pickup at a customer in Chicago, and when I called for directions, the guy was brutally honest - very pleasant - but honest. Before calling, I checked Google maps and knew it would not be an easy area to navigate. The fellow on the phone told me he could not give me directions because he didn’t know how I could get there without hitting a low bridge. Wonderful, just wonderful!! He told me he is highly inconvenienced by trucks constantly hitting low bridges, adding, “No offence to you.” None taken, sir!! I would also like to add that I’ve never owned a truck GPS in my 14.5 years of trucking and haven’t hit a bridge yet. That GPS may have come in handy in this situation but I took it upon myself to street view the entire area to see what streets didn’t have low bridges. I finally came up with a plan and proceeded to the customer. They had enough room to pull in when I got there, but getting turned around would be tedious. A fellow came out to spot me while I wiggled my way around in there. Finally, I was facing the way out, and they loaded two skids on the back as they didn’t have a dock. I secured the skids, signed the paperwork, and they told me they had never had a 53-foot tractor/trailer combo in there before. I was also the first female to pick up or

LETTERING & CO. SIGNS NORRIS

deliver there. The company is called Char Crust Dry-Rub Seasonings, and they gave me a couple of boxes to try. This fits in so well with my newfound cooking adventure. I can’t wait to give them a try!

The recipe I want to share today is for a Chicken Mozzarella Spaghetti Squash. I’m sharing how I prepared it, but you can alter it as needed.

Cut spaghetti squash in half. Spray with avocado oil and season

888 9209 604

with salt and pepper. Place face up in a microwave-safe dish and cook for 10 to 15 mins, checking it at 10 mins. It took 15 minutes of cooking before I could make the spaghetti strands with my fork.

Once cooked, I set it aside and air-fried some chicken. I used a lowcarb breaded chicken from the freezer section. I air-fried it at 400 degrees for 18 minutes. Then I added it to my spaghetti squash, poured in some pasta sauce and mixed it up. I mixed it

all right in the spaghetti squash, then topped it with mozzarella cheese. I popped it back in the microwave for three more minutes until the cheese melted. I then topped it with some green onions and Bon Appétit!

I cooked the other half of the spaghetti squash and pulled the strands out into a container so that I had a fast start to my next day’s dinner.

When a woman laughs during an argument, please know that the psycho part of her brain has been activated. Abort mission!

Every woman is a Doll. Now whether it is a Barbie, Annabelle, or Voodoo, is a roll of the dice.

I woke up this morning determined to drink less, eat right and exercise… But that was 4 hours ago …when I was younger and full of hope.

Load Security

Load security wasn’t a problem in the parcel delivery firm where I got my class 1 licence. I drove a three-ton box van with plenty of room for the 56 daily deliveries that people, usually the lady of the house, ordered from shopping catalogues. When the new catalogues came out, it was a nice easy Sunday shift, seventyfive deliveries and no collections. You could pile most of them in the cab so you didn’t have to keep going into the back of the truck. And as it was Sunday, you got double time. (Whatever happened to that?)

When I left there, I got my first real trucking job with a company whose main contracts were with the whisky industry. Again, load security wasn’t a great concern. As a rookie driver, I was put on bulk grain trailers and then tankers. You could get a little seasick when you stopped at lights if the tanker had no baffles. But, as long as you ensured the lids and valves were closed, nothing would leak out. Hauling barrels was a little different. It didn’t matter if the barrels were full or empty. The first barrels in the box van had to be stood on end, which was a two-man job when they were full.

Then, an eight-by-four sheet of plywood went on top, and the rest of the barrels were rolled off the forklift onto the plywood sheets. When you got to the end of the trailer, a springloaded pole was placed across the trailer to secure the last barrels.

With my next job, my training as a general haulage trucker began in earnest. My wife’s uncle Mitch asked me to join him and his two buddies at Rosehall Engineering. It was a small four-man firm that had grown out of a contract they got making parts for a new steel mill being built in Newport, South Wales. Mitch took the parts down to Wales and got return loads to pay the price of the diesel back home. The other two drivers were long-time pals of Mitch and had been drivers for most of their lives. With Mitch chasing contracts, the work soon outgrew the three drivers.

All their work was with flatbed trailers, so my experience securing and tarping different loads was really put to the test. I knew the theory by watching other drivers, but as for practical experience, I was sadly lacking. Things started to take off when they got a big contract with a local company that made wire rope for fishing boats and other firms. Martin Black wire ropes was an old firm in an old factory that hadn’t been built for 40-foot tractor-trailer operations, so the under-cover loading dock was not

By Colin Black

Colin Black lives in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, Scotland and has been driving truck for over 40 years. His story shows us once again that the problems drivers face are universal.

the easiest to get into. You backed the trailer down a slope and into the onetrailer loading dock that was set at an almost 90-degree angle to the dirt road. Thankfully, you were backing in off the driver’s side so you could keep an eye out the cab window.

I had never loaded anything like these big wooden reels of wire rope, but Mitch and the guys kept me right. The wooden reels were craned out of the factory and straight onto the trailer. They sat on two wooden 4x4x8-foot battens, so they were not sitting on the trailer floor.

I preferred the wire rope going to the docks for the fishing boats as it wasn’t wound onto wooden reels. It was coiled and bound with wire so it could be loaded onto the trailer on its flat side, which meant the load was much lower and easier to tarp. With the help of three experienced men, I managed to get by without any serious incidents. Although coming back to the depot with a load of empty reels, I looked in my mirrors in horror and saw a wooden reel slip over the side of the trailer. Luckily, it missed all the traffic and rolled to the grass verge. I stopped and got it back onto the trailer before the cops came. A quick tighten of the ropes, and I was on my way.

As a kid I was so proud when someone said, “You’ve gotten so big since I saw you last.” As an adult, no so much.

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