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From the Editor’s desk... VOLumE 17, ISSuE 11 PUBLISHER/EDITOR John White john.protrucker@shaw.ca PRODUCTION/CIRCULATION Tori Proudley tori.protrucker@shaw.ca ADMIN/SPECIAL EVENTS Donna White donna.protrucker@shaw.ca ADVERTISING/MARKETING John White john.protrucker@shaw.ca Tori Proudley tori.protrucker@shaw.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Madill • Mel McConaghy Ben Proudley • Scott Casey Ed Murdoch • Colin Black Tamara Weston • Sgt. Mark Whitworth PHOTOGRAPHY David Benjatschek • Ben Proudley Brad Demelo HEAD OFFICE Ph: 604-580-2092 Fax: 604-580-2046 Toll Free: 1-800-331-8127 Published eleven times a year by Pro-Trucker Magazine Inc., The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the publisher. The advertiser agrees to protect the publisher against legal action based upon libelous or inaccurate statements; the unauthorized use of materials or photographs; and/or any other errors or omissions in connection with advertisements placed in Pro-Trucker Magazine. The publisher can and will refuse any advertising which in his opinion is misleading or in poor taste. The publisher does not endorse or make claim or guarantee the validity or accuracy of any advertisement herein contained. All materials submitted for publication are subject to editing at the publisher’s discretion. The act of mailing or e-mailing material shall be considered an expressed warranty by the contributor that the material is original and in no way an infringement on the rights of others.
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I have always been impressed by the show of patriotism that we see from south of our border. How military men and women are honoured at every public event from speeches by small town mayors to major sporting events. It is not necessarily a tribute to the war machine as much as it is respect for the individual sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers and mothers who are willing to stand up for their country. You do not have to agree John White with the politics in order to admire the sacrifice of those willing to follow. Canadians are no less patriotic – we are just a lot more subtle about it. Although we are always more than willing to pull the hockey jersey over someone’s head and proceed to take a 2 minute roughing penalty in order to change the attitude of those we feel do not take us seriously. Speaking of seriously - back to “Show of Patriotism.” Okay I guess I was a little naïve to believe that the patriotism in the U.S. felt by the average American (their strong personal patriotism cannot be denied) extended to big business. The Washington Post recently printed an article that was reprinted by the Province newspaper. The article told how, “The Department of Defense spent a little more than $10 million on sports sponsorship in the last 5 years on box seats, advertising, on-site recruitment, and – controversially – tributes to soldiers.” What? They actually pay the sporting venue for the illusion of supporting their men and women in uniform? Yes that is exactly the case and it is not sitting well with the average citizen. NASCAR was the biggest recipient getting $1,560,000 in 2015 alone. 18 NFL teams, 10 MLB teams, 6 NHL teams, 8 soccer teams, snowmobile racing as well as Indiana and Purdue Universities also all benefited from this ‘paid patriotism.’ The expenditures, according to the DOD, were “integral to its recruiting efforts.” The Atlanta Falcons were the top NFL recipient getting $879,000 over 4 years while the New England Patriots received $700,000. (I am quite surprised that no one has seen the irony and suggested that the “Patriots” be forced to change their name.) The good news is that so far I have not heard of paid patriotism displays in Canada which suddenly makes me feel much better about our subtle yet deeply felt Canadian patriotism. Well there you have it – my last rant of the year. It is hard to believe that 2015 is coming to an end and that Christmas is just around the corner. From all of us here at Pro-Trucker we hope that everyone arrives safely home for the holidays and we would like to wish all our friends, readers and customers a very Merry Christmas and best wishes to you and your families for a happy and prosperous New Year.
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As you relish the goodies, decorate every nook and corner of your home and enjoy the get-togethers... May the joy and festivities continue to radiate in your lives, long after Christmas is gone.
From our family to yours... Have a Merry Christmas and a Safe and Happy New Year!
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possibly 8 years of being in office. Lots of love going on right now but soon the knives will come out. It reminds me of a number of years ago that a friend who was a member of the Vancouver Police suggested I e e Whit agazin join the police force with him. I laughed and explained John ucker M r to the Pro-T ite John Wh that I had been brought up old school where you treated ine gaz Ma er Pro-Truck others with respect and if you didn’t you should be prepared for the consequences. I went on to explain that John, there was a good chance my career would be a very I just read your October editorial on politicians and short one with me spending most of it up on charges. I couldn’t agree more. Political promises’ only purpose is to seduce voters and once the seduction is over you’re, Hello John, _____. (you can fill in that blank) Their refusal to The letter from Dave Keefe spoofing the story of answer questions and ridiculous antics in question period man with the ultimate population control being texting are a disgrace and for this they get the best pension in and driving is all too true. You can’t go more than a few the world. If you ever decide to run for office count me blocks in town without seeing someone texting. Every in. time a gap opens in traffic leaving a light you will see Bob Kennedy someone looking down at their lap. Funny thing is that Edmonton, AB from my experience it is as often as not a young girl that is texting. I say that is funny because they are normally Editor’s note: I have received more than a few emails more safety conscious than the guys. and phone calls jokingly suggesting the same thing so KC, Vancouver I will reciprocate by jokingly say thanks for the vote of confidence - but no thanks. I would much rather sit back Editor’s note: Texting while driving is now responsible and complain than take on that job. Save a picture of for the deaths of more people in North America than Justin Trudeau today and then bring it out and compare drinking and driving. It is only a matter of time before it to what he is quite likely going to look like in 4 and the penalties are the same.
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IDLE TIME
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By Scott Casey Scott, our Rig of The Month for May 2003 has written “In the Devil’s Courthouse” a book about his years as a gun toting truck driver while serving as a Canadian Peacekeeper in the former Yugoslavia
$0.25 Tool Box The Fraser Canyon, British Columbia, is one of Canada’s most beautiful, rugged landscapes. Since the 1800s, and man’s quest for gold in the Klondike, the Fraser Canyon has been the tributary for over the road transport of goods. Paddle wheelers would make their way up the mighty Fraser River from the port of Vancouver to the small town of Yale just north of Hope BC. They would offload their burgeoning hulls of passengers and freight in the bustling village which was the beginning of the Cariboo Wagon Road. From Yale the road would weave, climb, and then fall again over the rocky terrain through Hells Gate, along the short plains of Jack Ass Flats and up Jack Ass mountain where its name sake saw many mules plummet to their deaths, so overladen with supplies they couldn’t fit along the narrow summit trail. The wagon road saw it’s share of changes as did its travellers see trials and tribulations. It also saw even more broken dreams and broken men.
Regardless of what the gold trail threw at them they were as prepared as could be to tackle whatever the challenge. The fact that resupply could take months or not at all, extra tools and parts to replace broken ones were carried along. Every man or pack mule carried something extra because you just never knew when disaster would strike. The engine brake rumbled away as my Kenworth rolled down Blue Lake hill towards Jack Ass Flats. At the bottom of the hill I turned the wheel gradually through the light fog which often accumulated in the sweeping corner. As I exited the corner, and the mist dissipated, there halfway off but mostly in my lane were the shiny stainless steel doors of a reefer trailer. It’s four-way flashers were brightly illuminating the hazard before me. I dropped a few gears, put my four-ways on as well, pulled in behind him and bailed out of the cab. Quickly running up the passenger side of his trailer I could instantly hear why he was stopped in such a precarious position. A major air leak had dynamited his brakes up solid. I knocked on his door and he came outside. “This is not a good place to be buddy,” I said sternly. “I know,” he said sheepishly, looking at the ground. “Where’s your tools? I’ll give you a hand to pinch the line and cage your brake to get you to a safer spot,” I stated, knowing if he stayed here much longer there would be a wreck soon to follow. He went on to tell me that he didn’t have any tools at all. Just a Brake Buddy for checking his brakes. My wrinkled brow must have made
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my disapproval obvious because he wouldn’t make eye contact anymore. I raced back to my truck and quickly pulled a pair of vice grips, an adjustable wrench, and some bailing wire from my toolbox. Within five minutes I had the line pinched and tied up, the brake caged and he was pulling away to the safer location at Jack Ass Flats. When we stopped well off the highway I had to ask why he travelled the highway so ill prepared. How it had created a very dangerous situation for everyone on the highway; making it clear as I shook my head that I was unhappy. He replied proud as punch as he pulled a quarter from his pocket and gave it a flip, “Never had any problems that my twenty-five cent toolbox couldn’t call to get fixed.”
MY LIFE THROUGH A BROKEN WINDSHIELD By Mel McConaghy
Mel is a retired veteran driver who has spent 40 years on the road.
Christmas 1947
A light wind was gently blowing the soft snowflakes, making crazy, ever changing sparkling patterns under the street light in front of our old house on Tenth Avenue. On this night of all nights, a quiet cold Christmas Eve, it seemed appropriate and if you were to listen closely, I’m
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sure you could have heard Angels singing. There was laughter coming from the kitchen of the old house as my two older sisters cleaned up the dinner dishes and popped popcorn. Meanwhile my two younger brothers and I were sitting at the kitchen table cutting out strips of green and red paper that we would glue together and then, along with the popcorn, thread onto string to make garlands for the Christmas tree. Our Mother, who had been widowed twice, was working the afternoon shift waiting on tables at the old Blue Bird Café. This was just one of the jobs she did to support us six kids. She got off work at 11:00 and then it would take her about 15 minutes to walk home. My older brother Jim, was out somewhere with his friends. He thought he was much too old to be hanging around the house making garlands with his sisters and little brothers. After all after school and on holidays he now worked at the dairy farm across the Nechako River. Besides, he had cut down and packed home the Christmas tree that was bundled up and standing frozen outside the house. Once the girls finished the dishes, it was time to bring in the tree that stood against the house, waiting for its bonds to be remove so it could spring back to its glorious self. “It sure is a big one,” Shirley said as she manoeuvred the butt end of the tree through the kitchen door, with Betty carrying the top. “I wonder how Jim got it home by himself,” replied
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“I thought I would come over and wish everyone a Merry Christmas,” he said as he stepped into the front room. He took one look at the tree and laughed. “Were did you get that?” he asked. Almost in unison, we all said, “Jim got it from the bush.” “Well I’m sure it looked good to him when it was standing in the bush,” he said, “but it doesn’t look like much of a Christmas tree now.” After studying it from different angles, he said, “I can fix this, I’ll just run home and get some tools. ” He grabbed his coat and headed out the door. A short time later he came back in carrying a small hand drill, some bits, a hand saw, a couple wood chisels and a bottle of glue. He took the tree down and cut about a foot off the bottom and then cut all the branches off that piece. Next he had us hold the tree up for him while he stood back and studied it like an artist studying at his subject. Then he would pick out just the right branch, drill a hole in the tree and glue the branch in the spot he picked. When Howard finished the tree, he stood back and looked at it, and asked “Not too bad, is it?” ‘Not too bad,’ had to be the understatement of the year - it was the most perfect Christmas tree we had ever seen! We finished decorating the tree just after 11 o-clock when a car pulled up outside. It was Mom, one of her customers had given her a ride home. Shortly after that Jim came home. When Mom called him into the front room to look at his tree, he seemed a little surprised but didn’t say
a word. The next morning, while opening my presents, I found a present wrapped in plain brown wrapping paper with my name written in pencil. When I asked Mom where it came from she said, “I was telling one of my customers, how you liked to read and he gave it to me. I think it’s a book.” Later that day, while Mom was roasting the chicken we were having for dinner. I was lying on the grating, on the floor that brought the hot air up from the furnace in the basement, but in my mind I was deep in the jungles of India. I was surrounded by all of Rudyard Kipling’s, wonderful characters with my new, old book. The old book had an inscription, inside the front cover, it said, ‘Merry Christmas, George, Enjoy this book, Love Dad’. I looked around at our ugly duckling Christmas tree that had been transformed into a beautiful swan, by Howard, who miraculously appeared on our door step on Christmas Eve, like an angel in work clothing, at just the right time to help save our Christmas. I looked at the book I was given by a total stranger. A book that his Father had given him and judging from the worn pages had been read many times and had been cherished just as I was going to cherish it over the years. I could hear my Mother in the kitchen, laughing with my brothers and sisters and at eleven years old, I knew I was witnessing the true meaning of Christmas.
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REFLECTIONS THRU MY WINDSHIELD
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By Dave Madill Dave was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001
A Real Christmas Story
There I was stuck in Winnipeg on December 22, with my family waiting for me back home in Strathmore Alberta. There were no loads going west and I was just about ready to bobtail all the way so I could be home for Christmas when a dry van load to Edmonton came up on the board. Now I was in the flat deck section but no one was in from Edmonton and those that were in the Peg wanted to stay there so I decide to try and grab the load. The shipper said he was desperate so when dispatch finally agreed I grabbed a dry van and headed over. The load was all machine parts in bins so I figured I should be able to load it in a few minutes but as it turned out they were still waiting for parts so it took almost all day to get the load on. I finally pulled out about 9pm and nosed my old Bulldog out into the wind. I warned her we were heading for home and then mashed the throttle. Something did not feel kosher because the puppy was straining a lot more than normal but we finally got up to
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highway speed and headed out along the ring road. As everyone knows when heading west out of the Peg you have to go over the scale so I stopped at the Husky and made sure all my i’s were dotted, my t’s crossed and my log book was up to date. I pulled on the scale and things seem to be a happening a little slower than normal - then I got the dreaded RED light and ‘come on in driver’. I hopped out of the truck and scurried inside and with a big smile and wished them all Merry Christmas. They told me that we had a problem. Not only was I way OVER on the drives but I was also over gross. Before they went any further I asked to use the phone and called the shipper only to find out everybody had gone home for Christmas and would not be back until the 27th.
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Now I was in trouble. I explained to the scale operator that I was just trying to get home for the holidays and if I had to go back to the shipper I would be laid over for 5 or 6 days. Finally after about 2 hours he told me to turn around, (my heart sank), go back to the Husky and pretend I never made it to the scale. He said to wait until midnight and come back when the scale was closed. Needless to say I was out the door and back at the Husky in minutes and after rewriting my log I pulled out the moment I heard the scale was closed. Ok folks I know it was not legal but my only stops on this trip was to water the tires and check the brakes. I hammered straight into Edmonton and arrived at 2 pm. When I got there I found that the warehouse was just closing and most of the employees were already at their Christmas party. While I was talking to the receiver a guy came out in a suit to find out what the problem was and why the doors weren’t locked. The receiver explained that he was going to lock up as soon as he could get rid of this darn trucker. The big guy turned to me and asked what my problem was and I explained I didn’t have a problem - I was just trying to get home for the holidays to see my kids. I told him the load was way over gross so I couldn’t take it home as the scales were open. He asked for the bills, looked them over, then told me to back in at door one. Then he proceeded to hop on the lift truck and unload me himself. He told the receiver
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to sign the bills and then asked me the ages of my kids. I told him and he told the receiver to not let me leave for a moment. The receiver explained that I had just been unloaded by the company president. In less than five minutes the president was back with a large box. He told me to take it, hop in my truck and go home, and have a Merry Christmas. The box was heavy so I threw it on the passenger’s seat, pulled out, and headed for the barn. I parked my truck in its usual spot, loaded the box in my pickup, and walked in the door just before midnight and went straight to bed. Betty somehow kept the kids quiet next morning and I woke up to find she had unpacked the box I had left on the kitchen counter. Inside was a 20lb. turkey and some Christmas chocolates and candy. That was probably one of the best Christmas’s I ever spent and it was all due to a scale operator and a man I had never seen before who were willing to go just a little further because of the season. They helped a young family make memories that will last forever. To all the staff at Pro-Trucker and to all the readers ---- may each and every one of you share the blessings of the Season ***** Q: Where do snowmen keep their money? A: In a snow bank. Q: What do snowmen like to do on the weekend? A: Chill out!
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From the Patch By Tamara Weston
Tamara and her husband Eric, were the Rig of the Month drivers in our October 2014 issue. So another holiday season is here, time for spending time with family and friends which is not always easy when you drive for a living. Each year we plan Christmas around our work schedule. We have had Christmas early, and late depending on where we are or where we have to go. We are always thankful for any time we have home with all five of our kids, even though they are young adults and teens, we actually enjoy them. I remember the first Christmas I spent away from my kids, we were up in Fort McMurray. I was still dispatching and hadn’t given any thought to driving. Eric was one of my drivers and had agreed to stay and work and not fly back to New Brunswick to see his son. Both of us were in the same boat. Cranky! Even with the holidays, camps and rigs still need fuel and as it was a bitterly cold winter they pretty much needed fuel every other day. Christmas Eve was a particularly quiet day, so Eric asked if I wanted to come along to see what bush/ice roads were actually all about. This was a winter contract, the roads were built on muskeg with water and snow and these rig camps were only accessible via these roads. There were no lake crossings like you see in ice road truckers but they were ice
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just the same. Every day my guys went in on these roads, there was always a story to tell, some idiot driving too fast sliding around a corner or just about not making it up this one hill and there was always one who almost always narrowly avoided a tree with his quad wagon. At the time Eric was driving a tri axle body job with a quad wagon, we had three of these in our fleet along with a few tractor tri axle trailer combos. When he asked me to go along I was a bit apprehensive due to the stories and having no real idea what to expect. We packed a lunch and I hopped up into the passenger seat. As soon as I heard that truck fire up I was flooded with memories of dads old Kenny, all of a sudden I was five and sitting beside my dad. It was awesome. We were not out of the yard 100 feet and I had to call my dad to let him know exactly
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where I was and what we were up to. I hadn’t been in a truck since I was a child and it was amazing. I watched Eric in awe, I’m sure he thought I was crazy, as he shifted up and down through the gears and I asked a million questions like a kid. We made our way to the beginning of the bush road, checked in with security, chained up and started on our way. The road was like a roller coaster in spots, and I could see where vehicles had left the road due to speed or not paying attention even though the road for the most part was very well maintained. I don’t do the passenger thing very well. Even on a good day I get car sick pretty quick. I’m sure it’s a control thing too but on that day I was fine. I couldn’t have wished for a better day, it was a crisp -30 but the sun was out. The trees sparkled with frost and ice, it was breath taking. It was on that amazing Christmas Eve that I remembered an innocent conversation a five year old girl had with her dad. I told my dad I was gonna be a truck driver just like him. Even though I was away working and not home with my kids which is always any parents worst day, Eric gave me the best present ever, even though I was thousands of miles away from home he took me back in time. All I had to do was close my eyes and I was that wide eyed little girl wishing she could just drive that big old truck. That was the day I decided it was time. Time to change my life forever, time to do what I said I was gonna do all those years before. It was time to get behind the wheel. It was the best day ever!! To all my family near and far Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. Love and hugs from Alberta. Be safe out there.
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FROM
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DRIVERS SEAT
By Ben Proudley Ben has been a Class 1 driver for 17 years. He started out driving wreckers and currently heavy hauls for Hertz Equipment Rentals. Ben was our Rig of the Month in March of 2008 As drivers we try our best to be professionals in everything we do, but sometimes life just gets the better of us. We are faced with stress from many issues throughout the day. Some we can control but others we must just accept as part of life, or the job, and move forward. That seems simple enough. On paper anyways. The normal job related stress of paperwork, dealing with other drivers, traffic delays, and shippers or receivers holding you up, are examples of things you can’t control. They are just part of the job. But what about many other factors that can affect your daily wellbeing that you do have some measure of control over? Like stress from being away from family for long periods of time, issues at work with a co-worker or issues at home that you are unable to deal with because you are on the road. This brings up the question of how to deal with this stress? Everyone is different so there is no magic formula. Hands free phones are great for business but sometimes it can be a good idea to limit conversations with home until
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i n fo @ t i m s t r a i l e r re p a i r. c o m you are parked just in case something comes up that upsets you. This way you are driving down the road focused on the task at hand, not thinking about a disagreement you just had or an ‘emergency’ that in reality can wait until you get home. If your mind is wandering, it can be dangerous. It can slow down your reaction time which can create its own problems. How about music? They say music sooths the savage beast. This for me is the best escape from whatever is affecting my mood. Crank the tunes and roll. I have worked in the same place for 10 years and some of my co-workers joke that they can tell the mood I’m in by the music I’m playing when I hit the yard. I love Dance and Trance music, good beat creates good vibes and makes the day fly by. But on days when things are going sideways a little Metal helps to grind out the savage beast. Photos of my kids, wife, and close friends help to alter my state of mind too. Sometimes a phone call to a friend can have a positive effect. Someone who will let you vent and not judge you for your issues or better yet, will laugh at you and tell you that you are being an idiot and to let it ride. Another simple way, as weird as it seems, is to eat healthy as much as you can. If you feel good, chances are that you will not let things get to you as easily. This one has made a big difference for me. My stress level and my blood pressure are lower, lost a few pounds and just feel better in general. This brings me to my next suggestion, exercise. I know, easier said than done. For sure if you are a highway driver this is the toughest one by far. As my gym has posted on the wall, ”Results Not Excuses”. These are wise words to live by. I have worked hard to make it part of my life, and I still do not get there as often as I want to. For me being a city driver it is a bit easier to make it to the gym regularly. As a highway driver it is about making use of what you have with you. Walking around the truck stop, pushups off the side of your trailer. I have even seen a few guys who strap a mountain bike on the back of the bunk and ride around when waiting to off load or, depending on where the truck stop is and how much time they have, go for a ride in the local area. Simple things can make a big difference. Eating on
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the road is tough, but there are times when you can make smarter choices. Drinking less coffee and more water is a good start. Doing this has made a huge difference in my moods, most likely due no me not riding the caffeine highs and lows. Protein bars instead of chips is also a good substitute. They make a great snack and seem to keep me full longer and thus happier. At the end of the day we all need to find things that work best for us as individuals. Good luck! *****
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A mother was driving her little girl to her friend’s house for a play date. ‘Mommy,’ the little girl asks, ‘how old are you?’ ‘Honey, you are not supposed to ask a lady her age,’ the mother replied. ‘It’s not polite.’ ‘OK’, the little girl says, ‘How much do you weigh?’ ‘Now really,’ the mother says, ‘those are personal questions and are really none of your business.’ Undaunted, the little girl asks, ‘Why did you and Daddy get a divorce?’ ‘That’s enough questions, young lady! Honestly!’ The exasperated mother walks away as the two friends begin to play. ‘My Mom won’t tell me anything about her,’ the little girl says to her friend.
Call Al 604-882-7623 ‘Well,’ says the friend, ‘all you need to do is look at her driver’s license. It’s like a report card, it has everything on it.’ Later that night the little girl says to her mother, ‘I know how old you are. You are 32.’ The mother is surprised and asks, ‘How did you find that out? ‘I also know that you weigh 130 pounds.’ The mother is past surprised and shocked now. ‘How in Heaven’s name did you find that out?’ ‘And,’ the little girl says triumphantly, ‘I know why you and daddy got a divorce.’ ‘Oh really?’ the mother asks. ‘Why?’ ‘Because you got an F in sex.’
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Rig of the Month by John White
My name is Dean Cornish and I was born in Dawson right from the start as I am a third generation owner Creek BC, a small town in Northeastern B.C., to Delbert operator. I would have to say that the person who has had and Donna Cornish. I guess trucking was in my blood the greatest influence on my life is my father. He would
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give you the shirt off his back if it would help you. He is the man I aspire to be. My Dad and my grandfather Ken worked for White Pass and Loiselle Transport hauling anything from general freight to steel ball bearing into the mines. They hauled all over northern B.C., Yukon, Alberta, and the Territories. I used to hear all their stories of the places they had been to and the things they saw and I guess it made an impact. My father left the highway in the mid-seventies and started hauling gravel in the summer and logs in the winter so that he could be closer to the family. Each summer we would end up somewhere on the Alaska Highway working for Lobie Construction. We stayed in a camp all summer long and I have to admit that those summers are some of my fondest memories. During the week all the trucks would park in a row in the evening and then on Sundays we would wash all the road grime off them. Of course I would jump at the chance to go for trips with dad any time he would take me. To this day he tells a story of one trip that I was with him. Apparently his dump switch for the gravel truck was placed just out of his reach so as to not accidently trip it. Well the problem
was that for a little boy, kicking his feet in anticipation to get going, it was just within reach. He said that he had just bailed out of the truck to get his load slip from the scaler when he heard the gates open on the clam. Yup - I placed a full load of gravel on the scale deck. I’m not sure when I was allowed to go again but I’m pretty sure that switch was moved. When I was in my teens I would go to the shop on weekends to help dad service the trucks and basically do
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whatever needed to be done. Dad did all his own repairs and always told me “If you ever want to drive a truck then you better know how to fix what breaks”. Which was true because at that time we didn’t have cell phones. Many times you had to get yourself out of trouble with a stash of parts, tools and a lot of imagination. I remember one driver coming in and saying he needed an air line repaired on the trailer. Out I went and found a small bulge with black tape over it. Starting to take the tape off I found that under it was bright orange flaggers tape. There must have been half a roll on the hose but you could not hear a whisper of an air leak. To this day I carry a roll of that tape in the truck. After I graduated high school I wanted to try something new so I went to work in a parts department at a warehouse. That job lasted a little over a year but I just didn’t like being indoors all the time so I went back to work for dad and got my class 1. The man supported me in getting my license but said there was no way he would train me, something about he didn’t want me to pick up his bad habits. So out to work I went with my grandfather in his 81 LW Kenworth hauling gravel for the government. Little did my dad know that grandfather had just as many bad habits as he did. My first solo truck was my dad’s 1980 Kenworth C500. It had a 400 Cummins engine and a Rto 15 speed tranny with 44 Rockwells. To tell you the truth that was
the best training truck ever. The old girl had a 20,000 pound front end, 180 inch wheelbase and rubber block suspension. To make things more interesting the seat pan was a 1 piece fiberglass high back. The harder you beat that truck the harder the seat would smack you in the back of the head. Let me tell you I sure learned quick not to abuse that truck. My next ride was 85 Kenworth W900 Cummins power, hauling long logs out of Alberta. That was interesting, hauling logs past 3 or 4 Alberta mills just to deliver to a mill in B.C. Around this time I met my wife Wendy and a year later my daughter Alicia was born. I had made a quick trip to Kamloops looking at a used truck when she got impatient and decided to join us a week earlier than expected. A year later the export logs had gone weak and I needed to locate something to do so I went to work for the local maintenance company hauling equipment to all their yards. I started driving a new 95 Kenworth T800 with a 42” flattop shack. Tied to the truck was a 40 ton hydraulic detach lowbed. I would pick up new or rental equipment in Edmonton then drop them in the yards. I got 1 trip into Atlin B.C. for a 980 Cat loader. It was in early November and the town looked like it came out of a movie. I told myself I have to come back in the summer but I never did make it back. With a little convincing from my wife I got off the
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highway and went back logging in Chetwynd, BC. Most of the wood blocks are in the rocky mountains so it’s all road side work. There is nothing like coming down three switchbacks to get out of the bush. You could come around the corner and look out the side window to see if your trailer tires were still turning. I got a good scare one day. It was snowing hard all morning and I was thinking about chaining up when I met one of the other trucks. He yelled on the radio that the hill wasn’t too bad and that they were chaining up just to come out. Sounded good to me so up the hill I went. That’s when I noticed the road was pretty shiny. The guy I just talked to had pulled the hand brake on and slid his tires all the way down the hill. I made it up about halfway and there I sat. I looked around and the truck wasn’t sliding backwards so on went the brakes and I opened the door to put the chains on. I guess the only traction I had was under the front end because as soon as I took my foot off the brake pedal the truck took off backwards down the hill. There was a 100 foot drop to the right and a bank to the left. I tried to get the truck in reverse but that wasn’t working so we tried steering into the bank but nothing was working. About the time I’m thinking of jumping, the truck came to a stop at the bottom. I was looking around wondering what the hell when I noticed the brakes were still on and I had just followed the tracks all the way back down. After my knees
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and after comparing the two rates I decided to bring the truck home to work. Dad was running a 6 axle hayrack and I had a 7 axle long logger and he was grossing more in two weeks than I was. I sold my pole trailer and picked up a new peerless hayrack with 10 bunks and went to work for a couple of contractors. After my father had gotten sick I bought the company from him and went to work for his contractor full time. The guys that I went to work for were two brothers named Wade and Clay Bassett who operate W+D Contracting. They come from a family of loggers, their uncles and cousins all log. I even worked for them when I was in Chetwynd. They were one of the best to work for, they always had good productivity and great guys to work with. One spring we bought a sandblaster to clean up all the equipment and the next thing I knew we were busy doing custom blasting and painting. We did this every spring for something to do during spring break and shut it back down when the trucks went back to work. Next I picked up another tri-drive to keep up with the demand of the mill. I ordered in a 05 IHC 5900i with a 565 ISX Cummins and we had the heavy haul program put in the computer and a high torque 18 sp. I also purchased a 25th anniversary Kenworth from a local that was retiring from trucking. The old girl was pretty much stock, he had all the maintenance records and had just finished having the motor completely rebuilt. Three months before I bought
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the truck a rock had come off the front tire and knocked off the oil line at the lubri-finer and pumped all the oil out. The only thing that wasn’t replaced was the block. I put our senior driver on it and off to work they went. That next spring the driver phoned me to tell me that he was in an accident with the truck and I wasn’t going to like it. A young guy that was working for an oil field company had tried to pass him while Marvin was turning left into my driveway. The deck of the 1 ton caught the front wheel and tried to rip the front end off the truck. He hit so hard that the spring pack over cammed the rear shackles and drove the front leaf through the bumper, shattered the hood and the pickup ended up in the ditch 300 feet from the driveway. When the RCMP showed up the first thing they asked was were the signal lights working. The driver just smiled and reached up in the cab and pulled down the signal arm. The cop counted 9 lights flashing brightly and turned to the young fellow from the pickup. “Yes I saw the lights” he said, “But I thought I could get buy before he turned”. At least no one got hurt too badly. My driver was bruised and the young guy in the pickup was looking for a new job. Guess his boss didn’t like the fact he was doing 130kph in a 70kph zone. We got the truck into the yard and left it parked until we had time to look at it. ICBC had it towed to Inland KW in Fort St John where they straightened the front clip and put in a new spring and steering box. Monty, a parts man that worked there, found the company that purchased the original fiberglass molds and ordered me the hood. I explained that I didn’t want a jobber hood and he came through for me. We drove the truck home and placed it in the corner for about a year. I kept trucking and was starting to get tired of working all week and dad and I fixing trucks on the weekends. We started selling off the trucks to the drivers and one went to a local farmer. I kept the two newest trucks the 05 IHC and an 07 IHC twin to the 05. I had ordered it since the new emission motors were coming out the following year. My younger brother, Darren, who never got into the trucks, (the smart one) had worked as a body man since he graduated school and was getting tired of his job. He wanted a change so I offered to put him to work doing
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the sandblasting and he took it. That was 8 years ago and he now runs the blast and paint division while I stayed with the trucks. Darren, Dad and I took the Kenworth apart right down to the ground and started all over. We did a major rebuild by sandblasting then painting her. Next came new hoses and rebuilding the wiring harness. It took us six months to complete it. It was the best time and money I spent, I
love working on old iron especially when working with family. Three years ago we found the mate to the conventional, a cab-over we located from Whitehorse, Yukon. The three of us have been restoring it ever since. It is a lot more work than we first thought but the truck is finally starting to come together. Currently I drive the 07 IHC, still working for the same company and I’m loving it. I work 5 days a week with weekends off. You have to love being able to do that in this industry. I have no regrets by choosing this life as I have met some of the best people in the world. Where else can you find so many people that will give you a hand when you need it? (something like giving a battery boost at the ProTrucker Big Rig Weekend show at the light up ) . I would like to thank my family, Wendy, Alicia, Delbert, Donna and my brother Darren, for all their help and support over the years. Also thank you John and family for putting on the Big Rig Weekends - I can now say I have a great new extended family.
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DRIVING THROUGH MY MEMORIES
PrO-TrucKEr mAGAZInEe
By Ed Murdoch
Ed has held a commercial drivers license for 63 years and has spent the better part of 50 years on the road. You can get Ed’s new book at www.drivingthroughmymemories.ca Yes … sigh ‘tis once again the season “to be jolly”! Although some people, mostly outdoor sports enthusiasts, enjoy the colder temperatures, I have to wonder how many of us have lost our enthusiasm to rub shoulders with Jack Frost for four or five months of the year. I personally do not enjoy feeling the cold on my extremities anymore. It may be because of those many years of changing headlamps with exposed fingers in a raging blizzard, or fixing broken wiring with one’s bare hands at -40°, or transferring diesel fuel from the reefer tank to the truck so as not to run out during a storm, that my fingers don’t work so well anymore. Winter is always an exciting time and I often think back to some of those cold winter trips. Like the time a bunch of us steel-haulers were south of Sudbury heading north on the old Highway 69 following a recent snowfall. It was early on a clear, cold day in November and the road surface was snow-packed and icy. Someone had jackknifed attempting to climb the
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Carol Lake Hill north of Estaire and there was a variety of steel trains and semis strung out up and down the grade. Bill, with his empty ‘A’ train, was about halfway up the hill and thinking it might be a while before everyone got going again, got out and slithered down the hill to join the congregation that had gathered at the bottom. After sharing a few lies someone shouted, “Look!” There was Bill’s train inching its way backwards toward another big rig. We could do nothing but watch while the White cabover tractor slowly came around and headed down the hill frontwards with the two trailers skidding obediently behind. The brakes on the entire unit were still locked up tight as it slid to a stop a few feet from us, having struck nothing on its driverless journey down the hill. The tires, that were bias ply back then, when stopped were warm so they still had some grip but, as they cooled down to road temperature, the rubber became hard and slippery and that’s when the truck began to slide. A similar experience happened to me on the way back from an emergency delivery to Myrtle Beach in 1979, while stuck in a snowstorm on the Interstate in Virginia. Traffic was bumper-to-bumper and after a while I felt and saw in the mirrors the trailer move a few inches to the right. A few minutes later the tractor followed suit … then the trailer once again and the tractor … until the whole unit had slid
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off the paved surface of the road and was stuck solid in the snow-bank. I had to wait until the State Troopers gave the okay to call a tow truck, which they did after all the traffic that had accumulated over the day had moved out of the way. It was almost midnight before I got moving again. Another time following a heavy snowstorm I was eastbound on the Trans-Canada Highway and all traffic was halted atop Rogers Pass for avalanche control. After several hours we were released with warnings to allow lots of room between vehicles because of blowing snow. I was behind a reefer ‘A’ train that was creating its own blizzard as it rolled along so I was well back. Coming into the corner at the Donald Bridge the rear trailer of the unit I was following struck the snowbank on the right and visibility was instantly reduced to zero. I had to guess how much to turn to enter the bridge safely without hitting anything when suddenly the air cleared and once again I could see the road in front of that old KW-900 and I was exactly where I was supposed to be … phew! I’ve always said that if you don’t feel comfortable driving because of road conditions, don’t feel bad about looking for a safe location to park and then sitting it out until conditions improve. You can always count two hours in the sleeper berth toward your off hours and move when you feel more confident. When
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you are under extreme road conditions, and have valuable freight on board, it is not the time to take chances. One ice storm I pulled into a vacant service station near Cochrane Ontario to wait for the sand truck. One of our company owner-ops passed by and yelled at me on the radio to get my backside in gear since I wasn’t making any money sitting there. I replied, “I’ll see you down the road, ” which I did several hours later and only a few miles beyond where I had stopped. He was well off the road … in the bush. Sometimes discretion is the better part of valour. Enjoy the season, stay warm and remember, each day brings us 24 hours closer to Spring. Motor with care … 10-4!
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The Bear’s View
Sgt. Mark Whitworth
Many commercial truck drivers, and us on highway patrol, work outside the usual Monday to Friday schedule that most other people work. In our line of work, whether it is policing or the driving a truck, long days and frequent over-night stays become the norm for us. This time of year I often think of those times when my work schedule caused me to be away from home for long periods of time. At certain times of the year, this became particularly challenging. With the approaching holiday season and shortening days, I’m reminded of the sacrifices made over the years but also how they were necessary because of the needed income it produced. Early in my career I often worked long hours and spent, what I thought to be, too much time away from family. Like many of you, as the years went by, I became accustomed to this way of life, though it doesn’t always make it easier. I find now that the time spent away gives me opportunity to make mental plans of what I’ll do when I do return home. This helps keep my thoughts positive and allows me to enjoy the time at home even more.
NEW Extended Hours Mon-Fri 8 am- Midnight • Sat 8 am- 5pm There are interruptions in these positive thoughts that are unfortunately a reality that we share because of our work out on the road. I have a story that I would like to share with you that changed my perspective of many things and caused me to appreciate what I do have. Because of the time you spend on the road I’m sure many of you have had similar experiences. I can recall a few tragic incidents that I responded to during the holiday season that tested my coping skills. I’ll give some details to remind us to do everything we can to make it home safely and appreciate what we have. While working in the BC Interior, a call of a car crash along a secondary highway was received. Response to the area took some time due to its remoteness and when officers arrived, a car was found on fire. It wasn’t fully engulfed, but
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the intensity was increasing rapidly. Sadly, the lone male driver was trapped and nothing could be done to free the man. Fire crews were too far away and the minimal amount of equipment on hand was inadequate. Eventually, the man lost his life and would not make it home. It was Christmas Eve with his family waiting for his return, however, it was the police that appeared at their door. This, as you can imagine, was an extremely difficult task and sent a very strong message to me and others. This happened many years ago and I still think of it today. What I gained from this is a greater sense of awareness of how I behave on the road - how I drive and affect other drivers, and most importantly, what can I do to make it safer for everyone. I really believe that those of us who spend so much time on the road, while making the sacrifices we do, are contributing to the prevention of such tragedies by demonstrating safe driving skills and reporting, or responding to, unsafe driving incidents we observe. The intent of this article is to let others know that there are many of us out on the road this time of year, at unusual times and places, we are not alone. Though my message may sometimes come across as graphic and perhaps produce thoughts we do not wish to dwell on, these things happen more often than they should. Please travel safely this season and make it home to your loved ones – your efforts will pay off.
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Tucker The Trucker
In Memory of Rud Kendall August 1943 - January 2010
Promises, Promises, Promises
When I opened the office mail the other day there was a rather lengthy questionnaire from one of the courier companies we deal with. Normally I trash these things, along with overdue payment notices, special “one-time” offers from the local rug cleaning emporium, and pleas for my hardearned money from groups trying to save Australian Aardvarks and the last of the Ghana’s gnus. But it was a slow day, the boss was hanging over my shoulder, and I decided to try and look busy. It was a lengthy form, but I did my best to rate their services fairly and once it was completed and I added up their score, it was obvious the company was doing an excellent job. I went to seal it in an envelope only to notice there was no address indicated for its return. I ticked the box marked “other comments” and wrote; “when sending questionnaires please indicate where they should be mailed.” I picked up the phone and called the courier.
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I knew they would like my response and wanted to mail it to them right away. After all, such excellent service deserves to be commended. Their switchboard put me on hold. I hummed along to mantovani for a while, suffered through a Barry Manilow offering then hung up when Lawrence Welk started blowing bubbles through the receiver into my ear. Twenty minutes later I tried again, and sure enough, I was put back on hold. I was just about to hang up a second time when the girl on the switchboard got back to me. I told her why I was calling but she didn’t know anything about it. Back on hold. Finally, George in the general office came on the line and said he didn’t know what I was talking about either. “Just a second,” he answered rather sharply, “I’ll connect you to the sales manager.” But the guy who answered was Art in accounting and he also drew a blank but did take the time to remind me that we had two outstanding invoices and would I please take care of them before he put me back on, you guessed it, hold. Next, I had rather useless conversations with Wayne in the warehouse and Doug in dispatch who wanted to send a courier over to pick the questionnaire up on a “special rush” basis that would only cost us $14. I declined, rather politely I thought, hung up the phone and garbaged the form.
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Two days later the phone rang and it was the local VP of the courier company and he apologized for the run around and assured me that things like that seldom happened in their well-run operation. To appease me further, he said he was sending me (by courier, of course) a ball cap, complete with their corporate logo, and half a dozen pens. They arrived by mail a week later and I had to pay the mailman $1.12 out of petty cash for insufficient postage. None of the pens worked and the cap badge was crooked. Then Art in accounting called back and told me there were now three outstanding invoices and would we please pay before we were in the supreme court defending our credit rating. I wrote a cheque, called a competing courier, and sent them their envelope collect. Haven’t heard a word since, but our new courier gave me a t-shirt that doesn’t fit. That’s one of the major business problems today. Too much emphasis on PR and not enough attention to detail. I’ve even run into similar problems with that master of mass merchandising, McDonalds. When they started their drive through window service I was ecstatic. Finally I could quaff a quarter-pounder in the silence of my car and not have to put up with hordes of kids running amuck while their parents lovingly watch them destroy playland while decorating walls, floors, and nearby customers with remains of their burgers, fries and shakes.
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I have never, repeat never, been served my order through the window. Instead, I’m banished to some dark corner of the parking lot to wait while they play around with my order. There I sit, surrounded by other hungry motorists, who get all excited when they see some kid trudging across the lot with a bag of food. Motors start revving, headlights come on, and it looks like the start of the Indy 500 as optimistic eaters get in gear. It’s never my order, however. It goes to the jerk in the Corvette who pulled in 10 minutes after me but still gets served first. (Besides, if he can afford a “Vette” what’s he doing in a McDonalds with us working folks?) The only “fast service” I’ve noticed is when it’s raining like hell and the kid does a hundred yard dash in 5.2 seconds to deliver a soggy paper bag of cold fries and limpid lettuce, along with a shake that someone forgot to put a lid on to my car. That’s when the bottom of the biodegradable bag usually disintegrates , just about the time I pull it through the window and I spend my weekend freeing fries from the floor mats and mining McNuggets out of the gear shift console. The last time I took my car in for a service I complained that the transmission seemed to stick in reverse. Once they retrieved the soggy mush of ketchup, pickle and sesame seeds from the linkage it worked fine. Yeah, it’s a sad state of affairs when everyone promises much more than they can deliver. Come to think of it, that’s what my ex said after our honeymoon.
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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.
When I was a young fit trucker many years ago, our main contract was delivering Dell computers. Normal deliveries were busy enough, but when it came to Christmas time the home deliveries went off the scale. A lot of people were out at work through the day, but they still wanted that must have present, the personal computer, before the 25th. Dell had a policy at the time of never leaving a computer with a neighbour when there was nobody home, it made for quite a few deliveries going back to the depot. Dell’s answer to that was to ask customer’s if they would like a delivery after 1800 hrs, just as a Christmas time special. So our long days got even longer, but we were paid by the hour, so the extra cash in the wage packet at the end of the week was very welcome. But the drawback was, the streets in those up market suburban housing estates that had been passable through the day were now clogged. When the two and three car families who’d been out working came home, there were cars and vans parked in all the most awkward spots. Throw in the cold winters’ nights and the extra money
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didn’t seem so easily earned, especially when the temperature dropped after dark. But my buddies and I did our best to see that everybody got their deliveries in time for Santa to wrap and leave at the bottom of the tree. Some deliveries went right up to the wire, one year we had one computer left for delivery, for whatever reason we could never get anyone home when we called. Christmas Eve was on a Saturday that year, so when the family phoned on Saturday morning desperate to get their daughter’s main present on time, the depot manager handed me the keys to his company car. The Dell system was loaded up and delivered out to suburbia in the nick of time, another grateful, satisfied customer. Flash back about 40 years or so when I worked for National Carriers Ltd, the parcel delivery side of British Rail, all the electronic wizardry that kids crave today was still to be invented. The bulk of my deliveries were from shopping catalogues, the catalogue agents went round the houses in their area taking orders and then called back on a weekly basis to collect the money. The must have presents were more ordinary back then, bikes for boys and doll prams for girls. So in the run up to Christmas when I stopped the truck to make a delivery, most of the time there would be at least one wee boy following me. Mister, mister, have you got a bike on there for number 49? In order not to crush their hopes completely, I would always say, not today pal, maybe tomorrow.
I bet if you compared the price of a new bike back then to the cost of a personal computer forty years into the future, and factored in the wages and living costs the difference wouldn’t be all that great. But parents always like to make their kids dreams come true and get what they’ve asked Santa for, if they can. But sometimes the festive season brings out the greed in certain people. When I worked at a company called Lep International the transport supervisor had a small office separate from the open plan section. As supervisor, all the companies Lep dealt with would bring their Christmas gifts to him, it was mostly wine, whisky or chocolate. As you can imagine he amassed quite a stash, which usually ended up in the back of his company car. One year in the run up to Christmas he was off for a few days. The depot manager, a big man called John McFarlane, wandered through the office one day wishing all his staff a Merry Christmas. He knew the supervisor was off, so when looked in his office and saw this mountain of freebies piled there he spread them around the office. The supervisors face was a picture when he came back just before Christmas, it just so happened John McFarlane was there when he was asking what happened to all the drink in his office. John said, “I’ve saved you a job and spread the good cheer round the office.” Then with his normal dry wit, added, “You weren’t going to take it all home were you?” Seasons greetings to you all.
A Truckers Christmas Snow sparkles on the branches of the trees beside the road, A big semi thunders by pulling its heavy load. Marker lights glisten in the fading winter light, Tail lights sparkle briefly as the truck goes out of sight. Who is this nameless driver, could he be headed home? Are there people waiting for him, sitting by the phone? Why is he out here running, does he know its Christmas time? Are there people waiting for him somewhere down the line? He is just another driver with a schedule he must keep, Delivering the goods we need as we lie fast asleep. The ones he loves will say a prayer that he be safe tonight, Their celebrations are on hold as he drives through the night. Sometimes holidays to a trucker are just another day, Just another heavy load to pull for oh so little pay. Their families waiting for them, they too must pay a price, Remember them as we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ. PAGE 38
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Dave Madill
Dave Madill was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001 and he has been entertaining us with his poetry ever since. Dave has published three books of poems that are available by special order through Chapters Book Stores or amazon.com
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