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From the Editor’s desk...
VOLUME 16, ISSUE 1 PUBLISHER/EDITOR John White john.protrucker@shaw.ca PRODUCTION/CIRCULATION Tori Proudley tori.protrucker@shaw.ca Jen Grimshaw jen.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 Mel McConaghy • Dave Madill Ben Proudley • Ken Davie • Scott Casey Ed Murdoch • Frank Cox Colin Black • Mark Whitworth PHOTOGRAPHY Hank Suderman • David Benjatschek Jen Grimshaw 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. Pro-Trucker Magazine is written and produced in Surrey, B.C., and printed by Coastal Web Press Inc., Langley, B.C.
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In April of 2013 I wrote: Pro-Trucker Magazine has been informed by a BC ministry spokesman that, ‘The Ministry of Transportation and Infrastructure is working with other western provinces to introduce consistent standards for the pilot vehicles that support the movement of oversize/overweight commercial traffic. By working with our partners in the New West Partnership Trade Agreement, we can develop John White pilot vehicle operator standards that are consistent across jurisdictions. Currently ministry staff are researching practices and standards in those jurisdictions that have established standards.’ When this was announced it was welcomed by everyone in the industry except of course the fly by night operations that the certification process was meant to weed out. It now seems the BC Government is stagnating and, Alberta is backpedalling on the safety review that was started a year ago, by the British Columbia Department of Highways, specifically Commercial Vehicle Safety and Enforcement (CVSE), into pilot car and over-size load safety, initialized by then BC Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Mary Polak. It’s come to my attention this review has begun to follow an alarming trend, as civil service employees find new and inventive ways to delay progress. It seems they are wishfully hoping the review will go away, instead of keeping it in house as originally planned. BC has spread it between WorkSafe BC and ICBC (both, quasi-non-governmental organizations) who seem to show little or no interest in the review. The Alberta Government has also downloaded the project onto the AMTA. Meanwhile the Saskatchewan and Manitoba ministries are still interested in the safety review but are actively watching BC and Alberta. Today it is quite conceivable the BC stagnation and Alberta’s disinterest lead could derail the original review initiative agreed upon by the New West Partnership Trade Agreement. I also find it alarming, that the Honourable Todd Stone, now BC Minister of Transportation, has chosen to initialize a “Speed Limit Review” across the province, with intentions of increasing speeds on many already treacherous roads without first addressing safety initiatives such as the “pilot car and over-size load review”. Attempts to raise questions with Minister Stone on this and, other safety concerns related to highway improvements and transportation throughout BC, be they written or in person, have proven to be far more evasive as he maintains a civil service door stop, which prevents direct public access to his person. That said, Stone is the very opposite of Environment Minister Polak, MLA for Langley, who continues to maintain an open door policy on matters which would better serve to improve public safety and, benefit British Colombian’s, than a review to raising speed limits throughout BC, thus creating greater risks to commercial transporters who are already bound by weight and size to travel slower than the average motorist on BC highways.
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LETTERS to the EDITOR
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John White gazine Pro-Trucker Ma
Letters to the editor are occasionally edited for length, language and objectionable content.
John, I have a complaint but I’ll keep this short even though I could write a lot more on the issue. One word, LIGHTING!! Excessive driving lights, in particular, high wattage LED lights. They are out of control and cause a lot of grief and discomfort for a lot of drivers. Why?? Because all you see are “white spots” in your eyes for a minute afterwards. A lot of us out there drive at night and as you get older night driving becomes more challenging. This kind of lighting makes a bad situation even worse. So what’s next…..wear sunglasses at night??? I’m one of the drivers that deal with this every night I go out. Lately I have witnessed a great deal of drivers with “RACKS” of LED lights, driving lights on the mirrors, under the bumper and high wattage, intense LED lights in place of the factory application….. REALLY GUYS??? How about for just one minute, you think of the guy or gal coming the other way. PLEASE?? There once was a time the DOT would check all those lights
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for the way they were hooked up and wattage. This now seems to be overlooked and it seems to have simply become an open violation. Companies and O/O are taking full advantage of it. With the LED bulbs of today drawing such a low voltage, it makes them easy to operate without the risk of wires heating up and starting fires. On my regular run I hear drivers confronting and calling oncoming drivers on the radio asking them to dim their lights, at least an adjustment would be nice, but often there is no response! A few weeks ago there was a confrontation between two drivers about this very issue. One driver waited for the other truck at a brake check, got out with his hammer and smashed out the offender’s driving lights. Seems this other driver was following with all his LED lights on, which everyone knows is very blinding to the driver. It frustrated him to the point that he felt he had no other option but to take care of the problem at hand. Has it come to this?? Taking care of violations ourselves??? What a bloody mess that would be!!! Think of the possible consequences of both these drivers’ actions!! Anything could have happened!! For the most part, I love what I do and look forward to getting home safe. We should all do our part to be as considerate as possible to everyone - especially our fellow drivers. Nick Michaels
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Editor’s note: Well said Nick. We complain about over regulation in this industry and then we have fools out there who ultimately will cause enough problems that there is a big crackdown on lighting. This could easily go as far as having to open your hood and show the wattage of your headlights and then replace them on the spot – this is something that has already happened recently at the scales in Prince George. Hello John, I just had a great idea on how to fix the driver shortage in Canada. Actually I can’t take all the credit, the idea is a spin off from the Liberal Party of BC. They are going to allow new hunters as young as 10 years old to hunt for the first year without taking any safety training to see if they like it. They say it is so they can increase the number of hunters. If they want to continue they will have to take a safety course. The only stipulation is that these ‘trial’ hunters will have to be accompanied by someone who has taken a safety course. (Boy that makes me feel a lot safer in the bush…) Anyway back to the driver shortage. Why not do the same thing with 16 year old kids who may want to drive a truck. They could jump in with their 18 year old buddy and haul a few loads over the rock. If they and their buddy live to tell about it they can decide if they want to be a trucker or not.
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gasoline and has to be made in the refining process so why the huge difference and especially for commercial trucks. Let’s get the price down or if not let’s send all the tanker drivers on a holiday for two weeks starting on July 1, 2014. Dave Whiffen Merritt, BC Editor’s note: As everyone knows it was only a few years ago when diesel was cheaper than gasoline. When it suddenly jumped in price there was a huge outcry from the trucking, logging, and construction industries. The government made a few political style statements that as usual made no sense but once you sifted through the flack they basically told us to live with it. Let’s face it all
FEBRUARY 2014
governments, both federal and provincial, are strapped for cash. An increase in the cost of anything increases the tax which goes straight to their bottom line, so if you are waiting for any kind of relief from them you would be well advised not to hold your breath. John, My partner and I had an experience with Overdrive Collision Centre in Kamloops a short while ago. We took our truck in for a wheel alignment and after we left there we noticed something terrible had gone wrong - we thought we had blown a turbo. As we were driving away we noticed a fairly large amount of smoke coming from the stacks, and after we stopped we noticed there was oil EVERYWHERE! We took the truck to Cullen Diesel
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and, as it turned out, they found the engine breather tube had gotten kinked during the process of the alignment. Keith at Overdrive Collision Centre wowed us! He asked us to tell Cullen Diesel to turn the bill over to him. Although we never saw the bill, we are sure the cost far exceeded the cost of the wheel alignment. He took care of everything! We are very impressed that Overdrive Collision Centre really does care about its customers. We think it is necessary for a good business like this to be recognized and would appreciate you telling our story. Thank you for a great Magazine!! Julie Spelchan and Harold Hiebert Editor’s note: Thank you for your letter, it is good to hear from a satisfied customer. It is not that there are not a lot of you out there, it is just that we usually only hear the bad stories. In all the dealings I have had with Keith at Overdrive Collision I have always found him to be a straight shooter. I don’t know if he still has it but that old Freightliner of his was always one of my favourite show trucks. John, In the coming months the Alberta Government has deemed it necessary to remove the roadside turnouts by the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame, claiming that this
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is vital to upgrade the highway to freeway status. They suggest alternate locations such as gasoline alley or the Hall of Fame itself for travelers to pull over. Any professional drivers that have run this stretch of road know very well that past about 6:00 at night, parking is nearly impossible for a rig in gasoline alley, and the HoF isn’t exactly “truck friendly”. Although small, these pullouts have provided me and many a driver a place to catch a quick nap when drowsy. If they don’t want us to drive tired they should stop taking away our places to sleep. Trevor Thiessen Triple G Trucking Editor’s note: With hours of service regulations that we now have truckers need more places that they can pull over not less. That particular stretch of road is even in more need because of winter weather conditions. The weather north and south of Red Deer is so unpredictable resulting in sudden road closures that truckers get trapped there all the time. It must be awfully dark where government official keep their heads if they can’t see that… *****
Dear Family,
1991 Dugald Road, Winnipeg, MB Phone (204) 663-9037 PAGE 8
I’m not dead yet. Thanksgiving is still important to me. If being in my Last Will and Testament is important to you, then you might consider being with me for my
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favorite holiday. Dinner is at 2:00. Not 2:15. Not 2:05. Two. Arrive late and you get what’s left over. Last year, that moron Marshall fried a turkey in one of those contraptions and practically burned the deck off the house. This year, the only peanut oil used to make the meal will be from the secret scoop of peanut butter I add to the carrot soup. Jonathan, your last new wife was an idiot. You don’t arrive at someone’s house on Thanksgiving needing to use the oven and the stove. Honest to God, I thought you might have learned after two wives - date them longer and save us all the agony of another divorce. Now, the house rules are slightly different this year because I have decided that 47% of you don’t know how to take care of nice things. Paper plates and red Solo cups might be bad for the environment, but I’ll be gone soon and that will be your problem to deal with. House Rules: 1. The University of Texas no longer plays Texas A&M. The television stays off during the meal. 2. The “no cans for kids” rule still exists. We are using 2 litre Bottles because your children still open a third can before finishing the first two. Parents can fill a child’s cup when it is empty. All of the cups have names on them and I’ll be paying close attention to refills. 3. Cloe, last year we were at Trudy’s house and I looked the other way when your Jell-O salad showed up. This
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year, if Jell-O salad comes in the front door it will go right back out the back door with the garbage. Save yourself some time, honey. You’ve never been a good cook and you shouldn’t bring something that wiggles more than you. Buy something from the bakery. 4. Grandmothers give grandchildren cookies and candy. That is a fact of life. Your children can eat healthy at your home. At my home, they can eat whatever they like as long as they finish it. 5. I cook with bacon and bacon grease. That’s nothing new. Your being a vegetarian doesn’t change the fact that stuffing without bacon is like egg salad without eggs. Even the green bean casserole has a little bacon grease in it. That’s why it tastes so good. Not eating bacon is just not natural. And as far as being healthy... look at me. I’ve outlived almost everyone I know. 6. Salad at Thanksgiving is a waste of space. 7. I do not like cell phones. Leave them in the car. 8. I do not like video cameras. There will be 32 people here. I am sure you can capture lots of memories without the camera pointed at me. 9. Being a mother means you have to actually pay attention to the Kids. I have nice things and I don’t put them away just because company is coming over. Mary, watch your kids and I’ll watch my things. 10. Rhonda, a cat that requires a shot twice a day is a cat that has lived too many lives. I think staying home
to care for the cat is your way of letting me know that I have lived too many lives too. I can live with that. Can you? 11. Words mean things. I say what I mean. Let me repeat: You don’t need to bring anything means you don’t need to bring anything. And if I did tell you to bring something, bring it in the quantity I said. Really, this doesn’t have to be difficult. 12. Domino’s and cards are better than anything that requires a battery or an on/off switch. That was true when you were kids and it’s true now that you have kids. 13. Showing up for Thanksgiving guarantees presents at Christmas. Not showing up guarantees a card that may or may not be signed. 14. The election is over so I’ll watch what I say about the President, and you will do the same. If we all stick to that, we’ll have a good time. If not, I’ll still have a good time but it will be at your expense. 15. In memory of your Grandfather, the back fridge will be filled with beer. Drink until it is gone. I prefer wine anyway. But one from each family needs to be the designated driver. I really mean all of the above. Love You, Grandma P. S. There will be a basket by the door for all of your cell phones, which will be returned when you leave!
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Lil’ Roadhammer
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by Dennis Ruttan In October of 1999 Dennis Ruttan started entertaining our readers with trucking adventures as seen through the eyes of his toy poodle and partner, “Jake the Trucker”. Sadly, in May of 2008 Jake pulled his last trip and Chase, also known as lil Road Hammer, took over for his mentor.
This Dog Don’t Paddle…
Hi readers, we have been on a long vacation and thought maybe it was time to update you on the silly things Dennis does in trucking. Last February (2013) we left home bobtailing to Cowichan Bay Sawmill to pick up a loaded trailer. As usual I was riding shotgun and covering Dennis’s butt. He often has selective hearing and this time it was going to cost him BIG TIME. As we headed South on the highway I noticed that a sign had been put up saying that the Cowichan Bay road was closed due to flooding. I raised a huge protest to alert him but Dennis just kept right on trucking. When we made the left turn, barricades were in place with signs saying Road Closed. Ignoring these, because
obviously he knew better, Dennis swung around the barricade. The look of black water across the road didn’t even seem to sink in - even though you couldn’t see the end of it. Very slowly we pushed on until the engine got a gutful of water. Now there we were 200 feet from dry land on all sides “dead in the water” ha, ha. That reminds me of one of Jake the Trucker’s favourite sayings, “10,000 feet in the air with a flat and no place to put a jack.” A hurried call to Brent at the shop at Marpole was made and soon a hook was on the way. Dennis looked at me and said, “You get to hook up the Chain.” With water swirling around just under the edge of the doors I remarked, “What part of Indoor Dog, or Lap Dog do you not understand?” Dennis got this real dumb look on his face and said, “Come on Pal.” I looked around to see who he was talking to, but there were only the two of us there. About this time the hook backed up to us and Dennis managed to get out and clinging to the truck he made his way back to the tail frame and hooked up the chain. By the time he slowly traversed back inside he was still relatively dry. He started in on me about not doing the hookup and as we were being dragged out I reminded him of the CLOSED sign that he chose to ignore. I could see this was going to be a screamer so I just shut up and sat back. The hook pulled us out of the water and
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we then re-hooked for the trip to the shop in Duncan(Berks) we stripped the engine and waited for the water to drain out of the cylinders. Next came four days of cleaning the engine, checking everything out and putting this all back together. Sometimes I really wonder how this guy drove the millions of miles that he did without Jake or I to help him. This selective hearing B.S. has to stop. Next time I will fill you in on what happens down the road with an engine that has been in a running bath. Aquaman(Dennis) and Chase(Lil Roadhammer)
Huh?
*****
1. We are advised to NOT judtge ALL Muslims by the actions of a few lunatics, but we are encouraged to judge ALL gun owners by the actions of a few lunatics. 2. Why do we constantly hear about how Social Security runing out of money - but not welfare?
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Idle Time
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
“Dear Lord, You have taken my favorite actor Patrick Swayze, my favorite musician Michael Jackson, my favorRe-gifted ite Blues Singer Amy Winehouse, my favorite actress Elizabeth Taylor, my favorite singer Whitney Houston..... My head swiveled from side to side in dismay this and now my favorite author Tom Clancy! morning as I read the ticker scrolling across the bottom Anyway, I just wanted to let you know who favorite of the news channel. politicians are… “Truck safety concern in response to fatal logging truck incident.” The news was disturbing enough with the death of the motorcyclist, who succumbed to his injuries from being squished under the logs, but the typical knee jerk reaction of the media and anti-truck lobbyists was disconcerting as well. The lobbyists call for more inspections and truck safety blitz’s went off the charts, as they usually do. The misinformation surrounding truck safety statistics was plastered over many media outlet screens including many larger newspapers front pages. Of course I can see past the media’s for profit storylines, but it is frustrating and damning to the trucking industry nonetheless. Increasing blitz’s and inspections for commercial vehicles will only make our numbers better, ok bring it on. A safer trucking industry is something we all strive for. What about a safer four-wheeler plan? In Europe light COLLISION SPECIALISTS vehicles must pass an inspection yearly. I spent five ESTABLISHED 1968 years across the pond and I never saw a single vehicle ICBC & PRIVATE CLAIMS with body panels falling off from rust or lights out or FRAMES & ALIGNMENT other such violations which truckers are constantly hounded for. How about a yearly inspection in Canada for cars, pickups and minivans? #4, 19155 - 96th Avenue The trucking industry, which obviously includes Surrey, BC V4N 3P8 logging trucks, has a substantially better safety record Ph: 604-888-1133 than public vehicle traffic. Yet the last media reported Fax: 604-888-6254 major safety blitz on passenger vehicles was almost a
A
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decade ago in Surrey, BC. That blitz produced staggering Out-of-Service, (OOS) numbers, with dozens of vehicles being grounded and tagged OOS at roadside, only moving once affixed to the back end of a wrecker. I was enjoying the news footage and at the same time I was thoroughly disgusted by it. I prayed that the CVSE would do this more often. However, it was such a successful blitz, that as a gift to British Columbians, ICBC and CVSE apparently decided to never do it again, but rather increase inspections for commercial vehicles. I do not advocate the abolition of inspections, but as we enter the New Year it would only be fitting that truckers re-gift their high level of inspection to the general motoring public. *****
Not My Problem
A big game hunter went on a safari with his wife and mother-in-law. One morning, while still deep in the jungle, the hunter’s wife awakened to find her mother gone. She woke her husband, and they both set off in search of the old woman. In a clearing not far from the camp, they came upon a chilling sight. The mother-inlaw was standing face-to-face with a lion. “What are we going to do?” his horrified wife asked. “Nothing,” her husband replied, “The lion got himself into this mess, let him get himself out of it!”
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roundings while you go about the motions of performing your twice daily circle check, or leave the comfort of your climate controlled cab to deal with a mechanical malfunction or add some motion lotion to the dwindling supply in your tanks. Prairie living at its best! Have I been there? Just a few times over the course of the 62 years I have held a CDL, over 50 of which were spent familiarizing myself with the land trade routes in North America. Back in the early 80’s I was dispatched from Montreal to the Europa Paper Mill in Kitimat BC in mid-winter. First of all the crated, but gigantic stainless steel paper roller was preloaded on a tandem flatbed by the parent carrier to which I was leased. The union driver who picked it up, whether intentionally or not, loaded it right to the front of the trailer instead of in the centre. The roller weighed 65,000 pounds, but was indivisible, so it was necessary to obtain an overweight permit from Montreal to Kitimat which is 3,100 miles to the west. Before I could leave I had to take it down the street to a neighbouring carrier that possessed a huge forklift capable of dragging the roller in its crate back to where it would be more balanced. Once roadworthy I was encouraged to, with a faintly veiled threat of a large claim if I didn’t, tarp the entire crate very carefully. I was told by dispatch in Toronto that if there was one drop of water on the unit they would refuse to accept it at the mill. It was pouring rain in Montreal at the time so you can understand the silliness in this request.
The
NEW Extended Hours Mon-Fri 8 am- Midnight • Sat 8 am- 5pm Being early February there were several climate changes to negotiate ranging from the rain in Quebec through the frigid Polar Vortex embracing the Prairies and then blizzard conditions between Prince George and the warmer coastal climate enjoyed in Kitimat. Temperature variations were close to 80 degrees Fahrenheit. Arriving at the mill I was welcomed with open arms as a crew was waiting to replace the old worn roller with the new one. I was asked to back into the building under an opening in the ceiling down through which dropped an overhead crane which would lift the naked roller up to the floor above where it would be positioned. The unloading crew attacked, pulling off the chains and then grumbling about the tarps which they said were totally unnecessary as
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the unit was crated. I tended to agree. The wooden crate was demolished, the waxed paper and plastic coverings were removed and there, exposed to the warmth inside the paper mill, was a stainless steel roller with several inches of frost covering the entire surface. So much for the “drop” of water I was warned about. I was then informed that it was perfectly normal and was in no way detrimental to the operation or acceptance of the roller. So much for explicit instructions from dispatch. Nod, if you think this happens all the time. Because of requests to haul more and more of these huge rollers in both directions on a contract basis, the company purchased a used convertible reefer. (as pictured here)
I enthusiastically hooked up to it and pulled it for quite a long time. Inside were cargo tie-downs imbedded in the floor at strategic locations and it was so easy to roll the tarp over the top to expose the cargo. If unloading was to be done by a land crane, the bar at the top between the trailer walls to which the doors closed and locked could be removed. I loved pulling it and by doing so visited some very interesting new and old sites across the country where these huge rollers were utilized. Years later I was on a trip from the interior of BC to the Bay area of California via Hwy 97 south all the way to Weed on I-5 in northern California. Between Worden in Oregon and Weed there are two summits over 5,000 feet. This country was moulded with an awful lot of volcanic activity and there are lava fields everywhere. Mt. Shasta, which at 14,179 feet above sea level and 10,000 feet above the valley floor dominates this region of California and can be seen 140 miles away while traveling north on I-5 on a clear day. While it is not an inactive volcano its cycle is currently approx. every 600 years and the last eruption occurred about 200 years ago. The first summit after leaving Oregon is the Hebron Summit at 5,202 feet. On this particular winter’s night it was snowing quite heavily and I and a hay hauler that was following me wanted to get to Weed ASAP before the roads were shut down. Climbing the summit I came upon a slower moving semi and with limited visibility it
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was impossible to pass so we were destined to follow this unit the 50 miles or so into Weed. Forward progress was agonizingly slow, the driver ahead was continuously on the brakes and the hayrack driver and I were getting frustrated, especially when the lead driver would not respond to CB radio contact. We encountered little oncoming traffic and the reason soon became clear. The upstroke on the Grass Lake Summit was littered with semis in various positions and those that were moving were chained up. We learned later that the road was closed. As we entered the city of Weed, breathing a sigh of relief, a timid voice came over the CB speakers apologizing profusely for the delay. Hearing his story we were more sympathetic. The driver was from Florida had never even seen snow before let alone driven in it and these extreme conditions were totally foreign to his experience. He said he was so white knuckling it that he was unable to pick up the mic to tell us previously. Motor with care my friends and if you don’t feel comfortable, don’t apologize, just pull over and park it until conditions improve. No cargo trumps human life or a crash. *****
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Rig of the Month
By: John White
Photos by: Hank Suderman and Ian Worrall Ian Worrall is our February 2014 Rig of the Month My earliest memories of trucks and truckers are about driver. He is a well-respected driver who prides himself in my Dad. He drove for Sea-Van, a Vancouver based comholding on to the old school integrity and values that he was pany which later turned into Canadian Freightways. He’d brought up with. bring the truck home when he was in town and I would
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always wonder what it would be like to be in the driver’s seat and drive a truck like that - I got my answer later on in life. I was born and raised in Langley, BC or Downtown LA is what they call it now. Trucking has been in my family for several generations from my two uncles, Herb and Vergil Hoover, to my Grandfather Wilford Worrall. There were always cool old Kenworths to wash and stories to listen to. It was a way of life in my home. I knew at the young age of 13 that I wanted to drive BIG trucks. Through my days of school, coming from a large family with two sisters and six brothers, there was never a dull moment. With my Dad being on the road all the time we learned to do things on our own. I was a happy guy, lots of things to do. I was always interested in bikes, cars or anything with an engine. I remember when I took my older brother Bert’s bike apart to make a go cart, which, in its test run, broke my brother Keith’s leg. When Bert got ahold of me, he made me wish that it was my leg that got broken. One day my sister Pat brought home a boyfriend of hers, Gilbert Hamel was his name. Little did I know at the time but Gil would be the guy to teach me how to drive, right from when I got my class 5 at 16 years of age until I got my class 1 at 19. The first Big Rig that I drove was his International 2000 with a 671 green leaker and a 5 and 4 transmission. Gilbert had a California run and he invited me to go with him and learn the highway and proper driv-
Julie and Ian Worrall ing techniques. I was so excited that couldn’t get going fast enough. That is when my driving career really started. I drove with Gilbert for about 3 years and I loved it but he also encouraged me to try other ventures, so for the next 3 years I worked for both All Trac and Coastline Towing. In 1983 Gilbert ordered a brand new 1984 Western Star with a 400 Cummins and a 10 speed and invited me to come back driving with him. I jumped at the opportunity to benefit even more from his many years of driving experience.
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It was around that time that I learned I was about to become a father for the first time. I was 26 years old when, in September of that year, my daughter Melissa came into my life. Over the next year Gilbert taught me road safety, load safety and driver etiquette. I started with the best teacher and road instructor a new driver could ask for and I still carry his knowledge with me. His many words of wisdom still rumble around in my head, these many years later. After a year I wanted to broaden my experience a bit and try some different driving jobs. My brother Bert was working at Coastline Towing and asked me to come over as they needed a driver for their 9 ton single axel International. This sounded like a great opportunity for me. Working in the heavy wrecker business I learned all about driving with heavy weight, and dealing with commercial accidents. This is where I met and worked with Jamie and Jason Davis and their working family. This was a great experience for me but soon I got bored and moved onto another chapter of the industry. I met Brian Harding through a friend who was working for All Trac Transport, a low bedding company in Coquitlam, and he offered me a chance to ride with him saying he would teach me the trade. I accepted his offer and I was like a sponge, soaking up all the information about the different trades in the trucking industry. This is where I really learned about the dangers of weight and how serious
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the low bedding business is. I was offered a job there and happily accepted it. It was this job that took me to places in BC and Alberta that I never even knew existed. I was part of the convoy trucks and machinery that made its way to Tumbler Ridge when they started to build the mine and the town. It took us two days to get in from the highway, all chained up in the mud and pulled by a D9 Cat. That was one of my most exciting deliveries to date. In 1986 I was offered a great opportunity to work at Labatt’s Brewery in New Westminster. They needed a couple of experienced drivers to do switches with new super trains pulling 140,000 lbs of beer to Vancouver Island and the Kootenays. This is where I learned about winter driving on the Crow’s Nest Pass. Winter driving back then was nothing like it is today. Back then you could always count on your fellow drivers for a hand or a proper road report. I remember one night when climbing Allison Pass, I had 2 sets of triples on and was dead in the water. I had to split the trailers up, take one to the top, then come back and chase the 2nd one down the hill until it hooked up. Two drivers stopped to help and they came back down the hill with me and didn’t leave until I was hooked up to the trains and on my way. They followed me into Princeton, where we stopped at the Golden Dawn for a meal. I paid, of course, to thank them. I can’t remember their names but if they read this story they may remember that night. By the time we had finished our meal the roads were all closed so we shut
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it down and continued on in the morning. I continued working for the Brewery until 1996 when it all ended and they closed their distribution. At that point there was a job transfer for me if I wanted it, but I refused it, I wasn’t really a “work in the warehouse” type of guy. I was offered a job with CN Transportation and I loved the thought of being my own boss and getting deeper into trucking…that’s right - an Owner/Operator! This had always been a big dream of mine since starting my career and that dream came true when I bought my first truck. It was a 1994 Peterbilt 377 with a Cummings engine, 13 speed and small bunk, it was perfect. I ran all over BC and Alberta hauling cans, I was one of only 14 trucks, now there are about 300. After 4 years of can work I sold my contract with the truck and moved on. I went back to Peterbilt and bought a 98 long hood C15 Cat with 18 speed and a 63” high rise and I was ready to go. I got a contract with a local chain, hauling groceries all over BC and the North - doing about 25,000 km a month. It was at that point in my career that I got a tip from my in-laws friend Barry, that Summit Logistics (hauling for Canada Safeway) was looking for good drivers. I ran into a couple of their drivers in Castlegar and told them I was frustrated with being away from home all the time and not being able to make ends meet. They suggested I go for an interview at Summit. I was offered a job right away, but first I had to go for a driving evaluation which they did in a
little day cab where my knees hit the dash. (Thanks Brian.) I passed their evaluation without a problem and I was on my way!! Still doing what I’ve always loved to do, delivering groceries in BC. That job started in 2004 and ended in 2011 when another big outfit closed its distribution. That was the second one I worked for when it closed and I was starting to get a complex. It was during my time at Summit that I was recognized for my one million mile accident free driving record, a very proud moment for me and my family. I will soon be coming up to the 2 million mile mark. Summit Logistics was a great place to work and I met a lot of great people there. I still keep in touch with them today and often see them on the road. It’s amazing how much the closure of a distribution center, that’s been there since 1955 could change people’s lives, some for the good, others, not so good. There I was at the end of another good job wondering what I would do when I received a call from a good friend and fellow driver. He said, “Meet me for ice cream and we can talk.” A week later I had another excellent job delivering groceries in BC for Old Skool Trucking. It was a newly formed business, where I’m proud to be in the company of lots of good veteran drivers that have a passion for trucking and the industry. I feel very privileged to drive such first class equipment for a first class company that really cares about their drivers. I have a great run that I do 3 trips a week driving a 1995 Pete with big hood, big cat power,
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big gears, and big pipes - I call her the Madd Catter. It is all 5 axel work to Salmon Arm, Sicamous, Vernon, and Kelowna. In 1989 I was blessed by the arrival of my second daughter Danielle, and in 1994 I met and married the love of my life Julie, who has always been my rock. She is an excellent trucker’s wife, raising the kids when I wasn’t there and making excuses for me when I couldn’t get home for school plays, dancing or concerts because of road closures or break downs. Julie brought two special kids into my life Alyssa and Adam, who I treated and raised as my own. I have a very special and strong bond with all of my children. Julie and I have been together almost 20 years which is very rare these days. We became grandparents 4 years ago which was a very proud moment for us. Jaydon is his name and he loves trucks just as much as I do. He always gets so excited when he gets to go on a trip with me. A future trucker perhaps?? A lot of my family members are still involved in the trucking Industry. My older brother Bert is a mechanic by trade who started his own trucking company, Mobile Truck Shuttle. He delivers trucks all over Canada. Another one of my brothers, Trevor, is a commercial truck painter and body guy in Nanaimo. My daughter and son also both work for Canadian Brake Supply in Langley. So I have the paint, parts, mechanic, and deliveries all covered! There are a few other family members who are also involved in the industry ays Open 7 D A Week
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in one way or another. In my opinion the industry today needs a rebuild, from the warehouses to the drivers. There needs to be more training for new drivers out there and new drivers should be restricted with regards to hauling heavy loads and weight. I think it’s unfair for a new driver to be put in a truck hauling 140,000 lbs. with minimal experience. All this does is put his or her life in jeopardy and has the potential to cause a lot of grief. We need to encourage new drivers, not scare them away. A big frustration for drivers is road maintenance. From the construction in the summer to the road closures in the winter, driving it is getting so problematic that a lot of drivers can’t do their jobs safely. Winter driving is a real problem on the 5, 5A, 3 and the 1. In my opinion, not enough is being done to keep the roads open. When we get a snowfall they just close the road down and that hurts the pocket book. Some drivers just don’t have the proper equipment to do the jobs. I would like to know how many tickets have been handed out to companies or drivers for not complying with chains or winter tires. I see trucks with no chains and/ or no winter tires every trip I take in the winter months and this holds up guys that are prepared to do their job. There should be a training course on chaining up and awareness to winter road conditions. If I had the time, I would set up a chain-up booth, serve coffee and chain up your truck for 100 bucks. Lol…a little humor for you all. All we want is to work in a safe environment and get
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NOW HIRING
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Nominated for the Best Fleetsr to drive fo 2013
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For further information please contact Annette at: 403-278-0619 or annette.paradis@monarchtransport.com Contact Ken or Caralee at: 1-800-661-9937 in Edmonton or Email Ken at: ken.fullbrook@monarchtransport.com Monarch Transport (1975) Ltd 3464 78 Ave Edmonton, Alberta T6B-2X9 A Division of the Landtran Group of Companies
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home to our families at the end of the day. I have a wide variety of hobbies which include downhill mountain biking, fishing and hiking, but my passion is playing drums in my band and I have been going hard at it for 20 years now. I’ve met a lot of fellow truckers with the same passion, whether it be guitar, horns, it really doesn’t matter, it’s all a good stress release from the job. I met Phil “Diamond”..lol at CN when I was there who played bass guitar. We talked about starting a band with drivers, a real trucker’s band. Together with another driver Tim we rented a big shop in “the hood”, (Port Kells) that was big enough to park our 3 Peterbilts. Then we built a mezzanine in the back of the shop for the band and the rest is history. The name of the band was TEQUILA DRIVEN. This was when we met John White, Randy Peluso and a few other staff members from Pro-Trucker They loved our stuff and hired us to play for the first BC BIG RIG WEEKEND, “A Truckers Dream”. It was at Mission raceway where we continued to be the “Truckers” band for 4 years. Being a driver and in the industry for 38 years, as I look back to reflect on my career, there’s not too much I would change except maybe to be with my kids more when they were growing up. But as you know you do the best you can do. In my driving years I have seen more of this beautiful province we live in than any tourist. The parts of the Province you could only see if you had loads to deliver at
weird hours, or the time to watch the seasons change from summer to fall then winter. In the north the colors of the leaves are amazing, the crisp winter mornings and then there is the Northern Lights, I love this time, not to mention the interesting people you meet along the way. Last year Julie and I went to Mexico for 5 weeks and after 3… I realized that I missed my truck and the job, how pathetic, huh??? In 8 years I plan to retire and go to Mexico for 6 months a year, my wife Julie says that will never happen, I wonder where she gets that from…. I guess that’s the passion. r
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PAGE 31
Tyres Across The Pond
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINEe
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.
Hiring Qualified O/Ops & Drivers
Winter Roads
It was interesting to read Ben Proudley’s article in the November issue as we have no legal requirement for trucks to carry chains over here. Ben was saying there would be 44 days between the legal obligation for trucks to carry chains and the start of the contracts for sanding trucks, or gritters as we call them. That’s another thing that we don’t have over here, gritter contracts. The gritters are there all year round and are run by the local councils. The drivers work on the road repairing gangs in summer, then when the weather starts to get colder they move on to driving the gritters. We don’t normally get the kind of winters you guys get in Canada but last year was different in that it was rough with widespread deep snow. Car drivers aren’t required to have winter tyres here either but last year’s weather convinced a lot of them to buy them. Car chains are now being sold by supermarkets and motoring outlets who are cashing in on peoples fear of being stranded.
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Terry 604-882-7623 I don’t know if trucks carrying chains would make much difference over here, we’ve got a great network of council depots up and down the country, so you’re never too far from a local gritting station. If a couple of trucks spin out on a hill you normally don’t have long to wait until a gritter comes along and ploughs a path while spreading the grit and salt to clear the road. A couple of weeks ago we had a cold spell and the temperatures got down to -6 through the night. (Yes I know, as Mel McConaghy tells me, -6 is almost summer time to you guys.) On Saturday morning there was a shower of rain which quickly froze. I was lucky, I had passed the spot about four hours earlier when it was still dry but others were not so lucky. The Sunday papers reported C
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about twenty accidents in the Beattock area of the M74, which is one of the main highways between Scotland and England. Trucks had jack-knifed and cars had crashed into the trailers or spun off the road. The gritter depot is only a couple of miles from the Beattock hill so they were quickly on the scene to spread the salt and grit and get the road safe again. When the weather forecast is bad the gritter trucks station themselves at the trouble spots so they can respond quickly to any snarl ups, and they always pre-treat the roads when low temperatures are forecast. There’s always a gritter sitting at junction 15 about ten miles from Beattock. If it’s raining and turns to snow there, you can be sure the hill will be a truck park but truck drivers know that they probably only have a short time to wait before a gritter comes along and clears a path. The attitude over here is, why go out in the cold snow to put on a set of chains when a gritter will be along soon. Get wrapped up with gloves and heavy jacket, or wait 30 minutes in a warm cab to see if a gritter comes along? No contest! Up in the north of Scotland is a different situation though, not so many wide motorways, so it’s easier to block the road with maybe one truck, or a couple of cars spinning out. I think a truck with a set of chains would be a real advantage up there, the gritter depots are a bit further
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apart so have a greater area to cover. If you spin out and don’t want to sit about until the snow covers your truck miles from civilization, you would bite the bullet and get out and put chains on. But until the day comes that we get issued with snow chains it’s back to the old shovel, dig down and hope it’s not ice below the snow. If you can get a wee stretch of blacktop beneath the tyres and can get enough momentum going to get over the hill that stopped you, then there’s a chance you’ll get home. ***** My parents spanked me as a child. As a result I now suffer from a psychological condition known as “Respect for Others.”
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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
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Many years ago, in the middle of January, I was out in the garage working on my Bulldog when Dad came in with a message. It seems that Del (another trucker) had phoned and needed help. His tractor broke down and he needed to get a trailer load of fat cattle to the Toronto stock yards. We decided that I would make the trip pulling Del’s trailer with my Mack and after a quick phone call everything was set up and ready to roll. As it turned out there was actually almost two loads and Del was going to haul the overload in his big stake truck while I pulled the cow barn. Man it was cold the next morning. Grandpa said there was a big storm moving in so I should take along some extra gear, just in case. I don’t know how Grandpa predicted the weather back then but he was seldom wrong so I threw an extra sleeping bag and extra clothes in the truck before starting off. I got to Del’s and hooked up to his trailer then followed him down to the loading
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#5-32860 Mission Way, Misson, BC site. We loaded my trailer first and then finished off by squeezing the rest of the cattle into the stake truck and we were away. We hit the 400 highway at Barrie and headed south just as the weather was getting bad. It was snowing real heavy and with about a forty mile an hour wind out of the Northwest and it was drifting pretty good. By the time we hit the outskirts of Toronto it was really bad. We managed to make it to the stockyards, got unloaded and were ready to head home when I suggested that we stay put but Del insisted we would be fine and would be home in no time. We made our way back to the 400 and started north. I was punching drifts with the bumper of my B61 and things weren’t looking too good - then it got worse! The OPP had the highway blocked at King Side Road and we were told to turn around but Del just said, “Follow me”, and headed across King Side Road until he hit Highway 27 and then headed north again. Visibility was poor and we were hitting drifts but we could tell that the road had been plowed so we figured we would be all right. Things went well until we came to Thornton where just outside of town the plows were blocking the road. There was a fairly large diner there just before you got to the roadblock so I swung in from the south and Del came in from the north so we could put the trucks nose to nose in an attempt to keep the snow and wind out of the engines. The diner was crowded with skiers and folks trying
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to make it home. We sat down, had a darn good meal and tried to figure out our next move. It was soon figured out for us when the OPP came in and told us that all highways in the area were blocked but the plow trucks would plow the road back into Thornton and try to see that everyone had a place to sleep. By the time things settled down we were still in the diner with about ten others plus the cook and a waitress. The cook decided to keep the place open so at least the people had a warm place and Del and I headed back out to the trucks. I was fine as I had a hand throttle on my old girl and I idled her up to about 1100RPM and turned the heat up. Del didn’t have a hand throttle but with the aid of a drovers cane, some electrical tape and a bit of engineering we managed to get his engine up to speed also. To heck with it – let it storm - I crawled into my sleeping bag in my sleeper and started making sawdust. When morning came I stuck my head out into a world of white. It was still storming and the cars in the lot were nothing but white humps. I could just see the diner but I managed to make it inside to find a card game going on in the corner and people sleeping everywhere. The waitress (Dianne) poured me a coffee and I settled in to what looked like was going to be a long day - and it was. About 8 pm that night I noticed that Dianne was about ready to pass out on her feet but she refused to quit while she still had customers. After a little chat with her and the cook I finally managed to get her out of the diner and almost had to force her into my sleeper while I dug out the extra sleeping bag and went to sleep across the seats. I was awoken by someone, (Dianne) reaching out of the sleeper and shaking me. It seems the silence had woke her up. The wind had quit. Quickly we grabbed our coats and boots and stumbled back into the diner where we proceeded to wake everyone else up. As it was almost daylight the cook started cooking breakfast for everyone - even though most of us had ran out of cash long ago. He said we could all run a tab and pay him later. It was full daylight before the plows were able to break through the drifts and then we all headed our own way. I finally made it home later that night. It must have been a month later that I got a load to Toronto and decided to head up 27 towards home and stop in at the diner to pay my bill. I stopped in Thornton at the flower shop and picked up one red rose and then headed into the diner. Lucky Dianne was working and I gave her the rose and then gave the cook $40.00 which was more than I owed but I figured he deserved it. I was still talking to the cook when I got a tap on the shoulder from a young man who wanted to know why a “dirty trucker” was giving his girlfriend flowers. Guess I probably shouldn’t have said it but I had to. Told him, “It was the least I could do after we slept together”. He did settle down after everything was explained to him but I’m still not sure if he believed me. r FEBRUARY 2014
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By Larry Hodgson - Hodgson Heavy Duty In the trucking industry we often complain about excessive rules and regulations but I just returned from a six week trip to the Democratic republic of Congo where there are absolutely no rules and believe me - it is not pretty. I went to visit my brother in-law and his wife who have been in Africa for twenty years - fifteen of them in the Congo. I also went to work as a volunteer in a shop that maintains a fleet of trucks used in both relief work and the distribution of bible literature. If your definition of a trucker is someone who moves goods from one location to another, then 90 % of the people in the Congo are truckers. They just don’t necessarily use a truck. The most basic way is to carry things on their backs or heads. It is amazing how much, from little kids to old women, they can carry. I even saw a man with a good sized Honda generator on his head. The next step up is bicycles. They can carry up to eight, 20 litre containers of water, gas or diesel. They also carry everything from fire wood, charcoal, to pandu (a food staple) in canvas bushel type bags. Next comes the Push Push, which is similar to a wheelbarrow - with an axle in the middle and grab handles on both ends. They load them as high as they can with lumber, oil drums and bushels. I even saw one with a blindfolded
cow lying on its side. Next are the Motto Taxis. These are 125-200-cc motor bikes loaded down with a driver and usually two passengers. The passengers carry everything on their lap from children, pigs, goats, the yellow jugs, or bushel bags. After that are small cars. There has to be a million Mitsubishi station wagons as well as multitudes of other small cars and the odd small pickup. The loads they put on them are insane.
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All of their roofs are caved in from the stuff they heap on them. I saw one with a large pallet on the roof. It had a deep freeze at the front with a teenage kid holding onto it, with numerous other items behind him. There also had to be 7 or 8 people in the car. Not one thing was tied down, not the pallet, not the deep freeze and definitely not the kid. Another one had 4 motorcycles tied end to end on the roof to make a square basket which was filled with bushels of goods as high as they could load them. I can only guess at how much the goods plus all the people in the car weighed. The roads are littered with broken vehicles. There are no tow trucks so they fix them where they break down - with no attempt to move them off the road. The standard hazard warning kit, if you receive any warning at all, consists of either branches or clumps of grass thrown out onto the road. If traffic isn’t moving they just go around and try merging into the front of the line. And that’s not just one guy that’s a whole new line. And if things still aren’t moving another complete line will come down around the outside. They will even go to the other side of the meridian. You can literally have 6 lanes facing 6 lanes with cross flow traffic in the mix. It’s insanity, where the biggest vehicle has the right of way. Going through a large intersection reminded me of a slide of cells from biology class all moving with no sense of direction or space. The next step up are vans. Old Volkswagens, the odd Aerostar and a gazillion Mercedes. The majority of these
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1-800-561-1713 | transport@monarchins.com are used to haul people. They have six wooden benches that they pack four wide. That’s twenty four adults stuffed into a minivan - not including the people on the rear bumper or the goods on the roof. What is really scary is that on this model of Mercedes they’ve had so many problems with rear brakes that most of them have been disconnected, leaving only front brakes. The Congolese call them “The Spirit of Death”. Many run with only three or four wheel studs out of five and mirrors and lights are optional. We came across one of these death vans that had run into the back of a flat deck. It looked like he tried to go around but either his brakes failed or there was someone coming so the two front seat passengers took the brunt of the collision. That was two of the four traffic fatalities that I saw in my
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brief 6 week visit. In the Congo if you are the driver you better hope that your injuries aren’t bad enough that you can’t run. If you are driving and somebody gets killed they will kill you and have an enquiry later to determine whose fault it was. All pedestrian accidents are hit and run - nobody sticks around to find out how severe the injuries are. If you are injured there is no ambulance coming for you. You can only hope some Good Samaritan will help you. If you get to a hospital, they will patch you up but they don’t serve meals there or anything. You get medical attention and that’s it. You better hope your family likes you because they have to feed you and care for you in the hospital until you can go home. Finally we move up to trucks. There are lots of old Mann single axle body jobs that are WW2 army surplus. They have been patched, re-patched and patched again. When going up a hill you often see a guy walking behind them carrying a block of wood – at first I couldn’t figure out why but then found out that he is the emergency brake. If the truck powers out it’s his job to throw the block under a rear wheel. I saw an older Mercedes stopped on the
road with the motor stripped down and the crank was lying on the ground. Then just down the road some guys were swapping out a complete engine. No overhead crane, no nothing except some rope, pulleys and a couple of Jacks. You don’t see Snap-on tools either. They seem to do it all with just a crescent wrench and a screw driver. If they need a part they rob it from any abandoned unit
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they can find. I thought the two trucks we saw would be there for a month but on our way back the next day, the guys doing the engine swap asked us to give them a boost. The other one had the heads back on and it too was almost ready to go. I did two road trips while I was there and my first thought was that our truck was a little overkill. It was an Actros cab over with a v6 Mercedes, 16 speed tranny and not only was it a 4x4 - it also had planetary wheel ends. The roads getting out of Kinshasa were paved except for the odd construction zone. A construction zone by the way consists of the pavement suddenly ending leaving you to figure out how to get around it. The standard way is to go over into oncoming traffic and plow your way through. Once we left the main road it became very obvious to me why we needed a 4x4. One of my trips was to the Angola boarder to meet a convoy of trucks that was bringing in supplies from South Africa. Their supplies used to come by container but corruption is so bad in the port that they now bring it in by road - a 10 day trip each way – if things go right. The convoy consisted of Six trucks pulling 5 tridem flat decks and 1 b train. They had already been delayed four days going into Angola, for paper work. Then coming into Congo the customs wouldn’t accept a new tax exemption that had been given. Corruption and black market are so prevalent that they wanted more proof from the minister
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of finance’s office that it was legit. They were held up for 5 days because of this. Once they got that straightened out they still couldn’t proceed because the rain had made the road impassible. A young African named Ezra and I were dispatched with a Mercedes Actros 6x6 pulling a 40 foot container on a tridem flat deck. Our job was to find the quickest way to unload their trucks so that they could head home. The truck route could be better described as a trough of mud and potholes. It is basically a hundred different trails across vast grassland. As trucks get stuck a new lane is created across the plain.
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th DE e A m L on of th
a track that we could follow. Several of us went out on foot and checked out the multitudes of tracks to find a passible one. There were vehicles stuck everywhere but that only showed you where not to go. We finally agreed on a route and then moved the trucks out to an open area just before the mud hole. Next we started hand bombing the 120 tons of boxes filled with printed literature, office supplies, and building materials. At about 1:30 the other trucks from Kinshasa showed up with several Land Rovers full of helping hands. We also hired 12 locals and without them there was no way we would have transferred all that freight in one day. I learned several things on this trip. One of them is a better understanding of the word “parched”. After a few hours in high thirty degree temperatures, with 90% humidity, I had downed several 1.5 ltr. water jugs and I was still so dry I couldn’t spit. I was also taught several life lessons in getting the job done. Just beyond where we had been loading there were two vehicles. One a 5 ton body job that was laying over about 15-20 degrees stuck in the mud. They had ripped the clutch out of it trying to free it, so were replacing the clutch right there in the mud hole. The second was an old bus - I don’t know what they were fixing but there were numerous sets of feet sticking out from under it. I also learned a lesson in humility when I grabbed a jug of water that they brought to us in the Land Rover and took
a big swig. To my disappointment it was warm. I was muttering to myself quite profusely when I came around the corner and there, laying down to a mud puddle, emphasis on mud, was one of the local’s getting a drink. I realized that he didn’t even have clean water to drink. I have been around trucking all my life and I can never remember seeing anyone so happy to get rid of their loads and know they were heading home as those 6 Namibia truck drivers Night driving there is also a nightmare. Vehicles have few lights, if any, and nobody has reflective tape. On our way back three trucks were coming down a hill with their highbeams in our eyes. I don’t know why but Ezra slammed on the brakes and we came to a screeching halt 20 feet from a dead truck in our lane. No lights no hazard reflectors. I still don’t know what triggered Ezra but we could have easily have been killed running into them.
So the next time the DOT has a blitz and you’re at the boiling point. Walk over to the nearest mud puddle and ask yourself, “Is my life really that bad?” r
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I Held His Hand
I saw the big rig start to slide, as he started down the hill, I saw the trailer jackknife and I saw the whole load spill; I saw the impact with the guardrail, then the rocks and trees below I started down to help him, but I knew I was too slow. A mangled pile of twisted steel, glass shattered all around, I knelt down and took his hand, as he lay there on the ground. I covered him with my jacket, to shield him from the rain, I heard him whisper softly, and I heard him say her name; Tell my wife I love her, and tell my children not to cry, Then he gave a little smile, and then the trucker died. They found us there together; I could not leave his side, Though I never knew his name; I held his hand and cried.
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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