Pro-Trucker Magazine - May 2014

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From the Editor’s desk...

VOLUME 16, ISSUE 4 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 • Ken Davie • Scott Casey Ed Murdoch • Frank Cox • Colin Black PHOTOGRAPHY Hank Suderman • David Benjatschek 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.,

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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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PRO-TRUCKERMAGAZINE MAGAZINEe PRO-TRUCKER

The weather in across Canada runs the full gambit so it is little surprise that when speaking to someone in another part of the country the topic invariably will come up. As a young man I was bright enough but not smart enough to stay in school, so I followed the work to wherever it took me. The ¼ mile walk across an open field, where the wind was always howling, from the security parking lot to the Stelco Steel Mill in Camrose John White Alberta, has a special place in my memory. This walk was especially difficult for a hard-headed BC boy who up until then seldom wore a coat. The last month I worked there it never came above 25 below during the day - and I was working grave yard. One of my fondest memories as a young man was looking at that parking lot through my rear view mirror for the last time.

Working in the bush was just as cold and my first job there was setting chokers behind a D-8, in Likely, BC. Hooking chokers on the bull hook and then ducking flying frozen tree tops when they popped off will only have special meaning to those who have been there. It is suffice to say that the cold was the least of my worries and the scrambling I was forced to do kept me more than warm enough.

I also worked for a while out of Lillooet BC where our kids soon learned not to run bare foot in the pasture because of the small cactus that grew there. (That story can still bring calls of B.S. from some people when I tell it in the southern states.)

No one will argue that the weather in the Lower Mainland is much milder than the rest of Canada but there is also good reason they call it the Wet Coast. Yes the grass may be green all year but too often it is soggy.

The weather jibes have not changed much over the years.

“How can you stand all that rain?” Is usually rebutted with, “At least I don’t have to shovel it.” Everyone takes light-hearted jabs at their own weather too. Someone from Calgary will say, “If you don’t like the weather, wait 10 minutes, it will change.” While Vancouverites have a home grown (excuse the pun) way of forecasting the weather. They say, “If you look out in the morning, and can see the north shore mountains, it means it is going to rain. If you can’t see them – it’s raining.”

But no matter where you live Spring is a welcome sight and you know it has finally arrived when dirty old trucks slip into their cocoon like shops to have their winter parts taken off and then like a beautiful butterfly emerge with their summer chrome glistening in the sun. It’s Show Time!

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Editor’s Note: Thank you for your kind words Lane. You have no ETTERS hite W n idea how much they mean coming from you. Our goal e h n Jo to the gazi r Ma e k has just been to entertain and to hopefully bring all segc DITOR Pro-TruJohn White azine ments of this industry a little closer together by showing ag Pro-Trucker M the human side of trucking. You my friend, on the other hand, have served this industry in more ways, than I Letters to the editor are occasionally edited for length, could ever hope to. Your input, dedication, and influlanguage and objectionable content. ence has brought about so many positive changes that you leave this industry, the Province of Alberta, and John: the city of Calgary, forever in your debt. Take care and I cannot thank you enough for the monthly report on hurry home. our industry via your great magazine. I have enjoyed each and every issue and get to read it cover to cover.

John: As you may or may not know I have retired from I was driving with my son in our new personal vehicle trucking as a result of a fatal heart disease diagnosis, and recently when I saw a commercial truck stopped on the am currently working with a specialist in Boston to be a shoulder, just before a curve in the road, with his four guinea pig for a new drug. way flashers on. The driver was wearing his hi-vis vest We will be away from Calgary for a while and now and directing traffic so it was obvious that something reluctantly cease receiving Pro Trucker. There is an indi- had happened around the corner. It turned out that a vidual at the AMTA who will keep track of my move- young lady had slid off the highway in her car with two ments and forward one to me. young children. Fortunately there were no injuries but Again my friend you do so much good for our industry the car was pretty well destroyed. and I thank you for that.

When I got out of my vehicle the truck driver Keep on Truckin’ approached and updated me on what he had done – he Lane Kranenburg had no idea who I was – and his display of professionalCalgary, Alberta ism was impressive. He said he couldn’t reach anyone by

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radio because of the remote location but he was quick to let me know of other options. Fortunately, I had my police radio and was able to call it in. The driver was keen to offer further assistance but when he saw it was under control he left before he could be thanked. I want to express my appreciation!

While speaking with the young lady I realized that I was headed to the same place, several hundred kilometers away, as they were. You need to know me and my attitude towards my new vehicles for this to have meaning – I have to admit that anal is one of the words used to describe it in the past. I’m not quite that bad but I’m sure some of you can relate as I’ve seen the slippers that some of you wear in your trucks.

So I thought carefully about my new vehicle and how clean it was, not to say these passengers were not, though they had lots of luggage and the young girls were wearing gumboots and eating chocolate they received from another helpful passerby. With just a little hesitation I offered them a ride, though I did mention my obsessiveness for clean vehicles, which got a nervous laugh.

Everything was great as they pulled out their luggage and then to my surprise, two cages, with mice inside.

You can just imagine my surprise as I fought with my inner issues but all was good. It turned out to be a very nice drive with some very nice people.

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Editor’s note: It is not often enough that these type of stories have a happy ending. I have spoken to many truck drivers who have been first on the scene of accidents where there are severe injuries and deaths. Some drivers never go back on the road after witnessing such things. Mark talks about that and how he handles it in his column this issue.

Reflections Thru My Windshield

By Dave Madill Dave was Pro-Trucker Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001 Brush with Death Well there I was, headed down the super slab on a cold afternoon late in November, with a load of drill stem on the deck, when it started to rain. I backed out of the throttle just a little, switched on the wipers, checked to make sure my lights were on, and started watching to make sure I had

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spray coming off the tires. It was a nice four lane highway and the traffic was light so I wasn’t expecting any problems.

As I was scanning I noticed that there seemed to be just a trace of ice starting to form on my mirror brackets so I came into full alert and backed off just a little more. I was running about five below the limit and some cars and trucks were passing me but I decide to err on the side of safety and I continued on at that speed.

I could see two school buses in my mirror that there were quite a way back so I kept an eye on them as well as the rest of the traffic. Ten minutes later the ice was still building on my mirrors so I back off just a little more. As I looked into my mirrors I saw the two buses pull out into the fast lane and start coming up alongside. I looked over as the first bus went by and its load of high school kids were pumping their

arms so I gave them a little toot from the air horns and a friendly wave. The whole group waved back at me and as the bus cleared me I blinked the lights to let the driver know it is safe to pull back in. Now I had one bus in front of me and the other was just about to reach my driver’s door when everything went sour. Coming the other way was a car and he lost it. He spun backwards into the median and then bounced over onto our side of the road right in front of the bus in my lane. The driver in front hit the brakes and, seeing what was going on, the driver beside me did the same.

Now there I was, also on the binders, but at 80,000 lbs I was going to take much longer to stop than these two buses.

Almost without thought my training kicked in and I came off the brake a little and swung the wheel hard right.

I knew I am going into the ditch and what the result could

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be but was determined that I wasn’t going to take a bus load of kids with me. I hit the shoulder then the grass and heard a loud bang as the bus hit the car then another bang, which sounded closer, but by then I was too busy to worry about noise. I was now almost alongside the bus and was slowing when I realized that the ditch was at a very small angle and seemed fairly smooth so I came right off the brakes, dropped to seventh gear, (13 speed), and mashed the throttle. Still losing speed with dirt flying, and smoke and steam coming from the direction of the bus and car, I dropped the lower box into 5th and then really stood on the power pedal.

I could hear my big cat howl but I am past the bus (I think) so I looked out to check my mirror and found that it was no longer there. A quick glance over my shoulder told me that I was clear so I swung left and with more dirt and sod flying I pulled the truck and trailer back up onto the pavement where I hammered on the brakes and brought my wild ride to a shuddering stop.

I quickly piled out of the truck and started towards the accident scene noting as I ran by that my load had not moved even an inch, and my truck looked okay except for the missing mirror and bent mirror arms. Both buses had stopped and the one that was beside me was taking all the kids from the bus that hit the car in to keep them out of the weather. They all looked fine but more than a little shaken.

I headed directly to the car which luckily had hit the bus broadside, and I wrenched open the door. The driver was

alone and he was doing fine other than numerous cuts and bruises that he would recover from. Within minutes the police and ambulances were on the scene. After giving their accounts of the accident the car driver and the lead bus driver were taken to hospital to patch up their minor injuries and for observation.

After giving my account of the story, which was backed up by several students and the second bus driver, the police and I walked back along the road and found my mirror right about where I had heard the second bang. From what we could tell that was the only part of my rig that hit the bus and marks on the bus confirm our suspicions. After a quick walk around of my truck the police allowed me to proceed (without a mirror) to the next town that had a truck repair

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garage. I picked up the local paper the next morning and while the accident was mentioned and several photos published not one thing was said about the trucker who swerved his rig to save children he never knew.

We drive along the highways and byways and sometimes the only recognition we ever get is a middle finger from someone who thinks we are in his road, but many of us are content to know that our training and professional actions not only move the freight that our nation depends on but at times, we also save lives.

TV says, the pain is usually located just below the lower back…

Tax time is pretty entertaining around our house, so much so that it is getting to be my favourite time of year.

I just sit back and wait because I know that once again I’ll get to watch Yvonne crawl Dennis’ frame over the way he documents, or I should say, doesn’t document, his expenses. I haven’t quite figured out if he has a very short memory or if it is as Yvonne suggests, and he simply doesn’t listen. I do my best to try to help him out during the year by reminding him to get a receipt when he stops for goodies but he often mutters something about, ‘not enough time’ or “Yvonne will look after it.”

This is where that ‘short memory’ comment comes in

by Dennis Ruttan to play because even I know that having to figure out the In October of 1999 Dennis Ruttan way he keeps his expenses makes her job 10 times harder started entertaining our readers than it should be. with trucking adventures as seen Fortunately, Marpole, the company Dennis works for, through the eyes of his toy poodle break their statements down so that fuel, taxes, insurance, and partner, “Jake the Trucker”. and any repairs done at Marpole’s shop, are all separated Sadly, in May of 2008 Jake pulled and easy to calculate. This is a huge help to Yvonne as she his last trip and Chase, also known has her hands full looking after everything else. as lil Road Hammer, took over for Imagine this, the accountant told Dennis to keep his mentor. track of his pickup mileage when he uses it for business.

Well, guys if you don’t have tax pain yet you’re bound Dennis, trying his best, started out okay by writing down to get it sometime this year. You’ll be sure to recognize the mileage as instructed, but for some reason he didn’t it when is shows up because, as like the commercial on bother to put in any dates. On top of that, he left his

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notebook open on the dash and the sun bleached out all the numbers. It was just dumb luck that with a little highlighting they were able to recover the chicken scratch. I rolled on the floor howling when Yvonne cut loose on the “Man” over that one.

To top it all off, Yvonne took Sophie, Ethan, Pepper and me - the poodle part of the family - with her when she took this year’s tax papers to the accountant. He looked them over and told her that she did a fine job of putting it all together but since it was on the wrong program, they were totally useless to him.

Much of this was the Man’s fault, as he can never keep quiet while Yvonne tries to decipher his notes. Try explaining to him that coffee, pop, and donuts are not deductible! I have heard Yvonne stress what is allowable and what isn’t every year for the last 7 tax years and I just had the pleasure of watching Dennis squirm as he sat through that lecture again.

Dennis is not stupid but sometimes he fails to grasp certain things that are so simple that even I can understand. Buying bones is not deductible but paying Vet bills to be allowed to cross into the U.S. are. See, even I figured it out.

Dennis’ annual speech of contrition where he ends by promising to do better, which between you and me is all B.S., was especially convincing this time. He even added a few flattering comments about how good Yvonne

was at doing the books, but to no avail. It was met with a knowing look and silence. It is amazing how Yvonne does not have to say anything yet there is no doubt in your mind that she just got in the last word!

Driving Through my Memories

By Ed Murdoch

Ed has held a commercial drivers license for 60 years and has spent the better part of 50 years on the road. You can get Ed’s new book at www.drivingthroughmymemories.ca Springtime in Alaska…

The famous, annual 1100 mile long Iditarod Alaska sled dog race called ‘The Last Great Race’ oddly enough has a trucking connection. The last three races have been a family affair. In 2012 Dallas Seavey became, at age 25, the youngest musher to win the race. His father Mitch Seavey won the race in 2013 and coincidentally at 53 is the oldest person to ever win the race. Just recently young Dallas not only won but broke the record by an astonishing 5 hours under miserable wind & blizzard conditions which caused other mushers to drop out.

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service company in the USA today. Incidentally young Dallas Seavey covered the 1100 mile Iditarod Race in 8 days, 13 hours, 4 minutes & 13 seconds. That’s almost 130 miles a day! 130 miles a day with a dog sled! One can almost make as good time on the road!

Highways in Alaska are atrocious in late winter and early spring. Frost heaves are not just bumps or dips in the road surface like you find in other parts of North America. Up above the 60th parallel you drive up, over, and down the other side of frost heaves. Many of them have to be taken on an angle so as to avoid damage to your undercarriage. The speed limit for trucks is just 35 miles per hour, which is often too fast.

It’s the wildlife however that gets your attention this time of year. There are flocks of Trumpeter Swans, Mountain Goats, Dall Sheep, Snowshoe Rabbits and those cute little Pikas - a relative of the rabbit. If you are lucky you may even see caribou caught in migration.

This is also the time when grizzlies awaken and leave their dens, males usually a few weeks earlier than the females.

Late in March when the snow is melting along the verge of the highway, shoulder being too generous a term, green shoots start to emerge from the thawing ground. One day I happened along while two of these big brown bears were feeding right alongside the highway.

I stopped and even after dynamiting the brakes with

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One of the major spring hazards up north are the giant Alaskan moose. This time of year the largest Bullwinkles on the planet come out to the road edge to

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a wintering yard of over 600 moose and it was said 300 or so wander about the big city as well. In January a man walking his dog on the University of Alaska campus was killed by a cow moose protecting her calf which the dog had annoyed.

One afternoon leaving Anchorage, I saw a moose struck by an SUV on the 3 lane. I got way over to the left but when I tried to sneak by it, its head came up and it knocked the mirror off the bottom of the passenger door on my Freightliner cab over. I hadn’t bought a permit for that trip so I didn’t hang around for the post mortem. All fatal for drivers. It is said that an average of 280 moose in all the Alaska experience over the course of a calendar are killed in vehicle collisions in the Mat-Su each year. year was the highlight of my OTR career spanning over Closer to Anchorage in the Knik River flats there was 5 decades. r

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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

Hiring Qualified O/Ops & Drivers

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This could be a familiar conversation to many drivers, of course the load and destination can be suited to any one of us. Point being, most drivers have been in the Smokey and the Bandit scenario of “having a long way to go and short time to get there.” To do these trips drivers have to be resourceful in their means of getting the job done safely. How do you do that? I mean how do you stay awake when you’ve got that trip to make and you’re dog tired? Of course you can open the window and get the fresh air blowing in your face, which works, but that has its drawbacks, such as temperature or insects, just to name a couple. I recall a method relayed to me years ago that made me burst out laughing the

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There were four of us running together, and Sean, one of the three drivers hailing from Williams Lake, BC said he was stopping in Cache Creek for a gut bomb.

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He proceeded to do as he had explained and as promised,

by Lytton he was chewing a handful of antacids. The bonus of his exploits was that we all stayed awake listening to his “belly aching” and storytelling.

There are many ways to broach the issue of making miles when you need to, being well rested before hand, drink lots of water (hydration is important), frequent breaks to stretch the muscles and coffee in moderation are all good methods. Of course those suggestions are the modes I would strongly recommend, however if you’re adventurous and maybe slightly deficient in the brain case you can always try the painfully expedient method of BS’ing and tossing gut bombs in your stomach.

Tyres Across The Pond 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.

Inexperience The question, “What skill you would like to have been trained more in when you were learning to drive truck?” was asked on the Pro-Trucker Magazine Facebook page.

Most of the old hands said much the same thing, you

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learn the basics and get better as you go along. Some really old drivers said they learned to drive long before driving schools were invented. Personally I think being a good truck driver comes with making mistakes or seeing someone else make a mistake and then learning from them. In most cases if you show you’re willing to learn and don’t come out with a know-it-all attitude, more experienced drivers are only too happy to give you a heads up. If you are willing to listen then this second hand experience is invaluable.

I’ve been lucky in that as I learned the job I never seriously injured myself or anyone else. And of all the trucks I’ve driven, there have been only a couple that were left with minor scrapes to show the amount of experience I gained along the way. Although I have to admit that some freight has been damaged while in my care, nothing ever fell off my truck and hit anything, or anybody.

There was however one incident in particular that cost the company, or at least the insurance company, some cash. I’m sure many of you can relate to the fact that when you are young and eager to get the job done you never want to admit to anyone that you’re not up to doing the job in hand. That was the case here and if I hadn’t been so inexperienced and eager to please, this following tale would never had happened.

It happened when I was on dayshift, driving a 17 ton four wheeler, and doing multiple drops and collections.

I pulled into a factory in Cumbernauld to pick up some marble slabs that were to be shipped to New York by airfreight. The shipping clerk said they were for cladding the outside of a skyscraper and apparently they were very expensive as they had taken quite some time to get the colour match and finish just the way they wanted them.

I watched from the deck of my truck as a forklift brought them out across the yard. He moved very slowly, with a worker walking along steadying them on the forks. The slabs were about five feet by four feet but only six inches thick. They were standing on their edge with a wooden framework around them. Among other things I learned that day is that marble slabs have to be shipped upright like sheets of glass, you can’t lay them flat as they have no side strength and can break quite easily.

The forklift finally made it across the yard and lifted the slabs up and set them on the truck but the guy who was steadying the load figured his job was done so he just stayed on the ground and left the rest up to me. I got my pallet truck under the slabs and gently raised them then I slowly tried to turn them so that I could move them against the headboard - it was a recipe for disaster. With one hand holding the slabs and the other hand on the pallet truck they started to wobble. I tried to settle them but I was unable to hold them and down they went, shattering into a thousand pieces.

I know now I should’ve refused that shipment but, as

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they say, hindsight is 20/20. I learned later that the factory had tried to save money by making the crate themselves. They had obviously made the base too narrow for the weight and height of the freight, but since I had accepted it, and then tried to move the slabs by myself, my company was now liable.

Times are changing and trucks with automatic gearboxes are now in the majority over here. It is too bad as new drivers now may never get the driving experience I got for free.

It was slightly worrying when I read that the DSA, Driving Standards Agency, our licensing agency, have changed the rules as of April this year. Now Trucks used for the driving test no longer need to have 8 forward gears and, if a driver has a manual gearbox license for their car, they can obtain a manual truck entitlement even if they take the test in an automatic truck.

Imagine the scenario, a driver from the UK emigrates to Canada or Australia where “real” gearboxes are still the norm. He passed his test in an automatic truck and all his experience has been in an automatic truck doing supermarket deliveries where the trucks are limited to 52 mph and he’s never had to load or unload any trailers.

If he’s lucky he’ll talk his way into a job. At that point his inexperience with manual gearboxes may only result in a wrecked transmission - if he’s lucky. r

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Rig of the Month By: John White

Photos

by

Nathan Dueck

Nathan Dueck from Chilliwack, BC is our May 2014 Rig of the Month driver. This is his story: I was born in Surrey B.C. in 1976 and grew up when roller skating, not

roller blading or skate boarding, was cool. The AMX was the first muscle car I can remember seeing and in Surrey at that time, Smitty’s restaurant in the Surrey

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Place Mall (now City Central) and Stardust Skating Rink were the places to be.

In the summer of 1986 you could either find me in Vancouver at the Expo 86 grounds or sitting at the corner of 128th Street and Old Yale Road watching all the Kenworth Cab Overs and International trucks drive by.

They were hauling gravel and concrete for the everexpanding Scott road area. This was long before road restrictions came in on those roads.

My dad, Carey was a carpenter and after my parents divorced, when I was quite young, my mom Elaine took on a yard job down on Scott Road shunting trailers. I remember the first time she took me to the yard where she worked. She stuck me in the passenger seat of this old beat up, baby poop yellow Kenworth - but to me it was the most bad-ass truck in that yard. The real bonus came when we had hardly gone more than twenty feet before we had to back up and I got to pull “the cord.” There is nothing like being a kid and hearing four trumpet horns air up for your very first time.

Mom later went on to work driving a small delivery truck for Diamond delivery and ended up marrying the owner, Rick Diamond. Growing up with Rick gave me valuable insight into the trucking industry by letting me see many different trucks and their operators. As I grew into my teens I never lost my fascination with big trucks or my admiration for the skill of the people who drove them.

Austyn, Brooklyn (top), Jen, Nathan I worked a lot with my dad on the weekends. At his housing projects we saw pumper trucks, dump trucks, and if we were there early enough, the odd low bed dropping off machinery. However, the best part was when the truss truck came in and I could watch the driver operate a stinger that seemed to reach to the sky –I always wanted to be that guy. I also wanted to be the one riding the ball to the ground and kept thinking what a rush that must be.

Things were a lot different then – you would never see someone riding the ball down today. Working with my dad taught me a lot about construction and it gave me the opportunity to run all sorts of construction equipment. I

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never really thought much about it at the time but those experiences are really paying off for me today.

In 1992, when I turned 16, I convinced my mom to sign for my class 5 license. My idea was that it would put me one step closer to getting behind the wheel of a commercial truck. Unfortunately having fun (and not a worry in the world) sidelined that thought for a few years. I didn’t get my first real driving job till I was hired on driving a 1 ton for Diamond Delivery during the Purolator strike of 1996. That was a mistake - I had no idea what I was getting myself into.

Oh happy days - my first cool driving job. That feeling lasted until I got to the Burnaby Purolator Depot and was met by some not so happy people. Let me tell you, when the cab is a rocking its best that you put on your seatbelt, hold on tight, and pray you stay upright. I did that job for about a month before I figured it was too hard on the suspension, both for the truck and myself. It did however teach me some good lessons.

Lesson 1: Don’t drive into a crowd of angry people it`s scary as hell. (especially if you’re messing with their livelihood) Lesson 2: GMC Cube Vans are not as cool as you think they are. (the moped of trucks) Lesson 3: Never ever leave the roll up door open when driving down the road hauling envelopes. It looks like a confetti parade and you are the only one in it.

After I quit that job I worked for a while doing odd jobs but I needed something steady so I went to work for Canadian Tire. I started out in the shop busting tires and doing oil changes but I soon found that it wasn`t enough for me so after a year I moved to the front desk. This job entailed working with customers to get them back on the road but after a short time my boss and I came to the same conclusion - I am not really a people person. Customer service sucks. The best thing to come out of that job was my wife Jen. We met while working an afternoon shift and we haven’t left each other’s side since.

One of my first truck trips was with Chris Trounce, one of Pro-Trucker’s Rig of the Month drivers from a few years back. It started out innocently enough. We were just going to Coquitlam to pick up a 53’ refer full of waffles.

The next thing I knew we were bringing a load of fruit back from in Nogales, Mexico. I soon realized that the front seat of a Kenworth was a great way to see the road!

Chris even let me drive a bit on that trip - what a feeling that was.

The following year Jen and I had our son Austyn.

I couldn’t raise a family on the wages I was getting at Canadian tire so I left and went to work for Bruce over at Maaco in Abbotsford. I was doing commercial body work on cab overs, forklifts, and an assortment of trailers. The money was good but it left me with very little time with the family so in 2002 I went to work for Stephan Harms

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at Pacific pallet. I worked with a group of great guys and it was such a good company with steady work that Jen and I decided the time was right to get married. It wasn’t anything too big, just family and close friends up in Whistler for a ceremony in Ross Rebagliati park. It was a great day, that is right up until I got a phone call to turn on the TV. There on the news was live video of my workplace burning to the ground. On the bright side it was a great extended honeymoon.

The company tried to find us all work but I took it as a sign to follow other avenues so I walked next door and met with Stew Conway of Wilway Lumber Sales. He was an old school truck driver by trade - turned lumber store owner. He was a little intimidating when I first met him but he gave me a chance, and the training to start driving larger trucks. The first one was a 1986 Ford Louisville, with a 3208 cat engine. It was a single axle with a lumber deck and a live roll off.

If you have ever done a roll off with lumber you know that normally it can be fairly calm but it can also go very bad, very quickly. One of the first roll offs I ever did was a lift of plywood and some random length lumber to a site at 262nd street and Fraser Highway in Aldergrove.

The warehouse slab was poured and there was a ditch 5 feet wide all the way around it. The supervisor said that he needed the load on the slab and as far in as our Hiab could reach. The problem was I did not have a Hiab on the

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truck, and he was not happy about it.

Trying to keep the customer happy, I told him that as long as he didn’t care how I did it, I would put it where he wanted it. I got his okay so I unstrapped the load and pulled out about 60 feet from the slab. I unlocked the live roll and told everybody to stand clear. With the selector in high range in reverse I started my run and at about 35kmh and 10 feet from the ditch, I locked up the brakes.

That load cleared the ditch, landed on the slab, and slid to a stop about 60 feet into the building. After getting a few “Wow! Did you see that?” comments I left just as happy as the customer - and just as amazed that it worked.

After a few large and scary dump loads I wanted more so Stew sent me to Valley Driving School to get my class 3. He then spent a lot of time teaching me different things about the truck and what to watch out for. If it wasn’t for the lessons from him and my instructor at Valley I would have had a hard time with the test - but I got my class 3 without a problem. Once I was legal, he put me in a 1996 International with a 466dt and a tilt deck with a Hiab 160.

It was one ugly truck but no matter how ugly it looked, it was all mine to drive. Once I had gained some experience operating the crane I was able to take on different loads and challenges. One of those was taking a cabin apart in Langley and then reassembling it on Theatis Island. But the best one had to be when I was asked to move whale bones for a customer. It was a little weird but on the other hand it was really cool to see them on the back of a flat deck truck.

In mid-2004 we had our second child Brooklyn, and like her mom, she is beautiful. She is a real daddy’s girl and likes to get on board and ride here and there. I drove that old International right up until 2010 when, with much pressure, the boss finally agreed to look for a newer truck and to upgrade my licence to a class 1. I got my license and after much research we found a 2003 Sterling L9500 with a Cummins N14 select plus with a 8ll. It puts out about 485hp.

The following year I was alone on a job site with our international and I was in a hurry to finish and be on my way. In my rush I didn’t look up when climbing onto the deck and with a lot of upwards force I drove my skull into the underside of the crane. I hit so hard that I dropped to the deck unconscious. After coming to I folded up the crane and drove back to the yard, which was not one of my better decisions. I was still dozy and had blood all over my face and clothing and apparently someone saw me in the cab when I was driving back to the yard. They called ahead and as I drove in there was a group of people waiting to rush me to the hospital.

After he examined me the doctor rescinded my licence and it was four months before I was cleared to drive again. Even now I have some memory issues but I have great friends and family that understand. We can joke about it now - every once in a while someone will sug-

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We could tell you all about our 50 year history, but we thought we’d let one of our drivers tell you instead.

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MAY 2014

MICHEL LAFRENIERE: Eastern Based CDN / USA driver Email: michelltransxdriver@gmail.com

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gest that I were a helmet 24/7 - but at the time it was quite serious.

I know that sometimes Jen resents the truck because of how much time I spend with ‘her.’ But no matter how she says she hates it she is always willing to hop in for a trip when I have lumber for a custom home delivery to Williams lake, or some other destination in the interior.

Then we often find out that we have to go down some goat trail in the rain with a cliff on one side and mountain on the other. I’ll look over at her at times like that and she will be in the fetal position with her face buried in a pillow. Invariably she will ask, “Is it over yet?” and I usually respond with. “I’ll let you know when we hit the bottom,” which is admittedly not the best choice of words at times like that.

After our first Big Rig Weekend in 2010 and meeting the Pro-Trucker family, Ben and Tori have become great friends. I also became friends with Britney Linde, another past Rig of the Month driver, when she was working with Aggressive Towing. Getting to watch her work left me in awe of how much she knows about towing and hauling large loads. She is one of the hardest working drivers I have ever met. It’s often a thankless job working in the driving industry so it’s nice when we can get together in the summer and have a trucker’s party. We can park our trucks in the field behind my house and sit by the bonfire trading stories. We have some great food, and everyone

leaves the next morning with a headache and a feeling that someone understands and appreciates the jobs we do. It’s very much like going to a mini Big Rig Weekend.

I read all the Pro-Trucker Magazines and often a driver will talk about someone in particular that was their mentor when they were learning the trade but I didn’t really have just one. I have had a mentor in just about every driver I have ever met. Everyone I have ever had a conversation with, where I have been able to, I have taken something from them and applied it to my job to see what will work for me and what won’t.

Working at Wilway has allowed me to move forward to the point that I am now also Fleet Manager and taking on the maintenance of our fleet of 5 trucks. The maintenance of the fleet is time consuming with oil changes to do and the re and re of components. One fun job I was given was the refreshing of my first truck, the 1991 International.

It now looks great with a new deck, paint, and rubber all around.

There are days that I get stuck repairing a truck and wishing I was on the road but it’s a job I took on and as truckers we don’t quit, we find better and quicker ways of doing things. We are very busy at work and it never seem to stop but the people you work with can make all the difference in the world. Our other drivers Bob Ken and Andy and our shipper Steve are all very good at their jobs and professional in the way they do things. We also

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now have a 36` tilt deck equipment trailer that tags along when moving lumber. It has allowed me to take on larger loads like hauling structures and equipment and I come to really like the oversize loads.

But the bottom line is that no matter where I am, as long as Jen is beside me, the turbo is wound up, and the load is right, I`m a happy trucker. *****

Don’t Worry…

Bob was sitting on the plane waiting to fly to Cleveland when a guy took the seat beside him. The guy was an emotional wreck, pale, hands shaking, moaning in fear.

“What’s the matter?” Bob asked.

“I’ve been transferred to Cleveland. I’ve heard the people are crazy there. They’ve got lots of shootings, gangs, race riots, drugs, poor public schools, and the highest crime rate in the nation.” Bob replied, “I’ve lived in Cleveland all my life. It’s not as bad as the media says.”

“Find a nice home, go to work, mind your own business, and enroll your kids in a nice private school. It’s as safe a place as anywhere in the world.”

The guy relaxed and stopped shaking and said, “Oh, thank you. I’ve been worried to death. But if you live there and say it’s OK, I’ll take your word for it. What do you do for a living?”

“I’m a tail gunner on a beer truck”

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WWW.TPMS.CA coming home to them after a long trip. Now you have to Nothing means so much and so little all at the same 1.888.321.TPMS think about nothings’ close friend something. Let’s face time. When talking about the weather, “Nothing but it something is better than nothing? Is it not? Maybe sunshine here.” Of course if you live in Alberta the they are really the same thing. For instance, nothing answer is different, “Nothing but snow here.” or out in is better than a hug from your kid when you get back BC, “Nothing but rain.” You’re out camping, “Did you from a long trip.

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all winter, then spending days polishing her back to her top form. Now she is really something to look at again.

Nothing worse than that one place you have to back into with little or no room to spare. You know nothing good is going to happen there. But when you nail it in one shot in front of a bunch of other drivers, they all say, “Now that was something.” To which you reply. “It was nothing.” Of course there is nothing drivers want more than to be home as well. We often say there is nothing to do, but we all know there is always something. You say you are doing nothing today, but you always end up doing something. There are days where nothing you do seems to be right, even though you are trying to do something about it. One driver asks another. “How are things,” “Not bad, dispatcher is still nothing but a pain in the butt.”

Seinfeld made a whole show about nothing, and made a fortune off of nothing. You go on a first date, buddy asks how it went. Your answer, “We have nothing in common.” So when you look at it nothing is really something - or is something nothing? Either way I have nothing left to say so I will leave you with these last two quotes about nothing. There is a quote from C.S. Lewis, “Isn’t it funny how day by day nothing changes, but when you look back everything is different…..” Last but not least a quote from Buddha. When Buddha was asked what he learned from meditation, he replied “Nothing!

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depression, insecurity and fear of old age and death.”

Now that last quote says something about nothing. I hope you got something out of this article, but if you got nothing out of it, that is okay too.

The Bear’s View

Sgt. Mark Whitworth

I’m often asked how we (police officers) personally deal with traumatic events and whether it affects us. I usually respond by saying that we are affected no differently than anyone else and share the same feelings most others experience when exposed to horrific injuries and death. One thought may be that police become desensitized after a while and I guess that over time this may occur for some, at least to some extent. I find that focussing on what needs to be done at the time and ensuring it is done right provides somewhat of a distraction though it does not remove all of the disturbing images embedded in our thoughts.

By far, the most frequent and disturbing type of event police attend is traffic collisions, particularly those that

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result in serious injury or death. Traffic collisions involve many people including victims and their families, ambulance personnel, traffic control, police, fire/ rescue, tow truck operators, and witnesses. This latter group often arrive at the scene moments after a crash and see the carnage and devastation caused by the collision. Witnesses usually offer assistance and due to the remote location of many serious crashes, often have to spend considerable time with victims before emergency crews arrive. Firstresponders may be distracted by the job they are expected to carry out whereas a witness may only have raw images of the crash to reflect upon.

Over the years, I have attended hundreds of crashes and seen just about every form of injury from such events.

On many occasions, I have arrived at a crash site and found a truck driver controlling a scene and providing assistance to those directly involved. First I would like to extend my great appreciation to these men and women for this assistance and a thank-you on behalf of all of us – as often, you are not given the proper recognition you deserve for that assistance.

Commercial vehicle operators at the scene of the crash are seen by first responders as professional and a source of valuable information that is useful for moving an investigation forward. Truck driver’s road knowledge, enables those giving assistance comfort in knowing that someone else is also looking out for others well-being.

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An Old Teacher

By Mel McConaghy

Mel is a retired veteran driver who has spent 40 years on the road.

I started driving a lumber truck in 1952 when I was sixteen years old. I was making a dollar an hour for driving the truck - and loading it by hand.

The truck was an old 1946 GMC, three ton, single axle flat deck and it wasn’t much of a truck, even at that time. It looked like someone had repainted it with black house paint, using a paint brush of the same vintage as the truck itself.

The floor matt was worn ragged and you could see day light down past the clutch and brake pedal. This gave you a NICE cooling effect in the summer but it meant you had to wear good boots in the winter. The wind whistled through the cab like it was a wind tunnel. I liked to call the effect my climate control because the climate outside was definitely in control of the climate inside.

The mirror arms vibrated so badly, that if you wanted to back up you had to reach out and grab the arm to steady it. The right hand windshield wiper arm was missing, but I didn’t worry, because I very seldom, if ever, drove from that side. It wasn’t much of a truck but if the

truth had been known, I probably would have driven it for nothing, just so I could be driving a truck.

That old truck taught me a lot, it taught me how to shift a transmission with square cut gear’s that would let you and anyone within a quarter mile around you know, by the loud grinding of gears, that you weren’t double clutching properly. It taught me the importance of good tire management and proper maintenance, things that saved me a lot of money over the years. You really had to manage the tires on that old truck, because if you ran over anything that was more than a pebble, they would go flat. It taught me to respect ice, no matter what the color as well as slush that can take control of your truck in an instant. It taught me the importance of maintaining it properly, because if you ran it too long on an oil change, the engine would start rattling, as if as to say, “If you don’t change my oil, these pistons will no longer be part of this engine.”

That old truck was my kindergarten and my elementary school. It was the teacher that for over forty years, helped keep me on the road and make a living.

In 1954, I turned it over to another kid who didn’t know a Dayton wheel from a Bud, and I joined the Canadian Navy. After serving in the Navy for ten years, in 1964, when I turned forty-two, I gave up a full pension and went back to driving truck. I drove for another twenty-nine years until I sold my truck and retired at the age

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of seventy–one. Now every time I think of that old truck, I think it must have given me some kind of mental virus as it never really taught me anything about good sense.

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Boy, do I ever relate to that. It seems that life is constantly tripping me up and it’s usually over something truly trivial. You know what I mean, I’m sure.

For example, I’ve always dreamed of winning the Indy 500, but I have a tough time navigating a grocery cart through the frozen foods to the limp lettuce display. I can drive the Rockies with my eyes shut, (I think, never having had the bravado, or enough Coors in me to really try it) but put me in rush hour traffic and I fall apart. I know, I just know, that the clown next to me is going to do something really stupid and I’ll be doing something even stupider first, thus stealing away his initiative.

I once walked ten miles in below zero weather when my truck broke down in the bush and it was easy. I whistled a lot, mind you, because I knew it was bear country and I had eaten a bowl of Honey Combs for breakfast. I’ve even been known to jog, especially when the liquor store is just about to close. No sweat. But sometimes I have difficulty walking down the sidewalk and I’m not exaggerating!

Maybe you’ve experienced it. You’re walking along, minding your own business, admiring the attractive architecture of modern forms, or maybe looking at some buildings, when, WHAP, you step off the curb! I nearly broke my ankle the last time it happened and two overanxious Boy Scouts threw a little old lady into the path of an onrushing taxi in their haste to give me a helping hand.

Electronic doors lie in wait for me too. I was walking into Safeway a while ago and noticed a really cute young lady about to exit with her arms full of groceries. I gave her my best Fabio smile as we passed, then smashed fullstride into the unyielding, inch-thick pane of glass that was obviously on strike. As I slid limply to the ground, I felt the first warm trickles spurting from my truly tender nose. I tried to clean the blood from the glass, but only succeeded in creating a slightly suggestive finger painting that would have done Pablo Picasso justice. When I noticed the security guard approaching cautiously, I decided to leave and immediately applied for a cheque cashing card at Super Value. I figure that would be the truly safe way to gain entrance to a food store in the future.

I also have some small difficulties with my body from time-to-time. For example, I am unable to eat hot soup in a restaurant without being asked to leave. It seems that all eight of my sinus cavities decide to unplug the moment a bowl of soup is placed anywhere near them. These are the same sinus’ that are cemented shut every winter, usually from 6 pm Labor Day until sometime in the afternoon on July 1st. It’s hard to be discreet when you’re blowing your nose on a napkin that’s been folded to resemble a poinsettia, especially when your salad fork gets caught in it and clangs into the soup bowl sending the noodles into sub-orbital flight.

Lineups are also rapidly shortening my life and the only consolation I have is an unshaken belief that there will be PAGE 44

a lineup in front of the pearly gates on Judgement Day, and by the time I shuffle up to St. Peter, he might be tired and overlook some of my more major transgressions in his rush to get home for supper.

It doesn’t matter how many people are ahead of me when I hit the post office, I end up waiting for hours. By the time I’m at the front of the line, the postal clerks have all gone into the backroom (where they normally sleep, play cards, and take strike votes) and pick up their paychecks that were just delivered by Purolator. (They don’t send them by mail anymore. Seems they were always late and/or lost.) If they don’t all disappear, the customer at the only open wicket is trying to establish the second class rate for mailing live Llamas to Lillooet on a Sunday with guaranteed delivery and four receipts, which the clerk doesn’t have in stock, but will run downtown to get, thank you.

Banks are real killers too. When they first introduced those winding rows of ropes I thought they were on their way to a solution but it hasn’t helped me much. I went into the main branch recently and got lost in the maze that snaked its way across the floor like a conga line. I finally stepped over the ropes in an attempt to get back to civilization, and sure enough, I tripped. The entire row of poles clanged onto the marble floor and I felt like a netted flounder. By the time I helped put everything back in place, my loan payment was overdue and they foreclosed on my furniture.

The people who design packaging can also ruin my day. I bought a bag of cookies for dessert the other night and by the time I disposed of the cardboard that padded the insides, it was time for breakfast. Chocolate bars are the same thing. Sure, they look big, but when you finally tear through the layers of wrapping they look more like an After Eight mint that was wrapped before six in the morning.

But I’ve got to quit worrying about these little things that make life a big frustration. Maybe I should be more like an old cat-skinner I once drank with. He said he only worried about the big things and let his wife worry about the little ones. “I handle the Middle East, the Federal government, nuclear disarmament and the disappearance of the dinosaurs.” He explained.” My wife worries about the little issues, like feeding the kids, paying the rent and getting a job!” ***** Two elderly gentlemen from a retirement center were sitting on a bench under a tree when one turns to the other and says: ‘Slim, I’m 83 years old now and I’m just full of aches and pains. I know you’re about my age. How do you feel?’

Slim says, ‘I feel just like a newborn baby.’

‘Really!? Like a newborn baby!?’

‘Yep. No hair, no teeth, and I think I just wet my pants.’

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Trucks of Steel

I learned to drive in harder times,

We were Knights in shining armor,

when trucks were made of steel,

Champions of the road,

Our seats were not cushions of air

Everyone respected us

And arms strong turned the wheel.

as we pulled those heavy loads.

The Autocars and Brockways

Then along came Hollywood

Have long since turned to rust,

With films I will not name

The iron men that jammed the gears Suddenly we were villains, are now no more than dust.

How much things have changed.

We changed our own tires then,

Trucks are made of plastic now,

With pry bars and with sweat,

We pull even bigger loads,

Our springs were blocks of rubber;

Drivers now get no respect

my back can feel it yet.

from others on the road.

An open window kept you cool;

I guess I am a dinosaur;

Our pillow was a steering wheel,

It’s time for me to retire,

Men were made of iron;

I’ll dream about the trucks of steel

Trucks were made of steel.

as I sit and watch the fire.

Dave Madill PAGE 46

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 www.amazon.com

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