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october 2017
PRO-TRUCKER MAGAZINEe From the Editor’s desk... by John White
VOLUME 19, ISSUE 09 OF 11
PUBLISHER/EDITOR John White john@ptmag.ca PRODUCTION/CIRCULATION Tori Proudley tori@ptmag.ca ADMINISTRATION Donna White donna@ptmag.ca ADVERTISING/MARKETING John White john@ptmag.ca Tori Proudley tori@ptmag.ca CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Madill • Scott Casey Ben Proudley • Mel McConaghy Ed Murdoch • Colin Black • Cyn Tobin Bill Weatherstone • Lane Kranenburg PHOTOGRAPHY Ben Proudley • Brad Demelo David Benjatschek wowtrucks.com HEAD OFFICE Ph: 604-580-2092 Toll Free / Fax: 1-800-331-8127 Published eleven times a year by Pro-Trucker Magazine Inc., The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the publisher. The advertiser agrees to protect the publisher against legal action based upon libelous or inaccurate statements; the unauthorized use of materials or photographs; and/or any other errors or omissions in connection with advertisements placed in Pro-Trucker Magazine. The publisher can and will refuse any advertising which in his opinion is misleading or in poor taste. The publisher does not endorse or make claim or guarantee the validity or accuracy of any advertisement herein contained. All materials submitted for publication are subject to editing at the publisher’s discretion. The act of mailing or e-mailing material shall be considered an expressed warranty by the contributor that the material is original and in no way an infringement on the rights of others.
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The Port of Vancouver’s 3 major work stoppages since 1999 have cost the economy hundreds of millions of dollars and they adversely affected the whole industry. The basic reason for the strikes was low wages and the wait times at the docks that could be up to four hours. Drivers were only being compensated for the containers they delivered so each hour waiting in the queue was an hour without pay. The July 22, 1999 strike ended on August John White 20, 1999, when the Vancouver Port Authority implemented a licencing system which included a, “fair return,” provision. Unfortunately neither the licensing system nor, what turned out to be, the lax enforcement of the agreements, stopped the undercutting and within weeks most trucking companies reverted back to trip based rates. The absence of an enforceable minimum rate generated a second work stoppage on June 24, 2005. The provincial and federal governments then appointed arbitrator Vince Ready to facilitate a resolution. On July 29th he proposed a Memorandum of Agreement, between the trucking companies and the Vancouver Container Truckers’ Association. It included a new rate schedule, federally regulated benchmark rates for drivers, fuel surcharges and port licensing requirements for companies. This resolution was accepted by the VCTA, but not by the companies. The work stoppage continued to August 23rd when the federal cabinet ordered the port authorities to establish a two year truck licensing system which required companies to agree to pay the “Ready Rates” as a condition of obtaining a license. The system limited the number of vehicles and drivers and provided for sanctions on operators whose behaviour did not meet the ports’ standards or service requirements. Despite the changes and initiatives by Port Metro Vancouver, rate undercutting continued. Compensation, and lengthy terminal wait times led to another strike by non-union truckers in 2014. It was the same old story, drivers rates had decreased since 2006 due to undercutting of the “Ready Rates” and lack of serious industry enforcement. In 2014 the federal and provincial governments and Port Metro Vancouver then drafted a draft Joint Action Plan to increase trip rates by 12% above the 2006 Ready Rates and included a fuel surcharge that had to be paid to owner operator drivers - without exception. Some companies did not comply with the action plan and 10 companies even sued the provincial government to avoid paying more than $1 million in back pay to their drivers. On June 30 2017 the Supreme Court ruled against the trucking companies and from 2014 to today over $2.3 million has been paid out in back wages. Enforcement of these agreements has always been the problem. The cutthroat undercutting by some companies, that leads to overall reduction in rates for all, are often passed directly on to the truck drivers. Hopefully this ruling will send a signal to all involved that there will be strict enforcement in the future and the drivers, as well as the rest of the industry, can stop holding their breath waiting for the next strike.
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LETTERS to the EDITOR
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e Whit ine John Magaz
ker Truc ProJohn White
r Pro-Trucke
Magazine
Hello John, The World’s Longest Convoy in support of the Special Olympics was a great day in Calgary with seventy plus trucks, and over $20,000 dollars raised. My kids had a blast. We are very much a trucking family, my wife Tammie works for Gibson’s energy and I myself with Tri Line. My oldest, Tamitha has just hired on with Tri Line as well and is now working in the office. My middle one Savannah jumped in and helped with volunteering for the weekend. My family has endured twenty years of me being on the road and away from home. Now we all work together, and I’m loving spending my time with them at events such as this. I got into the driver trainer role with the hopes that I can help bring the winds of change for my fellow drivers. I know from being on the road that we miss a lot both with family and for ourselves. I am also interested in bringing the health issues to light to better help our drivers out there. There have been many a time I have sat on the side of the highway and no one would answer
the phone…it was always drivers that helped me out. Now I like to try to help them. Please let me know when the next Alberta Big Rig Weekend is, I had to miss this years due to scheduling but I won’t miss the next one. I hope these pictures are good, Charlotte Nestor, my youngest, took them. Jason Nestor Calgary Editor’s note: Thank you for the email and the pictures Jason. Truckers have always been big supporters and contributors when it comes to raising money for those less fortunate. It is a part of our industry that we can all be proud of. By the way your daughter Charlotte did a great job with the pictures.
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Hi John, Thanks for putting the stops for the Rolling Barrage in the magazine. I was finally able to meet Scott Casey at Blackjacks Roadhouse in Nisku and that is something I’ve wanted to do for a long time. I have read his stories for years and even have a copy of the magazine from when he was Rig of the Month way back when. It was a real pleasure to finally meet him and to talk to some of the other riders. What an enormous project it must have been to coordinate that whole trip. It was a great night at Blackjacks and I told Scott I would do a partial ride with the group next year. Tommy Frank Sherwood Park AB Editor’s note: Scott is an amazing human being and I am proud to call him friend. For a bit of insight on how he felt about the trip read his column in this issue. For even more insight on why he is so involved in helping his comrades in arms pick up a copy of his book, “Ghostkeepers” by Cpl. Scott Casey (ret). It is an amazing account of what our Canadian Peacekeepers go through. Funny thing is it is absolutely nothing like what our government tells us. You can order a copy at www.chapters.indigo.ca or www.amazon.ca
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The Rolling Barrage was over. The past 500-plus days of planning, the whirlwind of flying to St John’s and the actual ride itself, had concluded with our finale in By Scott Casey Victoria. Now, here, in this dank garage, it wasn’t the elaScott, our Rig of The Month for May 2003 has written “Ghostkeepers” a tion of accomplishing the mission that struck me, but of book about his years as a gun toting its finality. truck driver while serving as a Those five silent minutes were some of the longest minCanadian Peacekeeper in the former utes in my recent memory. I looked at the bug covered bike Yugoslavia. before me, leaning on its kickstand. This beautiful beast When the Ride is Over had carried me over 8700 kilometres, unwaveringly. All The motorcycles engine creaked and popped, settling it would take is to throw my leg back over it and I would as it cooled down in the musty parking garage beneath the be out there again. That’s when I knew that I had turned a hotel. It’s sounds almost mirroring those emanating from dream into a reality. Whether it’s horse, bikes, dreams, or my old knees and back as I squatted down and leaned back against the wall. Other than those noises, it was a distantly familiar quiet. Everyone was upstairs revelling to run flatdeck CANADA/USA in the victory moment of riding across Canada. It wasn’t a competition or Gold Medal round, but each rider had something in their mind that brought them out with us, to contend with individually, and they were now celebrating the accomplishment. Flashes of smiles, fishing trawlers, friendly faces, homes made of stone, hearts filled with joy, rainy days and lightning strikes, bonds made, wheat fields waving, families, racoon-eye tans, tears, leather jackets, winding desert canyons, flat tires, laughter, beards in the wind, waves on the beach, an arrow to the throat, embracing each other. I have made some very genuine new friends and solidified some older ones over the course of the 15-day coast to coast motorcycle run. But, it was nice to be momentarily, COMPANY DRIVERS OWNER OPERATORS within the concrete encasement of the garage, alone. It was as though I was suspended in a space void of Competitive Wages High Percentage Gross Revenue time. I had joked about not knowing what day it was as we Benefit Package Benefit Package Available rode, only saying that it was either day-time or night-time. Fuel Cards No Monday or Sunday, no TGIF, or Hump Day, just day or Semi-Monthly Direct Deposit Trailer Rental Available night. Yet in that moment, it was as though none existed. Then it dawned on me. I was lost. Call the office for more info Not the “geographically embarrassed” kind of lost, but rather the, “Holy Hanna I did it, now what?” kind.
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life, get back on and ride. A good friend of mine recently said that the ride had a beginning and an end, but I see it more as... The ride had a beginning and it also has a “to be continued...”
rEfLECTIONS THrU MY WINDSHIELD By 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.
Dad and the Louisville I was hauling out of the county pit with our old B61 and an end dump when for some strange reason Dad dropped in and after I left with my load went over to talk to the super. They were old friends and Leo mentioned that he could use another truck on the haul so Dad told him our Louisville Tandem was back at the shop. Leo said go get it and I’ll put you to work and away Dad went. Now he hated that Louisville for some reason and when Leo told me what had happened I knew he would want to swap trucks ASAP so I grabbed another load and got back out before he got back. He returned with the Ford and got loaded and figured he would flag me down on the highway so he took the
first load. Unfortunately for him I took another route back and was loaded and headed out again before he returned. I headed out to the job site and there at the top of Dunn’s hill was our Ford with smoke pouring out from the engine compartment and Dad just standing out behind the truck watching. I pulled over, grabbed the extinguisher out of my truck and started up the shoulder when Dad yelled at me to stop and asked what in the heck, (not the word he used), I thought I was doing. I told him I was going to put the fire out and he told me that if I wanted to put out any fires to go find one of my own as this was his fire. Smoke was getting a little thinner by this time and Dad noticed this and went around and lifted the hood. There was just a little fire remaining and it looked like it would go out on its own so I was not too worried. This was where Dad’s hatred of the Ford came to the fore and he opened the cab door, found an old coffee cup behind the seat, opened the gas tank and dipped out a cup of gas which he threw onto the fire. Needless to say this got the fire going quite well and Dad dipped out another cup, (just in case), and stood by. Second cup was needed to really get things working but when the cab started to burn Dad told me now I could get my fire extinguisher and try to keep the rear drives from burning as there was a good set of tires on there and it would look better if my extinguisher was empty. Needless to say I failed and was driven back by the
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could’ve fed thousands of less fortunate people. This is his story: A guy looked at my Corvette the other day and said, “I wonder how many people could have been fed for the money that sports car cost.” I replied I am not sure, it fed a lot of families in Bowling Green, Kentucky who built it, it fed the people who make the tires, it fed the people who made the components that went into it, it fed the people in the copper mine who mined the copper for the wires, it fed people in Decatur IL. at Caterpillar who make the trucks that haul the copper ore. It fed the trucking people who hauled it from the plant to the dealer and fed the people working at the dealership and their families. BUT,… I have to admit, I guess I really don’t know how many people it fed. That is the difference between capitalism and welfare mentality. When you buy something, you put money in people’s pockets and give them dignity for their skills. When you give someone something for nothing, you rob them of their dignity and self-worth. Capitalism is freely giving your money in exchange for something of value. Socialism is taking your Corvette Owner money against your will and shoving something down A man posted on his Facebook account the sports your throat that you never asked for. car that he had just bought and how a man approached I’ve decided I can’t be politically correct anymore. and told him that the money used to buy this car (I never was, actually.) heat when the return lines to the tank burnt off and the gas caught fire. Truck had almost burnt to a cinder before the county fire department and the OPP showed up and Dad explained that smoke had started pouring out from under the hood and when he opened the hood the whole thing went up in flames and our small truck extinguisher was not enough to handle the blaze and everybody but me just nodded and agreed it was a shame to lose such a good truck. Hart Motors showed up with a tow truck and hauled away the burnt mess and Dad went with them to get all the paper work completed. Now I figured I would have to go get Dad later but about four hours later I met a brand new R model with an end dump headed down the highway and out to the job. Dad had traded in our fire blackened wreck, since he knew the insurance would write it off, and Hart said they would wait for the insurance check to come through and then we could pay off the rest. No I am not going to say this was kosher and I don’t recommend anyone doing it but the truck really did catch fire on its own and Dad really did hate that Louisville.
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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.
Obvious Signs When you see truck accidents in the news, being in the industry, you tend to go one of two ways. Generally, at first, you give the driver the benefit of the doubt. A less than professional driver might cut him up but if he’s walked away you’re just glad he’s ok. After all trucks and trailers can be replaced. And that’s the way it was when I saw on the six o’ clock news, and then read in the paper the next day, about a tractor trailer that had blown from high winds over on the Forth bridge. The bridge is the main connection between Edinburgh and Fife and carries most of the traffic going north and south in the eastern portion of Scotland. But as more facts came to light my opinion started to change. The wind was blowing gale force that day and with my local knowledge I thought that if that had been me I’d have gone over the
The
Kincardine bridge. It adds a bit more to the journey but it’s not as high and exposed as the Forth bridge. Unlike me, the driver maybe didn’t know the area. Then as the full story was revealed, I thought, “What was that idiot thinking!” The driver had driven past four signs telling him the Forth bridge was closed to high sided vehicles. Because he chose to ignore those signs the bridge was closed in both directions for 19 hours. As well as having the obvious recovery time the crews also had to wait for the wind to subside so they could safely pull the truck upright. It was two days of chaos for the traffic all around the area. Haulage companies faced long diversions and heavy traffic on the narrow roads
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in the surrounding area, so that cost them money, not to mention the frustration of people just trying to get to and from work. As I watched the recovery on TV I could see the trailer was empty when it was righted. So, going by the company name on the cab and direction of travel I assumed he was heading for a load at the Amazon hub just a couple of miles up the road. It is difficult to say why he chose to go that way, maybe he didn’t have time to divert to the Kincardine bridge or he would’ve missed his loading slot. We all make decisions, some good, some bad, the fact that it was 2am and the traffic was very light maybe convinced this driver to take a chance. But people travel to work at all hours of the day and night now, so he was lucky he didn’t kill somebody. It’s strange, when you read these reports in the newspapers, everybody forms their own opinion. It is like when you see a ninety-year-old man with a young blonde on his arm, you automatically think, “gold digger.” I read how the driver saw the speed restrictions but didn’t realise their full impact. Then I read that the driver was Polish, so I wondered, “Could he read what the signs said? Did he understand written English?” Because firms do employ men just because they can drive a truck. They come into the country, go to an agency, and say, “I am truck driver.” Next day they’re at
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Canyon Cable 1988 Ltd. 930-6th Ave., Hope, BC 604-869-9036 Toll Free 1-800-588-8868 the wheel of a top weight truck. I used to swap trailers with a Polish driver. Yan was a great worker, Poles usually are, but he had to take his son, who worked in the same depot, into the office when there was any paper work to be read like on training days etc. I don’t know if the driver who rolled his truck on the bridge could read the signs or not, maybe he was just trying his best to earn a living. He’s certainly paying the price for his mistake, he was fined £700 and lost his licence for two years and in court the judge reportedly called him stupid for ignoring the signs. Then, as I got to the end of the article in the newspaper, as if to endorse my thoughts of foreign drivers not fully conversant with our rules and signage, there was a report of another truck flipped on the same bridge. What nationality was the driver? Lithuanian. *****
Grandpa’s revenge
Yesterday my daughter e-mailed me once again asking why I didn’t do something useful with my time. “What, sitting around the pool and drinking beer is not a good thing?” I asked. It seems that talking about my “doing-somethinguseful” is her favorite topic of conversation of late. She is “only thinking of me”, she said and suggested that I go down to the Senior Centre and hang out with the guys. I did this and when I got home last night, I e-mailed her and told her that I had joined a Parachute Club. “Are you nuts?” she replied, “You are 78 years old and now you’re going to start jumping out of airplanes?” I told her that I even got a Membership Card and e-mailed a copy to her. She immediately telephoned me and yelled, “Good grief, Dad, where are your glasses?! This is a Membership to a Prostitute Club, not a Parachute Club.” “Oh man, I’m in trouble again,” I said, “I really don’t know what to do now. I signed up for five jumps a week!”
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Authorized Mack, Volvo, Hino & Cummins Parts & Service
DELIVErING THE GOODS, SAfELY By Lane Kranenburg Lane is a former driver, fleet owner and former Executive Director of the AMTA A New Highway Menace The trucker today has a very important role in our society, without the trucker everything would come to a complete and utter standstill. The gasoline and diesel would not be delivered so the cars and rucks that depend on fuel stop completely. More important, the food stores would not get anything delivered and as soon as all the shelves are empty no more groceries. Everything we eat, wear, drive comes delivered by truck, therefore the importance of the professional driver. The skills required today to be a commercial driver are numerous, computer skills, knowledge of the operation of the unit itself, and the rules to safely operate that huge piece of equipment. Now come the regulations that are in place for the safe operation of the truck, speed limits, weight limits, vehicle dimensions, dangerous goods knowledge, hours of service and many more
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important issues that are demanded of the professional behind he wheel. Remember that each jurisdiction has its own rules and regulations and a driver must have knowledge of each of the areas that he or she travels through. Now once we are on the highway travelling to our destination a driver must stay alert and deal with other drivers on the road, ones that drive dangerously and put the driver of the truck in a difficult position, and the driver that has had too much to drink and makes things very dangerously difficult, and now with the legalization of marijuana we must endure a new highway menace. There has been no real standard on what affect that this drug has on individuals and how that may affect the way that the motor vehicle being operated by one under the influence of this drug. With so many issues that a driver must be aware of while operating the truck all we need is another thing to look out for. Statistics show that alcohol is not a big factor with professional drivers of commercial vehicles so the use of marijuana should not be a factor either. Of the 434 drivers involved in injury or fatal collisions only 5 were reported by police of having alcohol as a factor, that is approximately .01 of 1 percent.
DrIVING THrOUGH MY MEMOrIES
By Ed Murdoch
Ed has held a commercial drivers license for 65 years and has spent the better part of 50 years on the road. You can get Ed’s new book at www.drivingthroughmymemories.ca Okay, I cannot in all honesty avoid the topic any longer. It has dominated the real and fake news for some time, is on the lips of older ladies, elderly gentlemen and the young of all genders. Truckers of all stripes and patterns are concerned. There is a plethora of information out there … misinformation and disinformation … so how does one process it all? What are we talking about? If you haven’t PAGE 14
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guessed by now we are entering the murky waters of the legalization of marijuana - aka pot, weed, ganja, reefer, grass, Jolly Green and a host of other common street names. Let’s just call it cannabis. What everyone wishes to know is what dynamics are likely to occur after it is legalized by the Canadian government on July 1, 2018. First of all the word street and marijuana or cannabis ought to be separated, widely separated. There is growing (pardon the pun) concern that street sources of the flower may be laced or sprayed with other addictive substances such as fentanyl, oxycontin, heroin, etc. in order to get the user hooked. A small hit of some of these harder drugs can kill, such as fentanyl. I’m not quite certain how killing customers helps maintain a dealer’s sales base but then my thought processes have not been attacked by these mindaltering chemicals. Second opinions not required. Mary Jane in and of itself is non-addictive and no one in history has ever died due to an overdose of pure weed. Coffee, Coca-Cola, junk food, tobacco, alcohol and even shopping, and much more, are all more addictive than cannabis. In fact for thousands of years many cultures have used the plant for medicinal purposes. It grows freely almost everywhere except in the desert and Antarctica. It seems to have originated in the southern Himalayas so likes a cool, dry climate but also thrives in warm, damp regions. It is
hardy and as we all know is quite easy to grow in one’s garage, backyard or basement. So let’s cut to the chase how will the legalization of cannabis affect the trucking industry? Consuming alcohol within 10 hours of heading out on a trip is verboten to the trucking brotherhood, but does anyone know what the safe time frame is for cannabis consumption? Or does anyone really know how much cannabis in the body’s system constitutes impairment? The percentage of alcohol in a commercial container is clearly marked on the label. Not so with cannabis. The strength varies from batch to batch, up to 30% in recreational cannabis, and to date no universal method has been advanced to clearly determine the percentage of the tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) that is present in any dose of the plant without the benefit of a well stocked laboratory. THC, of course, is the psychoactive or psychotropic property of cannabis from which the user gets his/her high. The CBDs, or cannabinoids, are the medicinal characteristics which have many benefits for many diseases that are debilitating to humans. THC can be bred out of the plant leaving only cannabinoids so that the residue contains a zero amount of the mind altering substance, but many medicinal users want some THC as it is the ingredient which mitigates chronic pain. MS, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, epileptic, cancer, HIV/Aids,
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arthritic and other patients and sufferers all benefit from either inhaling or ingesting cannabis. Yes cannabis can be added to edibles such as cookies or squares and has already been approved by the feds for medicinal use in the home. Louise Yako, CEO of the BCTA, says that provincial trucking organization is moving toward a zero tolerance position for cannabis. Kyla Lee, Vancouver criminal lawyer says, “The science isn’t there to indicate when impairment occurs.” She goes on to explain that, “People who are using marijuana for a legitimate medical purpose are going to be negatively impacted by that policy. They’re either going to be choosing between their medicine or working, which is not fair.” The only current roadside test is a physical assessment administered by an enforcement officer, such as balance, speech, etc., since there is no breathalyzer device for cannabis impairment detection and even if there was such a device, impairment levels differ from person to person. THC is also present in the body for up to 30 days following consumption. The only accurate testing is from body fluids, saliva, urine and blood samples and most North American jurisdictions prevent the police from demanding body fluid samples without a warrant, in lieu of the subject’s consent. Permission is likely to be granted the police by law using the “reasonable grounds”
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i n fo @ t i m s t r a i l e r re p a i r. c o m ruling but advocates would like to see clarification as to what constitutes “reasonable grounds”. Police everywhere are already under fire for taking liberties while abusing human rights and apprehending folk based solely on profiling. The public should not have to look forward to another source of harassment, say pundits. Colorado and Washington states where recreational use is legal have set the level of impairment at 5 nanograms per 50 ml of blood. It is also illegal to drive within two hours of having an illegal level of THC in the blood. Convictions could be a $1,000 fine or life imprisonment, depending on the situation. And one might as well surrender should impairment be induced by both alcohol and pot. Currently if anyone admits to a US Customs & Border officer when attempting to enter the US that one has ever ‘used’ in one’s entire life, that person could be banned from entering the US forever. The federal government there still treats use of marijuana, for any purpose, a felony and federal law in America supersedes state law. There may be a noticeable difference however between being impaired by Mary Jane or by alcohol. Cannabis usually makes one more laid back and sensitive to the risks of driving too close, speeding and taking chances whereas alcohol tends to make drivers, more aggressive, more prone to speeding and taking chances and therefore more prone to accidents often involving fatalities. One observer says that if one uses and can feel it one ought to wait 10 hours before driving. Let’s face it, impaired driving, no matter the cause, is still impaired driving and is illegal. Have a safe month and don’t forget to add your tire jewelry to your jockey box inventory … yes I know … sighhh! 10-4! *****
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Gallagher opened the morning newspaper and was dumbfounded to read in the obituary column that he had died. He quickly phoned his best friend, Finney. “Did you see the paper?” asked Gallagher, “They said I died!!” “Yes, I saw it!” replied Finney, “Where are ye callin’ from?”
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THE DIESEL GYPSY By Bill Weatherstone This is an excerpt from Bill’s book, “The Life and Times of William John Weatherstone.”
Mexican Overdrive I don’t know where the expression, ‘Mexican Overdrive’ came from, it just seems to have always been there. The term was more common about 50 or more years ago, when the trucks were all low powered and the hills were higher and steeper because they were not cut down as much as they are today. It was also a time where they did not have all the power assists that are now commonly used like high horsepower, engine brakes, power steering and spring brakes. Back then you had to rely on multi transmissions with the maximum number of gears they could squeeze into the box, to give your engine more assistance pulling you up and over these steep hills, and also to help you control your speed on descents. The odd time you would come to a fairly straight but long downgrade that could tempt you to kick it out of gear and run loose. This procedure was what was commonly called ‘Mexican Overdrive’. Trucks were usually geared for 65/68 mph max speed and the condition of the roads and the available horsepower really didn’t give you much of a chance to make good travel time. When you came to a high hill with a fairly straight down run, temptation would sometimes take over your common sense, and put you into a dangerous situation. It could pull you like a magnet to cut it loose and just go. There have been countless times when drivers have let her go. There have also been drivers who did not make it back alive after losing control when this activity turned into a wild runaway. This type of incident (Mexican overdrive) happened to me in the mountains in 1957, while building the TransCanada Highway along the north shore of Lake Superior. I was driving a “B-61” Mack pulling a tanker with hot liquid asphalt. This particular hill was just south of Terrace Bay, Ontario and it consisted of a couple miles down through curves to the bottom. I was in a hurry this day, as we were being pushed pretty hard, so when I broke over the hill I said to hell with it and cut her loose. The hot liquid was sloshing around in the tank and was becoming unstable to control, pushing me from side to side and picking up speed by the second. I left it too long as soon the truck was going too fast for me to get it back into gear. This truck would normally run flat out at about 68 mph and I was soon well beyond that. The speedo’s back then were not terribly accurate and this one maxed out at 80 mph. The needle kept going as I picked up speed until it was well PAGE 18
beyond 80 and it still kept going until it was all the way around. Somewhere between the 15 and 20 mph mark the Speedo cable broke and the needle dropped straight down. It just sat there, pointing down, swinging freely. (I briefly wondered if this was an omen - pointing to where I would end up?) The brakes did nothing but smoke and burn - they were useless. Then the truck started to shake and vibrate so bad that it took both hands to try and hold it steady. I went around a couple bad curves on the way down and had the feeling that this was going to be my last ride but somehow I made it through the curves and started to climb uphill. That was when the vibration on the front end started to smooth out again. It was an old narrow high crowned road with barely enough room to pass at normal speeds when one of our other trucks, going the other way, saw me coming and pulled over onto the narrow shoulder. If he had not have done that we both would have connected and it would have ended for both of us right there. It was that close. I began losing speed up the other side of the hill and at about 70 mph I managed to get it back into high gear. I finally got stopped at the top of the hill and then sat there stunned for about 1/2 hour before I could get going again. Morris walked back up the hill to see if I was alright. He was the old man of the fleet and knew all about runaways. He said that as long as the front end was vibrating, I had a good chance of making it as long as I could keep it on the road. He also said that once it went past the vibration stage and started to smooth out again I should just say my prayers and wait for the end because the wheels would be flying off and the running gear could explode apart at any second. All this is happened with no maxi brakes or power steering, to help control the situation and those old style bias tires were not much help either. That was the last time I ever kicked any truck out of gear. You don’t press your luck a second time. *****
Yes Father.....
Father Murphy walked into a pub in Donegal and asked the first man he met, “Do you want to go to heaven?” The man said, “I do, Father.” The priest said, “Then stand over there against the wall.” Then the priest asked the second man, “Do you want to go to heaven?” “Certainly, Father,” the man replied. “Then stand over there against the wall,” said the priest. Then Father Murphy walked up to O’Toole and asked, “Do you want to go to heaven?” O’Toole said, “No, I don’t Father.” The priest said, “I don’t believe this. You mean to tell me that when you die you don’t want to go to heaven?” O’Toole said, “Oh, when I die, yes. I thought you were getting a group together to go right now.”
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The Duke and the Duchess It was a cold and lonely crossroad about three miles out of town, A heavy rain was falling the night she flagged the Duke down. She said that she was leaving, that she’d go anywhere, Wherever he was headed would beat what she had there. Slowly they began to talk as they rode on through the night, Talked about their hopes and dreams until the sun came into sight. She said that she was running from a life of grief and strife, Running from a man that had beat her since she became his wife. He talked to her of wandering and a life lived all alone, He spoke about his loneliness and someone to call his own. They spoke of disappointments, talked about others’ lies, They began to see each other through the other’s eyes. What they found that night was sent from high above, While others call it kismet I just call it love. She found a man much better than the one she left behind, He found the kind of lady that he’d never dreamed he’d find. Duke is still out there trucking but there are no more lonely rides, Now he travels down the road with the Duchess by his side. That happened twenty years ago and I still wish them the best of luck, I remind them every time we meet that good things come by truck.
by 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 octobEr 2017
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Rig of the Month
By John White
My name is Chris Rauch and I was born in Provost, lived all over Alberta, from Wainwright to Drumheller AB, December 24, 1975, to Lorna and Herman Rauch. to where I currently live in Edson. I have always been I’m the oldest of 3, I have two younger sisters and I have truck crazy from as long as I can remember probably
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because my Dad used to drive trucks. Somewhere my mom and dad have a picture of me at 18 months old, sitting in a Western Star cement truck in Drumheller that my dad drove for Fishlake Sand and Gravel. I guess my hero would be my dad. He drove cement trucks, gravel, grain and rig trucks. I remember going with my dad a lot. I’d ride around with him day in and day out. I would take my little Tonka truck with me and would play alongside the truck when he had to load and unload. He never had to worry about me wondering off, I wasn’t going anywhere away from the truck. If there was a truck, I was either in it or beside it. I went with him right up until the day before kindergarten. When one September morning dad woke me up and asked if I was going trucking or going to school? I thought about it and said I wanted to go trucking but if I went to school, I could finish sooner so I could be a truck driver. So off to kindergarten I went in my red and white Kenworth hat. My teacher and I butted heads though. My kindergarten teacher had asked us to draw pictures of what we wanted to do when we grew up. So, of course I drew a picture of a truck with a pony (jeep as they are called now) and a trailer. She wanted to know what the short trailer was and I said a pony. She says, “It’s not a pony, ponies are animals with four legs, not wheels.” Well I wasn’t going to let her win and told her
Chris Rauch “I know cause my dad pulls them.” Well, dad and mom had to come to school to referee that situation. All thru out school, trucks were all I thought about. I would draw pictures and watch movies like Convoy, Over the Top and Smokey and the Bandit, just to name a few. My bedroom walls were covered in posters of trucks, I had every kind of matchbox truck and trailer there was. Then as I got older, came the plastic models, this is a stage that I still haven’t out grown. When I’m not driving the big ones, I’m building the little ones. I can’t remember who taught me to drive truck. I rode with my dad a lot and some of his friends. As I got older
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I would go with my buddies. I tried to stay away from trucking because I knew it was hard on families and home life, so I was going to get a trade in the auto body business. That went south after a couple years. Then in 1996 I went to work in a coal mine. I drove a 260-ton rock truck at the Cardinal River Coal Mine south of Hinton. Working four days on and four days off allowed me to work on my days off. I was single and had no kids so I would swamp for friends on bed trucks or whatever else they drove. I would go with them more or less to get my truck fix. My friends Joe Preston, Ben Ice, Dale Fawcett and Darren Gallagher would let me drive occasionally when I went with them. I took the things that I liked best about their driving and used it as a template for my own driving. Once the mine laid me off, I went to work for Tulsa Oilfield Services in 1999. I swamped on a tank truck as a safety watch while the driver loaded sour produced water. I spent a lot of time in a ’94 T-800 Kenworth tank truck. It had a 60 series Detroit and was an 18 speed. After a while I ended up with my own truck, a ’92 KW T-300, single axle pressure truck but when the mine called us back a few months later I went back there. In between my shifts at the Mine, I spent some time driving here and there, driving without a class 1. It was only a $57 ticket back then so it wasn’t too big of a deal
as it is now. As time went on, my job at the mine was winding down as they were closing their doors. I had met my wife, Nattasha, around this time. Between her and my mom they finally said it was impossible to keep me out of a truck, so I should probably go get my license. I did the air endorsement, the written test and medical. The big problem was no truck. I finally ended up renting a truck for the road test for the afternoon, and yes, I passed. No more driving without a class 1 for me. In 2003, I went to work for Artie T Kos Trucking, moving drilling rigs. I swamped there for a few months for Troy Rhine. It started to get busier by the end of summer and since I had a class 1, I got bumped up into a truck there. It was a ’79 KW C-500, 400 Cummins, 18 speed with 4 speed manual auxiliary. She might have been the oldest truck in the fleet but I was proud of that old truck. I polished whatever was shiny and painted anything not. As I gained more experience, I moved up from picker pup to hauling loads to the city. My boss, Dion Lees, told me everyone else drives in the city so I better learn too. After about a year, just after my son Tristan was born, I moved up to a ’94 C-500 with a 475 cat, 18 speed and a 4 speed manual auxiliary, small pole truck. I pulled crown and learned to run a pole truck. I got taught by two of the best pole truck operators I know, Troy Rhine
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While driving down the hwy and you hear a, “BANG BANG” noise from the back of your trailer - this indicates there is a flat spot on your tire! That is why when dragging your tires for approx. 100-200 feet or more it will take out the circumference of the tire. From busted and/or cracked hubs, cracked rims and hot bearings which could cause lug nuts to come un-torqued causing the wheels to fall off. This is UNSAFE and related problems will occur. Having SKIDDD WHEEL INDICATORS with you will help solve your problems.
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and Wade Wilson. As time moved on we moved up in the world. Troy and Wade moved up to truck pushes and I moved into Troy’s truck, a ’94 KW C-500, tandemtandem, pole truck. It had a 475 Cat, 18 + 4 too. I ran poles and did bed work for a while. I got to learn the leases and rigs. In 2005, I got sick and lost 3 months of work, but learned I was to be a father again, this time to my daughter Emily. I came back to work and Dion said it was time to give me something less stressful. Yep, a 48-wheeler pulled by a ’97 KW C-500 with a 550 Cat, 18 speed with 2 speed manual auxiliary and sisu rear-ends. Not sure how this was less stressful but here I had a good teacher and I owe what I know about pulling wheels to Glen Langridge. I love pulling wheels. The biggest most expensive and heavy loads. Hauling the Commanders out to the rig leases. Anyone that knows me, knows I have tons of pictures of all the places and things that I’ve been and hauled. I did this for about 5 years till I got my first brand new truck, a 2010 C-500 KW, 550 Cummins, 18 speed and a 4 speed manual auxiliary, air shift, sisu planets, planet traction with a sleeper. Well I guess there was no more sleeping across the seats. By this time, the kids were big enough to come with me occasionally or my wife would come too. The kids enjoyed coming with
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me and once in a while I would phone my wife to let her know if I was passing by the house and she would get the kids to watch for me and they’d wave. I worked at Kos till ATK asked me to come work for them in 2011. I weighed the options for a while and finally decided to leave Kos and moved over to ATK. The cool part here is the truck at Kos and the truck at ATK were almost twins. Only 400 serial numbers on their VIN literally separated them other than color. About a year went by and I decided I wanted to try something different. I went to work for Gerry Robinson Trucking. Robert Robinson asked me to come work for him. He has trucks leased on to Gibsons Energy. This time I got a 2012 KW T-800, 600 Cat with an 18 speed and a 73” hi-rise sleeper and just about every possible option on it. It even had a sunroof. The summer came and a dispatch job opened up. I thought it might be nice to have a job where I knew my hours and could be home every night to spend with my family. Lenny Thomas asked me to come dispatch at Withers LP, in Edson. I did this for about a year and half. Then I went to Total Oilfield Rentals in 2014. I dispatched there until the big oilfield crash and recession hit and as the low guy on the totem pole I got let go. I think maybe it was a blessing in disguise, because I’m back in a truck where I feel like I belong.
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Falls are a leading cause of injury for truck drivers Reduce your risk 1 Always use 3 points of contact 2 Face the truck and climb slowly 3 Wear proper footwear
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Along comes my story at Titan Specialized Hauling where most of you know me from. I was hired during spring break-up and started driving a 2007 T-800 H, twin turbo, 550 Cat with an 18 speed, tri-drive. I pulled a tri-low scissor neck trailer and hauling rental equipment. It was during this time that I met people like Ernie Erickson Jr and Sr, Dean & Alicia Cornish, Cameron Betts and lots of other show people. I got introduced into the Radio Controlled world by Shaun Legaarden. I bought and built a 1/14 scale truck and I brought it to the 2014 Big Rig weekend and met Allan Hoffman. There he had his beautiful W-900. Allan saw my R/C and said that it looked a lot like his, only it was about 3% it’s size, so from that day on 3% was its name. I love my job at Titan. We haul all sorts of cool loads, from oilfield rental equipment to helping to switch out the bridges in Jasper, AB. For the past three summers we have been involved with this project. The fall of 2016 came and Titan was expanding, A truck was needed that was more suitable for pulling wheels in the mud and soft terrain. My boss Darron Lehman purchased the truck I drive now. A 2014 C-500 KW tri-drive, sisu planetary rear ends, 18 speed with 4 speed air shift. I move drilling rigs most of the time with this truck. Over the years I’ve had some experiences that stick out in my mind. For instance, I remember my driving test instructor. If anyone has seen the movie Lock-up with Sylvester Stallone, John Amos played the guard Meissner. Well I show up for my test and this big dude looked just like John Amos, mirrored sunglasses and all. I was already nervous, but this sealed the deal when he said, “Get in the truck son.” I passed the test but this has always stuck in my mind. Another time I was running a pole truck and with pole, beds and picker trucks, we always have swampers. Anyhow, everyone is inexperienced or green at one time. You get people from all walks of life. I’ve had French and Newfoundland swampers. Swampers young
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Call Al 604-882-7623 and old, or have lost their licenses, we’ve even had consultants come swamping. This particular swamper that sticks out in my mind was a Newfie. You may know someone from Newfoundland, if you do then you also know that there can be a bit of a communication barrier and it can be very amusing at times. A few examples of this were, one time we were doing our pre-trip. I had him help me and he was telling me about different stuff. He was a painter and he says he painted bonnets. I was curious and asked, “Why would you paint hats?” He pointed out the windshield at the hood. I put two and two together and got the picture. Same dude, we were stacking matting with the poles. We stack them up and place a plank or rock, whatever is at hand, under the matting on the end of where you are loading. This helps the tractors so they can put their sling around the load. We had made a few of these piles until one time my swamper forgot to put something under the end of the matt. I yelled at him through the back window to get a board. He hopped up on to the truck. So, I yell at him to get down. He asks what I want and I tell him to get a board. Well back up on the truck he gets, again I tell him to get off the truck. He’s mad now and so am I because we’ve been doing this all day. I got out of the truck and he asks, “Why do you keep telling me to get aboard then get off again?” I couldn’t
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believe it, get a board to him was to get on a truck. I’m fit to be tied so I finally told him, “Get a 2x4 plank or whatever and put it under the matt.” It’s funny to talk about now but it wasn’t so humorous then. I’ve had a few close calls. Trucking can be dangerous, but my closest calls have been on the hi-way pulled over to check loads, breakdowns, flat tires, etc. One time I had pulled over to double check my load and booster. My pilot and I were pulled over on a wide spot. All lights on both vehicles were flashing, beacons flashing, D-signs lit on the pilot truck, clean D-sign on my booster. I usually swing out and hop down out of the cab. This particular day I didn’t swing out, I had one glove partially started on my right hand and as I got out I stepped down off the battery box, this pick-up came out of nowhere and went flying by me and took my glove right off my hand. All I remember is it was a green truck. As most of the readers reading this can relate to this, we need space, whether it’s a pulled over semi, a camper, someone walking or riding a bike, there should be a common sense to move over and away from people on the side of the road. If there’s someone coming then slow down!! For the most part trucking has been a blast for me and I love it. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it the same, after all trucking saved me from being a porn star!!! (okay – maybe not) I was able to bring my truck to the Alberta Big Rig weekend this past summer. I washed and polished this beast, which has been nick named Fast Orange, as if it was my own. I more or less just wanted to show all my trucking friends and families the truck I talk about so much and show pictures of and that I’m proud to be driving. It was at this show that I won the Brown Muffin Award. I was surprised to win anything when I was in a group of some of the nicest iron I’ve seen. I’m a proud member of the Alberta Large Car group and have been welcomed as one of their own. I am honored and feel humbled to have been asked to be the rig of the month. I really don’t like talking about myself, but
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I do love to talk trucks and anything related to trucking, but even with that said, for me this has been a real challenge to write. I tried to stay away from trucking a few times and always ended up back in it anyways, but I honestly believe I’m right where I’m supposed to be. It’s not too hard on the family life either, I lucked out and have a very supportive family. Trucking is in my blood and there it will stay. I really enjoy what I do. I like being out on the road, seeing the country side and breathing in the fresh air. I love the rumble of my truck and hearing the Jake-brakes or what I call, “The song of my people.”
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COMMUNICATION By Greg Evasiuk Greg is a third generation trucker with over a million miles and 20 plus years in trucking. He now sells trucks for Nortrux. As I sat in front of my blank screen pondering what to write my mind wondered off down a completely different path. My brain is like that, the more I try to force it to stay on task the more abstract my thoughts are. How many of you suffer from this same affliction? Nowadays they can probably medicate this out of a person, insure that you stick to thinking about what you are supposed to but is that really the most productive? I think our lives are enriched by what we pass off as random. I’m not usually the one to use clichés but life is what happens while you make other plans. When I left home after high school I was done with trucks and trucking, having worked at Whitecourt Transport in some capacity from the time I was allowed, there was no way I was making a career out of that! My plan was to become a parts man and do nothing but ride bikes all summer and snowmobile all winter. I still like
the sounds of that but at the time my plan was seriously flawed. First off I had no concept of what this lifestyle was going to cost, secondly I did no research on what a first year apprentice parts man makes and thirdly I really didn’t want to be a parts man. Fortunately for me being really broke for 3 months before getting a raise to $7.25 an hour made going back home to my next career an easy decision. The next great career move I made netted me a whopping $10.15 an hour and I “got” to work 12 hours a day! I was sure they offered me this great wage because of my unlimited potential until I showed up on my first day with another 25 other new pipeliners! I did get lucky though and wound up as a welders helper which was much better than being a laborer. Now I could fill a small book with stories of practical jokes we played on one another on the pipeline (ask me another time) but suffice to say after some slight electrocution and letting my welder get soaked while welding on a flange, my pipeline days were over. After a brief stint as an x-ray and NDT tech and one year at the sawmill I decided to go to school. I went in to get my Bachelor of Commerce and finally had it all planned out. There was no way I was going to do manual labor any more, once I got out with my degree all the corporations would be knocking on my door. CEO that was gonna be me! Of course the universe always finds ways to make life more interesting. I made it through 3 semesters
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.com Enjoy Back issues of Pro-Trucker Magazine anywhere you are from the comfort of your smart phone!
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of the accelerated program at MacEwan before I ran into a problem, money. Well I knew that I didn’t want to try make it on working part time jobs in the city, I didn’t want to go back to the pipeline or the mill either. It turned out they needed help with deliveries and freight back home so I figured I’d just do that until I figured something else out. What I figured out was that I actually enjoyed driving trucks, still do. I ended up bouncing back and forth between trucking and school for a few years and I don’t regret any of it. Even with unlimited funds my brain is not wired to sit still for four years of education at once. Now some people might argue that I would’ve been better off with a degree and a cushy office job, not me. I went back and met up with a group of classmates from those first semesters of school who had gone on to graduate and find jobs in management right out of school. At the time I was hauling logs in the winter and freight in the summer. Most of the guys kind of thumbed their noses at me and spoke as though it must be a real let down to have failed to make it. Funny thing is as they described their lives and jobs all I could think was man am I glad that’s not me. I couldn’t imagine finding satisfaction in selling mutual funds or adding an extra 3% to the bottom line managing a Future Shop. My mind likes to wander. As I said earlier maybe someone could medicate it out
of me but I actually enjoy my random thoughts. I enjoy where life takes me. In the same month I’ve watched the sunrise above the Arctic Circle and over the Gulf of Mexico. I’ve helped fight forest fires, helped move whole households to new beginnings and hauled the equipment that builds this country. In the millions of kilometers that I have driven I’ve rarely been bored, there is always something to ponder. There is no other profession in the world that allows you more time with your thoughts. These random thoughts are what landed me my current job. I was driving out of the city and thought hey I should stop by and see Rick at Nortrux. Somewhere in the conversation he talked about them looking for a salesman and I got to thinking I should apply. Here I am in a job I never would have imagined and its my dream job and I owe it all to a fleeting thought. Next time you have a thought to take a different route or try a new restaurant give it a go! You too may find exactly what you never knew you were always looking for! *****
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MY LIfE THrOUGH A BrOKEN WINDSHIELD By Mel McConaghy
Mel is a retired veteran driver who has spent 40 years on the road. Cell Phones The cell phone, when it was first developed was a great thing. I remember when I got my first flip-phone. It was a marvelous peace of technology! It allowed you to keep in contact with your home, the dispatcher and in case of an emergency, the people who could help you. My first flip phone lasted me almost two decades. It even survived three full cycles in our washing machine. I simply took it apart, dried it out and put it back together and it would work! I dropped it on concrete floors many times and it would fly apart, I would put it all together and it worked. It was a spectacular piece of electronics! I got my devise, when Vanex, the company I was leased to, decided we should have them in case they needed to get a hold of us. When they informed us we should get them there was a lot of controversy about who would pay for them. There was almost an uprising when, in their wisdom, it was decided that we, the lease operators who should buy
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them! When I got mine, I was hauling fish from Prince Rupert to Vancouver. At that time it was the company’s policy that we phone our dispatch when we were unloaded. If they didn’t have a backhaul for us they would tell us to ‘turn and burn’. This was great except, as happened on more than one occasion, after I had fought the traffic getting out of Vancouver, I got a call on my cell telling me to go to a certain location in Vancouver and pick up a back haul. Although they paid us for the pickup, they didn’t pay us for the extra mileage incurred when we had to backtrack though the traffic again from the middle of the Fraser Valley. It didn’t happen more than once for me to get wise to this, so after I phoned the office and was told to come home, I would turn off my electronic leash and would go home. This created more than a little controversy at the office, “Didn’t you get our memo about our requirement for everyone to have a cell phone?” “Yes I did and I have a cell phone.” “How come you didn’t answer our call?” “After I called you and was told to turn and burn, I turned it off, there was nothing in your memo that said we have to have our cell phones on! If you think I’m going to turn around and fight that traffic and not get paid for it, you’re crazy.” This was food for a lot of very heated discussion, but the problem was soon rectified. Another problem was a lot of our hauling was into remote areas that didn’t have cell phone services and after they discontinued our radio telephone service, we were on our own, a situation, that was common place in the old days. Then the day came when my cell phone server informed me that my trusty old flip top was obsolete and I should turn it in on a newer model. By this time technology had improved and the cell phone they gave me could do just about anything, except drive my car which is yet to come, from what people tell me. Now I have a perfectly good camera. I have, “Old Sparky”, my trusty old computer, which does everything I want, and I can drive my own car, so why would I want a car, with no common sense to drive me around. So why would I need a phone to do all of these things? I finally caved in and my new cell phone came with a set of instructions in a tiny little book with print that only someone with magnifying eyes could read. On top of that the instructions are filled with abbreviations that only the person who wrote them could understand. They look like a text message from an illiterate relative. Now if anybody wants to call me on my cell phone, forget it, because so far I haven’t figured how to make it ring. It only vibrates gently and sometimes I think it is only my feeble old body telling me something.
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Lesco Pro Show
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Mile After Mile By Cyn Tobin Cyn has been driving trucks for 34 years. She has hauled loads all across North America and specializes in expedited perishable freight. Sometimes as drivers the days just seem to go on forever. On one such day, after a near full thirteen hours of rolling along, I pulled into the near empty parking lot at the doghouse in Osoyoos. After grabbing my shower gear, switching on my APU and dragging myself through a post trip, off I went to shower. I looked back to make sure I was straight and that all my lights were off and satisfied with what I saw, into the drink I slumped for a refreshing shower. It was almost ten at night and I was relieved that I made it before they closed. Thirty minutes later I emerged rejuvenated and feeling ready for a good night’s sleep. I did a bit of paperwork. Ate a bowl of cereal and crawled into my bunk. I checked my APU to make sure it was set to keep my bunk at 20 degrees in the 33 degree Okanagan sweltering heat. Lights out, alarm set for 0500 and out I went. Suddenly I hear the incessant beep beep beep of
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NEW Extended Hours Mon-Fri 8 am- Midnight • Sat 8 am- 5pm a backup beeper as I am jarred from my almost dream of a tropical beach somewhere. I peer incognito out my curtains, I see a full size cargo van hauling a 30+ foot travel trailer attempting to back in beside me. The dude makes it then proceeds to drop the trailer, tip out the extensions, set up the portable picnic table and the BBQ. None the quiet either. His wife’s name was Gina. You know how this goes right? So the BBQ is about 6 inches off the fuel tank of my truck. I am thinking, “Okay he needs space, he will move it.” But no, he proceeds to fire up the BBQ instead. Me thinking there's no way this guy is this dumb - well he was! I had magic pants, I don't recall putting them on but, in the next instant I was outside my truck wearing them. Smiling I pointed out that he was very close to about 600 liters of fuel, not to mention the wonderful plastic my Swedish Pete is dressed in. His rather snarky reply was, "Move then." Well at this point I really had two options, move somewhere else, either between 2 bull racks, or among the other recently camped campers. Neither appealed to me. So the challenge on educating this fella was accepted. I again reiterated the obvious dangers, and Gina (such a nice lady) understood. But Harry, who seemed to be in need of a cold beer, had no qualms telling me what I could do with my truck. So on went my reefer to a continuous run cycle which was my way of drowning out the noises 2 inches off my bunk. He threatened to shut it off. I suggested he have a good night, and I crawled back into my truck. He threw on his steaks, which smelled pretty good 10 mins later but despite my salivating I crawled into my bunk - just as his radio went on. Out I went and I threw my reefer onto defrost. By now two other truckers were watching this show . I am hardly making a sound or giving a reaction. Dude continues to cook very close to my truck. I ask one last time Please move your BBQ further away from my truck. Again he said, “Move then.” I returned to my truck and did my windows up fired
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up my truck to idle not to be rude, but to drown out the noise beside me. Suddenly he knocked on my door demanding I "shut that thing off", the fumes from my APU exhaust were filling his camper up. Okay my hands are tied. He refuses to move, I need sleep, as I have a full day of LTL loading to do tomorrow. Harry was obviously still in need of a beer. I decided to give talking to him one more shot. Back out I go and politely ask him if he would be tinkering around much longer? He replied..." Listen, why don't you take your truck and go park at a truck stop somewhere?" After I got over my stunned silence I replied, "Sir, I am at a truck stop." He replied, "This is a travel center. You truckers need to stop crowding our travel centers." I was too tired and exhausted to debate the illogical misconceptions of his argument. I moved ahead and parked across the front of the now closed Truck Stop. Determined to gain some shut eye after resolving to rationalize Harrys behaviour as I travel mile after mile down the highway tomorrow. Sometimes, the best thing we can do as a trucker is simply... "move on" *****
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