pro-trucker magazine - july 2014

BC Big Rig Weekend • July 5-6 • Chilliwack, BCAlberta Big Rig Weekend • Aug 16-17 • Red Deer, Alberta

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JULY 2014 www.pro-truckermagazine.com

JULY 2014 PAGE 3Join us this year at Big Rig Weekends - BC July 5/6 and Alberta August 16/17

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VOLUME 16, ISSUE 6

PUBLISHER/EDITORJohn White [email protected]

PRODUCTION/CIRCULATIONTori Proudley [email protected]

ADMIN/SPECIAL EVENTS Donna White [email protected]

ADVERTISING/MARKETING John White [email protected] Tori Proudley [email protected]

CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Dave Madill • Mel McConaghy

Ben Proudley • Scott Casey Frank Cox • Ed Murdoch

Colin Black • Dennis Ruttan

PHOTOGRAPHY Hank Suderman • David Benjatschek

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Published eleven times a year by Pro-Trucker Magazine Inc.,

The contents of this publication may not be reproduced by any means, in whole or in part, without prior written consent of the publisher. The advertiser agrees to protect the publisher against legal action based upon libelous or inaccurate statements; the unauthorized use of materials or photographs; and/or any other errors or omissions in connection with advertisements placed in Pro-Trucker Magazine. The publisher can and will refuse any advertising which in his opinion is misleading or in poor taste. The publisher does not endorse or make claim or guarantee the validity or accuracy of any advertisement herein contained. All materials submitted for publication are subject to editing at the publisher’s discretion. The act of mailing or e-mailing material shall be considered an expressed warranty by the contributor that the material is original and in no way an infringement on the rights of others. Pro-Trucker Magazine is written and pro-duced in Surrey, B.C., and printed by Coastal Web Press Inc., Langley, B.C.

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John White

The real purpose of the Big Rig Weekends is often mis-understood by people who have never attended one. Yes we do have the largest big rig show and shines in Western Canada but that is only part of the event. If you want to com-pete and win a trophy that is great but if that is the only rea-son you want to be there then you are selling yourself short.

Big Rig Weekends are a family weekend event. Where people in the industry get together with old friends and have the opportunity to make new ones. Often drivers get to meet

other drivers that they have only seen when passing on the road. Or they may have the opportunity to get reacquainted with drivers they worked with in the past. You will find old timers continuing unfinished conversations from last year about which is the better engine, (Arguing with a truck driver by the way, has been compared to mud wrestling with a pig - after a while you realize that the pig actually enjoys it.) or they will tell each other the same old lies and jokes they’ve told a million times before. Often you will see a truck pull in with mom and dad up front and little faces excitedly peeking out of the sleeper.

Not everyone has a pimped out ride. Many of the drivers who have been coming to Big Rig Weekends every year have no intention, or expectation, of ever winning a trophy. They wash their truck, polish their chrome and join the show. This year we even have a ‘display’ category for those who want to bring their trucks but not compete. Showers are available so many of the drivers sleep in their trucks.

The judging of the show and shine itself is a daunting task. Often the scores of 3 or 4 trucks will be within a point or two of each other. When that happens the judges go back out and decide who will get the coveted 1st and 2nd place trophies. By the way, this is the only time that the judges know who the winners are because in all other cases they only see their own score cards.

The most important part of any show and shine is the independence of the judges. Shows have died because of the judges so any hint of favouritism is avoided at all costs. That is why we do not use judges from dealerships, paint and body shops, parts suppliers, or any other commercial part of the industry where a judge may have a professional relationship with one of the drivers.

That does not mean everyone will agree with their decisions but it is safe to say that you will never make everyone happy in any competition. There are always those who will see things differently. Beauty is in the eye of the behold-er. That being said the vast majority of the competitors leave each year with big smiles and new ideas and changes in mind for the following year.

There are games and prizes for the kids and the Saturday night best lights competition is like Chrismas in July. Many times the bands that play at Big Rig Weekends is the first “concert” that kids attend. So come join the fun.



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LETTERS to the EDITOR

John White

Pro-Trucker Magazine

John White

Pro-Trucker Magazine

Letters to the editor are occasionally edited for length, language and objectionable content.

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Hi John, My name is Rebecca. I had something I wanted to share

with you. In the February issue of Pro-Trucker Magazine, Dave

Madill wrote a poem called, “I Held His Hand”. This poem really hit home for me and here is why. My dad, Dave, has been a trucker for my whole life. Back in 2005, he worked for a company called Prudhomme Trucking. He had a co-worker named Peter Mills, who unfortunately passed away due to a trucking accident just north of Merritt on November 20th, 2005. The poem Dave Madill wrote in the February magazine, was a dead ringer for the situation that happened to Peter on that fateful day in November. Upon reading Dave’s poem, I could not help but a shed a tear in honour of Peter Mills. Please read the below story so that you can see why this poem has affected my dad and myself as well..

November 20, 2005Kevin Harris, a Kamloops, B.C., trucker who fought off

flames and defied danger so that he could provide comfort to a dying fellow driver he had met only 10 minutes ear-lier, is the recipient of this year’s Bridgestone Firestone Canadian Truck Hero Award.

Mr. Harris, a driver for Valley Roadways Ltd., was trav-eling along Highway 5A between Merritt and Kamloops last August, trailing Peter Mills, a Lamont, Alta., trucker with whom he had shared coffee at a truck stop only moments before. Mr. Mills’ truck suddenly veered out of control and rolled into a ditch, crushing the cab and pin-ning Mr. Mills’ arms and legs.

Rushing from his truck, Mr. Harris climbed into the crushed cab and valiantly attempted to rescue the gravely injured driver. While rescue efforts were futile, Mr. Harris remained at Mr. Mills’ side, putting a pillow behind his neck, wiping his face, holding his hand and trying to make him as comfortable as possible in the dire circumstances.

With fires igniting around him from dripping diesel fuel that threatened to engulf the entire truck at any moment, Mr. Harris used fire extinguishers from the two trucks to quell the fires, enabling him to stay with Mr. Mills. He was able to remain until Mr. Mills drew his last breath, at which point Mr. Harris left the cab, just before it was engulfed in flames.

“I thank God every day that man was there with him,”



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said Mr. Mills’ wife, Katrina. “I’m so happy that he was there, and that Pete wasn’t there by himself.”

Mr. Mills’ father David told The Canadian Press fol-lowing the accident: “To risk that truck going up in flames anytime, and he (Mr. Harris) stayed there. He really deserves some kind of commendation for this.”

I do hope you will share this e-mail with Dave Madill, and thank him on my behalf for writing such a lovely poem to remind us all of the wonderful man who is no longer with us.

Sincerely, Rebecca Palen

Editor’s note: Dave’s down to earth, heartfelt poetry, has touched many people through the years. At different times I have received email from people all across Canada and the U.S. who have asked if they can reprint one of his poems in their newsletters, or just to thank him for writing about something that has brought back meaningful memories for them.

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to the trailer so that I can still use it until the parts come in to fix it right. It’s sometimes hard to find good people to work on a specialty trailer but these guys do a great job. Thank-you guys.Ben Proudley, Hertz Equipment Rental

John,Hi. I’m wondering how I can put my husband’s name in

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Editor’s note: I often receive emails from a driver’s spouse enquiring how their significant other can be featured as the Rig of The Month. I received this email a couple months back and, thinking she used a smart

phone that changed the spelling, I replied by asking, “Did you send this from your Smartphone? Does it have auto correct? Did you read it before sending? Or is your husband’s name Rover?

I did not receive an answer to my email so I would ven-ture to say that somewhere along the line this driver lost a whole bunch of brownie points all at one time…

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By Ben ProudleyBen has been a Class 1 driver for 15 years. He started out driving wreckers and currently heavy hauls for Hertz Equipment Rentals. Ben was our Rig of the Month in March of 2008

From the Drivers seat

A while back, I ran into a fellow driver who has a few years on me and we got to talking heavy haul and then things changed gears. He asked me why I do not write about what the real problem is with the industry. I tried to dance around the question, trying to figure out exactly what he was getting at and then he gave it to me with both barrels. After listening to what he thought was wrong with our industry, I realized he might be right. So here it is.

The biggest problem with our industry is us - all of us! We are often too quick to blame everyone else - it is always them - never us. Everyone has their own opinion about how we got here but the one thing that we all agree on is that we want to see change for the better. So where do we start? We start with ourselves.

We are all guilty at one time or another of trying to cut rates to get a load. Guilty of taking a cheap load and saying we will make up for it with the next one. When a Winnipeg driver accepts a cheap backhaul from Vancouver just so he can get home, he is in fact telling the shippers they can get



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a cheap rate going east - if they hold out - and the Vancouver based driver does the same for west bound freight when he accepts a cheap backhaul.

The driver I was speaking to admitted being guilty of working for less money than he should but he says others charge that amount so how is he supposed to get work? This may sound overly simplistic but if change is going to come, we have to make it happen. We have to charge what we are worth and then provide efficient and professional service for the money we charge. Many owner operators are already doing just that and they are doing very well. They only work off the good load boards – not the ones that have 3rd and 4th hand loads where each broker has already taken a cut leaving little for the driver who actually does the work. If

no one uses them, this type of load board will either have to give fair rates or shut down.

But we all have to be a part of the change we want to see in this industry. If we have to stay overnight to get a decent load quite often we will make more than enough to make up for it. But if we set the standard, we must live up to it. You do not have to have the newest truck, but it should be clean and well looked after. In the heavy haul industry I know of contractors who will not allow certain companies on to their sites due to poor equipment or poorly trained staff. These companies may charge less but many of the good companies already know that you get what you pay for.

To bring back the pride this industry used to have we have to take pride in being a driver. Instead of telling our kids to find a better job we have to return to being the proud knights of the road that we once were.

Help each other when you can and don’t be so fast to pass judgment. We are all in this together. Respect the guy who has worked hard and likes that pimped out ride. But also respect the guy who runs a clean solid working truck that is also mechanically sound and always on time. They both do the job they were intended to do. Remember we all started somewhere to get where we are. We had dreams and we had pride – it will take everyone to go back to those days.

This is all just my opinion, if you have a different one, then write it down and send it to me. Communication is the key. r



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On Saturday we made a trip to our neighbours tire shop because we could feel a strange bump when we were going between 70-80 Kmh. Upon taking a good look at our drive tires we spotted a bit of a separation starting. Spinning the defective tire on the balancer, it was easy to see the lump. We had a spare that was a perfect match so I convinced ‘The Man’ to swap the tires out. Hopefully on Monday we will find that we have lost our kick in the backside… If not my little black butt will be grass.

Dean, The Man’s oldest son, also gave us 4 tires to run out. I looked them over and thought a bolt hole in one tire needed a section and not a huge patch. The boys agreed and we have sent it out for a section repair. At least that way we will know it is running true. This is a real neces-sity as my little 4 pound body just rattles off the co-pilot seat when things aren’t running as smooth as they should.

Anyone who has ever been in The Man’s truck will understand why I hate landing on the floor. He always makes sure it is safe and in top mechanical shape but his

By Dennis RuttanDennis Ruttan, tells stories of

life on the road as seen through the eyes of his toy poodle and partner.

LiL’roaDhammer

housekeeping leaves a lot to be desired. Later we took a quick spin into Duncan. We pulled

up to the traffic light to make a right turn into town just as the light turned red. As we waited a panhandler with a small dog came to my window and asked for money.

The Man’s Dad, or Grandpa Toke as we called him, had given me some advice a while back about dealing with panhandlers. He said to offer to buy them a meal rather than giving them cash. He said that, “99 percent of them will not accept the offer.” When I offered a meal rather than cash it seemed to strike the man and his dog speechless and just like Grandpa Toke said, they turned it down.

I asked Dennis why this was and he started in with



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his usual rambling bluster which I have learned at times means that he doesn’t have a clue. He did say however that a lot of them don’t want the money to buy food - they want it for alcohol or drugs. I thought about this for a moment and then suggested that we offer them a home cooked meal and a bath in exchange for work.

The Man thought this was a good idea so he offered to take them both home for a meal and bath in exchange for them greasing and washing the truck. Of course this offer was also turned down immediately.

Don’t get me wrong, I feel sorry for those that have fallen on hard times but the Man and Yvonne have drilled into us that work will get you most of the things in life that are worth having.

I remember when Thai, Dennis and Yvonne’s grand-son, moved into what we call the Sugar Shack. The Sugar Shack was Dennis’ old shop that he turned into a guest house. Of course it was rent free but Thai was told that he had a place to stay for as long as needed - as long as he got a job. He got the point and works at M&M Meats in town.

As Dennis and Yvonne always said, “If you work and show people that you are willing to try you will get ahead in life.”

We dogs all work at guarding the house and being cute and, since we know who the real boss is, the cute part goes a long way around this place. Dennis on the other hand is a little short on cute so he works extra hard…

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

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ing, cloudless sky and the farmers were loving it also as the combines were harvesting in every field we went by. Stopped for a coffee break at Lloyd and then wound up the spring and we were trucking along at a good pace right as the sun started getting pretty low in the west.

Lou and I were chatting back and forth on the CB and he mentioned that even with me one hundred yards behind him I was lost in the sun glare in his mirror so we both perked up a little bit keeping an eye on oncom-ing traffic. Still we were making great time and moving right along when all of a sudden an older Chevy pickup, (1959 Chevy Apache), came barreling down a side road and never even slowing down for the highway STOP sign tried to cross right in front of Lou. I saw the front bumper of the pickup cross the center line at the same time as I saw Lou try to swerve right as he hit the brakes. I was also on the binders as hard as I could when Lou hit the pickup and after that all I could see for a few seconds was a big cloud of dust and smoke and the rear of Lou’s trailer. I was almost stopped when I saw the front half of the pickup spinning around on the road and sliding into the ditch on the other side of the road. I hollered at Lou and he called back that he was OK as he brought his rig to a stop but he figured he had probably just killed someone.

I came to a halt just before the accident scene, threw my four ways and overhead rotators on, piled out and



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ran to the cab of the pickup truck. The box of the truck was missing and the frame, (what was left of it), was bent at about a ninety degree angle but aside from no glass anywhere the cab was untouched. There was an older gentleman sitting behind the wheel and he was holding on to the steering wheel with white knuckled determination. His face was almost white under his farmers tan and he was not moving at all. I reached inside and touched his shoulder and asked, “Are you all right,” He never moved. I shook his shoulder and asked again, “Buddy, are you OK!” Slowly and jerkily his head turned and his eyes were about twice normal sized, then his mouth opened and all he could say was, “Ah,-----ah,----ah.” I yanked the door open which miraculously still worked, and then started checking him over. Aside from pockmarks from glass slivers and the fact that he was in shock I could not find anything wrong with him.

By this time Lou had joined me and slowly we got the older gentleman out of the cab and sat him down by the side of the road then flagged down a couple cars and sent for the police and ambulance. By the time the RCMP got there the old fellow was talking and he stated that he looked both ways and couldn’t see anything on the highway so he never even hit the brakes. Seems he had lost two loaded semis in the sun glare and did not even know we were there until Lou hit him. The ambu-lance soon arrived and they took him away to the hospi-



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tal for examination while the RCMP, Lou, and I walked up to check out Lou’s truck.

Lou was running a 74 Conventional Hayes Clipper but he had a bumper on it made of drill stem. The only thing wrong with his truck was the headlights were broken, the left signal light was cracked, there was a lot of paint missing on the bumper and just a few scratches on the grill. We changed the headlights right there and, before the tow truck had even arrived to tow the pickup, we were both on our way. I checked with the Constable the next day and he told me that the farmer was fine but he needed a new truck and was charged with failing to stop at a stop sign. Guess all’s well that ends well, but that is the only time I have ever seen a pickup truck cut in half at sixty miles an hour.

* * * * *Husband’s text message...

Honey, a car has hit me near my office. Paula brought me to the hospital. They have been doing tests and x-rays.

The blow to my head was very hard. Fortunately they do not think it caused any serious injury but I have three broken ribs, a compound fracture in my left leg and it looks like I have lost a kidney and they may have to amputate my right foot.

Wife’s response: Who the #$%& is Paula?



By: John White

Rig of the Month

Photos By stePhanie Martin of s Martin PhotograPhy.

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Jme Andrew from Kelowna BC is our July Rig of the Month driver. This is her story:

I moved around a lot when I was young but I call

Campbell River my home as that is where I went to High School and that is where the majority of my family still lives. When I was a little girl I was always one to appre-



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ciate wheels. Match box cars, monster trucks, chasing the garbage truck down the street... I remember the first time I saw my uncle David in his big truck. I was in awe. It was an old cab-over and he told me stories about places he’d been to around North America that I too wanted to see - not just hear about. I can remember thinking way back when I was in kindergarten that someday I was going to play with wheels that big, just as soon as I was old enough to learn to drive.

Fast cars and motorcycles quickly followed childhood but there was something else that kept the big trucks from me and me from them. That something was the fact that I was also one of those crazy horse girls that every-one knew when growing up. After a post-secondary edu-cation in equine lameness and remedy, countless clinics, and years of instruction, a career with horses developed from that passion.

I worked hard learning everything I could and thought at the time that I had found my place and would make horses my permanent career and lifestyle. That is until that fateful day when I was asked to haul an excessively large trailer behind my already large truck. I was doing just fine until a nice Ontario DOT officer pulled me over and informed me that I needed a bigger license to haul that big of a load. So off to truck driving school I went. First in 2000 for my class three and then shortly after that I went back and got my class one.

Yup, despite several years spent taking courses about horses then training at top equestrian facilities and con-tracting for veterinary care and assistance - I became a truck driver.

I didn’t go too far though as one of my first jobs was hauling horses for Olympic gold medal winner Tom Gayford and then later I hauled for many different show jumping stables in the east.

But I was home sick for BC so I headed back to the mountains where I soon found that working with horses wasn’t as lucrative a business in the west as it was in the east. That is when I decided to turn to driving a truck full time.

JMe and Myra



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I soon realized that up until then I had been missing out on my early childhood dream of being a truck driver. This excitement dissipated though when I found that the company I had hired on with to try out my new license was less than reputable. They gave me an antiquated FLD that was missing a couple gears but miraculously still managed to pass safety inspections. (I still haven’t figured that one out) The other drivers called it, ‘The Death Truck’ for it’s unfortunate past. It turned out that a young driver had fallen asleep at the wheel on the Crowsnest Pass and lost his life. The owner fixed the truck up, put it back on the road, and stuck yet another young driver in it - me.

I was always under the threat from the boss of him having someone else replace me so I stuck it out day after day with bad loads, and no sleep until it got to the point where I seriously questioned if trucking was all it was cracked up to be. Eventually I learned that this was not a normal trucking company and definitely not a normal driving job.

Running with friends can sometimes lend to some trouble. Not the type where professionalism is thrown out the window or courtesies are forgotten. The kind of trouble when we get complacent with our traveling com-pany and fail to see situations arise should we be a little more mistrusting and cautious of the drivers around us.

One such incident comes to mind when four of us,



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affectionately referred to as the Brat Pack, were traveling west toward the beach through Kamloops BC. We had gotten past the last of the traffic lights and were blissful-ly climbing the hill toward the scale. I was in the granny lane with a Western star to my left. We were of different weights and horse powers (I was missing those gears as well) so it was no surprise I was going to be overtaken. One of our pack in a Kenworth had decided to come up in the third curb lane that developed as he was hauling air and was not to be put behind us laden down slow pokes. He followed the four wheeler passing me and quickly was looking through his window at me smiling and wav-ing. But alas, this is where mistakes are made and our stupidity shone through our fun. We had not realized our location climbing that hill and were all under the impres-sion that third lane was the one continuing to climb that big hill. We were so wrong. That lane very quickly ended and all of us, at the same time, seeing the oncoming bridge with only two lanes quickly slammed brakes and jakes. Our positions and predicament didn’t change. We crossed that skinny two lane bridge three abreast sharing every inch of asphalt with the Kenworth and Western Star rubbing no posts. How we managed not to smash our mirrors together or to send poor Kenworth over the edge remains a mystery to this day. We laugh about it looking back but all three of us pulled into that scale, nervously appreciating the fact that we were all still alive, had a

hug, then carried on our journey. We have lost one of our pack to the highway, but the memories of running together remain as does the friendships made during those first few years on the road.

As luck would have it all those years spent getting my horse education came in handy. I moved onto an Alberta ranch where I could entertain both my passions without the risk of napping on the road – in the middle of a run.

I hauled everything on the ranch like water trucks, on icy roads and the tanks did not have baffles or compart-ments inside. That was exciting. I would stop the truck and then slide with each slosh of the water in the tank. I also drove super b’s loaded with hay, over size machin-ery, and of course a lot of livestock in cattle liners. (In



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Cattle liners don’t load in cities so I was lucky enough to get to see country that most people only see in those great old western movies - life was grand. Unfortunately the ranch eventually downsized and I reluctantly left.

I soon found a great position with a company out of Okotokes. My rig was a very shiny and very new 2002, 379 Pete with a big Cat and big gears that kept me roll-ing with a smile. I must admit that I did not always stay within the limits. I should have but when challenged by a burly man on a semi-deserted Kansas interstate, one had a tendency to let the ponies under that hood out of the barn. I’ve since grown out of competing and now enjoy taking my sweet time out on the roads.

Touring the country side in ugly trucks, fancy trucks, and one very pretty show truck was a lot of fun and the money was great too. There weren’t a lot of lady drivers back then and it was fun getting the amazed looks from older veteran drivers seeing a young twenty-something girl climbing out of her Pete. Even fifteen years later I still get people looking at me like I have three eyeballs just because some aren’t used to seeing a woman in a truck.

I thought I had the world by the steering wheel back then. I would travel during the week and then play with

my horses on the weekends. How could life get any better? Even breaking down was fun because I got to play tourist while waiting for repairs. I blew a turbo in Montana that allowed me to stay with some very nice people and go fishing with them while my truck was repaired. An ECM thirty miles from Disney World didn’t hurt my feelings either. My best memories are of always finding that sweet old man in the corner of some old cafe and asking about the history of whatever town I happen to be in. Learning about how the western states and Canada were settled and who the different towns were named after has always interested me. Everyone has stories that are awesome to hear when not being told by super-trucker types.

Running with friends across the mountains was always a blast, and then there was that unforgettable trip to Mississauga from Calgary. I was fast asleep in the bunk when I was woken up by the horrible grinding sound of metal on metal. I crawled out of the bunk to find us at a truck stop in Portage La Prairie where my co-pilot had relocated the painted posts protecting the fuel island while simultaneously breaking several trailer ribs. After carefully extricating our truck and limiting further damage as much as possible, I drove all the way to Mississauga myself.

But not all trips were like that. I remember the first time I went up to the Yukon and saw the dancing lights



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in the sky. It was back in 2004 and I was hauling refriger-ated goods in a 53 foot reefer van. I delivered perishables to a distribution point where the freight was stored until the ice roads were finished. The freight then hauled into the diamond mines. It was early in the winter and the weather was not too bad - only 5 below during the day and dropping to about 20 below at night. The road was 2 lanes wide for the most part with one and a half lanes in spots just to keep you on your toes. The northern lights were an amazing sight as we dodged moose and caribou through that beautiful barren country.

I did learn one brutal lesson about driving up north, and that is that you shouldn’t grease your 5th wheel in the cold weather unless you want your truck trailer to freeze into a straight truck configuration.

That brings to mind another important lesson I have learned through the years - it is wise to take the side boards off your trailer after you have delivered your load of cattle - or you just might get blown off the road by a crosswind...

On another trip I hauled promotional displays and equipment to the Detroit International Car Show and, since I had to stay there for 3 days before hauling it back, they gave me a VIP pass to the show. It was great. I got to go in early to see all the concept cars and even got my picture taken in a new Porsche Cayenne – it was the first year they came out.

Another time I blew a clutch outside of Brooklyn so I went to a basketball game in Madison Square Gardens. I hate basketball but at least I can now say that I saw a game in the Gardens.

I took a load into Deals Gap Resort in North Carolina one time. To get there you have to travel a road called ‘The Dragon.’ It’s a good name. It is a motorcycle resort and ‘The Dragon’ is 11 miles long with 390, foot peg scraping, curves in it. When pulling a trailer you have to use the whole road on the corners so trucks have to have an escort both ways.

Those are all memories of things I had hoped to do as a driver, and I will always cherish them, but nobody ever told me about the bad days. I don’t mean the days when the wiper blade breaks, or a receiver was rude, or the traffic was brutal. I’m speaking about the days when we, as drivers, witness and attend what is usually someone else’s worst day. Seeing a child killed in an accident by their drunk parent. Smelling the flesh and clothing burn-ing off an accident victim while trying to pull them out. And then there have been ones we cannot save. For me it was an accident at Wood Lake one winter day. A jeep had gone over into the water and despite several of us trying to pull the driver out, the outcome was not in our favor. There is no way for a person to prepare for some-thing like that. There is no place for us as drivers to talk with someone about our rough day. Nobody to answer the call at three in the morning when a nightmare wakes



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us. For myself I have mostly been able to separate cause and effect for the carnage I have seen on the highways. Problem is some of us drivers have seen much more than what our hearts and minds are equipped to handle. I feel there should be systems in place for drivers to access when stress and mental health are at risk of becoming a distraction from safe driving. I live and drive with the baggage that day left me with but now I drive a little slower and a whole lot more paranoid at what could be waiting for me around the next corner.

These days I’m quietly puttering along around the mountains of BC. Turning wheels to support my family. To pass the time away from home I chat to other driv-ers, giggle at their crazy stories, crack jokes for them to giggle at as well. (Even the biggest, burliest man will laugh like a toddler on a radio). I still get to see some of the prettiest country on this earth while in my “office” and I don’t believe that seeing the sun crest on the hori-zon over the Coquihalla will ever get old.

I am now settled in with Tridem Services out of Kelowna, a company that treats me well. They have excellent office staff and a really wonderful group of guys running the roads. They even gave me the pretty truck of the fleet with the big shack. Everyone else pulls super b’s and since I don’t - I got the pretty one. They pay me well and there is nothing brutal about the job. A lot of times in a company the drivers will get along and



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the office will get along but they don’t always get along with each other. This company is totally different – everyone gets along great and help is only a call away.

Many of the drivers took the time to show me how to fling a twenty pound, frozen/wet strap, twelve plus feet in the air, and be expected to do so with accurate aim, using only my girly muscles. I struggled with it day after day until one old time driver, after watching me, came over and told me to stop throwing like a man and start throwing like a girl. I started doing that and it has worked fine ever since.

My company truck is a 379 with a big Cummins in her. It’s a little older and has some quirks but has been reliable. The guys joke that my red headed engine is as temperamental as the red headed driver piloting it. I don’t mind though. Just ensures my place in their com-pany brotherhood is cemented.

All my customers are great too which is unusual in a way. Normally you will get one or two shippers that are ornery and seem to think it is part of the job to ruin a drivers day but so far I have not run into any of those in this job.

I couldn’t possibly recount all the epic good adven-tures trucking has allowed me over the years, but some of the very best have been with my beautiful six year old daughter Myra, and several very special girls that have become part of my family through mentoring and



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coaching. Katelyn, Emily, Kayla, and most recently, Domi have all had their turn in the semi. Learning to crank landing legs, hook trailers, And for two of them, how to shift an eighteen speed while driving around the pasture. Empowering my girls to be strong women in the future is easily accomplished when their role model wears spurs on her horses and dresses in her semi. They make me so proud to be in their lives.

I’m thankful for the adventures driving has allowed me to experience. Over a decade of people and places I can bring home to my children through stories and photos. I now live in Kelowna and I bring my girls on the road when the weather is safe and share the beauty that BC has to offer. Despite all those bad days, I still enjoy being out here.

Editor’s note: What Jme does not freely talk about is that when she came across the car that had gone over the embankment into Wood Lake she went into the water, in the middle of December, in an attempt to pull the driver out. Unfortunately she was not successful and this has haunted her ever since. She felt so bad at not being able to get the driver out that she did not feel she could face the driver’s relatives and therefore did not attend the ceremony where she was awarded the bronze medal for bravery by the Royal Canadian Humane Association.



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I recently read an article in a large Vancouver newspaper written by a local trucker about distracted driving and big rigs. In his article he states he has no CB, no VHF, and no onboard computer. He went on to say that he doesn’t even have a Honky Tonk (am/fm) in his cab because it is too much of a distraction for him. Continuing, he comments that there should be no distractions when operating a trac-tor trailer; “the responsibility is so high,” for most of us that is the complete extreme of distraction removal and could be construed as having concentration issues. If that is the case, good for him for recognizing that, however, I do not think it is plausible to suggest that everyone adopt his style of focus management. He did say, hypocritically, that he uses his cell phone for very short work only calls while driving.

I may have a better solution for the world’s problems, Old school truckin. Let’s go back to the day when auxil-iary transmissions came not through the airways, but in pairs located under the cab of your truck. That’s right,

By Scott CaseyScott, 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

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THANKSFOR YOURSUPPORT

HEADING INTO OUR SECOND DECADE OF BEING “SERIOUS ABOUT SERVICE.”

Britco Rentals and SalesBritco has the largest rental fleet of new and used buildings for delivery and installation anywhere in British Columbia.

britco.com1.800.527.4826

• Containers

• Field offices

• First aid buildings

• Kiosks

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driver. You should be distracted by feeling the gears, it will give you an idea if there is issues developing in your gearbox. In very much the same way holding the steering wheel lets you feel tire issues like cupping from low infla-tion pressure.

If we are to stay connected to our trade of actually driv-ing, we need to focus more on finding balance between the metal transmissions broadcasting their growling messages to us and the plastic ones that give us communication with the outside world.

* * * * *

Psychiatrist and the Proctologist Best friends graduating from medical school at the same

time decided that, in spite of two different specialties, they would open a practice together to share office space.

Dr. Smith was the psychiatrist and Dr. Jones was the proctologist. They put up a sign reading: Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones: Hysterias and Posteriors. The town council was livid and insisted they change it. They tried: Schizoids and Hemorrhoids. This was also turned down, so they tried: Manic Depressives and Anal Retentives. Thumbs down again. Then came Minds and Behinds - still no good. Nuts and Butts - unacceptable! So they tried Freaks and Cheeks - still no good. Loons and Moons - forget it. Almost at their wit’s end, the docs finally came up with: Dr. Smith and Dr. Jones - Specializing in Odds and Ends.



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

Dave Madill

Soft JobWe are working seven days a week, about fifty weeks a year,They tell us it’s a soft job, all you do is sit and steer.We deliver all the wood and steel, the groceries and beer…Yet still it is a soft job, all we do is sit and steer.Ain’t been home in six weeks; ate in ninety different dives,Yet they tell us it’s a soft job, all we do is sit and drive.The new truck cost a hundred grand, and it will last about four years.Still they say we have a soft job, all we do is sit and steer.We are the ones that have to work, so the economy can thrive.Oh, but we have a soft job, all we do is sit and drive.Perhaps we should all take a rest; for four days, maybe five,Maybe then they would appreciate all those that sit and drive.

“First in Service”

“Not just a Slogan it’s our Promise to You!”

604-823-2116 • Fax 604-823-40406257 Sumas Prairie Road • Chilliwack



Call Us 800 331 7353 / 604 668 5300Find cardlock locations at Chevron.ca

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Chevron_ProTrucker_Mar2013.indd 1 3/18/2013 11:43:10 AM



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