Pro-Trucker Magazine - August 2014

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August 2014BC Big Rig Weekend Special EditionAlberta Big Rig Weekend • Aug 16-17 • Red Deer, Alberta

AUGUST 2014 www.pro-truckermagazine.com

AUGUST 2014 PAGE 3Join us at Alberta Big Rig Weekend on August 16/17

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VOLUME 16, ISSUE 7

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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On July 1, 2008 the BC provincial government put a carbon tax in place to, as their website states, “…encourage individuals, businesses, industry and others to use less fossil fuel and reduce their greenhouse gas emissions.” It goes on to say, “The initial tax rate was relatively low and has increased gradually to allow families and businesses time to reduce their emissions.”

The BC provincial web site reports that the 2013/14 carbon tax revenue was $1,212 million. To avoid confusion we will translate that number into un-political (I just invented a word)

language and call it what it really is, and that is one billion two hundred and twelve million dollars. ($1,212,000,000.00)

The province proudly proclaims that B.C. continues to be a leader in climate action by having a carbon tax.

Fast forward to July of 2014 – when the BC Government increased speed limits on highways.

“There’s certainly skepticism,” B.C. transportation minister Todd Stone admitted Thursday, a day after increasing limits on 1,300 kilometres of rural highway. “But the facts are the facts. When you have motorists all generally moving at the same rate of speed — as opposed to people moving much faster or much slower than the natural flow of speed — you’re going to have a safer corridor.”

“Certainly, I understand the concerns relating to speed,” Mr. Stone said. ‘‘But I think what we’re seeing around the world and North America as well is a growing recognition of the fact that it’s not so much speed, in and of itself, that causes collisions, but variations in speed.’’

I and many drivers are having great difficulty deciphering the mixed messages that the BC Provincial Government is sending. As everyone knows, cars are seldom issued speeding tickets for going 10 kph over the speed limit on BC’s highways. Considering that some BC highways now have speed limits of 120kph - we will now see many vehicles going 130 kph.

An increase of speed for a truck from 100 kph to 120 kph can increase fuel consumption up to 39%. Since fuel is the largest single overhead that a truck owner faces, very few will want to increase it by an additional 39%. Many company trucks are now governed to a top speed of 100kph.

Trucks are big Mr. Stone. If you have concerns that a differential in speed can be a problem then you should look at the fact that faster trucks will pass slower trucks. This means that you will find trucks taking up 2 lanes while some race-car-wanna-be 4 wheeler is coming up on them at 130kph. In case you haven’t really thought this out I can assure you that the 4 wheeler will not win this battle and people will die.

Taking this to the next level; considering the provincial governments complete reversal on reducing the use of fossil fuel, when can we expect to see a repeal of the carbon tax?



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LETTERS to the EDITOR

John White

Pro-Trucker Magazine

John White

Pro-Trucker Magazine

Morning John,I was Rig of the Month in October 1999. Thought I

would let you know I’m enjoying my retirement, spend-ing my winters in Yuma Arizona. I also drive for the Handi-bus in our small town of Strathmore Alberta, which gets me out of the house. I want to thank you for sending me copies of Pro-Trucker Magazine, it keeps me up to date on what is happening in the industry. Hoping to get to Alberta Big Rig weekend in Red Deer and maybe have a visit with you.Regards, John Sowers

Editor’s note: Good to hear from you John. What a flash from the past - October 1999 was the 5th issue of Pro-Trucker Magazine. It seems like a lifetime away… Glad to hear you are doing well and I hope you can make it to Red Deer. I look forward to seeing you again.

Dear John, On July 5th and 6th I attended the Pro-Trucker Big Rig

event in Chilliwack as a representative of the Trucking Safety Council of British Columbia, AKA SafetyDriven.

Now I might be a little biased, but the SafetyDriven booth was definitely the place to be; ok, ok maybe right after Jaime Davis and his Highway thru Hell Crew and the pristine ‘Big Rigs’ but how do you compete with them?

Talk about impressive … seeing those Big Rigs all polished up and shiny. Their drivers did a fantastic job showcasing their industry.

But even more impressive was the pride shown by all the drivers (male and female) as they showed off their offices-on-wheels to their families and friends. I was par-ticularly touched seeing young children looking up with great love and admiration to their heroes (parents, aunts, uncles, grandparents). It reinforced some of the reasons I became a safety person. It truly is about getting home safe to the ones you love.

So to all you professional drivers: be a SUPER HERO of the road, come home safe, be there as your young ones grow up to become amazing individuals. See them score their first goal, dance across the stage, or do whatever they love to do, because they’ll love it even more if you are there watching with the same pride I saw as they looked up to you at the Big Rig show.

As always, SafetyDriven is there to help you on your journey to safety excellence and becoming a safety hero.

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BC big rig weekend by Teagan TuttI had lots of fun at the truck show! I Polishd LOTS

with daddy and my brothr Tanner. I told daddy if he missed a spot. I got a poster from Jaimie Davis!!!! Andy has a nice truck too. My daddy won 3 trofies!

And I loved when the trucks werr all turning on and driv-ing out of the bilding, they looked realllly cool! My brother and I had so much fun!!!! Oh!! And the LIGHT SHOW was COOL! Thank you for the trofies!From Teagan Tutt 6 years old

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Editor’s note: Thank you for your letter Teagan. Your Dad must have missed a spot because I’m sure I saw you with a signed poster from Jaimie Davis. I hope you come back next year to help your Dad win more trofies.

Hello John,We attended the Armor sponsored diesel meet on

Saturday July 05/14 at the NHRA Medicine Hat AB Drag Strip. My other KW driver Patrick Croteau, Wendy & I drove the Red Baron COE down with Smokin’Gun in tow.

The drag strip was slippery with sparse VHT, how-ever the strong tail wind compensated, and we ran a new record Canadian Big Rig 1/4 mile ET @ 11.57 sec., backed up by 11.66 seconds! Max speed on all three

Saturday passes was 119.78 mph, just short of my 2007 Canadian/U.S. (still current) speed record of 120.7 mph.

Our next NHRDA diesel drag race date is Aug 09/14 at Castrol Raceway in Edmonton. The Super Diesel 11.90 second class, competing against diesel pickups, is the only heads-up diesel class that we fit in any more. And the only NHRDA diesel Canadian race is in Edmonton, with all other races now in the US.

Seems like a long time has passed since Big Rig Diesel Drag Races were also in Mission, BC, & Calgary, Alberta! Exhibitions like Thunder in the Valley in Drayton Valley, AB, and Airshows are still an enjoyable outing for Smokin’Gun and Crew. We will stay around as long as everyone also enjoys diesel power!Smokin’Gord & Crew, Calgary, Alberta



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Editor’s note: Thanks for the update Gord. It has been 14 years since our first Big Rig Weekend in Mission when you brought out the Smokin’ Gun. At that time it was a beautiful project truck that no one would mistake for a race truck. As I remember you met George and Hazel Nielsen owners of the “Class of 65” and Joe Fraser with his “Cornfield Corvette” and watched in awe as they took their big rig race trucks down the strip. I remember you saying to me when you left that year that you would be back next year with more power under the hood. “Go big or go home” were your exact words. Well you did just that and after working with George and Joe, and then Wayne and Pop Talkington, in just 7 years you set the top speed record in both Canada and the U.S and you’re still breaking records today. Congratulations Gord – you’re a man of your word.

Pro Trucker Magazine- Good morning! QuestionWhy is it you only feature a particular race in your

magazine?I enjoyed the one with the two sisters. As I look at

everyone you feature for Rig of the Month they were all fair skinned. You must have been unable to interview a black skin person?

I am just puzzled to see race seem like it’s still an issue if I am wrong I apologize but if not then shame

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Editor’s note: Apology accepted. I too am puzzled, you read one issue (March 2014) of Pro-Trucker Magazine, which just happened to feature two female Caucasian truck drivers, and you jump right up and play the race card? Seriously? If you had read the following issue (April) you would have read about Johnny Singh who is proud to be Indo Canadian and rightly so. I don’t know for sure if he falls into your “fair skinned’ category or not as I do not know exactly how black and white you view the world. There have been many other “non-fair skinned” drivers who were Rig of the Month over the last 15 years that are probably sitting back grinning to

themselves right now wondering how I am going to handle this one.

Since you are obviously a very new reader let me explain how we pick our Rig of the Month drivers. About 25% of them are people we have personally met at Big Rig Weekends or on the road. The remaining 75% are nominated by our read-ers. The two girls you read about were nominated by their uncle. It was a great story that hopefully encouraged other young women to consider becoming drivers.

By the way if you, or any of our readers, would like to nominate a driver to be Rig of the Month please send me their name and phone number. Also send us a little information on them and, in case you are still not sure, we do not place any restrictions on colour, race, or religion. We do however like to feature drivers who are respected by their peers and who take pride in themselves and their profession.

Now for what our readers have been waiting for - let’s talk about you Bettie. For someone who portrays them-selves as being socially conscious and politically correct, using the name “bettieboop” as part of your email address, when your last name is not Boop, is in my opinion very sex-ist and sends the wrong message to young women. That is unless you judge yourself by your physical attributes and not your contribution to society. Something that I always try to keep in mind - before passing judgement on anyone - of any race, colour, or creed. r

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I went past Ominica camp and pulled in and slept at the Messalinka camp. I left there around nine in the morning and 25 kilometers later started the climb up into the moun-tains. From this point on I knew I would have the road all to myself, so I only called my mileage when I knew I was coming to a bad spot on the road.

I climbed up and around the base of Johanson Mountain, through Johanson Pass and then past, yes you guessed it, Johanson Lake. I stopped there to make myself some lunch. At this point I was long past meeting or seeing any signs of civilization this far back in the mountains and I knew I

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was the first of our trucks to be going in this round so all I had to do was dodge the holes and watch out for animals. I loved trucking into the mines. It was a stress free job - at least most of the time.

I was trucking right along enjoying the scenery and the isolation when about 100 kilometers from the mine I went around a sharp left hand corner and I saw a large rock that had fallen into the road. I tried to dodge it but there was not enough time and I hit it with my front right tire. I knew I was in trouble when I heard the air from the tire vacating faster than a defaulting tenant. I got out of the truck to have a look and immediately thought to myself, ‘You’re in big trouble now, buster.’ Not only was the tire flat but the rim was bent and the bead was broken.

I couldn’t single up off the trailer or my drivers because they had Dayton wheels and I was running aluminum Bud wheels on the steering axle. I knew that the next truck would not be coming in for a couple days so the only thing I could do at that point was try to fix the tire myself.

First I dug out my jack and took the tire off. At this point I really had no idea what I was going to do, so I started rum-maging through my jockey box and came up with a foot and a half long tire iron and a ten pound short handled sledge hammer. The bead had been broken so I went work with the tire iron and a big screw driver and after about an hour and a half, I finally got the tire off the rim. At this point I sat down and drank the last cup of coffee from my thermos which really didn’t matter because all the odds pointed to the fact that I might be here for quite a long time.

I checked out the inside of the tire and it looked okay, so I started on the rim. I laid it on the rock that I had hit and beat on it with the big hammer. It was not good enough so I beat on it some more, and some more, and then some more. It finally was looking pretty good so I finished off by fine tuning it with a ball peen hammer. This took me less than an hour, but the tough part was yet to come - putting the tire back on the wheel.

I finally got it on after sweet-talking it with most of the encouraging words that I learned during my stint in the Navy. Unfortunately the old truck didn’t have enough wind in it’s compressor to inflate it and set the bead. Not to worry,

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I thought, I have can of starter fluid in the truck. The old time truckers and loggers will know what I’m talking about here. This system was used a lot on skidder and loader tires when you were out in the bush and only had a small com-pressor that did not get up enough pressure to set the bead in the rim. I had seen it done before but I had never needed to do it myself. The way it works is you shoot some starter fluid into the tire and then light it. The resulting explosion inside blows the tire out and sets the bead. The problem is you never know exactly how much starter fluid is in the tire. Now I know what you must be thinking, and you can be sure that I wasn’t too happy having to use this method either, but it was my only option at this point.

I shot some starter fluid in the tire and then I had to find some matches because, contrary to popular belief, I’m not a complete fool and there was no way I was going to sit on the tire and light it with my lighter. I found some matches and then started out by lighting a match and throwing it at the tire from what I hoped was a safe distance but the matches kept blowing out, so I moved in a little closer. This went on until I was almost sitting on the tire, and almost out of matches. Suddenly it caught and there was this big whump! Which made me jump about three feet in the air, but it worked like a charm and the bead set.

I then proceeded to fill the tire with air and although I had to change my underwear, I did get to the mine that night and I had a great tale to tell. r

Modern TrucksI was talking to an old buddy the other day, he said he

was preparing for possibly the last long road trip he would ever go on. Not so long ago Mick survived a triple heart by-pass, so I think it’s a bit of, enjoy yourself while you’re here syndrome. He’s taking his second wife and her two teenage

tyres across the PoNDColin 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.



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kids on holiday to southern Italy. My buddy Mick lives in Enfield, London, so this is a two day hike in his small fam-ily car. Last year they flew out to Italy, but Mick thought he would show his family a bit more of the countryside than you can see from 30,000 feet.

When Mick was a continental truck driver he did two trips a week to Italy. That was back in the good old, bad old days, when, as long as the truck was loaded, he would keep it rolling. Loading at Fords in Dagenham he got breakfast and some sleep on the boat across to France, once on dry land it was nonstop to Italy. In Fords Italian factory he hit the bunk again as the truck was unloaded and re-loaded at the same time, then it was hammer down for the boat back to the UK.

He’s hoping that with all his experience he can keep his wife and kids interested on the long trip with the points of interest and spectacular scenery he has driven past hundreds of times. Little things like showing them the road where they filmed part of the movie, ‘The Italian Job,’ a road high in the mountains in Switzerland where the Mafia pushed the cars off the road with a bulldozer.

Life on the road was made a whole lot easier for Mick and the rest of us when Volvo and Scania brought trucks into the UK. Mick’s favourite truck was a V8 Scania with 470 power. The sound of one of those V8’s can still stop Mick in his tracks if we were talking in the truck stop where we swapped trailers.

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nology and regulations, but comfort was something of an afterthought in the UK truck builders plans. The foreigners gave us quiet powerful trucks with suspension seats and power steering.

I used to drive a fairly modern truck years ago, an AEC Mandator, where the seat was bolted to the back of the cab. The only seat adjustment you had was forward or back, at the time this was an almost new truck from an old quality manufacturer and as it was a rental truck it also had the luxury of a radio. The radio installation was a wedge shaped metal pod with the radio and one speaker screwed to the top of the engine cover. If you were stopped with the engine off it was nice to listen to the music, but on the move it was completely inaudible.

With a 20 ton payload the AEC would do a highly illegal 70mph plus - that’s if you could keep the pedal pressed down for the whole trip. The spring on the accelerator pedal was fierce, when my right ankle was about to give up the ghost I had to bring my left foot over to keep the speed up. If only cruise control had been invented back then. The steering wheel was the size of a dustbin lid. Apparently the big steer-ing wheel was supposed to be a safety feature if the power steering failed.

A radio, power steering, a normal sized steering wheel, a heater, air-conditioning and a suspension seat that can be adjusted to suit even the most awkwardly shaped driver – these are all things that drivers take for granted today. The

only thing that hasn’t kept up with the truck improvements is the actual driving job itself. A company driver can be pinpointed with the vehicle tracking system and contacted via the cab phone at any time of day or night, so if you have any thoughts of an unauthorised coffee break like in the old days? Forget it.

Even though the work was hard back in the old days, Mick and I and I suspect a whole lot of old drivers would go back in a heartbeat - but only if we could take a modern truck with us!

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If the words Argo, Sangamo, Kienzle or VDO make your stomach churn then you are probably an OTR veteran going back 30, 40 or 50 years and maybe more. Other terms equally detestable might be tach cards, clocks, tachographs and if you drove a B61 Mack or an early W900 with a butterfly hood you can probably remember opening the door of someone’s cab and seeing a square red box and often round time cards lying on the floor under the seat. Other widgets and gewgaws not seen anymore, and perhaps unfamiliar to the youngsters in the biz today, are the compression release cable for early Cummins engines, the throttle cable on the dash one pulled out to set the idle speed (it was the cruise control back then), the wig-wag drop down low air indicator, the box heater under the dash on the passenger side with little doors to let the heat out, the hole in the wall in conventional tractors which one had to crawl through to get into the non-integrated sleeper with its rubber boot, Mercury sleepers, the emergency exit door on the side of the sleeper and the manually activated emergency brake (that seldom worked) before the tractor protection valve (the yellow button on the dash) became stan-dard for parking, two-stick trannies and outboard oil bath air

DrIvINg through my memorIesBy Ed MurdochEd has held a commercial drivers license for 60 years and has spent the better part of 50 years on the road. You can get Ed’s new book atwww.drivingthroughmymemories.ca

cleaners and more. Were those the good old days or what? But then I digress.

The tachograph was originally created for the railroads in Europe by the Germans some time in the 1920’s. They were introduced to the transport industry in the 30’s and today are still mandatory in large trucks in European countries. Since the 90’s, tachograph use in North America has declined due to the advent of paper logs and the ECM (engine command module) which records all the required data for maintenance, regulatory and enforcement programs.

The early tachographs recorded speed, rpms, distance and idle time and the cards had to be replaced every 24 hours. A key inserted in the top of the clock opened the face and it dropped forward to allow one to insert the new disc. The cards could be read by law enforcement officers on the road

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in order to ascertain speed and distance covered which could, and often did, result in the issuance of a summons for speed-ing. These cards were also confiscated and used as evidence in the event of a highway accident or incident.

As time progressed so did the sophistication of these unpopular devices and a 7 day card became available and only had to be replaced once a week. These instruments were not tamperproof and many drivers bent the stylus which scratched a fine line in the wax-coated paper discs that recorded the activity of the vehicle. Others would simply either “forget” to install a card or “forget” to replace a card and the stylus would keep on tracking speed and rpms until the card was unread-able even by the most expert of technicians. Little scratches, bits of grit made reading very difficult at times and a lot of drivers were intentionally careless when writing the date, unit number and their names in the appropriate spaces in the centre of the card.

Digital tachographs then were brought into play to mini-mize the tampering and utilized cards like a credit card with a microchip that was pretty much tamperproof. These were not used widely in the North American commercial environment but are still used in some jurisdictions in Europe.

Instead the authorities on this side of the Atlantic Ocean are forging ahead with their own legal requirements for keep-ing track of modern-day asphalt engineers. The US Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) has issued its mandate for the EOBR (electronic on-board recorder), or the simpler term ELD (electronic logging device), which will likely become mandatory sometime in 2016. Naturally this



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regulation will be mirrored by the Canadian authorities who are already salivating in anticipation. Those companies who are already on-board (pun sort of intended) with the instru-ments find that their drivers rather like using them since the amount of paperwork and diligence necessary to keep track and record activities on a paper log are reduced dramatically.

In Canada where the Hours of Service (HoS) regulations are more or less acceptable by all interested parties the transi-tion might just be a welcome intervention. However, in the United States there is still a lot of grumbling over the 14 hour window and the inflexibility in allowing for split sleeper berth time. Since the new ruling of last July drivers are com-plaining of lost wages and increased fatigue, and these legiti-mate complaints have caught the attention of some members of Congress who are questioning the validity of the research conducted by the FMCSA. The drama continues and there well may be changes in the ground rules before the proverbial excrement comes in contact with the fan blades. Stay tuned.

The other rumour which has a reasonably sound basis in truth is that the US will likely mandate speed limiters as soon as sometime this year. Of course in both these instances there arises the question of who bears the brunt of the cost. And yes, you already know the answer to that one.

One thing is for absolute certain. The commercial trucking environment today bears no resemblance whatsoever in any way shape or form to the cavalier existence of the concrete cowboy that entered the fray in 1951 when I became eligible to drive anything with wheels by virtue of my newly acquired chauffeur’s license, known today as a CDL. r

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Kingsley Trucking Ltd.Creative Thinking

I go through this magazine and others and it strikes me as how creative truck drivers are as a group then I stop and realize why. We spend so much time alone that our brains need something to work on to keep it occupied over all the long hours. Stop for a moment and look at the normal long haul driver and count up the hours they spend alone. They leave home and drive or are driven to the terminal then after a short time they back under a trailer and head out on that 3 day run. Once leaving the terminal they will drive up to 13 hours with nothing but the CB and the stereo to keep them company except for a couple coffee breaks and a lunch break. They pull into some lonely truck stop, fuel up and take a shower and then sit for maybe an hour with people they mostly don’t know then head back out to that old truck. Eight hours in the sleeper and its up and grab a coffee and head out for another 13 hour day. This goes on for three days then they deliver their load, (usually at a

reflectIoNs thru my wINDshIelD

By Dave MadillDave was Pro-Trucker

Magazine’s Rig of the Month in June of 2001

place where no-one cares who you are), and hop back in the truck and go for a reload.

Now I know that some may get right back to home ter-minal after reloading but that is still another 3 days on the road. Many of us will get redirected and may be out for 20 days or more and the driving and sleeping time is all spent alone. When you stop to look at it the normal driver spends 21 hours a day all alone with very little outside contact. Is it any wonder that many of them become writers, poets, songsters to help them keep their minds occupied and help keep them sane. Team drivers are much the same as they spend most time alone as their partner is trying to sleep while they are driving and even our day drivers will spend at least 50% of their day alone.



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Then comes a Truck show and the real nature of our drivers comes out as they mix and mingle with others who also know the feeling of the open road and the far horizon. Sure there may be the occasional bad word but for the most part these gatherings are fun for all even if you figure the wrong guy/gal got the trophy you wanted. We have our party and guess what --- we turn around and go back out on that long and lonesome road while our families wait and pray at home.

Keep up the good work drivers and make sure you thank that partner of yours that waits at home to give you the free-dom of the open road and allows those creative thoughts and writings we all enjoy.

* * * * * The Jury...

A defendant was on trial for murder but there was no body. The lawyer, knowing that his client would be con-victed, said, “Ladies and gentlemen within one minute, the person presumed dead will walk into this courtroom.” He looked toward the courtroom door as did all the jurors. Then the lawyer said, “Actually, I made that up but you all looked so you must have a reasonable doubt in this case so you must a verdict of not guilty.” A few minutes later, the jury returned and pronounced a verdict of guilty. “But why?” asked the lawyer, “I saw all of you look.” The jury foreman replied: “Yes, we did look but your client didn’t.”

Chase and Baking SodaHi guys, We are settling in with most everything brand

new on our old girl the “Grey Goose.” Some of the other drivers ask us when we will replace the old truck but my reply is always, “Why replace the greatest truck in the fleet.” Yeah, it may be an 87 International, with a manual 3406 B model Cat but it gets the same number of loads as the flashy new ones. The best part is we don’t have a truck payment, only repairs that we can conveniently schedule during the better months.

Our regular readers will know about some of the blun-ders that Dennis has made over the years so they won’t be surprised by the Baking Soda story. It started out one Friday night when Dennis decided that he was going to

Lil’ Roadhammerby Dennis Ruttan

In October of 1999 Dennis Ruttan started entertaining our readers with trucking adventures as seen through the eyes of his toy poodle and partner, “Jake the Trucker”. Sadly, in May of 2008 Jake pulled his last trip and Chase, also known as lil Road Hammer, took over for his mentor.

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save Yvonne the trouble and clean his stainless steel ther-mos himself. He knew how she did it but, as usual, in his infinite wisdom, he thought he could do it better. First he whipped up a batch of water and baking soda and put it in his thermos to clean out the gunk that had accumulated over the winter.

After a few hours I suggest it was time to rinse the concoction out of the thermos but he gave me that smug, almost human look of his, and said, “I think we should let it age overnight.” In the morning I again did the Poodle Shuffle by the counter and pointed at the thermos. Dennis remarked that a few more hours would get the thermos. “spic and span.”

He then headed out to the shop - which is really a shop in name only. We greased the truck and Marpole’s trailer, checked all fluid levels, and tightened a few loose things. We then headed to the house for breakfast and the first cof-fee of the day. I again wore myself out trying to get Dennis to dump his thermos and give it a rinse. Same reply as before, just let it soak a little longer – there’s no accounting for this stubborn human.

We headed back out to give the “Goose” a bath and just like her namesake the Goose loves a good soaking. This reminded me of the Thermos but just as quickly I forgot about it.

When Monday morning rolled around and I tried once more to get Dennis to flush the thermos but all he did was

dump it out and immediately refill it with coffee! He also filled his Cup which had not been cleaned.

We headed out got loaded and headed for Duke Point Assembly Wharf in Nanaimo where we unloaded and Dennis, brushing aside my protests, poured a fresh cup from his thermos. After the first sip he grimaced and said, “This tastes like crap.”

“I guess so Sherlock,” I grumbled but despite his decla-ration that it tasted awful he stubbornly drank 2 more cups from his Thermos! Within about 2 miles the Man had stom-ach cramps and what he said were ‘severe pains.’ I pointed at the Thermos and burst out in a howl of laughter. The light finally turned on and Dennis hollered, “Holy Crap, Baking Soda.” No kidding Sherlock.



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We managed to make it through the day after a pit stop

at the Chemainus CO-Op for donuts, water, and a big bottle of Gaviscon. When we got home, Yvonne said that she would leave the driving to him if he would leave the cleaning to her.

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

Idle TIme

Old dogs n shiny puppiesSilently towering on a slab of polished concrete, in the

corner of the Big Rig shown n shine, stood a decades old gun metal grey Hayes. It’s years of hard labour belied by a highly polished exterior. With a quick visual of the VIN plate and some rusty math I marveled at the fifty year old behemoth. This Hayes’ sheer magnitude and rough lines made me think of it more as the warrior of ancient Greece, Achilles, only of the off road variety. Over the course of the two days I attended the show, my attention was drawn to the old dog, with my visits becoming an hourly thing.

Across the way, low to the ground like a stretched out new puppy, laid a pearl white Pete. Just like anything in it’s



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infancy it had a fresh skin, and unlike Achilles across the way, had not yet experienced the rigors of battle to mar its pristine outer shell. Do not be misled by what may appear to be a condescending tone in my writing. This newborn pup was a thing of beauty, the builders and polishers alike, had paid close attention to every detail. The clean lines and white paint made it look as smooth as a freshly poured bowl of milk. It’s interior and engine compartment were touched with state of the art carbon fibre and vinyl dipped accents, making it an eye catching masterpiece.

For a spell I watched as crowds thronged around the Pete, enamoured by the bling and gloss.

With his muscled arms folded across his chest Achilles, the Hayes stood on his own, like an old warrior often does, uncaring for pomp and pageantry.

I think it will be quite interesting to see where both of these amazing beasts will be in another fifty years.

My monies on the warrior.* * * * *

I just received my tax return for 2013 back from Revenue Canada and it puzzles me!!!

They are questioning how many dependents I claimed. Under the line: “List all dependents” I wrote: 1 million crack heads; 7.3 million unemployed people, 100,000 people in prisons; 105 Senators and 308 Members of Parliament. Evidently, this was NOT an acceptable answer. I keep asking myself, who did I miss?



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

PerspectiveTo him it is another trip, one more load to haulTo her it’s several lonely nights, waiting for his call.To him it is a thing of steel that keeps him safe and warmTo her it is a rival that holds him in her arms.To him it is a place to work, that keeps his family fedTo her it is a mistress that lures him to her bed.You look at life so differently because of where you stand,But the future lies before you, and you must face it hand-in-hand.Both must learn a different look; see through each other’s eyes,Communication is the bridge that reaches side to side.For love, it is a river, that gets stronger as it rides;But we must have the bridges to get from side to side.

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Pro-Trucker Magazine - August 2014

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Transcript of Pro-Trucker Magazine - August 2014