If you read my last article about learning how to drive, you will relate to how I started. You may think that some of what you are about to read is a little far-fetched. I’m here to tell you that it is all true. I’m always a little reluctant to use names, but in this case, I will, as I am proud of these two people and grateful for their confidence in me and their help.

In the early Spring of 1958, I lived in Campbell River on Vancouver Island. The people I boarded with also owned an Auto Court. One day a guy came in with a big gravel truck and rented a cabin – he was to be there for about three weeks, so I got to know him. His name was Martin Lagemaat (Dutchie), and he drove for J.S. Brock Trucking Ltd. out of Alberni (now Port Alberni). I remarked that the truck was pretty big, and he replied that it was the biggest gravel truck in B.C. It was an H.D. Hayes and had a 14 ¼ yard box, and it weighed 34,000 lbs. empty. It could only haul about 4 yards to be legal on the highway, so it was an off-road truck. Martin said his boss had only one truck before, but he had ordered two Hayes trucks – the other one was to be delivered shortly, and his boss, Jerry Brock, would drive it. The truck numbers were #5 and #6, as those were his call-out seniority positions with MacMillan & Bloedel. When they needed trucks to build logging roads, many people thought he had four trucks – not so.

I was on shiftwork, and some of my days were free, so I asked Dutchie if I could go with him, and he said sure. I was 20, and Dutchie was about three years older than me. The passenger seat was just a metal toolbox with an upholstered lid. The first thing I noticed was the truck had two gear shift levers, and there were two plaques on the dashboard showing the position of each gear. One had five gears and reverse, and the other had four gears. Naturally, I thought I would know, by watching, which gear he was in – but forget it, this guy was slick at shifting both at the same time. After two days with him, he knew I was taking a real interest in the truck, so he asked me if I wanted to have a go at it. The first thing he showed me was how to shift the gears the proper way – one at a time, not the show-off way!!

There I was behind the steering wheel of the biggest gravel truck in B.C. I still remember that first load. I stopped at the top of a small hill, turned around, and backed down about 100 yards. I got to the bottom and then had to do a 90-degree turn to cross a one-lane bridge. Actually, it was a 4-foot steel culvert covered with gravel and about 15 feet wide in total. With some instructions from Dutchie, I made it to the other side and dumped the load. I drove for about an hour that day. Then a couple of days later, another hour. Total driving time was about 5 hours when the project ended, and Dutchie returned to Port Alberni.

A little later that Spring, I had time off, and I went to Port Alberni on the pretense of visiting Dutchie, but in reality, I wanted to drive that big red truck again. So I had phoned ahead, and everything was good to go. His boss Jerry had picked up the second Hayes, and both were working building logging roads for MacMillan & Bloedel.

I was introduced to Jerry when he came to pick us up in the morning. One of the first things that came to mind was I thought he was quite young (about 30) to be owning these two big trucks. We drove about 15 miles to where the trucks were parked. However, they were working at two different locations. Being at the first location, Jerry got out of the pick-up and said for me to come with him. I said I would rather go with Dutchie. That way, I could drive the big red truck. He replied that if I had time in the afternoon, I could go and visit Dutchie. Well, we got to the truck, and he asked me if I knew which side of the hood to lift to check the oil, and I said, “yes,” as I had seen Dutchie do it. Well, you’d better do it and check the water, then you can get in and start it – which I did. Then he looked up at me and said, “Don’t move it until the engine oil temperature needle starts to move – if you get into any trouble, I’ll be making coffee for the loader operator,” and then he walked away. Still to this day, I can close my eyes and see that long red hood in front of me and the radiator cap away out there.