Winter was settling in and I was almost dead. My wife was spending our money faster than I could make it. Our second child, my daughter Christina, was born while I was on the road. I was on a treadmill that I couldn’t get off of. And my new faith was being sorely tested. I just wanted off the ride.
The RV company was out of my hands by then, I had to keep the wheels turning to keep above water and Richard seemed to have taken over anyways. My arms were both numb by then and I thought I was losing my mind. It wasn’t good.
Marshall still expected me to be superman, never stopping except for loading, fueling and to grab a gut bomb once in a while. I was a zombie. My wife just kept saying we didn’t have enough money, and I just couldn’t go any further. I was done physically and in my mind, and it was only a matter of time before I crashed, literally.
There used to be a little lumber mill in Edson Alberta that I actually enjoyed going to load at. The Hinton Stud Mill. They were a great bunch of guys. They would help a driver load, tie down and tarp, which in that business was unheard of anywhere else. But, they were bought out and shut down, replaced by a giant monster lumber and pulp mill, Hyatha. They were the exact opposite. Total corporate monster where everyone hated their job, and truckers in particular.
It was a wet winter morning in Vancouver when I delivered my load. I was forced to untarp and roll the tarps up in a huge puddle, so they were soaking wet. I was dispatched to the new Hyatha mill so away I went. The farther north I went, the colder it got. By the time I got to Hinton it was -25C at around midnight. And the wind was howling through there.
At every single lumber mill I’d ever been to, the forklift driver would take your frozen tarps and set them inside a drier kiln to thaw them out while he loaded the truck. So, I had my frozen tarps untied and ready for him to do just that. But no, they weren’t allowed to do that at Hyatha. (Insert cuss word here) Are you freaking kidding me? They’re blocks of ice with a tarp in there somewhere. Four of them! My arms were numb. I was cold and angry. There was no way I was going to load and tarp like this. So I went up to the shipping office to see what the deal was.
“Nope, we don’t do that here”, the shipper said with a sh*t eating grin and his feet on his desk. “Are you kidding me? Everyone thaws our tarps everywhere else!” “Nope, not here. Are you saying you can’t do the job?” God bless you wasn’t what I wanted to say.
Marshall was always willing to answer the phone, any time day or night, if we had a problem, so I asked if I could use his phone. “Sure, whatever, but we’re not thawing your tarps”. It was 1 am when Marshalls wife answered the phone. “Is Marshall there?”, I asked. “No, he’s out on a run, what’s your problem Jon?” I explained the situation and she said, “We’ve worked hard to get that contract and if you screw this up, you’re fired! As a matter of fact, I’m sick and tired of your whining and complaining, I’m going to tell Marshall that we’re done with you. Good night!” I stood there, stunned.
I told the shipper that he was an asshole, but I’d load and tarp it anyway.
One thing about truckers, we’re all dealing with the same crap all the time. And, since none of us were going to get our tarps thawed, we were all pretty pissed off about it. It took a lot longer than usual, but with the help of the other drivers who were there, I got my load tied down and tarped. I was completely exhausted when I got out of there at around 4 am. I drove a few miles down the road, found a wide spot to pull over, and went to sleep without setting my alarm. Finally, it was over.
The next morning, after I’d slept for 10 hours, I got up and headed back to Chilliwack, knowing that this was my last run for my Christian brother and his wife, ever.