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By John White
Our April 2008 Rig of the Month driver is Julie Townson who
lives in Victoria B.C. This is her story:
I was born in Brampton Ontario and my parents bought the
Woodlands Motel in Cooksville when I was 5 years old. It was a
regular stop for truckers because of the large parking lot in the
back and although I don’t remember any of the drivers I do remember
the row of parked trucks. I also remember waking up one morning to
find that one of them had rolled down the driveway and taken out
our front porch. I’d have to say that was my first experience with
trucks.
We moved to the Nanaimo when I was 10 and a few years later to
Victoria which is where I now call home.
I was about 15 years old when I had my very first ride in a
truck. It was an orange Kenworth gravel truck owned by Dennis
Bowcott Jr. I never did drive that truck and Dennis would only give
me a ride if I let his dog Willie sit on my lap. Willie, named
after Willie Nelson, was a rather large German Shepherd.
I was always fascinated by trucks and as soon as I finished
school I went to Camosun College to get my air brake ticket. Just
after I got my air brakes I met Bill Eely who was driving a gravel
truck and doing some work for my parents. I had my Class 3 learners
and he offered to teach me to drive but before I got the chance, he
took a job driving a sawdust truck for Mander Trucking in Port
Alice. I was working as a cashier at the time so I decided to go up
and see what the job was all about.
They were putting a new chipper in the mill and needed trucks to
haul wood chips while the new machine was being installed. I rode
with Bill and another driver, Ron Kirk, every chance I got until
finally they let me jump behind the wheel. I picked up shifting
right away, learned some basic maintenance and how to change tires.
The very first truck I drove was a 1976 International 52 unit
sawdust truck with a 335 Cummins and a 13 speed road ranger
transmission.
They were actively logging this area at the time and we had to
share the road with off highway logging trucks. I learnt very
quickly that loaded trucks, especially those monster trucks, have
the right away.
As we approached the stock pile we had to come up a steep grade
and then merge onto the main road. The problem was the off highway
loggers were coming down a very steep hill and you couldn’t see
them coming until the last few feet. We obviously didn’t want to
stop at the top of that hill unless we really had to so it got
pretty hairy at times.
I was fascinated by the huge loads the off highway trucks
carried and I loved watching them unload. I decided at that point
that I wanted to drive one.
At first, we were just stock piling the chips and preparing for
the installation and I was still not officially working. That
changed when they shut the mill down to put the new chipper in. The
trucks worked 12 hours a day 7 days a week feeding the mill, with
only the odd day off here and there. Terry Saunders the owner of
Mander trucking was having a hard time finding drivers but after a
little convincing from Bill and Ron, he gave me a chance. It was
great! I was only 18 and I worked from 3:00 am till 3:00 pm 7 days
a week for 8 months (of course I never left the mill). I will never
forget that first job and will always be grateful to Bill and Ron
for showing me the ropes and getting me started. I think I was
pretty lucky because I doubt I would have gotten away with that
these days…
When that job ended I came back to Victoria and got my Class 3
license.
After that my friend Dennis had some part-time work and gave me
a job. I drove a baby blue International he called the Baby Binder.
He teased me for a long time about driving the “Girl’s” truck and
now that I think about it I have to laugh because I have to wonder
why he had that truck in the first place and if it was a “Girls”
truck, who drove it before me? I was quite shy back then but Dennis
helped me get over that.
Around this time my daughter Marie came into the world and I
took a bit of time off. When she was a couple months old my parents
opened up the James Bay Tea Room and I starting working for them
part-time. That’s when I got to know a couple of regulars Brian
Foster and Richard Taylor. After telling them about my driving
experience they asked if I was interested in driving a front end
loading garbage truck. I jumped at the chance. Every Saturday for a
couple months I rode as a swamper until I knew everything I needed
to know and then I quit working for my parents and got my first job
driving a front end truck.
A couple months later I heard that Cypress Disposal was looking
for a roll off driver. This was a great opportunity for a change
since I was getting tired of having to wrestle the heavy bins out
of enclosures. One of the Cypress drivers showed me what it was all
about and I got the job.
I was at Cypress when I had a scary experience. I was in the
driver’s seat winching in a 20 yard garden waste bin when I noticed
that the pin I attached the bull hook to looked like it was
starting to bend. I stopped the winch and for some reason looked
ahead just as the pin broke. It shot back at the truck, came
through the back window and hit my dash, covering me with glass.
Apparently someone had filled the bottom of the bin with rocks and
concrete greatly overloading it.
It was difficult sometimes to get respect as a woman driver back
then but I was lucky that the guys I worked with were great and
supported me all the way. There have only been two guys that I can
remember that were not very accepting of me but I never let them
stop me. I do remember when I was learning to drive roll off, the
guy who was teaching me jumped out and wouldn’t ride in the
passenger seat because he was scared of women drivers! I have
always laughed about that and I did have a bit of fun with it. My
biggest fear back then was letting the guys see me fail. I always
felt that I had to work twice as hard so I could prove myself and I
never wanted to let anyone down.
Driving a roll off truck was one of my favorite jobs but being
the junior driver I ended up with all the less than desirable jobs.
I got all the worst loads, the lousy locations and the heaviest
bins. I use to cringe some days when I looked at my call sheet but
now I’m thankful as I think those challenges have made me a better
driver today. Thanks guys!
It was when I was driving the roll off truck that I met a few
other woman truckers some of who are my closest friends today. The
first time I saw Brenda Richardson she was running a backhoe and
working for Chew Excavating. I also met Nancy Underhill who was and
still is driving a gravel truck for Don Mann, Gay Lane who was
driving a high boy for Leader Mercantile and Caroline Thom who
drove her own gravel truck.
One day, about 22 years ago, Brenda called and said she was
trying to get all the woman truckers together and asked if I would
like to join in. There were very few woman drivers in Victoria at
that time and she thought it would be fun. This turned out be the
beginning of a tradition and the start of a great friendship. We
have had these meetings sporadically over the years but Brenda,
Nancy, Gay and I still get together on a regular basis. It really
is fun meeting the new girls in the business and sharing all our
stories. Some of the meetings have been quite the party! I’m sure
they will all remember the Irish restaurant on Johnson Street but
I’ll save that story for another time.
I liked driving the roll off but that job changed for me when
Laidlaw came to town. They bought up a couple of local companies
one of which was Cypress Disposal. Up to that point I had been
accepted really well but this would end up being my first, and
hopefully last, bad experience. They made me feel that they didn’t
want a woman working there so after a couple months of agony I
finally gave up. The only regret I have is that I didn’t fight back
hard enough.
I took a job working at the landfill driving the roll off truck
on site and although this was better hours for my daughter the pay
wasn’t great and I got bored after about a year. Plus, I really
wanted to get my class 1 and start pulling a trailer.
They had a gravel truck with a tri-axle trailer available so I
got my Class 1 learners and then practiced backing back up. I then
rented a tractor trailer, passed my road test with flying colours
and got a job with MacNutt Trucking.
I drove a sawdust truck with a tri-axle trailer and although I
didn’t have much trailer experience, that changed pretty fast. I
figured it all out quite quickly after my first trip to the
Chemainus Mill. I had to back up quite a distance around piles of
lumber, around a couple of sharp corners and under a conveyor - all
with a whole lot of guys watching. Since those trailers aren’t
always the easiest to figure out, it took me about 35 min. After
doing that a couple of trips (and trying really hard not to notice
the audience waiting for me to screw up) I soon figured it out. I
got used to people watching and just learned to tune them out. I
guess they hadn’t seen too many women truck drivers before.
I really enjoyed this job because I always worked on my own.
After a while I got to drive a Kenworth tractor with a push out
sawdust trailer on the Sooke run. It was this job that gave me some
really good experience driving in some less than desirable places.
It seemed the customer always wanted the load dumped somewhere we
shouldn’t be going but I did my best to get it there even though I
had to get pulled out a few times.
I took a couple years off when my son Spencer was born but when
he was almost two years old I went back to work driving a roll off
truck at BFI.
After I had been there for a while they asked me if I wanted to
dispatch. I thought it would be a good opportunity to learn some
new skills and since it was really difficult getting a good sitter
for early mornings I decided to take the offer. The hours for a
garbage truck driver are very early and the days are long (not
unlike many other driving jobs). When they moved the business and
opened up a recycling depot I became the Recycling Plant manager.
While I really enjoyed this job and all the challenges that I
faced, I really missed driving and still hoped I would get to drive
a logging truck one day.
Everything changed in 1999 when BFI was sold and I married my
husband Fred. He was offered a good job in Campbell River so we
decided to make the move. I wanted to drive again and was just
starting to look when I received a call from Dennis Bowcott. He
heard I had moved up there and asked if I wanted to drive one of
his trucks on a job in Royston. That was perfect so I headed down
to Victoria to pick up his 1996 Peterbilt gravel truck and was back
in the driver’s seat again.
That was only a temporary job so when it ended I went to work
for a guy who owned a couple of logging trucks. He originally hired
me to drive his end dump but since there wasn’t much gravel work
around he asked if I wanted to drive one of his logging trucks. I
was so excited I didn’t get an ounce of sleep that night. I arrived
the next day and found out I would be driving a 1972 Hayes owned by
Lyle McBride of Priority Contracting. I saw the truck and I just
couldn’t believe my eyes. It was awesome! I jumped in the passenger
seat and took a ride. I was given a quick run down of safety
procedures of loading the truck and a few good pointers about
driving on the narrow roads and watching my tires in the rear view
mirrors etc, and that was it! I proceeded to make my first run and
the feeling was fantastic! I was driving a logging truck and I
loved it! I would have to say this was my most memorable driving
experience ever. The excitement of driving that loaded truck
through the bush for the very first time is hard to describe.
Throwing the cable over the loads, hauling boom sticks and seeing
air under the back wheels going around tight corners, getting
pulled up a very steep grade with a load of logs, my heart skipping
a beat, I loved it all! I can’t even begin to tell you how exciting
it was and it was the same feeling every time I got in it.
At first Lyle was concerned about letting me drive the truck
because I would have to change my own tires. He didn’t want the
truck to be down long enough to get the tire shop out but I assured
him that I could handle it. Fortunately I only had to change tires
a couple times. The biggest challenge for me was throwing the cable
over the load. After getting it stuck on the top a few times and
having the loader operator jumping out to try to show me how, (he
made it look so easy) I came up with my own solution and in the end
I could get it strapped quicker than some of the guys that had been
doing it for years.
Like most of the jobs I’ve had, the guys were great, just a
little quiet until they got to know me and figured out I was
capable of doing the job. As soon as they realized that, they
treated me just like one of the guys and that’s all I could have
asked for.
In 2001 when that job ended we decided to move back to Victoria.
I started working for G & E Equipment and have been there ever
since. That was 6 ½ years ago and I plan to be here for many more.
I drive a gravel truck and pup and the job changes all the time. I
work all over Greater Victoria and lower Vancouver Island and I
also do many trips to the gulf Islands and even some of the really
small Islands via barge.
I have the opportunity to run various kinds of equipment and I
work with really great people. They have a great sense of humor and
a particular few never miss a chance to make me smile (you know who
you are). I love my job at G&E and couldn’t ask for a better
bunch of guys to work with.
Brian Pitcher, has been especially good to work with as has all
the office staff and in 2005 company owner Gord Martman surprised
me with a brand new Western Star. It has a 450 Mercedes, 18 speed
transmission, and a brand new Nahanni pup complete with flames by
“Abbie”. That’s the truck I’m driving today. It’s a beautiful truck
and I love it when people give me compliments. I love it most when
it’s just been washed, I have my pup on and I get a “Road Trip”
that does not include driving in mud.
I love driving and I have often been asked if I would I do
anything different if I could do it all over. My first reaction is
always a quick no, but when I think about it I have to admit that I
wish I had driven the logging truck more.
About 3 years ago my husband and I started a new venture,
Crossroads Driving School Ltd. Fred who has been a truck driver all
his life, is running the day to day operations of the school and I
just do work behind the scenes. I’m not sure if I will ever be an
instructor, I will have to think about that more. Right now I’m
happy still being in the driver’s seat.
For any woman out there thinking about truck driving for a
career, I say “Go for it!” It’s a great job and I’m sure that if
you asked any of my women trucker friends they would say the same
thing.
I would like to say thank you to my good friend Brenda for being
as crazy about trucks as I am and for being so quick to come over
and help polish my truck when I told her about this story.
I would also like to thank Dennis Bowcott for always believing
in me and my family for helping me in those earlier years when the
hours were long and dinners were late. Nancy and Gay and all the
other woman truckers for loving their job as much as I do and being
happy to come to our meetings and share their experiences.
I would also like to thank all of the great guys I have worked
with over the years that supported me and never doubted me for a
minute.
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