My wife Donna has a knack for recognizing trucks on the road and as we drive along she’ll point out the different rigs that have been out to the Big Rig Show and Shines. She came home the other day and said; “I saw Jason MacInnis’ truck today” She went on to say, “Every time I see him parked, he’s out polishing his truck.”

I’ve talked to a few other guys and they just laugh and shake their heads. The common consensus is that he has a strange medical condition that affects his equilibrium. According to his friends, in order for him to keep his balance while outside the truck, he has to have a polishing rag in his hand.   

When I went out to take pictures of Jason’s truck I couldn’t have picked a worse day. It was sunny. Why was this bad? When you take a picture of Jason’s truck it’s extremely difficult to find an angle where the sun isn’t glaring back at the camera.

Jason was born in Caledonia, Nova Scotia which is located south of the Annapolis Valley. Jason’s Dad is a member of the RCMP and in 1986 he was getting ready to transfer to Ontario when plans changed and he was told that the only place open was Vancouver B.C. So they packed up and headed West.

This is Jason’s story.

“I’m not sure why it was but growing up I always knew that I wanted to do something with trucks.  I used to sit on my Grandma’s front porch in Nova Scotia and watch them go by. The shiny highway trucks always interested me the most.  I thought it was exciting, the whole idea of traveling all over and sleeping on the road.

“When I was ten years old I used to ride shotgun for my Uncle. He drove a tandem-axle fuel truck for Irving Oil, delivering all along the southern shore of Nova Scotia.

“In 1991 I was working in the warehouse for Purolator in Richmond BC. After I’d been there a while the opportunity came up for me to drive a Ford 9000 five ton between the Richmond and Burnaby locations and I really enjoyed it.

“At this time I had a 78 Camaro that I raced out at Mission and after blowing a couple engines I became friends with Scott Olfn the owner of Dun-Rite performance in Richmond. I was getting tired of Purolator so when Scott offered me a job rebuilding engines I jumped at the chance.

“I worked there for a year until just before my 20th birthday when I decided to get my Class 1 licence. I had enjoyed working at Purolator and building car engines was great experience but my childhood dream of becoming a driver had never died. I knew it was time to make it come true so I signed up for the course through North Shore Driving School and took my final test in a Western Star.

“I soon found out that it wasn’t easy getting a job without experience and I ended up back working for a local company driving another 5-ton. Then the day finally came when they were short a driver and the dispatcher said this is your chance. They drove me over to pick up a rental truck and then, with with no real training other than taking me out with a bare container chassis just to see if I could make it back to the yard, they cut me loose.

I was green as grass and while practicing in the yard an old timer walked up and pushed my door closed. I had been looking out the open door to see where I was going when backing up. He just pointed at the mirror and said, “Mirrors are there for a reason.” Then he walked away shaking his head. I’ve been driving truck & trailer ever since.

“I started out pulling cans to the dock, then they had me delivering groceries to small stores and food warehouses. This was trial by fire, there’s no experience like learning how to drive while delivering groceries in the back alleys of Vancouver with a truck and trailer.

“After a while I felt I had enough experience to move onto bigger and better things - I was going to run the highway! Just like the truckers I had watched from Grandma’s front porch. I had the opportunity to take a load to L.A. so off I went. Now I was truckin’….

“It didn’t take long for the shine to wear off that idea. The training I received from the company before I left was as basic as you could get. They gave me $100 US spending money, pointed at the border and said go that way. I’d never crossed the border before and was scared stiff. It started when I pulled into a U.S. scale. The scale master whipped open my door and ordered me out. He asked for my ID and totally checked me out. Apparently I didn’t look old enough to be driving a rig and even with all my identification it was not an easy task to convince him otherwise.

When I finally got that straightened out and got into L.A. they were going to lay me over for a few days. I told them to find me a load or I was coming home on the first northbound Greyhound. That was my first and last trip to L.A.

“My next job was with Butterworth where I started out driving a 1989 T600 pulling a flat deck, running Seattle/Tacoma. I was hauling scrap cars, steel, building materials and ships gear.  I soon moved up to a 1993 Freightliner cab-over that had a 435 60-series Detroit which was a lot more horsepower than anything I had driven up until that time.

“I started getting the odd trip hauling Super-B to the interior. I didn’t have any experience on Super-B’s and as luck would have it my first trip was into the Headley Nickel mine and I missed the turn off. I only had to back up about 1/8th of a mile but it seemed like I had to go 8 miles pushing a rope up hill.

“I had a close call on the 97 connector while taking one of my first trips in the mountains. I was pulling a Super B to Kelowna with a full load of steel and I didn’t have the appreciation or experience for the hill and the weight I was hauling. I came over the top with the Jake holding me back and I was getting impatient thinking that I would never make it to the bottom. My brakes started smoking pretty good when an H&R truck that must have been empty, saw the smoke and wheeled around me. He told me to stuff the brakes and drop a gear which I did and with his help managed to make it down safely.  

“After driving the Seattle/Tacoma Super-B/Interior run for two years I took a town position hauling bulk nails on a china-top.  I was driving a 1990 Volvo and I was crossing the border up to four times a day going to Ferndale, Washington.”

I Knew What I Wanted

“For the longest time I had hoped one day to work for Protrux. I saw their equipment at the old Sauder plant in Richmond and made a few inquiries but the boss always told me I needed more experience. After four years at Butterworth, I applied again. Craig Jones, a friend who worked there, put in a good word for me and I got the job.  My first day at Protrux was April 13, 1998 - Friday the 13th. I started working in town pulling Super-B’s of lumber to the docks and later I made runs into the Okanogan hauling all different types of materials. The first truck I drove for them was a 1994 Peterbilt.

“I polished that Pete until February 1999 when  Protrux purchased 3 new T800 Kenworths, one of which was mine. It had a N14 Cummins 500, 46 rear ends with 432 gears and 18 speed and it was the first new truck I had ever driven. In spring of 2000 the boss purchased new quad-axle curtain-sides, and my job once again was making the Seattle/Tacoma run. Now instead of working late into the evening I was joining the rest of the impatient truckers at the boarder at 3:00 in the morning. This turned out to be great training for when I bought my own truck. Once I got the first couple of trips under my belt and met the customers, I really started to enjoy my run down South.

“On January 7th, 2001, I was in Stanwood Washington on a 2 lane road and was making a right hand turn into a mill. There was no traffic coming either way and in the middle of the turn when the back trailer crossed the centre line, I saw an out of control minivan. She hit me in the passenger side drive tires and the impact pushed the front drive axle out the drivers side four inches and pushed the frame rail forward enough to bend the bumper. I jumped out to see if the driver was okay and I found a lady in the driver’s seat holding a small child. I went to the passenger side and opened the sliding door and found another child. It turned out neither child was wearing a seatbelt and had both hit the windshield. The one child in the backseat climbed into my arms and I carried him into the mill office. I returned to the van and the second child, a little girl, climbed out to me. By this time the staff at the mill was helping me out and an ambulance was on the way. Luckily the mother and kids had just minor injuries and I got away with three bruised ribs. The state patrol said that the woman’s skid marks were an unbelievable 135feet long in a 35MPH zone.

“Later that same month I met my wife Karen. She was working for a broker at the border and it was love at first sight, I knew right then and there that I was going to do everything in my power to marry that American girl.

“In March of 2001, the owner of Protrux told me that because of the increased work load it was going to be necessary to double shift the company trucks. This created a real problem for me because I have a son, Travis, from a previous marriage and working evenings just wasn’t an option for me. There aren’t many daycares open in the evenings and the owner of Protrux had already done more than enough to accommodate my schedule so I decided it was time to buy my own truck.

“In April, I met Grant Bourdon, a salesman at Peterbilt. He was very helpful and since I had dreamed of owning my own truck for a long time, I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted. That still didn’t stop me from spending many hours agonizing over the spec sheets. My truck is a 2002 Pete with a 550 Cat engine, 18speed transmission and super-40 rear ends.

“I continued driving the company truck until my unit arrived in October of 2001. My first run was to Spokane Washington and I’m glad it was a long trip because it took me that long to get used to the length of the hood. My territory now would include BC, Washington and Oregon State.

“In March of 2002, Karen and I were married. She has always been my biggest supporter, encouraging me from day one and reassuring me that we could make it owning our own truck. My parents, Duncan and Sandra MacInnis have always been supportive of my career choice and they too were especially encouraging when I decided to buy a truck. Then on November 4, 2003 we added another member to our family with the birth of our daughter, Madison Jean. Its easy to see that this little girl is going to give us a run for our money.

“Over the last few years I have attended the Big Rig Weekends in Mission and I have to say that it has been a great experience putting names to faces of truckers I see every day and faces to the names I’ve heard on the radio. I’ve made a lot of new friends there swapping stories and it’s great just being able to relax and have fun. Man, can those mud-buggy drivers party!

“Currently I’m running the I-5 throughout Washington and Northern Oregon. I’m away early in the morning but it means that I can be home in the evenings with my wife and kids. I’m lucky to be living out my life’s dream of being a truck driver but first and foremost I enjoy being home at night with my family.

“One thing I’ve learned is everyday you get something from this job, whether its new friends or knowledge. One good friend I have made is Terry Miller, Pro-Trucker’s July 2000 Rig of the Month. He was very supportive in helping me with some of the decisions I had to make when buying my own truck. Starting with whether I had what it took to make it as an owner/operator. He listened, gave me good advice and has been a good influence on me.  He even let me join his Saturday morning breakfast club!

“I met Terry when he needed some polishing done on his truck. At that time I had a business polishing wheels and tanks on the weekends. I did that for about three years and it was the main reason that I was able to put money away to buy a truck. There are a few more things that I want to buy so I’m bringing the buffing wheel and extension cord out of retirement again and I already have a couple trucks lined up.”

Some Guys are a Disgrace to the Industry

“In December of 2004, I was in the southbound line at the Pac Hwy border crossing. There were only a handful of trucks in line and as usual I made a point of leaving lot of room between me and the next truck. There were two lanes open when I noticed the truck in front of me rolling backwards, I hit the horns and backed up but another truck had pulled up behind me leaving me nowhere to go! He rolled back about 30 feet before he finally braked, but it was too late as he hit the front passenger side of my truck.

“I was steaming but things happen and we all make mistakes. We exchanged information and the other driver seemed pretty sorry and admitted that it was his fault. Another truck driver witnessed what had happened so it seemed like it was all pretty straight forward. My lights were smashed meaning I couldn’t drive the truck so I had to drop the trailer. I called ICBC at 5:30 am and they said that they didn’t have any openings that morning. Then they realized that my insurance included loss of use coverage and suddenly an 8:30 am appointment became available.

“While waiting for my appointment I called the owners of the trailer thinking that they might care about what happened. Wrong! What, no damage to my trailer? Bye! I called the trucking company next to ensure that the driver was going to report the accident to ICBC ASAP so I could get my truck fixed and I got the same reaction. Five days later when he finally reported the accident this “driver’s” story had changed completely and he said that I had rear ended him and the witness was my friend.

The only thing that seemed to jog his memory was when ICBC informed him that since it happened at the border it would be recorded through the security cameras. They then told him that if they had to subpoena the video tapes and it showed he was lying, they would not hesitate to charge him with fraud. 

“For the most part, ICBC was ok to deal with but I’d definitely recommend having loss of use coverage because it sure seemed to speed things up for me. I got a rental truck, compensation for the lost revenue and my truck was in at Reflections Paint & Body in Port Kells by 10:00 am on the morning of the accident. The next morning it was ready for paint. Between waiting for the parts and paint booth time, I had my truck back in 4 business days. I’m not easy to please when it comes to the bodywork and paint on my truck but Armand and Ken at Reflections did a great job and they turned it around in record time.

Pride in Your Ride

“I get razzed a bit by the guys for always polishing my truck but I do it for myself because it makes me feel good. Some people drive because they love the open road but it was the shiny trucks that got my attention when I was a kid and it’s the old “Pride in Your Ride” that makes me want to get up and go to work in the morning. If I ever lose that pride and quit polishing my truck, I’ll know the good rides over and it’s time to retire.