Our March 2009 Rig of the Month driver is Chris Trounce of Abbotsford, BC. This is his story... I was born in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1972. My Dad was in the Navy and my Mom was a stay at home mom. When I was two my Dad left the Navy and we moved to White Rock, B. C. On the ride across Canada my Mom says that whenever we passed a big truck I would yell out my two year old interpretation of “truck”. Apparently, I couldn’t pronounce the letter “t” at the time and hadn’t quite got the hang of the “r” either… Mom said that was when she new I would grow up to be a truck driver.

I have two brothers, Steve and Paul, and one sister, Michelle. When I was fourteen years old my parents split up and we lived in Kelowna, BC with my Dad for a few years then we moved to Surrey B.C. I now live in Abbotsford, BC.

Unlike a lot of drivers, I’m the first one in my family to become a trucker. As a kid, when my friends came over to play, they would pick the fastest cars and I’d always pick the big rigs and pretend I had a trucking company.

One day at school we were asked what we wanted to do for a living, when I said I wanted to be a truck driver, everyone laughed. Looking back I wonder how many other students were successful in their proclaimed career choice.

One teacher had a friend who owned Moznic Trucking and asked if I would like to spend a week riding with a driver. I jumped at the chance and it was the highlight of my young life. I was having so much fun one day loading and unloading that the driver said, “Slow down boy, it’s not like you’re getting paid for this.” But that didn’t matter to me - in my eyes I was trucking.

All week long that driver kept saying, “Don’t do it man, get a better job.” But what young kid, who already knows it all, is going to listen to an old man anyway? I have to admit that, on occasion, when I’m stuck in traffic, I think maybe he did know what he was talking about.

After that I went back to my job cooking at Big B Burgers but I drove my boss crazy every time we got a delivery. While everyone was unloading the truck, I’d be up front checking it out.

I didn’t have enough money to get my Class 1 so I went to work for Dell Hamilton, a customer from the restaurant, he owned a scrap business where he bought and sold machinery. I was just a labourer but he would let me drive his 1980 International around the yard. I ground more than my share of gears at first until I rode with the driver a few times to learn how it was done.

When I was nineteen I moved to Aldergrove with my girlfriend and her parents. That’s where I met Ira, a truck driver. We would meet for coffee every morning after he got off work and he would tell me about his night of trucking.

One day he asked if I wanted a job driving a five ton truck and I jumped at the chance. But first I needed my air ticket so I took the course. The first person I told was my step dad, Wally Cielien. He always said I could never be a truck driver because I was too short. It was his way of making me go for it.

When I called Ira, he said I had to wait a few days for the job to open up. Days went by and he kept telling me it was coming. I finally I realized he was all talk so I started to look for other work.

A guy living across the street had a 1985 Ford Louisville five ton crane truck and whenever I saw him working on it I’d go over and help him. One day I asked if he would train me and he said yes. He was the first person to really teach me about trucking. I had to be ready anytime from three to five o’clock in the morning but no matter what time he said to get up, I was always there, by his truck, waiting for him.

With no money coming in I took a job at MSA Ford in Abbotsford while trying to get some trucking experience. Then my ex-girlfriend told me she was going to have a baby. Right then I knew I had to get something going and make more money.

My friend John Benson introduced me to his neighbour who had two trucks on with Diamond Delivery. I didn’t have experience so I told him I would work for two weeks for nothing just to show him I could do it. He said I could start driving the following week.

The problem was I only had my Class 5 with air and I needed my Class 3 so I called all the DMV’s around. I finally got an appointment but not until the day before I was to start driving. This really put the pressure on and although I made a couple of dumb mistakes, I passed.

I went to work for Bob the next day driving his 1963 GMC flat deck on juice brakes. It had a five speed with a split rear end and a rear tag axle. After the two weeks was up he knew I didn’t have any other options so he made me agree to pay for half the fuel and half the repairs. I knew other company drivers didn’t have to do this but it was the only way I was going to get experience so I stayed with him until my son Zavier was born.

Now I had two people to provide for so I made an appointment for an interview with Ian Cox who owned Stave Falls Water Company, in Mission, B.C. We hit it off and I was hired to drive his single axle International water tanker delivering water to people on wells around Mission.

Then Ian bought a tandem axle 1975 Freightliner cab-over day cab which we used to pump out the left over sludge from the tanks at Labatt’s in New Westminster.

I worked for Ian on and off for ten years but since it was seasonal work I got a second job with Middleton Trucking. I was doing okay but I was still driving straight trucks and I wanted to drive tractor so I went ahead and got my Class 1.

There I was once more looking for work with no experience. One day a friend told me about a lady who had trucks on with DCT Chambers so I called her. She said she was looking for a driver for her nightly run to Bellingham Washington and asked if I had any experience. Desperate to be given a chance, I said yes. 

She told me I could ride with her night driver to be trained but it would have to be on my own time. I still had income from my day job so I agreed. For the next week I worked from 7am to 5pm at Middleton then rushed home, grabbed a couple hours sleep, and trained from 8pm till 3am.

After a few days it was my turn to drive and when I first got behind the wheel, the truck and trailer seemed huge. Lucky for me everything fell into place and I drove it like I had been doing it for years. When the boss phoned to see how I was doing the driver said I was doing fine. Little did he know that was my first time pulling a trailer.

So I quit Middleton trucking and started hauling chips from Chilliwack to Bellingham. It was my first night job and at first it was hard to stay awake but I got used to it.

One night the swing driver told me the truck was a little overweight but not to worry, it would be okay. Being new I took her at her word. Unfortunately the DOT wasn’t quite as comfortable with it as she was. That $800US ticket was a real good lesson for me.

I still didn’t know what I wanted to do in trucking but at least I was gaining experience and by the time I left there it wasn’t too hard finding another job.

I got a job running super b and I soon found out they are even bigger and harder to back up. Once again I told the owner that I had experience and I got the job. That was also my first taste of tarping and I soon realized that I still hadn’t found my dream job.

I decided to try the highway next so I got a job with Pannu Bros. and I really enjoyed it. The highway is a great life for someone who wants to see the country and I wouldn’t trade that experience for the world.

My next job was at Moznic Trucking, the same company that I rode with while in school. I drove an older Pete and got lots and lots of miles. I’d go out for a week then back one day and gone again the next day. This was great for awhile but I was always away and I really missed my son who was two years old by then. I was starting to get a little frustrated thinking I would never find that perfect job.

I went to work for H&R Transport out of Calgary and it was quite a difference. They had just bought all new trucks with on board satellite communication, which I thought was pretty cool. I was still on the highway but I was guaranteed to be home every second weekend. That was a lot better, I was making good money spending more time with my son.

I don’t think you ever quit learning when you drive truck. On one return trip from Calgary I went through a real bad snow storm that almost turned into a white out. As I came around a corner I saw an overpass up ahead and looked in my mirror to check my trailer but it wasn’t there! I looked to the inside and there it was trying to pass me!

You can’t really practice for this sort of thing, all you can do is listen to other drivers who have experienced it and hopefully remember what to do in an emergency. I automatically hit the throttle and it was really weird. It felt like everything was moving in slow motion. I felt the truck accelerate and watched as the trailer slowly tucked itself back in behind just before I went under the overpass. I don’t care who you are, when you come that close, it shakes you up. I’m sure I was as white as the snow by then.

Sometimes good things happen because you’re in the right place at the right time. I got home to Abbotsford early one Friday so I decided to meet a friend of mine at one of the local pubs. That was where I met my future wife Lori. When I told her I was a truck driver she laughed and said that her girlfriends had always said she would marry a trucker. Little did either of us realize at that moment that we would end up together.

We started to see each other and a year later I made it home from Alberta just in time to see our beautiful little girl, Chelsea, being born two months early.

Now I had two children and a beautiful lady so, deciding I needed a town job, I went to work for Cloverdale Fuel driving a chip truck. I loved being home every night and I was making good money but that only lasted about a year until I ended up with a Bellingham run. Unfortunately when you’re paid by the load you don’t make much sitting in line at the border.

I quit that job and got on with Friesen Brothers. I was still hauling chips and bark mulch but now I was working in town and getting paid by the hour. I worked for them for two years. They were a great company and they treated their drivers well.

On the weekends I was still running water truck for Ian at Stave Falls Water. Ian and I had a great relationship, more like a father and son than employer/employee. One day he sat me down and told me he wanted to retire and asked if I wanted to buy the company. There was not much water business left but the the run from Labatt brewery brought in a lot of money so I went for it.

When I took over the company I needed a second job for a while to help pay the bills so I worked for The Brick delivering to their stores. It was about that time my second son, Cody, was born.

When things started to pick up at Labatt’s I started working full time for myself. I was making lots of money and I didn’t have to work that many hours so I had time to spend with my family. I was living the good life and everyone kept telling me I should put some of that money away but I figured that Ian had had this contract for 10 years and Labatt’s surely wasn’t going anywhere…

Two years later my son Curtis was just born and at the same time my accountant told me I needed more write offs so I went and leased a 2003 Ford F350 diesel. It was not more than half an hour after I signed the papers that I got a call saying Labatt’s would be shutting down in three months.

When Labatts closed I needed to find another job and since there wasn’t much happening in town I sat down with Lori and told her I might have to go back on the highway. Lori has always supported me in everything I’ve done and we agreed that I had to do what I had to do to make money. In a way I had missed the highway but at the same time I didn’t know if I could handle being away from Lori and the kids. Being a driver, the kids were already used to not seeing me during the week so it wasn’t going to be as hard on them as it was on Lori and I.

I got a job with Chambers again running super b flat deck and once again found myself doing the one part of trucking that I hate – tarping loads. I did that for a few months until I ran into my friend, Manjit, who needed a driver for one of his trucks. It was a Seattle run which worked for me. I would get up at three in the morning and unload in Seattle at six. Then I’d run to the docks and pick up a can for my backhaul. At the end of the day I was putting in fifteen hours and it still wasn’t my dream job but I was home at night and it paid the bills.

My stepfather, Wally, and my sister, Michelle, work for Hazco Environmental services in Richmond and one day he called to say a driver was leaving and they were looking for someone.

They had always said what a great company it was so I talked to Kyle Popeniuk who asked for my resume. I sent it in but then I found out the driver had changed his mind about leaving.

Not long after that I got another call from Kyle and he told me they were buying another truck and needed a driver. I went in for an interview and got the job. I was really happy as the pay was good and it came with a full benefit package which sure comes in handy with a large family.

I trained for a week with Ian Lyster who taught me everything I needed to know. Never having dealt with hazardous waste before I found the paperwork scary at first but it didn’t take long before I caught on.

I’ve been here four years now and I don’t think I could work for, or with, a better bunch of people. I now drive a 2003 Pete crane truck with a 330 Cummins engine and 13 speed transmission. It has a custom built secondary containment deck where any spillage that may occur automatically drains into a tank under the deck.

It’s great, I work five days a week in town so I’ve got my nights and weekends with my family and last year I got permission to take my truck to BC Big Rig Weekend. I was really excited as I had always gone to the shows but never had the chance to enter one. My biggest problem was I didn’t know if I could get the truck ready in time. I could handle the cleaning and polishing with help from my family but my aluminum wheels were in real bad shape covered with pits from the winter. Luckily I saw an ad in Pro-Trucker for Robo-Shine which offered pick up and delivery. I called them up and they came out and took them off my truck then took them back to their shop. When they brought them back there wasn’t a pit mark to be found and they had done the best polish job that I’ve ever seen.

For those of you that have been counting Lori and I have had one more addition to our family. We now have five kids, Zavier 14, Chelsea 10, Cody 6, Curtis 3, and the latest addition, baby Lacey, is 1.

Right now life is great. I work in town so I have lots of time with my family and I love the company and the people that I work with. Who knows, maybe my search is over. This sure feels like my dream job.