Dennis Curtis from MB is our March 2010 Rig of the Month driver. This is his story:

I was born in Hamiota, Manitoba where I lived for the first 10 years of my life. In 1986 we moved onto my grandfather’s farm near Lenore, Manitoba where my mom, dad and brother still live. I grew up there, on grandfather’s grain and cattle farm, where I started driving tractors and grain trucks as soon as I was old enough to touch the pedals. I started out driving my Dad’s pickup then moved up to a 3 ton, tractors, combines and eventually to an International tandem grain truck named Agnes.  My dad has been farming and driving truck as long as I can remember. He even owned a few of his own trucks in the past which is something I have never done. I’ve always been a company driver or drove for owner operators.

The first semi that I rode in was a 1980 Ford Louisville. That was the last truck that dad ever owned.  It was blue and white and had a 36 inch flat top silver bunk that you had to crawl through the back window to get into. This made it pretty tight quarters for two parents and two kids to spend a week in but we did it. As a kid I was always amazed at how Dad could steer with his knees while using both hands to shift the five and four tranny, to keep the 290 Cummins from stalling out on the smallest of hills, and all the while never letting that ever present cigarette fall out of his mouth. That old Ford rode so rough with the passenger’s seat bolted to the floor that I had to wear my seat belt just to stay perched up in the co-pilot position.

My mom still talks about the time the four of us pulled up to a plant to load fertilizer and my brother and I were told to hide in the bunk with the curtain closed as kids weren’t allowed on the plant site. We almost got away with it too, but as dad was inside the security shack giving them his pickup number my brother Rob and I were waving at the security guards out of the small side bunk window. We got busted and ended up sitting in the security shack for the next two hours staring at the floor waiting to be on our way. 

Even though the bunk in the Ford was like a coffin inside, I was never scared to get into it. Not like I was with the wooden bunk in dad’s boss’s Mack. I was only about 8 at the time and for the life of me I couldn’t figure out how you could fasten a wooden bunk to the metal frame of a truck. They tried everything to get me to go in there but I was stubborn. One time they even threw my hat back there but I wasn’t going after it even though I love wearing my hats. 

I worked on the farm with my family all through school and then when I graduated I moved to the big city of Brandon to start college. I attended Assiniboine Community College where I completed a two year diploma in Agri-Business.  After college I went to work for John Deere in Brandon for a few years as a parts guy. While working there, with the help from my Dad and my really good friend Bill Williams, I got my class 1A license.  It was my Dad and my friend Bill who taught me how to drive and look after a truck. The two of them used to take me along on trips and let me steer and gear once in awhile. To take my road test I borrowed a 1986 Ford Louisville day cab with a 42 foot step deck that belonged to Ed Mazer the owner of the Deere dealership in Brandon

I worked a couple of driving jobs on the side around this time but nothing long haul as I had two boys, Kyle and Jeffrey, with my first wife and that kept me close to home. I worked at Redfern’s in Hamiota as the hardware and feed sales manager and drove water and fuel trucks in the evenings and weekends just to get more time in the driver’s seat.

In April of 1999 I started my first long haul job at Paul Brandt Trucking in Morris, Manitoba. I drove a 1996 Classic Freightliner flat top pulling a grain hopper trailer running Canada and USA. I got this first over the road job because a friend of mine, Vaughn, and his dad Jim, both drove for them and they put in a good word for me. After about a year I moved to hauling dry van and reefers running pretty much all over Canada and the USA. Bill, Kerry, and Tracey Brandt always treated me very fairly and they were very understanding and accommodating while I was going through my divorce. I still remember calling Bill that morning and him saying to me, “You head for home and call me when you’re ready to go back to work, take all the time you need”. 

After a couple of years working there I came off the road and worked a local job in a feed mill. This didn’t last long as 9 months later I was back in a truck pulling super B grain trailers for Jim and Shawn Wilson for RTM Transport out of Strathclair, Manitoba. Even though I had very little super B experience, I managed to get this job because my dad had been running their other truck for the past couple years. I mainly ran the Prairie Provinces with RTM so I was home every weekend which was good because it allowed me to spend time with my two boys. Once again I had somebody I knew put in a good word for me. There seems to be a pattern here…

It was while working there that I met my wife Marsha and son Tyler. We lived in Brandon until Marsha finished her university degree in Psychiatric nursing and then we moved to Selkirk, Manitoba to be closer to her work. When we moved to Selkirk I started driving my friends Peterbilt, pulling a reefer for Winnipeg Motor Express. I did that for a year until they asked me to come into their office as a dispatcher.

Working on the other side of the counter gave me a whole new appreciation for how tough dispatching is. A lot of what I learned came from my boss Kevin Jackson who always seemed to be very cool and calm even in the most intense situations.  He’s the one that taught me the phrase, “it’s all good”.  I dispatched a fleet of 57 trucks on their dry van division for two years. During that time I met a lot of interesting people and made some really close friends but it finally all caught up with me and I decided I didn’t need the pressure and stress of the job anymore.

While working as a dispatcher, in order to make some extra cash, I also worked for them as a spare driver in the evenings and on weekends. Eventually my weekend spare driving turned mainly into flying on West Jet to places like Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton to retrieve abandoned tractor and trailers and drive them home to Winnipeg. Any other weekends that I had free I would do a rounder to Alberta hauling cows for my friends Randy and Aaron Kachan.

The day I decided to give up dispatching I came home and told Marsha that I thought it was time to hit the road again. She said that was okay as long as I could find a job like the one I had at RTM where I was home on weekends.  I said I was going to call a guy that I had met at a few truck shows. I told her that he had some real nice shiny iron that I would like the chance to drive.

I got on the phone and called Mark Brandt and told him I was looking for a job and he asked if I was interested in running super b’s west or single trailers south. I told him I would take whatever he had but my preference was single trailers. Mark and I met for “a coffee” and I was kind of surprised that he remembered who I was because we hadn’t met each other more than briefly at a couple shows and at the odd feed mill or elevator. Mark said he had called his cousins over at Paul Brandt Trucking, to check up on my work history, before our meeting. I guess he was satisfied with what they told him because he hired me and I have been working for him for almost 3 years now.

I drive a 2003 Pete company truck named Showtime and normally pull a matching 42 foot straight grain trailer with a little bit of super B grain, step deck, dry van, and reefer mixed in for good measure. She has an 18 speed transmission with 3:55 gearing and sits on 22.5 low pro rubber to keep her low to the ground and I’m pretty lucky to drive such a nice truck and to work for such a good company.

I guess I’m just like a lot of other drivers out there in that once driving is in your blood, it’s almost like an addiction and you can’t quit. It soon turns out to be a career not just a job. Everyone has little quirks and one of mine is that I give every truck that I drive a name. I realize this is borderline psycho but it goes hand in hand with the other habit I have of talking to my trucks – this is something I try not to let anybody hear.

Just today I had to have a talk with Showtime because she was going into the hospital to have an in frame done on the C-15 under the hood which has 1,535,000 km on the original bottom end. This is one of those days that, as a company driver, I’m glad I don’t have to pay for the maintenance costs.

Mark Brandt Trucking now has 19 company trucks - all Peterbilts and Kenworths - that Mark and his mechanic Randy dress up with lots of chrome and extra lights. I realize that chrome and lights don’t make you anymore money but it sure helps with driver recruiting and retention. Mark never has to place an ad looking for drivers. He gets phone calls everyday from guys that have seen his trucks on the highway and want to drive one.

We are pretty much just a group of farm boys hauling grain and trying to make a living like everybody else out on the road. The truck I drive is equipped with a set of ten inch straight pipes and 29 lights across the front bumper, when you add in the black paint with the purple trim and flames she really stands out in a crowd.

Showtime was bought brand new and Mark drove it until he moved into the office on a more full time basis. Call me crazy but I love the truck I drive and I am still a big fan of flat top trucks even if you can’t stand up to put your pants on in the morning.  

A good friend of mine told me one time that a good “b.s.” story is only as good as the number of people that actually believe it. If your ever in a truck stop sometime just sit in a booth that is close enough to the counter to hear all the “ LCT’s “ talking.  An LCT is a Loud Counter Talker. They usually sit there half the day drinking coffee and talking, loud enough for everyone to hear them, to anyone who will listen. 

I guess my best story is one day I was sitting in a truck stop in Indiana about ten years ago and started talking to these two brothers from Alabama who, when they found out I was Canadian, asked me how I got my truck home since we didn’t have any paved roads up here. With a straight face I calmly replied that I drove up to the Canadian/USA border where I parked my truck and then jumped on my dog sled which I used to get home to the igloo. They actually seemed to by buying my story so I proudly added that our Canadian President was Tim Horton.

Overall the trucking industry has treated me pretty good even though I have seen a lot of changes in the short time I’ve been in it. We are getting backed into a corner with more and more rules all the time but we really can’t do anything about it.  I do shake my head though at the Saskatchewan DOT running around giving people written warnings for sun visors on big trucks. I guess that’s their way of making the roads safer but personally I wish they would concentrate on the people that pass me who are driving with their knees and texting with both thumbs. Visors are valuable tools and truckers should be allowed to use any and all safety features available to us. Truckers put on a lot of miles while looking into the sun so I have to wonder exactly how much highway experience, and what qualifications, these people have that makes them feel they are in a better position to make these “safety” decisions for us.

When I’m not driving truck I enjoy spending time with my wife and 3 boys riding our arctic cat sleds and watching NASCAR racing.  In July we are going to go to Florida to watch a live race for the first time. I also enjoy my time spent puttering around in my garage or playing with our basset hound dog whose name is Oliver Frederick Showtime. “Fredrick” was after Fred in Smoky and the Bandit and “Showtime” because of his long wheel base and close proximity to the ground. Marsha and the boys also enjoy coming in the truck for rides when they’re on holidays. This is usually the week where I have to turn off my cb radio to protect my family’s ears from all the trash talk that goes on especially when you’re in, or close to, a major city. My boys always look so proud to sit in the jump seat of Showtime while were roaring up the road. 

I must say, I know exactly how they feel…