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F- oltng Along in a 22-Wheeler BOWMANVILLE, ONTARIO, SEPTEMBER 19, 1979 SECTION TWO Driver Erie Wood gets the rig ready to roll. By Donna Fairey A body jolting trip in one of those sleek, classy-looking "Rattle them bones" is a the "biggies" convinced me cabs streaking down the saying not entirely restricted Trucker Tillie I'm not. highway would ride like a to dice. It can be applied to Obviously ill informed, I was Cadillac. Wrong! truékin. under the impression some of In the wake of the two recent esman reporter, Donna Fairey, climbs aboard a 22-wheeler tractor for a 260 mile "keep on trudkin" trip to Thorold, Ont. transport accidents on Bowmanville's doorstep and increasing publicity regarding trucker tailgating and speeding, I embarked on a first hand investigation last week into the world of trucking. A 260 mile "shake, rattle and roll" return trip to Thorold, Ontario, was my introduction to the business. The eight and a half hour run was comparable to an overland trip in a covered wagon. I rode shotgun with trucker Eric Wood of Oshawa. Working for a Bowmanville firm, Eric is a 25 year veteran transport driver. The confidence I needed to make the six foot climb into the truck's cab was supplied when Eric diclosed he was a 22 year safe driver award winner. To scale the side of the truck ana achieve a sitting position in the co-pilot's seat requires skills akin to a monkey. Accomplishing the feat became a challenge and by the end of the day Eric was complimenting me on my new found expertise. Our rig was a 22-wheeler, 1974 White Freightliner. According to Eric, the cost to replace this one vehicle would be in excess of $60,000. Containing a panel of buttons, gauges, levers and knobs, the dash of the cab resembled the cock-pit of a small aircraft. Conversation between us during the day occurred at a shouting pitch over the constant din of the truck's engine which is positioned between driver and passenger. Incidentally, the engine requires a 15 minute warm-up before leaving the yard and I later learned a 5 minute cool off period is necessary before shut down. The load we carried was 85,000 lbs. of powdered concrete which we picked up at St. Marys Cement plant. Fill up took 10 minutes and then it was westward ho! on Highway 401. Only a few miles up the road I silently told myself how fortunate it was I hadn't eaten fried eggs for breakfast. They would have been scrambled before we reached Ajax. At the outskirts of Toronto my back was already telling my head I had made better decisions. Only 40 miles up the road I knew the "keep on truckin" syndrome is overplayed. Thirteen gears to shift, a clutch that becomes heavy in traffic, constant concentration, unpredictable drivers and fatigue make trucking a lot less appealing than promotionalists would lead us believe. Tractor trailer drivers require a Class A license. Before a driver can take over the wheel of a big rig, the Department of Transportation and Communications demands a qualifying written test, a physical examination, eye test, and finally the road test. According to a spokesman with the Transportation and Communications branch in Oshawa, driver retesting may soon become a reality. School bus drivers are already involved in a mandatory retesting program. At present, the government computer system kicks out random transport driver names for retesting of the written examination only. No longer is truck driving unskilled labor. Aspiring truck drivers could previously jump behind the wheel of a tractor trailer, put the thing into gear and take off. That was the situation up until a couple of years ago in Ontario when the provincial Ministry of Transportation and Communications instituted a system of licencing that segregates tractor trailer drivers from their counterparts in straight trucks, school buses and taxis. While Eric works I sightsee to take my mind off my discomfort. Looking down on car roofs from my six foot perch, I answered one question to which women have long wanted to know the answer. Yes they can, ladies! It's an entirely different scene riding above four wheelers. Traffic patterns develop before your eyes and car manoeuvering appears more erratic. Throughout the vibrating trip I observed truckers practice road courtesies toward one another I hadn't perceived as the driver of a car. When one rig passes another, the truck in the rear flashes his head lights to indicate rear end clearance for a safe return to the right hand lane. Eric made gearing down and winding the cumbersome vehicle through the streets of Thorold look easy but I knew it wasn't. Unloading the cement ate up over an hour. While Twenty-five year veteran transport driver, Erie Wood, Oshawa. Eric supervised the extraction process by monitoring the truck's gauges, I took the opportunity to walk my sprained body about the parking lot. Nothing like it appears on television. Lunch was not to be in a trucker's diner as I had anticipated. It was Chinese food in. a Niagara Falls restaurant. Drivers choose their eating spots by the size and accessibility of the restaurant's parking lots. The last leg of the trip was slightly less bone jarring than our trip up. Running empty creates less vibration in the cab than with a full load. Empty or full, Eric's ride is not as severely affected since the driver has the benefit of an air pressured seat. Though trucker's salaries are now more than respectable, their job is no piece of cake. "I never get bored with the job -- only tired," said Eric. "You really have to like this business to be in it," he said. "Getting up in the middle of the night and overnight lay-overs are all partof it." Passing across the city of Toronto at rush hour was an experience in itself. Some of the driver antics Eric had to contend with were astounding. Two unrelated vehicle pile-ups were evidence not all drivers were lucky and/or sensible. According to Eric, his only complaint with car drivers arises when they pull in front of his tractor-trailer and promptly slow down. "When I drive my car on the highway, trucks bug me," laughed Eric. Though it's impossible to establish a totally accurate overview of trucking in one day, drivers generally Fifty mile radius dispatch system utilized by trucking firms is manned here by dispatcher, Doug Body. appeared to adhere to the speed limit and rules of the road. Eric commented there are always a few bad apples in the barrel taat can spoil it for the lotb Movies, television shows, and T-shirt promoters have all jumped onto the trucking bandwagon in the past two years making big bucks from the glamor they have painted into the business. Trucking involves more than the freedom of the open- road, truckers boots and C.B. jargon. No more glamorous than any other method of earning one's bread, it's tedious, tiring work. If you like it, it's a living. Tinker, tailor, soldier, sailor or trucker - like any job, it has its ups and downs. In fact, it was these ups and downs that have inspired a renewed appreciation of my Pontiac's radial tuned suspension. k Goes Ice Surface at Memorial Arena Prize Winning Cakes Bring High Prices Crawling on his hands and knees, Jim Woodley paints the red line on the ice at the Bowmanville Arena, in preparation for this year's hockey season. Helping Jim with his painting were Harvey Yellowlees, Brian Hughes and John Hughes. By Carlene Kirby Ingredients: 1 pad, sand or concrete, usually oval-shaped miles of plastic tubing, (running lengthwise through the pad at two inch intervals) one condenser compressors ammonia brine solution (potassium chloride and water) approximately 40 feet of one inch rubber hosing with nozzle chiller several gallons of red and blue paint one compass type apparatus three or four men working round the clock for two weeks. Method: Begin by pumping ammonia into the condenser in order to cool. Force ammonia into the chiller through valve. Circulate brine solution, chilled to 14 degrees Fahrenheit, out to the floor in the plastic piping (metal piping may be substituted). The brine solution will remove the heat from the floor and return to the chiller at about 16 or 17 degrees Fahrenheit. In the chiller, the ammonia then removes the heat from the brine which is recirculated to the floor. Once the brine reaches a constant 13 degrees, a thermostat will shut off the cooling system. This thermostat will in turn reactivate the process dependent on the heat in the arena. Once the floor is cooled to the proper temperature, use the rubber hosing to flood the entire surface with a relatively thin coating of water. Once frozen, repeat every hour, making sure that the previous layer is solid, 150 times. When the final layer has frozen, decorate the surface as specified for hockey in a line and circle pattern with the red and blue paint. The circles may be drawn with a compass type instrument, such as that improvised at the Bowmanville Arena. The water based "polar" paint dries quickly, and flooding may soon resume (use cold water at first to prevent the paint from running). Flood approximately every hour for the next two days. The ice should now be ready for planing. Note: If the previous layers have not frozen properly the weight of the Zamboni will crack the layers, resulting in "shale" ice. In Bowmanville the process of making ice began on September 4 and should have been completed and ready for use for the first booking on September 17. 'It's a lonely life," Jim Woodley said, as he applied the 136th layer of ice to the Bowmanville arena pad. Jim was almost lost in a dense fog that developed in the warm arena. On September 7 at the Orono Fair, the prize winning cakes were offered for sale by auction, bringing a top price of $80 with several others going for sums like $57 and $40 until al 20 of them were sold. There was a seramble at one point when a nervous fat calf headed for the spot where they were located, but all ended well when it was brought under control. Here, Bertha Touchburn offers one of the prize winners for sale. We won't mention the names of the buyers who purchased the cakes, it might cause trouble at their respective abodes. But, it was all for a good cause.