On the Road with Mike Murchison

So why now? Why haul cows at my age? Hell, I’m 61 years old. I should be looking for the least amount of physical stress that might be available to me.

But no!

It’s out here that Cowboys did and still do make a go of it. Moving the stock from one grazing pasture to another. Punching holes in the watering hole so cattle can access the water. Spreading hay bales across a white landscape to feed the herd.

It still goes on, and I see it all the time. Day and night. The art and business of cowboyography is alive and well. You just need to know where to look.
Trucking is similar in many ways. You’re out there. Cutting through those windswept acres in the dead of winter on a concrete trail.

Never thought I would see the price of a loaf of bread cost seven dollars. Nor did I imagine ground beef upwards of ten dollars per pound.

In my last article I discussed the federal government’s desire to start levying fines on drivers for violating the Hours-of-Service rules (HOS). Now I’m not an expert on what branch of government handles what and how they work together. Nor do I know the intricate details of how our tax dollars once collected get dispersed once they are collected. But I do have some ideas I’d like to offer on how drivers can comply with the HOS rules and how the different branches of government can help.

We have established that there is a shortage of rest areas, safe havens and just plain acceptable places for drivers to pull into to take their breaks and rest areas.

I have heard the term “segregation” my whole life; I never fully identified with it until I was refused use of washrooms in truck stops in Northern Ontario, or made to stand out in the cold at a drive-through window at a fast-food joint. Standing in the drive-through lane with cars, I felt very out of place. Segregated.

  For a while, certain places wouldn’t handle my cash because I travel for a living. Restaurants closed, or downsized to “take-out only” service. I was eating out of paper bags while working and sleeping for days on the road: in the summer heat, and frigid cold of winter.

We, as a country that formerly manufactured things like freezers, lawnmowers, drills, vehicles and a lot of other things, traded our “quality control” overseeing for “ease of convenience” strategies. 

Things are not built to last anymore. They are built to give us a sense of immediate gratification, only to be followed by that horrendous sound of silence. That thing we just bought won’t turn on, light up or go whoosh when the switch thingy is flicked.