November 2005’s Rig of The Month owner is Steve Alder who lives in Langford, B.C. on Vancouver Island.

The first question that comes to mind when interviewing a driver is how did you get started? Steve’s answer is like the line from a Johnny Cash song about the lonesome whistle of a train. Steve was born and raised in Langford, B.C. right next to the railroad tracks and he readily admits that his first love is railroading.

Steve grew up in a family where driving trucks was the life blood and financial roots. John, Steve’s late father, moved to B.C. in 1957 bringing his wife Nettie with him.  John had been involved in moving trailers in the oil fields and brought his expertise to a growing market on Vancouver Island. He was a self taught welder fabricator and augmented the family income working this trade when things were slow. This expertise came in handy as John built the float trailers and other equipment that the company uses to this day. Steve’s Mom, Nettie, was always ready and more than able to fill in when necessary to keep the trucks rolling.

John’s business was hauling trailers (mobile homes) from the U.S. to Canada and was often away from home. So in 1958, Nettie, who was ahead of her time and by todays standards would have been considered a women’s’ libber, decided to get her Chauffeurs license and help John. She still has every one of these and also still holds a valid Class 1 License. Steve had 3 sisters and a brother but unfortunately lost one of his sisters earlier.

As the family grew Mom still drove and many of the kid’s diapers were changed while on the road. Steve laughed as he told me that his sisters would try to hide when Mom drove them to school in the truck, on her way to a job. The day we visited Steve’s Mom she was hand sanding and painting the companies spare float trailer. Many women of her age would be content to work in the garden but this shows where Steve gets his commitment and love for his work.

Steve started his driving career as soon as he could see over the steering wheel. On many nights he would help his Dad unload units from the barge out in Sidney. His Dad taught him many of the tricks and the practical side of the job. Steve attended school but left at 16 as soon as he could get his drivers license and really become a member of the family business. Starting out on the pilot car and helping to set up and move mobiles was a great training ground for his future. Steve admits he wasn’t much of a “jock” and his only sport was football for 1 year.

Everyone who has been at any of the Big Rig Shows will recognize Steve as a winner in his class of truck racing. This love of racing came to him through a few years of racing stock cars at Western Speedway. Of course one of his sponsors was the family company - John’s Mobile Home Towing Ltd. When I asked Steve about this racing his answer was, “It had power, noise and competition. What more could you ask for?”  Steve allowed that his mother wasn’t too crazy about this hobby and work interfered with his racing.

About this time Steve met his partner and a girl who was soon to replace all the other things as his first love. Steve and Tami have been married for 18 years. The family was completed with the addition of Rob (16) and Shantyll (14). Tami works as a baker and both of the kids have jobs. Rob insisted on showing me his 79 Ford pickup that he is restoring. There’s no doubt that Steve has passed the love of driving and mechanics on to his son just as his father passed it on to him.

John’s Mobile Home Towing Ltd. does exactly what the name says and most of the time this involves moving oversize loads. Steve explained that growing up with the business gave him a real solid grounding in the art of driving these over width, over length, and often over height loads.

In the old days tires were a constant problem. You get pretty quick at changing tires in all kinds of weather, traffic and day or night. This was a scary procedure as often with the mobile you just couldn’t get clear of the traffic. Steve explained that there were many close calls that called for new underwear.

Steve followed his Dad out on his first trip hauling trailers to Alberta - it was minus fifty with the wind chill and it left him wondering if this was as good as it got. They moved 6 units into a oil field camp near Imperial Mills in Northern Alberta. With that big smile of his he remarked that despite the cold the whole job went off without any other problems. I could see a story coming and it highlighted some of the problems facing the “Shack Haulers”

Steve explained that often people moving into isolated areas to work choose a mobile home in case the job doesn’t last. Just a call to John’s and you were rolling on to the next work site. Well, maybe not quite that easy. Steve recalled picking up a mobile home 12 x 66 feet and being told to deliver it to an isolated logging camp. In the years before this many mobiles went to these camps by barge and you just rolled off and set it up. As the logging companies reached out many of the roads met and therefore made these small camps accessible by road. As anyone who has driven these back roads can verify the roads are steep, rough, narrow and most often accented by tight switch backs – just in case you get bored.

In this case Steve was given directions to head for Port Hardy watch for the road and follow it 60 kilometres to the end. Sound too good to be true? It was. Now imagine that one logging company hauls on one side (downhill if possible) and where the roads join the other company hauls (downhill if possible) the other way. So of course up the steep switchbacks on one side and down them on the other! Since it was a private road Steve had kicked the pilot car loose to save a few bucks. He laughed and said that this thrifty move was about to cause him a few problems. The main line went fairly well and he figured a few hours would see the haul complete and he would be able to set up first thing in the morning. The first few switchbacks were not bad. They progressively got tighter, steeper and the surface was comprised of loose gravel (logger-talk for blown rock). After 4 hours the top was in sight and you would figure it would be all downhill from here. At the summit Steve said you looked down on this beautiful white layer of fog in the valley. The road went down, down and around disappearing into the white below.  It was getting dark as he started down and this meant many trips back with a flashlight in the switchbacks to check for swing clearance. This often required 4 or 5 trips as he jockeyed around the corners. Now if you have ever been in West Coast fog you know exactly what Steve meant when he remarked that it was so thick he couldn’t find his butt with both hands! Gingerly feeling his way down the hill Steve came to a Y in the road. It was now 7 hours and he figured he must have missed a turn. Remember this was a private haul road so there were no pay phones and no cell phones back then either. He decided to sleep hunched over the wheel and wait for daylight as he was sure he must have gone the full 80 clicks. (He always checks his odometer now).

In the morning the first truck out told him that right around the next corner was the camp, a bed, hot showers, and all the good hot food you could eat. Steve said he nursed a sore back for a few weeks from sleeping over the wheel but he learned never kick the pilot car loose until after the run was done.

Over the years Steve has been to almost every corner of B.C. and Alberta and in that time he has seen the regulations for moving large mobile homes relaxed. No longer do you see what appears to be a convoy of pilot cars. Under most circumstances you only need one.

Steve has had some pretty wild rides in windstorms. This has always been one of the most dangerous of weather conditions for towing single wides or worse yet half shacks. A half shack is half of a double wide and one side is sheeted in plastic. One small rip in the plastic and you are now hooked to a 12 x 50 or larger sail. The wind goes in through the plastic and has no exit. Many of us drivers have witnessed the result on the highway which is usually the half shack and truck on their side with the half shack reduced to rubble. Steve remarked that in B.C. we are fortunate that the mountains are a natural windbreak. With this barrier, wind is not the problem that it is in the prairies. He recalls layovers of 2 or 3 days waiting for the wind to allow them to complete moves in the flatlands.

Moving units all over Steve has witnessed and worked in all types of harsh conditions. Snow build up under a unit can cause you all kinds of problems and is made worse by the length and solid bottom. We all understand what a loss of clearance can do to the stability of anything you are towing.

Watching Steve back a mobile onto a site is a treat. With the mirrors hanging out 4 feet either side of the cab you wonder how he can see anything.  Steve figured once you got to the job site it was usually pretty straight forward or backwards, whichever. On one trip he was told to head out of Ucluelet and take the second left after a big tree. He found a left turn and a big tree and headed up the narrow bush road. Looking back he saw a car behind him flashing its lights. It was the owner telling him he was on the wrong road. This time he still had his pilot car with him and only a mile to back up. Steve said he would like to say it didn’t take long but he figures his pilot car driver might read this and send in “the rest of the story”. With a big grin he said he had learned to keep the pilot car because an experienced pilot car driver knew what he could and couldn’t do while backing out. Another lesson learned, always double check directions.

Tami often helps Steve and she recalled the first trip she made with him. Steve’s Dad had bought a 1977, 1700 series International in Terrace. The seller had delivered it to Steve’s Uncle in Prince George in late summer. Steve and his Dad had been busy and it was the middle of the winter before they had time to go get the truck. Steve painted Tami a picture of a nice relaxing Greyhound ride to Prince George and a fun trip back to the Island. Tami said the bus ride was a trip from Hell and took 30 hours to get there from Victoria.

They arrived in P.G. and after a short visit with Steve’s Uncle, they left for home. They made it as far as 100 Mile House then stopped for the night. Tami said they only had light clothes with them and it was –35 so they left the truck running and went to bed. Steve got up at 2 A.M to check the truck only to find that it had quit running. Figuring there wasn’t anything he could do at that point he returned to bed.

The next morning they called a mechanic and worked all day to get the truck started. About three in the afternoon they figured everything was go and with the wrecker following they left. The plan was to make sure they got up the hill. No way, half way up it spluttered and quit again. The mechanic hooked them up and towed them back to his shop. They waited while the truck thawed and replaced the summer fuel with winter and finally, well into the night and about $600 lighter, they got out of town. Tami said it took her a week to thaw out when she got back to the Island. She says now whenever Steve mentions a nice short fun trip in the winter she finds something else to do.

Steve worked at all aspects of the family business from 1975 until 2000 when an opportunity came to go to work on the railway. As I mentioned earlier trains have always been a big part of Steve’s life. A new railway the Pacific Wilderness Railway was on the drawing board and the lure of old time steam trains was a dream come true. Steve worked at this for 1 year until it collapsed without ever actually running. Although disappointed he rejoined the family business which allowed Mom (Mom drove while Steve tried railroading) to take more time for herself. Today, Nettie still does the books, arranges work and keeps Steve honest.

Steve went back to work driving but found an outlet for his love of trains by becoming more active in the Vancouver Island Model Engineers. Steve built his own model steam engine and the cars that complete his train, which is approximately 1/8 scale. Steve’s steam train can haul 25 people with no problem and at one time hauled 60 people. They run these trains at the Saanich Historical Artifacts Society grounds off Island View Rd. in Central Saanich. Steve invited us to attend the Dream Picnic for Special Needs people. Here was Steve at his best, giving back to the community. Tami, Rob, and Shantyll were also there helping out. Imagine the joy as the kids and adults rode behind these model trains around the track, through the tunnels, over the bridges and past the station on the ½ mile of track. 3 new trestles are being added this fall. The smiles on the engineers were almost as large as the ones on the children.

After the kids left, those of us involved were treated to a barbecue. Talking to the engineers I was amazed to find out that these units were all hand built by the operators. When I was at Steve’s he gave me a tour of his shop where he was in the process of machining new wheels for additional cars for his train. He said without the welding and fabricating he learned from his Dad this would never have been possible.

We also had a chance to see Tami’s motorcycle which is one way that Tami and Steve get to spend some quality time together. Steve also has a 77 Ford pickup that he admits to rebuilding 2 or 3 times and he figures it is now in better shape than when it was new. With the number of toys he has you wonder how he ever finds time to work. Steve said that his hobbies may appear to be work but like they say a change is as good as a rest.

Steve and Tami along with his in-laws, Bob and Lynda, have attended every Big Rig Weekend except this years show at Mission. I asked Steve what happened and he got a funny look on his face. Tami encouraged him with the remark, “Well smart boy, tell the story”.

It seems that Steve and his brother Dave were clearing out a few trees on the top side of his house. Bob, Tami’s Dad, had helped by doing the falling but with a few smaller and one large tree left standing he had to return to work in camp. Bob suggested they wait until he came back to complete the job but after watching Bob, Dave and Steve figured they knew what to do. The area is quite steep, so naturally the trees had a distinct downhill lean. Steve said they started with some of the smaller stuff and were feeling pretty confident as they progressed to the larger one. They gradually worked at removing the limbs from the biggest tree. They attached a rope figuring that they had reduced the weight enough for Steve and Rob to pull it sideways across the hill while Dave cut it down. The tree was just a little more determined than they were and the 3 of them watched with mouths open as it fell onto the house.

From where they stood it didn’t look too bad but this illusion was soon shattered when Tami came out and explained that the tree was now inside the bedroom. Apparently a large limb had punctured the roof, gone through the bedroom ceiling, and came to rest about 2 inches above the bed. 

Smiling about it now, Tami said Steve had mumbled something about the roof needed replacing anyway. After inspecting the damage Tami told Steve that she had some “Bad News” for him. She explained that the Big Rig Mission Show was in 3 days and the house had to be repaired in full before he would be allowed out to play! - Best story I ever heard for missing the Mission Show.

Due to changes in the weights of the new mobile homes Steve works mostly for Britco and G.E. Capital moving the relatively smaller stuff now. As Steve explained the new homes have another story collapsed inside and you need a tandem to handle them. If you ever saw the attention that he puts into his 1993 International you would understand why he doesn’t want to change. This care has resulted in Steve making a pretty good haul of trophies from the Alberta Big Rig Weekend. He has never won a trophy in Mission but he said it just shows that Alberta people have, “good taste”. His wall full of trophies for both the show truck and the racing make a combination that Steve loves. I heard a rumour that Steve is considering developing a race truck. If he does, knowing his dedication, the other racers had better watch out.

I missed the Calgary show but when I went over to take more pictures of Steve’s truck the addition of new chrome was hard to miss. Steve said that Tami had dragged him into a chrome shop and made him buy some shiny stuff and 3 chrome train horns. Steve admits that Tami is the ideal trucker’s wife as she has always supported his various ventures. Of course there was a payment for this. On the way back from Calgary he had to stop at Three Valley Gap and allow Tami a 3 hour shopping spree. Steve’s a smart trucker - he knows how to keep his family happy.