The first thing you notice about Kim Wylie from Humboldt Saskatchewan is his Lanny MacDonald style mustache. The second is his broad perpetual smile that seems to be an integral part of his mustache.

Kim’s a regular at the Big Rig Weekends and it’s always a pleasure to see him pull in with his immaculate 1981 Kenworth and then watch as the show regulars wander over to say hello. Last year the polishing paid off big time as he took home the second place trophy in Truck and Trailer Combination.

In 1962 Kim’s Dad and Mom, Ron and Ruth, left the family farm and moved from Saskatchewan to Victoria B.C. where Ron worked for the City of Victoria, Wheaton Construction and A.J. Bar Construction. He was a heavy equipment operator and also low bedded the machines from site to site.

Kim was born in 1963 in Victoria and jokingly says that he and his younger brother Mark, who was born just eleven months later, are “almost twins.” Their father’s familiarity with heavy equipment obviously rubbed off on his sons as they are both truckers.

This is Kim’s story.

“My Dad moved us back to the family farm at Norquay, Saskatchewan in 1972.  This is where my brother, Mark and I drove everything we could get our hands on, ½ tons, 3 tons, tractors, combines, you name it - we drove it. My Dad was a good teacher with a lot of experience. He was very innovative and taught us how to keep things running by fixing things with parts we had on hand.

“There was more than enough work on our seven quarters of land to keep everyone busy. We grew grain and hay mixed and we had 50 head of beef cattle, 20 milk cows and 100 hogs. My parents had a big influence on Mark and me and through example, they instilled strong, “hard work” ethics in us. When it was time to work you worked but when it was time to play, boy did we play.

“I was eighteen years old when our neighbor, Ken MacNaughton dropped by one day for a coffee.  He said, “If you get your Class 1, I’ll pay for it, and put you to work.”  He owned a couple of trucks with belly dump trailers and my Dad had worked for him in the bush, so it was natural to go to work for him.  That summer we worked close to home doing all the gravel roads in the area. His 1979 Kenworth A model was the first truck I ever drove. 

“That fall I went back to school to finish my grade 12 and then the following summer I worked for Ken again rebuilding highways in Southern Saskatchewan. That’s where I met Charlie Bagshaw. Charlie was driving a truck for his uncle and we spent all summer working together. That fall we got laid off and were going home when Charlie said he was going to buy a truck and asked if I’d run double with him.  I said sure, I’d try anything once. 

“His first truck was a bare bones 1974 IHC cab over with a 350 Detroit.  It was an interesting truck with no air conditioning or air ride.  We ran the wheels off that rig for a year until Charlie sold it and bought a 1979 Pete cabover with a 400 Cummins.  The Pete was a Cadillac compared to the IHC mainly because it had air conditioning and air ride.

“Charlie leased on with Sitters Transport for two years and then went to work with Mullens from Alderside, Alberta. When they found out that I wasn’t 25 years old they told Charlie that I wasn’t insured to drive his truck. So after two and a half years of driving with Charlie, we parted ways, but because of his mentoring, I took with me many of the driving skills that I use today.

“When Charlie and I hauled gravel together we hung around with Glen Emmons from Moose Jaw Saskatchewan so, while home for Christmas, I phoned Glen to see if he was looking for drivers and he said he was. He was stock piling gravel up north and needed guys to run 24/7 all winter. I left the first week of January and never came home till mid April. The money was great and living in camp with your room and board paid was a bonus. It was a good experience because I got to run front-end loaders and a D-7 Cat on the side. That spring Glen asked me to stay on and I did for another 3 years. My brother Mark also hired on and worked for Glen for two years.  Life was good, paid by the hour with free room and board.

“Hauling gravel got boring so after three years I quit. That spring I ran into an old friend, Dave Lucas, from Moose Jaw.  He was driving a leased Op that the owner had on with Harv Wilkening Transport in Regina.  He said he was getting lots of work and was home every weekend.  He convinced me to go see Harv and since Mark was in town he came along too.  “When I pushed open the door to Harv’s shop I saw the most beautiful truck I had ever seen.  A 1979 Movin On Kenworth with a 36” bunk owned by Butch Weber. We had just walked over to have a look when Harv Wilkening came out of his office. We told him that we were looking for jobs. He seemed impressed with our experience and asked when we could start. When we said anytime, he said to be here by six in the morning. 

“The next morning we met Harold Beatty, a short funny guy who had over 40 years experience in trucking. Harold put us on an old 2070 IHC with a 290 Cummins pulling a B-train gas tanker.  Mark and I split shifted that truck all spring hauling gas and when it finally slowed down Mark got his own truck. It was a Freightliner Cab Over with a 350 Cummins and a set of A-trains.

“Mark and that truck had some interesting experiences, between spinning out on Willowbunch hill just south of Moose Jaw to doing a 180 in freezing rain after hitting a set of rough railway tracks at Stoughton just south east of Regina.  He said he hit those tracks and the rear end of the truck took off. When he got stopped he was pointed back the way he came with the pup trailer so close he could almost touch it out the driver’s door.

“I had a few experiences of my own with that old 2070.  One day in the middle of summer, it had to be about 35 degrees C, and I had a load of gas for Big Beaver and Coronach in southern Saskatchewan. To get there I took the highway south of Bengough through the Big Muddy Valley. Half way up the valley I was in low gear at about 1900 RPM’s, the water temp was at a steady 210 and it was so hot that I could see the pavement ripple under the truck. Every tire was leaving ruts. That was one slow hot pull to the top.

“Harv hauled packaged oil products for Esso out of Edmonton and things got so busy there that he asked me to go up and help out for a couple of weeks. When I came home Harv said that if I moved to Edmonton and did the oil full time I could be home every weekend. Mark said he’d come too so we moved to Edmonton in the fall.

“We worked with a good crew in Edmonton.  It seemed that everybody that worked there were lifers.  Guys like Gerry Bauder, Barry England, Brian Binsfield, Butch and Wilf Weber, Daryl Hendricks, Bill Waddell, Denis and Kevin Gibson all them had been there for between 10 and 20 years.

“We’d all load out of Edmonton and run back into Saskatchewan with multi drop loads, so it was a convoy every second night. Back in those days every province had different GVW’s so once in a while we’d get to the Marshall scale and one of the group would be over weight. We’d just transfer some weight to another truck and carry on. The guy at the scale would just shake his head; we all knew what to do when the park light came on.

“When the oil haul came up for bids, Harv got all of Saskatchewan and BC. With the new B.C. contract Mark and I never really got to see Saskatchewan again except for the odd load. Mark was heavy into rodeo so he eventually quit trucking and moved back to Regina to ride bulls while I went on to see the sights of B.C. from border to border.

“One summer it seemed like all of B.C. was on fire and we had to haul turbo fuel to airfields for the choppers. I did two ringers into Bella Coola at that time and boy that first trip was interesting.  I had heard of, ‘the big hill’ from a guy that worked for Trimac and he said that if you take your time you won’t have a problem.

“A fellow trucker and I left Edmonton one morning and ran hard to Blue River. We stopped for chow and carried on to Little Fort. We pulled that hill a lot, even when the road was gravel half way across to 100 Mile House. So we hopped the hill and slept in Williams Lake. We had breakfast the next morning and left for Bella Coola. From Williams Lake to the top of the hill it was beautiful, great scenery, big hills and open valleys. We made good time and soon came to a little hill with a one-lane bridge. We crossed the bridge and stopped at the brake check where we checked everything, slid our trailers ahead as far as they would go and pulled out to go down the hill.

“The guy that I talked to from Trimac said there were three switchbacks but he never said how tight they were.  I was in the lead and when we came to the first switchback, I got halfway around and had to stop and back up to take another run at it.  I got around that one as my friend was coming down to the first one. I looked up and his truck was right above mine so I waved out the window at him. He starts yelling on the radio, 10 and 2, 10 and 2. He was referring to the proper hand positioning; wanting me to keep my hands on the wheel.  I think that hill really freaked him out. He even had a hard time going to Lillooet after that, which was a trip we did every second week. 

“We finally got down to the bottom of the hill and it was the most beautiful sight to see.  Lots of old growth, forest and tall, tall mountains.  We got unloaded, had supper and headed back doing the same dance going up. It was a hell of a trip.

“Being a small town boy, Edmonton was starting to work on me. I was seriously thinking of quitting when Daryl Hendricks told me he was quitting his job too. He was driving a beautiful 1981 Kenworth that Butch Weber had on with Harv. When Butch found out I was quitting and moving back to Regina he asked me to go to work for him so I moved back to Regina and drove the 81 Kenworth. I had the best of both worlds.  Working for Butch was a joy and pleasure.  He never asked you to do more than what you wanted to.  Butch had three trucks, he drove one, I drove one and his brother, Wilf drove the other. In 1989 Butch bought a new anteater for Wilf, so now he needed a driver for the old truck.  Enter Kevin Gibson.  Kevin  was a super driver and a polish freak like myself, so the great chrome race was on!  Kevin just recently quit driving, sold his truck and now dispatches for D.J. Knoll out of Regina.  We still get together for coffee and catch up on truck talk. 

“When I worked for Butch I’d leave Regina Sunday afternoon and be back home Friday by supper. We would polish and service the trucks on Saturday and be back on the road Sunday. Butch has a mechanic, Randy Desjarlais who’s been working for Butch for over twenty-five years.

“In 1990 my Dad and Mark were working out in Drayton Valley for the winter. As usual Dad was running heavy equipment while Mark was driving a Logging truck. In February my Dad died from a heart attack. This was a real shock as he was only 52 years old. Mark and I took it pretty hard and we miss him a lot.

In 1991 Harv Wilkening lost the oil haul contract for Saskatchewan to Ashton Transport; so Butch pulled his four trucks off Wilkening and went to work for Ashton.  We were paid by revenue and the money was great so in 1992 Butch ordered two brand new KW longhoods.  He asked if Kevin and I wanted new trucks but I’d been driving that old ’81 for six years and couldn’t part ways with it so I asked him if it was for sale.  Butch said to go for it and gave me a good piece of advice that day, “let the truck work for you - you don’t work for the truck.”  It seemed like a good deal so in March of ’92 I bought the truck and in two years it was mine free and clear.

In 1993 Mark had settled down and was getting married.  I was in the wedding party and although I didn’t know it at the time, so was my future wife.  A year and a half later I was the one getting married. Shelley and I moved to Humboldt in 1995.  We have been married for 10 years and have four children, Tyler and Colton, 9 year old twins, Logan, 6 and Cheyenne, 5.  We have a beautiful home on 6 acres in town with a shop where I have a place to park my truck. It’s great to live in a small town of approximately 5,000.  Shelley has been behind me with lots of support and she is a great friend.  She grew up in Humboldt so she has lots of family and friends when I’m gone.

In 1994 Harv got the oil contract back from Ashton so I followed it.  I was with Harv for another 3 years when they lost the bid to Kindersley. Harv would have to lose half of his fleet to stay alive so I went looking for another job. The last phone call I made was in response to an ad with no transport company named. The company was Lipsett Cartage which was run by Glen Lipsett, brother to Yogi who Mark had worked for hauling hay a few years back. Glen had trucks on with Hunterline and had pulled them off to start his own company. He knew who I was because we had met a couple of times at rodeos, so we talked but he was looking for someone to pull super b’s.  At the time he was thinking about triaxles but didn’t know if he wanted to do them. We talked about it some more and he said that he would finance my plates and if it didn’t work out I wouldn’t be out any money.

I started for Glen in 1997 and was the first tri-axle, and the 11th truck in the fleet.  Eight years later his company has grown to over 40 trucks and it’s just like working for Harv, a family run business where everybody knows each other.  Just a super place to work.

Having a huge shop at home really comes in handy when I need to work on my truck, like in 1998 when Randy Desjarlais and I did a complete out of frame. We also did the rad and changed all the air lines to plastic. Then just ten short months later I find that I’ve got a busted rail on the left side of the front differential between the air bags. I limped the old truck home and pondered the question, do I fix it or park it.

 My father-in-law, Bernie suggested that since I had always wanted a long hood, now I could build one. I decided to get it back on the road first and then plan for a major rebuild. My truck came from factory with aluminum rails but I had already bought a set of steel frame rails and a hood from a wrecker in Airdrie, AB. For the next 12 days we changed one rail at a time, drilled holes for the rear suspension and then spent 2 days painting.  Then the old truck was ready to roll.  I went from a short hood with aluminum frames to a long hood with a steel frame.

Having lots of room on the acreage, I started collecting parts for the big build. I always wanted an arodyne bunk and I was lucky enough to find one, once again, in Airdrie. A long time friend from Edmonton, Kelvin Frankiw had parted out a 1980 KW so I bought a cab, sleeper and other parts from him.

In September of 2002 the rebuild started. With a lot of help from Bernie, jack of all trades, things went fairly smooth.  I got a lot of help from a local guy by the name of Kevin Brockman.  He does a fantastic job buying and rebuilding wrecks.  From pounding rivets to paint, he does it all.  Kevin has a beautiful orange long hood Pete with a KTA 600 Cummins which is done to the nines!  We rolled my truck into his shop and stripped it down to the frame rails.  My old cab and bunk were pretty shot and needed a lot of work but the parts I bought from Kelvin were all rebuilt.  It took 4 weeks at Kevin’s shop to strip and paint the new cab and bunk and to put the truck back together then Bernie and I ran it back to my shop to finish it off.  That took another 2 weeks. 

“I went back to work on the Monday after Thanksgiving with a ride I always wanted, a long and low, long-hood KW with an arodyne bunk.  With the truck down 6 weeks and no income there was a lot of pressure to get it done and get back to work.  Shelley and my mother-in-law, Gwen would come and see the progress everyday. 

Having an old truck, you have to do a lot of up keep but I think it’s worth it.  I’m home every weekend so it gives me lots of time to maintain the truck and trailer.  Guys ask me if the DOT bugs me because I have an old truck and I say no.  If it’s your turn, it’s your turn.

Working for Glen and Zoe for the past 8 years has been great.  We have good dispatchers, excellent revenue and some home time.  Like a lot of the guys, Glen started with one truck and grew to form a great company.  He’s trying hard to get the rate up which is good to see.  A lot of his customers have come across with rate increases.  With the jump in fuel, plates and maintenance we need the increase and I think the industry is finally starting to turn around.

“Since I rebuilt my truck from top to bottom and have a matching trailer I’ve been entering the truck shows again.  I used to go to Calgary for the Eighteen Wheeler Weekend show but when they ended there were no real shows in Western Canada for quite a few years. I met an interesting guy in Calgary by the name of Gord Cooper. Gord likes the old stuff like I do and he convinced me to go to the Big Rig Weekend in Mission 2 years ago. Now I’ve got the truck show bug again and it’s been all up hill since then. 

“I get a lot of comments about my truck from other guys and even more now since there was a picture of my truck was in Pro-Trucker Magazine’s show coverage issue. My old friends Ken and Ryan Goliboski who drive for Lipsett attended the Mission show last year for the first time. They really helped me out a lot getting ready for the show. We had such a blast that the rain was hardly more than an inconvenience.  

I’ve had strong support from many of my friends and family throughout my trucking career and I’ve been blessed in that I’ve worked for, and with, many great people. The trucking community in a lot of ways is like an extended family and many company owners and driving mentors like Charlie Bagshaw have helped me along the way.

My whole family, starting with my wife Shelley, my in-laws, Bernie and Gwen, my brother Mark and my Mom and Dad have always stood behind me, giving their love, support, and helping wherever possible with my trucking career. I love them all.