I've been around long enough to understand that to folks in polite society, a trucker in their midst is like a skunk at their garden party. But, I hang around anyway and try not to stink up the place too badly.
I inadvertantly started down this path at a very tender age. I went to work for a local lumber yard immediately after graduating (yes, I really did graduate) high school, and was tossed the keys to a delivery truck the first day.
I did have other ambitions, but somehow along the way, my young and naive mind became enraptured with notions of the open road, and that became my ambition.
I was driving 18 wheelers about two months before my 19th birthday, and spent the summer I was 19 hauling livestock accross Canada.
When I was 23, I really lost it, and became an owner operator. I did that for 10 years, at which point I was ready to hang it up and get off the road.
I went to work as an instructor at a truck driver training school, and began moving towards a career in fleet safety and compliance.
A very rocky stretch in my (previous)marriage put that plan on hold, and I went back to work driving for an environmental services company that I'm sure you've all heard of.
That job, which was supposed to be a temporary stop gap measure turned into a 17 year stint, the longest I've ever done anything.
Somewhere in my early 30s, I re-aquainted myself with bicycles, but they did not really become a passion for a number of years. Along the way, I developed an interest in bicycle mechanics, and began moving towards that as a career, including taking the Barnett Institute training course.
At the end of 2005, I gave up driving once again, hoping it was for good this time.
Having spent two years going through the excruciating process of creating a business plan, and having had the bank accept my proposal, I opened my bike shop.
I had a three year run during which growth was steady, but still never reached my overly optimistic projections.
After the first year of running the shop, with zero take home pay, I took seasonal employment as a driver on the Tibbit to Contwoyto Winter Road to rehab my bank account.
You may have seen this road featured in a little "reality" tv show called Ice Road Truckers. If you saw season one, they were filming it during my stint, same road, same time.
At the end of 2008, I realized my bike shop had reached the end of the road, and was forced to shut it down.
I was fortunate to find a job with a major trucking company that offered truck share jobs. This means I have a dedicated unit, but work 7 days on and 7 days off. Another driver works the same schedule opposite me.
I run a small bike service business at home on my off week,and have a small dedicated client list.
Over all, life is pretty good.