Canada Gooses

Where has this week gone? I started Monday with all these great intentions. The Pete would be running, I’d have the yard cleaned, and a real game plan would be in place with the slow-moving train I call a brand. Guess who accomplished zero of their goals this week? This guy! But I have one wild ride to tell you all about, and a new Injected Industry steed has been introduced to the stable. 

Ah, my mistress, the 1991 Peterbilt which will undoubtedly be a staple in these updates. I walked out back on Tuesday with full intentions of pulling this tired workhorse out of the hole it’s sunk into while sitting. The familiar feel of the stainless steel door handle and the high-pitched creak of the near-30-year old hinge brings back memories of my first time driving a big truck. That’s another story for another day. 

Lining up the night switches, turning the key and pressing the starter button, I was sure my beauty would fire because it always does. Not today, not this week. After half a minute of the tired starter putting all it’s might into whirling the old diesel over, Brandon and I start to smell burnt wiring... Great. With no time to rip into her today, off the night switches go and we waste sufficient time around the truck just to make sure it doesn’t light up in a ball of flames and leave me when a mess of steel, aluminum, and singed wood. We’ll try again next week. 

The rest of the week was spent filled with normal Tow Truck drama, broken trucks, and yard cleanup. Nothing too exciting, although I did save the back half of a 1940’s wrecker from being crushed so we’ll consider that an accomplishment. 

Saturday rolls around, which is the most exciting day this week. I know it’s surprising that a weekend day would be more exciting than the mundane drag of the work week, right? Well, it involves work of course. 

We start at 4:08 am. why was I awake at that time, on my own accord? Because Injected Industry gets to bring home a new project truck today! 

I jumped in our 16-ton medium wrecker Peterbilt, which I will dive into much more detail another day, load up a first-aid shack and off to Blue River we go. When I had gone to bed at 11:30 Friday night, the roads were dry and bare, but of course this morning they had a thin sheet of ice that turns asphalt into a skating rink.

Slow going through the first 150 kilometres of the journey, which brings me to the bridge over Goat River. Knowing how steep this road gets as it declines to the water-crossing, I gear the Cat-powered unit down to a safe speed. I see what looks like a brown Boulder on my side of the road halfway down the hill, so I move partially into the oncoming passing lane to scoot away from the obstruction. Well, I can tell you for sure it wasn’t a boulder, as I got closer the mystery object sprouted legs and revealed a wing-span I could’ve swore was the width of the truck. I had just startled a Canada Goose! This poor bird was sent frolicking and waddling right in my lane as it struggles to escape the straight-piped Peterbilt breathing down its neck. The Goose survived, don’t worry PETA.

this sent my truck, and the subsequent trailer attached to the back, in a mad scramble. Sliding sideways down a hill coming towards a two-lane bridge was about as much fun as you can have at 6 o’clock on a Saturday morning. I collect both my composure, and the unit I’m steering and over the bridge we go. After a quick text to my sister about the previously mentioned Canada Goose, back on the road I go. 

The trip was uneventful until I dropped the trailer off, then it became an i2 Road trip! Through Clearwater, and down into Barriere, where my close friend and part-time arch nemesis, Donny, has his towing company setup. Send him a quick video of me verbally degrading his business and back on the road we go. All in good fun, of course. Burn through Kamloops, and Vernon, just to find my pickup location on the outskirts of a town called Coldstream, in between Vernon and Lumby. It still feels like summer in the southern interior of British Columbia. 

I need to preface this by explaining what I had thought I was buying. For some reason, when I saw the ad on Facebook, I immediately viewed this as my perfect dream truck. I had told myself it was a white, extended cab, short wheel base, F550, 7.3, 6 speed, 4x4. Which was exactly what I had been searching for to make a wrecker out of. Looking at it now, the entire description for the ad says “99 7.3, newer 6 spd, ran when parked” I don’t know what I was thinking or where I got these wild claims. 

Back to Saturday, when I showed up to pickup my absolute perfect wrecker project. I roll in, make a great first impression as their gate swings into my tow truck and falls off its hinge, perfect. Then I get my first glance at the unit, as it sat in its glory in roughly 2” of tacky mud. There sat a Silver, F350, then definitely hadn’t run in a while. At least it’s an extended cab, short wheelbase, 7.3, 6 speed, 4x4, right? Well it’s too late to back out now, I hand Mathias the cash, load up my unit and we start the 800km trek back home. 

In my haste to get going, I forgot to update my logbook. This wouldn’t have been a big deal, if I didn’t get the “park, bring papers” light as I rolled through the scale in Kamloops. I will spare the details as id be violating a company policy if I didn’t, but all I can say is that I lost 2.5 hours of my life that I will never get back all because of my complacency.

The rest of the trip, furthermore, the rest of the weekend was great as I prepare for the week ahead. Will I accomplish any of my goals this week? I guess you’ll find out when I do! I’ve attached some pictures of the trip and some of the new i2 steed. What it will become still escapes me but rest easy, because it’ll serve some type of purpose! 

‘Till next time, 

Mike