I had a weekend job working on a farm while in high-school, but work started for real in 1990. Fresh off the graduation ceremony an uncle took me on to do labor work in oilfield construction. I owe that man so much, he was a great teacher. I remember being picked up by a parts runner and driven far away to a bush camp located in Northern British Columbia. Still just a kid, I didn't know much about construction, but for some reason I always loved the heavy yellow iron. Me and my labor partner Kenny from Saskatchewan; hand pumped fuel into machines, wrangled cloth underlay in muskeg, towed culverts out to crossings with a tongue and dolly contraption, cleaned tracks at night and did lots of other things I have since forgotten. 90-90 was the number of the crew truck we drove, it was the ninetieth pick-up purchased by that contractor and the year was of course 1990. It was remarkable for one thing: It was basically the only truck that survived, intact, through the summer and into the winter on that job. So many were destroyed and broken, amazing in retrospect, it was wild. The job I first went out on was big. 120 kilometers of high grade road and a plant-site built for Canadian Hunter, an oil company that doesn't exist anymore. Its strange that the story I most repeat from that time is about the dirty consultant that worked for that oil company...few I have seen since have matched that mans penchant for crookedness, though I must admit that one just a few years back beat him by a longshot, maybe I will write about him one day. Their exploits taught me more about what not to be than anything else I have ever been witness to.
A few years and many jobs later it is the mid 90's. I am now working for a different construction contractor. ( great outfit, still much respect for them). Same type of work, away from town, staying in camp. I was running a brand new Champion 780 Series 4 road grader. Didn't mind it, a good machine if looked after.
It was also at this time that I had started a long distance relationship with a girl I met and who would almost be the end of me (skip ahead 12 years on that mind timeline), if only I had known how it would end... (But that's history, this post is about work memories). Anyway I was opening line. It’s kind of like getting roads and trails ready for traffic before the drilling starts. All bush work, way out there. I liked it. Well one day the consultant comes up and says "We need you and the grader 100km's east by morning, here is a sketch I made that shows how you can get there cross country" So off I go into the dead of night, highballing, or high blading if you will, into a tunnel of darkness lit only by my floodlights. To show how old I am (And its important to this story) I was listening to a mix cassette tape that misery timeline girl had made me from the club she worked at in the big city. Actually it was two tapes. Somewhere way down that cutline I stopped and got out of the machine to stretch. It was probably a couple hours later that I reached over to change the tape and...it wasn't there! I cherished those tapes, it was a connection that I had with the girl so far away, I was out of my mind. I wanted it back and the only possible answer to where it had gone is that I dropped it getting out of the grader way back down the line when I took the break. Young and dumb what do you think I did? Yes... I turned around and went back for it. Graders don't travel that fast, maybe 20 or 30 mph on a good road...this was a bush line, rough and windy with momentum killing hills through the wilderness. I got back to the place I had stopped and kicked around in the snow looking for that tape. I didn't find it. I get back in the grader and now there is a really good chance I will be late, any thoughts of a nap or breakfast are thrown out.
I got to the job in time. Had a splitting headache by the end of the day and...found the missing tape in my coat pocket where it had been all along
I got to the job in time. Had a splitting headache by the end of the day and...found the missing tape in my coat pocket where it had been all along
I also did not know much about construction, but for some reason I always loved the heavy yellow iron. All the best for your brand new Champion 780 Series 4 road grader.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Komatsu Parts