 |
|
|
| 10/29/2009 6:35:00 PM | Email this article • Print this article |
|
| Milford Mork, of Dexter, holds the Golden Achievement Award from the American Truck Historical Society, presented for 50 years as a truck driver. It is inscribed, “For over fifty years of dedicated service to the trucking industry. Your efforts have contributed much through many changes and advancements to make the industry what it is today. We sincerely commend you for this achievement.” |
|
Dexter man trucks 4 million miles in half a century
Marceil Skifter
Editor
When Diane Mork married her husband, Milford ("Mel"), 48 years ago, she probably didn't know what she was getting into, but she learned very early theirs was going to be a different kind of marriage. Her first clue came on their wedding day and "honeymoon."
On their wedding day in 1961, Milford was almost late for the wedding because he had two flat tires (both on the same axle) on a truck loaded with grain. For their honeymoon trip, they hauled a load of grain to South Dakota in his "Texas diesel." Milford said the heater didn't work, and Diane got so cold she decided to ride back with his dad, who was also driving a rig. She has since been known to say not everyone can claim they had their father-in-law along on their honeymoon.
Recently, in a celebration with friends and family to mark the occasion, Milford celebrated 50 years as a career trucker. Over those years, he has hauled just about everything and has gone just about everywhere in these United States.
For five years after their kids were raised, Diane (who also has a truck driver's license) drove with him. The Dexter couple has been to all of the lower 48 states and five Canadian provinces.
After the grandkids came along, Diane chose to stay closer to home. The couple has raised four children and they have 11 grandchildren. When asked if the trucker gene was passed on to any of his offspring, Milford said one son drove for 10 years in the Dexter/Stewartville/Rochester area, but decided to give it up. Milford feels honored that he was able to truck with his wife, his son and his father.
When Milford started trucking, Eisenhower was President and the building of the Interstate highway system was just getting started. He witnessed the construction, and now, after half a century, he has traveled the whole Interstate system from north to south and east to west. . . several times.
His favorite route is I-90, and he has traveled it many times, from Boston to Seattle. "I know that whole road like most people know the way to Rochester," he stated. "I could quote the number of miles in each state all the way across," which he does, almost without thinking, peppering his conversation with statistics-just off the cuff. (It must be a "trucker thing.") In fact, Milford knows his way around every major city in the U.S.; he can tell you the mile markers at most of the cities in the US and the elevation of most mountain passes. "I don't need any GPS thing to get around," he stated.
Fifty years ago, when Milford learned to drive a truck, his father and his uncle were truckers. He was only 17 when he first started and didn't even have the required license at that time. At that time he hauled grain-wheat, milo, flax and millet--from North Dakota to Duluth, to ship out on Lake Superior, where "ships from all over", including Russia, waited to haul grain, and a thousand or more trucks a day hauled grain to the port. He remembers on those trips he stayed at a bunk house for truckers that cost 50 cents a night. He said it would get so cold, the big diesels the other truckers drove wouldn't start, and he'd have to pull them with his "Texas diesel" (a Chevy with a gas engine) to help start them.
He also remembers making many trips to Chicago. He could leave Chicago with only $20 in his pocket, and that was enough to pay for the highway toll of $3.25, buy 50 gallons of fuel (approximately $13), a dinner of hamburger steak and coffee for $2.25, a pack of cigarettes for 35 cents and still have money left for coffee and pie at Tomah, Wisconsin.
Milford has transported fresh and frozen eggs to the East Coast--Boston, New York, Baltimore and Philadelphia-as well as beef on the hook. He's hauled East Coast seafood to the West Coast and trucked West Coast seafood, along with cherries and apples from the Pacific Northwest, back to the East Coast.
"I hauled potatoes out of Minnesota's Red River Valley to Alabama, Georgia and Florida bringing back produce to the Twin Cities; Minot, North Dakota; and Winnipeg, Manitoba," he said.
When he leased with Midwest Coast in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, Milford said he "hauled swinging meat for Hormel, Swift, Armour and John Morrell to New York, Boston, and Caribou, Maine." He added, "I still have my meat hook."
In all the years and the many miles Milford has been driving, he said "nothing real serious" happened along the way. He has never had a serious breakdown or chargeable accident.
He has, however, had some memorable driving experiences-mostly weather related.
"I have been snowed in dozens of times. Sometimes two or three days were spent in places like upstate New York, Northern Maine, Snoqualmie Pass (I-90 through the Cascades) in Washington, and Donner Pass (northern Sierra Nevada range) in California," Milford explained.
Milford remembers driving 1871 miles (he rattles off the mileage without stopping to think about it) taking a load for Hormel from Austin to Caribou, Maine - where they don't see the road all winter long in the Haynsville Woods because of the snow. Chemicals weren't applied to the roads years ago, so trucking during the winter months was even tougher than today.
"The roads are a lot better now; trucks are safer and tires are better," he stated.
And snow isn't the only weather-related hazard he's faced. "I have been in a couple of tornadoes. One of them was in Fort Dodge, Iowa and it took the north half of a motel. I was sleeping in the south half." He added, "I was in a sand storm in the Mojave Desert. It was like being in a huge sand blaster."
When talking with Milford, it's plain to see his trucking career can't be compared to a "nine to five" job, especially after putting in half a century. Memories are intertwined with places he has been and the many trucks he has owned-the memories are inseparable. Name a city and he can probably tell you about an experience. Some have been even newsworthy or historical.
"In 1963 I bought a 3000 White, powered by a 431 gas engine. When news came that Kennedy was shot I was in our driveway taking the head off the Golden Comet Reo engine. It was snowing out when Diane came out to tell me about it."
"In 1965 I was close enough to L.A. during the Watts riots to see the smoke from the burning buildings; and in 1968 I was traveling through Memphis when the police were on high alert and even driving without lights. People were marching. A couple of days after I left, Martin Luther King was shot.
"I have seen truck stops where the kitchen was in the middle of the building. Blacks entered from the back and sat on one side while the whites entered from the front and sat on the other side. As a Yankee kid I never experienced something like that. Years later the back was reserved for the truck drivers," he said.
In 1974 when the economy fell and there was a fuel shortage and no freight to haul, truckers came to all but a stop in North America. During the fuel rationing, when there were strikes at the refineries, gas stations were sometimes shut down or pumped only during certain hours. He recalled one fuel station where trucks were only allowed 40 gallons of fuel, which is literally a "drop in the bucket" for a semi. At another truck stop in Denver, 200 trucks sat waiting for fuel-some totally empty, and when the fuel trucks delivered, it still wasn't enough.
During this time, Milford and others testified in Washington D.C. many times to joint hearings of the Dept. of Transportation (DOT) and Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) investigating the oil shortage. He was a registered lobbyist at the State Capitol in St. Paul and was one of the truckers to start the Truckers Association of the Midwest (TAM), an association to fight for truckers by passing new laws. TAM eventually joined the national group, Independent Truckers Association (ITA). "I was honored to be on the board of directors of both the state and national groups," he stated. "I served as Vice President and President of the state association."
He recalled it was on his birthday in 1980 when Mt. St. Helens [in Washington] erupted. He was in Calgary, British Columbia en route to Pasco, Washington. The roads were closed in Washington, Idaho and Montana. He got as far as Missoula, Montana and had to stay there three days. "When I left for Pasco, Washington, the ash was still heavy on the Interstate and I could only travel 10-15 miles an hour for several miles."
When the first attack on the World Trade Center took place in New York City in 1993, he said roads in the area were "a fiasco," taking him until midnight to get out of New York City.
Milford has owned eight new trucks and a number of used ones. Currently he owns a 2001 Freightliner with 850,000 miles on it. His truck is leased to Waymore Transportation out of Fridley, Minn., and he has been driving "dedicated hauls" to supply produce for SuperValu grocery chain for four years.
He doesn't transport dry groceries, but rather fresh fruits and vegetables, which he picks up at the Hopkins, Minnesota distribution center. The produce he hauls is for "make-up loads" to fill in the gaps when stores run short of certain produce.
It seemed logical that he would be pulling a "reefer" (refrigerated trailer), since he's hauling produce, but he said it is also heated, which is important at this time of the year, and for certain produce. "Bananas have to be kept at 57 degrees, or they'll turn black," he said, and he proceeded to tell about the specifications for keeping fruit and veggies at the proper temperature. Mostly, he keeps his freight at 34 degrees.
He also said what we've all suspected-some fruits and vegetables aren't yet ripe when they're picked; in fact, they're not ripe when he picks them up. He said the tomatoes he used to haul from Texas and Mexico were "as green as grass," when he picked them up. When they are shipped, the pallets of tomatoes are covered with big plastic bags, and ethylene gas is pumped into the bags, then they're tied. The gas (which is also naturally emitted by some produce) makes the fruit and veggies ripen along the way. "That's why they're a uniform color at the store," he stated.
"It seems like only yesterday when I was at Little America, Wyoming," Milford reminisced. "Fuel was 17 cents a gallon and they gave full service--filled your tank, washed the windshield and even parked the truck for you. Yes, you even got Green Stamps. The general public got the red menu and the truckers got the discounted blue menu."
When asked about the longest length of time he was gone from home while trucking, he said, "Eight weeks. Two to three weeks at a time is common for truckers; sometimes a month."
But those are all a part of "the good old days" that Milford can talk about with other truckers. These days, Milford leaves Wednesday afternoons to begin his route and returns Saturday, after delivering to three distribution centers in Fargo and Bismarck in North Dakota and Billings, Montana. These centers service 200-plus stores in Minnesota, North and South Dakotas, Montana and Wyoming.
He has what he calls a "dream job." He works three days a week for nine months of the year, and from January through March he and Diane go to Arizona.
It's a great way to wind down a career that has taken Milford over four million miles in half a century; or, as Milford said, summing up his career (thus far), "It has been an awesome ride."
|
Article Comment Submission Form
|
|
|
|
|
News
