Mike’s Swapping his Peterbilt for Someone Else’s

Life With Kermie

1 Aug

Regular readers of these pages would be well aware of my Canadian truckie mate, Mike Murchison. Mike came on board Truckin with Kermie within the first week of so of launching just over a year ago and we have stayed in contact since.

A multi- talented truckie, Mike often does live blogs from his truck and home, often with guitar in hand. He has recently released a couple of self-composed singles on Spotify, It Aint About Me and my favourite, Scars – the video of which I’ll post at the bottom of this page. Do yourself a favour and have a listen, and even better, part with a buck and buy them.

Mike and wife, Donna have two trucks – a 2005, 389 Peterbilt and a 2000 Kenworth W900. After 30 years running his own business (Donna behind the wheel for 15), the couple have decided that now is the time to take stock of their lives.

Consequently Mike has decided to put his beloved Peterbilt on the market, put the W900 and its Reefer into storage and go down the employee path. Both he and Donna will be behind the wheels of Peterbilt’s, pulling fertilizer and canola. The life change means they will only be on the road five days a week, running Alberta to Washington State and to Idaho, with weekends off. Someone else will be picking up all the bills which, as Mike intimated, “Takes a load off.”

**The Murchison’s new rides. Mike gets the bullbar**

In comparing his old ride with the new, Mike says, “The ride is smooth, just like my 389. BUT. It has a Cummins. You’ve got to downshift at higher rpm ie: 1300 with these weights. The throttle is more sensitive. My CAT is a better puller.

“It’s optioned out with all the amenities – satellite radio, Paccar Navigation, Pioneer sound system and leather seats. The owner has 31 of these trucks and currently 12 vacancies. New guys don’t want to pull ‘wiggle wagons’ (What we’d call B-doubles).

**Mike prefers the Big Yellow, but the fuel for this Big Red doesn’t come out of his pocket.**

“You wash your own truck and trailers, including inside the hoppers. There’s a huge double bay washbay. Dispatch is low key and there’s no pressure, which is a nice change. Hauling AG products is a different world (including the people) to pulling Reefers or vans.

Having just turned the big 6oh Mike (and Donna) are being rational about the future while still keeping a safety net with the Kenny and Reefer. Good luck with your new jobs guys and keep those videos and songs coming Mike. I’m betting that parting with the Peterbilt will be a wrench but at least you’re behind the wheel of another one.

Take care of You (both)

Here’s Mike singing his original song, Scars …

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