<<Rewind 2016: Meeting Yogi

In-depth

4 July

Prologue:

Everyone knows Yogi, right? I mean, he’s been on the box for, like ever. He loves attending truck shows whenever he can. It’s not like you’d run across the man and not know who he was.

Full disclosure: I hadn’t a clue when I ran across Yogi at the Alexandra Truck Show back in 2016. For someone who’s been writing about trucks, truck shows and the people who make up this great industry for over a decade, until that time I’d not watched a single episode of Outback Truckers. Sacrilege, right?

Funnily enough, our meeting and my lack of knowledge and equal lack of humbleness in the presence of truckin’ royalty allowed me to ask questions I otherwise may not have.

Equally, I think Yogi found my interview refreshing. I certainly hope so.

A few years have passed since that first encounter and our paths have crossed numerous times since, to the point that I think we can honestly call each other ‘mate’ these days.

Anyhow, here’s what I wrote back then.

…….

It’s been said a million times, but the beautiful thing about truck shows is that they are attended by ordinary folk. That is meant as the greatest compliment. No airs, no graces. Strolling up Main St at Alexandra and there’s an ordinary bloke leaning against his purple 1995 Kenworth T900, swallowing in the atmosphere, happy in his truck heaven.

Glenn Kendall, better known to millions of viewers as Yogi of Outback Truckers, happened to be stuck in Melbourne while some warranty work was being carried out on his trailer and was at a loose end. “What else would you do on a long weekend when there’s a truck show on? I didn’t time it for Alex but got caught up so figured I may as well come and have a look at everyone else’s headaches.”

From Katanning, 300km north of Perth, fame has not changed the man. “It’s fleeting isn’t it? I’ve had my fifteen minutes and reckon I’m pretty lucky. Now I just get on with the job.”

Kendall trucking will cart anything, anywhere. “I specialise in ugly freight and I’m not fussed where I go. It’s just me and my wife and kids and one truck and one trailer. One truck only gives me one drama.”

Nearing 40, Yogi’s been driving nearly twenty years. Unlike many, he enjoys driving into the Big Smoke. “It’s nice. There’s people, there’s stuff, there’s something to do. I can get a coffee just over there, not 200 kms away, sayin, ‘Wouldn’t mind a coffee.’ ”

**Proving he can drive as well as he can yak, Yogi took out the 2016 Scania Driver’s Competition**

Yogi began doing interstate out of Wangaratta for six years before heading west.

“The West has taught me how to be self-sufficient. If you haven’t had a feed in WA by six o clock at night, you’re not going to eat that night. You’ve got to be smart about what you do. You’ve got to be smart about where you go. I’ve got tins of tuna and two minute noodles under the bunk. If I can boil water I can eat. Anywhere we go, we are always self-sufficient.”

Camaraderie across the paddock?

“It’s ok but there’s too much line haul and too much changeover stuff going on. Blokes don’t really care out there. It’s all, “I gotta go, gotta go.” It drives me insane. She’s pumping 47 degrees and the company trucks are holding it flat to the floor while I’m cruising along at 80. Then they get to Ceduna and they get all bent out of shape because they gotta hang around for a tyre fitter. Well, guess what mate? I’m going because I was only doing 80. They don’t gain anything. I’m an owner driver and I have to pay for the tyres myself. I don’t do that shit. It’s a harsh old land and you gotta take account of the conditions.

“I’m 100% independent so I’m a single owner/operator with no contracts. So I rely on blokes like me. I’ll give them freight if I’ve got a load and I can’t do it. I’ll give it to someone I know who is exactly the same as me. Strugglers, one truck. There’s the camaraderie. There’s six, seven of us and we can run gear anywhere from Perth to Cairns. There’s mates we use who can rely on each other and that’s how we get by. We all do the right thing by the client because we all want the repeat business. It’s just logic.

**Yogi and Amanda are great supporters of the Vic Truck Drivers Memorial**

“Dad (Dallas) carted plastic milk bottles in Melbourne. He’s 65 now and unfortunately he’s has dementia since 57 which is just horrible. Cuts me to the bone. He drove for the one company for 21 years and got a gold watch when he left. That kind of pushed me into being an owner/driver. A gold watch doesn’t really reflect 21 years of good service does it? I’d rather have a purple 900.

“I enjoy the life we live. We started from scratch and I’m proud of what we’ve done. We went out on a whim and a prayer. I bought a trailer that could cart farm machinery at the very start and got a truck that could haul it. Amanda and I are both on same page.

“Now I’ve got 400 customers on my books and we can rely on a lot of people. WA has taught me to be a good operator. They’ve got it right in WA. You don’t work hard, you can’t work hard so you work smart. In the eastern states it’s ‘Gotta go, gotta go’. What for? You’re gonna get there six minutes quicker than me? There’s a lot of regulations that need changing. But I’m just an independent, a little truckie in a big trucking pond. I think I’m doing it right though.”

Here is a man who loves his family. In two years of Outback Truckers the kids were in the truck every other day. “My daughter says she’s going to drive trucks – and be a nurse and a doctor and a fire fighter. My boy thinks he might drive trucks. They’re sensational. They understand work and what it takes to earn a living and be part of a team, they’re respectful. Across the Great Australian Bight we camp out. They roll out their swags and we cook up. They see another life and learn a hell of a lot.”

Sounds like those kids have a darn good teacher!