Canadian driver got trucking ‘bug’ while warehousing; learned from other drivers

By BARB KAMPBELL
The Trucker Staff

5/29/2009

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Mike Noga started his career in the trucking industry by working in warehousing and while there he learned to drive trucks.

Driving trucks wasn’t part of the Canadian’s job while loading and unloading trailers, but he often chatted with owner-operators who would let him back their trucks into the docks and move them around on the lot.

“I just got the bug,” Noga said. “That’s how I learned to drive.”

Noga said it wasn’t mandatory in 1997 for Canadian drivers to go to trucking school and he already knew how to drive.

“I think that’s the better way to learn — through experience,” Noga said.

He had attended community college for electronics but after graduating doing that kind of work just didn’t really appeal to him.

Noga hauls drop-deck loads as an owner-operator leased to Dubois Trucking in Canada. He is licensed in both Canada and the U.S. and drives mostly from Ontario to points west. He has only been driving into the U.S. since September 2008.

Noga was an owner-operator before working as a company driver for Con-way Transportation.

“I bought my own [truck] again; this [2009 Peterbilt] is my second truck,” Noga said. “I decided I wanted to drive in the U.S. It’s just a new experience; a way to see the country, I guess.”

The Trucker wondered what differences there are between driving in Canada and driving in the United States.

“The roads are 100 times better [in the U.S.],” Noga said. “Highways, everything is double laned. Everybody is friendly for the most part.”

Noga mostly drives in the U.S. hauling hay and straw into Iowa and southern Minnesota. On return trips to Canada he takes steel, or grain bin parts.

Noga said he hadn’t seen too much of an effect on things because of the economy.

“I haven’t seen any of it until I came to Arkansas,” he said. “This is the farthest south I’ve come. I’ve always had loads until this trip. I’ve sat [in Arkansas] since Tuesday [he said on a Thursday morning]. It isn’t too bad because you get a chance to do some maintenance on your truck. As long as it doesn’t happen too much I’m alright. I’m reloading today and just waiting on info to come over on satellite.”

As an owner-operator, Noga said he gets home once a week and stays there for one to two days. When he was a company driver he did overnight trips and was home every day, but was sleeping during the day and gone at night.

“I probably have more free time now as an owner-operator than I did as a company driver,” he said.

In Canada truckers can drive 13 hours, Noga explained. For truckers crossing the border into the U.S., there’s the 11-hour maximum driving time and the Canadian rule can be an issue.

“If I’m going home I can cross the border and get home, but a lot of drivers coming south have to stop because they run out of hours to drive.”

Noga doesn’t mind rules; he follows them by the book.

“I’ve never been stopped by DOT and have yet to be pulled into a scale,” Noga said. “I’m kinda looking forward to it. I keep my logs up to date. I run legal. It’s too much of a risk to bend the rules. My truck and trailer are new and I take care of them.”

Dubois Trucking, the company he’s leased to, gives drivers what they need to know to come into the U.S., he said.

“Ignorance is no excuse,” Noga said. “If you’re coming into a country you better know what their rules are.”

Noga said he gets a kick out of listening to CB chatter while in the United States.

“It’s funny listening to people down here,” he said. “The way they talk to each other. There’s not much chatter in Canada. They aren’t saying anything meaningful but it’s comical.”

Another difference he’s found is what happens at truck stops.

“The prostitution problem seems to be more in the south,” Noga said. “It happened here and in Kansas City. I never had it in Chicago. They walk by your truck, but they didn’t approach me, which was nice.

“There’s a lady [on the CB] who wants to clean your truck for $20 and she’ll do it for $30 if you want it topless. She sounded kind of aged. For $20 I can clean my own truck. I think it’s funny. Everybody has to make a living. Some people just make really bad choices.”

Noga said drivers in the U.S. and Canada are about the same.

“I’m more likely to stop and help a trucker back home if I know the company,” he said. “If I see another Canadian truck I’m more likely to stop in the U.S. — if I know the company. You read a lot in the news about stuff that happens. It’s a lot more dangerous than it was 10 years ago.”

And what about other truckers and the way they behave and dress?

“It’s a personal thing,” he said; “I shower every day if I can. There are just some people I call ‘Rub a Dubs,’ which is a term my mother always used. It means a guy who’s got his shirt untucked; who is dirty. Maybe he’s got torn up jeans, dirty, greasy hair. It’s not just the U.S.; it’s not just trucking, there are people everywhere in other industries. It comes down to personal hygiene.

“I keep my truck very clean inside. I don’t get my floors tracked up. I keep my bunk made.”

Sometimes Noga takes his boxer dog along with him, but not this time of year.

“She’ll ride with me in the summer,” he said, “but it’s too muddy in Canada during the spring from all the melting snow. Dogs are good traveling companions. They make you get out and exercise.”

Noga has a fiancé and three children ages 18, 12 and 9. His wedding is scheduled for June 20 when they will have a small informal wedding with family and friends.   

Noga file:
Years driving: 11
Birthday: March 22, 1970
Favorite place to drive: The whole United States
Drives: 2009 Peterbilt 386
Home vehicle: 2005 GMC Sierra
Drives for: Owner-operator leased to Dubois Trucking, Canada
Hometown: Gimli, Manitoba, Canada

Barb Kampbell of The Trucker staff can be reached for comment at barbkampbell@thetrucker.com.

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