Big Rig: Comic Tales from a Long Haul Trucker

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

“What is it with kids and big trucks? If you happen to be parked
somewhere, kids will come out of the woodwork, asking where you’ve
been, where [you’re] going, and ‘can we look inside the truck?’
Allowing them inside and a chance to pull the air horn makes you king
for the day. This may not sound like any big deal, but how often do you
see a lawyer standing on the street with kids all around him, asking
about his latest lawsuit?”

Don McTavish has been driving trucks since 1958. He has bounced axles
over virtually every piece of dirt north of the Rio Grande and has the
stories to prove it. Readers of Big Rig will find out what it is like to
drive down a mountain carrying a load of logs with no brakes, no road,
and no experience. Or what it is like to spend a week sharing a
phone-booth-sized truck cab with oddball co-drivers whose nicknames are
“Even Up,” “Lonesome Len,” “Zorro,” and “Yabba Dabba.”
With metaphors like “the temperature goes up and down like a new
bride’s pajamas” and “more curves than a chorus girls
convention,” you can forget the quest for the well-turned phrase:
McTavish writes exactly like what he is—a truck driver. At the same
time, he has a flair for good old-fashioned storytelling. If you have
ever wondered what it was like doing a long haul in an 18-wheeler, park
your rig in the nearest armchair and listen to the voice of experience.