Ron Blackman dreamed of being a truck driver when he was a teenaged high-schooler in Sarnia, Ont. “Your arm out the window, the wind in your hair and a cigarette between your fingers,” is how he visualized his future.
He grew up on a farm and was operating straight trucks from the age of 16.
Fast forward to about 60 years later, the now 84-year-old continues to live his dream. The spry octogenarian nimbly gets in and out of his day cab toward the end of a 12-hour workday, pulling loads three days a week for Larry Fritz & Sons.
“When people guess my age, they say I’m 70,” he said with an impish smile.
Blackman didn’t jump into a truck straight out of high school because he had hopes of becoming a pilot. In 1958 at the age of 17, he joined a program for naval flyers in British Columbia. Unfortunately, a year later, he was not successful. “I can say I wasn’t in love with the naval life.”
He returned home to Sarnia and worked in industry for the next 17 years, ending up as an industrial motor millwright.
In 1977, Blackman went to work on a corporate farm, where he was responsible for maintaining the equipment. This where he started moving tractor-trailers during farming operations.
A few years later, he moved to another farm where the owner also was in the propane distribution business. Blackman started running a propane tanker out of Guelph and Barrie, Ont.
“Then came the opportunity to run longhaul and I never looked back,” he said.
The veteran driver hasn’t counted the miles he’s driven, but he’s sure he’s racked up millions of them. He’s traveled all the provinces in Canada except Newfoundland and all 48 continental U.S. states in the past 45 years.
Back then, Blackman would drive for 20 hours, sleeping just three or four hours. Then he’d be back at it again. He’d find someone to run with and talk on the radio all night. “You’d talk all kinds of bulls**t.”
He remembers talking to a guy all night about the big, fancy trucks they were driving. In reality, he was running an old cabover and the other guy wasn’t driving anything fancy either. “But we made it sound good,” he reminisced with a far look in his eyes.
He’s pulled tanker, dry van, reefer and owned a drop deck flatbed. Hauling farm and construction equipment was his favorite type of work, including the oversized loads. He’s worked as an owner-operator and as a company driver.
“I always liked driving. I was happier in a truck than anywhere else,” he said.
During his career, he’s also trained over-the-road drivers for a while. He said he preferred training women, because they were safer drivers.
Sleeping is important
His longhaul days ended after he developed diabetes and he’s been working regional and local since then. He tries to eat reasonably well. He decided many years ago that sleep was important and makes sure he gets eight hours of it a night.
Trucking has been good to Blackman, but it has not been kind. He’s been married three times. “Trucking has affected my relationships,” he admitted. “Most women aren’t going to put up you being gone all the time. I regret losing my family, but a lot of that had nothing to do with trucking.”
When asked why he keeps trucking, his reply was honest, “I was married three times, that’s the biggest reason.”
Driving into the sunset
This week, Blackman passed his commercial driving licence test. He must do it yearly – medical, air brakes and the ministry road test. He’s good to go for another year.
He’s thinking about hanging up his keys before his 85th birthday next January. He plays darts three times a week and shoots pool once a week. There’s a lady friend in the mix and Blackman plans to travel with her.