Started Local with Flats

Not so back in the day, more like a few years ago when I actually started trucking. But I grew up in the industry at the family trucking company, Art Pape Transfer. My grandpa, Arthur Pape started it back in 56', still in the family today. Art sold it to 3 of his 8 kids, my dad and two uncles. One uncle retired in the early 90's for health reasons. The other was bought out by my brother Chris, Cpape here on the forum.

Anyways, we began hauling livestock out of in Cascade, IA into the Chicago packing houses. My dad would tell stories of how he had to shovel #### out of the trailers. We started hauling steel back to Dubuque in the cattle trailers. Eventually got into hauling bulk commodities. Today we have open-deck and van divisions. We haul machinery, steel, and other building materials in the eastern half of the US. We never grew much past 50 trucks, it allows us to stay flexible. Plus I like knowing everyone's name and their families.

As for my story, I started out tagging along to work with dad on Saturday mornings. I would ride in trucks and machinery when he was switching around loads. I started working as a gopher with all the usual dirty jobs (and never really outgrew them). In high school I moved into the shop doing tire and trailer work. Never went to driving school, learned to drive jockeying trailers around the yard and driving with some OTR guys. Got my class A at 18 and started doing local and regional work. My brother worked my ### off during the summers, 14-16 hour days 5 days a week hauling machinery and steel. Kind of a trial by fire. Plus 6-8 hours on Saturday around the shop doing mechanical work. Now I'm finishing up college in May, moving back to Dubuque, and going to work in operations full time. I can't wait to get hit the ground running, or should I say rolling?

 

Thanks, I'm excited! As the old saying goes, "love what you do and you'll never work a day in your life."

We've got a group of "good ol' boys" that I can sit an shoot the #### with all day if I was given a chance. The stories they have are great. I recently heard one about how they used to toss a piece of plywood across the driver and passenger seats to sleep before they had trucks with sleepers. Check out my profile, I have an album called "beginnings" with some old photos.

 

JDP, how did they get steel into a cattle trailer? That's a combination I've never heard of before.

 

To be honest, I'm not sure. I'll ask Pops this weekend and get back to ya.

 

Iv'e got a nice 3/4 inch piece of marine plywood i keep behind the seat for just that sort of thing still,but i did staple a 2 inch cushion to it

''Pack-mules''

 

The cattle trailers had a soft top. Once they unloaded the livestock, they had to get the trailer cleaned out. Then they had to close in the trailer. I believe this was done with plywood, but I am not certain. I never asked about the tiedowns, but I assume they welded something into the bottom of the trailer. Everything was loaded/unloaded with OH crane.

IIRC, they would load up on Sunday, and head into Chicago. Monday would be spent unloading, cleaning the trailer, and closing it in. Reload on Tuesday and get back to Iowa on Wednesday. (It is about 200 mi from Eastern Iowa to Chicago). Today we have trucks with flats that run back and forth from Chicago every day, 5 days a week.

 

My dad started out haulin cement in the late 50's pulling flats and tankers for Kosmos Cement in Kosmosdale, Ky. As a child I would go with him on runs and remember hanging out the window to watch the flame come out the stack at night on them B-61 Macks he owned. He worked there into the mid 70's when he started working for Central Motors Transport until 1981. I started driving for a guy that my dad worked with when they were hauling cement and he started his own company pulling flats vans dry bulk tanks. I stayed there for 4 years then went to work for the last company my dad worked for but it was renamed H and O Transport pulling all vans. Not really liking the vans and all the BS that comes with it, I went to Montgomery Tank Lines for a few years but still missed pulling flats so around 1998 I went back to flats and been pulling them every since.

 

My dad operated equipment in the Army during the Korean war and afterwards he went log truck driving. Sometimes afterwards he went between long haul and then going local running equipment, driving dump truck and hauling the equipment. in about 1975 he settled down to running equipment and occasionally driving. My brothers and I got to ride around quite a bit in the trucks and equipment. My dad taught several of us to run equipment (dozers, backhoe's) and drive truck. 3 out of my 5 brothers drive or have drove (still hold cdl) and I have cousins and uncles that have all done the same thing. Big driving family and I also married into it. My wife, brother in law, father in law and mother in law all have cdl and drive or have drove or run equipment. I got into flats as it is what I like and only count 6 yrs plus as thats when I got my class A and went OTR instead of just having a class B.