10-4 Magazine - For Today's Trucker

COVER FEATURE - NOVEMBER 2005

LIVE TO TRUCK, TRUCK TO LIVE
ROD & KIM GRIMM EAT, BREATHE AND SLEEP TRUCKING

By Daniel J. Linss - Editor

Of all the truckers we’ve met over the years, none are as fanatical as Rod & Kim Grimm. They eat, breathe and sleep the trucking lifestyle. And after 20 years of being out on the road together, they still love it – and each other – amazing! Their hard-working tractor-trailer “Illusion” just turned seven years old and is just about to surpass the 1.6 million-mile mark – and she still looks good enough to grace our cover.

Sometimes our photo shoots go smooth, and sometimes we really have to work to get them done. This one fit into the latter. We were scheduled to meet Rod & Kim at 10:00 a.m. at a warehouse they often pickup from at the now-closed Alameda Point Naval Air Station just across the bay from San Francisco. Since the base closed in 1995, businesses have been moving into the various buildings, utilizing the vast amount of recently-vacated space. We arrived at the location on-time but found out that Rod & Kim were being delayed in Stockton as they attempted to make some drops.

While we waited, Bret Bickar gave us a tour of the warehouse he runs on the base in Building #29. The structure was built in 1989 to test fire a huge gatling gun. This weapon can fire 4,200 rounds of 50MM depleted uranium slugs per minute. The building, constructed with 18-inch thick concrete walls lined with 3/4-inch thick steel plates, has a 140-foot long “shooting range” with a 40-foot deep building at the end that would be full of sand (to stop the bullets). You can still see where the slugs hit the wall in some places. Today, the building’s thick concrete walls make it a perfect place to store wine. Thanks go out to Bret and his crew for giving us “the tour” while we waited and for later helping us out with their forklift so we could get some “overhead” shots of Rod & Kim’s rig.

Rod & Kim finally arrived to meet us at about 1:00 p.m. but still had to make two drops before the day ended. We spent two hours taking some shots of their rig and then headed down the street with them (and their two Cocker Spaniels, Lizzie and Starbuck) to make the deliveries. What a surprise – there was a line of trucks waiting for a dock space. Oh well, that gave us some time to chat about how they got started in trucking.

Rod & Kim were both born and raised in Iowa. Kim has lived in several towns over the years, but Rod was born in Vinton and, besides a three-year stint in Arkansas and two years in Illinois, he has lived there his entire life. Rod’s dad drove truck and worked in a rock quarry, so as soon as he graduated from high school in 1975, Rod went to work at the quarry. A year later, he started driving – first just inside the quarry, and then later he was allowed to venture out in a dump truck. Kim met Rod while they were still in high school and, after graduating in 1976, Rod’s dad helped her get a job at the quarry in the scalehouse. After two years, she decided to get some training and become a truck driver.

In 1978, Kim attended a five-week course in truck driving and then got her license. She, like Rod, started driving a dump truck out of the quarry as well. Back in 1978, there weren’t many female truck drivers, so it wasn’t always easy. Most of the guys thought it was a bad idea to have a woman driver. They told her that she wouldn’t last six months. But she pulled her own weight and proved them all wrong. Back then, drivers were expected to change their own oil, grease their trucks and do all the maintenance. They didn’t teach Kim about this stuff at truck-driving school, so she had to learn the hard way (the school of hard knocks).

After seven years of dump trucking, Rod & Kim went out on the road together as a team and never looked back. For the first ten years, they drove “other people’s” trucks. In the early days, they cut their teeth on some pretty rough equipment. Their first (company) truck was a 1980 Freightliner cabover with no power steering. Their next truck was a 1987 Kenworth cabover. This truck was a little better, but it only had a 310 Cat, so power was not its strong point. The next truck was a 1989 Kenworth T600 with a 425 Cat. Rod & Kim (especially Kim) loved that old “anteater” and the two of them put 700,000 miles on it over the years. Next was a 1992 KW T600. Painted Sable (black with heavy gold metallic flake), they named this truck “Black Gold” and started taking it to truck shows – and winning!

In 1995 they decided to buy their own rig and purchased a 1995 Kenworth T600 painted black cherry and named her “Midnight Rose.” They liked their previous company truck so much, they decided to call their new little company “Black Gold Trucking,” which they still run under today. Having been owner operators now for the last ten years, they wouldn’t have it any other way. In 1998 they ordered the W900L Kenworth on our cover/centerfold this month. But before we could get to all those details, a spot finally opened up on the dock, so it was time to unload a delivery. And not a moment too soon either, because it was getting late and they still had one more drop to get off.

Working together as a team, Rod & Kim got that rig backed up to the dock in no time. Rod stood outside with a radio and directed Kim who was behind the wheel. After waiting for over an hour to deliver just one small pallet, it was off to the last drop. Kim had to sweet-talk the guys on the dock to unload her (half-pallet) because it was after hours. We figure Kim can probably sweet-talk her way in (or out) of anything. After making the last delivery, we headed back out to Alameda to try to get some pictures of the truck next to an aircraft carrier. Again, Kim used her charm to get the security guards and the CEO of the USS Hornet to allow us to go around some concrete barriers and get some shots of the truck next to the retired ship, which is now a museum. What a sight!

After the sun set, we headed over to Bay Area Kenworth in Oakland to get some work done on the truck. Earlier that day, Rod & Kim realized that a brake chamber bracket had failed, so they needed to have it replaced. Shop Foreman Larry Ryan assured them that the truck would be ready to go in a few hours so we headed out to find some dinner. We ended up at a rib joint called Everett and Jones and all shared a “slab” of ribs. All of us agreed that these were the best ribs we had ever eaten! During dinner, we picked up where we left off, talking about their truck.

Ordered new in 1998, Rod & Kim knew exactly what they wanted. They wanted a big bad Kenworth W900L with lots of power and a large, comfortable sleeper. They also wanted it to look a little different, opting for extra round air horns and lights (at the time, everything was square on a stock Kenworth). The only thing that wasn’t set in stone yet was the color – Rod wanted blue and Kim wanted black. Kim said that she would compromise on the color if she could have single round headlights mounted up front. Rod liked the idea too, so they settled on Light Blue Metallic paint with Sable Black fenders and whale tail.

To help pay for the custom work done on the front end, they ordered the truck with Donaldson air cleaners (instead of Vortox), got a 13-speed (instead of an 18-speed), and settled for a 475 Cat (which they later “turned up” to a 550). With the money they saved, they had the Kenworth dealer in Joplin, Missouri start working on their hood and fenders. The dealership got a 1997 hood, cut out the headlights and filled the holes. They painted the hood and fenders using the exact paint codes from Kenworth and then mounted the single round headlights on Double JJ brackets. Once the truck was delivered, Rod & Kim took it to Joplin and had the hood switched out. The end result was a very “Peterbilt-looking” Kenworth. For that reason (and a few others), they named her “Illusion” and painted it on the side of the sleeper.

Shortly after getting the new truck, Kim’s brother Paul Wiley went to work on the interior. First he laid down a beautiful wood floor and then he tore out the upper bunk and installed solid oak cabinets and shelving. He did a fantastic job at making the interior of this rig one of its best features. Later he added a flip-down television screen and many other small details. Over the years, Paul has helped them with many of their projects – and he’s always willing to lend a hand at the truck shows when he can. Carl Carstens of Rockwood made a custom plaque in their sleeper and custom engraved steering wheel inserts that say “Truck to Live” on the left side and “Live to Truck” on the right side, along with their corresponding names. This phrase is also painted on the back of their sleeper. In fact, the license plate on Kim’s car at home says “LIV2TRK” and the one on Rod’s pickup reads “TRK2LIV.” After spending time with them, we realized this is more than just a “phrase” on their truck – it’s their way of life.

In 2001 they bought a 48-foot Utility spread-axle reefer. The trailer is white with blue and maroon graphics to match the tractor and features three fluorescent lights inside (very handy). Their friend Maryann at Blast Graphics did all the vinyl striping on the truck and trailer. The trailer, like the truck, has lots of chrome and LED lights. Together, the two make for a nice combination going down the road. But after seven years and almost 1.6 million miles, many think its time for Rod & Kim to buy a new truck. To that, they say, “No way!” They don’t like the new engines, they don’t like the new dashes, and they aren’t having any problems with the truck. The way they see it, if it isn’t broke, why fix it?

After dinner, we dropped Rod & Kim off at the Kenworth dealership, headed to our room and crashed. We got an early start the next morning and met them back out at Alameda as the sun was rising. After a couple hours and many more photographs, we chatted one more time before they had to leave to go make their pickups for the day. We talked mostly about the company they haul for and where they run.

Over their 20-year OTR trucking career, they have only worked for a handful of companies. For the last four years, they have run for D&G Transportation out of Germantown, Wisconsin, hauling LTL freight between Wisconsin and California. They really like this company because so many of the dispatchers and supervisors were once truck drivers themselves, including owner Gene Feld, who started driving in 1955 at the age of 17. Today, D&G has about 75 leased-on owner operators who all own their trucks and trailers. Rod & Kim haul a lot of cheese and sausage out of Wisconsin and all sorts of stuff out of California.

But trucking has never been about the money for Rod & Kim – it’s what they love to do. They couldn’t imagine doing anything else. They have taken advantage of every opportunity that trucking has afforded them. They write articles for magazines, they visit interesting places, they make new friends everywhere they go and they enjoy each and every day as if it were the last. Their truck has been in magazines and calendars, their dogs have been on television, and after all these years (and miles) together, they are still happily married. Some just look out the windshield and drive – they see a beautiful sunset or stunning city-scape. They can even make getting lost fun, citing a story about how they got to see the back of the Statue of Liberty after making a wrong turn. They love it when tourists stop to take pictures of their truck and often let them climb inside for a few photos. The way they look at their job is that they get paid to go where other people pay to go – it doesn’t get any better than that.

In closing, Rod & Kim wanted to dedicate this story and cover to Kim’s brother Paul for all the help he has given them over the years. They also wanted to thank Bryan and David at 4-State Trucks, Les Barnhart of Panelite, Jerry and Gayle Jeffries of Double JJ Enterprises, Chris Beatty of Beatty Auto Works, all the guys at Kenworth of Cedar Rapids and Altorfer Cat in Cedar Rapids. All of these folks have helped keep this neat KW on the road, running strong and looking good. And with 1.6 million miles on her, that has been no easy task!

We hope Rod & Kim Grimm enjoyed our little adventure together and that we have many more in the future. We are proud to have them as part of the 10-4 team and know that they will continue to be good ambassadors for the entire trucking industry. There’s no “Illusion” here folks, these two truckers are as real as you’ll ever find.