Truck Spotting With Ryan

As long as I can remember, I’ve been fascinated by trucks.  Unlike many of my friends like “The Boston Trucker” Mike Gaffin and 10-4’s “Poetry in Motion” author Trevor Hardwick, I was not one to grow up in a trucking family.  I had to find my way into the industry.  When I was younger, photographing trucks allowed me to connect and be a part of what I loved.  Whether attending truck shows, visiting a local dealership, parked in a truck stop or parking lot, or even just rollin’ down the highway, I was always photographing trucks.

Some of my favorite memories of shooting trucks when I was growing up were with my dad.  We had a Pontiac Sunbird convertible back in the late 1980s and early 1990s, and my dad and I would regularly make a trip to Peoria, Illinois from Indianapolis on I-74 to visit my grandparents.  When the weather was nice, the top went down, and I’d burn through a roll or two of film (remember those) shooting trucks as we passed them while rollin’ down the interstate.

I recently met a young man from Montesano, Washington, named Ryan Rosetta who reminds me of me when I was his age.  Ryan has a passion for trucks and, like me, has not grown up in a trucking family.  I initially met Ryan as his grandmother Liz Barraud purchased one of my 2025 “Cool Photos of Cool Trucks” wall calendars in late 2024 as a gift for Ryan.  After she received the calendar, I got a nice email from her telling me how beautiful the calendar was and how much her 14-year-old grandson was going to love it – along with how much he loved trucks.

Responding to Liz, I said thank you and told her I write for 10-4 Magazine and suggested he might enjoy reading some of my articles, as well as other authors, here at 10-4.  As our online chat was winding down, she then mentioned that Ryan was into photography, and he enjoyed photographing trucks.  Curious, I told her that I’d love to see some of his trucking photography sometime.  Not long after that, I received another email from Ryan’s mother Danielle Rosetta containing several truck photos, taken by Ryan, or as he likes to call them, his “Truck Spotting” pictures.

Impressed by what I saw, I began corresponding with Danielle and asking some questions about her son Ryan.  She told me, “Ryan’s been fascinated by trucks and in love with them since he was little,” continuing with, “Anything he could get his hands on about trucks, be it books, brochures, models and other collectibles and toys, it’s always been about trucks.”  Later, while talking with Danielle and Ryan on the phone one day, I shared a few photos of some of my trucks that I had operated in the past, including a photo of my old cabover Kenworth when I was at Horseless Carriage, and right away, Ryan knew exactly what kind of truck it was.  “That’s a Kenworth K100E,” said Ryan, which impressed me right away, the fact that he knew it was an “E” model, and didn’t just say “K100” like many people.

While most kids Ryan’s age are consumed by social media and playing popular video games like Minecraft and Fortnite, not Ryan, his video game of choice is American Truck Simulator, telling me, “I have a steering wheel here at my desk so I can drive the truck and even shift the truck I’m driving in the game.”  When I asked Ryan what his favorite truck is, he was quick to answer, “The Peterbilt model 379!  I love the classic styling and the long hood.”

Even though Ryan dreams of one day owning a 379 and being an owner operator, his current love that keeps his passion for trucks going every day is photographing them.  “I have a few spots I enjoy shooting at,” said Ryan, referring to the Devonshire Road overpass along US Route 12 in Montesano, WA.  “This is my favorite spot to go truck spotting,” added Ryan enthusiastically.

Ryan’s become a bit of a celebrity among some of the local truckers that frequent Route 12 and see him up there on the overpass photographing them as they roll by.  “Most will usually wave now and blow their horns when they see me,” said Ryan.  One of those truckers has even been Ken Stearns, owner of a beautiful 1975 Kenworth W900A log truck (which was on our November 2024 cover).  “Ken’s a bit of a local legend in the trucking community around here, and hopefully one of these days I’ll get to meet him in person,” said Ryan.

Receiving his first camera from his Grandmother Liz a few years ago, a handed down Canon Powershot SX530 HS, it was a nice mid-range camera with a 16 MP sensor and a 50X optical zoom lens (that was for the camera nerds out there).  Needless to say, Ryan was thrilled and began truck spotting almost immediately.  With his Grandmother Liz, along with his mom and dad, they have been very supportive of Ryan’s love for trucks.  “I got to attend my first truck show last year,” said Ryan, referring to the Brooks Truck Show, which is held annually at the Pacific Northwest Truck Museum in Brooks, Oregon.  “My mom and dad took me, and I got to see tons of antique trucks on display – it was like heaven!  I got to see a lot of rare trucks that I’ve only seen in photos, so it was awesome to see those trucks up-close and in person,” said Ryan.

Prior to meeting me, Ryan had never met anyone directly involved in the trucking industry.  A young outsider looking in, I knew what that felt like and decided to help change that.  After getting to know Ryan better, I called my fellow author at 10-4, Trevor Hardwick, who lives a couple hours up the road from Ryan in Stanwood, WA.  Figuring Ryan would enjoy meeting Trevor and getting to see his beautiful 2023 Peterbilt model 389 and stainless spread-axle reefer up-close, Trevor went one step further after speaking with Ryan’s mom Danielle to make the arrangements.

Inviting Ryan to the January 2025 ATHS Cascade Chapter Meeting at Kooy Trucking’s shop in Arlington, WA, Ryan’s mom and dad dropped him off and he got to spend the afternoon with Trevor and a bunch of other “truck nuts” like them.  Welcoming him into their group, the members held a raffle where many members kept giving Ryan their winning raffle tickets, with Ryan leaving the meeting with a ton of trucking swag and other goodies!  But Trevor wasn’t done yet.  Having driven his 1982 Freightliner FLC 120 conventional to the meeting, Ryan got the ride of his young life.  For the next two hours or so, Ryan had a grin from ear-to-ear while riding in that old Freightliner back to Trevor’s house, where Ryan got to see Trevor’s Peterbilt and all his other trucks, along with his vast collection of trucking memorabilia.  After that ride with Trevor, his mom told me, “You couldn’t wipe that smile off Ryan’s face!”

A few years earlier, Trevor and I had been talking about how “at our age” we’re now those guys in the trucking industry we looked up to when we were younger, and how we now need to be the ambassadors for the next generation.  With that in mind, I began thinking about some of the people in trucking who I met when I was younger and that have been a big influence on me.  Guys like Randy Williams, who I met around 1988, who was a Mack Trucks dealer and principal owner of Banner Truck and Trailer Sales in Evansville, IN, for many years, along with truckers like Chuck Kemner and Richie Bula, who I met at the age of 15, the first time I went to the Walcott Truckers Jamboree in 1991, and my longtime friend Duncan Putman, who wrote for Trucking International at that time.  Having met Duncan in 1990, he introduced me to another longtime friend now, Calvin Cochran.

As I’ve gotten to know Ryan, we now trade emails almost on a daily basis and talk trucks.  Ryan will usually share his photos from his latest “truck spotting” adventure atop the overpass and tell me what he saw or other places where he’s been, with one recent trip with his dad to the PACCAR Technical Center in Mt. Vernon, WA, to look around and shoot pics of the trucks parked there.  Recently, a local Montesano dump trucker named James Nations, who had noticed Ryan truck spotting from his perch atop the overpass, stopped to talk with him, asking Ryan if he’d be interested in doing a photo shoot with his red Western Star dump truck for him (which he did).

While Ryan has trucking dreams and aspirations, he’s already doing what he loves in life, and is well on his way.  So, from Trevor Hardwick and myself, “Hey Ryan, keep on truckin’ and keep on truck spotting, because we can’t wait to see where all this ends up!”

EDITOR’S NOTE: All the photos for this feature were taken by either Ryan or his family.  Thank you, Ryan.  Nice job!  Keep up the good work!!