Trucker Buddy Talk - Fall 2009
about what he did or didn't want to do. He just went ahead and did it. In 1985, the Silvas invest-ed in a brand-new 1986 Pete to reward Salmon for his effort. I hated to see him go, Silva says. He was no dummy. He put [the spe-cifics of the business] to-gether pretty much on his own, and knew he could make it. Salmon utilized Silva Bros. for brokered freight early on, and his wife, Mary, urged him on from the get-go. Salmon had tried his hand at local work in Santa Rosa, Calif., when he met her; they were mar-ried a year later. As he tells it, She said, `I'm tired of your boss driving a new car while you're running around in that old pickup truck. Why don't you buy your own truck?' Mary always took care of my paperwork in the early days of the business, Salmon adds, as he hauled in a 1990 Kenworth T600 he bought used in 1995. The two proved an excellent team, with Salmon trading up to a new 1999 W900L he runs to this day. A valve in the original engine recently gave up the ghost after nearly 1.5 million miles and was rebuilt at a Caterpillar dealership near Raleigh, N.C., while Salmon was on a run through the Tar Heel state. To help him run as efficiently as possi-ble, Salmon uses several little things that are out there to help save a few dollars, he says. Among other cost-cutting measures, he's installed Gulf Coast Filters' oil bypass filtration system, Centra-matic tire balancers and the Right-Weigh Load Scales onboard weigh station. I never give up, he says. I will find a way to make my business work. Dennis Duffy, agent for broker Titan Transportation, says Salmon ap-plies that same diligence to customer relations. It's pretty fortunate when you have somebody you don't have to worry about. When you have a shipper who is funny about how they do things Howard goes in there and works with the ship-per on what they do. In August, Duffy sched-uled a multiple-stop load for Salmon. I think he had four picks, a drop, five more picks, and then he's dropping here on the West Coast, Duffy said in August. Even with com-plex maneuvers, he's al-ways on time or ahead of time he's the `ever-ready trucker,' and he represents trucking well. Finding similarly honest and straightforward busi-ness partners in brokers has been key through the years, Salmon says. It's also enabled his move farther west. When he and his wife vacationed in Hawaii last year, Mary liked it so much she booked a flight back as soon as they returned to California. She reminded him of her dream to live by the ocean, Salmon says. All these years, she helped me pur-sue my dream. I told her, `I want to help you pur-sue your dream, too.' SALMON'S FIRST SONG Who Would They Look Up To? was recorded with second graders at Anderson Heights elementary in Anderson, Ca-lif., part of the Trucker Buddy program. For a vid-eo incorporating a public radio interview he did about the project, visit: www.youtube.com/HowardSalmon. Fall 2009 24