DOIN’ WHAT IT TAKES
BY TRUCK DRIVER & WRITER BRYAN WELSH
Featuring some of the nicest rigs that run
up and down the road every day.
Sometimes my Show-On-The-Road feature trucks aren’t found out on the road – sometimes I find them (or they find me) at a truck show. This month’s article started at Cherokee Bob’s show in Galt, California. After I pulled in and parked, I called a friend of mine named Jeff Zonneveld (who was also coming to the show) to see when he would be arriving. Jeff said, “I’ll be there soon. And by the way, keep a look out for a couple of real nice log trucks coming in with loads.” With that said, I went to work on my truck, oblivious to everything else going on around me.
As I was polishing my wheels like a mad man, a voice behind me said, “A friend of mine told me I’d find you here. I’m Mike Hansen.” I stood up, shook Mike’s hand, and then realized that he and his brother were the drivers of those nice log trucks Jeff had told me about – and they were parked right next to me! Needless to say, my polishing chores were over! Mike and I walked over to their trucks and he introduced me to his wife Michelle, his brother David, and their mom and dad, Stan and Jean. Within minutes, they had me feeling like part of the family.
Mike and his younger brother David both got into trucking at a young age. Like so many of us truck nuts, they started out by helping around the shop owned by their grandfather Bill Fernandes and their uncle Roger, who owned WAF Trucking in the late 1960’s. So it was no surprise in the mid 1970’s when, at age 16, both Mike and David began driving for their grandpa after school and during the summer, hauling grain and feed locally around the Sacramento Valley. A few years later, Mike and David were offered jobs from their uncle Don (of Don Hansen Logging) hauling logs out of northeastern California. Back then, Mike owned a 1973 KW A-Model and David owned a 1975 Pete 359, both bunked up with Miller gear.
By the time the late 1980’s rolled around, the northwest timber industry was slowing due to radical environmentalism and other factors, so the Hansen brothers decided to update their trucks and diversify. Mike purchased a 1988 Kenworth B-Model and David bought a 1990 B-Model KW – both were spec’d with removable 60” sleepers, 425 Cats and 15-speeds. “Doin’ what it took” for these hard-working brothers meant whenever logging was slow, they would pull bull wagons, haul wood chips, go flatbedding or pull a reefer. Whenever necessary, the two brothers could switch out their sleepers with the logging gear in one day. Staying busy has always been the key ingredient to the Hansen brother’s success, and they’ll be the first ones to tell you that all of the variety has been a ton of fun, but hauling logs has always been their first love.
Unfortunately, times just don’t seem to be getting any better for the timber industry, but that hasn’t slowed Mike or David down. In November of 2008, they both hooked up to their Timpte hopper trailers and didn’t pull out from under them until March of this year. Now, with their sleepers detached and covered in their shop in Galt, California and the log bunk gear bolted back on to their stellar rides, both Mike and David are once again answering their true calling!
Today, David can be seen rolling in his white and blue 2003 Kenworth 900L and Mike in his new white and red Peterbilt 389. But think twice before getting a run on one of them before hitting a hill – David’s Kenworth has a 600 Cat C16 and Mike’s Peterbilt is sporting a Cummins ISX 600 – and neither of them were about to give away any secret tuning codes!
All kidding aside, the Hansen family is, and has always been, grateful for every opportunity they’ve ever had. The brothers wanted to give special thanks to Roger, Jack and Lisa Medici of Medici Logging for always being there, and, of course, to all their friends and family. I would like to personally thank Mike and his wife for their hospitality – it made a great weekend that much better. So, continue doin’ what it takes, Mike, because, quite frankly, that is what it takes to survive today – and you and your brother David are perfect examples of that fact.