Beautiful scenery, warm and sunny skies, a spectacular antique rig, super-friendly folks and time on our hands - all the makings of a perfect day. We we’re lucky enough to have had the privilege of spending such a day with Robert “Boomer” Baer, his wife Darlene and their sweet 1962 Peterbilt. As the day went on, at multiple photo locations in the foothills around Turlock, we realized that unity, faith and fun is what the Baer family is all about.
Living in the small town of Denair just
northeast of Turlock, Boomer works nights and early mornings pulling a three-compartment tanker for Chemical Transfer out of Stockton, California. Boomer has been leased to them for the last four years and likes the freedom his schedule gives him. Being home most every afternoon allows him to spend a lot of time with his two children that still live at home and his wife Darlene. Bobby (12) enjoys playing all
types of sports and Rosalie (11) likes to sing and dance. Shuttling the kids between their
activities keeps Darlene running, but she loves it. Darlene’s daughter Jessica (20) has been away at college for the last few years, but will
be graduating soon and coming home.
Boomer comes from a family that has been involved in trucking for four generations - his great grandfather was one of the original
teamsters way back when, and his grandfather and father were also truck drivers. While
growing up, Boomer spent a lot of time in
his dad’s truck. After graduating from high school, Boomer got a football scholarship to
attend the University of Nevada at Reno, but
after only one year he gave it up, came home, and then joined the Marines. Three years later he came out of the Marines a changed man (who doesn’t). He began driving trucks in 1982 and, for the most part, never looked back.
Over the years, Boomer has had various driving jobs. Most of his work has focused on pulling tankers with hazardous materials such as gasoline and caustic cleaning chemicals, and most of the companies he has hauled for have kept him in California. When it was time to venture out on his own, Boomer bought a 1992 Pete from his brother and started B & D Transport. Being out on the road, he frequently saw a restored 1962 Peterbilt Model 281 owned by John Engell. John had owned “Miss Lola” for over 25 years and, over that time, had fully-restored her. Boomer would tell John, “If you ever want to sell her, come see me first.” But John wasn’t looking to sell her just yet.
But, as you probably already guessed, John came to a point in his life where it didn’t make a lot of sense to keep Miss Lola. He called Boomer and told him the price, but it was more than Boomer was willing to pay. Regretfully, he had to decline. Six months later, Boomer saw John again, but now he was ready to make a deal. With John’s revised (lowered) price, the truck was now within Boomer’s reach. He bought her outright and sent her directly to the paint shop for some much-needed TLC.
Rust had began to eat away Miss Lola, so Boomer had the guys at Shane & Dave’s in
Stockton cut off and repair all four corners of
the cab. After that, every rivet on the cab and hood were replaced. Boomer then chose the
Dark Olive Metallic and Black color scheme (with some help from Darlene), added full fenders
over the drivers, removed the horns and stock lights from the cab’s roof and replaced them
with seven new bullet-style lights. After three months in the shop, Miss Lola debuted her new look (and new owner) in September of 2000.
For the first ten years of her life, Miss Lola was a Safeway truck. But not like you see her today. She was a two-axle tractor with a short frame, no sleeper, no power steering, no air conditioning and no air-ride suspension - but John fixed all that. He stretched the wheelbase to 262 inches, added a 60-inch 1950s Mercury aftermarket sleeper, installed front brakes and modified the front axle, removed the axle blocks to lower it a bit, and added just about every amenity a truck of today would have. The truck was equipped with a modern 475 Cummins, a 13-speed transmission, 3:70 rears and a Neway air suspension from an International.
Boomer says the truck rides so smooth, the sleeper doesn’t need to be air-ride. He also believes that this old ‘62 is stronger and more mechanically sound than his ‘92 Pete ever was. John made sure the interior was up-to-date also. The dash, which was customized to be like a modern Pete dash, has just about every gauge imaginable. The only options Miss Lola does not have (which Boomer would like to have) is a tilt steering wheel and cruise control. Just a few months ago, as a finishing touch, Boomer added custom aluminum wheels made by APP that replicate the popular old “moon” hubcaps of days gone by. The wheels, as seen in the pictures, have no holes - just a smooth and clean surface. Fancy billet aluminum center caps give each wheel just enough ornamentation to keep them from being too plain or boring.
The truck has only been entered into two truck shows - Cherokee Truck Parts first show last year and a car show in Sacramento. But Boomer didn’t acquire this truck to show it - he bought and built it to drive it and be proud of it, so entering truck shows has never been high on his priority list. But he and his family did really enjoy Bob’s show last year so they plan on being there again this year (May 3-4). While we are mentioning names, Boomer wanted to thank Bob at Cherokee for helping him not only get some of his accessories but for constantly encouraging him and giving mental support when needed. Bob is more to Boomer than a guy he gets his stuff from - he is a good friend and Boomer is thankful for that.
We asked Boomer where his nickname came from but all he could tell us was that his dad gave it to him when he was a kid. But he
did offer a possible origin for the nickname. At the time, Robert (Boomer) didn’t take very good care of himself and his hair was always a mess. His dad used to give him a hard time about it. Back then, Boomer’s grandfather had a sheep dog named Boomer, and its hair, oddly enough, was also a shaggy mess. Boomer figures his dad was referring to the dog when he began to call his son by its name. He hated it as a kid, but later grew accustomed to it, and even grew to like it. Today, nobody calls Robert by his real name - they probably don’t even know it! Everybody just knows him as Boomer.
The entire Baer family is active in their local church. As a family of faith, they are very excited to be helping start a new Calvary Chapel in the Turlock area. Their small congregation is growing, and they soon hope to be able to help the church buy some land and construct a building. Boomer feels very strongly about his beliefs. As he looks back on some of the events that took place in his life he figures he shouldn’t even be alive today. He believes that only by the grace of God was he protected in those times and spared. Boomer told us that if he ever left trucking he’d most likely join the ministry. From what we learned about and saw of Boomer on that day we spent with him, we would have to say that his level of commitment and integrity would make him an effective and inspiring minister. “My faith in God gives me something my life always lacked - peace,” said Boomer reflectively. He admits that he still isn’t perfect (who is?) but at least he’s on the right track now, trying to be the best husband, father and friend he possibly can be.
And what can we say about Boomer’s wife Darlene who spent the day with us as well? Not for a long time have we met someone as happy, optimistic and energetic as Darlene Baer. She had a smile on her face that could be seen in her eyes and a laugh in her heart that could be heard without making a sound. It is obvious that she is a happy wife and a contented mom. Right now the kids keep her hopping, but later on, after they get married and/or leave home, she may learn to drive, join Boomer in the truck and hit the road together as a team.
So, at the end of our day, we had driven seven hours to Turlock, had a great country-style breakfast at a roadside cafe, spent over eight hours with Boomer and Darlene, taken several hundred photos at four or five different locations, drove Miss Lola into many places we probably shouldn’t have, talked, talked and then talked some more, then spent another seven hours driving home. It was a long and tiring day, but all-in-all we’d have to say that it was the best day we’d had (working) in a while. We look forward to spending more time with Boomer, Darlene and their kids at the Stockton truck show this coming May. We hope to see you there too - after all, that’s where we met these cover truck owners. Maybe this year we’ll meet you and your truck will end up on our cover!
