Job at WES Construction - June thru October 1979
One job south-west of Reno was to lay the main pipe down from from a water tank to new construction. This involved driving on steep hills and narrow graded dirt roads with soft shoulders. I enjoyed the challenge. But one time coming down from the water tank I had full brakes and it just kept hopping, slowly, but out of control. I had pulled the emergency brake and had the door unlatched in case I had to bail out. It was also a messy and challenging job running pipe under the creek that we could not stop. I was lucky, while most laborers were stuck in the sun, I could go relax inside the tank for about 15 minutes, enjoying the cool spray and noise while it filled. Google Earth of Water Tank Construction Site
I drove the Peterbilt water truck building the roads and underground pipes and utilities for these condos. One time I was backing and backed into a fire hydrant. It was very difficult to see, and the truck barely fit on these tight (then dirt) alley-roads. This is where I worked initially. At the end of the first week I had blisters on every finger from pulling the steering wheel around these tight curves. The truck probably weight 10 tons, and it did not have power steering. Stead AFB in the background is where I had first soloed in a Cessna 172 at age 17. My father worked at Stead at DRI between 1968 and 1972.
About mid September me and another driver loaded 300 bails of hay in Reno and drove them to Lake Tahoe, where the crew helped unload them. Then we placed them along the dirt graded roads as an ecological requirement to reduce silt running into the lake. I was then transferred to work at Lake Tahoe, and my career with WES unraveled. Google Earth of Tahoe Construction Site
I was paid for 8 hours for work from 7pm to 3:30pm, but the Tahoe crew had to report to the headquarters in Reno at 5:45 am, load the trucks, and then ride in the "suv" to get to Tahoe by 7am. Then sometime around 4pm the suv would depart for Reno, where we'd unload and be done perhaps 5:30pm. I was driving a dump truck with a broken engine mount. If I let the clutch out anything but feathered, the engine would twist, causing full throttle lurching. One day one supervisor told me to "just keep the dump truck running." The tractor driver told me to get out of the truck since it was dangerous to be inside when it was loaded with dirt and rocks, so I sat on a nearby rock. Another supervisor walks by "Why you sitting around with your f** up your a** Berry? Go grease the g*d* tractor!" "But but..." Five minutes later I have greasy hangs and there is honking "Who is the a*h* who left this dump truck unattended?" There were about four supervisors all giving conflicting directions. Work was slowing down for the winter. I was the first to be laid off a few days later. I think it was the right decision.
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In 1979 I had an idea that I'd like to be a truck driver.
