Maurice Quinton & Sons Transport

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My father had a trucking company — Maurice Quinton & Sons Transport, Walter's Falls. They had a slogan: "Big enough to handle your job, small enough to appreciate it." For more photos, click on the image.

He and mom had seven children, six boys and the eldest daughter Ellen. At the left that's a picture of his sons with his newly purchased International Harvester cab over diesel. The sons are Larry, Tony, David, Reg, Dale and Paul in a row from oldest to youngest. I don't recall the date but my guess is it's sometime around 1964. I do recall the occasion, it was a big deal when he brought this newly purchased cab over sleeper rig home. It was a big investment and a big risk on borrowed money.

In the background is the modest home I was raised in. During my university years, when my brother Tony returned to work with Dad, they moved to a larger home in the village with an attached work shed and large yard for the trucks. That was during their expansion years and would be the home Kate remembers.

Before this diesel he had gasoline powered trucks which spent a lot of time at Miller's garage on 8th Street in Owen Sound getting valves replaced. Gasoline engines run hot, they spin faster at higher RPM and the valves burn out. Buying a diesel was a leap of faith which worked out well. Diesel engine spin slower and are much more reliable on long haul jobs. Much of Dad's business was long haul — trucking loads of calcium chloride from Allied Chemical in Amherstburg to the far north for road construction. A sleeper cab gave you a "Hilton on four wheels"; no need for expensive motels. I understand this was the first diesel truck in the area. In the album there's old photos which predate this vehicle. Tony recalls the snow plow and has a story which I'll come to in a moment.

Dad had "Maurice Quinton & Sons" painted on his vehicles. It was a bit of wishful thinking. At the time of this photo Larry was off on his own career. Tony and David both worked summers with Dad while at school and both drove this truck — it was a bit of a bone shaker with solid blocks of rubber for the rear suspension. I worked summers for them when I was at university but never really learned to drive the big rigs. Tony was the only son who returned and went into business with Dad. Dad's grandson Ken (Ellen's son, our nephew) drove many years for Dad as well. There's a good picture of them mugging together in the album.

The first equipment Tony remembers is the snowplow.  He recalls being in it with Dad who was trying to break through the drifts on the church hill in the village. He got motion sickness and vomited in the cab — he was not a very popular boy that day! 

When Tony graduated from the Haileybury School of Mines he worked in the mines of Northern Ontario and BC and then on the Churchill Falls Dam project in Labrador. He had saved some money, came home, bought his first truck (a blue Ford Louisville) in 1971 and went into business with Dad. I recall riding with Tony on jobs during my summers from university. Dad and Tony formed a corporation and for the next 25 years ran the business together. They had some very good years and had expanded to a fair sized fleet but ultimately started to lose money by the early 1990's. I recall the deregulation of the Mike Harris years contributed to their ultimate failure; there became too many guys chasing not enough jobs for too little money.

Dad was getting on in years and it was left to Tony to decide what they should do. In 1993 he decided to sellout and move on. Everything went to an auction outfit on airport road in Mississauga. They had quite a bit of quality equipment at the time: there were three Kenworth cabovers (No.s 6, 9 and 12), two Kenworth conventionals (No.s 14 and 15) and there would have been several trailers as well. The auction house had offered a guarantee of $130K but they decided to take what the sale would get and ended with only $125K. They had lost again! When all the bills were paid Tony got only what he had started with back in 1971; he had worked 25 years for no return (he was remembered in Dad's will). Mom and Dad retired and moved into the city of Owen Sound. Tony moved west and worked in the oil and gas industry in Alberta and BC until he was 65 then co-drove a truck from Edmonton, AB to Houston, TX for a year and a half. They'd drive down and back in 6 days loaded both ways.

Tony asked, as an aside, if I remember the tire exploding on you at the  Allied plant? It was scary. 

I do indeed remember the tire exploding at Allied Chemical. This was early on after Tony had come back to go into business with Dad. They were in the plant together and I was riding along with Tony; two trucks were loading up 25 tons or so of calcium chloride for road construction. After the trailers were loaded and we were preparing to go a final walk around revealed that Tony had a flat on his trailer. Dad was pissed about the flat on a fully loaded trailer — lifting the axle to change the tire would be difficult given the weight of the trailer. Tony was pissed because Dad was being nasty ("You should have known!"; "How the hell would I have known that!"). Dad had the expectation that everyone should know what he knew without ever communicating it.  Tony was learning his way with a terrible teacher. Dad was not a good communicator.

Anyways, I was trying to help them (and stay out of the fray) and was under the trailer getting out the spare tire. I had pushed it out of the cage, it fell to the ground and promptly exploded with some force. Truck tires are under tremendous pressure and these had a metal retaining ring around them that held the tire in place. The explosion was the retaining ring slipping out of it's place and the air pressure letting go. The ring dented the metal of the trailer under carriage — had I been in the way it would have cut me in two. When the tire blew my first thought was I had screwed up and now Dad is going to be pissed at me as well! Instead he and Tony both recognized that I might have been killed and blown to bits. Dad was almost in tears and held me close. He would let you know that he loved you, but he was often a bear. Tony, working with Dad, got a lot of the bear.

There are other stories about the various sons and the trucking company, but that's enough for now. I'm sure more will be added later as I continue conversations with family. Until then, enjoy the pictures.

Ps. a few years ago a hobbyist, Robert Fitzsimmons, got hold of me for pictures of Dad's trucks. He was building a model and wanted to get the painting scheme right. He also shared with me a picture of one of Dad's trucks that is now in the possession of a collector. You'll find pictures of both in the album. The model he produced is a bit misleading — it's not the right truck and, while over the years they did haul a lot of lumber for Hallman Lumber of Walter's Falls, they never produced shrink wrapped kiln dried lumber.

After sharing these stories and photos Leslie wrote "Thanks for sharing! I have memories of both houses and even of sitting in the sleeping cab - always secretly hoped I could hide away in there on a trip. " I replied that I recall sleeping with Dad in the truck on long trips but it's not that cozy!

Alison wrote "I have some memories of Grandpa’s trucks. I remember riding in them at times, a bumpy ride and feeling so high in the sky in the cab. I remember Apple loads and watching the process of having them washed on some kind of device."

69th Birthday

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Most years it seems we're out of the country for my birthday. And most years Kate, as designated driver, takes me on a tour of local wineries where ever we might be travelling. This year, like everyone else, we're not travelling. But that doesn't mean we can't continue the tradition.

Kate arranged a wine tasting for my birthday at Fielding Estates near Grimbsby (it's on the Beamsville Bench in the Niagara wine country). Fielding Estates is one of the "F'ing Wineries" — Featherstone and Flat Rock being the others. She had booked this back in the fall. Since the COVID-19 crisis, which began last year just as we returned from Texas, this winery has had these neat little geodesic domes set up outside where you can socially distance but still enjoy the sun, something to nosh on and some fine wine. Unfortunately, back in February, when it was my birthday the wine area was completely locked down because of the virus. She rebooked and we went over on Saturday. This was our first adventure out of the house in a very long time. We put gas in Kate's car on the way — the first fill up this year!

It's a little over two hours from here to the winery and we got there in good time having planned an extra half hour. Since it was my birthday Kate insisted on being the designated driver; I was the designated drinker, she limited her tastings. We got there early and were advised that we'd have to wait until our 1:00pm appointment — they have to wipe things down and let the dome air out for a half hour between customers to keep things safe. Some domes had comfy chairs and sofas in a lounging setup. Ours was a table with 6 chairs in a dining style. We could have brought some friends with us but we're not comfortable with doing so yet. All our friends agreed that going to this event would be safe enough, some even encouraged us to visit a few of the other wineries. We'll do that another day.

We had our reserved dome (you need to book ahead and it costs $20) from 1:00pm until 2:30pm. We ordered a cheese tray with several extras and sampled all of their white wines (that included a Rose). That was a flight of 7 wines, 2oz each that we shared. I was particularly impressed by their two Riesling and a Sauvignon Blanc/Semillon blend they call White Conception (the name doesn't do justice and doesn't tell you enough about what to expect). From our Australian adventures we've had a lot of "Sem/Sauv"; it's a pretty much a "go to" blend there; it's also a common Bordeaux blend. All of these wines are well worth enjoying; however they do command a wine boutique price. We ended up buying several of their Rose which were more in my price range. 

We shared two cheeses (Gunn's Hill Handeck and Cows XO Aged Cheddar — both impressive and presented as huge blocks) with some crostini (we ordered extra), some Greaves Marmalade, Garlic & Red Pepper Olives (a whole jar!) and some crackers. There was more than enough for us to munch on as we enjoyed our wines for our allotted one hour and a half. After the white tasting we ordered a glass of their 2016 Syrah and their 2017 Rock Pile Chardonnay. Again Kate only tasted, while I finished them off. Kate encouraged me to sample a flight of their 6 reds but instead I just tried a glass of the one. We added a bottle of their Pinot Noir and the Chardonnay to our take home bag — that's six wines we took home.

The experience in the dome is pretty slick. As you can see from the photos they're clear vinyl and quite large. You're zippered in and given instructions to help manage the virus. E.g. we were required to wear a mask when ever a server entered and we had a paging device to summon the server when needed. It was a sunny day and quite warm within the dome. There was an electric space heater but it wasn't needed when the sun was out. Mind you it cooled very quickly when the sun went behind the clouds. There are zippered windows and a door to keep out the cold. It was quite comfy, we actually looked them up on the web thinking that we might enjoy having a dome on our deck.

It was a lovely day spent together. An especially nice gift for my birthday from my Sweet Baboo. We enjoy Niagara wines and miss our adventures in the wine country. When things return to normal later this year (touch wood) we'll be back.

Kate remarked that it's been a year with us at home every night (modulo a couple of hospital visits for each of us).

Snow Back Turtles.

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Kate and her friends have been meeting safely outside during the pandemic. Over the summer that's been easy.

However, with winter coming on, they've taken it perhaps a little too far. Here they are sitting outside around our fire pit on the deck as a snow squall descends on them. 

Around the circle from the 7:00 position it's Cathy, Jane, Jan, Kate and Janis -- the "Snow Back Turtles".

William (Mac) Dixon

My Uncle Mac Dixon (his first name was William but he went by "Mac" for his middle name McKay) served in WWII as did his older brother Walter Dixon who died in a training crash and never returned. Mac signed up with the First Hussars out of London and was the driver of a Duplex Drive Sherman tank, the "Bold", on the June 6, 1944 D-day Canadian landing at Juno Beach in Normandy. 

These tanks were amphibious and were supposed to float. They were brought close to the shore in landing craft and launched at sea. They had a large inflatable canvas screen for floatation and were self propelled with propeller screws to make the landing where the tank treads would take over. Mac's tank sank quickly either because of rough water or having taken a hit. There's a harrowing story in the accompanying video playlist about how he survived and managed to make it to shore that day.

The fishermen at Courseulles sur Mer (the town at Juno Beach) retrieved and restored the tank in 1970 — it had been a fishing hazard for years fouling their nets. On June 6 1971 Uncle Mac, in a troop of 85 First Hassars, attended the dedication of his tank as a Canadian war memorial.

The Juno Beach Centre, a museum and memorial to the Canadians who landed to liberate Europe, proudly displays and maintains Uncle Mac's tank. We made a tearful visit back in 2002 on a trip to Paris for one of Kate's conferences.

One autumn day in 2007 Aunt Shirley (Mac's wife) called — they were showing a video at the Mitchell Legion about Uncle Mac and the First Hussars. I recall it was a project by local high school students to learn about and preserve history told by those who had lived it. If you click on the image above you'll be taken to a YouTube playlist — a copy of that video. Some of it is from very rough super-8 film of their 1971 trip to France for the memorial and dedication, other parts are from CFPL TV specials recorded on VHS. The technical quality is pretty rough but all of the story of our Uncle Mac, D-day on Juno Beach and those dual mode tanks is well worth a listen.

I've posted these notes and the video playlist with the hope that the story survives. Lest we forget.

See also

• War time photos of uncle William (Mac) Dixon.
• My 2021 blog on uncle Sgt. Walter Dixon.
• Canadian Kangaroo Regiment Archive (re: William (Mac) Dixon)
• “Mac” Dixon and the “BOLD” at Juno Beach Center

 

Billy Joe Shaver

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What a year it's been for our music heroes. First John Prine, Justin Townes Earl and then Jerry Jeff Walker. Now Billy Joe Shaver, who was probably the greatest country songwriter ever, has crossed that river. When will this end?

Billy Joe was 81 years when he passed away on October 28, 2020. He apparently had a bout with COVID-19 over the summer and then a fall in September. The last time we saw him, four years ago at Riley's Tavern in Hunter Texas (November of 2016), he was hale and hearty, full of piss and vinegar. And having a hell of a time: "Fit to kill and goin' out in style." As you can see from the picture at left he's grinnin' like the "Wacko from Waco" — which of course he sang.

Click on the image to see more pictures from that event.

We had seen him at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto with his son Eddy as "Shaver" many years ago. So we were really excited to see him again at Riley's Tavern — we don't often get to see legends like Billy Joe and, as time has shown, they don't last forever, even if their songs do.

We had never been to Hunter Texas -- it's a small town (barely a crossroad) just a few miles north of Gruene (where you'll find the famous Gruene Hall -- where Billy Joe had his heart attack on stage and continued to play!). It's just off the IH35 between Austin, where we were staying, and San Antonio. It was about an hour away from our holiday long stay home in South Austin. 

Riley's Tavern is a very small club/Honky Tonk in a country setting with bikes and pickup trucks parked around. There's a bar at front and a bit of performance area attached where, unlike Austin clubs, smoking was permitted. Packed, as it was that night, you might squeeze in 100 people. An intimate environment. Billy Joe, the "Honky Tonk Hero", was up front at the bar glad handing fans as we arrived. We arrived early and found ourselves in a prime location up front to stage right where we had seats (there were very few, mostly it was standing room only). I was able to get some pretty good photos. The front band was the Texas KGB. They played a good set but were really blown out of the water by Billy Joe and his band. They played without a break and went on forever. Billy Joe was smiling and laughing, telling stories, never tiring and making sure that a) we knew that all these songs were written by him and b) he had been saved by Jesus Christ. In spite of buggered up knees and hip surgery he would get down on his one knee to praise Jesus Christ. I recall he said he was waiting to get the other hip done, or was it the other knee?

It was quite a night in Hunter Texas and one we'll long remember.

While there's lots of great music in Austin, we've never caught Billy Joe there. He sometimes played the White Horse Tavern, and that would be a great place to see him. He was honored at the Ameripolitan Awards in February of 2015 which we did attend. Unfortunately at that time he was not well and Joe Ely accepted the award for him. Joe Ely sang Bill Joe's song "Live Forever" in his honor. Cowritten with his son Eddy, it's a song that's fitting now:

You're gonna miss me when I'm gone
Nobody here will ever find me
But I always be around
Just like the songs I leave behind me
I'm gonna live forever now

Of all the many tunes Billy Joe wrote we are especially fond of "(We Are) The Cowboys". Willie Nelson has recently released a version on the album "First Rose of Spring" (2020). The verse that we especially like is:

We are the cowboys, the true sons of freedom
We are the men who will get the job done
We're picking our words so we don't have to eat 'em
We're rounding them up and then driving them home

Billy Joe certainly had a way with words. And, at least in our house, he will live forever in his songs.

Ps. the album "Live at Billy Bob's Texas" (2012) is a very good sample of what the show at Riley's was like. Unfortunately, that album seems to be out of print. It's still available on iTunes and Spotify.

Jerry Jeff Walker

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October 23, 2020: Scamp Walker has left the building. 

We are saddened to hear that Jerry Jeff is no more. He shaped our love of Americana music. We would not have explored Texas so many times were we not exposed to Scamp Walker and his Gonzo Band. Many thanks, rest easy, we'll carry on.

I think the first I heard of Jerry Jeff was from my friend Mike back in the early 1970's when we shared the "Horbinger Home" in London while attending school at Western. While the music of the home was dominated by bands of the day (Supertramp, Rolling Stones, Rick Wakeman, etc.) Jerry Jeff opened our eyes and ears to what music could be. And of course that hard drinking life style appealed to both of us.

I only ever saw him a few times but have pretty much every recording ever made. The first time would have been in the late 70's at the Horse Shoe Tavern in Toronto around the time of "A Man Must Carry On" (my favorite album). My girlfriend at the time knew about my affection for his music and we drove from London to Toronto to see him. When we got there the bar was full and we could not get in. Sadly, we settled for some long forgotten show up the street at the El Mocambo. But luckily on leaving that show early we stopped by the Horse Shoe and were fortunate to get in and catch the last set! It was an excellent experience, magical and beery.

The second time, sometime in the 80's or 90's, Kate and I caught him at the El Mocambo. And the last time was recently at Ray Wylie Hubbard's 70th birthday bash at the Paramount Theatre in Austin November 12, 2016 where he came on stage to sing a few tunes with his old friend who authored "Red Neck Mothers" made famous on the "Viva Terlingua!" album recorded in the Luckenbach dance hall.

In 2018 we visited the Jerry Jeff Walker Exhibit at the Wittliff Collection, Albert B. Alkek Library, Texas State University, San Marcos. They have the archive of Jeff Jeff memorabilia.

We've travelled many times to Austin over the years to discover the rich music scene introduced to us through his music. Our many adventures in Texas might never have been, if not for Scamp Walker.

Many thanks, Buckeroo!

Gall Bladder

Early during the COVID pandemic, before there were any vaccines, while everyone and everything was in lock down, I had a health scare. Here's some email about what happened.

On Mon, Jul 6, 2020, 12:09 p.m. Reg Quinton wrote:

Hi David & Gail, Kate passed on your call from yesterday. I hope you guys haven't been too worried about me. I'm fine and will be done with this shortly.

I had a "down the gullet" procedure at Stratford hospital on Wednesday June 24 (gosh it's getting to be weeks ago now) and was home that night. I had been feeling punkish, beaten up in the rib cage, etc. for several days starting on Wednesday June 17. Kate noticed that my pee was turning color to a vivid yellow. By Sunday June 21 it had turned sort of a tea stained brown and I decided to call my doctor the next day (Monday). I should have gone to emerg that day. Anyways on Monday June 22 they did a bit of triage over the phone at 8:00am and decided I needed to come in and talk to a doctor at 10:00. That doctor asked me a lot about my symptoms (I had a bit of a fever and other symptoms flagged me as possible COVID). She decided I needed tests that could be done next door in the emerg at St Marys hospital. So I was there by 11:00.

At emerg they swabbed me for COVID (that's a big pain in the nose) and until results come in I'm flagged as -- don't go near him unless you're fully gowned! Nobody thought I had COVID, the gall bladder problem explains the symptoms.

At the St Marys emerg they did blood and urine tests and an EKG (I was thinking heart) and quickly diagnosed it as a blocked bile duct -- the bile is backing up to the liver and into the blood stream and out in the urine. This explains my color (I was getting yellow skin and eyes) and my upset stomach.

They wanted to do some imaging to see where the blockage was and found late that day that it was blocked right at the stomach where the bile duct comes out around the pancreas. They needed to send me to Stratford for imaging to determine where the blockage was. They were trying to get me into an ultrasound but ended up getting me a CT scan at 9:30pm. I went home in the interim, Kate took me to the hospital that night. Shortly after the scan the surgeon in Stratford explained things (gall bladder is on the bile duct and the source of the stones) and I was admitted to the hospital. There are two procedures to deal with this problem. Unlike Dad's surgery of many years ago.

The immediate problem is to clear the blockage of the bile duct. Bile is produced by the liver and the bile duct drains it into your stomach. Near the liver on the bile duct is the gall bladder which stores bile which can turn into stones. The ejected stones can block the gall bladder itself or get into the bile duct and block that. Often the blockage is at the end of the duct where there's a tight sphincter.

The down the gullet procedure is sort of like the up the bum procedure but with finer instruments. They knock you out but the procedure goes pretty quick. They go down your throat into the stomach to open the sphincter of the bile duct at the stomach wall, clear the stone and any gravel/garbage in the duct. I had that on Wednesday after my COVID test came back clean. They would have done it Monday night but for the COVID test. For several days I was in hospital in isolation. On a drip for anti-biotics and some nausea medication. Kate couldn't visit me, because the COVID test. It was frustrating that it took 48hrs for the COVID test to come back.

The procedure is: Endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP): ERCP is a procedure that uses a camera and X-rays to look at problems in the bile and pancreatic ducts. It helps your doctor look for gallstones stuck in your bile duct.  

Post op I had an awfully sore throat and hoarse voice but that cleared after a few days. No drugs, etc. were required. I was just sent home.

The second procedure, which I am yet to have, is to remove the gall bladder. That's a day procedure where they knock you out, inflate your gut and go in with a couple of key holes on your belly to remove it. I've just talked to the surgeon about that and he hopes to have that sometime in August. They're only just opening things for elective surgery (it's not an emergency .... unless I get another stone blockage).

The procedure is: laparoscopic gallbladder removal. This is a common surgery that requires general anesthesia. The surgeon will usually make 3 or 4 incisions in your abdomen. They’ll then insert a small, lighted device into one of the incisions and carefully remove your gallbladder

Anyways, that's the story. I'm fine. I never was in a great deal of pain. Just uncomfortable with an upset stomach.

Ps. I ought to have gone in sooner. I just put the discomfort down to too much sun, too much work in the garden, too much wine, etc. The pee change really pushed me to do something. I'll be more aware should there be a next time between now and the removal.