I grew up using and working on all kinds of vehicles from an early age. The first vehicle I ever drove was a Skidoo Elan when I was only 12 years old. In the remote community of Attawapiskat where I was born and raised it was normal to see young children riding around town on snowmobiles.
When I was 14 I learned to drive my dad’s full-size 1976 John Deere farm tractor. At the age of 15 I took to driving the family road vehicle, a half-ton pick up. I think it was a GMC. With the advent of the four-wheel-drive all-terrain vehicle, many people in Attawapiskat purchased these four-wheelers to get around. They were easier to ship up and they were rugged and durable.
Although Attawapiskat is a remote community, many people purchase cars and trucks in the south and bring them up the coast. This is not easy. In the summer months this is done by loading the vehicle onto a train in Cochrane, which transports it to Moosonee. Then the vehicle must be unloaded and put on a barge, which is hauled by a large tugboat up the James Bay coast to Attawapiskat. In wintertime the procedure is the same by train to Moosonee, where the vehicle is unloaded and driven on the winter road to Attawapiskat.
I never could quite figure out why so many people own cars and trucks in the community. After all, it is a remote place with no roads to the outside world. In Attawapiskat, which has a population of about 2,000 people, there are only a few roads. You can drive across town in a few minutes. Still, people want to have the luxury of having a vehicle to run about in.
Our family always needed one because we are in the contracting business. I was happy to be one of the privileged few in town to drive a vehicle. Most of the time I would load the truck up with friends and family and we just rode around in a circle all night long. Sometimes we would drive out to the rapids, which was about a kilometre out of town, or we would head out another road for a kilometre to the dump.
Most of the time the gravel roads were in poor shape. The potholes and washboard took their toll. I have seen new vehicles arrive in town and be run into the ground in just a matter of months. In the winter-time the minus-30 and 40 degree Celcius weather was very hard on all vehicles. Those who chose to travel the winter road to Moosonee did so at their own peril. The winter road was sometimes very rough and frequently vehicles would break down.
I have been working around vehicles most of my life. We all learned to drive so that we could help dad on his business projects. My experience with motor vehicles has not always been pleasant. When I was about eight years old I broke my leg helping my brothers push my dad’s half-ton pickup truck along an icy stretch of road. We had placed plywood under the rear tires for traction and as the truck moved and the tires caught, the plywood was hurled back and struck my lower left leg. It turned out to be quite an adventure, as I had to be transported on a stretcher in the cargo hold of an Air Creebec Hawker Sidley to the hospital in Moosonee. I must add that I have never stood behind a stuck vehicle since that incident.
Having been around all these vehicles for so many years I learned a lot about four-stroke and two-stroke engines. I can’t say I enjoy working on them but this knowledge comes in handy from time to time. I can’t remember how many times I have spent with my dad and my brothers at terrible freezing temperatures, working under a spotlight trying to get a truck, tractor or snowmobile going. I have little nicks and dents on my hands as reminders of those days.
Recently, I took a friend’s car in for an oil change. I was very happy to sit back and watch a young mechanic do the job for me.
