Theron Wood, a truck driver with TL Trucking out of Pasco, prepares to clean the ice off the rearview mirrors of the 1999 Kenworth W900L semi-tractor trailer not far from the junction of S.R. 26 and I-90. Wood had to stop several times on the eastern side of Snoqualmie Pass to clean the ice off his mirrors. “Heated mirrors don’t seem to help,” he said.
December 28, 2022
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The long haul: Trucking isn’t an easy job, but it’s essential
FIFE — Theron Wood stands in a fenced-in parking lot at the end of a narrow cul-de-sac not far from the Port of Tacoma. He’s watching a pair of forklift drivers load 32 tons of palm fat — 64,000 pounds in one-ton totes — on the back of a pair of flatbed trailers hooked up to his semi-tractor. The 25-year-old has been driving for a year as a professional driver for TL Trucking in Pasco, and the parking lot of Global Agri Trade is now a regular stop for him. But it’s a bit of a difficult stop. The street is narrow, short and poorly maintained — crumbling at the shoulders — and would be a tight fit for any big vehicle, much less a semi-truck pulling nearly 70 feet of trailers.