10-4 Magazine / February 2026 33 an owner operator and go over-the-road. Purchasing his first truck in 1978, a brand-new Kenworth K100C equipped with a 110” double bunk flat top, the truck was painted white with brown and tan stripes, with a saddle brown diamond tuck interior. Powered by a 3406A CAT and mated to an Eaton-Fuller 13-speed, power was pushed to 4.33 rear-ends on 24.5 rubber and riding on a Kenworth eight-bag air-ride suspension. “The truck would run 72 mph, but you have to remember, this was back in the days of the double nickel (55 mph) speed limit,” said Steen, referring to the truck’s rear-end gears. “Those gears probably kept me out of trouble,” he said, laughing about how hard he ran with that truck. “I hauled produce from the west coast to Hunts Point, NY, Philly and Boston,” as Steen continued. “I ran team with my friend Guy ‘Yogi’ Thomas for the first year with that truck until Yogi bought his own truck,” added Steen. Trading in the K100C, Steen then ordered a new extended hood Kenworth W900A in 1980. Spec’d similar to the K100C, the W900A was powered by a 3406B CAT, mated to an Eaton-Fuller 13-speed with 4.33 rears, and riding on an eight-bag Kenworth air-ride. “I had every option you could get on this truck, including a full Seattle package diamond tuck interior and a 60-inch flattop,” said Steen. Leased to Lojex out of Anaheim, California, Steen hauled oxygen, helium, and nitrogen, and pulled gas and liquid cryogenic trailers with it, as well. “I loved this truck and even raced it down the quarter mile at Bandimere Speedway in 1982,” said Steen. “I was just going to show it, but a friend of mine, who was drag racing his truck that same weekend convinced me, and I ended up finishing in second place that weekend,” Steen told me proudly. Sadly, though, later that year (1982) the truck was stolen out of the Lojex yard in Denver, Colorado. “They never found the truck, but years later, I had the police contact me when the sleeper from the truck turned up on another truck which was in the Denver Kenworth dealership for service,” said Steen. After his W900A was stolen, Steen went to work driving a company truck for Danny Coleman hauling chemicals, jet fuel, and rocket fuel to Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and the Titan II missile sites, that were in the process of being decommissioned at that time in the Tucson, Arizona area. In 1983, Steen made another switch and began driving for Leprino Foods in Denver, Colorado. “I still remember my first truck when I was with Leprino – it was a 1982 Peterbilt model 359, and then the company went to Kenworths and I got a brand-new W900B with an Aerodyne sleeper in 1985,” said Steen. Pulling reefer trailers and hauling Mozzarella cheese, Steen drove for Leprino for 20 years, running Kenworth trucks over that time, until they sold the transportation division to Navajo. While Steen went to work for Navajo for a few months after Leprino sold out, he didn’t like the culture at Navajo. After his safety manager Tom Lee decided to leave, Steen was one of five drivers who went with him to another Denver based outfit called Mile Hi Transportation. Mile Hi Transportation is now known as TMT Trucking and is the transportation division of the Mile Hi Companies, servicing their bakeries and other logistical needs. “I’ve been at Mile Hi/TMT for 23 years now and am treated very well. I primarily run a dedicated route from Denver to a warehouse in Stockton, California, and back every week,” said Steen. Receiving a new Peterbilt model 579 last year, the truck is Cummins powered and has an Eaton-Fuller 12-speed automatic. When asked about it, Steen said, “I wasn’t real crazy about the automatic transmission at first, but I’ve gotten used to it.”
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