10-4 Magazine November 2023

12 10-4 Magazine / November 2023 coated by the shop foreman’s wife, which she does as a little side gig. The lighting on the truck is extensive and well thought out. Everything was placed in groups of four, including the breather lights, eight evenly spaced cab lights (four on each side), and the load lights on the back of the sleeper. Underneath the truck, over 100 button lights were mounted from front to back to give it that nice under-glow at night. The rear stainless steel bumper from 4 State Trucks features 14 lights – seven blink left, seven blink right, and they all light up when the brakes are applied. The LED Projector headlights up front are from Trux and feature blacked-out lenses, and the breather light panels are from Trux, as well. Inside the cab, most of the interior was left stock, but the truck does have a two-stick shifter kit from Spare Time Fab (in honor of his dad’s truck that Ber t learned to drive in), a Forever Sharp steering wheel, and floor plates from Iowa Customs to get the seats a little fur ther back for more leg room. The dash features 20 gauges, and Lisa was able to find perfectly colored purple hand towels to hang on the armrests. After nine weeks at the dealership, the truck was ready to be taken to their sign painter. Taking it to Lane Walker at Solo Signs in Reno, NV, on Thanksgiving weekend in 2021, the truck spent about a week at Lane’s place getting all the final details. The purple stripe had been designed by Lane, but Boise Peterbilt painted it. Once at Solo Signs, Lane used aluminum flake for the breaker stripe between the purple and white, and also for the company logo. He also outlined the purple stripe with thin teal lines, painted the “Double 0” bloodshot eyeballs on the sides of the hood (because truckers are always tired from running hard), added the deck plate striping with more aluminum flake, and then put Ber t’s name on the driver’s door and Lisa’s name on the passenger door. After everything was finally completed, the truck was put on the road on December 1, 2021, and it began pulling the Western belt trailer. Ber t pulled that trailer until March 2022, but then the rates began crashing, so Ber t parked the trailer and began pulling a dry van for our friend and past cover trucker (October 2010) Jeff Barnes of J&S Enterprises in Rochester, WA. Ber t did this until September, at which point a routine DOT physical became a medical emergency! Going in for his annual DOT physical exam in September of 2022, Ber t was shocked when the doctor checking him out told him that he needed to head to the emergency room right then and there. Apparently, his hear t rate was off the char ts, and in that condition having a stroke or hear t attack is highly probable. Although Ber t felt perfectly fine, the doctors were concerned for his very life. With his hear t pumping at 125-150 beats per minute, Ber t was diagnosed with Atrial Fibrillation (AFib) and sent home with medication to treat it. The DOT doctor gave him a 3-month extension on his medical card to get the situation dealt with and corrected, if possible, but told him he really shouldn’t be driving – and Ber t took that advice to hear t (no pun intended). At this point, Ber t’s driving future wasn’t looking good, so they decided to put the truck and trailer up for sale. Surprisingly, the trailer sold in just two days! A few guys were hot and heavy to buy the truck, but thankfully none of them panned out. This was Ber t’s dream truck, and he hadn’t had it that long, and the mere thought of selling it was really making him sad. He decided to focus on his health and began eating better and walking every day. Three months later, when he went for his follow-up DOT physical, this doctor found no signs of any of the problems he was having three months before. The doctor said, “Keep doing whatever you are