10-4 Magazine November 2024

Cover Feature: By Daniel J. Linss outskir ts of town, he would let her take his car to school and he would hitchhike to work. Driving a log truck for someone else, Ken has always been industrious. While Ken was working at this company, they bought and took delivery of the very first hydraulic log loader. When it got delivered, nobody knew how to operate it, so Ken jumped in it and said, “I can do it!” So, the boss backed a log truck to the loader and told Ken to do it. After successfully loading the truck, the boss went to Ken’s company log truck, grabbed his lunchbox and thermos from it, handed it to Ken, and said, “You’re hired!” Ken ended up running that machine for a while. Wanting to go out on his own, Ken bought his first truck in February of 1973 – an old used plain Jane B-Model Mack log truck with no frills. This tiny truck had no A/C, no power steering, and no power windows. Upgrading the drivetrain himself to a 400 Big Cam Cummins and a 13-speed Roadranger transmission, Ken kept this truck until 1975, when he ordered the Kenwor th W900A seen on the cover, centerfold, and these pages. He pulled that drivetrain out of the Mack and installed it in the Kenwor th, which was ordered as a glider with a shor t hood, and with a unique and rare factory paint scheme. Now, here is where the story gets kind of complicated. No, not really, just kidding. Ken’s story is not complicated. Not being a man that jumps from job to job or from truck to truck, Ken is a firm believer that if you take care of something, it will last a very long time. Here are a few examples. Ken and Vicki got married in 1966 – they are still married. Ken and Vicki bought their proper ty in Hoquiam, WA in 1969 and put a modular home on it in 1974 – they still live on that proper ty in that house. Ken bought his log truck in 1975, and 49 years later, he is still driving it – every day! Not one to leave anything stock, Ken has made a lot of modifications to his Kenwor th. Ken Stearns has been telling the same joke for decades! Having driven the same truck for almost 50 years, a truck he calls “MORT” (My Old Rusty Truck), people often ask him why he is still driving it, and his answer is always the same, “I just have one more payment!” Of course, that is just a joke, but what isn’t a joke is the story of this amazing man, his family, his ingenuity, and his awesome Kenwor th W900A log truck that he purchased brand-new in 1975 as a glider – and he is still running it today, every day!! Being a third generation log trucker, Ken’s roots go back to his grandfather, Roy J. Stearns, who star ted logging in the Hood River area of Oregon in the 1930s. Back then, he had one logging site, a few log trucks, and he floated logs down the center of the Umpqua River and nobody said a word (you can’t do that today). Ken’s father James L. Stearns (Jim) dropped out of high school and joined the Army. While in the military, Jim met Ken’s mother, Lena Mae. After WW-II the two got married and moved to South Bend, WA and Jim star ted hauling logs. After working for a few companies for a while, Jim got his own log truck and star ted running all over Long Beach, South Bend, and Naselle in the southwest corner of Washington. In 1960, they moved to a town called Humptulips, WA (yea, you read that right), which is just nor th of Aberdeen. Running his own company called Stearns Logging, Ken’s father grew to be a pretty big outfit with two logging sites, four log trucks, construction equipment, a sawmill, and two or three dump trucks. At one point, he employed 45 people. Later, when he decided that he didn’t want to do all that anymore, he sold out and went to work as the service manager at Kenwor th Nor thwest in Aberdeen, WA in 1972. Born in 1947 in South Bend, WA, James K. Stearns (Ken) grew up around the logging industry and log trucks. Truth be told, everyone who lived in that area either worked directly or indirectly for the logging or fishing industry, and Ken was no different. When he was a senior in high school he broke his arm, which meant he couldn’t write or type, so he just dropped out! Meeting his wife Vicki in high school, the two got married in 1966 while Vicki was still a junior in high school – she was 17 years old. Ken had a new car at the time, and since they lived on the 10 10-4 Magazine / November 2024 ONE MORE PAYMENT!