Confidences of travelers | From Quebec to California by semi-trailer

Traveling is like riding on a mountain road. But among the ups and downs, there will always be those indelible memories that you carry with you all your life. The Press recounts the adventures, big or small, of fearless travellers. Today: a couple of truckers from Trois-Rivières who have been crossing the United States for 15 years aboard their semi-trailer.

If she had been told one day that she would drive a truck, Marie-Josée Fafard would certainly not have believed her. And even less a 53 ft semi-trailer… Now, she barely has time to land at home when the urge to leave is already felt.

“It’s really a beautiful way of life,” she says, a smile in her voice as she contemplates the landscapes that pass before her eyes.

When we spoke to her, she was in Missouri, a two-day drive from Quebec, with a load of fruits and vegetables to bring home from California. While she’s at the wheel, her husband, Luc, gets plenty of sleep in the back cabin. And vice versa. She starts early in the morning, he drives at night.

These round trips, they do three per month; 10,000 km in about a week, on each trip.

Before taking her training as a truck driver, Marie-Josée was a beneficiary attendant, then an administrative assistant. “I was looking for myself a bit in life,” she recalls. Her husband, who had become a truck driver after being laid off, ended up convincing her to embark on the adventure by dint of sending him photos of his travels, she recalls laughing.

To each state its charm

It would be easy to believe that by dint of revisiting the same landscapes, we end up getting tired of them. “There are people who say ‘suddenly you saw it’… but it’s not true. Each season brings its own differences,” emphasizes Marie-Josée.

His favourite: Utah. ” That’s wonderful. On the 80, it’s landscapes of mountains of red earth. That’s sublime. »

There is California, too, in particular the 101 which runs along the seaside. The State of Washington, crossed during previous trips; Texas, Nevada, Arizona…

When they have to wait for their shipment in California, they take the opportunity to take a hotel room. “To get out of the truck for a bit, stretch your legs, go eat out, shop…”, says Marie-Josée. They even walked across Mexico years ago after taking a taxi from San Diego, where their truck was waiting for a load. But they would not do it again today, security issue.

A way of life

Even after 15 years, Marie-Josée and Luc would not change their way of life. “We get along very, very well, but we won’t put little pink clouds around… It happens sometimes that we’re tired, that we’re less patient, that we’ve slept badly. Because when we sleep, the truck rolls and the road is not a long calm river, it brews, it slows down… But we always had a lot of fun together. “Them and their two chihuahuas, Chico and Romy, who sleep on a cushion next to the driver.

Between trips, they never stop for long; just enough time to see the children and grandchildren, to do the shopping and the laundry for the next trip.

“In fact, I rarely get out of the truck because suddenly at home, I’m in preparatory mode to get back on board. I prepare meals to put in the microwave, marinades for my air fryer, because we don’t eat in restaurants. »

Even if there are beginning to be more and more of them, women driving a semi-trailer are still few in number. And at the controls of such an imposing vehicle, safety is paramount for Marie-Josée Fafard. Sometimes there is black ice on the road. “With high winds, it becomes really dangerous,” she says.

Just recently, there was even snow already in the mountains of Wyoming. This is also why they do not take the same paths all year round, in particular to avoid road closures due to weather conditions.

But rain or shine, they keep rolling. And above all, don’t talk to them about retirement… “When it’s been a long time since we’ve been back, we can’t wait to leave,” says Marie-Josée Fafard. It really is our second home, the truck. »