Letter from Our Founder

For those of you who enjoy the jokes that I love to tell from the public domain:

Coming to the Palouse

I became familiar with the Palouse during my time at WSU, graduating in 1980.

If I would have had a camera, I would have snapped a picture of the “Ash St.” street name sign on May 18th, 1980.

It was great to come back in 1987.

Isn’t the Palouse beautiful! And I still had friends who were here from my college days that were great to see.

How It All Started

I worked for the struggling Pullman Herald before it went under.

At that time I preached for six months as an interim Pastor in Elk River. I worked for the respectable R.O. Pyle doing roofing for a season. He was a tough old bird. At that same time my wife Linda checked out a book from the Library called, “How to Make $15 to $35 an Hour with a Pickup Truck or Van.” The author, Don Lilly, suggested the name “Me & My Truck” in the back of his book. Linda also did the behind-the-scenes activity like the taxes, W-9’s, etc. I married better than she did on a lot of levels. For one, she is a genius.

One of the quotes that I liked from Don Lilly was, “A job well done with a good attitude is usually met with the question, ‘What other kinds of work do you do?’” He suggested hauling and moving in the book.

I tried to clean up after hauling jobs so clean that the customer didn’t have to do anything.

It was a blessing to be able to keep things that were an upgrade from what I had or that I could repair and use. On occasion I was blessed to receive furniture and such because it was less expensive for the customer to give it to me than move it to another city. Some were just plain generous. I think that Mr. Lilly also said, “Word of mouth is never neutral. Always let it be positive.” I am grateful for the many people who referred me. I appreciated my customers.

The People Who Made It Work

I had some great employees over the 36 years. They were a huge part of the success of the business, not just physically - they were very bright. Someone has said, “Always hire people more intelligent than yourself.”

Along these lines, it is my opinion that I sold the company to one who is more intelligent than myself, Kevin Moore. He also has concern for people.

As we grew, we added some great office personnel.

Moving People Across the Country

I enjoyed moving people both locally and across the country. It might sound cost prohibitive but I could rent a truck, drive, unload and fly back usually for less than the major van lines companies. I quickly procured my DOT and motor carrier number and insurance, etc.

I would drive directly with their load only to anywhere in the country within a week, not weeks. Frequently I would take either my wife, one of our five now grown children and visit tourist spots along the way. Places like the Grand Canyon or Mt. Rushmore. Later, I might take an employee with me. I was kind of like those two guys in the animated movie, “Bolt”.

Growing the Services

I discovered that I like to make things clean. Soon after, a couple of people asked me, “Do you clean windows?” and “Do you clean gutters?” I grew up in Yakima and Selah and had picked fruit since 6th grade. I had a respect for heights, but not an inordinate fear of heights.

Both jobs appealed to me so I added these services. Later I would add pressure washing after an employee told me that he had worked doing this service in Seattle.

I kept busy with various jobs all year round. Snow removal was always “Feast or Famine,” “Chicken or Feathers,” but I enjoyed it. I liked the variety of the work. I started with a snow shovel. There was actually a picture of me using a snow blower when the Subway started up. The next year I had a snow plow on my truck.

I would have been bored had I only offered one service. Also, I was getting paid to exercise.

Words to Work By

Other quotes that I like are:

And most importantly:

“Love your neighbor as yourself.” Leviticus 19:18, quoted by the Lord Jesus

I liked the challenges that the work brought.

In the more recent years, if I didn’t understand something I could just watch a YouTube video.

Gratitude

I worked with a lot of vendors in Moscow and enjoyed my relationship with the hardware stores and various businesses. Pat, at North Country Landscaping, unknowingly at the time, helped me out as I watched him work hard on a project where we were at the same location decades ago. He was actually inspiring. I thought to myself, “He has only one speed and that is fast.”

Thank you Larry Lucas. You helped me to see that my expenses were higher than I thought and I needed to raise my rates. My wife also appreciated his good advice.

Thank you Dr. Heather Holleman. Your book, “The Six Conversations” has helped me not to talk so much and listen better.

Doug Busby, I am grateful for your Bible Study series, “The Messianic Hope.” It has stuck with me for 25 years.

I appreciate the citizens of the Palouse and their thankfulness for my work. One lady even laminated the Daily News article when I retired and sent it to me. How kind of her!

There are many others of you who have been a great encouragement to me and I thank you!

What It All Means

Ephesians 2 has been very helpful to me. It has helped me understand who I am (made by Christ Jesus) and what my purpose is: walking in the good works that he has already prepared.

“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Ephesians 2:10

My salvation isn’t because of any good works but because he saved me from his righteous wrath because he is rich in mercy. It is because of his grace by faith I am seated with him, like those Knights of Camelot at the round table with King Arthur.