WINNIPEG, Man. – Even war can’t stand in the way of true romance, providing you’ve got a few helpful truckers around that is.

“We received a call regarding two young couples from Europe stranded in Winnipeg,” says Don Streuber, the fleet’s president. “Both were going to Calgary and their plane was forced to land here instead.”

He explains when the terrorists attacked in New York and Washington D.C., they arrived in the Manitoba capital only to find all of the hotels already booked solid leaving them no place to stay.

Bison’s operations department put in a few extra hours and was able to help by putting them in trucks by 4:30 p.m. on Sept. 11.

The next day, the rigs and their human cargo rolled into Calgary. Bison operators Henry Jaworski (unit 3693) and Arnie Smith (unit 36168) did the driving and say they were more than happy to help out in this time of crisis.

“Both couples spoke English well,” adds Streuber.

“One couple was from Belgium and they were both flight attendants with a division of Swiss Air. They were married on Aug. 18, and this is their honeymoon.”

The other couple, a pair of German marketing consultants, got a lift as far as Calgary before renting a car and continuing on to Vancouver. Both couples were very excited as they headed out of the Winnipeg yard on their unplanned adventure. n