I just spent three wonderful days in beautiful B.C. attending the bi-annual Truxpo show. It truly is God’s country and we were lucky enough to have fabulous weather. To everyone who dropped by our booth, thank-you! Kathy, Jim and I appreciated the kind words and warm hospitality that was offered up.

I was shocked to hear about the attack of Monarch driver Alex Fraser. It didn’t take long for word to travel at the show.

We were all sickened. In case you’ve been locked away in a closet (or just too busy to read the papers or Web sites), Alex was attacked while stopping to help what appeared to be a motorist in trouble recently on the Yellowhead Highway just north of Blue River. When he got out of his cab, he was attacked by three men, beaten to a pulp, and basically left for dead.

I can’t understand for the life of me how someone can inflict unprovoked pain on another. I know there are some very scary people in this world. Thankfully, I don’t know any of them or if I do, they are very good at hiding the evil within.

What these idiots don’t know is that every trucker from one end of this country to the other will be looking for them.

These people will slip up, they will get caught and they will do time. Can you imagine if the people who find them happen to be truckers? It would be a real shame if the police were delayed in getting to that call. Oh boy.

Anyway, enough of that, my blood is starting to boil. Speaking of boiling blood, Kathy Penner and myself had the unfortunate task of flying home on the red-eye last Saturday night from Abbotsford.

Never again. I forgot what a ter-rible flight that was. I suppose that if the airline gave us a 40-50% discount it would be worth the aggravation, but we paid full pop. Lesson learned.

The other bit of news that came out of the show was that Paul Landry, BCTA’s long-standing president, has decided to retire. Although I haven’t had many dealings with Paul, I still remember when I first met the man.

It was my first Truxpo show and he stopped by our booth to introduce himself and welcome me to the show (and industry). It may have only been a brief conversation, but it’s one I haven’t forgotten. The staff of Truck News and Truck West wish Paul all the best in his retirement.

-Rob Wilkins is the publisher of Truck West and can be reached at 416-510-5123.