CORNWALL, Ont. — The following trucker story comes complete with background music.

First, click here. While the song’s playing (use headphones if you don’t want the entire office to swing around and stare at you first thing Monday morning) read on:

On Saturday, Oct. 3 hundreds of women truckers across the continent will be hopping into their cabs and joining the second annual Convoy for a Cure, a fundraising phenomenon that started last July in Eastern Ontario and has since caught on from New Brunswick clean down to Texas. 

It all began when Gatineau-based trucker Rachele Champagne found herself driving down the 401 alongside two of her friends, Jennifer Duval and Shelly Fry Hoernicke and realized, as she put it, “Wow … we got ourselves a women’s convoy here.”

She decided to turn it into a cause that’s dear to every woman’s heart — fight against breast cancer. 

Convoy founder Rachèle Champagne

Three months later, on Oct. 18, the first all-female convoy took place from Cornwall, Ont., along the Mac-Jack Freeway to Cardinal, with 29 drivers raising almost $15,000 for the Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation.

The buzz spread across Canada and down to the Gulf Coast. This year, in addition to the Cornwall event, there will be convoys in Moncton, Edmonton, and Dallas, Tex.

The Edmonton event, spearheaded by owner-operator Kristin McCallum, is also scheduled for Oct. 3. In New Brunswick, Roxanne Doran Smith (the wife of our former highwaySTAR of the Year, Terry Smith) and Caroline Wood have arranged for a convoy on Oct. 17th and in Texas, it’ll be on Oct. 24, courtesy of long-haul driver Cindy Stowe.

In each locale, the organizers are looking for sponsors, drivers and other ways to make the events prosperous, memorable and fun, so if you’re interested, you can find everything you need to know at www.convoyforacure.com.

(Music video courtesy of Alberta country singer Paul Brandt, whose video of the classic Convoy stars rigs owned by Winnipeg-based trucker Paul Brandt Trucking).