Daniel Schaepman drives a 2015 Caterpillar truck for Baxter’s Haulage and was hooking up trailers when Big Rigs saw him.
He had just transported cattle from Swan’s Lagoon in the Burdekin region to Julago where they would be prepared for live export to Asia.
While the company is based at Charters Towers, Schaepman lives at Barcaldine which was the home of the famous Tree of Knowledge until it was poisoned in 2006.
I asked Schaepman what his favourite roadhouse was and received an unexpected answer. “I don’t stop at many for food and would have to say my kitchen at home and my favourite dish is stir fry,” he says.
The worst road Schaepman travels along is the 650km long Landsborough Highway in western Queensland between and Cloncurry and Morven.
An old International was the first truck Schaepman drove.
I have to thank Schaepman for taking time to speak to Big Rigs as the day I saw him, he was very busy.
When he gets time off work Schaepman enjoys listening to music and his favourite performer is Australian Timmy Trumpet.
Timothy Jude Smith, better known by his stage name Timmy Trumpet, is an Australian DJ, musician, songwriter and record producer. He has become known internationally for playing the trumpet live and making use of jazz elements in the realm of global.