Keen golfer Graham Spencer pulled up outside the Calcium Puma Roadhouse and walked in to purchase a piece of fish and a cold soft drink.
The 51-year-old was driving a Western Star 4964 powered by a 600hp Cat motor and with an 18 speed Road Ranger gearbox.
Most people refer to him by his nickname Spence.
Friendly Spence works for Charters Towers based BRT and generally drives triple road trains to Mount Isa.
“I transport scrap steel between Townsville and Mount Isa,” he said.
That is a 900km trip along the Flinders and Barkly Highways.
Spence likes stopping at the Lights on the Hill Roadhouse just outside Hughenden.
He rates the worst roads he travels along as between Rollingstone on the coast and Injune.
“I have been driving trucks since I was 19 and used to do it in the Kimberley region of WA,” he said.
I asked Spence if he had a good rest area in which to have a break along the way.
“There is one 130km east of Mount Isa at Cloncurry which is very good,” he said.
His hobbies include cooking and playing golf at the Charters Towers Club.
“I am not very good at golf and my handicap is 27 and my best foods to cook are fish and pasta,” he said.