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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

At 75, Tex Still Hauls - After 5 Million Safe Miles

Talk about long-haul drivers, Tex Nixon has been there and back.

The Spokane man slid behind the wheel of his first big rig back in 1944 and kept going. And going …

Tex passed his 5 millionth mile the other day and watched it fade in the distance behind him.

His 52-year professional driving career is the equivalent of 20 trips to the moon or 200 laps around the Earth.

“I never gave it any thought,” muses Tex, scratching his bald head and peering out through oversized eyeglasses. “But when you put it in those terms, well, it does make you think.”

The Tex Nixon story gets even more remarkable:

He turns 75 on Monday.

He still drives an 18-wheeler seven days a week for about 90,000 miles a year.

He’s never had an accident.

All those factors put Tex in a truck-driving hall of fame of his own, says Joe Gilson of the Virginia-based American Trucking Association.

“It’s an incredible accomplishment. This guy should be lauded up and down.” Gilson says he’s heard of maybe one other trucker with similar experience and mileage, but “that’s just word of mouth.”

To show how rare Tex’s mileage is, Gilson adds that one big company gives drivers a custom rig with their name on it when they reach the 3 million mark.

Yet Tex takes his career in humble stride. “I’m glad people appreciate what I’ve done, but I don’t brag about it,” he adds. “That’s something you don’t do.”

Tex became a trucker on a fluke.

Born in Duplex, Texas, he moved to LaCrosse, Wash., in 1940 to work the wheat harvests. One day while sitting in a cafe, Tex befriended a passing truck driver who later helped get him a job.

Tex fell in love with these giant, diesel-burning transports the second he jammed his first gear. He drove 22-wheeled Kenworth fuel tankers for the James J. Williams company.

Compared to modern trucks, the semis were sluggish dinosaurs that shook and bounced over bad, narrow roads.

“Nobody thought about the dangers back then,” says Tex. “You just did your job.”

One of his friends burned to death back in the 1950s. Trying to avoid a car, the truck driver rolled his tanker and exploded near North Bend, Wash. Tears still well in Tex’s eyes at the memory.

Tex considers his unblemished accident record “a miracle” considering the nasty conditions in which he’s had to drive. His closest call came not long after he started. Tex miscalculated a steep hill near Dayton, Wash., and used too high of a gear.

“I got the ride of my life,” says Tex, adding that it took everything he had to keep his highballing rig from flying out of control.

Luck, someone once said, is the residue of good design.

Tex credits much of his success to his mentor, the late Al Mellick, who taught him to drive defensively. There are few things Tex hates more than cocky truck drivers who drive too fast.

“When you get to a point where you think you know it all,” he says, “that’s when you make a mistake.”

He left the Williams company in 1964 and spent the next 10 years driving produce to California. In 1974, he joined the Lanier-Brugh corporation and began hauling mail.

“I hope I can be as creative and healthy at his age,” says Troy Brugh, 52, the president of Lanier-Brugh. “He’s terrific. Amazing. Just as crusty and ornery as ever.”

Lanier-Brugh of Portland contracts with the U.S. Postal Service. Six days a week, Tex carries a load of mail aboard a 400-horsepower Freightliner from Spokane to Pasco and back. On Sundays, it’s a round trip to Ritzville.

He’s such a beloved fixture at Jake’s Cafe in Ritzville that his coffee and doughnuts are always on the house.

Tex doesn’t have any big plans for his birthday. Like any vacation day, he’ll spend it relaxing with Opal, his wife of 49 years, and thinking about getting back on the road.

As long as Tex keeps passing the test required to keep his professional license, he’ll keep driving.

“People are all the time asking me, ‘When you gonna retire, Tex?”’ he says. “But like I told one fellah, when you look in the paper and see my name in the obituaries. That’s when you can say, ‘By gosh, it looks like Tex finally did retire.”’

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo