I’m Grateful to an Old Farmer that lived in The Dalles, OR. and I will never remember his name since it was so long ago! 
As a 15 year old I started to work.
That first job was for a famer who owned thousands of aces of cherry orchard in Oregon state. Grandma helped me get the job, she knew all the orchard owners so she could do her canning. Green beans, plums, apples, cherries, peaches you name it she canned it.. lol , and I picked it.
To do the job I had to drive a tractor and pull a trailer.
I knew how to steer and the basics of shifting, Dad and Grandpa had taught me that. But I didn’t have a drivers permit yet.
He “taught” me how to shift, steer with the rear tires, the hydraulics and how to hook up and pull a trailer with that old ford tractor.
All in one day.. lol
I worked for that man that summer and many more after that. Sometimes driving a tractor or a truck and even picking the fruit.
The cherry harvest each year and the work needed before and after is how I made my “spending money” as a young man.
I bought my first car picking Cherries for that man one summer.
But What I DIDN’T Know, was that this man had taught me a way of life that would follow me the rest of my life.
Knowing how to drive a stick shift, tighten a chain, Tarp a load, hook a trailer up, drive where you shouldn’t, dealing with people, accounting, doing a good job.
Those were SKILLS, I learned that would support my life for decades.
I got a job as a log truck driver because of those skills. That led to more schooling and owning my own truck.
I hauled fruit, vegetables, baby wipes, furniture, electronics and Even Explosives over the next decades of my life with those skills he taught me.
Heck, I even married my wife in one of these “Big Trucks” and drove down the Las Vegas Strip pulling cans behind me in a Green Kenworth painted as the picture shows.
Who would of EVER Thought that a JOB as a kid and a Kind old Man would Have Such an Impact on a life !!!
I’m sure his “Time” has passed long ago and yet the memories HE Created still seem SOooo Fresh !!!
I wish I could “Thank Him” I hope he can hear me anyways.
the truck you made is absolutely stunning 