Most truckers hated the looks of Kenworth's T600 when it came out in 1985, and over the CB somebody nailed it with the nickname "Anteater." But it popularized aerodynamic styling, has been highly refined, and as the T600B, it remains a good seller, in spite of KW's attempts to supersede it with the sleeker and roomier T2000.

Alas, the T2000 has not built the stellar reputation of its ancestor, and meanwhile we've grown used to the T6's once-radical lines. So as trucker Keith Hyde of Longmont, Colo., put it, "as long as it works, keep goin'."

Specifications Tractor Kenworth T600B AeroCab, 120-in. BBC, w/ 74-in. Aerodyne double-bunk sleeper Engine Caterpillar C-15, 550 hp @ 2,100 rpm, 1,850 lbs-ft. @ 1,200 rpm, w/ Jake Brake Clutch Eaton Fuller 15.5-in. dampened disc Transmission Eaton Fuller RTLO-18918B double overdrive Front Axle 13,200-lb. Dana Spicer E-1320I on parabolic leaf springs Rear Axle 40,000-pound Dana Spicer ESP40 on KW Airglide 200 air-ride Brakes Dana Spicer S-cam WheelBase 234 inches Tires & Wheels Bridgestone 285/75R24.5 on Alcoa aluminum discs Fuel Capacity Two 120-gal. aluminum Trailer Strick 53 by 102 van

Actually, Hyde was talking about his nearly eight years with HVH Transportation of Denver, but HVH is what got him started with T6s. He began by driving a company T6 and liked it enough to buy one of his own and switch to owner/operator status. This 2002 model is the third T6 he's bought.

HVH has treated him well, he said. He makes a reasonable amount of money and gets a lot of miles. He runs regular routes, so at the start of every week he pretty much knows where he'll be going and about when he'll be home. He gets home once or twice a week, so he has a real life.

Hyde became a trucker after 27 years as a bricklayer and masonry contractor ("All that bending, I don't think I could do it now."), then two years as a cabbie in Denver ("I was robbed twice and locked in the trunk once – I didn't know if they were gonna shoot me or what") and short stints driving gravel trucks (mostly Peterbilts) and semis (Freightliners) with another fleet. A son-in-law got him hooked up with HVH, and he's enjoyed it.

Hyde hauls new Caterpillar engines and engine parts west, and backhauls engine cores and a variety of dry freight east. On this run, he had taken parts from Cat facilities in the Peoria, Ill., area to a dealer in San Diego, with an early Monday delivery. He deadheaded back to Ontario, waited a day and a half, then returned south to get a light load of paper plates in suburban El Cajon, Calif. The plates were consigned to Chicago.

He had picked me up late on a Tuesday afternoon on Interstate 15 just a few miles from my house north of San Diego, and we were headed out of town. Urban sprawl hasn't yet covered the entire I-15 corridor, but developers are working on it and "town" is never far away. We moved into and out of rush-hour traffic as we made our way north.

It was a good test of the Eaton Fuller 18-speed, which proved easy for me to shift after I got behind the wheel just past the CHP's Rainbow scale near Temecula. In Norco there was heavy traffic – Lookie-Lews gawking at a minivan on the shoulder with its engine afire. A trucker was there with his extinguisher, but it looked like the van was a goner.

I remarked to Hyde that finding the right gear was easy, even though I was not familiar with the truck. Kenworth engineers know how to set up a transmission, and I don't remember ever driving a KW that was hard to shift.

If you haul Cat stuff you might want a Cat under the hood. Hyde spec'd a 475-horsepower C-15 and immediately had it reset to 550. Even on Cajon Pass, the Cat could goof off, as HVH's 53-foot Strick van carried only 11,900 pounds, according to the paperwork, including the pallets.

An 18-speed can be split in both Low and High range, but with little load you use it like an 8- or 9-speed. With so much power, I climbed the pass mostly in 9th-direct (the transmission's 17th ratio), and once or twice down-shifted to 8th-over and -direct (16th and 15th) to adjust to other truck traffic.

Foliage all through the pass had been dusted with snow the previous night, but now the air was clear and the pavement dry. The Cajon scale was open, but we breezed through as expected. Why not? The truck was shiny clean and nearly new, and we weighed probably all of 40,000 pounds.

Light, heavy or no load at all, HVH pays Hyde about 84 cents a mile (plus assorted fees). He will also be paid that for the deadhead miles he ran until dispatchers could get him a load. They told him there were 15 HVH trucks in southern California on that Monday, and right now it's difficult finding loads out here.

Hyde picked up his 2002 T6 last August. It's "black on black" – black paint and black interior – with just the right amount of bright-metal trim and the exhaust stacks tucked away, out of the wind, behind the sleeper. He likes its looks, ride and comfort.

He had very few problems with his previous T6s – engine work, mostly, and that's been about the only problem with this one. While waiting for the load, he had spent a few hours at his dealer, Inland Kenworth in Fontana, east of Los Angeles, trying to get an electronic glitch in the engine fixed.

The footfeed had seemed touchy, and the electronic controls sent too much fuel to the engine at startup. It was hard to keep the tractor from moving out abruptly while engaging the clutch, and the front end hopped on the compliant front suspension. Mechanics couldn't get to it, though, so maybe they'll get it his next time out.

Hyde shopped around and bought the T6 at Inland because the sales guy, J.D. Vanzant, offered the best trade-in money for his previous T6, an '00 with about 350,000 miles. Why'd he trade so soon?

"I had taken accelerated depreciation on it for the first three years, and in the next two years the depreciation amount would've been a lot less, and that would've cost me in taxes – my accountant figures that out," he explained. "So I could pay out extra money to the government or make payments on a brand-new truck, and I'd rather have the new truck."

Evening gave way to a crisp, clear night, and a full moon rose early. I noticed the slight wind-whistle from the side window that Hyde usually leaves cracked open a bit. He doesn't smoke and never has, but just likes fresh air. The right window is powered, but he ordered a manually operated left window so he can adjust it just-so. I closed it and was struck by dead silence. What a quiet truck!

Soon I saw that the illuminated gauges showed in the sideview mirrors, and it began bugging me. I had not noticed this in two other Kenworths I had driven in the past – a T800B and a W900B – both of which use the same cab. Was it the T6's aero-style mirrors? Dialing down the gauge lights reduced the glare, but it was always there.

South of Baker, Hyde took the driver's seat again and I the shotgun. Both seats rode very smoothly, thanks to decent pavement and a well-engineered suspension. I moved to the sleeper to grab my camera and was reminded of something I had griped about in the W9 – the seats' arm rests get in the way. This is due to the comparatively narrow cab, and there's not much you can do about it but delete the arm rests or buy a truck with a wider cab. Or I could lose some weight. Fat chance, ha ha.

Hyde climbed the long Baker Grade in 17th gear at 55 to 60 mph. Not long ago, he said, he had another light "show-off" load and topped the summit at 65 or better. A CHP officer stopped him, but let Hyde off with a verbal warning, partly because it was the end of the officer's shift and he didn't want to bother writing a ticket. Maybe he liked the T6, too.

A few years ago Hyde was a real speedster – on motorcycles. Hyde said he once pushed his hopped-up Suzuki GS1150E to160 mph in 8.1 seconds on a quarter-mile dragstrip. That's about 75 mph faster than I'll ever ride my ol' GS850G. We agreed that Harley-Davidsons are overrated, overpriced and some of their parts come from overseas. (Hog heads, please stay calm. I'm from Milwaukee and will allow that Harleys are nice to look at.)

Soon we saw the garish lights of the three casinos at Primm Valley at the Nevada state line far below. Soon we were there, and at about 10:20 p.m. Mountain time on his dash clock (9:20 my time), we stopped for a late supper at Whiskey Pete's hotel and casino. It was a good time to do so, for a wreck ahead had all but stopped northbound traffic just north of the casino complex.

"I keep late hours," he said of this meal time. "I drive until 1 or 2 in the morning before I stop. Then I sleep late. This morning it was past 9 o'clock before I got going." He said he doesn't have trouble finding places to park because he's familiar with the routes and knows where the available places are.

The meal was good and cheap, and we got back on the road. Traffic was still crawling and as we passed the wreck site we saw what was involved: Two sport-utility vehicles, one way off the road and battered, and the other aboard a roll-back tow truck and mangled. It had rolled, and we wondered if it was one of those tire blow-out incidents.

We continued toward Las Vegas, and Hyde remarked on his current life style. He and his wife, Darlene, have three grown children and four grandkids to enjoy. His wife works and is independent enough to handle his time away.

"It's a good job for an older guy," Hyde said. "For young guys in their 20s and 30s it's hard, because they have to be away from their wives, and the kids are young and growing, and it's better to be home."

Relationships and family demands change as couples get older, usually making it easier for the trucker in the family to be gone, Hyde observed.

In three or four sentences he had summed up the root of long-haul trucking's retention problem, it seemed to me. How you gonna keep 'em out on the road when there's trouble down on the farm?

By 11:30 Mountain time, we were on the Las Vegas Strip and at my hotel. Hyde would go on for a couple more hours before stopping, and said he planned to continue this, his third or fourth career, for well into the future.

Oh, I almost forgot to mention that late last summer, Hyde suffered a brain tumor – an abscess, actually – caused by a strep infection of unknown origin. It caused some vertigo and blurred his peripheral vision, but surgeons took it out, and he's fine now. The brain's working again, and he's a-goin' down the road.