My Life Trucking

The new header comes from the creative energy of my wife Barbe!

Most of you who either know me or have followed my blogs know that I have been a truck driver most of my adult life. I knew what I wanted to be when I was 3 years old and I never changed my mind. Trucking has been very good to me. It has provided me with an excellent living and the flexibility to take off work for extended periods of time when I want to.  It can be a hard life, away from home for a week or two at a time, but it has always been something I love doing. It's more of a lifestyle than a job really. Always on the go, always seeing new sights and meeting new people.

The first truck I owned

I started my trucking career working locally for Global Van Lines in Colorado Springs, CO. As soon as I turned 21, the legal age to drive interstate, I signed on with Affiliated Van Lines out of Lawton, OK. Moving people, packing their belongings into cartons and loading everything they owned onto my truck, just seemed to click with me. I enjoyed helping people at two of the most stressful times of their lives, moving and job change, and I became very good at it. Within a few years I was asked to lease on with one of Atlas Van Lines premier agents in Springfield, VA and was soon rated in the top 5% of drivers in the industry for customer service, lowest claims and highest revenue. 

Deciding to leave the van lines and obtain my own operating authority was a big move for me. One of the keys to my success in trucking is that I have always looked for niche markets which usually requires specialized equipment and skills. Because of this I have done many different kinds of trucking, over sized loads, step deck, van, live floor, end dump, car hauling and I even spent a year pulling a Canadian "A" train in the Pacific NW and British Columbia.  

My 1984 Peterbilt w/Canadian "A" train (34' lead trlr w/ 20' pup w/extendable tongue) on top of Snoqualmie Pass, WA



Mark, he was always happiest in the truck



My boys have always traveled with me. Over the past 14 years, I can count on one hand the times that I have been alone on the road. Each of them started traveling with me when they were about 18 months old. This has been an amazing blessing to us and one of the things that has kept me going in the face of rising fuel cost and rising government regulations. When the boys were smaller, we were able to travel as a family. We've visited so many awesome places around the country. I don't think my boys realize yet what an amazing and unique childhood they have had. All of them have been in 49 of the 50 states, many times. Mark, by the time he was 5 years old, had logged over 300,000 miles with me. I often ask them, "How many of your friends woke up in Iowa this morning and will go to bed in Colorado?"



Truck school (Ben & Mark)



The main reason we decided to home school our boys, or truck school as we call it, is so they could travel with me. Barbe has always done a great job preparing a week or two's work in advance. I have done very little other than to say, "Call your mother". So far it has worked well. They have missed out on sports and other group activities, but the real life experiences and hands on approach to business they have had on the road will hopefully offset that.



 

Thomas chaining a car (age 6)

The boys always help me load and unload. Usually, if I stand around and talk with the customer long enough, they'll have the trailer all set up, the car loaded and strapped down. It's great!

At Mt Rushmore 2004

Over all...I wouldn't trade it for the world. I consider my boys to be my best friends. That alone is worth it. For the past several years I have had to work less and less, which has given us the ability to travel to Guatemala and Honduras and to spend the last two winters in Florida. When in Florida I take my "work" with me, hauling new cars out of the Port of Jacksonville to North Carolina and returning with used cars to the port for export to the Middle East and Africa. I only work 3 days a week while there, which gives us plenty of time to enjoy being snowbirds. After spending winters in the south I can see now why retirees do it! Will I miss trucking when we move to Honduras? Yes, trucking gets in your blood, but I am looking forward to the change and the new challenges as well. Sometimes I have to pinch myself to make sure it's real. An entire year with out going to work? God is good!

Although this trlr unloads itself, here it had to be "tipped"!

My T-600 w/Fabrex live floor trlr



My 1999 Volvo 770 w/Doonan stepdeck and "oversized" load