Trucking Life

Reanee Swiger-Gray waited a long time to get behind the wheel of a big rig. But once she got there, she soaked up everything there is to see and made the most of every day on the road. “What I love about trucking is, my home is in a different location every day. I see things that some people could only dream of,” said the native-born Texan. “I would have never seen elk migrating; I’d probably have never seen an elk unless it was in a darn zoo. I would have never seen the things that I’ve seen out here. This country is a wonderful place to see.” Swiger-Gray first fell in love with trucking while growing up on a farm. “I grew up and lived just southeast of Austin, Texas,” she said. “We raised Arabian horses my whole life, and we would go to the shows. I would see the people bringing the horse trailers full of horses to the shows and I was like, ‘I’m going to do that.’” Life took her down another path, however, and she wound up working as a hairdresser for 27 years, until the economy and other aspects of the job turned south, she said. With lots of time suddenly on her hands, she tapped her son Logan on the shoulder and asked him to come along as she at last chased her dream. “One day I just decided it was time to try something different,” she said. “So, I moved all my belongings into a cargo container at my mom’s house and said, ‘Mom, I’m doing this.’ She was like, ‘Okay.’ My family and my parents were very supportive, and I’ve enjoyed every bit of it since I did it.” Swiger-Gray was 43 or 44 at the time, she recalls. “There was one other girl in my class at trucking school; she was young,” she said. “There were some older guys, guys about my age. I also kind of stood out because I’m 6 feet, 1 inch tall, and my 23-year-old son Logan is 6 feet, 4 inches.” Swiger-Gray appreciated her son’s support but admits it was tough having him as a classmate. Especially since, she said reluctantly, he got better grades in truck driving school than she did. “I had done hair, while he grew up working on a farm,” she said in her defense. “He was used to hauling big truck trailers, and I hadn’t been doing that. Following in my child’s footsteps in school was tough. I had to prove myself.” Once on the road, driving for Minnesota-based Brenny Specialized, Swiger-Gray felt like she had finally come “home” to do what she was always meant to do. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t challenges along the way. “There’s a lot I had to get used to,” she said. “The lack of respect from four-wheelers is a big challenge. I also thought it was going to be easy to just jump in a truck and take off running. But you have to learn things, you know, like backing up. It was totally different, but I’ve loved every bit of it.” Another challenge for the decidedly people-oriented Swiger-Gray was the reception she often got from other drivers because of her gender. “A lot of men are willing to help — and a lot of men would rather watch you struggle than help,” she said. “I don’t come across a lot of women; the ones that I work with are very helpful with each other. Other women I have met are very respectful and helpful, but there’s a lot of them that don’t go out of their way to say hi. “But other than that, I have a very good support system in my friends and family and my husband, Homer,” she continued. “I have met wonderful people. I have a support group of truck drivers. The support I have out here runs deep.” Swiger-Gray also derives support from being a member of the Women in Trucking Association, which this year named her Member of the Month for April. In a press release, the association cited her impeccable safety record over more than 1 million miles. But it also cited her character, referencing a story about Swiger-Gray that showed the depth of her compassion for her fellow human beings. “It was Jan. 29 in Austin, Texas. I took my daddy to a sleep study and it was right next to a hospital,” she said. “I happened to hear this man saying, ‘I have no shoes.’ Well, I knew the bus was behind me and the bus took off and he was hollering at the driver that he wanted to get on the bus but couldn’t because he had no shoes.” Swiger-Gray dropped off her father and then drove to the nearest intersection where she flagged down the man crossing the street. “I pulled up as he walked across and I said, ‘Sir, what size shoe do you wear?’ He’s like, ‘(Size) 8, 9.’ I literally took the shoes off my feet and handed them to him,” she said. “He walked over, found a place to sit, took the socks off his feet because it was drizzling rain. He put them on, said thank you and proceeded to walk away. “I am a very giving person,” she explained. “During my life, I had to ride the bus everywhere myself at one time. I had a group of homeless guys that would come meet me and walk me up the road late at night when I got off from work. I would feed them, take care of them and they took care of me. I would give you the shirt off my back if it meant anything.” As for other people who are thinking about doing something new with their lives — especially in trucking — Swiger-Gray has some hard-won advice. “The only thing I can say is follow your dream,” she said. “It’s not an easy start out here. If you’re new, walk around with your head up, be proud of what you’re doing. Be proud. The whole thing is to be confident in what you’re doing; have confidence in yourself, and you can succeed.”

MUNCIE, Ind. — Don Talley leads a busy life, helping to run a food pantry, making deliveries every week and chasing around three grandchildren. As a retired veteran, his service to others — and to his company, Carter Express — is what led him to be named one of the two 2021 Citizen Drivers, awarded by TravelCenters of America. Talley didn’t go into his trucking career headfirst. Instead, it started with some hesitancy and stepping stones. His introduction started while he was overseas for the U.S. Army, when he found that he didn’t particularly like to walk. “So, I drove,” Talley said. “I learned how to drive a bus overseas, took a test and I was a master bus driver in Europe.” Soon, his love for driving became beneficial to his fellow military members. He’d drive his friends to concerts or Oktoberfest, or as a drill sergeant, he’d drive a cattle car to move troops back and forth. “I just wanted to keep everybody safe,” he said. “You don’t want anyone drunk-driving on the highway. I just always wanted to help out, and I always did like driving.” His interest in driving was tested while he was stationed in Saudi Arabia for the Army, where they were using trucking brigades. He had a decision to make — learn how to drive a truck, or shy away from it. Talley isn’t the kind to back down from new skills. “I told myself I could do it,” Talley said. Once he mastered truck driving, he started training others to drive. Although he was unsure where his road would lead after returning from his Army service, his teaching spirit carried over into over-the-road truck driving in the U.S. “I got back (to the U.S.), and at first I didn’t want to be gone all the time,” he said. “But when I was a tour bus driver, I knew a guy and he says, ‘Hey, Carter is hiring, and you’d be home every week.’ So that’s what got me to where I’m at.” Talley believes he has landed in a good spot. He’s spent 17 of his 18 years as an over-the-road truck driver training others how to be better drivers. Recently, he decided it was best to refrain from being a full-time trainer, as he wanted to focus on his true love of trucking. “But I still help everybody if they need it,” he said. “If they have someone who needs a little extra help, I give them my expertise or my ideas on how to get to be a better driver.” Talley, who is primarily motivated by a spirit of helping, said he wants to “pay back” Carter Express, a company he says has been good to him. “It’s a good company that will listen to me and take my ideas, and they’re helping other people,” he said. “I’m a Christian. I just want somebody to be the best person they can be if I (get the chance) to help them. If I can make them better by talking to them, giving them some food, training, giving them a ride, whatever, I want to do that.” That means fostering his love of learning new things. Growing up, Talley’s parents owned a gas station, and that was where he learned how to work on cars. Later, he got a college degree in building construction. “When I was in the military, I always learned somebody else’s job. You never know, when you need that person, he or she might be gone, and you might have to step in that position. You made yourself more reliable. You never get fired that way,” he said laughing. His reliability in the military led him to earning several medals and awards. Talley served from 1974 to 1994 and received a Bronze Star along with other high honors, such as a Purple Heart for rescuing lives after a truck caught fire, and a Soldier’s Medal for risking his life to save a woman who was pinned to the side of a cliff in 1982. His extraordinary service and reliability have always been part of his character, and he has not given this trait up. Every Sunday, he helps his wife, Becky at their church’s food pantry. He’ll bring boxes for her to use, clean the pantry and prepare food. Occasionally the Talleys will make food deliveries together, or provide transportation for those who need it. When their oldest daughter, Lori, died prematurely, the Talleys turned the tragic incident into a benefit for others. The two started a golf tournament with a scholarship attached to it to donate to her high school. “My whole family was helping to do that,” he said. “We’d always cook good meals for the golfers, and I went out to get door prizes.” It was also a way for Talley to cope. Don had never really picked up on golf until his daughter died, and he never let it go. Although he stopped holding the golf tournament 10 years ago, he’s been playing for 30 years. Other than truck driving and playing golf, he enjoys spending time with his other daughter, Lisa, and his grandchildren, who wrestle, and play softball and volleyball. “I’m really proud of my grandkids and everything they do,” he said. “They’re smart kids, they’re polite kids and they call me Papa.” They warm his heart, just as lending a helping hand warms his heart.

Some truckers relish the variety of running irregular routes, going wherever the freight — or a dispatcher — takes them. Others, however, prefer life to be more predictable. They like the consistency of running dedicated freight on predictable routes. “I don’t think I’d want to be out there looking for different delivery places every day, plus finding somewhere to park for sleep,” explained Lori Broderson. She appreciates the familiarity of serving a dedicated account for Quality Carriers. Oddly enough, an electronic logging device (ELD) is partly responsible for getting her behind the wheel of her 2003 Western Star Lomax. It wasn’t her ELD, though — It was her husband, Mitch’s. “I was on a run where I’d end up an hour or two from the house,” Mitch explained. Most drivers who were around when paper logs ruled know that drivers in that situation often simply completed the run, making the paper log look right later. Being with one’s own family and sleeping at home instead of taking another rest break in the truck was a strong incentive. A common anecdote was that the driver got home at a certain time, but his logbook “got home” considerably later. “When they put in the E-logs, I’d have to shut down for my rest break instead of going home,” he continued. “Lori got her CDL so she could go with me and finish the run to the house.” That’s how the Brodersons began teaming together. Mitch started trucking much earlier than Lori, back when the couple first married. “I couldn’t find another job when our shop closed down,” he said. “When we got married, I moved furniture for United Van Lines. First I got my Class B chauffeur’s license and then I got my CDL.” Mitch worked in the food-service business for about a decade, a very physical job that offers daily home time, but often after a long shift. Then he switched to hauling a tanker. Both Lori’s father and grandfather were experienced in pulling tanks. “Lori’s dad hauled gas for 30 years, and her granddad hauled bread, molasses and was a gas-hauler, too,” he said. “I bought my first truck in 2000, an International. I hauled molasses for years.” In 2003, Mitch joined Quality Carriers. A few years later, he purchased his first Western Star truck, a 2006 Lomax. “I think they’re the best-looking trucks out there,” he said. “Almost as soon as it was delivered, I entered it in my first truck show just ‘plain jane.’ It made the cover of the Shell SuperRigs calendar in ’09.” How did Broderson celebrate? “I bought more chrome,” he said. That 2006 Lomax is the truck Lori joined him in once she got a CDL of her own. “For a while, we made 24-hour turns as a team,” Mitch explained. Since several loads are shipped every night, the Brodersons decided they would benefit from adding another truck and driving separately. “We saw this beautiful ’03 Western Star at the truck show in St. Ignace, Michigan. A few weeks later, when we started looking for another truck, there it was, listed in the Truck Paper,” Lori recalled. “Mine has a Detroit Series 60 engine and hers has a Caterpillar D15,” Mitch said. “Both of them have 13-speed transmissions.” The couple quickly worked out a system to maximize their time together, running for the same account. “She loads an hour earlier and starts down the road; then I follow,” Mitch explained. “We meet up for meals and to sleep. It’s a lot of work. We make four runs a week, about 2,900 miles, running mostly nights.” Lori quickly contributed to more than simply hauling. “Lori’s truck got in the Rig of the Week first,” Mitch said. “2003 was the first year for the Lomax from Western Star.” The couple has been entering their Western Stars in various truck shows ever since. They’ve since added a third Western Star to the fleet. “We bought a 2018 Western Star glider kit and put a driver in it,” Mitch explained. “It’s got a Detroit engine and 13-speed transmission, but we couldn’t do the Lomax model because it was discontinued.” Lori and Mitch have children who are now grown. “We’ve got a son in Nashville and a daughter who is studying to become a surgical nurse and just moved to Jacksonville,” Lori bragged. As for their spare time, Lori said, “We’re really homebodies; (there’s) a lot of working in the yard. We like a nice yard.” Some time is spent preparing for the next week on the road, too. “Lori cooks meals and freezes them so we can microwave them later and have home-cooked meals when we’re on the road,” Mitch explained. He takes care of truck maintenance and upkeep. However, the couple don’t spend all of their free time in the yard. “I like to antique shop when I get the chance,” said Lori. Mitch’s tastes are more musical. “I like concerts,” he said. “I’ve been to see KISS, Bob Seger, Eagles, lots of bands from the ’70s. There’s nothing like the atmosphere you find at a live concert.” Both have concerns about the industry they work in. “Drivers are underappreciated,” said Lori. “They don’t get the credit they deserve for the job they do.” Mitch added, “A lot of drivers don’t make what they should.” Future plans call for more boating and fishing. “Lori catches all the fish,” Mitch laughed. “I can’t catch a fish for nothing.” Those plans will become a little easier with another recent purchase by the couple. “We’re talking from our cabin in (East) Tennessee,” Lori said. “We bought a place by the lake and we’ll be moving here soon.” There’s no talk of retiring to the cabin yet, though. “I didn’t go to school to be a doctor, so I guess I’d better keep trucking,” Lori quipped. Whether it’s running Western Star trucks, tankers, dedicated routes or fishing at the cabin, Lori and Mitch Broderson plan to continue living life their way.

ZEARING, Iowa — Shelby Perisho set out to do what everyone told her she couldn’t do: Drive a big rig to her junior prom. It started out as a casual conversation at school. Both Perisho and Stone Gibbs, who would be her future prom date, have a family history of trucking. While talking about trucking with her and Gibbs’ friends, 17-year-old Perisho wondered out loud, “What if I drove?” Gibbs was all for it. Everyone else? Not so much. “What, are you serious?” they asked her. “You’re joking, right?” Perisho was not joking. Raised on a farm, hard work and dedication are in her roots. She isn’t one to back down from a challenge — and certainly not from a challenge that could prove her classmates wrong. She had driven a manual pickup truck before, so she figured a big rig wouldn’t be too much different — just maybe more buttons and gears. Perisho planned it all out: She would learn how to drive the truck with Gibbs, who learned how to drive from his father. “It was the night before (prom), actually, that I learned how to drive it,” Perisho laughed. “We drove around on the gravel roads for about two hours.” Gibbs wanted her to drive his cousin’s truck; the same truck he learned how to drive in. “I was kind of doubting myself, but Stone was like, ‘No, you’re going to be fine,’” she said. And she was fine. “That went a lot better than I expected it to,” Gibbs told her after they practiced together. She drove roughly 2 miles of dirt backroads to get to prom. When she pulled up in a 1994 Kenworth T600, she said everyone’s reaction was a mixture of shock and smiles. “‘There’s this girl driving this truck! Who is that?’” her classmates cried, Perisho said. “All of my family was standing there shouting, ‘It’s Shelby!’” Perisho’s grandmother, Laura Perisho, shared the story with the news station KCCI. “It was fun hearing the comments from the crowd, ‘That’s a girl driving that semi; that’s awesome!’” Laura shared. Gibbs’ friends said they didn’t think he would let Shelby drive the rig — although she says Gibbs’ permission would not have stood in her way. Trucking and farming has its own influence in her life. Shelby’s uncle, Blake Perisho, has his own business hauling hogs. The business was passed down from her grandfather, Jeff Perisho. Shelby said the majority of her life has been spent as a “farm girl,” keeping up with cattle, horses, goats, chickens, dogs and cats. She relishes the experience with animals, and wants to continue it once she finishes high school. Her plan is to attend to Ellsworth Community College where she will study animal science. Eventually, she hopes to become an animal chiropractor. “She is our adventurous one. She sets her goals and goes after them with so much determination. We are very proud of Shelby,” Laura said. In the meantime, Shelby plans to “keep on trucking” on at her local vet clinic, proving her friends — and the rest of the world — wrong.

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Just ask former trucker Mark Linen. The South Carolina native was in the barber’s chair not long ago, pondering his next career move. Originally a graphic artist by trade, he’d gravitated to over-the-road trucking in Texas and was thinking about ways to grow in the transport business. “(It was the) early part of 2020. I was just sitting there, and my barber’s playing this message by Steve Harvey,” Linen recalled. “(Harvey) said if you wake up when the alarm clock goes off and you’re not excited about what you’re doing, then you’re not living in your passion. That just hit me like a ton of bricks.” Linen got out of the barber’s chair and marched straight to his passion — a venture called Brotha Bakes, a mail-order bakery. Launched in 2019, while Linen was driving for Central Transport in Houston, the company would explode in 2020, with appearances on “CBS This Morning” and yes, even an audience with Harvey himself. “I was inspired by Steve Harvey, and I also got a chance to be on his show,” Linen said. “Believe it or not, he’s actually invested into the company. I get to talk to his assistant every week. We’re doing different things here and there. It’s almost miraculous.” Linen, now 44, grew up in coastal South Carolina in the hamlet of Georgetown between Charlestown and Myrtle Beach. After college, he moved to Atlanta and began a career in graphic design that continued for 15 years. It wasn’t the prototypical prelude to a career behind the wheel. “The reason I got into trucking, actually, was that graphic design kind of dried up around 2014, 2015,” he said. “Here I am, in my mid-30s, with a wife and two kids who were like, ‘Hey, man. What are you going to do? We need to eat.’ “I didn’t have two, three or four years to go and get another degree. So, I looked around and saw I could get this CDL in six to eight weeks. I knew a lot of people who were already driving, and they suggested that I do it. And that’s how I got into trucking,” he explained. Linen might have jumped into the trucking industry out of necessity, but once there, he was surprised to discover how much he enjoyed driving. “I loved it. I was blessed to be one of these guys that never had to go over the road and be away from my family,” he said. “I was local my whole driving career. I started in South Carolina working for a grocery delivery company. I did that for a little while, and then my wife got a really good job offer in Texas. I was like, ‘I’m a truck driver. Finding a job is no problem!’ We loaded up and went to Texas.” In late 2019, Linen started a side hustle he dubbed Brotha Bakes, drawing on a love of baking that dates back to his childhood. By early 2020, the venture had gained enough momentum, alongside his thriving trucking career, that Linen found himself at a crossroads. “When I was driving, I really got into it. I was pretty good at it,” he said. “I was like, ‘You know what? Maybe I can do something with this. Maybe I’ll get my own truck and eventually, get some more trucks.’ I was even thinking, ‘Man, it’d be kind of cool to start a driving school.’ I’m thinking all these things because I really wanted to be my own boss.” But that day in the barber’s chair changed Linen’s entire perspective. “Man, it just hit me,” he said. “I was like, ‘I really do like truck driving,’ but I never woke up and said, ‘I can’t wait to get behind the wheel,’ you know? But I’ve always liked to bake. I started thinking, ‘Can I turn this baking into a full-time job?’ After some studying and some research and all that, I decided to do it. That’s how I got into it.” Brotha Bakes, which became Linen’s full-time gig last August, employs many of the recipes he remembers from his mother’s kitchen. Because of this, he’s not only built a loyal following, but he’s also helped preserve a family art. “I was fascinated by baking, just by watching my mom,” he said. “I would sit in the corner of the kitchen while she was baking, just mesmerized by how she put flour, eggs, sugar and all of this different stuff together and she created these delicious desserts. I’m like, ‘Man, this is amazing!’ “I went home one time and there was a cake at my parents’ house. I took a piece, bit into it and I was like, ‘What is this trash?’ I was like, ‘Mom, did you make this?’ She was like, ‘No, now that you and your sister done moved on, I don’t bake as much.’ So, this all started when she decided to hang the apron up. I was like, ‘I gotta have my mom’s cake.’” More than two decades of tinkering had honed Linen’s baking skills and, unknowingly at the time, prepared him for Brotha Bakes. Originally the concept was to produce full size cakes, but the product didn’t ship well. So, Linen developed a cake-in-a-jar concept that solved that problem. He also employed his graphic design talents to develop clever marketing materials and create catchy names that helped the business take off. Witness the Reddie Murphy (red velvet cake) the Banana Ross and the Le’Mon James, among others. He’s also named two cakes after his mentor, Steve Harvey. “When I started naming the cakes, I wanted to highlight on African American culture,” Linen said. “That was something that I was passionate about, and it all just kind of came together. It would just pop in my head and I would go with it. Reddie Murphy was first, Choco Kahn next. It was fun doing it. I enjoy it so much.” While the national exposure put Brotha Bakes into overdrive, the media coverage wasn’t the only accelerator. He also got a boost from an unlikely source last year that’s grown him into serving a national clientele. “My original plan was actually to take my product to local festivals and markets here in Houston. We’ve got so many of them,” he said. “But after COVID happened and everything shut down, I kind of had to pivot a little bit. That’s when we decided to amp up the marketing for online. “It was perfect timing because it’s very COVID-friendly to ship these,” he continued. “Not only that, but a family of four, instead of getting one big cake, can get four cakes that everybody wants individually. It really worked out well with the timing for our business. I mean, no one’s ever going to look at COVID fondly. I certainly won’t. But the fact that we had a COVID-friendly product, it did help the business.”

Baltimore, Md. — Look up the word “consistency” in the dictionary and you’re likely to see Bill Nearhoof’s portrait. For more than four decades, the Baltimore native has not only been a fixture on the roads, but also, year-in and year-out, the state of Maryland’s safest and most reliable driver on 18 wheels. “I’ve been doing this for 44 years,” Nearhoof said. “Even at work, I’ll walk in and think, ‘I’ve been here longer than some of these people been alive.’” In fact, Nearhoof is the longest-serving employee in the history of his freight company, Pitt Ohio. During Nearhoof’s time with Pitt Ohio he’s racked up 3.7 million safe driving miles, a feat that puts him in rare company. His safe driving total works out to 148 laps around the globe, or eight round trips to the moon. “The average motorist, I figure, travels around 25,000 miles a year,” he said. “So, it’s like almost four lifetimes (of driving) that you’re looking at.” In addition to being the company’s longest-tenured driver and its safest, Nearhoof can now add “Best in Class” to his list of career accomplishments. In February, the Maryland Motor Truck Association named Nearhoof Driver of the Year for 2020. He was previously named Driver of the Month during 2008 and 2016. “I remember in 2016, we were there at the banquet they gave us, and I asked, ‘What do you have to do to win one of these (driver of the year awards)?’” he said with a chuckle. “This year it kind of caught me by surprise.” “Seriously, even though this recognizes me as Driver of the Year, a lot of people play a part in being able to do whatever I do,” he continued. “That award was possible because there were people along the way that helped me each and every day.” Nearhoof remembers first becoming enamored with big rigs as a kid, watching the trucks make their way through traffic along Interstate 895 through Baltimore. Professionally, however, he was training to be a machinist during high school, before changing his career path about the time he joined the U.S. Navy’s Seabees, serving from 1973 to 1979. “I went in right around the end of Vietnam. Really, the time I spent was basically as a reservist because there was no room for us. They were sending guys home,” he said. “But one of the best things about that was, I was a construction mechanic. I was around some of the best mechanics around; heavy equipment, vehicles, jeeps, trucks, whatever. “They were very, very good and they taught you a lot about maintenance, what to look for and different things to fix and being aware of what you had,” he explained. “The equipment you had in the service, you had to make sure it was running because your life depended on it.” After getting out of the military in 1979, Nearhoof joined Pitt Ohio — and the rest is history. “When our company, Pitt Ohio, started, when I started, we were four trucks and one door. Lord knows how big we are now,” he said. “I was very fortunate when I started that I was surrounded by some of the very best people in the industry. They took the time to show you, teach you and work with you, and it helped you get better. Like I said, (earning this honor is) shared; it isn’t just one person. The one is never greater than the whole.” Nearhoof has run his Midwest and the Mid-Atlantic routes so many times — including Indiana, Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia — that he laughingly says he could do it blindfolded. In practice, however, he’s been the model of safety. “As a driver, being a professional, it’s the awareness of things around you, the people around you and the situations,” he said. “The responsibility that you have with a tractor-trailer, with the size of it, sometimes you have to take a step back to take a step forward. If you’re not sure about something, back away from it. “There’s times to be a defensive driver and there’s times to be an aggressive driver, like times where you need to get away from certain situations,” he said. “Being safe often means being able to adapt to your surroundings, which is what I have done over the years.” Recognizing his safety-first mentality, Pitt Ohio has leveraged Nearhoof’s expertise into the classroom, where he’s trained more than 100 of his fellow employees in the Smith System driver safety program. “The Smith System is the five keys to defensive driving,” Nearhoof said. “The people I took through those courses were drivers, and even our salespeople. We took them out, too. When I started as a trainer, there wasn’t much of a curriculum there to work with. I would train somebody and then I would critique myself. Did I do everything that I needed to do? Little by little, I created a formal training program, which they adapted and still use today.” The irony of Nearhoof’s award for consistency in driving is that it was given for a year that was anything but “regular,” requiring adaptability to never-before-seen conditions seemingly around every turn. Despite the uncharted territory of driving during COVID-19, Nearhoof took everything in stride. “Even during the hard part of the pandemic, we stayed busy,” he said. “We slowed down a little bit, but we worked every day. The responsibility that we had, whether you drove a tanker, a flatbed, a box or whatever — we had a service that we had to provide to people. We are able to move goods and we did our part to keep the wheels under America. For us, it never changed. “We took our safeguards. We wore masks and we wiped our trucks down and we took all the precautions, but for me, it was business as usual,” he continued. “You go out each and every day and do the best you can to provide a service to the warehouses when people were looking for paper towels and food and things. Here and there you’d get some recognition; I’d be going down the road and there’d be some radio stations that would thank the truck drivers. During the pandemic, everybody loved us.” While Nearhoof may feel as if he’s been driving his routes “forever,” he is keenly aware that nothing lasts forever. This October, he’ll hang up his keys for good to spend more time with his wife, Kathy, along with the racers at the Hagerstown Speedway and the bass of the Susquehanna River. Or so he says; he was supposed to call it quits last fall, but he’s still going. “I don’t know. They write songs about being addicted to the grind. There’s something that pushes you day in and day out and this is a business that once it has you, it’s got you,” Nearhoof said. “It’s been a super-good career for me. You give up a lot; it’s a demanding business,” he continued. “But the things that I gave up in my younger years — I’ve come to understand that I gave them up for a reason. You’ve got a real comfortable life ahead of you when you climb out of the truck.”

James Childress found his true love through his job as a truck driver. Perhaps it was fate, or a chance to trigger a deeper motivation for his job. No matter the reason, that “true love” appeared in the form of two eyes, four paws and a “bark with no bite.” Rowdy was a black and white Aussie Collie mix that Childress rescued in 2013. “He changed the way I looked at my job,” Childress said. “I already loved it, but it just makes it so much better. I would never do this job again without (a dog).” Although Rowdy was — well, rowdy — Childress said he needed a dog that could safeguard his truck in case of an emergency. To that end Childress tripled his love with two Cane Corsos, a large Italian mastiff breed. The twins, named War and Peace, were bought together so they could play together, Childress said, noting that the two dogs have a combined weight of about 220 pounds. “I have a lot of dog on my truck,” he said with a laugh. One dog is gone now; Rowdy died when War and Peace were only six months old. War and Peace were raised as truck dogs, having joining Childress on his journeys at the age of just eight weeks. Their days are spent serving as canine co-pilots, romping in dog parks at truck stops — going up and down their own truck steps — and sleeping with Childress in his bunk. “It does get a little crowded sometimes, moving around in the truck,” he said. “We kind of have to do circles around each other. But that’s all they’ve known. They’ve been on the truck since they were eight weeks old, so they know how to do it.” The security of having two big dogs with him in his truck is only part of Childress’ passion for his canine companions. “It’s not the same as talking to (a human) on a regular basis,” he said. “We get outside and play fetch, or go on hikes. It’s definitely the companionship. Security is a bonus, but it’s definitely the companionship.” Childress said he had been lonely for a while before he brought Rowdy, and later War and Peace, on board for his runs. He’s on the road at least 320 days out of the year, occasionally staying on the road for three or four months at a time. He said the travel was wearing on him. “There’s a connection there, and it’s a bond there that people without an animal don’t have,” he said. Some companies do not allow dogs in the truck. Childress understands the policy, but says he thinks having a pet along for the ride does more good than harm. Childress said he wasn’t allowed to have a dog in the truck until he went over the road, adding that his company, Holland Enterprises, made an exception in letting him travel with large dogs. By the time Childress obtained War and Peace, he said, Holland Enterprises was familiar with his work ethic and training, and allowed the Cane Corsos to ride along with him. He trains his pets well to avoid any wear and tear on the truck. So far, he noted, his dogs haven’t left a scratch. “I think people get (out of) trucking because they don’t like being alone anymore. I think dogs take care of that — or cats, or parakeets or whatever you want to have,” he said with a laugh. Childress enjoys the independence and freedom that come with being on the road, and enjoys being alone (at least to a point). That’s part of why he became a truck driver. “Once I got to see the country, that’s what I really liked about (the job),” he said. “I can set my own hours, for the most part; we have appointments to live up to. Between those, I can drive when I want to, and there’s a lot of independence to the job.” Childress has a built a personal history in trucking. He first started driving local routes while working in the Texas oil fields; then he made the leap to over-the-road trucking, hauling ice cream in the Houston area. He went back to the oil fields during his son’s high school years, but returned to over-the-road trucking once his son graduated. During his second round of over-the-road trucking, Childress realized loneliness was setting in, and it shocked him. “I’m not a person that has to have people around me,” he said. “But when you’re coming home every day and getting to see people on a weekly basis, it’s not the same. When you get on the road and start staying out three or four months at a time, like I do now, it’s a culture shock.” Once he started bringing his dogs along, he said everything changed, so much so that loneliness rarely plagues him anymore. “Now, I could stay out year-round,” he said. “I just don’t have a need to have people around me. That’s probably a good quality for most truck drivers; not everybody has that. I think that’s what makes the job harder, being able to be on your own for that amount of time. But War and Peace relieve that.” War and Peace also help Childress come to terms with his own war — a war he left behind in 1992. Childress served in the U.S. Army for two years during Desert Storm, resulting in nightmares that followed him back to the Texas oil fields. It doesn’t happen often, but Childress still has nightmares from the war. The effects of those nightmares range from talking in his sleep to cold sweats, thrashing around or waking up screaming. No matter what it is, War and Peace respond to the incident by laying close to Childress, licking him awake until his nightmares stop. War and Peace were not trained to be service dogs. Even so, the dogs have provided him comfort during his nightmares since they were puppies. “That’s where their names manifested,” Childress said. “Because of the war that I was in, and now they give me peace.” It’s a peace that also manifests through new adventures and a sense of camaraderie while on the road. When off the road, Childress continues to seek new adventures: When not visiting family, he often books vacations. One such vacation was a three-week journey in Africa, a vacation he describes as a photography trip. Childress is a self-proclaimed “semi-pro photographer”; he has sold a few photo prints and had a few published. “It’s fun,” he said. “I don’t make a lot of money off it, and sometimes I pay for new gear with (the money I earn), but I enjoy it.” He bought his first camera when he entered the Gulf War in 1990. “I photographed a lot of the landscape,” he said. Unfortunately, most of his photos were confiscated after the war. “I still had fun doing it,” he said. “I got a few pictures out of it, but it was a lot of fun.” In trucking, it’s not always convenient to park and take photos; however, Childress said, he has been able to park and shoot the scenery and wildlife in a few scenic spots, including West Yellowstone. In the past, he’s discovered elk and moose roaming around and captured a few photos of the majestic creatures. As he waits for the perfect moment to hit the camera’s shutter, by his side are his faithful partners, War and Peace.