Trucking Life

DALLAS — Dwight Arnold, a driver for Stevens Transport, has been named the 2019 Mike O’Connell Trucking’s Top Rookie Award. Presentation of the award was made August 23 during the Great American Trucking Show here. Arnold, 38, lives in Clarksville, Tennessee. He won $10,000 and prizes from the RoadPro Family of Brands and Rand McNally. Arnold also received $1,000 from his company for winning the award. “It gives you a buffer so I can work harder and get more done, clear debt and prepare a better life for my family,” he said of winning and the cash prize. “It’s a dream come true.” According to the Stevens Transport website, Arnold was born in Kissimmee, Florida, and raised in Jacksonville, Florida. In 2001, Arnold, joined the United States Army and during his time in the service, served as an ammunition specialist, military recruiter and a special unit transportation officer. Arnold received many awards in the Army, including the Army Commendation Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with a Campaign Star and an Afghanistan Campaign Medal with two stars. After retiring from the service in August 2014, Arnold said he wanted a profession that matched what he was already used to doing and allowed him to see his family more. Having experience in the transportation industry, he realized that a profession as a truck driver would be the perfect fit and obtained his CDL from Tennessee Truck Driving School and graduated from orientation at Stevens in August of 2018. Today, Arnold is a member of the Stevens Independent Contractor Division and is driving in the company’s Kraft dedicated fleet. “Trucking has given me the opportunity to make a better home dynamic for me and my family,” Arnold said. “As for my future plans with Stevens, I’m hoping to start a fleet with four to five trucks and I also hope to build financial stability with my family, thanks to the financial success that I have had with trucking so far.” Arnold’s driver manager DeAnthony Montgomery spoke high praise about Arnold’s success at Stevens. “Dwight is a driver that I know will complete every task presented to him with a positive attitude,” Montgomery said. “He consistently delivers every load on time and is a very motivated and exemplary driver. I am glad to have him on my team.” Arnold was one of 11 finalists for the award. The other 10 finalists, the driver training school they attended and their employer include: Aaron Pratt, Maverick Transportation, Maverick Transportation Bradley Chislett, National Tractor Trailer School, H.O. Wolding Daniel Walton, Roehl Transport, Roehl Transport Jaron Grier, New England Tractor Trailer Training School, U.S.Xpress Kandy Qualls, United Truck Driving School, Earl L. Henderson Trucking Co. Matthew Hepburn, Miller-Motte College, Melton Truck Lines Oday Alhousha, CDL Xpress School, Hogan Transport Pamela Girton (Coffman), Tulsa Technology Center, Groendyke Transport Thomas Blitch, Roadmaster Drivers School, Werner Enterprises, Inc. Tyria Snow, Diesel Driving Academy, TMC Transportation Each received $1,000 and a prize package. The award is named after the late Mike O’Connell, who was formerly the executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association, and who originated the idea of the award. O’Connell said he believed that honoring a top rookie driver helped show new drivers they are appreciated by the trucking industry. 8  

GREEN BAY, Wis. — In recognition of those who live and embody its Safety First and Always core value, Schneider, among the nation’s largest truckload carriers, recently honored hundreds of its most accomplished drivers with awards celebrating career driving milestones. Included in the esteemed awards were Haul of Fame inductions, Million Mile Driver Awards and Consecutive Safe Driving Year Awards. The prestigious honor of induction into Schneider’s Haul of Fame is reserved for drivers who have accumulated at least 3 million safe driving miles and/or 20 consecutive years of safe driving without an accident. This year, 26 new inductees met these criteria, earning them membership alongside over 300 of Schneider’s elite drivers. Each inductee will have a commemorative plaque installed on the Haul of Fame wall at Schneider’s corporate headquarters in Green Bay. “The honor and recognition these professional drivers have earned show that they truly exemplify our ‘Safety First and Always’ culture,” said Tom DiSalvi, vice president of safety, driver training and compliance at Schneider. “These outstanding drivers are the latest to contribute to a long history of safe driving, and we’re proud of the tradition they carry on through their achievements.” The Million Mile Award is an honor earned by Schneider drivers who have transported freight over 1 million miles while remaining accident-free. This year, the number of drivers reaching million-mile safety marks is as follows: 67 new 1-Million Mile Award winners 42 new 2-Million Mile Award winners 13 new 3-Million Mile Award winners Three new 4-Million Mile Award winners These new honorees have driven accident-free for the equivalent of 8,112 trips around the Earth’s equator. Through sleet and snow, across icy bridges and up winding mountain roads, Schneider drivers champion safety as their primary objective. Additionally, Schneider recognized 113 drivers who have remained accident-free for 10 years and each five-year increment thereafter. This year’s Consecutive Safe Years Driving Award winners include: 63 new 10-year Consecutive Safe Years Driving honorees 25 new 15-year Consecutive Safe Years Driving honorees 16 new 20-year Consecutive Safe Years Driving honorees Six new 25-year Consecutive Safe Years Driving honorees Two new 30-year Consecutive Safe Years Driving honorees One new 45-year Consecutive Safe Years Driving honoree Throughout the year, Schneider hosted 14 award banquets to recognize the Haul of Fame inductees as well as drivers receiving the Million Mile Awards and Consecutive Safe Years Driving Awards. Professional drivers who are interested in earning a spot in the Haul of Fame and are eager to make safety their top priority can learn about driving opportunities with Schneider by visiting schneiderjobs.com.

PLOVER, Wis. — In announcing Stephanie Williamson from Dart Transit as the 2019 Women In Trucking (WIT) Member of the Month for August, the association is recognizing an industry professional who has made the career journey from the driver’s seat to the executive suite. Today, Williamson serves as the vice president of revenue management, overseeing all aspects of pricing with Dart. Her route to become a member of Dart’s executive management team began long before she joined the company as a fleet manager in 1994. Williamson was born into trucking, and a strong argument can be made that she has held a driver’s perspective on the industry since her earliest days in the world. Her grandfather was a career driver. Her parents served as drivers and they even worked as a team for a number of years in the 1970s and 1980s. In fact, to say that Williamson was born into the trucking industry with a view from the driver’s seat is not that great of an exaggeration. Her mother was working as a dump truck driver when she went into labor on the job and drove herself to the hospital. “Trucking has always been a part of my life through my family. There are pictures of me when I’m like two or three years old helping my grandfather rebuild a diesel engine, and I’m covered head to toe in grease,” Williamson said. “My parents actually encouraged me to look at a career outside of the trucking industry. But, after graduating from college, I wanted to go into the trucking industry with the goal of helping to make things better for professional drivers — the men and women who are moving the American economy mile by mile.” Initially, Williamson worked in the areas of driver recruiting and orientation before landing an opportunity to oversee a carrier’s terminal in the Dallas area. While she was working with drivers on a daily basis, Williamson still sought to have a first-hand perspective of what it meant to be in charge from the driver’s seat. “I wanted to learn everything I could about this industry,” she said. “You can’t always make changes in any industry without gathering enough information. My initial input was in the recruiting process and the orientation process. But I wanted to do every job in a trucking company. With a wide range of experience, I thought I’d be qualified to help make those positive changes. At a certain point in working with drivers, I decided that I should get my CDL and drive. I knew it was the right thing to do for me, and I also knew that having a CDL would earn the respect of drivers who would see me in an office. So, I went out and earned my CDL.” Following her time as a team driver, Williamson wanted to get back into the office side of trucking. She had just welcomed her first child and looked into working at Dart. At the time she applied for a job, the company did not have any open positions, but Williamson remained persistent, checking with the Dallas office almost on a daily basis. One of those phone calls paid off in a job interview to fill a fleet manager spot. As the company was looking to coordinate mutual schedules, Williamson was asked if she could interview for the position at 5:30 a.m., and she was promptly at the location ready to answer questions. She immediately impressed the terminal manager with one of her initial responses. “He asked me, ‘OK, where do you see yourself in five years?’ And I told him, ‘I want your job.’ Looking back on things, I was actually shooting a little bit low with that response,” Williamson recalled with a smile. “I found a home at Dart because the company has a culture where everyone is given the opportunity to let their talents shine, and Dart has provided me with so many opportunities over 25 years.” During her tenure with Dart, Williamson has held a series of positions within operations, customer service and pricing at the company. As Dart plans to take time this fall to commemorate the company’s 85th anniversary, Williamson appreciates the fact her career progression to an executive management position followed in the tradition of the important contributions that women have made to the growth of the Dart Network. In her current position, Williamson has never lost touch with her experience in the driver’s seat or the memories of the time both her parents and grandfather spent on the road. Williamson continues to be part of a group of Dart executives who spend time with company drivers and owner-operators as they go through orientation. “Through the years, I have gained an appreciation for a driver’s time. When you think about our industry and how we work with drivers, time is our greatest commodity. I am very sensitive to the fact that, for a driver, time literally is money,” Williamson said. “In the Hours of Service that they have to work with, when someone delays them or impedes their progress, that costs them money. I cannot allow the company to align ourselves with businesses that we know will cost our drivers money. Businesses that hold drivers up for loading or unloading, businesses that won’t allow our drivers to use a bathroom, businesses that just generally disrespect the driver – I can’t be a part of that. “I look at it from the standpoint that we have to be careful who we do business with because the driver is the most treasured member of our team. I believe if we take care of our drivers, they will take care of our customers.” Looking back, Williamson is thankful she became involved with the Dart organization. “I’m so proud of what we do and who we are,” Williamson said. “I’m proud as a woman. I’m proud as a member of this organization of who we are and what we do. I think that the Oren family has presented a great opportunity not only for me and everyone at all our facilities, but for every driver who has ever come through our doors. Through all these years and all the changes in the industry, Dart has always stood tall when it comes to the test of time and providing effective answers for the needs of the day.”    

Jo-Anne Phillips is a busy woman. Chief operating officer of a trucking company is only one of the positions she holds. She is also co-owner of a construction and building production facility, a popular chrome and detailing shop, a nutritional consulting and lifestyle coaching business and more. She is also the Women in Trucking (WIT) June 2019 Member of the Month. “I’ve been a member for several years,” Phillips told The Trucker. “The award means quite a bit. In my years at WIT, I’ve seen many powerful leaders from all over. I’m super happy to be in the group with those females.” She may be the boss at Irishtown, New Brunswick-based Jeramand Trucking Ltd., but Phillips learned the trucking business like many do, at the wheel. While working toward one of her university degrees and participating in athletics, she needed a way to provide income. “I helped some friends by driving a truck to summer fairs,” she said. Later, she opened a gym in Calgary and was involved in cycling, rowing, skiing and Canada’s national bobsleigh team. When a friend explained the income opportunities of trucking in Alberta’s oil fields, she signed on as a driver, instructor, safety officer and medic for six years. Athletics and physical fitness are a huge part of who Phillips is. She holds degrees in kinesiology and exercise physiology and in dietetics and nutrition, sharing her knowledge with sports teams, youth groups and a number of charity groups. “There’s an obesity epidemic in North America,” she said, and she’s working to change things. “For most people, education about their health begins when the doctor tells them they have a serious problem and need to change their lifestyle.” Phillips thinks that education should begin much earlier. “Wouldn’t it be great if that education process began much earlier and was supported by employers?” The trucking industry can do more, she said. “Food options at truck stops are not good,” she said. “We encourage and support nonhealthy options. It’s about promotion and marketing rather than health.” While changes to truck stop offerings could help, Phillips doesn’t stop there. “Corporations and even trucking companies can help,” she said. “If you offer chocolate bars in a vending machine, shouldn’t you also offer a healthy option?” Diet and nutrition aren’t the only health issues Phillips is working to improve. She sits on the Advisory board of Prostate Cancer Canada’s Atlantic Division. She’s also a leader and organizer for the Convoy of Hope – Atlantic, an organization that raises funding and awareness for the four most diagnosed and terminal cancers: breast, colon, lung and prostate. She’s passionate about the cause, in part due to her husband Dan’s successful 2014 battle against prostate cancer. The group has raised over $300,000 for cancer prevention, detection and treatment, and she’s excited about this year’s convoy in Salisbury, New Brunswick, on August 21. It will be the organization’s 10th annual event. “We love to get on the streets, up close and personal with the public,” she said. “We’re proud that all of our staffing is volunteer. Less than 10% of funds we raise go to any kind of administrative costs, mostly advertising and the website.” The website can be found at convoyforhope-atlantic.com. Phillips credits her late father with instilling in her the need to help others. “My father was my hero,” she said. “He had a saying: ‘He who serves most wins.’ I try to live up to his example.” To do that, she says, “I strive to be somebody worth following.” In the trucking world, a part of that means making every effort to be environmentally responsible. “We should all do what we can to protect Mother Earth,” she said. “I’m happy to know that the trucks we drive at Jeramand actually clean the air.” The company fleet is made up of green International Pro-Star tractors. “We recycle all of our waste oil for heat, and we use a cleaner for the smoke from that,” she said. Phillips takes pride in the fact that she, as a Canadian, won the Member of the Month award. “Treana won it last month, so that’s two Canadians in a row,” she said, referring to Treana Moniz of Bison Transport. “We’re tiny but mighty up here in the North!” Representing women in the industry is a source of pride for Phillips as well. About WIT she says, “I love the support and focus on promoting female participation in the trucking industry. Females contribute a balance. It’s a happier and healthier industry with female involvement.” And, if her leadership skills were applied to the trucking industry? “One of the biggest concerns for me is the overpopulated road systems,” she said. “It would be nice to see assigned lanes for trucks only.” She thinks designated truck lanes in urban areas would create more safety and efficiency than the HOV lanes employed by many cities. “I’d also like to see more education for the general public on creating more space around trucks,” she said. Whether she’s competing in international athletics, pursuing a university degree, providing leadership to corporations and charitable organizations or piloting a tractor trailer across North America, Jo-Anne Phillips is driven by a simple thought, “How can I make the world today better than it used to be?” She’s leaving her mark on that world and on the trucking industry she loves.

“She awoke a passion within me.” That’s Don Blake explaining his reaction the first time he heard Kendis Paris, co-founder and executive director of Truckers Against Trafficking (TAT). The persuasive Paris convinced Blake that the issue of human trafficking is real, and she instilled in him a desire to help. “It really just touched my heart, what these kids go through — are going through,” he said in an interview with The Trucker. Like many in the trucking industry, Blake had ignored the prostitution that is sometimes in close proximity to the industry. “I started 22 years ago as a parts delivery driver,” he said, “and every day when I drove my route, there was prostitution going on right beside the road. My response was to look away.” He came up with an idea to raise money for TAT by building a new tractor, decorating it with the TAT logo and contact information, and auctioning it off, with the proceeds going to TAT. As new truck sales manager at Inland Kenworth of Tolleson, Arizona, Blake had vendors, business associates and friends to call on, and they came through with sponsorships — $5,000 here, $10,000 there, and $25,000 from Kenworth. “I called Kendis and told her what I wanted to do,” he said. “She said, ‘OK, let me know.’ When I called her again and told her how the truck was coming together, she said, ‘I think he’s serious.’” The first truck sold for $140,000 at auction and raised $83,000 for TAT after expenses. That truck, however, raised more than money. “We had so many sponsors for the second truck that we were able to donate 100% of the proceeds to TAT,” Blake said. That donation totaled $162,000. The tractor was assembled using components made by many of the sponsors. While Blake credits Paris for inspiring his work at TAT, where he is also a director, he credits another source for his desire to help others. “Faith is the foundation of my work at TAT,” he said. “Maybe it’s my Lord’s calling to use what I’ve been given to help others.” Blake’s love for children extends beyond his work with TAT. Alongside his wife, he coaches girls’ volleyball at Phoenix-based Northwest Christian School. On one occasion, he brought a new Kenworth tractor from the dealership so the girls could climb inside and blow the horn. All three of the Blake children are involved with the team, with both daughters helping coach while their son keeps score at competitions. Their eldest daughter, Emma, has volunteered at TAT events, as well, and chose “Why Prostitution Should Not be Legalized” as her high school senior-class project theme. Blake believes that his faith may have had something to do with the buyer of this year’s truck, as well. “I prayed and prayed that the right person would purchase the truck,” he said. That “right person” turned out to be Collin Stewart, president and CEO of Phoenix-based Stewart Transport. The company runs refrigerated and custom freight nationwide and has special plans for the TAT truck. “They’ll keep all of the TAT decaling and contact information,” Blake said. “The driver is trained in combating human trafficking and will make presentations for TAT all over the country, so the giving continues after the money donation.” Blake thinks he will lead the project for another TAT truck but isn’t sure if it will be this year, due to the additional workload of the project. “I’m already getting calls from sponsors who want to participate,” he said, “including some new ones.” When he builds the next truck, he may ask sponsors for more than financial help. “I’d like to really focus on the demand side of human trafficking,” he said. “I’d like to see if we can get sponsors to also adopt antitrafficking policies at their own companies.” He isn’t shy about his belief that men need to do more to help end the trafficking problem. “As men, we need to step up,” he said. “No more of the ‘boys will be boys’ stuff.” He acknowledges that many carriers have adopted antitrafficking policies that, for example, prohibit the use of any company property for trafficking purposes. For example, such policies might prohibit the use of company-owned phones or computers to arrange for prostitution services, or they might prohibit anyone in the tractor other than the driver without permission from the company. “Carriers can play a big role by adopting anti-trafficking policies and by training all employees in how to recognize and report trafficking,” he said. Blake plans to continue serving on the board of directors at TAT. He acknowledges that it isn’t always easy to juggle his full-time sales job with his service at TAT, coaching at the school and family obligations, but he knows where to turn for help. “My faith helped me get here and gave me the strength to get it done,” he said.

Treana Moniz loves her career as a professional driver. “I can’t think of anything that I’d be interested in doing, outside of trucking,” she said. She spoke with me from the cab of her doily-decorated Freightliner as she approached the Ambassador Bridge from the Detroit side. Since more than 25% of merchandise trade between the U.S. and Canada crosses the bridge, she’s no stranger to the crossing. Moniz may be the only driver making the crossing with hand-crocheted doilies adorning the seat backs in her cab and another covering her CB radio. They’re a constant reminder of family, mementos hand-made by her late grandmother. “I like old fashioned stuff,” she said, describing another family heirloom she cherishes. “I’ve got a tablecloth at home that she made for my mother,” she related. “She crocheted some beautiful things.” Despite the touches of home in her truck, Moniz is all business when it comes to trucking. She’s earned a long list of accolades for her work behind the wheel and out of the cab as well. She’s currently a member of the2019-2020 Ontario Trucking Association’s Road Knights team and was selected as a Women in Trucking 2018 Canadian Image Team Member. She’s racked up several Driver of the Month awards at Winnipeg, Manitoba-based Bison Transport, as well as Eastern Company Driver of the year last year. And, she was Women in Trucking’s choice for May 2019 Member of the Month. Career drivers often say that trucking is in their blood, and Moniz comes by hers honestly. Her grandfather hauled logs with horse teams and her father drove multiple types of trucks before her. Her grandmother, mother and an aunt all served drivers by working in truck stops as cooks and waitresses. For a while, Treana did too, but the call of the open road was strong. “Waitressing was a job,” she said. “Driving is a career.” When she met the man who began her driver training, she left the apron and coffee pot behind to learn the trucking business. When the training was interrupted by a her then-boyfriend’s medical condition, she attended CDL school and got her license. After her friend recovered, they teamed together for five years. When that relationship ended, she took her career solo, ending up with Bison Transport after a short stint at another carrier. She’s nearly as passionate about Bison as she is about driving. “They’re a great company,” she said. “My truck is spec’d for driver comfort, with an electric APU and a big inverter.” The inverter is important, because cooking is another talent of Moniz. “I love cooking,” she said. “I do my own cooking on the road, and when I get home, I’m the chief cook and bottle-washer.” When she’s not at home cooking for her son, daughter and four grandchildren, she’s representing the industry, Bison and trucking women at events for the OTA, WIT and others. “As a road knight, I’ve been going out to the schools and talking to the kids,” she related. “They may not get into the career, but I hope they’re listening and they learn what women are capable of.” Some of her educational efforts are to other drivers, too. She recently became a Driver Mentor at Bison, but she doesn’t have to be assigned a student – mentoree to offer help. “I have a lot of newer drivers that talk to me and get my advice,” she explained. “I let drivers know they can talk to me, they can lean on me.” She shares her knowledge with a down-to-earth approach that other drivers appreciate. “If you don’t understand how to do something, ask. I’m not here to judge, I’m here to help,” she explained. Her personality is well-suited for talking to people. “I’m an outgoing person, I like meeting new people,” she explained. Then, an understatement, “I’m not shy.” Whether she’s assisting new drivers, talking to school children or representing her gender at a WIT function, her intent remains the same. “I’m always planting those seeds to be safe,” she said. “I tell them to be safe out there, always stay alert and watch out the other person.” What’s next in Moniz’ career? “I want that gold ring from Bison,” she said, referring to Bison’s gift for accumulating a million safe miles. “I’m over 700,000, and I want my millionth mile. After that? “I’m not sure,” she answered. “If I ever quit driving, I’d like to get into the driver development or safety aspect of the industry.” Some might argue that she’s already pretty good at developing drivers and promoting safety, as well as representing with pride the women in the trucking industry. “If I ever get out of trucking, I’ll probably spend time with the grandkids,” she concluded. There likely will not, however, be a lot of shopping. “I hate shopping,” she quipped. “Are you surprised?” Whatever the future holds, Treana Moniz will undoubtedly approach it with the same determination and drive that earned her the selection as WIT’s Member of the Month. She’s happy to help anyone else get there, too.    

PLOVER, Wis. — Linda Caffee, an owner- operator team driver leased to Landstar Express America has been named Women In Trucking Association’s July Member of the Month. Caffee has been fascinated by trucks from a very young age; not yet a teenager. The idea of being in control of one of these behemoths scared and excited her at the same time. Years went by, she married and had two wonderful daughters before actually being able to get her chauffer’s license and sit behind the wheel of a truck. Bob, her husband of now 41 years, was a diesel mechanic for a small trucking company in the oil field, and every once in a while, they would need a fill-in driver. That is when she was able to get some time behind the wheel of a truck. At that point, she realized that she was still in awe of trucks and her ability to drive one safely down the road. When their youngest daughter left for college, they were ready to start the next chapter of their lives as truck drivers and owner-operators. They entered the world of truck driving in their usual manner as very shy and quiet wallflowers. In very little time though Linda found her stride and realized trucking was something that she enjoyed and liked talking about. As their daughters say, “our parents blossomed” into people who have now become mentors. In 2004 after spending many hours reading the forums on Expediters Online, they decided that expediting was the field for them. Linda and Bob attended the Expedite Expo to learn more about expediting, talk to recruiters, and determine how they were going to buy their first truck. “Expediting excited both of us as we liked the challenge of not knowing where we were going next or what we would be picking up. We bought our first Freightliner straight truck in 2005, and over fourteen years and three Freightliners later we are still just as excited to be doing what we are doing,” Linda said. “You might notice I use a lot of ‘we’s’ and I want to stress that I am in a team operation. When you get to know us, you will find that I like to come up with ideas and Bob is the one that figures out how to make it work or support me in something I want to do or something I think ‘we’ should do.” Linda quickly went from being too timid to ask a question in the Expediters Online Forums to becoming one of the moderators as well as presenting at the Expedite Expo.  All of this allowed her to write a blog called “It’s a Teams Life” that can be found on the front page of expeditersonline.com. Through all of this, Bob is always there supporting Linda and even encouraging her to stay involved. At a truck show early in Linda’s career, she met Ellen Voie and learned about WIT and became one of the first members. Around 2011 Linda joined the WIT Board of Directors.  “As a woman in the trucking industry, I have witnessed many positive changes for women truck drivers,” she said. “Much of that, I believe, is due to the hard work of Ellen and Women In Trucking.” Bob and Linda continued to become more involved in trucking, and in 2013, they became one of Freightliner’s Team Run Smart Pros. As a “Pro” she writes a blog (teamrunsmart.com) each week about trucking, team driving, being a woman in trucking, and of course about their Freightliner Cascadia. In 2014, Linda and Bob were chosen as one of TA-Petro’s Citizen Drivers. The North Las Vegas Petro Travel Center was renamed the Bob and Linda Caffee North Las Vegas Petro Stopping Center. Five years later, and Linda still loves it when someone takes a selfie and tag’s her in the picture on Facebook. In 2018 Linda’s tractor-trailer experience came into play as a friend asked if she and Bob could help move one of the Dale Coyne IndyCar Race Team transporters from St. Louis, Missouri, to a Portland, Oregon, race. Linda and Bob have racing in their blood, and jumped at the chance to help out the team. They plan to help with five races in 2019. “Not only do we drive one of the transporters we also get to help in the garages for the race. Talk about a dream come true, I still have to pinch myself to really believe I was able to help behind the scenes during the Indianapolis 500 this year,” she said. “My philosophy is to have a good attitude, dress and drive as a professional, be open to new opportunities, and follow through with promises. Being a mentor to others that are entering this profession is an honor and something I take very seriously. I am often asked when we plan to retire, and our answer is ‘when we quit having fun.’ So far, we both still look forward to getting into our truck and driving off into the sunset on another adventure,” she said.      

EAGAN, Minn. — Dart Transit Co. recently presented its annual awards for the Company Driver of the Year and the Contractor of the Year. Kelvin Haywood, who works regionally out of the St. Louis area, earned the top honor as a company driver, while Mike and Bev Monahan, who share the driving duties on a dedicated account, were recognized as the past year’s leading contractors with Dart. Haywood and the Monahans were respectively selected from a group of candidates who had been previously honored as either company drivers or contractors of the month with Dart in 2018. In addition to the monthly award winners, the field of nominees also included a small group of company drivers and contractors who had compiled outstanding years with Dart. During the first quarter of this year, Dart’s management reviewed the group of nominees, examining key metrics from 2018 including active percentage, miles per gallon, out of route miles and overall miles driven. In order to be considered, the nominees also had to maintain an outstanding record for safety. Over the past year, Haywood drove more than 131,000 accident-free miles, while only going out of route 1.6% of the time during his travels. The Monahans collectively compiled more than 180,000 accident-free miles and, as owner-operators, they achieved nearly 8.5 miles per gallon for all miles driven during the year. “We are very grateful to have had an impressive collection of nominees for both the contractor of the year and the driver of the year awards. The overall performances put together by Bev and Mike on the contractor side and by Kelvin among our company drivers were truly outstanding,” said Gary Randall, Dart’s senior vice president of fleet operations. “The professionalism and dedication that Kelvin, Mike and Bev display on the road and with customers is a great example for everyone at Dart. What they accomplished over the past year stands an inspiration to all of us. We believe it’s important to honor and to celebrate the accomplishments of professional drivers. We believe in recognizing excellence.” Dart recently held an awards ceremony and a luncheon at its headquarters featuring Haywood and the Monahans as the guests of honor. The company broadcast the awards presentation over its Facebook Live video feed, and the Dart Network Podcast conducted interviews with the award winners and their fleet managers. The Monahans have developed a long relationship with Dart. Mike Monahan, who has 38 years of experience in the trucking industry, contracted with Dart as an owner-operator in 1994. Bev Monahan has been working with Dart for the past eight years. She put a career as a nurse to the side to explore life on the road with her husband. The dedicated account the Monahans have serviced for the past several years has provided them with the opportunity to work with Dart in a unique manner.  Each day one of the Monahans is able to stay at home while the other is driving the truck. The Monahans are currently in the process of adding a second truck to their owner-operator operation. “This is the best honor I’ve had in my entire career. I have always tried to focus on driving and doing my job to the best of my ability. It means a lot to both of us to be recognized for the job we are doing out here,” said Mike Monahan. “I’m still kind of pinching myself over the whole experience and the honor,” said Bev Monahan. “We’ve had so many good things happen for us lately. It feels like it’s been Christmas for months. This award was huge for us. We are tickled pink about it, and we’re very appreciative.” Haywood has more than 14 years of experience as a professional driver, and he is now in his fifth year of working as a company driver for Dart. A long-time volunteer coach and mentor with the Boys & Girls Club of St. Louis, Haywood, in searching for over-the-road opportunities, wanted to stay close to home throughout the week. Dart was able to offer Haywood a regional opportunity out of St. Louis that ensures he is home every night. “I know what kind of work I put in every year, but I was still very surprised when I got the call that I was Dart’s Company Driver of the Year. It’s taken a while for it to sink in,” said Haywood. “I am very grateful to Dart for this honor. To me, this award speaks about you not only as a driver, but as a person. It’s at the top for my career. In fact, other than my sons being born, I would rank this second among all the highlights in my life.” To learn more about Dart Transit Co., visit DartTruckingJobs.com                  

PLOVER, Wis. —Treana Moniz has been chosen as the 2019 May Member of the Month of Women In Trucking. Moniz is a professional company driver for Bison Transport in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Although she has been around trucking most of her life, Moniz’s desire and passion for trucking started in high school. Just looking at the trucks on the road made her want to drive a truck. She always loved to drive, so she thought, “why not drive for a living.” Moniz is no stranger to the trucking industry. Her grandfather hauled logs with a team of horses. Her dad worked as a truck driver and a snow plow driver. Her aunt, mother and grandmother all worked as either cooks or waitresses in truck stops. So, it is no surprise that she also was a waitress in a truck stop before starting her own trucking career. While she was waitressing, she met a driver that eventually became her boyfriend. He began training her to drive a truck. He had a stroke and couldn’t finish training her, so she attended a truck driving school and received her license in 2007. Once he was cleared to return to work they ran team for about five years. When things didn’t work out between the two of them, she wasn’t even close to giving up trucking, so she went out on her own. After getting her feet wet with another company, she joined the team at Bison Transport. She has been with the company now for six years. “My experience level grew and so did my career with Bison. I have over 675,000 safe miles and have been a member of Driver Advisory Board for over two years,” she said. Moniz represents Bison at the truck driving championship and participates in the Special Olympics Convoy. She also attends recruiting events, industry trade shows, and schools with her truck and trailer. Moniz was named Eastern Company Driver of the year for 2018 and has received Driver of the Month a few times. In 2018, Moniz was selected as a WIT Canadian Image Team member. She is also a member of Sisters of the Highway and Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada. Bison nominated her to be a Road Knight. “Now I’ve achieved one of my goals in trucking. I’m very proud to say that I now represent OTA by being one of their Road Knights,” she said. Moniz said that “safety is a passion of mine in this industry. I don’t cut corners when it comes to my job. I give my all to my company and the industry. I truly love what I do for a living it’s not just a job to me, it’s a career. I really like to talk with people about this industry and like mentoring new drivers, helping them anyway I can. I truly look forward to the path God has laid out for me in my career. It has been an awesome journey so far.”    

PLOVER, Wis. — Bonnie Neal has been chosen as the Women In Trucking Association April 2019 Member of the Month. The 76-year-old is currently driving part time in Oregon. Neal has been in trucks since she was 10 years old, riding with her dad in a log truck in the Oregon Mountains. She had to quit riding with him when she was old enough to drive as girls were not allowed to drive trucks at that time. At the age of 18, Bonnie married a logger’s son who also wanted to drive. He eventually began hauling produce on the West coast for a company that allowed female drivers. In 1974, Neal paid $20 for the truck driver’s medical card, $10 for the chauffeur’s license endorsement on her driver’s license and was finally allowed behind the wheel of a truck. Neal’s first truck was a 1963 Peterbilt, “Jimmey 318” and two sticks — a five speed main and a four speed “brownine.” Her husband quit driving in 1982, and Neal ran their 1979 Freightliner COE for a few more months. A divorce sent her out on her own. Neal began driving for a company in Portland, Oregon, running teams. She decided to drive solo but couldn’t find a company in the area that would hire a solo woman driver. Once she moved to Texas she had no problem finding a job. She stayed in Texas for over 30 years driving long haul, regional and construction. In 2011, Neal experienced health issues that forced her to quit driving for four years. Once she recovered, she went back to trucking. In 2016, she moved back to her hometown in Oregon where she continued her driving career. After over 40 years on the road, Neal still loves driving and says it was all worth it. Her advice is to show kindness even when it is not expected. She feels blessed to drive for a company that shows respect and kindness not only to her, but to all their employees. “It makes a huge difference,” she said. Neal was taught at a young age that when you take care of your vehicle, it will take care of you. She shares the same message about her truck. She suggests to those wanting to be professional drivers to take care of your equipment, listen to your own personal needs and let your faith guide you. “Trucking is a lifestyle, period. Is a fun way to live, you will love it if you really enjoy changes and rolling on down the road,” she said. Women In Trucking Association is a nonprofit association established to encourage the employment of women in the trucking industry, promote their accomplishments and minimize obstacles faced by women working in the trucking industry. Membership is not limited to women, as 17 percent of its members are men who support the mission. For more information, visit http://www.womenintrucking.org or call 888-464-9482.

GREENBELT, Md. — The Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance has named professional truck driver Timothy Dean of Werner Enterprises winner of the 2019 International Driver Excellence Award (IDEA). Dean has been with Werner for more than 30 years and safely driven more than 4 million miles without incident. When he found out he’d been selected as this year’s winner, Dean said he was “shocked, honored and humbled.” Launched in 2015, IDEA recognizes commercial motor vehicle drivers who distinguish themselves conspicuously and beyond the normal call of duty through the achievement of safe operation and compliance carried out with evident distinction for an extended period of time. “It’s our honor to award Timothy Dean with the 2019 International Driver Excellence Award,” said CVSA President Chief Jay Thompson of the Arkansas Highway Police. “We were blown away by his extraordinary professional driving career, his ongoing commitment to his community and his unwavering dedication to safety.” Werner Enterprises was founded in 1956 and currently has 7,800 trucks in service, yet only four drivers in the company’s history have achieved the distinction of receiving an award for 4 million accident-free miles; Dean is one of those. “I have quite the support staff at Werner that gives me the tools to be successful at what I do,” Dean said. “The extensive training that Werner provides to its drivers through quarterly safety meetings and ongoing education has been a big part of my success.” In 2005, Dean was appointed captain of Werner’s Road Team and has served on the team continuously since that time. As a Werner Road Team captain, Dean shares his knowledge and experience of trucking and transportation safety with countless Werner drivers. “With his tenure on Werner’s Road Team, Tim continues to be a leader, a role model and a mentor, not just for the new members of Werner’s Road Team, but for every employee of Werner Enterprises; drivers and office associates alike,” said Werner’s Director of Safety Jim Kochenderfer. “Tim’s experience and knowledge make him an excellent resource and he always makes time for anyone who needs his assistance, even though he typically travels over 10,000 miles per month.” In 2009, Dean was selected as an American Trucking Associations’ America’s Road Team captain. Dean is also heavily involved in the community. He volunteers his time every year at the Cass County Fair to help the Griswold Future Farmers of America chapter and the 4H Cass County Cowpokes. He also presents every year to the driver’s education class at Griswold Community High School. He is also a member of the Mount Calvary Lutheran Church in Villisca, Iowa. “Tim’s safety record speaks for itself when it comes to distinguishing himself as a safe driver,” said Kochenderfer. “As director of safety for Werner Enterprises, I can assure you that, personally and professionally, Tim Dean’s personal character is beyond reproach.” With decades of driving experience and millions of accident-free miles driven safely on the road, Dean knows exactly what to do to ensure he is operating safely. “I take ownership and responsibility in my job and the safety of others around me on the road.” “Drive every mile one at a time and be a courteous driver,” Dean advises. “You have to keep your mind on the job. Limit your distractions, know your capabilities and don’t be influenced by others.” Dean will be presented with his award on April 1 at the CVSA Workshop in St. Louis, Missouri. When he’s not on the road, Tim enjoys spending time with his wife of 34 years, Corissa, as well as their children and grandchildren. Tim and Corissa also enjoy camping, horseback riding and fishing. Timothy Dean is the second driver from Werner Enterprises in IDEA’s five-year history to win. Charles Endorf, also of Werner, won in 2017.  

PLOVER, Wis. —  Rachel Bothwell, a professional city driver for FedEx Freight in Rapid City, South Dakota, has been chosen Women In Trucking’s 2019 March Member of the Month. Bothwell’s trucking career began while growing up on a dairy farm in Minnesota. Trucking was a way of life on the farm, whether they were hauling grain to the elevator or hauling livestock to and from the pastures and sale barn. Being behind the wheel of a semi truck became natural for her. So natural in fact that before she graduated high school, she took a job working for a local farmer helping him in the fields and hauling grain for him. After high school when she turned 18, she took her CDL test. This was before schools in her area had CDL programs. Then, Bothwell began working for a custom hay bailer and hauled loads of hay to big horse barns in the Twin Cities. For five years, she custom bailed and hauled hay. After doing that, she felt it was time to spread her wings, so she left Minnesota for the first time and moved to Wyoming. In Wyoming, it was easy for Bothwell to find a job in the trucking industry as the oil and coal booms were in full swing. She began a new journey, hauling explosives into the coal mines. Hauling hazardous materials was a very exciting and educational experience for her. While living in Wyoming, she met her husband, who at that time had just retired from a 20-year, bull-riding career. He had just started a rodeo contracting company which only involved bucking bulls. After dating for a few years, they decided to move to South Dakota. Once relocated to South Dakota, Bothwell’s life and career truly bloomed. Not only did she get married, but she was also introduced to the world of bucking bulls. “I have always had a love of rodeo and horses but this was a whole new level for me. Our rodeo company has taken several years to build and has really taken off. We have one of the largest benefit bull ridings in the state of South Dakota with over 2,000 spectators who come to our place each year. We are able to give away nearly $10,000 in scholarship money each year. The community support of this event has been absolutely amazing,” she said. During this time, Bothwell also decided on the career choice to become a city driver for FedEx Freight. “Working for FedEx Freight has been the most life changing and rewarding job I have ever had in the trucking industry. I have been with FedEx Freight for nearly seven years and due to the company’s support and the support from the trucking industry, my CDL has taken me places I would have previously never dreamed,” Bothwell said. One of those places is truck driving championships. She feels that being able to compete at TDCs has provided a confidence-building atmosphere where there is a great sense of camaraderie and respect for fellow drivers in the industry. Bothwell’s CDL has allowed her to become a part of the FedEx Freight Road Team as well as become the first woman in South Dakota to be named a road team captain for the state. Being able to promote the message of safety and sharing the road with trucks all over the country has been a rewarding experience for her. “It is not something that I would have been able to do without pursuing my career as a truck driver and without the support of my family and FedEx Freight,” she said. Bothwell’s message to other women interested in becoming part of the trucking industry is “Please do! You have no idea how life changing it can be for you in a very positive way. With the right tools and the right support, you will succeed. I am living proof.”    

Art Stoen, 74, only takes one medication. It’s for cholesterol, and he had to be talked into that. To hear him tell it, sounds like the doctor may have had to twist his arm a little. After all, said the 55-year career truck driver, “I feel fine, energetic.” When The Trucker caught up with him, Stoen [pronounced Stone] had just shoveled snow in front of his home in Austin, where a couple of days before the wind chill had been 60 below. By the way, that’s Austin, Minnesota, not Texas. Just about cold enough to go ice fishing, now, said Stoen, who January 24 received the Minnesota Trucking Association’s (MTA) Driver of the Year award. Besides deer hunting, fishing is one of Stoen’s passions. He just recently retired from Kane Transport Inc., and he’s learned a man needs stuff to do in retirement. The first time he retired, when he was a young 63, things just got too boring, so he went back to the job he’s always known: driving a truck. “This award is a great way to honor the best in our industry; driving is no easy task, especially when you take into consideration his daily driving conditions like congestion, driver distractions and Minnesota winters,” said MTA President John Hausladen in presenting Stoen with the award. Stoen remembers many days of getting up at 3 or 4 a.m. to pick up his load by 6. Most of the time the road crews “hadn’t sanded the roads” at that hour. Hausladen said Stoen’s more than 4.4 million safe driving miles are “an astonishing accomplishment, especially given the unique challenge of safely delivering and unloading diesel and gasoline without incident.” Stoen told The Trucker it would be more miles by now if so much of it hadn’t been regional and local runs when he started driving a truck in August 1963. He grew up on a farm in Brownsdale in southeast Minnesota. His family raised dairy cattle, hogs and crops and before school each day it was Stoen’s job to milk the cows. He also hauled grain in the family farm truck to the elevator, so after high school graduation in 1962 he answered an ad in the local paper to drive dump trucks full of powdered cement to road crews helping build Interstate 90 in southern Minnesota. After that, the 18-year-old Stoen worked for a mining company, then a construction company, for which he pulled a gravel truck. About 1972 he began hauling oil into Wisconsin, then worked hauling black top material to road pavers and later road-building materials to “hot-mix outfits” which prepared gravel and oils to go on new roads. He also hauled heavy equipment down to Texas and for four years drove regionally for a cabinet company. Later he did OTR hauling for Kane, a premier Minnesota transporter of petroleum, asphalt, biodiesel and ethanol based in Sauk Centre. In those days, Stoen did most of his work in a day cab; if he had to stay overnight his employer gave him money for a motel. He didn’t drive a truck with a sleeper berth in it until the ’80s. To say that Stoen has seen a lot of changes in trucking over the years is an understatement. At one time, he was hauling a lot of heavy equipment which had been repossessed, and when he went to pick it up, the former owners didn’t always want to give it up. “I’d get chased off the property and had to get the sheriff to help,” Stoen said. He has driven “just about everything” and said they’re making trucks “so much better” now. It used to take two hands to shift, he said. “It’s a lot safer nowadays.” He’s noticed more people in a hurry today. They go flying by, he said, when he’s doing the speed limit. But there are “a lot of good people on the road, too,” he said, adding that usually the ones who go flying by end up in the ditch. He said people seemed to miss less work back in the day. “I would work half sick,” he said, whereas now, “these younger guys get a cold or headache, they call and don’t come in. …  People get headaches a lot. I don’t know what a headache is.” As a truck driver Stoen never got in a hurry and if somebody wanted to get in front of him, he let them. “I don’t get too upset about anything; I take it as it comes,” he said. “It doesn’t bother me like it does some people.” If someone on the road gets angry it doesn’t faze him. “I figure it’s their problem,” he said. “Years ago, if someone called me names, it went in one ear and out the other. I’ve been that way my whole life.” Even with all his safe miles, Stoen was a little surprised to get MTA’s most prestigious award. He almost didn’t attend the awards ceremony, as he and his wife Marcia had planned to go see the Grand Canyon. But they decided to attend the ceremony and cancelled their hotel reservations. Stoen had received MTA’s September Driver of the Month, and figured he would be mentioned for that award in passing. “When they called out driver of the year and said my name, I was surprised,” Stoen said. He received a $500 check, a trophy, and said Marcia “got the biggest bouquet of flowers she’s ever gotten in her life.” Now he aims to finally see the Grand Canyon and this summer they will no doubt go fishing a lot. Stoen he knows he will miss driving a truck, seeing the scenery and meeting lots of different people. “I made a lot of friends” on the road, he said, “but at my age, most of my friends are deceased. This past year I went to six funerals and got in one wedding. “I live day by day and I thank God every morning that I’ve got another day.”          

Gabriel Valdez found himself an empty table at the Petro Stopping Center off Exit 161, Interstate 40, just east of Little Rock Arkansas, where he could eat his breakfast. So, what are we having this fine morning? Sausage and eggs? Biscuits and gravy? Maybe some Texas-style French toast buried in powdered sugar and whipped cream? Nope. Valdez was starting his day with fish, vegetables and brown rice. “I do that every day,” he said. “My wife cooks fish for me, I wrap it up in foil. At Walmart they have little cups of rice, different styles of brown rice. And then I buy a bag of vegetables. I have vegetables, rice and fish every day. “I mean, every once in a while, don’t get me wrong, I’ll scarf down a burger or a hot dog,” he adds. Sure, a guy has to live a little. His discipline is still admirable. Then he explains it isn’t just his health he’s thinking about, it’s his wallet’s health, too. It just so happens that he likes fish, rice and vegetables, but part of the reason it’s his go-to meal is that restaurant food adds up. “I’m here to make money, not spend it,” he said. Valdez’s rationale for his choice of breakfast is sort of symbolic of his choice of career. He became a driver about a year ago at the age of 41. And while he’s found the job suits him, it was the prospect of making way more money than he was before that convinced him to get his CDL and start driving. “I used to be in the customer service business until I just got tired of corporate America,” he said.  “I was getting paid a good amount hourly, but it wasn’t cutting it, breaking my back, all this overtime just to try to make ends meet. “I don’t know why I waited so long.” Valdez’s father was an owner-operator for 40 years. His brother is nearing 25 years as an owner-operator. When he decided he was ready for a career change, his dad gave him an obligatory fatherly warning that trucking isn’t for everyone, but they were both supportive. Valdez is hoping in a couple of years he’ll save enough to fully follow the family tradition and be an owner-operator, too. Currently, Valdez, who hails from the west Texas town of El Paso, drives for Mesilla Valley Transportation, hauling “dry goods, automotive parts, paper, all types of freight: throughout the U.S. and into Canada.” As with so many drivers, Valdez says seeing the country is one of the best parts of the job. A few places have stood out so far — Cheyenne, Wyoming; the Denver area; parts of Tennessee, where he would be later that day; Portland, Oregon, where he’d just been. So, of all the landscapes America has to offer, the mountains, the prairies, the deserts, the coastlines, is there one area that has stood out so far? Without hesitation, he answered: St. Louis. That’s a first. But, yeah, he “fell in love with St. Louis,” he said, “the scenery downtown, the arch, the ballpark. I can see myself walking through there having a nice tall beer, you know?” All of Missouri is nice, he said, especially the green, rolling hills. His complaints about the driving life are nothing out of the ordinary. Valdez team drives, and he says he hasn’t gotten used to trying to sleep in a moving vehicle. And he and his wife, Maribel, still haven’t gotten used to his being away so much. “I guess she’s having a little trouble not seeing me on a daily basis,” he said. “Sometimes we’ll go two weeks without seeing each other. But for the most part, we went into this knowing that’s what it’s going to be.” His sons, Kevin, Abraham and Anthony, are grown and pretty much on their own, but he and Maribel have a daughter, Gabby, who’s 2 and is starting to catch on to daddy’s absences. “This last time, just as I was about to say ‘bye,’ she knew it was time to say ‘bye.’ She got up, got her hugs and kisses and just went off. But she knew something was up, you know what I mean?” Well, summer will be here soon. He can take some vacation time, pack up the family, drive up from El Paso, show the family the scenery and take in a Cardinals’ game. Fish for breakfast, leisurely strolls in St. Louis — it’s all a matter of taste, and the man knows what he likes.  

You don’t head out on the road without an intended destination, and the vast majority of the time you have a route planned out. And it’s not a bad idea to approach life goals the same way. Ronald Feimster has begun 2019 with a clear idea of where he wants to get to within the next year. “My goal is to be an owner-operator and to drive for Oakley Trucking,” he said. Feimster was finishing breakfast at the Iron Skillet at the TravelCenters of America/Petro truck stop at I-40, exit 161, just outside Little Rock, Arkansas. He’d struck up a conversation with a fellow driver, Tim Plubell, who’s been an owner-operator for nearly 20 years (A story about Plubell can be found in the XXX edition of The Trucker), so Feimster’s career goals were at the front of his mind when The Trucker caught up with him. He’s done his homework, he said. He knows a lot goes into being an owner-operator. “I drove for a lease operator before,” Feimster said. “He was the owner-operator. And I loved it. I loved the freedom of it. I know you have to pay for your own maintenance, but a lot of these companies nowadays, they help you with the maintenance, so that cuts that in half. Then you have that fuel surcharge, so that cuts that in half.” Feimster, who hails from Rogers, Arkansas, has also done his homework on Oakley Trucking, a subsidiary of Bruce Oakley Inc., a commodity trading, distribution and transportation company based in North Little Rock, Arkansas. Oakley Trucking specializes dry bulk transportation throughout the Lower 48 and Canada. “And Oakley, they pay excellent, but the catch is you have to own your own truck,” Feimster said. “Pull their trailers, but you own your own truck. That’s my goal.” Long-term, he said, at 47, if all goes as he’s envisioning it, if he gets in at Oakley, it could be the kind of situation where he could spend the rest of his career there. Not that he’s unhappy where he’s at. Feimster drives for Southern Refrigerated Transport, popularly known as SRT. “They’re a good company,” Feimster said. “I’d recommend them to anybody.” He runs a dedicated route pulling reefer for Tyson Foods. His route keeps him within the neighboring states of Arkansas. But, as he explained, he generally gets home about every three weeks. “I could get home every weekend, but you don’t make any money like that,” he said. “You have to stay out here for a little while. Unless I were an owner-operator. Then I would do it differently.” Feimster first got into trucking in 1998. Before that, he said, “I wasn’t really doing nothing.” In other words, he had jobs, but he didn’t have a career. “I was doing factory work. It wasn’t that good. So, I got into trucking, basically, to start making more money. I went ahead and got my CDL.” He started out hauling logs. Since then he’s “been around,” he said, gaining experience working for Panther 2, Swift Transportation and Covenant Transport, which owns SRT. At one point, he tried to get out of trucking. “I was over-the-road, and I was tired of going through those snowy mountains” in Colorado, he said. The job wasn’t worth risking his life. “I said, ‘I have got to get out of this,’ because I had just gotten married, and then we had our first child. I’ve got to go home and be a dad,” Feimster said. He went back to warehouse work and even became a supervisor. But he came to realize that he just wasn’t a company-culture kind of guy. One of the best things about truck driving, Feimster said, is there’s “no one breathing over your back.” Even after having been the one doing the breathing, he hates that kind of work environment. He said he didn’t want to publicly describe the straw that broke the camel’s back and sent him to trucking. The short version of the story is he was told to fire an employee that he firmly believed didn’t deserve it. “I said, ‘you know what? This is not a good way to treat people,’” he said. “That was enough for me. I talked to my old lady. I said, ‘I’m going to go back to truck driving.’ She said ‘OK, that’s what you want to do?’ I said I was going to be away from home, but our kids are grown. Everything’s fine. She said go for it. Here I am.” Trucking may not be perfect, but he needs to feel that independence. Sure, there are a few ways the job could be better. “We would like more pay,” he said, then quickly added, “who wouldn’t?” It also bothers him that society in general doesn’t value what truckers do. “If trucks stopped delivering for just a couple days, the country would come to a standstill,” he said. “Why isn’t the profession held in higher regard?” Well, there isn’t a whole lot he can do about that. He appreciates what the profession means to him, and he intends to make the most of it.  

One of the most accurate measures of how much a fellow’s age has distilled into wisdom is the degree to which he has learned to make life easy on himself. It can be in the way he does his job, knowing the best routes to take, the best places to stop. And it can show itself in the way he takes in the world. At the age of 63 and with 45 years on the road, Tim Plubell has a personality as mellow as if it had been aged in an oak cask. On January 2, he was having breakfast at the Iron Skillet at the Petro Stopping Center off Interstate 40, exit 161, The Trucker’s favorite haunt for meeting drivers. Plubell was a bit amused.  He said he’d read something on the internet about someone trying to organize a truckers’ shutdown for one reason or another. “I thought, I do that every few weeks,” he said. “Whenever I go home I shut down for a week. I’m able to do that now.” Home for Plubell is Frenchville, a little community of about 500 in central Pennsylvania. He was headed back east after dropping off a load in Oklahoma City. That’s about as far west as he goes anymore, he said. In 2019, he’ll have been an owner-operator for 20 years, and he wouldn’t have it any other way. “I work for myself, I do what I want to when I want to,” he said. “Mainly I just like being out by myself. I’m kind of a loner person.” But as he sees it, that’s one of the qualities that makes a person suited for trucking. It’s suited him his entire working life. “I’ve been driving since I was 18,” Plubell said. “I started driving a log truck for my uncle.” He continued doing that until his uncle retired and closed his business. From there, Plubell became a company driver until 1999, when he was able to buy a truck and go out on his own. He’s always liked the driving life, but it’s best as an owner-operator. “I got nobody breathing down my back; I got nobody forcing me to do anything I don’t want to do. That’s what I like about it.” The only down side, as he sees it, is the amount of time he has to spend away from home to make the money he wants to make. Take this past week, for example. He was home for Christmas, but then he left the day after, and he and his wife wound up spending New Year’s Eve apart. But even that cloud has a silver lining, he explained. A lot of relationships might be strained from spending so much time apart. Not so for Plubell and his wife, who got married about a year after he started driving for his uncle. “When I started driving it was good for a while,” he said, referring to married life. “I was home every night. But then … being we got married young, we began fighting about a lot of stuff.” Money was the most frequent topic of conflict, as he recalls, as the young couple struggled to adapt to adult responsibilities. “So, then I got the opportunity to go over-the-road,” he said. After that, “everything got a whole lot better. The money issues went away, and then we got along better.” It wasn’t just the money, he said. The time apart made them value the time together even more. Plubell said he tries to get home every weekend, though it doesn’t always pan out. That’s why he doesn’t venture any farther west than Oklahoma City. And except to get home to Frenchville, he pretty much confines his driving to the Southeast this time of year. Driving in northern winter weather isn’t worth the hassle. It’s not that he doesn’t trust his own ability. It’s the other drivers out there, the amateurs. “Ninety percent of them that pass you are on this,” he said, holding up his cellphone. After 45 years, he has a spotless accident record, and he’d just as soon keep it that way. Aside from sharing the road with drivers who seem to be getting more distracted and discourteous as the years go by, the one other thing that Plubell thinks has gotten worse over the years has been all the regulations truckers have to contend with now. “I mean, there’s a lot of pros and cons about this ELD that’s come out,” he said. “Me, I don’t mind it. It doesn’t bother me, I can work with it.” But like with a vast majority of drivers, the problem is the rigidity of the rules the ELD is there to log. For example, a couple of months ago he was making his way home and he hit one construction zone after another. As a result, his clock ran out about 15 minutes from home. Now, in the old days, a driver could say, what the heck, drive the extra 15 minutes, massage the log entry, and who did it hurt, really? Instead, he had to park the truck, call his son to come get him, and then go back the next morning and get his truck. What sense does that make? Plubell doesn’t know if he’ll ever fully retire. He has a friend who’s little older than he is who has become a little choosier about how far and how often he drives, and he figures he might follow that example. Trucking isn’t for everyone, he said, but when it is, it’s tough to imagine not ever doing it. “I love it,” he said. “If I didn’t, I wouldn’t be doing it.”