Trucking Life

MINNEAPOLIS — The Minnesota Trucking Association has named Arthur “Art” Stoen, a professional truck driver for Kane Transport in Inver Grove Heights, Minnesota as the 2018 Minnesota Driver of the Year. The award was presented to Stoen, a resident of Austin, Minnesota, at the association’s Driver of the Year Banquet recently. Stoen, a resident of Austin, Minnesota, has been driving a truck for 55 years and has driven more than 4.4 million safe miles. Kane Transport is a leading transporter of petroleum, asphalt, biodiesel and ethanol in the Midwest. “This award is a great way to honor the best in our industry,” said John Hauslade. Driving safe is no easy task, especially when you take into consideration his daily driving conditions like congestion, driver distractions and Minnesota winters. Having 4.4 million safe driving miles is an astonishing accomplishment, especially given the unique challenge of safely delivering and unloading diesel and gasoline without incident,” says MTA President John Hausladen. “We’re proud to award Art for this outstanding achievement.” “Art is hard working, safe, efficient and reliable, and truly understands customer service and expectations of a driver,” said John Shaleen, director of safety at Kane Transport. “He is one of the best running and efficient drivers in our fleet, and always goes above and beyond.” In addition to being a great example of what it means to be an outstanding professional truck driver, Stoen said he enjoys traveling, fishing and spending time with his family. Hausladen said throughout 2018, exceptional drivers were nominated by their companies and one driver is chosen each month to be the Driver of the Month. The drivers who are chosen meet a high standard of requirements including an outstanding driving and work record; contribution to industry and highway safety; and involvement in the community. In January, MTA hosts the Driver of the Year Banquet and one of the 12 nominees is selected as Driver of the Year by a panel of judges including Matthew Marin, division administrator for Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Deb Ledvina, director of commercial vehicle operations at the Minnesota Department of Transportation, and Capt. Jon Olsen of the Minnesota State Patrol. The Minnesota Trucking Association is a non-profit trade association representing 630 member-trucking companies and allied firms from across the state. Its mission is to serve as the voice for a safe and successful Minnesota trucking industry, doing so, Hausladen said, by developing innovative and research-based policies that promote highway safety, educating policymakers and the public about the essential role that trucking plays in the economy and promoting responsible policies that advance the trucking industry’s environmental goals.          

BROOKHAVEN, Miss. — Twenty-five-year OTR driver Donald Copeland, 54, has long had a warm place in his heart for the “boys [and girls] in blue.” And like many others in his hometown of Brookhaven, Mississippi, located 60 miles south of Jackson, he was tired of law enforcement getting killed in the line of duty. Brookhaven has lost three officers in the past 18 months: William Durr, with the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Office; Corp. Zach Moak, with the Brookhaven Police Department; and Brookhaven Patrol Officer James White. Durr was a good friend of Copeland’s, and was a church youth worker and a fellow Mason, Copeland said. Like the other two men, Durr lost his life when he was shot while checking out a case of domestic violence. So Copeland decided to do something to remember these three and other men and women like them who put their lives on the line daily. Held the night of November 30, Brookhaven’s annual Christmas parade seemed the ideal time to Copeland to deck out his white 2019 Freightliner Cascadia in blue Christmas lights, blue and silver garlands and wreaths. Copeland has been with Swift Transportation for about two years, and they readily agreed to his plan. “They gave the A-OK to do it,” he said. “They were very much on board.” He also added stickers saying “We Back the Boys in Blue” and “Heroes Are Never Forgotton” on either side of his sleeper. Law enforcement of this southern town were not told they were being honored in the parade, although Copeland had contacted some relatives of the fallen officers. A cadre of law enforcement were to lead the parade and unknown to them, Copeland’s Freightliner was staged to follow right behind them. Copeland said the parade was “pretty emotional” for him as “this is an issue near and dear to my heart.” All three of the fallen officers’ names were also on his truck, along with a fallen officer’s flag draped across the hood. Amid the tinsel and lights, it was a somber reminder but a heart-felt one. Copeland has driven commercial trucks off and on since he graduated from high school, starting out driving for his uncle in the summer months until his father died some 25 years ago. It was then that Copeland decided he would devote himself full time to driving over-the-road and he hasn’t regretted it. “I owe a lot to trucking,” he said. Besides offering him a profession he loves, trucking was also what brought Copeland and his wife Candie together in 2000 in Commerce City, Colorado, a northern suburb of Denver. She was driving for another trucking company, but one thing led to another and after they married, he moved with her to her hometown of Brookhaven. Candie was among Brookhaven citizens cheering on her husband during the parade. “We wanted to honor these gentlemen and stop the violence,” Donald Copeland said. According to the National Law Enforcement Memorial fund, preliminary figures as of December 3 show 129 law enforcement killed so far this year. That’s compared with 122 last year, a 6 percent increase. The names of the fallen include members of the FBI, state troopers, police and sheriff’s offices, juvenile justice department officers, department of corrections officers, department of homeland security officers, and wildlife and fisheries officers. Eight of them were women. A total of 25 canine officers have also been killed in the line of duty this year.

WASHINGTON — As part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Hiring Our Heroes Program, a former U.S. Army mechanic, instructor and career counselor was selected as the “Transition Trucking: Driving for Excellence” top military veteran rookie driver during a ceremony Friday at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation here. Winning driver Quinton Ward of Werner Enterprises received a fully-loaded Kenworth T680 Advantage, equipped with a fuel-efficient PACCAR MX-13 engine and top of the line 76-inch sleeper, from Kenworth Truck Company. Ward comes from a family of military veterans and joined the Army after graduating from high school. He received the Kenworth T680 as part of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes Program, which was conducted in partnership with the FASTPORT Trucking Track Mentoring Program. Stevens Transport’s Christopher Young (Army active duty and now Army reservist), TMC Transport’s Platt Brabner (Navy and Marine veteran) and Summar Hanks of US Xpress (Air Force and Air National Guard veteran), were the runners-up. Young received $10,000 as the first runner-up, while Brabner and Hanks each received $5,000. “Quinton Ward’s influence on transitioning service members as well as his dedication to personal growth in the trucking industry makes him a well-deserving recipient of the Kenworth T680 Advantage. We appreciate his service to our country, and we look forward to watching Quinton continue to grow as a driver and influencer in the industry,” said Kurt Swihart, who presented the Kenworth T680 Advantage keys to Ward at the event. “I chose trucking because it gives me the ability to drive and see the country I swore an oath to protect and defend,” Ward said. “The skills that are key for success in the military are the same that we as drivers use every day. Time management, communication skills, flexibility and problem solving are the cornerstones that make a great employee and a professional driver. I see my future with the industry growing exponentially. I don’t want to stay and just do one thing. I want to see every facet of this industry.” FASTPORT president Brad Bentley said the four finalists were determined by tallying scores from a selection committee. The four then advanced to an online vote on the Transition Trucking website (www.transitiontrucking.org), where people could view a video of each driver and vote their choice for the top military rookie driver. “I had the chance to meet all the finalists at the Great American Trucking Show in Dallas and I can’t say enough positive things about them,” Bentley said. “Their dedication to this country is unwavering and they exemplify what it means to be an American. They are all wonderful people who share the characteristics we look for when selecting the top military driver: hard-working, disciplined and dependable. Quinton Ward separated himself by his dedication to overcome six years of medical treatment to become a driver, as well as his work in helping other veterans’ transition to the trucking industry.” Ward, who was injured while on active duty, medically retired in 2010. After undergoing six years of treatment, Ward utilized the VA Vocational Rehabilitation Program to earn his CDL. After receiving his CDL, Ward went to work for Werner Enterprises, where he is an active driver for the Operations Freedom program. Through Operations Freedom, Ward meets with veterans and other service members who are transitioning out of the military, as well as students who are considering working in the trucking industry. Featured speakers at the special recognition event were Eric Eversole, U.S. Chamber of Commerce vice president and Hiring Our Heroes president; Patrick Murphy, former Under Secretary of the Army; Chris Spear, president and CEO, American Trucking Associations; and Bentley.      

Which is better, youthful drive or age and experience? Clearly, the best case would be for someone to have both qualities – someone who has left a trail of accomplishments in his wake and still takes on new challenges with persistent discipline, confidence and a personal commitment to excellence. Qualities like that would be appreciated anywhere, but in an industry like trucking that is facing an acute labor shortage, they need to be celebrated when they come along. That was the idea back in 2010 when Mike O’Connell, the former executive director of the Commercial Vehicle Training Association (CVTA), came up with an idea for an event that would recognize the industry’s top newcomers. The result was the award that bears his name, the Mike O’Connell Trucking’s Top Rookie award. The contest is open each year to any CDL holder who has graduated from a Professional Truck Driver Institute (PTDI)-certified training school or a CVTA- or National association of Publicly Funded Truck Driving Schools-member training school within the previous year and has been employed by a trucking company for less than one year. Entrants are evaluated on criteria that include availability for loads, on-time delivery, highway safety performance, customer relations, work record and nonjob-related activities. The annual announcement of Trucking’s Top Rookie has become one of the highlights of the Great American Trucking Show (GATS). The word “rookie” conjures up images of someone barely acquainted with adulthood, someone fresh-faced and eager. But on August 24, the second day of the 2018 edition of GATS, as Seth Becker, director of media sales for show sponsor Randall-Reilly, introduced the nine finalists for this year’s award and their names and photos appeared on two large screens, it didn’t look likely that any of any of these rookies has had to flash an ID to prove they’re over 21 any time recently. At 58, his closely cropped hair more salt than pepper, Mordaunt “Platt” Brabner looks more like the wise old mentor who would take the wide-eyed rookie under his wing. Nonetheless, after Becker got a brief, improvised drumroll from the large crowd that had gathered around the GATS America Strong Stage, it was Brabner’s name that was called as this year’s top rookie. According to the introduction given at the award presentation, Brabner, who drives flatbed for TMC Transportation, logged 120,000 miles in his rookie year. That pales in comparison to the long road that brought him to trucking. Born and raised in Alabama, Brabner enlisted in the Marine Corps in his 20s. He began his military career as an advanced electronics technician, and while serving earned bachelor’s degrees in professional aeronautics and electronic engineering. Determined to fly, his commanding officer allowed him to test for the Navy’s flight program, where he excelled. During assignments in Southeast Asia, he carried out aircraft carrier combat operations, performing over 650 carrier landings. During his military career, he also served in the Middle East, Germany and Africa. In 2003, he was promoted to the rank of Navy Commander. Brabner’s wife, Vonda, was fully supportive of his career. But he had been at it 27 years, and he felt she needed the opportunity to fully pursue her career as an embryologist. In 2006, he retired from the military. The couple live in Coupland, Texas,  a rural community east of Austin. Brabner found trucking after earning a master’s degree in business but then bumping into age discrimination. He gave farming a brief try, but decided that wasn’t for him, either. He found his fit in trucking, where he applies his business knowledge and military discipline to the job. “My goal is to become an owner-operator and to start my own business,” he said. His trip to GATS this year took him a lot closer to that goal. Being named Trucking’s Top Rookie comes with a $10,000 cash prize, along with a slew of other gifts. The other Trucking’s Top Rookie finalists, along with their home towns and companies, were: James Bell: Stevensville, Montana; Jim Palmer Trucking Adam Cobb: Deltona, Florida; Celadon Trucking Matthew Donahue: Weedsport, New York; H.O. Wolding David Drummond: Philadelphia; Melton Truck Lines Terrence Goodau: Springfield, Missouri; Tri-State Motor Transit Larry Maser: McKinney, Texas; Stevens Transport Darrell Philpott: Martinsville, Virginia; Epes Transportation Systems Quinton Ward: Westville, Florida; Werner Enterprises Earlier that same day, Brabner also found out he is a finalist in the annual Transition in Trucking: Driving for Excellence award, presented by the Fastport Trucking Track Mentoring Program, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Hiring Our Heroes Program and Kenworth. The award honors the top rookie military veteran who has made a successful transition from active duty to a commercial fleet. As one of the four finalists, Brabner is guaranteed to be taking home at least another $5,000. The winner, who will be announced at a ceremony December 14 at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Hall of Flags in Washington, D.C., will win a fully-loaded Kenworth T680 with a 76-inch sleeper and Paccar MX-13 engine, valued at $155,000.  

GREENSBORO, N.C. — “Breaking the Mold,” the fourth episode of Mack Trucks’ RoadLife series released on roadlife.tv and Amazon Prime Video, shares the stories of two women blazing trails in the trucking industry, in which women make up just 12 percent of the workforce. “I never thought my life would be with trucks,” said Raquel Renda, vice president of Fort Worth, Texas-based Renda Environmental, a wastewater residuals management company. “But I fell into it here in Texas, and I’ve been in love ever since.” Starting her day around 4 a.m. each morning, Renda’s responsibilities include keeping the 24/7 operation running smoothly and addressing whatever urgent issues might pop up. Instead of trying to fit the mold created by men in leadership positions, she has spent her career successfully applying her own style of running the business. “Gender shouldn’t matter,” Renda said. “It’s all about the integrity of the work being done and the integrity of the person doing it.” Professional truck driver “Killer” Bramer has taken a different path to success in the industry by following her dreams from an early age. After graduating as the top student – and only female – in her driving school class, she bought a truck and spent the next three years learning the ins and outs of the road. She also spent several years driving on tour with folk singer-songwriter Arlo Guthrie, who gave her the nickname “Killer.” “Being a truck driver is not a 9-to-5 job, and it’s not for everybody,” Bramer said. “I didn’t do it because I knew I was breaking the mold, I did it because it’s my job and I do it really well.” In the photo above, “Killer” Bramer is on the left, Raquel Renda is on the right. “Breaking the Mold” is available now on www.roadlife.tv and Amazon Prime Video. In addition, viewers can access RoadLife bonus content on Mack Trucks’ social channels: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.

RAPHINE, Va. — Eric Turner Sr. of Ellenwood, Georgia, won Best of Show honors with his 2015 Peterbilt 389 with a 2018 Wally-Mo 8 car hauler at the 36th Annual Shell Rotella SuperRigs competition held June 14-16 at White’s Travel Center in Raphine. He was awarded $10,000 from Shell Rotella and $5,000 from MAC trailer. Turner also won for Best Interior. “It feels so good to win the best of show,” Turner said. “Like I said earlier when I was in the judging lane, when I was growing up, all my dad ever had on his tool box was a Shell Rotella calendar. And he always said, ‘son one day, you’re going to be on that.’ I’ve never seen that vision, but I guess he’s seen it for me. My dad passed away last year. Thank you, Daddy.” Matt Brune from Caldwell, Texas, was Best of Show first runner-up, $4,000 from Shell Rotella and $3,000 from MAC Trailer for his 1999 Peterbilt 379. Jay Blackbourn of Fennimore, Wisconsin, was awarded Best of Show second runner-up, $2,000 from Shell Rotella and $2,000 from MAC Trailer for his 1999 Peterbilt 379. Weekend highlights included the lights contest and fireworks on Thursday. The annual truck parade was held on Friday night in downtown Lexington along with a concert by trucker and country music artist Tony Justice. There was entertainment and events throughout the three-day event. First place winners also included Bradlee Garretson from Lake Mills, Wisconsin, in the Tractor/Trailer Division for his 2016 Peterbilt 389 and 2017 MAC trailer; Andrew Good of Bethel, Pennsylvania in the Tractor Division with a 2016 Kenworth W900; Gerald Arthur Asbury from Sevierville, Tennessee, won in the Classic Division with his 1999 Kenworth W900L. The Most Hard-Working Trucker award was presented to William Warner of Seneca Rock, West Virginia, for his 1997 Peterbilt 379; James A Rogers of Pevely, Missouri. won the new What Matters Is Inside award, which honors drivers who have overcome hardships and challenges. Rogers is a disabled veteran who works with the St. Christopher Trucking Fund Relief to help drivers with illness or injury. All winners also received a case of Shell Rotella T4 15W-40 heavy duty diesel engine oil, MyMilesMatter Reward Points (MMMRP), a loyalty program for purchasing Rotella products that offers merchandise and experiences. The Shell Rotella SuperRigs competition is considered the premier truck beauty contest for actively working trucks. Owner-operator truckers from across the United States and Canada compete for cash and prizes valued at approximately $25,000. Twelve drivers were also selected to have their truck featured in the 2018 Shell Rotella SuperRigs calendar. The 11 in addition to Turner will be announced at a later date. Complete results include: Best of Show Eric Turner Sr., Ellenwood, Georgia, 2015 Peterbilt 389, 2018 Wally-Mo 8 Car Hauler; $10,000 from Shell Rotella, 50,000 MMMRP, place in the 2018 Rotella SuperRigs Calendar Best of Show 1st Runner Up Matt Brune, Caldwell, Texas, 1999 Peterbilt 379, $4,000 from Shell Rotella, 40,000 MMMRP Best of Show 2nd Runner Up Jay Blackbourn, Fennimore, Wisconsin, 2016 Peterbilt 389; 2008 MAC LTT ATE 9700, $2,000 from Shell Rotella, 30,000 MMMRP Working Truck – Limited Mileage Kaleb Hammett, Dodd City, Texas, 2017 Peterbilt 389, $1,500, 10,000 MMMRP; 2. John T. Barker III, Malvern, Pennsylvania, 1997 Peterbilt 379; 1997 Streamliner Deluxe for Horses, $1,000, 8,000 MMMRP; 3. Richard Shrout, Augusta, West Virginia, 2018 Peterbilt 389, $750, 7,000 MMMRP; 4. James R. Pearce, Zebulon, North Carolina, 2001 Kenworth w900, $500, 6,000 MMMRP; 5. Cody McKenzie, Broadway, Virginia, 2018 Kenworth T800 $250 and 5,000 MMMRP. Most Hard-Working Trucker William Warner, Seneca Rocks, West Virginia, 1997 Peterbilt 379, $500, 10,000 MMMRP People’s Choice John George, Fairfield, Pennsylvania, 1974 Dodge C950 Bighorn, $250, 10,000 MMMRP What Matters Is Inside James A. Rodgers, Peverly. Missouri, 2015 Freightliner Cascadia; 2019 Utility $500, 10,000 MMMRP Show Truck Michael Manuel, Front Royal, Virginia, 2015 Peterbilt 389, $250, 10,000 MMMRP; 2. Mark Hollen, Denver, Pennsylvania, 2013 Peterbilt 389, $250; 3. Leon Lloyd, Winchester, Virginia, 2016 Peterbilt 389, $250 Best Engine Andrew Good, Bethel, Pennsylvania, 2016 Kenworth W900, 15,000 MMMRP. Best Lights Randy Manning, Cross Junction, Virginia, 2018 Kenworth W900L, 15,000 MMMRP Best Chrome Randy Manning, Cross Junction, Virginia, 2018 Kenworth W900L, 15,000 MMMRP Best Theme Andrew Good, Bethel, Pennsylvania, 2016 Kenworth W900, 15,000 MMMRP Best Interior Eric Turner Sr., Ellenwood, Georgia, 2015 Peterbilt 389; 2018 Wally Mo 8 car Hauler, 15,000 MMMRP Tractor/Trailer Division Bradlee Garetson, Lake Mills, Wisconsin, 2016 Peterbilt 389, 2017 MAC, $1,500 and 10,000 MMMRP; 2. Brandon Smith, Raleigh, North Carolina, 1996 Peterbilt 379, $1,000, 8,000 MMMRP; 3. Kiegan Nelson, Hartland, Wisconsin, 2013 Peterbilt 389, 2017 Retneouer flat bed, $750, 7,000 MMMRP; 4. Jackie Lewis, Grayson, Kentucky, 2007 Peterbilt 379, 2007 Great Dane, $500, 6,000 MMMRP; 5. Matt Kanagy, Stevens, Pennsylvania, 2006 Peterbilt, $250, 5,000 MMMRP Tractor Division Andrew Good, Bethel, Pennsylvania, 2016 Kenworth W900, $1,500, 10,000 MMMRP; 2. William Warner, Seneca Rocks, West Virginia; 1997 Peterbilt 379, $1,000, 8,000 MMMRP; 3.  Cody Warner, Elkins, West Virginia, 1987 Peterbilt 359, $750, 7,000 MMMRP; 4. Chris Graham, Front Royal, Virginia; 2016 Peterbilt 389, $500, 6,000 MMMRP; 5. Jeremiah Wolfe, Thaxton, Virginia; 2018 Peterbilt 389, $250, 5,000 MMMRP. Classic Division Gerald Arthur Asbury, Sevierville, Tennessee, 1999 Kenworth W900L, $1,500, 10,000 MMMRP; 2. Les Brown, Spring Hope, North Carolina, 1966 Kenworth W900A, $1,000, 8,000 MMMRP; John Byers, Montpelier, Virginia, 1988 MAC Superliner, $750, 7,000 MMMRP; 4. Daniel and Phyllis Snow, Harrison, Arkansas, 1996 Freightliner Classic XL,  2006 Utility, $500, 6,000 MMMRP.          

Kay Pfeiffer of TrueLifeCare conducted her first Mid-American Trucking Show seminar this year. She’s becoming a regular at high-profile trucking industry events, spreading the word about the growing problem diabetes poses to the trucking industry. At MATS, she opened her presentation by listing several celebrities who have diabetes: Mariah Carey, Drew Carey, Billie Jean King, Larry King, Tom Hanks, Halle Berry and others. The subtext was that diabetes can be found in every walk of life and it doesn’t need to be a debilitating illness. Once she had the audience’s attention, she explained how TrueLifeCare helps truckers fight the disease. Representatives from Omada Health were at MATS, too, giving diabetes screenings in conjunction with the Healthy Truckers Association of America (HTAA) and the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) to deliver a diabetes control program offered free to qualified truckers through a grant by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. They were two companies out of the thousand or so vendors at MATS, trying to get a common message across. These days sleep apnea, the opioid crisis and the obesity epidemic are the hot health topics. Diabetes is more of a golden oldie among medical issues, its seriousness sometimes muted by complacent familiarity. A few weeks after MATS, Pfeiffer spoke with The Trucker about the lack of diabetes awareness she’s observed. “In the last year, all the trucking companies I’ve talked to, it’s seems like they don’t understand or they’re just in denial or they’ve never explored it,” Pfeiffer said. “It’s a huge safety issue.” She comes to these conversations prepared with harshly enlightening statistics. Diabetes cases have risen 700 percent in the last 50 years. In 2015, 30.3 million Americans had diabetes, and the number is growing by 1.5 million every year. Unchecked, diabetes gives you almost a 70 percent chance of heart disease or stroke, about a 30 percent chance of blindness and about a 60 percent chance of needing an amputation. It is also estimated that more than 84 million Americans age 18 and older are what is known as prediabetic – their blood sugar level is higher than it should be but falls below diabetic levels. Of this group, about 30 percent will likely become diabetic. As usual when health statistics are cited, truckers come out on the short end of the equation. Diabetes rates among truckers are 50 percent higher than the general population. Of the 3.5 million truckers in this country, it’s estimated 600,000 to 700,000 have diabetes, of whom up to 150,000 have never been diagnosed. What’s worse is that of the approximately 550,000 drivers who know they are diabetic, only about one in four are testing their blood sugar levels as recommended by their doctors. “There’s an awful lot of people out there that are driving trucks that should not be driving because they’re not testing,” Pfeiffer said. “If you have diabetes and you’re not testing, you’re driving at night without headlights.” Most diabetes is classified as either Type I or Type 2. With Type I, the immune system attacks the cells that produce insulin. It isn’t known why this happens and there is no way to prevent or reverse it. With Type II diabetes, the body either fails to produce enough insulin or becomes resistant to it. Type II diabetes accounts for over 90 percent of diabetes diagnoses, and it is mostly brought on by lifestyle. The bad news for truckers is that the stereotypical trucker lifestyle is the perfect formula for diabetes – too much stress, too little exercise, poor sleeping and eating habits and the obesity that comes with it. Although getting fat doesn’t automatically set you on the road to diabetes, it is a primary risk factor. “Being overweight, having high blood pressure, having heart disease, all of those are co-morbidities,” Pfeiffer said. In other words, they aren’t necessarily tied, but where you see a lot of one, you see a lot of the others. The good news about Type II diabetes is that what lifestyle choices create, lifestyle changes can fix. Type II diabetes can be controlled and even reversed. This where the programs offered by TrueLifeCare and Omada Health come in. Although the programs differ in precisely what they provide, they are built on a similar premise.  As Pfeiffer put it: “Nobody changes behavior because you told them to. We wouldn’t have so many obese people in America if people did what they were supposed to do.” When people are learning to combat diabetes, they need the tools, they need information and most of all they need consistent coaching. Both the TrueLifeCare and Omada programs are front-heavy when it comes to participant interaction. The reason is simple: Old habits are hard to break, new habits take time to take hold and managing diabetes usually requires some of both. With TrueLifeCare, participants sign up through their company as part of their medical benefit package at no cost to the employee. They are assigned to a registered nurse who is trained as a behavioral health coach, and they receive glucose testing supplies. They also have access to meal planning and recipe resources, as well as diabetes educational materials. During the first month, participants interact frequently with their coach as they get started. Too often, people won’t test if they feel OK, Pfeiffer said. People sometimes need a little extra prodding to get them to prick their fingers every day. After the first month, participants who consult with their coach at least once a month continue to get their testing supplies for free. Omada’s program is a digital adaptation of the Diabetes Prevention Program, which was borne out of a 2002 study by National Institutes for Health. Adam Brickman, senior director of strategic communications and public policy for Omada, explained that after that study, the Diabetic Prevention Program was created, with the CDC promoting group meetings all over the country. But for people like truckers, being able to attend regularly scheduled meetings is out of the question. With the surge in communications technology in recent years, that problem had disappeared. Omada began about seven years ago to create a program so that drivers can sign up and “attend” meetings anytime, anyplace. The first step is to go to the Omada website, and take a simple quiz to determine if you have enough risk factors to be eligible for the program. Once accepted, participants are mailed a digital scale synched to an online health profile. They are also be assigned a health coach and to a group with about 25 statistically similar participants. For 16 weeks, participants will keep track of their food intake, exercise and weight, and each week there is a new lesson about nutrition, exercise or improving on unhealthy habits. Participants can interact with their group or with their coach throughout the program. Michele Geraldi is an Omada coach. She explained the program focuses on four lifestyle categories: nutrition, exercise, sleep and stress. Inadequate sleep and too much stress are often overlooked factors to overall health, Geraldi said, but both can be detrimental to the body’s chemistry, and either can prevent weight loss even if the person eats right. “Everyone has different weak points,” Geraldi said. The Omada system is designed so coaches can look at a participant’s profile and tailor the program to suit their particular needs as they move past that initial 16 weeks. Omada has been looking at ways to tailor the program specifically to truckers. For instance, when it comes to eating healthier, Geraldi said, “For a person who has a typical 9-to-5 job, we’ll talk about farmers markets.” But for truckers, information how to best navigate a fast-food menu board or convenience store options would be more useful. The same goes for advice about exercise, Brickman added. After a long day behind the wheel, “Even when you stop, you’re probably not going to feel like, ‘hey, go for a run.’” Instead, Geraldi explained, “We’ll talk about fitting little bits of exercise here and there that will add up – walking, lifting stuff.” According to the Health Care Cost Institute, employers and employees combined spend an average $16,021 per diabetic employee enrolled in company health plans, compared to $4,396 for health plan members without diabetes. All told, U.S. companies spend $237 billion per year on medical costs associated with diabetes. That’s on top of another $90 billion in lost productivity. Diabetics take an average of an extra five sick days per year, Pfeiffer said, and have another 15 days that qualify as what is referred to as presenteeism, which is when someone shows up for work even though they are not at their best. Driving with a head cold is one thing, but considering that diabetes symptoms include unusual fatigue, tingling extremities and blurred vision, presenteeism becomes a dangerous proposition. To find out more about TrueLifeCare, visit TrueLifeCare.com. for more on Omada Health, including their online quiz, visit Omadahealth.com. “We’re saving companies hundreds of thousands of dollars and we’re saving people’s lives, and getting them to where they don’t need insulin, and don’t need medication and don’t need an amputation,” Pfeiffer said. “It’s all your choice. If you choose not to manage your diabetes, your diabetes will manage you.”

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — When Joe Donald graduated college in 1984, he thought he might be able to spend some time over the next few weeks on the beach and then the ski slopes. But his grandfather, William Sellers, who owned Baggett Transportation, had other ideas for the young graduate. “My grandfather gave me seven days off,” Donald, now the company president, said. “I showed up here the day after Labor Day in 1984 and have been here ever since.” It certainly wasn’t his first foray at the carrier, which is celebrating its 90th anniversary this year. “I started working here back in the shop during the summer during my high school days back in the late 1970s,” Donald said. “I would change tires, change the oil in the trucks, pull nails out of floors and sweep the trailers.” Baggett Transportation Co. was founded by Jess Baggett in Birmingham in 1928 as a local carrier hauling dynamite for area coal companies. In the mid 1930s, Sellers joined Baggett, and acquired a small interest in his company. Today, Baggett continues to be a family-owned company. Donald, 56, and in his own words about to turn 57, is the only son of one of Seller’s two daughters and heads the company. Three cousins — David Crommelin, Claiborne Crommelin and Charles Crommelin, are active in the company, head up safety, pricing and operations. Sellers passed away in July 1990 “in the office where I’m sitting,” Donald said. Donald’s father had chosen medicine over trucking, and the younger Donald wasn’t quite ready for the presidency when his grandfather passed away. “We had a man whose name was Robert Nunnally,” Donald said. “He was our accountant and ran the accounting department for my mother and my aunt until they felt I was ready to step into an executive role,” which occurred in the late 1990s. His mother is still living, although not involved in the company. His aunt is deceased. Although the company had long hauled for the Department of Defense, the events of September 11, 2001, required Baggett to enter into a different business model. “Over the years, we had progressed to doing more and more for the Department of Defense with our team drivers, but 9/11 literally changed the way we did business,” Donald said. “We could no longer have terminals storing sensitive items and we had to go directly from shipper to consignee with no stopping. Everything was now monitored by satellite and other communications equipment.” Hauling for DOD is quite different from hauling general commodities. The security level for hauling government goods is intense. There are satellites on the tractor and the closed vans and trailers and the government work requires teams because trucks cannot stop for more than two consecutive hours. “You are monitored all the time by the government,” Donald said. Today, some 50 percent of Baggett’s business comes from DOD. Sixty percent of its some 100 tractors are driven by teams, and sometimes team drivers are hard to find. “We do better hiring someone who’s been in this business before,” Donald said. “If it’s a team from a general commodity [hauler], they are used to running a bunch of miles. Transporting Department of Defense commodities is about what you can earn with less miles because with the government, a lot of bases are only open four days a week, 10 hours a day. So, you don’t have a lot of Friday work. Sometimes these team drivers can adjust, sometimes they can’t. The rate of pay is better, but they are not going to get the 5,000 miles a week going from base to base for the U.S. government.” In addition to mileage pay, team drivers hauling for the DOD are paid a percentage of the gross revenue of the load they are hauling. Prospective team drivers are carefully scrutinized and so are some staff. “They check them out pretty good,” he said. “Also, any of our staff who knows anything about the shipments must be cleared through the Department of Defense.” Donald strives to maintain a family oriented culture at Baggett right down to the dress code. “When I started here, it was coat and tie for men, dresses for women,” he said. “We’ve become a lot more casual because I thought a coat and tie might be intimidating when you were talking to drivers, so now we wear khakis with a collared shirt and we allow jeans on Fridays. We have a younger-aged staff. When I came here 33 years ago, everyone was my elder and now I’m one of the older ones here. We have a lot of young, energetic employees who want to be successful.” Today, the company is prospering. Donald is hoping to strengthen Baggett’s non-DOD business, which he says “comes and goes.” He’s hopeful revenue will top $40 million in sales this year. Donald credits the success of Baggett to comradery within the company. “We’re people persons,” Donald said. “We all enjoy working with one another. Now, I’m not going to say we haven’t had our arguments, but we all get along together.”  8      

  MISSISSAUGA, Ontario — Canada’s third Salute to Women Behind the Wheel took place at Truck World on April 21, bringing together 41 female commercial drivers for the celebration. The group included women of all ages, with years of experience ranging from less than one year to more than 40 years. Their combined experience totaled 600 years, proving that while women drivers may be few in number they are not new to trucking. The Salute is an initiative of Women In Trucking (WIT) to honor female drivers and recognize them for their service. WIT has hosted a Salute at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, KY each year since 2009. This was the second Canadian Salute to Women Behind the Wheel to be held at Truck World in Toronto. The first Salute in Eastern Canada was held last year at the Atlantic Truck Show in Moncton, NB. The Owner-Operator’s Business Association of Canada (OBAC) and the Women’s Trucking Federation of Canada, who partnered with WIT to host the Salute, hope to bring the event to truck shows in Canada on a regular basis. A hallmark of the event is a group photo of all the women who hold commercial drivers’ licenses wearing the signature red Salute T-shirt. Salute organizer, Joanne Ritchie, also the Executive Director of OBAC, called the display an attention-getting way to illustrate women’s presence in the male-dominated trucking industry. “Female drivers make up only a fraction of the driver population in Canada, but their numbers are growing,” she said. “The intent of the Salute is to honor the contribution of the existing drivers and to demonstrate to women outside the industry that trucking is a good career choice with abundant opportunity. It was particularly gratifying this year to see several women in the crowd with one year’s experience or less. These newcomers are the future of our industry, and we want to make feel valued and welcome.” The Women In Trucking Association, based in Plover, Wisconsin, boasts about 4,000 members from all over the globe including about 300 Canadian members. While drivers are a major focus of the group, it represents female workers in all facets of trucking and transportation, including technicians, logistics personnel, management and admin workers. “The women here today are very much pioneers in a field that is dominated by male drivers,” said Ellen Voie, President and CEO of Women In Trucking Association. “They are succeeding and doing great in their chosen field and we are here to celebrate their achievements and accomplishments.” Jane Jazrawy, CEO of CarriersEdge, a leading provider of online driver training for the trucking industry and a Platinum sponsor of the Salute to Women Behind the Wheel, said the event is a great opportunity to highlight women who have chosen a non-traditional career in the trucking industry. “I think it’s so important to have women doing non-traditional jobs,” said Jazrawy. “I began my career in the technology industry, and there were very few women in that sector at the time. I understand those challenges and I think it’s incredible to see all of you here today.” Other sponsors of the 2018 Salute to Women Behind the Wheel are Highland Transport, the Private Motor Truck Council of Canada (PMTC), SM Freight, and Sysco. The British Columbia Trucking Association (BCTA) will co-host the first Western Canadian Salute at Truxpo in Abbotsford, British Columbia, on May 12, and two more events are scheduled for 2019 in Montreal and Moncton. For more information, contact Joanne Ritchie at [email protected] or (613) 237-6222. The Owner-Operator’s Business Association of Canada is a not-for-profit association committed to the safety and prosperity of all professional drivers operating in Canada. We work to change negative stereotypes of truck drivers and to promote a better understanding of their issues with industry, government, and the public at large. WIT 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.      

A professional driver of more than 27 years, Mike Sheeds has over 3.5 million safe driving miles under his belt. Sheeds has trained more than 300 students throughout his career. (Courtesy: PILOT FLYING J) KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Pilot Flying J has announced the winners of its fourth annual Road Warrior program, recognizing the “heroes on the road” with cash prizes. Mike Sheeds of Bandera, Texas, Terry Lee of Robert, Louisiana, and Desiree Ridley of Davenport, Florida, have been named the grand, second and third place Road Warrior winners respectively. Pilot Flying J hosts the annual online contest to show appreciation for professional drivers who go the extra mile to ensure that products and goods are delivered safely, securely and on time to keep the country running efficiently. Each year, Road Warrior winners are nominated by co-workers, friends and families of professional drivers across the U.S. for their hard work, perseverance and passion for driving. This year’s winners stood out from a field of almost 5,000 participants. As winners of the fourth annual Road Warrior contest, Sheeds will receive $10,000, Lee will receive $5,000 and Ridley will receive $2,500, and all will join an exclusive group of past program winners. Nominators of these three winners will also receive a $500 prize. “This year’s Road Warrior winners are inspiring and exceptional representations of the professional driver community,” said Ken Parent, president of Pilot Flying J. “These unsung heroes are on the road day in and day out to provide our country with the goods that make daily life possible. The Road Warrior program is our way of thanking professional drivers.” America’s 3.8 million truck drivers are an integral piece of the country’s infrastructure, Parent said. This year’s Road Warriors are each making strong contributions to the professional driving community in different ways: Mike Sheeds, grand prize winner: A professional driver of more than 27 years, Sheeds has more than 3.5 million safe driving miles under his belt. Sheeds has trained over 300 students throughout his career, teaching the importance of safety above all else. His awards and accolades speak to his achievements on the road, but pale in comparison to his dedication to his family. Sheeds and his wife have four adopted daughters, each born drug and/or alcohol exposed and surviving trauma, abuse and neglect. While driving can be a demanding career, Sheeds always prioritizes spending time with family and advocating for his children. Terry Lee, second place winner: Lee began his professional driving career 34 years ago while serving in the army in the Middle East. Lee has overcome many adversities throughout his life including rebuilding his family’s home after losing it to a flood and being diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia stage two blood cancer. None of these hardships hindered his dedication to driving, and he is still on the road today making his family proud. Desiree Ridley, third place winner: Ridley, a long-haul driver who joined the professional driving community when she turned 21, is an advocate of millennial women breaking barriers in the professional driving industry. Throughout her recent pregnancy, Ridley continued to show dedication and passion for her job, driving until she was eight-and-a-half months pregnant. Even as a new mother, she continues to drive (now locally) six days a week while caring for her family. No matter what comes her way, Ridley handles it with strength and finesse — on and off the road. “I am so humbled to be chosen as a Road Warrior winner,” said Sheeds. “Driving has been part of my life for almost 30 years, and teaching aspiring professional drivers to prioritize safety above all else is what has remained most important to me throughout my career. Experience will never trump physics, and I encourage all drivers to remember this on the road. I’d like to thank my wife for nominating me and always believing in me, and all of the inspiring pro drivers I’ve met throughout my journey.” To learn more about the Road Warrior program and read about the winners, visit www.RoadWarrior.PilotFlyingJ.com.

Left to right are Jim Stevenson, Arrow director of national accounts; Ellen Voie, WIT president and CEO; truck winner Tiffany Hanna and Arrow’s Jim Taber. (Photo courtesy: ARROW TRUCK SALES) LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Prime, Inc. driver Tiffany Hanna has been named winner of Women In Trucking’s 2018 Truck Giveaway, sponsored by Arrow Truck Sales. Hanna was announced as the winner at the “Salute to Women Behind the Wheel” event at the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, Kentucky March 24. WIT member Hannais now the owner of a 2014 Volvo VNL670 truck, donated by Arrow. She was selected from applicants who submitted an essay on the importance of attracting more women into the trucking industry. “Women need to know they can be successful in trucking and can do the job just as well, if not better, than a man,” Hanna wrote.  She has been an advocate for female drivers at Prime, Inc. and serves on the Prime Driver Advisory Board.  She is also active with the Highway Diamonds celebration hosted by Prime, Inc. to honor their female drivers. Hanna is a U.S. Navy veteran, a mother of five and a cancer survivor. In addition to the 2014 Volvo VNL670 from Arrow Trucks Sales, she received an extensive array of products from WIT member companies, including ATBS, Blue Beacon Truck Washes, Michelin, National Truck Protection, Travel Centers of America/Petro Stopping Centers and many more. Total value of the giveaway was more than $75,000. WIT President and CEO Ellen Voie made the announcement. “We are thrilled to hand over the keys to Tiffany, who has been an advocate for women in the trucking industry by mentoring and supporting the women and men at Prime, Inc., “said Voie.  “This is truly the chance of a lifetime, thanks to Arrow Truck Sales and their very generous donation.” Jim Stevenson, Arrow Director of National Accounts, o serves on the Women In Trucking Board of Directors. “Arrow has long been supportive of equality and diversity efforts within the trucking industry,” said Stevenson, “and we appreciate this opportunity to award Tiffany with this late model Volvo truck to support her success as an owner-operator.” Arrow Truck Sales, Inc. was founded in 1950 and is a leading source of used heav- and medium-duty trucks with retail stores located across the U.S. and Canada. Arrow carries a large inventory of trucks and trailers including all makes and models. Their national headquarters are in Kansas City, Missouri. WIT 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.

From left are Goodyear Marketing Director Gary Medalis, the 2018 Goodyear Highway Hero Award winner, Frank Vieira, and finalists Brian Bucenell and Ryan Moody. (The Trucker: KLINT LOWRY) LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Brian Bucenell hails from Richmond, Virginia. Ryan Moody calls Tacoma, Washington, home. And Frank Vieira resides in Ancaster, Ontario, about 55 miles (or 89.5 kilometers, as he would say) southwest of Toronto. You would imagine fate would have to put in some overtime to ever bring these three veteran drivers together for any reason, much less to share a spotlight in Louisville, Kentucky. Yet there they were. On Thursday, immediately after the first day of the Mid-America Trucking Show, a crowd gathered at the nearby Crowne Plaza Louisville Airport Expo Center hotel to celebrate serendipity’s fait accompli, and three standup guys, as the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company marked the 35th anniversary of its Highway Hero Award. Each year since 1983, Goodyear has honored professional truck drivers who perform extraordinary acts of heroism, often at risk to themselves. This year, Bucenall, Moody and Vieira were the three finalists for the award. Gary Medalis, marketing director for Goodyear, said that over the years, the Highway Heroes award has honored drivers who have saved children’s lives, come to the aid of police officers and have performed numerous other feats of bravery. He added that the three drivers selected as finalists this year are all fine choices as the award — the oldest of its kind in trucking — marks this milestone year. The incidents that led to these three drivers being nominated for the Highway Hero Award were about as far-flung from one another as their hometowns, with one thing in common: They all exhibited personal and professional cool under pressure. For Bucenell, it all started just after he’d merged onto the Ohio Turnpike near Toledo. He heard chatter on the CB about a high-speed chase going on somewhere in the vicinity. Moments later, Bucenell saw several state troopers in his rearview mirror chasing a car and gaining on him fast. Just then, he came upon a construction zone. “We lost the far left lane,” he said. “It went from three lanes to two lanes. They put up a concrete barrier, blocking it off.” When the car reached Bucenell’s truck another truck was running alongside. Bucenell said the car tried to pass him on the left, saw the barrier, then cut back behind him. From that point on, Bucenell said, the car kept trying to pass, to the left, to the right, between the two trucks. Every time he moved, Bucenell, who’s been driving professionally for 10 years, moved over just enough to cut him off. “I know my truck pretty well,” Bucenell said. “It was a mixture of his lack of experience and my knowing my truck. I think that’s what let me be able to stop him.” Finally, the driver tried to swerve on the shoulder again. “I just whipped it toward the guardrail and stopped,” Bucenell said. The car was trapped, and the chase, which Bucenell later found out had reached 100 mph at one point, was over. “There were 20 cop cars on him in the blink of an eye. I’ve never seen anything like it,” Bucenell said. Moody’s incident happened when he was fighting traffic on a Chicago freeway. The only reason he was on that stretch of highway was because he’d missed the turnoff to the highway he had wanted to use. As he was driving along, three motorcycles passed him. A biker himself, Moody remembered admiring the bikes and thinking, “Man, I wish I was riding right now.” The motorcyclists got a few car lengths ahead of him, and two of them started to take an exit. As far as he could tell the third biker’s wheels locked up for some reason and he went end-over-end. Moody said for a split second he was afraid he wouldn’t be able to stop, but he not only stopped but he swerved his truck to block traffic and prevent anyone else from running over the downed biker. Moody then jumped out of his truck and tended to the unconscious motorcyclist, who was bleeding from a head injury. Moody literally gave him the shirt off his back, wrapping it around the man’s head, while trying to calm down other bystanders who’d stopped. Moody said he’s ex-military, as was his dad, so all his life it’s been ingrained in him when things “hit the fan, you deal with it.” Moody stayed with the motorcyclist until paramedics arrived. They later credited him with saving the man’s life. “One of the officers said, ‘hey, do you want your shirt back?’ I said, no that’s his now.” Vieira, who marked his 30th anniversary as a driver last year, was driving near Toronto one day when he heard a loud crash on a two-lane stretch of highway, looked over his shoulder and saw that a car on the other side of the road had slammed into the back of a stationary roll-off truck. Vieira parked his truck, ran to the car, and found the driver, whose neck had been pierced by a piece of his own vehicle’s steering wheel, which had snapped off on impact. “He had this thing on the right side of the neck, Vieira said. Immediately, he placed one of his hands over the still-conscious motorist’s wound and applied direct pressure, while using his other hand to call for help. As he was doing this, the driver of the truck that had been hit had walked up, saw the impaled motorist, and fainted. Vieira said he didn’t even notice him until he saw the driver sprawled out on the ground, his legs lying over the line into the opposing lane of traffic. Without letting go of the first driver, Vieira managed to use his foot to pull the leg of the truck driver who had fainted away from traffic. Emergency personnel arrived and took over. Both men survived. Vieira was surprised it’s become such a big thing, the attention he’s getting. Like the others, he was there and did what needed doing. “It’s a great feeling to be appreciated.” “When I think about it, it seemed like it took half an hour, but it all happened in maybe four minutes,” Vieira said. He was so in the moment, he’s not even sure how he managed to do everything at once the way he did. “Not much thought goes through your mind; you just do it.” After the incident he didn’t think much of it, either. “I was actually going to let this fly under the table and not talk about it,” he said. But word got around and before he knew it other people were congratulating him on his heroism. It’s the one aspect of his experience he shares with his fellow nominees.   “I don’t feel like a hero,” Bucenell said. “I didn’t literally safe anybody’s life. I never felt heroic about it. I felt like I did what was right.” When he heard he’d been nominated for the Goodyear Highway Hero award, he first thought one of his buddies was pulling a prank on him. Moody also downplayed his incident. “To me I was just at the right place at the right time,” he said. “Somebody needed help and I was there. I don’t feel like I need any recognition; I just did the right thing.” But others felt otherwise, and as it has for the previous 34 years, Goodyear put them in the spotlight.  In the end, Vieira was named the winner of the top Highway Hero honor. Days after he heard the decision, he continued to wear the hero’s mantle with humility. “If it inspires other drivers, great. The more we help, the better this world becomes, right?”

Trucker Paul Marhoefer’s CD, “Bessemer to Birmingham,” is being marketed at truck stops. Marhoefer is still pulling reefers, saying he hopes to be trucking when he’s 80. “I’m 56, just going down the road writing songs for 30 years,” truck driver Paul Marhoefer is fond of saying. Known as “Long Haul Paul,” Marhoefer, now 58, is still going down the road — hauling eggs and dairy products for Moeller Trucking. What’s different is that during the past two years he’s recorded some of those songs on an album, “Bessemer to Birmingham,” produced by Travis Wammack. A Memphis, Tennessee, music prodigy, Wammack recorded his first record at age 11 and went on to work at FAME studio in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, generate several Billboard hits and lead Little Richard’s band from 1984 to 1995. Wammack has also been dubbed by Rolling Stone magazine as “the fastest guitar player in the South.” The CD was produced by Wammack for Laughing Hyena, an independent record label/brand licensing company that first produced Jeff Foxworthy of “you might be a redneck” fame. And no, Marhoefer isn’t a comedian, although he’s funny; Laughing Hyena produces music, too. Marhoefer writes songs about the hard, gritty and sometimes sad and poignant things that happen on the road, accompanying his gravelly voice on guitar and harmonica. One of his most poignant tunes is “Elloree,” named after the South Carolina town where trucker and father of three Jason Rivenburg was shot and killed in the cab of his truck by Willie Pelzer III for the seven dollars and change in his pocket. Pelzer was sentenced to life in prison in 2009 for the murder. The chorus alludes to the lack of safe parking for truckers (Rivenburg had parked at a gas station off Interstate 26): “Ain’t no rest for a workin’ man. Where’s a poor boy supposed to sleep?” Marhoefer’s been compared to Bob Dylan, and he said the “gravel” sound in his voice was caused by a truck accident in which he broke his neck. “It stressed my vocal chords and affected my voice, but I don’t recommend you rear-end a trailer to enhance your singing career.” That Marhoefer was discovered by Wammack was a quirk of fate or the hand of God, depending upon your persuasion, and directly attributed to his daughter, Audrey. Marhoefer had mentioned to her that he wanted to visit the Muscle Shoals area recording studios someday, and upon her graduation from the College of Charleston, Audrey bought her dad a day’s worth of recording time and said she wanted to accompany him down to Muscle Shoals as her “senior trip.” One of the area’s studios — an old concrete block building that was previously a coffin showroom — was converted to a recording studio in 1969 when a group of musicians called the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section decided to start their own operation in competition with the FAME Studio owned by Rick Hall, spawning a fight among the competing parties, some of it physical, according to Marhoeffer. Over the years, artists who recorded in the Muscle Shoals area have included The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Willie Nelson, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Joe Cocker, Levon Helm, Bob Seger, and Rod Stewart, to name a few. Marhoefer said his CD is a compilation which included tracks from the FAME studio, Milkhouse Studios in Richmond, Indiana, and Muscle Shoals Marketing. After arriving in Muscle Shoals, Marhoefer and his daughter stopped at a local diner and were told about a jam session that welcomed one and all and was being held in a garage. There, they met Wammack, and “he liked my music and wanted to produce it,” Marhoefer told The Trucker. “These old-time session musicians are all retired; I wanted to see how far they could take my songs,” he said, adding that he had to promise to buy Wammack a Cadillac if any of his songs charted at No. 1. “A Cadillac is the holy grail for a Memphis musician,” he explained. He’s still not sure if Wammack was joking or not. But, he said these seasoned musicians took his rough songs and made them sound good. Still worried about the Cadillac thing, Marhoefer said, “I’m going down the road in a Freightliner; how am I going to get the money if it goes to No. 1?” Actually, he doesn’t think that will happen, but said he’s been told his CDs are “moving well at $7.99 each.” He said they’re being “test-marketed in truck stops.” Which ones, he’s not exactly sure, probably because, he jokes, “they don’t want to tell me in case my buddies all want to go in there and buy them up.” It’s hard for a trucker to be a successful musician, Marhoefer said. “I was an owner-operator for 10 years and I had no time to be creative. When I was a produce hauler I didn’t have that much space to sit there and create songs.” Hauling reefers for Moeller Trucking seems to be more forgiving as far as his music is concerned. The folks at Moeller, he said, “are just good country people.” He’s worked there for seven years. Marhoefer is originally from Indiana and remembers his first job was washing trucks for his dad. “He came from Germany and his family were butchers and they had a lot of trucks.” According to CD liner notes, his father was the CEO of the 12th largest meat packing company in the country. To hear Marhoefer tell it, all his family members are professional people, from lawyers to teachers to librarians to translators. “I’m like the black sheep of the family,” he said, because for some reason all he wanted to do was drive a truck. He did regional routes at first and then began OTR runs in 1987. He started learning guitar chords at age 16 and took up the harmonica at about 18 or 19. “I don’t know that many chords; there are songwriters out there that are a whole lot better pickers than me,” he said modestly. He calls his music, “Americana,” because it’s a fusion of various genres: blues, folk, bluegrass, country and more. When he’s not writing songs, Marhoefer said he will continue to haul reefers: “I don’t see retiring at 70; I feel too good,” he said. “I hope I’m still trucking when I’m 80.” To check out Marhoefer’s music go to his website at paulmarhoefermusic.com

On the surface, Terrence Danns is the average company driver. But behind his jovial laugh and kind smile he has led a life that’s anything but ordinary. Danns is a first generation American, a Marine veteran, a lover of the arts, has backpacked through Europe, is a married father of six and has big dreams of using his business savvy to become an owner-operator one day. “That’s what’s so phenomenal about truck drivers,” Danns said, emphasizing that the profession is full of drivers that buck the stereotypical view of what it means to be an American trucker. Danns became a company driver a year and a half ago and drives a 2017 Freightliner Cascadia for C.R. England throughout the lower 48. He’s out on the road typically two months at a time hauling mostly refrigerated freight. Before hopping into a big rig, he worked as a retail manager, but realized quickly it was a “thankless profession.” “You don’t have the freedom,” and are bound by “whatever square footage” a store is rather than the flexibility of a career in trucking, Danns said. “… It’s one of the only industries that can triple your income in a short amount of time.” But a get-rich-quick mentality is not his driving force for pursuing a trucking career. Working hard to build a better life for his family is something that’s engrained in his soul thanks to his upbringing. His family emigrated from Guyana, South America to New York City before he was born. “I grew up in the hood,” he said, and at the risk he pointed out of sounding stereotypical, added, “there were a lot of difficulties — shootings, bullying. It made me a better person.” “Growing up in a culture that’s different makes it challenging when you’re a kid, especially when you don’t have many friends. I was the low hanging fruit, easy to pick on. I’d say, ‘Yes sir, no ma’am,’” and was the “teacher’s pet,” he said. His family’s culture fostered in him a love for education and he became an “A” student. He would watch political shows at 5 years old and “I’ve always liked to write.” “My teachers loved me, adults appreciated the kind of kid I was. I was kind of a nerd and I liked to read and have discussions. I was very inquisitive,” Danns said, but living in the Southside Jamaica neighborhood in Queens when crack cocaine was rampant was not an environment that encouraged academics. “I was solicited to sell drugs and I never did,” he said, and was able to overcome the sadness of his parents’ divorce — they later reconciled before their deaths in the early 2000s — at 6 years old. “I’ve always loved entertainment since I was a kid … My way of coping was my imagination. Drawing, singing, anything that drew me to entertainment,” he said. Though he never had a full-time career in the arts, he participated in singing recitals, enjoyed writing poetry and later in life, toured with an Off-Broadway production of “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” playing “a drunk and abusive husband,” about seven years ago. “It was like a whirlwind. It was about eight of us in a Durango” he said, performing at colleges around the country along with his wife, who is a professional actress. In the 1990s, he served three years in the Marines during Operation Desert Storm. Having that military discipline ultimately prepared him for a career in trucking. “You know you have a job to do. You focus. You also have the desire to move up and do better and land in a spot much better than where you started,” he said of the Marines’ and trucking mentality. Having leadership skills has aided him as a driver trainer and his artistic side has allowed him to incorporate some unique ways of teaching drivers. “I have a song I play for all my students. It’s a Frank Sinatra song called, ‘Nice ‘n’ Easy,’” Danns said. It’s a metaphor for driving — trip planning, prepping the truck, monitoring the weather and “once you get all of that done, it’s nice and easy, no fast turns, no race.” “I’m pretty laid back so it makes them ease up. Not too much because I need them to be on point,” he said. “I will sing along with it and kind of state the parts that are appropriate … The whole point of [the song] is he’s talking about loving a woman, but we’re talking about the road and the truck because the whole process of becoming a driver is basically loving the road.” While he’s still new to the trucking industry, he plans on being an independent driver, putting enough money aside to make payments on a truck and get his broker’s license. He plans to help his sister, who just began a body butter company called “Simply Rich,” with distribution. “The goal is to get my truck and to find some more experienced guys that want to drive,” if he adds other trucks to his company, he said. “I know I’d want to pay them well, let them drive the trucks. Build up my brand and the business. I don’t know if I want a fleet. I know there are several things I’d like to do.” If he gets to that place, Danns said he wants to “give back.” Success and having empathy for others is something he’s always felt and passed along to his children, each successful in their own ways in grade school and college. “The people I’m training, I’m able to give back [to] in a small way,” he said, adding that his mentality as the son of immigrants centers around, “One, you don’t quit; two you don’t keep your hand out asking for stuff. ‘Whatever your mind can conceive, if you believe you’ll achieve.’ I know that’s kind of corny, but the family mantra is ‘Do what you have to do so you can do what you want to do.’” Danns said he enjoys being out on the road and photography is a passion. “I see so much beauty in the world during a time that’s so chaotic. That’s what I’m about man — passion, showing a love for people,” he said. “It [photography] is almost like letting people have a little piece of your soul, the way I see things.” When he’s at home in New Bern, North Carolina, he enjoys spending time with his children and will revel in his new title of “grandfather” to his new grandson, he said. While not as often as he’d like, he shows off Karaoke skills locally, loving tunes like Johnny Gill’s “My, My, My.” No matter where his career takes him, Danns said he will do it with both passion and compassion. “Human decency is important for me, just showing general compassion toward people. There’s always going to be people that suck. It sounds a little naïve, utopian” to believe things will ever be perfect, he said, but “I believe we can make things a hell of a lot better. That’s how I try to live my life. By Aprille Hanson/Special to The Trucker