I watched closely when my dad took a job as a milk hauler after that. He worked every other day and ran our farm on his off days. As a preteen, I learned to drive my dad’s 1978 Kenworth W900A sitting on his knee. I started out in the driver’s seat shifting gears for him, and as we gained speed, the two of us switched seats so he could take the wheel.

By the time I was 14, I was backing into the farmers’ yards and driving on back roads. At 15, I was driving most of the route, and got a job at a farm tractor dealership washing equipment at 16. Pretty soon, I was driving a truck for the dealership, hauling a lot of huge tractors and swathers with 16-foot headers. I loved the challenge.

Six years later, I drove a reefer for J.C. Bangerter, based in Layton, Utah, for a year. In 1990, I married, started hauling fuel and enrolled at Idaho State University, where I earned two associate degrees in diesel mechanics. I honed my skills, working as a mechanic during the week and hauled railroad wheels from the Union Pacific wheel shop in Pocatello to all points West and then old wheels on the return trip. But I got tired of coping with snow, and my family and I moved to southern Utah.

For Andrus trucking, based in St. George, Utah, I worked as mechanic and set up a new alignment rack for the company.  Within a year, I had an opportunity to buy a small trucking company. In February 1990, I became an owner-operator and still am in the business of hauling mobile homes and other oversized loads.

After 10 years, my first truck, a 1987 International 9670 cabover, was demolished when it was blown off the road in one of the West’s strong snow storms. It’s the only accident I’ve ever had.

My son, then 11, and I built a 2000 International 940i, retrofitted to haul the mobile homes. To augment my income during the recession, I bought an alignment shop and now align trucks and RVs out of St. George. The photo at the right was taken in 2008 of one of our more recent Internationals.

My dad always had Overdrives in our house, and I looked forward to seeing the Tractor of the Month and the Model of the Month even more so since I was a modeler. After I got married, the first magazine I subscribed to was Overdrive. The magazine, as well as about nine other trucking trade journals, has helped me stay in touch with what’s happening in the industry. A lot of my friends turn to me for advice because they know I keep up with industry news. Doing so is informative and entertaining.

What else can I say except that I just love trucks.

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