Overdrive

September 2013

Overdrive Magazine | Trucking Business News & Owner Operator Info

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PULSE If you could change anything about trucking to improve life and business for drivers, what would you do? go around." "Parking facilities in general – with the increase in drivers in the last five years, there is just not enough space to Andrew Pulaski Lacey Springs, Ala. Owner-operator leased to Cardinal Transport "Less regulation – we need a little room to breathe. I am a retired firefighter, so I respect the road and I respect rules, but we can barely work." Mike Lynn Austin, Texas Owner-operator "Cost of fuel!" Dustin Stout Pass Christian, Miss. Owner-operator "More leniency in terms of hours – we need time to rest and eat a nice lunch before getting back on the road." Lonnie Parker Paul Valley, Okla. Company driver, Con-way Truckload Here's to drivers W hen I joined the Overdrive staff 15 years ago, it didn't take long to learn that appreciation was a rare commodity for drivers. Not just its lack among the general public, but also with shippers, receivers and even those who should know better – dispatchers and other fleet personnel. Each year we've seen National Truck Driver Appreciation Week come and go, with limited fanfare. We at Overdrive decided to step it up for this year's week, Sept. 15-21. We've been gathering comments like these from those who have a special trucker in their life: • "He is an amazing father to our little girl, and he makes it home for all the things that are so important to her," Michelle Woods says of her husband, Brian Woods. • Billie Hebdon says her husband, Travis Hebdon, is the kind of man who "will stop and help someone change a tire. Someone who will hand out water in stopped traffic to those that need it." • Stefanie Franklin says her father, Adolf Buckner, "has always worked his rear off for everything his family has. I couldn't have asked for a better life. Even all the polishing I had to do on his trucks growing up." • Driver Sarah Sallee recalled her growing relationship with driver Dano Kurry: "We had been chitchatting on the CB all day. And I hear the sweetest thing on my CB in the middle of nowhere – 'Will you marry me?' It was all I could do to hold on. Of course I said yes!" They plan to marry in November. There are many more submissions, most with a photo or video, at our iLuvMyTrucker.com website. We're accepting comments through Sept. 12. Then we'll give a T-shirt to the 10 best and feature the winner in these pages. One other special step we took was to produce a video, "Headed Home," that celebrates the hard work you do and the need to be appreciated. You can view it on that same website. The video includes images from Kim Michelle Woods says her husband, Brian Woods, "is an amazing father to our little girl." Reierson's amazing 2007 photo-documentary book, "Eighteen: A look at the culture that moves us." Among the photos included are some of Tim Young, with whom Reierson rode from California to his home in Alabama, where she got to know his family. I interviewed Young, a father of three who's now driving for Marten Transport. When he e-mailed family photos to me, he turned the tables to highlight his family: "Without them 'holding down the fort' at home, it would be impossible for us to be out here doing our job every day!" wrote Young, who went on to thank individual family members. "Our family means everything to us!" That's a great reminder. Appreciation in any relationship – especially the challenging one between an over-the-road driver and his or her family – works best when it flows both ways. By Max Heine Editorial director mheine@randallreilly.com September 2013 | Overdrive | 5 Voices_0913.indd 5 8/29/13 9:44 AM

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