Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/29112
Inn for the Night Team couple launches Hotels4Truckers.com, enabling online search for lodging with big rig parking then new wife, Caryn, as a team for MRA Experiential Tours and Equip- ment, based near his home in Michi- gan, he didn’t realize the difficulty he’d have finding hotels on the road to accommodate his rig. MRA W hen 27-year-old driver Dan Fuller went to work with his TODD DILLS specializes in mobile marketing, custom-engineering dedicated trac- tor-trailer combinations in which the trailer converts into a custom display. For a dedicated driver of such a rig, hotel accommodations are often a necessity. The tractor must stay MEET THE FULLERS Dan and Caryn Fuller, in addition to being proprietors of Hotels4Truckers, work in the mobile marketing niche, driving for Michigan-based MRA Experiential Tours and Equipment. “Driving is only 25 per- cent of our job,” says Dan. “Recaps, photos, working with clients, whatever the day calls for” makes up the remainder. “Do you need to have a TV in the trailer, get the wheels buffed, get graphics updated or apply them yourself?” In March the Fullers were touring coast-to-coast with 28 TRUCKERS NEWS MAY 2011 The Fullers AC drive manufacturer Vacon, but past jobs have included hauling a mobile workout trailer for Larry the Cable Guy and a mobile African-American history museum for Tavis Smiley, the launch for which was in New Orleans, where the Fullers met then-New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. Image is big in such an operation. “Our clothes are pressed, shoes shined and everything.” Fuller describes one event where he set up at Wal-Mart headquarters and worked with the CEO of Sam’s Club. “You meet every- body from top to bottom” of whatever organization you’re working for, he adds. connected to the trailer during tour stops, since mounted on the frame rails of the power unit is a gener- ator that provides alternating cur- rent for the display trailer. Parked for days or even weeks at a time on lo- cation, sleeping in the bunk is often not possible. Since Fuller started the gig near- ly five years ago, he says, “we’ve been living in hotels for years with- out a residence. We’ve been spend- ing more than 300 nights yearly in hotels with our tractor-trailer, and finding them has been a pain in the The Fullers’ 2000 Volvo rig on tour with AC drive manufacturer Vacon’s mobile display trailer. COURTESY DAN FULLER TODD DILLS