Who's Idea Was This, Anyway?

How My Wife and I Became a Truck Driving Team

Back in 1997, my wife and I had only been married for about three years. We had each come out of a bad marriage and it seemed that we had each found the right mate. Life had tested us a little and we had gotten through it...and then we decided that "normal" was not enough.

We were on our way back to Texas after visiting relatives in Arizona. We were eastbound on I-10 in the Deming, New Mexico area when a nice looking truck and trailer went by in the westbound lanes. It's still up in the air, depending on who's talking, about who said what first. However, we both agree that one of us said, "I've always wanted to do that.", and the other replied, "Me too."

That might have been the end of it, but, right about then, we exited to gas up, and do other things, at the Savoy Truck Stop.

As I entered the building, one of the first things I saw was a rack of booklets about truck driving jobs. On my way back out, I grabbed two or three. It was my wife's turn to drive, so I looked through the books and relayed the info to her as I read.

Page after page contained ads from truck driving companies offering big bucks, and castles and dragons, to any who wanted to wander in off the street. One thing that caught my attention, and hers, was that "teams" seemed to make more per mile and the companies either implied or stated that these teams got the best loads.

One phrase which we both liked was "no-touch freight". Of course, at that point we were not exactly sure what "drop-and-hook" meant, but it sounded a lot like no-touch freight. Having loaded and unloaded many trucks in the back of a grocery store, the wareroom of a discount store, and out in the field with the Army, no-touch freight sounded good to me!

By the time we got back home to Texas, we had decided to at least look into this new world a little more. It sounded good, but it also sounded like a big leap for a government clerk (her), and a retired soldier turned optician (me).

Next time I'll be telling you how we finally got into trucking.