My Life Is Changing Again..

Well all, Haven't been on in a while. Busy driving and dealing with life.

I passed over my two year mark driving, still no tickets or accidents. CSA points from a blown seal on one of my drives during a level 1 inspection in California, and from a blown tire in Arizona. Both were bogus. The tire blowout happened on a 106 degree day westbound on I10 outside of Phoenix. The Highway Patrol was right behind me. I pulled over immediately and the jerk still gave me 18 CSA points, despite doing a maintenance check and being unable to find anything wrong with my rig. I take really good care of stuff on my outfit and am anal about pre-trip inspections, I always keep everything working at 100% and don't roll if it's broken. The Officer even commented on how great everything was as he handed me the red slip and put me out of service. Still mad about it.

Anyway, on the life change, a few weeks ago, my wife was diagnosed with cancer, devastating news but we might be getting a handle on it after an operation and starting radiation therapy in a couple weeks. Prognosis looks good.

I couldn't be on the road and away from her while this is going on though. I'd be going crazy. About a week after the diagnosis I received a call from First Interstate Bank .... completely unexpected ... asking me to apply for a job with their IT Security Team. I honestly believed I was through working in Information Technology. As an aside, those who know me will recall I worked as an IT guy for 37 years before coming to trucking. I was headed home to be with my wife at the time and was able to go in for the first interview. A couple weeks later, I happened to be rolling through town when they had me in for a second interview, and this past week they offered me the job. I accepted.

Here's another great thing. I work for Watkins-Shepard, the greatest trucking firm there is. The folks at WKSH had been keeping up on my wife's illness and always asked how she was doing. After accepting the job, I called up WKSH and asked them how long they would need me to keep running before I went to my new job. I was absolutely prepared to stay on for two or three weeks if needed. The dispatcher immediately got me on the next available load to Montana, and they told me once I dropped that load in Helena, MT, to just bobtail to Billings, MT where my home is and turn my truck in there.

They did this at their own expense and out of pure kindness. On my way through our company headquarters in Missoula with the load I stopped and said goodbye to everyone as I've developed a great relationship with everyone from HR, to Dispatch, to Safety, to the Maintenance Shops. They were all great, and all told me if I came back to trucking that they wanted me back. I honestly wouldn't work for anyone else, and I highly recommend Watkins Shepard to anyone who is looking to start trucking or for a change. You will not be sorry!

I've appreciated very much everyone's support here, and am grateful for the guidance and support.

Good luck with all you do!

Tracy

1st of all, prayers to your wife. 2nd of all, GREAT for your company to take care of you and your wife that way. Practically unheard of!

I hope your wife beats the cancer and has a very speedy recovery.

I also hope for the best in your future career choices.