Many years
ago when I was in my 20’s going from job to job without any direction or plans-
I was offered a job for a steel company in Massachusetts with the contingency
that I agree to get my commercial license in order to be able to deliver their
products all over the New England area. The company paid well, and had great
benefits, so I agreed to study the manual and go through the necessary steps to
get my commercial license.
As I started
my travels delivering specialty steel materials to our customers, I began to
realize how fortunate I was to be able to see the end use of our many products.
I saw injection molding of silverware, precision made ball bearings that were
used on the Space Shuttle, huge steel ingots heated up and forged into engine
parts for the military, all types of screws and fasteners, computer shielding, large
engine parts for electric turbines, tool and die fabrication…the variety seemed
endless. I understood that my “truck driving” position was more than just a
job. It was an opportunity to see and experience things that I never would have
working on the sidelines. I was not only traveling and seeing some incredibly
beautiful scenery; I was out there meeting people and learning how things were
manufactured. It brought a new sense of meaning to my work and a feeling of
fulfillment and knowledge.
Over the
years of having a CDL, I was able to use it to earn a good living anywhere I
lived. From Massachusetts to North Carolina, to Colorado- my CDL driving skills
and experience has always been able to provide me with both monetary and
rewarding personal experiences.
Being a
truck driver, I had expected that my jobs would primarily be freight related. But there are so many other services that
require a CDL that never had occurred to me. Among my personal experiences, I
spent 12 years working for medical companies. One company is a large medical
supply provider for hospitals and home patients. I delivered life sustaining
products to patient’s homes all over in multiple states on the east coast and
out in the west. I got to see some of the most incredible scenery and met some
of the nicest people who were dependent on me to bring them supplies that kept
them alive and in good health.
Another
medical related job was delivering, setting up, and maintaining a 53 foot
mobile medical lab trailer to small rural communities. It was a very rewarding
experience to be a part of the healthcare of many small and remote communities
throughout the eastern plains of Colorado, Kansas, and Nebraska.
My own transportation career journey though
sometimes unconventional, did have periods of time delivering freight: a
chicken plucking machine in North Carolina, a two liter soda bottle labeling
machine to northern Michigan, the US mail to Texas. The types of freight were
so diverse, and the importance of getting the deliveries to their destinations
on time and in good condition was extremely important to me for personal pride-
and to the consignees for their production and services.
In time, all
things change. In the early 2000’s, my professional driving career took
another turn as I was offered an opportunity to be a CDL Instructor and tester.
Now, after years of learning about the many aspects of driving and all of the
experiences I had lived through, I was being given a chance to share my
experience and knowledge with others. This brought a whole new level of
challenges and rewards to me, and the fulfillment of helping another person
learn how to drive a big rig as they started their transportation career was extremely profound. There were also many
more places where I traveled to provide driver safety training that I never would
have seen including Alaska.
Today, after
32 years since I first took that job at the steel company which started my
truck driving career, I look back reflectively on all the places I saw and the
faces of the many people I met along the way. I never would have imagined that
my journey would be so interesting, challenging, and fun.
A career in
transportation has given me so much more than money. It has at times offered me
an insight into personal experiences that I never would have realized if I had
stayed sitting on the sidelines and never took the steps to being a
professional driver.