* DC - Trucking on, 60 hours a week, for 10 more years
(Photo by Stephen Brashear/Getty Images - They say the economy is getting better, but you can't tell out on the road)
Washington,D.C.,USA -Marketplace, by Kai Ryssdal -November 5, 2014: -- If you talk to people outside the Washington Beltway, the view of life and the economy is pretty starkly different... Where economic messages were largely left out of midterm campaigns, the idea that we're growing our way into recovery doesn't resonate with a lot of Americans... Says Don Holzshuh who drives a truck in the upper Midwest, delivering to hardware stories in Iowa and Minnesota, "... business is a little worse" ... What he used to earn in four-and-a-half days now takes six. He's added another run in his truck, bringing him to 60 hours a week on the road... Lower gas prices help with costs, but Holzschuh says the price of diesel along his route in Iowa is higher by about a dollar more a gallon compared with unleaded. He doesn't benefit much from the savings... "I'll probably be working til I'm 68... another 10 years, another million miles" ... It's hard to imagine him continuing at 60 hours per week after 36 years on the road. Holzschuh has already clocked 4.5 million miles accident-free, but he doesn't see many alternatives... The extra years of work will go toward paying off the mortgage on his house. And if that doesn't work? ... "I'll be over at your house," he joked...
* Wiscosin - H.O. Wolding driver named top U.S. rookie trucker
(Photo: Nathan Vine/Stevens Point Journal Media - Julie Matulle travels across the country as a driver for H.O. Wolding with her 13-year-old Italian greyhound, Rocky. Matulle, of Oshkosh, was recently honored with the Mike O’Connell Memorial Trucking’s Top Rookie Award)
Amherst,WIS,USA -Stevens Point Journal Media, by Nathan Vine -November 5, 2014: -- Julie Matulle spends most of her week behind the wheel of a semi truck ... As a driver for H.O. Wolding in Amherst, Matulle hops into her truck on Sunday morning and doesn't return home until Friday, traveling some 2,600 miles across the country in an average week... The cab of her truck is her home away from home, with modest living space — room for a cot and storage space for groceries and clothing and not much else. But Matulle has made it comfortable with a nice rug on the floor and an oven to cook her own meals... Matulle, 48, of Oshkosh said a career driving truck is the fulfillment of a lifelong dream that began as she watched her father run a family trucking business. And her trucking genes have proven important: She recently was named one of the best new drivers in the United States with the fourth annual Mike O'Connell Memorial Trucking's Top Rookie Award... Matulle said that being away from home for much of the week can sometimes be tiring, but she loves traveling and seeing different parts of the country...Labels: truckers' stories, trucking industry news USA and CAN, women truckers
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