Owner-operator Bill Barhite owns Silt, Colorado-based Butterfly Xpress with his wife, Karen, and does everything he can to offer contracted owner-operators the benefits of a large fleet, despite having just 10 trucks as part of his company.
Barhite himself has been in trucking for 31 years, getting his start in 1992 with Wisconsin-headquartered Schneider. He stayed there for 10 years, along the way becoming a trainer for the fleet, before moving to U.S. Xpress in 2002. During his 10 years with them, also working as a trainer, he met his wife, Karen, who became his last student driver. They began teaming shortly thereafter.
Together, they pulled on a dedicated FedEx lane, but the toll it took on Bill physically led to the Barhites leaving the fleet. Bill said he weighed more than 525 pounds when he left, partly given the nature of the work of constantly driving, sleeping, driving, sleeping ... leaving little downtime for exercise and other pursuits. Restrictions against a power inverter and refrigerator in the truck from the company, too, meant over-reliance on roadside fare -- a diet filled with fast food.
For a short time, he took a job as an operations manager with a bus company working the oilfields in Colorado. When that work dried up, he and Karen got on with Gilco Transportation out of Rifle, Colorado, hauling fuel for a stint before the owner passed and the company shuttered operations. It was during his time there, though, that the company launched an over-the-road refrigerated division, and Bill was asked to head it up. The experience laid the groundwork for where he is today.
This story was one of 10 Small Fleet Champ semi-finalist profiles in the 2023 program aired ahead of the November final round where
"I cut my teeth with them learning how to run the business, do operating authority, driver qualification files and everything," Bill said. "It was awesome. I learned a lot."
Since 2013, Bill and Karen have grown their own Butterfly Xpress fleet to 10 trucks, with a bevy of other owner-operators leased on. In recognition of their success, Butterfly Xpress was a semi-finalist in Overdrive's 2023 Small Fleet Championship in the 3-10-truck division, ultimately going on to win the award.
