Former owner-operator Russ Ringsak of Stillwater, Minn., is employed full time as a truck-driving writer for a radio variety show, a weird but rewarding job that he mostly created himself.
“Truck driving isn’t a career one goes into with the idea of becoming famous, but you never know,” says Ringsak, who both hauls and writes for Garrison Keillor’s long-running public-radio show A Prairie Home Companion. He calls himself “one of the world’s most semi-famous truck drivers.”
A Prairie Home Companion does 34 shows a year, half in St. Paul, Minn., the rest on the road, which means Ringsak is on the road, too, hauling the show’s scenery and equipment.
The show leases year-round a 48-foot Great Dane trailer, which is used for storage in the summer, and rents Freightliners from Penske as needed. The biggest cargo item is the stage set, which is the fa
