A lot of truckers carry pictures of their loved ones when they’re on the road. Sharon Jones of Chicopee, Mass., thought it would be better to take her father along in person.
“I was driving alone, and I got bored,” she says. “I was talking to myself and going crazy.” That’s when she realized she needed company.
“She asked me, and I said, ‘Why not?'” says her father, Bruce, who got his CDL and joined her in December. He had spent most of his career as a mechanic, sometimes working on big rigs. “I think it’s great,” he says. “We have a lot of fun out there.”
For Bruce, it’s been a unique chance to be close to a daughter he almost never knew. She was born three months premature and narrowly escaped death, he explains. “We almost lost her, so she’s always been special. Now we’re best of friends.” He is close to his other two kids as well, he adds.
Now Bruce, 48, and Sharon, 25, drive around the country together, often on a run between Boston and Los Angeles. They haul things like plastic kitchenware and fork trucks for Toyota. They are changing jobs from West Side Transport of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to a company called Transport America, which is giving them a guarantee of 20,000 miles per month.
Sharon appreciates having a partner. “You never have to worry about locking the doors or getting harrassed, which can be a problem for women,” she says. “I never have to worry when I’m trying to sleep. I mean, if I’m alone and someone tried to steal the truck – little old me, what am I going to do?
“It’s also less of a headache,” she continues, “because you’ve got someone else there if you get lost somewhere or if you need help backing up. Plus they keep you company; it’s somebody to talk to.”
The two usually drive eight hours on, eight off. Bruce doesn’t need more than four hours a night of sleep, so he stays up keeping her company.
