Round-up: Words of trucking-newbie and back-on-the-right-path encouragment

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Retired hauler Bob Miller, pictured several years ago with a trailer of the fleet he spent much of his career with, Wiley Sanders.Retired hauler Bob Miller, pictured several years ago with a trailer of the fleet he spent much of his career with, Wiley Sanders.

Bob Miller’s just off a turn back to local driving after 36 years or so with Wiley Sanders, as evidenced by his portrait above. Miller, out of Pensacola, Fla., officially hung up the keys, he noted, after the 28th of last month, whereupon a few days later as Independence Day came he offered Overdrive readers new to the trucking business these words of encouragement, well-delivered…

Tell all those rookies to hang in there! I retired June 29, 2019, with 49 years trucking! Have driven over 4 million miles without a chargeable accident. All 48 states and Canada. Lot of interstate highways not finished when I started. Changes in trucks, laws, truckstops, and people. Keep up the good work. America depends on you!

A note from inside
John Mucher wrote in with a note about the situtation he has found himself in as an inmate of Ohio’s North Central Correctional Complex:

At some point during our driving careers, we’ve all taken that one wrong turn that almost seemed impossible to get turned around from. The same goes for guys who are here in prison. For most, this is the farthest they’ve ever been from home, but instead of getting out and going back down that wrong road in life, North Central Correctional Complex in Ohio gives men hope and direction by offering a CDL course that teaches them the knowledge (book) portion of the Ohio CDL test. This not only teaches them a new skill, but introduces a life/career choice different from what brought them to prison. In the past three years, I have proudly taught the class using my six years of OTR driving to enhance the information with real-world experiences. Throughout 2018, 84 guys completed the class, and 2019 is on pace to have over 100. Though I miss the open road, I’m blessed to see guys who were once at rock bottom leave here with a new lease on life.

Though I’m still a driver at heart, I have had to shift my involvement in the industry to other avenues, and that’s where the opportunity to teach the CDL class came about. I enjoy sharing my knowledge with guys in order to give them hope for a better future. With that, I hope that your readers can be as uplifted as my students are. –John Mucher

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