Am a Husband to an incredible wife of 28 yrs. Father to 3 awesome kids, Matthew Isaiah 25 and my Daughter-in-Law Natasha and their beautiful baby girl, Kaidynce Clara Marie, Amanda LeahAnn 20, and my youngest, Michael Anthony. I play guitar, and have enjoyed the honor of being in a Band for 4 yrs "Brothers In Arms" of Durango, Colo. Love Hiking, Fishing & snorkling. Began my career path in the Culinary Arts for 28 yrs, got a wild hair and sold Kirby Vacuum Cleaners door to door, then through a very tragic event with my wife being involved in a terrible car accident my career path changed.
I worked for my Pastor at Sonrise Church of God under a Benevolence Account since Social Security did not pay enough to survive. The only way that Saint Anthony's Hospital would release my wife to go home, I had to be able to be with her while she was recovering. (She had been coming to Kremlin, Colo to pick me up and went off the road 7 1/2 months pregnant with our youngest, and was thrown from the vehicle & broke her neck) This was my first experience of a true miracle. She had broken C5 & C6 which is complete paralysis. After the surgery to stabilize her neck, and give birth to Michael, she began to move her fingers on one of her hands. I had just come back from the Chapel, and a Nurse approached me, gave me a hug, and said that someone must be praying because she was moving her fingers on one of her hands.
We were kind of stuck there for I believe close to 1 1/2 months as Michael was born premature, and had to be on Oxygen for awhile, and Kristi went through some Physical Therapy. (She was immediately showing signs of movement, and had to learn how to control her mobility again.)
While I was working for the Church, my Mother had also come down to stay with us and help while I was gone a few hrs each day. Through this process, one of the Members there at the Church offered me a position driving a Propane Bobtail Truck if I would get my License. This is where I began my Driving Career. I drove for Amerigas for almost 8 years, and than discovered the opportunity working in the Gas & Oil Industry. I worked in Colorado around Grand Junction, Rifle, DeBeque, Glenwood Springs for almost 9 years, which I finally did get a Class A License to drive the bigger trucks called a Transport. This brought me to 2008 where the Presidential Elections changed this Industry dramatically. I then found myself unemployed for over 2 months, and wound up going to North Dakota where I would work 4-8 weeks, and come home for a week. This was not a pleasant venture at all, and I really missed my Family.
The main reason I think I took this opportunity was that they had a branch out in Pennsylvania, and we were hoping to move back East sooner or later. Through a process of events, I ended up coming out to Pa as a Truck Pusher who is responsible for overseeing the Water Trucks that haul the water into the locations where they are Fraccing. Now that I've been here for 4 years, this as well went south due to the Gas Barrel Prices, and Oil.
I am now Driving a truck for PTG Logistics out of Kirkwood, NY who have a Contract with Masonite to supply the Lowes Chain with doors. This is a bit different than OTR, and allows very little time of sitting. We park our Tractors out in the front parking lot, and they have a yard where they load our Trailers and a tard jockey backs them into the docks, and after they are loaded puts them in the back yard. There is a Truck Dispatcher who schedules our routes. We usually have 2-6 stores where our load will take us. I personally leave out on Sunday since my Monday load cannot be done in 14 hrs. A Driver is allowed to work 14 hrs a day, he or she can drive for 11, and have on 3 on duty, not driving hrs. I usually time myself to get the first store around 7:30-8:00 where I can drop the Trailer by the docks, post trip my truck, punch out, and begin my 10 hr break. Igo get something to eat, then take a few moments to go through all the paperwork and prepare for the next morning. I am usually up & backed into a dock by 7:00, get unloaded, then off to my next Store. Once I have unloaded at my final store I head back to Kirkwood to drop the empty trailer, and repeat the process.
This will explain why I am here, and also why it will be initially difficult and take more time for me to get to that place my heart longs for. With this kind of schedule, and having Friday afternoon and Saturday off it will be a slow process. I came here looking to try something different, and have more time to enjoy with my Family. The fact that I was able to try this for free and Kyle's presentation of what He and Carson have put together here drew me in.
Wayne