Leaving Utah
In February, 2018 I wrote: "In a couple days, after retiring the first of this year, I am moving back to my home state of Wisconsin. I’ve spent almost 25 years living and working in Utah and it’s been quite a ride. This move is with mixed feelings, knowing I will always miss this place."
Update May, 2020: Back in 2016 my marriage had ended after almost 8 years. Fortunately, there was no hostility between us and the divorce was amicable. I was almost 64 years old and my priorities had to undergo significant change. I really had no family out west and needed to start preparing for retirement. My mom was still alive in a memory care facility in Wisconsin and the cost of living in Utah was astronomical compared to rural northern Wisconsin. So I made the decision to move back after I pulled the plug. Part of this was written as a good-bye post to Utah in my blog in early 2018.
Thanks to my dear friends back in Wisconsin I found a nice 3.3 acre wooded property with a large garage and A-frame house near Crivitz and closed on it November of 2017. Then all I had to do was find a buyer of my double-wide mobile home in a 55 and over restricted park in Salt Lake. That took a while as the park had been bought out and they were drastically raising the lot rents to unbelievable rates. After finally finding a buyer and closing at the end of February, 2018 I was ready to go back to Wisconsin, the same way I left 25 years ago.
"After having been a regional semi-driver from Wisconsin since 1980, I transferred to Salt Lake City with Ryder in July of 1993 driving a 24 foot U-haul truck with all my possessions, pulling a car and tow dolly behind. Coming across I-80 in Iowa I had to detour many miles off the interstate due to flooded roads from the huge winter storms of early 1993. Back on I-80, in the western side of Nebraska, just east of Wyoming, I ran into a thunderstorm and saw an empty semi-truck with a husband-wife team get blown sideways in a micro burst and flip over only a few hundred feet in front of me. Thankfully, both were unhurt and able to climb out the top through the passenger door of the cab-over as I pulled up. They were pretty shook up and I had never seen anything like that before. Coming down Parley’s canyon into the Salt Lake valley with that U-haul and tow vehicle behind was a whole different experience than with my car a few weeks earlier! I remember having thoughts, wondering what I was getting myself into.
Thanks to my dear friends back in Wisconsin I found a nice 3.3 acre wooded property with a large garage and A-frame house near Crivitz and closed on it November of 2017. Then all I had to do was find a buyer of my double-wide mobile home in a 55 and over restricted park in Salt Lake. That took a while as the park had been bought out and they were drastically raising the lot rents to unbelievable rates. After finally finding a buyer and closing at the end of February, 2018 I was ready to go back to Wisconsin, the same way I left 25 years ago.
"After having been a regional semi-driver from Wisconsin since 1980, I transferred to Salt Lake City with Ryder in July of 1993 driving a 24 foot U-haul truck with all my possessions, pulling a car and tow dolly behind. Coming across I-80 in Iowa I had to detour many miles off the interstate due to flooded roads from the huge winter storms of early 1993. Back on I-80, in the western side of Nebraska, just east of Wyoming, I ran into a thunderstorm and saw an empty semi-truck with a husband-wife team get blown sideways in a micro burst and flip over only a few hundred feet in front of me. Thankfully, both were unhurt and able to climb out the top through the passenger door of the cab-over as I pulled up. They were pretty shook up and I had never seen anything like that before. Coming down Parley’s canyon into the Salt Lake valley with that U-haul and tow vehicle behind was a whole different experience than with my car a few weeks earlier! I remember having thoughts, wondering what I was getting myself into.
Being from the mid-west, I didn’t know what a mountain was until Boyce, Bob and other drivers coached me through a few canyons, my wide eyes staring and white knuckles on the wheel! Utah is a special place to live and work, having traveled and spent extensive time as a trainer in cities throughout the inter-mountain west. There is nowhere I’d rather live other than in a cabin in the north woods of Wisconsin, getting back to a small town quiet life, near family and friends."
Both Boyce Williams (79) and Bob Carter (80) passed away in 2019. Bob was a fellow driver trainer with me for many years from 1994 until he retired. Boyce had been selected as Ryder Systems corporate Driver of the Year and had well over 2 million miles accident free.
"There are so many people I’d like to acknowledge, I’ll miss them, fellow drivers, supervisors, employees and vendors of our customer. I’ve worked with so many people in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle, Denver and elsewhere. A lot of great friends, the list would be long and thanks to Facebook, I can hopefully stay in touch. Most of all, thanks to my “Utah family” of the last 10 years, who always made me feel welcome and I will forever love and miss! Thanks for all of the great memories. The circle of life pulls me back to Wisconsin, but my time here has been so special! Oh, and by the way, I will never miss being stuck in Wyoming weather...... and that’s all I got to say about that, LOL. I hope the drive back (in another U-Haul and my car on a tow dolly) will have a lot less drama than the first one coming here. Take care!"
It's been almost two and a half years now since I retired. I'm in a great relationship and content. Now, in the middle of this Covid-19 mess, I'm sure glad I don't have to work. I really don't miss driving for work but did find a good deal on used 36-foot motorhome last year with a car to tow behind. I guess you can't keep a natural driver in one place for too long. We were able to escape the Wisconsin winter and spend three months in Florida this year. We had a great time and hope to repeat annually.
All in all, trucking has given me the opportunity to have a good life. It was a lot of hard work but I always made decent money and have enough put away for a comfortable retirement. I don't know what the future holds for professional drivers, but, if you keep your record clean, there are good companies to work for. Unlike some, I have never had the desire to own my own truck and be self-employed. I've seen so many do this and slowly go broke. Company drivers get a lot in the way of benefits and vacation that owner operators do not. But for some, it can work out. If you choose to be a professional driver, good luck with your endeavor, drive safe and get onboard with a good company. You can make some very good money if you are a true "professional". The market for drivers is always cyclical but an old trucker friend once told me "Drivers are a dime a dozen but good ones are always hard to find". My employer for more than 25 years was Ryder, they have locations all over the country. Happy Trucking!
Links to: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII
Both Boyce Williams (79) and Bob Carter (80) passed away in 2019. Bob was a fellow driver trainer with me for many years from 1994 until he retired. Boyce had been selected as Ryder Systems corporate Driver of the Year and had well over 2 million miles accident free.
"There are so many people I’d like to acknowledge, I’ll miss them, fellow drivers, supervisors, employees and vendors of our customer. I’ve worked with so many people in Las Vegas, Phoenix, Seattle, Denver and elsewhere. A lot of great friends, the list would be long and thanks to Facebook, I can hopefully stay in touch. Most of all, thanks to my “Utah family” of the last 10 years, who always made me feel welcome and I will forever love and miss! Thanks for all of the great memories. The circle of life pulls me back to Wisconsin, but my time here has been so special! Oh, and by the way, I will never miss being stuck in Wyoming weather...... and that’s all I got to say about that, LOL. I hope the drive back (in another U-Haul and my car on a tow dolly) will have a lot less drama than the first one coming here. Take care!"
It's been almost two and a half years now since I retired. I'm in a great relationship and content. Now, in the middle of this Covid-19 mess, I'm sure glad I don't have to work. I really don't miss driving for work but did find a good deal on used 36-foot motorhome last year with a car to tow behind. I guess you can't keep a natural driver in one place for too long. We were able to escape the Wisconsin winter and spend three months in Florida this year. We had a great time and hope to repeat annually.
All in all, trucking has given me the opportunity to have a good life. It was a lot of hard work but I always made decent money and have enough put away for a comfortable retirement. I don't know what the future holds for professional drivers, but, if you keep your record clean, there are good companies to work for. Unlike some, I have never had the desire to own my own truck and be self-employed. I've seen so many do this and slowly go broke. Company drivers get a lot in the way of benefits and vacation that owner operators do not. But for some, it can work out. If you choose to be a professional driver, good luck with your endeavor, drive safe and get onboard with a good company. You can make some very good money if you are a true "professional". The market for drivers is always cyclical but an old trucker friend once told me "Drivers are a dime a dozen but good ones are always hard to find". My employer for more than 25 years was Ryder, they have locations all over the country. Happy Trucking!
Links to: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII
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