Driver Lifestyles
This Working Truck Shows It's Stuff
One of the benefits of staging a truck beauty competition is the opportunity to meet some of the great people in the expediting business. Two of those people are Loyel and Carolyn Hershberger, the first place winners in the tractor class of the Expediter Pride competition held at the recent Expedite Expo 2005.
Their first pride & polish-type event was in June of this year at the Trucker Buddy show in Nashville. "We took a third place there and that got us hooked on truck beauty competitions," says Loyel.
He continues, "We had been to the Expedite Expo before, but had never entered the truck show. We're members of the National Association of Show Trucks now and we're thinking about entering their show in St. Ignace in Northern Michigan."
He adds, "We've always tried to keep our truck looking nice, but we're a little intimidated going up against these folks that have been doing it for many years."
Their truck
The Hershberger's truck is a 2000 Freightliner Classic XL with a 60 series Detroit with 500HP and 13-speed Eaton Fuller transmission. The truck has 671,000 miles on it.
Loyel tells us, "We bought the truck in 2002 from the original owner who had put 250,000 miles on it. We knew the owner and knew that he was very meticulous in his care of the truck."
The sleeper is an integral 70" double bunk unit.
The truck has a Rigmaster generator that provides power to the microwave, refrigerator, 15" flat screen TV with DVD and surround sound system. A Direct TV satellite system is in the process of being installed.
"We wanted something a little different, so one of the highlights of the cab and sleeper is the diamond plate polished aluminum flooring that we recently installed over the original factory flooring," states Loyel. "The seats and anything mounted on the floor had to come out for the installation."
The truck has a rosewood dashboard with a matching rosewood steering wheel. There is a complete instrument package that includes 15 gauges with chrome bezels along with the Detroit Diesel Pro Driver package that monitors the engine's performance. Chrome knobs and toggle switch extensions are used to dress out the dash.
"We mounted some neon accent lights in Coral Pink to reflect off the diamond plate. We also have LED courtesy lights mounted under the dash and on the center console. Carolyn made all of the curtains that are over the storage compartments and the canopy over the bunk."
"As a matter of fact, any custom work on this truck was done either by Carolyn and myself or a family member. We haven't had any outside help on the truck. We have plans for some custom upholstery work to replace the OEM, which is a shade of maroon."
"On the exterior, the truck is painted white with the front fenders a rose coral metallic. There are some vinyl stripes on the sides and we have some diamond plating to cover the frame rails from the back of the sleeper to the fifth wheel. We also added a stainless tail light assembly."
Loyel says that this tractor is not only the first truck that the couple has customized, but that it's also the first truck they've owned. He tells us that it was a desire to have a unique, distinctive truck that drove him to add custom touches and not necessarily an interest in showing the truck.
"I like to have a paint job that people will ask about, not just your ordinary, everyday color."
Loyel says that other custom add-ons include a stainless steel sun visor that replaced the OEM, a stainless bug shield, chrome rear end covers, custom Freightliner mud flaps with the stainless mud flap weights, stainless accent strips on the front fenders and every exposed frame bolt has a chrome bolt cover.
Loyel continues, "We converted every light to LED, except the headlights. Additional lighting includes bumper lights that can be run low beam, so they serve as fog lights, extra tail lights and clearance lights, and the sun visor has LED lighting as well."
"We also added chrome wire looms for any wiring on the exterior such as the heated mirrors and antennae. The wheels are highly polished Alcoa aluminum rims all the way around and we also mounted an 18" Texas bumper."
The Hershbergers
Originally from mid-central Ohio, the Hershbergers now call Ashland, Ohio home. Loyel and Carolyn are in their 30's.
Loyel begins, "I started driving when still a teenager, operating heavy excavating equipment for my uncle. I drove a straight truck for seven years for a sanitation company before getting into over the road trucking in 1997."
"I drove for smaller companies until 2001, when I took a position in the office of one of the companies. Carolyn and I were married in 2002 and we started pulling refrigerated trailers, hauling meat out of the midwest and produce from California."
"We found expediting through the same man who sold us our truck. We were having a difficult time financially with produce rates and a new (to us) truck to pay for, so when he heard about expediting from another driver, he told us to look into it."
"We met FedEx Custom Critical recruiter Claude Lawson and two weeks later, we were going through orientation, so here we are two years later, still with FedEx."
The couple says that they would never go back to hauling general freight now that they've experienced expediting. They've considered downsizing to a straight truck, but not until they need to replace their present unit.
Carolyn Hershberger says that after trying a few different occupations, she secured her CDL in 1996. She ran with West Side Transportation of Cedar Rapids, Iowa for a period, before taking a hiatus from the road. She says though, "driving gets in your blood and after awhile, it was time to hit the road again."
"I was on my way back to Cedar Rapids when I met Loyel. It turned out that we lived only 40 minutes from each other but met 500 miles from home. From there, it seemed like we would see each other on the road every week. After a time, I left West Side and started driving with Loyel until we came off the road. I worked as a nursing assistant and Loyel worked in the office for the trucking company."
By now, Loyel and Carolyn were married and ready to go trucking again. They discovered the FedEx opportunity and say that they've found a home in expediting.
"In orientation they told us, 'Forget everything you know about trucking, except the driving.' When we got into this, we were so surprised to find out how much these loads paid compared to general trucking. We really enjoy expediting and I doubt that we would ever go back to hauling general freight."
"We enjoy the time between loads as well, and expediting lets us have time together - have a meal, see a movie, go sightseeing and... show the truck."