By mid-April, Butch passed his next milestone of 400,000 OTR miles! 182,950 of those miles with Nationwide since he started driving for them November 1, 2023. 100,000 miles since June of last year. Of those miles, 82,252 with his original Nationwide truck, Maverick & 19,462 with his new truck Maverick II as of April 12th. He managed these miles since February first of 2022.
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| Maverick, 7-15-2024 |
This last 1000,000 miles were all driven in the Midwest after having reached 300,000 miles in
June 17th of 2024. After making a delivery, an often-used return route, was via a paper pickup at
Pixelle Specialty Solutions. Sadly, the Chillicothe, OH plant is closing. This dispatch gets my award as the most colorful!
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| 6-13-24 A delivery of paper from Pixelle~ |
There never seems to be a lack of beautiful views driving in the Midwest~
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| 7-13-24 Near Palmyra, MO~ |
July, Butch had lots of dispatches delivering paper, pallets & more paper. He almost had a dedicated run between either Omaha, Sioux Falls, KS & Ohio. He visited the Route 66 Welcome Center in Niangua, MO!
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| 7-29-24 Route 66! |
When Butch returned for
home time in August, Driver Appreciation items were waiting for him at the office.
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| 8-20-24 Butch picked up his gifts~ |
On the 7th we left for our road trip to WA state. A busman's holiday for Butch. Sadly, the circumstances were for our Grandson Mason's Celebration of Life. Seeing our girls & their families was very special to us. We enjoyed time to talk after so many months mostly spent apart & took some interesting side trips. I always love seeing the country.
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| 9-4-24 View of Kansas City ~ |
Back on the road again, Butch kept busy. The above photo is one of my favorites.
During the course of the year, he made several trips to Sugar Creek Packing. The size of these warehouses reminds me of small cities. Some allow overnight parking for the drivers, others don't. The truck stops anywhere near the bigger facilities are always jam packed, making it difficult to find a place to spend a night if you arrive early or have a middle of the night delivery time.
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11-17-24 Love's, St. Paul, IN
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Seeing the beautiful sunrises & sunsets are a part of the job that never gets tiring. Butch used to park the school bus out on one of our big hills to admire the sunrise, if he was running ahead of schedule.
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| 12-3-24 On the way to Hudson, MN |
December wouldn't be December without snow. Lots of snow.
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1-14-2025 Rest Area, West Salem, OH
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With the truck stops usually so full, Butch likes the rest area's when they're available. They have places for walks & some have interesting exhibits. Even there, almost all are completely full early in the evening.
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| 1-17-25 Maverick II |
In January, Butch changed over to a new Volvo. Since this truck is almost a dead ringer for the truck he'd been driving, we decided to keep the name Maverick & just add the II. The only visible difference is the truck number & the
fairings.
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| 2-17-25 Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, MO |
Sadly, Maverick II had
engine problems after only just over 7,000 miles. The truck spent a few weeks waiting on a new engine. In the meantime, Butch had caught a ride home with another driver & returned to driving his original truck, Maverick.
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3-2-25 On the scale, Crete, NE
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In answer the question, how much does a loaded truck & trailer weight?
Here's DOT's answer! Butch always checks his load weight over a scale.
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3-3-25 Lizton Rest Area, IN
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Maverick's last dispatch for the
second time, was a return visit to the Caves. It was Butch's first time here since he started driving for Nationwide. It was also his first time driving in at night.
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| 3-6-25 A trip to the Caves~ |
This is one trip I wouldn't mind taking, just to experience the underground caverns in a semi! Otherwise, feeling the momentum of all that weight in the trailer while riding in the cab is not something I enjoy at all. The trip to
Buena Vista was enough of that for me!
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| 3-11-25 Maverick II was back on the road~ |
By March, Butch had flown out to OH & picked up Maverick II from the shop. The truck was again ready to get on the road.
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| 3-3-25 Butch receives his first Award from Nationwide~ |
Butch's award, in recognition of his first year of safe driving with Nationwide. He will have completed his second year with this company November 1st of 2025. It's been so handy to have him based close to home. In March I think he had at least four nights where he slept in his own bed, not counting his home time. That doesn't happen often enough. Finn has figured out when I start cooking, Dad is coming home! He's shared with Butch that meals are pretty lean when he's gone!
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