Seven Semi's in Four Years~

The 25th of February 2022, Butch received the keys to his first semi-truck. He had completed a month of training at Truck Dynasty for CFI in Joplin, MO, then another month (10,457-miles) driving with a trainer.  He wasn't able to leave town on his first dispatch until the 27th, when the roads reopened.

2-24-2022 - Big Red~

In the years since, Butch has driven seven trucks.  We gave them all a name; Big Red, Ranger, Blue, Rebel, Traveler, Maverick & Maverick II.  Four Freightliners & two Volvos.  Big Red was the only Kenworth, a T-680.  Big Red's breakdown & lengthy repair precipitated the move to Blake Scott Logistics June of 2022.

6-7-2022 - Ranger

In that same time, Butch has driven for four companies.  CFI, Blake Scott, Jacko & his current employer - Nationwide Transportation.  

9-8-2022 - Blue

With Blake Scott, he drove four of those seven trucks.  Butch moved from Ranger to Blue August of 2022.  A newer truck, but with quite a few miles.  After several visits to the shop for repairs, he was given another truck to drive until a replacement could be purchased.  

12-2-2022 - Rebel~

He ended up driving Rebel on two different occasions & loved this truck.  The newest Freightliner he'd driven. He didn't have too long to wait though, before he was called back to Salt Lake City to pick out his next, newer truck!  

2-8-2023 - Traveler with the new Blake Scott Logo~

December 16, 2022, Butch came home with Traveler.  He was driving Traveler when Blake Scott ran into difficulties & leased their last six trucks to Jacko out of Vancouver, WA.  Butch was the only driver Jacko hired, so he made the transition with Traveler. 

It wasn't a good match. Butch was driving the west coast again.  He did make the most of it though & managed several short visits with our daughters & grandkids!  He wasn't getting home either.  When he did, it would take forever to receive a dispatch to leave.  Jacko had very little business that wasn't in the west.  Butch had driven Traveler 96,888 when he handed the keys to Jacko October 24th, 2023.   

10-31-2023 Maverick~

Butch had applied at Nationwide during his home time, mid-October.  He was hired & was leaving on his first dispatch the end of the month, driving his first Volvo.  At first, he wasn't sure he liked the truck, but after a while, the roomy interior won him over. 

2-1-2025 Maverick II - days before the breakdown~

January 11, 2025, Butch was given the keys of a brand-new Volvo with 21 miles on the odometer.  February 5th, the truck was towed to McMahon Truck Center in Cincinnati, OH, for warranty engine replacement.  The odometer read 7,460 miles.

Returning to Omaha, Butch was given his original Volvo, Maverick to drive until the new truck was repaired.  Those first three years, Butch drove a total of 382,880 safe miles! 

New Company, New Country & a Volvo...

 Butch flew into Omaha from WA on Wed. the 25th.  After lunch, we drove past Nationwide on our way home.

Entrance~

Seeing the line of Freightliner's all with "Ready" tags in the windows.  There were a couple nice Volvo's too.

Several Freightliners~

Early Monday morning, Butch began his orientation at Nationwide.  Everyone was friendly & he was introduced to the staff & toured the shop, before spending most of the day with the usual videos.  Later, he moved trailers.  Home that evening, I learned he was assigned a Volvo VNL860.  

Maverick comes home~

He had driven the Volvo while he was moving trailers & liked it.  His second day at orientation, was spent learning the company specific ELD system & going over the truck.  I enjoyed the full tour when he brought Maverick home for the first time on Tuesday.  What was left of the afternoon we spent loading some of his things into the truck.  It has a nice table, which Traveler didn't have & a large refrigerator.  

Great color!

The inside was roomy, with just a few small items to fix on the interior.  This truck is a 2022 & has the lowest mileage of any he's driven.  On my first ride, when we left to pick up Butch's Ford, the first thing I noticed was the smooth ride, even bobtailing.  A good thing!

My ride view~

I always enjoy the view from the semis!  The gates at Nationwide were just closing when we arrived.  I drove Butch's truck & followed him back home.  He had his first dispatch & would be leaving at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Maverick, back home, evening~

Butch was out of the house & on his way to pick up a trailer early.  I didn't hear from him again until later in the morning.  I received a text saying he was back at the shop?!  He had picked up the trailer, picked up his load, gone to scale & had fault codes lighting up the dash.  He called dispatch & was told to return.

Mileage as Butch took the keys - 239,496.

Back at the shop, they found a couple issues that were quickly resolved.  Butch was by now, late getting on his way to IN. Maverick's governor is set at 68, with cruise control at 70.  He was used to Travelers 76 mph & zipping along out west.  He mentioned it would take him a while to get used to the differences. 

By the end of yesterday's drive, he was within a short distance of his first delivery.  He had passed four trucks!  Two getting off on an exit ramp & two more actually slower than Maverick. :-)   As of this morning, he mentioned the bed was larger, but he'll add his foam mattress pad when he's home again.  The seat is more comfortable, which he appreciated.

As of this afternoon, he'd made his first delivery, picked up another load & was on his way to Kansas.  Giving up Traveler - for what we hope is more home time, is more of a change than I expected.  He had waited for quite a while for a good truck.  We'll see if Maverick stands the test of time & miles...