#Peanut from proud family drivers

#Peanut from proud family drivers

She’s found success parking at rest areas, and many times, she and other drivers are making up their own spots. But as you move across the country, some weigh stations don’t allow overnight parking.” “You do have a little more luck at weigh stations, I’ve noticed, than truck stops. in some cases-you can just cancel Christmas on the parking,” Johnson said. “If you arrive to a truck stop after 9 p.m.-really after 5 p.m. Now, with the cost of fuel, it’s not worth it for her to drive beyond 600 miles.Īside from high fuel prices, finding a place to park is also a major challenge. Through her first year operating, she enjoyed hauling out west to California, Oregon, and Washington State. “No day is ever the same, and I get to see family that I otherwise wouldn’t get to see as often as I get to see them.”

“What I love most is the people that I meet, the freedom that I have-it’s my windshield therapy,” she said. To help mitigate some of that risk, Johnson works with a factoring company, which is also how she gets paid right away instead of waiting on a broker. See also: Women in Transportation: Putting customers at the heart of truck product roadmap “You can pull the load and not get paid when the load is done because there are fraudulent people out there.” “You also have to be very careful that your broker is who they say they are,” she noted. Part of that means being on time and staying in constant communication through the pickup and delivery process. The key, Johnson said, is building relationships with brokers. Now, they are calling me before, I was calling them.” And the brokers that do work with you aren’t really giving you the good paying loads because you’re new. “The challenge of being a new owner-operator is that there are very few brokers that want to do business with you,” Johnson said. She finds loads through load boards and by working with brokers. Johnson hauls general freight-anything from grocery items to tires to appliances to empty pallets and motor oil. Today, she is the proud owner-operator of Executive Enterprises LLC. Johnson graduated in November 2020 with her CDL and immediately started the process of getting her own authority. As soon as the journey began, Johnson knew trucking was where she belonged.īy October she was enrolled in a three-week course to get her Class A commercial driver’s license. He and his wife encouraged her to hit the road with them. See also: Women in Transportation 2022: Trailblazers in truckingĪfter leaving the education field, Johnson turned to an owner-operator she knew. I had no idea that the dream would become my reality at 49 years old.” “At nighttime they would be lit up, and I thought it would be so cool to drive one of those one day,” she said. During those long drives, Johnson was fascinated by the big trucks. Her father, who worked in trucking, frequently took her family on road trips from Pittsburgh to visit family in Alabama, Ohio, and West Virginia. Her dream as a little girl had always been truck driving. When she resigned from teaching in August 2020, Johnson had no “earthly idea” what she was going to do, she said. After working in education for 13 years and feeling overwhelmed by the thought of virtual teaching when COVID hit, Vanita Johnson knew it was time for a career change.