Couples as truckers? Industry says a big 10-4

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“We are looking for the husband-wife team, folks looking for a second career, people who want to see the country,” said Elisabeth Barna, a vice president for American Trucking Associations.

Individually, many companies looking for drivers pay bonuses for successful referrals. Epes Transport System in Greensboro, N.C., finds current drivers who like their jobs and spread the word are the most effective recruitment tool, director of recruiting Jeff Olsen said. Kansas-based Yellow Transportation offers a training program aimed at troops who are finishing military service and have driven trucks or operated heavy equipment. They get conditional job offers, with a choice of locations.

Obtaining a commercial drivers license requires medical certification and compliance with “higher physical, mental and emotional standards” than drivers of passenger cars must satisfy, said Duayne DeBruyne, spokesman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration. The medical certification must be repeated every 24 months, and in some cases it can be required as often as every 90 days, he said. States issue the commercial licenses to drive and are responsible for seeing that federal regulations are met.

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Joey and Terri Lynch of Athens, Wis., became a driving team about 15 years ago after he lost the lease on his grocery in suburban Chicago and she left a job as a coats-and-dresses manager in a JCPenney store. “I worked in high heels and business suits for all that time, and then got in a truck,” said Terri, 59.

Schneider National puts the Lynches on the road for three weeks at a time followed by three off.

Calorie conscious because they spend so much time sitting, the Lynches travel with two small refrigerators for light snacks and eat a daily restaurant meal, usually lunch because the portions are smaller, the prices lower and the parking easier than at dinnertime.

“You can’t tell somebody whether they’re going to like driving a truck,” said Joey, who listens to audio books on the road. “You have to get out and try it.”

His wife likens living in a truck to sharing a home’s smallest bathroom with a partner for three weeks, with few breaks.

Trucker couples say squabbles are inevitable, but not a big problem for partners who truly know and like one another.

“We’ve been married for 42 years,” Jim Sisler said. “We know how to get on each other’s nerves, how to get off — and when.”

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