“Hi! My name is Vernon Lounsbury and I work for Midland Transport based out of Dieppe, N.B.

I’ve been in the industry for about 13 years. For my first 12 years, I was running teams from Nova Scotia to South Carolina. Though I really enjoyed the camaraderie of that run, the format was cancelled this year so I chose to be an owner/operator. Four months ago, I bought myself a 2006 Mack – so far so good.

I live in the little town of Petitcodiac, N.B. which is about 20 minutes from Dieppe. A lot of people get more miles than I do, but I enjoy my home time – sometimes too much. I’ve been married to my wife, Corinne, for 23 years and we have three children, Cole (21), Janna (16), and Jonathan (15).

My wife enjoys riding horses, so when I’m not driving, I get a little bit of exercise feeding and caring for horses, fixing fences, and whatever else comes with looking after the horses. I also try to get home from the road in time for church by Sunday every week.

My wife works as a home care worker and I’m hoping she’ll be able to come on the road with me soon when she gets some vacation time. She’ll be able to see what I go through every day and realize that it isn’t all peachy like everyone seems to think. The public seems to think of us ‘no-good’ truckers as just out here to cause trouble on the road, but they have to realize that they wouldn’t have that shirt on their back or that fancy car to drive if it wasn’t for us.

Before I got into trucking, I was out milking cows in the farming industry and let me tell you, farming and trucking are two of the toughest industries you can be in. After several years of farming, I was looking for something different to do. My brother-in-law had a couple of trucks on the road, so I managed to get a job through him. My uncle was also vice-president of Midland at the time, so that’s basically how I found my way into the industry and I haven’t looked back since.

I like reading Truck News to help keep up on changes in the industry. You can sit around the ‘horseshoe’ at truck stops and listen to all the griping that goes on there, but until you read about it from someone who approaches things professionally, you won’t have a real grasp on what’s really happening.

I like reading over some of the legal stories in truck magazines too. It’s nice for a driver to know that he can get professional help if he needs it. I enjoy the profiles as well. They help people realize that yes, we are human. When I do get the magazine, I pretty well read it from front to back, though I read more when I was team driving because I had more spare time.

Last year I reached one million miles accident-free and there was no shortage of notice from the folks at Midland. I see a lot of drivers jumping from company to company, but I believe in starting with a reputable company and sticking with it. If things aren’t the way you think they should be, talk to the personnel in the office. I find Midland to be an excellent, personable company. If you’re not hearing what you want from one fellow, just move up the ladder. The guy at the top always has his door open.

On a side note, I’ve often wanted to write in a letter to the editor to Truck News to let readers know about something. I think that new drivers – new car drivers that is – should have to learn about how to manoeuvre around big trucks as part of their driver’s training. I myself was ignorant as to what it’s really like being in a truck, so I know a lot of people would benefit from such training. Even if they had the information in a pamphlet – like if you were troubleshooting with a new TV or something – it would be a big help.”