FIXTITLE Wayne Miller.docx
CARRYING ON THE DREAM
The Story
Of
Wayne Miller
Often we are influenced by others in such a positive way that their impact can lead similar to blind faith. A persuasive person can motivate you in decisions years down the road. Sometimes, we can unknowingly carry our hopes of reaching a specific goal for an entire lifetime without even knowing it has been a plan in one’s mind the whole time.
Wayne Miller, born and raised in the state of Texas grew up around trucking all of his life. His grandpa on his mother’s side drove a truck hauling everything from furniture to pipes and delivering fuel. He had been in trucking from as far back as Wayne can remember. Also his dad and uncle were in the trucking industry as well, both traveling over the road for a number of years. However, it was his grandpa’s unprecedented trucking career that set the high standards for Wayne back when he was just a young boy.
Wayne can recall the exact truck that his grandfather used to teach him how to drive in at the age of twelve. He says, “It was a 1967 GMC Cabover with a twin stick transmission.” Wayne originally started out in his grandpa’s lap, switching the gears; listening and learning. Not to just his teacher alone, but to the massive truck they were commanding to move. The feel of the truck’s every shift with each change of speed was mesmerizing to him. When he was big enough to push the foot pedals and see over the steering wheel, Wayne was given the driver’s seat all to himself. By 14, he was able to fully operate the truck on his own.
To add to Wayne’s heightened excitement of manning his grandpa’s truck, hearing all of his role model’s stories, describing different people he had met and all of the cool places he has been to and visited, sat with Wayne for many years. All of it seemed to paint the perfect picture for Wayne. For a long time, he was unaware that his future would play out as almost an exact replica as his late idol. It was not until later when he finally realized his calling was to carry on his grandfather’s dream: truck and travel the country. They share the love of both and saw that the two were one in the same. Trucking as a lifestyle provides you an opportunity to travel all over, allowing work to become fun. That is what Wayne recognized in his grandfather, the way he treated his truck and enjoyed his job. As a child, he only imagined it all as a dream because the way his grandpa lived, in a dream everything is perfect. Now, following in his footsteps he understands completely and is proud to carry on his family’s name in trucking, all the while discovering our world from behind the wheel.
Wayne’s mother worked in office management and his stepfather came into the picture when he was three. “He was the one that raised me and taught me mostly everything I know. As soon as I turned 18, I had my last name legally changed to his. He was basically my father. When I say ‘dad’ I mean him,” he said genuinely. Sadly, his dad passed away just two weeks before this interview.
As a child, Wayne studied his father and became a quick learner. Handyman is an understatement when referring to his dad. He was a mechanic, a welder, a licensed electrician and a master plumber. He did it all! Before his teens, the two enjoyed spending the weekends riding dirt bikes together and putting their hands on anything that needed repairing. Wayne was known around his home as the neighborhood repair kid. He started with go carts and dirt bikes, then took over working on motorcycles with his dad. He says, “We had parts everywhere in that garage and were constantly fixing stuff. My dad wouldn’t do it for me though. Instead, he would talk me through whatever I was trying to do so I could gain the experience for myself.”
In school Wayne played football until his junior year, when he joined the high school rodeo team at 16. Watching bull riders had always been cool to him, although his mother disliked the idea of him riding. It didn’t help matters that his uncle was a professional bull rider and watching him compete pulled Wayne into the sport even more. When his friends encouraged him to try it, he was determined to give it all he had. His uncle was there for good advice on safety and let him use his ropes and chaps. Three years later, he was two rodeos away from receiving his PRCA (Professional Rodeo Cowboy Association) card that would allow him the opportunity to go pro. A bull with a notorious reputation for seriously injuring his riders happened to give Wayne his final ride. Wayne ended up with braces on his neck and back, and his right knee in a splint. What stung the most was his hard brush with reality. He explains, “The doctor told me that if I got hit one more time that there was a huge chance that I would not be able to walk again. So I decided that I liked walking better.”
December of 1984, Wayne joined the Air force and left for basic training. He spent six weeks in San Antonio, Texas. Before reporting to his next base, his parents picked him up at the airport and he headed straight to the hospital for the birth of his first baby, a little girl. For the next three years he was stationed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, located in California. The summer of 1987, Wayne got out of the military and returned home to Texas.
In need of a new direction, he decided to turn his attention to trucking. By that September he had earned his chauffeurs license and was in a truck. He started out driving local, running beer to convenience stores and restaurants for six months. Then he moved up to a regional position with a mattress company based out of Fort Worth, Texas. After almost three years, he made the transition to OTR. A trucking company in Nashville, Arkansas hired him immediately and sent him on his way in a reefer trailer. He had finally found his mark. “I loved it! I didn’t have to sit around. I would stay out on the road two trips at a time, then come home for five days. As long as I was on time, I did everything on my own terms,” Wayne said. In 1990, the company closed their doors.
He began hauling flatbed locally for a few months, and switched to regional delivering insulation for two years. In 2001, he relocated to Florida and left the trucking company he was working for and went back to reefer. The terminal he drove for in Florida had their main headquarters in Texas. He was put on the loads that went west so he was able to visit home often. Eager for change, in 2008 he became an owner operator and leased a truck with a company out of Oklahoma. It was a bronze 2007 Freightliner Classic. After a long stretch of ups and downs with companies going out of business, company cut-backs, all Wayne knew was that trucking was his passion. He just wanted to find the right fit for him. A company that would appreciate his efforts.
While speaking with a client driver, he was told to look up Climate Express out of Union, Missouri. In doing so, he ended up joining their driving team as a company driver April 2013. He currently runs the Midwest down to Texas and occasionally Georgia. “We have up to 170 trucks. Climate Express provides us with all newer, updated equipment. All full automatics 12-speed Volvo 670 models. One of their major freight lanes runs through the Dallas-Fort Worth area, which allows me to be home every other day if I want to be,” Wayne says. He goes on to describe his second home away from home as a very family oriented company. The owners go out of their way to recognize their drivers and the entire staff know you by name. Most importantly, Climate Express is flexible with their scheduling. All they ask is for honesty and an open channel concerning any issues. Their goal is to support their drivers to enable success.
Wayne’s intent when he committed to following his grandfather’s dreams of trucking, he wanted to reach his grandpa’s goals that had been set before him. Throughout his mentor’s 25 years of trucking, he ran over 2 ½ million miles. Since Wayne started back in 1987, in his 29 years he has racked up over 4 million safe miles of his own. I asked Wayne what was his next agenda now that he has surpassed his purpose? He just laughed and says, “This is it. I’m doing it.” Just like his grandfather, Wayne has found the joy in trucking that has no limits. To him, trucking is not a job. He refers to himself as a paid tourist. He says, “I see something new every day! Plus, I feel as if I am providing a service to my country. Not like when I served in the Air Force, but I’m delivering products to the consumer. I’m doing it for everyone around that needs what we carry. I enjoy what I do.”
Wayne credits his hardworking grandfather on being such a great role model. Not just in the trucking industry, but by how he lived his life. “He was a happy man and always proud to do his job.” Then to have a father show him the ability to use his hands as tools, allows Wayne a wide range of talents from the knowledge passed on to him from the extremely talented men placed in his life. He has combined his gifts with a positive attitude, living by one simple creed: Always remember to leave a place better than what it was like when you showed up. Just because you are having a bad day doesn’t mean everyone else is. Try to lift others around you.
His successful trucking career is partially due to his preplanning. Wayne takes the time to strategically map out when and where his next move is, making sure he arrives early to every location. He continues, “I pride myself on being early. I guess I picked that up from the military, because to me if you’re on time you are late.”
During his time off from the road he stays with his daughter and grandbabies in Texas. He enjoys the perks of the whole ‘grand parenting-thing’ where he gets to swoop in and spoil them rotten then skip out, leaving his daughter with the rest of the duties. He laughs, “I love spoiling them! There are four in all. Nine, eight, one under a year old and another due in February right after my birthday.” Wayne’s son currently serves in the Army as a biomedical electrical engineer, stationed in Virginia. His sense of pride for his family is much greater than his love for trucks. The cool thing is that he gets to have it all… and he should. He has earned it!