Faith in God and love of his family fill daily routine for Carolina trucker

Driver Joey Stine finishes cleaning the mirrors on his rig during a layover at a Central Arkansas truck stop. (The Trucker/Jerry Breeden)

By JERRY BREEDEN
The Trucker Staff

3/12/2008

Trucking just seems to come naturally to members of Joey Stine’s family.

In an interview with The Trucker recently at the Petro Stopping Centers location in Central Arkansas, the Taylorsville, N.C., owner-operator talked about his truck-driving family and the role that faith in God plays in his everyday life.

Stine said he and his brothers, Jeffrey and Jamie, are all three leased to the same company, Sunbelt Furniture Xpress in Hickory, N.C.

“I’ve been driving for about 20 years, and Jeffrey and Jamie have both been at it for about 25 years or more,” he said.

Their father, Connie, retired from trucking after a career that spanned 40 years. A brother-in-law, Brian Teague, makes his living behind the wheel of a big rig.

Overall, trucking “is a good life, but if I had it to do over again, I wouldn’t own a rig. I enjoy the freedom that comes with the job, but there’s a lot of financial responsibility that comes with being an owner-operator.”

“For instance,” he said, “in 1998, I was paying about $400 to fill up on fuel. Today, I’m paying around $1,500. The cost of being an owner-operator keeps going up, but the revenue hasn’t kept pace.”

Still, Stine indicated that he remains hopeful that the playing field will even out in the near future.

“I will stay with it for a few more years, or until the Good Lord sets me loose to do something else,” said Stine. “I’m looking forward to spending more of my time doing His work. That’s what really keeps me going.”

Stine admitted that he’s a workaholic, but quickly added that he spends his off-duty time “going to church (at Mt. Nebo Baptist) and fishing a little.” He’s also a member of a gospel music group called Family Ties, which takes up a lot of his spare time.

Stine and his wife Jim have two married daughters, Jodi Brookshire and Julie Campbell, and four grandsons. “We all get together when I’m home,” Stine said. “It gets kind of crowded, but spending time together as a family is very important to us.”

The day The Trucker approached Stine for an interview, he was polishing the mirrors on his like-new 1999 Volvo Model 610.

“I can’t stand dirty mirrors or dirty windows,” said Stine with a grin. “You know, this ol’ truck has about 900,000 miles on it and it’s still going good.”

And judging from its nearly perfect outward appearance, Stine has taken very good care of his tractor over the years.

He said he was on his way to Oklahoma where he would make a total of 27 different drops of furniture before picking up a load of restaurant supplies for the return trip to North Carolina.

Stine recalled one particular trip to the Sooner State capital of Oklahoma City, where he met a chaplain who left him with some pretty solid advice concerning his career.

“He told me that maybe I shouldn’t be looking to retire any time soon, that the Lord has me right where He wants me for now. So, I don’t think I’ll be getting out of the business any time real soon.”