All things considered, this trucker is in it for the long haul

TIME TO SHINE: Veteran trucker Bud Stacken relaxes while Vern York, resident shoe-shine expert at the I-40 Petro in North Little Rock, Ark., puts a spiffy shine on Stacken’s boots.

By JERRY BREEDEN
The Trucker Staff

5/19/2008

At 34 years of age and with no plans to change jobs or retire any time soon, trucker Bud Stacken says he’s in the business for the long haul.

Stacken has been a trucker for the past 14 years. Until he sold his rig last fall, he was an owner-operator. He now hauls livestock for the Gene Stevens Co. of Creighton, Neb.

He said he’s been to “all 48” of the contiguous states and that he’s “pretty flexible” when it comes to singling out a favorite part of the country in which to drive.

“It doesn’t matter much to me where I go,” said Stacken. “I just go wherever the money’s the best.”

He and his wife Paula have four children: Lexie, 14; Cassidy, 6; Tucker, 2; and Grace, 1.

When he gets home, which is about every seven to eight days, Stacken and his family spend time in Nebraska visiting grandparents and other relatives.

“Plus,” he said, “we have a little acreage that keeps me kinda busy, too.

“It’s getting to be the crappers out here, especially for the owner-operators,” said Stacken. “The high cost of fuel and the low freight rates are making it mighty tough to make a decent living.”

“And these biofuels we hear so much about are a joke,” he added. “I live in that part of the country where they’re making a lot of it and the farmers around there, the ones who grow the crops for the fuel, they won’t even buy it. It’s just as expensive regular diesel.

“But, like I said, I guess I’ll stay in it for the long haul. I love the job. My dad (Dwain) is a flatbedder in Montana and my brother (Travis) hauls for the same company I do. It’s in our blood, I guess you could say.”