Grandchildren give trucker incentive to keep driving

STAYING AROUND: Arnold Montgomery is not ready to retire even after 50 years of trucking. (The Trucker/Barb Kampbell)

By BARB KAMPBELL
The Trucker Staff

8/27/2008

Anyone who has been in trucking for close to 50 years might think it’s time to retire considering the high cost of fuel, lack of truck parking, idling regulations, Hours of Service rules that are still undetermined, and so forth, but Arnold Montgomery has no such thing in mind.

“With 12 grandkids and Christmas I can’t afford to retire,” said Montgomery at the Petro in North Little Rock, Ark., during an interview with The Trucker. “And besides that I just bought a new pickup truck so it will be at least five years before I can retire.”

Montgomery is a single man, with 3 grown children and 12 grandchildren. He lives in Las Vegas as do three of the grandkids. Seven of his grandchildren live in Denver, and the other two live in New York.

He is a company driver for Navaho Express where he’s been for four years. Montgomery has driven about 50 years, although some of those before he was of legal age where he started out driving dump trucks. He now hauls food products by reefer to the 48 states. And he loves his company.

“Navaho Express is a good company,” Montgomery said. “They do me right.”

But while he loves the company he works for, he’s not as enamored with the trucking industry as a whole.

“Before deregulation it was a lot better, I believe,” he said. “The government tried to step in and ruin it with stuff we don’t need.

“Now they start with the fat bull,” Montgomery continued. “If you’re fat you shouldn’t drive, according to some people. P.A.T.T., MADD [Mothers Against Drunk Driving], all those groups don’t care if they ruin a guy’s life [although those groups do not have anything to do with regulations regarding the weight of truckers, they are involved with other trucking issues]. They are trying to pass all this stuff now.”

He also offered his opinion of the latest Hours of Service regulations.

“I think they should change the sleeper where we could take a two hour break,” Montgomery said. “We get to drive 11 straight hours, but should be able to go off duty and break up the sleeper berth. After five or six hours I want to at least close my eyes for a couple of hours.

“With the price of fuel you can’t get proper rest. You can’t idle the truck for the air conditioner because it costs too much. Last night I parked in IdleAire, [which is not paid for by the company]. I saved them about $80; it cost me $40 at IdleAire.”

Another issue that he mentioned is that of courtesy.

“Both truck drivers and four-wheelers could stand a little bit [of courtesy],” Montgomery said. Although according to him it depends on what area you’re in with Nebraska four-wheelers being the most courteous.

“You get around any big city, you can forget it,” he added.

Another thing that’s changed is getting help when you break down. According to Montgomery if a truck breaks down now everybody just drives on by. It used to be that if a truck broke down out in the desert the area would pretty soon look like a mini truck stop so many guys would pull over and stop to help.

“Now if you break down, everybody just keeps on trucking,” he said. “But these days we have Qualcomm and cell phones so you’re supposed to be able to get help that way.”

Montgomery says he still stops to help guys when their trucks break down even though it’s far from the norm.

According to him, one issue that is better about the trucking industry is the use of drugs by truckers.

“The drugs are almost gone,” Montgomery said. “I don’t hardly see anyone on drugs.”

The hardest thing about being a trucker for him is the same for a lot of drivers.

“You’re gone all the time; if you’re a family man it’s hard,” Montgomery said. “It’s been like that since day one” so it’s not a new issue.

But overall he thinks things are better than they used to be. Trucks are better, equipment is better, roads are better, a lot of companies are better, Montgomery said. And the pay is better too.

Montgomery said in his spare time he likes to relax and spend time goofing around with his grandchildren. He’s even been known to take a couple of them on long-haul runs a few times.