Driver of theMonth MAY 2014
RICK STILEN Grand Island Express By Jennifer Barnett reed Contributing Writer
“I’ve never been so bored that I thought
tying a rubber band to my leg and jumping off a bridge was a good idea,” observes Rick Stilen on the subject of his friends’ enthusiasm for bungee jumping. “I just don’t see any sense to it.” Tis from a man who spent over a decade as a high voltage, high steel electrician. It means just what you think. Doing dangerous electrical work while standing 400 feet in the air on a 4-inch-wide beam, building a skyscraper. After a divorce, Stilen was ready to try
Stilen
something new. His dad had been a long haul trucker for 46 years, and one of his brothers had been a trucker for over 20 years. “I really wanted to see what kept my dad out there,” Stilen explains. “He was one of those old school truckers who stayed out for a long time at a whack. And he used to tell me that, once it gets in your blood, that’s it. If you like it, that will be it.” Stilen, who lives just outside Omaha, hired
on at Grand Island Express as his first driving job in 1997 and has been there ever since. He says the company is a good fit for the schedule he keeps—out Wednesday, deliver Friday,
return to drop a trailer Sunday, and help the shag driver in Omaha on Monday. For him, the most enjoyable part of the job is being his own boss once under dispatch. “It’s up to you to schedule your time,” Stilen says. “You’re not being told what to do every minute of the day.” In over two million career miles, he has
never had a preventable accident. How does he do it? “Paying attention to detail, and common sense,” he replies. “If so many drivers out there would just take a split second to consider the situation, they’d realize they were about to make a mistake. Being aware of your surroundings is important. And, like working as a high steel electrician, you don’t want to get overconfident. If you get overconfident, you get in trouble.” Stilen admits he doesn’t have a lot of free
time, but when he does get some, he enjoys growing exotic heirloom tomatoes, bow hunting for deer and wild turkey, and riding motorcycles. He’s been with his significant other, Teri, for 18 years. He’s also the father of five, and the caregiver for his mother who lives just 200 yards from him. “I promised Dad I would take care of Mom,” he says. Tops on his bucket list is another deep sea
fishing trip, an activity he used to enjoy with a friend in California who had “a pretty nice boat.” nt
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NEBRASKA TRUCKER — ISSUE 3, 2014 —
www.nebtrucking.com
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