Just when I thought the worst was behind me, the final three years of my independent contractor journey tested my faith, patience, and pocketbook like never before. What kept me going wasn’t just grit—it was the steady Georgetown loads that saved me mentally and financially when everything else seemed to be breaking apart.
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The Georgetown runs were truly my saving grace. With every setback, at least I knew the work was waiting for me. That knowledge alone was what kept me grounded when the bills stacked higher than the loads on my trailer. God has blessed me beyond measure, and through all the trials, He provided exactly what I needed to keep moving forward.
But in those final years, two more major mechanical issues nearly pushed me over the edge.
After my truck returned from the in-frame rebuild, I noticed right away that it was getting harder and harder to start. We checked everything fuel-related—except the injectors. The problem turned out to be the injectors and cups.
In mid-July of 2023, I took the truck to Wheatley’s Truck Repair in Clarksville, Indiana. Ten days later, and $8,700 lighter, the injectors and cups were replaced and I was back on the road. Things smoothed out for a while—until April of 2024.
One morning I woke to a large puddle of oil under my truck. I had to buy $75 worth of oil just to nurse it from Georgetown back to Wheatley’s. The diagnosis? A cracked oil pan. A new one would cost $4,200. Thankfully, Matt at the shop suggested a cheaper fix: have one of his welders patch the pan. I agreed, and three days later I was back in business.
Unfortunately, the oil problems weren’t over. The patched pan held, but the truck still had a persistent leak. By October 2024, it became such an issue that my truck failed a DOT inspection. Back to Wheatley’s it went.
The final diagnosis traced the problem all the way back to when the Versailles shop had secured the bull gear retaining nut years earlier. Evidently, they hadn’t sealed the bull gear cover properly, and that’s where the oil was escaping. To finally solve it, Wheatley’s had to:
Reseal the upper timing cover
Replace the valve cover gasket
Replace the upper gear cover gasket
Replace two upper cover grommets
Steam clean the motor and frame
The total bill came to $3,300.
Looking back now, it’s truly a miracle we survived financially through those years. Between the repair costs, downtime, and revenue loss, the stress nearly broke me. But we pushed through.
All I can say in closing is this: when your work captures your heart, mind, and soul, then it’s worth putting everything you have on the line. Trucking did that for me, and I gave it everything I had—right up until the very end.
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