My 5½ years at BESL Transfer brought good friends, steady work, and some of the best-paying loads of my career. But one betrayal — and one accident — brought it all to a sudden end.
I spent a total of five and a half years at BESL Transfer, and quite a bit happened during that time. Some of it was steady, some of it was profitable, and one part ended in a way I’ll never forget.
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Steady Hauls and Family Moments
After the York, Pennsylvania snowstorm adventure, I went back to hauling the usual loads for a while. One stretch had me running regularly from Middletown, Ohio, down to Hendersonville, Kentucky.
Those trips were special because my daughter, Michelle, was a freshman at the University of Southern Indiana in Evansville at the time. Whenever I was nearby, I made sure to meet her for a meal. Trucking can pull you away from family, so those visits meant the world to me.
On the way back, I often loaded out of AK Steel in Rockport, Indiana, delivering wherever they needed the freight to go. It kept me moving and gave me precious family time in the process.
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A Lucky Break: The Jeffersonville Bar Loads
Out of the blue, I was offered a load of tempered bars from the Port of Jeffersonville to NTN Bearing Manufacturing in Columbus, Indiana. It was a short run — just 67 miles one way — and it paid extremely well.
That load didn’t come through my regular dispatcher Chris Marlette in Campbellsburg, Kentucky, but from another broker, Bush Trucking in Corydon, Indiana. Apparently, they were impressed with how I handled the first run, because they offered me the chance to cover it every day, twice a day.
Of course, I jumped on it. The routine was smooth, the pay was solid, and I was home every night. For a trucker, that’s about as good as it gets.
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Adding a Third Axle
After about six months of running the bar loads, another contractor suggested I consider adding a third axle to my Reitnouer trailer. With the modification, I could legally haul double the weight under permit — which meant double the revenue.
I researched it thoroughly, and everything checked out. By October 2014, I had the third axle installed and was hauling two bar loads per day.
It was a golden stretch. But like all good things in trucking, it didn’t last.
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Losing the Run
By the spring of 2015, the bar loads stopped coming. I later learned why. The same contractor who had encouraged me to spend the money on the tri-axle had purchased another truck and trailer himself. Because he was signed on with Bush Trucking, they gave him the Jeffersonville runs instead.
My revenue dropped by half almost overnight.
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The Final Straw
On August 11, 2015, I was dispatched to Nucor Steel in Crawfordsville to pick up coil rollers and other parts headed for Cincinnati. I secured the load and headed home, since delivery wasn’t scheduled until the next day.
Traffic on I-65 was nearly at a standstill due to construction, so I detoured onto I-74 and came down State Road 9. By then, my mind was consumed with frustration — I couldn’t stop thinking about losing the bar loads and my revenue being cut in half.
As I entered Hope, Indiana, the dump truck in front of me made a sudden stop. With nowhere to go, I hit it.
The accident was bad enough for BESL to consider terminating my contract. My tractor was declared a total loss according to book value. Thankfully, the load was safe and undamaged.
The truck and trailer were towed to my regular parking spot — ironically, only ten miles from where the wreck happened.
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The Aftermath
I went through all the post-accident steps: accident report, drug testing, and an interview with BESL’s Safety Department head, Brian Dehan. I passed all requirements, but the accident had cost the company money. That was enough for them to end my lease.
And just like that, my time at BESL Transfer was over.
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Looking Ahead
Every trucking job teaches you something, whether you realize it in the moment or not. BESL gave me valuable flatbed experience, steady work, and hard lessons in business and trust.
But it also ended abruptly, pushing me to once again rethink the direction of my career.
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