Tiffany Pell, an assistant dean at a college near the Georgia-Tennessee border who had never ventured far from home, got more than she bargained for when a charming truck driver swept her off her feet and showed her another way of life – one spent on the open road.
Facebook’s “People You May Know” tab connected Tiffany with Jeremy Wallin, a professional truck driver with more than three decades experience in the industry – an unexpected but welcome surprise.
“It’s funny, the town that I’m from and the town he lived in are super close, boundary counties just 10 miles from each other, but I’d never seen him,” she said. “We just never met. I saw this good-looking dude on Facebook and he had these blue eyes and a little dimple and I thought, ‘I have to talk to him.'”
Tiffany had come up with every creative introduction possible, yet no matter how hard she tried the right words just wouldn’t manifest — until Jeremy posted a Texas snapshot of his 2017 Freightliner Coronado on its first haul for Noble Trucking. His leased-on position at the trucking company opened her eyes to an alternative way in and relieved Tiffany’s writer’s block.
“How’s Texas?” she messaged him.
“Hot as hell,” Jeremy, who had made it to New Mexico by the time the message was received responded.
“We just clicked,” said Tiffany.
After sparks started flying between the couple, Tiffany began to dream of a romance that would take her on an exciting journey. With their courtship blossoming into something greater, she was determined to join him as they hit the open road together.
“We started dating and he was gone all the time,” she said.
While away, texts filled with messages of “I miss you” and “wish you were here” filled their phones. Eventually, Jeremy took her out on a ten-day trip that took them through Texas, somewhere Tiffany has always admired, but never visited.
It wasn’t long before Tiffany found herself missing not just Jeremy during hauls, but also life on the road. When Jeremy proposed, she knew she wanted to join him in the cab.
“Honestly, it did start out as more of an adventure,” a “follow your dreams kinda thing,” she said. “I had never been anywhere. Literally I had only been to a handful of states, so the idea of going to visit all the states in America” greatly appealed to her. With several of her own family members in the industry, Tiffany had a long time appreciation of the industry and lifestyle.
It didn’t take long for Tiffany to want more than to just be along for the ride. She wanted to take the wheel. Luckily, she had a ready, willing and patient teacher and mentor in Jeremy.
At one point in their engagement, Tiffany went to pick up Jeremy from a long haul, dressed for a date.
“I didn’t know the trucking lesson was about to start,” she said. “I was trying to look cute cause he’d been gone for a while, so I was wearing a sundress and sandals. When he said, ‘Babe, hop in the cab,” I thought he was going to take a cute picture, but no, he shut the door and went around and got in the passenger seat.”
And that was the first day of her new career and new life. “I puttered around the parking lot. We actually had drivers stopping and giving us the thumbs-up,” and joking that at just five feet tall, “she’s too little to drive the truck,” she said.
Now a team driver, Tiffany found her wealth of administrative experience from her previous career helped her immensely in handling customer service, management, and accounting for the business.
Tiffany has had an overwhelmingly positive experience as a trucker, but as a member of a few female-focused groups such as Women In Trucking and Angels of the Highway, she’s acutely aware that not all women have been so lucky. Although big fleets would like more people with Tiffany’s position in their driver pool, team driving – i.e. sharing cab space with another driver – the concept of sharing a small space with a stranger often deters many individuals from joining up for this type of role. Fortunately for them both however, Tiffany and Jeremy count themselves “blessed” that she was able to avoid this potential obstacle on her path towards success.
Newlyweds Jeremy and Tiffany have a strong connection, as evidenced by the enthusiasm they bring to their business venture. It has been an adventurous journey for both of them thus far.
“This has breathed new life to my trucking career,” he said. “It’s so much more enjoyable now to have someone to do it with. Nobody knows what you know, and being able to teach her with her looking at me with these big doe eyes… The things I take for granted, she’s blown away by.”
“He surprises me every day with more things he knows about I never even heard of. I have a deep respect for him, even if he wasn’t my husband I’d want to still go out and train with him,” Tiffany said of her husband.
“This is the best time of my life I’m having trucking with my wife and my best friend,” Jeremy said.
Source: Overdrive
