Page 34 - Arkansas Trucking Report Volume 22 Issue 6

do with this pickup?’ He said, ‘I don’t
“WE DIDN’T REALLY EVER SAY WE WANTED 50 know. Just hit the ball.’ And lo and
behold, I place it right in the hole and
TRUCKS OR A HUNDRED. WE JUST WOKE UP we about all… ,” he trails off. “We just
ONE DAY, AND WE HAD A HUNDRED. WHAT WE couldn’t believe it.”
DID LEARN WAS HAULING DIAPERS WAS A VERY The golf pro couldn’t believe it
GOOD BUSINESS.” either. He heard them cheering from
the clubhouse and called the Ford deal-
er, saying “I’m telling you, somebody
has won that pickup, because they’re
of resistance.” they had found the stolen truck in a making too much noise out there.”
In addition to getting drivers home, suburb of Fort Worth. He bid on it, and Starr gave the Ford pickup to his
Starr says his other priority is to keep a few days later, he got it back. grandson last year for Christmas.
them moving when they are on the A lot of things have come back He shakes his head, “I’m sure it will
road. When a driver gets to his desti- around for Starr: his lost truck, his never happen again, but it happened on
nation, Starr’s goal is to have another career in trucking, and year after year that Saturday morning.”
load ready to pick up. He wants for in the industry. Now, Starr and Kathy spend the
Woodfield drivers what he wanted for weekends at the farm north of town
himself. UNTIL THE COWS COME HOME that they bought three years ago with
“We try to avoid laying over and to In a few weeks, Starr will gather cows and their Great Pyrenes puppy,
keep the guys moving. Because I know drivers and employees for a party Callie.
when I was driving a truck, if I wasn’t at The River Woods, a local venue Around the lunch table with Kathy
at home, I wanted to be moving.” with a dock right on the river and an and Stephanie, he laughs about how
outdoor stage. They’ll have a band close they’ve gotten to the animals.
LOST AND FOUND and host a Christmas party catered by Stephanie shows off home videos
Even though it’s been decades since Woods Place with fried fish and all the on her phone of Kathy greeting their
he’s driven full-time, Starr still relates trimmings. They’ll recognize some of first trailer of cattle in a sing-song
to his drivers and their time behind the the contributions employees have made voice, “Welcome to your new home.”
wheel. He’s maybe even a little nostalgic to the company over the past year. They pretend-tease her for some-
for driving. “It takes the seriousness out of times singing to the cows, and in the
Though Woodfield’s trucks are business just for a little while,” Kathy videos, it really does look like the bovine
shiny and new, just outside his office said. congregation, crowded around her, is
sits a maroon and white Peterbilt And they do take their work seri- ready to join in the hymns with a cho-
cabover from the 70s just like the one ously, but they know how to have fun, rus of “moos.”
he used to drive. His name is in script too. They recently took a cruise from But it turns out that Jimmy has
just under the driver side window and New York to Nova Scotia, Halifax. They bonded with the cows, too. In the morn-
“Woodfield,” across the door. It’s not flew into New York City and spent some ings before work, Kathy says, she’s heard
the exact same truck, he drove all those time in Times Square. Starr said, “We’d Jimmy talking to Loretta, one of the
years ago, of course. That one was actu- never been there, so it was like two cows, complimenting her hair and the
ally stolen. country bumpkins in the city. But we spray of bangs that hang over her eyes.
He was near Dallas, where ABF just had the best time.” He recounted He sighs, “I don’t know if I’ll ever
had a terminal in Mesquite, Tex. in some of the ports up the Eastern coast, retire. I’m sure one of these days, our
1979, and it was his first brand new but stops and smiles, “I would just say kids will wish we would. But we’re just
truck. He remembers that it cost that wherever she’s at, that’s where I’m not people who like to do nothing.
$53,000, which was a fortune at the going. I’m just as happy as I could be.” We’ve got to be doing something at all
time. He reported the truck missing, Jimmy Starr is modest about his times. But years will pass and there will
but after 30 days, there was still no accomplishments, but on a little table in come a time that we’ll want to settle
sign of the missing truck. his office sits a golf ball—the one from down, might buy a few more cows. But
“It was a cold winter night, and I’d his hole-in-one at a local tournament, we’ll be around for a long time.”
gotten a motel room …just got up the the one that earned him a brand new After almost 30 years, it’s not hard
next morning, and it was gone.” pickup truck a few years ago. to believe Jimmy Starr will be providing
He bought another truck and went He was on a team with a couple jobs in Camden until the cows come
back to work, when he got a call from friends and was the last one to hit. “I home. ATR
the Fort Worth Police Department that said, ‘Tom, now what am I going to

34 Issue 6 2017 | ARKANSAS TRUCKING REPORT