This is how I got to where I am now…
My husband and I married young he started out working construction, after a few years building houses an opportunity to learn how to run heavy equipment crossed his path and he jumped on board. We moved from North Carolina to Indiana and he joined the Local Union. We’d been married for almost 7 years before having our first born and I’d been working as a preschool teacher for several years before giving birth. Once we had our oldest we realized that the amount of money I was making was basically going to pay for daycare, it didn’t take long to decide it would be best if I stayed home with our son and we’d figure out how to make it work with only one income. My husband (Jason) would work non stop all summer long and during the winter months he would be laid off. I would pick up an odd job for a few months to make up for the loss in income and he would take over the parenting duties. We weren’t rich but we made it work, we had another child and continued on the same way. I worked in many fields everything from Medical billing to DSL tech support. I even held down a few telemarketing jobs (it’s amazing the jobs you’ll do when you know it’s only for a few months…lol). I got pregnant with baby number 3, the final baby. We chose for me to have my tubes tied, 3 was plenty. It was June 2007 and building season was picking up so I quit my job with Dish network so that Jason could work full steam and I would be staying home again. Baby number three came 3 weeks early, my insurance had lapsed(literally the day before) and Jason’s insurance hadn’t kicked in yet. I had a baby and my tubes tied not realizing that I wasn’t still covered, at the time I didn’t worry too much about it, I figured we’d pay it off little by little until finished. Barely a year later the “Housing market” crashed and building came to a screeching halt. We couldn’t afford our vehicle payments, we couldn’t afford our rent and could barely feed all 5 of us. We packed up what little we had left and moved in with my Dad, in Iowa. Once we got settled Jason signed up at the Union in Des Moines and my Dad paid him to help out on the farm. We were barely getting by, we couldn’t afford to pay off the hospital bills or the two vehicles we had repossessed, we had to go on food stamps.
After about a year and a half we found out that the coal mines in Indiana were looking for heavy equipment operators to run equipment for the above ground mines. They paid good money and worked year round so Jason jumped on the opportunity and moved to Southern Indiana. He found us a little house to rent and a few months later my family helped us rent a U-Haul, packed us up and off to Indiana myself and the three kids went.
Things were going good however we were so far in debt by then we couldn’t see a way out so we filed for bankruptcy. We wiped away the debt and started over fresh. I decided to go to college and was able to stay home full time. We had a few good years but we had no idea that the coal market was about to plummet. We had no idea that the Gvt had a plan to shut them all down, they nearly succeeded. We are only one family out of thousands that were effected by this but we had used up the bankruptcy “safety net”.
We lost everything all over again! Everything we had started to rebuild was gone. Jason was laid off and we could no longer afford the truck and motorcycle payments, they got repo’ed. We couldn’t afford to have Christmas, my sister and a friend made Christmas happen for our three kids that first year. The second year we found out my then 4 year niece has brain cancer. We dropped everything and drove back to Iowa, we took the Christmas money we had saved for that year (it wasn’t much) and spent it on the trip/hotel/gifts/party for my nieces. We wanted her to have a really amazing “party” before her first surgery (that would change her life forever).
Jason went back to work but his salary was reduced by 3/4, not only was he only making less than half of what he had been but they took away the gas card, the phone allowance, the bonuses and we now had to pay for our health insurance. So yes he was working and still making more than I could make but our expenses outweighed our intake. We tried to hang on, I went to work for a few months and then one of our vehicles broke and we live in a rural area, I had to quit again. With one car we decided to do the best we could with what we had.
Over the years I had some health issues arise and I ended up spending a week in the hospital, I take a medication daily that our insurance will no longer cover so I’m forced to pay out of pocket (we have appealed) and are trying to work out something else but in the meantime it’s an extra (major) expense, we are also being garnished for 20% of Jason’s wages for the truck we lost. We tried to negotiate a lower percentage but the bank wouldn’t go any lower. This garnishment will last 2 years at the least.
I knew this was coming, I had gone to court and tried to fight it but I knew we were losing so I began looking for work. I’ve been job hunting for every bit of a year. For several months I would fill out applications and send out resumes but wouldn’t hear anything. I couldn’t land an interview so I revamped my resume and drafted an unconventional cover letter and started sending it out with every application/resume. I started to get a few interviews, I went on roughly 5 interviews. I am not picky when applying in fact some of my interviews were at Auto-Zone, Rural King and a law office. I have a diverse back ground but I haven’t held a steady job for the past 16 years. After my interviews I began to get emails and notifications telling me that I was NOT going to be offered the position. I’ve been heart broken over this several times, jobs I really wanted or jobs I thought I’d be perfect for, I couldn’t land. I spent my 42 birthday crying over a rejection email. I decided to email a few of the managers that I had interviewed with and asked them for advice, ask them if there is anything I could do better. I was told that my work history is the set back, so I began to brain storm.
I began to think about what I enjoy doing, what I am good at, and what experience is in my back ground. I began looking into businesses with low over head, something I felt like I could do well and enjoy AND that my body can handle.
I came across two choices being a Hot Shot or being a Pilot Car driver, I started looking into each business and decided that with my back ground in the trucking industry, I could be an amazing pilot car operator and there aren’t any Pilot car companies in my immediate area.
My grandparents used to own a Trucking company and my grandma taught me how to do the books. My dad has been an OTR Truck driver for as long as I can remember and he let us ride along(often). I love driving and do all the driving in our family. I am not afraid to tackle the open road and have clocked many many miles.
I have researched/learned everything I possibly could about how to become a Pilot Car, I have researched every State and all of the federal requirements. I have made a list of absolutely everything I will need to get this company up and running, the only thing I’m missing is the money and that’s what has lead me to this Fund raising campaign. The garnishments kicked in before I had the chance to gather up the money/items I needed to get driving.
We are sinking quickly, we are struggling to buy food and pay the bills. I could really use some help any amount of money will help even if it’s only 5$. I will be using this money to give myself a job. To put myself to work so that we can get back on our feet and hopefully build this into a business that will allow me to pay it forward.
Hey! Thanks for taking the time to read my story, I realize that the pictures I have posted are silly and aren’t necessarily “Pilot Car” related but even through all of this I try and keep my sense of humor and I continue to search for Silver linings. (After 21 years of marriage I’ve found the value in keeping a sense of humor 😊.)
![IMG_0342[1]](https://i0.wp.com/starvinlarry.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/img_03421.jpg?w=325&h=243&ssl=1 "IMG_0342[1]")
The latest paroxysms of puerile petulance.
Starvin Larry 