Lisa Buhrow (right) took former U.S. Representative Reid Ribble (left) for a ride along. (Image: Women In Trucking)Trucker Lisa Buhrow fell in love with trucking while falling in love with her now husband, Wayne. He was a trucker and took her for her first ride in a big rig, and Buhrow was fascinated by the truck. The couple, from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, now drive separate trucks as company drivers for Walmart Transportation.
“It was so intriguing, just the whole process of everything that he did. To hook an actual trailer, bobtailing or not having a trailer, and then hooking onto one and the process of that and how you have to have the skill to maneuver. It just all amazed me,” Buhrow said.
Since getting her CDL in 1991 she’s driven over 2.5 million miles. Buhrow says her love for the job itself is what keeps her getting back in the driver’s seat.
“I love the driving, but I also love the adventure and just how many different things change out here. You can run the same route even twice in one day or twice in a week, and each time you run that route there’s going to be something different,” Buhrow said. “Different vehicles around you, different conditions. It’s always something new and different.”
Lisa Buhrow and her husband, Wayne, prepare to board a cruise ship. The couple likes to take cruises in their down time. They try to go on at least one a year. (Image Courtesy of Lisa Buhrow)In 2014, Buhrow had the opportunity to be an ambassador for the trucking industry when Mark Gottlieb, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation secretary at the time, rode along with her to get an insider’s perspective on the industry. In 2015, Buhrow did another ride along in connection with Women In Trucking with then U.S. Representative Reid Ribble.
“It wasn’t a very long ride but it was very informative. It was great just talking to them and sharing the experiences and having them in the truck to see what we go through on a daily basis, for them to experience what we do out here,” Buhrow said.
Buhrow says she was honored to have been a participant in those ride alongs, and that they made her feel like her opinion was important.
“It gave me a lot of joy to be able to experience that, to be asked to be a participant and to do that,” Buhrow said.
Buhrow encourages anyone interested in becoming a truck driver to keep an open mind. Trucking is different from any other job, she says, and that’s what she loves about it.
“Living out on the road is entirely different from just a regular job and from the day-to-day things that you do. You really have to have a love for new things,” Buhrow said. “For experiencing new things but also the different types of weather you’re going to drive through and such, so I guess be prepared for that and give it your all. Give everything that you have and have pride in what you do.”
