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14
AT
THE TRUCK STOP
PRESENTED BY CAT SCALE. VISIT WEIGHMYTRUCK.COM
From banking to trucking: Determination drives
Karen Noel to success behind the wheel
Cliff Abbott
cliffa@thetruckermedia.com
Some people get the bug early, growing
up around trucks and the trucking industry,
knowing they want to drive those huge machines
someday. Others pursue a different
path, coming to trucking later, often when
the circumstances of life compel them to try
something different.
The latter is the case for Karen Noel.
After a career spanning more than three
decades in the banking industry, crunching
numbers and reconciling accounts, she
found herself behind the wheel. She also
found recognition as Women In Trucking’s
(WIT) January 2021 Member of the Month.
“Working in banking, I never had a clue
about trucks,” she said. Noel came to trucking
when she was laid off from her banking
job and her truck-driver husband, Roosevelt,
invited her to ride along on the road.
“I was amazed at the women drivers I
saw,” she related. She spoke to those she
met and, with their encouragement, began
to shift her mindset from being a passenger
to taking the wheel. “I decided to get my
CDL so I could drive, too,” she said.
She began by enrolling at Apex CDL
Institute in Kansas City, Kansas. Once confronted
with the realities of piloting a tractor-trailer,
Noel said she had to face down
some fears. “I had to overcome a lot of insecurities
and questioned if I really wanted
to do this job,” she recalled.
As with many CDL students, backing an
articulated vehicle did not come naturally
for Noel. “Everything was backwards from
my car,” she said. “It was hard to remember
how to get the trailer to go in the direction
I wanted.”
Noel credits her husband for his patience
while she developed her skills. “I practiced
a lot, and my husband is very patient,” she
related. “He makes me believe in myself.”
She faced another insecurity after graduation,
when she was faced with the prospect
of completing a driver-finishing program
with someone she had never met.
“One company I applied to said I had to
go with a female trainer, but I wanted to go
with my husband, because I trust him,” she
said. She and Roosevelt negotiated with
potential employers, settling on Knight
Transportation, which agreed to allow her
husband to be her trainer. “If I had been
with another trainer, I might not have made
it,” she remarked.
In the end, Noel’s tenacity — combined
with Roosevelt’s patience — paid dividends.
“My husband was my trainer, but I
“
There is no such
thing as, ‘I can’t learn to
do that.’ You can
do anything you set
your mind to.”
— Karen Noel, professional
driver and Women In Trucking’s
January Member of the Month.
still had to pass the assessment to be allowed
to drive,” she said. Pass she did, and
the couple became an operating team for
Knight.
Soon, the urge to own their own truck
took over — and so did Noel’s talent for
investigating and organizing. They started
with a well-known resource, the Owner-
Operator Independent Drivers Association
(OOIDA).
“We met the OOIDA truck at one of our
stops and got a lot of advice about owning
our own truck,” she said. Next, they talked
to other owner-operator teams. Noel’s
banking background came into play as the
couple formed a business plan. That plan
include a change of carrier.
Once they had a plan in place, they
worked on obtaining a truck. “After talking
to other owner-operators, we determined
that we did not want to lease/purchase a
truck,” she said. “We decided to buy.”
They visited a Peterbilt dealer, planning
to check out used equipment, but fate
intervened.
“Somebody had ordered a yellow Peterbilt
579 with the PACCAR engine and automated
transmission,” she explained. That
original deal never happened. After listening
to their plan, the dealer offered terms
that were acceptable. “The cards just kind
of fell in place on that one.”
The couple leased their new Pete to Forward
Air, where they felt they could get the
miles they need to make the business work.
“We work open route. We run a lot of I-80,
I-70 and I-40 and occasionally I-20,” she
explained. “We like 2,000 to 2,400 mile
runs when we can get them.”
For Noel, winning the Member of the
Month award from WIT helped validate her
success in her new career. “It put me in a
place to think I’m really a driver,” she explained.
“I didn’t think it would happen and
I thank God for it.”
Courtesy: Women In Trucking
After a career spanning more than three decades in the banking industry, Karen Noel came to
trucking when her truck-driver husband, Roosevelt, invited her to ride along on the road. She
said she was inspired by the women drivers she met and decided to get her CDL. She also
found recognition as Women in Trucking’s January 2021 Member of the Month.
When she’s not on the road, Noel spends
time with family. “When I’m home, I help
care for the grandkids, and homeschool
them when I can,” she said. “It’s harder
when we’re gone so much.”
While Noel credits her husband for his
help, she says her soon-to-be 94-year-old
mother, Rotina, helped instill Noel’s drive
and determination. “She always had an
‘I can’ attitude,” she commented. Noel inherited
that spirit and tries to pass it along
to others. “You CAN,” she insisted. “There
is no such thing as, ‘I can’t learn to do that.’
You can do anything you set your mind to.”
Noel acknowledges the help she received
while looking for a new career and
wants to give something back. “I’d like to
See Banking on p16 m