2211_TTJM_AllPages

along for
the ride
Baums
AWAY!
Driving with dogs creates
a happy family for this
trucking couple
BY DWAIN HEBDA / CONTRIBUTING WRITER
When it comes to love of the open road, Larry
and Angie Baum are in rare company. The
Illinois-based couple, who drive for Landstar
and have about 3 million miles under their
belts, are so in love with driving that they’ve
taken the life-altering step of living in their
rig with their pups — Gizmo, Bandit and Nova.
“Used to be, we’d be out for two or three months, go
home for a week; out two or three months, go home for a
week,” Larry said. “But now, we have the Volvo 180 super
sleeper that has all the amenities — toilet, shower, stove,
sink, a big refrigerator. So, we are selling our house and
living on the road.”
For Angie, it’s all part of the adventure.
“I’ve done so many firsts with him since we’ve been driving,”
she said. “To see all the landscapes and wake up every
day to a new city is so cool. We just love it!”
These niceties aside, there’s an awful lot in Larry and
Angie’s backstory that suggests the two never would have
wound up together, much less live the life of a driving team.
Larry spent his youth catching waves in Southern California.
The loss of his first wife so upended his world that
he went into a downward spiral that eventually cost him his
job, home and a relationship with his daughter. In time, he
finally started to come around, but he had no idea what the
future held.
“I was on unemployment,” he recalled. “Went to one of
PHOTOS COURTESY OF LARRY AND ANGIE BAUM
For Illinois-based team drivers Larry and Angie Baum,
life on the road is three times better with their canine
companions, Gizmo, Bandit and Nova. The couple, who
drive for Landstar, say they now live on the road full-time.
30 THE TRUCKER JOBS MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2022 WWW.THETRUCKERJOBS.COM
30 THE TRUCKER JOBS MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2022 WWW.THETRUCKERJOBS.COM