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ehind
the wheel
ties
David & Dana Walden may
drive separate routes but they
always share life’s journey
BY dwain hebda / CONTRIBUTING WRITER
between them, Georgia-based drivers David and
Dana Walden have nearly 70 years of trucking experience,
a stint that has taught them hundreds of life
lessons and given them thousands of stories.
Those stories mark important events in their lives
— especially the one about the cellphone. In fact,
without the cellphone story, many of the others would
never have happened.
“I had service with AT&T and I had an old Suncom phone,”
David said. “I was having trouble with it. I called a friend of
mine and I go, ‘Man, this phone of mine sucks. I’m fixin’ to
throw it out the window, go get me a megaphone and yell out the
window at people.’ He goes, ‘No, no, actually, I know this team
couple, and she’s really good with electronics. And they’re close
to where you are.’
“So I call them,” David continued. “This guy answers the
phone and I go, ‘Hey, my name’s David and my friend told me
your girlfriend is really good with electronics.’ He goes, ‘Oh
man, she’s fantastic with electronics!’ I go, ‘You don’t know me
from nobody, but could she look at my phone?’”
That girlfriend turned out to be Dana, an Army veteran who
loved trucking as much as David did. Over time, a friendship
blossomed until one day Dana, who was now single, made David
an offer he couldn’t refuse.
“Dana calls me out of the blue one day and goes, ‘Hey, I’m
here in Louisiana, fixin’ to go out to California with a load of ice
cream. Where you at?’” he said. “I go, ‘Actually, I’m coming
through Vicksburg, Mississippi.’ She said, ‘I’ll sit here and wait
on you. We’ll go across there together.’ One thing leads to another
… and here we are 20 years later.”
The couple’s professional story mirrors their personal one in
all the ways that are important — a lucky break here, a fortuitous
bounce there, and the sheer dogged determination to see things
through.
David was introduced to trucking by his father, who drove for
half a century. While his father is now deceased, his legacy lives
on through his son’s love of the industry.
“When I was growing up, Dad drove a company truck for one
company for like, 30 years,” David said.
Dana’s hands-on introduction to trucking didn’t come from a
parent. It came from Uncle Sam, through her stint in the U.S.
Army. During her hitch, the Iowa native served in Desert Storm
and Desert Shield before starting her driving career in the civilian
sector. For the past 15 years, she’s driven for Tarkett, based out of
Dalton, Georgia, where she has a designated local run.
“I got grandfathered in on CDL,” she said. “I never did have to
go for that testing. I got home like a week before you had to start;
I had one week to get my CDL without testing.”
In 2001, David founded Walden Transport. Since then, he
has built a successful business through the ups and down of the
market and the many challenges that face all entrepreneurs.
“When I got my truck in 2001, (Dad) said, ‘You realize you’re
making a massive mistake. You always drive for somebody else.
That way they’ve got to deal with the problems,’” David said. “I
go, ‘Dad, I’ve been driving 14 years. I just want to try.’
“Six months later, he went and bought his own truck,” David
continued. “I said, ‘Wait a minute old man. What happened to
making a mistake?’ He goes, ‘Well, I’m 62. I might as well make
my first mistake in life.’”
As much as David enjoys being his own boss, he says
18 the trucker jobs magazine | APRIL 2023 www.TheTrucker.com/Jobs