10-4 Magazine April 2023

10-4 Magazine / April 2023 35 Mark, Brandon’s father, had lost his job in the recession when the pump factory he was working at closed its doors. The State of Ohio gave Mark a chance to go to school to retrain for another field, so Mark attended truck driving school and the state paid for it. After that, Mark sat down and talked with Brandon, explaining to him why he should go to school and get his CDL, because everything that he wanted to do involved trucks. Brandon had some experience driving, but he didn’t know all the rules and regulations, so he signed up for truck driving school. After successfully finishing truck driving school, with the ink barely dry on his CDL, Brandon and Mark leased on with a company to haul containers in 2009. Brandon bought a 2002 Peterbilt 379 with a 63” flat top sleeper, a 550-hp 6NZCAT, an18-speed, and3.55rears, and Mark bought a newer blue Freightliner Columbia with a 430-hp Detroit, hooked to a 10-speed, that had about 500,000 miles on the clock. Brandon’s Peterbilt was a diamond in the rough, and it looked like a million bucks after he worked on it a bit. Unfortunately, the container hauling gig only lasted for about two weeks. As it turned out, it just was not worth all the aggravation and all the deadheading back and forth to Cleveland from Ashland every day. Calling a few places to talk about getting leased on there, once Brandon told them how fresh his CDL was, the conversations pretty much ended there. So, Brandon decided that he and his dad didn’t need to lease on with anybody and instead applied to get their own authority. Brandon and his mother (Tina) filed the paperwork online (she had some legal background experience, so they didn’t have to hire someone to help). While trying to find the right name, Brandon and his mom heard a song on the radio called Holler Back, by the American country music group The Lost Trailers, and from there the name Haul’er Back was born. Having that artistic creativity previously mentioned, Mark drew up the logo, and they were good to go. A neighbor named Joe Stewart drove by their house and saw the trucks sitting there and asked if they were able to haul hay. There was a drought in Virginia, and the farmer’s needed hay to feed their livestock. The Mennonites in Ashland County were in contact with the Mennonites in Virginia, so they started sending hay fromAshland. Brandon and Mark teamed up and drove Brandon’s Peterbilt. Brandon sold everything he didn’t need so they could buy a flatbed, tarps, and plates. Joe Stewart bought their first tank of fuel to get them started, and away they went. Fast forward to 2017. Brandon was going down to Wheeling, WV on a daily basis, to a warehouse there, when he saw this A-model Kenworth sitting there. Brandon was intrigued by this old KW. Every time Brandon backed in the dock at this warehouse he saw that A-model and thought it was the coolest truck. The running joke with Brandon and Bob, the guy who owned the truck and ran the warehouse, was about Bob selling the truck. Brandon hounded Bob for about five years and, finally, after Bob began having some health issues, he agreed to sell it to Brandon. With moss growing on it, Brandon got it running and brought it back home. Never being in an A-model before, he loved how it looked and felt going home.