34 10-4 Magazine / February 2026 Loaded with every option, TMT also lettered Steen’s Peterbilt 579 with the numerous awards and recognitions he’s received in recent years celebrating his driving career. Some of these awards include the 2007 Colorado Truck Driver of the Year, as well as being awarded the TMT company driver of the month four times so far during his 23 years with the company. But, the award Steen is most proud of is being recognized as a Travel Centers of America/Petro Stopping Centers Citizen Driver Award recipient in 2019. The Petro in Laramie, Wyoming is now named after Steen. “I stop there every week when I’m running I-80 to California and visit with everyone there,” said Steen. While I was shooting some photos of Steen and his truck at the show in Louisville, Kentucky last year (2025) for this story, my good friend Susie De Ridder was also with me. Susie was the one who introduced me to Steen in 2023 the day of her TA Citizen Driver Award truck stop dedication ceremony at the TA Truck Stop in Barstow, California. But, what occurred to me when I had Steen and Susie pose with Steen’s Peterbilt for a few photos, between the two of them, there’s over ten million safe, accident free miles behind the wheel of a truck, with Steen having over six million and Susie having over four million. To put that into perspective, that’s more than 400 trips around the world or over 20 trips to the moon and back! A Trucker Buddy for 18 years, Steen worked with a 4th grade teacher named Angie Banning at a school in Longmont Estates, Colorado. “I loved hearing from the kids and writing back and forth with them,” said Steen. “Every year I’d bring my truck to the school. I’d buy lunch for the class, and I’d have a photographer there to take photos, along with every student receiving a photo of themselves with my truck.” While Steen’s trucking career has been his life and he’s proud of his awards and accomplishments, if you ask him what the greatest moment in his life has been, Steen will tell you it was in 2006 when he was naturalized, becoming a United States Citizen. “It was one of the most emotional moments of my life, to stand there, taking the oath of allegiance with 70 other people and a judge that day, it’s something I’ll never forget,” said Steen with pride, continuing with, “My Trucker Buddy class sent me letters of congratulations, and each one of those letters were written in Red, White and Blue! It was amazing!!” Blessed with so many great people in his life, Steen wants to thank his wife Linda of 28 years, Linda’s daughter Jessie, Steen’s sister Ulla, his dispatcher David Purcell at Mile Hi, Jerry Sheehan (retired vice president of transportation at Leprino Foods), Tony Taddonio, the owner of Mile Hi, and his daughter Kristy Taddonio-Mullins, as well, for all their support over the years. “I don’t really have many hobbies, but traveling
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