Jeremy Farr

When he was young, Jeremy Farr idolized truck drivers. “I was that little kid out there standing by the road pumping his arm for truckers,” he said. Now, Farr has been driving a truck for 21 years and has no plans to stop any time soon.

Farr graduated from Dublin in 1996, and spent a few years working in construction. He knew he wanted to end up trucking, but decided to wait a few years. “You can drive commercially in Texas when you’re 18, but you can’t leave the state until you’re 21,” he said.

So he spent those years insulating houses and doing other construction jobs until he turned 21, when he got his first trucking job as a driver for a Stephenville-based company called Westar Commodities, hauling grain all over Texas. “That kind of set the wheels of motion so to speak,” he said.

After three years there, he started looking for jobs that would take him out of the state. With some experience under his belt, he was able to find jobs pretty easily, and soon Farr was taking longer trips, and hauling different loads.

Farr has driven for several different companies over the years, and his jobs have taken him to all of the lower 48 states and to most of Canada. “What I like about driving is that you’re not in the same place every day,” he said. “It’s a change of scenery, and every trip is something different.”

He now drives for Bottlinger Grain in Hamilton, where he has lived with his wife Wendy Farr for the past four years. On a given day, he works for 12 to 15 hours a day, typically with weekends off. “During harvest time we go seven days a week, so you get a whole lot more hours,” he said.

To stay entertained during long days on the road, Farr often calls fellow truck drivers to chat. “I’m on the phone a lot with the guys I work with,” he said. “We group call each other and talk all day long.”

He also likes to listen to the radio and enjoy the beauty of the American countryside. “I get to watch the sun rise and set, and I have seen some really, really beautiful sights,” he said. “In a lot of the states, you can be driving down a regular highway and it is just beautiful everywhere. It looks like a painting, you know?”

But driving for a living does have its downsides. “Being away from home all the time is kind of the bummer of it,” Farr said. “And I’ve come within 20 or 30 miles and some of the coolest stuff in the United States, like the Grand Canyon, Mount Rushmore, but didn’t get to see it, because major attractions won’t let commercial vehicles in.”

Still, Farr loves his work, and plans to drive until he retires. “I’m too old to switch gears now,” he said. “I’m pretty good at driving a truck and that’s all I know how to do, so I’m probably going to keep doing it until I can’t no more.”

When he’s not driving a truck, Farr enjoys a different kind of driving: he rides a motorcycle with the Boozefighters Motorcycle Club. Farr had always had an interest in bikes -- he rode dirt bikes growing up, and a few years ago decided to buy his own motorcycle.

“One of the guys in my chapter [of the motorcycle club] saw my bike sitting in the front yard, so he stopped by and asked me if I liked to ride,” Farr said. “I said yes, and he kind of took me in and started bringing me around. I got to seeing what being a club was like, and I was like, yeah, that’s for me.”

Farr also enjoys spending time with his family. His mother Brenda Russell still lives near Proctor, and his father Randy Farr lives in Tolar and owns Randy’s Small Engines in Stephenville. Farr has three children from a previous marriage. His oldest son, Colt, is 23, his daughter Michaela is 20, and his son Kreg is 18.

Farr’s advice to Dublin graduates is to go to college if they have the opportunity. “College can make life a whole lot easier if you can pick a field where you make good money,” he said.

He also stressed the importance of being adaptable when faced with new challenges. “Life kicks you in the teeth all the time,” he said. “You just learn how to roll with the punches.”

Editor’s Note: This column chronicles what Dublin graduates have done since high school. If you have any suggestions for other graduates, email publisher@dublincitizen.com.