When Danielle Schultz met her truck driver husband Wes, it was love at first sight.
Wes was driving through Sydney with his kids after a wedding and stopped for some food at McDonald’s in Penrith, while Danielle happened to be at the Krispy Kreme nearby.
- Subscribe to our free weekly newsletter to receive the latest news and classifieds from Australia’s transport industry.
- Don’t miss a second and subscribe to our monthly Deals on Wheels magazine.
- Sell your truck with Australia’s #1 truck classifieds
“I ended up going into Maccas for a drink and he was in front of me in the line,” she says.
“We started chatting and four hours later we were still there.
“I walked him to the car and he put the kids in, then I turned to walk back to my car.
“I’ll never forget what happened next — he suddenly spun me around, dipped me and kissed me!”
Although Wes lived hours away in the Hunter Valley, there was no way he was letting Danielle go.
“He texted me saying he couldn’t not see me again, and he’d booked a hotel in Sydney for the weekend!” Danielle laughs.
“He said ‘I’ve booked a babysitter, and I’m taking you on a date.’”
Almost 12 years later, Danielle and Wes are happily married and living together in West Gippsland, Victoria — but their life together hasn’t always been easy.
Not only did they have to navigate the initial challenges of a long-distance relationship, but Danielle also had to adjust to the realities of the trucking lifestyle.
That means Wes often being away for weeks at a time, and missing important dates like anniversaries.
“Our wedding was on a Saturday,” she says.
“He got home from work on the Friday and had to leave again on the Monday.
“We don’t celebrate anniversaries anymore because in the ten years of marriage that we’ve had, we’ve only spent one anniversary together.”
When Danielle and Wes met, Wes had four children, who are now aged 15, 20, 24, and 27.
As the kids’ mother sadly passed away, Danielle has looked after them since the youngest was three.
Despite having a job in state government, she takes care of pretty much everything in the home.
As life is so busy, she’s a big fan of meal prepping.
“I work until 7pm and my son has got to have lunches for when he’s at school, and dinner when he gets home, because he gets home earlier than I do,” she says.
“I also meal prep for my husband, so he has healthy meals for when he’s on the road.
“Every Sunday, I’ll cook for the entire week, get all our snacks, cut up fruit – everything.”
Because her husband is on the road so often, she doesn’t want him to have to worry about domestic chores when he comes home.
“This week for example, he’s only got one day off where he’ll be at home,” she says.
“Out of those 24 hours, he’s going to be sleeping for eight or nine hours, and then he’ll have to spend about six hours driving to work because we live in Gippsland and his yard is in Melbourne.
“So we get the lawn mowed and all those chores done, because I’m not going to let him spend his 12 hours of free time at home fixing things around the house.
“He’s going to come home to a clean house, dinner ready, and a family that loves him.”
Danielle also never lets Wes go to work without an ironed shirt.
“He looks slick every time he leaves for work,” she says.
“Even if I have to iron like 15 shirts, I don’t care.”
Although this all sounds exhausting on top of a full-time job, Danielle says she’s happy to do it.
“I don’t mind, why would I?” she says.
“It’s not an easy life, but I married him — I knew the life I was getting into.
“I love doing those small things to show him I appreciate him.”
If the shoe was on the other foot, Danielle says Wes would do the same for her.
“I was in Box Hill Hospital for five days and Wes stayed home, he did all the cooking, all the washing, he kept the house clean,” she says.
“That’s what marriages should be like, regardless of the job you do. We’re a team.”
Though Danielle puts on a brave face, she admits the unpredictability of trucking can be a major challenge for their family.
“Wes is on his way home from Perth now and he was meant to get home tonight, but I’ve just had a phone call from him and he won’t get home until tomorrow.
“His plans change all the time, and it takes a toll on all of us.
“Sometimes I will randomly start crying because I miss him.
“Yesterday we had 49 phone calls between us — some of them might just be ten seconds long, just to say ‘I love you’.”
She also worries about him on the road, given the increasing number of crashes involving trucks.
“Every single time I hear about a truck accident, I ring him to ask — ‘Where are you, are you OK?’
“There was one time he was in an accident in Mallacoota, after the fires.
“His back trailer hit a ditch late at night and it rolled.
“He was fine, and he wanted to finish the work he was doing so I didn’t see him for over a week after that.
“I didn’t feel like I could breathe until he got home and I could hold him again.”
Danielle says every time there is a serious accident, it hits the transport community hard.
“We’ve lost friends that were truck drivers,” she says.
“Every time a truck driver dies, no matter where they are in Australia, I will cry, because we’re like one big family.”
She would love to see more regulation around licencing and training, and more education around safely sharing the road with trucks.
“Do car drivers know how big the blind spot is on a truck?” she asks.
“Do they know how long it takes a loaded truck to stop?
“Most of the time, people don’t know these things, and they cause a lot of accidents.”
Despite all these challenges, Danielle is positive about the transport industry — and happy that her kids are passionate about it too.
“My son basically grew up in a truck, every school holiday he would be out with his dad,” she says.
“He wants to do welding and boiler making and he’ll probably work in trucks at some point.
“I love that he’s interested in the transport industry, and I know he’ll be safe because his dad has taught him.
“Our oldest daughter is also a pilot driver for oversize truck drivers, and our other daughter is working in the mines.”
Danielle wishes truck drivers got more respect, as they play such an important role in society.
“If you break down, it’s a truck driver who is coming to tow your car,” she says.
“Everything you have came out of a truck. The clothes you’re wearing, the food you’re eating, the phone you’re using.
“Without farmers and truck drivers, we would have nothing in this country, but we treat truckies like second-class citizens.
“I treat my husband like a king, because he is my world.”
Read more:
- Perth’s Camp Quality Convoy raised $400,000 for sick children
- Former ambulance driver shares 1942 Ford Flathead resto story
- Truck lover discovers Belgium’s Holridge fleet during European holiday
- Rock star lyrics adorn Rasmussen Bulk Haulage’s dazzling Kenworths
- Truckies Toy Run brings Christmas cheer to families
Check out the Deals on Wheels Facebook here.