LAS CRUCES — Lori Rand and her husband both have college degrees but have recently taken some more classes. In fact, Rand and her husband, Mike Merriwether, plan to start their new career soon — as truck drivers.
"We're going to be a team," she said. "We think this is a great way to make a living and see the country."
Each day here in southern New Mexico, trucks roll past on one of the two interstates. Whether carrying produce, car parts, fuel or any number of a myriad of products, the big rigs head all directions, any time of day or night.
The trucking industry is looking for drivers.
"A truck driver will have a job tomorrow, for life," said Luis Garcia who works for Mesilla Valley Transportation and is president of Mesilla Valley Training Institute, where Rand learned how to be a trucker. "At MVT, we hire an average of 15 drivers a week, every week."
MVT has a fleet of about 1,000 trucks. Garcia said larger companies such as Swift, which has 31 terminals across the country, are constantly hungry for drivers. "Swift has 15,000 trucks and they have training schools and they still recruit from us," he said. "You look in the paper and there're
