{"id":1007,"date":"2020-08-24T11:23:23","date_gmt":"2020-08-24T11:23:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/?p=1007"},"modified":"2020-08-24T16:23:11","modified_gmt":"2020-08-24T16:23:11","slug":"drivers-riders-gather-to-help-a-friend","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/other-news\/2020\/08\/24\/drivers-riders-gather-to-help-a-friend\/1007\/","title":{"rendered":"Drivers, Riders Gather To Help A Friend"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

By Al Muskewitz<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Friends and colleagues of LB3 driver Jeff Watson are putting together a fundraising motorcycle ride around Alabama’s scenic Calhoun and Cleburne County area Saturday to benefit the 40-year driving veteran.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Watson is battling Stage 4 lung cancer and his trucking and riding buddies are stepping up to help their friend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cKeep on Truckin\u2019\u201d ride will assemble at the Mt. Cheaha Harley-Davidson dealership in Oxford, Ala., starting at 10 a.m. KSU (kick stands up) is noon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The convoy will head out U.S. 78 east towards Heflin, jump onto scenic Alabama SR 281 and wind its way back to the dealership where the non-riders and volunteers will already be partaking in the drawing of door prizes, food, live entertainment by Ben Moseley & The Contraband and camaraderie. The event is expected to wrap up by mid-afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe just hope for a lot of participation,\u201d said LB3 fleet manager Jimmy Price, the ride\u2019s organizer. \u201cIt would be real cool if we could get 100 or more (bikes).\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Registration fee is $20 per bike and $10 per passenger. Organizers also will be selling raffle tickets. Private donations also will be accepted. All the proceeds will go towards Watson\u2019s needs.

UPDATE: The event drew more than two dozen riders and raised more than $2,000. Jeff couldn\u2019t attend, but the family brought his bike to the staging area, the dealership cleaned and polished it and Jeff\u2019s son and wife rode it off the lot to lead the convoy. The threat of inclement weather kept the crowd down, but of the whole day LB3 CEO Brian Lindley called it \u201cMission: Accomplished.\u201d

\u201cIt was a really good event regardless,\u201d Lindley said. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t the money. Wendy and the family were touched beyond any kind of monetary value; that\u2019s all that matters. It was Mission: Accomplished.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watson, 62, is a self-described old-school trucker, a throwback to the days when drivers were \u201ckind of a like a last-of-the-cowboy thing.\u201d He\u2019s been driving for 45 years, the past 42 on the interstates with an estimated 7 million safe miles under his 18 wheels. He\u2019s been hauling chicken for LB3 from Ashland, Ala., to Savannah, Ga., and Batesburg, S.C., and back the last three and a half years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In June, he won the Wedowee, Ala.-based carrier\u2019s version of the COVID-canceled Alabama Truck Driving Championship.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an honor for us to having someone with 40-plus years of experience and no accidents a part of our team,\u201d LB3 CEO Brian Lindley said at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lindley applauded Price\u2019s effort for putting Saturday\u2019s ride together and has been moved by the response it has received.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe support for Jeff through the guys has just been overwhelming, it really, really has, and it\u2019s in many facets,\u201d he said. \u201cJeff has been taken aback since it all started. Jimmy and I went to see him and he said he\u2019s never worked for a company that actually cared about the driver like this group of guys has. It\u2019s truly been great to see the guys on this.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While it\u2019s not likely Watson will be able to attend the event, the plan is for one of his sons to bring one of Jeff\u2019s bikes and ride wife Wendy on the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJeff really wants to be there,\u201d Price said. \u201cHis statement was, \u2018Can we just see if they can put me in a wheelchair and get me to that bike ride?\u2019 His wishes are to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Al Muskewitz is Editor of Wright Media. He can be reached at <\/em>musky@wrightmediacorp.com<\/em><\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here for truck driving jobs with LB3.
<\/a>
On the cover: LB3 driver Jeff Watson (L) accepts the trophy for winning the company\u2019s in-house Truck Driving Championship from CEO Brian Lindley.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Al Muskewitz Friends and colleagues of LB3 driver Jeff Watson are putting together a fundraising motorcycle ride around Alabama’s scenic Calhoun and Cleburne County area Saturday to benefit the 40-year driving veteran. Watson is…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":965,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[152,251,254],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1007"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1028,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1007\/revisions\/1028"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.hiremaster.com\/trucking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}