Idella Hansen got behind the wheel of a truck for the first time at the age of 11. By the time she was 18, she was driving commercially (although at that age, not exactly legally, she admits). That began a 50-year career as a trucker hauling all sorts of freight, both as an owner-operator and company driver. On this episode, we’re honored to be joined by Hansen, now 75, who regales us with stories about her life on the road — for better and for worse. (Her biggest complaint? “Bad coffee.”) She’s joined by Anne Marie Michel, a renowned photographer and author of Sisters of the Road, a book of portraits of, and stories about, 40 female truck drivers. Hansen and Michel spoke to us from the Mid-America Trucking Show in Louisville, where they had just wound up a national tour (also called “Sisters of the Road”) featuring an all-female convoy and a rolling portrait gallery of Michel’s work, as part of Women’s History Month. Hosted by Bob Bowman, Editor-in-Chief of SupplyChainBrain.

Show notes:

Anne Marie Michel’s Sisters of the Road.