Cover Story

Bart Hall - Link America Corporation

Spend a few minutes chatting with Bart Hall, and you’ll know he’s a man who has found the right career. Bart is a company driver running for Tulsa, OK-based Link America Corporation, where he has found a comfortable mix of good income, steady home time and job satisfaction.
     This over-the-road pro began driving as a young teen hauling grain for an Iowa farm. Life took him away from the road when he served four years in the Air Force as a jet engine mechanic, then did the same work for the Douglas Aircraft Company, now part of Boeing’s Commercial Airplanes division.
     Bart then picked up and moved to Tulsa, where he began driving professionally once again. In 2004 his company was purchased by Link America, and he’s been with them ever since.
     The trucking life suits Bart well. “I’m completely independent, and I have the freedom to do as I please so long as I deliver my loads safely and on time,” he says. “I meet a lot of wonderful people out on the road, and I set personal goals for myself to keep the job challenging. One of them is maximizing my truck’s fuel mileage. I work hard to get the best mileage I can on every run.” Bart drives a 2009 Freightliner Cascadia, and he thanks Link America for supporting his quest for high fuel mileage and maintaining their tractors and trailers so well.
     Link America is a fast-growing motor carrier with a proven track record of success. A variety of lanes are available for company drivers, company driver teams, owner-operators and owner-operator teams. Bart hauls dry van loads throughout Oklahoma and Texas, with occasional runs to the southeastern U.S. “I usually get home every weekend, but my mom has been ill the past few weeks, and Link America helped shift me to local routes so I could be home every night. They really came through for me.”
 Bart is 66 years young, and he still enjoys getting up every morning and going to work. “You can’t keep me away from driving,” he says with a laugh. “Oh, sure, I dream about buying a pontoon boat and fishing out on the lake, but you can’t do that 365 days a year!”
     With decades of driving experience under his belt, Bart has a few words of advice to pass on to young people entering the trucking industry: “You don’t want to be late with your loads, but you don’t have to run hard, either,” he says. “Slow and steady will get you to your destination just as quickly – and a lot more safely.”
     Bart attributes much of his success and happiness to his wife, Charlotte, to whom he’s been married for more than 40 years. “If you don’t have support at home, you can’t drive a truck,” Bart says. “Thankfully, Charlotte has given that to me.” The Halls have three children, now grown.
     The staff of Over the Road and Pro Trucker magazines would like to wish Bart Hall continued success with Link America Corporation. If you would like to learn more about the company driver and owner-operator opportunities available now at Link America, give one of their recruiters a call at 800-953-5416, visit their Web site at lkam.com or see their ad on page 13 of this issue.