Cover Story

Allan Johnson - Melton Truck Lines, Inc.

As a professional, over-the-road driver with nearly two million safe driving miles behind him, Allan Johnson has demonstrated that he is one of the trucking industry’s finest. And thanks to the top pay package and consistent, day-to-day support Allan has received from Tulsa, OK-based Melton Truck Lines, Inc., he is also one of the happiest drivers on the road.

Allan first got rolling in 1991 after working for General Dynamics as a welder on nuclear submarines. The time had come to follow in his father’s footsteps and join the professional driving community.

“As a young boy, I rode with my dad several times, and it always appealed to me,” he remembers. “When you get into a truck, you learn pretty quickly whether you are meant for it or not. Clearly, I learned that I was meant for it.”

Allan pulled some bull wagons and dry van trailers during his early years, but he soon settled on flatbed loads as his freight of choice.

“Flatbedding is the hardest trucking job out there, but I wouldn’t do anything else,” he explains. “I talk with a lot of dry vanners who say, ‘No way I’d do that…the work is too hard, and the weather is often too cold and wet,’ but that’s part of what I like about it.

“With dry van loads, you simply bump a dock and drop a trailer from loading dock to loading dock to loading dock,” continues Allan. “Flatbedding takes some skill, so it’s a matter of pride for me.”

And Allan points out that he has made runs to beautiful locations he could not have visited as a dry van driver. These include delivering heavy equipment to Prince Edward Island, galvanized steel to Vancouver Island and electrical cable to the far reaches of Everglades National Park.

This trucking veteran attributes much of his job satisfaction to the terrific program at Melton, where he has remained throughout most of his driving career.

“I earn some of the best mileage pay in the industry, along with stop pay, tarping pay and ‘combat’ pay when I’m in urban areas,” says Allan. “And as a Melton driver with over one million safe driving miles, I became part of their Ambassador program, which has put me behind the wheel of a custom-spec’d Ken-worth W900, with $1,500 in options.”

On the side of the cab, a message proudly states, “Custom-built for Allan Johnson in recognition of 1,000,000 Melton miles.” Talk about driver respect! Allan has certainly earned it, as he was named Melton’s top producer in 2005.

Quick to thank the company for much of his success, Allan says that he couldn’t imagine going anywhere else. “These folks are like family to me, both the people at Melton and the other driving Ambassadors I’m proud to know. They are all like brothers to me, and I appreciate their professionalism and friendship.”

When he is relaxing out on the road, Allan enjoys spending time on his laptop computer. At his home in Tulsa, he enjoys spending time with his wife, Linda, and he watches “brain-friendly” television programming on the Learning and Discovery channels.

The staff of Over the Road and Pro Trucker magazines would like to wish Allan continued success with Melton Truck Lines. For more information on flatbed company driver opportunities available at Melton, see their ads on pages 31 and 102 of this issue.