Jimmie Rogers Trucking, Inc.

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NOV EMBER , DECEMBER , 2015 & JANUARY, 2016
JIMMIE ROGERS TRUCKING, INC.
The editor takes time out from the interview
to visit with with Erica (Rogers) Neal, Jimmie’s
daughter.
A
By Barbara Oringderff
After 50 years of hauling livestock, the trucking
business is still what keeps Jimmie Rogers and
his wife Sharon going.
“I got to see a lot of places and meet a lot of really great
people, and it’s been a good living,” said Jimmie while he
looked over old photos in his office west of Liberal, KS.
Originally from the Guymon, OK area, Rogers grew
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“A few years ago our drivers hauled cattle
from Dalhart, TX to Wyoming for Wilfred
Brimley,” recalled Rogers. “I didn’t get to
meet him, he worked with John, our dispatcher, but I did talk to him over the phone,
and he had that great voice we all heard in
the movies. He later sent this picture to
John, autographed to John’s son, Kaden.”
up with trucks: “My dad, Ernest Rogers, had a bobtail
truck and he hauled livestock and grain when I was
growing up,” recalled Rogers.
“I bought my first truck in 1965. I leased to Hofferber
Trucking for several years, and then in 1975 I started my
own trucking company in a round-top barn in Liberal,
KS. I bought this place in 1975, and we built this office
we are in now in 1994.”
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“I remember when Jimmie left
Alex Hofferber. They were good
friends, and Mr. Hofferber said that
Jimmie would be his biggest competitor!” said Sharon, who has always been a partner in the business.
For Jimmie and Sharon, it’s all
about the great people who have
helped keep them in the trucking
business all these years.
“I probably wouldn’t still be in
business today if it wasn’t for my dispatcher John Moses, who has been
with us for 13 years. He keeps me in
business,” Rogers enthused. “He can
find more jobs than you can believe!”
Today, Jimmie Rogers Trucking
has 19 Wilson trailers and several
Peterbilt trucks. “Our drivers are
mostly truck owners who drive their
own trucks and pull our trailers,”
explained Rogers.
“And then there’s my daughter,
Erica Neal, who has been our bookkeeper since 1994. She is just great,
and her husband Danny, who joined
us in 1998 works for us too, as the
safety director.”
“1994 is the year I decided I wanted
to retire from bookkeeping,” laughed
Sharon. (Jimmie had four girls and
Sharon had two girls when they
married in 1978.)
“I got in the trucking business by
default!” Erica joked. “My oldest
trucking memories were when Dad
used to pick us up in the summer
and take us in his truck. I remember
one time at a truck stop he bought
us girls Flintstone characters and we
played with them on the trip. I kept
them in a cigar box for years. Then
there’s the time Dad left us in the
truck while they were loading cattle
and Lorri Jo honked the horn. Dad
came running, of course, because the
noise spooked the cattle. He asked
who was honking the horn, and Lorri
Jo said, ’It wasn’t me, it wasn’t me, it
must have been Erica!’” she laughed.
“When Sharon decided to retire
they asked me to take over. I did,”
said Erica, “but she didn’t get to be
gone in 1994 because there was way
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This 1959 GMC 660 was just like Jimmie’s first truck (he has no photo’s of
the first one.) “I bought this truck from my friend Allan Smith.”
Jimmie’s 1964 Freightliner was one of the trucks he drove for Alex Hofferber. The trailer is an American
with a wood floor.
“Our 1991 379 Peterbilt and 1988 388 Peterbilt with Wilson hog trailer unloading pigs in Canada.”
Jimmie Rogers
NOV EMBER , DECEMBER , 2015 & JANUARY, 2016
Rogers Trucking 1975 Peterbilt with
a Merritt punch-side trailer, a triple.
It’s not an imitation
when the brand is
Wilson Trailer.
With Wilson you get:
• Expert engineering, precision
manufacturing, and the use of
the finest materials.
• Innovative and original
features designed to make the
trailer more functional, longer
lasting and easier to maintain.
• Persistent durability both in
and out of the field, amazing
performance and very low
maintenance costs.
Jimmie Rogers Trucking 1978-79 Kenworth with a new Wilson
triple deck, slat side trailer, called an electric deck triple. Rogers
hauled hogs, or light Mexican calves with this trailer.
Patriot Aluminum Self-Unloading Conveyor Trailer
• Your best value!
Pacesetter Aluminum Double Wall Hopper Trailer
Ranch Hand Aluminum Gooseneck Livestock Trailer
Silverstar Aluminum Drop Center Livestock Trailer
For more information call this Factory-Direct Wilson Sales Representative
NEW LOCATION NOW OPEN - 2401 Wildcat Ct, Liberal, Kansas 67901
2730 East Trail
P.O. Box 297 • Dodge City, Kansas 67801
wts.kansas@wilsontrailer.com
22080 East Hwy. 34
Fort Morgan, Colorado 80701
wts.colorado@wilsontrailer.com
“The Bass Brothers cattle were on San Jose Island, off of Corpus Christy, TX, and we hauled for them to the Flint Hills in Kansas. They always bought Mexican calves in the winter and had
us haul them to the Flint Hills in the spring,” Rogers recalled.
SALES • SERVICE • PARTS
620-225-6220
NOV EMBER , DECEMBER , 2015 & JANUARY, 2016
fax 620-227-8627
1-800-279-9875
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Jimmie Rogers and his sprint car crew. “We owned a sprint car from
1991 to 2001, and Gary Lee Maier from Dodge City drove for us.” Jimmie
Rogers.
“This wreck was in Wyoming. That’s our 1981 Peterbilt with a slatsided Barrett trailer. The bridge just gave away when they drove over
it.” Jimmie Rogers
“We hauled a lot of hogs for DeKalb for about 10 years. They understood trucking and were great to
work for. Every Monday morning they wired our money to the bank, and that mattered a lot to us.”
Jimmie Rogers
Jimmie Rogers Trucking 2003 Peterbilt and 2003 Wilson trailer.
Jimmie Rogers loves trucks, but he’s also pretty proud of this antique saddle which is
stamped: “KC Saddlery August 14, 1917.”
too much stuff in her head that I
needed!”
The trucking business has been
good to Jimmie Rogers and his
family, and they have seen a lot of
changes over the years, not all of
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Sharon and Jimmie posed with their favorite Peterbilt in front of their new
office in 1994.
them for the best.
“The trucking business is one of the
worst taxed and treated industries in
this country, and it’s a shame,” said
Rogers. “People don’t realize that
if all the (commercial) trucks in the
U.S. stopped running for just three
days, the whole country would be
paralyzed!”
“We used to say that everything except a baby is delivered by a truck!”
added Sharon, “And it’s still true.”
NOV EMBER , DECEMBER , 2015 & JANUARY, 2016
2015 - 2016 Show Schedule
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NOV EMBER , DECEMBER , 2015 & JANUARY, 2016
McCook, Ne Farm & Ranch Show 11/18 -11/19 Booth #212
Amarillo, Tx Farm Show 12/1 - 12/3 Booth # S160
National Western SS Denver, CO 1/9 - 1/24/16 # 1412
Colorado Farm Show Greeley, CO 1/26 - 1/28 # FEA E
Great Bend, KS Farm & Ranch Show 4/6-4/8 # O 800
Husker Harvest Days Grand Island, NE 9/13-9/15 # 1002
3i Show Dodge City, KS 10/13- 10/15 # O 255 - 260
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