Trucker Rick Strayer does more than just deliver freight — he delivers a message every time he gets behind the wheel of his 2010 Cascadia. Shining through the dark purple coat of paint on his rig is a sunset with silhouettes of soldiers on the doors, a tank and jets as the Statue of Liberty stands tall against the sleeper with fireworks shooting off in a blaze of glory.
It’s all in honor of Paralyzed Veterans of America, a congressionally chartered organization that advocates for paralyzed veterans regarding health care, research and education, benefits and civil rights. In 2010, Freightliner had a Cascadia designed with a patriotic paint scheme, which included the Paralyzed Veterans of America logo, “to salute America’s bravest heroes,” company leaders said.
“We joined forces with the PVA to design a truck honoring our veterans and especially those injured during their service,” Freightliner said.
It was auctioned at Barrett-Jackson Auction Company in January 2014 with all the proceeds going to the PVA. Strayer said his sister works for Don Damon, who won the $96.6 million Powerball jackpot and purchased the truck, among many other vehicles he now collects. When it was up for sale, Strayer jumped at the chance to buy it in May 2014 because of the low mileage to start his venture as an owner operator, but it has become so much more than a truck, he said.
“You realize they’re just kids going out and doing the hard stuff and some of them coming back, giving the ultimate sacrifice,” Strayer, 53, said of veterans.
Strayer, of Hoisington, Kan., is a married father of four furry children — four dogs and one cat — and while he is not a veteran, he understands how a severe injury can change everything. After high school, he went to work in the oil fields and “got my leg crushed,” Strayer said.
“We were laying down pipes” and Strayer tripped, fell into the pipe basket and the drill collar rolled off the catwalk and onto his leg. “They’re about 300 pounds a foot and it’s 30 feet long,” he said of the drill collars.
The injury “mashed all my bones” on his lower right leg, requiring about 20 surgeries. Even in 2007, he had to have a skin graph taken from his arm to put on his leg after the original skin graph opened.
For the next three to four years, he was recovering. Working in the oil fields was no longer an option.
“I can walk and everything, but it’s still messed up,” Strayer said. “Sitting was my No. 1 priority, so I thought about driving a truck.”
His life in the trucking industry started in farming.
“My best friend when I was growing up had a farm, so I hauled ground alfalfa,” Strayer said, eventually going over the road in 1995. He worked for a few companies driving flat-bed, dry van and reefers.
The last company he worked for went out of business, so he took a leap of faith. Strayer said after a loan from the bank, he was able to purchase the Cascadia and lease it to Doug Bradley Trucking out of Salina, Kan.
“My wife said she couldn’t get over how smooth [of a ride] it was,” Strayer said. “I like the 13-speed in it, the park assist, the extra sets of batteries … All the bells and whistles.”
But the patriotic images are what gets the most attention during his hauls, mostly in the Midwest and out to California.
“There’s been several truck drivers that come up and salute me and they just thank me for the truck, I got to explain to them I’m not military,” Strayer said. “There’s not a day that goes by that somebody does not want to take a picture … Most ask permission and I say, ‘Yes, that’s what it’s there for.’”
While he often gets honks and the “thumbs up” out on the highways and people driving beside it to snap a picture, he’ll occasionally be followed to the truck stops.
“They’ll say, ‘We had to pull in here and take a picture of the truck. My brother was in the service, or dad was,” Strayer said. “When I first bought it I was buying it for the low miles and everything, then it hit me; when you see it from people that are military or have lost someone in the military, it has a big effect on them, and so it affects me.”
Strayer said he is not one to call attention to himself and the truck itself is “too nice a truck to put out on the road,” which made driving it “kind of nerve-racking” at first. But he said it’s been an honor to share the message of PVA .In addition to being a traveling billboard, Strayer has taken it to a few parades when asked. The next one will be at the Minnesota Boxelder Bug Days festival during its grand parade on Sept. 13.
It’s just another way Strayer can show his appreciation for being able to drive a truck with such a profound message.
“What I do is not even comparable, but at least it’s something,” Strayer said. “I might not have been military, but I got this truck and in a roundabout way, it raises awareness.”