In the old days, the few women who drove trucks almost always learned from a man, often a relative or friend. Truck driving is still dominated by men, but the ranks of women drivers are growing, and male rookies are learning skills from women trainers. And women occasionally train the men in their lives, as was the case of Lynette and Leo Heisel, drivers for Middleton Transportation of Fort Worth, Texas.

Lynette has been driving over-the-road since 1995; Leo joined her in 1998, after retiring from the U.S. Army. The experience has been good overall, but not always easy. Moreover, adds Lynette, men and women learn in far different ways.

The Heisels met in 1985 in Greece when she was a Russian linguist and he was an Arab linguist in Army Intelligence. They married, and she decided to leave the Army after five years, but Leo opted for a 20-year career. Army life took them back to the States in the late 1980s, where she went back to college and earned a degree in psychology. She worked in human resources in Texas, but says she finally tired of the office politics there.

"My father was a trucker, and we had talked off and on about my learning to drive a truck while Leo was still in the Army," she says. "When he started to get close to finishing his 20 years, we began talking about what he'd do after he retired.

"The plan was that I'd go to truck driving school, get hired at a fleet and see how I liked it. If I did, then he'd go to driving school and come on the road with me. If I didn't like it, then we'd have to find Plan B."

So in 1995, she went through school, hired on at Middleton, a division of FFE, and after training, went over-the-road. Leo stayed home at Goodfellow Air Force Base near San Angelo, Texas.

"From the start, she was out three or four weeks at a time. For the first couple of months, it actually felt kind of good — I was doing everything on my own, my way," Leo says. "After about six months, it got old, and after a year-and-a-half, it was really terrible. Those last few months before I retired went really slow."

By September 1998, when Leo retired from the Army, Lynette had become a trainer. He finished his classes and took fleet orientation. Lynette picked him up and off they went.

"It was a big adjustment. There was some head-butting, "he says. "He thought I was picking on him about driving," she says. "I'd get mad and say, 'I'm just trying to help you'." Leo chuckles and adds, "I'd ask her when she'd comment on my driving, 'Well, did I hit anything? No, so it's OK'."

Lynette says the experience showed her the major differences between men and women. "Guys are much more willing to take chances, while women are more hesitant. Guys just go ahead and do something!" she says. "I believe women think about what they are doing a little more; maybe at first they're a bit more afraid of this big machine than men are, they respect it more. A trainer once told me you have to respect it, but you also have to come to feel you can control it. Once you get to that point, you'll be fine."

With their Cocker Spaniel Yorgo (Greek for George), they spent most of the last two years together in a 1998 Freightliner, hauling reefer loads nationwide. They shared duties, and the driving divided nicely since he is a night owl and she is a morning person. Presently, they're driving separate trucks, and Lynette is spending much of her time training new drivers.

Lynette says she feels she's come home. "It's the best job I've ever had. My dad always encouraged me to do things I wanted to do, and I think he'd be proud."