Karla Horack

For better, or for worse

You would be hard-pressed to find a marriage counselor suggesting to a couple that, after 28 years and two grown kids, the way to improve their relationship and their health would be to team up by sharing the duties of driving an 18-wheeler more than a quarter of a million miles each year.
     Yet, co-piloting a 387 Peterbilt and trailer is exactly what Glenn and Karla Horack of Springfield, MO have been doing for better than a year. For once they are able to choose how much time to spend together (there is always the ample sleeper for solace and distance) and how and when to eat together. After all, Glenn was only home an average of 35 days a year for the last 27 years.
     But for all the benefits their work has brought, the most tangible and likely longest-lasting is the improvement in their health. 
     “I was up to 400 pounds,” says Glenn, 50, who is 6'1" and whose blood pressure was in the danger zone. “I was putting on eight to 10 pounds a year,” he says, referring to what is sometimes known as “the trucker’s ten.” “And I was smoking three packs a day.” He had grown decidedly larger than the frame he carried as a Marine in the 1980s.
     And all those lonely hours, plus the strain of raising two children while Glenn was on the road, took a toll on Karla, 49. She found comfort in food, resulting in her own obesity and high blood pressure.
     Both Karla and Glenn recognized their need to get into better shape and began losing weight. Then, at the Mid-America Trucking Show last year, they ran into Chelle Pfiffner, founder of Big Road Wellness®.
     “They had a program to help us help ourselves while on the road,” says Karla. “We were already convinced of the need for weight loss and exercise, but Mandie (our personal wellness coach) showed us ways we could improve things and stay on track.
     “She checks up on us regularly,” adds Karla.  “And I make sure that everything on the truck is healthy. Lots of fruit. Lots of healthy meals.” (Karla does a lot of cooking in a crockpot in the sleeper.)
     For now, the couple could not be happier or healthier.  They both enjoy the road. “I’ve been driving a long time,” says Glenn. “And I’m glad I was able to talk Karla into driving with me.
     “There is no job better,” he says. “My office has the best view in the country. And nobody is looking over my shoulder.”
     Unless, of course, he reaches for a hidden Ho-Ho or Ding Dong. That’s when Karla is there to put the hammer down and get him back on the road to health.                         

To learn more about healthy trucking, visit
bigroadwellness.com or call 800-664-7515.