Today we’d like to introduce you to René A Garza.
Hi René A, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I’m a 3rd generation truck driver. My father’s Dad drove big truck & my Dad drove for 38 years before he passed away 19 years ago. Back when trucking was real and & there was a genuine camaraderie on the big road, my mother made my Dad promise her he wouldn’t teach us how to drive until we were adults. I had a one-year-older brother & a one-year younger brother. We all loved going on road trips with Dad, weekend runs, or during spring break or Christmas holidays off from school; Dad would tell me he wasn’t going to wake me up more than once if I wanted to go with him on the big road, we would be leaving at 0200, it would typically take three or more times to wake me up during the school week, but when it was time to go with Dad, the sound of The turning the knob on my bedroom door. I was wide awake and ready to go; sometimes, I would sleep with the clothes I was planning on wearing for the trip cause I didn’t want to be left behind.
My younger brother only went a few times with Dad because he had special abilities & needs Dad couldn’t do on the road. My older brother was more into his looks & girls & not getting dirty, so I would jump onto the trailer and sling chains around and help Dad. It didn’t matter if my clothes were filthy, so I was Dad’s favorite to go on the road with; I was a sponge. I would ask questions all the time, and I believe that made him happy for the interest I had in his profession; Dad had taught all his brothers my uncles how to drive a big truck, & each of them also drove trucks for millions of miles, Dad & I were the only ones who moved goods cross country. I traveled 23 states with Dad while still in school and at home.
Living in south Texas, Dad would take his button-down work shirt off and drive with his white t-shirt on only & he always had me wear a white t-shirt also, so one day when I was 16 years old, I was with him on the day when he had been awake over 48 hours & had been dosing off, I kept waking him up, he would tell me he was just looking inside, just looking inside. After a while of this going on, he asked me if I was wearing my white t-shirt. I said, “Yes, I am, wondering why it matters. He said he would take over if DOT or a black & white highway patrol officer saw a white t-shirt at the wheel. I was to wake my father up, we would swap seats, and he would see a white t-shirt behind the wheel when he approached. This was the dream I always wanted. Was to drive dads truck; Dad had promised our mom that he would wait till we were 18 plus years old before he would teach us how to drive a big truck when I got behind the wheel and went through the 18 gears Dad said okay you got this, 55 mph, double nickel, 55 stay alive, if you have any problems wake me up if a highway police officer or DOT wants to pull me over, wake up my Dad & the only thing they noticed driving behind the wheel was a man wearing a white shirt. When we swapped spots, Dad would be behind the wheel with the CDL & all would be okay. He then told me not to say anything to Mom about me driving.
When we arrived home after that trip was done, when we both walked into the house together, Mom looked at him & then looked at me and told my Dad, you son of a bitch. Dad looked at her and asked Why? She said you promised not to let them drive till they were 18 or older. He looked at me and said you weren’t supposed to tell her anything; I said I didn’t say anything to her, and he then asked how she knew. She said she could tell just by the shit-eating grin I had; Mom didn’t realized Dad had been awake for more than 48 hours and needed some rest & the load required to keep moving; is why I took over, that was one of the best days of my life, so needless to say, I was hooked ever since. I had twin boys who would’ve followed in my footsteps had they not passed away when they were only 2 1/2 years old in a tragic swimming pool accident on Mother’s Day 29 years ago.
So, I do training videos on Instagram & mentor others who are trying to get into the industry. I give free mentoring advice and videos. God gave me a gift, so I help others for free.
We all face challenges, but looking back, would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
When I first started in 1996, before everything was on the internet, I had to handle it all over the phone, old school, when people cared about helping you; my dad wasn’t in the best of health by this point, diabetes was a full force with him when I bought my first 1994 Peterbilt 379 he was incredibly proud and happy for me. I have an associate’s degree in automotive & diesel & automatic transmission & manual transmission & air conditioning & refrigeration. I also worked in Antarctica Mc Murdo station, and I don’t think he was proud of me until I owned my first big truck. I was living in Palmer, Alaska. During this time, I did ice roads & oil field rig moves before I bought my second 2018 Peterbilt 389 in 2022 on my birthday, just like my first one,
with the internet, The worms come out of the woodwork, false people calling you telling you, you need specific credentials to get your authority & the information is fraud. I’ve lost hundreds of dollars to these scam artists, so I like to help for free. I’ve made fantastic lasting friends till this day we still talk; one of them I call my stepson Hirmiz, who is hauling cattle today, who would be the age my sons would be if they were alive; another guy Adam I just recently moved in with, In Idaho, I’ve left Alaska after 29 years living there, I’ve just been made a grandpa for the first time by my biological daughter, who was born ten months after her twin brothers, so I have moved to Idaho, to help better my daughter, who has found the wrong crowd to hang out with in San Antonio, that’s why I’m moving her to Idaho to help me run my new tow truck company. After two million miles on the big road after being married five times & only having a daughter & granddaughter left in life, I just needed any reason to get off the interstate to be a proper family again. Both my grandparents have passed away, & both my parents have passed away, & both my brothers have passed away. My one-year-old brother was killed by the drug cartel in Mexico on my birthday twenty-two years ago, & my younger brother passed away one year ago on the tenth of February, so it’s only my older sister & her twins & myself are left, this is why I’m looking after my granddaughter & daughter.
Thanks – so, what else should our readers know about Northern Cross Transport, LLC.?
NCT is my brand. I tell people what makes you different, makes you money, what makes you the same, makes you comfortable, I stole this saying from Dr. Mike Murdock. My mentor Marty from Alaska introduced me to Mike Murdock,
My followers on Instagram were buying my swag online. I started selling it only cause people wanted to buy the work shirts I had made for myself, and more people were requesting them: ball caps, t-shirts & button-down work shirts. All of them were embroidered with NCT owner/operator René A. Garza written on them, I sold thousands of dollars.
Then I moved to Plymouth, United Kingdom for a woman for six months before I came back to America. That’s when I bought my 2018 389 Peterbilt. When I returned to recoup the money I lost due to the poor exchange rate in the six months, over 14 thousand dollars is what I had lost. She broke up with me for leaving the UK, my biggest regret I’ve ever made, and now I’ve just been getting by,
now I have a new reason to get off the road, with my granddaughter being born, I want only to spoil her every chance I get.
So, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you before we go? How can they support you?
You can follow me on Instagram. I don’t or haven’t been posting on YouTube anymore; it is hard to while traveling the United States and crossing five state lines each day & with poor cell phone coverage, even with my $1000 dollar cell phone booster & Verizon’s hot spot wifi jet pack, I pay $400 bucks a month for cell phone service. I still don’t get excellent service going down the road. This is why I stopped posting on YouTube; when I upload a video, a broker or dispatcher would calls me & interrupts my uploading, so I post on Instagram & Facebook only.
I backed away from being chosen to be on Shipping Wars on A&E. They wanted me to be the main character, but that’s when I left the U. S. A. To be with Rebecca in the UK 
, the United Kingdom
Pricing:
- Don’t Pull Cheap Freight
- Minimum Of $2 Dollars A Mile, If You Want To Stay In Business
- Don’t Haul Cheap Freight
- Don’t Haul Cheap Freight
- Don’t Haul Cheap Freight
Contact Info:
- Website: northerncrosstransport.com
- Instagram: @northern_cross_towing
- Facebook: Northern Cross Towing
- Linkedin: René A. Garza
- Twitter: @NCTLLC
- Youtube: YouTube.com/@NCTLLC
- Yelp: ReneAGarza
Image Credits
Company Uniforms My Personal Peterbilt 389 My New Heavy Haul Tow Truck
