I met Dwayne J. Nienberg last year at the Mid America Trucking Show. A bearded man with a robust frame, he was navigating his way gingerly with a cane. Friends and well-wishers were approaching him as we spoke. It just took a minute or two to realize I was in the presence of some kind of celebrity. "It's so good to see you getting around so well,", someone would say.
"Hey buddy! Good to see ya out here again!" another would chime.
Just who was this cat? Turns out Nienburg is the administrator of the "Dirty Old Trucker" social media page on Facebook, which chronicles his own extensive collection of truck photographs, as well as those from his 350,000 followers.
Dwayne Nienberg
There are folks you meet out here who quietly reestablish your faith in people. Nienberg is one of them.
"My dad drove for forty two years before he passed away," Nienberg said. "Grandpa drove a dump truck. My great-grandfather was a union driver. I don't know much about him, but ... I've got some pictures. He had the old driver's cap and the white shirt tucked in.
"I rode with dad in his cabovers. He had two Mack Cruise-Liners, and I used to sit on the doghouse and I'd play with my own [toy] trucks while he drove. When I was big enough to start unloading, I unloaded at grocery warehouses for him [while] he slept. He paid me well at it. I got the lumper fees. That's how I got my money to fix up my cars and chase girls as a teenager. When I could drive, I was driving [while] he slept. That's how I got my education. Saw every state in the country before I was 18."
