[July 25, 2011] Couple get along while going along Tweet Jul 24, 2011 (The Charlotte Observer - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Lots of married couples work in the same office, but Doug Morgan and Cathy Dufrene are a special case: They spend 24 hours a day, six days a week together in the tiny cab of a semi-trailer truck. And to hear them tell it, they've never had an argument. "Really and truly you've got to get along to be in something this small," Dufrene said. Morgan and Dufrene, who live in Charlotte, drive 6,800 miles a week for Con-way Truckload. Not only do they survive the long trips to California and back without straining their marriage, the Joplin, Mo.-based company has recognized them three times as team of the year. The pair met on the road in the late '90s. For five years they ran into each other at terminals and truck stops where they told each other "war stories." Said Morgan: "I chased her for a long time." The couple started driving as a team in 2004 and joined Con-way together in 2005. Spouses driving together is a growing trend in the industry, said Ellen Voie, president of the Women in Trucking Association. Federal regulations prevent drivers from driving more than 10 hours a day, but a team can drive 20 and cover more ground in less time. That means companies get their goods shipped faster. And drivers, whose income is based on mileage, make more money. "The wheels are always turning on team trucks," Voie said. After a few rough years, things are looking up for the trucking industry, Voie said. Companies are expanding, wages are increasing and more drivers are needed. Voie said companies are expanding their search for drivers outside the traditional demographic of single males, adding more women and married couples to their employee roster. During Morgan and Dufrene's runs from Charlotte to Blythe, Calif., one driver will sleep or relax while the other drives. Their cab has a microwave and refrigerator so they can snack and make meals, and they use a wireless Internet card to spend time on the computer. "I can be in the middle of the desert ordering a new bonsai tree from Puerto Rico," Morgan said. "It's pretty cool." While driving coast-to-coast, Morgan and Dufrene love the wide range of scenery, from the rolling hills of North Carolina to the deserts of Arizona. But it's the people sharing the road that draw Morgan's attention. "It's nice and quiet, other than watching crazy drivers," Morgan said. After seven years as a trucking team, the pair married in June. Morgan said he had one instruction for the minister: "I told her she had 15 minutes. We're getting old, we don't have much time." Morgan and Dufrene both have children from previous marriages and several grandchildren. Dufrene's grandson, 3-year-old Jakobi Perry, lives in Charlotte. He's what Dufrene said she misses most while out on the road. "He's kind of my heart, I like to be around him a lot," Dufrene said. Otherwise, Morgan and Dufrene say they don't mind being on the road. In fact, the one day a week they spend at home is more time off than they've ever had before. "We used to be out two and three months before we went home," Morgan said. Neither Morgan nor Dufrene is originally from Charlotte. But when they started driving for Con-way and settled on the Charlotte-to-California route, there was no contest as to where they would live. "After a summer of about 122 degrees in Arizona," Morgan said, "we decided Charlotte looked pretty good." To see more of The Charlotte Observer, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.charlotteobserver.com. Copyright (c) 2011, The Charlotte Observer, N.C. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For more information about the content services offered by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services (MCT), visit www.mctinfoservices.com. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]