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Legend Nominee: Patricia Blanchard

When we speak of old school trucking, I personally visualize a long gravel road and a semi passing by with its windows down. You can see the driver’s elbow hanging slightly out the window, while the open breeze flows in. I think of kids pumping their arms up and down, signaling for a horn to blow. There’s the larger than life gear shifts and wrinkled road maps laying open in the passenger’s seat. Being from the south, I remember truck drivers sportin’ cowboy hats and big belt buckles; Outlaws of the Road, we called them. Before the genre of lights and elaborate designs, all we had were working trucks driven by highway heroes.

This Legend nominee puts a little twist of her own into the elite group of old school drivers. With over 42 years of experience driving a truck and several million miles under her belt, she has broken her share of barriers, overcome adversity, and proven that a woman truck driver is never to be underestimated. She set the bar high, only to raise it herself! Along the way, earning the respect and admiration of all that have known her.

Patricia ‘Padi’ Blanchard had no intention in making a career out of driving a truck. I guess the old cliché is true: Time flies when you’re having fun. When the Albertsons and Safeway, Inc. merge was complete in 2016, Padi’s outstanding driving record still held her name at the top of the leaderboard. The combined organization includes 2,230 grocery stores, 27 distribution facilities and 19 manufacturing plants with over 250,000 employees throughout 34 states. The Portland Distribution Center staffs 700 union and non-union employees, Padi is the second most tenured among the two together. She also represents her terminal with top seniority as the number one driver. Since joining Safeway, Inc. Padi’s notoriety as their first female to pull a set of doubles proves that from the very beginning her work ethic was a major game-changer. She has since introduced us to a new world of qualified drivers; an unforeseen group that reveal themselves as a permanent asset to the trucking industry.

Human Resources Manager, Ely Nicoll of the Portland Distribution Center recognizes Padi for her hard work and appreciates the shining example she has set for other drivers. Padi hopes to retire in 2018, with an achievement record of 40 years total with the newly combined private company, Albertsons Companies.

“We are thrilled to share that our number one most senior driver is a female driver! She has been with the company since June 25, 1979. Padi is the sweetest person, not to mention the greatest driver and most coveted employee ever!”

-Ely Nicoll

Growing up with a household of four children in Lompoc, California Padi’s parents had to be completely hands-on. Her mother was a full-time housewife, while her father worked as an electronic technician. She adds that in his earlier days, he played trumpet in various bands and claims his musicality completely skipped over her. Many years later with an empty nest, her mother enrolled in college with one of Padi’s sisters and they both earned their degree as licensed vocational nurses. With her father’s individuality and mother’s resolve, Padi’s bold personality gravitated toward exciting experiences and risky choices, those not particularly expected of a young woman. She described her identity as a power enthusiast, slightly spontaneous with a love for horses, and a desire to be amongst the world.

Padi attended Santa Barbara City College to pursue auto mechanics, before she set her sights on trucking school. She says, “I was only 22 then, but I remember it was something about trucks that intrigued me. I had my hesitations, of course! I kept thinking, driving these enormous pieces of equipment can be dangerous. There’s this huge aspect of responsibility when you drive a truck. But to me, it’s like getting on a wild Stallion. I’ve rode horses all my life, since I was a child and there’s nothing like it. Having that certain freedom and control at the same time I relate to trucking too. But just because you go to trucking driving school, doesn’t necessarily make you a truck driver. You still need hands-on experience… what I’ve learned is, if there is ten miles to truck driving, you learn an inch in school. ” In 1975, she earned her CDL and landed a few jobs for different owner operators. Having little experience in the business as a female driver made it difficult to secure a full-time position.

Within a year she settled for a desk job working as a secretary at a pipe and steel company. For financial reasons, her role in answering phone calls deemed more practical than trying to find her niche in an industry ran prominently by the opposite gender. She accepted her place as office personnel, but the second an opportunity presented itself, Padi didn’t hesitate…

“It was a father and son outfit, super great guys! I knew when I took the job that I was eventually going to drive a truck. That goal had never gone away, I just had to take a different route. I needed to gain experience in the business and working there helped me understand more, outside of the truck, as well. One day we received a call on a load that we had just sitting there. Everyone was out and I had some driving experience, so I took it myself. Back then there was no way to contact the owner, but the load had to go. Away I went! I thought, man am I going to be in trouble. When I returned, the owner was standing there with a big smile on his face and I’ve been running ever since.” Padi stayed on for another two years pulling flatbed.

In 1978, with the right set of circumstances, Padi got her big break. She and her (then) husband began running over the road as a team for a brokerage company. Before the duo hit the road together, her backing up skills were close to non-existent, referring to herself as a, forward driver. The year spent driving team improved Padi’s ability and boosted her self-confidence as a professional truck driver. Traveling the country and living by fate, she knew that she was no longer day dreaming. She had made it!

A year later, Padi decided it was time to come in and find a local job. With a daughter at home to raise, the benefits and pension of a union job was her first choice, but instead got on with a company hauling containers of wood products and building materials. Shortly after, she received the call to join the driving force at Safeway, Inc. In the beginning, she had other side jobs to work around, apart from trucking. She still ran the road rig with her husband, on top of their dump truck, and she was also an assistant manager at an apartment building in town. Once the couple split, business picked up at Safeway and the two went their separate ways. In 1984, Padi met company driver, Bud Reidel. The two hit it off and were married the following year. He drove for a union outfit for 31 years and was their number two driver when he retired. The couple shared many common interests and a passion for an industry that provided them with twenty wonderful years together before his passing.

Padi’s seniority allows her to select which runs to take and is typically home every night. She believes her 42 years spent on the road have contributed to the success of her career. Learning to drive in unpredictable weather, such as heavy rain is unlike trucking through a snow blizzard over the steep mountains of Oregon. Her overwhelmingly impressive accounts of past events shine a light on the many elements of danger that driving a truck entail. Padi says, “For seven years I ran the Columbia River Gorge and other areas throughout the mountainous regions of Oregon: Enterprise, La Grande and Mount Hood. Figuring out how to get over them in the dead of winter is not easy. Many, many times I scratched and clawed my way to the top of hills before. I’ve been out in a blizzard at two in the morning, chaining up so I can go through a tunnel knowing there would be ice in there. Days like that I always tell myself, I’d rather be at home baking a cake.” She lets out a laugh which reassures me that the fear I felt for her was the same reaction she had while driving those trips. Except, she is brave enough to complete each run and do it safely. When she is not battling snow storms, the mountains of Oregon are also Padi’s most favorite stretch to travel through. “Oregon is an absolutely beautiful state. You get to see the oceans, desserts, Indian reservations… all the views that you get from the mountains are breathtaking. Oregon has it all!”

Matching her bubbly personality with the sort of grit needed to drive a truck, let alone a set of doubles through various conditions demonstrates her dedication to the job, as well as her exceptional driving skills. “I’ve been stuck in my share of blizzards that I’ve had to shovel my way out of. And I’ve also had a few angels come along to help me out when I needed it. I’m not too proud, I’ll take help any way I can get it,” she said. Her deep faith in God has led her through many troubled days and blessed her with a beautiful life in return. She adds, “Life is short. It really is! Look how the years have flown by. I have met a lot of great people along the way and seen so many amazing places. I’ve really enjoyed myself. This company has been my bread and butter for the last 38 years, and I’m very thankful for them. It’s truly been a phenomenal ride.”

It’s been stated that when a person loves their job, in turn it’s not considered work. With trucking, Padi says the enthusiasm and obsession that truckers have toward driving trucks is what makes them a trucker. You have to love it! Despite her distinct expertise, she insists on never getting over confident in her work. “Even when you’ve been doing this for as long as I have, you can still make mistakes. No matter how corny your routine is when double checking yourself, stick to it. And when you’re having a bad day or your mind is clouded with everyday life, you have to leave it all behind as soon as you climb in behind that wheel. Once you take off in your truck, the lives of everyone around you depend on your full awareness.”

Padi admits that when she first started running over the road, some drivers were more stand-offish than others. Then, the ones that did accept her were very accommodating. Driving as a young woman fueled with ambition and a dream, the advice she received from veteran drivers ultimately helped shape her entire trucking career, stating that she learned from the best to become the best. Now she wishes to pass that knowledge on to the next aspiring drivers that are picking up where she is getting off.

The names of individuals with hero-like qualities, such as; bravery, courage, and a faith in positivity carry on through conversations and memories. Padi, being of this high-favor, is regarded at Safeway-Albertsons as one of their most qualified and reliable drivers. She is known by her family as a woman of strength and love, and honored within our trucking industry as a true depiction of a trucking pioneer in laying the groundwork for more female drivers to pursue trucking as a profession.

Her motto is; Do a good job, and a good job is a complete job. She describes herself as honest, dependable, and good natured with a splash of hot temper. Padi’s charisma paired with her vibrant presence and remarkable trucking stories are quick to draw you in, making it easy to forget the powerhouse driver she really is. Her plans to retire soon aren’t because she lacks a desire to continue driving a truck, she simply wishes to enjoy life and travel without the means of a truck for a change. Padi’s accomplishments far exceed her, and this next chapter in her life is more than well-deserved.