Greeno drives to quite a milestone
LOVELAND, Colo. — A son of Wausa, who found his lifelong love where he grew up and became a man, Warren Greeno continues on driving toward his goals.
Greeno moved to Loveland, Colo., years ago and has driven truck for Walmart since the 1980s and during that time he has recorded some big milestones.
For instance?
Well, he has driven over 5,000,000 miles for the company and has not gotten into an accident to date – a record for Walmart.
Here’s to knocking wood to not jinx the record.
Greeno started driving for Dawson Transport when he was still living in the Wausa area.
“I am very grateful for getting my start there and giving me a chance to get my chauffeur’s license and get that experience,” Greeno said. Shortly after that experience,
Shortly after that experience, he moved to Palestine, Texas, to begin working for Walmart.
“My brother-in-law had been working for Walmart and he’d come every Christmas and told me about this job,” Greeno said. “In Christmas of 1981, I asked him about a job, and he said they were hiring in Palestine. So, I decided to give it a shot.”
He has worked for the company since February 1982 and is now, at 66, aiming for 40 years with the company within 15 months.
But now explain the whole, no accident thing?
“It’s being a stubborn, old farm boy,” Greeno said.
Greeno said improvements to equipment and technology have changed the job a bit.
“The job kept getting a little bit easier with the equipment. First, we had to wait for them to live unload and that was time consuming. Later on, we got into newer equipment and were able to drop the trailer at each store.”
The job allowed him to see places he would not ordinarily get to see.
“The interesting places I would go would also pique my interest,” he said.
He worked out of Mount Pleasant, Iowa, for a few years starting in 1985, which changed some of his routes and opened him up to new experiences before settling in Loveland in 1990.
“I always thought that would be a beautiful place to live and so I decided to try and transfer,” Greeno said.
Greeno has traveled through every state in the continental United States personally and 45 of them for the company sans the New England states.
“My favorite state is Montana,” Greeno said. “It has beautiful, wide open scenery with that big sky. It can get a little wintry there with wind and snow. I would prefer driving a big rig in that weather because of the weight and control, But when it’s empty it’s a little tricky, especially in the Wyoming wind. If that trailer is giving you fits back there, you better find a place to stop.”
He may not have gotten into accidents, but Greeno readily admits to having been flagged for a number of speeding tickets.
“That was before our trucks got governed down to 65,” Greeno said. “We can coast down a hill faster than that, but they don’t bother us too much now.”
Greeno plans to shut it down after he makes it to his 40th year in February 2022, while having made his goal of 5,000,000 miles.
After that, he will work on the restoration of classic cars.
“(He and his wife, Beth) may do some traveling,” he said. “I have only told her about these places so that makes her interested in visiting them.”
He also believes there is a chance he could miss driving once the time comes.
“I look forward to the weekends, but when Sunday comes around, the open road is still calling,” Greeno said. “But it’s more of a challenge now with the traffic and the regulations. But truck driving has been very good to me and my family.”
Stay in the know!
To get news alerts on your cell phone, get the Cedar County News app in the ITunes store or in the Google Play Store.
