The Only Woman in Her CDL Class. Now She Teaches It.

Episode 23 • 24th July 2026 • Built in the Midwest • Midwest Truck Driving School

00:00:00 00:50:44

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Penny had vacation days to burn and a husband who drove truck, so she climbed into the passenger seat for a week just to see what it was like. Eleven states later she was doing math she did not like the answer to — she was wearing herself out as a CNA while he was getting paid to watch the country go by. She came home and started looking up schools.

WHAT WE GET INTO

The moment on a ride-along that made her question the job she already had, and what she did about it the week she got home
What it's actually like being the only woman in a CDL class — and why she came back years later to make sure the next one isn't
Forty-seven states in eleven months, the three still on her bucket list, and the vacation program that let them park the truck and rent a car for a week
The freight nobody warns you about, including million-dollar loads, security escorts that follow you, and a dock built inside a mountain
Her safety habits for running solo as a woman

ABOUT PENNY

Penny spent years as a CNA before she ever sat in a truck, and she'll tell you the work was brutal on the body and good for the soul. She and her husband ran team over the road for years hauling pharmaceuticals and high-security freight coast to coast, until a dog they weren't allowed to keep in the truck brought them home for good. She's a certified instructor at Midwest Truck Driving School now, teaching the course she once took — which is exactly the job she came back and asked for.