During almost four decades as a trucker, Bob Schmitt got used to driving loaded 18-wheelers down highways across North America. “I started when I was 18 years old with my dad,” said the Sherill, Iowa, native, now 59. “I’ve been an owner-operator since 2001. I was over the road almost all that time … I hauled a lot of John Deere equipment up to the port in Maryland. I made 38 trips to Baltimore in 2019.”