The world’s oldest truck driver has no plans to retire – even after celebrating his 90th birthday.
Doyle Archer (USA) was officially recognized as the oldest truck / lorry / HGV driver (male) at 90 years 55 days old, as verified on 2 February.
He’s been driving trucks for over 60 years and has travelled approximately 5.5 million miles.
“I do not plan to retire any time soon,” he told us. “As long as my health holds, I will keep driving. I do not have the word retire in my vocabulary.
I enjoy my job very much.
The last 20 years of Doyle’s career have been at Coomes Inc. in Phillipsburg, Kansas, where he was just named a “Million Mile Safe Driver” after travelling 1 million miles without any incident.
It’s clear that whatever Doyle is transporting is in very safe hands… and that could be just about anything.
“Anything you can haul in a truck, I have hauled it,” he said.
And he really means anything, as he’s transported everything from livestock to canned goods and furniture to petroleum across the country.
It’s all that travelling that has been the biggest perk of the job for Doyle.
He said: “It has provided the opportunity to see many things that I wouldn’t have otherwise got to see. I’ve got to meet a lot of people from many different parts of the world.”
Doyle has driven across 48 US states and through all five provinces in Canada.
He’s driven the famous Route 66 all the way from Chicago to Los Angeles (around 2,000 mi) and has seen history along the way, including driving on the first 8-mile section of the Eisenhower Interstate System in Kansas shortly after it was built.
Doyle said: “My favourite views I’ve been able to witness are the mountain views, scenic prairies, and the timbered forest of this great country.
“I’ve been given the opportunity to see the Kennedy Space Center and Johnson Space Center of Houston, TX. Many decks and harbours of ports in many states dealing with international shipping. I have witnessed many sunrises and sunsets from behind the windshield. Deserts of the southwest, historic settlements, the bright lights of Las Vegas and the western life style of the Cheyenne rodeo, the music of Nashville, TN, and the great steel mills of Chicago.
“But my favourite will always be the wheat fields of the High Plains in June and July.”
He grew up on his family’s farm in Kansas and went on to earn a degree in agriculture.
Doyle became a partner in a lumber and grain company before getting into the trucking industry in 1961.
Asthma forced him to leave the farm and grain trucking business behind, but he stuck with hauling.
Doyle’s life on the road has come with challenges from severe weather to heavy traffic and rising fuel prices, but plenty of fun moments too.
Looking back, he told us: “There once was two men at a place I was waiting to unload that were walking down beside parked trucks looking for one that was unlocked.
“They found one and opened the door and proceeded to make entry. When they climbed up in there, much to their surprise, were two Dobermanns to greet them. That was enough to scare one of them and he fell off the truck and landed on his back in the street.
“They were in a real hurry to run away. I imagine they thought twice about doing that again. I still chuckle from time to time when I see another driver with a dog, thinking of that story.”
And although he admits it never crossed his mind that he’d still be doing this job at 90 years old, he says he’s honoured and proud to be recognized as the world’s oldest truck driver.
As much as he loves his life on the road, Doyle has plenty to go home for.
He’s been married to his high school sweetheart Lois for 70 years, and together they have nine children, 25 grandchildren and 26 great-grandchildren.
In his spare time, Doyle takes a big interest in antique cars and he loves watching John Wayne movies.
If he ever does retire, it sounds like he’ll have plenty to keep him busy.
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