Michigan man drives 1 million miles in 10 years

RIDGEWAY TOWNSHIP, Mich. — Gary Mueller of Ridgeway Township has done a lot of driving in the last 10 years, well over a million miles.

What’s even more remarkable, he has done most of it in the same truck.

“This truck really feels kind of like an extension of me,” Mueller said about his 2002 Ford F-350 Super Duty diesel truck with manual transmission and dual rear wheels, which he bought new from a dealer in Tulsa, Okla.

The truck’s color is “Arizona beige.”

This is not a case of a truck used only for light jobs. Since he got it, Mueller has used the truck to tow recreational trailers around the country for a company in Indiana. Some of the trailers weigh more than 16,000 pounds. Mueller has traveled to almost every state and seven Canadian provinces in all types of weather.

Mueller, 69, whose father was a truck driver and who describes himself as “a little bit of a backyard mechanic,” is scrupulous about maintenance. He checks his oil every day and gives it a special test, rubbing it between his fingers to judge if it needs replacing. He changes the oil filter as often as necessary, checks other fluids and pulleys daily, keeps his tires properly inflated and makes sure everything that needs grease gets it.

He also drives consistently at 60 to 62 mph, which he says is best for the engine.

Pulling the loads he does, he does go through a clutch every 150,000 to 200,000 miles, he said.

“When problems happen, I try to take care of them before they become serious,” Mueller said.

His truck reached the million-mile mark Feb. 17 of this year, he said.

Mueller had not intended to become an recreational vehicle tower when he retired from Ford Motor Co. in 2000. He had saved money to travel, but about 90 percent of that disappeared when the “dot-com” stock market bubble burst in April 2000, he said.

“That kind of quenched my travel plans for my savings,” he said.

Able to survive on his pension but still wanting to travel, Mueller heard from a friend who was already doing it about the recreational vehicle hauling trade. He traveled with that friend for about six weeks, enjoying seeing states from Idaho to Mississippi to Connecticut and New York.

In early September 2001, Mueller went to work for Quality Drive-Away Inc. of Goshen, Ind., eager to get paid to see all the places he had wanted to go with his lost savings.

“I found out right away when you’re driving, it’s not as much of a sightseeing experience as watching out for the other guy,” Mueller said.

Mueller bought a truck for the job, but an accident three months after starting wrecked it, an experience that “shook my confidence,” he said. That was followed by a used truck that lasted 75,000 miles before he bought the truck he has now on March 17, 2002.

During his first two or three years on the job, he saw the majority of the states, Mueller said.

“I was getting my wish to see the country,” he said.

Some of his favorite sites have been in the west and Canada.

“I had to go through the Canadian Rockies in the winter to make a delivery,” he said. He also likes being able to see for miles in the plains states.

Mueller’s wife, Mary Anne Mueller, said she has gone on a couple of trips with her husband, but she recognizes that for him it’s a job.

“I’m the type who likes sightseeing,” she said.

Mueller said his company keeps giving him work, and he enjoys seeing different places and meeting new people. He sees no reason why his truck, which now has 1,038,000 miles on it, can’t keep going for a long time.

“I don’t think there’s a limit,” he said.