This month’s creation was built for Nate Romberger (34) of Romberger Transport Inc. in Dauphin, PA. Building his company from nothing, Nate has 23 amazing owner operators that pull end dumps for him, and now one really cool rig, which Nate gets to drive when he hits the road on Fridays (the rest of the days he is stuck in the office dispatching and finding loads). Together with his wife Stacey for the past 16 years, the two got married in 2011 and now have a beautiful one-year-old daughter named Finley. But family life did not start well for Nate.
For as long as he can remember, Nate knew he wanted to drive a truck. When he was in high school, his parents divorced, and things got tough for Nate and his twin brother and two sisters. Getting evicted from their house was a humbling experience, but it made Nate and his siblings realize that you need to work to live. Nate and his sisters started working at a young age, and his brother went into the military. Active for 15 years, he now continues to serve in the Reserves, and also owns his own truck, working as an owner operator with his brother Nate.
Working and saving his money for a year, Nate got a place of his own and then enrolled at Penn Tech. During this period, he also got his CDL and began moving sheds on the weekends. When Nate graduated college, he knew that owning his own truck was what he was going to do. In 2009 he scraped together $7,000 to buy an old Freightliner (that should have been in the scrap yard) and started his own company. He couldn’t afford to take the truck to a shop, so he watched YouTube videos and did his own repairs. He really loved end dumps, so as soon as he could, he bought a $14,000 trailer. It wasn’t the prettiest thing, but it got the job done. And he has never looked back ever since.
As Soon as Nate could afford it, he sold the Freightliner and bought a used Peterbilt. As the company was growing, Nate worked alongside the guys and dispatched, as well. Eventually, he went full time in the office, but Fridays were his special days – the days he got to go trucking. Nate believes in hiring owner operators that own and drive their own trucks and trailers. “Owner operators set a high standard for themselves and their level of service. They do their best to work hard and take care of the customers, and their track record shows,” he proudly said. Nate cannot say enough great things about the owner operators he has – there are too many to mention, but he appreciates them all.
When it came time to order a new truck for those Friday drives, Nate wanted something special for those special days, so he called me and ordered a new 2021 Peterbilt 389 with a 48” flattop, a 280” wheelbase, an X15 with 2,050 torque hooked to an 18-speed, and Low Leaf suspension with air ride on the front. He chose cream with a brown frame because he wanted a color scheme he wouldn’t get tired of looking at and would be reasonably easy to keep clean. It had been a long road from the bottom where he started to ordering his own new truck, so he wanted this rig to have it all.
When the truck showed up, Charlie fit the stacks and moved the DPF, then Cody and the guys at KC Pete hid the DEF tank in a big box. We also added dump valves to the steer axle and then installed a “Tommy” visor, bumper, cab lights, breather lights, Hogebuilt half fenders, and a painted deck plate. The day Nate came to pick it up, I asked him, “What does N E CISCO mean?” He laughed and said, “I was going to ask you the same thing!” The name plate on the dash was supposed to say CUSTOM BUILT FOR THE LEFT LANE, but instead it said CUSTOM BUILT FOR N E CISCO. This was the first time I had ever seen the wrong name plate show up.
This truck has a nice, clean, straightforward look, and was not overdone. Nate is very happy with his new ride and has already had the pleasure of running it on several Fridays. It will be getting a new name plate soon from Carl at Rockwood, and this one will say CUSTOM BUILT FOR FRIDAYS! What a great way to welcome the weekend each and every week.