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Before embarking on a 2,000-mile trip as a truck driver, Derric Schmid sets up a smart TV and prepares meals with most of them, like ham and potatoes.

It sounds tough for those who spend a long time on the road away from their family and friends. But for Schmidt, that’s his way of life.

“I love freedom,” Schmidt said. “I’m paid to go see the country. I spent a big year day in New Orleans, spent time in St. Louis. This year I explored Christmas in California.”

Schmid is Vice President and Senior Diversity Officer LGBTQ+Truck Driver Network (TDN), a nonprofit organization he runs alongside founder Bobby Coffey Roy. TDN aims to promote inclusiveness and safety in the trucking industry by building an assistance network for allies and queer truck drivers.

(Schmid says he calls 50-100 a week to understand what the organization is committed to creating a safe space for drivers in all backgrounds). Schmid and Coffey-Loy will also host the Big Gay Trucker Podcast. There, we interview people who need advice or want to discuss taboo topics.

Coffey-Loy said that when he met people from different lives, he encouraged trans people recovering from surgery on the road to create a TDN.

“It just opened me up to the whole group of people who needed representation,” Coffey Roy said. “There’s a group there. [social media] On the page, no one actually even took that into nonprofit organizations. ”

Coffey-Loy drives a company called Luna Lines along with his 17-year partner Ricky. Together, they drive about 6,000 miles a week, taking turns sleeping and maintaining each other’s company. On Monday, they usually start their luggage in Jacksonville, then drive to New Mexico, Chicago, Baltimore and Tennessee, and by Friday they will return home in Palm Coast, Florida. They may even pay for all the gas and food while they are on the road.

You can do weekly cross-country road trips in tight accommodations with your partner. “Your partner is someone who knows how to press a button faster than anyone else,” he laughed.

But he also said that starting a truck they drove together eight years ago was what brought him and his husband closer. Before driving, he said that life and work felt like sometimes intruding into their relationship. Being able to carry schools together and supporting each other on the roads for many years has sparked a different kind of connection in their lives.

“We didn’t want to separate from each other, so that’s why we made trucking work for us,” he said.

Both Schmid and Coffey-Loy trucking is family-driven. Schmidt, who has been driving trucks for almost 24 years and has driven more than two TDNs, is home to Jonestown, Pennsylvania – calling the borough of 2023 people, with a population of 1,645 people. He had three uncles and a grandfather, a truck driver.

Born and raised in West Virginia, Coffey Roy said his father and grandfather were truck drivers.

While the ongoing family tradition is well-regarded, Coffey Roy’s mission to create a safe and supportive space for people in the industry was unique. When he first came out, it was difficult for his parents to accept his identity.

Coffey-Loy’s parents passed away 11 months ago. He said they learned to grow to love him for who he is. When TDN launched, they became “mom and dad for everyone” and moved with them, inviting people with no family structure.

Because at the gathering, his dad was all called “sweet” or “honey” and he didn’t know how everyone identified them.

“What they taught me is that if they can change their minds and they can accept everyone, then anyone can do,” Coffey Roy said. “I will cherish it forever. I miss it every day.”

And the effects of this lesson have been tested and true. TDN took part in the Mid-America trucking show despite facing additional security measures following the threat of death. Another year they handed out condoms to promote safe sex on the road and met repulsion – but they went through the entire box on the first day.

The team behind TDN may be small – about eight people – but Schmidt said their reach is wide. Thousands of people visit social media pages around the world, connecting with each other, including German bus drivers of voices and men who try to create stranger visibility in his area.

Coffey-Loy said many people would contact him to contact him directly. There was a straight man who struggled to balance his home life with truck driving times and expressed suicidal thoughts. The man looked at Coffey Roy’s number and said he needed to talk to someone.

Such moments are why Coffey Roy emphasizes that the organization is there to support everyone, not just the LGBTQ community. He recalled the gatherings of bonfires that people of various backgrounds and identities laughed and talked about as friends.

“That’s why you do what you’re doing,” Coffey Roy said.

TDN has given many people family away from home, but losing time with family and friends is not easy. Coffey Roy missed a family funeral in West Virginia as he was in New Mexico and was unable to throw away the load.

“He was already buried before I could return,” he said.

It’s a different way of life, but that’s not impossible. Schmidt calls his mother and stepfather every morning, and in the evening he calls his mother again. He joins group calls with friends and TDN members. On the weekend, Schmidt can see friends in person for dinner and visit with his family.

Driving a truck might mean saying goodbye often to shut people down in his life, but it also opens the door to new connections across the country.

He travels constantly, but Coffey Roy always feels at home. The roars of the road fill the silence while his husband sleeps behind him, and it drives those nights.

“Even if you miss out on a lot of everyday life, you can still be very free when it comes to trucking,” Coffey Roy said. “The road can be so loud in your life and there’s really a way to sort things out. It’s like a treatment for me.”