Healthy, happy, connected. Meet Sierra Sugar

We recently caught-up with Sierra Sugar (the pen name she’s used since 2007 for her blog, The Sweet Life Of Sierra Sugar) while she was preparing dinner in the truck. “I’m marinating chicken breasts in salsa, ginger and garlic – which I’ll serve over steamed spaghetti squash. For our side dish, I’m thinking about sautéed Brussels sprouts.”

Here’s a Trucker Path fan who can teach us all a thing or two

Hardly what comes to mind when most of us think of Road Food – but nothing out of the ordinary for this retired nurse. Sierra recently left her 20+-year career in healthcare for life on the road with fiancée Allen, and is now a member of no less than half a dozen different Facebook groups dedicated to healthy cooking and eating.

Which brings us to one of the things Sierra loves most about the Trucker Path App: She and Allen were tired of eating what’s served in most truck stops today.

We love the Mom & Pop truck stops

For the occasional meal she doesn’t prepare herself, Sierra enjoys visiting the kind of truck stops that still offer healthy, thoughtful alternatives to fast food. “I’ve been using the Trucker Path App since Day One. Allen tells me where we’re headed for the day, and I’ll start looking for the best truck stops.”

She’s got questions. Trucker Path has answers

“We read the reviews for all kinds of answers about the places we might stop, like: How many showers do they have, and are they clean? Do they have parking available, and is it safe? Do they have regular diesel or bio-diesel? We try to avoid bio-diesel because our engine always needs a burn off when we use it.”

A handy navigation aid, of sorts

“We even use Trucker Path for backup to our GPS, because GPS can’t tell us which side of the road a truck stop or rest area is on – and we like to pick spots that are convenient to the places we’ll be dropping-off or picking-up loads.”

You’re never too old to learn something new

When Sierra told her brother she’d decided to go on the road with Allen, he tried to convince her she wasn’t cut-out for the life. Needless to say, he failed. “I was really excited to do it. And so was Allen. Especially since I’m the one who found the Trucker Path App! Now we use it every day.”

A new calling on the road

Sierra’s also one of the Missing Truck Driver Alert Network’s most active supporters. She and four other like-minded volunteers comprise a group the network’s founder, Kari Fisher, calls The Fab Five – for their tireless efforts to locate missing drivers on the road.

Between the locations of their companies’ terminals and corporate headquarters – not to mention the place they call Home when they’re not on the road, Sierra explains, “when it comes to finding drivers who’ve gone missing, there are a lot of jurisdictional issues to deal with. It’s easy for them to get lost between the cracks.”

The network helps fill-in those cracks by gathering relevant information from family members, employers and police departments – then posting Digital Alert flyers on their Social Media networks.

And yes, it works

Asked for a recent success story, Sierra mentions an older gentleman who went missing. “Here was a man who is always punctual, and who always checks-in with his family.” So when he didn’t call-in one day, it was clear something was wrong.

Thanks to the network’s efforts, he was found in his truck, says Sierra. “But he was very sick. They were able to rush him to the hospital, and he survived.” Without the network’s help, who knows what might have happened?

Look for her in Dallas this August

Sierra’s been asked to host a cooking demo in the Health Pavilion at GATS this August – although she admits she hasn’t yet decided on a dish. Until then, she’ll have lots of time on the road – to try new recipes, follow her new calling, and keep connected with her new friends and family.

SUMMARY: Meet Sierra Sugar, a well-connected fan of Trucker Path – the App she and her fiancée, an Owner Operator, use every day to find the best truck stops, rest areas and overnight parking lots.