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Couple's on the road to new jobs Photo by Bob Pennell Future truckers Dave and Terri Campfield, left, and Darrin Hilyer were all smiles at their "graduation" from driving school on Friday. Ex-Boise Cascade workers finish trucking school About this series: Terri and Dave Campfield are among hundreds of families who lost jobs in the fire that destroyed Medford's Boise Cascade Corp. mill. The Mail Tribune is following three such families, chronicling their efforts to rebuild their lives. Stories will run occasionally during the next several months as workers look for new jobs, seek new training and cope with daily struggles after the fire. By Jonel Aleccia Terri Campfield reveled in hugs and handshakes and hearty congratulations Friday as the would-be truck driver finished the first step toward a new career. "Oh, this is so exciting!" said the former Boise Cascade Corp. millworker, settling into a seat for a "graduation" ceremony. Campfield and her husband, Dave, were among 22 students to complete a hectic seven-week drivers' training session at Rogue Community College. Like half the folks enrolled in the class, they turned to trucking after a Labor Day fire gutted the Medford mill, destroying more than 450 jobs. "Each one of you changed careers, and that's hard to do," teacher Steve Bayne, a former trucker, told the class as spouses and children looked on. "We've done it. We know what you're going through." Boise Cascade representatives plan to announce next week whether they'll rebuild the largest plywood mill in the West. The Campfields and others aren't holding their breath. "I will be paying attention," said Terri Campfield, 39, who had worked at Boise for five years. "But I still don't see any hope for us." Instead, the Campfields are pinning their hopes on Interstate Distributor Co., a Tacoma, Wash., trucking firm with a yard near White City. Before they'd passed their final RCC exams or their commercial driver's license tests, the Campfields had a tentative team job offer to consider. "They said, yeah, they wanted us to come work for them," said Dave Campfield, 41. Final details are pending, but it appears that the Campfields will head to Tacoma for four to six weeks of team training. Tom Anderson, director of training for Interstate, confirmed Friday that he has been working with RCC to hire about a half-dozen former Boise workers. Once the company training is done, the Campfields will hit the road on their own. That prospect is not nearly as intimidating as it was seven weeks ago, Terri Campfield says. "We're doing real good," she says. "Except I have a real bad habit. I want to turn real wide." In fact, she got stuck the other day in a big rig in downtown Medford, trying to turn from Front Street onto 10th. "Here I am hogging the whole four lanes of 10th Street," she recalls. "I had to stop or I would have went right up on the sidewalk. I was so embarrassed, but it wasn't the end of the world." The pair had considered applying to Gordon Trucking, another national firm with a local hub. But Interstate agreed to train the husband-and-wife team together instead of separately. Terri Campfield said they preferred firms with local ties. "We don't want fly-by-night companies who will take students and use 'em and abuse 'em," she said. During training, the Campfields expect to make $300 a week each. After that, the pay ranges from 32 to 34 cents a mile for the first six months, with the new team expected to drive 10,000 miles a month. "I know, I know, 10,000 miles!" Terri Campfield says. "That's a lot." After two years, the Campfields can expect to make industry averages of $41,000 to $56,000 a year, according to Richard Burdick, a former trucker who teaches at RCC. That could eclipse their combined Boise salaries, which averaged $46,000. New life on the road will begin after the first of the year, Terri Campfield says. Whether Boise rebuilds or not, whether their jobs return or they don't, the Campfields figure a try at trucking is their best hope. "Either way, we'll have some experience," Terri Campfield says. "We'll know whether we loved it or we'll get out there and think, `Just what did we do?' " Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA