Who is Dove.
Hello and welcome to my Blog, My name is Karen Gilley, For 30 years I have been a professional truck driver and my “C.B.” handle (aka truckers nick name) is Silver Dove, over the years it has been shortened to Dove. My career has evolved from a company driver to an owner operator and as a woman an achievement I am very proud of. When I started driving there were very few women in the industry and that has changed over the years. I started driving as a way to simply pay the bills with one job after a divorce so I could still have time with my children. I am a mom and Nana and over the years that combination has led me to some interesting places and many odd, crazy, fun, creative endeavors. All of my kids are very different, and we were always doing something. Their activities led me down roads I never expected and created opportunities for the artist in me to shine through. I made costumes for plays, painted a 2 story mural in the martial arts studio, made banners for parades, made a school mascot costume, I’ve even made a couple wedding gowns for friends I made along the way.
As I start this new journey it is my hope that you will find stories that make you laugh and inspiration to try new things because life is an adventure. I call myself an “artistic maker”, I try new things all the time, sometimes they work sometimes they don’t, but I intend to share it all right here. You will see that I really try to keep my project budgets as low as possible I am always looking for a cheaper easier way to get a result I am happy with, that being said there are things I do that there are not substitutes for that I am aware of. hopefully you will be able to come along for the ride and maybe even try a few things you haven’t yet. New concepts and ideas are always welcome, a friend of mine recently asked me to “help” him build a winning Christmas float for his town parade, He said by “help” he meant create it. I laughed at him but I did it, we all had a blast, and yes we won best decorated.
Projects that will be shared come from things my children or grandchildren have been involved in or a friends request or ideas. I love DIY projects and inspiration is everywhere. I like to recycle and upcycle whenever I can mostly for the money saving aspect of doing it. There are those times though that something at a yard sale or thrift store catches my attention and it becomes a new project. There are somethings that just looked like they would be fun, so I try them. I truly enjoy learning new skills, so I sew, sketch, paint, sculpt, I do a bit of wood working, leather work, and many other things and some projects a combination of many of them.
Part of this journey will take you on some of my adventures as a trucker there are things I see and places I go and so much to share. Past experiences as well as future ones are likely to be added into this as well, life is diverse, and I have what I call Squirrel syndrome because shiny object syndrome just doesn’t cover it all. I grew up in the northeast and we moved a lot for all sorts of reasons. When I was in my early 20’s I moved to central Florida where I have raised my children and found my career as a driver both long haul and local, and yes I took my children with me on some of cross-country adventures. It was a great way to teach them all sorts of things, like how to read a map and geography and history lessons that came to life. I have been told that I come up with and say the craziest things so be sure to bring your sense of humor with you and a saltshaker you may need them both.
You may be wondering what the point of this blog is or why I have started it, the truth is my children are grown and I am starting to look towards retirement and I want to be successful at it. Most drivers I know retire for a few months and show right back up because they got bored and didn’t know what else to do with themselves, I don’t want to be that person. I don’t do “nothing” well, I am always busy with things to do projects in the works and building a creative outlet will help me succeed in the next chapter of this life. I hope you find a few laughs and some inspiration here with me.