02/26/08 Truck Driver hits $200K Powerball lotto
Truck Driver Has Route Like No Other.When Bertha Phillips left with her truck to deliver a load to Lexington, KY a few days ago, little did she imagine she was about to embark on a journey that would cover three states, cause her to travel through ice storms, see her sleep in her truck - and end with her winning a $200,000 Powerball prize!
Phillips is an over-the-road driver for USA Trucking based out of Nashville. As she left with a load bound for Kentucky this past Wednesday (February 20th), she decided to stop for gas at a Pilot Truck Stop in Simpsonville. I knew they weren’t on my approved list of vendors, but I thought I’d stop anyway to see if they would accept my company fuel card, she said. When I went in they told me they couldn’t use my company card for gas, but the manager said the Powerball drawing was in a few hours and while I was there I should pick up some tickets.
After leaving her delivery in Lexington, she called the Kentucky Lottery’s winning numbers hotline to see what numbers had been drawn for that evening. She wrote them down, but didn’t check her ticket. They sounded familiar, but I didn’t think too much of it, Phillips said.
On the next morning (Thursday) she checked her numbers, and that’s when Phillips discovered her ticket matched all of the white ball numbers but not the Powerball. I cried and cried and just couldn’t believe it, Phillips laughed. Her adventure however was just beginning.
She got in her truck and headed to Kentucky Lottery headquarters in Louisville to cash her ticket. As she was driving to Louisville, an ice storm started
to bear down on the area. Schools were closed early, and city officials asked businesses to start letting employees go home at 11:00 in the morning.
At noon, lottery headquarters closed due to the impending storm.
Phillips pulled her big rig in front of the lottery building at 12:28 PM.
I knocked on the door, and a security guard told me they’d closed
because of the storm, she laughed. Phillips still had another load to deliver,
so she got back in her truck and headed to Ohio as the storm
started to rage and dangerous road conditions developed.
Twelve hours later, at 1:00 in the morning, she was back in Louisville at lottery headquarters. Phillips parked her big rig in front of the building,
put some change in the parking meter, turned on her blinkers and
climbed in the back of the cab to go to sleep. I watched some TV and slept with the ticket in my purse under my pillow, she said. As lottery employees
started to arrive at work shortly before 8:00, Phillips was at the door, with winning ticket in hand.
After a quick celebration, Phillips climbed back behind the wheel of her truck with her big check. I was supposed to be in Henderson an hour ago with this load, she laughed. She’ll have a great story to explain why she was late.
