Wednesday afternoon, Billy Murphy pulled into the Sealy Walmart Distribution Center with a smile as wide as his trailer while family, friends and coworkers greeted him at the gate to celebrate a milestone of 3 million miles driven without an avoidable accident that was more than two and a half decades in the making.

Murphy mentioned the love and support of his family that served as the driving force behind making every trip safe and sound.

“The love for my family to get home safe every day and just make my career worth it, every day I drive to be the best,” Murphy said Wednesday afternoon.

He also shared appreciation for the coworkers who had been there every step of the way and celebrated with noisemakers and cake.

“(I’m grateful for) the opportunity that Walmart has presented me with making life-long friends – without this, I wouldn’t have been able to make the friends that I’ll take going forward with me,” Murphy said. “I love each and every one of them, they’ve been there for me and I always knew I’d never be let down.”

Murphy was given an escort back from his route to the distribution center by Sergeant Kevin Tucker and Trooper David Sutton of the Department of Public Safety but only after Transportation Operations Manager Patrick Erickson let Murphy know he wasn’t in any trouble.

Erickson said Murphy was only the second driver that reported to the Sealy branch to reach the 3-million milestone.