The OuterBelt's Podcast
The OuterBelt's Podcast
Fleet Feats, Coffee Retreats, and Motorcycle Beats: A Journey Through Sips and Shifts!
What happens when you mix fleet management, the perfect cup of coffee, and the roar of a motorcycle engine? Join us as we share a whirlwind of stories and insights from our latest journey. We kick things off with a spirited debate about global tastes in diet sodas before diving into the nitty-gritty of our new truck maintenance software. Despite our initial sticker shock, we negotiated a deal that revolutionized how we track our fleet's health and costs. Plus, we introduce Eric, our new team member, and share a few laughs about his onboarding escapades.
Our love for coffee takes center stage as we recount our adventures in local cafes. From the charming ambiance of Mr. Coffee Bean to the hidden gems in Upper Arlington, we celebrate the artistry of small roasters and the joy of supporting local. Our coffee quests intertwine with tales from the yard, where Eric adjusts to our Waffle House tradition and the quirks of fleet life. Whether it's the thrill of finding a new coffee blend or the simple pleasure of a perfect espresso shot, these moments paint a vivid picture of our evolving work dynamic.
We wrap things up with a high-octane exploration of motorcycle riding, sharing experiences from the Harley-Davidson factory tour to the unexpected thrills of counter-steering. The camaraderie of the riding community, the skills that translate from trucks to bikes, and the sheer joy of the open road take us on a reflective journey. With plans to sharpen our skills in future courses and the dream of new rides on the horizon, our passion for motorcycling promises more adventures ahead. Tune in for laughter, learning, and the shared thrill of exploring the world, one mile at a time.
Email us: theouterbeltpodcast@gmail.com
Website: www.hyfieldtrucking.com
Interested in joining our team? Email us at info.hysg@gmail.com we have open trucks! You must be part of a team. No solo drivers.
Call us at 1-833-493-4353 Option 1
Facebook: The Outer Belt Podcast
Instagram: The_OuterBelt
I tell you what Coke Zero, sprite Zero Diet. Dr Pepper he hates Coke, Hates Coke Zero. Oh, that's right. He's a Pepsi Max guy, isn't?
Speaker 3:he.
Speaker 1:So I forget, did he agree, or did y'all agree or disagree, that Pepsi Max in Europe tastes different than it does?
Speaker 2:here in America. Oh yeah, it does. Does it still taste better? I think it tastes better.
Speaker 1:Better. Yeah, pepsi Max in Europe tastes better.
Speaker 2:I thought I did.
Speaker 1:You've never been more wrong. Hey everybody, welcome to the Outer Belt. I am Patrick and you all know my friends Chili.
Speaker 4:Better Milk.
Speaker 1:Eric and Jerry, and we're back with y'all. I apologize, first and foremost, for last week. Uh, we had a scheduling conflict, so we moved the recording date another scheduling conflict and so we moved it again and we're like cool, everything's gonna be good. And then we got an email reminding eric and I that we were going to be in class when we were going to be recording that and by the time it was all said and done, it just couldn't happen. But we're back and we're excited, ain't that right, melissa?
Speaker 4:Honestly. Let's get this party started, let's do it, let's do it, woo. You're up first, I'm up first.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes.
Speaker 4:On the spot, it's going good.
Speaker 1:Next topic so technical endeavors with Jerry Jerry.
Speaker 2:Doing good. Moving right along Maintenance is getting some new software going, yeah, helping them, yeah, how's that working out. Doing good. I mean, it's learning, adjusting, getting used to putting things in that you're not used to doing, but I think it's going to be a really, really good tool to assist the company and assist them. Now, when you say putting things in that you're not used to, data entry-wise- Okay.
Speaker 2:This program just requires a lot more data entry, whereas before they would put basic info in. This just requires a lot more data to be able to track everything but it's really good, right.
Speaker 1:So I know we've been talking about this software a lot internally. There's been a lot of conversations back and forth and how we can use it and optimize what we're doing. So but with this new information, this new software, we're gonna be able to track, basically, cost per mile of the truck. Right, we're going to be able to figure out.
Speaker 2:I can already see that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's awesome. So every time a truck gets a repair done, every time we put new tires on, oil changes, all that stuff, it all gets factored in so we can actually see on a truck-by-truck basis what it costs us to keep it running. What's the? Do we have, like, a truck that needs more help than others? Do we need to pull a truck in and get a little more heavy-duty repair et?
Speaker 2:cetera. Right, absolutely. We're already seeing we've been up and running for a week and we're already seeing information like just down to the granular fuel gauge, of looking at things Like each truck in the fleet is averaging. Right now it's's costing about 26 cents per mile just to run the truck yeah, roughly right now, and that's every truck across the fleet.
Speaker 1:And of course that varies. Right, we have tractors, we have drive trucks, we have reefers. They all take different fuel usage, right, yep.
Speaker 2:So you're able to drill down all the way to a truck level to see what it's costing, and it even pops up recommendations throughout the life of the truck. It'll say, like you know, based on the repairs that you're doing, it'll recommend okay, it's probably time to go ahead and sell this and move on and get it out of your fleet. That's awesome, Wow.
Speaker 3:I'm excited to see how this comes for us. I mean in ops. We aren't involved with that at all for the most part A little bit, a little bit. And I imagine that when we get a truck returned, that data from that software package may show up or be forwarded to us from maintenance for certain things that we wouldn't necessarily see or know about. So I'm excited to see how it works out for us. I really am.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a mobile app involved and you and Mel Lee over in Ops. I've got you guys set up. You're full, you can see all the trucks, so you should be able to see a lot of that information. I'm looking forward to working with it.
Speaker 3:I really am.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think it's going to be a really cool platform, really cool addition. I mean, it was a truckload of cash and I remember I still to this day remember when you and I first talked about it and you were like this software is great, we should do it, and I was like, okay, sell me on it. And then you were like it's great and awesome. Remember that conversation.
Speaker 2:Well, I said a little more than that, but I am not a salesman.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so he chopped a price in front of me and I was like no, I'm like that's never going to happen. But what's really cool is you didn't stop, and I appreciate that because you saw the benefit. I got up with this, even though at that particular moment in time you couldn't verbalize. Here's why I see the benefit. You stuck with it. You were like this is something we need to figure this out. And you got with Jimmy and really worked with him and worked with Don about what do y'all need help with, what aspects would be beneficial, et cetera. And then, not only that, but also through all the lines of communication, you were able to go back to the software manufacturer or the proprietor of the software and actually say, hey, here's our situation, how do we work out a deal, I don't know? A little bit of negotiation back and forth to make it happen. I did. And the final product you put together it's almost half price what the original figure was. And now I understand what you saw back then. I understand now and see and it's uh, I'm excited about it, I really am.
Speaker 1:Well, some of the things that are going to be really cool, that we're gonna be able to track going forward too, are like, uh, common issues with the trucks that we see when they leave. So, um, when a truck leaves our yard for the first month, sometimes there are issues where a truck leaves our lot and immediately goes to a shop. Literally, it happens Probably every three or four trucks. One has to go straight to another shop because we get a truck ready for drivers and it may sit in the lot for two or three weeks before a team actually moves in because they have to turn and notice their current employers and we have to get that scheduling figured out in rental cars, our flights or whatever situation U-Hauls it is to get to Columbus.
Speaker 1:It doesn't always work out nicely, so it can be anywhere from literally like two days to three weeks before a team gets into a truck that we've got prepared for it and two or three weeks of sitting out there in the yard. You know things can happen. The worst thing you can do with a truck is not run it. So if a truck sits for two or three weeks in the yard, you know like it's, a leak can develop. That wasn't there before.
Speaker 3:There's all kinds of issues.
Speaker 1:So what's really cool with the software is we're actually be able to go and look at okay, the first 30 days a team has a truck, here's the issues that we found with it, and then we can look at, okay, three months later, all this data, all these teams that have moved in this truck, here's three, four, maybe one or two things that are very common. So now we can put that in as our preventive maintenance right, whereas right now we don't really have an easy way to do that without going through literally going through every single invoice and making an Excel spreadsheet of every single problem.
Speaker 1:It would take you forever, whereas this software can do it on the fly. So it's really cool data that we're able to get. It's funny because I talked to Jimmy a lot and, uh, I was talking to him the other day and he was talking about how excited he is about flea Dio, but the temporary pain, which is a you've had to put in years worth of data, not not a year no years worth of data into the system.
Speaker 1:And a very short period of time, a it into the system In a very short period of time and even still, the stuff you're doing now you're quadruple I'm sorry they are quadruple entering it into the system because we have our old system that we haven't fully merged off of yet. So we have to update the current system, the old system, and two redundancies where it's just a lot. Now, once everything's fully moved over, those go away. Well, one doesn't, but the other two do. So it'll be a lot simpler, but right now it's just an overwhelming amount of paperwork administration, I guess you'd call it.
Speaker 2:I mean we've already run into some issues. I guess probably our third day in. We had a mix-up on some trucks and some of the data already got moved around, just because we're not completely versed on how to put it in and make sure everything stays the way it should be. So I did probably the third day in. Jimmy texts me me and he's like hey, we got a problem and I got in there and let's just say it was at 430 in the evening and I didn't stop working on it until about 11 o'clock that night. Wow, just to make sure that we had it back the way it should be for the next morning and we can move forward, that's so important too though I mean for the next morning and we can move forward.
Speaker 3:That's so important too, though.
Speaker 2:What's the old saying Garbage in, garbage out.
Speaker 3:So if the data we're not putting in there isn't good data, then the reports are useless and we waste a lot of money. So I think it's important that we make sure it happens that way 100% agree with you.
Speaker 4:I'm going to be on a fresh page the next day, with everything the way it should be.
Speaker 1:To my knowledge, everything the way it should be. Sure, well, and to my knowledge and you may say otherwise, because we haven't really talked about this in the last week or so but to my knowledge, the company that we're working with, they're great, like. They've been able to support us and we've had issues, we've sent it to them and they've been able to go. Oh no, here's the way you should do this, right? They actually gave youall props. I remember when you told I think you told me this you were talking to them like a week after we had the program, right, seven days. You had to follow up with them, right, and they were flabbergasted that you were able to put that much data in in such a short period of time.
Speaker 2:Yes, Were they really?
Speaker 1:Yes, and you have to understand this program too. There are companies that have 2,000, 3,000 trucks or 2,000 taxi cabs because it does all kinds of like anything vehicle-related it does it all.
Speaker 1:You could have a five-tractor fleet I mean tractor like, as in John Deere Caterpillar Tractor fleet. It'll help manage that. You could have a taxi service. You could have a trucking company. It does a lot of stuff and there are several thousand truck fleets and several thousand car fleets that utilize the same software and they were like how on earth did this little tiny 120 truck fleet put this much data in in such a short period of time? I know y'all were really happy about it, but I was also happy too. I'm like that's great. That is a testament to the people behind the scenes working at Highfield, oh yeah.
Speaker 1:Of how good and how efficient they really are.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. Yeah, there's quite a few large trucking companies that use this Doyle Trucking, they're one of the ones that use this software and so, yeah, it's really. I think it's going to be great in the long term, once we're fully rolling with it, which I would say we are 90% there. Wow, we are really rolling along.
Speaker 1:So I'm thinking a lot of that, too, is going to be a lot easier, because, coming up soon actually not soon. Four days ago, three or four days ago, I don't remember what it was we just announced our new staff member. That's right, we brought on Eric, but not you, a different Eric.
Speaker 4:Because you like duplicate names.
Speaker 1:I do like duplicate names Kelly and Kayla.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Melissa and Melissa.
Speaker 4:Eric and Eric, it just works Dina and.
Speaker 3:Delina Dina and Delina Vincent and.
Speaker 1:Patrick Don and Donnie. Right, jerry and Jimmy and Donnie Right.
Speaker 4:Jerry and Jimmy.
Speaker 1:Jerry and Jimmy. It's kind of a thing we do. So no, we just brought Eric on, and again different Eric, and he's going to be joining the maintenance staff.
Speaker 2:Yep.
Speaker 1:And he's actually been working a couple days now in the yard with you. How's that been?
Speaker 3:going. Oh it's rough, yeah, it's rough, yeah it's rough, oh my, but he's been off the truck for a little bit he did drive for us.
Speaker 1:He did drive for us. He did drive for us for a little bit, that's right.
Speaker 3:He and his wife. He and his wife. And they did a great job. They did a great job on the road Also.
Speaker 1:I could see that. I could see that. Look, you know that happens when you don't do something for a hot minute and you try it again.
Speaker 4:It's like wait a second, you got to get back into it.
Speaker 1:Sure. You're like, okay, sure, so do I put the olive oil in before I put the eggs? Right or do the eggs just go straight in the pan.
Speaker 3:Right, I don't recall which it is. It takes a minute, but he's going to. It's been getting better and better. You know he showed up the first morning and didn't bring coffee. Well, first strike, listen, first strike, okay. And then, when it came to lunch, you know, I took him out to lunch.
Speaker 1:Like hey your first day.
Speaker 3:Welcome to the team. Let's go have some lunch. Waffle House right.
Speaker 1:If I'm not mistaken, Waffle House just over the highway.
Speaker 3:He didn't want to pay. I'm like bruh, and you know me, I don't say bruh unless I mean bruh. I'm like bruh. This is on you, partner. You're the one that wants this job, that needs this job.
Speaker 1:You need to come out of the bucket for some lunch. Needs a strong word.
Speaker 3:Want, want this job. That needs this job absolutely. You need to come out of the bucket for some lunch. Needs a strong word. So, want, want, want, right. Yeah. So, uh, once we got all that worked out, we went back to the yard and he's like all right, what's next? I'm like a nap.
Speaker 1:I mean, you know, waffle house, yeah, waffle house, it's again. It house Again bruh A nap right.
Speaker 3:So I had my nap and he did whatever he did and he's like, okay, okay, I got up and I got out of the car and I walked over. I'm like, hey, what's going on? Don't tell me what's going on. He's like all right, what's?
Speaker 1:next.
Speaker 3:I go. It's been rough, but I'm breaking them in slowly but surely. You know he's learning. For those of you that don't know, that's all a joke. I don't actually know how things are going yet, because we prerecord, we do prerecord. But, I am looking forward to Eric joining me on Thursday morning for day one so I can help ease him into the equipment he's going to be working with on the phone with some of you folks. So I'm excited about it.
Speaker 1:I do hope that on Thursday y'all do go to Waffle House. We will.
Speaker 3:We will go to Waffle House and he will bring me coffee.
Speaker 2:Matter of fact.
Speaker 4:Let me remind him now. Just give him a little text message.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, oh, that's hysterical you do two sugars right.
Speaker 3:No, I don't do sugar at all, just cream. You do cream Just cream no sugar, I'm with you.
Speaker 2:There you go.
Speaker 4:Just an iced Americano with heavy cream.
Speaker 1:It just depends on the coffee. I don't know If it's an espresso, I don't want nothing, Just give it to me straight out of the blender. I mean the what? The espresso machine.
Speaker 4:So the espresso does come out of the machine called an espresso machine. Don't even put a lid on it. We tried a new coffee place.
Speaker 1:I know you probably all are all talking about Eric. No, but I do love coffee houses.
Speaker 4:We tried two new coffee places, but he brought up coffee, so I just wanted to quickly tag on that and then we can go back. So, Vince and I, instead of doing dinner dates somewhere new, we've been doing coffee dates somewhere new.
Speaker 1:So much more affordable. So much more affordable.
Speaker 4:So we did Friday Thursday.
Speaker 3:Thursday morning.
Speaker 4:We did, mr Coffee Bean.
Speaker 2:Mr Coffee.
Speaker 4:Bean, mr Bean Coffee, mr Coffee Bean, I think, is what it is. Okay, anyways, in Powell, yeah, and I didn't realize there were so many businesses behind the front of this city front street, anyway. So we went there and I always get the same thing and I went rogue, like the valley, no, and I went rogue.
Speaker 1:Like the valley.
Speaker 4:No, I went rogue. I did a sugar-free iced mocha.
Speaker 1:And.
Speaker 4:Yeah, no, I think the sugar-free syrups were a little bitter. She did give us a free sample of their cold brew, and it was delicious. She stated that they make their Americanos with their cold brew. No, they make all their ice drinks with their cold brew and it was delicious. Um, she stated that they make their americanos with their cold brew.
Speaker 4:They make all their ice drinks ice cold brew yes their americanos with their espresso so, at any rate, the sample was delicious. Um, I did enjoy the flavor of the coffee, but the bitterness of the syrup really cut through. Vince was going to go back and get me an americano, like we barely left the shop and I'm like, no, this is what I wanted, this is what I'll drink, but we're coming back.
Speaker 1:Oh, this was a grab and go. It wasn't like a sit in the coffee shop. No, no, no, no, it was a grab and go. No, we grabbed and go.
Speaker 4:No, we had work to cool.
Speaker 3:I cannot wait to go back. In fact, I would do like a Saturday and maybe not drink all my coffee but just hang out for 20 minutes or something.
Speaker 4:So that was a pretty cool place. Again, about a month ago we went and did another coffee shop that was more down in Upper Arlington and that was a delicious coffee shop. I don't remember the name of it, I'd have to do some Google work.
Speaker 2:But I'd go back to that one too. You're in my neck of the woods and you didn't invite me. You don't like coffee?
Speaker 3:We hadn't planned to go to that place actually. So the place we went to last Thursday was Mr Bean and Powell. We hadn't planned to go there. We actually were going to go to Mr Bean originally a couple months ago, but I had to do something in the yard, I think. So it. It was a real quick change of plans and it was a Saturday morning date day, so no, you weren't invited. Gotcha, and then I guess, Ultimately, the answer is no, we didn't invite you.
Speaker 4:And then I guess, Saturday we did another one too.
Speaker 4:We did I forgot about that one, because we went and tried a new I'm going to say it wrong, but a new Berea taco truck and they're parked in a coffee shop parking lot and we've actually been there a couple times and they're always closed. Both businesses like we're just not hitting them right. And I saw a facebook ad that said they were open. So we went to go try the truck, the taco truck, and I'm like, well, we're here in the coffee shops open, so let's try their coffee. Um, and that coffee was delicious as well. It's been really hard to find good coffee that isn't starbucks or dunc. I want the no brand, no name, mom-pa chain.
Speaker 4:So far we're up to three. That one was down off West Broad, so a little further down in town. All three have been delicious. It's been fun trying somewhere different, a little easier on the pocketbook if you want to do something more frequently.
Speaker 1:I do love a good mom-and-pop coffee shop. The problem is a lot of A little easier on the pocketbook if you want to do something more frequently. I do love a good mom and pop coffee shop. The problem is a lot of them. Yes, not all, not even most, but enough of them are like hey, let's try. Like, come enjoy us. We're doing this unique, we're roasting it, but we're roasting it with a magnifying glass in the sun.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Right and you taste it and you're like, oh, that's not working. There's another one in.
Speaker 4:Powell, I've tried it twice. The first time it was a no-go, Like it was awful.
Speaker 2:It was bad yeah.
Speaker 4:And then I'm like, okay, maybe it just Bad day. Bad day.
Speaker 1:Bad day.
Speaker 4:So I did give it in good effort, because again, I want to support local. Everybody knows I'm sure I've said it before but I love supporting local. So I did try it a second time and no, it's their coffee. It literally tastes rancid and burnt and I just when you're keeping it very simple with just heavy cream, heavy cream.
Speaker 1:Coffee matters.
Speaker 4:And coffee. You can't have burnt coffee. Yeah, and it tastes like it's been sitting on the diner in the craft for four days. Like it is bad, but Mr Bean was good.
Speaker 1:I think it's almost like cocktails, right? Like a fancy frou-frou-y coffee drink Enough syrup, enough flavoring enough milk. It hides all the berries, all the flaws, yeah but if you are like I am an espresso person, I want it neat. Yeah, I guess that's right. I don't know. The right word is I I want it works neat yeah, I don't want any. I don't want anything in it, I want straight off the machine I think.
Speaker 1:So what I'm worried they're using coffee is black yes, okay, but I want it like fresh off the machine, and so I am tasting the oils, I'm tasting everything that's going into that, the complexity or simpleness or whatever. Maybe, um, the roast, how long it's been roasted, where it's, from the region, all that flavor comes, yep, and so it's hit or miss. Some are good, some are bad. Sure, there was a place out in short north that we all went to. It's been a while, a couple years ago, and they had the whole scientific experiment set up. They had the beakers and the Bunsen burner and the fallopian tubes and everything, and it was, they had it all. They had it all beakers and the Bunsen burner, and the fallopian tubes and everything it was.
Speaker 1:They had it all the coffee was terrible when we had my back. I love Beyonce, love Atmosphere, all that stuff.
Speaker 4:They had a really cool scientific thing.
Speaker 1:Do you remember that place?
Speaker 4:I do.
Speaker 1:I think the chai was delicious, wasn't it? I want to say the chai was, but that's not coffee. It's not coffee, but it was delicious, wasn't it? I want to say the chai was. It's not coffee, but it was delicious, but the actual coffee was not. And I do want to go back and try them again. Like you said, I think any restaurant deserves two shots. I think Sure, Because you never know, especially with coffee. If you get a bad batch, you know a few months later that batch is gone. So you try something else.
Speaker 1:But it is. Uh, I I do. I do love those experiences. One of my favorite memories that I have is being in london at a coffee shop. Eric and I just got into london. We couldn't check into our hotel yet, so we dropped our luggage off and then we had to go like kill some time, and it was. Snow was on the ground, which which in London is rare. It's not London Ohio, it's London England. Snow was on the ground, which is rare. They never get snow. We're freezing to death. We found a coffee shop. We go to the coffee shop and had just the perfect cup of coffee. You know what I mean.
Speaker 3:You get a few of those.
Speaker 1:If you drink a lot of coffee, a couple times a year, you get a cup of coffee where you're like, wow, this is just perfect. It was there, freezing cold standing room. Only we literally are at a bar that is intended for standing. There are no benches. Nobody thought that you would ever be sitting here. It is a standing only kind of place. Drink your coffee and then move on and like that kind of coffee, those memories, those experiences and tastes, I love those. But a lot of coffee shops do get it wrong.
Speaker 1:Yeah, sure so it does take some experimenting and going to other places and stuff.
Speaker 4:Three for three in the last three weeks yeah. Three for three Upper Arlington weeks yeah. Three for three Upper Arlington, Mr Bean, and next to the Brea.
Speaker 3:Tacos yeah.
Speaker 4:I'll have to get you those so you can go check them out.
Speaker 3:Yeah, the second one that was in Broad Street, North Broad, was a third-way coffee house.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 3:So, it was eclectic.
Speaker 2:It's kind of always been a dream of mine to have a coffee house. Yeah, very eclectic Dream of mine to have a coffee house. Yeah, I love coffee so much.
Speaker 4:What would it be called Human Bean?
Speaker 3:No, that exists already. Yeah.
Speaker 4:Sorry, I'm just saying oh, okay.
Speaker 3:Did you buy your espresso maker yet? No, okay, that's where you start.
Speaker 2:Yeah Well again.
Speaker 4:I didn't mean to take us off Fladio and Eric Bender, but you brought it up coffee I just wanted to share. We had a quick coffee day, Just a reminder Eric, you're buying me coffee Thursday.
Speaker 3:You bought me coffee Thursday.
Speaker 1:There we go Pilot.
Speaker 3:Pilot makes good coffee.
Speaker 1:They do Pilot House Blend.
Speaker 4:Oh, what We've got different.
Speaker 1:The Pilot Sumatra Blend, sumatra Ain't no truck stop.
Speaker 2:There's not a near a truck stop in this entire country that has good coffee.
Speaker 1:Pilot House blend. Pilot has good coffee.
Speaker 4:Love's did a seasonal one. That was delicious.
Speaker 3:Yes, your pumpkin spice.
Speaker 4:Yes, yeah, oh, now don't I liked it iced.
Speaker 3:Don't talk to me about TA coffee, I would rather.
Speaker 1:Battery acid.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah, there's so many times we would make coffee on the truck and then I would be driving and I would just stop thinking, okay, I'm going to run in and grab a cup of coffee because I don't want to hop back there and wake him up and all that mess, right, and I would go in. Pilot TA loves, I would try them all. And then pilot started doing the whole grind the beans and make all that fresh to the coast.
Speaker 3:It's just garbage.
Speaker 2:Every single bit of it is downright garbage.
Speaker 3:You know what's funny and I don't disrespect your opinion I've been taught when I'm doing an orientation with new drivers and somehow I'll talk to them about our preferred truck stops, yeah, and they're like, oh, but I love Pilot Coffee. I'm like I'm right there with you. Pilot's, my favorite coffee on the road. Yep, stop in and get a cup of coffee. Just, you know we prefer you don't fuel there, absolutely, but they do have great coffee, yep, yep. So I disagree with you, zeri, but I respect your opinion.
Speaker 1:Again. So I used to go and start my shift at Footloves and I wouldn't start with coffee, but I would start my shift at Footloves. Usually that's where we're getting diesel. We'd top the truck off, make our swaps and then we would head on out. And then when it was time for my 30-minute break, it was always a Pilot and I'd go in there and get my Pilot coffee. Pilot House blend that ice-cold French vanilla because, they actually do have it in a refrigerator and it's ice-cold when it hits there.
Speaker 1:And then I'd walk over it, because Pilot's coffee comes out at approximately 246 degrees.
Speaker 4:Yes, Claiming hot yeah it's crazy hot.
Speaker 1:McDonald's got sued. Pilot by far beats McDonald's. And I'd go over to the Coke machine or whatever and get a cup just like a handful of the ice and then throw it in there. And then finally I got smart and I started pre-icing.
Speaker 3:That makes perfect sense. Yeah, throw the ice in the cup.
Speaker 1:It literally takes three cubes Because I like hot coffee. I just want to take the Inferno off.
Speaker 3:Right, I want that. You don't want to burn your taste buds so you can't taste it anymore.
Speaker 1:I want that steam to solidify back into coffee and then that ice cold creamer and whatever is perfect is expensive, like $3.29 for a cup of coffee, but to me it was worth it because it was so much better than Love's. In all fairness, we did get off the truck before Love's got the grinding machines and all that stuff, so I have heard they got a lot better TA on the other hand no, no improvement.
Speaker 2:TA.
Speaker 1:None TA owns a company called Country Pride Is that right.
Speaker 3:Country Pride, yeah, country.
Speaker 1:Pride the restaurant. Yeah, country Pride's coffee on point yeah, good coffee, it's delicious Good coffee. I could sit there, eat a meal, have three or four cups, it's great, go out to the truck stop. It's battery acid. That's weird, I don't understand. You are a. You're the same company. Yeah, like, wouldn't it be more expensive to have two different types of coffee?
Speaker 4:Possibly.
Speaker 3:Did I ever tell you about the time we had a hazmat load that was coffee creamer?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 3:Yeah, remember that.
Speaker 1:I do. Oh, was it dry coffee creamer.
Speaker 3:It was dry coffee creamer Probably flammable. It was going to a food distribution center, but it was going to. It was actually branded a truck stop brand. So it was going to that truck stop eventually. But yeah, it was dry coffee creamer, it was flammable, it was hazmat.
Speaker 4:My mom used to do magic tricks with coffee cream.
Speaker 1:My dad was in flour milling for years there, giant tanks and the whole mill had this incredibly advanced fire suppression system.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I believe it, and I asked him why.
Speaker 1:And he said you know that when we crush that powdered flour up and it's in the air and it's condensed, a little spark will create a massive explosion, and so we have to be able to stop that from happening yeah. And it's like, wow, you don't think, like all Betty Crocker, all purpose flour be flammable, but in the quantity and the size and in the air, and it's just enough oxygen with enough flour, it absolutely does.
Speaker 4:Mom would take the creamer and the powder creamer and kind of sprinkle it, and she'd take her cigarette lighter and make this firework spectacle out of it.
Speaker 1:I do love a spectacle, I do too.
Speaker 4:Eric, did you like coffee out on the road when you were driving?
Speaker 3:We did loves most of the time and.
Speaker 1:I'd get one cup of coffee and it would last nine of my ten hours and that was a small.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was a small.
Speaker 2:Oh no Slow drinker.
Speaker 1:Well, that's why I didn't like Yetis. When I was out on the road driving, I didn't use a Yeti cup because the coffee pilot house blend would stay way too hot. It'd be like hour nine. It's like oh, finally I can drink it.
Speaker 3:Well, when I take my coffee or tea in the winter time to work in my Yeti cup, I actually do put ice in it so I can cool it off and actually drink it within the hour. Otherwise it has to sit there forever and it cools off after I want the coffee or tea.
Speaker 1:It makes me think of again. So cooler technology, all that stuff just blows me away, because I am very much a child of the early 90s where we used Igloo was our preferred cooler and it would hold ice for two or three hours. Yeah, you know what.
Speaker 4:I mean yeah.
Speaker 1:And so, like all this Yeti and all this stuff, technology is like below my mind. We were, you know, three weeks ago. We were at Bourbon Fest. Y'all saw Kelly and Jimmy were here. They went to that with us as well. We talked about it on the last podcast and the first thing we did was they brought in a thing of ice and we put it in a Yeti cooler and it held ice the entire weekend.
Speaker 3:It got to the point where the next day we were beaten on the thing to break it up because it was a solid block of ice at that point.
Speaker 1:By the way, the bottom of my cup is now dented. Mine is too. I got out of the dishwasher the other day is now dented, Mine is too. I saw that I got out of the dishwasher the other day and I was like dang it.
Speaker 3:So I bought this little rubber thing here yeah, aftermarket Because my cup won't stand by itself anymore.
Speaker 4:He's showing his Hydro Flask. I'm showing my.
Speaker 3:Hydro Flask and all the dents in the bottom, it won't hold.
Speaker 1:Yes, please. This will be on the notes.
Speaker 3:Do we want to do it with maybe that sticker and not the Bourbon Pursuit sticker in the picture I like that one?
Speaker 1:What is that Hold on? What is that sticker?
Speaker 3:That is the Luke Shire expediting adventure with the world famous catchphrase don't leave money on the table.
Speaker 4:So the pumpkin spice that loves does.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:I would actually get it in my own cup at like the end of my shift and then I would put it in the refrigerator, and this is when we were doing a protein shake of some sort. And so the next day, when it was my shift or during my next shift, just depending on how I feel whether I want a hot coffee or cold but I would add a vanilla protein shake powder to it, but it was that pumpkin spice.
Speaker 4:Oh, I bet that was delicious, and it was so good, but I really that was. They took it off the market and now they're doing some cinnamon Christmas stuff and it is not the same as the pumpkin spice, yeah.
Speaker 1:How often do you get to last to taste?
Speaker 4:it Not very often, so the last time I went was Last Christmas? Well, they don't come out with the pumpkin stuff Until like September October and they run it a few months and then they get rid of it. But last year during September October they didn't have it and it was now some cinnamon stuff.
Speaker 3:And I'm like that's just not the same as the pumpkin.
Speaker 2:You talked about pilot being hot coffee. That's your first clue right there that it's bad. The National. Coffee Association says the National what? Coffee Association says that the optimal brewing temperature is 195 to 200. 202 at max. Is that the NCA? So if you already are at like 230, 240 degrees, you're brewing too hot. It's going to over extract the coffee. It's going to be bitter and nasty.
Speaker 4:Yep.
Speaker 1:Somehow it's delicious, though I don't know Somehow it is.
Speaker 4:It was always his favorite place and I would say, probably once a month, when we'd stop there we'd restock up on snacks because, like their, probably once a month when we'd stop there, we'd restock up on snacks, because their pistachio and their jerky was always a better price than the other stores.
Speaker 3:They had a flavor of pistachios we couldn't get at.
Speaker 4:Lowe's, I think too.
Speaker 1:Yeah, we'd stop there and dump the pot every now and again and I'd go get some coffee. So the place they had the pistachios that were like chili powder or something. Yes, that's exactly what they were.
Speaker 3:They were the brand of pistachios you see everywhere, but they had them with the chili spicy something.
Speaker 4:Chili lime, Chili lime. Yeah, yeah, they were really good. You couldn't get them at Love's though.
Speaker 1:I did have those a few times. They were good. I used to go to TA because TA had the M&M trail mix by M&M.
Speaker 4:Okay.
Speaker 1:And the best thing about those was they had no raisins, so it was M&M's, it was nuts of various types and sizes and they had a little bit of like I don't know if it was cookie or if it was granola or what but they made an awesome trail mix and of course they stopped selling that we would avoid TA like the plague.
Speaker 3:I just didn't care for TA. I still don't care for TA. There were times when we had no option. But if we had to go to TA and get a shower, I just did not like going to TA. I just didn't.
Speaker 1:I tell you what's interesting and I want to go to TA and see how they're doing. But our fuel program that we use has renegotiated fuel prices with TA. I was just on the app that kind of tells you where the best prices to buy fuel are with our program, and TA makes up about 40% of the places. Love still edges them out most of the time, but 40% were TAs and it made me go like, hey, I wonder what TA's doing, I wonder what's going on, because we talked about TA building new truck stops.
Speaker 3:Petro's building new truck stops.
Speaker 1:They're obviously putting new money in the stores. Did they get bought up by BP we?
Speaker 3:talked about that a couple, I think they did.
Speaker 4:Yeah they got bought up by BP.
Speaker 1:So I'm curious, with them renegotiating prices, how are they coming along with their stores? Are they getting better? And I'd be very interested to see if they become a viable option in the future, because that is like I love Loves. They've been a great company to us and if I were on the road I'd still probably prefer to feel there, but at the end of the day, money's money if I'm going to save 20 cents a gallon to go to ta.
Speaker 1:I'm going to do that and I want to know is ta holding up there into the bargain which is clean showers, it is comfortable lounges, it is good selection of of foods, which they always have? Ta has always been a good selection of foods. Is their convenience store prepped, which, again, they always have been? The other thing I like about Lowe's is Lowe's is very big on pushing out sales, so you can hit a Lowe's up and get a good bargain on a lot of food. I'd like to see if TA's doing the same thing or not. Yeah, ta's truck supplies. They've always been better than anybody else's?
Speaker 3:Yes, they have.
Speaker 1:TA and they've always had a better chrome shop. They've always had a better truck supply stuff and if you don't see it in their store, you go to their shop. A lot of times their shops have a whole lot more to sell.
Speaker 4:They're closing in Corning, California, which is a big whoop-dee-doo for Vince and I.
Speaker 1:It's kind of where we hail from.
Speaker 4:Yeah, they're closing the TA in Corning, california. It was like 250 spots. No reason. Why is what I read Unknown? But it's a major truck stop. Before you go over the pass there. Why can't I think of what that pass is called? Oh goodness, it's where I grew up.
Speaker 3:I'm drawing a blank there too. Is that Siskiyou's there? That's far south.
Speaker 4:Anyway, it's over Mount Shasta, so dropping down into the Rogue Valley or Medford, and you do get a lot of closed weather due to the snow over that pass. But I mean there is a Love's.
Speaker 3:There's a Loves there. There's a Petro there as well.
Speaker 4:But they're not 250 parking places.
Speaker 3:That Loves is a lot of parking spaces. It's a huge Loves, but when it comes right down to it, if that highway is closed going north, you need those 300 spaces for trucks.
Speaker 4:I thought wow, but again, what are they doing with that?
Speaker 3:Like you were saying, what's TA doing, are they?
Speaker 4:rebranding. Is it going to come back BP or TA?
Speaker 1:or refreshed.
Speaker 4:What are they doing?
Speaker 1:Yeah, and you know TA does a lot of franchising, so I don't know if that's a franchise store or a corporate store. It could be a franchise store that's going out of business. It could be that it's at Amazon bottom I mean like who knows right, Like they may not even own the land they're on. Like a lot of these companies lease the property they're on.
Speaker 1:And when the end of the lease comes up and they get to renegotiate sometimes those companies just say no, we don't want to lease that property out anymore, we're going to take it back and do what we want to do with it.
Speaker 4:So it's take it back and do what we want to do with it. So it's um well I hope those that drive i-5 headed north. Yeah, in winter are prepared because it is officially has been closed yeah, that's frustrating.
Speaker 1:I mean it's nice that in our industry we don't do that corridor very often, sure, um, but yeah, it's definitely like you don't want to see a truck stop close these days, especially not one that's at the beginning or ending of a pass, because that's critical parking.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it truly is.
Speaker 1:I totally get it. But all that to say, we just want to welcome Eric into the family, and you know we're excited to have you on board.
Speaker 3:We really are. We really truly are.
Speaker 1:Think things are going to come great from you being here.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Welcome.
Speaker 1:Eric Welcome.
Speaker 4:I'm excited.
Speaker 2:I'm excited.
Speaker 1:So this weekend was quite fun Again. Last weekend we said everything got scheduled to come to Lake San Diego, so this weekend I know we told y'all last week that we did our motorcycle endorsement permit so Eric and I spent the past four days or not the past four days, but the four days- of this last weekend Thursday, friday, saturday and Sunday doing this class.
Speaker 1:On Thursday and Friday it was book stuff, right, it was nighttime classes. Farrah North, harley-davidson if you haven't been up there, it's in Sunbury. There's a Pilot and Flying J. Right there there's also a huge outlet mall. It's a neat little place. Got a Cracker Roll at Waffle House. There's also a nice BP in the Shell Station in case you're curious. But the building is really cool. I actually love the architecture of that building. It is like this big brick warehouse factory-looking building, huge Harley Davidson water tower on top of it. It's a very cool building, so we go there. Second floor of the factory area is where we did our classes. You know we debated between taking the Motorcycle Foundation of Ohio's class or taking the Harley class, but we all opted to do the Harley class. We were about 20 minutes into the class maybe 30 minutes into the class, eric, when I sent my first text message out. Do you all remember that?
Speaker 3:text message yes, yes, the sales pitch has begun.
Speaker 1:That's right. What was it verbatim? Do you remember it? I'm looking for it right now.
Speaker 4:Okay, it was Something like, and here it is. I think that's what you said.
Speaker 1:Was it here it is, or was it or?
Speaker 4:there it is, or something like that, and Vince is like what? The sales pitch for Harley Davidson no.
Speaker 1:That's not what it was. It was clever.
Speaker 4:Oh well, well, please, here we go One momento. We're doing fact checking.
Speaker 1:Whenever you're ready.
Speaker 3:Vince. I'm working through quite a few text messages here. That was Friday, so here we go Thursday Okay. So Thursday? Yes, at 625 pm. And the class started at what time? Six?
Speaker 4:The text message from.
Speaker 3:Patrick, is the HD sales pitch has commenced? Yes, to which I responded. It's like you paid for a timeshare pitch and simultaneous Buttermilk responded do you get a free cruise out of it? We did too. We both rode at the same time.
Speaker 4:And then we high-fived each other.
Speaker 3:We did. We were sitting next to each other.
Speaker 4:Same train of thought.
Speaker 1:It was freaking hysterical Because I'm expecting class like book hours, right, and we're going to learn about riding a motorcycle. Can I back up just a little bit you?
Speaker 3:can. What I didn't add was Eric's response that you do get 15% off.
Speaker 4:So I mean there's a sales pitch and a discount right there.
Speaker 1:Right there. Not on a bike, apparently, but accessories we get up there and we got to sign in and there's some legal. If you get hurt in this class, you promise not to sue us type stuff we have to fill out and give it back to them. We do an introductory thing where we meet people.
Speaker 3:Icebreaker.
Speaker 1:Yeah, an icebreaker, that goes fine. And then we all sit down after we've introduced each other and the guy's like all right, well, we're going to go downstairs to the showroom and I'm like, are you kidding me? Like immediately. It's like all right, we're going to go downstairs to the showroom and we're going to do a little tour of the sales floor. We're going to talk to parts, we're going to go see service and then we're going to go do apparel and then we have a little museum for y'all to go through.
Speaker 4:Wow.
Speaker 1:And I'm like you've got to be kidding me.
Speaker 1:So we all left as a group, went downstairs and went to sales and got the sales manager and some other salesperson out there just welcoming us to the Harley-Davidson family and we're here to help you buy bikes and we know you're starting out, so these new bikes may not be for you, but we have used section up on the third floor. So actually above us was the used motorcycle sales place, which ended up being kind of annoying because there were several times we'd be in class and just above us you'd hear and it's like, well, someone's testing that bike out, yeah and um, so we go to the, the motorcycle sales, get the whole pitch there, then we go do uh parts and we get the whole pitch there and then we go over to service. We literally go out into the garage and we meet everybody there and then we walk over to apparel and she shows us where the harley merchandise is, where's the non-harley merchandise, where's the pharaoh merchandise. And then we go to the museum and we learn that pharaoh harley davidson is the oldest continuously running harley davidson uh dealership ever.
Speaker 1:Uh, it used to be AD Farrow and down in. Oh Eric, do you remember the name of the city that they were based out of?
Speaker 4:The business has been the longest, harley Davidson. They've just moved sites.
Speaker 1:They've moved locations several times because they're over 100 years old. Oh, they do it right out there too.
Speaker 4:What is Farrow? Is it somebody's name?
Speaker 1:AD Far Pharaoh started the company.
Speaker 4:I see.
Speaker 1:And then he died in the 1920s 1920s, not the 2020s, and his wife, lily I want to say Tilly, lily, something like that she took over and she ran the company for a long time and then it's been bought and sold a few times Nelsonville Ohio, nelsonville Ohio, nelsonville Ohio Wow.
Speaker 3:Yes, sir, ad Farrell died at the age of 27.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I didn't know he was that young, but yeah, I knew he was in the 20s and so his wife ran it for years because everybody expected her to sell the business because she's a woman. But she actually pushed back and was like I'm going to run this business. And she ran it for years and years and years. So eventually today Reichart owns it. So Reichart Automotive Group is a huge company here in Columbus. They own a lot of dealerships and they own Farrow now.
Speaker 4:Wow.
Speaker 1:They have a couple different locations, the one up north and the one out east, but it used to be AD Farrow and Company which everybody knows about, our ad farrow, harley davidson and they removed the ad, they say allegedly, because they want to honor the fact that lily or I think her name was lily yeah, it was okay, lily.
Speaker 1:She ran the company for so many years that they didn't think it was appropriate that 80s name be on it, since, yes, he did start it, but she ran it for all those years and never got credit, so they wanted to just make it Pharaoh Harley.
Speaker 4:Oh, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:I did think it was very neat, did a couple days of class there, then we spent two days out on the range and it rained and rained and rained and rained. But we learned how to ride a motorcycle, learned how to shift, learned how to do a bunch of maneuvers, all that stuff, and yeah. So now the next steps are I try to find a bike, right.
Speaker 4:Exciting.
Speaker 1:I will tell you, as someone who kind of enjoyed I've enjoyed riding the bike. I hated most of the exercises, Most of the. It was a very challenging course, Especially someone who this was like Saturday morning was a very challenging course, especially someone who this was like saturday morning was my very yeah, saturday morning is my very first time ever stepping on a bike right um so, learning how to ride and going through all that stuff, it was miserably.
Speaker 1:It was very difficult. I had no idea what to expect and it was a challenge. But having gone through that now it's like all right, I need to find a bike and keep practicing those skills and getting better. So now it's trying to find a bike. And I tell you what that Harley-Davidson pitch was cool. I mean it really. There's that little piece when you're in that class and they're talking about Harley-Davidson and you kind of get the lineage and you see the culture.
Speaker 1:It's like this is really cool. I can't afford to play in Harley Davidson, oh my gosh. It's an expensive world. I'm like. This bike looks cute, what's it? And it's three times the price of a.
Speaker 3:Suzuki.
Speaker 1:Like it's insane.
Speaker 3:One of the things we did last weekend that we weren't able to talk about was we went on a big group ride with some friends of our friends of ours who were in a riding club, and most of the bikes were Harleys. There were there were a few, mine included, that were not but hearing that rumble from 40 bikes 40 bikes. Hearing that rumble from all those bikes was like and then they're beautiful and it was like maybe I bought the wrong. No, I like my bike, but maybe we need a second.
Speaker 3:But, again looking at the prices. Yeah, that's not my buzzer at all. The one guy we kept riding next to I told him.
Speaker 4:I said out of all of them that I can. They kind of drown each other out of the show they do yeah, he was obviously next to us but his was a little on the older side it was. And it had this deep grumble rumble louder almost than everybody else's.
Speaker 3:It sounded amazing, yeah.
Speaker 4:And his helmet was retro it was like army.
Speaker 3:It was like a fighter pilot kind of it was fighter pilot he had the fighter kind of pilot glasses.
Speaker 4:He was probably in his 20s. They do have a sound. We had a good time riding in the group. It was a fun day.
Speaker 1:You know what Harley does to get that sound too. It's a giant displacement. Two-cylinder You've got two pistons, just boom, boom, boom, which is what gets you that growl. Four cylinder you won't have that great loud six cylinder.
Speaker 3:Like the gullwing, it completely is gone.
Speaker 1:Yeah um, and so that's how they get that growl. A lot of them are carbureted. I mean it, they don't do. I think now they do fuel injecting a lot of them, yeah a lot of, even up to fairly recently, weren't then? Of course, everybody pulls all the mufflers and all the stuff that's good for the environment off. It really gets those bikes dialed in to where they have that beautiful sounding rumble.
Speaker 4:I liked our bike. Our bike was just fine. It was very comfortable on ours Sure. It did Very happy with our bike. It's still enjoyable.
Speaker 1:I thought it was funny On our bikes that Eric and I rode. It's still enjoyable. I thought it was funny On our bikes that Eric and I rode that school, provided they were Harley Davidsons. But they were actually like they're not for sale in America because they're Harley Davidsons but they're made on a Chinese frame, From what I can tell. From what I can tell, harley Davidson gets the frame and a bunch of components over from China.
Speaker 1:They still assemble them in America, but they're mostly chinese parts I think like the engine might be harley, but most everything else isn't right and uh, but they assemble them here in america. So that's how they, that's how it's an american bike, but it was a one cylinder and vince told me he's like one cylinders are brutal, they vibrate the whole bike. And I'm telling you, riding that thing around the course and doing all the track stuff, oh my gosh, your hands would start to get numb because it's just a constant, like vibration, like crazy.
Speaker 4:One cylinder huh.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, and what did I tell you? They call those one cylinder bikes Thumpers.
Speaker 1:Thumpers.
Speaker 3:Yeah, because they just thump. Wow, that's it.
Speaker 1:They were quiet, though I will say they were quiet.
Speaker 4:I believe it.
Speaker 1:They were quiet, they were nice. So that was our weekend. It was a weird experience. The bikes were less than ideal. They fit me, like Was it like a clown car. Yes, yes it was. It was downright painful. My hips and upper legs still kind of hurt because I was so tight. I looked ridiculous on this thing. It was not a comfortable, fun experience. And again, like I said, it was raining. I bought this rain gear off Amazon. Don't do that, thank you for the warning.
Speaker 1:By the end of the day, all of my clothes were soaked. You know what's funny? I'm wearing all this rain gear, right? So my helmet obviously is waterproof. My jacket and my these, like Rain pants you put on over your jeans, that are all waterproof, right.
Speaker 4:My jeans. My shirt so soaked with water Because it was warm rain and you probably were sweating on the other side.
Speaker 1:But not soaked. I mean, it was obvious that rain had gotten in. My shoes, which were not waterproof at all, bone dry.
Speaker 3:That's funny I can't figure that out for nothing. That's great.
Speaker 1:But it was an interesting experience it was. There was a couple things I didn't like about it. There were several things I didn't like about it, but it was interesting. We unfortunately pulled the short straw. So we were there when the instructors were getting critiqued by their upper management what do you call them? Like the principal, eric.
Speaker 3:I mean like administrators, whatever. I forget what they call them.
Speaker 1:And he literally a couple times, three times I can think of pulled one or two or both of them, one or the other or both of them out at the same time, while we were on break and had a. All I can say is a chewing out session. Is that what you would call it, eric?
Speaker 3:I mean like you couldn't hear what they were saying, so you couldn't hear what they. You could see their facial expressions.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, you couldn't make out what they were saying. There were sometimes I heard elevated voices, but you still couldn't make out what they were saying in the faces and the flabbergasted and you could tell. Every time this happened, the instructors would come back angry. That's unfortunate. And that did not make for the best experience.
Speaker 3:That's too bad.
Speaker 1:And what's frustrating too, is we paid more money for the Harley class because it's supposed to be the better one. And it just kept getting worse and worse and worse, which was kind of frustrating and I'm hoping I get a survey so I can let Harley know like this was a bad experience. This makes me go. If this is the Harley experience, I don't want it.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:Because I want them to look into it and fix it, but it was definitely frustrating. By the same time, I'm also excited to get back on a bike. Like I feel very underprepared. Yes, very, very yes. You know like, pop it in the first gear, roll that throttle back. Pop it in the second gear, roll that throttle back. It's exhilarating. I actually there was one time so I was doing a maneuver too slow and so one of the guys told me you gotta go faster To do this maneuver. And so I was like well, I'm gonna go faster, dammit, and I popped that clutch, I spun that tire I think I might have been the only one To do a spin out the whole weekend and I rolled that throttle back real quick and I was like I already pulled the clutch and I was like holy crap, that was totally unexpected, I wasn't expecting that, but it was.
Speaker 1:I don't know. It was terrifying and thrilling at the same time. I will say one thing I didn't expect was when I did spin that tire out. The bike was perfectly straight yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, I keep thinking like— the bike wants to stand up.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I keep thinking, like when you spin out.
Speaker 3:Ride a pedal bike.
Speaker 1:Well, no, not that, but like when you spin out and you see them on TV, they're always like drifting around corners and stuff. Right, sure, but if you are spinning out, going in a straight line, it just.
Speaker 3:Well, you also weren't hoarding the front brake which kept that front tire still, which would have fish-tailed you somewhat, I see. So when I learned to ride this was 15 years ago I took the class in California. My instructors were having fun with it, they enjoyed what they were doing and they interacted. At one point the instructor was over. He said let's grab my hands. So I grabbed his hands and he's like yeah, way too tight, loosen up on the grips, okay. But then after class I still I knew I wasn't prepared for the road. Yeah, I had a coworker who was an avid motorcycle rider, who happened to own two motorcycles. So he lived, he commuted to work every day, but the company I worked for at the time had a bus, a commuter bus for employees. So he rode one bike in one day, took the commuter bus home and then rode the second bike in the next day for me to learn to ride on.
Speaker 3:He told me get yourself a helmet and you can ride one of the other bikes. I go out with you and I'll teach you, and that's how we progressed. The first progression was just riding on the street, and that's how we progressed.
Speaker 3:You know, the first progression was just riding on the street, yeah, and then we went across the highway and into a neighborhood and rode around that neighborhood, just practiced turning and getting used to the bike. That was a couple days of doing that. And then the third day it was like all right, let's take the highway. I'm like you're crazy. Yeah. He's like, no, come on, it's all right, we'll just do one exit On, merge into one lane off on the next exit. Okay, and we did that and that was that and we kept. Then we'd get off the next exit, go through the neighborhood a little bit and come back. And then a few days later he's like all right, well, if there's no rain, we'll go up the mountain.
Speaker 1:I lived in the Bay Area.
Speaker 3:California. We're five minutes from mountains, no matter what direction you go, and I'm like, if you think I'm ready, he's like yeah, I think you're ready. That was easier because there weren't stoplights. Once we got there, there weren't stoplights.
Speaker 3:It was just the curves. The reason for the weather was it was an area that was covered in trees and if there's rain, when the ground stays wet longer in that area and then there's leaves, so you've got to be careful of that. So on the way there the bike runs out of gas. What I didn't know, and he'd forgotten, was he'd put it on the reserve tank.
Speaker 3:So anyway, got it there, got going, and that's what hooked me when I got in those mountains and could smell the trees and nature, yeah, I was like oh yeah, this is it, and I haven't turned back, so I would like to offer you that same experience I don't know I don't have a second bike for you to ride both, both of them, yeah well, yes, both of you. Yeah, exact same experience. I don't have a second bike for you to ride.
Speaker 4:Or a third.
Speaker 3:I'd be happy to go out with you, you know, and just kind of show you little areas and little things to do here and there slowly.
Speaker 4:Absolutely. We've been on quite a few cool rides that have not. I don't think we've been over 50.
Speaker 1:Well, one downside I have is that we live on a four-lane road, that it's immediately going to be 50 miles an hour. You don't have to go with that the exit to get out of my driveway is a ramp. Getting out of the driveway will be step number one, that's it. As soon as I get out, a thousand feet down the road is a left turn into a subdivision Right when I would love to go and practice left turns.
Speaker 1:I'll tell you what they do this maneuver out of the course where they actually set up a four-lane stop, not a four-lane stop.
Speaker 3:A four-way stop.
Speaker 1:Four-way stop. And so my very first thing I do right. So they have a big loop all the way around it and there's a four-way stop in the middle. Two of those lanes can go back to the loop, or two of those lanes go to U-turns, because U-turns are something you have to learn how to do which, by the way, I don't know how to do and so we go in this four-lane stop and I'm in the right lane, turning left, and I just jackknife or turn that thing as hard as I can into the oncoming traffic, like immediately, and he's like no, no you're over there, you're over there.
Speaker 1:And so I'm like, oh my gosh, you're right, I'm doing it wrong. So I had to like, like, fix myself and and turn myself, uh, into the correct lane, and I was wondering why this other person was coming towards me and it was just it's so stressful and to actually like get it worked out or whatever. And um, yeah, I'm anxious to see how it is in the real world.
Speaker 3:Love to get you both out there and just go for a ride.
Speaker 4:I think it's kind of like driving the truck, though right, I mean you have clearance you can't just turn into a, let's say, right-turn lane. You know, like you would a car.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 4:You know, if you're at an intersection we have to take a little more. Intersection we have to take a little more, otherwise you might take out pedestrians or the power pole or whatever's on that corner. You might just take right on out. So I think it's the same. It's just obviously a smaller size and a little different.
Speaker 1:The thing I can relate to in my brain is the reason it's not like driving a car or driving a truck. Is that very similar to flying? You have to have speed. That's a part of it right?
Speaker 1:Yes, it is If you're not going fast enough, you will fall over. Yes, so when I'm doing those U-turns and I'm trying to, it's not just a U-turn. They make you really U-turn in a very small area, an area that you probably won't actually U-turn in the real world. But if you can do that, then you can do anything. I could make the U-turn, but I got to go slow enough that I have to actually put my foot down to keep the bike from tipping over.
Speaker 4:They don't want you to put your foot down, you can't put your foot down.
Speaker 1:So, and you can't go outside the lines because then you would hit a car building whatever.
Speaker 3:So and the U-turn. It's a box, it's a literal box, it's a literal box that you have to U-turn within that box.
Speaker 1:Yeah, you know, part of me is thinking like in the real world. If I ever hit this spot, I could put my foot down Sure To balance myself right, we did, we did. Sunday. It's not the worst maneuver to not be able to pull off, not being able to swerve, that's a bad maneuver. You've got to be able to swerve.
Speaker 1:You've got to be able to break short, which you know breaking short very difficult, but again. So speeds on your side are one thing you have to have In a truck. If I'm in a very bad spot, I can stop it and get myself out of it, right. You can't do that negotiating a curve on a motorcycle, right. So that's where it gets a little tricky you have to have.
Speaker 1:You have to be able to move enough to keep yourself upright, and so that's where it gets tricky. You don't't have that time of being like all right, let me stop. Okay, here's what I'm doing. You do that, you lay the bike over, so that's where it gets tricky. That's where it's very difficult is, you have to keep moving and you have to keep going. And that is where 90% of my stress comes out and figuring it out and that's where practice comes in. Absolutely Like shifting gears, the clutch being up on the handle with the throttle on the other handle, like that's so weird. And I'm actually a pretty good stick shift driver. You can ask Jerry he's been with me in a van in Italy when we were going down a mountain. Like I can drive the crap out of a stick shift. I actually have that skill quite well. I feel very proud that I'm that good of a driver in that type of situation.
Speaker 3:But how much time did that take you to get to that point? Yeah, years. It wasn't just you know, get your driver's license and you're an excellent stick shift driver.
Speaker 1:Absolutely yeah, because I caught myself several times like I would pull the clutch, make a perfect shift it was beautiful and release the clutch, only to realize I never touched the clutch. Make a perfect shift it was beautiful and release the clutch, Only to realize I never touched the throttle, I had it fully throttled the whole time. And then, if you do that, the bike just takes off when you hit that second gear or that third gear.
Speaker 1:So there's a lot of practice. I got to do A lot of finessing. I am not ready to go in the mountains and ride with you, but I would like to get my skill down and get better and you and I have helped. Like you know what bike I'm looking for. So you know I've shared some used bikes around Columbus that we're going to go check out and you'll probably end up doing the test drive while I you know I don't want to wreck their bike I did it.
Speaker 3:I did it, but hopefully you wreck it. You bought it, yeah.
Speaker 1:So hopefully we can find one. But yeah, so it's been a fun experience, yeah, and I am looking forward to more time in the saddle. As they say, you never want to do a motorcycle, jerry.
Speaker 2:No, not really Ever. A little bit.
Speaker 1:Like I said before, was it when you watched Easy?
Speaker 2:Rider no.
Speaker 3:What about a scooter around Italy?
Speaker 1:A Vespa, yeah a Vespa.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 1:That'd be, fun. There's a company here in Columbus called Iron Pony, yes, and they're a Vespa dealer, and some of those Vespas are freaking adorable, are they not?
Speaker 4:They are.
Speaker 1:Do you remember that one that was in the clothing section?
Speaker 3:Yes, where it?
Speaker 1:doesn't belong. Yeah, yes, and it had. Was it Bugs Bunny or it's?
Speaker 4:Mickey Mouse.
Speaker 1:Is it Mickey Mouse? Yeah, it was Mickey Mouse themed Vespa. It was so freaking cute I wouldn't be caught dead driving it, but it was adorable.
Speaker 4:It was very cute.
Speaker 1:It was adorable. Riding motorcycles is kind of like flying planes in the fact that you have to learn those skills Right. But there's a thousand things you can do. You can ride dirt bikes, you can ride street bikes. You can ride street bikes. You can race friggin' bikes and never drive them on the street.
Speaker 1:You can ride cruisers. You can go touring. You can ride proper British style. You can ride a German bike and do whatever they do. You can have a sidecar. You can ride a trike. You can ride a trike with the two wheels in the front. You can ride a trike with the two wheels in the front.
Speaker 1:You can ride a trike with the two wheels in the back, like there are so many you have options, things, and so you, at a school, you'll have a harley rider with a classic cruiser, low rider, lao pipes next to someone who has a stock super nice scooter that makes no noise next to a guy who's racing a Suzuki Hayabusa. It's all these different things, and flying was kind of the same way when they take someone out and they teach them how to fly. You may want to fly crop duster.
Speaker 1:You may want to fly aerobatics and you want to flip the plane over and do all that crazy stuff. They don't discourage it. Wow, let's learn how to fly and do that. You've got to do it properly.
Speaker 3:but let's do it. Let's get the basics down.
Speaker 1:You may want to fly airliners, you may want to fly cargo jets, you may want to fly freighters or you may want to go to the armed forces. You're going to learn now so you can be an Air Force person or the Naval Air Force, whatever Like. There are so many options out there. It's not like driving a car, where we're all just kind of learning so we can get to back and forth to work or back and forth to school.
Speaker 3:We just lost all of our Naval Aviators that you still watch.
Speaker 1:I said Naval Air Force, you said Naval Air Force.
Speaker 3:I apologize and all of our Naval Aviators, that they just all unsubscribed.
Speaker 1:Just now.
Speaker 3:So when you see that subscription double drop, Jerry, you know why.
Speaker 1:Well, I'm pro Blue Angels. I think they're better than the Thunderbirds Fair enough.
Speaker 3:No, but when you are riding a motorcycle, you're using all of you. Your body is part of the bike. When you're making a turn and the first time you realize that I want to turn right and I'm going to counter-steer and push on that right handlebar, which is totally counter what we know. We know when we're driving a car or a truck if I want to turn right, I'm going to turn that steering wheel to the right. When you push on the right, which turns the wheel the opposite way, and you lean and the bike turns to the right, it starts to click. To the right, it starts to click.
Speaker 3:What it really starts to click is when you're riding and there's a curve coming ahead and you don't consciously think I need to do this, you just do it, or you get through a turn, you go oh, there was a slight curve there where I had to make a slight adjustment and maybe I didn't push, maybe I just put a little pressure on with my right leg. Your body is a part of actually riding the motorcycle, as opposed to you're sitting there. You know, doing like this on the steering wheel it's a different story. Now, we don't all get there right away as well. It takes time, but when you start feeling it, that to me is the fun part about riding a motorcycle.
Speaker 1:I tell you that pushing because you know I've had friends that have read before you've told me the same thing the whole you push to turn and lean. It is so freaking scary. It is like the first time I did it because I kept riding like a bicycle where you turn the steering wheel and they literally yell at you until you actually push and lean.
Speaker 1:and the first time I did it I pushed and leaned the bike over and then like yell at you until you actually push and lean. And the first time I did it I pushed and leaned the bike over and then almost like you're in a swerve where you're leaning opposite the bike and the guy had to yell at me and be like stop doing that.
Speaker 1:Lean into the bike like you're a motocross rider and so I did actually lean into it and once I was able to lean into it and really push and get the speed and get the everything, it's like, wow, it's just your brain goes. If I lean that much, I'm gonna lose control of the bike, whereas the bike goes more.
Speaker 3:yeah, I want to do this, yes, what I want to do, and my instructor.
Speaker 1:I thought it was really one thing she said that I really loved um was there was one one time we were talking about it and so half the group was riding and the other half group was parked. And I was parked and she said, when you leaned, what did you think it was like it actually felt quite nice, it was good finally. And she said, look at the tire. And if you look at a motorcycle tire, it is very rounded, it's not flat like a truck or car tire, it is very rounded.
Speaker 1:It's not flat like a truck or car tire, it's very rounded. She said look that most of the tread is on the edges because they know the bike needs to lean. So they put a lot of extra tread on the sidewall that you don't normally get on a car, so that you can go into, that lean and the bike still does what it wants to. It still holds traction.
Speaker 1:It's able to do what it wants to do. And then she pointed out she's like I know it feels like you have a ton of lean out there and you're being excessive. She's like the bike can do so much more than what you're doing right now.
Speaker 4:She's like you'd be amazed.
Speaker 1:So much more, and so I know for me that's something I have to work on. I have to really focus on and figure out, and I look forward to doing more yeah.
Speaker 4:I'm going to take the class, but I'm doing the Ohio class in spring Spring, early summer next year. Are you a writer already?
Speaker 1:Like you know how to write a motorcycle. I do Like you could just not do the class and go pass the test, kind of thing. I probably could. Okay, there is another class, it's a one-day class, it's a returning rider class. You should do that one, not the whole thing from us, I believe on the returning rider class.
Speaker 3:You have to have an endorsement already.
Speaker 4:I don't have my endorsement.
Speaker 1:She said you don't you have to have your temporary permit.
Speaker 4:All I've ever ridden on is gravel, which we all know gravel is squirrely.
Speaker 3:It's totally different, but that squirrelliness makes you a better street rider because you already know what to do when that back tire kicks out. I've only ridden on gravel.
Speaker 4:I've not done a U-turn. My U-turn involved a foot and maybe a little more tire action and I got a little swivel on the back. I've not street ridden right. I've only ridden with um you and well, the ex-husband we've talked about that on the back yes, on the back.
Speaker 3:So two different types of riding as a passenger.
Speaker 4:But I get it, I get. I get the balance, like when I ride as a passenger. I'm not leaning when he don't Like we had snowmobiles growing up and you had to lean to get that thing to move, Sure, but a motorcycle, I just sit there. You know. Whatever his body's doing is what I'm doing. If the bike leans, I lean, but if I was to lean too much, I'd throw us all out of whack.
Speaker 3:But anyways, I'm excited to take it, but that's what you want to do, though, as a passenger, sure, and I'm excited to take it next spring.
Speaker 4:So again, I'm going to do the Ohio one, not the Harley one, but I just think the whole class would be good. Again it's been a hot moment since I've ridden, let's just say, maybe 10 years.
Speaker 1:Well, at the end of the returning rider, which is one-day class, they do the test so you can actually take it and then go to the BMV and get that endorsement for your license. So I think that may be more appropriate.
Speaker 4:The returning class.
Speaker 1:Returning class, but they also have some advanced classes too, and I want to take one of those. So I'm hoping to get the bike. I'm hoping by the time you're listening to this, I already have a bike. If you don't, it's probably because the bikes we saw were crap, or the weather never let us go test drive them, because that's one thing we've talked about is going ahead and knocking that out. But by the end of this riding season, which we've got a month and a half or so left, two months.
Speaker 1:Maybe I want to be proficient enough to feel comfortable going to your house, for example or riding to the mailbox, or just maybe taking a very short ride, sure.
Speaker 4:Whereas right now I'm not Taking the back way to the yard. Yeah, right now.
Speaker 1:I'm not there.
Speaker 3:I'm not anywhere near that, but I want to be and that's going to involve me buying a bike and really doing a lot of practice.
Speaker 1:I will say one thing I kind of want to do. I want to do just for fun Was she told me that there is a class that they do actually out by the Honda plant?
Speaker 4:So if you don't know.
Speaker 1:Honda makes cars and motorcycles in Ohio, not far from here, and they do a class out at the Honda plant that is dirt riding.
Speaker 4:That'd be fun.
Speaker 1:So a dirt bike class.
Speaker 4:That's completely different.
Speaker 1:I'm like you know, that kind of excites me, if I may you may.
Speaker 3:There's a podcast I listen to out of Santa Cruz, california Motorcycles and Misfits Great podcast. They went down to the same experience they have in Southern California and it's a Honda-owned and operated class and you go in there and they have all the gear you need to ride dirt.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And again, this is a Honda-owned and operated class and I told Melissa this a couple years ago, more than a couple years ago now. It's been three or four years at least that I've taught her about this. They mentioned they had one down here in Marysville. I would love to do that one day.
Speaker 4:I haven't revisited it with you, since we should do it.
Speaker 3:It's a dirt class. They walk you through everything on the course. They have all the gear. The bikes are tip-top shape.
Speaker 1:I would love to do that. They also have, I uh, the advanced courses they also do at the honda place and, um, I think you can even do the beginner course which we did out there as well.
Speaker 3:So there's several options out there, so it would be fun to do a few different classes I've been telling melissa I want to do the advanced rider courses just to rush up on my skills. I had to get before first of july. I hadn't written in six years.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree, I want to do them as well, because I mean even like, if we do them next year, hopefully I will have several months of writing. And let's get better at those skills and let's develop all that because they did say that the advanced writer courses are not. It's not like. Let's brush up on the techniques we learned.
Speaker 3:No, it's not like let's brush up on the techniques we learned. No, it's totally different. It's totally different in techniques. Yeah, it's new skills.
Speaker 1:So it is totally different than what we learned. Now. The returning writer class, that's a one-day deal that is doing all the same stuff we just did, but the advanced class is all new skills, so I think it'd be fun.
Speaker 1:Yeah, it'd be a good time and you know, kind of like when I do my pilot's license stuff. You know, hopefully in the next month or two I'll be done with that. I'll do my check ride, but then after that I plan on going right into instrument and then on to commercial because I want to. I don't have any desire to fly planes for the rest of my life as a living or anything like that, but it's so funny because I get that question all the time and I'm like you know, I run a pretty good trucking company, but all those, everything I can get under my belt, makes me a better pilot.
Speaker 1:You know, every skill I did under my belt makes me. If I go take the CFI course which I don't ever plan on teaching someone how to fly a plane, they're going to give me more skills and more information to make me a better pilot yeah, and who wouldn't want to be better at what they're already doing? So?
Speaker 1:like I like driving cars fast, not on the open road, but I mean, like I do like that racing aspect of cars. Um, I don't think I'll ever get into it on motorcycles, it's just too risky for me, but for cars I love it so. So Porsche has an experience down in Atlanta where you can actually they teach you how to race cars, like how to do that.
Speaker 1:Wow I think I would really enjoy that. I really want to go do that. It's very expensive, very, very, but one of these days it's something I'd like to go do. So I am looking at the time and what we've got left to talk about and I think we're going to have to push some of this off to next week, and I apologize because I teased it for you two weeks ago and then last week we missed, and this week we were going to catch you up on it.
Speaker 3:And we still didn't get around to it.
Speaker 4:No, we got stuck on coffee and motorcycles. It's okay, cycles, it's okay.
Speaker 1:We still talk about transportation, but it's been a while a couple weeks and, as you can tell, we haven't really spent a lot of time together.
Speaker 1:So it's nice to actually do that right now and y'all get to listen to that insanity of us catching up. But next week, I promise you, we're going to talk about that way that we innovated the industry. And I'm looking at all these notes right here and I'm like I want to talk about it, but we don't want to have a three-hour podcast or show. And, vince, I see what you've got on the list. There's things you want to talk about, melissa. I like what you've got on the list and you want to talk about. We're just out of time, it's okay, so put a pin in it.
Speaker 2:We'll talk about it next week, yes, and in the meantime, we would like you to hit that thumbs up button, hit that subscribe button, hit all the buttons in front of you. Leave a comment down below. If you're interested in jumping into Highfield and checking out and talking to somebody and doing what we do over here and everything we got going, give us a phone call 1-833-HIGHFIELD. Send us an email at theouterbeltpodcast at gmailcom he needs his golfing.
Speaker 2:Which is that the Outer Belt Podcast at gmailcom One more time, Jerry the Outer Belt Podcast at gmailcom or check out our website at highfieldtruckingcom.
Speaker 1:Lots and lots of ways to get in contact with us. So the only way they can get in contact with us is to drop a comment, call us or email us or text us. They can text us directly from the podcast app right, oh yeah, but if they're like banging around the website, you can fill out a form.
Speaker 4:You can fill out a form.
Speaker 2:Or you can live chat Live chat Monday through Friday, from 8 am to 6 pm Eastern Standard Time.
Speaker 3:I did that once the other day I was live chatting with Jerry and I was looking for a job as a truck driver. I gave him some good questions. That's a good idea. I'm going to test that theory out. You can test Secret shopping.
Speaker 2:Yes, secret shoppers.
Speaker 1:There you go, somebody always responds you got to do it and if you have a motorcycle tip or trick or thought.
Speaker 3:Please drop them in the comments.
Speaker 1:I may have already got a motorcycle, but may not. Eric may have got a motorcycle, but may not.
Speaker 3:By all means let us know I might have bought a Harley Doubtful For a may. Not Doubtful Doubtful, I'd have bought a Harley Doubtful For me not Doubtful For me?
Speaker 1:not Very doubtful. You know, I'm 6'3", I'm 260-ish pounds, looking for a motorcycle that fits me, eric's 5'11", yeah yeah, and you weigh 106 pounds and he's looking for a motorcycle that fits him. What are you? 135?.
Speaker 3:I was down to 139 this week 139.
Speaker 1:So he's looking for something that's appropriate for him. Probably, if I had to guess, not the same bikes. Probably not the same bikes.
Speaker 3:Probably not the same bikes, and later in life it could be the same bikes it could be, Once you're both more more experienced, sure.
Speaker 1:I'm 6'3" and I can't stand on your bike.
Speaker 3:You're 6'3" and you can't stand on my bike.
Speaker 1:Your bike's like 9 foot tall. I'm 6'1". Have y'all seen? I'm 6'1".
Speaker 3:Have you seen the picture? I am 6'1" with a 31-inch inse seam.
Speaker 1:I have more torso than legs have you seen the pictures of the bike and the first wheel is massive. It's like three foot tall.
Speaker 3:It is not three foot tall and the second wheel is like 18 inches. That's his bike, I think you should try sitting on it again. You have a picture to put up here of my bike, don't you, jerry? No, okay, no.
Speaker 1:You will. It's right here.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it's right here. I think it's ridiculous.
Speaker 1:Look how tall it is. It's not tall, it's ridiculous. It's been a pleasure hanging out with you. It's been a pleasure hanging out with you. Until we meet again next week. Everybody, please stay safe, make good decisions, don't leave money on the table and keep those wells atonement.
Speaker 4:Bye, bye, bye, thank you.