The OuterBelt's Podcast
The OuterBelt's Podcast
Truck Troubles and the Art of Innovation
What happens when a bunch of coffee enthusiasts come together? Chaos, laughter, and a lot of caffeine talk, that's what! We kick things off with our lively crew—Patrick, Chilly, Buttermilk, Eric H, Eric B, Jerry, and Kayla—sharing their quirky coffee escapades of the week. From Patrick's not-so-sweet affair with Tim Hortons to the surprising discovery of espresso-less mochas, our caffeine-fueled adventures remind us that sometimes the journey is just as delightful as the coffee itself. And let's not forget the determined Seattle visitor on a quest for Tim Hortons, proving that a little curiosity and humor go a long way.
But that's just the start! Picture this: a roadside emergency, truckers stranded in a fuel lane, and a comedy of errors that ensues when the truck won't start. The punchline? It wasn't in neutral! In our tales of truck troubles and teamwork, we navigate vehicle mishaps with a healthy dose of laughter and camaraderie, highlighting the importance of checking the basics and sticking together when things get tough. The light-hearted chaos doesn't end there, as we also share the origins of our quirky nicknames, including how "Buttermilk" came to be.
Innovation is the name of the game as we discuss the evolving world of truck design, from bathroom-equipped sleepers to the latest Freightliner M2 models. We're constantly pushing the envelope, collaborating with industry experts like Wayne from Double A Sleeper, to improve driver comfort and efficiency. Whether it's reminiscing about past adventures or planning future innovations, our discussions are filled with reflection, humor, and a shared vision for the future of trucking. Join us as we explore the challenges, triumphs, and unforgettable moments that make our journeys worthwhile.
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
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Hey everybody, welcome to the Outer Bound. I am Patrick and you are my friends, chili.
Speaker 3:Buttermilk.
Speaker 2:Eric Jerry.
Speaker 1:Eric Kayla.
Speaker 2:Oh man, it's so good to be back from the week that we've been gone and it's just been so much happening and I'm so tired.
Speaker 1:But you know, we're doing the best.
Speaker 2:You know, we have taken all the caffeine pills that Circle K had and we are going to try and do this.
Speaker 3:I went with Tim Hortons today because I was desperate.
Speaker 2:That's the desperation that needs not.
Speaker 3:But it was either that or Pilot I should have done.
Speaker 2:Pilot. Pilot House Blend a little French Vanilla. They have the cold heavy cream too. What did you like?
Speaker 3:I didn't take my immersion with me there when I brought you the battery charger. But anyway. So I ended up with Tim Horton's cold brew with three Splenda and I choked all but like a quarter of it down.
Speaker 2:Does anybody else think of Tim Hortons slash. Tim Hortons has a who.
Speaker 3:I imagine they're good for their sweet coffees where you're adding 5,000 pounds of sugar no, it's still not good. And their pastries or cookies no, listen, Listen. I love our friends. I've never been.
Speaker 2:I love our friends from Canada. I remember my first Tim Hortons experience was at the TA in Monroe, which I think is Michigan right.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they had a Tim Hortons, and so Eric and I went there and I got some good pastries which were just pure sugar, like Krispy Kreme. You know, I don't think Krispy Kreme in the sense of pure sugar. Some of theirs gets a little sweet, but like they also have flavor and there's depth of character to their donuts. There's a place in Baton Rouge that I used to go to all the time Excellent donuts, a lot of flavor, spices in the flavor. It wasn't just about the pure sugarness Dunkin' Donuts, tim Hortons, pure sugar. It looks like chocolate but it tastes like sugar. It looks like strawberry but it tastes like sugar. There's just no. And if you're a Tim Hortons fan, bless your heart, because, again, canadians, they're so nice. I do like our Canadians. Your heart because, again, canadians, they're so nice. Yeah, yeah, I do like. I do like our canadians. Uh, friends from up north. So we're there.
Speaker 2:I ordered a cafe mocha because that's what I used to get. That was my old default drink. I don't really get it anymore, but I did back then. And she goes over, pumps the chocolate syrup in, adds a little hot milk like steams the milk in the espresso steamer, adds the hot milk and then goes over to her pot of coffee. That's been sitting there and pours the coffee into the cup of milk and I'm like where's the espresso? Like a cafe mocha, is that not an espresso drink? It is Everywhere in the world and so no.
Speaker 2:So I talked to her about. It is everywhere in the world and so no. So I talked to her about she's like oh no, we don't use espresso in this. We use our, our regular house blend, our regular coffee. And I'm like, oh, and I'm thinking like, okay, well, this is about to blow my mind, you know, it's about to be amazing, because that's why they do it. I took a sip of that swill, that battery acid, and I was like this is terrible. So we went back two or three more times to try different things, because I'm thinking like they're a big company, clearly I'm missing something and all I can figure out is that they just have excellent marketing.
Speaker 3:Excellent marketing.
Speaker 2:They must.
Speaker 5:They really must.
Speaker 3:That's funny, that is really good. How do y'all feel about?
Speaker 2:it.
Speaker 3:I don't know.
Speaker 2:Kayla's like oh it's great she's like I'm a Tim Hortons fan.
Speaker 1:She's like I have a punch card I don't eat there, I don't drink coffee, out of all things we do have one in Bucyrus.
Speaker 5:Well, you guys are Canada adjacent, so it makes sense.
Speaker 2:Well, you deal with our geese, we do.
Speaker 1:That's when my cousin was out here for the Madonna concert.
Speaker 3:She wanted a Tim Hortons. We did a Tim Hortons drive through. She's like this is so delicious. I'm thinking you're from Seattle, You've got really great coffee.
Speaker 2:You got the mothership, I know.
Speaker 3:But it was just something she wanted to check off that bucket list. So we did a Tim Hortons. I did not get one of that that time, only she did yeah, so Pilot House, so next time you're.
Speaker 2:I needed some, though it was a busy day they got the heavy whipping cream and it's ice cold and you literally drove right by it.
Speaker 3:I'm sorry I didn't drive right by it. I parked in the parking lot, true, you did. And then I drove by it like four more times today.
Speaker 2:Yes, it was a super busy day, so a lot of times I will check in with all this different staff, and today I had some meetings planned but they got canceled and so I had a little bit of like a lighter day. So when I was talking to Vince on the phone this morning I was like if you need anything, just let me know, and he's like I would love to have your help and I'm like dang it.
Speaker 5:I have to be desperate to ask for your help. I have to be desperate to ask for your help too, you do. I'd rather you not be in the yard. I mean, I know how busy you are, so I'd rather you take care of that than be in the yard. I think the former is more true than the latter.
Speaker 2:But I knew when you said that I'm like, oh, it's going to be a long day, and it was, it was I mean like I know y'. So it's super late and we're all super tired, but we're very excited because, as you may have noticed, our cast is a little bigger. Tonight we have the one and only well, the two and only Kayla and Eric.
Speaker 6:Again, again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, again. Yeah, they were here last week. We're double feature.
Speaker 2:They'll feature the month.
Speaker 4:Yes, that's what we're going to start calling home. One more and you become permanent cast. You do it is true. You do become permanent cast, it is true.
Speaker 2:It's a long drive in from Bucyrus, but you'll figure it out.
Speaker 1:We're busy next week, that's true. Yeah.
Speaker 6:True, no, no.
Speaker 2:You're doing next week's Thursday, two days from now. So for those of you that don't know, we're actually going to do a this week.
Speaker 3:we're doing two episodes because our Recording them, recording them.
Speaker 2:Not dropping them, so we're not releasing them. So you're listening to this one. Next week we will already have recorded that episode. I'm confused.
Speaker 3:Anyways, I have that grandbaby to go see. You have a grandbaby to go see.
Speaker 2:You have a grandbaby to go see that you're all excited about I am so excited. Yes, I can't wait to hear back. I've already seen pictures, I've already seen video. I've already talked to him. He speaks well. He does, I don't understand why he has a British accent but, we'll get to that later.
Speaker 3:Very strange.
Speaker 2:Because his family's not British.
Speaker 3:No, we left off last weekend with he was going to be well. They went in on Tuesday to have him, but he was born the following morning, on Wednesday night.
Speaker 2:I like a contrarian.
Speaker 3:Yeah, he's like oh, you think.
Speaker 2:Wednesday or Tuesday.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I'll show you.
Speaker 2:A rebel from day one.
Speaker 1:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 2:That should be his first motorcycle, A rebel. Well, we're so happy to have I was going to say Melissa and Eric, and I still don't think that's right. Kayla and Eric are back with us To catch the audience up real quick. Eric, you have recently been hired onto Highfield Trucking, Correct as the maintenance.
Speaker 2:Guru Correct and you are. You've been out of the truck for a year, so you are two years, so you are actually coming out here. You're working with Vince and Mel Lee when she was with us, but she's currently doing missionary work down in Tennessee. But you were up here working to regain the guruness one might say to regurunize oh.
Speaker 3:I like that, my mind.
Speaker 2:Your mind. That way you can Correct yes and so when we first talked to you last week, you were like a day or two in. You were getting your feet wet, you were having fun. It's now been 14 days later. Don't check the math, please.
Speaker 5:Yeah, we won't check the math. It feels like 14 days.
Speaker 2:How do you feel now the fun has?
Speaker 6:sucked out of it.
Speaker 3:Boy. He fits right in.
Speaker 6:Yes, no, it's been fun. I've never worked, even though they were our mentors. Now I get to work with him every day. That's been fun. He's been teaching me some new stuff, certainly learned not only learned new stuff, but gained knowledge that I once had. I'm learning new things too, and we've got to troubleshoot some things and that's been the funnest part making sure my mind can still figure that kind of stuff out. So it's been good. I've only got a few days left.
Speaker 3:How are you doing with the pivoting, like when something happens? Because I find that happens overall. Well, first off, in trucking right, you knew that when you were all trucking, you know something you make plans whatever, and then those plans go out the door because you get a load. But you make plans whatever and then those plans go out the door because you get a load, but we have to pivot. And I find that in the yard, vince is always sharing that he has a day plan, but then there's things that arise and you have to pivot. So are you finding that, um, there's a lot of that or not a lot of that, or how do you handle it? Or I don't know really what my question is there, but it's every day yeah, it does seem like it's every day.
Speaker 6:Uh, priorities change depending on yeah who's going in a truck and who's getting what truck and what shop decides to call to say, hey, this is done today this is done now some, some, some of them. We deliver one. You know we drop it off that day, we have to go get it that day. So, um, it changes every day very fluid well it happened this morning, right. Yeah.
Speaker 5:But we talked about what we had to do and we got fortunate today that the pivot didn't hurt us, but it helped us, with Patrick and Melissa going to get that truck from FIDA for us where we could stay focused on what we were working on. So pivots aren't always disruptive. Sometimes they allow us to focus more on one thing and spend a little more time on it.
Speaker 2:So it was good, Absolutely, but the one this morning that me and Melissa Buttermilk helped you out on. I wasn't expecting to call you in the fuel lane at a pilot and be like I have an emergency. I literally started the conversation with I have an emergency.
Speaker 5:And as soon as you said that, I was like Turn the truck off. He shut the truck off, didn't he?
Speaker 2:I did not shut the truck off. I didn't shut it off. I don't know what happened. We've got to figure out if it has an idle shutdown or what happened? Something happened, and it turned itself off. And when it turned itself off, and that amount of Spontaneously, I have a pretty good idea because I've done this long enough. Like if I jumpstart a truck and I drive it so far with so much time, it should give enough battery to crank itself up. It was dead. It wouldn't turn a light on.
Speaker 2:I'm like oh it's dead dead, Like it's dead dead, it's not even. There's no redemption, there's no clear.
Speaker 3:There wasn't anything.
Speaker 2:There was nothing left in it Because that happened. Instead of bringing that truck back to the yard, I immediately said let me take it out to our shop that changes our batteries and investigates alternators and stuff like that, because I think I feel like you're leaving part of the story out, though.
Speaker 3:Yeah, I was going to say the same thing.
Speaker 5:I feel like that is part of the story. So I get a phone call After the emergency. Can you bring me to your box, okay, but in all, fairness.
Speaker 2:We've got to clarify.
Speaker 3:Let me set the scene. I've got to set the scene. I've got to set the scene.
Speaker 2:I've got to set the scene. Okay, so I am outside. Steps are removed. So on these big trucks, the battery boxes. There's two different places for them. One is adjacent to the steps in a battery box. It's really easy to access. The other one is underneath the steps. So, like the two steps you climb to climb into the truck, that's where the majority of our trucks are, but a lot of them are on the side too. So this particular one happened to be on the other steps. So I had to remove the steps. I had to remove the battery box cover. It's very little clearance. There's a lot of stuff plugged in these batteries, so you're trying to grab a clip and trying to just finagle it on, just enough to get some battery. So I did that. Buttermilk, on the other hand, walked around the truck, jumped in the cab and was sitting there ready to turn the truck off for me.
Speaker 5:So it's a Western Star. It is the Western Star. You have to remove the entire steps and the ignition key is in the middle of the console. Which is not normal so it's not like the Cascadias or the M2s, where it's right there on the left-hand side. You stick your hand up there and start it, so you can't do it from the outside. You have to go into the truck to do it, or a second person?
Speaker 3:Yeah, which, which is what I did. So now I'm sitting in the truck.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:And I'm trying everything.
Speaker 2:Nothing's working.
Speaker 3:The lights on the dash come on when he hits the jump, yep, and he's like crank it and it's not even going Nothing, it's doing nothing, it's just nothing, nothing. So I'm like okay, so we turn it off. He's like okay, and he redoes the. I turn it on. Dash lights up, lights in the cab come on and I turn it. Nothing.
Speaker 2:We did this for and he's got me on the phone. We did this six to eight times before we ever called you, before I called you and then he's like well, try the generator and that's what I suggested, trying the generator.
Speaker 3:You suggested that, so I went back there, it did not fire. So he's like come back, come back, let's try it back up here. I'm like, okay, so we did it again a couple more times and it still wouldn't do it, and Vince and I are starting to realize we're about to call. We're about to call the writer.
Speaker 2:And there is trucks behind us sitting there looking at us wondering when are we going to go and if you're a trucker, you know that stress it's like we have to get it.
Speaker 3:This is not an okay situation, so you're ready for it, it's the worst place.
Speaker 2:I'd rather be broke down on the side of the interstate. It is just a terrible place to be broke down.
Speaker 3:So there is an engine check light on which Patrick said it had been on since he picked it up. I'm looking at some other things. I'm trying to look at the dash. What's it saying to me and my eyes?
Speaker 5:happen to shifter and it says that's funny.
Speaker 2:Are you ready? What does it say?
Speaker 3:It says D For dumb.
Speaker 5:For those of you that don't know, trucks will not start if they're not in neutral.
Speaker 3:Yes, so does it drive? I relate that to Patrick, and Patrick says to Vince some joke. He Patrick says to Vince some joke. He says we're amateur at this or we're truckers or something. It was so funny.
Speaker 5:The funny thing is I couldn't hear you. But I said to Patrick, is it in neutral? And I don't know what he said, but he was like, oh yeah, it's in drive. So I think we had the thought at the same time.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you did so as soon as we put it in neutral, she fired right on up yeah.
Speaker 3:With his jump, though. It needed another jump, but it then fired up and we quickly.
Speaker 2:Fired right up too, like it was just like vroom, like it was just ready to go. But I think that was just like room, like it was just ready to go, but I think that was just, uh, the tell of our day, though it really was. It really that was at noon, yeah, so it was a. It was a great eight hours after that. So I brought that truck straight to and the whole time I'm on the way to the shop and it's a good what 20 minutes from that there to the shop yeah I'm just.
Speaker 2:I'm just sweating, sweats pouring off me and I could have turned the AC on but I was nervous, so I just had the heater full blast and I'm just sweating all the way down to the shop, just nervous of like, did this thing cut off because it doesn't have an idle cutoff on it, or am I going to be driving and I'm just going to lose all?
Speaker 4:electric on the truck.
Speaker 2:And so, spoiler alert, I made it there fine and I was able to find a good parking spot, which is can be tricky there.
Speaker 4:It can be.
Speaker 2:I was able to get one right away and walked over there and everything was fine and I got the other truck and was able to go. I actually got great news there's another truck that we were not expecting to be ready. That is ready. You know it ended up being fine, but, whew man, that was a tense ride back over there, I was just like please don't die, Please don't die.
Speaker 1:Why would the AC be on? Make it die? You said you were nervous to turn on the AC.
Speaker 5:If the alternator has a problem and it's not generating enough electricity for the truck to actually run with. The AC would draw more power. So if the alternator is not generating enough electricity, it could shut off, so like nothing's on.
Speaker 2:Like I don't have the power to the sleeper on. I don't have the—.
Speaker 6:Why do you turn on the APU and let the APU run the whole time?
Speaker 2:So it's a truck we bought used and it has a generator we don't use on it. Generator we don't use on it and the reason we don't use it is because they are particularly prone to getting damage in rain when you're going down the road. So it doesn't have our truck APUs. They've placed their filters in there and their intakes and all so that when you're going down the road, if you need to fire it up, it will work and it will not ingest water. When you're going down the road, you need to fire it up, it will work and it will not ingest water. When you're going down the road, you know you think about all the water that sprays off your truck and if you've been behind 18, well you know there's tons of water comes off it. These particular generators, um that that are that's on this particular truck will actually pull that water in and create a lot of damage so that's why we don.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it was raining all day today, so that's why we don't usually spec this particular unit, and actually one of the things it's doing at the shop is it's getting new batteries and we are taking that generator off and putting one of our regular APUs on it, because we don't want this to be a problem with the team once it gets in there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's just how do you minimize the electricity draw so that the truck has enough electricity to run the computers to get you down the road? Gotcha, it was a harrowing experience. It was fun. It was Stayed in the right lane. Yes, Mm-hmm. Yep, it's got some weird things to it too.
Speaker 6:I made some notes. I can lie to you and say that me and Vince wasn't laughing the whole time you guys were on.
Speaker 3:That's fine. It was pretty funny. I thought it was comical in the end, you know 20 tries and it's still in D.
Speaker 5:My first thought was just another thing to add to this great day.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 6:It just goes to show that sometimes the simplest answers are the right answers. You just forget to check the obvious. It happens all the time.
Speaker 2:I've been on the phone with drivers really way before Jimmy came on board, even actually when Jimmy was first starting. I remember getting the calls of like okay, I'm talking to a driver, the truck won't start. And I do remember asking him is it in drive? And him being like. I'm assuming remember asking him is it in drive and him being like.
Speaker 4:I'm assuming it is.
Speaker 2:Why would it not be. I'm assuming it's a neutral. Why would it not be a neutral? And I'm like ask the team. And then, sure enough, that was the issue. So, like it happens to all of us at some point where we're like what is happening, I think we've all been there, I think we've all done it.
Speaker 2:It's the same for all the. We have two different transmissions we use and it works the same, no matter which transmission you have. If you try to start it and drive, she won't do it. But yeah, that's been. It was a fun day.
Speaker 3:That was part of the day?
Speaker 2:Yeah, how was it in the yard it day? That was part of the day. Yeah, how was it at the yard.
Speaker 5:It was a fun day at the yard. I liked it. The weather held out the weather, the rain wasn't so bad that it was unbearable. That cold wind, though, kicked my tail today.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 6:Eric and I were doing great Yesterday too.
Speaker 5:Yesterday too, eric and I had a great week. Eric troubleshot an APU. Today it wasn't working. And had a great week. Eric troubleshot an apu today. Uh, it wasn't working. And I was doing an outside check and this particular apu you open the side door. It's a pretty big unit, it's got, it's a tank unit and when it's got power to it it's got a green light on it. It requires the apu to be running in order for the water heater to work. So the apu was running when I opened that door to check that cabinet and I noticed that the light was not on on the water heater. So I went and grabbed Eric. I said, hey, did you have hot water? He's like no, I was trying to figure it out. I said come here.
Speaker 5:So I actually had plugged it in and I unplugged it and tucked the cord back behind the water heater and he came around and he looked and he immediately saw that it was unplugged. So, but that was one of those things where all of our water heaters don't work the same way, right, but that one does. He immediately saw it was unplugged, plugged it back in, went, fired it up and it was working just fine. So, but those are the little things that you don't think of. You look at the big picture. Oh, did we trip a breaker? You know, is the water heater not working? But he picked up right away that it wasn't plugged in.
Speaker 5:So that was a good positive for today we had some positives. We got a lot of work done. With the help of you and Buttermilk, we got a lot accomplished today that I was surprised we accomplished. Like the last truck, we did the initial on. I didn't think that would happen today, but because you guys helped us out, we were able to knock that out today and tomorrow we can move on to the next thing.
Speaker 2:Yeah, productive day, but stressful, but stressful, stressful for sure, sure. And then tomorrow, you know, we'll be back at it. I think all four of us will be back in the yard again, so it'll be a little different day.
Speaker 5:We can move through some stuff tomorrow.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. It's funny how it's just like an expediting where everything ebbs and flows and it's kind of been flowing pretty good for the past few weeks and then all of a sudden we get like a little.
Speaker 5:Yeah, burst A little.
Speaker 2:Smack in the face A little smack in the face, a little burst of pressure, and what's going to happen is, over the next three weeks, we're going to declog it and it's gonna be fine again, but it's like for now. It's like, oh okay, well, we gotta do this, let's get in and let's let's figure some things out. Um and again, you know, you kind of hit on it when you were like talking about how things change with the shops. It's like people don't realize how much we are at their mercy.
Speaker 2:We really are it is brutal um so we are.
Speaker 6:We have a few good shops, though.
Speaker 2:We actually have some great shops. We do All the shops that are on my list of approved Columbus vendors are really good. A couple of them are really slow.
Speaker 6:Yes.
Speaker 2:But they do great work. No, and that's been a frustration because we've actually talked to other shops to kind of be like, hey, maybe you're a good alternative, and a lot of times we find out is they're not as good.
Speaker 5:So, it's like they're not as good or they don't do the type of work we need. You know our trucks are pretty specialized and they aren't familiar with them. Yes, so do you allow them to learn or take it to the truck we built, the shop we built in the first place and take a little time? Absolutely.
Speaker 2:All I have to say I love what we do.
Speaker 5:It's just been a day.
Speaker 2:But this weekend we had some beautiful weather. We actually got to hang out and, if you'll all humor me, I think we're all going to do this together, right.
Speaker 6:Yeah, me, me, me me me what are we doing?
Speaker 2:We're singing again happy birthday to you happy birthday to you happy birthday, dear buttermilk happy birthday to you, thank you.
Speaker 1:And anymore.
Speaker 6:So how did you get the name Buttermilk?
Speaker 3:Oh, I named myself, that's the best way to do it right? Yes, so, speaking of Cincinnati, as you're coming down from Kentucky, dropping down into Cincinnati, there is the Buttermilk. I'm sorry what Coming down Kentucky dropping into Cincinnati? Cincinnati is lower than Kentucky. Am I the?
Speaker 2:only one, that's. I was letting her just go with it. Did I say it wrong again?
Speaker 5:We were northbound on. I-71.
Speaker 3:Okay, but if north is south, south is north, Go ahead. Oh sorry, so at any rate you're coming down into Cincinnati.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 3:And Up Down.
Speaker 5:Down the hill, oh, down the hill.
Speaker 6:Down the hill.
Speaker 2:Now I follow. You're talking elevation, not north-south. We were northbound on I-71. Yes.
Speaker 3:So you're dropping down into Cincinnati, there is a big green sign that says Buttermilk Parkway.
Speaker 2:Yes, Very familiar.
Speaker 3:And Cincinnati. Usually, as you two know, when you drive shifts, it seems like you always drive through this specific city and your partner doesn't kind of thing.
Speaker 2:It always seemed to work that way, and this was at night. It's lit up beautifully.
Speaker 3:Something about Buttermilk Parkway made me giggle, and so I'd be giggling by myself. It was our last ride.
Speaker 5:It was our last ride.
Speaker 3:It was our last trip. I was driving us back from after a vacation and um in the truck and vince was sitting up front and we come up on it and it's like the first time we've ever ridden through cincinnati in the three years we've been out here together and I shared with him. I said buttermilk makes me giggle, buttermilk Parkway, I don't know why. And then I looked over at him and I said fun fact, my indigenous name is Buttermilk. Buttermilk, hoo, ha, ha. And we both started cracking up laughing that I had this name and blah, blah, blah, but at any rate. So from then on it's been a running joke and I have now been called.
Speaker 1:Buttermilk for probably. How long have we been off the road now? Two years.
Speaker 3:Two years and I've been called Buttermilk for two years Vince calls me MDAC, m-d-a-c, which are my initials, and wherever in a crowd he calls me MDAC, it's normally a Vince thing. And that forever in a crowd he calls me mdac. It's normally a vince thing and that's been a relationship. But I can hear mdac like literally if we're in a crowd, because sometimes melissa gets a little lost on my ears, but should he say mdac or buttermilk?
Speaker 3:I know exactly that I'm the person that should be looking at someone talking to me your name and my email is mdac. Mdac, yeah, which is fine and it's okay if other people call me that um, I don't ever call you that.
Speaker 4:It's just whenever I type in your name in my email, that's what pops up for some reason, yeah, so but well, we all embraced uh buttermilk.
Speaker 2:I think pretty well, right, I think so, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3:And for me when people call me that it. It is a time or a rough reminiscence for me of what it stands for, which is driving on the truck. Again, I would literally be giggling by myself in the truck because I don't know why. It just made me just one of those words that make me laugh. So buttermilk it is.
Speaker 6:So from here on out, your name tag doesn't need to say Melissa.
Speaker 3:It just says buttermilk.
Speaker 2:Well you know, and because we already had another Melissa on staff too, it really helped having your name be buttermilk.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, if we're ever in a room together and people don't know. Her and I, mel Lee, melissa Lee. Her and I have agreed that I'm Melissa and she's Mel, like if we're literally in a group.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that's easy to differentiate from.
Speaker 6:I try to call her now Mel yeah, all the time, to differentiate from I try to call her now Mel yeah, all the time. Yeah, it's a lot easier actually, because Vince, that's all Vince calls her.
Speaker 3:Yeah.
Speaker 6:So it's a lot easier for me to remember who's.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know she's Mel, but see, I screw it up all the time. I call buttermilk Mel. A lot of times you do it backwards. I get itied against it. So Melissa liked to be called Mel in high school that's kind of where she took that up and then carried it through college and all those years and I always rallied against it. I was like, no, you're Melissa, you're not Mel. But I think it's because I hate when people shorten my name.
Speaker 2:So in my head it's like no, a short name is bad, so let me not do that, and uh they try to call you pat.
Speaker 6:No, people used to. I see I don't see a short yeah patrick.
Speaker 2:So pat is it, and they used to call me that, not no, they never did call me that. People will try that and I will say, no, it's patrick. Like I hate that name, so uh, so that's why, like I never would call her that, now I've embraced it because it's just too dang confusing. You know there's been times.
Speaker 3:And we voted Her and I kind of I don't want to say voted, but her and I did it very, you know, diplomatically, and I'm like, if you want me to do Mel, I'll do Mel. It's not the only one I won't do is Missy. I vetoed that all my life. I agree. I said if you want me to be Mel, I'll be Mel. That's cool. And she's like no, no, no, no, I'll take Mel. You do Melissa, and I'm like okay, bye.
Speaker 2:My grandma would call my sister Missy yeah.
Speaker 3:I'm not. I'm not. I've never been.
Speaker 2:My mom was pretty poo-poo against it too, it just Interesting.
Speaker 3:How'd you get chilly? Everybody wants to know. I don't know if you share that story, it's really my temperament, my temperament's pretty calm pretty chill.
Speaker 5:I'm pretty level all the time. I was in a restaurant in Vegas. I was working not in the restaurant, but I was in Vegas for work and the guy who I was working with was my partner and I went to a restaurant with our manager and some other workers they're friends of ours, they work in the show as well and we went to a Mexican restaurant and they had a dish called Dueto de Chili. It was a pair of chile rellenos on this dish. So myself and the other guy, my partner partner, ordered that dish, and when it wasn't called that on the menu, on the receipt though, it was called duetto de chili.
Speaker 5:So my manager sees the receipt, he starts laughing. He's like oh, these guys are duetto de chili, we're gonna call you chili number one and you chili number two. So I became number one. So the next day we go into work and my partner was only there for a couple of days and he was flying home and I was. He was there to help set up the first couple of days and he was done. So he was done that night and my manager was like hey where's chili number two?
Speaker 5:So he wasn't there the rest of the show, but I was, so I became chili at that point.
Speaker 2:So we didn't learn how to differentiate between one and two. We only had number one and number two. We just had me.
Speaker 3:And you've been chili ever since. So you're a solo to chili, I am solo to chili, and it's chili with a Y, not with an I.
Speaker 5:However. Oh, I do it with a Y, I do it with a Y too, the funny part, as I met my manager's mother months later she lived out of town. She was in town. I met her months later After work. I met her months later. I'll roll up to the bar and she looks at me. She goes you must be Chili. Yeah, so the name was so entrenched that his mom, when he'd talk about work, his mom knew me as Chili. Wow.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and it's just stuck. It's just stuck. And Patrick, you don't have a nickname because of why.
Speaker 2:So I do. I never really had one growing up because I just didn't like them and I hated the name Pat or whatever.
Speaker 6:So I never really had one growing up, so we should vote on one for you.
Speaker 2:Hold on. So I did get a name. When I went and saw Kelly and Jimmy down in Georgia we went to a friend of theirs house. He's an old ornery man. Pain in the ass man TNA. What do you want? Tna? That would be the one. And he looked at me and was like what's up, red? And I've been Red ever since.
Speaker 6:Okay.
Speaker 2:I have this red beard. I don't have red hair, but I have a red beard and that's it. Red Beard and that's it.
Speaker 2:And so I'll call down and maybe I have to. You know 7 o'clock call and you know they're watching the football game or whatever, and I'm like, hey, jimmy, I got to ask a question real quick. Or Kelly, I got to ask a question real quick, and they'll be like, okay, whatever, it's Red Red's on the phone, they don't use my name around him. That's the closest thing I have to a nickname. You should hear about Jerry's.
Speaker 3:Jerry, jerry, bear, is it B-E-R? Is that how you spell it, j-e-r-b-e-r?
Speaker 2:Let's talk about the better one, mr Bear, jerome Barrow, jerome Barrow.
Speaker 4:That's a nickname that you gave me.
Speaker 2:How did you get it?
Speaker 4:I. That's a nickname that you gave me. How did you get it? I really don't know. I don't remember.
Speaker 6:I just know you started calling me that, or you don't want to tell us.
Speaker 4:I just remember you started calling me that.
Speaker 2:So we were in Poland. I don't even know where to go from there. Why did I pick Poland?
Speaker 4:I don't know nothing about Poland.
Speaker 2:We were in the USSR, which, yes, it was dismantled before I was born, but we were still there, we were still there. And he wanted to go see this statue of Stalin and I'm like I don't know that it's appropriate and he was like he's an idol to me.
Speaker 3:So now I.
Speaker 2:Why did I start calling you Jerome Barrow? I?
Speaker 3:think it was on the podcast.
Speaker 2:Was it before the podcast?
Speaker 4:It was right before the podcast, but my nickname, my real nickname that a lot of people know, is Boogie.
Speaker 6:Oh yeah, I've heard people call you that.
Speaker 4:So that was before Expediter Boogie. Absolutely. I was a little baby and I would sit on the floor Whenever. My dad's a musician and he would play music and I would sit on the floor and twist and dance on the floor, and so he started calling me Boogie, and it stuck with me my entire life.
Speaker 3:That's pretty cool. I don't think.
Speaker 2:I've ever heard that from him. Me either, me either. So whenever I started, my YouTube channel.
Speaker 4:That's why I came up with Extra Daughter Boogie.
Speaker 2:That's awesome. I've literally traveled the entire. I've been to multiple continents with this man. Is this?
Speaker 3:the first time you're going to mention it. That's a cool story. That's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:That is very cool. That's awesome.
Speaker 3:Do you two have nicknames.
Speaker 6:Can we play some music? Can you show us we?
Speaker 5:would love to. I'm going to tell Do you two have nicknames.
Speaker 6:Can we play some music? Can you show us? Yeah, show us some of those moves.
Speaker 4:We would love to Come on. Look, I'm going to tell you something right now.
Speaker 2:I am too old to be doing that.
Speaker 4:I can't drop it like it's hot anymore. I got to let it out like it's warm honey.
Speaker 1:Oh that's funny, that's funny.
Speaker 5:Eric.
Speaker 3:Highfield. Do you have a nickname? Eric Highfield. Do you have a nickname? I don't. We worked on Slim Shady for a while but I think that's already taken.
Speaker 2:Copyright Frenchman Same with.
Speaker 3:Slim, jim, it's copyrighted too, and you're not a Jim, I say. Enrique occasionally, but nobody really takes that one, you two, you have nicknames no.
Speaker 6:Not, since I was a kid.
Speaker 2:You don't have pet names for each other, nothing.
Speaker 6:No, not, since I was a kid.
Speaker 3:You don't have pet names for each other, nothing. Honey, baby, honey yeah, those are just honey baby.
Speaker 2:All right, anyways, sugar Pot, honeycomb, that's a new one.
Speaker 6:I'll have to write that down. Don't you know that?
Speaker 2:I love you. No, I can't help myself. Nobody knows this.
Speaker 1:I had a nickname up until moving to Ohio and it just didn't transfer states, that's because nobody knew it. Actually, then everyone called me Idaho, when.
Speaker 2:I moved here for years.
Speaker 1:And then, when I married him, the kids were calling me Idaho and he had to ex-nay that he's like you guys can't call her Idaho.
Speaker 2:Quick question. She's got a name. Quick question Can we change our Kayla at Eiffel Truck into Idaho at Eiffel?
Speaker 4:Truck, I can change it to whatever you want.
Speaker 2:We'll talk about that later.
Speaker 1:But prior to that it was Tiny Tot, Tiny Tot.
Speaker 2:Oh, like Idaho potatoes, tiny Tot.
Speaker 1:I don't know, I was really she was 5'2 and this big. Yeah, I was really small my whole life until I became a truck driver. This big, yeah, I was really small my whole life until I became a truck driver, and so I just the guy who came up with it. He's like you're just spunky and small. Your name is Tiny Talk. That's pretty funny and it stuck until I moved here.
Speaker 6:That's pretty cool. I forgot about Idaho. My brother started that, actually Everybody at the moose. Where'd Idaho go? Where'd?
Speaker 1:Idaho go. I don't think people knew my real name.
Speaker 3:His best friend is from Tennessee and for the longest time that's all I ever knew his name, as was Tennessee, because the kids in school called him that, and then it went to Teanack. His first name is Ryan, last name is Spring. I'm going to put him on here. I don't know where Teanack comes from, but I still sometimes call him Tennessee because that's literally all I knew his name Mom Tennessee's coming over, mom Tennessee's coming over, and then somewhere it shifted to Teanack.
Speaker 6:We called my oldest boy Buddha for so long.
Speaker 2:I've heard you talk about him. I've heard you talk about.
Speaker 6:Buddha To where Dylan, dylan, his brother. He was going to school. We were like we called him Eric and he was like he, literally, at school, was like who's Eric? This is Eric. He was like no, that's my brother and his name is Buddha.
Speaker 1:He's 6 years old 7 years old and didn't even know his brother's real name. That's my brother and his name is Buddha. He's six years old, seven years old and didn't even know his brother's real name.
Speaker 5:Wow, that's funny, that's hilarious, that's good that one tops the cake.
Speaker 6:Yeah.
Speaker 5:That's hilarious.
Speaker 6:And his mom hated it. I mean hated his nickname.
Speaker 3:Hated Buddha. Yeah, hated it why? But he must have had like a Buddha belly.
Speaker 6:I'm not sure, yeah see when he was born he was 10 pounds and 5 ounces and he came out of a very small person and he just my dad immediately was like he looks like a Buddha doll and I'm going to start calling him Buddha. I mean he had the big belly his cheeks were out to here and the name just stuck. I mean, literally he's 26 and I still like, yeah, buddha's coming over. I still call him Buddha Everybody still calls me Buddha.
Speaker 5:You were telling a story today and you said Buddha and you corrected yourself and changed it. I thought that was kind of funny.
Speaker 6:Yeah, yeah, he's, that's what everybody knows him. Hey his people on his football team. His coaches was like his name's Eric. My dad was the head coach at the time. You know he's 13 years old. I never knew his name was Eric, that's what everybody? Called him.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:I was one of those big babies. I was, you know. I look at my birth certificate and I'm like oh geez, sorry, mom, sorry. Mom, Of course I was a C-section baby, so it was a little.
Speaker 6:Better for her. I guess, I don't know, I've had one of each.
Speaker 2:You have Really yeah.
Speaker 1:Right here One plus one is two.
Speaker 2:You have a lot more kids than that, this way or this way.
Speaker 6:I've had four, but one of them was a C-section. I mean, everybody says a lot of stuff about a lot of things. I'll tell you the labor, the whole process, even the recovery for her, was way better than the other three that I had. I mean honestly.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, I'm like man.
Speaker 6:I wish I could have went back and had just said man't you do this?
Speaker 2:So my first, my first, my oldest sister, who's now no longer with us. She died when she was five, but she was the original the OG breech baby, and they had a cesarean route and I guess back then, once you did that, they pretty much just which they don't anymore.
Speaker 3:They all had to go that way.
Speaker 2:Yes, now that's not the case anymore, but it was back then. I do remember that mom had a very distinct scar which she was never intimidated by because it was just a thing back then which now I think would be mortified by most people, but back then it was just what it is. So we all came out the same way. So by the time she had me she was accustomed to it, kind of knew what she was getting into. But I was a huge baby and my mom was a petite lady. She was very, very small. So I just, you know, I felt bad but I had no control over it. I'm not the one that told her to keep eating the pickles and ice cream that's on her.
Speaker 2:But we wanted to get back this week a little bit towards the high-filled thing. We've been, you know, a couple weeks now. We've diverted, we haven't really talked about it, but we've been getting some feedback saying like, why aren't you following up with the high-filled story? And I teased this out a couple, three weeks ago about talking about one thing we did in the industry that really kind of changed the straight truck environment. Some would say for the better, some would say not so much, but we made a big change in the way we built our trucks, from our first two bathroom trucks to our second two bathroom trucks. So we changed things from our first two bathroom trucks to our second two bathroom trucks. So we changed things from our first two bathroom trucks to our second two bathroom trucks. We knew we always wanted to celebrate the teams that were high-performing and were really killing it out there. And a lot of times if you're really high-performing and killing it, it's because you're staying out for a longer period of time, right, right. So how can we make you more comfortable and more excited to stay out? So we immediately said the bathroom truck, which is why in our first what three years, we ended up buying two of them. But for those who don't know, a straight truck in most states not all most states is limited to 40 foot long. They cannot be longer than that. We try to make, try to. We have no choice, but we have to be under that 40 foot, right? So 39 foot 11 inches kind of the goal, and so that's kind of dictated how we build these trucks.
Speaker 2:Back in the day, the Freightliner Cascadia which we built on had a short nose variant that was a 113 inches. Bbc is a bumper, front bumper to the back of the cab. That's super short and so we were able to, you know, basically take all right, we need a 20 foot box, because that's what was required to be a D unit with both carriers 113 inches from the front bumper to the back of the cab, and that kind of gives you your spacing for your sleeper, right. So that's kind of how we fared it up. You're spacing for your sleeper, right? So that's kind of how we fared it up. Well, if you do that math, a 120-inch sleeper truck doesn't fit right, like when you actually sit down and make the dimensions out, because that box has to be 20 foot of usable space. So you've got think about, you've got thickness of your back doors you've got thickness of the wall on the very front, plus if it's an insulated truck.
Speaker 2:So if it's a FedEx truck it's three inches of insulation on top of that on both ends. And then you can't. These trucks are air-ried so they're bouncing up and down so you actually have to put a gap between the box and the sleeper because as that sleeper goes up and down on its own independent air ride suspension, if it's right next to each other it'll rub against it and it'll work a pull in the back wall. So you have to put like a three to four inch gap there so that you can let that freely bounce up and down and not hit. So we sat down and we said all right, how can we make this happen? And the initial response was it's impossible, you can't do it, there's not enough room. So we built two trucks, as we said in the podcast a couple weeks ago, as supersedes. These are 18-foot boxes but they have that extra tag axle so they can carry a ton of weight. They just can't carry the full 20 foot of cargo space. That would be ideal. So we did two of those and it really bothered me that we were not able to. We're spending this much money and we're not able to maximize our earning potential. Right, because you do give up a little bit having that smaller box. Not earning potential. Right, because you do give up a little bit having that smaller box not a ton, but you do give up some.
Speaker 2:So we sat down, eric and I went down to texas and we sat down with uh wayne, who ran double a sleeper at the time and at this point we'd already built two trucks of them. He'd already already renovated one of our trucks. He knew who we were. We had pretty good rapport and I said you know, I know we have 114 inches of real sleeper space to work with, because if you do all the math it comes down to 114 inches, six inches shorter than a normal 10-foot truck or a normal 120-inch sleeper. So I'm like, if we can do a 120-inch sleeper with a bathroom, why can't we pull six inches out of this somewhere? And I'm thinking maybe we pull half of it out of the shower, pull half of it out of a closet. You know like I think there's ways to manipulate this. And he's like I hear what you're saying, but A we don't know if it'll work and if it'll sell. And B the shower molds they get were literally a one-piece shower mold.
Speaker 5:So there's no wiggle room there, so there's no wiggle room there.
Speaker 2:So I'm like there's got to be a way, we've got to figure it out. So he and I molded over, I kept sending him drawings on CAD paper of kind of what I was thinking, and he would come back and say here's why this won't work. And we just went back and forth, back and forth, back and forth. And he called me one day out of the blue and he was like hey, what's up, wayne? He said I was literally in my shower.
Speaker 2:This morning and I had this idea and I'm like pray tell. He said I think we can take that one-piece fiberglass shower, cut it down the middle, cut it again three inches over and re-fiberglass it back together so we don't have to change our mold, we don't have to do anything with that and re-fiberglassing fiberglass is really easy and it can be done very, very nicely.
Speaker 2:You'll never know. And he said I think I can do what you want to do. I was like, let's build it. So I put it in order with my sales guy two trucks and told him how we're going to build it and he literally told me this is a terrible idea. I'll do it because I'll take your money. He said, but you're buying these trucks. If you get them and you don't like them, you're buying them. And I said that's fair. You know I'll take the gamble. So we built them, took a few months. They come up to Columbus, ohio, from down in Texas and Eric and I are still at this point, we're still driving. So we're out there riding the roads and I get a phone call from my dealer my dealer. It sounds like From my truck salesman and he says, hey, patrick.
Speaker 2:I said well, your truck showed up on the lot today. I was like, oh okay, how do they look? He said they look amazing. He's like I can't believe you did this. Like he was completely floored. He's like like everything is just shrunk down just a little bit to where he's like it feels huge inside. They're very, very nicely equipped. We did solid surface countertops, we did undermounted sinks, we did, you know, undermounted cooktops, which we actually changed that later on because that didn't work out as nice we thought it would. Everything was chrome faucet. You know like it was. It was super nicely done. And he's like I can't get over how nice these trucks are. And so I was like, oh, I feel pretty good about that. So we were able to go through and we got those delivered. We put a couple teams in them. Then we ordered I want to say, four more of those Along with the regular 8-foot, 96-inch normal custom sleepers Without a bathroom.
Speaker 2:Without a bathroom for, like new teams coming on board, you've got to cut your teeth somehow. We did that. And then we built one on a Volvo as well. That went to Kelly and Jimmy Really dialed that design in and you know, when he told me he really liked it, part of me was going like how much of this is you really like and how much of this is you're just blowing smoke up, mike.
Speaker 4:Because you want me to buy more trucks, right?
Speaker 2:That dude went on and sold tons of these trucks to everybody and his brother. It became the hottest selling truck he had. Wow, and I was like huh, I didn't get no cut of that. All of a sudden we helped bring this industry into a really cool place and get no props, but that's fine.
Speaker 3:I love that story it started.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, thank you, I really do. It was a tough project to get done.
Speaker 2:It really was not easy, but I knew that was the way forward and so we pressed on and again, working with someone like Wayne really helped. Aa was going through some changes and so we actually had the opportunity to build one on a Bolt sleeper, got to work with Bolt. Bolt's design process very different than AA, very different so I had to go and learn that process with them. We built one of those trucks and it was really cool. A couple things we messed up on, but we learned.
Speaker 2:Like you know, your first design is never going to be perfect. Even on the four more that we designed from AA after the first two, we modified things right, like you, always perfect. So we were super happy. We had this product we love. It's great. Yada, yada. And don't you know, freightliner Cascadia came out and they said or. Freightliner came out and said, hey, we're redesigning the Cascadia, here's the new Cascadia. And it was pretty. They changed the dash, they changed the hood, the suspension changed hood, the suspension changed. It was really massive changes, changes your dimensions, and because of that they made their nose longer. Oh so on the short nose truck, it actually had a longer nose than the old one did, so we had to kind of go back to the drawing board and go like all right, where do we pull two inches out of?
Speaker 2:oh wow, and so, and two inches is a lot when you're talking. It's a lot.
Speaker 3:Staying within specs for DOT or whatever, absolutely.
Speaker 2:When you're talking like those massive ARIs that we all see at the truck shows, or going down the road 144, 156, 168, 180, those massive big dogs.
Speaker 2:They got so much room in there. Things don't matter as much, right, but when you're talking about cramming all that stuff into a little bitty sleeper, when you lose two inches, it's brutal, sure. So the current design we're at is 110-inch. So we've actually whittled it down two more inches. So we're at 110 now. So we've actually whittled it down two more inches. So we're at 110 now, and we have worked very closely with Bolt to be able to pull this off. As a matter of fact, if you look at the ARI stuff, I know a lot of people have asked why don't we have more ARI trucks? We have zero ARI straight trucks and part of that is they can't do it period. So the bathroom integrated sleeper 110-inch truck so we can still put the 20-foot box in the back. They don't have the ability to do.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:So that's one reason why we don't have any of theirs, but it's been really cool to go through and be a part of that change of the industry. Yeah, and now we're doing bathrooms on M2s. Kayla's kind of helping me work that program over at Panther, which has been interesting right.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean it's been a lot of fun. We're experimenting with single axles versus double axles and finding freight lanes that work really well. With the single axle application. We're about to do our first no liftgate truck over at Panther. And not because you would think like, oh, you're taking a liftgate off, that's bad for business. You're going to be able to do liftgate loads, but there's actually a bunch of auto. Is it auto? We're doing? Yep, for Nissan right and General Motors.
Speaker 1:Mostly General Motors.
Speaker 2:Okay that they are. They won't accept a truck with a liftgate.
Speaker 6:Wasn't Ford like that when we used to drive?
Speaker 1:Yes, that's because it can't latch underneath yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, okay, so it's been so long, I'm trying to remember. So when you back into a dock, they have a green light and a red light. Yes, if I remember correctly, some of the docks have a hook.
Speaker 3:Yes, basically, yeah, like a grabbing arm, yeah.
Speaker 5:That comes up and grabs the ICC bumper.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, the ICC bumper. Okay yeah, icc bumper. Yeah, it grabs that.
Speaker 5:And if it hooks onto that, then the light turns green. Yes, and on the inside you have a, I'm sorry. The outside light turns red so the driver knows they can't leave. On the inside it turns green, so the people working on the dock know it's safe to enter the truck.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and on the new like on an older plant, I think they could be manipulated a little bit. They could be bypassed.
Speaker 5:But on the newer ones they can't Safety-wise they're not.
Speaker 2:So like if you don't have an ICC bumper and you back into that dock, it never latches Right, it never turns red and they cannot. They can press that button all they want, it will not raise that door. They will not be able to load your truck. So there's a segment of freight that we've been okay missing out on. Uh, but we are kind of talking to other fleet owners, we're talking to panther, we're trying to like navigate this and going like you know what, we need to test it, we need to see what it's like, get an idea of it. So we're actually about to put our first non-liftgate truck on so we can capture some of that freight that we've been missing out on.
Speaker 1:Get some data points.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Get some data and figure out. Where does this make sense, where doesn't this make sense?
Speaker 6:You can always add one later. You can always. Yes, that's the beauty of a liftgate you can always add it later it.
Speaker 2:That's the beauty of a liftgate you can always add it later. It's not a set in stone for life kind of thing. Or you may find that one team likes to run auto parts and another team hates it.
Speaker 4:You know what I mean.
Speaker 2:Because it's different shippers, you're dealing with different personalities, all that kind of stuff, so it's always nice to have options right. I'm very excited about the future of this kind of bathroom sleeper project. But also, for those of you who don't know, the Freightliner M2 is no longer the M2, it's now the M2 Plus.
Speaker 4:It's beautiful, it's a nice truck.
Speaker 2:Such an improvement.
Speaker 5:Such an improvement.
Speaker 2:So we've been making some big changes with that as well.
Speaker 3:Jerry, have you driven in one of the new ones?
Speaker 4:I have not driven it, but I was in it. I did a video with Kayla and Kelly. It's a gorgeous truck. I was really shocked and surprised.
Speaker 3:And you've been in one, Eric, since you've been in the yard Much different than what we started in.
Speaker 6:Yeah, and I got to drive it across the yard. It's definitely something different.
Speaker 3:That's cool, it's nice.
Speaker 6:It's nice, for sure.
Speaker 5:It is really nice. I felt like the first time I got in it and got in the truck I had to get out and inside the truck I felt like I was in a Cascadia and I get out and close the door and look at it and I'm like this is like in the movies, where somebody's they're showing somebody in a certain vehicle, but when they show the outside shot, it's a different vehicle.
Speaker 5:Movie magic and that's what it felt like. It was like I was in a Cascadia and now I stepped out and I was in an M2. I don't get it. So it's a very different experience.
Speaker 2:Even on the outside the aesthetics they've changed. It's all LED. Well, not all LED, I guess it's LED headlamps and bright lights, but I think it's regular incandescent turn signals. They have moved to a really cool-looking chrome, more aggressive grille.
Speaker 5:Grille, they have.
Speaker 2:The sun visor over the cab is now chrome. It's not white anymore. They've done a lot of things to really just kind of make it look a little bit nicer, edge it up a little bit.
Speaker 5:So mud flaps on the on the front fenders are still too long.
Speaker 2:But you know they'll fix that, you know that's, it's funny, those, those, those rubber mud flaps they're. They're that thick, hard rubber yeah and so when you make a turn and um, they are, like I said, too low.
Speaker 4:You just just hear the most horrible scraping noise.
Speaker 2:But you know, you do that a few times and enough that rubber scrapes off and it's gone. So if you're driving, you're like why is there like rubber randomly in different spots? Well that's why we contributed.
Speaker 1:I pulled over the first time I drove a truck that did that and it sounds terrible. It sounds terrible.
Speaker 3:I pulled over like this time. I drove a truck that did that and it sounds terrible.
Speaker 1:I pulled over like this truck is breaking down. I was like I can feel it in the floorboards. I'm pretty sure I called maintenance. I was like I can feel it in the floorboards. It sounds terrible, something's wrong. And he's like it's your mud flaps. I was like, okay, well, at least I'm being cautious.
Speaker 5:I did the same thing.
Speaker 1:I pulled over and I did the same thing. I got out and looked.
Speaker 5:I was like what's going on here?
Speaker 4:I did the same thing, I think I actually called Patrick because I'd never driven an M2, and I was bringing one back from Bolt. It did it to me and I immediately called him and I'm like something's wrong.
Speaker 5:Bolt is actually the one who installs those, and they always Cut them way too long. When I did the first one, I called Melissa.
Speaker 2:I was like I need to find another job because he's going to fire me for whatever broke. It's terrifying. I remember the first time I got one, I picked up an old Fida and I was driving to I want to say maybe Pilot to get an empty weight ticket or something like that, and I got off the interstate at the Pilot, went right around, did everything and I was going through the Pilot's parking lot because the Pilot's parking lot in Columbus is just whew.
Speaker 3:It's mountainous.
Speaker 2:And it should not be. I drove over one of those little Humpty Doos and it was like gah, and it did quiet, and I was like what on did quiet? And I was like what on earth did? I just like what just happened.
Speaker 3:And then another one happened.
Speaker 2:Another one happened and I could not figure out what it was. And, uh, it got a little scale and everything's fine, and I was driving home and or driving back to the lot and I made one of those right right left hand it was. Then I was in a rut, so the tire went low in the rut, but right outside of it that concrete, you know, swoops up and it grabbed and it made the same noise and I'm like what is? That's a brand new truck. What is going on? And so I got back to the lot and I'm like I didn't even called our salesman. It was like dude, I don't know what's going on. We gotta, I gotta bring this back and figure it out. I got to the lot and I'm like around trying to figure out what it was, and I saw the mud flaps.
Speaker 2:Already getting eaten away. And it was already eaten away, rough and I'm like, because when I picked it up the mud flaps were smooth and nice and pretty. It was through me driving it around that they started shaving off that extra and it just kind of looks nasty like almost like a blown tire. You know how a blown?
Speaker 2:tire has that rough rubber, look to it. And I was like, oh, that's what it is. And I was like I have a feeling. So in our yard there's a few places where for the drainage it kind of like slopes down. So I specifically drove into that and could duplicate it and I was like, oh, okay, now I know what it is. So yeah, but I always forget to tell people that because it's just, it only happens for a little while, it's brand new and then, once it's shaved down, it's gone. It'll freak you out.
Speaker 1:It's so weird.
Speaker 2:I'm curious how long it lasts. I'd like to talk to a team who gets one brand new. How long until that stops happening?
Speaker 6:Talk to the people getting an M2. Yeah, because it happened to me at the yard. The sales guy said something. They talked about it when we were picking it up and it happened to me at the yard and if it wasn't for them talking about it, I would have forgot about it. I'd have been like what? Because it happened, I thought yeah, it's got to be.
Speaker 2:Did you get to meet our sales guy over at FIDA? Yeah, he's a fun guy right. Yeah, he's nice, that's great.
Speaker 3:People often ask me when I talk on the phone doing recruiting.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And you know I'll try to relate. You know I too drove on the Panther's side for three years, blah, blah, blah. Husband and I have been off the road now in staff roles and people ask me you know, why did you choose to come off the road? Why? Why? Why make that move? And I first I'll start with, honestly, we didn't think it was going to be that.
Speaker 3:But my biggest reason is first off, I believe in what you're doing. I think you're setting up contractors you know new to the industry or or wanting to make a life change. You're setting them up for success with many things the way that you have implemented a maintenance program, definitely the mentor program, and then just the staff, all but maybe one or two have actually done the industry. So we all understand. But I think the biggest one is you have vision. Both you and Eric do. You have this hunger for learning and wanting to do things, maybe slightly different, but slightly different to be successful. And I feel your story on how to get that sleeper down to the right size and just being relentless on it and seeing that vision and that you knew it could be done. You just needed to find the right combination and those are the things that fuel my passion personally, um, for wanting to be something, wanting to be part of something bigger and something successful and, uh, to see others come in and be a part of that as well, even if you're a contractor or as staff members, but definitely as a contractor I I think that's just something fun is the vision that Highfield has and that future vision.
Speaker 3:So I think that's pretty cool that you did something like that, that you created it, that you know trucks out there on the road have the Highfield signature to it or whoever created it, whether you got bonus points for it or kudo points or whatever. But that you're just part of that. And I see it with other things that you've done and I'm not going to share other stories because you probably have those down the road but different things that you're doing to the trucks. You know different parts and pieces of the equipment that you've had your hand in with um design or tweak this, tweak that, and and all for the comfort I think of, of the contractors, or some people call themselves drivers, uh, but also, you know, for um optimal um equipment efficiency. I I see you doing both and coming up with a happy medium that is successful, not only for a business owner or business entity to be successful and profitable, uh, but for the comfort of the drivers, the contractors.
Speaker 2:And I love being a part of that. We really do try to stay focused on the future and perfect what we already have. I think it's one thing that we both and I think most of our staff feels is that we're not content status quo.
Speaker 2:We're not content with just doing okay. We want to be trendsetters and we want to be leaders and trying to figure out what that looks like next year and in five years and in ten years. You know it's funny. I talk to friends and I'm like what's your ten year vision for your fleet? Look like right. And these are not people I want to work for me, these are just friends and like what are you seeing? What are the trends? You're thinking and think 10 years out and they're like I'm thinking how am I going to pay my bills next week? And I'm like that's not a place we want to ever come from.
Speaker 2:We want to be like, how can we do something that is unique, that is trendsetting, and we talk about our slogan being like team trucking reimagined. So how do we reimagine it? And if we reimagine it and we build it and it's going a certain way, then how do we reimagine to make it better? How do we reimagine to make it better? How do we reimagine to make that better? How do we, how do we, uh, get bigger, better, smarter?
Speaker 2:Um, you know, we're always going to be contractor focused. We're always going to be thinking about the person behind the steering wheel of how, how are they going to be able to run their business? How are they going to be able to make money? How are they going to be comfortable? How do we bring that to even other industries outside of expediting? Yeah, so it's kind of what's always on our brain. Yeah, and then going forward, some of these things are long-term, multi-year-long processes and some of these things are, you know, changing. Next week we're going to do something different, so it's fun. And then also, you know, literally litmus testing everything. Hey, did that work? No, it didn't work. Well, let's scrap it.
Speaker 2:You know if it does work, great. If it doesn't work, I mean I've got. Next week we'll talk about some stuff with the APUs and we'll talk about things that I've learned over the years and not all of it's going to be pro-us. Some of it's going to be like I made a mistake, so we'll talk about that next week.
Speaker 3:I got to hop in that unique. You were talking about it last week. I think it was the unique build where the bed's on the side and the bathroom's in the back. Eric came home talking about that one.
Speaker 1:It's like an apartment.
Speaker 6:You forgot to send me a picture. The counter space is ridiculous.
Speaker 1:It truly is yes.
Speaker 3:I hopped in there today and I was just woo.
Speaker 2:I love the fridge.
Speaker 3:Oh, I love the fridge.
Speaker 6:Yep, it cuts your space down a little bit Like when you walk from the cab to the bunk. You don't have a little less space there because it's not as wide. Sure, I mean that layout. I was like I was thinking, man, I wish we would have this layout.
Speaker 1:it was nice yeah, it was great. What kept you from reproducing that?
Speaker 3:the bathroom is smaller than the best currently the bathroom yeah, the bathroom is a little petite.
Speaker 2:Um, the people that were driving it weren't super tall. The, if you notice, the entire outside of the truck looks different. That is a larger sleeper, and so we had to use a Western Star product that had a shorter nose on it to be able to make it happen. Because of that, there were some compromises, so we don't have the transmission we prefer. It's a good one, it's still got a great transmission in it, but it's not the one that we prefer. It's an Eaton Fuller Auto. It's not a Detroit transmission. It doesn't have the steering wheel controls.
Speaker 2:It's got that chrome, old-fashioned steering wheel on it, it's got all the buttons that are on the dash. There's a ton of buttons on the dash because everything is button-driven. Dog house really cuts into the cab quite a bit. A dog house is the hump from the engine. Because it is a shorter nose, the engine actually kind of goes into the cab area.
Speaker 3:I didn't notice that today. That's weird.
Speaker 2:I just hopped in, so it's not quite as fuel efficient. It's pretty good, but not quite. It's got those old-fashioned rectangular headlights, you know from like 1974. Those aren't as great as the new halogen projections or the LED lights, and so there's just a number of like things and it was more expensive. That's a more expensive chassis to have. It's a very durable chassis. That thing will last forever. That's a two million mile truck and you can see it too Like if you look at the coolant tank. The coolant tank is black steel. It is not that clear plastic that we're used to there's almost no plastic underneath the hood of that truck.
Speaker 2:It is a very robust, very strong chassis. It's more expensive because of that, Losing some of the creature comforts of the steering wheel and such. We just decided that wasn't a great way to build going forward, so that's why we don't have more of them. I love it.
Speaker 6:It's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:If I was driving a truck I'd be so happy. I think it drives good. It actually rides pretty good on the interstate, but it is different, I think, if it were me and it was like I owned the truck.
Speaker 3:Personally, my color choice might be a little different With the white. The white does make it feel airy, or at least the headboard of the bed, or when you first walk in. That surprised me.
Speaker 3:And then it was like, oh aha, I remember you told me about this truck. I think a mural there would be kind of cool. And again, this is all just aesthetics. On the inside If one was to own it was mine. But the layout I agree with Eric. The counter space which I know you talked about that last time, that's really kind of what the team wanted. Very, very. It almost felt like an apartment kind of, with the wall and a building, and it just had a different feel to it than just open air space or open concept of what the new trucks are Not that I'm saying that the new trucks aren't just as fantastic, but it was different.
Speaker 2:That one's uber custom and we did put a lot of thought into the team. Being an older couple, this is a team that's been with us from day one. They just recently retired, but they were with us for over 10 years.
Speaker 3:And they drove this truck the whole time.
Speaker 2:No, not the whole time. They were in three or four different trucks with us, oh okay, but this was the last one they were in. So the one before this was identical, the sleep was identical, but it was on a Cascadia. But it was that short-nose Cascadia and it was one of those 18-foot boxes that we talked about, that we built years ago. So then this truck same thing Like the refrigerator, was a little higher off the ground than they normally are because they didn't like to bend over as much Below. It was a huge drawer that had the ability to put pots and pans and things like that in.
Speaker 2:There were a lot of little like hey, can we get this added? Can we tweak this? Tweak that You've got a team that's been with you for six, seven years.
Speaker 3:You do it, it's pretty cool If you have time when you're down. I was gonna say I should go look at it tomorrow.
Speaker 1:I've heard about it from so many different people. Now that I I have curiosity is gonna make me go down there.
Speaker 2:Yeah it's a cool truck and we're actually about to uh lease purchase that truck out, um. So I think the people that are doing it listen to this podcast. They're probably hearing us talk about it.
Speaker 3:It's pretty cool. Have you been in it, Jerry? I have not Well you might get in there before it goes off the lot, but it's a pretty cool.
Speaker 2:It's unique. It's unique. It's a very cool build. We did an extra. You know most of our steer axles are 13.3. We did a 14.6 on that one because we knew it was going to be a heavier truck. It's double-framed. It's ridiculous. It might be one of the heaviest trucks we own.
Speaker 3:Wow.
Speaker 2:But it's a really nice build. It's one of those where it's really well-built. It's going to last a long, long time.
Speaker 3:I think it shows the evolution of the product that you now have. That's fun to look back, maybe at history.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and this truck. I mean we could still build that today. Sure, you know that truck today would probably be close to $400,000. I'm sorry.
Speaker 1:Wow.
Speaker 2:Yeah, close to $400,000. Which that didn't exist five years ago when we built it Right. It's a unique build. Yeah, I was very proud of that one, though. I mean that was that's one of those things where we spent a lot of time designing and building just for one team. It got built, it got done, and then we kind of focused on the more mass-produced sure um because I really wanted to identify like.
Speaker 2:This was a really unique bespoke truck for a particular couple and it was fun to do. But what I really but but like where I really put a lot of my focus was on the how do we make the the best of all worlds in a different truck? Yeah like that truck, for example, doesn't have television in it.
Speaker 2:I didn't even notice that and so, because they just they could care less about it, we did put the satellite in and we did have a place for the television. It's just not in there majority. Depending on the evolution of the bathroom truck, you get the new ones now, like yours, jerry, had the pull-down TV from the ceiling right.
Speaker 6:Yes, I've never seen that one. I like those.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so that's you know. You see little things like that that are like I think that's more appreciated by teams.
Speaker 3:Get more counter space.
Speaker 2:Yes, Getting by teams. Get more counter space. Yes, Getting it off the roof. Making sure that we have enough room on the counter for the sink, the stove and the coffee pot Right Now. Granted, people aren't necessarily bringing out their $1,500 Breville coffee makers like Jerry did, I didn't I didn't.
Speaker 2:But, yeah, make sure we have dependable, quality stuff that will make a lot of people happy. I think that's what we have, that product we have right now. I'm very proud of Our 96-inch sleeper trucks, our 110-inch sleeper trucks, our side-by-sides that we have on both sides are very good, very, very good products that we've really been working hard to dial in. So, yeah, I'm proud of that and it's been fun watching that evolution happen. And I just saw that Freightliner is dropping a new Cascadia soon and I'm like oh great let's see.
Speaker 4:Let's see what we've got to change now.
Speaker 2:Can't wait. I remember when those things would happen, like when the 5700 from Western Star came out, how excited I was about this new, exciting new product. And now I'm like I guess my heart burned. Why do we have to change something that's working? We'll deal with it. We'll make the necessary changes. I think we have dragged on long enough. It's been a lot of fun. I always enjoy my time hanging out with y'all. I welcome Kayla and Eric. Enough. It's been a lot of fun. I always enjoy my time hanging out with y'all. I welcome Kayla and Eric back. It's been a lot of fun having y'all here as well. Thank you, I think Jerry said is it one more episode?
Speaker 4:Yep One more and you're permanent.
Speaker 2:One more and you're permanent cast.
Speaker 4:Make sure you hit that subscribe button. Hit that thumbs up button, thumbs down. If you don't like us, but I don't know why you would Go ahead and visit us over at highfieldtruckingcom if you are interested in learning more about Highfield and what we do over here in the expediting industry, and shoot us over an email at theouterbeltpodcast at gmailcom. If you're interested in giving us ideas for shows or anything you want us to talk about, we'd be more than happy to oblige with that. You can also listen to this on your favorite audio podcast as you're driving down the road. We are available on all the most popular streaming apps out there. Also, call us at 833-HIGHFIELD Numbers at the bottom of the screen. Someone in recruiting would love to talk to you.
Speaker 3:The Outer Belt Podcast.
Speaker 4:I did the.
Speaker 3:The Outer.
Speaker 1:Belt, you're going to get a call that says can we talk to Buttermilk? I know right.
Speaker 2:Yes, yeah.
Speaker 3:Oh, I had some Highfield's page. They post birthdays for all of contractors and staff. Somebody wrote happy birthday, Better Milk. I thought that was pretty funny, Pretty fitting.
Speaker 2:I thought so too. Yep, was it me? No, it was someone else. Someone beat me to it.
Speaker 3:It's Trey Sensen. Shout out to him. I know he listens, he watches, he is a loyalist of Highfield and all things and when the time is right, I know they will make the jump over to us.
Speaker 2:They've been watching for a while now.
Speaker 3:Very beginning of when at least Vince and I started and I think even before that. But we've done dinner with him and his family and some others, but anyway appreciated all the birthday love and I know it's not about me, but buttermilk's pretty funny.
Speaker 2:Well, thank you all for hanging out with us Again. Thank you one more time to Kayla and Eric. Eric, welcome again to the team. Can't wait A few more days in the yard, then you're on to the computers and phone calls and you're going to start going gray. Thank you to my Outer Belt cast. It's a lot of fun hanging out with you. I appreciate all that y'all do on a week-to-week basis. In the meantime, until next week, I should say stay safe, make good decisions, don't leave money on the table and keep those wills of turning.
Speaker 3:Good night.
Speaker 1:We'll be you next time.