The OuterBelt's Podcast
The OuterBelt's Podcast
Feasting Fiascos, CB Conversations, and Woolly Cows: A Journey of Connection and Adventure!
Ever missed out on a juicy burger amidst a frenzy of homemade Italian delicacies and fresh ice cream? Join us as we share a hilarious recount of our lively gathering at the OuterBelt Studios in Columbus, Ohio, where friends and family came together for a feast filled with laughter and unexpected surprises. From spicy sausage mix-ups to the entertaining Hyfield Feud game, we celebrate the joy of food, fellowship, and fun with an unforgettable group of people. Discover how the weekend's festivities were captured in a heartwarming recap video, bringing everyone together in gratitude for shared memories.
Picture navigating icy roads from Tucumcari to Albuquerque, relying on the real-time guidance of a seasoned trucker over the CB radio. This episode takes you on a thrilling ride through the camaraderie and support that defines the trucking community. We reminisce about the evolving role of CB radios, contrasting their historical importance with today's more casual use. Along the way, we explore how trucking technology has transformed communication and share personal anecdotes that reveal the challenges and triumphs of life on the road.
Travel with us to the rustic charm of Scottish villages and rural roads in the U.S., where encounters with Highland cattle—those lovable "woolly cows"—and herds of bison and elk paint a vivid picture of cultural exploration and wildlife coexistence. Amidst these adventures, we pay tribute to Judy Love, co-founder of Love's Truck Stops, reflecting on her impact and legacy. From bridge reconstructions to family milestones, we explore life’s moments of joy and collective loss, capturing the essence of our journey and the bonds that connect us all.
Email us: theouterbeltpodcast@gmail.com
Website: www.hyfieldtrucking.com
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Okay, let's get this party started.
Speaker 2:Hey everybody, welcome to the Outer Belt. I'm Patrick and y'all are my friends.
Speaker 1:Chili Buttermilk.
Speaker 3:Eric and Jerry.
Speaker 2:And, as you can tell, we're coming to you live, not live, yeah it's live we are live. We're coming to you alive, alive, from the Outer Belt Studios here in beautiful Columbus Ohio. It has been a while since we've been together, hasn't it?
Speaker 1:We haven't been together. It's been a hot moment. A hot moment.
Speaker 2:Yeah, oh man, I'm so glad to be here.
Speaker 1:Last week's recap was wonderful.
Speaker 2:It was great. I appreciate you putting that together. That was an awesome little not tribute, but what do you call that? A synopsis?
Speaker 4:A montage A retrospective.
Speaker 2:One might call it a recap, a menagerie.
Speaker 4:A menagerie, oh, it is not a menagerie. A menagerie, oh, it is not a menagerie, A menagerie of the weekend.
Speaker 2:We had so much fun with all the mentors. It was a great.
Speaker 1:Some of them are animals. I guess what? Some of them are animals Menagerie.
Speaker 2:Okay, well, technically, we're all mammals, right.
Speaker 1:There we go.
Speaker 2:There we go, yeah, yeah, yeah. It was a really good video, really appreciate it. It was a lot of fun, had a great group of people here. We had an awesome weekend together Good fellowship, great food. Oh, mylanta, can we talk about the food for 30 seconds? And Melissa, you're up.
Speaker 1:I have lots of leftovers still in my freezer from all of it and it is just so phenomenal to still Dina's amazing, delina's, jerry made some great Italian food, as always.
Speaker 2:That lasagna brought out my inner Garfield. Oh right, oh it just.
Speaker 1:Agreed, agreed. Everything was just on point. I mean, I don't know how else to put it, it just yes. We were spoiled.
Speaker 2:We were treated, we truly were, I think we all walked away 10 pounds heavier.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 2:I fasted for the following few days. I'll tell you this I love having such a great group of people that I was going to say staff. But Jerry's not staff, he's my proxy Great group of friends and family and staff. So all together I can say, hey, do you want to take dinner on Saturday for 30 people? And they just go like, yeah, got it Done. Not, what would you like to have? Not? Well, can we do? Just done Covered, got it.
Speaker 1:And I think the synopsis from the poll that the chicks did on their video if you haven't watched theirs was that the number one best thing was the food.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:Followed by fellowship or hanging out with everybody but food, everybody that the chicks polled seemed to be. Food was number one and it was good. It was nice to see, and it was a little bit of everything Between charcuteries or soup and sandwich to ice cream. It was just to, like you said, lasagna.
Speaker 2:And fresh ice cream, like everything we had.
Speaker 1:Was homemade, everything we had was homemade.
Speaker 2:Everything. This was like the most farm-to-table event, sustainable cooking you can have. It was really great. It was wonderful. We really are spoiled.
Speaker 4:You know I thought that I was going above and beyond when I went out and butchered that cow to make those ground beef for those burgers.
Speaker 3:I know Well the fact that you did that 45 days ago so that it could be aged properly.
Speaker 2:Now, I don't know about the wet aging process. I've always been a fan of the dry aging.
Speaker 4:Right, we were making burgers. We wanted moist burgers. I get that, I get that. So we did the wet aging.
Speaker 2:Well, I would love to tell you how good my burger was.
Speaker 4:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Unfortunately they were gone.
Speaker 4:We ran out. I didn't get one either. I sat back. I guess that says how good they were.
Speaker 2:You. I was like I'm going to let everybody get their food, sure, and I was kind of in a conversation so I'm like it's fine, I'll grab whatever I want later. So I go there, I get my plate out, I put my bun on the freshly toasted bun. You did do a burger bun too, and I had my mayonnaise and my mustard and I do the full, you know, onion, lettuce, tomato pickles, like I am just a fully beautiful setup there. Yeah, and someone tapped me on the shoulder, was it you?
Speaker 1:It was me and you were like, oh, and you're like going to put a cabal saw in there, yeah, Just
Speaker 4:so you know you didn't get a sausage sandwich.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I'm like what? And I look over at the meat tray and it's like no more burgers but tons of sausage, and I'm like okay.
Speaker 1:Those were lovely.
Speaker 2:Oh, the sausage was great. Oh, but it was a little bit of like a surprise because they somehow accidentally mixed up the incredibly, thousand on the Scoville scale sausage and the regular sausage.
Speaker 1:So it was kind of a.
Speaker 2:I got a regular oh man, but it was like playing roulette, like Russian roulette Eeny meeny, miny moe. That one looks a little less red. I'll try that one.
Speaker 1:It was delicious.
Speaker 2:Dina, jerry and Vince all did cook.
Speaker 1:It was an amazing three days. Well, it was a whole week for staff.
Speaker 2:It was a whole week for staff but three days for the mentors.
Speaker 1:And my favorite thing was Highfield Feud.
Speaker 2:Oh, that was great.
Speaker 5:That was a lot of fun. Oh my gosh, that was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:I mean putting my living room back together.
Speaker 1:Oh, I bet yeah, but it was a lot of fun.
Speaker 2:Of course you bet, because none of y'all were there for it. Appreciate it.
Speaker 5:It's not fair. The girls Every time.
Speaker 4:No, they didn't no.
Speaker 5:Did the guys win? Ever the guys.
Speaker 4:The first round.
Speaker 2:The guys won. The guys won the second and then the second round.
Speaker 4:The guys played staff.
Speaker 2:Yes, and the staff won.
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Staff no staff. Staff won.
Speaker 1:Staff won and then we almost, really, really won, but you and I were off by like eight points.
Speaker 2:I know, I know, oh, my gosh so close. Some of those answers.
Speaker 3:Now come on drivers. Yeah, some of your answers. We're a little bit yeah, a little strange.
Speaker 2:Your favorite interstate to travel on I-40.
Speaker 1:It was the biggest one too.
Speaker 2:And I'm like have you driven 15?, have you not 15,? 70? Yeah, From Denver to when it meets 15?.
Speaker 4:Where it meets 15? Yeah, in Utah.
Speaker 2:That's a beautiful drive. Let's talk about. Let's go segment 15 from Vegas to.
Speaker 4:That little piece where you run through Arizona for like 40 minutes. Yes, arizona section on.
Speaker 5:I-15 is the— 15 in the Arizona section of the interstate only.
Speaker 2:Personally, the prettiest spot in the entire interstate system is that it was the most shocking when I was driving.
Speaker 2:I just think it's gorgeous. Eric and I, the first time it ever happened. I drove it and I was like, oh my god, this is so beautiful. I got out the end I pulled into a parking space at a truck stop. I went back into sleep and I was like get up and get up here real quick. And so he's like what I'm like, just come up here real quick. So he gets up and it's nighttime and it's a full moon, so it's bright, but nighttime and beautiful. He jumps up to the front seat. We go do it again. And then we go do it again because you have to circle back. It was just so pretty. I'm like I just I can't. This is magic, this is pure magic. It's by far my favorite spot of the entire interstate system. But there's up in Oregon there's beautiful. In Washington there's beautiful sections.
Speaker 1:I-80. The gorge.
Speaker 4:The gorge. The gorge is beautiful, I don't know.
Speaker 1:I-40, if you think about it.
Speaker 2:I-40 has one spot.
Speaker 1:No, it's got your eastern states and up through Pigeon, holler or whatever, all that is there the section that got?
Speaker 5:washed away. What's that called?
Speaker 3:I-40 through the Pigeon.
Speaker 2:Pigeon, pigeon, forge, gorge or whatever that is so all of that is gorgeous. It is.
Speaker 1:And then you come out and you still have Tennessee. You've got to do all of Tennessee.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but you've got Tennessee and Tennessee dot.
Speaker 1:Still pretty. And then you come into Memphis, which, if you're the night driver, those bridges in Memphis are beautiful.
Speaker 2:And very pretty, they're lit up, nice. And then you've got a lot of the Bass Pro Shop, the Bass Pro Shop pyramid, and then you've got a lot of maybe not Some of us that have been around pre-Bass Pro Shop Just saying and then you've got, you know Texas, which is nothing.
Speaker 1:Nobody loves the panhandle. And then, excuse me, you've got Arizona through those big mountains.
Speaker 2:No, hold on, you just skipped over the stake. All right, you have to place the giant stake. What's it called?
Speaker 1:I'm saying I-40, I think is one of the pretty ones. Yeah, the.
Speaker 2:Texan, you can't miss over the big Texan.
Speaker 1:You've got Arizona and I-40.
Speaker 2:I will say what's great is, if you're ever in Albuquerque, amarillo of Amarillo, the terrain completely changes. It's hilly, it's multicolored land, it's beautiful, but you just got to get north of it.
Speaker 3:I think the reason that was the number one answer is because it's just the most traveled.
Speaker 2:Probably it's the middle of it With our route. It's the middle of it, especially FedEx. Well, you have the really cool experience going through Albuquerque yes, albuquerque. So if you actually do take the time to get out of the truck. The crater is awesome have y'all been to the crater?
Speaker 4:No, just the rest area.
Speaker 2:Eric and I did the crater. It's impressive. It's a gigantic bowl. Out in the middle of nowhere Out in the middle of nowhere and the weird thing is it's a perfect bowl. It's perfect.
Speaker 5:Wow.
Speaker 2:You couldn't have excavated it that perfect. It is unbelievable what speed and a sudden stop will do. So let me ask you?
Speaker 4:Yeah, go ahead. What would you prefer in the bowl, your evening soup or your morning cereal?
Speaker 2:Neither I would take Dina's Biscoff ice cream.
Speaker 3:Oh yeah, oh God, that's so great. I had dreams about that, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:We still have some in the freezer. We may or may not have had some last night.
Speaker 2:Eric just dumped ours.
Speaker 5:It got too old, we didn't have anything in the container.
Speaker 2:It was sealed, so we had to get rid of ours.
Speaker 3:She told me how to make it. I told Don you better get on with it.
Speaker 2:He's like I'm a baker, not a freezer.
Speaker 5:His mintory treat was wonderful.
Speaker 2:Yes, I40, let me finish. Then you get into Albuquerque. Yes, that drive up the mountain into. Albuquerque, especially in winter when it's snowy. Yeah, it's the most Christmassy beautiful. The trees still are green and they have the little snow sit on top of them Too soon Too soon.
Speaker 4:Oh, you're not a fan Too soon. What happened? We left Tucumcari, new Mexico. Okay, heading west.
Speaker 1:Too soon it's been three years, but too soon, it's probably been four years.
Speaker 4:at this point Heading west, it was morning. Eight o'clock in the morning maybe.
Speaker 2:So morning had broken. Morning had broken, the sun was out.
Speaker 1:Everybody wanted to go.
Speaker 4:Everybody wanted to go and we made that trip between Tucumcari and the climb up the mountain and down the mountain Before. Albuquerque at 35 miles an hour. Oof, yeah, the coolest thing about that I've never done it that slow, oh my goodness slow.
Speaker 1:So the coolest thing about the whole thing, though I gotta tell you it was early on in our driving career, because there was An old, good old boy trucker Leading the pack. And he had his CB on and he told you Play by play when he was, what the conditions were, what lane you need to be in, how fast you should be going Like. He gave that play by play, the whole direction and I got to tell you, while it was nerve wracking and only going 35 miles an hour, it made the drive less nerve wracking.
Speaker 2:So this was fresh snow and ice.
Speaker 4:I assume this was fresh snow and ice, and it wasn't maintained real well. Okay, the plows hadn't gone through that westbound, yet Okay, now I understand.
Speaker 2:I thought you meant it was just too much traffic going in.
Speaker 4:No, now I follow.
Speaker 2:Now I'm concluded.
Speaker 1:I get what you're saying, but it wasn't chain laws, but it wasn going in. Now I'm concluding.
Speaker 4:When we got to Albuquerque, I had to pull over and top off my washer fluid because I used it all Every last drop.
Speaker 2:I had that experience, but it was in Pennsylvania and I was behind a snowplow and for 100 miles it took me four hours. Yeah, and don't get me wrong, I'm grateful I made my delivery on time. I was safe, we were safe, but I mean it was grueling.
Speaker 4:It just like whew it wears you out, it does, it wears you out.
Speaker 2:It does when everything is perfect, you're doing 65, it does when everything is perfect, you're doing 65, even being safe and attentive. And you're just on the interstate, especially at 40, where it's wide open. You don't zone out, that would be unsafe, sure. But you can be in a relaxed state, yes, and when you are in anything but that, you're hyper-focused. Everything else just gets more stressful. Yeah, it's like walking. Most of us can walk around our block, no big deal. Most of us can walk through a mall no big deal.
Speaker 2:Going to the mall three days before Christmas, all of a sudden, getting from I was going to say Sears, which doesn't exist, but getting from JCPenney's to Macy's or Kohl's, all of a sudden it's like why is this so hard and why am I so tired and why do I feel like I need to go stand in line for Starbucks just to get a little boost? Because you're just so focused, because there's so many people around. Not only is it like you're fighting crowds, but you're watching to make sure no one pickpockets you and all that stuff. So same thing with trucking, like when you're in snow and ice and even if the road is like you have traction, you do know that if you go too fast, you could lose traction. Sure, you also know there's other people around you and you got to watch out, because there's always that one idiot that's out there. That's a super trucker that knows best and doesn't care.
Speaker 4:There were those. There were those that were flying by us.
Speaker 1:Yes, this guy was not, though, the man, and he was an older man. You could tell by his voice. He was not. He was doing safe speed. He was given clear direction, should you want to follow it Well that is the super trucker, then right. But he was not doing well in my mind.
Speaker 4:yes, maybe, but he was being a safe super yes.
Speaker 1:You could tell when the roads got better, because our distance of CB lost his voice and for Vince and I that was like an excitement moment that the roads were getting better because obviously he drove, he could pick up speed and drive away. But it was the coolest. I thought it was the coolest thing as far as CB, because a lot of people don't still use their CBs, and it was very. It was educational, I guess, but it was also helpful, you know, and to me I think that's what they're out there for and there are still people out there providing that service. I don't know what you want to call that.
Speaker 2:Well, it's like most things, right. You know, a lot of this stuff that we like that's super helpful becomes trashy, right. And so when you turn your CB on now and you cruise down the road nine times out of ten, you hear just the most stupid ridiculous stuff.
Speaker 2:Sometimes it's super offensive, sometimes it's just trash, sometimes it's just whatever bored people talking to each other, and maybe that's kind of fun to engage with some, and then that 10% of the time it's super helpful. Yeah, so I certainly get that. Eric and I we did a mix of trucks. Some had CBs, some didn't. I turned mine on several times. Every time I turned it on, it was always trash talking and I was like I'm not here for this and I would just turn it off.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:So I never enjoyed it. But also, you know, a lot's changed since CB's came out. You know back when they were like new and super helpful in the trucks and like terrestrial radio would only last 30, 45 minutes an hour, maybe Right. And then all of a sudden you've got to find a new radio station, whereas if we're all headed east we can just have a conversation. And we all know talking on the phone makes miles turn into minutes Quickly yeah.
Speaker 3:So back in the day, before cell phones, I rode with my mom when I was 16, and she drove a big truck, 18-wheeler, and that was her cell phone, like she would get on.
Speaker 1:Does she have a handle?
Speaker 3:Oh, country bumpkin, oh, love it. And she would talk on that CB for hours.
Speaker 2:Oh, I saw your mom, yes.
Speaker 3:No. Yes, she would find someone going in the same direction, and it would just be a 10-hour shift and then she would shut it down, and I can't count how many times she'd talk to somebody for eight, nine hours and then, all right, this is before. You had to do the 30-minute breaks and everything, and then she'd pull over at a truck stop and then she'd go in and actually, meet them and have coffee and all that.
Speaker 2:That was a thing. That was a thing, absolutely yeah, yeah, yeah, because back then you had like a lot of full service.
Speaker 1:Almost every truck stop was full service, so you could literally pop in, have a cup of coffee, have a slice of pie, whatever full meal With your 100-mile buddy or 500-mile buddy, Absolutely, yeah. Wow, that's pretty cool.
Speaker 2:That's pretty cool On that. Unfortunately, when I finally got around to trucking, pilots and loves were taking over and pushing TA and Petro out.
Speaker 1:The full service.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but we also now have satellite radio, which didn't exist back then, and internet's everywhere and we had podcasts and all that stuff. Now I am old enough that I had to actually download my podcast when I was in internet, because you would go across large stretches of the country and just not have internet, which it's amazing to me now that that's not even a thing.
Speaker 1:You have internet everywhere. We ran with our radio on, sometimes turned down but we ran with ours on no.
Speaker 4:I didn't.
Speaker 1:Oh, I did.
Speaker 4:I'd turn it on if I saw traffic or something. But I would. I wouldn't otherwise because, like you said, it was just a bunch of bs.
Speaker 1:Yeah I know I've shared the story, but it did, should have, but didn't. It was one of the first times we were in idaho and someone had mentioned sheep and I thought they were just like sightseeing sheep, because it looked like countryside where you should be seeing sheep up on a hill pastures or something.
Speaker 4:No, no, sheep on a hill like mountain goats, yes, yes, like mountain sheep right, and so I thought that's what they were talking about.
Speaker 1:And I came around the corner and had to jake break it pretty hard and, um, there was like a thousand sheep in the road oh, wow and so then it dawned on me, oh, the cb could be helpful, he telling me. I guess I didn't pick up what he was putting down, but I did run with it on. Not always was it helpful.
Speaker 2:Well, and Eric and I were in trucks that didn't have them Sure, so like not? Every truck we own is equipped with CB.
Speaker 4:Some are some aren't we installed ours in our first truck, and it was only good for three trucks ahead of you, or four trucks.
Speaker 1:It wasn't very powerful, but it would serve its purpose. I'd use it if we were in traffic. What lane should I be in? What's it telling me which direction, and those kind of things Anyway.
Speaker 2:When we ran with them. Obviously they didn't have them, but you talk about sheep. So most of y'all know, over the summer, eric and I uh did actually go to scotland, um, and there was a road we were on. We saw the woolly cows and we saw all the cows. Oh yeah, the big hairy, fluffy cows the highlands, uh, cows and all that. Uh, I got to pet one. Uh it was so funny because melissa, my sister, not, not you buttermilk yes my sister.
Speaker 2:She was like I really want to see one of these big woolly cows. Never got the opportunity to. We stopped at a museum. We went to the museum. It was actually like it was unique, so what it was was they do these like communities or neighborhoods. I guess you'd say I would call it a village, a village. Yeah, it's a village. So I guess you'd say I would call it a village, a village, yeah, it's a village. So all these houses, they're stone-walled and I mean like stone, like they went to the side of the mountain like, oh, this stone will do, and then carried over, not chiseled, not beat down or whatever, no, just stone-walled and they're all freestanding. There's no mortar in between them.
Speaker 2:So the walls are really thick because of that freestanding nature and you basically play Tetris with whatever rock you get. They build their walls and then you go inside and there'd be one. Usually one room, but a couple of the nice places had two rooms.
Speaker 5:Let's say the one that had parent and kids. Parents might get their own room.
Speaker 2:Well, the parents' room was also the kitchen and living room and the kids' room was their own room, which sounds like, oh, the kids got it made. No, this room was not big and had like eight bunk beds in it, because, you got to remember, the families back then were huge, huge, yeah. So mom and dad were like no, all 16 of you in this room and we're in here. My sister decided to buy something and so Eric and I we walk out and we're just walking along the fence line and I look up ahead and I'm like there's one of those woolly cows and there's all these people that are like rubbing it and petting it and everything.
Speaker 2:So Eric and I walk up there and we just start petting the woolly cow and, mind you, literally I did not know these existed. Like I've seen their pictures before, but I didn't know it was a Scottish thing. Like I just thought it was a hairy cow somewhere and so I didn't know this all existed. So we're going over there, we pet it, we feed it a carrot, you know all that stuff, get photos and videos and I'm like where is Melissa? Like she needs to be here seeing this. She's been asking about this this whole time. And so we start like texting her aggressively and Dad eventually walks out and he comes over there and he's petting the cow and it's like where on earth is my sister? And she's in line. And so finally she walks out of the bookstore and she's just kind of like where the boys went, like kind of looking around trying to figure out what to do or whatever.
Speaker 2:And then she locks eyes on us and then she's like oh my gosh. And she starts like not running but like aggressively moving fast towards us or whatever Swiftly walking and she was able to get like one or two little like pets before the cow was like I'm good and walked away and it was like, oh man, if she'd have been 30 seconds later, she'd have missed out on it. And it was the only time we ran into them. But all that to say that road.
Speaker 1:Yes, had sheep on it.
Speaker 2:Had sheep on it and I don't mean like they were on either side of the road.
Speaker 1:It was in the road.
Speaker 2:I mean you would just come around a corner and there'd be a family of sheep and you just, you know like, just not hit them. It was bananas. I've never seen wildlife just so laissez-faire.
Speaker 1:I've never seen such large herds of sheep being moved and utilizing a main thoroughfare road.
Speaker 1:I mean I grew up. We all know Oregon country. You know we had horses and pigs and the whole whole nine yards. I've I've been on cattle drives before, I've done all those kinds of things, but to actually see a thousand head of sheep or more and you've got the dogs herding them and people walking and you have a few cars and I mean like they were navigating these sheep from one big field to another. But it required utilizing the road.
Speaker 4:It was. I thought, it was pretty cool. I had to wait. It was an interstate, it was just country roads.
Speaker 1:It was a country, it was probably a state highway. Yeah, I think it was a state highway, but you know, I ended up parking and I had to wait for them to completely move their flock around me to the other side, in order for me to then continue my thoroughfare.
Speaker 4:Is it a flock? A flock of sheep? No, I think it's a herd. A herd A flock? I don't know. I don't know either. Isn't a?
Speaker 2:flock a bird.
Speaker 4:I think a flock is a bird. I thought it was a flock of sheep.
Speaker 2:If you know what you call a bunch of sheep, please add it to the comments.
Speaker 1:We'd love to hear what you have. We don't have Dawn today in the.
Speaker 2:We don't have our fact checker.
Speaker 1:We don't. So what were we going to say?
Speaker 4:The time in Utah, utah.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:When we saw the herd of bison being moved, that'd be cool. Now that wasn't. It was from pasture to pasture. They had a couple of cars that were working. I think they had horses too. The sheriffs had the road blocked on either side.
Speaker 4:I forgot about that load While they moved all the bison from one pasture to another. That was pretty cool Because from where we were you couldn't really tell if they were cows or bison. Yeah, as they opened the road and we could get closer, it was like those were all bison. That was pretty cool.
Speaker 2:Now, were they using the helicopters? No Yellowstone action. They weren't using helicopters. There's the Yellowstone action.
Speaker 1:No no, I forgot about the bison Wow Memory. No, I forgot about the bison Wow Memory.
Speaker 2:Lane you talk about the bison. It makes me think of the elk. We're going to be here all day with the stories. I apologize, but we were in Estes Park, colorado. If I may for just a moment?
Speaker 4:Yes, sir, if I may.
Speaker 2:Yes, you may.
Speaker 4:Can we not record this part, because I don't want it to be on camera and recorded? When I say buttermilk was right, it is actually a flock of sheep. It can also refer to a group of birds, so you were right also.
Speaker 2:Please.
Speaker 4:Jerry, don't put any of that on the video, because they'll both use it against me.
Speaker 1:I thought it was that. I don't know why I knew that. Well, I grew up rural. Maybe that's why I knew it.
Speaker 2:I grew up city, so that's why.
Speaker 1:I knew it. I grew up city, so that's why you didn't know it. That's why I doubt it.
Speaker 2:I have the Google box, so that's why I know. We're in Estes Park, Colorado, which you haven't been. It's beautiful. It's in the middle of the mountains. The hotel that they filmed the Shining at is actually there.
Speaker 1:Really.
Speaker 2:Yes, so it's, and we actually toured that hotel. We actually went and saw the room and the hallway and everything from it. It's very cool, very creepy, the what's that labyrinth or whatever and everything Like it's all there. So we were there and just walking through town as one does, and no, we were in a car. Maybe we were leaving like yeah we were in a car.
Speaker 2:We were in a car, but I think we were in a parking lot. We were just getting ready to leave, I think we were just getting ready to go into town, so we had parked in one of the little parking lots. You know those little small towns. They don't have enough parking in town, so a lot of those that are neat to visit they have parking lots on either side of them. So we parked in a parking lot and we were getting ready to walk into Estes Park and go check it out.
Speaker 5:I think we were getting fast food, that's what I remember, that's what it was. Oh, how dare you correct me on here.
Speaker 1:We were getting some quick lunch.
Speaker 2:We were at the Golden Arches I'm not going to tell you what company and we were in the drive-thru. We saw these cops come up and we're like what's happening here? Yeah, and it was a herd of elk. They were not being ranched, they're just wild elk, they just live in the area and they just decided to take a stroll down Main Street, and when I say a stroll I mean not in a hurry, no rush. Like Canadian geese you ever had the Canadian geese just walk on the road like they own it.
Speaker 2:Like they don't realize that your car can just destroy them, that Except, your car can't destroy an elk.
Speaker 1:It would destroy the car they were huge.
Speaker 2:That's one thing I noticed they have antlers. Gigantic antlers, everything. Oh, they're huge. I thought elk were big deer, no, they're ginormous deer.
Speaker 1:They're one step away from a moose.
Speaker 2:Yes, they were ridiculous and they just walked through the area like it was no big deal and the cops shut down the road to let them do their thing because they don't. They don't like, uh, they're not gonna cattle prod the elk or anything like that. They do let the elk do their own thing, but they do give the elk some encouragement. The the cops several of them were kind of like behind the elk, kind of like ha ha like hurting them encouraging them, like like ha, encouraging them out of their cars and kind of like with a distance.
Speaker 2:They were not close, but they were not kicking distance, but they were like come on, get out of the road. Very gently.
Speaker 5:Talk about shut down the town Roads. They weren't blocking, they were stopping everybody else for rubbernecking.
Speaker 2:Yes.
Speaker 1:If you weren't stopped by the deer, you would stop staring at them. It's an elk in person.
Speaker 2:And it's like a gold rush town. So you imagine the street with the sidewalk and there's just people everywhere with cameras and cell phones just recording all this. It was very, very cool.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think the elk are like yep, I'm going to be on TikTok. I think the elk are like I think the elk all ate something that morning.
Speaker 2:They're like I have an idea. Didn't we just do that on Thursday? It's a new crowd.
Speaker 4:New crowd. It was fun, wasn't?
Speaker 5:it, it was fun, it was fun, wasn't it? It was fun, it was fun.
Speaker 2:So, yeah, I enjoy that. You know, what you don't see on the side of the road is elk.
Speaker 4:Oh yeah, dead on the side of the road. Elk are clever.
Speaker 2:Deer not so much, but elk there's wisdom.
Speaker 4:What you see on the side of the road in elk country is busted up cars.
Speaker 2:That's true, that's true, that's true.
Speaker 1:You hit a 9 000 pound elk, you're they're very smart. They're very smart animals. Yeah, I have, uh, been a part of a hunting party with elk and and it's not, it's definitely different than deer hunting. They're very, they're like you said, they're, they're crafty or they're smart or they're conniving or whatever all those. Their intelligence is much different than just a deer who's going to hop in front of your truck or car.
Speaker 2:I saw one the other day. I was coming to the house and there was a deer in the middle of the road, dead. I mean literally just like 500 feet beyond the house, and I was like I'm so glad that's not my yard. If it's on the road, they pick it up ASAP. If it's in your yard, we'll get to it. We'll make it.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:So the other thing that was cool about the mental retreat and I love that you it was in your video but like for 10 seconds is we do one of the key points of these mentor retreats is fellowship and family and just rewarding, giving a chance to hang out, cut loose. Y'all saw in the video we brought the live band in uh really had a great time. But we also have the time where we get to get together and talk and it's what I love those sessions and you did. You showed again like 10 seconds of that, which I thought was very appropriate. You kind of showed like hey, we are here for business too.
Speaker 3:Exactly.
Speaker 2:But not you didn't drag it on like who really wants to see a bunch of us sitting around talking.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:And those sessions were private, just being able to talk about things and find out ways Highfield can better support our mentors, talk to our mentors about things that are troubling them, ways we could help them out, things they could do better, et cetera, et cetera. So it was a really great time. We've had some things come from that that we've implemented and some new changes that are coming. I love that because it's the reinvestment in what we're doing and it's also the perfecting of what we're already doing, like we already have the best mentor program in the industry. If we do nothing else, we're already the best, but that's not good enough.
Speaker 2:We all as a group sat down together and said here's things we can do better and the fact that we are trying to get that program better and trying to dial it in and everything. I love that aspect of let's keep growing. Let's keep not growing necessarily always in more trucks, because really, if you look at our fleet over the past few years, we have really grown in trucks. We've grown in quality and having our mentors able to grow that program into a a situation that they're either easier to work with or more information they have available, or whatever it is. I just love that quality rising.
Speaker 1:I love it getting better.
Speaker 2:It is and some of it is. You know, metal sharpens metal, right? Trust me, not all of those sessions were particularly fun, right? Like there are hard conversations that have to have happen, and what I love is we never do those on the first day. We always kind of put them second day because we need to remind each other that we all really like each other and we all really enjoy what we do. So that when we have those hard conversations, when the mentors look at us and go, hey, you know, highfield, here's where you're screwing up, here's, you know, here's what we can do better, it hurts but it's like, oh yeah, you're coming at it from a position of like, hey, here's a blind spot, let's fix that blind spot.
Speaker 2:And I love it. I just, you know, it's been really refreshing to go through that. And then we've had now a couple weeks to process it. We've made some changes, we've announced some things that are coming in january, we've. We've just really it's, it's exciting. I love that. I love that aspect of it. So it's not just all fun and games, it is how can we get ourselves better, and such and um and even that little 10 second blurb that showed all of us here having that meeting.
Speaker 1:Even though we're all still having downtime the remainder of the time, there's still site conversations and great information shared between mentors, or mentors and staff, but not all business 24-7 during the retreat.
Speaker 2:That's one of the fun things about doing it at a location like we did. There's lots of little seating areas around the place. There is literally conversation around the campfire. There's literally conversation around the band. There's literally conversation around a dinner table or that dinner table or whatever we were able to.
Speaker 2:Or the pool table. Listen, I've had some great conversations sitting around a pool table, shooting pool With the mentors, yes, but also with other people. I think of working with FedEx, for example, and doing a retreat with them that Eric and I did a couple years back. I remember sitting around the pool table at 11 o'clock at night, drinking bourbon and shooting pool with some of the FedEx executives and being able to have really honest conversations. Liquid encouragement helped, but some really honest conversations and then to see a few months later, things change and thinking to myself like that's because we played a game of pool together one night.
Speaker 2:Like that kind of stuff is really cool and that's what I value and that's what I enjoy about these retreats and these weekends. And, jerry, again, you putting that video together, kind of showing everything together, you taking care of the Highfield feud, you getting Steve Harvey to be here, it was.
Speaker 4:That was an amazing get.
Speaker 2:That was amazing. Yeah, that was really. That was something you pulled off, what I was able to do once, and it's very impressive because I've not been able to do it again.
Speaker 1:Was it a surprise?
Speaker 2:You got Vince Chili in a suit.
Speaker 3:I didn't know where that was going I didn't either by the way you looked great.
Speaker 4:Even better was they got Tilly to put a tie on yes yeah.
Speaker 3:I do wish we could have showed more of that in the video, but unfortunately copyright that kind of thing.
Speaker 1:But it was a lot of fun he's getting.
Speaker 3:I'm going to rent you out Ready, ready for the bus, but it was a lot of fun he's getting.
Speaker 1:I'm going to rent you out Ready for the bus here it comes. He's getting ready in the bathroom.
Speaker 4:Dressing room. Sorry, the dressing room.
Speaker 2:We call it the green room. The green room.
Speaker 1:Don did not provide snacks in the green room.
Speaker 2:No, he didn't.
Speaker 1:But he was getting ready in the green room.
Speaker 2:He's been reformated, don't worry.
Speaker 1:And I hear from behind my side of the door. I'm putting a tie on. I didn't even wear a tie to my daughter's wedding.
Speaker 4:I hadn't planned on that being public, because she might watch this and be like Mom, did you wear a tie.
Speaker 1:So let me put the bus now in forward gear. Your daughter's wedding. You did have a tie. The tie was not the right size it was a bow tie.
Speaker 4:I didn't realize bow ties come in sizes. I have a fat neck. It wouldn't work.
Speaker 1:It wasn't that he didn't have one, it just didn't fit.
Speaker 2:I do love a bow tie.
Speaker 1:That was part of the deal. She graciously said it would all be okay, because he was just there and walked her down the aisle, which was the bigger of the, and he got her there on time.
Speaker 2:I like a bow tie because, even though I'm a larger feller, the problem with ties is they don't always Right, like there's a length issue Sometimes they're not long enough or whatever, and a bow tie is always the right length, as long as you get the right size right.
Speaker 4:As long as you get the right size, it's the right length. Yes, and I buy a clip-on so it's even easier. Well, my daughter and I had a deal years ago. I mean, this was 10 years ago she was nine Probably.
Speaker 4:Well, no, she was a little older than that. I won't write her age out, but I went tie shopping because I was going on a job interview or something and we were joking about bow ties and we made a deal that I would learn to tie a bow tie when she planned to get married. So that was the deal I learned to tie the tie, I just couldn't tie it around my neck.
Speaker 1:You could have done it around your arm.
Speaker 4:I could have.
Speaker 1:Your forearm.
Speaker 4:We got to call her and have her redo the whole wedding thing. I'll put it around my arm next time.
Speaker 2:At five years, have them do a renewal.
Speaker 1:You look very sharp playing the part of Steve Harvey. You absolutely did, thank you, and you even. You look very sharp playing the part of Steve.
Speaker 2:Harvey, you absolutely did, absolutely. That was very nice, thank you, and you even the quips and the eye rolls and all the stuff. It was very fun. I will say, though, as soon as it was over, the very first thing you did was rip that right off.
Speaker 5:I did.
Speaker 2:But no, it was a great weekend. I had a lot of fun, enjoyed fellowshipping and hanging out with all of our mentors and staff too, because even, like you said, staff was here for a week prior. Our staff is literally all over the country People in New Mexico, we have people in Louisiana, people in Georgia, people here. It's just literally spread across Ohio, not even all in Columbus, so it was really great to have everybody all together.
Speaker 1:And still working and preparing. Yes, absolutely Doing both.
Speaker 2:So it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of hard work, but it was executed great and it was a very good thing and I look forward to doing next year's.
Speaker 5:Yeah.
Speaker 2:That process is already starting to get planned out.
Speaker 2:Momentum I'm excited about that, but I do hate to bring us from a positive note to a downer. All right, but I feel obligated to bring up the fact that, unfortunately, since this little break that we've been gone, judy Love, judy Love and if you think of her name, you may have seen this already online, but if you don't know who that is Judy Love, love being the key word her last name. She was the wife of Tom Love. Together they started Love's Truck Stops back in 1842.
Speaker 5:No 1964.
Speaker 2:Close. She passed away at 86 years old, 87. 87 years old. You know, it's just one of those things, tom. Her husband passed away last year. We cover that on the podcast as well, you know. It's just sad to see. Here's a couple they met at OSU Not Ohio State University but Oklahoma State University. And they borrowed some money from a family. I think it was like five grand or something like that.
Speaker 2:Started a service station, a gas station, and grew that into the loves empire. It is today. It is still family owned that into the loves empire. It is today it is still family owned. Uh, her, her kids are their kids, their grandkids, etc. Still operate it and they're still integral in the family business been less than a year.
Speaker 1:Sometimes I feel that's maybe a broken heart, but she was older as well. But you know, when you've been together that long, I guess it's not surprising.
Speaker 2:And I don't mean that in a negative or or I do, I do negative way I do think it's actually been over a year, I believe he passed away in march um yeah, but still I get that you know that broken heart syndrome could be a real thing it is super common right for a husband wife. One passes and the other one passes down after.
Speaker 1:So I certainly get that and monumental, I guess, is the word in our society. I mean, loves is pretty big, not just with truckers, but with with the four-wheelers out there, you know yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:I like when I'm out driving around um a personal vehicle or sometimes with the business I have to like drive a rental car from a certain location, like there was a we talked about on the podcast. Last year I brought a truck out to somewhere in Arkansas.
Speaker 2:Yeah, Jonesboro maybe yeah, it was Jonesboro, the only vehicle I could get out of there was a U-Haul and so I had to drive a U-Haul back to Columbus. So obviously you're stopping at gas stations and such, and that was I used Love's. Go in there, use restroom, buy water there. I actually like the water that they have, like their Love's branded water.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Yeah, so it's just you know it's not a shame. She had a wonderful life. Yeah, yeah, so it's just, you know it's not a shame. She had a wonderful life. Yeah, Even after Loves was already in business and they were making money, she actually went back to school I mean, at this point she was 40s Went back to school, got a degree in interior design Wow, Started a whole interior design business and everything.
Speaker 2:I mean she lived a very full life and everything. She lived a very full life. The article I read is a very long list of organizations that she contributed to. They were part of their philanthropy and everything. One of the ones I saw that I really was like, oh yeah, kind of tugged on the heartstrings, was they took care of a school and I can't remember the name of it, but it's the only school in Oklahoma City that caters towards homeless youth. So it's a school for homeless youth and they gave a lot to that school and it's like that's pretty cool to have an eye to hey, here's something that's not glamorous and there's not a lot of attention on it, but there's a need and I'm going to meet it.
Speaker 2:Our hearts go out to the Loves Company, but the Loves family definitely. I know it's hard to lose a parent, it's hard to lose a mother. I've been through that and I'm going to buttermilk you Vez. Well, they have our best wishes.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Sure.
Speaker 2:And, hopefully, the peace, that she's in a better place and she lived a wonderful life.
Speaker 1:Okay, so Jerry.
Speaker 2:Jerry, mr Barrow.
Speaker 1:Burrow.
Speaker 2:Burrow, mr Wilbarrow, mr Wilbarrow.
Speaker 3:That's not my name, people, mr Boogie, jerry. No, that's staying, mr Boogie.
Speaker 1:I do have a follow-up question. It has nothing to do with travel. How is your mom and her area doing after the bad weather a month or so ago?
Speaker 3:The area is still recovering.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 3:I think the state's doing really, really well in FEMA and all that. They're doing a great job and there's still a lot of work to be done, but luckily where she is at, in her neck of the woods, she's good. She didn't have any major damage to the house or anything like that. A few trees down, but gasoline food.
Speaker 3:All of those supplies are still coming on oh, yeah, everything's, everything's good internet for her internet's good yep, her cell phone's still going in and out. I think they're still working on towers and stuff, but yeah, for the most part everything's been up and going.
Speaker 2:That's excellent. I've been traveling a lot lately and we'll talk about that next episode. I've set many a hotel, many a hotel. I've set many an airport next to people and had conversations about the devastation going on in North Carolina and people talking about going and getting gasoline and not being able to get more than a couple gallons, or some of those little shady shops charging $15, $20 a gallon and just crazy things like that.
Speaker 2:So it's certainly been a topic of conversation that I've encountered quite a few times over the past few weeks in my travels. So I'm glad to hear that she's not having to deal with so much of that stuff.
Speaker 1:It's still out there.
Speaker 2:It's still out there and the I-40 is still a wreck, you know that's going to be down for a while.
Speaker 3:It's going to be down for a hot minute. I think I've seen online they're saying 2026. Oh, they bumped it out.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:And that's a major, could be a major thoroughfare for travelers. Otherwise you got to go 26, like all the way up into Tennessee to 40?
Speaker 1:Not 40. I meant something different.
Speaker 2:What is that up there that's?
Speaker 3:86 or 70. I wanted to say 71, and it's not 81.
Speaker 1:81. 81. Towards Bristol and say 81. And it's not 81. 81., 81.
Speaker 3:Towards Bristol and all that.
Speaker 1:Yes, yes, thank you.
Speaker 2:Our brain just had a stretch.
Speaker 1:I haven't heard that in a hot moment, I don't remember.
Speaker 2:I did a Kit Kat. That was a rough one.
Speaker 1:Our last time on 40 in a truck was through Nashville.
Speaker 4:Yeah, it was yeah, and a truck was through.
Speaker 1:Nashville yeah, it was yeah, and that's been two and a half years ago.
Speaker 2:I haven't been through Nashville in forever. Really Like it's been a very long time.
Speaker 1:Do you go around it?
Speaker 2:Yes, so lately, if I have to, I'm like because you've been there.
Speaker 1:I know you're talking about that in a later episode.
Speaker 2:Yeah, but lately if I'm going down towards Dallas or Memphis or something like that, I will typically take the Kentucky Parkway, western Kentucky Parkway, and drop down around Paducah, drop down into Dyersburg and then Union City, dyersburg and then on into Memphis. That way it's just a lot less hassle. It adds up by the book, it adds time when you factor in Nashville.
Speaker 1:And that time.
Speaker 2:At that time of day. It adds no time Because it's guaranteed, like I can make Memphis to Columbus in a day drive.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Going that route every time. It's guaranteed If I go through Nashville.
Speaker 1:Scrapshoot.
Speaker 2:Flip a coin.
Speaker 4:You end up running out of hours in Jeffersonville.
Speaker 2:Exactly, I did that one time. It's only happened once In all my years. It's only happened once. And I called Eric and he came down and he grabbed the truck from there and I grabbed the car and he drove the truck back and I drove the car back. That was years ago. But yeah, now you just go around. Yeah, now I'll go around, I'll bypass it. Nashville can't hold you up if you don't go through it. No, it can't. No, and I've learned Cincinnati pretty good. I've gotten getting around Cincinnati down. So that helps, because Cincinnati is another Like Louisville. Cincinnati and Nashville are like horrible traffic areas.
Speaker 1:I saw something about a bridge in Cincinnati that caught fire recently. Anybody else see that?
Speaker 2:Oh, I did see that, is that?
Speaker 1:open, yet Do we know where that's at exactly? I think?
Speaker 2:it's the 471, right.
Speaker 1:It was.
Speaker 2:Did you see the bridge pictures?
Speaker 1:No.
Speaker 2:Oh, the I-beams make a big U like a smiley face.
Speaker 1:Oh, yeah, like it melted, oh yeah it.
Speaker 2:It's Like it melted, oh yeah it got so hot it like smiley-faced it and they had this little robot go over there and take video because it's risky, like it's clearly weakened so can it even hold up the concrete that's above it. They didn't even know if that would happen.
Speaker 1:Ooh, so they sent a robot in.
Speaker 2:I don't know how fast that is to repair. It's weird with bridge construction Some things have to be designed and take forever to do Other things. When it's just a repair, it's like ordering six beams and we'll just solve them out real quick. I don't know where we stand on that. I haven't driven A. I never take that bridge.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:I've probably been across it twice in my entire life.
Speaker 3:I think it also just depends on how fast they need it back open, because look at what happened in Maryland, outside of DC. Sure, like that was I-95. They had that back open quick.
Speaker 4:Yes, they did Well like I-40 through Memphis, the bridge going across.
Speaker 2:Oh yeah, when they found the bridge was cracked.
Speaker 4:They got that fixed pretty fast too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, they brought a company and got that back.
Speaker 4:So it really depends on how important that thoroughfare is. Yeah.
Speaker 2:And the 471, it's a nice bypass, but it's a bypass. Yeah, you know, it's kind of like the Baltimore Bridge A. They are going to build that fast, but that's a from scratch design. They're not repairing it.
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 2:They're rebuilding to a whole new standard. They're going to take those piers out. They're going to make that whole thing wider.
Speaker 1:Is that where the barge knocked it out?
Speaker 2:It was a ship. Ship, yeah, yep.
Speaker 1:Is it still not open? I'm sorry, I'm not familiar, I'm not up to today's standards.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, they still have the old piers up, but again they're going to tear those down to the ground.
Speaker 1:So it's not.
Speaker 2:There's nothing there that you can get across. Got it.
Speaker 5:No, I think they're going to. It's a long detour.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and they're talking about speed tracking, that thing being like 2030.
Speaker 1:Really?
Speaker 2:Like moving fast.
Speaker 1:That's not that's moving very fast. Oh.
Speaker 2:For a bridge like that. Okay, I mean because, think about it, it's not like anybody had plans or designs 2030. They're having to start from scratch.
Speaker 1:What are we in now?
Speaker 2:Seven years, it was a very old, six, six, five almost.
Speaker 1:Okay, six, six, five, almost okay, five, fives a month away, five years. So to build a bridge well to design and build.
Speaker 2:It's going to be built to today's standards, so it's going to be higher off the ground.
Speaker 2:It's going to be a wider span yeah I watched a documentary on it the other day when they were talking about how that bridge, being so old, it is a critical failure. Bridge which means if one thing breaks, the whole thing thing falls, which clearly we saw does. So they don't build bridges that way anymore. Now if you have something that gets hit, the other part of the structure can hold it up. And also they build their spans wider. Because right now those spans are right in the middle of deep water. But if they built it wider so it would have a longer span, which again longer span, is more expensive to build. So that's why they didn't want to do it in the middle of deep water. But if they built it wider so it would have a longer span, which again longer span, is more expensive to build.
Speaker 1:Sure.
Speaker 2:So that's why they didn't want to do it in the first place. But if you build a wider span then it puts those piers in shallow water. So a ship would actually hit shallow water and just get stuck in the mud before it ever has an opportunity to knock the bridge over before it ever has an opportunity to knock the bridge over. Makes sense. So you know, stuff like that didn't exist back in the 60s when they built that bridge.
Speaker 5:Right.
Speaker 2:It's probably going to be a cable stay, which we've all seen. Those. It's where they have the tower and then you see the lines coming across. It almost looks like a suspension bridge, right, but there's no like happy face in the middle. So, yeah, I think that's what they're working on, but I mean from scratch. Literally, you have to design it from scratch. They've got to do environmental studies, they've got to do all that stuff.
Speaker 5:Can't order from this year's catalog.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean right. Most of those bridges are 10, 20-year projects and they're trying to do it in five. Well, that's extremely fast, yes.
Speaker 4:I'm sure the public will like that. I think so too. Shorter detours or no detour. I know.
Speaker 2:Until then, everything coming from that area would just be a little more expensive.
Speaker 1:Take the long way around or relocate your home. If you were one of those daily drivers, oh my gosh.
Speaker 2:Can you imagine if that was your? Your commute I do wonder if they had to put ferries in place.
Speaker 5:They would have had to right.
Speaker 2:I'm curious if they did that, Put fairies. That'd be a quick, easy fix. Yeah, it would Just run a ferry across.
Speaker 4:I imagine there may have been fairies there already.
Speaker 2:I think there used to be. They built a bridge. Well, it happens a lot where there are bridges or fairies Maybe they added more fairies.
Speaker 4:You know, you have the Oakland Bay Bridge and there's still ferries from San Francisco to Oakland.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and you can actually buy. It's a weird minutiae, but you can actually buy a used ferry, like a car ferry.
Speaker 4:You can buy them, they just exist out there the other day I was looking, I'm bringing a trailer.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 4:There's a couple ferries. I'm bringing a trailer.
Speaker 2:Yeah. I was thinking of bringing a big fairies are right.
Speaker 4:All the glitter, so much glitter.
Speaker 2:Now you can buy freaking. What was it? Pete Davidson and the guy who's married to the girl, Right, yes, I know none of this. He's on Weekend Update with Michael Shea His name's right there, he's looking at me like I know what it is.
Speaker 4:Do you know what I'm talking about? Michael Shea, and. And come His name's right there. He's looking at me like I know what it is. Do you know what I'm talking about? Michael Che and.
Speaker 2:Come on, it's the pretty boy the white guy, the white guy, he's married to, oh my gosh. He's married to the girl that played in Her. What Her, she played in Her.
Speaker 4:And it was the voice of Her. It was the voice of Her she played in. Have you seen that?
Speaker 2:Scarlett Johansson Scarlett. Johansson's husband is.
Speaker 4:Colin Jost, colin Jost, it was right there. So Pete Davidson and Colin.
Speaker 2:Jost bought a Staten Island ferry Really.
Speaker 5:Yes.
Speaker 2:That's hilarious.
Speaker 5:They did?
Speaker 2:They didn't know what to do with it, they just thought it would be fun to buy they didn't have an idea of what to do with it. So I mean, you can buy ferries.
Speaker 1:I'm sure they had to right. It seems like the right thing to do Can you imagine waking up one morning and being like I can't come to work. It's a four-hour detour. I have to move.
Speaker 2:It's cheaper to move or I get a different job. Well, let's assume you have a good job. Yeah, I have to move Like it's just brutal.
Speaker 4:We're still talking about the bridge, by the way. See if I couldn't work from home. The thing is.
Speaker 2:Amazon packagers have a hard time working from home. I could just hear the balls too.
Speaker 3:Like well, you need to leave four hours earlier.
Speaker 1:How far is the detour? Does anybody know? If you're literally doing where the bridge leaves the land to where the bridge gets off-ramp.
Speaker 2:I think it's a couple hours. I don't think it's quite four. I think it's only a couple hours. That's still a detour, well, and now it's traffic, so it's even more.
Speaker 1:Because y'all are detouring.
Speaker 2:Yes, because everybody's detouring.
Speaker 1:I'd get a different job or move.
Speaker 2:Or a helicopter.
Speaker 1:Or buy myself a ferry. Hey baby, Quit my job. I finally got a reason to buy the speedboat.
Speaker 2:We're going to make money Car. Exactly, we're going to make money Car pulling. All right, everybody meet on the Bayliner. We're leaving at.
Speaker 1:I guess from the outside looking in, I've never thought about how many lives it could have affected outside of just transportation and moving product right.
Speaker 2:It's huge.
Speaker 1:For truckers, you really got to find a different way, especially with hazmat.
Speaker 2:It was a hazmat route, but for those who worked across the bridge either direction.
Speaker 1:Now, what do you do? I mean never really thought of it that way.
Speaker 2:Kind of eye-opening, I think of a place like Baton Rouge. Like there were times, like I remember, when they repainted the old bridge. So the old bridge it's the the least used one, but the only option was the new bridge and it was three lanes each direction and it was a nightmare. You like to cross the river? Forget it, forget about it. Nightmare because they closed the old one that's less used. I can't imagine closing a major thoroughfare like that and having no options.
Speaker 1:Yeah, wow.
Speaker 2:I think this is going to conclude our episode. We thank you all for listening and joining us. It's been a hot minute since we've been back. We've all actually not really seen each other a lot since the episode. It's been wide open, crazy busy, yeah, and it feels good to be back. I look forward to doing more of these episodes. Oh, this coming weekend is Thanksgiving and we do want to wish all of y'all a happy Thanksgiving. If you get the chance to go home and see your family, give them big hugs. If you don't, we appreciate you staying out there on the road working keeping America going. That is such a huge part of the American culture and everything, and you really are super important and we really do appreciate and show our gratitude towards you on that.
Speaker 1:Happy Thanksgiving. If you've got great photos, share them on whatever social media you're on. If you're a Highfield family contractor out there, we'd love to see those photos of what you're making. If you're a highfield family contractor out there, we love to see those photos of what you're making if you're out on the road hashtag highfield family if you're not on the road and you're at home. Share those photos too.
Speaker 2:We like food photos absolutely eric and I had. One of my most memorable thanksgivings is spending time with eric at a ta outside of Raleigh, north Carolina. I remember that very well, beautiful spread they had at the Country Pride.
Speaker 1:Yeah, share those photos.
Speaker 2:Yeah, share those photos. We've all been there, we've all got those experiences, right there alongside you.
Speaker 4:One of our best Thanksgivings we spent at a campground in Alabama State Park in Alabama.
Speaker 1:Yes.
Speaker 4:Yeah, we had a great time. We were there the whole weekend. I think we left Sunday afternoon to get there, get to our pickup on.
Speaker 5:Monday morning early.
Speaker 4:But yeah, we had the Traeger out and hooked it up. It was fun.
Speaker 2:The other great working Thanksgiving memory we have is we were actually back in Louisiana At home for home time. We got called and said hey, we need you to haul a load. And he said no, we're here for Thanksgiving. It's like Monday.
Speaker 5:And they're like, you're the only one in the area.
Speaker 2:We really need you to and we're like no, we really can't. We're like whatever. And they're like if we gave you this much money, would you? And we're like yeah and yeah. And so we actually did, went back in service. We didn't have to pick up until the next day. So Eric and I went over to all the family's places, did what Thanksgiving today. We did Thanksgiving that day and didn't have any turkey because that wasn't prepared.
Speaker 2:But we had plenty of good food and got back on Tuesday morning, made our pickup in Hightelt California, dropped on Wednesday and made it into San Francisco to a hotel for Wednesday night. Thursday morning we went and found Thanksgiving in San Francisco. How fun.
Speaker 4:We weren't quite that lucky, but we got a load out of Laredo Texas once we had already planned that we were going to shut down for Thanksgiving, Got a load offer, threw out an outrageous number and were turned down. They called another truck and they turned them down and they called us back and said your number wasn't as outrageous as theirs.
Speaker 4:We'll do it for your number. And we ran the load um and then um. Like wednesday, we were shut down in jackson, tennessee, and we were ready to kick our feet up and just you know, we were going to be there through at least a friday yeah and then we'll figure it out.
Speaker 4:From friday, that same dispatcher called and said I'm not going to argue with you over your number. Here's what I usually do and here's the number I'll pay you. I looked at her and she was like yep, we had no plans. We were at a truck stop. Literally we didn't have the plans you folks had on your Thanksgiving. I was like, yeah, this is just bonus money. At this point we had no plans of running, so sure, let's do it, you know, and it worked out great.
Speaker 1:We picked up on that Wednesday too, before Thanksgiving.
Speaker 4:It doesn't always work out that way.
Speaker 1:No, it does not always work out that way, you've got to be in the right place at the right time. Right place at the right time.
Speaker 3:I've got videos on the X-Factor boogie me and Don in hotel rooms on Thanksgiving cooking Thanksgiving dinner there you go, are you serious? Yeah.
Speaker 1:I need to see that video.
Speaker 2:I remember a couple of years ago it's been a while since this rumor went out, but I remember a couple of years ago there was a rumor going around that don't go to drive for Highfield because they make you run on Thanksgiving and Christmas. And when Eric and I heard this, we both laughed. We're like literally laughed, Like that's not real, Like there are some benefits of having the fleet owners be drivers. Yeah, Like.
Speaker 4:I get it.
Speaker 2:If there's no freight on Wednesday, thursday or Friday go home.
Speaker 2:Be with your family, or if it's like going home is not practical, get a nice hotel, go camping, do something Like I get it. Thanksgiving is generally not busy, but if you do get a load it's usually pretty freaking sweet. Yeah, um, and same for christmas. Like christmas, like christmas to new year's, that whole 10 days there. Yeah, go home and shoot some fireworks, all the stuff right, like it's very slow in the industry. And then, as soon as, like January 2nd, it picks right back up.
Speaker 4:Get ready to work.
Speaker 2:It's just, it's like clockwork, there are some things, and I've heard the rumors. You've heard the rumors. I worked Christmas and I got a $10,000 load to fill in the blank right.
Speaker 1:They were in the right place at the right time. Not everybody's there.
Speaker 2:I'm telling you 120 trucks over a decade it happens 1% of the time 1% of the time, yeah, literally not even every year. Occasionally we see that thing pop up. So it's like no, we're the most like go home for the holidays we can get it. I mean don't go home on April 15th. I mean April, don't go home on December 15th and stay out until January 15th. That's a huge mistake.
Speaker 4:You're leaving a lot of money on the table. You're leaving a lot.
Speaker 2:But yeah, no, it makes sense to go home when things slow down.
Speaker 3:I had a dispatcher call me one time and she said I've got a really, really good offer. We were sitting in North Carolina and she's like I got an offer going to California. She goes do you mind eating turkey in California? I said it tastes the same in California as it does in North Carolina. That's right.
Speaker 2:That's right.
Speaker 5:That's right.
Speaker 2:We thank you so much for hanging out with us. We thank you for supporting our channel, as you all have been doing. If you're a current Highfield driver, thank you so much for the work you're doing. We really do appreciate you and your co-driver and uh. We hope that you have a wonderful holiday season coming up. We hope that you have a great thanksgiving. Um, and until we meet again. No, that's a lie, jerry. What are we?
Speaker 3:forgetting. Hit that subscribe button. Hit the thumbs up button if you would, please, please. It helps us with the YouTube algorithm. And if you are interested in Highfield and everything that we have to offer over here and the expatting industry, check us out at highfieldtruckingcom and give us a call at 833-HIGHFIELD. One of our lovely ladies in recruiting would love to talk to you.
Speaker 2:That'd be me. We're going to have to change that up. When we hire a guy to be in recruiting too, we will have to change it up. It's not going to be ladies.
Speaker 1:It could be people For the meantime we happen to have ladies.
Speaker 2:It's just what it is.
Speaker 1:You can listen to us here on YouTube or you could do it on your favorite podcast streaming.
Speaker 2:We are everywhere If you're watching us on YouTube and you're like it takes so much time to watch this and then drive, throw us on your favorite podcast app, it'll sound the same Sounds the same Sounds the same. And if we do something and we're like oh wow, I wish I knew what they were doing, because sometimes we show videos or not videos photos or pictures, or we forget and we're describing stuff with our hands.
Speaker 4:Yes, mostly me.
Speaker 2:Look us up on YouTube. You we're describing stuff with our hands. Yes, mostly me. Look us up on YouTube. You can catch up on those things as well.
Speaker 3:So listen to the podcast as you're driving, yeah, then whenever you want to see the pictures and everything we throw up, go back and watch the podcast, watch the video.
Speaker 2:Yep, yep and you can absolutely fast forward and find the spots we're not monetized.
Speaker 1:No, no, no, you can't Gosh we don't care, no Well you're making that turkey watch us on your YouTube. That's right In your truck or at home.
Speaker 2:We do look good on an iPhone, I've been told. So was it. Dad always told me I had a face for radio.
Speaker 4:Yes.
Speaker 2:So until next time. Stay safe, make good decisions, Don't leave holiday money on the table.
Speaker 3:And keep those wheels of Turner Bye.
Speaker 2:Bye See ya, thank you.