Feasting Fiascos, CB Conversations, and Woolly Cows: A Journey of Connection and Adventure!

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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.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Okay, let's get this party started.

Speaker 2 (00:10):
Hey everybody, welcome to the Outer Belt.
I'm Patrick and y'all are myfriends.

Speaker 1 (00:15):
Chili Buttermilk.

Speaker 3 (00:18):
Eric and Jerry.

Speaker 2 (00:20):
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 beautifulColumbus Ohio.
It has been a while since we'vebeen together, hasn't it?

Speaker 1 (00:39):
We haven't been together.
It's been a hot moment.
A hot moment.

Speaker 2 (00:45):
Yeah, oh man, I'm so glad to be here.

Speaker 1 (00:48):
Last week's recap was wonderful.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
It was great.
I appreciate you putting thattogether.
That was an awesome little nottribute, but what do you call
that?
A synopsis?

Speaker 4 (00:58):
A montage A retrospective.

Speaker 2 (01:00):
One might call it a recap, a menagerie.

Speaker 4 (01:03):
A menagerie, oh, it is not a menagerie.
A menagerie, oh, it is not amenagerie, A menagerie of the
weekend.

Speaker 2 (01:07):
We had so much fun with all the mentors.
It was a great.

Speaker 1 (01:10):
Some of them are animals.
I guess what?
Some of them are animalsMenagerie.

Speaker 2 (01:14):
Okay, well, technically, we're all mammals,
right.

Speaker 1 (01:17):
There we go.

Speaker 2 (01:19):
There we go, yeah, yeah, yeah.
It was a really good video,really appreciate it.
It was a lot of fun, had agreat group of people here.
We had an awesome weekendtogether Good fellowship, great
food.
Oh, mylanta, can we talk aboutthe food for 30 seconds?
And Melissa, you're up.

Speaker 1 (01:35):
I have lots of leftovers still in my freezer
from all of it and it is just sophenomenal to still Dina's
amazing, delina's, jerry madesome great Italian food, as
always.

Speaker 2 (01:50):
That lasagna brought out my inner Garfield.
Oh right, oh it just.

Speaker 1 (01:55):
Agreed, agreed.
Everything was just on point.
I mean, I don't know how elseto put it, it just yes.
We were spoiled.

Speaker 2 (02:03):
We were treated, we truly were, I think we all
walked away 10 pounds heavier.

Speaker 1 (02:06):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (02:07):
I fasted for the following few days.
I'll tell you this I lovehaving such a great group of
people that I was going to saystaff.
But Jerry's not staff, he's myproxy Great group of friends and
family and staff.
So all together I can say, hey,do you want to take dinner on

(02:27):
Saturday for 30 people?
And they just go like, yeah,got it Done.
Not, what would you like tohave?
Not?
Well, can we do?
Just done Covered, got it.

Speaker 1 (02:39):
And I think the synopsis from the poll that the
chicks did on their video if youhaven't watched theirs was that
the number one best thing wasthe food.

Speaker 2 (02:51):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (02:52):
Followed by fellowship or hanging out with
everybody but food, everybodythat the chicks polled seemed to
be.
Food was number one and it wasgood.
It was nice to see, and it wasa little bit of everything
Between charcuteries or soup andsandwich to ice cream.
It was just to, like you said,lasagna.

Speaker 2 (03:13):
And fresh ice cream, like everything we had.

Speaker 1 (03:15):
Was homemade, everything we had was homemade.

Speaker 2 (03:17):
Everything.
This was like the mostfarm-to-table event, sustainable
cooking you can have.
It was really great.
It was wonderful.
We really are spoiled.

Speaker 4 (03:27):
You know I thought that I was going above and
beyond when I went out andbutchered that cow to make those
ground beef for those burgers.

Speaker 3 (03:34):
I know Well the fact that you did that 45 days ago so
that it could be aged properly.

Speaker 2 (03:39):
Now, I don't know about the wet aging process.
I've always been a fan of thedry aging.

Speaker 4 (03:44):
Right, we were making burgers.
We wanted moist burgers.
I get that, I get that.
So we did the wet aging.

Speaker 2 (03:49):
Well, I would love to tell you how good my burger was
.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (03:52):
Unfortunately they were gone.

Speaker 4 (03:54):
We ran out.
I didn't get one either.
I sat back.
I guess that says how good theywere.

Speaker 2 (03:59):
You.
I was like I'm going to leteverybody get their food, sure,
and I was kind of in aconversation so I'm like it's
fine, I'll grab whatever I wantlater.
So I go there, I get my plateout, 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, youknow, onion, lettuce, tomato
pickles, like I am just a fullybeautiful setup there.

(04:23):
Yeah, and someone tapped me onthe shoulder, was it you?

Speaker 1 (04:26):
It was me and you were like, oh, and you're like
going to put a cabal saw inthere, yeah, Just

Speaker 4 (04:30):
so you know you didn't get a sausage sandwich.

Speaker 2 (04:31):
Yeah, and I'm like what?
And I look over at the meattray and it's like no more
burgers but tons of sausage, andI'm like okay.

Speaker 1 (04:40):
Those were lovely.

Speaker 2 (04:41):
Oh, the sausage was great.
Oh, but it was a little bit oflike a surprise because they
somehow accidentally mixed upthe incredibly, thousand on the
Scoville scale sausage and theregular sausage.

Speaker 1 (04:57):
So it was kind of a.

Speaker 2 (04:58):
I got a regular oh man, but it was like playing
roulette, like Russian rouletteEeny meeny, miny moe.
That one looks a little lessred.
I'll try that one.

Speaker 1 (05:09):
It was delicious.

Speaker 2 (05:10):
Dina, jerry and Vince all did cook.

Speaker 1 (05:15):
It was an amazing three days.
Well, it was a whole week forstaff.

Speaker 2 (05:18):
It was a whole week for staff but three days for the
mentors.

Speaker 1 (05:21):
And my favorite thing was Highfield Feud.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Oh, that was great.

Speaker 5 (05:25):
That was a lot of fun .
Oh my gosh, that was a lot offun.
It was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (05:29):
I mean putting my living room back together.

Speaker 1 (05:31):
Oh, I bet yeah, but it was a lot of fun.

Speaker 2 (05:34):
Of course you bet, because none of y'all were there
for it.
Appreciate it.

Speaker 5 (05:36):
It's not fair.
The girls Every time.

Speaker 4 (05:41):
No, they didn't no.

Speaker 5 (05:43):
Did the guys win?
Ever the guys.

Speaker 4 (05:46):
The first round.

Speaker 2 (05:47):
The guys won.
The guys won the second andthen the second round.

Speaker 4 (05:50):
The guys played staff .

Speaker 2 (05:52):
Yes, and the staff won.

Speaker 1 (05:53):
No.

Speaker 2 (05:53):
Staff no staff.
Staff won.

Speaker 1 (05:55):
Staff won and then we almost, really, really won, but
you and I were off by likeeight points.

Speaker 2 (06:01):
I know, I know, oh, my gosh so close.
Some of those answers.

Speaker 3 (06:04):
Now come on drivers.
Yeah, some of your answers.
We're a little bit yeah, alittle strange.

Speaker 2 (06:11):
Your favorite interstate to travel on I-40.

Speaker 1 (06:16):
It was the biggest one too.

Speaker 2 (06:18):
And I'm like have you driven 15?
, have you not 15,?
70?
Yeah, From Denver to when itmeets 15?
.

Speaker 4 (06:28):
Where it meets 15?
Yeah, in Utah.

Speaker 2 (06:29):
That's a beautiful drive.
Let's talk about.
Let's go segment 15 from Vegasto.

Speaker 4 (06:41):
That little piece where you run through Arizona
for like 40 minutes.
Yes, arizona section on.

Speaker 5 (06:46):
I-15 is the— 15 in the Arizona section of the
interstate only.

Speaker 2 (06:50):
Personally, the prettiest spot in the entire
interstate system is that it wasthe most shocking when I was
driving.
I just think it's gorgeous.
Eric and I, the first time itever happened.
I drove it and I was like, ohmy god, this is so beautiful.
I got out the end I pulled intoa parking space at a truck stop

(07:11):
.
I went back into sleep and Iwas 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'snighttime and it's a full moon,
so it's bright, but nighttimeand beautiful.
He jumps up to the front seat.
We go do it again.
And then we go do it againbecause you have to circle back.
It was just so pretty.
I'm like I just I can't.

(07:33):
This is magic, this is puremagic.
It's by far my favorite spot ofthe entire interstate system.
But there's up in Oregonthere's beautiful.
In Washington there's beautifulsections.

Speaker 1 (07:43):
I-80.
The gorge.

Speaker 4 (07:45):
The gorge.
The gorge is beautiful, I don'tknow.

Speaker 1 (07:47):
I-40, if you think about it.

Speaker 2 (07:49):
I-40 has one spot.

Speaker 1 (07:52):
No, it's got your eastern states and up through
Pigeon, holler or whatever, allthat is there the section that
got?

Speaker 5 (07:59):
washed away.
What's that called?

Speaker 3 (08:02):
I-40 through the Pigeon.

Speaker 2 (08:06):
Pigeon, pigeon, forge , gorge or whatever that is so
all of that is gorgeous.
It is.

Speaker 1 (08:09):
And then you come out and you still have Tennessee.
You've got to do all ofTennessee.

Speaker 2 (08:13):
Yeah, but you've got Tennessee and Tennessee dot.

Speaker 1 (08:17):
Still pretty.
And then you come into Memphis,which, if you're the night
driver, those bridges in Memphisare beautiful.

Speaker 2 (08:24):
And very pretty, they're lit up, nice.
And then you've got a lot ofthe Bass Pro Shop, the Bass Pro
Shop pyramid, and then you'vegot a lot of maybe not Some of
us that have been aroundpre-Bass Pro Shop Just saying
and then you've got, you knowTexas, which is nothing.

Speaker 1 (08:36):
Nobody loves the panhandle.
And then, excuse me, you've gotArizona through those big
mountains.

Speaker 2 (08:41):
No, hold on, you just skipped over the stake.
All right, you have to placethe giant stake.
What's it called?

Speaker 1 (08:47):
I'm saying I-40, I think is one of the pretty ones.
Yeah, the.

Speaker 2 (08:50):
Texan, you can't miss over the big Texan.

Speaker 1 (08:53):
You've got Arizona and I-40.

Speaker 2 (08:54):
I will say what's great is, if you're ever in
Albuquerque, amarillo ofAmarillo, the terrain completely
changes.
It's hilly, it's multicoloredland, it's beautiful, but you

(09:19):
just got to get north of it.

Speaker 3 (09:21):
I think the reason that was the number one answer
is because it's just the mosttraveled.

Speaker 2 (09:25):
Probably it's the middle of it With our route.
It's the middle of it,especially FedEx.
Well, you have the really coolexperience going through
Albuquerque yes, albuquerque.
So if you actually do take thetime to get out of the truck.
The crater is awesome havey'all been to the crater?

Speaker 4 (09:41):
No, just the rest area.

Speaker 2 (09:43):
Eric and I did the crater.
It's impressive.
It's a gigantic bowl.
Out in the middle of nowhereOut in the middle of nowhere and
the weird thing is it's aperfect bowl.
It's perfect.

Speaker 5 (09:54):
Wow.

Speaker 2 (09:54):
You couldn't have excavated it that perfect.
It is unbelievable what speedand a sudden stop will do.
So let me ask you?

Speaker 4 (10:02):
Yeah, go ahead.
What would you prefer in thebowl, your evening soup or your
morning cereal?

Speaker 2 (10:10):
Neither I would take Dina's Biscoff ice cream.

Speaker 3 (10:15):
Oh yeah, oh God, that's so great.
I had dreams about that, that'sfor sure.

Speaker 1 (10:19):
We still have some in the freezer.
We may or may not have had somelast night.

Speaker 2 (10:24):
Eric just dumped ours .

Speaker 5 (10:26):
It got too old, we didn't have anything in the
container.

Speaker 2 (10:28):
It was sealed, so we had to get rid of ours.

Speaker 3 (10:31):
She told me how to make it.
I told Don you better get onwith it.

Speaker 2 (10:34):
He's like I'm a baker , not a freezer.

Speaker 5 (10:38):
His mintory treat was wonderful.

Speaker 2 (10:40):
Yes, I40, let me finish.
Then you get into Albuquerque.
Yes, that drive up the mountaininto.
Albuquerque, especially inwinter when it's snowy.
Yeah, it's the most Christmassybeautiful.
The trees still are green andthey have the little snow sit on

(11:02):
top of them Too soon Too soon.

Speaker 4 (11:04):
Oh, you're not a fan Too soon.
What happened?
We left Tucumcari, new Mexico.
Okay, heading west.

Speaker 1 (11:12):
Too soon it's been three years, but too soon, it's
probably been four years.

Speaker 4 (11:17):
at this point Heading west, it was morning.
Eight o'clock in the morningmaybe.

Speaker 2 (11:24):
So morning had broken .
Morning had broken, the sun wasout.

Speaker 1 (11:27):
Everybody wanted to go.

Speaker 4 (11:28):
Everybody wanted to go and we made that trip between
Tucumcari and the climb up themountain and down the mountain
Before.
Albuquerque at 35 miles an hour.
Oof, yeah, the coolest thingabout that I've never done it
that slow, oh my goodness slow.

Speaker 1 (11:44):
So the coolest thing about the whole thing, though I
gotta tell you it was early onin our driving career, because
there was An old, good old boytrucker Leading the pack.
And he had his CB on and hetold you Play by play when he
was, what the conditions were,what lane you need to be in, how

(12:07):
fast you should be going Like.
He gave that play by play, thewhole direction and I got to
tell you, while it was nervewracking and only going 35 miles
an hour, it made the drive lessnerve wracking.

Speaker 2 (12:23):
So this was fresh snow and ice.

Speaker 4 (12:27):
I assume this was fresh snow and ice, and it
wasn't maintained real well.
Okay, the plows hadn't gonethrough that westbound, yet Okay
, now I understand.

Speaker 2 (12:38):
I thought you meant it was just too much traffic
going in.

Speaker 4 (12:41):
No, now I follow.

Speaker 2 (12:43):
Now I'm concluded.

Speaker 1 (12:44):
I get what you're saying, but it wasn't chain laws
, but it wasn going in.
Now I'm concluding.

Speaker 4 (12:47):
When we got to Albuquerque, I had to pull over
and top off my washer fluidbecause I used it all Every last
drop.

Speaker 2 (12:56):
I had that experience , but it was in Pennsylvania and
I was behind a snowplow and for100 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 Imean it was grueling.

Speaker 4 (13:16):
It just like whew it wears you out, it does, it wears
you out.

Speaker 2 (13:20):
It does when everything is perfect, you're
doing 65, it does wheneverything is perfect, you're
doing 65, even being safe andattentive.
And you're just on theinterstate, especially at 40,
where it's wide open.
You don't zone out, that wouldbe unsafe, sure.
But you can be in a relaxedstate, yes, and when you are in
anything but that, you'rehyper-focused.

(13:42):
Everything else just gets morestressful.
Yeah, it's like walking.
Most of us can walk around ourblock, no big deal.
Most of us can walk through amall no big deal.
Going to the mall three daysbefore Christmas, all of a
sudden, getting from I was goingto say Sears, which doesn't
exist, but getting fromJCPenney's to Macy's or Kohl's,

(14:05):
all of a sudden it's like why isthis so hard and why am I so
tired and why do I feel like Ineed to go stand in line for
Starbucks just to get a littleboost?
Because you're just so focused,because there's so many people
around.
Not only is it like you'refighting crowds, but you're
watching to make sure no onepickpockets you and all that
stuff.
So same thing with trucking,like when you're in snow and ice
and even if the road is likeyou have traction, you do know

(14:29):
that if you go too fast, youcould lose traction.
Sure, you also know there'sother people around you and you
got to watch out, becausethere's always that one idiot
that's out there.
That's a super trucker thatknows best and doesn't care.

Speaker 4 (14:38):
There were those.
There were those that wereflying by us.

Speaker 1 (14:41):
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 mymind.

Speaker 4 (14:57):
yes, maybe, but he was being a safe super yes.

Speaker 1 (15:01):
You could tell when the roads got better, because
our distance of CB lost hisvoice and for Vince and I that
was like an excitement momentthat the roads were getting
better because obviously hedrove, he could pick up speed
and drive away.
But it was the coolest.
I thought it was the coolestthing as far as CB, because a

(15:25):
lot of people don't still usetheir CBs, and it was very.
It was educational, I guess,but it was also helpful, you
know, and to me I think that'swhat they're out there for and
there are still people out thereproviding that service.
I don't know what you want tocall that.

Speaker 2 (15:38):
Well, it's like most things, right.
You know, a lot of this stuffthat we like that's super
helpful becomes trashy, right.
And so when you turn your CB onnow and you cruise down the
road nine times out of ten, youhear just the most stupid
ridiculous stuff.
Sometimes it's super offensive,sometimes it's just trash,
sometimes it's just whateverbored people talking to each

(15:59):
other, and maybe that's kind offun to engage with some, and
then that 10% of the time it'ssuper helpful.
Yeah, so I certainly get that.
Eric and I we did a mix oftrucks.
Some had CBs, some didn't.
I turned mine on several times.
Every time I turned it on, itwas always trash talking and I
was like I'm not here for thisand I would just turn it off.

Speaker 1 (16:21):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (16:22):
So I never enjoyed it .
But also, you know, a lot'schanged since CB's came out.
You know back when they werelike new and super helpful in
the trucks and like terrestrialradio would only last 30, 45
minutes an hour, maybe Right.
And then all of a sudden you'vegot to find a new radio station
, whereas if we're all headedeast we can just have a

(16:45):
conversation.
And we all know talking on thephone makes miles turn into
minutes Quickly yeah.

Speaker 3 (16:53):
So back in the day, before cell phones, I rode with
my mom when I was 16, and shedrove a big truck, 18-wheeler,
and that was her cell phone,like she would get on.

Speaker 1 (17:04):
Does she have a handle?

Speaker 3 (17:05):
Oh, country bumpkin, oh, love it.
And she would talk on that CBfor hours.

Speaker 2 (17:12):
Oh, I saw your mom, yes.

Speaker 3 (17:13):
No.
Yes, she would find someonegoing in the same direction, and
it would just be a 10-hourshift and then she would shut it
down, and I can't count howmany times she'd talk to
somebody for eight, nine hoursand then, all right, this is
before.
You had to do the 30-minutebreaks and everything, and then

(17:34):
she'd pull over at a truck stopand then she'd go in and
actually, meet them and havecoffee and all that.

Speaker 2 (17:38):
That was a thing.
That was a thing, absolutelyyeah, yeah, yeah, because back
then you had like a lot of fullservice.

Speaker 1 (17:44):
Almost every truck stop was full service, so you
could literally pop in, have acup of coffee, have a slice of
pie, whatever full meal Withyour 100-mile buddy or 500-mile
buddy, Absolutely, yeah.
Wow, that's pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (17:58):
That's pretty cool On that.
Unfortunately, when I finallygot around to trucking, pilots
and loves were taking over andpushing TA and Petro out.

Speaker 1 (18:11):
The full service.

Speaker 2 (18:12):
Yeah, but we also now have satellite radio, which
didn't exist back then, andinternet's everywhere and we had
podcasts and all that stuff.
Now I am old enough that I hadto actually download my podcast
when I was in internet, becauseyou would go across large
stretches of the country andjust not have internet, which
it's amazing to me now thatthat's not even a thing.

Speaker 1 (18:33):
You have internet everywhere.
We ran with our radio on,sometimes turned down but we ran
with ours on no.

Speaker 4 (18:40):
I didn't.

Speaker 1 (18:41):
Oh, I did.

Speaker 4 (18:43):
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 (18:50):
Yeah I know I've shared the story, but it did,
should have, but didn't.
It was one of the first timeswe were in idaho and someone had
mentioned sheep and I thoughtthey were just like sightseeing
sheep, because it looked likecountryside where you should be
seeing sheep up on a hillpastures or something.

Speaker 4 (19:06):
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 (19:11):
And I came around the corner and had to jake break it
pretty hard and, um, there waslike a thousand sheep in the
road oh, wow and so then itdawned on me, oh, the cb could
be helpful, he telling me.
I guess I didn't pick up whathe was putting down, but I did
run with it on.
Not always was it helpful.

Speaker 2 (19:32):
Well, and Eric and I were in trucks that didn't have
them Sure, so like not?
Every truck we own is equippedwith CB.

Speaker 4 (19:37):
Some are some aren't we installed ours in our first
truck, and it was only good forthree trucks ahead of you, or
four trucks.

Speaker 1 (19:44):
It wasn't very powerful, but it would serve its
purpose.
I'd use it if we were intraffic.
What lane should I be in?
What's it telling me whichdirection, and those kind of
things Anyway.

Speaker 2 (19:56):
When we ran with them .
Obviously they didn't have them, but you talk about sheep.
So most of y'all know, over thesummer, eric and I uh did
actually go to scotland, um, andthere was a road we were on.
We saw the woolly cows and wesaw all the cows.
Oh yeah, the big hairy, fluffycows the highlands, uh, cows and

(20:16):
all that.
Uh, I got to pet one.
Uh it was so funny becausemelissa, my sister, not, not you
buttermilk yes my sister.
She was like I really want tosee 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 wasunique, so what it was was they

(20:36):
do these like communities orneighborhoods.
I guess you'd say I would callit a village, a village.
Yeah, it's a village.
So I guess you'd say I wouldcall it a village, a village,
yeah, it's a village.
So all these houses, they'restone-walled and I mean like
stone, like they went to theside of the mountain like, oh,
this stone will do, and thencarried over, not chiseled, not
beat down or whatever, no, juststone-walled and they're all

(20:59):
freestanding.
There's no mortar in betweenthem.
So the walls are really thickbecause of that freestanding
nature and you basically playTetris with whatever rock you
get.
They build their walls and thenyou go inside and there'd be
one.
Usually one room, but a coupleof the nice places had two rooms
.

Speaker 5 (21:16):
Let's say the one that had parent and kids.
Parents might get their ownroom.

Speaker 2 (21:24):
Well, the parents' room was also the kitchen and
living room and the kids' roomwas their own room, which sounds
like, oh, the kids got it made.
No, this room was not big andhad 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

(21:47):
we're in here.
My sister decided to buysomething and so Eric and I we
walk out and we're just walkingalong the fence line and I look
up ahead and I'm like there'sone of those woolly cows and
there's all these people thatare like rubbing it and petting
it and everything.
So Eric and I walk up there andwe just start petting the woolly
cow and, mind you, literally Idid not know these existed.

(22:08):
Like I've seen their picturesbefore, but I didn't know it was
a Scottish thing.
Like I just thought it was ahairy cow somewhere and so I
didn't know this all existed.
So we're going over there, wepet it, we feed it a carrot, you
know all that stuff, get photosand videos and I'm like where
is Melissa?
Like she needs to be hereseeing this.
She's been asking about thisthis whole time.
And so we start like textingher aggressively and Dad

(22:33):
eventually walks out and hecomes over there and he's
petting the cow and it's likewhere on earth is my sister?
And she's in line.
And so finally she walks out ofthe bookstore and she's just
kind of like where the boys went, like kind of looking around
trying to figure out what to door whatever.
And then she locks eyes on usand then she's like oh my gosh.
And she starts like not runningbut like aggressively moving

(22:54):
fast towards us or whateverSwiftly walking and she was able
to get like one or two littlelike pets before the cow was
like I'm good and walked awayand 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 raninto them.
But all that to say that road.

Speaker 1 (23:15):
Yes, had sheep on it.

Speaker 2 (23:16):
Had sheep on it and I don't mean like they were on
either side of the road.

Speaker 1 (23:19):
It was in the road.

Speaker 2 (23:20):
I mean you would just come around a corner and
there'd be a family of sheep andyou just, you know like, just
not hit them.
It was bananas.
I've never seen wildlife justso laissez-faire.

Speaker 1 (23:32):
I've never seen such large herds of sheep being moved
and utilizing a mainthoroughfare road.
I mean I grew up.
We all know Oregon country.
You know we had horses and pigsand the whole whole nine yards.
I've I've been on cattle drivesbefore, I've done all those
kinds of things, but to actuallysee a thousand head of sheep or

(23:56):
more and you've got the dogsherding them and people walking
and you have a few cars and Imean like they were navigating
these sheep from one big fieldto another.
But it required utilizing theroad.

Speaker 4 (24:09):
It was.
I thought, it was pretty cool.
I had to wait.
It was an interstate, it wasjust country roads.

Speaker 1 (24:14):
It was a country, it was probably a state highway.
Yeah, I think it was a statehighway, but you know, I ended
up parking and I had to wait forthem to completely move their
flock around me to the otherside, in order for me to then
continue my thoroughfare.

Speaker 4 (24:33):
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 (24:38):
flock a bird.

Speaker 4 (24:39):
I think a flock is a bird.
I thought it was a flock ofsheep.

Speaker 2 (24:43):
If you know what you call a bunch of sheep, please
add it to the comments.

Speaker 1 (24:46):
We'd love to hear what you have.
We don't have Dawn today in the.

Speaker 2 (24:48):
We don't have our fact checker.

Speaker 1 (24:49):
We don't.
So what were we going to say?

Speaker 4 (24:52):
The time in Utah, utah.

Speaker 1 (24:56):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (24:57):
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 thatwere working.
I think they had horses too.
The sheriffs had the roadblocked on either side.
I forgot about that load Whilethey moved all the bison from
one pasture to another.

(25:18):
That was pretty cool Becausefrom where we were you couldn't
really tell if they were cows orbison.
Yeah, as they opened the roadand we could get closer, it was
like those were all bison.
That was pretty cool.

Speaker 2 (25:27):
Now, were they using the helicopters?
No Yellowstone action.
They weren't using helicopters.
There's the Yellowstone action.

Speaker 1 (25:36):
No no, I forgot about the bison Wow Memory.
No, I forgot about the bisonWow Memory.

Speaker 2 (25:41):
Lane you talk about the bison.
It makes me think of the elk.
We're going to be here all daywith the stories.
I apologize, but we were inEstes Park, colorado.
If I may for just a moment?

Speaker 4 (25:51):
Yes, sir, if I may.

Speaker 2 (25:52):
Yes, you may.

Speaker 4 (25:53):
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 ofbirds, so you were right also.

Speaker 2 (26:09):
Please.

Speaker 4 (26:09):
Jerry, don't put any of that on the video, because
they'll both use it against me.

Speaker 1 (26:14):
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 (26:20):
I grew up city, so that's why.

Speaker 1 (26:21):
I knew it.
I grew up city, so that's whyyou didn't know it.
That's why I doubt it.

Speaker 2 (26:22):
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 themountains.
The hotel that they filmed theShining at is actually there.

Speaker 1 (26:34):
Really.

Speaker 2 (26:35):
Yes, so it's, and we actually toured that hotel.
We actually went and saw theroom and the hallway and
everything from it.
It's very cool, very creepy,the what's that labyrinth or
whatever and everything Likeit's all there.
So we were there and justwalking through town as one does
, and no, we were in a car.

(26:58):
Maybe we were leaving like yeahwe were in a car.
We were in a car, but I think wewere in a parking lot.
We were just getting ready toleave, 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 smalltowns.
They don't have enough parkingin town, so a lot of those that
are neat to visit they haveparking lots on either side of

(27:19):
them.
So we parked in a parking lotand we were getting ready to
walk into Estes Park and gocheck it out.

Speaker 5 (27:25):
I think we were getting fast food, that's what I
remember, that's what it was.
Oh, how dare you correct me onhere.

Speaker 1 (27:37):
We were getting some quick lunch.

Speaker 2 (27:39):
We were at the Golden Arches I'm not going to tell
you what company and we were inthe drive-thru.
We saw these cops come up andwe'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

(28:00):
live in the area and they justdecided to take a stroll down
Main Street, and when I say astroll I mean not in a hurry, no
rush.
Like Canadian geese you everhad the Canadian geese just walk
on the road like they own it.
Like they don't realize thatyour car can just destroy them,
that Except, your car can'tdestroy an elk.

Speaker 1 (28:21):
It would destroy the car they were huge.

Speaker 2 (28:24):
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 (28:33):
They're one step away from a moose.

Speaker 2 (28:35):
Yes, they were ridiculous and they just walked
through the area like it was nobig deal and the cops shut down
the road to let them do theirthing because they don't.
They don't like, uh, they'renot gonna cattle prod the elk or
anything like that.
They do let the elk do theirown thing, but they do give the
elk some encouragement.
The the cops several of themwere kind of like behind the elk

(28:57):
, kind of like ha ha likehurting them encouraging them,
like like ha, encouraging themout of their cars and kind of
like with a distance.
They were not close, but theywere not kicking distance, but
they were like come on, get outof the road.
Very gently.

Speaker 5 (29:17):
Talk about shut down the town Roads.
They weren't blocking, theywere stopping everybody else for
rubbernecking.

Speaker 2 (29:25):
Yes.

Speaker 1 (29:26):
If you weren't stopped by the deer, you would
stop staring at them.
It's an elk in person.

Speaker 2 (29:30):
And it's like a gold rush town.
So you imagine the street withthe sidewalk and there's just
people everywhere with camerasand cell phones just recording
all this.
It was very, very cool.

Speaker 1 (29:42):
Yeah, I think the elk are like yep, I'm going to be
on TikTok.
I think the elk are like Ithink the elk all ate something
that morning.

Speaker 2 (29:53):
They're like I have an idea.
Didn't we just do that onThursday?
It's a new crowd.

Speaker 4 (29:59):
New crowd.
It was fun, wasn't?

Speaker 5 (30:01):
it, it was fun, it was fun, wasn't it?
It was fun, it was fun.

Speaker 2 (30:03):
So, yeah, I enjoy that.
You know, what you don't see onthe side of the road is elk.

Speaker 4 (30:08):
Oh yeah, dead on the side of the road.
Elk are clever.

Speaker 2 (30:10):
Deer not so much, but elk there's wisdom.

Speaker 4 (30:14):
What you see on the side of the road in elk country
is busted up cars.

Speaker 2 (30:23):
That's true, that's true, that's true.

Speaker 1 (30:24):
You hit a 9 000 pound elk, you're they're very smart.
They're very smart animals.
Yeah, I have, uh, been a partof a hunting party with elk and
and it's not, it's definitelydifferent than deer hunting.
They're very, they're like yousaid, they're, they're crafty or
they're smart or they'reconniving or whatever all those.
Their intelligence is muchdifferent than just a deer who's

(30:45):
going to hop in front of yourtruck or car.

Speaker 2 (30:50):
I saw one the other day.
I was coming to the house andthere was a deer in the middle
of the road, dead.
I mean literally just like 500feet beyond the house, and I was
like I'm so glad that's not myyard.
If it's on the road, they pickit up ASAP.
If it's in your yard, we'll getto it.
We'll make it.

Speaker 5 (31:09):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (31:11):
So the other thing that was cool about the mental
retreat and I love that you itwas in your video but like for
10 seconds is we do one of thekey points of these mentor
retreats is fellowship andfamily and just rewarding,
giving a chance to hang out, cutloose.

(31:32):
Y'all saw in the video webrought the live band in uh
really had a great time.
But we also have the time wherewe get to get together and talk
and it's what I love thosesessions and you did.
You showed again like 10seconds of that, which I thought
was very appropriate.
You kind of showed like hey, weare here for business too.

Speaker 3 (31:53):
Exactly.

Speaker 2 (31:54):
But not you didn't drag it on like who really wants
to see a bunch of us sittingaround talking.

Speaker 1 (32:01):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (32:01):
And those sessions were private, just being able to
talk about things and find outways Highfield can better
support our mentors, talk to ourmentors about things that are
troubling them, ways we couldhelp them out, things they could
do better, et cetera, et cetera.
So it was a really great time.

(32:23):
We've had some things come fromthat that we've implemented and
some new changes that arecoming.
I love that because it's thereinvestment in what we're doing
and it's also the perfecting ofwhat we're already doing, like
we already have the best mentorprogram in the industry.
If we do nothing else, we'realready the best, but that's not

(32:46):
good enough.
We all as a group sat downtogether and said here's things
we can do better and the factthat we are trying to get that
program better and trying todial it in and everything.
I love that aspect of let'skeep growing.
Let's keep not growingnecessarily always in more
trucks, because really, if youlook at our fleet over the past
few years, we have really grownin trucks.

(33:07):
We've grown in quality andhaving our mentors able to grow
that program into a a situationthat they're either easier to
work with or more informationthey have available, or whatever
it is.
I just love that quality rising.

Speaker 1 (33:26):
I love it getting better.

Speaker 2 (33:27):
It is and some of it is.
You know, metal sharpens metal,right?
Trust me, not all of thosesessions were particularly fun,
right?
Like there are hardconversations that have to have
happen, and what I love is wenever do those on the first day.
We always kind of put themsecond day because we need to

(33:49):
remind each other that we allreally like each other and we
all really enjoy what we do.
So that when we have those hardconversations, when the mentors
look at us and go, hey, youknow, highfield, here's where
you're screwing up, here's, youknow, 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

(34:10):
that blind spot.
And I love it.
I just, you know, it's beenreally refreshing to go through
that.
And then we've had now a coupleweeks to process it.
We've made some changes, we'veannounced some things that are
coming in january, we've.
We've just really it's, it'sexciting.
I love that.
I love that aspect of it.
So it's not just all fun andgames, it is how can we get

(34:30):
ourselves better, and such andum and even that little 10
second blurb that showed all ofus here having that meeting.

Speaker 1 (34:38):
Even though we're all still having downtime the
remainder of the time, there'sstill site conversations and
great information shared betweenmentors, or mentors and staff,
but not all business 24-7 duringthe retreat.

Speaker 2 (34:52):
That's one of the fun things about doing it at a
location like we did.
There's lots of little seatingareas around the place.
There is literally conversationaround the campfire.
There's literally conversationaround the band.
There's literally conversationaround a dinner table or that
dinner table or whatever we wereable to.

(35:13):
Or the pool table.
Listen, I've had some greatconversations sitting around a
pool table, shooting pool Withthe 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 acouple years back.
I remember sitting around thepool table at 11 o'clock at

(35:36):
night, drinking bourbon andshooting pool with some of the
FedEx executives and being ableto have really honest
conversations.
Liquid encouragement helped,but some really honest
conversations and then to see afew months later, things change
and thinking to myself likethat's because we played a game

(35:58):
of pool together one night.
Like that kind of stuff isreally cool and that's what I
value and that's what I enjoyabout these retreats and these
weekends.
And, jerry, again, you puttingthat video together, kind of
showing everything together, youtaking care of the Highfield
feud, you getting Steve Harveyto be here, it was.

Speaker 4 (36:15):
That was an amazing get.

Speaker 2 (36:16):
That was amazing.
Yeah, that was really.
That was something you pulledoff, what I was able to do once,
and it's very impressivebecause I've not been able to do
it again.

Speaker 1 (36:29):
Was it a surprise?

Speaker 2 (36:31):
You got Vince Chili in a suit.

Speaker 3 (36:39):
I didn't know where that was going I didn't either
by the way you looked great.

Speaker 4 (36:43):
Even better was they got Tilly to put a tie on yes
yeah.

Speaker 3 (36:50):
I do wish we could have showed more of that in the
video, but unfortunatelycopyright that kind of thing.

Speaker 1 (36:58):
But it was a lot of fun he's getting.

Speaker 3 (36:59):
I'm going to rent you out Ready, ready for the bus,
but it was a lot of fun he'sgetting.

Speaker 1 (37:03):
I'm going to rent you out Ready for the bus here it
comes.
He's getting ready in thebathroom.

Speaker 4 (37:10):
Dressing room.
Sorry, the dressing room.

Speaker 2 (37:12):
We call it the green room.
The green room.

Speaker 1 (37:14):
Don did not provide snacks in the green room.

Speaker 2 (37:16):
No, he didn't.

Speaker 1 (37:16):
But he was getting ready in the green room.

Speaker 2 (37:18):
He's been reformated, don't worry.

Speaker 1 (37:20):
And I hear from behind my side of the door.
I'm putting a tie on.
I didn't even wear a tie to mydaughter's wedding.

Speaker 4 (37:30):
I hadn't planned on that being public, because she
might watch this and be like Mom, did you wear a tie.

Speaker 1 (37:39):
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 sizeit was a bow tie.

Speaker 4 (37:48):
I didn't realize bow ties come in sizes.
I have a fat neck.
It wouldn't work.

Speaker 1 (37:54):
It wasn't that he didn't have one, it just didn't
fit.

Speaker 2 (37:58):
I do love a bow tie.

Speaker 1 (38:01):
That was part of the deal.
She graciously said it wouldall be okay, because he was just
there and walked her down theaisle, which was the bigger of
the, and he got her there ontime.

Speaker 2 (38:11):
I like a bow tie because, even though I'm a
larger feller, the problem withties is they don't always Right,
like there's a length issueSometimes they're not long
enough or whatever, and a bowtie is always the right length,
as long as you get the rightsize right.

Speaker 4 (38:28):
As long as you get the right size, it's the right
length.
Yes, and I buy a clip-on soit's even easier.
Well, my daughter and I had adeal years ago.
I mean, this was 10 years agoshe was nine Probably.
Well, no, she was a little olderthan that.
I won't write her age out, butI went tie shopping because I

(38:48):
was going on a job interview orsomething and we were joking
about bow ties and we made adeal that I would learn to tie a
bow tie when she planned to getmarried.
So that was the deal I learnedto tie the tie, I just couldn't
tie it around my neck.

Speaker 1 (39:05):
You could have done it around your arm.

Speaker 4 (39:07):
I could have.

Speaker 1 (39:08):
Your forearm.

Speaker 4 (39:09):
We got to call her and have her redo the whole
wedding thing.
I'll put it around my arm nexttime.

Speaker 2 (39:14):
At five years, have them do a renewal.

Speaker 1 (39:18):
You look very sharp playing the part of Steve Harvey
.
You absolutely did, thank you,and you even.
You look very sharp playing thepart of Steve.

Speaker 2 (39:21):
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 asit was over, the very first
thing you did was rip that rightoff.

Speaker 5 (39:34):
I did.

Speaker 2 (39:35):
But no, it was a great weekend.
I had a lot of fun, enjoyedfellowshipping and hanging out
with all of our mentors andstaff too, because even, like
you said, staff was here for aweek prior.
Our staff is literally all overthe country People in New
Mexico, we have people inLouisiana, people in Georgia,
people here.

(39:56):
It's just literally spreadacross Ohio, not even all in
Columbus, so it was really greatto have everybody all together.

Speaker 1 (40:03):
And still working and preparing.
Yes, absolutely Doing both.

Speaker 2 (40:08):
So it was a lot of fun.
It was a lot of hard work, butit was executed great and it was
a very good thing and I lookforward to doing next year's.

Speaker 5 (40:19):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (40:20):
That process is already starting to get planned
out.
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 obligatedto bring up the fact that,
unfortunately, since this littlebreak that we've been gone,
judy Love, judy Love and if youthink of her name, you may have

(40:43):
seen this already online, but ifyou don't know who that is Judy
Love, love being the key wordher last name.
She was the wife of Tom Love.
Together they started Love'sTruck Stops back in 1842.

Speaker 5 (41:01):
No 1964.

Speaker 2 (41:02):
Close.
She passed away at 86 years old, 87.
87 years old.
You know, it's just one ofthose things, tom.
Her husband passed away lastyear.
We cover that on the podcast aswell, you know.
It's just sad to see.
Here's a couple they met at OSUNot Ohio State University but

(41:23):
Oklahoma State University.
And they borrowed some moneyfrom a family.
I think it was like five grandor something like that.
Started a service station, a gasstation, and grew that into the
loves empire.
It is today.
It is still family owned thatinto the loves empire.

(41:44):
It is today it is still familyowned.
Uh, her, her kids are theirkids, their grandkids, etc.
Still operate it and they'restill integral in the family
business been less than a year.

Speaker 1 (41:49):
Sometimes I feel that's maybe a broken heart, but
she was older as well.
But you know, when you've beentogether that long, I guess it's
not surprising.

Speaker 2 (42:00):
And I don't mean that in a negative or or I do, I do
negative way I do think it'sactually been over a year, I
believe he passed away in marchum yeah, but still I get that
you know that broken heartsyndrome could be a real thing
it is super common right for ahusband wife.
One passes and the other onepasses down after.

Speaker 1 (42:20):
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 outthere, you know yeah, absolutely
.

Speaker 2 (42:33):
I like when I'm out driving around um a personal
vehicle or sometimes with thebusiness I have to like drive a
rental car from a certainlocation, like there was a we
talked about on the podcast.
Last year I brought a truck outto somewhere in Arkansas.
Yeah, Jonesboro maybe yeah, itwas Jonesboro, the only vehicle

(42:59):
I could get out of there was aU-Haul and so I had to drive a
U-Haul back to Columbus.
So obviously you're stopping atgas stations and such, and that
was I used Love's.
Go in there, use restroom, buywater there.
I actually like the water thatthey have, like their Love's
branded water.

Speaker 1 (43:17):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (43:18):
Yeah, so it's just you know it's not a shame.
She had a wonderful life.
Yeah, yeah, so it's just, youknow it's not a shame.
She had a wonderful life.
Yeah, Even after Loves wasalready in business and they
were making money, she actuallywent back to school I mean, at
this point she was 40s Went backto school, got a degree in
interior design Wow, Started awhole interior design business
and everything.
I mean she lived a very fulllife and everything.

(43:40):
She lived a very full life.
The article I read is a verylong list of organizations that
she contributed to.
They were part of theirphilanthropy and everything.
One of the ones I saw that Ireally was like, oh yeah, kind
of tugged on the heartstrings,was they took care of a school
and I can't remember the name ofit, but it's the only school in

(44:02):
Oklahoma City that caterstowards homeless youth.
So it's a school for homelessyouth and they gave a lot to
that school and it's like that'spretty cool to have an eye to
hey, here's something that's notglamorous and there's not a lot
of attention on it, but there'sa need and I'm going to meet it

(44:22):
.
Our hearts go out to the LovesCompany, but the Loves family
definitely.
I know it's hard to lose aparent, it's hard to lose a
mother.
I've been through that and I'mgoing to buttermilk you Vez.
Well, they have our best wishes.

Speaker 1 (44:35):
Absolutely Sure.

Speaker 2 (44:37):
And, hopefully, the peace, that she's in a better
place and she lived a wonderfullife.

Speaker 1 (44:41):
Okay, so Jerry.

Speaker 2 (44:43):
Jerry, mr Barrow.

Speaker 1 (44:45):
Burrow.

Speaker 2 (44:46):
Burrow, mr Wilbarrow, mr Wilbarrow.

Speaker 3 (44:54):
That's not my name, people, mr Boogie, jerry.
No, that's staying, mr Boogie.

Speaker 1 (44:58):
I do have a follow-up question.
It has nothing to do withtravel.
How is your mom and her areadoing after the bad weather a
month or so ago?

Speaker 3 (45:08):
The area is still recovering.

Speaker 1 (45:10):
Yes.

Speaker 3 (45:10):
I think the state's doing really, really well in
FEMA and all that.
They're doing a great job andthere's still a lot of work to
be done, but luckily where sheis at, in her neck of the woods,
she's good.
She didn't have any majordamage to the house or anything
like that.
A few trees down, but gasolinefood.
All of those supplies are stillcoming on oh, yeah, everything's

(45:32):
, everything's good internet forher internet's good yep, her
cell phone's still going in andout.
I think they're still workingon towers and stuff, but yeah,
for the most part everything'sbeen up and going.

Speaker 2 (45:42):
That's excellent.
I've been traveling a lotlately and we'll talk about that
next episode.
I've set many a hotel, many ahotel.
I've set many an airport nextto people and had conversations
about the devastation going onin North Carolina and people
talking about going and gettinggasoline and not being able to

(46:02):
get more than a couple gallons,or some of those little shady
shops charging $15, $20 a gallonand just crazy things like that
.
So it's certainly been a topicof conversation that I've
encountered quite a few timesover the past few weeks in my
travels.
So I'm glad to hear that she'snot having to deal with so much

(46:25):
of that stuff.

Speaker 1 (46:26):
It's still out there.

Speaker 2 (46:27):
It's still out there and the I-40 is still a wreck,
you know that's going to be downfor a while.

Speaker 3 (46:32):
It's going to be down for a hot minute.
I think I've seen onlinethey're saying 2026.
Oh, they bumped it out.

Speaker 1 (46:38):
Yeah.

Speaker 3 (46:45):
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 (46:53):
Not 40.
I meant something different.

Speaker 2 (46:56):
What is that up there that's?

Speaker 3 (46:57):
86 or 70.
I wanted to say 71, and it'snot 81.

Speaker 1 (47:01):
81.
81.
Towards Bristol and say 81.
And it's not 81.
81.
, 81.

Speaker 3 (47:03):
Towards Bristol and all that.

Speaker 1 (47:05):
Yes, yes, thank you.

Speaker 2 (47:07):
Our brain just had a stretch.

Speaker 1 (47:09):
I haven't heard that in a hot moment, I don't
remember.

Speaker 2 (47:12):
I did a Kit Kat.
That was a rough one.

Speaker 1 (47:15):
Our last time on 40 in a truck was through Nashville
.

Speaker 4 (47:19):
Yeah, it was yeah, and a truck was through.

Speaker 1 (47:20):
Nashville yeah, it was yeah, and that's been two
and a half years ago.

Speaker 2 (47:24):
I haven't been through Nashville in forever.
Really Like it's been a verylong time.

Speaker 1 (47:28):
Do you go around it?

Speaker 2 (47:30):
Yes, so lately, if I have to, I'm like because you've
been there.

Speaker 1 (47:33):
I know you're talking about that in a later episode.

Speaker 2 (47:35):
Yeah, but lately if I'm going down towards Dallas or
Memphis or something like that,I will typically take the
Kentucky Parkway, westernKentucky Parkway, and drop down
around Paducah, drop down intoDyersburg and then Union City,
dyersburg and then on intoMemphis.
That way it's just a lot lesshassle.

(47:59):
It adds up by the book, it addstime when you factor in
Nashville.

Speaker 1 (48:06):
And that time.

Speaker 2 (48:06):
At that time of day.
It adds no time Because it'sguaranteed, like I can make
Memphis to Columbus in a daydrive.

Speaker 1 (48:16):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (48:16):
Going that route every time.
It's guaranteed If I go throughNashville.

Speaker 1 (48:21):
Scrapshoot.

Speaker 2 (48:22):
Flip a coin.

Speaker 4 (48:23):
You end up running out of hours in Jeffersonville.

Speaker 2 (48:25):
Exactly, I did that one time.
It's only happened once In allmy years.
It's only happened once.
And I called Eric and he camedown and he grabbed the truck
from there and I grabbed the carand he drove the truck back and
I drove the car back.
That was years ago.
But yeah, now you just goaround.

(48:46):
Yeah, now I'll go around, I'llbypass it.
Nashville can't hold you up ifyou don't go through it.
No, it can't.
No, and I've learned Cincinnatipretty good.
I've gotten getting aroundCincinnati down.
So that helps, becauseCincinnati is another Like
Louisville.
Cincinnati and Nashville arelike horrible traffic areas.

Speaker 1 (49:03):
I saw something about a bridge in Cincinnati that
caught fire recently.
Anybody else see that?

Speaker 2 (49:08):
Oh, I did see that, is that?

Speaker 1 (49:09):
open, yet Do we know where that's at exactly?
I think?

Speaker 2 (49:13):
it's the 471, right.

Speaker 1 (49:14):
It was.

Speaker 2 (49:16):
Did you see the bridge pictures?

Speaker 1 (49:18):
No.

Speaker 2 (49:19):
Oh, the I-beams make a big U like a smiley face.

Speaker 1 (49:22):
Oh, yeah, like it melted, oh yeah it.

Speaker 2 (49:24):
It's Like it melted, oh yeah it got so hot it like
smiley-faced it and they hadthis little robot go over there
and take video because it'srisky, like it's clearly
weakened so can it even hold upthe concrete that's above it.
They didn't even know if thatwould happen.

Speaker 1 (49:41):
Ooh, so they sent a robot in.

Speaker 2 (49:43):
I don't know how fast that is to repair.
It's weird with bridgeconstruction Some things have to
be designed and take forever todo Other things.
When it's just a repair, it'slike ordering six beams and
we'll just solve them out realquick.
I don't know where we stand onthat.
I haven't driven A.

(50:06):
I never take that bridge.

Speaker 1 (50:08):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (50:08):
I've probably been across it twice in my entire
life.

Speaker 3 (50:10):
I think it also just depends on how fast they need it
back open, because look at whathappened in Maryland, outside
of DC.
Sure, like that was I-95.
They had that back open quick.

Speaker 4 (50:19):
Yes, they did Well like I-40 through Memphis, the
bridge going across.

Speaker 2 (50:25):
Oh yeah, when they found the bridge was cracked.

Speaker 4 (50:27):
They got that fixed pretty fast too.

Speaker 2 (50:29):
Yeah, they brought a company and got that back.

Speaker 4 (50:31):
So it really depends on how important that
thoroughfare is.
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (50:35):
And the 471, it's a nice bypass, but it's a bypass.
Yeah, you know, it's kind oflike the Baltimore Bridge A.
They are going to build thatfast, but that's a from scratch
design.
They're not repairing it.

Speaker 5 (50:47):
Right.

Speaker 2 (50:47):
They're rebuilding to a whole new standard.
They're going to take thosepiers out.
They're going to make thatwhole thing wider.

Speaker 1 (50:54):
Is that where the barge knocked it out?

Speaker 2 (50:57):
It was a ship.
Ship, yeah, yep.

Speaker 1 (51:03):
Is it still not open?
I'm sorry, I'm not familiar,I'm not up to today's standards.

Speaker 2 (51:07):
Yeah, no, they still have the old piers up, but again
they're going to tear thosedown to the ground.

Speaker 1 (51:12):
So it's not.

Speaker 2 (51:13):
There's nothing there that you can get across.
Got it.

Speaker 5 (51:15):
No, I think they're going to.
It's a long detour.

Speaker 2 (51:18):
Yeah, and they're talking about speed tracking,
that thing being like 2030.

Speaker 1 (51:23):
Really?

Speaker 2 (51:23):
Like moving fast.

Speaker 1 (51:25):
That's not that's moving very fast.
Oh.

Speaker 2 (51:28):
For a bridge like that.
Okay, I mean because, thinkabout it, it's not like anybody
had plans or designs 2030.
They're having to start fromscratch.

Speaker 1 (51:36):
What are we in now?

Speaker 2 (51:38):
Seven years, it was a very old, six, six, five almost
.

Speaker 1 (51:43):
Okay, six, six, five, almost okay, five, fives a
month away, five years.
So to build a bridge well todesign and build.

Speaker 2 (51:49):
It's going to be built to today's standards, so
it's going to be higher off theground.
It's going to be a wider spanyeah I watched a documentary on
it the other day when they weretalking about how that bridge,
being so old, it is a criticalfailure.
Bridge which means if one thingbreaks, the whole thing thing
falls, which clearly we saw does.
So they don't build bridgesthat way anymore.
Now if you have something thatgets hit, the other part of the

(52:12):
structure can hold it up.
And also they build their spanswider.
Because right now those spansare right in the middle of deep
water.
But if they built it wider soit would have a longer span,
which again longer span, is moreexpensive to build.
So that's why they didn't wantto do it in the middle of deep
water.
But if they built it wider soit would have a longer span,
which again longer span, is moreexpensive to build.

Speaker 1 (52:27):
Sure.

Speaker 2 (52:27):
So that's why they didn't want to do it in the
first place.
But if you build a wider spanthen it puts those piers in
shallow water.
So a ship would actually hitshallow water and just get stuck
in the mud before it ever hasan opportunity to knock the
bridge over before it ever hasan opportunity to knock the
bridge over.
Makes sense.
So you know, stuff like thatdidn't exist back in the 60s

(52:48):
when they built that bridge.

Speaker 5 (52:49):
Right.

Speaker 2 (52:49):
It's probably going to be a cable stay, which we've
all seen.
Those.
It's where they have the towerand then you see the lines
coming across.
It almost looks like asuspension bridge, right, but
there's no like happy face inthe middle.
So, yeah, I think that's whatthey're working on, but I mean
from scratch.
Literally, you have to designit from scratch.
They've got to do environmentalstudies, they've got to do all
that stuff.

Speaker 5 (53:07):
Can't order from this year's catalog.

Speaker 2 (53:09):
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 (53:22):
I'm sure the public will like that.
I think so too.
Shorter detours or no detour.
I know.

Speaker 2 (53:26):
Until then, everything coming from that area
would just be a little moreexpensive.

Speaker 1 (53:31):
Take the long way around or relocate your home.
If you were one of those dailydrivers, oh my gosh.

Speaker 2 (53:35):
Can you imagine if that was your?
Your commute I do wonder ifthey had to put ferries in place
.

Speaker 5 (53:42):
They would have had to right.

Speaker 2 (53:44):
I'm curious if they did that, Put fairies.
That'd be a quick, easy fix.
Yeah, it would Just run a ferryacross.

Speaker 4 (53:50):
I imagine there may have been fairies there already.

Speaker 2 (53:52):
I think there used to be.
They built a bridge.
Well, it happens a lot wherethere are bridges or fairies
Maybe they added more fairies.

Speaker 4 (53:59):
You know, you have the Oakland Bay Bridge and
there's still ferries from SanFrancisco to Oakland.

Speaker 2 (54:04):
Yeah, and you can actually buy.
It's a weird minutiae, but youcan actually buy a used ferry,
like a car ferry.

Speaker 4 (54:11):
You can buy them, they just exist out there the
other day I was looking, I'mbringing a trailer.

Speaker 2 (54:15):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (54:15):
There's a couple ferries.
I'm bringing a trailer.

Speaker 2 (54:17):
Yeah.
I was thinking of bringing abig fairies are right.

Speaker 4 (54:23):
All the glitter, so much glitter.

Speaker 2 (54:25):
Now you can buy freaking.
What was it?
Pete Davidson and the guy who'smarried to the girl, Right, yes
, I know none of this.
He's on Weekend Update withMichael Shea His name's right
there, he's looking at me like Iknow what it is.

Speaker 4 (54:43):
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 knowwhat it is.
Do you know what I'm talkingabout?
Michael Che and.

Speaker 2 (54:47):
Come on, it's the pretty boy the white guy, the
white guy, he's married to, ohmy gosh.
He's married to the girl thatplayed in Her.
What Her, she played in Her.

Speaker 4 (54:58):
And it was the voice of Her.
It was the voice of Her sheplayed in.
Have you seen that?

Speaker 2 (55:03):
Scarlett Johansson Scarlett.
Johansson's husband is.

Speaker 4 (55:09):
Colin Jost, colin Jost, it was right there.
So Pete Davidson and Colin.

Speaker 2 (55:13):
Jost bought a Staten Island ferry Really.

Speaker 5 (55:16):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (55:18):
That's hilarious.

Speaker 5 (55:18):
They did?

Speaker 2 (55:19):
They didn't know what to do with it, they just
thought it would be fun to buythey didn't have an idea of what
to do with it.
So I mean, you can buy ferries.

Speaker 1 (55:31):
I'm sure they had to right.
It seems like the right thingto do Can you imagine waking up
one morning and being like Ican't come to work.
It's a four-hour detour.
I have to move.

Speaker 2 (55:46):
It's cheaper to move or I get a different job.
Well, let's assume you have agood job.
Yeah, I have to move Like it'sjust brutal.

Speaker 4 (55:57):
We're still talking about the bridge, by the way.
See if I couldn't work fromhome.
The thing is.

Speaker 2 (56:01):
Amazon packagers have a hard time working from home.
I could just hear the balls too.

Speaker 3 (56:06):
Like well, you need to leave four hours earlier.

Speaker 1 (56:08):
How far is the detour ?
Does anybody know?
If you're literally doing wherethe bridge leaves the land to
where the bridge gets off-ramp.

Speaker 2 (56:18):
I think it's a couple hours.
I don't think it's quite four.
I think it's only a couplehours.
That's still a detour, well,and now it's traffic, so it's
even more.

Speaker 1 (56:26):
Because y'all are detouring.

Speaker 2 (56:27):
Yes, because everybody's detouring.

Speaker 1 (56:29):
I'd get a different job or move.

Speaker 2 (56:31):
Or a helicopter.

Speaker 1 (56:33):
Or buy myself a ferry .
Hey baby, Quit my job.
I finally got a reason to buythe speedboat.

Speaker 2 (56:42):
We're going to make money Car.
Exactly, we're going to makemoney Car pulling.
All right, everybody meet onthe Bayliner.
We're leaving at.

Speaker 1 (56:50):
I guess from the outside looking in, I've never
thought about how many lives itcould have affected outside of
just transportation and movingproduct right.

Speaker 2 (56:59):
It's huge.

Speaker 1 (57:00):
For truckers, you really got to find a different
way, especially with hazmat.

Speaker 2 (57:03):
It was a hazmat route , but for those who worked
across the bridge eitherdirection.

Speaker 1 (57:10):
Now, what do you do?
I mean never really thought ofit that way.

Speaker 2 (57:14):
Kind of eye-opening, I think of a place like Baton
Rouge.
Like there were times, like Iremember, when they repainted
the old bridge.
So the old bridge it's the theleast used one, but the only
option was the new bridge and itwas three lanes each direction
and it was a nightmare.
You like to cross the river?

(57:34):
Forget it, forget about it.
Nightmare because they closedthe old one that's less used.
I can't imagine closing a majorthoroughfare like that and
having no options.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
Yeah, wow.

Speaker 2 (57:47):
I think this is going to conclude our episode.
We thank you all for listeningand joining us.
It's been a hot minute sincewe've been back.
We've all actually not reallyseen 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 ofthese episodes.

(58:08):
Oh, this coming weekend isThanksgiving and we do want to
wish all of y'all a happyThanksgiving.
If you get the chance to gohome and see your family, give
them big hugs.
If you don't, we appreciate youstaying out there on the road
working keeping America going.
That is such a huge part of theAmerican culture and everything

(58:30):
, and you really are superimportant and we really do
appreciate and show ourgratitude towards you on that.

Speaker 1 (58:35):
Happy Thanksgiving.
If you've got great photos,share them on whatever social
media you're on.
If you're a Highfield familycontractor out there, we'd love
to see those photos of whatyou're making.
If you're a highfield familycontractor out there, we love to
see those photos of what you'remaking if you're out on the
road hashtag highfield family ifyou're not on the road and
you're at home.
Share those photos too.

Speaker 2 (58:53):
We like food photos absolutely eric and I had.
One of my most memorablethanksgivings is spending time
with eric at a ta outside ofRaleigh, north Carolina.
I remember that very well,beautiful spread they had at the
Country Pride.

Speaker 1 (59:12):
Yeah, share those photos.

Speaker 2 (59:13):
Yeah, share those photos.
We've all been there, we've allgot those experiences, right
there alongside you.

Speaker 4 (59:19):
One of our best Thanksgivings we spent at a
campground in Alabama State Parkin Alabama.

Speaker 1 (59:23):
Yes.

Speaker 4 (59:24):
Yeah, we had a great time.
We were there the whole weekend.
I think we left Sundayafternoon to get there, get to
our pickup on.

Speaker 5 (59:31):
Monday morning early.

Speaker 4 (59:33):
But yeah, we had the Traeger out and hooked it up.
It was fun.

Speaker 2 (59:36):
The other great working Thanksgiving memory we
have is we were actually back inLouisiana At home for home time
.
We got called and said hey, weneed you to haul a load.
And he said no, we're here forThanksgiving.
It's like Monday.

Speaker 5 (59:50):
And they're like, you're the only one in the area.

Speaker 2 (59:52):
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 youthis much money, would you?
And we're like yeah and yeah.
And so we actually did, wentback in service.
We didn't have to pick up untilthe next day.
So Eric and I went over to allthe family's places, did what

(01:00:16):
Thanksgiving today.
We did Thanksgiving that dayand didn't have any turkey
because that wasn't prepared.
But we had plenty of good foodand got back on Tuesday morning,
made our pickup in HighteltCalifornia, dropped on Wednesday
and made it into San Franciscoto a hotel for Wednesday night.
Thursday morning we went andfound Thanksgiving in San

(01:00:39):
Francisco.
How fun.

Speaker 4 (01:00:40):
We weren't quite that lucky, but we got a load out of
Laredo Texas once we hadalready planned that we were
going to shut down forThanksgiving, Got a load offer,
threw out an outrageous numberand were turned down.
They called another truck andthey turned them down and they
called us back and said yournumber wasn't as outrageous as

(01:01:02):
theirs.
We'll do it for your number.
And we ran the load um and thenum.
Like wednesday, we were shutdown in jackson, tennessee, and
we were ready to kick our feetup and just you know, we were
going to be there through atleast a friday yeah and then
we'll figure it out.
From friday, that samedispatcher called and said I'm

(01:01:23):
not going to argue with you overyour number.
Here's what I usually do andhere's the number I'll pay you.
I looked at her and she waslike yep, we had no plans.
We were at a truck stop.
Literally we didn't have theplans you folks had on your
Thanksgiving.
I was like, yeah, this is justbonus money.
At this point we had no plansof running, so sure, let's do it
, you know, and it worked outgreat.

Speaker 1 (01:01:44):
We picked up on that Wednesday too, before
Thanksgiving.

Speaker 4 (01:01:46):
It doesn't always work out that way.

Speaker 1 (01:01:47):
No, it does not always work out that way, you've
got to be in the right place atthe right time.
Right place at the right time.

Speaker 3 (01:01:51):
I've got videos on the X-Factor boogie me and Don
in hotel rooms on Thanksgivingcooking Thanksgiving dinner
there you go, are you serious?
Yeah.

Speaker 1 (01:02:02):
I need to see that video.

Speaker 2 (01:02:03):
I remember a couple of years ago it's been a while
since this rumor went out, but Iremember a couple of years ago
there was a rumor going aroundthat don't go to drive for
Highfield because they make yourun 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 thefleet owners be drivers.

(01:02:27):
Yeah, Like.

Speaker 4 (01:02:28):
I get it.

Speaker 2 (01:02:30):
If there's no freight on Wednesday, thursday or
Friday go home.
Be with your family, or if it'slike going home is not practical
, get a nice hotel, go camping,do something Like I get it.
Thanksgiving is generally notbusy, but if you do get a load
it's usually pretty freakingsweet.

(01:02:50):
Yeah, um, and same forchristmas.
Like christmas, like christmasto new year's, that whole 10
days there.
Yeah, go home and shoot somefireworks, all the stuff right,
like it's very slow in theindustry.
And then, as soon as, likeJanuary 2nd, it picks right back
up.

Speaker 4 (01:03:09):
Get ready to work.

Speaker 2 (01:03:10):
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 (01:03:21):
They were in the right place at the right time.
Not everybody's there.

Speaker 2 (01:03:23):
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 thingpop up.
So it's like no, we're the mostlike go home for the holidays
we can get it.
I mean don't go home on April15th.

(01:03:44):
I mean April, don't go home onDecember 15th and stay out until
January 15th.
That's a huge mistake.

Speaker 4 (01:03:49):
You're leaving a lot of money on the table.
You're leaving a lot.

Speaker 2 (01:03:51):
But yeah, no, it makes sense to go home when
things slow down.

Speaker 3 (01:03:55):
I had a dispatcher call me one time and she said
I've got a really, really goodoffer.
We were sitting in NorthCarolina and she's like I got an
offer going to California.
She goes do you mind eatingturkey in California?
I said it tastes the same inCalifornia as it does in North
Carolina.
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:04:10):
That's right.

Speaker 5 (01:04:11):
That's right.

Speaker 2 (01:04:14):
We thank you so much for hanging out with us.
We thank you for supporting ourchannel, as you all have been
doing.
If you're a current Highfielddriver, thank you so much for
the work you're doing.
We really do appreciate you andyour co-driver and uh.
We hope that you have awonderful holiday season coming
up.
We hope that you have a greatthanksgiving.
Um, and until we meet again.

(01:04:34):
No, that's a lie, jerry.
What are we?

Speaker 3 (01:04:36):
forgetting.
Hit that subscribe button.
Hit the thumbs up button if youwould, please, please.
It helps us with the YouTubealgorithm.
And if you are interested inHighfield and everything that we
have to offer over here and theexpatting industry, check us
out at highfieldtruckingcom andgive us a call at 833-HIGHFIELD.
One of our lovely ladies inrecruiting would love to talk to

(01:04:59):
you.

Speaker 2 (01:05:02):
That'd be me.
We're going to have to changethat up.
When we hire a guy to be inrecruiting too, we will have to
change it up.
It's not going to be ladies.

Speaker 1 (01:05:09):
It could be people For the meantime we happen to
have ladies.

Speaker 2 (01:05:13):
It's just what it is.

Speaker 1 (01:05:15):
You can listen to us here on YouTube or you could do
it on your favorite podcaststreaming.

Speaker 2 (01:05:19):
We are everywhere If you're watching us on YouTube
and you're like it takes so muchtime to watch this and then
drive, throw us on your favoritepodcast app, it'll sound the
same Sounds the same Sounds thesame.
And if we do something andwe're like oh wow, I wish I knew
what they were doing, becausesometimes we show videos or not
videos photos or pictures, or weforget and we're describing

(01:05:41):
stuff with our hands.

Speaker 4 (01:05:41):
Yes, mostly me.

Speaker 2 (01:05:42):
Look us up on YouTube .
You we're describing stuff withour hands.
Yes, mostly me.
Look us up on YouTube.
You can catch up on thosethings as well.

Speaker 3 (01:05:46):
So listen to the podcast as you're driving, yeah,
then whenever you want to seethe pictures and everything we
throw up, go back and watch thepodcast, watch the video.

Speaker 2 (01:05:54):
Yep, yep and you can absolutely fast forward and find
the spots we're not monetized.

Speaker 1 (01:05:58):
No, no, no, you can't Gosh we don't care, no Well
you're making that turkey watchus on your YouTube.
That's right In your truck orat home.

Speaker 2 (01:06:09):
We do look good on an iPhone, I've been told.
So was it.
Dad always told me I had a facefor radio.

Speaker 4 (01:06:16):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (01:06:16):
So until next time.
Stay safe, make good decisions,Don't leave holiday money on
the table.

Speaker 3 (01:06:24):
And keep those wheels of Turner Bye.

Speaker 2 (01:06:27):
Bye See ya, thank you .