00:07 It’s getting a lot easier now cuz now that I’ve gone through all the things I’ve gone through and now that as a transportation specialist, I realize that I can utilize Norton Transport, some of the other companies, truck movers, and I can accomplish the working goals that I have for my family so much faster. Right now, I’m shooting straight up.

00:32 Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking, and we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show.

00:53 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker. We have an unusual named guest today. Of course, he’s a truck driver, one of our best here at Norton Transport. Daniel Lawrence Bumpy Rhodes Jr. Also known as Danny Rhodes. Danny, how are you—

01:11 Doing? Good. How you doing, John?

01:13 Doing fantastic. Fantastic. Tell us a little bit about that nickname you got.

01:17 Well, I got that nickname by experiencing the bumpy roads in life, and sometimes you have to go down those bumpy roads. So, I’ve come to learn to appreciate those bumpy roads and so I took that as part of my name.

01:30 Daniel Lawrence, Bumpy Roads Jr.

01:34 That’s right.

01:34 Gotcha. Now, if you know, feel as open as free as you want to or if private as you want to. Can you tell us a little bit about some of those bumpy roads you went down? And I’m assuming from the way you have told the story, you’ve overcome many of those bumpy roads.

01:48 Well, if you can take it, you can deal with it. That’s the way I was raised. That’s the way the Marines taught me. That’s the way that the trucking and the transportation industry taught me. And that’s my philosophy every time I go out to work.

02:07 Now, tell us a little bit about your service. Thank you again for serving the country here. When were you in the Marines? How long were you in the Marines?

02:15 79 to 82. And I’ve been in the Marines all my life. My I was in the Marines before I joined the Marines because my dad was a Marine. My son is My dad, me, my son, my uncle Ron, Uncle Bill, Uncle Jim were all veterans. My son is the only one that I know of that went overseas. So he’s actually like he’s airborne veteran. And so he’s actually considers himself the only veteran.

02:40 Where did your son go overseas to?

02:42 He was in Baghdad.

02:44 Well, we certainly appreciate his service, too. And what about serving in the military? What makes that appealing to you and your family members who have served and continue to?

02:54 First of all, the reason I joined the military was because of my fear of my dad. And that was the main reason I joined.

03:03 That I appreciate the honesty and the cander.

03:06 Yeah. You know, one time I took my dad’s car supposed to pick up they’re out of town supposed to pick up some kids going to school and then someone in the middle of the fog put the ditch barriers right across in the middle of the road. So we went to hit those and when I swerved to miss them, I broke off the front tire on the car.

03:27 Oh boy.

03:28 B2 a B210 Dodson. So, of course, we everybody gets out of the car and catches the school bus as it drives by the car except me. And then I have to spend the rest of the day trying to figure out how to get the car to, you know, get the car fixed and get the tie rod fixed, put the car, you know, get the car down to the tire guy. And you know, everything was fine for about a week after my dad got home until the tire guy told him that I, you know, the A-frame on that car is bent from that accident you’re saying. Like, oh god—

04:02 That sounds like two bumpy roads. The actual thing that happened trying to get it repaired and then facing the raffle of your father.

04:10 Yes. And then it was like the like I said the military started becoming really you know I was trying to go to school but it seemed better to get the heck out of there.

04:22 Well I’m glad I went.

04:23 That was my next question. How has that helped you behind the wheel on the road and in life in general that military experience that you had?

04:35 Wow. Well, I found the military. The military gave me a couple of tools and I was only 17 when I went in.

04:45 So, I didn’t even have my GED. And, you know, I had to actually right after I got out of boot camp, 80 guys. We graduated with 36. One of them was a captain of the Iraqi army. We found ourselves getting ready to be sent to where we were going to start doing our work and they said, “Hey, four of you guys are supposed to have a high school diploma now that the laws have changed.” And it’s like, “What?” So, I actually had to go get my GED and in two days while I when on my first few days in the military. So, the challenge is right there was like, “Wow, four of us got it. The fifth guy didn’t get it.” But he was the guy that was giving us all the answers. So that’s only right, don’t you think?

05:31 One of life’s ironies there, you know, giving you the answers, but doesn’t get the GED. Yeah, we got the GED and then, you know, as far as how it helped me, gosh, being a part of a team for the rest of your life is always something good to fall back on, something that you want to always you always want to show your loyalty, keep your respect for yourself, build your character, which is the foundation of, you know, that’s what I guess the military showed me. Everybody talks about their self-respect but it’s actually your character giving yourself to other people everything anything looking for any opportunity so that your selfrespect has a foundation to stand on because underneath that is your character and so I would say that service showed me that.

06:22 Well said Daniel Lawrence Bumpy Roads Jr. Do you mind if I call you Danny?

06:28 It’s all right. All right. Yeah, that was very well said. You know, a lot of people who have very fond memories of their time in the service do well in life. How has what you learned in the military? Well, Let me back up just a second. How long have you been driving?

06:44 Well, I’ve had my license 34 years and throughout that time I’ve been driving quite a while.

06:51 So, you painted houses, I’ve done other stuff in the middle.

06:56 I got you. You can’t always you can’t you know I think people don’t realize that getting your sleep is not getting your rest and there’s a thing called maximum effort that the military used to talk about with their pilots. You can’t sit behind the wheel and not start to deteriorate after a period of time. So you got to stop and go do something else and get your strength build your strength and lose the weight and that helps prolong your ability to stay in the industry. Talk a little bit about the difference between sleep and maximum rest. You were you had there’s obviously a difference there.

07:35 Well, rest. Rest. There’s signs of rest that that I could see. Weight comes off real fast when you get your rest. Sleep. Sleep. Let’s look at a guy sleeping in a his sleeper while his co-driver’s driving. He’s sleeping, but his face is hitting the side of the cab as he’s sliding back and forth. So, is he really getting his rest? Being able to take a period of time and actually be able to think about the fact that I’m not just going to go to sleep right now. I’m actually going to do what I’m going to do so that I can completely rest knowing I’ve done everything. I’ve prepared everything. I’m ready to go. Then I can rest. You’ll see the results if you rest. So, I always tell people, it’s not about getting your sleep, get your rest.

08:24 Well said. Another well said thing.

08:31 Let’s talk a little bit about those 34 years on the road. Obviously, you have seen a lot. How do you put it into perspective?

08:43 Well, perspective. Well, CO, let’s go with CO. Let’s say since CO, I don’t think the questions and answers should be the same. I think since CO, none of my dreams and all of the experiences I ever had mean anything anymore. It destroyed every picture I ever had. I’ve I’m filing bankruptcy on the 28th of this month. I’ve lost everything and I’ve gained so much more as it has as all that time I’ve been doing what I’ve been doing, different things I’ve been doing in the industry and talking to all the people I got to meet. I’m actually prepared now for the future and that’s why I’m here with Norton.

09:29 Did co was that the I guess the tipping point to filing for bankruptcy?

09:36 Well, I could do that. Yeah. Wouldn’t that be easy? That Yeah, that was that’s the reason, you know, but it’s not. CO actually made me realize two things. One, it’s in the science. That’s the problem. That’s the— That’s when I first realized that there was something terribly wrong is when people were saying, you know, take this take these shots because it’s in the science that you should. I’m like, “No, I’ve got enough experience in my life do doing this industry and the military, everything I’ve done to know that science is what you question before you do something.” So, telling people that they should do something because it’s in the science. My experience out here and has made me realize that, you know, those that’s not when you take a shot. It’s when you know that it’s know when it’s when you put your goal out there. You got out and looked that you see down the road that you make your move that you don’t you know I watched people tell me I should get my LLC because I was a sle sole operator I was an owner operator I’ve worked for companies I’ve leased to own for other companies I’ve now I’m out here I don’t I think the classification of a of the industry of driving should not be that we are truck drivers because we’re in the transportation industry.

11:00 There’s only one person that’s a trucker. He’s the one that knows. He is the master’s degree in the industry. He knows how to put a truck together. We are in the transportation industry. And we are transportation specialists. We have to deal with all of the different aspects of every part of this industry. It’s not just driving. And so since co I think the questions and answers should be different. I think the driver should be reclassified as a specialist and I think that a trucker should be left alone.

11:36 Gotcha. What do you consider yourself? Specialist or a trucker?

11:40 Specialist. I used to be an owner operator. That’s one of my degrees in the transportation industry. I’ve worked all my life trying to be a trucker. It’s just it’s a university. I mean, until you break down and actually have, you know, a trucker doesn’t have to have a license. He’s a guy that just knows how to put a truck together. He just knows exactly what’s happening when you turn the wheel and how much heat’s heating up in the gearbox. He knows so much more than we do. It’s you kind of enjoy the experience of problem because somebody paid that knows how to fix it is going to teach you how to do it. And so, yeah, I’ve got a long ways to go. I would say that where I’m at is I just realized how much more I need to learn. I’m a transportation specialist out here utilizing Norton and some of the other companies trying to rebuild my business that that I allowed to be destroyed during co—

12:37 Gotcha. Welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker. We are joined by Danny Rhodes here. 34 years on the road and you had talked about as we started if you’re just joining us there’ve been some bumpy roads along the way during I guess 2020 2021 there when the co took on or came on board there did you actually suffer from co itself—

13:00 My wife did she actually retired two days before COVID happened she’s also a Class A driver if you ever want to talk to another a woman about the trucking industry. She and I both have her license. That’s why we got our truck on our first anniversary. But no, she got it. She lost her taste, bud. Sometimes she still has that problem. No, it’s just that you know, here’s a bumpy road. The whole state, California shut down.

13:30 I’m in the sixth year. I’ve got threequarters of my I’ve got a $169,000 truck, $75,000 customuilt in dump trailer. I’ve made all kinds of connections with all kinds of people. I’ve got my business just about done. And these guys shut the whole place down. And because of my ego and my what do you call it? I could come up with a couple other words. I wanted only the nicest things. 7 $7,500 a month just to pay for my transportation.

14:08 M—

14:09 No no no real savings. And then this happens. And when they shut it down, I went right for my savings. When I went right for my savings, my wife says, “Hey, can you do you have a crystal ball?” I’m like, “No.” She goes, “Well, what are we going to do now?” It’s like, “We’re done.” I guess that’s going to go go down as one of the bumpiest roads you’ve been through.

14:33 You know, there’s I’ve been married four times. My second wife passed with cancer in my arms. I because I went to an EMT school to learn to be a paramedic in my early age and I got to be your hospice caregiver. That was a terrible event. I could think of other things that have nothing to do with money that were hard, you know—

14:55 Harder, you know. I don’t want to presume anything, but you and I have talked before going on this podcast here, but it sounds like you have an outlook on life. You’re a positive, upbeat kind of guy.

15:08 If you can take it, you can make it.

15:11 I know you’re at a point now where you’re filing bankruptcy, but it sounds like in between the lines there, you see a way out of this as well. Well, it’s funny you should ask, but actually I’m on the best path right now. It’s weird because every time you get totally slapped around and I’ve lost, like I said, I’ve been married a few times. I’ve come up and I’ve come down, you know. Let’s start by looking at the day. I go to get my fuel. I got to I got 3.5 grams of some funny flour that’s sitting in a glass container next to glass pipes on the left side of me. I’ve got all this lexin of alcohol on the right of me and that’s just to pay for my fuel. And I’m like the whole world is at a point where it is looking for those people that are just not going to make it.

16:09 Mhm. You know, you got a drug test, you got to you can’t drink and drive, but they’ll put it in a to-go cup and then they give you a straw and you put it in trying to tell the officer it’s not an open container. It’s like it’s getting a lot easier now. Cuz now that I’ve gone through all the things I’ve gone through and now that I’m in the as a trans transportation specialist, I realize that I can utilize Norton Transport, some of the other companies, truck movers, some of the other companies right now, and I can accomplish the working goals that I have for my family so much faster right now. I’m shooting straight up.

16:47 That’s fantastic.

16:53 How long have you been driving with us? Norton Transport.

16:57 This is my 43 my 43rd truck.

17:00 Okay. Okay. So, how often on the road? How many miles would you say you average in a good week?

17:08 Yeah. I’ll talk to you about what I’m doing. I’m making a lot of money, but I’m filing bankruptcy. Okay. So, when we talk about miles, I’m not making my money doing miles. I’m making my money managing my time. I’m watching, you know, I look at the companies, they’re like, well, we’re trying to help the driver. It’s like trying to help the driver. Driver ain’t got a chance unless he knows what’s going on out here. I mean, for right now, we’re at we’re on the level where FMCSA is monitoring us right now. These guys, these guys, if I get pulled over by a policeman and he tells me to slow down, I walk away from that. That’s cool. Everybody’s out here thinking that’s cool, but it’s not. On the federal level, that’s a speeding ticket. And you’re getting points on that level. And they got a 100 point system up there on that level. On the federal level, watching us drivers right now because they’re not there’s things going on out here where people are getting away with murder.

18:09 And so they’re wa they’re watching us from a whole different area. And so I’m looking at all of those things when I come out here to drive my truck and, you know, realize how important it is to get pulled over and talk to somebody because if he inspects you and he talks and it goes on your record, those points start coming down. Mhm.

18:32 I mean, you get up to 80 and 100 points, they’ll come to your house. They’ll send local law enforcement to your house to have a intervention conversation with you and you say, “I don’t have any tickets. I don’t have any accidents.” But on the Federal Motor Care Safety Administration level, you have 80 points. What?

18:51 That’s some serious stuff. Yeah.

18:54 Well, you find out when you own your own business. You find that out when you come out here as an independent contractor, you know, going to work for Norton Transport. You know, this guy is putting his DOT on the line. These, excuse me, these people are putting their DOT on the line and then they’re trying to figure out how to help me. Well, the first thing to help me is I should know what the hell’s going on out here.

19:17 I should know what I’m doing and how I can utilize them, their team. Their team, Courtney, Patrick, you know, Casey Day, the point spear that maybe $1,000 just to sign up to be out here. I mean, these this team and you I mean, look at communications. Threearters of the deal. What are you like 33 years in this industry?

19:39 I’ve been in about 31 years in the communications.

19:42 Yeah.

19:43 But no, you were about to say something. I didn’t mean to cut you off there.

19:46 Yeah, but see, I want to listen to learn. So, what did you want to say? Oh, I was just going to say I was listening to what you said earlier there about knowing what’s going on out there, which reminds me of a last week we spoke with J Gerard Layman and the essence of his discussion was do your homework and I’m hearing a similar thread with you about knowing what’s going on out there. I mean, let’s be real about it. It’s tough to be a transportation specialist and succeed. What kind of information would you pass along to people who do not have the time, the experience that you have behind the wheel?

20:24 Oh, well, Darren, it’s interesting you say I don’t know if I would Here’s what I would tell you. First of all, I want everybody that works for somebody to quit. I want you to come out here on the road as an independent contractor and I want you to work for these companies that we’re working for out here. I don’t I know you may not have any experience, but you know what’s right and wrong. You know how to act. You can communicate. It’s threearters of the problem. It has nothing to do with driving. It’s threearters of the problem communicating. Once you learn that, then you learn how to communicate your way down the road. You’ll make a lot more money out here. I would just tell them to know that when you get done driving, you should go to, you know, maybe some way of getting back to the next job. So, figure out a little plan, you know, for your transportation. Don’t blame a company that you are not you’re not we work with Norton but I can’t blame Norton pro and cons of Norton it’s like dude it’s all about me I put myself in this situation I am solely responsible for that and I rejoice in that because now that I’ve seen that that all of my problems could go away if I could just accomplish my personal goals each day that I have I don’t have anybody in front of me no more because now I realize that my road to success is going to be a lot faster doing it this way.

21:49 I had a trucking business working for people. I had to wait for those people to pay me. I had nice stuff. I could say I was in the trucking business. I’m in something right now that’s like melding into something really great. I’ve been doing it off and on since 2015 with different companies while I was putting things together. I can use this company, go down and open an account at a bank and do the commercial side. And the bank will say, “Well, even though you don’t have good credit because you’ve been putting your money in here in the commercial side, two years from now, we can give you money based on that.” And you say, “That’s not true.” It is true. You got two years experience. Quit your job. Come out here because let me show you something. When you come out here, you could take that driver’s license, go into a Peterbilt, Kenworth right now, even as you’re driving, go in there and look at a truck, anything, and just ask them, “How much am I worth?” You’ll be 60. I My wife and I together with no money at all, worth $169,000. And you know what happens when people see that you get a loan from PACCAR or something?

22:56 We accomplished that goal before our bankruptcy. By the way, we got our pink slip on that truck in our hand.

23:01 That’s good.

23:02 Before we sold it, those goals we have to accomplish as a team. But to have that commercial side open up to us, it’s like, well, my bank says that my credit score won’t give me any money. Well, the commercial side says you’re worth a lot of money.

23:17 And guess what? As long as you don’t fail out here working with Norton and doing this job and staying with it and realizing one little miscalculation, you might have to suffer the whole day for income or double your income the next day. One thing about the commercial side is it only matters if you succeed. It doesn’t go against your credit score unless you fail.

23:43 Right. Like what you were talking about. I mean, you’re building equity. I mean, it’s really what you when you’re on the road as an independent contractor, you know, there’s the difference you were talking about there, but you’re really establishing equity. Now, a lot of guys, they work for somebody, they got to get that check. They take that check and they take their taxes out and that goes right to the government. Out here, people that are independent, if I owe the government money, I can donate that money to a church. That’s a tax write off to the church. So, all I got to do is show the government. I gave that same money to a to, you know, there’s a lot of people out here that look like they’re famous. They’re all donating their money and looking like they’re helping the world, but what they’re really doing is paying their taxes just in a different way. And that’s what we can do as 1099ers out here. Is we can do a whole different world than we can when we just come and kneel down before the boss and try to satisfy him. We can get out here and work for Norton and we can be in into contractors. We can go to a bank with our license.

24:45 We can get loans for stuff that we couldn’t get by trying to build our credit. Like I mean my wife and I literally walked out of working for people and right into our own industry. And I mean we made a lot of money. The only problem is when you get so big and you think the whole world’s going to protect you. Let’s not forget that everything was stopped by some bigger than all of us and by some little speck of whatever virus that was. But it never made me forget what happened since then. I knew right as soon as I lost the momentum of what I was doing what my mistake was. And then the next thing I realized is, okay, wow, there’s another industry that will lift me up so much faster than my own business was doing. I’m doing better now than I was doing in my own business. My wife was happier with me now because I’m happy.

25:46 That’s fantastic. What’s been the key for you as far as, you know, in driveaway? What led you to driveaway?

25:53 Well, oh man, I can’t remember how that happened. Jeez. I think by seeing some of the vehicles going down the road, I’m not sure exactly who it was or how that happened. But it’s interesting that you can make a phone call, put your application on 10th Street, have someone from Norton look at it, and 3 days in 4 days later be on an airplane picking up a truck from people you don’t even know, working for people you haven’t even seen, getting paid as soon as you deliver, and looking back at the waiting 180 days, working for some other company. I mean, right now, I’m not telling people that you’re going to make more money. I’m telling people you could make less money if you’re not careful with how you do things or you want to hesitate instead of work. If you don’t want to work, I mean that’s up to you. But if you want to get it, you can get it here. And that and that’s not you and Norton. That’s me, Danny Rhodes, and my wife making a working plan, coming out here and utilizing the tools that this company and a couple of other companies have opened up a door and give me a chance to get my business back faster than I could.

27:09 If I have to wait after bankruptcy for the banks to approve me, I’m screwed for the rest of my life. I’m 60 years old. I don’t have time for that.

27:18 I got to have people get the hell out of my way.

27:22 That’s what I got to have. I gotta call up these my dispatchers. Hey, what do you got? They’re calling me. I got— They’re calling me before I could even get done. And showing me a plan. They’re not, you know, I don’t have to do it. I could stay at home. I could I don’t have to do anything. But I can see already that somebody’s going to do it. And I wish that, like I said, everybody out there, you got a job working for somebody, man. I bet you got I bet you get retirement. I got the whole thing. Don’t you? Well, you just stay right there and you wait for that company and hope to God that CO doesn’t wipe them out and maybe that’ll happen for you or you can come out here and get it on.

28:07 You know, I wanted to pass something along to you. I was speaking with Courtney today and I’m sure that you spoke with her. She wanted to say hello. She’s like, “Tell Danny” I said hello. And she’s a big fan of Daniel Lawrence Bumpy Roads Jr. She’s— Well, you know what happens with Courtney and what I appreciate about Courtney and all of the people that work at Norton is if I come to pick up a truck somewhere and that’s supposed to go somewhere and when I look on my load board and I see another truck sitting right there next to what I’m doing and it goes somewhere else making a hell of a lot more money, they won’t hesitate to change right now and take that truck cuz guess what their goal is? Delivering trucks.

28:49 Mhm. And I would tell you right now, that’s so much freedom. That’s the that’s like the word freedom, you know? That’s true freedom right there is being able to say, “Oh man, this is better.” And someone say, “Sure.” H—

29:04 How much in the time that you’ve been in driveaway with us here at Norton Transport, how much has your life changed once you are out of that bumpy road that we talked about before? You were talking about how this I mean you see much brighter days ahead. How much has it changed?

29:21 One, I’m not counting on any of these companies out here. Two, I could drive any truck the future has. Three, my road is across any road in America, not just the same road. Four, I am excited. That’s probably the most important part of my business is that when I make a working plan, I’m excited to get up and go to work. That helps me get my rest. I can tell you’re excited. And I wanted to touch in on kind of dig a little deeper, dive down on what you were talking about, a plan. I’ve got a really good friend who’s retired military and we talk about this all the time. You being a veteran, he says, whenever someone says when they’re putting a plan together, I hope, he says, stop right there. If you’re starting off the sentence with I hope, you don’t have a plan. How important is it in the business you’re in now to have a plan every hour, every day, every week?

30:26 You know, it’s interesting you say that. Marines have the same weigh every minute to each hour of our day. That’s interesting. It’s the same. That is better talking to you. Well, first of all, my biggest mistake in my business was trying to run my business. Second biggest mistake is I talked to my wife too much about running my business. My working plan failed because I counted on other people to be there for me and so I took big steps with my business. You know, let you what do you buy a stock that’s worth, you know, five million, whatever, and it’s actually only worth $25. You don’t do stuff like that unless you lost your dang mind. America could make you lose your mind real quick. $169,000 truck, and I didn’t even have a trailer, not even have my own business to work. I mean, it’s like, man, now I my plans come a lot closer to me. My first plan is to ask my wife, “What are we going to do today?” That’s the first thing.

31:27 And then to tell her where I’m at, where I was going. Those are the plans that I pretty much I’m thinking about right now. Cuz when you lose everything, guess what? You don’t need so much money.

31:39 Mhm.

31:40 The goals are not so so terrible anymore. I mean, it’s like I mean, now it’s just, you know, I could take my wife with me and we can go anywhere and we can stay there. We don’t have to get on a bus and an airplane. We can utilize this system, this industry, and travel all over the world, America. We can take RVs, we can take buses, we could, you know, we can do anything we want. So, I mean, the plan, Wow. Well, I’m 60 years old. My wife’s retired. So, my plan right now is just to enjoy each day. And when my wife asks me to do something, then I work that into our plans. I can’t sit at home after co I just don’t see how America’s going to get any better—

32:27 Sitting at home. Gotcha.

32:29 You know—

32:29 Are you about to be 60 or you are 60?

32:32 60.

32:33 60—

32:33 Right now.

32:34 And you were talking about that word freedom. All right. Freedom coupled with being 60. How much longer do you see yourself driving the open road?

32:42 Well, I don’t see why not drive the open road. So that I’m I mean I don’t want to call myself a trucker because that’s just for the guys with their master’s degree, but I think that it’s not going to ever stop.

32:56 I don’t you know. Well, Dan, you’re at home for 28 days with your wife and your guys are planting your stuff around the house and what are you doing? Can you give a weekend and take this truck and give you all this money? Oh, I think we could do that. What do you think? Yeah, get the hell out of the house and go do that. Oh, okay. Sure. I’m never going to stop talking to these guys. I always— Oh, and I’ll tell you, anybody that comes to try to tear down Norton or any of the other ones, think they’re going to dominate, I would say, you should all be like Macy’s and work together and help these future transportation specialists get down the bumpy roads—

33:36 Right? You know, you said something about 10 15 minutes ago as a transportation specialist. I think you said communication is 75% of what happens. It’s not being a driver as much as it is being a communicator. As a driver, what do you do to make yourself a better communicator?

33:57 What do I do? Well, I first of all try to enjoy people around me. That helps me right there. I try to soft and smell the roses, so to speak, with all the— What do I mean, that’s what I really enjoy as you get older. That’s what you enjoy is talking to other people. I mean, we’re all kids of some variants that were growing up now. And we’ve all come from somewhere. And I’m out here and if the, you know, GPS says go a different way and I know it’s longer, why not? I don’t have, you know, I’m not I don’t know to communicate. Why, man, to be silent would be just like terrible.

34:35 That’ be torture. Torture.

34:37 Yeah.

34:38 For me. Now, let’s see. I know where you’re headed because you’ve got one of my loads headed to San Diego. And are you California based?

34:46 Yes. I’m I live in Orangeville, California. And if any if you guys don’t know where that’s at, that’s good for me. Okay. But it’s by Sacramento.

34:56 Okay, I got you.

34:58 So, I’m going to go to what I’m going to what I decided to do. I was supposed to go home and see Cory, but Corey’s like, ” maybe we should just, you know, we got a lot going on this month. Let’s just go out there and do what you’re doing cuz but what I was going to do is go to San Diego and then I’m going to fly from there up there to Eugene and take a load out to Pennsylvania.” But, you know, there again, you know, you could get there by 8:00, your you know, your flight’s 2:49. You get there a little later, it’s 3:49. It’s like, well, okay, so now I got to look at my monies and what I’m doing and those are though that’s nobody from any company is going to help me make money out here unless I think about that thought.

35:44 Right now, let’s talk about 34 years on the road. Obviously, you’ve seen, I would imagine, pretty much all of America. What stands out to you? I mean, really, really took your breath away as far as just aesthetically. Is there something that comes to your I guess like your top three, top four, maybe top five things that you saw from the road, even if you parked to take them in? I mean, if you had the place to park and kind of soak it in. What are some of the top places that just really took your breath away?

36:18 Oh, wow. Well, my wife’s a good cook, so when I think of places that I went first thinking of food, but okay. So, I get that on my head. Top places. So, top things I could say. Here’s what I would say. 80% of Americans have never seen America. I’ve seen America in the snow and in the summer. And I’ve seen it probably three times in neither one of those. And I could say that if you want to know my top places, I like to see it from the sky as I travel across the sky. I like to see it from a train. I like to see America from a car that has to go through the backways to get somewhere. I could say that if you don’t know what America if you’ve never seen America and you’re working as a truck driver out there working for somebody getting on your knees to satisfy the boss each morning you need to stop what you’re doing and come out here and don’t vote for this country until you’ve seen it.

37:20 Very good point. You’re making a lot of good points tonight. And one thing I wanted to ask you about, we’re talking about the most aesthetically pleasing things you’ve seen. You’re talking about seeing America to really appreciate America and 34 years behind the wheel. Where do you see the industry going here in 2022?

37:40 Government. There’s no way you can compete. I mean, let’s look at it this way. Let me show you something. Let me show you something. I worked for a guy that has thousands of employees driving. He used to own to these guys. He would send these guys out to a company that he wanted to contract with and have all the guys show up there only for one day and we’d all leave. I came I talked to him and I said, “Dude, I didn’t I broke even on that that day. Why are we working for that guy? He’s not paying us anything.” And he goes, “Yeah, but what you don’t understand is I want that contract.” So, while you went there one day, I’ve sent everybody there one day, every day for months now. And the guy that actually has that contract, the trucking company that has that contract, he can’t work there now because I’m under bidding him by sending guys there that don’t make anything every day—

38:35 Right?

38:36 And guess what happened? He said, “Guess what happened? I got the contract and that company is out of business and so are all those drivers.” That guy owned every one of those trucks, but he lost all of his drivers cuz because he couldn’t keep them working. He says, “So what did I do after that? I went and bought that trucking company. I bought every piece of the machinery he had and I took that back to my yard and I took his name off that equipment and I took all that equipment, sold it, recovered some of my money. Now I got the contract making a couple million more. That trucking business is out of business. It’s now my business.” And then I went into the books and I took that name and I made it disappear. And he said, “You know why?” I said, “Why?” He goes, “Cuz that man actually thought that he could come out here into this industry and compete against me in my state and I’m going to do that to every single company that is in this state.” And I’m thinking, man, where’s the industry going to go when you got that kind of money and that kind of thought?

39:39 And this guy was, you know, I was like, is that vicious or is that just, you know, he said he wanted everybody to know what kind of businessman I am? And I was thinking, and he goes, “But all you did was give me one day of your time, and this is the goals that I’m accomplishing.” He says, “I made $700 million last year profit.”

40:00 Wow.

40:01 I bought 6,000 trailers. He goes, “How you know, I’m out here leasing to own one of his trucks trying to think about becoming a in a business, and then I never even realized the whole state could shut me down.” This guy, he’s another example. He could be at state’s will if they ever came and shut him down. I just I was like, well, what’s this guy’s savings going to be like in this situation, you know? So, I see the industry as they take us to $7 a gallon and I see the industry and not only they taking us, you know, let’s talk about it. War of the World. We’re at war. No, we’re not. I watched 2006 War of the Worlds with Tom Cruz and right there on the TV as they’re all getting ready to go look at aliens, it’s looking it’s it the TV is on in 2006 talking about how Ukraine is being destroyed by the aliens.

41:00 And this is the first saying, this is the first thought that h that Ukraine would get destroyed in a world war. And now this is what’s happening now. So when I’m looking at what’s happening now and the first thing our president does is he goes for our fuel, our emergency fuel. He goes for that. So he’s going to help us with the fuel bill. Well, here’s what I say. I say be independent. Get out here and go all over America and ride the fuel the best you can for as long as you can because I think sooner or later it’s all going to be we’re all going to be under the government. They’re regulating us from FMCSA to C, you know, they’re bringing they’re charging a driver $36,000 to go to a school and they’re giving him 19 cents a mile when he comes out. And it’s like and then they’re taking 6,000 drivers a month off the road who can’t seem to behave themselves. Want to smoke some pot, drink some alcohol.

42:03 Maybe you got an attitude problem. You know, you a policeman had to pull you over and ask you to slow down. They’re writing it up as a speeding ticket in the federal level. You’re chances of survival out here with any kind of an attitude is going to ruin you—

42:21 Right?

42:22 So, we have to right now come together, be loyal, work for people that can are flexible. This company, Norton, having access to everything in America, putting drivers to work and giving me the ability to fly anywhere I need to. We’re I’ll probably spend the rest of my life never having to see the day. But the future, I think, is going to be on an electric grid, and I think the people that run that grid are going to have solar power. They’re going to have those windmills, and you’re not going to have access to that.

42:53 Interesting take on that. We’ve got Danny Rhodes with us here on the Six-Figure Trucker here brought to you by Norton Transport. Danny, we talked about 34 years on the road and you had mentioned earlier you could drive anything. What’s your favorite truck to drive?

43:08 It doesn’t matter the truck. I just like driving truck. It doesn’t matter what it is. It does not matter. I like them all.

43:15 What appeals it— What about a driving a truck? What makes it fun for you?

43:20 Well, okay. First, you got to know the serial number to the bolt that holds that bolt together on that wheel. Then you got to know what kind of belts are on that wheel. How much air pressure? How much does that brake pad heat up when you apply the brake? It just it’s like it can you could really get a you could really get a big ego out here just knowing that this is all being done underneath my butt.

43:49 Gotcha.

43:49 And I’m out here. I’m out here and I’ve got this motor that wants to drive me through the wall of anything that gets in front of me and I’m just like, “Wow, this is awesome. This is fun. I’m looking at I’m like a ghost out here. I come and go as I please. I you know, it’s been it’s just a kick in the butt.”

44:11 It’s funner than working for someone at a company. It’s funner than trying to lease own my own truck, waiting for somebody that I’m leasing the truck from to give me my loads and taking my truck payment first is the best thing going out here. You should quit your job and quit today. In four days, you will be on an airplane working for this company and all you got to do is just show up.

44:37 Right. I wanted to ask you this question, kind of drifting a little bit away from driving, but 60 years old, you talk about freedom, communication. What about travel with your wife, not on the road in a big truck, but vacation, places you want to go, things you want to see. You’ve seen a lot of the country. Does that dissuade you in any way about traveling to see things in America or do you want to step out across the pond, go see something else?

45:10 Well, if you went to Washington, you tried to do the Smithsonian, that would take you seven days in itself to go to those buildings. You know, the military parks, that would take you a year. I mean, there is so much that we can’t do as we drive through. I mean, everybody’s proud of a lot of stuff going on here that I’m never going to see unless I spend that time with my wife. We’re looking forward to the day that we can do that. This bankruptcy was the best thing that ever happened to us cuz now we’re closer to our goals. And just imagine if my wife got an RV right now and she was to start traveling across the country. I’m out here flying all over the place in this truck. I’d be going right by her whenever I want to. I can find her wherever she’s at. We can both be out here doing the same thing. She could set up anywhere she wants in an RV and I could, you know, we have the money coming to us. We’re not stranded anymore. You know, we’re in a way. I’m— My wife loves her house.

46:11 And I’m really I really appreciate being married to somebody that has that kind of my I mean my since my wife retired I’ve seen a whole new person since we’ve got out of this industry as an owner operator we’ve become like we’re dating again. So I can’t wait to see you know if my wife says that we’re going to stay at home and this is what we’re going to do. That’s going to be great because I’m just going to close my eyes anytime I want and I’ll see this country from the air from a train, you know, from a rental car, you know, in a any kind of truck you want to talk about. We’ve drove we drive those. So, I it’s like it’s great. I’ll do whatever comes.

46:55 That’s so cool, man. That kind of freedom you have there. Not like communications, John, where you have to sit there and wonder how the hell you got your ass handed to you. But yeah, it’s good. And I’m just, you know, you could get your Class A, John.

47:13 Yeah, good point. Is an RV in your future or do you guys already have one or is that something you guys have talked about?

47:20 No, no, no, it’s not. It’s something I Well, we have a cat and a dog and that would be cool. But yeah, see, still we’re married, so it’s sort of like, you know, I’m kind of, you know, let’s like I just kind of see what she wants to do. You know, that would be cool. I don’t know. Again, I could deliver an RV and take us everywhere. You know, I could be driving any kind of RV in the future I want. So, it’s kind of like it’s not like it used to be.

47:54 Gotcha. Here’s an odd question for you. Are you a cat person or a dog person?

47:58 Oh, well, I’m both.

48:00 Okay. What’s the cat’s name? What’s the dog’s name?

48:03 Osiris and Scout is the dog. And he’s a chocolate lab and we have a black cat. I don’t know what she call that cat. It’s got yellow eyes. Looks like a panther. Osiris and Scout. And yeah, I like both. I like them a lot and I like all animals really.

48:23 Gotcha. Well, we’re coming down the home stretch here on the Six-Figure Trucker with Danny Rhodes, also known as Daniel Lawrence Bumpy Roads Jr. His friends call him Dan. And he’s been giving us a lot of—

48:36 No, it’s weird. It’s weird. Why did you call me Dan?

48:39 I heard you say that earlier there when you said in—

48:42 Dan. Danny, listen. Here’s what’s happening in my house. This is what’s going on. Just give me two seconds and then we’ll get off the air. I got to get my rest. But my dad is not going to be with us much longer. He’s got congestive heart failure. He’s at home. He’s got care. But this guy is his name is Daniel Lawrence Rhodes. I’m Daniel Lawrence Rhodes Jr. My son Daniel Lawrence Rhodes III and they have Benjamin Arthur Rhodes. But my dad is telling my son Daniel and Benjamin that his name is now Daniel, my father, and that my son is going to be called Danny and that I am now going to be called Dan.

49:28 And the whole family’s like, “What? And now you just called me Dan.” I know you may say I said it, but trust me, that’s like as soon as I hear that word, I’m like, “No, that’s how is my dad gonna have me Dan? I just heard you say it and I just kind of I was listening and I said, “Well, you mentioned the word Dan, so maybe we call him Dan.””

49:48 Isn’t that weird, man?

49:49 As we’re coming down the home stretch here. We got about four minutes left here. Wanted to talk about you have really talked on some advice to younger drivers and or not necessarily younger, but newer drivers. How do you manage? I mean, the number one problem right now for most drivers is fuel, fuel consumption, fuel management. How do you— How does Danny Rhodes step into that?

50:14 Jeez, man. Well, slow down. Number one, slow the truck down. Working it, you know, with one of these guys, I saw some of these Cascadia trucks getting like 15 miles a gallon.

50:29 Oh, wow.

50:30 Think about that. You know, this one here is doing 11. Some of the trucks you, you know, they’ll get you down to five miles a gallon if you want to do, you know, haul butt down the road. I pick my I try to pick my fuel spots. Sometimes they want us to stay on the, you know, stay with the their favorite trucking or their favorite fuel spots. And sometimes I see another fuel station that’s paying less. These fuel cards, you can just use them at those places. But they have fuel search charges with the company that will give you a nice will help you get a nicer check at the end. If you take cash advances, you’ll have a smaller check. Does that make sense? I mean, I have, you know, it doesn’t make sense if you got to use your savings. So, why not just take the advance? But you should not be without any money out here. And you should if you’re not making for some reason you’re not making money out here then I would say that to accept that for that day that just try harder to pay attention to what you’re doing.

51:31 I don’t really necessarily worry about the fuel even though the price of fuel is really high. I’m not worried about it because now we’re getting electric trucks coming out here pretty soon. We have the CNG trucks that are like two something a gallon in some states. You can’t go up there in on the 90 and go very far. But I mean, when you see those trucks that they want, you know, it’s like, well, where are you going to find a CNG gas, you know, CNG fuel station? It’s like, dude, I take that in a heartbeat.

52:00 Money.

52:01 I’m going to go completely off topic here in our last minute here. It’s Father’s Day weekend coming up. We know you have a son. Not sure if you have any other children, but will you be able to see them or is it going to be a FaceTime type thing this weekend? What are your Father’s Day plans?

52:16 I am a father and I hope my all of those guys, my dad and my kids are all doing well, but I would like to be at home with my wife and I would like them if they would like to call. They’re listening. But yeah, they’re not little kids and you know, dad’s got his thing. So, it’s sort of like now it’s my I’m dad at home now. This is me.

52:42 Gotcha.

52:42 So, well—

52:43 I hope all the dads get out there and see their kids.

52:47 This has been a very thoughtful, engaging hour we’ve spent together with Daniel Lawrence, Bumpy Roads Jr. Danny. I’m not going to go with Dan.

53:00 Yeah. Not yet. Maybe after a while we have to talk.

53:04 Okay. Well, Danny, thank you so much for joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport and we know that you’re finishing up a load going to San Diego and then it’s on. So hopefully you can get some downtime, get some rest as you had said as opposed to sleep.

53:23 I would like Thank you. I would like to say to the Norton team, thank you for the honor to be allowed in your presence. Thank you for the privilege to be able to work for it with you.

53:36 Absolutely. We are delighted to have a driver of your caliber working with us and as you know working with us we like to think of it as one big family and you’re certainly always a part of the family and we certainly are very pleased to have you.

53:50 Take care John.

53:51 All right Danny Rhodes Daniel Lawrence Bumpy Roads Jr. Smoothing out as he rolls out across America seeing it all. Danny, thank you very much.

54:00 Thank you, sir.

54:06 Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.