00:04 How do you approach it and how would you advise men and women who move into driveaway to approach it?

00:11 I would approach it this way. So you know where you’re going, you know your pickup, you know your drop off. I could say you lose money when you plan late during driveaway. You have to plan ahead. 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.

00:44 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Joining us tonight, we have a very special guest, a gentleman by the name of Eugene Isaac. Eugene, how are you?

00:57 I’m doing good today. How you doing—

00:59 Man? I’m doing great. I, you know, everything’s good. Everything’s peachy. It’s Friday. It’s been a long week. It’s been a good week here at Norton Transport and I hope everything’s been great with you, Eugene. How’s your week been?

01:12 Oh, it’s been exciting. It’s been an exciting week. I cannot complain. I tell you something that a gentleman told me once about complaining. I was working out at a gym and I met this guy. He was about 75, 80 years old and he looked at me and he said, “Young man, how you doing?” I said, “I’m doing well. Can’t complain.” He said, “Let me tell you something about complaining. Half the people say you probably had it coming. The other half say they don’t care.” That’s a good way to look at complaining or not look at complaining. I thought that’s some wisdom right there. But anyway, are you driving right now? Are you kicking back for the weekend? What’s going on with you, Jean?

01:49 Oh, I’m on my rest break right now. I got to do I got a delivery tomorrow.

01:55 Where are you right now?

01:56 I’m in Albuquerque, New Mexico.

01:58 Oh, great city. Great town. Where are you? What’s your pickup and delivery locations? Where did you pick up? Where you going?

02:06 Well, I picked up in Fort Worth, Texas. So, I’m headed to Dixon, California.

02:11 Gotcha. What kind of truck you driving?

02:13 I have a bucket truck.

02:15 Okay.

02:15 A huge bucket truck.

02:17 Everything working out with you?

02:19 It’s working out pretty good so far. The big huge truck is working out pretty good.

02:23 How old is the truck?

02:24 2015.

02:26 Not It’s got some age on it. And what kind of truck is it? I mean, what model?

02:32 It’s the Freightliner M2.

02:34 Mhm.

02:35 Yeah. And what’s the 123 axle?

02:38 Tri axle. Freightliner M2.

02:40 Yes, sir. Is this a bucket truck for tree removal, tree chipping, that kind of thing?

02:45 Yeah, back power line. I think they use this one for power lines because we’re going to Altec. I believe it’s for power lines. Yeah.

02:52 How do those drive? How do they ride when you’ve got that weight of the bucket in the back? What’s it like in the cab when you’re driving those?

03:00 Well, you know what? Actually, it’s pretty smooth just depending on the level of the truck. So the truck that I have is kind of weighed down. So it’s kind of smooth. It’s not too jumpy. Like when they’re empty, it kind of jumps around a little bit because it sits up high in the front.

03:17 Right.

03:17 Cuz this is Yeah, I guess they consider them the all terrain ones. These are the ones you see that that are off in the desert.

03:24 Oh, okay. I got you. What kind of tires are on that as far as an allterrain?

03:29 Well, they have the what they have. I give you a better description. These are the Bridgestone. I got you.

03:36 Mh64. They have the allterrain tires. Look good in the snow. All weather tires.

03:42 I got you.

03:44 Now, yes.

03:45 Now you name the city that you’re going to in California. Give us that city one more time. And where is that in California? What part of California?

03:54 It’s in Dixon, California. It’s like Northern California. Okay.

03:58 Maybe 30 minutes from Sacramento, California.

04:02 Oh, that’s some pretty country up there, too. Oh yeah. When it’s not too brown, it’s green. No, it’s not.

04:10 Now, if you’re up north of Sacramento, I guess you’re still I guess you’re getting close to San Jose up that way.

04:17 Yeah. Okay.

04:18 Yeah, San Jose is not too far.

04:20 I got you. Have you made many runs out to that part of California?

04:25 Yeah. Yeah, quite a few. I’ve been to Been to San Francisco. I’ve been to this is my first time going to Dixon. Yeah, I’ve been in Northern California pretty a few times.

04:38 Gotcha. Now, as a—

04:39 Beautiful drive.

04:40 Oh, absolutely. I mean, take it in there. I mean, have you been able to see I guess as a driver, you probably don’t get too close to A1A or not A1A, but the highway that runs out by the ocean there. I guess you don’t get out that way too much, do you? No, not with the direction I go.

05:00 I got you.

05:01 That would be going up to 101.

05:03 101. That’s right. A1A, I think, on the other side of the country. That’s over on the east coast.

05:07 Yeah, that’s— Yeah. Yeah, that’s on the east coast.

05:09 Yeah. I did want to ask you, what’s it like in 2022 here at the end of October driving in California? The last I checked, diesel prices on average in California were about $649 a gallon. Well, that’s kind of a horrible thing with the size that I’m driving. But it depends on how you drive when you how you drive your unit—

05:35 Right?

05:36 And how you can save your fuel—

05:38 Right?

05:40 Like me for instance, I don’t really use air conditioning. So that cut down on the fuel. I try to stay up under at least 15,000 mprs. I mean, RPMs. Gotcha.

05:53 So, so as not to burn as much fuel because, you know, the closer you get to the 20,000, it’s more fuel you burn—

06:00 Right? You got to play it smart.

06:02 Yeah. Yeah. In California, you got to play it smart. But really, all over it depends on it really depends on the driver and how much you how much profit you want to see and how much money you want to spend.

06:12 When you’ve been out on the road, you’re in Albuquerque now. You left from what was it? Fort Worth.

06:17 Yes.

06:18 Yeah. So, you’ve been on the road for a good ways there. What’s that M2? What kind of mileage are you getting out of that truck? That bucket truck—

06:27 With the year. The fuel mileage on it is not too great, but it’s averaging maybe a few hundred miles per full tank. I’ve only filled up maybe three times so far. So, I got—

06:43 For the size truck and the price of the diesel here is fine so far. I’m going to guess, but you put me right on the back on the road if we’re wrong, but I’m going to guess that bucket truck, an M2, you’re looking at about six to eight miles to the gallon—

07:00 Give or take. Yeah.

07:01 Yeah.

07:01 Maybe six about six, six and a half, maybe. It just you said it depends on the eels, the incline, and like you said, the weight of the truck.

07:10 I guess that’s cured pretty low in that all-terrain tire.

07:13 That Yeah, that that now that’s the only problem going up the hill. It’ll gear itself up to take the RPMs up higher for the climbs.

07:24 I gotcha. Well, you obviously seems like you were striking it or attacking it with a smart philosophy, smart strategy there about keeping the RPMs down and the speed down. You get there when you get there and that’s the way you do it because you got to manage that fuel.

07:39 Exactly. But with these M2s, with the bucket truck M2s with the dual axle in the rear, the fuel tank is smaller. I got you.

07:49 So, you really have to pace yourself with that as well because it’ll burn through the fuel real quick. And my suggestion would be I myself personally I get I take my fluids with that and somewhat I’m somewhat of a mechanical with it. So, I try to stay out of mechanical danger much as I can.

08:07 I got you. I got—

08:08 I try to get the most out of it.

08:10 Now, when you’re out driving with a truck like that, how many I mean, let’s see. We’ve already established where you started, where you’re delivering. How many I mean, have you already looked at mapped out how many fillups you expect to happen or do you just play it as you go?

08:27 Well, with these you have to somewhat some somewhat you can map it out. But when you get to California, it’s really hard to tell far as the fuel with the different prices, different areas—

08:38 Because as you go through like if I’m going through Southern California.

08:43 Mhm. It’s hard to tell with that dependent on the cost of the fuels. I know the fuel like in the Los Angeles area is well over $7.6 $6 to $7 there.

08:54 That’s a shot in the gut right there.

08:57 Yeah. And with the weight of this truck and having to climb, so I’m probably going to end up going across the deross the 58 where it’ll stay kind of flat—

09:06 Right?

09:06 So I’ll probably end up going that way. Try to stay out of that part of California and just go go through Bakersfield way. I got you.

09:13 It’s what I It’s what I’m going to do.

09:15 Are you going to drive any tonight? You said you’re on your— Are you about to call it a night? Let’s see. We’re I’m on the East Coast time here. So I guess out there you’re looking at about what is it about 5:00 where you are?

09:28 It’s about it’s going to be 5:00 now.

09:31 Okay. You going to—

09:32 So it’s about 8 where you’re at.

09:34 Yeah. Yeah. You going to drive? You going to keep driving for the night or you going to call it an evening?

09:39 Oh, no. I’ll stop. I’ll stop around 7:30, 8:00. I still have a few miles to go.

09:46 7:30, 8:00. If you’re in Albuquerque heading west, that’s going to put you about where?

09:53 That should put me about right at the end maybe at the end of Gallup. I could just defend.

10:03 I gotcha. Have you already got reservations for the night or how do you play that? Do you do it by when you run out of the time that you can drive, when you meet your legal limit, or do you do it on a prescribed plan where you’re like, I’m going to go to this place. This is where I’m staying. I like to stay at these certain types of hotels.

10:25 Yes, that’s how usually I’ll map it out between the hours of the day where I want to be.

10:31 I got you. So depending like I want to be in Gallup, so I know I have enough time to get there. So I’ll already have either hotel booked, something like that sometimes.

10:42 Have you got one booked for this evening?

10:44 I don’t know, kid. I’m— That’s what I was going to get on. It’s almost time to get on doing that.

10:49 I got you.

10:50 The best time to do it is when it gets closer to the evening.

10:54 That’s also again that’s a cost sufficient thing. As it gets closer to the evening in these areas, rooms tend to get a little cheaper as it gets a little later because the prices go down when they don’t have when they’re not full.

11:08 Yeah. When they’re vacant, it’s good for Eugene.

11:11 Yeah. Exactly.

11:13 And that’s what we like to hear. Good for Eugene.

11:16 Yeah. Yeah. Well, I mean, that should be good for all drivers.

11:19 Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. I mean, across the board. Now, when you look at staying in a hotel and depending upon where you’re going, do you set a budget for yourself? How do you approach that?

11:32 Oh, yeah. I set a budget. I set a budget. How much I’m going to spend where I would like to spend, but you know, it v it varies at times of year. So, that’s the that’s sometime the cost effective part. Sometimes it’s good, sometimes it’s bad. So, it all just depends. Like I said, if you set your boundaries to a certain area where you want to be, then you can book it. Like me, if I know I’m going to take a trip, I book I, you know, I book everything days in advance—

12:00 Right?

12:01 Far as travel home and everything like that. If I go home, if I go if I get another load, all that’s already I already have it planned out.

12:10 Have you got something?

12:12 That’s how you save money as well.

12:13 Absolutely. You know, we’re in the money to make money and save money. I mean, we’re in the world to do that.

12:19 Now, when you come out of Dixon, have you got a load coming out or have you looking for one now? Are you look— Because you’re still what, a couple days away from delivery?

12:30 Oh, yeah. I’m about cuz I still have tomorrow. So, I have tomorrow. I have Saturday. I mean, it depends on what’s on the load board and if it’s, you know, pretty close. Like I say, I already have my travel home, but if I have a load, I can always refund it or change it to something different.

12:52 Gotcha. Now, speaking about—

12:54 That’s the good thing.

12:55 A traveling home. That is Charlotte, is that right?

13:00 Yes.

13:01 Tell us about Charlotte. How long have you lived there and what kind of town is it?

13:05 Oh, Charlotte is beautiful. I love it. We me and my wife moved there. Maybe it’s our second year living out there. We moved from California after the pandemic was over.

13:15 Gotcha. Now, what part of California did you live in?

13:19 Southern California. Upland. Upland, California by San Bernardino, California.

13:24 Oh, yeah. Yeah.

13:24 San Bernardino County.

13:26 Yeah. I just quoted a load tonight from San Bernardino. Now, you’ve lived in Charlotte for a couple of years there now. It’s Help me out here. It’s— Is it the queen city? What’s— It’s got something about a queen.

13:40 That’s the Queen City.

13:42 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I remember that. It’s been a long time since I’ve been— Yeah. Been to Charlotte. Now, are you a football fan?

13:49 I’m a Raiders fan. So, yes, I’m a football fan.

13:52 Get out of town. I grew up a Raiders fan. I’m still trying to follow him with Derek Carr and the company that they have there. I think is it Josh Jacobs still running the football for him?

14:03 Yeah.

14:03 Gotcha. Now I know I grew up a Raiders fan. Eugene, I don’t know how old you are, but I grew up in the back in the day when John Matuszak and Ken Stabler, Cliff Branch, Upshaw. Well, Upshaw was a little before my time, but all those guys. How long have you been a Raiders fan?

14:20 I’ve been a Raiders fan since Man. I used to watch the Raiders. My grandmother used to watch them. I used to watch them. So I like them. Who do you like this year? I mean, obviously we both established we’re Raiders fans, but who do you see? We’re what are we about six, seven games into the season right now, but who do you see rising to the top in the NFL?

14:48 I can’t really say now. I really haven’t watched too much this year since it started because I’ve been out I’ve been basically been out here for a few days or I get do my 32 and I’m going to get ass. So—

15:02 I really haven’t cuz I don’t really now football is starting to change cuz there’s too many rules now. They don’t let the players play.

15:11 I understand what you’re talking about.

15:13 They don’t— Yeah. They don’t really let them play anymore.

15:16 Now you were talking about being on the road as often as you are. It’s hard to follow up with football. Now take us a little bit into the life of Eugene from behind the wheel. Not behind the wheel, but the life of Eugene when you’re not in a big truck. What does Eugene do?

15:33 Oh, Eugene. Eugene works on his cars. I’m more like a homebody when I get home. I’d like I just like to be at home. Me and my wife, we’ll go hang out, you know, and just enjoy life. It’s, you know, all of our kids are grown, living their lives. We’re proud of them. So, we just have a lot of uptime.

15:54 Well, let’s dig into that pretty deep here. You said working on your cars now. Do you work on them as a hobby or as a mechanic? You had mentioned you’re kind of mechanically inclined. Do you save yourself some money on doing the repairs yourselves? Do you do it as a hobby? Kind of take us down that road.

16:09 Oh, well it’s a hobby save money more to save money.

16:13 I got you.

16:14 I used to be an air conditioning a commercial air conditioning mechanic. But the cars I took in high school. I took three years in high school and I took one, two, three years at a tree college—

16:27 In mechanics or—

16:29 Yeah, auto mechanics.

16:30 Auto mechanics. Gotcha. Now, do you do the repairs on your own cars typically?

16:35 Yes.

16:36 Gotcha. Now, are these the cars that you have, are they newer cars, couple years old, or how do they fall in that line?

16:44 Well, they’re newer cars now. All the older cars we got rid of when we moved from California. Is it harder to work on these newer cars? I would think so.

16:54 Oh my god. Yeah, it is. It’s harder. It takes a little longer because of the Everything’s made of aluminum or light metal now.

17:04 Mhm.

17:05 So, it’s more hard because it’s more electronic. Like my wife has a 2019 Jetta—

17:12 Right?

17:13 I literally had to go buy a whole new like brake kit just to do the brakes on the car. Like, okay—

17:22 I’m assuming that you probably spent a lot of time on Google on these 2019 model Volkswagen Jettas to figure out what you got to do.

17:31 Well, yeah, that and I have a the manuals—

17:34 Right?

17:35 Yeah. If you I mean, if you can read the manuals, you can follow it on Google, but Google doesn’t really give you too much information anymore because they’re trying they’re kind of making the cars where you have to take them to the dealerships.

17:45 Mhm. So, that’s hard, too. I got you.

17:49 For the most part, I can kind of figure it out. All I have to do is get up under there and look at it. If I can find it, I can fix it.

17:57 How much does that help you as a truck driver to have that kind of mechanical knowledge and insight?

18:04 Oh my god. That’s the beautiful thing about it. That’s the beautiful thing. You never have a you never have too many mechanical calls. Like I’ve never I’ve maybe been on the side of the highway maybe three times having to call having to wait for two trucks—

18:21 Really or have been you to fix maybe three now—

18:25 Two at the most.

18:26 Two or three times. How many times have you been able to fix the problem yourself?

18:34 That’s countless of times. A lot of times—

18:40 When you look at that, when you’ve got that mechanical knowledge out there to help you, it’s a tool in the tool bag. No doubt.

18:50 When something goes wrong with the truck, where do you start? Do you have a checklist? We’re like, is it a regen thing? Is it a deaf thing? Where do we start? And how do you tackle the problem? I’m sure it depends upon what symptoms the problem is. What? Yeah, it depends on what the issue is. If you can read the most of these trucks, they have a digital dash. So, it throws out some codes.

19:18 Mhm.

19:19 That you can probably understand, but I myself personally I start at the battery switch.

19:27 Okay.

19:27 Most of the trucks are equipped with battery switches.

19:30 Gotcha. And you can turn the battery switch off for maybe 10, I’d say take 10 to 15 minutes. Let the truck reset, turn it off—

19:39 But disconnect the battery if you know how—

19:42 Right?

19:43 If you don’t know how to do it, don’t mess with it.

19:45 So, you do that first. That’ll sometime it’ll restart the system and you can see what it is.

19:51 Regen. If your truck regens, the best thing I can tell you to do is keep it above 60 miles. Oh, so you’re talking about a mobile regen where you regen.

20:02 That’s a mobile regen. But if you do a reg sitting, if you do a regen sitting, you have to make you just have just let your truck idle. It’ll idle by itself. Just hit turn the switch on, wait for it to blink, hit it one more time, and it’ll start to regener.

20:19 Now, when you’re doing a regen, those trucks get pretty hot.

20:23 Yeah. Yeah. I was talking to a mechanic just today and I think he said they get that engine gets up to 4 to 500 degrees Fahrenheit.

20:32 Depends on the motor.

20:34 Yeah. Now—

20:35 Like most of the Cummings motors do—

20:38 Right? And I guess you know for those who may be looking to get into the driveaway trucking industry are new to it, maybe kind of fresh to it on the regen process. I guess that’s I don’t know if it’s analogous to like boiling water, getting the impurities out, but it’s basically getting the bad exhaust out and the good deaf in. Is that how you would look at it?

21:04 Well, you look at it like it’s emptying the bad deaf out of the filter. It’s evaporated out of the filter so the fresh deaf can come in. So somewhere along the line something a piece of the filter maybe broke off or it’s just real dirty cuz you know dust can get in there.

21:24 Sure.

21:25 It’s not supposed to but it can. Like I said it all depends on how you drive. If you speed in the trucks it’s going to cause a leech in as well. Now, would you say that it’s comparable for people who are not in the knowledge of diesel engines and the way they work in the big trucks? Is a regen like a reboot of a computer?

21:46 You know what it may be? Because the death system has its own has it own little brain modulator, whatever it’s called. I forgot what it was at the time. But how does it work? Cuz most of it the regen is it had it’s electric—

22:05 Right?

22:06 So yeah, I would assume so. Yeah.

22:08 Sure. Sure. It’s clear. I mean, with your mechanical knowledge, you’ve got a good feel. And speaking of behind the wheel, how long have you been driving trucks?

22:18 Oh, well, I started out driving tractor trails in 2012.

22:23 So, you’ve been in it for 10 years.

22:26 I’ve been at it for a while. You’ve crisscrossed the country, I’m sure. No doubt.

22:32 Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’ve driven from Florida to California. I’ve driven from Florida to Montana. So, I’ve grown across the state to state across.

22:45 What’s the prettiest state you’ve seen? The prettiest state I’ve seen. I would say the I mean the nicest state I liked it with all the trees and stuff would have been Ever Washington.

22:59 Okay. Yeah, there’s some beautiful forest.

23:01 I like every Washington.

23:02 That’s pretty like a light snow or whatever. Not too much smoke cuz we can’t really drive in that. But—

23:10 We don’t want too much snow.

23:11 No, not too soon. We don’t want too much snow. That that doesn’t—

23:15 That’s bad for you and that’s bad for us. We don’t want too much snow.

23:17 Yes.

23:18 Yeah.

23:18 Yeah. We don’t need too much snow.

23:20 What other kind of postcard moments have you seen?

23:23 Everett was one. Virginia was one. Really the most far as citywise. I love New York.

23:35 Now, now let me back up just a second here. You love New York. Now, do you love New York as a tourist or do you love New York driving a big truck through there? I love New York as a tourist.

23:47 I gotta—

23:48 What’s it like to drive through New York? Have you driven through New York City making a delivery?

23:53 Yes.

23:54 How was that, Eugene?

23:55 At first, not going to lie, at first it was horrible. I myself personally, I used the trucker’s trucker GPS from New York, New York—

24:06 Connecticut—

24:07 Right?

24:08 That would be my best piece of advice to everyone.

24:11 Also, if you can’t understand it, if you can’t understand how the that GPS works. Follow the sign that say upward.

24:18 Now, kind of open up the book for us on the trucker’s GPS. How does that help you? How does it work?

24:25 Okay, so the trucker GPS, a lot of people can see the trucker GPS because the route should take you, it may not look like you can’t make it through, but you can. That’s number one.

24:35 Okay.

24:36 Number two, it takes you a little bit out of the way because you have to stay where the clearance is.

24:42 I got you. So the trucker’s GPS sort of maps it out if you got a low bridge coming.

24:48 Yeah.

24:48 It’ll keep you away from all low bridges. So once you go into New York and that that the off the 95, you stay on the 95, but just follow just make sure you follow the maps.

25:01 Just look for the signs that say no trucks and stay on the upper part of the bridges. If you’re scared of ice, don’t go.

25:08 I love that. Love that. What kind of trucks have you taken into New York City? And what kind of challenges did you face going into the Big Apple?

25:18 What did I take to move New York? Was that a utility truck?

25:22 No, it wasn’t a utility truck. It was a commercial box truck, but it had a the box was like 16 ft 16 something like that. So, it was real high.

25:36 So, was it a non CDL or a CDL? No, CDL.

25:41 I got you. Gotcha. All right. Go ahead.

25:43 So, that was really because of the height that really took me out of the way delivery.

25:48 Mhm.

25:48 Because the way the map went with that specific truck because you have a GPS where you can put height in—

25:56 Right?

25:56 But if you don’t want to use your phone and use a trucker GPS on your phone, obviously Jeff get you a Garmin GPS—

26:04 Right?

26:04 And just set it on truck. Set it on the trucker and it’ll take you where you need to go.

26:09 Just kind of go old school there.

26:12 Yep.

26:13 Gotcha. It still works.

26:13 Or get a map.

26:15 Still works. Still works.

26:16 Yeah. If you use a map, if you can read a map, a map, a map will case you around.

26:21 Absolutely.

26:29 You’re listening to Eugene Isaac dropping some knowledge here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. He’s telling us about some of his adventures on the road, some of his experiences, some of his wisdom, how his mechanical knowledge has certainly helped him out. Eugene, we got to ask, you told us you’ve been doing this for about 10 years. What did you do before you got into trucking?

26:51 The commercial air conditioning.

26:53 Yes. How do those two compare?

26:55 Yeah, they don’t. Two different totally different fields.

27:00 They don’t compare at all.

27:01 Which one do you enjoy more? And why?

27:05 I love the driving. I like to drive. So, I love driving. I like delivering the trucks because you get to see different parts. You get to I just love being outside. For the air conditioning, I was outside, but it was a real dirty job. Let me just say that. I’m sure it was a hot job too if you’re in commercial AC.

27:24 Yeah. Yep. Especially during the summers in California. But hey, we got to do some a lot of traveling to places. So—

27:33 It was exciting.

27:34 Now—

27:34 Good morning as well. So—

27:36 On the commercial AC side.

27:38 Yes.

27:39 Now, what about on the driveaway trucking side? Of course, you’re one of our drivers here at Norton Transport, and I’ll be the first to say we are lucky to have Eugene Isaac moving trucks for us. How has it been for you? You, good money on the commercial AC side, but for those people out there who may hear this for the first time and be thinking about moving into driveaway trucking, how is the money for you?

28:06 Money for me? Well, the money for me is good because you learn from your mistakes. When I first started doing driveaway, it was kind of horrible till I figured it out. So, it took me about a week, maybe three weeks at the most to get it down far as going coming back, putting my loads together on how to get from one place to the next. So for new drivers that come in, I would suggest when you take a load, you see where the load is going, where you’re dropping—

28:41 Plan it out ahead. Use your room to Rio. Use your computer with your GPS with the map on it. Plan how to come back. The cheapest way I find to come back and more comfortable with the train, which is Amtrak—

28:56 Right?

28:57 Or Flicks bus. I that I would look into those options before flying and always just try to plan ahead. If you take a load, try to plan it out. They give you roughly two to three days. Take your load, try to plan when you see it so you can get it.

29:19 Gotcha. Now, it’s—

29:20 If that makes any sense.

29:21 Oh, it makes perfect sense. It’s a time and money question. You know, when you were talking about Amtrak versus flying, but you can— It may take you a little more time, but you’re going to save the money in the end.

29:34 Well, yeah, you’ll save the money in the end. That that I mean, the goal is to make your money, enjoy your time coming home. Like it depends on how far you go from home, how fast you want to get home, or how much you want to enjoy the luxury of getting home. But if you, like I said, if you plan ahead, me myself personally, like I have a time when I’m going to be where I need to be, where I have to catch my flight to go home.

29:58 I got you. You’re listening to Eugene Isaac, a 10-year veteran behind the wheel of big trucks and trailers here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Eugene, I got to ask you, you started off with tractors and trailers, of course. Now you’re pulling mostly trucks, not the freight. How do the two compare? How do the two compare? Well, the two compare in a great difference. So with the truck, you don’t have to worry you don’t have to worry of the trailer. You don’t have to worry of the how can I say some of the windy elements—

30:39 That come along with driving a tractor trailer.

30:41 Mhm. And like I said, it all depends on how you drive your units. Or as the wind stop, stay under stay at your 55. Don’t go above it because the wind will rock the truck.

30:53 Oh yeah.

30:53 And then you get scared and that’s how you get that’s how you go over. That’s how most people that’s how it happen with most people.

30:59 So, you know, I never really thought about that too much as far as the differences what you kind of illustrated there. I mean, the truck and the trailer, you got that’s kind of standard kind of uniform. Not to minimize it any, but you talk about now you’re stepping up to so many different types of trucks without cargo. And the box truck is just one example. Of course, you’re in a bucket truck right now. Each one’s different.

31:26 Yeah. So, with the bucket trucks, the wind blows through the bucket trucks because there’s nothing in between.

31:31 So, that’s the difference with that. With the box truck, the wind will hit the box and the box truck is empty. So that makes it light—

31:38 Right?

31:38 Like a tractor trailer, the tractor doesn’t turn over unless the trailer turns over, if you know what I mean. Like if you have your tractor and your trailer and they’re apart, the tractor won’t turn over in the wind.

31:49 But the truck will. But—

31:50 Also, but it also depends on how you drive cuz you can’t fly around a curb doing 65 in a tractor while it’s windy cuz you will flip over.

31:59 It’s— Yeah, exactly. I mean, when you are in a I’m thinking like a state like Kansas, maybe eastern Colorado, where the wind does pick up quite a bit. Does that change the way you decide you’re going to drive, attack the road? I mean, do you look at the wind conditions?

32:20 Yeah, you have to. Like I said, if you’re driving a big even between a small box truck and a big box truck, the wind can push it over. Have you ever had any close calls?

32:32 Yeah. Well, not in not in a not in a box truck in the tractor trailer. I have—

32:36 How was that and how did you manage it?

32:38 Oh, well, I felt the wind. I felt the wind. I felt my trailer tipping, but I just took my feet off the brakes and just like tap them. Just tap the brakes to slow the tractor down to push against the trailer to try to keep it to try to keep it to try to keep it stable.

32:57 I got you. Now, how do you come up with that kind of knowledge? Is it just experience? I mean, they don’t necessarily teach that in or maybe they do. Do they teach that in trucking school or is that just something, you know, I’ve been on the road a long time. This is happening. I got to do this.

33:12 Well, actually, my teacher at the school I was at, he was a retired truck driver—

33:17 Right?

33:18 And he’s the one that told me that before because I messed up in training one day.

33:24 Okay—

33:25 Let me tell you the story real quick. I messed up in training one day and he had me make this sharp right turn. So I made the turn and I thought, “Yeah, I did it. I aced it.” He said, “You failed.”

33:36 Did I fail? How did I fail? He said, “You hit the curve back there.” I said, “Okay.” So he thought I was upset. And he said, “There’s no reason to get upset.” I said, “Holy that hug, sir. I’m not being disrespectful any kind of way towards you. You are a 35 years veteran. I’ve been driving for two weeks. If you say I hit the curve, we’ll do this test again tomorrow. It just, you know, so he taught me the variable between the wind, how you know if your trailer hits this, cuz you can really see if you’re driving into winds that are 65 mile, let’s just say 65.”

34:15 Mhm. You can feel your you can see in the mirror. You can see your trailer moving and you can you can’t feel it and you won’t feel it till it flips over. But that that’s going to hurt. And so you can see your trailer moving. So the object is tap your brakes. If you hit your brakes too hard, there’s a chance that they may lock up, they may not.

34:36 Mhm.

34:38 So that’s what you want to avoid. I tell you, what flips over is the trailer, but it gets locked together. It all flips over.

34:48 We certainly do not want that. You’re picking up some great tidbits of knowledge here from Eugene Isaac here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Eugene, I got to ask you here. You mentioned a sharp right turn. We’re going to take a sharp right turn right now and kind of turn toward the woman in your life. Tell us a little bit about that. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Here we go. We’re going to talk a little bit about Eugene’s wife. And you had mentioned earlier the kids are up and gone grown now. So it’s just I’m assuming it’s just you and the misses.

35:24 It’s just me and her. That’s it.

35:27 So let’s kind of lay out the landscape here. You’ve been on a long run like the one you’re on right now from Fort Worth to Dixon, California. You’re looking for a load, a load back. Could be a flight back, but however you get there, you’re going to get back home. So, you’ve been on the road for a number of days. What are you guys going to do once you get back and you’ve been gone for so long?

35:56 Oh, man. What we do? We go to dinner. That’s number one.

36:00 Number one.

36:02 That’s number one. We going to have a nice meal. We really haven’t found a too much of a good mill yet, but we’re going to find it. But—

36:10 Well, you’ve only been there, you’ve only been there a couple years. I’m sure you’re going to find some great places.

36:15 Oh, yeah. We’re going to find somewhere to play. I mean, typically I go home, we go out, have some fun. Then the next day, she’ll go to work, I’ll stay home, clean up her mess that she makes in the house. So, I’m her butler when I get home.

36:33 Okay. Okay. Hey, it’s a two-way street. It’s a two-way street.

36:39 Yeah, exactly. But also my wife drives in New Orleans sometimes.

36:46 Your wife does what now?

36:48 She drives in Milton sometimes.

36:49 Oh, okay. I did not know that.

36:51 Yeah.

36:52 What she’s is she CDL? NonCDL?

36:57 She’s non CDL.

36:58 Okay. So, she picks up a couple runs here and there. Yeah, she’ll pick up a couple here and there if she’s not in when she’s not at school or doing her human resources. Yeah, that’s that that’s what she likes to do.

37:11 Now, do you guys like to run at the same time where you’re together at the same time or do you run opposite? How do you guys work that out schedule-wise?

37:19 If we get the load that we can run together and she and if during her time off, we do cuz we took a load from we took some trucks from Georgia to— Oh, yeah. We went from Georgia to Montana and she did excellent.

37:35 She did some team driving.

37:37 A little team driving.

37:38 That was our longest.

37:40 Yeah. A little team driving even though my road was a little further than hers. We did some team driving.

37:45 How was that?

37:46 It was great.

37:47 It’s got to be nice to wonderful—

37:49 To be out there doing some team driving with your wife, someone that you’re completely familiar with. You know each other. You know your tendencies. You know your habits. How does that help on such a long run from what’ you say it was Georgia to Montana?

38:04 Yeah. Oh, it was I mean, you know, we talk, we you know, we pull over, we have a nice dinner, we get a good rest, and we just enjoy the drive.

38:15 Now, Eugene, you’ve mentioned here in the last couple of minutes, a nice dinner. Now, you’ve said that a couple of times with you and your wife, so I’m imagining you guys like to have a nice dinner. What’s a nice dinner for you, Jean Isaac? What’s a nice dinner?

38:32 Oh, well, you know what? My favorite food is breakfast food, which is pancakes, some eggs, sage, or something like that. But a nice meal with my wife is like some steak, some shrimp, some rotisserie chicken, and stuff like that.

38:50 I got you. I got you.

38:51 She kind of fancy sometime.

38:54 I got you.

38:55 I know. She fancy.

38:57 She’s the keep of work sometime, but she’s a good driver. She been— She’s been on loss by herself. She The longest run she took by herself was from Georgia, South Dakota.

39:07 That’s a long run.

39:09 Yeah, she been on a long run by herself.

39:11 Well, that’s good. That’s good to hear, man.

39:13 But you know, you said she’s fancy, you’re rough, opposites attract.

39:17 Yeah.

39:18 How long have you guys been together?

39:20 We’ve been together for— Well, we’ve been married seven. We’ve been together maybe 10. You put me on the spot. I hope she don’t listen to this.

39:32 Okay. Hey, we I’ll have the producers edit this out if we need to. We can edit this out. We can take care of you right here, Eugene.

39:41 No, that’s not right. If I’m wrong, I’m allowed on birthdays and anniversary. I’m good.

39:47 Exactly. Exactly. How is that as a couple being a couple that drives sometimes together and I would think it would be beneficial because you guys understand each other in that respect.

40:00 Yeah. Yeah. We understand each other in that respect. So, like I said, a lot of time when we drive together, I’ll let her pick the route and I’ll just keep time to where she can where she’ll go. Like I said, we already have our exit strategy planned.

40:16 Gotcha. So we have certain on a road like that you have to have certain points of where you want to be. So like I said in the beginning I map my outs and points where I want to be.

40:29 Mhm. Mhm.

40:31 Like I know how many miles I can drive a day, where I need to go, what kind of unit I have.

40:38 You try to hit those stop those start and stop points. You try to stay on schedule.

40:43 I try to stay on schedule so there’s no rushing. There’s no when I get here cuz every drop off is different. Every inspection is different. That that that’s what I had to find out too when I started doing driveaway. So all that’s different. So always plan to have at least an hour inspection depending on where you go.

41:02 And how important is that to you to stay on schedule and really kind of build out on that somewhat for somebody who may be listening to this podcast and thinking about moving into driveaway. Staying on schedule and what you just said was a very important point. The inspections that come up, there’s a lot of things that factor in. It’s not just point A to point B. There’s a lot of things that that that come into play. You know, so what comes into play the ve the what I can say the best thing you want to do is like your point of origins really you need to see what the way stations are because with a driveaway company and this is most important for everybody cuz a lot of people don’t do it with a driveaway company even though the scale tells you to go by you have to go in. Never drive by. They will come and get you sometime, but your clothes will go in.

41:57 Have you had that happen?

41:58 I know.

41:59 Have you had that happen before?

42:01 Well, I had it happened to me one time. I was trying to get over in the scale, trying to turn me over, but I would pass the scale. But what I did was I already knew they were coming cuz I seen them when they got in the car. So, I had to pull over to the side and turn my hazard on. When they came, I told the officer, “Well, I couldn’t get over the track. The truck could let me in, so I had to go past.” As you can see, I’m sitting right here waiting. So, it wasn’t an issue.

42:30 It gave you a break.

42:31 Yeah. I mean, cuz I mean, they can see cuz the trucks are lined up. It was one of those old three little lines now where you got two lines you can go in—

42:40 Right?

42:41 But you also want to— But you also want to factor in you may have an inspection—

42:45 A welldeserved. So that’s your— Oh yeah. So that’s your I call them mile markers. If I want to be here at a certain time, I already know I got to go to this way station. If I get pulled in inspection, they do level one sometimes, which is maybe 30 minutes.

43:02 Mhm.

43:02 So that’s time you have—

43:05 Right?

43:06 That’s your point because you have that that gives you allows you the extra 30 minutes drive time because you’re on duty non-driving—

43:13 Right? So you can still keep the clock rolling, so to speak.

43:18 You can still keep it rolling, but you also want to stay on schedule dependent on depending on if you have another load to pick up, depending on if you have a plane ticket or well train doesn’t matter because you can book a train ticket anytime, but the flights never change, but planes do. So if you have a plane ticket 4 days from now, like I do, you want to keep your schedule.

43:38 Okay. You got a ticket on a plane here in 4 days? Yeah, I have a ticket on— Well, wait. What’s today? Friday, Saturday, Sunday.

43:47 Okay.

43:47 But yeah, three days. Three days now. Yeah.

43:49 So, let me see if I can guess this right. Eugene Isaac here joining us on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. You’ve got a ticket to jump on a plane. But if you get a load out, if you get a load out of Dixon, California, you’re taking it.

44:05 Yeah.

44:06 Yeah. You’ll cancel that plane ride, right? Walking. I get my pieces to watch the watching to change it or refund them.

44:13 How beneficial or how I guess comforting is it to have that option?

44:20 I vary. Like I said, it each driver has their own way of how they do things—

44:27 Right?

44:28 I can say my thing is you lose money when you plan late.

44:34 Got to plan ahead. That that you have to if you have in design way doing driveaway, you have to plan ahead from start to end cuz you want to know how you’re getting to your truck. You want to know how you’re getting home from your truck if there’s no other load. But if you do get another load and it’s maybe a few hours away, okay, how will I get there? But you have time to decide that.

45:00 Mhm. So, like for instance, I it’s the weekend now, so it’s pretty not going to be anything new on the board, so I’m going to go home.

45:11 I got you. I got you. I mean, it would be a blessing or money in the bank if something came up out of the Dixon, California area, taking you back to the Mid-Atlantic. That would be money in the bank.

45:26 Money in the take me all the way back. Could you take me part of the way back? And it doesn’t have to be it doesn’t have to be Northern California. It could be anywhere in California between California and Phoenix. I mean, you obviously strike me as a guy that has a positive outlook and you keep your options open.

45:45 Oh, yeah. Yeah. With this right here. But that that that honestly that comes from my wife.

45:52 How so?

45:53 She’s the one she’s doing. Well, she’s the one told me, you know, you should really plan ahead sometime for your exit. Mhm. I mean—

46:01 You know, I never thought about that. So—

46:03 I mean, you’ve been in this long enough and with your wife’s assistance, you certainly given credit to her. How important would it be for you to pass along to other potential driveaway drivers to have that exit strategy in place?

46:19 I mean, to me, that’s what I would tell them. Like, I met I’ve met drivers at drop off points drivers I don’t know. I mean, there’s been a few drivers I’ve helped like going to God center with the concrete truck.

46:34 Oh, yeah.

46:34 A lot of guys don’t Y know, a lot of guys don’t know how to, you know, how to how to work the how to work the drums.

46:42 Sure. You’re talking about contact.

46:45 Yeah, contact.

46:46 Oh, yeah.

46:48 So, a lot of guys don’t know how to do it. I showed a few guys when we were there, but I can’t remember the gentleman’s name. When I first went there, he Steve. Steve. He’s the one who showed me. He the one who taught me how to do it.

47:04 Was it Steve Earl?

47:05 Steve Earl. Exactly.

47:06 Yeah. Yeah.

47:07 Yeah. That’s my buddy right there. Every time I go there, well, when he’s used to do that part, he’s in another part right now.

47:14 But when he was there, when I first started going there, he showed me the speed. He said, “This what you need to have it.” He showed me how to lock the I forgot what they called, but lock the wheels in place cuz sometime they move—

47:28 Right?

47:29 He showed me all that. He showed me how to do all that. I passed along with the driver because they sit there confused. I tell you got your pack spinning too fast, slow it down—

47:37 Right?

47:38 You know—

47:39 I got to tell you, Eugene, we appreciate that. I’m an account manager here and contact is my account. That’s why I knew Steve Earl and Cody, I believe Cody, I believe, has stepped into that position now. And there’s also a guy that if any of our drivers out there are listening to this podcast, I got to tell you, Jim Cunningham is a guy that will help you at any question you have. If you pick up at contact and you’re moving a cement mixer that is a drum mixer and you need any questions answered, ask for Jim Cunningham.

48:14 Ask for Jim. Yeah. Him, too.

48:16 Yeah.

48:16 Those guys up in Dodge Center, Minnesota at Cont are fantastic. Yeah. Yeah. All you have to do All you have to do is just talk to them. My advice when you go, if you’re taking a chassis there, call them the day before you go. If they’re going to ask you if you can, you know, make sure you have a ride. If you don’t have a truck, you have a truck, stop and put your stuff in there. Bring your keys and he’ll take you back to it or you can walk through it. However, if you don’t know how to do it, they’ll show you.

48:45 I mean, you know, talk about that. Not just at Dodge Center, not just Conte, but out there with all the customers, all the clients, all the companies you deal with. How do you approach it? And how would you advise men and women who move into driveaway to approach it?

49:04 I would approach it this way. So, you know where you’re going, know your pickup, you know, your drop off. Drop off is the most important. Hiccup is too, but drop off is more important because you want to find out their operating hours for drop off.

49:20 You want to find out how they do their inspections. You want to find out where they want you to drop it off cuz some places want you to they have separate yards where you have to go—

49:29 Right?

49:30 So, my thing is contact your drop off locations. If there’s no information on there, contact your dispatcher. Tell them I need an email address. Preferably a phone number so you can talk to somebody.

49:44 Exactly.

49:45 Emails are fine, but talking to somebody to get some clarification. It’s better.

49:50 Oh yeah. Human contact.

49:52 So that way you can make sure the way you make sure. So you call them. Tell them when you’re going to pee there. Find out if they have if you can drop off on the weekend. Like for instance my truck, the gentleman said they need it. So he said if I’m there, give him a call. He lived he grew not too far from there and we can do our drop off on that day. I said fine. Communication is the key.

50:17 Oh, absolutely.

50:22 You’re listening to Eugene Isaac here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Eugene, you just said something I wanted to kind of drill down on as a driver. Obviously, you’re an experienced driver. You’ve been doing this for 10 years and it’s something that you love. You’re passionate about. For drivers out there or potential drivers who are considering driveaway as a career, you said when you tell them you’re going to be there, how important is it to stick to what you say?

50:50 Well, it well it’s important because if they’re going to take their time out to meet you, then I mean it’s just very respectful of that person. It’s just it’s a plain and simple. That’s why you communicate. If something comes up and you’re going to run late, call them and let them know. You never know. With the highway, there’s a lot of accidents. You might be in a for instance, I was leaving Vent, Texas—

51:16 With a chassis.

51:18 I was in a—

51:19 I was in a 6 hour slowdown from a accident that closed the highway right on the 35 West—

51:26 Right?

51:26 6 hours. I hadn’t even started driving 15 minutes.

51:29 So, you’re already behind the eightball. I’m on I was six hours behind from the start from the jump but like I said planning the head keeps you in the loop with that sometimes.

51:39 And has it been your experience as a driver when something like that happens and you had just said there the importance of communication?

51:50 Has it been your experience as a driver that people understand?

51:54 Yeah. Yeah. They because they understand things happen. But if you tell them things happen, they know that way. If you like if your schedule’s pushed back, then they could they can come up with some different options for you. Far as that goes, like I said, we can’t drop off depending on the person that’s receiving the unit. Never ever just take a unit, leave it somewhere. Don’t do that. Don’t do that. Got you. That’s number one, guys. If you’re going to do it, don’t do that. Like I said, just talk to the customer and if they tell you that you can leave it somewhere, don’t do that either. Tell them you need a signature. Tell them you have to leave. You have somebody has to be here to sign for you—

52:37 Right?

52:37 You can’t leave it there. You can’t hide the keys. Don’t do none of that. As an account, you know—

52:43 You are listening to Eugene Isaac here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Eugene, I got to tell you, you have given us some information that is rich, deep, rich, fertile information. We appreciate that. Not only for us here at Norton Transport and for the drivers out there, but for people who may be listening and considering this. Nobody better to hear it from than guys that have been on the road in Eugene’s case for 10 years. Eugene, I’m going to open up the floor, leave it to you. We’re about to wrap it up here. What would you say about your experience as a driveaway trucker and how would you share that with people who may be considering it?

53:24 Well, my in my experience, don’t look down on it until you try it. It looks rough at first. When you, like I said, when you first do your first couple of drop offs, your money’s not quite the same because you haven’t understood how to do it. So, once you get the firm understanding of doing it, planning, scheduling, it’ll be fine. And you’ll start to see your profit from there. Don’t look at it as a waste of time. Just give it some time. Fill it out. And if you if I run into you out there, then ask me. Now, you said it took you took it took you about three weeks. I’m sorry, about three weeks to kind of smooth it out, iron out the wrinkles. What would you say? I mean to I mean but of course you had the advantage of being a driver before and having that experience behind you. What would you say would be a good gauge for people to say give it a work give it a try. Let it work. Let it work through the process. Figure out the wrinkles. Get your plans in place.

54:26 Figure out your exit strategy. How long would you say people need to give it a chance?

54:31 In my honest opinion, give it your first 90 days.

54:36 Okay. Give it your like a regular job. Give it your first 90 days. The trial period. Give it that. Believe me, if you can you’ll figure it out before it is. But just give yourself the 90 days. Give yourself 90 days to understand it because the real quick the difference between driveaway and tractor trader driving is the drop off. So most companies they handle their drop off. They have time where they have to be there. You are more flexible in the driveaway.

55:09 Mhm.

55:09 Because you can schedule your time how you want to do it.

55:13 Exactly.

55:14 Like I said, the key communicate with the customer is dropping off to. Once you get all that planned and figured out, then that’s how you plan your that how you plan your drive, your route. That’s how you plan everything.

55:31 Just look at it. If you’re gonna take a run, it’s going to take you four days. Don’t go home on the fourth day. Go home on the fifth day.

55:40 Gotcha. That way you have that time. Anything comes up. Anything. Always make sure you keep in contact with your dispatchers and you can figure it out. They’ll help you. My dispatcher helps me. She’s awesome.

55:56 Your dispatcher is Jessica?

55:58 Yeah. Jessica Albert? Yeah. Jessica. Hey, Jessica. Yeah, she is awesome. We appreciate her. She actually I mean I think I told you this privately, but she recommended you and what a great recommendation. You’ve been fantastic, Eugene Isaac, brought to you here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. You’ve been awesome, Eugene. We thank you for your for all that you do for Norton Transport, for all the trucks that you move, and for the advice, for the insight into the driveaway trucking world and the pearls of wisdom that you’ve passed along to many people who may be listening to this for the first time. We thank you so much. We’re going to wrap it up, leave it to you, but go ahead, close it out with what you would say to someone who is thinking about moving into driveaway trucking. Give it a try. Like I said, give it a try. You should figure it out in 3 weeks. I figured out in 3 weeks. Plan ahead. Communicate with your drop off. Really, just take your time.

57:02 Don’t speed. A lot of people speed in these trucks. You use all that’s how you burn all your gas and your fuel and that’s how you have accidents. Just be safe out there. Like I said, if you meet me out here, you need some advice, easy to talk to. I give you my number. We can talk. I’d help plenty of people. I know where all the CNZ stations are if you get a unit like that. Oh goodness.

57:25 That’s great. That’s great to know.

57:28 You guys be safe out there. And like I said, if you coming on board, give it a try. I say give it that first 90day shot.

57:37 You heard it right there. Eugene Isaac telling you like it is here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Eugene, thank you so much for your time and thank you for everything you’ve done for us and continue to do. Be safe out there on the road.

57:58 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.