00:05 If you run into a traffic jam and there’s no way out, you can’t bag up, you can’t control that situation. So, there’s no reason to get upset about it—

00:14 Right? So, you just got to join the club. Join the club.

00:21 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.

00:42 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. I’m your host, John Madewell, and joining us this evening is Terry Scott. Terry, how are you?

00:52 I’m great. And you?

00:54 Oh, if I were any better, it’d be a Class C felony.

00:57 Okay. No, I’m doing great. Are you on the road now?

01:01 Oh, well, no. I’m at— Well, I’m in a vehicle, but I’m not at work.

01:07 Oh, okay. Where were you before?

01:09 I was in Mansfield, Ohio and Limo, Ohio.

01:15 Gotcha. So, you were dropping was it three or four that you were dropping?

01:19 Three. Zars.

01:21 Gotcha. Zar, three load. Where was it coming out of?

01:25 Vine Army, Texas.

01:26 Gotcha. Gotcha. So, how long have you been doing the deck driving side? How long have you been doing the deck loads—

01:34 For Norton or period—

01:36 Total? Total in your career there?

01:38 I would say about two years, eight months.

01:41 Two years and eight months. What’s it been like?

01:43 It has its ups and downs like every other job.

01:46 We talked to a lot of deck drivers here on the Six-Figure Trucker and there’s some work involved. Tell us a little bit about the labor that is involved in doing the deck loads. You look at about three to six hours of labor. Really ain’t much else to say about it. I mean, you it’s a on hands demand. You in a situation where you have to figure out the problem quick because the customer is really not inclined about it. You can reach out to fellow drivers, but majority of time it’s something that you have to solve. Gotcha. What are some of the situations you’ve been in before? I mean, you know, you’re talking about ZBARS, and I guess with saddles, what are some of the things that are the most thought challenging or physical labor challenging? What are the things that when you get ready to do a deck load, what are some of the things that are the most challenging?

02:42 Oh, the most challenging is when you have a chain that don’t want to release, when a chain don’t untighten so you can take it off, or you have a bolt that’s stubborn. Even with your impact gun, you have a axle that’s stubborn. It don’t want to go inside. I mean, it weather. Let’s not forget weather.

03:06 Yeah, that’s going to be coming up.

03:09 Yeah. No, either way, hot or cold, let’s not forget it.

03:13 I bet. I mean, you know, you were talking about a bolt, a chain, a lot of these mechanical things that can get in the way. How do you cope with that? How do you deal with it when you’re out there on a yard?

03:24 Oh, you just take a deep breath and step back and examine it. And then what I do is I just retrace my steps. I start from the beginning cuz maybe I missed something to not perform on this situation. So maybe I miss something. And if that don’t happen, you have to figure it out to the best of your knowledge and do not damage the customer’s vehicle so everyone can be happy. Me on the paying end and Norton on the paying end and customer receiving their vehicle.

03:57 Absolutely. Absolutely. Now, you talked about retracing your steps. So, you’ve been doing this for almost three years on the deck side. How important has it been for you in the daytoday to retrace your steps? And from what I’m hearing, I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but from what I’m hearing, you’re cautious about what you do.

04:18 Correct. Well, it’s very important not to be comfortable with, oh, I’ve done this load many of times, so I know what I’m doing. It’s very important not to be like, I’m just speaking for as me. I’m very comfortable with that. Every day is a new challenge. A new ch every load is a new challenge to me and it can be the same exact as the first.

04:41 You don’t want to get cocky.

04:42 Correct. And I don’t want to rush neither. It’s important because you’re carrying a lot of cargo there and it’s precious cargo, but beyond that is the safety factor. I’m sure those thoughts are all in your head every time you’re going to pick up two, three trucks.

04:59 Correct. Now, talk about, you know, you were talking about being a contractor and it’s an independent contractor and a lot of drivers we’ve had on the Six-Figure Trucker here brought to you by Norton Transport like that independence and freedom that it gives them to also make good money. Is that something that’s true for you?

05:17 Oh, yeah. It’s very true. That’s very true.

05:19 Talk a little bit about the freedom that you get being an independent contractor.

05:23 The freedom of an independent contractor, you can pretty much make your plan. You got 30 days to fulfill your contract. You can do one load every 30 days and live your life with your family. Your family can meet you at your destination where you taking a load. You can pass by through town. You don’t— It’s not a 9 to5 where you get a schedule and say, “Hey, I got to be at work at 9. They’re not giving no overtime, so I got to be off the clock at five o’clock.”

05:53 Right? It’s great far as freedom and your choice of life. It’s great.

06:02 Gotcha. Gotcha. How’s it been for you? Not asking how much you made last year, but how’s it been for you on the income side?

06:09 Well, the income side is great.

06:11 I did want to ask you about you’ve been doing this two years, eight months as a deck driver. Were you a singles driver before that?

06:19 No. No, I worked for another I worked for a competitor as well. As—

06:24 Well. I’m contracted through another competitor as well.

06:27 I gotta gotcha. Gotcha. So, you’ve always been a deck driver. You jumped into it from the start as a deck driver?

06:33 No, I started as a hub driver and then I upgraded to deck driver.

06:39 How do those two compare? A hub driver versus a deck driver.

06:43 Oh, a deck driver is more laidback. Even though you got those few hours of labor, my opinion is the hub. The hub to make a good do what I make with deck, you have to run hard. You have to run back to back to back. You have basically you won’t have no rest. I think—

07:03 But deck or easily said you have to do two hubs to mine one deck load to make the same amount of money.

07:12 I got you. So, what’s a typical deck load for you as far as how much time does it take to do it? I mean, when you’ve got one that you like, one that puts a smile on Terry Scott’s face, what’s how long does it last? The typical deck load.

07:26 Oh, I say about three hours. Three and a half hours to do to put a smile on Terry’s face.

07:34 Now, I’m talking about from the time you like, are you on one load, you know, three, four trucks for a week, three days, four days? What’s prime for you?

07:44 Oh, no. No. I when I’m on a load, for example, if it’s 1,800 miles, I’m giving it to you in 3 days. I’m trying to give it to you in two days, two and a half days, but other than that, 600 miles a day equals in three days. That’s 1,800 right there.

08:03 Right. So, that’s kind of your wheelhouse or you’re where you’re comfortable as far as you know, this is a good week.

08:10 Yes.

08:11 Gotcha. Gotcha. What about you? You worked as a hub driver. You worked as a deck driver. Let’s talk about some of the places you’ve been, the things you’ve seen.

08:19 I’ve been a lot of places. I’ve seen a lot of great things in different states.

08:24 Now, what comes to mind when you start sitting around telling stories about life on the road? What’s the best tell us some of the most memorable places you’ve been to?

08:34 Oh, the most memorable is actually when I driven through Albuquerque, New Mexico. I went through hot and then you know you drive 20 more miles you go through a snowstorm and then you drive 20 more miles you go through a rainstorm. So that was different in the mountains. I never experienced that but it was a great one.

08:57 I know exactly what you’re talking about. I’ve been out to Albuquerque a lot. You go south and you’re in the hot desert. You go north you’re in the mountains. And even if you’re in the desert at night it gets cool. I guess you experience that as well. Oh, definitely. Yeah, it was 27 degrees. 27 degrees when I had to get out that truck to get my paperwork.

09:15 Oh my. How long ago was that?

09:17 That was just recent. That was last week.

09:20 Oh, 27 degrees last week. Wow.

09:22 Yeah, they said it’s their winter season.

09:25 Oh, okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. What about some other places you’ve been that were memorable? Well, when I was on my way to California and I drove the back way to it through from Laredo, I drove literally you can look to your left and you could see the border to New Mex to Mexico and you just drive for hours in the I want to call it canyons c mountains, but that I never been close to the border that that close. So—

09:56 So you were right on it.

09:57 Nice. Oh yeah, I can park and jump the little fence. It was—

10:03 I gotcha. What about— Let’s work our way back across the country. What about in the heartland there in the Kansas and that kind of area? Have you been through those places? And what did they say to you?

10:16 Yeah, I’ve been through Kansas pretty much. I just look for hopefully I run a drive where I can see the stadiums, you know, or I’m into skyscrapers or skylines I call them.

10:31 Gotcha. So, which Skyliners? I mean, which one catches your eye and which ones, you know, I will remember that skyline.

10:40 I was I would imagine it was the Omaha skyline.

10:43 What’s it look like?

10:44 It was nice. You could see it from the freeway. I mean, it just is a skyline. It stands out—

10:52 Right?

10:52 From where I live, I was told the skyline is the tallest buildings rep that represents the downtown of the state of the city—

11:01 Right?

11:02 So—

11:03 So Omaha looks pretty good at night.

11:05 Yeah.

11:05 Gotcha. Now, of course, there are cities with major skylines, but that’s a different animal when you get into a city like say New York or Boston and you got to drop there. What’s that like when you go into a major metropolitan area?

11:20 Oh my god, it’s a nightmare.

11:24 Oh, there’s nightmare.

11:25 Where do you start? Well, break it down for us. What’s the nightmare part of it?

11:30 The nightmare is the beginning and ending of bumper traffic. Just for example, Chicago and no matter what time of the day, 25 hours a day, some it’s traffic. It’s traffic. It’s traffic. In this bumper to bumper going two miles on the freeway. Same thing for Atlanta.

11:51 Oh yeah.

11:51 And New York, New York, Connecticut, all that area up there in the east. Same way.

11:58 Yep.

11:59 I just don’t understand that.

12:01 How much patience does it take as a being a deck driver if you’re fully loaded? If you’ve got four total, one the horse and three behind you to be on the Dan Ryan Freeway in Chicago or to be on I 85 in Atlanta or I-75 in Atlanta or I 95 up around Boston and you’re going 2 miles an hour. How much patience does that take?

12:24 It take a lot of patience. I mean, it just I just picture my driving as a regular vehicle. I mean, me cussing and renting and raving ain’t going to change the situation. So, you just got to join the club. I mean, it ain’t no other way around.

12:43 How do you convince yourself to join the club and not get into, you know, a string of curse words there?

12:49 Because you see the you see what you’re approaching already. So, if I can’t control the situation as right now, then there’s no need for me to get out of control about the situation. That’s just the way I live life. That’s a solid piece of advice right there, Terry. Solid piece of advice. Now, as far as do you get down south much as far as like down to southern Florida? Down south Florida?

13:16 Yes.

13:18 What’s your outlook on it?

13:20 Oh, I like it. It’s just very busy to me. I think it’s one of those states where it’s always something to— It reminds me of a Vegas. You know, Vegas open 28 hours a day—

13:31 Right? I got you.

13:32 So that’s what it reminds me of.

13:35 It’s kind of Vegas without all the mountains there.

13:38 Correct.

13:39 Now, you were talking about you like to see the skylines. Did I hear you say you like to see the stadiums as well?

13:45 Yes. Yeah. Well, hopefully the route I take, I can ride past the stadium.

13:51 What’s the— Which stadiums have you driven past in your transport?

13:56 Oh, all the New York stadiums. I’ve driven past Kansas City Royals, the Chief Stadium. I’ve driven past the Chicago, let’s see, Indianapolis. I’ve been past.

14:10 Mhm. Who’s—

14:11 That’s pretty much it.

14:12 Who’s got the best looking stadium in your opinion as seen from behind the wheel of a big truck?

14:18 Oh, but well, besides Cleveland, Ohio, I would say Vegas.

14:24 Vegas. Oh, yeah. That’s something else.

14:25 Well, no, I take that back. I stand correct. Even Cleveland, Ohio, Soldier Field, Chicago, they field is cold. They look like a spaceship.

14:37 I got you. Now that that stadium out in Vegas, if you’ve seen it, which it sounds like you have. That’s something to see.

14:44 Yeah, that’s a nice one.

14:46 I’ve I think I’d have to look it up, but I think I heard something like $5 billion or close to that for it.

14:52 That’s a lot of money.

14:53 Yeah. Now, you were talking about Cleveland. Cleveland was on. Now, this podcast will air a little bit later, but Cleveland was on against Cincinnati. When was that? Monday night.

15:02 Monday.

15:03 Boy, they were spank they were spanking them.

15:06 That’s what I hear.

15:07 Are you a Browns fan?

15:09 Yeah.

15:10 Who do you I was going to say, who do you like on that team?

15:13 I don’t follow him. I’m just because I live in Ohio.

15:17 I got you. I got you.

15:18 But Nick Chub is a beast. Whatever DNA he has, that’s different.

15:26 You want some of that?

15:27 That dude can squat a thousand pounds. He was showing his training video.

15:33 Oh, he is.

15:34 Yeah, he is a beast. There’s no doubt about that. What do you follow? Pro football, college football. Being in Ohio, obviously you got a lot to choose from.

15:44 No. Sports ain’t the same for me anymore. It just seemed like it’s entertainment. It’s really not a sport anymore.

15:51 You don’t like the direction it’s going.

15:53 Correct.

16:04 Now, let’s go back a little bit to trucking. How do you see the state of the industry right now at large with the price of fuel being a major factor? Where do you see the present and the future of driveaway trucking now?

16:18 Well, I know they’re going to make it hard for the drivers. I mean, it’s gonna be hard period in the industry if it goes higher. I don’t see trucking going anywhere, but with this fuel, I see trucking slowing down. So maybe these trucking companies might somehow someway produce minivans or something small to deliver their freight. And far as the industry of driveaway, it might break down to singles. Singles are more demanding—

16:54 Than the deck side.

16:55 Correct.

16:56 Would you slide back to singles if it happened that way?

16:59 No. That’s unless they paid. Great. That’s the only way I see myself becoming singles only. If they pay, great.

17:07 Gotcha. Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, you were talking about the moving to smaller vehicles for delivering freight. Obviously, we’re in the driveaway sector here and we don’t move freight, but have you heard much talk among other driveaway drivers just when you’re out, you know, shooting the breeze, talking with other drivers at truck stops or wherever you may be. Have you guys talked about that as far as, you know, let’s put less cargo in smaller vehicles that have better fuel efficiency? Is that something you guys have talked about? No, but it’s pretty much common sense of a thought because the world revolves around solving problems. So—

17:46 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, are you a we’re going to talk a little bit about Terry Scott, the man here? Do you have a family? Are you a single guy? Are you on the road a lot? I mean, are you away from your family?

17:58 No, I have a family.

18:00 Okay.

18:00 I have a family.

18:02 I’m not away from them a lot. I do me and the wife agreed to two weeks. Two weeks be home for three weeks.

18:09 Two weeks maximum away.

18:11 Correct.

18:12 When you’re out there on the road two weeks, let’s say you extend to the maximum, you’re out there for two weeks. Does it get lonely?

18:18 Oh, definitely.

18:19 How do you combat that?

18:21 You got to focus on the prize in the end.

18:23 Gotcha. When does that kind of lonely feeling come over you? I mean, is it that when you’re picking up or you do all the work to get the trucks ready to go or when does that I wouldn’t think that would be the time. I would think it’s on the actual road, but you tell me. You—

18:38 Well, it’s when you lose track of how many days you’ve been out there. That’s when you get lonely. When you think Monday, it’s Monday today, but you’re calling it Thursday, you know.

18:52 Sounds like that’s happened to you before.

18:54 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Like today I thought was Friday. For some reason I thought all day today was Friday.

19:01 You guys are running the road so much and so frequently so often as far as you know of course you got your downtime to be to stay within the requirements of the law there. But it’s still the same. You’re on the road so much.

19:16 But just it’s like every other person when you’re busy you just lose track of sense.

19:22 Right. I got you. Now, when you’re on the road, you know, we’ve talked to a number of deck drivers here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Terry Scott with us tonight. You know, a key thing about when you’re a deck driver, a key thing is finding a hotel where you can park, particularly if you have not dropped yet. How do you approach that?

19:42 Well, that’s all with your that’s all with the person. Me myself when I first know where I’m going, I do Google map search and I just type in hotels along the way. So say if my first leg that’s a day I call them legs or first leg if I’m doing 600 miles I’ll do from Van Army just say to Prescott Arkansas is 600 miles. So, I’ll type up hotels near Prescott, Arkansas—

20:15 Right?

20:15 And then I’ll just start calling those hotels and say, “Hey, do you have a do you have tractor parking there, but big enough for 100 ft?” And sometimes you sometimes the customer be like, “Yeah.” And then you get there, it’s the size of a pickup truck, but—

20:34 You just have to plan out, right?

20:36 That can be a problem. I’m sure you’ve been boxed in before or not able to get into a parking lot.

20:41 Oh, yeah. Yes, sir.

20:44 What do you do in that situation?

20:46 Oh, that situation. You just have to find and—

20:50 Keep rolling.

20:51 Next move.

20:52 Keep rolling.

20:53 Just keep rolling. I was going to ask you about— We’ve talked to a couple of guys. You probably know them. Michael Coll who has his Facebook page out there. They call him the hotel guy. Now, when you’re staying in a hotel, do you have a certain brand that you like or is what do you look for in a hotel?

21:10 Oh, I live for safety. I live for safety at a hotel. And me, I’m safe. The load safe, my stuff in the truck is safe. And no pets, no big bugs, roaches, and rats and all that stuff. Yeah. Now, let me ask you, kind of dive down into that. Have you ever had any issues with safety on the road? I mean, anything ever happened?

21:38 Far as what you what do you mean?

21:39 I mean, somebody, you know, breaking into your room, you know, an unpleasant exchange with someone at the hotel, maybe somebody trying to get into the truck, anything like that?

21:49 No.

21:50 That’s good. That’s good. What about the other side of that coin? Any bed bugs or things such as that?

21:56 Oh, yeah. Yeah. They had many of those situations.

22:00 That’s not pleasant at all.

22:02 No.

22:03 What’s Terry’s ideal load? I mean, if things line up, the planets align, what do you want?

22:09 Cleveland, Ohio. Any something near home?

22:13 I guess that’s something everybody wants.

22:15 That is correct. Cuz with that, because I can stay out longer. I visit home, say hello to the wife, see my son. There’s no complaints at home cuz I stop at home. I can stay out longer.

22:27 Yeah, exactly. Now, tell us a little bit about your son. How old is your son?

22:31 He’s about to turn 13.

22:34 Oh, boy. Oh, boy. So, you got a teenager coming up there. Is he into sports?

22:39 Yeah, I make his games.

22:41 Okay. I guess that’s something that’s important for you. Like you just said, you make his games if you’re out on the road. I guess you got his schedule on your phone or somebody’s gently reminding you about it.

22:51 Correct.

22:52 What kind of sports does he play?

22:54 Football and basketball. And is he is that something you see him sticking to?

23:00 Yeah, I see it.

23:01 Now, how does he relate with what you do for a living? I mean, I’m assuming in his time he’s seen you get in and out of these big trucks.

23:09 Yeah, he— Well, far as emotional, I wouldn’t say it bothers him emotionally, but he sees me, you know, when I’m leaving, he’ll say, “All right, how long, you know, I’ll see you in two weeks or whatever.” Something like that. I is he impressed when he sees you getting these big trucks? Has he ever seen one? I guess it may be difficult for him to see the full load, but have you sent him pictures? So, here’s what I’m doing today. Here’s four trucks moving at the same time.

23:38 Yeah.

23:38 Is he impressed?

23:39 Yeah, he impressed. Not enough where he want to do it, but he’s impressed.

23:44 I see. What about the Mizes there? I’m sure she’s seen the same type pictures there.

23:50 Yeah, she likes it. And she say, “Oh, that’s a lot of driving.” A lot of driving.

23:56 And I was going to ask you now, you were talking about two weeks is your max on the road. What do you do in the time that you’re not on the road?

24:03 Oh, when I’m not on the road, I’m just relaxing. Ain’t nothing better than sleeping in your own bed.

24:10 I heard that. What kind of hobbies do you have, Terry?

24:13 I play pool. I go bowling. Me and the wife, she travels. I just go along with her. I don’t know. I hang with my sons. I’m pretty much a boring guy. I’m happy at home in my recliner.

24:28 Hey, there’s nothing wrong with that, man. Recliner there. Remote right there. Blanket if you need it in the winter. There’s nothing wrong with that at all.

24:35 Exactly.

24:35 Now, growing up in Ohio and living in Belelfford, Ohio or Bedford, Ohio, where do you vacation?

24:42 We just came off a vacation in Phoenix.

24:45 Okay.

24:45 So, it’s pretty much where, like I say, she travel, I just follow. I got you. Did you guys go out there for any particular reason? You have family out there or is this somewhere you wanted to see or what?

24:57 No, it’s our own time share. So, we went for our vacation.

25:02 Gotcha. Was it a good time?

25:04 I mean, anniversary, I mean.

25:06 Okay, I got you. How long you been married?

25:08 We’ve been married two years and some change now.

25:13 Okay. How’s it going?

25:14 Oh, it’s going great.

25:16 Fantastic. That’s good to hear. How long do you see yourself staying in the in this space in the decking driveaway space?

25:24 Oh, I see myself here for a while. As long as they don’t start giving us the same loads and minusing the money, you know that then obviously anyone would leave. But—

25:36 How long have you been with Norton itself?

25:40 Norton, eight months.

25:41 Eight months. Okay. Well, we’re glad that you’ve been with us for eight months. We’re glad that you moved a lot of trucks for us and did want to ask this one question about your time as a deck driver versus a hub driver. Which one weighs on the mind and the soul the most?

25:58 Oh, deck driver.

26:01 How so?

26:02 Oh, because you got to you have to not damage the vehicle. It can be the least thing a customer can complain about and they blame you, you know, and then it’s that claims, all that. Or if the vehicle is real dirty and you can’t see that it’s damaged already and then you deliver it, then the customer discovers it, it’s the driver’s fault. A—

26:29 Lot of responsibility there.

26:31 Yeah. Versus Hub, you just you look at it, you scan it. It’s dirty. I can’t really see the damage, but you deliver it and it’s no no headaches like Dex.

26:43 Gotcha. No, no headache, but the money’s not the same either.

26:46 Correct.

26:47 Have you been able to do something really fun with the income that you’ve been able to earn as a tech driver?

26:54 Fun.

26:55 Sure.

26:56 Well, I don’t like spending money, so nothing fun or something.

27:00 Would you buy anything cool? I mean, you didn’t spend it on a fun experience, but are you an investment kind of guy?

27:06 Oh, I’ve started a different business. I mean, that question is hard cuz spending money is not fun.

27:15 I understand. I understand. No, you said you started another business. Tell us a little bit about that.

27:20 Oh, pressure washing.

27:23 Okay. Okay.

27:24 I do, pressure washing.

27:25 You do homes, businesses, both?

27:28 Commercial and residential. Which one of those is more profitable?

27:32 Residential.

27:33 Okay. Okay. Do you work the Cleveland area there? The Bedford area?

27:37 Yes.

27:38 Gotcha. When’s your time that you I would think that that business would be slowing down because I’m assuming it’s getting pretty cold at this time of year.

27:46 Oh, no.

27:47 No—

27:48 No. Busy time is for commercial is in the winter time, but the truck drivers love to get that salt rinsed off of them.

27:58 Oh, yeah. Yeah. So, I didn’t even think about it from that standpoint. Are you mobile to the truck driver or how do you how does that operate?

28:06 Well, I’m I am mobile. I’m mobile to them.

28:09 Gotcha. Okay.

28:10 And Yeah, that’s pretty much it. I’m mobile to them.

28:15 I got it. So, you do you go to the various truck stops along the way or do you go to their houses if they are O and O’s and have the trucks there with them?

28:23 Correct. Or I go to where they have the trucks located.

28:27 Gotcha. How long does it take to clean up a truck? I’m sure it depends upon how dirty it is, but on average—

28:33 On average is about 35 minutes.

28:35 And is that including the time you have to get set up or is that just actual cleanup time or is that from start to finish?

28:43 That’s the actual time on the truck. The load I pretty much know what I’m going to do. I mean, they’re basically the same vehicle.

28:51 Oh, yeah.

28:53 One vehicle is the same, you know. They just tell you difference in what they want, you know, hey, I want some brighten my you know, tanks, the chrome, or I want to rinse, just rinse the salt off. You pretty much take what you need.

29:09 I got you. You know, you just reminded me of something there talking about the salt. You’ve been driving for a while and you like to be close to home. What are the roads like in Ohio?

29:20 Oh, they’re they bad. It’s potholes heaven. But other than that—

29:25 I’ve been to Cleveland. I’ve been to Cleveland before and I was up there with a friend and I saw a pothole that you could lose a toddler in.

29:34 Yes.

29:36 What’s that like? I mean, how do you navigate that? No pun intended. As a driver, I mean, do you try to— What’s the game plan on that?

29:44 Well, as a driver, as a driver, I mean, you pretty much got to hope for the best cuz you don’t know the situation. And it might be a tight situation where you have to get it or I mean that’s just an everyday occurrence from a person that’s driving a car to a truck. I mean that’s something to the eye of the driver—

30:05 Right?

30:05 I really don’t know how to answer that one. There’s no correct answer for that one.

30:09 Sure. I didn’t know. I guess a better way to look at it is if you’re driving through a place that’s got some really bad potholes and you’ve got four trucks at one time. I guess there’s really nothing you can do about it if the pothole can’t be missed.

30:23 Well, that or I’ll turn my four-way. If I have a choice of not going that way, I won’t go. But if I can turn my four-ways on, well, I’ll turn my four-ways on and just, you know, let a creep through it.

30:37 Gear it down. Other than that, yeah, the city ain’t gonna pay you that money back. They gonna say, “Well, why did you drive this way?”

30:45 I gotcha. I gotcha. What about Ohio makes it seems like you’re a fond of that state. And what about the state appeals to you most?

30:53 I was born and raised here in Ohio, so I really don’t know. I mean, I don’t know. It’s just home.

31:01 Gotcha. And as you made clear, there’s no place like home. No place like home.

31:07 Correct. All right. Well, we know I did want to ask you this kind of touch on it a little bit. We did with the potholes. What’s it like driving in the winter versus the dead of summer?

31:17 Well, I’ll take winter because winter for some reason, no matter where you go in life, in what state, people recognize that it’s snow outside, but when it’s a clear day, they want to do a,000 miles per hour.

31:31 Mhm.

31:32 For some reason. So, I’ll take winter driving because with that comparison, it’s more calm on the roads. People not cutting you off versus summer, they cutting you off because they got to be everywhere right now.

31:45 Right.

31:46 So—

31:47 People are a little more conscious and aware in the winter.

31:50 Correct.

31:51 Gotcha. Well, I did want to ask you, what’s the craziest thing you’ve seen out there on the road? Absolute craziest thing. Oh, the craziest thing I’ve seen on the road was a tractor trailer driver driving the wrong side of the freeway.

32:06 Oh my. Where did this at?

32:08 That was the craziest. This was in when you’re just entering Illinois coming off of 55 to 57. He was just driving and he was passing up many of exits, you know, or entrance ramps it would be. He could have just pulled over and just backed down one of those or something, but he was just driving it. I guess he thought, “I’ll find an exit sooner or later.”

32:36 Wow. So, you guess I guess you don’t know how that one ended. It could have been really bad.

32:40 Yeah, it was daytime, but— Yeah, that was different.

32:44 No doubt about it. I’m sure you’ve seen some other crazy things.

32:46 Yeah—

32:47 Such as—

32:49 Well, it just took a drive— It took I was at a rest stop. It just took the driver forever to bag up, you know. He needed it. He was by himself. He couldn’t— You could tell he was fresh out of school. He couldn’t straighten it up to bag up, you know. He—

33:03 Right.

33:04 And it was nothing. It was no no other trucks parked on the left or right side of him. He just either was very tired or very out of school. One of the way it was hilarious.

33:18 Gotcha. Was this a single truck or a deck truck? That was a tractor trailer.

33:23 Oh, he was just having a hard time with it. Yeah. I guess that’s something you can relate to. I mean, people talk about how is it difficult to for you or any other deck driver to back up when you’ve got a full load.

33:35 Well, I can bag a three-way up. I can do a three-way. A four-way. I’m practicing that.

33:40 I got you.

33:40 Cuz a four-way is four-way you treat. So, going from the horse, the lead truck, you is one, two. So it’s one, two, three. So your third truck will act as if as your horse. So in other words, if I make my third truck turn right, that means the fourth truck is going to turn left—

34:07 Right? It’s like a pivot point.

34:09 So correct. And that’s what I’m trying, you know, I’ve been practicing that. But the three-way, oh yeah, I practiced that. I got that down pack. I’m willing to bet you money on that one. A Z-Wing, too.

34:22 That just blows my mind. I couldn’t even imagine trying to do that, particularly with I mean, three-way would seem hard enough. I mean, but with a fourth truck back there, I’m like I just don’t see how that’s possible.

34:34 Yeah.

34:34 How’s it coming as far as how far along are you?

34:37 It’s coming. It’s coming a couple more years, but it’s coming. I’m doing better than what I first started off. I first started off jack knife like h—

34:49 It ain’t you know you can see your rear end coming around.

34:53 Yeah. Yep. I can imagine. So I guess until you get it down like you do with three trucks horse included you always park where you can get out from the front. I mean where you can drive away.

35:04 That is true. That’s the true nature of it. Make life easy. But you have vehicles for four four-wheelers I call them. Regular cars that like to trap you in. For some reason, they are magnets to trapping you in. So, that’s what made me start practicing the three-way and the now I’m on the four ways because of that situation. And when it first happened to me, I just had to wait the hotel didn’t, you know, they went to the room to wake the person up, but the person ain’t get up until checkout time.

35:38 So, it was like it ruined my day.

35:40 Oh. But—

35:42 I did want to close it out here. You had a piece of advice. Tell us again about that. You don’t worry about the things you can’t control. How would you put that into I mean, if you were going to put it on a t-shirt, what would it say?

35:54 You can’t cry over spoiled milk. It’s already spilled—

35:59 Right?

35:59 I mean, it’s as simple as I’m mad cuz the TV is not on. So, well, you can go and turn the TV on. You can hit the power button and turn it on. That’s controlling the situation versus I’m mad that the TV’s not on, but your power is your power to the house is out. You can’t control that situation. So, there’s no reason to get upset about it.

36:22 And how does that relate to deck driving? And as far as put it in context with deck driving—

36:28 Traffic jam, if you run into a traffic jam and there’s no way out, you can’t bag up. So you can’t control what’s ahead of you because you don’t know what’s ahead of you that’s making a traffic jam happen—

36:45 Right?

36:45 So you just got to join the club.

36:48 Join the club.

36:49 Now, if you can change it by changing the traffic jam, you see ahead of you there’s a traffic jam on your Google map say, “Hey, there’s a traffic jam 7 miles.” You may see a exit that you can get off. That’s changing the situation.

37:03 Gotcha. Join the club or change the situation.

37:06 All right, that’s the way it go.

37:09 All right, Terry, thank you very much for joining us tonight. It’s been a pleasure and we’ll see you on down the road and thank you again for being on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Terry Scott sharing his thoughts with you.

37:21 Have a great evening.

37:22 All right, stay safe out there.

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