00:04 You know, I just go by the five rule. If I feel a little bit rushed, guess what? I’m taking five more minutes because there’s something going on while I’m feeling rushed. And I just need to take another five. Just let him have it because all that causes stress. And I’m telling you, I am the most stress-free person I know. And I like it right here. 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. Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. This is a podcast where we honor the men and women who make all of America possible. The society that we live in by the trucks that they drive. We move the trucks that move the freight eventually that makes your life what it is right now. And joining us this evening on the Six-Figure Trucker is Carrie Keyes.

01:09 Carrie, how are you this evening?

01:11 I’m good. How are you doing?

01:12 I’m doing fantastic. You know, we just spoke a few minutes ago. Now tell us, you just got a cup of coffee. Is that right?

01:19 Yes. I am freezing in Denver.

01:21 How do you like your coffee?

01:22 Well, a little cream, a little sugar, and a couple ice cubes. I’m not a sipper. I like to just get that caffeine.

01:30 You get the you get it going. Get it down the pipes pretty quickly.

01:32 Yeah.

01:33 So, I didn’t mean to cut you off there, but you said you’re in Denver.

01:37 I am in Denver. Yeah. I’m in a little place called Alt.

01:41 Okay.

01:42 A L T. Alt.

01:43 Yeah. Yeah. I’ve seen that on a map before when we’re booking a route there. So, what are you? Let’s see. You’re not on what freeway are you on a freeway now? Are you on a back highway?

01:54 I am right off of the 25.

01:56 Yep.

01:57 And the road is called Joe L. Martinez.

02:03 Joe L. Martinez. I’m sure he’s someone of note in that area.

02:07 In that area. Yeah.

02:08 Now, how long have you been on the road today? I got up. Oh, I’d say I’ve been on the road. This is my second one. So, I drove for about four and a half hours, five hours, and then I had to come up here and get this one. I just picked it up right down the road. And so, yeah, I’m probably close to my eight hours. Yeah, I’m having my early break right now. And then I’ll see how far I can get. I like to get a few miles in at night, you know, even if I get a late start like this. Like some people are like, “Oh, just pick it up in the morning.” But, you know, but then that puts you off until noon because the hotel doesn’t, you know, doesn’t kick you out at 7 in the morning. So—

02:49 Right. I understand what you’re saying. Do you prefer night driving?

02:54 You know, I prefer afternoon driving and I don’t mind night driving. I don’t really care for the morning traffic because to me those people are in a hurry to get somewhere—

03:05 Right?

03:07 You know, and they’re not paying attention to anything. They’re putting on their makeup. They’re shaving. They’re yelling at their kids. And I don’t want no part of that where when at the evening time, they just want to go home. They’re not as big of a hurry to go home as they are to go to work.

03:22 So, it’s a little bit better vibe for you behind the wheel—

03:26 I think. So, yeah.

03:27 Gotcha. Now, you know, you and I were talking or texting back and forth over the last 24 hours. You were not feeling so well.

03:34 I wasn’t. So, last weekend, we had a few memorials, and I thought I would give the grandkids a break and take them to a hotel that had an indoor heated pool.

03:46 M nice.

03:47 So, I had nine grandchildren with me. And it turned out three of them had the flu.

03:52 Oh, boy.

03:53 Yeah. So, I got the flu from them. It was great. Thought I was going to die.

04:00 Now, what part of the country did you guys find this indoor pool? Was it a place? Obviously, this time of the year, I guess just about everywhere, it’d be hard to be out.

04:09 Well, and they’re few and far between in Phoenix, but I was down in Phoenix.

04:14 Okay. Okay. What was the temperature outside in Phoenix last weekend?

04:18 It was a little chilly. Okay. So, I’m from Phoenix, so bear with me. It was probably 65 70 degrees.

04:27 Chilly. Chilly. Okay.

04:29 Yes. That’s cold to me.

04:31 Now, tell us about the nine grandkids that were able to get into the pool. I’m sure aside from a third of them having the flu. It was fun.

04:41 Right. Well, I didn’t realize that they were just coming down with it. But also, my son was sick, so he didn’t come with. But he probably did give them all hugs. They didn’t start out, you know, acting sick. One of them, you know, had a little cough and but it was indoors and everything was warm, so I thought they’d be okay. But, you know, little kids are germy. I didn’t say that on the air, did I? But little kids are ger and you’re going to catch it—

05:04 Right? I gotcha. How rewarding is it to be a grandmother?

05:08 It’s awesome. They love when I bring the trucks by when I’m in Phoenix. They always call, want to know where I’m at, what I’m driving, when do they get to see me. I get to pick those kids up and drop them back off. Like, grandchildren are awesome. How much—

05:21 You have to have those got to have those kids in order to get the grandkids.

05:24 Oh, absolutely. Absolutely. How much does it mean to you to know that your grandchildren love what you do for a living?

05:33 It means a lot. It makes me happy that they see what I’m doing and they know I’m out here trying to do some good. And, you know, I’m always letting them know the places and sending them pictures of places that I’m at. And, you know, and it comes in handy also for when I run across places that I want them to see. And we know where our next vacation is going to be—

05:52 Right? You’re kind of on a recon mission there.

05:56 Yes.

05:57 Which places of the pictures that you’ve been able to share with your grandchildren, which places resonate with them the most, which ones kind of sparked the most energy?

06:06 Well, when I go through lacrosse in the summertime, there’s a little island called French Island—

06:14 And they have a recreational area. And on the 4th of July, they have a festival and they have the Queen Mary there and you go out on the boat and they do the fireworks from there—

06:28 Right?

06:29 So they always love that because it’s like the fireworks are right above you, you know, when I send them the videos and Williamsport, Pennsylvania for Christmas because they’re very Christmy people. They still have Christmas carolers there.

06:45 Oh yeah. Old school carolers.

06:47 Yes.

06:47 They go door to door from the 1800s. Yeah. It’s awesome.

06:51 Now, you’ve seen this and it sounds like you’ve seen this firsthand.

06:55 Yes.

06:55 What kind of impression did that make on you being able to soak that in?

07:00 It, you know, really when I get to go to those places, it brings like a real patriotic feeling, you know? It just brings everything back down to earth out of everything else that’s going on. It just makes you feel like we are still here. We are still okay.

07:17 It sounds like it made an indelible impression upon you. And what how did that among you laid out the range in age of your grandchildren’s which one did it appeal to the most? Which of those nine grandchildren?

07:33 I have a 5-year-old grandson. His name we call him Z, but his name is Xander. And he is very intellectual. He is very smart and he picks up on things and he doesn’t only look at the picture, he’ll look at the background. He’ll look at the whole setting—

07:52 Right? Very observant.

07:53 You can just tell like Yeah. You can just tell like he’s taking in the whole scene. And I would think that with Xander and the rest of your grandchildren, with Xander taking in the whole scene, that really sets the stage for you when you kind of give them a little foreshadow of what is out there and what you guys want to do on your next trip. I guess that kind of sets the stage for them to say, “I like this or I like that.”

08:19 Yes. I mean, of course, their most favorite parts are when I make it to a beach somewhere. They’ve got them all listed because one day we’re going to hit all the beaches. They don’t have a concept of how long it takes to get from, you know, the—

08:33 Phoenix is a long way from a beach.

08:36 Yeah. From, you know, from— We go down to Rocky Point quite a bit. So—

08:40 Now, where is Rocky Point?

08:41 You know, they’re like, “Oh, Rocky Point is on the California Baja down in Mexico. It’s like three hours from Phoenix.”

08:47 That’s not too bad.

08:48 No, it’s not too bad. But, you know, in their eyes, you know, all the other beaches I go to are probably just as far. So, they’re like, “Well, instead of going to Rocky Point, why don’t we go to, you know, St. Augustine Beach?” Well, we can’t make it there today, but we will one day because I love that beach, too.

09:06 That’s a beautiful place. St. Augustine is. I believe it’s the oldest city in America, if I’m not mistaken.

09:12 Yeah, I don’t know about that, but I’ll have to look that up.

09:14 Yeah, St. Augustine’s been there for a minute. Where are you headed tonight? I mean, what’s your destination?

09:20 My destination is right outside of Detroit.

09:23 Okay. So, you’re heading north and then you’re about to make a hard right.

09:27 I was actually going to drop down to the 70 instead of go up to the 80 because I’m hearing the 80 is a mess. But right now, I’m just sitting here talking to you, so I haven’t really figured out which route I’m taking.

09:37 Speaking of that, the weather, I mean, here we are on the edge of Thanksgiving, about a week out, a little less than a week out from Thanksgiving and up around Buffalo. But my understanding from yesterday close to 4 feet of snow dropped and you’re going up to Detroit. So I guess you have to really keep a close eye on it.

09:56 Yeah, I hear it’s getting a little bit bad over there right now. But you know, I’m just going to take it slow and easy. I have the whole weekend to do it and only,200 miles to go, so I’m not worried.

10:06 Yep. I got you. That was my— That kind of leads me to my next question. How do you deal with situations that you can’t control like weather? You know, I just go by the five rule. You know, you look five more cars in front of you, you take five more minutes to get going, you drop your, you know, your speed down five. Let them have it. Just let them have it because all that causes stress. And I’m telling you, I am the most stress-free person I know. And I like it right here.

10:34 I can tell you’re pretty stressree. You’re very calm, very relaxed. You got your coffee with a couple cubes of ice in it. Is that some— Have you always been that way or did it did you make yourself that way? Did you grow into it? Did you evolve? Or is it just your personality?

10:49 I never noticed it before, but everyone’s always said I’m a very patient person, so I’m assuming it’s something I’ve always had.

10:56 Do you thank your parents for that or is it something that was developed over time or is it just something you got from them?

11:03 Nope. They were crazy—

11:07 And I’m going to leave that at that.

11:08 Okay. But it obviously shaped you in the way you are now—

11:12 Right? Yeah. No, I just sat back and watched and waited for their little scene to get over with and went on about my day.

11:19 So, yeah.

11:21 Now, I wanted to double back a little bit on the five rule. Is that something that is common among drivers or is that something that you kind of incorporated into your own method of operating?

11:33 Well, I would hope somebody uses it, you know, and everybody can have their own set of five, you know. I mean, it doesn’t have to be the same for everybody, but you know, like if I see three accidents within five miles of each other—

11:48 I get off the road—

11:49 Right?

11:50 Because there’s either something wrong with the weather, the way people are driving, or the road itself, you know? So, you know, people can come up with whatever five they want, but you know, you have to have some sort of, you know, how do I say like, yes, these trucks need to be delivered, but I also want to be okay when I get there. I want this truck to be okay when I get there.

12:13 Mhm.

12:14 So, if it just means just kicking back a little bit, you know, if I feel a little bit rushed, guess what? I’m taking five more minutes because there’s something going on why I’m feeling rushed and I just need to take another five. Don’t just jump in that truck and be like, I got to go. You know—

12:32 Decompress a little bit. Yeah, decompress—

12:36 Because I mean what you were talking about there, I mean it kind of all is interwoven there as far as your personality and your temperament being a patient person and the five rule and like I mean that was very wise what you said there about if you see three accidents within five miles something is going on and then and you know we both know on this side of driveaway on your side of driveaway there’s a lot of pressure to deliver. But—

13:04 Yes—

13:05 I guess in the end wiser minds prevail as far as, you know, is it worth making that decision to deliver on time or early versus the outcome that could be if you rush—

13:20 Right? I’ve gotten into areas where there have been, you know, like fog like on the 81 or the 75—

13:27 Right?

13:27 And you know, these trucks and a lot of other truckers no longer do CVS. So, you don’t know what’s up ahead. And if I can’t see the distance that I think, I’m just going to pull over and wait for, you know, the sun to come up more for that that fog to fade.

13:44 And even if that means like I get the truck on time, but yet now I’m too close and I miss my plane.

13:52 Hey, that’s $200. That’s only $200. I’ll get another plane.

13:57 Exactly. Now, you were talking about the CB. Now, I don’t know how long you’ve driven. How long have you been driving?

14:04 I’ve been driving something since 1996.

14:07 Oh my. Oh my. Since 1996. And—

14:11 Yeah, let’s not figure out age, please.

14:13 We’re not going there. We’re not going.

14:15 I already gave away nine grandchildren.

14:17 Well, you know, you still I’m sure you still look 29.

14:21 Well, okay. Thanks.

14:22 You bet. You’ve been driving since 1996, so I’m assuming obviously CBS were still in use then.

14:28 Yes.

14:29 How much do you miss them? Well, I really don’t. Well, at first, you know, like I just drove local because my kids were younger.

14:36 And I drove, you know, everything from the city bus to a dump truck to a flatbed truck to a tow truck. And so, like, just being in town, that was good. But after a while, it almost got it was just for trash talking—

14:51 Right? If you needed to know anything important, you weren’t going to hear it because people were, you know, turn them on and play their radio over it and just, you know, really, you know, use the system wrong.

15:03 It was more annoying than useful.

15:05 Yes. Yeah. So towards the end there, I was just turning it off anyway. And then cell phones came and that’s how everyone’s, you know, getting a hold of everybody now anyway.

15:14 Gotcha. Now, when you go back to 1996, so let me do some quick math. 26 years ago. How much has it changed? Let’s talk let’s start with the communication aspect of it when you know citizens band radio was when it was used properly was a very important form of communication among the network of drivers. How do you compare what it was like then and the way you operate now?

15:43 Well, I liked when you know they would let you know like you know there’s heavy traffic coming up. They tell you about break checks. They tell you, you know, there’s an accident here. You know, everybody’s getting off at exit, whatever to go around. And it when you live when you said like I usually know where I’m going, but I still put on my GPS because it gives me those same things—

16:06 Right? And is it obviously it would seem like it’s a much more comfortable, convenient to use the technology that you have in your hands. Yes, because you don’t have everybody’s, you know, BS added in there.

16:21 Very well said. Now, you are making your way to Detroit. Do you have a run after that or will you be home for Thanksgiving?

16:29 Actually, on Monday, I will go down to Toledo and I will pick up a truck and take it over to a little town. Can’t remember the name of it. I never I’m like a rock star. I never know what town I’m in or where I’m going.

16:47 Drive all night, sleep all day. There you go.

16:49 Yeah. Yeah. Different hotel every night. So, I’ll pick up in Toledo and I am taking it somewhere between Newark and New York.

16:58 Okay.

16:59 Which is perfect because then I will make it to see my brother who lives right outside of Newark.

17:05 Okay.

17:05 Thanksgiving.

17:06 Yeah.

17:07 Now, did you plan it that way or did the planets just align for you? I just aligned. Carson, my driver manager. Love her to death.

17:16 Oh, we love Carson to her.

17:18 We love Carson.

17:19 She is my saint. I swear she is. But she just always gets me lined up perfectly and it just works out. So, I’m like, “Okay, I’ll just keep running for you.”

17:30 Well, Carson kind of put me in touch with you indirectly a few weeks ago. But, no, we love Carson. She’s— She does a lot with us, for us, and with the drivers. She’s a great balance between internal and external. And I’m sure you see that too.

17:44 Yes. Yeah. My brother doesn’t even know I’m coming yet. I will text him here in a little bit saying, “Hey, send another plate. I’m coming.”

17:50 Oh, there you go. How rewarding is that to be able to see family on, you know, one of the most traditional familyoriented holidays? It’s, you know, it’s really, it is really rewarding because I live in Phoenix and before I came out on the road doing this, you know, I couldn’t do this when I was driving, you know, for an, you know, the other over the road trucks.

18:16 Mhm.

18:17 Commodity trucks, the drive vans, because they just send you wherever. Where this gives me a choice. And if I tell Carson, hey, you know, like I really need to be home at this time or I really need to be here or, you know, my niece’s birthday in Utah is that, you know, she tries to like help me get as close as she can to these things. Like I’m telling you, she is a saint.

18:36 I’m just my son is telling me I’m just out here on vacation. So—

18:42 So yeah, it is nice because before that, I didn’t see my brother for almost 20 years.

18:47 Oh, wow. So, this is really special for you.

18:50 Yes.

18:51 Now, how long will you stay with your brother over the holidays?

18:55 So, I’m thinking I will get to his area on Tuesday or Wednesday and then Friday morning I will find another load out of there.

19:05 Well, there should be something coming out of that area there. It’s pretty busy. Do you want to get back to Phoenix soon or just keep rocking?

19:12 Well, my daughter has surgery coming up on the 29th. Okay. So, I have to go there to watch her kids while she does that for a few days. But I’ve even got that scheduled like I got to be home on Monday, spend three days with her, then my niece can stay with her, and I want to load out by Friday. I’m not really good at staying home now that I’m out doing this.

19:31 Gotcha.

19:32 I’m just like, I just get home, do my laundry, and I’m constantly surfing my phone for the my next load.

19:39 Gotcha. How do you balance that as far as pivoting between on the road, being at home, seeing family? How do you work that out? I mean, internally.

19:50 Okay. So, we usually like plan things ahead of time so that it can be scheduled in because all my children are also they all have two jobs.

20:01 Okay.

20:03 So, we’re all just, you know, I don’t know. My dad was the same way. And you know, he was a truck driver. And so that’s just, you know, it just gets bred into you that you just go do this. And then we set up a time that we can all get together. And if somebody can’t make it, well, then we rearrange that until we can all get together. And then when I am home, I try and make it to everybody’s house. And if I’m not going to be home long enough, then I make a big pot of spaghetti. And while I’m doing my laundry, switching my suitcases out, finding they come to me.

20:35 Oh, okay.

20:36 And yeah. So, you know, we get our quality time and you know, like I said, like I mean, my son that I live with, I gave up my house because there’s no reason for it—

20:48 Right?

20:48 So, I just rent from him. I think I still do. It’s been—

20:54 What kind of landlord is he?

20:57 Oh, he just always ask when I’m coming home so he can make sure he’s got the kind of food I like. He’s awesome.

21:02 Great landlord. Now, what you were talking about there as far as balancing all that together, your schedule with your family schedule and talking about your patience that you have—

21:11 I guess handinand handin glove with the patients is flexibility. And I would think that that would work great for you on and off the road.

21:22 Yes. Yes. Whatever we can get together for, if they can figure out a thing and it gives me long enough time to ask, like I’m flexible with whatever. And you know, we all like I said, we all have our own thing going. They each have two jobs. So, you know, the planning is a group planning. So, we do have like group texts where everybody gets on the same page.

21:41 Gotcha.

21:42 It works out. No one’s you know, I don’t have anybody crying there or get to see me. So, we’re good. You’re listening to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport and we’re sharing a little time with Carrie Keyes. She’s just north of Denver in a town called Alt. She’s been kind enough to pull over for a moment and enjoy her own type of ice coffee. Coffee with a couple cubes of ice in it because she likes to get the caffeine rolling so she can keep rolling. Now, Carrie, you’ve shared with us that you’ve been doing this since 1996. Kind of walk us through your career, how it started, and how you got to where you are now.

22:28 Okay. So, I went to school to be an accountant.

22:31 Okay.

22:31 And it turned out I didn’t like anything about it—

22:34 Right?

22:36 So, then I was then and I had bartended my way through, you know, college. And so I was talking to a guy and he said, “You know, you’d make more money if you become a driver.” And so I said, “Okay.” So I went down and I took my test and then I needed to have the money to do my driving test and I saw an ad for the city bus and they do the driving part. So I thought, “Okay, I could do this.”

23:04 Did your father’s influence have any impact on you? Because you I think you said he was a driver as well. I didn’t realize it, but you know, back when I started driving, like we still love we still used carbon paper—

23:17 Okay?

23:17 You know, for and there was just something I could like something about the smell of carbon paper and I couldn’t and then I it dawned on me. My dad would come home for lunch and do his paperwork and I would make him a fried egg sandwich—

23:30 Right?

23:30 Well, he did his paperwork and that’s where the carbon came from. So, and I always wanted to know where he’d been. You know, he only drove around Arizona, but he always had, you know, different people that he would tell me about and places that he’d been and, you know, how he got stuck in the snow here or, you know, so yeah, I think he was a big influence.

23:49 That’s amazing how the smell of carbon paper can take you that far. I mean, can have that much of an impression on you.

23:56 Isn’t that crazy? And I was like, why do I like that? And then it dawned on me back in third grade, my dad used to come home and— Yeah. He’d let me make him egg sandwiches.

24:05 That’s cool. That’s cool. Okay. I didn’t mean to get off track there with you, but you were talking about city buses. Is that what you were doing? City buses?

24:12 Oh, yes. So, yeah. So, I went ahead and they tested me out for the driving part and they put me on a route after I drove with this guy. This guy had the route for 19 years. And, you know, people got on and they were like, “Hey, Joe, how are you doing? Oh, how’s your wife?” “Oh, did your daughter have the baby? How are you feeling? How’s your hus?” You know, and I was like, “Wow, this is awesome.” Mhm.

24:33 Well, then they gave me a route that was totally nothing like that—

24:37 And all these awful people kept getting on.

24:41 Oh, yeah.

24:41 So, I was like I pulled into the station one night and he said, “Carrie, this lady said that you drove right past her. You must have not seen her.” And she had yelled at me three days in a row. So—

24:53 Oh boy.

24:54 I said I seen her. I said that’s why tomorrow I’m going to get a new job. I was going to ask you did this test your patience.

25:04 That she did. Yes. It she was just horrible. I’ve never been called so many names, not even as a bartender.

25:11 So, yeah. So, then I got a job driving a dump truck delivering like, you know, landscape material—

25:18 Right?

25:18 Yeah. And that was great because like, you know, I go to drop off three rocks. If one breaks into two, I tell the guy, “I’m not charging you for the fourth one.” You know.

25:29 Very nice. Very nice. Very nice.

25:31 Yes. Turns out I wasn’t as big of a people person as I thought. But—

25:36 Hey, that’s I like where that’s coming from, though. So, you’re a city bus driver, then a dump truck driver for a landscape organization. What happened from there?

25:46 A friend of mine needed a driver. So then I drove for Shamrock Farms delivering milk and you know all of the dairy products to the schools and from there I went to truck driving.

26:01 Okay.

26:01 I did that for about eight years. I loved it because nothing happens the same with that. I worked DPS accident freeway free, you know, freeway calls.

26:10 So you’ve seen all kinds of stuff.

26:12 Yeah.

26:13 A lot of tragic things too, I’m sure.

26:17 Yes. Yes. And then from there, I work driving the flatbed truck with the forklift on the back of it and the combination flatbed picking up materials for a mom and pop lumber store. And then when my boss died, I decided I was going to leave my bubble and see what was outside of Globe, Arizona.

26:40 So, where did the road take you next after you got out of Arizona? I worked for Schneider for a very long time—

26:49 And they kept giving me because I had patience, they kept giving me new drivers and I was constantly getting a new partner, new partner. And I just felt like I was like an addition, you know, training and I wasn’t getting paid for it. And one of the drivers did not want to be in my truck. He wanted to go solo. They told him he could and they told me if I couldn’t keep him in my truck, they were taking my truck. So I said, “Really?” Okay. Say, “Well, you’ll have your truck by midnight.” And they’ll say, they said, “You’re never going to get another job. It’s Christmas.” And 4 days later, I build out for a different port company.

27:26 Right.

27:26 And I was And I worked for them for three and a half years doing four-way.

27:33 Mhm. So, you’ve done the decking side as well.

27:36 No, just hub to hub.

27:38 Oh, okay. I got you. Sorry about that.

27:40 Yeah. Now, is that when you entered into driveaway or was that before driveaway?

27:46 That’s when I entered into driveaway. Yeah.

27:48 And so that was three years with them. How long have you been with Norton Transport?

27:54 I want to say, let me see almost I believe I’m coming up on two years.

27:59 Okay. So, you’ve got roughly five years if I’m my math is correct in driveaway.

28:04 I started driveaway in December 7th of 2018. Okay. Oh, yes. Yeah.

28:11 So, what’s it been like? I mean, because a lot of people talk about it’s different than a lot of different types of driving. Driveaway is different when there’s a common theme. I’m not going to say what the common theme is. We’ll just see how it comes from the mind of Carrie Keyes. How would you say it’s different?

28:29 Well, I think like, you know, when you first get started in this, your first 30 days is going to make you or break you because it is totally different. There’s, you know, so many little towns. So, you know, you have to figure all that out to make sure you can get out of somewhere. You have to pay attention to, you know, you know, spend your money wisely because you can sometimes spend more than what you’re making—

28:53 Right?

28:55 You know, I get a lot of calls off of the pulse thing from, you know, you know what I’m talking about through Fasma.

29:03 I’m not exactly familiar, but enlighten me.

29:06 Okay. Well, it’s where you your CSA scores are.

29:09 Oh, okay. I got you.

29:10 CSA and all that and— Okay. So, yeah. Everything you need to know about a person is on there.

29:16 Right. Right. Right.

29:17 So, like there’s also a little part where like somebody can message you—

29:21 And they’ll be asking me about, you know, this driveaway thing and what do I think about it and, you know, is it what they say it is? And it is what they say it is.

29:29 Mhm.

29:30 But it depends on how you know like if you’re not going to look for another way out or look, you know, like this one guy. Oh, I don’t want to go all the way over to, you know, South Carolina. So, I’m just going to get a rental car and go home until they have something out of my neighborhood. You’re not going to get anywhere.

29:48 Right. It’s like I mean, it truly is like a puzzle. I mean, it’s like a Rubik’s cube. You turn one corner, you’re like, where you going next?

29:56 Yes. And anybody I meet, anybody who’s interested in it, I just talk their head off about it. You know, if they need to know something, I always tell them, “Here’s, you know, here’s my phone number. You can call me if you ever get, you know, if you start doing this and you have trouble in a town. I probably know somebody who like does a shuttle out of there.”

30:17 Mhm.

30:18 You know, and it’s just, you know, cuz I know it when you get started in this, like I said, it’s either going to make you or break you. It’s not the same world as being in a truck hauling, you know, a dry van where you’re sleeping in the same bed every night and somebody is telling you what to do—

30:38 Right? Yeah. I mean, exactly. It’s not a force dispatch world. I mean, it’s like I mean, there’s a reason you guys are called independent contractors because there is some independence to it. But, I mean, like you said, the make or break I mean because—

30:53 It takes a lot of planning. Mhm.

30:56 And obviously you’ve been good at it if you’ve been at the driveaway aspect of it for 5 years. What’s your secret? I mean, it’s kind of like a cookbook. There’s ingredients that are needed. And what do you look for when you’re planning your week, your month?

31:12 Well, honestly, Carson is a— It used to be like be before I started with her, I would have to figure it out, figure it out. And I had a second company that I was working with because if one doesn’t have something out of my area, somebody else will—

31:26 Right?

31:27 But she is just like really up on it. And she knows I stay out. She’s like, “When do you want to go home?” I’m like, “I don’t have any reason to go home.” She’s like, “Well, do you want to go home in 3 weeks?” Well, what for? You know, so she’s like, “Okay, I’ll just keep you going.”

31:41 So if you know, sometimes I’ll put it together. I mean, and there’s usually a lot of loads to pick from.

31:47 Sure. And I always go through to see what is my least expensive way to travel. Sometimes it’s plane, sometimes it’s, you know, the Greyhound, sometimes it’s get a car.

31:57 Mhm.

31:59 And I never pick them too far ahead because you end up you could end up losing, you know, because something happens on the road or you buy a $200 plane ticket and bam, something pops up—

32:12 Right? That happens. It does happen.

32:15 Yes. Yeah. So now I just kind of go with it and I think I’ve just been blessed between, you know, the heavens and having Carson because she’s really on it. Like everybody should have a Carson.

32:30 Everybody should have a Carson. There you go.

32:32 Everybody should have a Carson.

32:34 We may title this episode everybody should have a Carson.

32:39 Oh, she is great. I wanted to ask you just quickly here about the differences between driveaway and the other areas that you’ve driven. What’s the most stark difference between driveaway and all the other things that you’ve done since 1996 up to 2018?

33:00 You know, I’m out here. I’m seeing things. I’m meeting nice people. It’s a whole different world. It’s definitely a whole different world. Now you could be completely candid, completely honest. Which one do you prefer? Do you like driveaway or do you like what you’ve come from before?

33:16 I am addicted to what I am doing. There is no possible way that I could go ever go back to doing the other.

33:25 Why is that?

33:26 I feel like I’m respected more. I feel like I’m having a say in my life. I’m not out here running around the country. Hurry, hurry, hurry. You know, when I was working with Schneider, no matter what happened, you get a flat tire, you’re three hours behind, and they’re on you. Like, you still have to make that appointment time, otherwise you got to wait 24 hours. So, and they followed up with safe and legal, even though they’re not telling you to be safe and legal.

33:51 You know what I mean? You could be three blocks from your brother’s house and you can’t even stop and give them a hug because you have to go—

34:00 Right? You know, so this to me is like the five years I was with them and the this five years is night and day and I would not change any of it. Well, that’s good to hear. You’re listening to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport here with Carrie Keyes. She’s been on the road since 1996 in some way, some form, some fashion. And driveaway transport has been I don’t want to put words in her mouth, but it’s been the best for her.

34:28 It has. Gotcha.

34:30 It has—

34:31 That’s very good to hear. I mean, I’m not going to lie, that makes us feel good here. And we’re lucky to have Carrie Keyes making these drives for us. Wanted to kind of drill down a little bit about what kind of truck do you like to drive and what kind of truck would you rather not drive? Well, I like the manual shift, you know, the old school Peterbilts and Kenworth, but every truck I drive is different. And I just like that I’m driving a truck.

35:00 You know what I mean?

35:01 Oh, yeah. Absolutely.

35:03 It’s like if you’re a motorcycle enthusiast, like you’ve driven you’ve had a motorcycle your whole life, but if somebody pulls up on something else, you’re like, “Wow, can I ride your bike?”

35:11 Oh, absolutely. I can relate. I ride myself and I know exactly what you’re talking about. I know exactly what you’re talking about. Now, I wanted to ask you that about the manual shift because we see, you know, here in 2022, some new drivers on the scene are not as I’m trying to think of a way to say this, are not as inclined to drive manual. Is that surprising to you in the trucking industry that there are drivers that shy away from manual when you go back to 1996 and before almost everything was manual—

35:44 Right? And I hear some of them like if they test in that they’re stuck there.

35:49 Is that surprising to you that some drivers shy away from that?

35:52 It does surprise me, but with some of the stuff I’ve seen drivers do, I’m kind of glad that they don’t have that to deal with also.

35:59 Okay. Okay. I understand the I mean, how much difference is there as far as skill, ability, concentration driving a manual versus an auto or an auto shift? I honestly think that it would take more concentration to drive an automatic because you know so with me like I sometimes will try and shift and get more gears—

36:25 But I’m already there because I’m just so used to shifting—

36:28 Right—

36:29 You know so I’m like oh there is no more gears where when you are doing a like a an automatic and you have it on cruise control I think you get a little zoned in sometimes—

36:40 Right—

36:41 You know, and you see these drivers that are just, you know, they’re probably set at 62 or 65.

36:49 Mhm.

36:50 But here they are. They’re just they get behind a truck and that truck slows them down and so now they’re going, you know, you know what I mean? They’re not they’re not paying attention anymore.

37:00 I gotta— Yeah, I could totally get what you’re saying. Now, I wanted to take a hard right turn here. A hard right turn from where we talked about Carrie Keyes back in the day. We’re going to go back a little bit.

37:19 You were a bartender.

37:20 I was a bartender.

37:22 Now, can you still make a good drink?

37:24 I can, but you know what? If it’s one of those fruity drinks, even back then, if you did not know what was in your drink, then you didn’t need it.

37:32 I got you. What a— What is Carrie’s favorite drink? I like white Zinfandel wine and I like Bloody Marys.

37:42 Now, how do you do I’m assuming you make your own Bloody Marys.

37:47 Yes.

37:47 Tell the secret to a good Bloody Mary. There’s a lot of, you know, people that like them different ways. If I were to meet Carrie Keyes, it’s 10:30 in the morning. We’re having brunch and Carrie is making a Bloody Mary. Take us from the beginning to the end.

38:02 Okay. So, while I am making these, we are probably going to have a mimosa.

38:07 A great way to start.

38:09 Yes. Cuz if we’re drinking at 10:30 in the morning, we might as well.

38:13 I hear you.

38:14 And so, you got to have your absolute vodka.

38:17 Mhm.

38:17 And I don’t like tomato juice, so I use clamato.

38:21 Okay.

38:21 Worster sauce—

38:23 Right?

38:24 A little bit of Tabasco sauce.

38:26 Gotcha.

38:26 Your salt and pepper. Yep.

38:28 Those itty bitty corns.

38:30 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

38:31 Yep. You got to have your olives.

38:33 How many olives do you go with?

38:35 Will you put three on a stick?

38:36 Three on a stick. Got you. Now, what do you—

38:39 Do you feel? How do you feel about these olives that are, you know, not the that are filled with something? Maybe it’s cream cheese or whatever. Are is that your type of olive or? No.

38:47 No.

38:48 Just a straight up olive.

38:49 Yeah. I don’t even— If the pimento is not in the middle, that’s even better. That way you can fill it up full of the bloody mary.

38:55 Oh, absolutely.

38:56 As you’re eating it.

38:57 I gotta gotcha. Now—

38:59 My mouth water there for a minute. Absolutely. Now, I’ve heard, you know, there are so many different variations of the Bloody Mary. What’s the craziest one you’ve seen as far as— Do you like it spicy? Do you like it to hit you? Or do you like one that’s a little bit smoother, a little more saucy? What do you look for in a Bloody Mary?

39:17 I’m not like, you know, I like a little I like to taste everything in there. So, I don’t want too much heat.

39:27 I’m not a spicy person.

39:28 I got you. All right. Now, let’s just kind of go forward with this. Okay, we’ve had a mimosa. We’ve had a bloody Mary. It’s two o’clock in the afternoon.

39:38 What is—

39:39 What’s Carrie going to— What’s next for Carrie?

39:42 Oh, Carrie needs a nap.

39:46 Okay, Carrie needs a nap. Okay, let’s say Carrie’s had—

39:50 A two-hour nap. So, now we’re edging into happy hour. You’re still—

39:56 Oh my goodness. We’re going to drink— Are we going to drink more? Yeah, you’re still—

39:59 Not hang out.

40:00 You’re still the bartender. You’re still the bartender. I’m just kidding.

40:04 Oh. Oh, I’m the bartender. Oh, I thought I was drinking, too. Oh my goodness. Okay, my bad.

40:09 No, no, no, no. You’re doing— We’re doing both. We’re doing both. You’re just setting up the drinks. I mean, because you’ve got the past as a bartender. Okay, let’s say it’s five o’clock. So, we’ve had a mimosa, we’ve had a Bloody Mary, you’ve had a nap, and now it’s 5:00. You’ve got your second wind. Where does it go from there?

40:27 Okay. Well, we need some happy hour foods for sure because we haven’t eaten. Yes. And so we’re probably gonna move on to I like vodka tonics.

40:37 Okay.

40:38 I like white Zinfandel.

40:39 Mhm.

40:40 Just, you know, something a little more mellow and light.

40:43 A little light drink. Yeah.

40:45 Yeah. Yeah. Then you got to go get, you know, your meat and potatoes and— Yeah.

40:49 Get a real meal. Get a real meal. Got to be you got to be sensible about it.

40:54 Yes. Yeah. Unless we’re in Rocky Point. Oh, now if you’re on the beach, that’s a totally different game.

41:01 That’s a— Yes. Because there is a guy that pulls up to your room because you get a room on the beach—

41:08 Right?

41:08 And he shows up in an old Toyota Camry. It looks like it probably shouldn’t even be running—

41:15 Right?

41:16 But when he opens a trunk, he is set up for drinks to be made out of little coconuts and little watermelons.

41:25 I love it. Mobile bar.

41:27 Yes. He makes you drinks right out of his trunk, so you don’t even have to go anywhere.

41:31 Now, when you’re on the beach, I’m gathering that you like a fruity drink, a coconut, something along those lines. A tropical drink.

41:39 Yes. Just something. Yeah. Something to especially when you get there, you got to kind of set that mood.

41:43 Gotcha. What’s your favorite? You—

41:44 Get it? You know, it’s like, you know, I’m out here on the road for I’ll stay out for a month at a time—

41:49 Right?

41:50 So, when it comes to my downtime like that, it’s like I think I work hard. I get to play hard. So yeah, you know, we’ll overspend getting that guy to stay there right with us and make us drinks out of the trunk of his car.

42:04 I mean, it’s I mean, it’s a guilty pleasure. It’s something you deserve.

42:08 Yes. Yeah.

42:09 So, take us down the road of what’s your favorite beach drink?

42:13 I don’t know what it’s called.

42:14 Okay. Those are usually the best—

42:17 But it has it is made in a watermelon and it has tequila in it.

42:22 Okay. And it has the watermelon juice in it.

42:27 Oh, nice.

42:27 And he rims the top of it with this sweet— Oh my goodness. It’s almost like a sweet spicy glaze. They put it on like the Mexican fruit you buy from the side of the road. I can’t remember what it’s called.

42:41 I know what you’re talking about. Yeah, I got you.

42:43 It is so good.

42:44 Gotcha. You’re listening to Carrie Keyes here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Carrie is quite the character. She’s got the patience and she has a little bit of fun on the road. She enjoys time with her family. And I think if I’m not mistaken, the first interaction Carrie and I had was you were going out west, I want to say to California from Minnesota and you were in a Peterbilt issue came up. Seems like it was a codes issue, but you were able to write the ship, stay with it, and move on forward. Does this sound familiar?

43:22 Yes. It’s when those codes came up from 200,000 miles, for some reason, they popped back up. Yes.

43:29 I will never forget that because it was like I really respected the resolve you had to stay with the unit and not throw in the towel, so to speak.

43:39 You know, you see these codes come up, but yet there’s nothing wrong with the truck. So, it’s like, do you keep going with this truck and just thinking, “Oh, it might just be some little glitch, you know, or you think, well, if this is my truck, I, you know, I would want somebody to check it out.” And, you know, you got to give that truck, you know, just pull in and have them put a little sensor on it and find out what’s really going on before you just abandon it.

44:04 Right. I was impressed with the way you handled that situation and it I mean I’ll be honest be completely candidate influenced me to have you as a guest here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport and you were talking about you know seeing it through to the end of the delivery and making that decision. What moved you the most in making that decision? Was it the way the truck felt? You’re like the truck’s running okay?

44:29 Right. The truck was running okay and I didn’t feel, you know, if I’m feeling like there’s something wrong with it, like I would have even stayed overnight and waited for that truck—

44:38 Right?

44:38 But I’m not going to keep, you know, I mean, I thought it was going to make it, but the last thing I wanted to do was deliver a truck to a person with all those codes showing and just make him have a bad day—

44:53 Right? And all it took was what? Just an hour or two to just figure it out and then I was comfortable knowing that I wasn’t going to be left or the truck do damage to it.

45:05 Right. Do you share that kind of information? You were talking about you talk people’s heads off about driveaway. Do you share that kind of information with other prospective drivers?

45:15 The good, the bad, and the ugly—

45:17 Right?

45:17 All of it. You know, you can’t sugarcoat anything if somebody you know, I mean, even like some of these, you know, you run out of fuel and some do you know that some people don’t even know how to prime a truck?

45:32 Does that surprise you?

45:35 It shouldn’t, but it does.

45:37 Is that something that you feel compelled to share with other like I guess newer drivers or less not necessarily I guess less knowledge knowledgeable drivers? I will tell them, you know, I will tell them, you know what, you’re in a Mack truck, don’t expect that 60 miles when you’re on empty, you know, just— Yeah. Don’t even let it get there, you know.

45:59 That’s a bad thing when you let a diesel get that low—

46:03 Right? Yeah. And that death thing, that’s an important one that some of these people just don’t, you know, I don’t know. But yeah, no, no, I don’t, you know, when I’m telling a new driver or some a prospective driver, you know, I go back and forth with them, like I said, I end up giving them my regular number so we don’t have to keep sending the little tiny text through the, you know, the pulse app so that they can talk and we can have a real, you know, a real discussion. I will tell them—

46:32 Yeah. And I will tell them it’s like, you know, this it’s hard at first. It’s like playing chess—

46:39 Right?

46:39 It’s tough at first. You have to figure it out. But once you got it, you got it.

46:44 Right. Exactly. That’s very well said because you know driveaway trucking from all aspect it’s not a checkers game. It is a chess game and—

46:53 Yes.

46:54 There’s once you make your move, it’s like and you got to think about the next move.

47:00 Yes. Yes. You have to look a few moves ahead to keep yourself rolling. You want to make sure you know and if you know if you don’t know how to get out of somewhere somebody else will. So you can ask your dispatcher and she can ask another driver hey you took a load over here to you know monk’s corner you know how did you get out of there—

47:24 Right?

47:24 You know—

47:25 How important is it to have that support network when you are an independent contractor?

47:30 I think it’s a big deal. I think it really helps a lot. It really puts things at ease and it’s nice to know like that there’s somebody else out there willing to willing to help you and spend a little bit of their time to get you through what you’re going through because they’ve been through it and in kind you pass that on.

47:50 Gotcha. You’re listening to Carrie Keyes here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Carrie, want to kind of wrap it up here. You’ve been on the road for a minute, literally tonight, and figuratively throughout your career. Where do you see your career going to from here and ending when it’s all your time on the beach, all your time, seeing everything with your grandchildren? Where do you see the next few years playing out for you?

48:22 I’m going to keep doing this. I’m in no hurry to retire. I’m hoping, you know, I don’t know, maybe I will probably end up with some little motor home so I can drag all the kids around and I’ll do all the routes I’m doing now so they can see all the stuff that I’m doing. But I just don’t see me coming off the road.

48:41 Very well said, Carrie Keyes here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Carrie, thank you so much for spending some time taking a little load off, so to speak, there enjoying your coffee. I’m guessing the coffee is gone. Oh yeah, it’s gone.

48:55 Well, you may need one more cup it before you hit the road again. So, enjoy your time out on the road. Be safe and let’s hope when you head up to Detroit that the weather is favorable, not against you.

49:07 Thank you. And I’ve enjoyed talking to you.

49:09 Thank you very much, Carrie.

49:15 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.