00:04 But it’s nice to have that downtime that, you know, you can just unwind a little bit. If you plan this right, you can always do it somewhere that’s fun and exciting. You know, you couldn’t be in Vegas for a 3-day weekend and just come back out. So, that’s the good thing. That’s what one thing I like about driveaway. 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.

00:43 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. This is a venue where we elevate and celebrate the truck driver, the ones who make the wheels go around literally and also figuratively in the economy of this country. And we of course move the trucks that eventually move the freight that comes to your home. Now, joining us this evening is a very special guest and we’re very happy to have Franklin Snooks with us. Franklin, how are you?

01:12 I’m good. I’m good. How are you?

01:13 I’m doing well. Doing well. What are you doing this evening, Franklin? I’m transporting one of those trucks you’re talking about from Chillicothe, Ohio to taking over to Kansas.

01:24 I got you. So, I spoke with you last night. I think you were at home last night. Is that right?

01:29 In the hotel room.

01:30 Oh, okay. I got you. So, you were already in Ohio last night.

01:34 Yes. Yes.

01:35 Gotcha. So, what do you got about 700 miles in front of you?

01:38 Correct. That’s exactly 712, I believe. They got it written down as—

01:43 I got you. I’m actually I’ll be confession hour here. I got you pulled up. I’m cheating there. I didn’t want to say 712 on my I’m not that good.

01:52 Yeah, I got you.

01:54 I got my laptop open. I’m sitting here looking at it. But what are you driving right now?

01:59 KW the 2023 Knife Forest Green Kenworth.

02:06 I can picture it now. I mean, you could be in a lot worse.

02:10 Oh yeah, definitely much. Yeah. Yeah, it’s a lot worse out here than this ride.

02:16 Yeah. G kind of paint a picture for us what that ride looks like inside, outside front to back. Kind of give us a picture of it.

02:24 Man, it’s like I say, hunter green. It’s got black trim on the around it. Inside standard KW cab with the little chrome filters on the side. And inside is all everything, the dashboard, everything is black. That the car seats in this edition, not like the nice stitch leather ones that I have been pulling. But inside the you know cab, nice big bunk area. I guess and they don’t come with the refrigerators no more. I got a big open space back here where the television and I guess where the refrigerator would go at. But yeah, it’s I mean it’s nice and spacious. I don’t know who’s going to be the driver, but they’re going to love this. I got you. Well, you’re the driver right now, so I’m guessing you’re loving it now.

03:11 Oh, yeah. I wish I was going a lot further.

03:14 I got you. You’re driving it now. I guess you’re the first boyfriend as far as in the truck, but somebody’s going to trade it in for a more permanent relationship.

03:23 Right. Right.

03:25 How does it ride?

03:28 It rides good. This one, it’s the first one I’ve had that’s came out the shop that’s governed. So he goes about 64 miles an hour, but the ride is still smooth. If you set the cruise, of course, you know, when cars get in front of you, it will slow down. So that I forgot what they call it right now. That’s already enabled on this model. But other than that, man, it’s it rides like a brand new KW.

03:57 Gotcha. Now, when you think about the trucks you’ve driven, all the trucks you have, kind of rank them for us in order, ones that you prefer to the ones that you’d rather not. I mean, as far as drivability—

04:11 What who’s at the top of the list and who’s at the bottom? Who’s in—

04:15 I would say right now, just what I’ve been moving lately, a lot of KW is probably the top of the list. Then I would move down to Volvo and then I would have to say Peterbilt and some of the Cascades and the Freightliners are real nice and I haven’t moved a whole lot of Max or anything else lately. So, that would be my top five right there.

04:41 Gotcha. What do you look for in drivability? What kind of things stand out for you as far as what you like about a truck and what you dislike about a truck? I stand at about six I’m 6’4 and a little bit on— Yeah. So, and I’m not overweight but not I’m not a screen bean either. So, I like to be comfortable when I get in the seat. So, that’s the first thing I look at is if I can adjust the seat and get myself comfortable—

05:12 Then that’s the overall quality. And then of course, you know, if it rides nice, if it’s like not jerky, nice over the bumps and everything else, then that’s fine. But most the most important feature is how I fit into the seat.

05:27 If I can adjust everything well, then that’s the most important thing to me, right? You know—

05:31 Gotcha. Now, of those trucks that you named, those five, do which ones do you know off the top of your head have a bigger cab? There’s more room in them. I mean, is that something that you know instinctively?

05:44 Yeah, I know the Cascader has they have the those cabs are usually much bigger than everybody else’s just by the way they’re designed. I can’t even pinpoint, but with the KWS, their passengers, the driver seat to the passenger seat, it’s a little tighter, but once you get into the sleeper area, then that’s where all the room opens up. And of course, that Volvo I think it’s used to be the 780 series, the big boy that Volvo has.

06:20 Oh, yeah. All their room is in the back there when they I think one point they had a table that actually folds down in the bunk area and you had plenty of room, you know, to sit back there and eat like you’re eating at a picnic table somewhere. So, it was that was real nice.

06:36 That’s pretty cool. That’s pretty cool. Now, let’s see. You’re going from Chillicothe there south of Columbus to O. What’s your route? What road will you be taking over there? Looked like mostly 70 West.

06:51 Okay.

06:52 And that’s where I’m sitting at right now. I just pulled over to take a 30 minute break while we were doing this. But and that’s as far as I’ve looked at so far. Right into St. Louis. And I’m not sure where I’m going after that. That’s as far as I’ve planned it so far as up to St. Louis.

07:11 Gotcha. How many trucks do you take out of Chile? As we call it, Chillicothe, we call it Chile. I’ve been grabbing like maybe one every two weeks for the last well since I started actually in January.

07:25 Gotcha. So, it’s nice when you go to Chile, you know, you’re getting a new vehicle—

07:30 Right? Right.

07:32 Now, tell us kind of walk us down. You said you started in January with us with Norton Transport and you’re listening to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. We’re listening to Franklin Snooks right now. Franklin before you started with us in January, what were you doing?

07:52 I was driving for FedEx where I’ve been the last eight years. Just calling doubles all over the United States. Actually, I’ve been up to California a couple of times. Been up to Massachusetts, Maine. But I’m based out of Atlanta, Georgia. So, I went like you just run everywhere with FedEx. So, that’s what I’ve been doing the last eight years. Gotcha. I’m looking here. You’ve Class A. Yeah, you’ve got a lot of experience here. What you just stated here? I’m checking you out here while I’ve got my laptop open. Being a Class A—

08:25 Class A, eight years experience. Let me back up just a second. What was it like running those doubles for FedEx? You see them all over the highway.

08:34 Yeah. At first, I tell you, when I first got the job, when I first started, I was terrified of I really didn’t want the job. But a friend of mine actually talked me into doing it. They had opening, needed a driver and at the time I was out of trucking just for a short period of time and he actually talked me into it. So the first two months I was terrified because everything I knew about doubles was I always saw them there. They were rolled over. Matter of fact, there’s a joke about FedEx. They call them Fed roll over because they was always over in the ditch somewhere. So, I was a little bit terrified of the job at first, but then once I got comfortable with it and I mean, they actually drive better than a 53 foot van.

09:21 Wow.

09:22 The turn ratio is better. You don’t have to make those wide turns like you would have to do with a 53 footer.

09:28 Mhm. Because that that last trailer is going to it’s going to follow that that first trail and that first trailer of course is going to do whatever you tell it to do with because it’s hooked up to the you know the tractor of course but it’s just going to everything is going to fall right in line so you don’t have to make those wire turns and just the hard part. Some guys have learned to back them up. I’ve never been able to like learn that part of the job, but I’ve seen some guys back them up just like they’re backing up a 53 footer or a 20 foot trailer. And it’s remarkable when you see them do it.

10:06 But that’s about the only thing that when you park somewhere, you got to make sure you got room to get out and like pull forward because there’s no backing up on a lot of them.

10:17 Yeah. That’s kind of like decking as far as you pull into a hotel, it’s like I want to be able to go forward in the morning.

10:24 Right. Right.

10:26 Now, doing those doubles, has that made you a better driver as far as now today?

10:32 Oh, yeah, definitely. It’s just like because there’s more parts and more components to watch out for, to check for. So, even when you’re driving, you’re constantly looking back trying to see like, you know, if your the dolly back there is doing, what that last trailer is doing, whether it’s, you know, as we, I guess the nickname, the wiggle waggle, how bad is waggling or wiggling back there. So, you know, you got to make adjustments if it is. So, yeah, you constantly all the time checking stuff. And so, that makes you, you know, you’re more safety conscious, I guess. Make sure your chains are still hooked up like you know everything is when you whenever you stop you looking underneath to make sure everything is still just like you took off.

11:18 Now you kind of reminded me of an obvious question here one that speaking of safety. Walk us through did you picked up today this morning in Chile?

11:28 Yes.

11:28 Okay. Walk us through what your pre-trip inspection looked like. What even though it’s a brand new KW walk us through what you did.

11:36 All right. Well, walking up to the truck, I always look at, you know like you say, you look, you check underneath it, any leaks anything any water on the ground. It was a little rainy this morning when I got in Chile, so I had to look for any fluids on the ground. Then I open the hood, look at all the everything underneath, make sure this the coolant level is good the belts are on, nothing looks, you know, out of sync there. After I give the engine a quick look over, pop the hood back, do a quick walk around of the vehicle, get inside, turn the lights on, turn the flashes on, do another walk, you know, walk around, make sure those are all working—

12:16 And then from that point, get inside the cab, blow the horn make sure all the gauges work. Go down that checklist that Norton give you and you pretty much cover everything. Now, when you take a new truck, obviously you’re not as concerned with not to minimize it, but the tire tread. Now, when you’re using a when you’re picking up a used truck, how much attention do you pay that to that tire tread?

12:43 Oh, yeah. A lot. Cuz I picked up some trucks that’s been sitting and they normally be even maybe I don’t know, maybe they change the tires out or they put some that’s been dry rotted. And I’ve actually turned down some trucks because the whoever owned it didn’t want to put better tires on it. And I knew that if I left with the tires that were on it, I wasn’t going to get far, you know, down the road very far. So—

13:11 I mean that’s a that’s an important decision you have to make. I mean safety, your own safety, everyone else on the road.

13:18 So I mean right—

13:19 How did you reach that decision on this one in particular that you’re talking about?

13:23 Well, yeah. They were just too bad. They were the trucks were really I mean it look like they’ve been sitting up for years when I got there. And the tires were like just they were crumbling in certain parts. So I knew just moving it wasn’t going to take long that before. So, and then in some part it was just like it was no tread at all and on some of the tires on the rear. And so when I went back to the service guy and asked him about, you know, you need tires. And he said, “Oh, no. We already sold the truck as is. We can’t put tires on there.” So, I said, “Well, I can’t drive it.” And I think I was going from it was probably like a little over 500 mile trip. I know I ended up in Atlanta, Georgia, but I can’t remember where I started from right now, but it was well over 500 miles. And I was like, nah, this is not going to make it there, man.

14:16 So, if you’re not going to you don’t want to change the tires or refused to, then I called back to the office and they just, well, you don’t feel safe with it, then just leave it. We’ll find you another load. So, that that’s what happened.

14:29 Was it an auction truck?

14:31 It could have been. There were several of them. And I tell you the truth, he it had he had five trucks out there that was going down to a dealership in Atlanta. So it could have been from auction and all five of them looked like they were sitting over there a year and they were and I actually went back and tried to find one with better tires. So I can say like look since all them are going just give me this one. I’ll take this one. But all of them had different problems with tires and some of them even had other issues that they just couldn’t they weren’t they were undrivable. I tell you the truth.

15:05 Well, you got to know sometimes when it’s time to walk away.

15:08 Yeah. Yeah.

15:09 Now, speaking of that, prior to your time with FedEx, eight years with them, did you drive before that also? Yes, I’ve done I started driving really back in 1994 was my first driving job and I drove for Budweiser. I used to go down from where I live down to the brewery in Jacksonville, pick up beer and bring it back to the brewery. Right. I grew up in South Carolina, so I used to live right below the Hilton Head area—

15:44 Right? And we used to go three times a week. We used to run out and pick up beer from the Jacksonville Brewery to the plant. So that’s where I started. Then from there, I went driving in flatbed just for a short period of time cuz I found out quick I didn’t like that.

16:01 Now, when you were delivering beer—

16:04 Did you have to do some taste testing for quality control? I wish they but you know it’s funny you ask that when you go to the brewery at the end of the tour if you ever you know visit a brewery they do have taste test in there so the beer is available but no they never gave it to us. I don’t I wonder why I got to check back into that, man. I got—

16:30 I you know, I was looking at your profile here and I saw your area code and I was like 843. I’m usually pretty familiar with them, but now that it just clicked with me. That’s South Carolina, isn’t it?

16:41 Yeah. South Carolina. Yep.

16:43 So, you’re down there Hilton Head, Charleston. Well, that had to be rough growing up down there. Wow.

16:49 Yeah, man. I mean, on the beach every day, it was real rough. Hard, you know, hard going.

16:55 So, how far from were you in between Hilton Head and Charleston or?

16:58 Yeah, a small town called Richland, South Carolina is where I grew up at. Okay.

17:03 And we were 35 miles from Hilton Head and 64 miles from Charleston.

17:09 Gotcha. That’s not too bad of a place, man. The food I used to live in Savannah—

17:14 Man. The food is outstanding down there in that part of the country.

17:17 Yes. Tell us a little bit about what how long has it been since you lived there?

17:22 Oh, I’m live in I live in Georgia now. So, I’ve been here probably like nine years now.

17:30 Okay. Do you miss the food from back in South Carolina?

17:33 I do sometimes. Yeah, cuz nothing, you know, in Georgia you can’t find fresh seafood like you can, of course, in Charleston. But I go back home quite regular and I make up for it when I’m not when I can’t get the seafood like I want to.

17:48 I got you.

17:49 So I haven’t had a chance to really miss it yet because I’m still I’m four and a half hours from my parents house. So I’m there like every other weekend or sometimes, you know, it’s not too long in between before I go back. And when I do go back, you know, I still go by my favorite spots and you know, the seafood and get all that.

18:09 All right. Franklin makes his way back to the hometown there and or to Charleston and you’re getting the seafood. What’s top of the list for you to order? Oh man, it really depends on where you go. But I tell you that the top of the thing is always of course I have a thing for blue crabs—

18:29 And if you go to somebody’s you know somebody’s doing at the house of course they just they get the crabs and they make like a crab boil.

18:40 Oh yeah.

18:40 So it’s the crabs, the sausage, the corn, the potatoes, everything in one pot and it is it’s really good eating. Know it well. The low country boil.

18:52 Yes. Yes.

18:53 Y.

18:54 And then if you go down to Myrtle Beach—

18:58 You go to there’s these places called the Calabash. I don’t know if anybody’s ever been, but if you down in Myrtle Beach, you know that they have 64 items on the ball on the buffet and all of is everything is seafood. So you can have crab casserole, shrimp, any kind of way you want it, lobster tails, lobster casserole, you name it, they got it. So that’s always a favorite spot to go to as well.

19:25 I got a question for you. Coincidentally, I had no idea you were going to bring up Myrtle Beach, but I’m headed that way Saturday. Saturday from—

19:33 Oh, okay.

19:34 What’s up with all the pancake places down there?

19:40 There’s a lot of them in Motor Beach. You’re right.

19:42 It’s like every other block’s a pancake place. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I like a good pancake, but I’m like, my goodness, there’s like 200 pancake places down here.

19:53 Yeah, there is a lot of them, man. You ain’t kidding.

19:57 Now, are you a we’ve talked about your love for seafood. I’ve been to Charleston a few times. There’s some great places down there. Do you have a favorite place in Charleston, a favorite place in Hilton Head that you’re like, “That’s my go-to?”

20:13 Not really in Hilton Head. In Charleston, there’s a couple. I mean, really. And to be honest with you, there’s there it’s hard to pick a favorite place. I would say one of the my favorite places and probably the most fun spot to go to is called the Tattoo Moose.

20:29 Okay.

20:29 In Charleston.

20:30 Okay. It’s— It looks from the outside it looks like a regular beer pub, but man, they have some of the best sandwiches and the best food come out of that little kitchen that you would you wouldn’t even think of. It’s like one of those I won’t say it’s a hole in the wall cuz it’s a nice restaurant. A lot of people know about it, but it is they have some amazing sandwiches that come out of there. And I think I’ve I used to go there maybe every other day for lunch.

21:03 Okay.

21:03 And I’ve tried every sandwich on the menu and I still don’t have a favorite. Every time I sit down, I got to look at it and still figure out what I’m which one I’m going to get. They have a sandwich. First time I eat duck club sandwich in there. They got a Cuban sandwich on the menu and it they’re so great that I sit down every time I go and I have to stare at the menu and pick one.

21:34 Tough choice.

21:35 Pick which one? Which one? Yeah. Oh man, this is ridiculous. But that would be my favorite spot.

21:40 Gotcha. Now, speaking of good food, how do you make your trips in such a way where you can have good food and stay within a budget, assuming you operate within a budget and driveaway? Most smart drivers do, and I know you’re certainly one of our smarter drivers. How do you do that? How do you balance it where you’re eating well, eating good tasting food, yet staying on a budget? What I try to do, I don’t like to eat while I’m driving because then that sets in like fatigue issues and everything else. So, I try to stay busy and I don’t do a whole lot of eating. So, if I’m going to eat, I’m grabbing, you know, I’m probably like everybody just sick and tired of truck stop food cuz it’s a just it’s just a shame. But I try to I don’t know. I don’t try to do a whole lot of eating while I’m out here because that would just that creates a whole, you know, other problems, health problems, and fatigue issues when you do drive. But definitely in the downtime, I try to find like, you know, somewhere like, you know, last night I ate at Applebee’s, so I was a because I had a little time in between.

22:52 And just try to get something healthy, you know up in me. So, I’m down here like not eating wings from, you know, the Flying J or the Greasy Pizza and everything else. But, and then sometimes I’m just so sick of Subway till I just don’t want it no more. And I’m just like, you know what? I’m getting me a trip where I’m going home in a couple days. I’ll just wait till I get back home to get a good decent meal. But, as long as I stay busy, then I’m not doing a whole lot of eating.

23:21 I got you. Do you drink a lot of water? I mean, I could understand, you know, that would be beneficial to filling you up, but obviously there’s a downside of drinking a lot of water when you’re in a truck.

23:36 Right. Right. I try to get those Can I mention truck stop names on here or is that—

23:41 Sure. Go ahead. Anything else?

23:45 There’s a Loves, you know, Lo’s got those. Well, all truck stops got them, but loves have their big water now and in their own little containers and they’re about like maybe half a liter or so. So, I’ll get one of those or two of those and just sip on those sometimes. Yeah, it wouldn’t be good to drink the whole thing in one spot cuz I wouldn’t get very far down the road before I’d be pulling over like every 15 miles or so. But I try to, you know, down that and if I’m going if I got a good trip, I try to like just to make sure I give enough water, try to drink one of those maybe like on the way to where I’m going—

24:26 That how much of a difference does that make taking in that much water and your appetite, hunger?

24:31 Oh yeah, it cuts it. It cuts it. Yeah, that’s why I can say I can literally do that and not worry about, oh, I, you know, I don’t really get hungry out here. And then if I’m driving down the road, I guess I’m like most drivers, you know, we got all got our pet peeves. I used to do well, not pet peeves, but just thing that you like to do. I used to do sunflower seeds while I drive or beef jerky to have something.

24:59 Yeah, I’ve heard that a lot from drivers. Beef jerky is a big one. Obviously, you see it in the truck stops and the sunflower seeds right—

25:06 Now. Do you try to eat breakfast before you get on the road or you just start rolling with—

25:12 Water or how do you how does that work?

25:15 Mostly I stop my first trip out I’ll if it’s in the morning I get a cup of coffee and it’s hit and miss whether I get a you know something sweet to go with it or not. Like I say, I don’t I normally wait until lunch or after lunch before I really start eating anything. But I will grab in the morning I grab the bottle water and a coffee and I’ll drink the coffee first, of course, you know, to get myself up and going. And then I’ll start working on the water. And then about maybe probably like 2 or 3:00 before I get where okay I need something to eat and whether it’s like I say grabbing five wings from Flying J or you know going to the Subway and getting a wrap. That’s mostly what I do at that point. But yeah, I don’t I hardly ever like go in and get like a sit down meal during the day when I’m driving.

26:19 All right. Now, we’re going to leave the name of the business out in the answer to this next question—

26:26 But you put a thought in my head there. There’s a lot of room there.

26:32 Give us an idea. Truck stops across the country. Wings. Are the wings— How would you rate the wings at a truck stop?

26:43 Let’s say one to five and five being the best and one being the worst. They’re probably like a two or maybe even a one.

26:55 I got you.

26:56 They’re not the best, but you know what you going to do when you’re in a you truck? You just can’t always pull over to you know your favorite wing spot.

27:05 Right. Right. Let’s run down the menu here. Truck stops, too. We got the wings covered. What about pizza? Pizza in a truck stop.

27:13 No, don’t do it. It’s too greasy. Gotcha.

27:17 What about I guess burgers, that kind of thing. Sandwiches, burgers in a truck stop.

27:23 Like most of them now got the little fast food places in them. So there’s McDonald’s in them. So, you’re going to get McDonald’s burgers or whatever or Arby’s and stuff like that. So they’re good long as they don’t stay away from the— Yeah, the burgers are good because they come from places like, you know, fast food restaurants and there hot dogs. Stay away from anything on the roller grill. Stay away from they’ve been out there too long.

27:53 I got you. Stay away from the rotisserie. I got you. Now, is there have you in your years of driving, you’ve been doing it for a long time. Have you ever been like you went and been pleasantly surprised or even blown away by the quality of food at a truck stop? Is there anything that comes to mind you’re like, “Wow, that was pretty good.”

28:11 H Let me think. That’s a good question. And I think I was surprised that they have like I tell you just recently and I was in Chile and if you go to the pilot in Chile, you know they got a mo inside the pilot there and that was a first for me. I love moles. So that was a first for me that walking in the place and seeing a moles inside a truck stop. So that was nice. I think when Lo’s first opened up and you went to they had Chester Chicken. Mhm.

28:44 At the beginning that was a pleasant surprise. It was like it was good chicken, but now I don’t know. I haven’t stopped in there in so long. And I know some people that like the liver the livers and the gizzs and so they got all that there. So if you like that and you get it fresh, I hear it’s good. But I’m not a fan.

29:06 I got you. You’re a seafood guy. Mhm. You’re listening to Franklin Snooks here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Franklin, you should be back in Sandy Springs Thursday.

29:26 Yes. Yes.

29:27 So, you’ll have a long weekend. Is that right?

29:31 That’s right. You’re right.

29:32 Now, what part of Atlanta do you live in? I mean, that’s a big place.

29:38 Yeah, south of the city. I live on the south side. Locust Grove.

29:41 Okay. That’s down there near Hampton, isn’t it?

29:46 Right. Yep. Yep. Yep.

29:47 I got you.

29:48 Just about the other side of McDonald, but you’re right.

29:51 I got you.

29:52 Hampton is right there.

29:54 Now, talk about the perk, the benefit, the upside of having a three-day weekend. I mean, if you do your planning right, you know, you can have some good time.

30:04 Oh, yeah. Especially if you like if you plan this right, you can always do it somewhere that’s fun and exciting. You know, you could be in Vegas for a three-day weekend and just come back out. So, that’s the good thing. That’s what one thing I like about driveaway business. But, it also gives me a time to like, you know, I’ve been gone for two and a half weeks. So, this 3-day weekend will give me time to go home and relax, decompress, and get ready to do it again if I want to come back and stay another two and a half weeks or just, you know, get caught up on some things around the house before I come back out. But, it’s nice to have that downtime that, you know, you can just unwind a little bit—

30:42 Just recharge the batteries. And speaking of you’re going to be back home. You got a three-day weekend coming up. Are you headed to South Carolina or are you staying in Georgia?

30:53 I’m gonna stay in Georgia this weekend. I’mma stay in Georgia because I’m coming right back out Monday. So, I don’t want to do too much. Like I said, they are four and a half hours away. So, I don’t want to I’m not going to do too much. But normally on those weeks where I’m taking sometime I just take a week off. So, that first weekend, yeah, I’m definitely I’m headed back that way.

31:12 Gotcha. Now, all this time on the road, do you are do you have a family or a single guy or how does that work out?

31:20 Single now. But I’ve got two daughters that’s coming out. They’re graduate the end of the month. Well, first of next month, so I’ll be thrilled to get down there and you know, see that.

31:34 Are they graduating college or high school or—

31:37 High school? High school. And then they’re—

31:39 They’re both collegebound. They haven’t told me exactly where they’re going yet, but they’re both they’ve already they’re making their final decisions. I’ll put it that way.

31:50 Well, that’s going to keep you on the road.

31:52 Oh, yeah. Yeah. I’m trying to hopefully they go the same one.

31:57 That’d be nice. That’d be nice. Now, on your time on the road, dear. Are you a big music guy?

32:04 Yeah. Yeah, I listen to a little bit of everything until I It just annoys me and then I’ll change it to something else.

32:13 Give us your playlist. You’re on your way to Kansas. What’s going to be on the radio for you?

32:19 Oh man, I set the YouTube on Daryus Rucker. I listen to everything that comes up. A little bit of Luke Cones.

32:28 Gotcha.

32:29 Chris Stapleton. Everything comes on there. I can’t other names that I can’t think of right now. There’s Brian somebody. I can’t think of his name, but—

32:40 Oh, Luke Bryan. Did I say that already? Luke Bryan.

32:43 You said I said Luke. Luke Bryan.

32:46 Yeah, Luke Co. Luke Bryan. Yeah, there’s another one. I can’t think of the one man band that group. I can’t think of who they are right now, the name of them, but they’re on there. And then on the R&B side, there’s some Whitney Houston, you know, there’s— Oh my goodness. Charlie Wilson.

33:10 Oh yeah.

33:11 Oh man.

33:12 Wasn’t Charlie Wilson with the Gap band back in the day?

33:16 Yes.

33:16 I thought he was.

33:18 Now, speaking of Darius Rucker, he’s a South Carolina guy.

33:23 Yes. Yep. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting him years ago. One time years ago. How did that happen?

33:31 He does a in Charleston because that’s where he’s originally from, he does a backpack drive for the school kids—

33:40 Right?

33:41 And he picks three schools every year that he’s going to like, you know, do his drive for. And one year he picked the school that my daughters were enrolled at. So when we took him that morning to go pick up their backpacks and all their school supplies and everything, he wasn’t Daryus R. Well, he was always Daryus Rucker, but he didn’t come out on he was still a Hoodie and with the Hoodie and the Blowfish—

34:08 Right?

34:09 And he was there at the school that where the whole band was because back then, I don’t know if you know, but Hoodie and the Blowfish, they only performed in Charleston. And so that weekend the same weekend he do his school drive, they would have a concert. They would have a two night, two-day concert that weekend, Saturday and Sunday night in Charleston. And, so he was there that morning with the, like I said, the whole band. And they were all just walking around, you know, shaking hands, thanking parents, and doing whatever. And, and I just, you know, walked up to him and started talking to him and asked for a picture. He said, “Sure.” And so I got my him with my daughters and then I got a picture with just me and him as well. So—

34:51 He comes across as a super nice guy. You’ve met him. What’s he like?

34:55 He is super nice. He was real— He seemed a little like tired and out of it because I guess they just had a show the night before. So I was even surprised to even see him there. But he was there but he was like, you know, pushing through whatever he had to, you know, had to do. He was definitely smiling and talking to everybody and just like, you know, all of them were the drummer of the band I think his name is Mark. He was there. Talked to him for a little while, you know, thanked him for everything that they were doing with the school supplies and the in the backpacks and everything. But yeah, they were all nice.

35:26 Cool. Cool. Now, speaking of gratitude, when you’re out on the road, do you get gratitude from people? We know sometimes drivers don’t get a fair shake from people as far as the way they’re received, but what about you? I mean, what’s it like as far as your reception by the public at large, your customers that you’re delivering to or picking up from? What’s that like?

35:53 Yeah. Some of them I have I said I’ve had some customers that I deliver to they go above and beyond, you know, out of their way to help you out. This a run that I did not too long ago. I’ve actually cuz it was out in the boonies in Texas and I could only the closest place that a buser dropped me off was 20 miles away and this little town had no Uber, anything. And the gentleman actually told me, “Well, if you get to when you get to this town, just call me.” And it was they were just open from Monday through Friday, but the closest time I can get there was Saturday. So, he said, “Just call me and I’ll have somebody come pick you up and bring you to the truck.” So, I was extremely grateful for that because I didn’t know how I was going to get there. But and then it happened. I called when I got there and he said, “Okay, give me a minute.” And then he called me back and he said, “Okay, a guy’s going to pick you up in a mechanic truck.” And like 10 15 minutes later, mechanic truck pulled into the gas station.

36:55 I said, “Okay, that there he is. There’s my ride.”

36:57 There’s my guy.” Walked out and yeah and he took me on to the where the truck was. So yeah, I’ve had customers, you know, I guess both spectrums. Some act like they could care less because I’m here or not. And then others like, “Oh man, how’s the truck ride? Oh, how are you? How was it?” You know, long trip. I think the most gratitude was I took a bus out of Alabama to Massachusetts, a city buses, 55 miles an hour the whole way. Took me three days”

37:35 To do it. It was brutal. I don’t think I want to do it no time soon. But when I got there, that’s everybody came out. It was like so glad they were happy to see it. Lot of questions too, man. Like, you’re going. So, that was really nice. But they were all like, “Hey, we got a break room. You go in here. You need anything?” And they show you. We got showers here, copies right there snack machines over there. Anything you need, just let us know and that’s it. So, most of the time, everybody, you know, they greet you with smile and they willing to help any way they can. I really can’t complain. Even the ones that don’t do it, the ones that do outweigh those by a mile.

38:22 I guess that’s got to be redeeming to see that quality of humanity. I mean, like you said, it outweighs it by a mile.

38:29 Yeah. Yeah, it really does. I’ve haven’t I there’s been very few times where you know I pull in and everybody go the other way or act like they don’t want to talk to you or speak to you and don’t want you to use I you know I used to do this back in the day where we had to fax all the paperwork in and you’ll go there and you’ll see signs that says don’t ask them to use the phone or fax or anything and so you kind of just get okay well fine you know I’ll go somewhere else and send it in but then you go other places and you don’t even say nothing and they already offering, you know, the lady come to you like, “Do you need anything facts? You need to make copies? You need me to do anything?” And I’m like, “Well, yeah, I do. If you don’t mind, give it to me.” Okay, I need to make copies of all these or just fax this off to, you know, whatever. She’s more than happy to do it.

39:16 So, that’s cool. Like I say, it—

39:18 Yeah, it definitely comes out, you know, more the good side than the bad. So—

39:25 What’s your favorite experience out on the road all I mean, you’ve been on the road a long time. What’s the thing that really comes to mind most memorable?

39:35 That is a good question. Oh man, David experience out on the road. Wow. Oh, you should ask about this. Let me think about that for a minute.

39:46 Hey, we got all night.

39:48 Okay. Let me think. Favorite experience out on the road.

39:55 I tell you what, we’ll back into that. We’ll back into it.

39:58 Yeah. Yeah. Give me time on that one. Like I said, it’s been a long time. So—

40:01 What about the worst experience on the road?

40:04 The worst would be definitely I think I broke down once and it was in a truck driving a yeah, I was driving a tractor and I called it breakdown. It broke down by 11 12 o’clock at night—

40:20 And—

40:21 That’s when breakdowns happen.

40:23 Oh. Oh, of course. Yeah. And we—

40:25 Went to the Exactly. I got to a Freightliner dealership and you know while I was waiting on them to figure out if it was something they could go ahead and fix or what they would have to do. It took them about like three or four hours and being out there and I guess you know just ready to you know right now if you guys can’t fix it. But the only thing was where I broke down was in the middle of nowhere like too far away from the hotel. So, we I stayed at the Freightliner dealership. I want to say it was about maybe 3:00 the next day or that— Yeah, the next day when I could actually get out of there and end up having to leave the truck, but had to call somebody like 50 miles away to come get me. And—

41:14 So spending that kind of money just to get to a hotel and then eventually, you know, they found me another load somewhere maybe like 20 30 miles away that I could get to and get back up and running. But—

41:27 Did you sleep in the lobby?

41:29 Not really cuz it was really uncomfortable. But then I’m pretty sure I was dozing off. But they had the most uncomfortable chairs at a at those dealerships, man. When you waiting to get your trucks fixed—

41:41 I got you. Like they need to invest in some masses somewhere. But—

41:46 Let’s swing back the other way now that we’ve thought about it for a minute. The best experience on the road.

41:52 Man, investor is—

41:54 It sounds like you’ve had a lot of good experiences.

41:57 I have. I was I would say this. I would say and of all places, New York City is always one of the best. And I would just say because it’s so easier to get around the city, to get from place to place. So, I would say the one of the best experiences because when I first started, I knew nothing. It was my first time going to New York City. So, I had no idea about how to get around, what I needed to do. And from the place that I delivered to, I think I was over on I don’t want to say the wrong thing. What’s the Long Island?

42:36 Mhm. And the guy gave me a ride to the train station there and he said, “Okay, this will take you back into Penn Station in New York.”

42:48 Yep.

42:49 And then from here you could ask, you know, where I needed to go and to come down with didn’t have another truck in that area to like for me to get back. So I ended up going back home. But I learned that in New York City, if you get over to Chinatown, there is a bus. There’s a Chinese bus. They That’s what it’s called. I don’t you know, but if you get to Chinatown, you can get on the bus. And I paid $75 back then. Got on the bus at 7:30. And at 8:30 the next morning they put me off at a Walmart that was really like 10 minutes from my house. Really—

43:31 Inville, South Carolina. Yeah. And that was so that was like the most because I’m thinking, oh man, like I’m here, I’m going be stuck in New York City like forever. But the thing that helped me out that I guess is most memorable and I liked about it because even though New York City has that reputation of nobody really want to help anybody and everybody’s, you know, always like so busy, they just mind their business. They don’t have time to talk to anybody. When I went to the subway, when I got off at Penn Station, I had no idea, you know, about none of this stuff. And I’m not even sure I even found out about the Chinese bus that I need to get to Chinatown. But that’s what somebody told me. So when I went to the people in the booth and I said, “Okay, how do I get to Chinatown?”

44:16 And they were more than happy. Okay. Well, you know, didn’t just tell me, well, get on the, you know, the B subway and go, but they went to indepth like, you know, it telling me exactly what I needed to do. And I think one point one trip I may be getting a little confused, but I even had to get off the subway and get on a bus, but they told me, you know, when you get off the subway, go upstairs and catch the B bus or catch the red bus to this location, get off there, then go in the subway, get back on, and you’ll go, you know, where you need to go. So that was I guess that was one of the better trips because having no idea whatsoever, but having people almost take you by the hand and just like guiding you is what I needed at that point cuz I had no clue as what I was doing.

45:11 That kind of goes like you were saying earlier, you know, New Yorkers have that reputation of not being hospitable, but that was not your experience at all.

45:20 No, man. I was so grateful. I was like, “Thank you.” Cuz like I said, I would have I’m just thinking and I had already started looking at rooms and everything, but I was like, man, this $200 room is going to kill me—

45:36 Right? But the bus out of Chinatown certainly helped you out a lot there, getting you back to Somerville.

45:42 Oh, yeah. Yeah, that was a wide openen experience. And I know I just I got stuck in New York. Well, I was doing a trip taking some buses out of High Point up to Connecticut and trying to get back to High Point cuz they had another one and I was just telling one of the dispatches up there. I said, “Well,” she was looking up. She was trying to find a cheap way and she couldn’t do it. And I said, I mentioned I said, “Well, you know, let me check the bus out of Chinatown. Let me check the Chinese bus and I’ll see what you know what the rates are. Maybe I can get over there and get one back.” And she just thought that was the funniest thing ever. And she just started laughing. But—

46:19 Who was your dispatcher?

46:22 Jessica. I was on dispatcher, but I think that time it might have been either Sierra—

46:28 Right? She’s on Jess.

46:29 I think it was Sierra that was Yeah. Yeah. I think it was Sierra was telling that too cuz they were all trying to figure out how to get me back. I gotcha. Now, I was going to ask you, we’ve talked about the experiences, but what about the most, I guess, majestic, took your breath away place that you’ve been?

46:51 Oh, man. Place up around Chicago and all I went there in the winter and— Oh, man. It’s between Chicago and Wisconsin. I can’t think of— Oh, Geneva. I don’t know. Lake Geneva or something like that.

47:09 So, you’re going around the great Lakes, working your way up the coast, I guess, if you’re going up, right? Yeah, I got you.

47:15 Yeah. Yeah. But it was in the winter time and dead of winter. So everything was frozen over and I came through this place and it was like a downtown, you know, you had the shoe stores and the suit shops and everything and a downtown setting. And in between these two stores there was an opening on one side of the street and it’s a lake, a big huge lake in the just in between these stores and it goes back and it goes up to the mountains.

47:54 Oh, nice.

47:55 And yeah, it was real nice. The lake, of course, like I said, was frozen over and snow everywhere. And I’m riding down this two-lane two-lane, you know, main street in town. And when you look into at the mountain, it’s got the snowcap mountains on it. And it was just awesome. It was just nice. And I always said from that that day, I haven’t made it back there yet. I said, “Man, I got to come back here one winter just to see this.” But I never made it back.

48:27 Definitely made an impression on you. Yeah—

48:29 That is one of them. Oh yeah, definitely.

48:34 So, what about on the opposite side of the spectrum? You see where I’m going? What is something you’re like, man, I don’t want to go here again?

48:43 Oh, yeah, definitely. I went to Montana once and there was just nothing out there. I don’t remember what city I was in, but I dropped the bus off and if it wasn’t for if I remember right, the Greyhound, I had to catch a bus out of there because that’s the only thing they got coming that way. It only comes one time a day. It picks up at this small gas station and where I dropped the but the truck off at. This couple had to be in there. They were just, you know, I don’t even know if they had anything to do with the trucking the company, but they gave me a ride back to the bus station and I had to sit there maybe like three hours waiting on the bus and yeah, it was a small gas station and he had two chairs over to the side in this place and I’m sitting down of course, you know, you got your backpack and you got your suitcase.

49:54 And I’m definitely in everybody’s way, but you stand outside. It’s hot as out of nowhere. It’s like, you know, it’s too hot to just stand outside and wait cuz, you know, you end up sweating to death. And but I’m sitting in there trying to, you know, be get out of, you know, like I said, I’m 6’4, so I’m trying to get out of everybody’s way as possible as I can, but there ain’t much room you can see. There’s only so many parts I can move. So, I’m definitely in everybody’s way. They trying to get in. This guy’s trying to do his job. And yeah, it was definitely a place that I said, “Okay, I don’t ever want to come back here.” But then lots of places you get you look out there and you go like, man, like, okay, you can’t you just can’t get out of here. And but that is definitely one that sticks out.

50:46 Now, you were at the bus station or the gas station that served as the bus stop. Do you take a bus a lot or as far as in between your loads and pickups, do you try to run the buses?

50:58 So I look at as an adventure when I try to stay off buses. I try to avoid the buses at all cost. I don’t like them. I don’t like taking them. But you know years ago and like I said I did this like before mid 90s and well I say late 90s and then early 2000s when I tried I came back to the driveaway back then you know if you didn’t take a bus you wasn’t getting around to me anywhere—

51:32 Right? So you had to take them a lot. But, definitely now if I can stay off a bus, then I think I’m winning.

51:42 I got you.

51:43 I’ve definitely lost when I have to take a bus. But in certain cases, you have no choice. That’s the only thing moving and that’s the only time I really hop on a bus.

51:53 You’re listening to Franklin Snooks here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Franklin, we’re closing out here. We’re getting toward the end of our time. You’ve been an incredible guest, filling us with a lot of great stories, funny stories, insightful stories, stories about good food. One question I wanted to ask you before we close it up here is if someone is considering thinking about getting into driveaway, what would your advice be to that person?

52:20 Oh, I think definitely do it. It’s I think you can have a rewarding career doing this. It’s definitely an adventure. But you can make some good money doing it. All depends on how you want to run and what you want to do, what you’re trying to accomplish. But, I tell you, for the travel and adventure, getting around the United States, there’s some beautiful places, you know, we just talked about. And definitely, you know, try to plan out your trips as best as you can. Like when you get out of truck, just have another one to get into and you’ll enjoy it. You heard it right there from Franklin Snooks here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Franklin, I didn’t have any other questions, but thank you so much for joining us. Anything you want to say as we close it out?

53:07 Not much, man. It was great being here. I appreciate you for calling me and asking me to do this, man. It’s been fun.

53:12 You bet, Franklin. Be safe out there.

53:14 We’ll do, man. Take care.

53:18 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.