00:04 He fastens me and gives me the bird. Okay. Flips me off cuz he’s mad. He’s in a FedEx truck. He’s got some schedule. I didn’t even get mad. I didn’t retaliate. I said, “Okay, well this guy’s just a couple beers, you know, short of a six-pack here.” So, I’m going down the road and a guest who’s on the side of the road 100 ft in a ditch later about 5 miles up, baby.

00:26 Same guy.

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

00:52 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 drivers that make our business and your life go round and round. They’re such an important part of the economy. Of course, we like to talk to the drivers that move the trucks and the trucks that ultimately move the cargo that ends up on your table, in your house, wherever it may be. Now, we’ve got a doozy of a guest tonight. A slam dunk of a guest. Christopher Poare. He joins us from the road right now. He’s got his headsets on. Christopher, where in the hell are you?

01:27 North end of Denver up here in Wyoming and headed to Cheyenne, but got to drop this rental. As everybody knows, when you’re in between loads, you either get a rental, a flight, or you know, a train or a bus and just sitting here going in this nice little Ford Escort headed to Denver.

01:45 You and I were talking just a few minutes ago. I was late calling Christopher. But Christopher, I was late for a couple of reasons. Had a little bit of a conversation with someone here in the office and I had to pour up a couple of beers for our conversation. That’s why I’m late.

01:59 There’s nothing wrong with that. Long as you’re not driving, then I think we’ll be, you know, everything will be safe and okay.

02:07 I’m not driving. I’m just sitting in front of a microphone listening to one of our great drivers, Christopher Poare. Now, you had told me earlier you’re in the middle of nowhere. Yeah, literally right now. I’m— There isn’t a cow or a I mean, there’s a fence out here for some snow, I guess, when it piles up so it doesn’t hit the highway, but yeah, there’s literally nothing here. Gotcha. Now, Christopher had joined us earlier and we lost him reception-wise, but he has climbed up to a hill, a hilltop to get better cell reception there while he’s up there. But I got to tell you, man, you’re on your headsets. Tell us about the headsets. You sound crystal clear. So, a lot of these headsets I know all the guys buy Blue Parrots. They’re like a huge thing. I was a gamer for years when I was younger and stuff, and you know, you buy all kinds of different headsets, and I thought, God, why are Blue Parrots so expensive? But long story short, the aftermarket ones that are around about 200, this is one of those. And I have not had any complaints on it, the battery lasts just as long or longer than a Parrot.

03:09 The reception’s, like I said, no, no complaints. And just a really good unit. I think I picked it up for about 250, but the comparable Blue Parrot was in the threes. So, it’s the aftermarket stuff is coming along pretty good from what I can see.

03:25 That’s good advice for other guys out there, guys and girls who are driving these trucks. What’s the benefit or what’s the I guess the most desired thing you have about that headset there as far as what does it give you the ability to do that maybe some inferior headsets do not—

03:43 You know actually that and I’m just going to be honest here as far I’ve never bought an inferior headset and the reason is just like anything else you get what you pay for but I have had inferior headsets that were not for trucking and I could tell you that the microphone is going to be the main key. So the microphone has something called noise cancellation and if you are on the road all the time which you are on this job that’s our job and you get a very important phone call like let’s say for instance this one and you know you’re constantly having to repeat yourself or you’re getting static or a lot of these trucks make the background noise which is just horrendous. If that comes through, whoever’s on the other side is going to want to choke you out or they’re just going to basically hang up the phone.

04:31 Gotcha.

04:32 Yeah. Well, I mean, I’ve had conversations with my family and stuff and my nephew, he can’t stand it. He’s like, “Man, call me back. I can hear everything in your truck.” And he hangs up and you know, and it’s happened to me with the cheaper headset. So, that’s why I went ahead and spent the money. Noise cancellation is really the main key with these. And on a side note, they are great for the gym, too. Like if you know you, you know, we got to keep in shape out here. If you go to like I go to Planet Fitness, you can actually get a headset that will detach from the side. Put another headphone on that sucker and it’s like you have a workout headset when you’re going to the gym and they’re really loud and everything because as far as our job goes, the noise cancellation is the main thing you want to get with these.

05:13 Money well invested. Money well invested by Christopher Poare out on the road taking a break just to talk with us here on the Six-Figure Trucker. He’s in his Ford Escort on the side of the road in I guess you’re south of Cheyenne. Is that right?

05:27 You know what? I don’t know. I just said that, but I Let me check.

05:31 Well, if you’re coming out of Denver, it’s pretty much due north. I think—

05:35 I am actually 206 miles, John, from Denver and I’m on the 80 and I’m about to cross over to the 280 287 right now. Oh. So, yeah, it’s I’m actually hoping there’s a gas station up here because if not, it’s going to be a long night.

05:55 Gotcha. Well, what kind of truck did you come out of before you piled into that Ford Escort? I mean, that’s quite a drastic change from coming out of a truck to a Ford Escort.

06:07 Yeah, I mean, a lot of what Norton moves for the nonCDL guy like me a lot of what we move is 26 foot pens. We have a huge contract. Yeah. Big contract and a lot of those are going to be Freightliner units, international units, stuff like that. So yeah, I had a 26 foot Penske. I mean once you drive them a couple of times, I would say after about 3 4 weeks or so of moving them, it like driving anything else really. But yeah, basically a lot of those Freightliners, International Penske 26 footers, you know, little guys, little trucks and stuff like that. Box truck. It’s like you’re always moving. Not literally moving, but you’re like moving your best friend. They’re like, you see those 26footers out there all the time when people are moving, you know, from one house to the next. That’s what you’re driving pretty much, isn’t it?

07:00 I mean, yeah. The funny part about this job is when I tell people I’m a trucker, they always assume 18-wheeler. You know, that’s your main guy that doesn’t know much about trucking. He goes, “Oh, so you drive a big rig, right?” And I’m like, “No, no, actually I don’t. And I still have to adhere to the DOT logs. I still stop at the way stations. But half the time I’ve driven 26T trucks. I’ve driven flatbeds. Everything in under D under everything that’s DOT is going to be 26 ft or under 26,000 lb. Exactly.”

07:29 And I’ve driven it all. I remember. Yeah. I mean, I remember one time I had a septic tank pump and this thing was made out of solid aluminum, guys. Solid aluminum, John. I mean, this thing was scary. And I accidentally I hope Norton doesn’t hear this. I accidentally went over some railroad tracks a little too fast and I flew and hit the top of it. But anyway, with seat belt on.

07:54 Did it leave a mark?

07:56 It did leave a mark and I thought, “Oh my gosh, check your railroad tracks.” A side note, but you know, the thing is is with this job is you never actually really know what you’re going to be moving. And we move anything and everything. I mean, I had a Ford F550 a month ago and it was just one of those tool truck utility trucks that you see on the side of the road. Those electrical guys use it.

08:17 That’s cool. You get the variety and you know, you never know what you’re going to get. But it’s like keeps it active, keeps it fun.

08:24 Yeah. I It really does cuz I’m just like, “Oh man, is this one going to be comfortable or am I going to be bouncing around all over the place?” You know, it just really depends. But yeah, it is. It’s not like people think. You always think 18-wheeler big rig and nah, I move so much different stuff. It is just un unbelievable. I mean, most of them are going to be Penske units and Freightliners, but you will always get those ones that are like this small little teeny GMC thing that like the single guy or the single mom or something uses to move out of her apartment. And yeah, you we get a lot of that stuff. So—

09:00 Gotcha. Well, my counterpart and good friend Steve Gillison will be he listens in on our podcast, The Six-Figure Trucker. And Penske is his account. He’ll be glad to know that he’s in good hands with Christopher Poare.

09:11 Oh, yeah. No, I you know, even though I don’t move the big stuff, I mean, I take it very seriously, as you should. This job is not for somebody that you know, if you’re not going to take this job seriously, you should probably seek employment elsewhere. I mean, it’s very dangerous out here and everything else. Even though we’re just not, you know, I moved them the littleer stuff. I mean, I can’t even tell you how many accidents and flipped over semis and just all kinds of crazy stuff happens on the road.

09:39 Yeah. Kind of elaborate at the about that because you’re out on the open road and right now I mean you’re moving from vehicle to vehicle. You’d been in that Penske truck, the 26T box. Now you’re in this escort and you’re on the road all the time 247 of course following the legal requirements that you have to but you see a lot of stuff. Tell us some of the craziest stuff you’ve seen or some of the scariest stuff. I mean, I’m sure you’ve seen it all.

10:04 I will warn the audience. This is not for the squeamish and I will keep it as normal as I can, but this is real true story. I was going down, I would say 3 months ago. I’ve been doing this for almost 5 years. About 3 months ago, I had an 18-wheeler that was on the side in a ditch on fire. And it was literally on fire as I saw it. That the guy was already out of it. He was burned, but he wasn’t too bad. I had to get out of my truck. I had to call 911. There were two other vehicles involved in the accident. That’s just one incident. There’s another incident. Ice is one of the main things, too. A guy, a lot of guys ignore the speed limits and the ice. The winter time is the worst. Guys will get out here and there will be solid ice. The highways near being shut down. They will still do 70 m hour over the ice. And I can tell you right now from being a technician, the coefficient of the coefficient friction of rubber and ice is not very good for you. And I had over 18 different cars that were over 100 ft off the side of the road in Kansas one time.

11:12 There was I believe two flipped over semiis. And I literally got out of my truck then and I helped people to get 911 there, assisted people with anything they needed and it took up my day. I was laid on my load, but it’s just at that point it was almost a massive pile up. Another story I had three I saw three body bags that were being the EMS was taking they were wrapping these guys up like in a movie.

11:40 Oh my.

11:40 So yeah, they were on the side of the road. It was a huge collision because a lot of the other part of the safety out here, John, is people don’t they get mundane and they don’t pay attention and then when the weather conditions are there, it’s just 10 times worse. So, I’ve seen it all. I’ve seen Rex right in front of me where I had two other people to my right. The guy comes over, clips the other car from the right lane. She sped out in the middle lane and I slammed on the brakes, but I also moved to the left as I was doing it to avoid the accident. And they ended up way back behind me and I was shaking like a leaf on that one.

12:18 I bet. But, I mean, that’s a testament to your driving ability and skills you have. I mean, you know, let’s kind of circle back a little bit about the what you were talking about the ice. You were in a state in the winter that is notorious coming out of northern Colorado. Now you’re in Wyoming. That ice is over a lot up in Wyoming, but you were talking about how some drivers do not heed with enough safety and attention to what’s going on. How do you build that into your driving repertoire as far as you know this is what I need to do?

12:54 So as a driver you have to be 100% as you know aware of your surroundings at all times. You check your mirrors and you check your even your blind spots. And the main thing is to also keep your distance and always be alert. If you’re starting to get tired, pull over. I know they just tell you this stuff in safety but it is true. When those conditions are on the road, I was doing 20 to 25 miles an hour in the right lane and the guy in the truck, this is the funnier part of the story, I forgot. The guy in the truck pats me. Check this out, Don. He passes me and gives me the bird, okay? Flips me off cuz he’s mad. He’s in a FedEx truck. He’s got some schedule. I didn’t even get mad. I didn’t retaliate. I said, “Okay, well, this guy’s just not got a couple mar he’s got a couple marbles. A couple beers, you know, short of a six-pack here.”

13:44 So, I’m going down the road and a guest who’s on the side of the road 100 ft in a ditch later about 5 miles up.

13:52 Karma, baby.

13:53 Same guy. The same guy. And I drove by him and I just looked and he was on the cell phone and I said, “Well, I may be doing 25 miles an hour, but I’ll tell you what, I’m not 100t into a ditch.”

14:06 I’m passing you right now.

14:09 Exactly. And he did not look happy. And I thought, “Wow, what? Boy, I thought I was having a bad day this morning when, you know, I my food wasn’t done right at Denny’s or something. This dude’s having a nightmare of a whole month now. Insurance rate, everything.” So, yeah, that’s the main thing. When there’s ice on the road or even heavy rain, I’ve seen guys hydroplane, they think, “Oh, it’s just rain. I got these fancy German tires or something.” You hit a puddle of water that you didn’t see coming at 70 mph. You are going to go for the ride of your life.

14:41 I mean, you know, it’s a great story that you’re telling there. I mean, the karma part of it, but the underscore of it on a serious note is how important safety is. And I get from, you know, I talked with your senior dispatcher, Christopher, also Christopher, and he was telling me what a great guy you are. I’m sure safety is a key part of your driving. Just the whole network.

15:06 Yeah. You know, absolutely. And if nobody believes that or they, you know, they think that it’s a joke or something, go on YouTube, search for semi-rex mainly, and I can’t say any names, but there are guys out there, they have whole compilations of these videos of these guys wrecking. And I know it’s got to be real because I see it out here in the real world. And on a side note, yeah, Chris is my boss. A fantastic dispatcher and human being. Great guy.

15:34 He said the same about you. Said you’d be a great guest. I want to ask you a couple of personal questions. Where’s home for you, Christopher?

15:43 Well, originally, I’ll make it short, but originally I was born Southern California native, lived there, 12 years, did six years in Oregon, and then moved to Kentucky and then blah blah blah. But right now, the last place right now, it’s literally in the backwood, Kentucky at 602 East Waverly Street.

16:04 I gotcha. Is it pretty country out there where you are?

16:09 Nothing but horses and you got maybe five or six convenient stores, a Walmart, and that that’s— Oh, yeah. There’s an O’Reilly, and that’s it. And it’s in the middle of nowhere. It’s a very nice little town.

16:22 That’s fantastic. Now, where did you drop your truck before you picked up this escort? And where were you picking up next?

16:29 I dropped where did I drop that unit? It was actually a few days ago. I can’t even— It the thing is I spent a few days in the motel because what happens was, and not to change the subject, I’ll tell you here as soon as I can find it. When you’re when you’ve ran enough miles and you need your rest, I dropped it in Salt Lake City, Utah.

16:51 I got you.

16:52 And you— Yeah. And then I spent a couple of days in the motel. And what happened was is on the board, I needed to do a 34-hour reset anyway. But on the board you know, I don’t like to do what they call, John, a lot of deadheading. And that’s where me being a contractor, a lot of deadheading will kind of get you into trouble with your money because you’ll be spending too much on travel. So, I told Chris, I Yeah, I just told Chris, I said, “Hey, look, I’m already tired.” I said, “Let’s just see if we can find something out of here.” And this was the closest one that was the most convenient. And that’s how you save money in that aspect of it. But yeah, I dropped at Salt Lake City and then I’m just a quick $130 rental and then I’ll be back on the road tomorrow taking one to Fresno and I’ll make pretty good money on that one.

17:35 Well, you know, you think about it. I mean, there’s two things there. I mean, resting yourself and you get your reset and you know, I mean, they work hand and glove there and then you got a nice run coming on the backside.

17:48 Yeah, exactly. I mean, you literally kill like two birds with one stone. A lot of guys when I was new, and I’m not going to lie here, you know, I’m just this is we’re truckers. We’re real people. And, you know, when I was new, I used to push it every week. I’d get that 68 hours or whatever the limit was. I think it’s 71 or 70. Correct me if I’m wrong.

18:07 And I would push it every week. You know, as I’ve been doing this for years, I realized, you know what? Maybe I only got in 65 hours or 62 this week. But getting solid rest is so important. It’s as important as eating. I can’t even explain how mentally that just helps you to not only do and make more money, but just to get things on time and get things done better. And when I first started, I really pushed it a lot. And I wasn’t as good then because I was tiring myself out. I was going to the speedway and going to the Maverick and going and getting a monster here and a monster there. And before I knew it, by the time I was doing my restart, I would do a restart and I was like, “Well, I’m still tired. What’s going on?”

18:51 Right. I mean, so—

18:55 I’m sorry. Go ahead, Chris.

18:56 You know, no, no, no. Go ahead. You know, that burns into it. That’s kind of part of it.

19:00 Yeah. I think it’s it kind of goes full circle. I mean, not only are you a better driver, you’re a better you’re fresh, you’re a better person at that point, and it also goes back full circle to your safety component when you are 100% and you’re not burning on fumes.

19:17 Well, and not only that, I look at it as personal health. So, like your personal health is your wealth, right? We all know that. So, if you’re driving 60 to 70 hours a week, you’ve been doing a lot of fitting. So, in between your run, I would recommend you get as much walking time in as you can. At night, at least try to go in and walk around the store. And during that reset, there’s a trick where a lot of these guys I run into out here, they have these huge calves, and you’ve seen them. You know, they got these big old calves on them. Let me tell you something. It’s not cuz they’re Ronnie Coleman. It’s not cuz they’re Arnold Schwarzenegger. They got those big calves because they’re swelling. Mhm.

19:56 And if you don’t put your legs up above your heart a couple of times a week like that, that’s how that fluid drains out and really gets out of there. Your legs will keep swelling and it’s not fun.

20:09 Oh no.

20:10 You know, and this— Yeah, that could I saw a guy, he was asking me how to get rid of that in a truck stop. He had these huge calves and I said, “Hey man, when next time you go to rest, put a couple of pillows up and elevate your feet above your heart.” And he called me back and he said, “Chris, I can’t even tell you how much they shrink and I feel so much better.” And you know, it’s just little stuff like that, taking care of yourself. I had a friend that actually, and it’s a long story short, he actually overdosed on energy drinks. I didn’t even know that was possible.

20:41 Yeah. Like, you know, a lot of guys go to the copy, but there’s monsters, Red Bulls, a lot of guys will do that and they will just— When I was new, like I said, I made that mistake. I my buddies were like, “Man, you’re doing solid, man, 70 hours a week and you’re just, you know, it’s like you, you know, you’re just boom.” And I said, “Yeah, and that’s great.” And I still am, but not, you know, I was really pushing it and the energy drinks help, but at the you just crash and it’s not worth it, you know, in the end.

21:03 Gotcha. You know, for that guy that you helped out, you know, with the advice and the information about elevating his feet, his legs there. Does that kind of speak to the kinship and the brotherhood out there on the road?

21:18 The brotherhood out here. I’ve been a car guy. I’m a car guy now. I’ve been to many, you know, churches and places where you would have like brotherhood environments. I’ve noticed in the last 5 years of doing this off and on, John, I can tell you that the brotherhood between truckers is real. It is not only real. I was at a grocery store, a Chevron outside of Vegas, leaving Vegas, headed into California. I was so mad. I was frankly pissed off because I went to go buy a sandwich and it was one of those little ones in the case. We all know they’re there. You know, the little—

21:53 The triangular. Yeah—

21:56 That’s exactly what it was. And this is a cold case. You don’t want it. You want the hot dogs, right? But I went for it. I thought, “Okay, I’m going to be healthier.” I grabbed it. I had another trucker. I was actually mad because the guy tried to charge me $13 for it. And I said, “I’m not paying $13 for it.” I said, “It’s ridiculous anywhere you go.”

22:14 I said, “This is like a $5 sandwich at the most.” And that’s ridiculous. But I had another trucker right behind me. He said, “Man, I’ll pay for it for you.” You know, all the time I get that kind of stuff. That’s cool.

22:24 It really is.

22:25 That’s really cool, man.

22:35 You’re listening to Christopher Poare here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Christopher Poare is an open book and quite the character. And Christopher, you and I talked before we got on the air here. You’ve got many hobbies and things that keep you interested when you’re not on the road. So, let’s say you I’m assuming you’re in the mountain time zone right now. It’s about you’re closing in on five o’clock, I guess, where you are there in Wyoming. Is that right?

23:06 Yeah. Yeah. We are looking at it is approximately 4:53.

23:11 So, what’s the plan for this evening? No, get to Denver and then I’m gonna go ahead and drop this rental, grab a motel, and then get over to Cheyenne, pick up that next one, and start since I already did my restart, start heading west and knock out that run and get it delivered on a nice Monday morning.

23:32 Fantastic. Now, you’re into a lot of different things. I’d ask you, kind of give me a background on what Christopher is all about. Let’s start at the top here. Drag racing. What’s your involvement in it? What’s your involvement in it? How did you get into it?

23:50 I got into it back when I was in college. A guy introduced me. His name was Manny. He had a 77 Trans Am. It was a 400 big block T-top car with a 730 Quadrajet. You know, they basically came stock in those years. He took me around the block and floored it and I was only 18 or so years old. Did it throw you in the back seat?

24:14 Snapped my head back. The tires burn up, man. I was And by the end of the road when he stopped and there was smoke everywhere and I could hear the motor and the exhaust. I instantly fell in love with cars.

24:28 Absolutely. You were 18 at the time.

24:31 I was about 18 years old. Yep. Just graduated high school. I was actually going to college in Escondido, California for, believe it or not, I was going to college to be a nutritionist and then I got in this ride with my buddy Manny and his Trans Am and my I instantly changed my field into the automotive transportation, automotive technician program.

24:53 That’s awesome. You’ve and you’ve stuck with the following drag racing. Have you ever participated in it? I actually this is a story that I hope I don’t get in trouble for if I’m going to be honest.

25:06 We’re all friends.

25:06 I’ll try to keep it—

25:08 Well, I’m just thinking my boss might chime in and say, “Hey, I didn’t know you used to do that.” Well, in California, I had gotten my first real car that was that I was racing and it was a 93 Camaro Z28 with an LT1. You know, those came stock with about 275 horsepower, which if anybody knows anything back in the 90s, that was a lot of horsepower for back then.

25:30 Yes. Particularly for the weight of the car back then.

25:34 Yeah. It weighed 3550 curb weight. I put headers on it, intake, tune, some I had money cuz I was working to at the time, and I went ham on this thing. I dynoed a 339 to the tires, 325 torque. Long story short, well, I decided that racing at the track wasn’t enough. And I started I forgive me and my bots and my audience. It’s a long time ago. I was a street racer.

26:01 I got you.

26:02 And I got I may have just burned myself, John, but I used to street. Now, keep in mind this—

26:08 That was a long time ago. That was a long time ago.

26:11 A long time. Yeah. You know, I had so many I would I was so addicted. I went to the races. At least four times a week.

26:21 Oh wow.

26:21 And I worked on all of our guys’ cars, my friends cars. I was in school learning it. I worked a construction job with my uncle. Also during the day I took night classes and then I go straight. It’s like I only got four hours of sleep during a lot of this time period for three years. But I finally got busted in a street race with one of my friends. They took my car. I had to get a lawyer. It was really bad. I got out of all of that. Paid every paid my fine, did my time as far as I didn’t go to jail, right?

26:51 You know, I don’t want people to think I’m some kind of criminal, but I got, you know, I got my car impounded. I’m not going to lie. But yeah, that was one of my hobbies. I learned my lesson. I stopped street racing and I’ve been going to the track ever since.

27:07 Gotcha. Now, did not to say that you were doing this street racing. Again, to reiterate, this was a long time ago. Christopher is one of our best drivers. Very safe now. He knows about his reset, follows the law. You’ve heard him talking about the safety. We’re just reminiscing back in the day in his young days there. Not to say you’re an old man, but back in his youth. Did you now what was it? What would that thing that Camaro turn in the quarter?

27:35 That Camaro the best when it that the best it bumped off was the 127 at 107.

27:42 That’s where I was thinking it’s going to be between the 12 and the 13 there. Yeah, it did a 127 at 107 at Fontana Speedway and then before that it just had intake and exhaust and then Fontana we ran a 135 at 101. It was it wasn’t super fast but for the time it would pretty much beat anything but an 03 Cobra, a Supra, or a really good LS1 Corvette.

28:10 Gotcha. Now, when you flip that back to when you were 18 years old, what do you think a Trans Am would run the quarter in?

28:19 Well, if it’s a stock 77, I would probably say, cuz this the 77s had horrible cam shafts in them and they were just really dogged down with the smog. I want to say that Trans Am probably would have ran like a 15, six, or eight on a good day.

28:34 Yeah. A lot slower than that Camaro. Yeah. I mean, you’re talking weight, too. Yeah. Well, it’s just the those motors were really underdone from the factory. I mean, I think they only came with like 210 horse and I can’t remember the torque number. It was a 400 cubic inch. We actually, long story short on that, we actually I put an Edel Brock cam in it. That was a low duration decent lift cam, but not too bad. It was a street cam that I put in it. And me and my buddy did. We tore it down and put it in it. It turned that car I can’t tell you the time because I never ran it. I ended up having I had a Mach one as well at the time. This is like a huge long story that I can’t get into, but we raced after that cam was dialed in. We dialed in the carburetor, did a full tuneup on it, and we put headers on it. That that 03 Mach 1 was no splouch. It was a 14 flat second car and this 77 Trans Am with just both mods—

29:36 Actually beat the Mach 1 by about a nose.

29:40 Oh wow.

29:40 So we took a 15sec car and turned it into a 14-second car.

29:44 Shaving a second off is big.

29:47 And that is huge. Huge. I mean for the mods we did, we literally did all the work. I think we were 850 bucks into this thing.

29:54 That’s awesome. You couldn’t do that today, but that’s awesome for that time frame. Well, they today, I mean, you’ve got a whole man, they’re making 450 horsepower stuff right out of the showroom.

30:05 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

30:06 And that’s the G that’s the GT model. That’s not the supercharged, you know, Hellcat or the Super Snake or the, you know, I’m like, dang, we, you know, and I can tell you the technology on those motors and why they’d make that much. But yeah, the today’s horsepower is nothing like it was in the ‘9s. The ‘9s was like, hey, this guy’s got 300 horse, that’s a competitive car. Not anymore.

30:26 Right. Exactly. Well, let’s shift gears intended here. Segue to the poker table. Run with it.

30:35 Yeah. Yeah. The poker table is one of those things. And if anybody has a gambling addiction, please call whatever number you can find on a pack of cigarettes. I don’t have any gambling addiction. Well, it’s hard being a trucker because I’m out here all the time and I’m like, “Oh, gee, I just happen to be going to Viva, Las Vegas.” You know, and I’m like start singing in my head, Donna. It’s like, “Oh, man.” And my mom calls me. She goes, “You’re not going to stop in Vegas again, are you?” You know, and she, you know, and I don’t have a gambling problem, but she knows. I love Texas. It’s I used to watch it on TV. I love the thrill of just having you’re not playing against the house, so you have odds of winning. You’re playing against people. And I’ve done three six no limit or 510 no limit or whatever. I’ve done all that stuff. The tournaments are what I’m kind of into now. And the tournaments are great because you can set a nice limit of 75 or 100 bucks on the on these. And if you lose, you can either buy in, but if you know, if you lose, I just conked out of them.

31:37 But yeah, that’s one of my hobbies.

31:40 Now, Texas, hold them. That’s the seven card game, right?

31:44 Yeah. So, your first two cards, everybody gets two cards and then, you know, you’re going to go around and there’s a pre flop bet. So the flop you’re going to use all best of seven cards. So the first two cards you’re going to hold are everybody else only has two. So the best hand is aces, kings, it goes down the level if anybody knows how to you know the regular rules of poker as far as so when you so you have the pre flop bet which is you know guys will you know they’ll do that depending on what they have usually. And then your first three cards out are going to be what’s called the flop. Then there’s another bet and then your fourth card is the turn and then there’s another bet before the river which is your fifth card and then after that you know that’s pretty much it and you use the best seven cards but it is a very competitive game and it’s mainly believe it or not I love it because it’s based on skill. It’s not luck—

32:35 Right?

32:36 I’ve got some friends that I run with and we hang out at the cabin a couple times a year and they all play Texas Holdem. I run the DJ. I don’t play, but I watch it. And what you just described is extremely familiar. And I wanted to ask you about you said, you know, you on the downside, you could be down 7,500 bucks, but what could you walk away with if lady luck is well, not lady luck, cuz as you said, skill, but if it’s your night and if the cards fall your way, what could you walk away with?

33:07 Well, I could tell you from real experience. So, let’s say I don’t know. I was in Evansville, Indiana one time and I was at the boat there. They call it the boat. I don’t know what it is now. I think it’s who cares. It doesn’t matter. I went in there with the hundred bucks. I got all the way up to 500 on a 36 no limit table. Now, keep in mind this is just money. It’s not a tournament table. So, each hand, whatever you win is yours. On a tournament table, whatever chips you get out of the middle you know, you got to build up to get the most chips at the end to win and knock everybody else out or, you know, people knock each other out, right?

33:42 At a money table, well, money table is I’ve walked into a casino like on a different example, I walked in there one time with my grandfather. He said, “You going to be at the table?” I said, “Yeah.” I walked over there, these guys were mad. I played two hands. I walked away with a pot of 200 bucks and I cashed out and left.

33:58 That’s smart. That is smart. It’s so many people, you know, we talked about on a serious note the gambling addictions, but so many people, you know, when they get down, they think the next hand or the next game, whatever it may be, they’re going to win their way back out. But, you know, that’s the smart bet. Win and leave.

34:16 Yeah. You know, there’s nothing like winning than winning. In other words, you know, if you’re going there to have a good time, you know, which you should be anyway, have a good time. But if you go in there and you blow, I don’t know, I blew $600 in a casino one night because I was playing on the slot machine for five hours. I woke up the next morning and I went to breakfast and I thought, “Well, what did I learn today?” You know, cuz I thought it was going to hit the jackpot. It was like 7 7 almost 7, you know, and that’s where you get like kind of reeled in. And yeah, you’re right because you get that fever where it’s like, “Okay, I know I’m going to hit this jackpot.” And you hear people doing it, but I would say if you’re ahead and you’ve had a good time, you’re already winning, you know, leave. What I what my deal with the slot machines now or with gambling is what I do is I play it smart. I go in, I put in 20 bucks. If the machine even hits above $20, I cash that out, I go take my 20 bucks, I put it back in my wallet. Whatever I have left, I can lose now and still walk away even and still have a good time.

35:21 And it works every time. I never come out as a loss at that rate.

35:24 How hard was it to train yourself to do that?

35:27 It took probably about four trips to the casino and about 14 or $1,500 in hard lessons.

35:34 Well, there you go. But it’ll pay off in the end.

35:37 It did actually. The last time I was at a casino I did that and I walked away with 360 and I had a great time, too. A lot of the casino experience, too, is the food, man. You know, John, you go to te or not Texas, you go to Vegas and come on, $7.99 steak and eggs all you can, you know—

35:55 All day long. And then you got those cute cocktail waitresses that walk around in those little outfit.

36:02 And, you know, I don’t know. I just love Vegas. I love the whole theme.

36:06 Yeah, we were at a convention out in Vegas. You know, trying to get more business out there and Vegas was a fun time. I thought I don’t gamble, but I thought, you know, I’m not going to dig Vegas, but I was wrong. Vegas is cool.

36:19 Vegas is like America should have been, but America shouldn’t have been cuz it’s like, wow, this is almost too free. I mean, you can walk around with an open container. You’ve got all kinds of other stuff I’m not going to get into. But yeah, Vegas is a really cool town. You can see live entertainment. I mean, I could sell Vegas all day long. And the other thing, too, is I stay at the what is it? Arizona Charlie’s, man. I get rooms out there. That’s the other thing. If you’re a trucker, guys, if you’re on the road, if you don’t know this, check out the Virgin River and check out Arizona Charlie. Out the door, you can get a room for $32 at Virgin River.

37:00 My goodness. That’s where you do your reset. That’s where you do your reset right there.

37:05 I’m telling you, because you can go there and do two, three days if you want to go even longer for 40, 50 bucks. I paid a hundred in the ghetto for something that didn’t even have hot water in Phoenix.

37:19 Yeah. 32 bucks out the door. You can’t beat that.

37:23 Well, I No, you can’t.

37:26 Now, speaking of that region of the country, I’ve got a little list here of some of your hobbies. Gold panning. You like to pan for gold. Is that right? Believe it or not my generation will never appreciate this, but when I was a kid, my dad, he was the be rest in peace. He was a really great guy. When we were kids, he used to take us camping up in Myrtle Creek, Oregon, Roseber, Oregon. It’s right off the five there. And when we were kids we used to go swimming a lot in the Uqua River. Oh, yeah. Dad would give it the— Oh, yeah. God, but beautiful scenery for anybody. He used to get the pans out. Mom, get the pans out. We get them at, you know, wherever they were cheap. We had he had an old set and he would just tell me and show me how to do it. And ever since I was a kid, I had that gold fever. And it is really a nice hobby because not only do you get to camp, but you’re just out there looking for gold. And when you see it, you’re like, “Wow, I actually found it.” And it’s just a really cool hobby to do. And people don’t realize it’s worth money.

38:28 I mean, you know, it’s worth money. And you it’s just a nice hobby to do when you’re out camping. You know, if you’re bored or something. And you I actually found enough gold when I was 11 years old. We turned it in and in the 90s I got $140 worth of my gold and it only took me three days.

38:44 Oh, for an 11year-old boy that’s a big thing.

38:48 Yeah, we had— Yeah. I mean, and then $140, if anybody, we have younger listeners, you’re looking at a 90s, that’s like 400 bucks, 500 bucks. That ain’t—

38:58 Absolutely. Now, when was the last time you panned for gold? Believe it or not, I was in Nevada this year and I pulled some dirt and did it out of I was stranded on the side of the highway headed to Vegas. I mean, I was stranded like in gridlock traffic. I said, “Okay, this is I’ve been here three hours, two hours, an hour, I can’t remember. It was a long time.” I got frustrated. I pulled off with everybody else. Everybody else is out there peeing, you know, doing their thing, you know, getting their, you know, walking their dogs.

39:32 I thought, you know, this soil is actually has granite in GS granite. Well, in just granite, if nobody knows that, that’s where gold forms. And if you found quartz, quartz, gold veins are always found by quartz, right?

39:47 So, I found a lot of quartz over there. And I thought, well, this could be whatever. So, I just pulled up some dirt. And when I had a chance and I went back. I never got time to actually pan it out and TSA made me throw it out.

40:03 Couldn’t bring it home with you there.

40:06 No, because I went to the airport and the guy goes, “You got some rocks and some dirt in your bag, sir.” And I said, “Yeah, I was going to go through that later.” And he, “You can’t do that, sir.” And he made me— Yeah, he made me discard.

40:20 Oh, bummer, man. Bummer. Could have had a nugget in there.

40:24 I’m telling you, I was thinking to myself cuz I saw pyite looks just like gold, you know, and I’m looking at it. I’m going, my god, there’s is that golden pyite in this rock I had. And I Yeah, they took it from me at TSA and dubbed it in the trash. And I think TSA owes me some money cuz every time I go through there, they’re taking my monsters, they’re taking my gold, they’re taking, you know, I had one guy take like a aerosol can I had or something and you know they and then I go to the other one and they’re like, “Oh, no, that’s fine as long as it’s under 6 in.” And I’m like, “What? Well, I just went through Dallas and they you know what I mean? Like no TSA is the same.” But yeah, no, they completely jacked me on that which I thought, well, whatever. I mean, I had fun anyway. So—

41:05 Well, you know, we won’t know if it was gold or not. Because I mean TSA has it.

41:11 Yeah, I was going to say not anymore. No, it’s going to be at the bottom of the land cell somewhere in, you know, wherever TSA was.

41:18 You know, it’s kind of weird what you were talking about TSA. I’m not, you know, casting any stones. No pun intended here. Not casting any stones, but it is different between different airports. I mean about what they will police and not police because we were on some business trips and we were flying and I had the same bag, my go bag and it had a little package of toothpaste in there and they flagged it. I think it was in DC and they flagged it and I got pulled over for, you know, an hour over there and it was for more than three ounces. And I’m like, that same tube of toothpaste had made it through so many trips because it was just emergency toothpaste just in case you forgot to pack any. And I’m like, that’s crazy. I mean, it goes through so many different airports. But anyway, I’m running down a rabbit trail here. Not at all. No, I agree. It’s like you got some— It’s like you go to like you mentioned DC, right, with the toothpaste—

42:21 Right?

42:21 Yeah. Well, I swear to God I swear like when you go to like somewhere like I don’t know, Backwoods wherever in this country because when you go to Backwoods airport, they don’t care about half of that stuff. And I know cuz just like you said, I was carrying the same stuff. Yeah, you’re in Alabama now. We don’t care about your, you know, your machete. That’s fine, you know, but over here in like New York, you can’t even have a lighter, you know, or a pair of matchbooks, you know. I don’t know. It’s really weird.

42:48 Yeah, it’s crazy. But anyway, sorry about going down that rabbit trail there. And—

42:54 Hey, you know what? Like you said, it’s all open. We’re just having a realistic conversation between two guys on, you know, anything pretty much.

43:02 Now, so you’re what did we say? Three, four hours from Denver right now? H something like that. Yeah.

43:10 Okay. Now, that’s a good place. I know from a I’ve got a cheat sheet here of another one of your hobbies. This time of year would be a good time. You like to get out off the beaten path and take a hike on a trail.

43:24 Oh, absolutely. I my cousin Amanda, shout out to her. Amanda Laam, love you very much. She went hiking with me when we were kids and all throughout my life. And it was just a really big thing that we used to do and her kids and you know I don’t know if it was just cuz we were camping but yeah hiking I can’t even tell you the just hiking in general. We used to just go all over Oregon and parts of California. I actually used to work up in Idaw Wild mountain where John Travolta and his daughter and we hiked up to the top of that. I think the summit’s about 7,400 ft up there. And I got out of that because I am just in not as good a shape. Don’t have the time. And but yeah, hiking. Hiking was a huge one for me growing up. And very very good healthy thing to do. And you never know what you’re going to see on a hike. You know, when I was a kid, I saw my first brown and black bears up in Oregon with my parents.

44:28 And we even saw mountain lions, too. Like real mountain lions, coyotes, and wolves, you know, you’ll come across rattlesnakes. If you’ve seen it in a movie, believe me, that stuff’s not far from reality, especially near like Oregon and stuff. You’ll see crazy stuff when you go hiking sometimes.

44:46 And those are memories that once they’re created, you don’t forget.

44:51 You know, that’s the thing with a lot of kids these days. I feel sorry for them. I was glad to grow up in the ‘9s cuz the I’m into video gaming, too, and I get it. But a lot of people don’t do the outdoor stuff with their kids anymore. And it’s really a bonding experience and something that that yeah, you it sticks with you and you remember it. You know, I think I’ve seen at Grand Canyon like seven times. The first time I was there, I was like 7 years old with my dad and he was holding me right on the ledge, which my dad was like that, but he was holding me over and sitting on the ledge and my mom got a picture of it and yeah, I mean, you know, a lot of kids don’t experience that. They just kind of grow up in the little sheltered, you know, I’m in the apartment building and then, hey, I got this new video game. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I would re if I, you know, with my nieces and nephews, I like to take them out. My niece used to love it and not they just being outdoors and it’s a whole another experience. You’re right. Yeah—

45:43 Absolutely. And you like to go to exotic places. You talked about the Grand Canyon, but that’s far from the extent of some of the places you like to go.

45:53 Oh, yeah. No, I’ve been to I don’t know, Grand Canyon and everywhere in this country. I’ve— The only two states I haven’t been to and that are on the mainland at least is Rhode Island and Maine and of course Alaska and Hawaii. But you know, when I was Yeah, as far as traveling goes, my gosh, I’ve been to all through the mountains of Oregon and seen all that. I was just in Yellowstone actually, John, before I dropped this one. I think I was up there in Montana Billings and I got I took the other route cuz it was 5 minutes slower and lo and behold I actually have pictures and video of it. I went through Yellowstone and I can’t even tell you how cool it is cuz I feel like on this job for the trucker guys too I have gotten to go on more vacations that I’ve been paid for than I can count with this job.

46:44 That’s awesome, man. Christopher, we love that for you.

46:48 No, I love working here. I love this job. I love it. Because my cousin goes, “You lucky. You’re always sending me pictures of Vegas and sending me pictures of Florida and I’m like, “Well, my route was on the way and why am I not going to stop and take 10 minutes to take a break and take a nice video and stretch my leg and view the scenery, you know? I mean, I can’t I could even send those in if you ever wanted to of the pictures of the places I’ve been. I’ve been to the top of the summit in Colorado which was over I think that one was forgive me I think it was 12,000 ft or something here. I mean I’ve been to the beaches of the Florida, the beaches of California. I’ll regularly go swimming the mountains and everywhere I seen it all. I’ve been everywhere, man. And it’s just it really is cool because you literally get paid to go to these places and sometimes you even stay in the motel there and yeah it’s just a what a blessing this job is.

47:41 Now, did you take some pictures in Yellowstone?

47:45 Believe it or not, I got them on my phone right now. I could send them to you. Yeah. I keep all that stuff and I send it to my family and I put it on Facebook and they kind of keep, you know, I just show them like the arcades and, you know, the casinos and the mountains and the rivers and the trees and just everywhere I’ve been I keep a lot of track of that and keep it in my phone and, you know, yeah, it’s just part of the adventure, you know.

48:09 Well, text me a couple of those pictures. We see if we can’t upload them with your episode there. You’re listening to Christopher Poare here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Christopher is quite the person to listen to. He’s got a lot of life experience, a lot of hobbies, a lot of interests, and a lot of time on the road there. Five years on the road. How long have you been driving for Norton, Chris? I believe I did almost about two years with Norton before and then I’m looking at this is another six months and then I have another three years with Auto driveaway. So, Norton I would say is about two and a half and Auto driveaway was about three. So, and I’m still with Auto driveaway too, believe it or not.

48:54 Gotcha. Now one thing, one last thing that I had on my cheat sheet of things that make Christopher Poare a happy man is the beach. Yeah, the beach. Boy, that was when I proposed to my the love of my life when I was just 20. God, I think I proposed to Shawn when I was 22 years old. I’ll never forget it. I was walking down Oceanside, California, where they filmed Top Gun. If you know anything, anybody listeners or maybe I’m sure you may don’t, John.

49:31 Oh, yeah.

49:32 But we were on the beach. Oh, yeah. Gosh. We used to go to the beach when I lived back in Southern California, Oceanside. My favorite spot. But that was where and I first proposed to my girlfriend back then. And it was a really I don’t know, just the whole meme thing of the beach is just amazing. Riding, surfing the waves, boogie boarding the waves. I actually was never a surfer like I told you before, but just the boogie boarding and being there, the way that the water just heals you and everything else, the sand is if you’ve never if you’re an inlander and you’ve never been to the beach, I would recommend on your bucket list before you do anything, go to the beach because is it is a you can see it on TV and on the movies, but being there is totally different. Christopher Poare, rich in life experiences, sharing them with us here on the Six-Figure Trucker. Christopher as we wrap it up here, what would you say to someone who is a prospective driveaway trucker, somebody that may be considering it as a new avenue to go down or those who are doing it now, particularly is what you could speak to on the nonCDL side, those trucks that are under 26,000 lbs?

50:45 Well, the first question, if you’re going to get into this it really depends on the situation in you. So, if you’re the kind of guy that that doesn’t really, you know, you want to stay at home a lot or you want a lot of home time, you can make this happen, but you’re going to you’re not going to make as much money. You know, if you’re the kind of guy that, you know, you like me, for instance. Okay, my example, I don’t have I have a family, but I don’t have a direct family. I don’t have a girlfriend anymore. I don’t have like a, you know, direct kids. So, for me, I live it and I’m living the dream. It’s a single man’s dream in that respect. But, you know, I know a lot of guys personally that are truckers, too. They have families. Nothing wrong with it. Great career. They’re home on the weekends and they make better money than the guy down the street. And let me tell you, their family eats a lot better, too.

51:40 So, it really just depends on, you know, how much and that’s the great thing about trucking is you can kind of make your own hours depending on what you do. I know with the bigger rigs maybe you can’t, but you know, you can make you’ll get more out of this than you even put in. Not too much cuz you don’t with anything in life, but I would say for somebody that you know, if you want to see the world and you want to see the country and you want to save money, this is your thing. If you want to feed your family good, this is your thing. If you’re in a situation where you have a lot with just way too much going on in your home life, I wouldn’t recommend this for you. I really wouldn’t. If you have way too much stuff going on that is like really important in your circle there, I don’t think this would be for you. And honestly, it just wouldn’t. But you can still have a great home life and you can still make way better money doing this than at most jobs. And I’ve seen that and I can speak from experience because I not only did six years in the automotive industry, worked at Pep Boys, Firestone all that stuff.

52:47 I did 11 years in construction. I’m 38-year-old man. I’ve been working since I was probably about 12 years old. I’ve been there, done it, got to feature it with jobs, bosses. This job, you’re not going to have some crazy boss. You’re going to have a great boss. You’re, you know, you’re working for yourself. It’s just a much the stress on this environment. As long as you do what you’re supposed to do is really low. And a lot of guys don’t have that working a regular job, too. So, you really just have to take a step back as an individual and say, “What do I want? And what do I want to achieve and what do I want to achieve for my family?” And as long as you’re realistic with your goals, trucking is every bit. And this industry is going to grow in the next 20 I think what 5 years or 10 years, it’s going to grow 25%. You can’t lose. And you know, you can’t lose with trucking. And I say that because I’ve had all these other jobs. And if you’ll notice, there’s one thing constant about what I’m saying. I’m not at those jobs anymore. I’m not at those. But I’ve done trucking for the last 5 years. Why am I still here?

53:48 Because I’m winning. I’m winning when I go to work. I’m winning when I go to sleep. I’m in my for me, I’m winning. So, as long as you can find that with your life, trucking, you can work trucking into it with a I got a guy, he’s got three kids, wonderful kids. He’s got a wife. He’s on home at the weekends. He makes great money and she’s totally they have a happy marriage and happy family. And so you can make it work. Single guy, married guy. You know, this is a great deal.

54:17 That is golden aces high advice from Christopher Poare here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Christopher, I really appreciate you being on the show with us. And hang with me, hang tight with me as we wrap up, but any final words that you might have? I mean, you summed it up great. That was all great advice there. Great tips, great insight, but anything you may think of that we may have not touched on.

54:41 Oh, I don’t know. I mean, don’t eat yellow snow. No—

54:46 There you have it. Don’t eat yellow snow from Christopher.

54:50 No, I just say thank you for having me on, John. And you know, thank you. This has been great.

54:59 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.

55:42 Up here.