00:04 It feels awesome when you’re able to provide for your family cuz I’m the sole provider at in my household and my wife doesn’t have to work. She can take care of the kids and I can just say, “All right, well, I need to make this much amount of money for this month and I make it and I can be home for the whole month if I want to after that.” It’s really awesome.

00:25 Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking. And we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show. Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. I’m John Madewell and we have a very special guest with us tonight, Erik Salinas. And of course on this show, this is a opportunity and a time for us to elevate and celebrate the truck drivers that make the world go round, our economy so much stronger, make your life so much easier, so much simpler. And Erik is one of the key pieces of that. Erik, how are you?

01:10 I’m doing good, sir. How about yourselves?

01:12 I’m doing great. Can’t complain at all. You know, I’m talking with Erik Salinas here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Erik, where are you right now?

01:20 I’m in Mano, Minnesota right now.

01:22 Now, I heard a dog in the background before we started. Is there a dog there with you?

01:28 Yes, there’s a dog here with me. My aunt’s dog.

01:34 Okay. Yeah, I heard the dog earlier. Is Are you playing with the dog? Is the dog playing with you?

01:38 No. No. It’s barking at me. It doesn’t recognize me very much, so it’s barking at me right now.

01:44 So, you’re in Mano, is that right?

01:46 Yes, Mano, Minnesota.

01:48 What’s the weather like there in Mano here at the end as we draw toward the end of June?

01:53 Yeah, it’s a it’s about 90 degrees right now. It’s a nice breeze going on, but yeah, it’s a nice weather up here. It’s a lot better than what it is in Texas, San Antonio, right? That’s where my home is.

02:06 Gotcha. Now, you’re on a load. Have you dropped already? Are you waiting? What stage of the game are you in now?

02:14 I just finished delivering the trucks about maybe two hours ago. I delivered four-way, dropped off two in South Dakota, Watertown, and I dropped off two in Mano.

02:28 How far apart are Watertown and Mano?

02:31 About 179 miles, something like that.

02:35 So, you dropped this morning in Watertown? I dropped off last night in Watertown. I got a hotel there at in Watertown in the days in. Then I took a shower and everything and then I headed down this way to Mano.

02:51 Gotcha.

02:52 Yeah.

02:53 What’s Watertown like? I mean, as far as is it a place to kick your heels up, lay back or just get a night’s sleep and get out of town?

03:01 I really enjoy going to South Dakota. South Dakota is one of the places that I really enjoy going to. Everybody’s very friendly and South Dakota. It seems like everybody is re really friendly and I choose to go to South Dakota very often because they’re not too strict over there with delivery hours and they let me work at whatever time I get there. So, I have a good deal with the service department in there—

03:37 In Watertown, Fargo, over there up state in by Winnipeg, the what is the Winnipeg, Canada.

03:49 Oh, yeah. Yeah.

03:50 Yeah. It’s a it’s right there. There’s a little town there that I also like to deliver. I forgot the name of it. Now, you know, we’ve talked to a number of drivers here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport, and they all say the same thing about South Dakota, North Dakota. Great, great people, and a beautiful place. Tell us kind of set the scene for us in Watertown.

04:12 Well, all you see is a bunch of fields of farming, farming fields. That’s all I see in those areas. I really enjoyed looking at that the farm. In the winter, you just see nothing but white. That’s all you see.

04:30 Frozen land.

04:32 I’m assuming. Well, we know. What’s the coldest you’ve seen it up there in Watertown or in Fargo in the winter?

04:41 I think it’s negative 30 38 degrees. It was this last winter I was up there delivering trucks. It was negative 30 something 38 39.

04:54 How was that undecking in that kind of weather?

04:57 Well, I’m always prepared. I have a big bag of clothes. And so I have a I’m I stay pretty warm in this clothes that I have. As long as it’s not raining, I’m okay. I’ll deliver in whatever temperature it is. Is just the water that really gets me to shut it down, but it’s not that bad.

05:20 So, you’ve undecked in the minus 38 degrees.

05:23 Oh, yes, of course. Plenty of times. I’ve been in Canada delivering trucks 57 or 58 degrees. Negative 58.

05:33 I guess when you get to a certain level or certain coldness, there’s not a lot of difference between it’s just bone chilling cold.

05:40 Yes. Yes. You just put a water bottle out and it’ll freeze up pretty quick.

05:44 Oh, I’m sure. I’m sure. How long does it take you to undeck in, let’s say, in Mano or Watertown here in June versus in February? And is there a big variance in time?

05:58 No, I think I can deliver a four-way within maybe in the summer it’s like maybe two and a half hours, maybe three. And in the winter, it’s probably about five hours because I have a big bulk of clothes on and I can’t squeeze in between the tires to get those brake chambers loose to get them uncaged.

06:23 Just in bulkier clothing, harder to get around, that kind of thing.

06:27 Yes. Yes. So, it’s a lot more slow movements and then the that you’re dealing with snow up to my knees walking around and all of that snow is it’s kind of hard and it gets you a little bit more tired.

06:40 But I guess you’re a guy that you still got to make a living even in the winter.

06:44 Yes. Yes. Yes. I’m not I don’t have the luxury like lot there’s a lot of drivers here that that I see that shut it down during the winter and then it seems I call it the wolves in the summer the wolves come out and they take over everything and then during the dur the winter it’s I can pick whatever I want to do. I can pick wherever I want to go. I could go, but in the summer it’s like it the work is a lot slower for me. But I have to get whatever I can get and during the winter I get whatever I want.

07:22 Yeah. A lot more competition for those loads in the summer.

07:25 Yeah. Yeah. There’s a lot of competition.

07:28 Now, in the winter, do you try to grab loads that’ll take you out west? Not North Dakota or in the prairie region, but more southwest to get you away from that winter weather.

07:43 No, no. I as long as there’s a if there’s not a blizzard hitting that around whatever like cuz I do enjoy going to South Dakota, North Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin. If there’s not a blizzard hitting in those towns, I’m picking those towns.

07:58 Gotcha.

07:59 I rather be up here than down south. Down south. It just seems like there’s a lot more like they close a lot earlier.

08:07 They don’t let you deliver and that I don’t like that. I like to deliver whenever it’s more convenient for me so I don’t lose money.

08:15 I got you. You’re listening to Erik Salinas here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Erik is one of our very skilled deck drivers. He moves those trucks all over the place. Erik, how long have you been in the decking side? I’ve been in the decking side for about five years maybe. Yeah, five years.

08:33 All running with us or with another company or—

08:37 Yeah. You know, but I’ve done it with you guys for about since 2019 I’ve been with you guys.

08:44 So, you’ve been with us for four years and we’re very glad to have you, Erik. How did you get into decking? I was working for Magnus here in Minnesota—

08:56 And I would see everybody like there was like we would receive about in McNeilus about 20 20 loads a day and I would just see who’s these guys bringing these trucks like because I was do working for an independent before and I just wanted to know who was delivering all the new trucks and I went up to the drivers and I started talking to them and I already had a CDO and I have done it before but I was decking the trucks before that they didn’t come decked like how it is here in Norton and I would go in and talk to the drivers. Not a lot of drivers wanted to tell me a lot of things and I just kept p I was just persistent kept talking to them. I was the main welder for McNeil. That’s one of the cement mixers that we deliver trucks to.

09:49 Oh yeah. And so I just one of the drivers was nice enough and told me what company he worked for and he told me it was with you guys with Norton Transport. And so I applied immediately and they hired me on right away.

10:06 Wow.

10:07 It was a it was very slow that when I started it was not what it is now.

10:13 Yeah. We had to get through co of course 2019 followed shortly followed by CO dear. It was that was a rough patch for us. But you were saying there was about 20 trucks coming in to McNeilus. That’s I’m assuming cabs and chassis coming in then getting upfitted into concrete mixers.

10:30 Yes. Yes. Yeah. I was the one making the I was welding the frames and everything. I was the main welder for McNeel.

10:38 And having that kind of background as a welder. Does that help you on the road when are you mechanically inclined? I would think that you probably have some pretty good mechanical skills.

10:49 Yes, I was a crane operator for a company and I did that for about 5 years and I would rebuild like machines and I did pretty much all the mechanical stuff for the oil field. We repaired drilling rigs, pulling units, reverse units, everything. We did everything. I was the mechanic, main mechanic, and then I jumped up to the crane.

11:15 So, you’re no stranger to heavy equipment.

11:17 No.

11:18 How much does that help you on the road as far as is that one of your friends or that we hear in the background?

11:25 It’s my daughter.

11:26 Oh, okay. Well, that’s fantastic. How old is your daughter?

11:29 She’s 2 years old. And she’s she doesn’t leave my side. She’s always she— Well, my wife’s up here in Minnesota right now with us. She came to visit her family and that’s why I’ve been taking a bunch of loads to Minnesota so I can just come and stay here with them and then I fly back to San Antonio and pick up another load and—

11:49 Do it again. Do it again.

11:51 Two years old. What’s your daughter’s name?

11:53 Her name is Angela. Angela Selena.

11:56 Can you put her on the phone here? We’ll talk to her. Hi. Hi.

12:03 Hi.

12:05 Mommy. She’s probably getting scared. She says, “Who is this strange man talking to me?”

12:15 Yeah, she was just staring at the phone. Try to see if it was FaceTiming.

12:20 Yeah. Now, is she your only child? Do you guys have more than one or?

12:25 I have another child. He’s inside right now. She’s the one that follows me everywhere.

12:30 My son is 9 years old.

12:33 Okay. What’s—

12:34 Her name is Alex?

12:35 Alex? Yes, Alex. I named him after my younger brother. He looks just like my younger brother. Oh—

12:43 Okay. Okay. Now, those are your two children there. I guess I’m going to go out on a limb here. And—

12:50 Is that one of the main reasons you drive? I mean, obviously the we know and people that listen to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport know that deck drivers do well. I mean, it’s a lucrative job. Is are they some of your motivation? Your son and daughter? Yeah, it’s 100% my motivation. I enjoy working for Norton because they give me the freedom to choose when I’m off and when I’m working and seems like every time I need off and when I need to come back, I’m always there’s always work for me.

13:21 Now, how do you position yourself as far as your work schedule and when you’re going to work, when you’re going to take some time off? Are you some guys, you know, like to run for a long time and then take a long time off and some people like to, you know, stay on a schedule, a standard schedule. How do you work it yourself, Erik?

13:43 Well, it all varies depends on how much money I have in the bank. And some days some weeks I run hard and I run constant and then there’s some weeks where I’m home for five days and I only work three days. So yeah, that’s how I like to do it. And sometimes I’m only off on the weekends. Like it’s it all depends on how like I always look at the loads that are open on the weekends. If I can deliver on the weekend, if I can’t, then I won’t they if they’re going to be closed, then I won’t even bother picking up a load.

14:26 I just stay— Yeah. I just stay at home.

14:29 You like to have that option available?

14:31 Yes. Yes. Yes. I always want to have that available. Yeah. I really like enjoy working for Norn. Now you’re in Mano and we’re talking to Erik Salinas on a Thursday evening. Will you be staying in Minnesota this weekend?

14:46 No, I think I’ll be heading back to San Antonio maybe on maybe Saturday with my family and then on Monday I’ve been talking to Leela. She’s my dispatcher. I told her if she can look for something for me on Monday. It didn’t matter where. It didn’t matter like what, but just as long as it was over, 1300 miles—

15:12 And she said, “Yeah, she was going to keep an eye on it and she was going to help me out with that.”

15:19 Now, tell us about your relationship with Leela because I’m we’re still at the office here. I’ve got our little recording set up for the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. And I was trying and trying and trying to get Leela to come on with us on the show. She said she was shy and I’m like, “You’re not shy.” But she didn’t want to interfere with us there. But what’s it like with you? You talk to her on the daily. What’s she like?

15:45 Oh, she’s an awesome person. She’s a I think that she has a lot of patience. She has a lot of patience where she deals with a bunch of people and I really enjoy talking to her. She’s always real cheer cheerful. She’s an awesome dispatcher. Probably the best that they have there. I don’t want to talk bad about the other dispatchers, but yeah, I think she is probably the best, the most patient, the most understanding.

16:17 And obviously, she puts together some good load plans for you. Or is that a that’s a partnership kind of a thing as far as putting that plan together?

16:26 Yes. Yes. Yes. Me and her and Mark where we always in contact with each other. They’re they always keeping it open like, “Hey, there’s some there’s another load right there where you going to drop off. You want to pick that one up after you’re done with this one?” Yeah. Yeah, for sure.

16:45 Or can you help me out? Can you go and red deck a truck that’s around this area right before you’re going to deliver that one? Can you go and red deck this or stuff like that? Or Yeah. They have me do stuff all over time. Steve was also would before he had retired and now he came back, he would contact me and let me know for like stuff that he needed help with like you need sometimes they would need stacks like the exhaust stack.

17:16 Mhm.

17:16 To go put on and that the driver forgot to put it on or whatever. Or there was a winter storm back in 20 2020 as that there was a it was a huge storm they was hit and drivers just quit because it was too cold for them and I they send me to go undeck those trucks over there. They got me a rental and I was just undecking trucks all over the northern part of the Midwest.

17:46 Wow. Wow. So cold weather from what I can what I’m picking up cold weather does not bother you?

17:52 No. No, it does not. Well, I’m always prepared. Even in the summer, I have winter clothes. Just a little bit of winter clothes—

18:01 Just in case.

18:02 I keep them.

18:03 Yes. Just in case.

18:04 Gotcha. Now, you were talking about you know, dispatch asking you to go to another place to do some redacking. How much does a redeck I guess each situation varies, but how much time investment is there to go do some redecking?

18:20 Well, it’s it’s like if you’re just doing one truck, you can knock it out within an hour, maybe two hours. You need to do wiring and you need to do a lot of air hoses and stuff like that. And sometimes it does take a little while because there’s some fittings that don’t fit or so. Yeah, it’s a it just varies. But most of I think I within an hour, two hours for one truck and then you just keeps climbing extra that if you need to do more deck a little more than one.

18:54 Yeah. Yeah. More than one or the hoses don’t fit.

18:58 Gotcha. Now, you were saying your wife’s she’s from the Minnesota area. Is that right? Minnesota area. Her family. She has a lot of family here in Minnesota where she has them in Ko Rochester, the Minneapolis. So she has a lot of family.

19:19 Okay. Okay. So where is home for the Selenas family? We know that your wife’s family is up in Minnesota. Where’s home for you guys?

19:27 It’s in Divines, Texas. It’s right outside of the Narmmy yard. It’s is only 10 minutes away.

19:35 Well, that’s convenient.

19:37 Yeah. Yeah, it’s very convenient. It’s just a little hard for me to get an Uber sometimes, but it is it’s nice that that the yard’s that close. Before David used to call me and when before the yard had an electrical gate, he would call and sometimes have me open the gate for a driver that was going to pick up on Sunday, stuff like that. You’re more than just an employee. You’re like onboard staffing there. Absolutely.

20:06 We appreciate that about you, Erik. Absolutely. Erik Salinas here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, tell us a little bit about Divine. Is that what kind of town is it? What’s it like growing up there and with two children in Divine? I—

20:21 I enjoy it. Because it’s a very quiet little town. There’s not too populated. It’s I think it’s like 1,900 people maybe. It’s like a little ranch town. A bunch of ranchers and stuff like that. I enjoy being out there in the middle of nowhere and having my neighbors kind of far. I am a people person, but I do enjoy being out there in the country.

20:49 Sure. Sure. I mean, I can understand being a people person, but spending time with your family apart from other people.

20:57 Yes. Yes.

20:58 Now, do you guys do you have a ranch or what’s your house like?

21:03 I have an acre. That’s it’s a small I was in the process of buying a pretty big lands, but I had my vehicle stolen from me with a whole bunch of credit cards and cash and the truck and everything. And it stopped my plans from—

21:27 From buying that big group.

21:29 That’s very unfortunate. Sorry to hear that. But when did that happen?

21:33 It happened last year. Yeah. They’re in San Antonio. And I live I was living in San Antonio at the time and when it happened.

21:41 Wow. And I guess it’s taken a little bit of time to get back on your feet, so to speak.

21:47 Yeah. Yeah. The good thing is working with this company, it does it has the benefits of you need more money, there’s more work there, just keep going. But I also enjoy spending time with my family. So I just downgraded from what I was going to get and we moved out to the divine.

22:06 I gotta gotcha. Before you had the situation happened there, how big of a place were you looking at?

22:15 I was looking for 15 acres. 15 acres. We were already pretty close to closing when that happened to me. That’s why I had that cash in that truck and I had just got back from vacation when the I parked the truck and I forgot about that cash and my wallet and everything. You know how it is when you’re get home and it’s midnight and you’re trying to turn off the alarm and alarm’s ringing and—

22:42 Just my wife just forget about what everything we have in the truck we will get it in the morning. We’ve had we lived in a gated community there.

22:53 But we’re just renting and it they broke into the truck and took it.

23:00 Man, that stinks. That stinks. But—

23:02 Yeah, like—

23:03 I know—

23:03 There’s videos I have a video where like where the surveillance or they took it and then like they it just it didn’t take very long to take the truck.

23:14 What kind of truck was it?

23:16 It’s a 2022 Dodge Ram Laramie.

23:20 Oh, okay. That’s a nice truck. Nice truck there. But I wanted to ask you, I mean obviously you’re recovering from that blow, but is it still something in the future? You see, a larger place, a little more land.

23:33 Oh, yeah.

23:35 Yes. Yes. That’s a that’s definitely in my plans right now. But I just want to right now I’m— It’s a good spot that I have right there. And maybe I’ll rent it out one day or something or maybe sell it and then get me something bigger. But right now, I just we’re okay right now, but I do want 15 acres and live out in the middle of nowhere.

24:00 Well, I got to ask you this question as far as you and the wife and the two kids here. Do you guys have big plans this summer for vacation?

24:09 Yeah. I think we might go to Puerto Pesco in Mexico. We might go over there, spend a week over there. We’re— We’ve been looking at some Airbnb houses over there.

24:21 It obviously is very appealing to you guys.

24:24 Yes. Yes. Yeah. We want to go this year. Maybe next month.

24:30 Okay. That was my next question. What will the I guess the weather will be similar to Texas. Maybe a touch hotter.

24:37 Yeah, maybe a little bit hotter. It’s over there in the middle of Arizona, the south of Arizona.

24:44 Gotcha. What are some of the attractions there for you guys?

24:47 There’s the beach. That’s what that’s our main attraction. Getting a beach house. Renting a beach house.

24:55 Are you guys going to be right on the water or how are you going to work it out?

24:59 Yeah. Yeah. I’ll be right there. That’s the plan, right?

25:04 Right there next to us.

25:06 Now, does the water attract you and the wife and the kids or just the kids or everyone included? How does that work out? Everyone is included. I don’t really go I don’t go out very much by myself with my wife. We always take the kids everywhere.

25:22 Now, I would imagine that it’s going to be a blast for your daughter and also for your son, but sounds like your daughter’s full of energy.

25:31 Oh, yeah. She’s there’s a swing set right here that she wants you to push her on right now.

25:37 Well, go right ahead. Don’t let us hold you back from it.

25:41 Now, that’s next month. You’re hoping to take that vacation.

25:44 Oh, yes. Yes. I hope so.

25:46 Gotcha. Now, talk a little bit about how being a deck driver and the opportunities it affords you, namely you know, financial gain that you’ve made, the income that you make that allows you to do things like go to Mexico. Talk about how rewarding that is. Oh, it feels awesome when you’re able to provide for your family because I’m the sole provider in my household and my wife doesn’t have to work. She can take care of the kids without her having to work and having to I have all the financial burden and everything, but it’s perfect for me. It works out. I get to enjoy my family 5 days out of the week if I want to or if I want to be there for two days or three days. It’s really awesome.

26:44 What’s it like being on the road away from your family? Particularly from the children’s standpoint.

26:51 Well, it really sucks. It really sucks. I don’t like being away from them, but—

26:58 Working for this kind of company and it gives you the freedom to—

27:05 Like enjoy your family a little bit better because you don’t have a set schedule where you’re going to you have to be there this day and that day and it’s what that’s why I like it. I can just say, “All right, well, I need to make this much amount of money for this month, and I make it and I can be home for the whole month if I want to after that.”

27:27 Well, you know, it’s very fitting that as you’re talking about being with your family, I think I hear your daughter’s feet going up in the air, swinging back and forth.

27:38 Yes. Yes.

27:39 We hear the swing there. That’s awesome. She’s digging the swing, I’m sure.

27:42 Yeah. Yeah.

27:44 Now, when you’re on the road, how do you stay in touch with your family? You had mentioned FaceTime there earlier. Do you guys do a lot of facetiming together when you’re on the road?

27:53 Yes. Yes. Whenever time I pull over, I make sure I talk to my wife and kids and we FaceTime a lot that we that really helps that new like the smartphones, right? That that we get to see each other through the phone. And my daughter always telling me, “Are you coming home already? Are you coming home? I just slept.”

28:21 It didn’t take long to miss daddy though. But—

28:23 Yeah—

28:24 How much does that do as far as closing the gap as far as being able to use, you know, technology, FaceTime, talk to your children and your wife? I mean it’s obviously there’s nothing like the real thing, but does that make it better for you guys?

28:39 Oh yes. Yes. It does help me a lot being able to do that because I whenever I used to be the crane operator for another company. I was working maybe 80 maybe 90 hours a week. And I wouldn’t get to enjoy my family. I was constantly working, constantly out in the dangers, right? Because I did get hurt doing that. Being a crane operator and being a mechanic for the oil field. And it was just I would be miserable for being only at home for a day and I would go home every single day. But the thing was that I was just like it wasn’t there. I was too tired to do stuff. I was too exhausted to do anything. I didn’t enjoy them as much as I can enjoy them now. That’s what I was going to ask you. How does that compare to now as far as your state of leisure, pleasure, work?

29:43 How does it compare to your days on the crane?

29:46 There’s no comparison. I was They’re constantly calling you. Are you done? Are you done? Cuz we got the ne the next rig to be you need to go tear down that other rig and you need to go and weld the frame on it. The frame is cracked. That’s how I was always constantly. And I was at home and my phone was ringing because they wanted me to go back and go fix another thing and I would be running on like 5 hours of sleep.

30:15 So after that career you moved up to Dodge Center. Is that right?

30:21 Yeah, I moved up to Rochester and I was there I think I did I was a I went into the fixing the roads of Texas. I was a distributor for a company doing the paving the roads—

30:36 Right?

30:37 And then I moved to Dodge Center. I went over there. My wife wanted to be closer to her family and there’s her brothers and his mom and every her mom and everything. So, we moved over here and then when I found out about Norton, I jumped right on and I told my wife, “Hey, you we could stay here, but I think it’s better for us to move to San Antonio.” So, I think we should move. And I didn’t like it was kind of a depressing life over here because of the very cold winters and she saw it and she was like, “Yeah, let’s go back to Texas.” I mean, we moved back to Texas and we’ve been here ever since.

31:24 Sounds like life’s pretty good.

31:25 Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Life is good right now.

31:28 Now, how young are you, my friend?

31:30 I’m 33.

31:31 Any more kids on the way or—

31:34 No, no, no. My two kids have too much energy.

31:41 I barely have enough energy for my two kids right now.

31:46 Well, you know, you’re a young man, 33 years old. You’ve had a lot of career experience, some tough jobs, some hardworking jobs, long hour jobs. You’re in a good position now. How long do you see yourself staying behind the wheel of a truck?

32:01 Well, as long as I can, right? I think as my main plan is not being a truck driver for my whole life. I would like to be maybe one day work there in the yard. Maybe park the truck or whatever there if David will let me work there at the yard. Maybe one day.

32:24 Keep it real close to home at that point.

32:27 Yeah. Yeah. Once like my kids are going to like the baseball games and like all their little events that they have, I would like to be there.

32:38 Yeah. It’s clear to me that your cold weather doesn’t bother you and you’re definitely a family guy. Family means a lot to you and you’ve been able to blend that well with your flexibility here at Norton Transport.

32:51 Yes, it’s 110%.

32:54 So, after that vacation to Mexico, next month, do you guys plan to do you plan to ride it out as far as pretty much working the rest of the year or do you have another vacation in there in the fall?

33:07 No. No. Well, I think that that’ll be a good vacation. If anything, I’ll we can just do like little things, right? Go out with us. But nothing major like, oh, we’re going to go this month.

33:22 I got next month.

33:23 I got you.

33:32 You’re listening to Erik Salinas here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Erik is a deck driver. Just got off a four-way. Just finished up in Minnesota. We’ll be heading back to Texas to pick up a next load. Now, what’s your favorite place to run? You said you don’t really like going to the South because they don’t stay open as late. What about are the places that compare to the Midwest that work best with your schedule or is the Midwest where it’s at?

34:01 Yeah, I think it’s where it’s at. The Midwest is and they understand that that nobody wants to go up there because it’s pretty hard to get out of certain towns and stuff like that, right? They choose to go to like the more crowded areas, but those crowded areas, they close their facilities really early and they’re that’s how it is.

34:27 Gotcha. Now, take us through a typical day because a lot of, you know, people that listen to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport are in the business. They’re in the industry. They work for us obviously and a lot of people who are thinking about getting into driveaway, listen to this program. But for people who may be joining it and may not be as familiar, walk us through step by step what a day is like in the life of a deck driver. Well, the first day if you’re doing a 1300 loads, 1300 miles loads, it’s a all day of driving. The first day you have to stop every 100 miles and every 200 miles to be checking your bolts and your electricals, see if they’re not getting pinched anywhere. And the air hoses, make sure that they’re all connected properly and not getting loose. And I take the whole day is driving maybe 600 and something miles that first day and then the second day is another day of the same pretty much the same thing.

35:42 But the second day is I usually get to the to where I need to be on the second day or my first drop and start unloading that first set of truck. And then the third day is it’s going to be pretty much all day is working with delivering the trucks.

36:02 Undecking.

36:03 Yes. Undecking. Delivering trucks.

36:06 Now you’ve got a formula it sounds like on that 1300 miles. Split the driving up mostly between the first two days and then start undecking on the third day. Now, do you ever take clothes, I’m sure you do, that are longer that stretch into the weekends or do you try not to do that as far as, you know, leave on a Monday and start undecking on a Thursday, Friday?

36:28 Yeah. Yeah. I like there’s a couple loads I’ve done from Seder, California, and I go all the way to like Canada. That that took me about 4 days to do. And I think it was like 1,900 miles or something like that. And yeah, those days are it’s rough. Those days are rough because I have that pretty much ingrained into my head that the third day just I’ll be working and I’m cooped up in a truck pretty much for the third and fourth day. I’m my butt’s feeling it. You’re still driving. You’re still driving.

37:09 Yeah, it’s still driving and I want to get off and do something because I’m very I’m a very active person. So, three days is I start feeling it. I start getting very angy.

37:20 And that’s what I was going to ask you. What’s a 1900? Was it a four set that you had a four-way?

37:25 Yes.

37:26 So, you got a four-way. You’re driving 1900 miles. Obviously, you got to undeck. What’s that feel like on a body and mind?

37:33 Oh, yeah. It’s a rough doing 1900. It’s rough doing pulling that and trying to find a place to park is usually the issues. Finding where to where they accept you to go in and be able to park those trucks in their parking lot. Like if you’re going to go to like the Holiday and Best Western, wherever you’re going to stay at, it’s always finding that spot, right, where you can pull over and rest because there’s a places that I’ve gotten my hotel through the app and through the hotels.com or whatever. I’m using whatever app for finding my hotels and it is rough looking for where you’re going to park and you’re like oh maybe this spot has a good parking spot but you only run that you’ve only ran like 400 miles or 300 miles and I’m like no that’s too little I need to go farther you start looking at 600 miles 700 miles and you’re like oh there’s nothing can hold here.

38:43 There’s no place that has a parking space where these trucks are going to fit. And so if it starts getting a little rough on you, the stress starts getting into you. And I do I whenever I’m get to where I deliver it, I’m I try to be as active as I can because if I just been sitting down for 4 days, I go to the airports and I you know how they have those conveyor belts that take you I don’t take none of that stuff. I take the stairs going up. I take a I walk through the whole entire airport because I feel terrible because I’ve been sitting down for four days.

39:26 I got you, man. You’ve been stove up. You got to keep it moving.

39:29 Yes. Yes.

39:30 Now, I was going to ask you were talking about those long runs and the effect it has on your body and your mind.

39:39 Yeah.

39:40 In your downtime, what do you do? Obviously, you’re with the family a lot. Do you have to do anything to recharge to get back on the road or are you ready to go come Monday or what’s it like for you to get back on the road?

39:54 No, it’s not very hard to get me back working. I’m always usually busy. Like if I if I’m off at my house, I’m out there cutting trees or doing something, right? So, I’m whenever I’m done with what I need to do and then I had a fun with I made my kids like barbecue and or whatever, right, in my house. We get to I get I finish doing that and I feel like I did something for them and then I just call Leela and she always hooked it up.

40:28 There you go. Leela takes care of him. Erik Salinas is here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Erik, I want to wind it down, kind of wrap it up here. What would your advice be to people out there who catch this episode who may be considering moving into driveaway or may be in driveaway and considering moving into decking? Kind of walk us through give us some guiding principles.

40:53 Just be patient. The sometimes the dispatchers dealing with a bunch of people calling them at once and everybody wants to get their problems solved immediately, but there’s it’s there’s a lot of drivers. So, just be patient. Send text messages. Make a paper trail, right? Like, hey, I texted you. You did not return my call. Yeah. What about for somebody who’s you know maybe coming from like you did from a totally different career field but you know maybe wants to make the jump. What would you say to them? And be candid, be wide open, be transparent.

41:34 Yeah. Well, I would think just it’s something different. You need a little bit of guidance with a get hope you guys whoever comes in gets a good trainer. And listen and look at exactly what the your trainer is doing because he might not know it, right? But he you might keep some stuff to himself and like things that he does with his like with his phone that he’s looking ahead always thinking ahead, planning ahead. Because yeah, you can run into whatever in the road and you might be stuck in a traffic jam and it is a it’s a complicated. It’s not just deck driving. There’s a lot of more other things that that involve figuring out where you’re going to park. Your log is okay. Yeah. It’s a lot more than what everybody thinks of just driving trucks and delivering trucks.

42:35 There’s a lot more other stuff that you need to think about.

42:38 There’s a lot of stuff that goes on behind the scenes.

42:41 Yeah. Yeah.

42:43 Well, last question I was going to ask you. You’ve been doing it for a while. You spend a great time with your family. How rewarding is it for you to be deck driving and a part of the Norton Transport family?

42:55 It’s awesome. It’s a very rewarding. I really like the fact that I get to provide and my wife can stay at home and take care of the kids and be able to be a full provider for my family working for Norton.

43:12 Erik Salinas here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Erik, thank you so much for joining us. Now, leave the mic wide open to you or to your daughter there if she wants to say goodbye.

43:22 All right, everybody. Have a good day, rest of your day and Lauren’s a great company.

43:27 All right. Thank you very much, Erik Salinas here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Thank you, Erik.

43:33 All right, no problem.

43:35 Have a good one.

43:40 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.