00:04 Yeah, it’s hard, man. But that’s actually, you know, but it is hard. But that will build you, man. Cuz you know, you got to pay those bills. You got to pay that rent. You got to make it happen. So, it will make you stronger. Life teach you things, then as long as you learn them, you know, you make the right choices the second time around, you’ll be all right.

00:24 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. Now, you guys that listen in all the time, you know, this is a format where we elevate and celebrate the truck driver, all the work he and she does out there on the roads, making these trucks move, making the world go round and round, making your life better. And we have a number of interesting guests that come on and join us here on the Six-Figure Trucker. Now, let me set the scene for you. Right now, it is a Saturday, Saturday afternoon evening. We have brought the portable studio to my house, also known as the back deck. I’ve got a beer in front of me. It is a Belgian style wheat L.

01:26 The bottle is just got water cascading off of it. And I’ve got a cigar in my hand. And joining us for this conversation is Abraham Gomez. Abraham, how are you?

01:36 Yeah, I’m good. How’s it going? I’m glad you brought that beer up. I got one in front of me, too.

01:41 Oh, you got one in front of you right now? Yeah, it is fatter lava.

01:46 I got you. You’re relaxing on the weekend there. Same here. Now, what kind of beer you got?

01:51 Oh, I got my stuff. Well, I like to switch it up every now and then. I got a little Corona action right now.

01:55 I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you. What? What kind you got?

01:58 Corona.

01:58 Oh, you got a little Corona going there. All right. All right. All right. Have you got a lime in it?

02:04 A lime? Yeah. A little chilada mix. You know, make it taste good, you know.

02:08 Okay. Okay. Now, you said you like to mix it up. Is that your beer of choice or just mixing it up a little bit this weekend?

02:16 Oh, just mixing it up. You get bored of the same beer over and over. So, sometimes I do the al sometimes even wine, sometimes tequila, sometimes vodka, just little mixing. Nothing crazy.

02:29 I got you. What’s your go-to beer? I mean, if it’s a, you know, if you’re hanging with the guys, you’re out with the family or whatever, and your go-to beer, it’s like I’m going to get fill in the blank.

02:42 Like something I’ll buy of be like the light. It’s like a especially summer. I don’t know why like a thirst quencher, man. I like—

02:51 The tate light.

02:53 Yeah, the blue can. I get a lot of it. I got I get a lot from the buddies, too, talking about why you drinking this stuff. But—

03:00 Hey man, I like it. It is like drinking water.

03:04 Get a little buzz from it.

03:05 I got you. You like the Medel—

03:07 Melos too? Yeah, we actually last night it was my father-in-law’s birthday. Got back from a pouring concrete around 10 at night. So I had to, you know, I made it there. They had some Melas there.

03:19 Now, do you like the Medela better or the Negra Modelo?

03:22 Oh man, just the regular Modello.

03:24 Yeah, the dark I like the dark one in. I like them both. They’re both good. Especially Ice Cold. They’re both good.

03:29 The dark ones are cool, man. I just I can’t have too many of them.

03:32 I got you. I got you. You’re listening to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. We’ve got Abraham Gomez on the phone with us. Now, Abraham we’ve established, we’re both at home kicking back on a Saturday. What’s your Saturday been like? I know yesterday we were going to try to come together, but life interfered and you had some projects going on. Is that right? Yeah, I got a buddy. He does shock crector and every now and then I help him out. I do concrete finishing also. So which I like too. I like the physical part of it. Yeah, that thing kicked my ass, man. 12 hours of concrete really get you. I still feel it today.

04:16 I bet it kicked your ass, man. 12 hours of— How hot was it?

04:20 Oh, it was pretty hot. It was down in North Hollywood. I want to say it was at least in the 90s. Not too sure, but yeah.

04:27 Gotcha. Now, how long have you been doing the concrete work?

04:30 Oh, back it was my first trade back in 07. My dad got me into the company was working in and I’ve been doing concrete ever since.

04:39 Gotcha. Now, you said you do finishing.

04:41 Yeah, concrete finishing.

04:43 Okay. Do you do other components of concrete work or just the finishing? Oh—

04:47 The I started at the labor. So, I mean, anything from the bottom all the way to finishing and framing. Yeah. So, trucking setting the form.

04:55 Gotcha. How does that compare to driving a big truck? I mean, are there similarities or not necessarily?

05:03 Oh, it’s a whole different type of exhaustion is like driving isn’t physical, but mentally it will exhaust you and concrete. It’s all physical. So, I like, you know, like I said, I like them both, man. Like just been working out for me.

05:21 Now talk about the exhaustion that you face on the road. It’s mental and I guess you can obviously physical fatigue too. How do you combat that?

05:30 Well, a lot of meditating. You got to do you know you got to you know sleeping meditative. But what I meant from mental exhaustion was like, you know, you run into a lot of, let’s say, like traffic drivers, you know, just unpolite out there on the road, man. It’s makes it really hard for somebody sometimes.

05:52 How big of a problem is that? Let’s be real here. How big of a problem is it?

05:55 Oh, man. I don’t think people know. Like on regular cars, it’s funny cuz I got another truck driver, buddy. He calls them four-wheelers, right?

06:02 Yeah. I don’t these four-wheelers understand how dangerous it be driving even to drive next to like I would drive these 53 foot trailer truck and trailer combinations and any little thing can just ruin somebody’s day. So yeah like swerving cutting you off trying to you know push your car up against the truck. It’s just not a good idea.

06:27 Well you’re in my head there’s a lot of room there but I was just thinking that thought. What you talk about swerving. How often does it happen like you’re in traffic, you’re in the center lane or the right lane, somebody’s trying to pass you, as is always the case, and they swerve around behind, they’re, you know, playing dodgeball in between the traffic. And how unnerving is it when they just barely scoot in front of you? I mean, where they just barely clear the bumper.

06:56 Well, as a driver, you got to keep your eyes on the mirror. Something they teach you at the, you know, then, right? So, I’m always watching my surroundings and I always see when you know you can see them coming for and out the lanes. So, as soon as I see that, man, you got to let go of that gas pedal.

07:11 Start slowing down and that’s the annoying part, you know. You got to slow down for—

07:15 Like that.

07:16 I guess—

07:17 It’s almost like you got to drive for them.

07:19 It’s almost like anticipation, I guess. Or it is anticipation.

07:22 Yeah. Yeah. You see, you see a color, so you try to avoid any issue at all times. Well, this is a good chance for us to plug safety week starts next week beginning tomorrow and our safety director Renee Daring had mentioned this to me yesterday, so I was going to go ahead and plug it since we’re talking about safe driving. It’s Operation Safe Driver Week and as you know as a driver, law enforcement will be out. Is that something you’re cognizant of? Yeah. But if you’re on your stuff, you do your inspections and you got it. There’s really nothing you should worry about.

07:58 Gotcha. Now, how of when you talk about doing your inspections, kind of walk us through your inspections? What are we looking at there?

08:05 Oh, pretty much everything. Everything from the ground up, all your fluids, brakes, tires, red bolts, nut, airlines, all that. Depending on where you’re driving.

08:17 Well, I guess yeah, it depends on where you’re driving and what you’re driving. How long does a typical pre-trip inspection take you?

08:24 Well, it could take anything so I mean 10 to half an hour. 10 minutes to half an hour. When it’s 10 minutes, I mean, you probably been, say, if I’ve been on that truck for more than a few months or more than a year and you pretty much know the ins and outs of that truck, so it goes a little quicker. Get inspections—

08:43 Right? Well, I want to do something here. We’re going to play a little word association here on Operation Safe Driver Week. I’m going to list off couple of bullet points since we know law enforcement will be out next week. I’m going to say one of the bullets. You tell me the first thing that comes to mind about you or other drivers.

09:00 All right—

09:01 We’ll start at the top. No use of the cell phone.

09:04 True.

09:07 Very recommendable.

09:08 How often and I’m not going to ask you to tell on yourself, but how often do you see other drivers on the cell phone?

09:15 Oh man, all the time. The—

09:18 There’s a lot of automatic rigs now, right?

09:20 Right.

09:21 But you see a lot of drivers with their feet up on the dash.

09:24 Oh my goodness.

09:25 On the shelf. Yeah. You click on the cruise control, you know, you got stances in the truck. And I think they just they getting a little lazy out there, man. And a little too comfortable on those trucks. And I see it a lot. I see it a lot.

09:42 So you’ve seen drivers with their feet up on the dash and—

09:45 Yeah. And to tell you what, this last winter that I was still on the road driving the rig, you wouldn’t believe. It looked like a truck graveyard throughout the whole you know, Interstate 40.

09:57 Mhm.

09:58 You wouldn’t believe how many burnt up, smashed, turned over trucks and trailers on that road to do and I’m pretty sure through your cell phone.

10:08 It’s a problem. I mean, speak about it as an experienced driver. It’s a problem.

10:13 Yeah. A lot of people don’t really take it as serious as it should.

10:17 I mean, here in 2023, everybody lives with that cell phone. It’s just an extension. It’s almost like you know, the next part of your body is the cell phone. And everybody relies on it. They’re on it all the time. And we’re not going to pick on truck drivers only because I mean, everybody else and every other vehicle is doing it at the same time, but speak to it about why you don’t do it. I mean, you’d kind of talked about the graveyard of trucks you saw on I-40, and it makes you think about what could happen if you do use it. I mean when you go to the, you know, your school and your classes and just picking up knowledge from other drivers, you talk about your awareness time and your reflexes and your senses. How much do you think that’s diminished by being on the cell phone?

11:06 Oh, man. Completely. You take one second. One second. You take one second off the road and you’re in the other lane already, man. It’s a it’s that bad.

11:15 One second can make all the difference.

11:17 One second, man. You take your eyes off that road and you’re already hearing that rumble strip. You’re you know, you’re sw you’re you start to lean toward the other lane.

11:27 Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Now I’m going to move down to point number two here. We’ve covered the cell phone pretty good. No speeding. Your turn. Go ahead.

11:37 Yeah. No speedy yet a must. You know, you change your speed in the truck. What’s funny though? Cuz once you get out of California, I live in California. Speed limit for a truck is 55 miles an hour. But once you get out of California, ste goes all the way up to 80. You some highways up in Texas that go all the way to 80 for trucks. So yeah, just be cautious out there cuz like I said, one second. One second is all it takes. Going that fast all in a full trailer full of weight all that seems like 8 tons no more you know but—

12:10 I mean—

12:10 It’s a lot of weight—

12:12 You know you’re talking about the speed limit how it varies from state to state I guess 70 is probably most common at most states but you were talking about 55 in California up to 80 in Texas I think Montana’s got a high speed limit I mean since it’s such wide open country—

12:28 Yeah either way though I mean at that speed say you get a you know you can always get a like a simple malfunction on your rig, you tire pops at 80 mph, even 70, it can definitely just throw you on the side of the road.

12:44 Oh, you’re in a whole world of hurt right there.

12:47 Yeah.

12:48 Yeah. Like I said, right now just remembering all those trucks that I would see out there, man. It’s it definitely slowed me down.

12:56 It puts it into perspective, man.

12:58 Yeah, it’s you think twice. It’s those trucks are not as sturdy as you think they are. I’ve seen them look like a paint can crushed up soda can.

13:08 Right. Right.

13:08 Smashing to the back of another trailer, man. Yeah. It’s dangerous. I didn’t know how dangerous it could be. Really—

13:14 You know, in addition to the danger of crashing, harming yourself, harming someone else, taking someone else’s life, taking your own life, speeding comes with a price if you get caught. Tell us from a trucker’s perspective, how much is it going to set you back? I mean, it could put you out of business, I guess.

13:34 Yeah, depending on your speed how far over the speed limit you are, it could take license plate and all, you know, the fine also depends on the speed. But, any speed actually just gain that ticket is points on your license and you get more than a certain amount of points a year and that’s it. You take your license away.

13:55 What would that mean to you? Not implying that you’re doing, but what would that mean to you if you lost your license?

14:01 Oh, man. Well, well, it happened to me. That’s why I know it happened to me. I got my license suspended for a year and yeah, that’s basically starting all over. I had to go back to my old trade, concrete. You know, luckily, you know, luckily I have, you know, I know how to, you know, I know concrete. So, some people maybe trucking is all they know and they lose that. I mean, where does that leave them? A 9 is ready, 95 or you know, and then sometimes you get used to making as much money as you do in trucking. So, you know, you get your house, you get your car payment, get you know, a little bit more, you can afford a little bit more, but if you lose all that, where does that leave you, you know? So, it’s—

14:43 It’s hard to support your lifestyle.

14:44 Definitely. Yeah, it can definitely really hurt.

14:47 Yeah, it’s a kick in the pants there.

14:50 Yeah, it’s hard, man. But that’s actually, you know, but it is hard. Well, that will build you cuz you know you got to pay those bills. You got to pay that rent. You got to make it happen. So, it will make you stronger.

15:03 You heard it from Abraham Gomez right here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abraham, I got to ask you this. You lost the license, suspended for a year. What led to that suspension?

15:14 Oh, man. Immaturity and bad choices.

15:17 Okay.

15:17 When I was younger.

15:18 I got you. I didn’t know if it was a speeding violation or what? Like I said, yeah, with immature just making wrong choices and you know life teach you things then as long as you learn them and you know you do the make the right choices the second time around you’ll be all right man. So—

15:38 You’ve put that in the rearview mirror.

15:40 Yeah. Sure did.

15:42 All right. Now we’re going to move on to point number three here. Again we’re playing word association. This is a stickler particularly for people who are not in big trucks and I want to get your perspective on it. Stay in the slow or the second lane.

15:59 Oh man, you got to stay in the slow lane. That’s going to, you know, pass somebody up.

16:03 Yeah.

16:04 You hear drivers, not truck drivers, but car and pickup truck drivers talking about how, you know, big trucks get in the fast lane. What’s the perspective of it from your vantage point behind the wheel?

16:20 If you can avoid it, avoid it. You know, you wait your turn. Wait your turn, man. Cuz some states you get a fine for that one being on the left lane.

16:28 Yep.

16:29 And it’s just wait your turn. You’ll get your opening. You know, you don’t want to, you know, cuz you can only go at fast, you know, just— Yeah. Just wait your turn.

16:39 Be courteous.

16:40 Yeah.

16:40 Be courteous. Yeah. I think a lot of drivers out there, even you know, just regular cars, just lose that that courtesy for other drivers, which will actually create more traffic, more slow down, and you know, you kept yourself out there, man. So, share the road.

17:00 That’s great advice from Abraham Gomez here on the Six-Figure Trucker, brought to you by Norton Transport. Share the road, be courteous. You heard it from Abraham. I wanted to ask you this question. With all cander, I mean, as a driver, we know on the inside of our business, the pressure that you guys are under to deliver on time and to make the deliveries when you have to. How do you balance that out with being safe?

17:27 Oh, man. Being safe should come automatic. And for being on time, plan your trip, you know, and if something happens down the road that’s that you can’t avoid, I mean, it’s just how it goes. You cancer, it’s over it, you know—

17:41 Right?

17:42 All they had and you know, you keep communication.

17:45 Now, you mentioned a great point, a great point that a lot of drivers talk about. It’s a common discussion point here. Plan your trip. Walk us through Abraham’s plan. Are you back on the road Monday?

17:58 I should. I’m going to be off Monday, but I’ll be back on the road on let’s say Thursday.

18:04 Thursday. Now, have you already put a plan together for Thursday or are you working on that or is that down the road?

18:11 Yeah. Well, usually depends on first I find out where I’m going and what I’m picking up. Depending on that, how I plan my trip, you know, leave ahead of time, call, make sure everything’s ready. It should be good.

18:27 Give us some of the ins and outs of your planning strategy. I mean, obviously you’ve named the points there off the top that that make sense for everyone, but do you have some sort of deeper strategy that you use to make planning go smoother?

18:43 Well, just timing depending on what time you got to get there, you plan ahead, you know, just figure out how long it’ll take you to get there and give yourself a couple hours.

18:54 Gotcha. Speaking of planning ahead, have you got another cold corona sitting next to you?

18:59 Oh, yeah, I do. Actually my wife bought me a whole 18 time.

19:03 Oh, nice. You’re ready, man. That’s pl— That’s planning ahead right there.

19:07 That’s planning ahead. See, she already knew. Yeah.

19:10 Yeah. Tell your wife we say thanks.

19:13 She’s right here, too. We’re thinking just, you know, staying in today. Usually, like I said, we’re out there at the water, either the beach, the lake, or we’re doing some hikes. But today, we’re just since that concrete beat me up this year, we’re just going to hang out at home. Yeah, just take it easy, man. There’s nothing wrong with that. That’s a great plan. Now, home is if I’m not mistaken, is Victorville, California. Is that right?

19:39 Yeah, it is. Victorville, California. Gildo High Desert.

19:43 That’s what northeast of Los Angeles, just outside of LA.

19:46 Yeah, just about with no traffic. I mean, given this traffic about two hours, but no traffic looking at cool 45 minutes.

19:55 Okay. Do you get over to LA much? I mean, not driving, but just for fun.

20:00 Just for fun. Yeah, sometimes if it ain’t the beach, it’s just—

20:07 Yeah, just walking around and trying something new, some new food, some new restaurant.

20:11 What beach do you guys go to?

20:13 Oh, we try to go to all of them. We just went to this last one was out there in the Lagona. Laguna Niguel.

20:19 Yeah.

20:19 Called Treasure Island.

20:21 Laguna Beach. Now, Venice Beach is out that way, too, isn’t it? Venice Beach. Fore towards the LA area.

20:28 Gotcha. Yeah, that’s a nice one, too. Took some bikes over there a while back and—

20:34 Yeah. Bike riding along by the beach.

20:38 You and now you’ve got some children, too. Is that right?

20:42 Yeah.

20:43 Tell us about those—

20:46 Six kids all together.

20:48 Oh my. Six kids. You got to stay on the road, brother.

20:51 Yeah. That’s what I’m telling you. Yeah. You know, you have no time to think about it. You got to make it happen.

20:56 What are their age ranges, those six children?

20:58 Youngest is 12, oldest is 17.

21:02 Oh my man, bless your heart. You got a bunch of teenagers there. It sounds like—

21:05 Oh, yeah. You know, in a few way I mean few ways a little easier. Know it’s faster to get on the go. You know, you got to worry about diapers and diaper bag and car seats and strollers and you know that’s pretty much the kids in LA. Grab your bag. We’re going somewhere. Backpack stuff.

21:24 Let’s go. That’s a little easier, but yeah, it’s a lot of them. Keep your eyes off.

21:29 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Now, you said you guys went to the beach recently. Is that right?

21:34 Yeah.

21:35 Riding the bikes. And did you guys get in the water there? Was the water warm, cold?

21:40 Oh, it was cold, but the day was hot, so you know, it evened out. They had a little bit of—

21:47 What’s that? What was that called when they got a— It wasn’t like It was some type of like a reef. There’s rocks on the water. They got you know. So—

21:55 I know what you’re talking about.

21:56 Check out the crabs and the—

21:58 That extends out from the beach there. I’m drawing a blank here, but yeah, extends out there. But—

22:04 That was fun for them. They were checking that out.

22:06 Cool. Checking out the wildlife, the things that are going on there above and below the water there. Now, you were talking about it was a hot day, but I guess the water was kind of refreshing.

22:16 Oh, I felt good. I was in that water. I didn’t want to get out.

22:19 I hear you, brother. Well, we’re gonna we’re going to jump back to reality here. We still got some bullet points on the safety since next week again, as we mentioned, is operation safe driver week. Abraham Gomez is walking through it with us on the bullet points on the safe driver week. I think we had left off at which lane you stay in or staying out of the fast lane only when necessary. But how about stopping at all way stations now is tell us about your habits about weigh stations.

22:50 Well, I mean if you have to if you truck like say Norton, we got to stay we got to stop at auction way station. Say well but other companies got a little fasttrack thing going on. The body and it’ll blink red or gray if they want you to put in. Sometimes it’s great. You don’t have to. Sometimes it’s red, but the company at I suggest you do it.

23:14 It could save you a lot of grief down the road.

23:17 Yeah. Yeah, sure does.

23:18 Now, talk about you were talking about some other companies that have— Is this the software that’s up on the windshield there up at the top? Yeah, a little it’s like a little prepass I guess membership the company pays for and depending on you know the inspection history that’s how many times they’re going to pull you in if you’re good on your safety the safety point thing you good on your safety inspection when they do pull you in you get more green lights and red but it all depends like I said—

23:46 I got you at a weigh station that can be some grief when you stop at a weigh station. Have you ever had any less than desirable experiences at a way station?

23:59 Yeah. Well, especially if you’re running late, they do even though you’re you know, if you’re good on your inspection, if you’re running late, you are going to take about a half hour of your day—

24:08 Right? Well, just little things sometimes, you know, you don’t you’ll notice some things or a light can go out or, you know, lose bow or something—

24:21 Right—

24:21 After the inspection. So, it always wasn’t necessarily your fault, but you know, it happens.

24:26 Oh, yeah. It happens.

24:27 But Well, that’s what they’re there for. You know, they got to keep it safe. If you miss something, they’ll catch it. That’s all good.

24:33 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. This next bullet point kind of dovetales off of the weigh stations, and that is keeping your logs current. Now, how do you do that practice? What’s your method?

24:46 Oh, you stay on top of them, right? And you’ve keep them current, you know, because there’s a lot of drivers out there that will cheat by a little bit, but—

24:55 Now—

24:55 That never works out, man.

24:57 From the inside, we see I mean it’s I mean, you know, you talk about drivers that cheat on their logs. Do you find it more difficult for other drivers to cheat with the technology that’s come along and as far as the, you know, the monitoring and the gauging that is built into some of the software that they’re operating under? Do you find it harder for them to cook the books?

25:20 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Especially if the system you got you’re on is a is connected to your rig. You can’t move that rig without activating that system. So, it gets harder and if you get pulled into that web page for an inspection and they see that you’re playing with it, that’s a whole other problem right there, too.

25:41 That’s no fun right there. I mean but you know those safeguards are in there for a reason and—

25:48 Obviously you know since you’ve come around as far as what you were talking about earlier about your maturity and learning from past things that had happened there and you I guess do you heed these safeguards more readily now?

26:04 Yeah, I agree with them. I mean I used to like when I first started driving I kind of— Yeah, I’m not going to lie. I did a little bit of the paper log playing with the paper logs. But yeah, when you’re tired out there, man, it’s like you said, it goes that that set there for a weekend.

26:23 Mhm.

26:23 You drive more than those can hours, you start getting tired and start falling asleep and then you know now you’re road hazards—

26:32 Right?

26:33 Potential day now. So—

26:34 You got to get that reset in.

26:36 Yeah. Like it or not. You got to get that rest. Yeah.

26:40 Now, let’s say you do your 11 hours. You map out your route. You’re like, “In 11 hours, I’m going to be at point B, and at point B, there’s a hotel that I like. Do you have certain hotels that you go to, or do you just let the road take you to wherever it may be, or do you already have that planned out?”

27:00 Oh, you got to have it planned out, man. Sometimes if you let the road take you, sometimes you end up at a road that has nothing but road. So, you’re sleeping. You got to find something to sleep. You got to plan ahead if he were going to fall out. So I stick to truck stops.

27:14 I got you.

27:15 Very rarely I stop at a hotel and but if I do, any hotel is fine for me.

27:22 Gotcha.

27:22 That’s fine. Just a shower in the bed. We’re good.

27:26 That’s all it takes. Now I want to ask you this question about hotels. Give us— Now think back about your whole time as a truck driver. Give us the worst hotel you’ve stayed in and give us the best. Not by name brand, but just by description and what happened there. What was the worst hotel? What was the experience at the worst hotel?

27:48 Oh, man. I get there and I picked this hotel because, you know, the way it looks.

27:52 And I say, “Okay, it was going to be cheaper than the rest of them, you know.” And I get there and I have a backpack, you know, I’m on foot. I have my stuff with me, you know, my clothes, whatever I need, right? Toothbrush. And I already tell the guy, the guy me like, “Who you here with?” They like, “It’s just me, man. I’m working. I’m here for the night. I’ll be gone in the morning. I get one room, one bed.” Who you here with, man? He probably thought I was a local. It was a bad area. You know, he probably thought it was a local. He probably thought I’m going to rent this room and bring all my friends along and just tear the whole thing up, right? So—

28:24 Right. Well—

28:24 It was in Washington, Portland.

28:28 Okay.

28:28 Yeah. So, now we had some but he probably thought it was a local and me thinking it was going to be a cheaper option. No, he charges me about a $100 for a room. And I get into a room, he gives me a suite. It’s like a sweet, right? Has a kitchen, two bed. I’m like, I need one bed. See—

28:48 You mean? So, I had all this to myself. And—

28:51 You guys were not on the same page. Not on the same page.

28:54 We were not on the same page, man. And the best hotels I’ve been to is a— Yeah, man. Look there. Think it was like a fifth floor. Move full of windows. Yeah, it was great. Like a sweet. I get they give me sweets all the time. I guess it’s never just that one room.

29:11 Gotcha. They must have you pegged as a family man if they’re giving you the suite.

29:15 Yeah.

29:16 Yeah, I know. I don’t understand. But it’s just me though. Like, give me the janitor’s room, man. I’ll sleep in there. Just let me shower in the morning.

29:22 Well, you walk in there like, man, this guy’s got six kids. We got to give him the suite.

29:27 Yeah, man. Usually the hotel when I’m at work, you know.

29:31 Now, speaking of work, how many days do you like to stay on the road and how do you break it up as far as okay, I’m going to be on the road this amount of days and I want to be at home this amount of days?

29:42 Yeah. So, luckily with Nor’s a lot more flexibility. So, if I have a family and kids, so weekends for sure I got to try to make it back home. So I if I stay on the road for 5 days if it’s necessary like I mean when I used to drive for a different company on the rig sometimes my trips would take up to 12 13 days.

30:06 Yeah that’s a long run there. I mean—

30:08 Yeah you know I get stuck out there got to do a 34-hour reset which is fun too. As a driver you know go around try something new some new food restaurants you—

30:16 Be open to anything when you’re doing that long reset.

30:20 Yeah man. Yeah. You got to you know you get to know new people. Well, you know, all over the country, you know, and you’d be surprised, man. I’ve given advice to like hitchhikers, too, like and use conversation with them. It’s you’ll be surprised what people been through. It really, you know, it really is true when they say there’s always somebody out there that has worse than you. So, but, you know, keep positive a positive attitude.

30:44 I’m sure in your travels you’ve met some interesting characters. Any come to mind?

30:49 Yeah, I remember I met this guy in Texas. I picked him up in Texas, dropped him off in it was Amarillo, Texas and I dropped him off in Oklahoma City. Not too far, but you know was talking with him. It’s like I’m like so what do you do man? What is what you doing out here in Texas? So he was looking for work but he goes on he tells me I’m a traveler. I’m like what does that mean? You’re a traveler right? Yeah I just travel the roads. I hitch rides and go to new places and just travel. I’m like, whoa, you know, and that’s an interesting way of living, you know, just free, just traveling. You just wherever the literally wherever the wind takes you, you know, just going—

31:27 Yeah. Just a free spirit going where the road takes him.

31:31 Yeah. He said he’s been doing it for like 30 years. I’m like, “Wow, man. It’s”

31:35 I guess he’s—

31:36 Nice living. Yeah.

31:39 He’s seen a lot of places there.

31:40 Yeah.

31:42 Now, living in Victorville, California there. Wanted to ask you, is it tough to get loads out of California? You know, getting loads to California is not too bad, but what about if you want to, you know, kick it for the weekend and look for something, you know, out of Los Angeles, is it hard to do that?

32:02 Sometimes it is. It’s not, it’s not very common like weekly you might get one, two a week, but compet competition is stiff, you know. So, if you’re not on it, you’re not on that load board. And you know checking out your options you’ll miss it but yeah it’s yeah you don’t get them as much do a lot of east coast work but yeah how do you get—

32:24 A lot of out of Arizona—

32:26 Yeah how do you tackle that I mean it’s like okay I’ve got nothing coming out of you know if you were to do a concentric circle around your house there and there’s nothing within a couple hundred miles do you just fly to the line—

32:40 How do you—

32:41 Yeah you grab that calculator man you do that math— So, if you can grab a load coming to California out of out somewhere in maybe I think I’ve seen a lot like South Carolina, you know, or Texas or you know, and if it’s you get on that phone real quick, you check out your plane ticket and if it’s a good run for you, given all the expenses—

33:08 You jump on it, man. You go.

33:09 If it makes sense, you do it, man. If it makes sense, you do it. If you make—

33:13 Yeah. If you make chest—

33:15 You go on Americans. What do you do? You sit at home, wait for something to call you?

33:20 Can’t do that.

33:21 It’s not going to happen. Not going to happen. I wanted to share with you what one of our guests on the Six-Figure Trucker shared with us. He actually lays out his plan by finding the airfare first. He’d find these ridiculously cheap airfares and take it to a hot location, you know, where he knows he’s going to get a load out. He would fly like say to Atlanta from wherever and he’s like, I’ll get a load out. Have you ever thought about doing that? Flying out of LAX or wherever you may be flying out, say, you know, I could fly to I’m trying to think of a good place. Kansas City maybe. Yeah—

33:58 Somewhere like that. Have you ever thought about doing that? Flying without having a load with just taking say, “Hey, I found a flight for 98 bucks. I’m going to take it.”

34:07 Oh yeah, man. Some guy advised me, “Yeah, why don’t you get your tickets ahead of time?” I’m like, “Well, yeah, but how far ahead?” He tell I asked him, right? He’s like, “Yeah, a few weeks.” He says, “Yeah, you get those kind of prices, 90, $50,”

34:23 Right?

34:24 But I mean like I told him like it depends. Like I don’t, you know, I just started working with Norton. So I don’t I can’t I don’t have that cuz I know once I get into it, you’ll start seeing the patterns of what comes out of where what state and goes to where like—

34:43 Every so often, right?

34:45 Yep.

34:46 But I haven’t got there yet. Haven’t picked up on the patterns. But once I do, yeah, I think that that’ll be a great idea just—

34:53 When you notice.

34:54 Yep.

34:55 Yeah. You know, if you know there’s something there, it’s going to come out. You jump on that plate, you go.

34:59 Yep.

34:59 Got to be the first one in line.

35:01 Absolutely.

35:10 You’re listening to Abraham Gomez here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abraham, how long have you been with us?

35:17 I want to say I’m going on two months.

35:20 Okay. Okay. But you obviously had driven before you came to us.

35:24 Yeah. I’ve been driving since I think I have my license back in 2014.

35:29 Okay. Okay. So, what’s your classification?

35:32 I’ve been doing that.

35:33 What classification are you?

35:34 Well, you know, I got my commercial license and I got doubles and triples, my endorsements and tankers.

35:42 So, you can drive pretty much. You can drive pretty much.

35:46 Yeah. I’m thinking of getting my hazmat. Maybe, you know, that’ll help.

35:49 Are you sure?

35:50 It’s hard once you here. After that, after that suspension, you got to some company. You got to wait 5 years before Dave want to look at you. So—

35:58 Well, take—

35:59 It’s a waiting game, man. Don’t screw up out there.

36:01 Yeah—

36:01 It’s it’ll get you.

36:04 Great advice from Abraham Gomez there. Now, wanted to ask you about learning the patterns, learning the lanes. Let’s see. We’re in summer now. Let’s say heading into midfall. Do you think you’ll have a pretty good grasp of the lanes by then?

36:21 Oh, yeah. Yeah. Right now I’m picking up like usually I used to be say if I don’t find anything that coming out of California I go to the nearest states like Arizona. You got a lot coming out of there you know.

36:34 Yeah. There’s more that comes out of Phoenix.

36:37 Yeah. You got a lot coming out of there. I’ve seen those patterns and then you know I’m starting to figure out like a route. I see, you know, if I can come out of Arizona, go up to let’s say like in northern like say like Washington, Oregon, maybe even Northern California, there’s some stuff that you can jump in North California, you probably get three more loads to finish off your week. Once you get there from Arizona and you’re good for the week, man.

37:06 Just swing out to Arizona, back up to Northern California, and back home. Yeah, that’s been my route lately is just if I don’t find something that’s going to, you know, pay pretty good coming out of here, then I’ll jump on a you could put like three, four, maybe sometimes even five if you want to work, you know, a little bit of your Saturday.

37:29 Five loads and that that more than definitely give you a good week.

37:33 Yeah, five loads adds up to a pretty good check.

37:35 Yeah, sure.

37:36 You got to keep moving. You got to keep on looking for the loads, getting them, and just go—

37:43 Just keep moving. Now, one thing that we found among our drivers here at Norton Transport, they like the way our pay system is set up as far as the quickness of how as far as getting paid. Now, do you run with another company? We know you’ve run with other companies before us.

38:04 Yeah. At the time I don’t not for transportation like I said like concrete sometimes my buddy hits me up he needs some extra help—

38:11 Right—

38:12 And I help out you know—

38:13 Gotcha and I wanted you to talk about as a from a driver standpoint particularly one for Norton Transport walk us through the process you do a load you complete the load what hap how does it happen as far as payment to you—

38:28 Oh it’s quick as long as you do what you got to do like shut down you know take document your bill of lighting just get your signatures your receipts everything you need you know just send them in and then at the end of your at the end of your load you know you can you know usually Norton app you know once you push complete you’re done right but what you do is if you want a faster result faster payment it told me well you got to say to your you got to send all your paperwork email it to you know documents@nortant.com you know, so you get faster payments.

39:06 You send in the documents.

39:08 Well, the faster the better.

39:09 Oh, yeah.

39:10 Yeah.

39:10 I know our drivers like that. We like to make our drivers happy and the nothing makes them happier than getting that jingling in their hands quickly.

39:18 Yeah. Actually, I like that. Like my favorite part about it—

39:21 Getting paid so fast.

39:22 That’ll motiv that’ll— Yeah, that’ll definitely motivate you to keep going, you know—

39:26 Move to the next one.

39:28 Yeah. Make it on time. Move to the next one. Now, you had talked about, you know, now that you’ve been doing the driveaway thing for a little bit there, what’s it meant to your lifestyle? How has it changed your lifestyle?

39:41 Well, you know, financial security, man. It’s just you know, of course, you want to go crazy and buy alcohol. When it rains, it pours. So yeah, it definitely changed in a way where you know it’s more of a security you know—

40:00 Right now—

40:01 Knowing that you can pay your bills and then have you know some savings and then be able to you know help out family members or even take out the kids to you know do fun things—

40:13 Right now as an independent contractor and you know managing your finances how do you do that namely for taxes how do you attack that? Well, that affects about 25%. We’re on a 1099, right? Let’s say about 25 of the whole year, you know. Yeah. What I do is once I get my weekly payments all together, I split that in half. Half of that I put into, you know, my bills and spendings and all that. And the other half I just put into the savings for that.

40:44 Taxes and savings.

40:46 Smart plan. Smart plan.

40:48 Yeah. You got to you just got to keep you just got to keep doing it and eventually you’ll figure out how you got to yeah you got to get on the books with that one and figure out how much you spending a month on all your expenses and put that together and you know sometimes you got to cut down and sometimes you’re able so but—

41:07 Yeah definitely manage your finances.

41:10 Do you pay yearly or quarterly? How do you determine to do that on as a contractor?

41:15 Well, I pay yearly. Yeah, I pay yearly. I go do my taxes and they give my bill and then that’s it.

41:21 Gotcha. You’re listening to Abraham Gomez here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abraham coming to us from Victorville, California, which is as Abraham said, it’s about 45 minutes from Los Angeles on a good day, about 2 hours on a normal day with traffic. You know, you’re in that area where you’re congested traffic is a way of life for you. Does that help you any as far as not getting frustrated when you’re behind the wheel on a route or on a in a lane and you run into heavy traffic, traffic jam, traffic shutdown? I mean, how do you manage that?

41:57 That’s why I said planning ahead and definitely give yourself a couple hours, man. But what I mean, I’m pretty sure everybody that lives in this area agrees. You figure out what I mean what time you can leave for your trip and how long it’s going to take you like I hear like say from the high desert we get traffic going down to the lower areas and we already know if you get that if you try to leave between 6:00 and 7:30 yeah you’re getting traffic for sure it’s going to take an extra 45 minutes—

42:33 It’s guaranteed—

42:34 It’s guaranteed but if you leave after it’s like if you know in between like say like 8 and 9, you’re not getting much traffic. You’ll get there. It’ll be clear.

42:43 Gotcha. Gotcha. Now, you said you’re picking up in Thursday is your next load. Where’s your load picking up?

42:50 I don’t know yet. I haven’t checked the load board, but most likely Arizona.

42:55 Well, I’ve got some loads coming out of Arizona. It’s going to be a while, but I’ll let you know when they do. They’re cross country runs, right?

43:01 I’ll give you a ring. I’ll let you know when they’re coming up. Now, just wanted to ask you, Abraham, as we wrap up here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport, what would your advice be to someone who is either in driveaway, just starting like yourself, or considering it as a profession? What would your counsel be?

43:23 Oh, man. Do it. Why not? You got to experience life, you know? If you like it, you like it. If you don’t, you won’t. But, it’s definitely fun. If you like being out there on the road, just checking out new things, you’ll definitely enjoy it. If you like working with if you like challenge yourself, you’ll like this. It’s definitely a challenge, but you got to figure out your next moves. You know—

43:46 Gotcha.

43:47 Definitely fun. How would you rank this as far as you can be open not just even though you’re on our program, you don’t have to toot your horn for us, but how would you rank this job that you have now, the one driveaway with Norton Transport compared to all the other jobs you’ve had?

44:05 Oh man, it’s definitely okay. I feel like other jobs you have a lot of pressure. You don’t know if you know you got a lot of pressure of sometimes you got to be there all time. Sometimes you know you got to do things you don’t want to do like force loads and keep you out on the road. You know you want to go home but you can’t. This job is extremely flexible. So it definitely takes out the pressure out of it. Like you really need to just leave it on to you up to you how much—

44:37 How much do you want to make that that that week and how much do you want to work and what time you want to get back. So it’s definitely on you. It really gives you that freedom.

44:47 You heard it right there from Abraham Gomez here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Abraham, we’re going to wrap up here. I hope you’ve got your hand wrapped around a cold beer right about now.

44:58 Yeah. Yeah, I sure do.

45:00 Abraham, thanks for joining us. All right, sounds good. Thanks for having me, John.

45:05 Thank you, Abraham. And be safe out there once you hit the road again. And remember, next week is Operation Safe Driver Week.

45:12 Yep. Got to stay safe out there, guys.

45:15 All right. Thank you, Abraham. 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.