00:08 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.

00:23 Let’s get to the show. Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport and each and every one of you. You know if you join us weekly on this is a format where we elevate and celebrate the drivers. Last week we talked with Phil Miller about his time on the road. He’s a towbehind driver. He’s been with us for almost three years. Saves a lot of money, time, and frustration with his toe behind car. But tonight we want to drill down on some interesting personal items he’s got that he does on the side that might surprise you. Phil, how are you?

00:59 I’m doing great. Glad to be back with you, John.

01:02 Gotcha. Now, I wanted to ask you what does the rest of the year look like for you as far as on the road or will you be exploring some of the things we’re going to talk about here?

01:12 Yeah. So, I just had this conversation with my dispatchers, Laura and Kelsey. I gave them four some forewarning that I’m taking a little bit of time off spend in Hawaii to develop some property that I just purchased there.

01:30 Now, this property you purchased when did you buy it? I mean, did you buy it sight unseen or did you go down and check it out?

01:39 Yeah. Back in August, I decided to go over there to look at property. It had been going through my mind for a couple years. I had visited Hawaii back in 2021 and I fell in love with the place and the prices were very affordable where I was looking at and they remained so. But I knew those days were numbered. So, when the opportunity came to go back there, I took it, which was August, and I purchased property while I was there for I was only there for a week, but I went and looked at some and found one I liked and purchased it.

02:17 That’s admirable to seize the moment like that. Is it on the water or where’s the property located? I wish I could say it was, but I can only afford in lava zone 2, which you have to be willing to put up with some potential threats from lava, but it’s about 5 miles from the ocean. And it’s, you know, it’s what I could afford and it got me a foothold on the rock. That’s what I wanted. Just to get a foothold on it and who knows what where it’ll go from there. But if I can say this, Norton, working for Norton allows me to have a place in Florida, a place in Hawaii, and I can work everywhere in between. And when I’m not working, I can be at one or the other. And I, and that’s why I love working for Norton because I have the flexibility to live my, you know, my dream basically. Yeah, I was going to say it sounds like you got a pretty good setup right there. Florida, Hawaii, in between like you said.

03:19 That’s awesome. And we’re glad that it’s working out for you. When do you think you’ll be able to move forward in Hawaii with your building plans?

03:30 Well, it’s one of those things I’m just taking one day at a time. I’m going there. Yeah. Let’s see. It’ll be in about a week. Yeah, a week from today I’ll be flying there and I’m going to start clearing the property. It’s all ferns right now. Now, I got to figure out what to do with the ferns. I don’t want to just bulldoze them. And so I’m going to try to do something with them, but I’m going to have my hands in the dirt or lava or whatever is there underneath there. I don’t really know, but it’s a it’s an adventure that I’m looking forward to. Now, speaking of adventures, you’re an adventurous guy because the last place you lived if I’m not mistaken, didn’t have a foundation. Well, are you speaking of the four wheels that I’m living on or—

04:23 No, the sailboat.

04:24 Oh, the sailboat. Yeah, that’s right.

04:27 Yeah, that’s right. The sailboat. Sorry, John. I forgot all.

04:30 Sorry, I lost you there.

04:31 Yeah, when I started doing driveaway, I was living on a sailboat down in Florida in the Fort Pierce inlet and that that was a lifelong dream of mine to get a sailboat. My dad, he when we were kids, he’d always tease us with the idea of getting on a sailboat and traveling the world. Well, I was going to make that happen myself. And I did. I lived on it for a year and started doing some environmental research with the seagrasses underneath that boat. And that was a that was an interesting time to be on that boat.

05:07 How far out did you go in the sailboat?

05:09 I didn’t go anywhere. I dropped out—

05:12 And let the tide take me one direction and then another. I learned what it means to drag the anchor and I did a lot of anchor dragging because of storms and—

05:26 Currents and the tides and that was enough adventure for me, John. And so I was have just to stay put and off of the rocks.

05:35 Sure.

05:35 How large of a sailboat was this? It was a 30-foot sailboat. Enough room for me. And it was a 1987 Catalina 30. And great boat. I actually converted it from diesel. It had a broken diesel engine in it and I took the diesel engine out and I put an electric drivetrain in it.

05:58 Oh wow.

05:59 That’s cool.

06:00 Yeah. This is one thing we didn’t talk about, John. I’m big on electric vehicles and so having the sailboat converted to electric was a dream. But you know tying this ties back into Norton because some of your accounts has allowed me to drive electric semis which is also been a goal of mine. So you have you’ve checked that box off for me too.

06:24 Well that’s cool man. You check off a lot of boxes for us and this is just fascinating what Phil’s going to tell us about now. In Florida in addition to living on a sailboat. You have some intimate relationship with some tropical trees. Oh yeah. So I love palm trees. I’m wherever I live it has to be a place where palm trees can grow. Again like you know that’s why Florida and Hawaii support that.

06:55 So I set about trying to make that Florida property look like Hawaii and that included putting about 70some coconut palms in and mango trees and avocado trees and papaya trees and pineapples. So it’s my own personal garden of Eden and just been great.

07:16 We’re going to have to see some pictures. I’m going to have to get you to shoot some over to Kelsey cuz we might be able to include some of those in the podcast there if you can shoot some pictures. Do you have some pictures of the groves?

07:28 I do. I hope they won’t be disappointing because the trees aren’t fully grown yet. But they’re in route.

07:36 Okay. Okay. And you were talking about you kind of touched on the conservation efforts that you got and tell us you kind of dive a little deeper. No pun intended here on what you want to do in the ocean there. That was a bad one. I’m sorry.

07:50 Yeah. So, I’ve always loved the ocean. I’ve always loved the animals in it, the fish. You know, I grew up being a fisherman and then I’ve just over the years through my teen years and up through the years, I’ve just grown to love them and actually develop relationships with them. And being on that sailboat allowed me to start to develop relationships with these creatures under my boat. One thing in particular, not only the creatures, but the habitat that’s under there. And the seaggrass is very important in Florida for all kinds of species of fish as nurseries b feeding grounds for the manatees. It’s a critical part of the ecosystem. And I remember what those what that seaggrass was like 30 years 40 years ago. And we’ve lost about 90% of those grass beds. And so I started snorkeling under the boat and looking at the seaggrass and thinking what can I do to help bring it back.

08:56 So I set down some grids around the patches I found and started working with it trying to bring it back. And that was an educational unto itself.

09:08 Yeah, no kidding, man. That’s admirable, too. You’re listening to Phil Miller here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Phil’s joining us from on the road here. He’s a towbehind driver and he also has many other interests have you as he has laid out for us. And I wanted to ask you, Phil, you were talking about also the photography that you do underwater.

09:30 Yeah—

09:31 Tell us a little bit about what kind of camera is involved in that. And, how does that come about?

09:36 Nothing special. Just a dive case on my iPhone. A simple case off of Amazon. Gets you under. I don’t do any scuba diving. Everything’s free diving. So, I go down as far as I can hold my breath. And, I’ll, you know, film everything from sharks to eels to barracuda. You know, all kinds of tropical fish and it’s just fun to interact with them and it’s a different world down there and you know it’s restorative to my soul to be down there with those creatures to interact with.

10:15 That sounds like it, man. That sounds great. I’m kind of jealous of the life you’re living there. I got to tell you—

10:20 You Hey, John, you can live it, too.

10:24 That’s a fantastic Phil Miller here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Phil, I wanted to ask you real quick. You’d mentioned last week about playing pickle ball on the road. And you were able to play today. Was it today?

10:39 Yep. I played today. I played yesterday and I played the day before that. Yeah. So, wherever I go, wherever Norton takes me, that’s where I, you know, I play if I have some downtime. And my goal is to play in every state. I’ve been in every state except for Alaska, but unfortunately I started playing pickle ball just a year and a half ago. So, I’ve got a lot of catching up to do to say I’ve played in every state.

11:03 That’s awesome. That’s awesome. And I wanted to ask you this also playing the pickle ball and getting on the road. You mentioned last week too about state parks. What’s been your I guess your what’s your Mount Rushmore of state parks? Yeah, so the standouts for me at the state parks is the Mount Rainier area, unforgettable. The Bristol ancient Bristol cone pine forest in California. Those trees are over 5,000 years old. There’s some laying down on the ground that they say are 9,000 years old. I’ve been to some sacred places because of Norton. I’ve seen a lot of things. It’s been an education to go to all of our parks and see what’s happening. Unfortunately, I hate to mention this. I hope it’s not a downer, but a lot of our parks have been burned. Almost all of them have significant fire damage and that’s been eye opening to see.

12:10 But there’s still a lot of beauty there to see for sure.

12:14 Right. Right. I mean, out in California, they’ve unfortunately been the victims of many wildfires that have happened there.

12:20 For sure. For sure.

12:22 Well, we talked a little bit last week. You’re heading west from where you are now. Have you planned, do you plan a long ways out? I mean, I know usually you can’t because it all depends upon the load board.

12:36 Yeah, exactly. It depends on the load board and so yeah, we can’t plan out too far and that’s one thing I’ve learned, you know, again, patience. Let the load board reveal itself and just hang tight. You know, having a tow vehicle allows you just to sit because you’re I’m not spending much money. If I’m sitting with my car, I’m not spending on hotels and all these things. So, I can be patient. I would just tell I would say to any driver if you’re thinking about doing a tow vehicle, I would just say go for it if you can. And secondly, find a mentor. Find someone who’s done it. Get my contact info from John, from your dispatch, whoever it is. I’m happy to help drivers because it’s all about helping people. That’s part of life. It’s not just about having fun, but it’s also about helping people. That’s part of the joy of living. And so yeah, get a mentor if you’re thinking about pulling a vehicle behind.

13:39 That is fantastic advice right there. I don’t think anything can be said beyond that about the joy of living and helping people out there. That’s a good that’s a great way to look at it. Bill Miller here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you Norton by Norton Transport. Bill, thank you so much for joining us.

13:54 Thank you for giving me the opportunity, John. 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. Come.