00:04 Hey man, look at here man. Tequila is the primary liquid, not water. Okay? You know, with or without the worm at the bottle, the real stuff down there in Tijana. I’ve been down there a couple of times. You know, life is good with tequila in your life. I promise you, you should try it.

00:22 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. Joining us this evening is Shungo Walker. Shungo, welcome. How are you?

00:52 Hey, John. How you doing this evening, man? Everything all right?

00:55 I can’t complain, man. Everything’s going well. And now, Shungo, I was doing a little bit of research about you. And if I’m not mistaken, you live in the Atlanta area. Is that right?

01:05 I live in Atlanta by way of Tucson, Arizona. I’m constantly backwards and forth.

01:10 I saw that on your profile and I saw your number and I said, “Well, that’s an Atlanta area code, both of them.” Him and I’m like, so I’m guessing I didn’t want to make the assumption that you lived in Atlanta, but I saw also in your profile that you live in Tucson. So, do you have homes in both places or do you live in both places or just in one primarily?

01:28 Yeah, my wife and I live in Georgia and then my children live here in Tucson, Arizona. And I’m constantly backwards and forth from one place to another.

01:38 So, I’m guessing from what you just said, you’re in Tucson now.

01:41 Yeah, I’m in Tucson right now. Absolutely.

01:43 How do you compare those two living together? And how do you manage that? I mean living in two different places in two different climates, two different worlds basically.

01:50 Well, you know, I’m going to tell you the good news. The good news is that I have a understanding wife. She’s a very fantastic person. She’s Kenyan and we have a very good relationship and she’s very understanding. That’s is the key to my success. And the kids we have they live with their grandmother here or their grandmother live with us. And she also makes my life easy and that’s how I’m able to do it. You know, being a driver out on the road as much as you are, how important kind of underscore for us, kind of paint the picture what it’s like to have an understanding wife and other people in your family that have that flexibility and know what you do to do what you do.

02:29 You know what? I you know, I just think I’m a just a blessed person, you know. You know, I come from a very tight-knit family. Whatever my wife isn’t able to do, my mother and my father’s there to do it, my siblings are there and it just makes things easier for us truck drivers. I think the best thing for any driver over the road is to have a solid foundation to help him maximize while he’s over the road. I think that’s the best thing.

02:51 You know, you were talking about the importance of family and we talked to a lot of drivers here on the Six-Figure Trucker and the reality is for family and drivers, there’s a lot of separation. Not emotional separation, but time separation when you’re away from your family. How do you cope with that?

03:11 Oo, time separation. Understanding, understanding and acceptance. You know, my you know, my wife knew me while I was driving trucks and I’ve been driving trucks. I’ve been married to her for five years and I was been knowing her for eight years. So, we know know each other very well. My wife is an invert so she don’t necessarily need me there all the time.

03:32 I got you. I got you. You don’t need me, you know. And kids, they know what I do. They know my job, you know. We work around I work around their schedule. Whatever they schedule is, you know, whatever they got going on at school. I make it my business that I’m here and I’m here on time and I do what’s necessary with my children. You know, I have my daddy daughter day on Friday and I have my father and son day on Saturday and I have my wife all the time, every day. So, it works—

04:00 Well. We saw evidence of that tonight when we were getting ready to get together for the Six-Figure Trucker podcast here. You had to pick up your son and it’s like what you said there is actually proven to be something very factual. It does mean a lot to you because you had to pick up your son before we could do this. So is it family first in the world of Shungo Walker?

04:21 Man, it has to be family first because you know when I get sick and I’m down and I’m low, I need motivation. Family is there. Yeah, when I’m on top of the world, family keeps me focused and driven. So, it’s definitely family first with me. You know, I have I got I’m married with a wife and four kids and the youngest is six. And what he say goes and you know, we just make it work, man. It’s you know, it’s easy when you make it easy. It when you put in the effort and you put in the hard work, people think it’s easy because I make it look easy, but it’s not. And I’m actually gone for extended period of time because I’m a trainer, so I make it happen.

04:57 I got you. I got you. Now tell us a little bit about your wife. You’d mentioned that she’s Kenyan and you guys have been married for five years together for eight. How did you meet her?

05:06 Oh my god. You know, I met my wife in Georgia at a family house party. It was a house party and she came in the door. She’s about 5’11. You know, I’m 5’7 and going on 5’8. She’s 5’11. And when I saw I was like, you know what? I think I can deal with a woman like that. I really truly do. You know, good for me. She wasn’t wearing her glasses when I first met her, you know, cuz she really, you know, everything was a blur. So, we made it happen. We talked and talked. And then eventually on a nice drunk night at Roof Chris, you know, she says she might want to give it a try and I’ve been stuck with it ever since.

05:51 That sounds fantastic. You said she didn’t have her glasses on, everything was a blur. Did you win her over with your personality? Was it the personality that pulled her in?

06:00 I have personality. I have jokes. I’m a offstage comedian, if you will. You know, you give me a little chance. And you know, I do pretty good. I do the best. What won my wife over is that I’m a man of my word. I do the best I do my best to keep my word. If I can’t keep my word, I do my best to honor my word. And I’m very consistent. That’s what she loves about me the most.

06:24 Gotcha. And that’s I think that’s just the way I am in general.

06:28 Got you.

06:28 And I think anybody in Newton would tell you that. Yeah.

06:31 Now, from what I’m hearing here, you got a little bit of a little class about yourself there as far as you took her to Ruth’s Chris. Was that the first date or how did that work out?

06:41 No, no, no. That’s that was the ultimate persuasion. We, you know, we was just going out, you know, spending time with each other as friends. And that was the turning point. That was the turning point for her. That was the ultimate win over. She said she’ll give me a try because I already I was already smitten at first sight and then that’s what worked for me. It was the alcohol. The alcohol helped me. The tequila.

07:08 Did you know at that point?

07:09 Tequila is my friend.

07:10 I gotta— Did you know at that point it was time to play the card?

07:14 It was. It was actually, you know, I was like a mad scientist when he’s when he came up with his final plan and he go that’s what I did. I totally agree. Yeah—

07:26 I got you. Shungo Walker here with us tonight on the Six-Figure Trucker and talking a little bit about on his personal side. Darren is a great wife. What’s her name? What’s your wife’s name?

07:35 Name is Lucia Oing Walker.

07:38 Gotcha. Now you guys have been together five years and you know I’ve heard great things about Shungo Walker here internally at Norton Transport. You know you’re a deck driver and I you know one thing let’s start at the beginning here before we get into the actual driving aspect. Shungo is that a given name a nickname or is that your birth name?

08:00 That is my birth name. Born and raised long live Shungo Walker. That’s actually a Nigerian name. It means it’s actual shangle is actual religion at its part and some African countries and it means thunder god. Thunder lord is a very very powerful name is fire. It’s a god deity in certain parts of Africa Nigeria in particular. Yoruba it’s a Yoruba name. Very powerful name.

08:26 Was that something that was an attraction to your wife?

08:29 Not necessarily. That was more of an attraction to my parents. You know, my parents grew up, my mother was a she did a lot of African dancing up in Chicago. And my father come from a Muslim background, so it was just natural for my parents to give her children Africanamean names, true African-American names.

08:48 Gotcha. Do you stay plugged into that as far as the culture and the importance of it as far as moving forward into 2022 and the four children that you have now?

08:57 I do my best to respect it. And I follow it the best way I can. And you know, I have some real good friends out here. Segun, who a trainer who lives down there in Florida, a real good friend of mine. He’s Nigerian guy. We talk a lot and he helps me keep myself centered, you know, and he’s a very strong individual and he helps me. He actually helped me with my job. He looks out for me and he helps me with my marriage as well.

09:18 Wanted to kind of drill down on what you just said there about he keeps you centered. How important is that for you to stay centered with your family and your four children, your beautiful wife and your life on the road?

09:31 You know, a man being centered and focused and driven in my mind is a is much better than a man who is motivated, you know, because motivation comes and goes. But if you have, you know, focus, you know, it comes with discipline. So these men help me, they help me keep myself centered because they help me stay disciplined and focused. You know, you know, we might set goals for each other and we’ll call each other and they see if we met that goal for the week, you know, we call each other see if we took our wives out that day. We’ve been spending time with our kids, you know. So I have a lot of good friends who was like that that works over here at Norton. Faith, Larry, DJ Sanders, so many guys. I mean, it’s James, Ashanti, so many people. Dave, Dave Ski down there in the yard.

10:19 Big Daddy, Cowboy Mike and his wife, Kelly. So, you know, these men helps me out. These people really help me stay focused and centered.

10:26 Let’s kind of take that apart. Being centered beats being motivated because I mean, let’s be real about it. Life on the road is a long road. And not speaking metaphorically, but life on the road as a driver. That’s I mean, you’re out there for a long time. How important is it from a I guess a psyche standpoint to stay centered over being motivated?

10:50 Well, you know, being over the road is a lifestyle. You know, as I’ve been a truck driver for 11 years straight, you know, I never taken any local jobs. So what helps me I’ve been doing it for so long now I just you know it’s just it’s like in my blood you know going out here and cranking these trucks up delivering them you know it just kind of helps me be centered understanding that that customer needed for us to be there on time you know make sure the trucks are well fastened down and secured before I takes off you know these are the things that kind of help me out in this journey and that’s why I’ve been doing this for so long you know I’ve been work for other companies doing strictly transportation that now is just really natural for me.

11:35 Now I can do it with my eyes closed in my sleep. You know, you were talking about one thing there about being on time for the customer. How much does that it would seem that it would lend hand in hand and being centered the being the punctuality aspect of it. Is that something that has proven true for you as far as like I know that customer ABC wants this truck, you know, yesterday? I’m going to do everything I can to get it there on time.

12:02 Oh, yeah. Most definitely, man. You know, the customer without the customer, there’s no us. You know, there’s no us out without the customer. So, you know, you have to the customer pay our bills. You know, the customers who we deliver these trucks to. And you know, we got to deliver them in great shape on time, be respect, be professional. You know, it just comes with the job. And that’s what you know, you go to some of these places and some of these drivers have been banned not come there to not come there anymore, which is absolutely ridiculous.

12:32 How do you approach that? You know, you’re talking about we know that there are drivers who have been banned from certain sites because of past behavior. How do you keep yourself above board on that? What do you do? I mean, is it part of being centered?

12:44 Yeah. Well, you know, it’s just like people, you know, there are certain people, you know, you have a that you can be around and certain people that you can’t, you know, once you establish a level of professionalism, it’s hard for you to be around a driver who’s not professional. It’s hard for you to be around driver who take shortcuts when they are undecking. And it’s extremely hard to be around drivers who would undeck extremely fast and damage, you know, damage the property, you know, the trucks that we’re delivering. So once you’ve been around that environment so long, you know who you can work with, who you can be around, who you can’t, you know, you know, I like hanging around guys who are professional and I also like hanging around guys who are learning and are willing to put in the work. That’s why I train and that’s one reason why I love being a trainer because I love to teach.

13:33 You know, you were talking about people you associate with and being professional. They go together. I mean, how important is that to you to say, you know, not only did we deliver this truck, we delivered it the right way?

13:48 Oh, man. You know, I to be honest with you, I’m when I’m out here with these guys and I see a couple of union guys, union guys can’t stand me because I stay on him all the time. You know, you know y’all doing this wrong. You know, you don’t supposed to do it that way. And they get pissed at me because I’m not union. But that doesn’t mean I don’t know what I’m doing and that doesn’t mean I’m not doing it professional. You know, there’s a certain way you can do this job. It doesn’t matter if you’re union or not. But if you’re doing it wrong, it doesn’t matter what your background is. Wrong is wrong and right is right. So, you know, I got some guys who in the union who loves me and I talk to them and I got guys who’s not in the union can’t stand me because they don’t do their job the way you should.

14:31 You heard it right there, Shungo Walker. Wrong is wrong. Right is right here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Let’s talk a little bit about training. You mentioned that just a minute ago. You love the training. What about training is most appealing to you?

14:47 Oh man, what is about training so I’m going tell you what I really, really, really love about training. I love training so much because I am always learning and I actually learn something from my trainees. I learned something from every trainee I ever trained. I the ones that don’t know the from the ones that’s from lime green don’t know anything from them for from some who actually know some things who have a little bit of experience but I learn something from them. Makes me a better trainer. And I have a lot of patience. I care a lot. I look out for them the best way I can. And I would think that my trainee would tell you that I do my best to show them skill. I want to show them the highest level of skill. Understanding, you know, this is what you do and this is why.

15:48 That’s what I love about it. I really do. You were talking about learning from, you know, somebody that’s lime green. Is it the fresh perspective that they bring to the table?

15:59 It’s the fresh perspective. It’s the mistakes that they make. It’s the suggestions that they bring up. You know, it’s their way of because I’m an open book. I tell my trainee, look, if you have a question, any kind of question, just come and ask me. Don’t think that it’s wrong. Come and ask me. If you don’t like the way I’m doing our hotel arrangement, come and tell me, you know, cuz I’m always looking to improve myself. So, I would listen to them. And guess what? They actually bring up things to make me like, you know what? You absolutely right. And I like and I say to myself, you know what? I’m going to do that from now on. It just makes me a better deck driver, better trainer, a better contractor for Norton.

16:41 Now, talk a little bit. You mentioned the hotel arrangements. There are a lot of interlocking pieces that go into play in driveaway transport, driveaway trucking, and you’re I mean, I looked at your profile. You’re Class A, you’re passported, you’re manual certified, you’re right-hand drive. You check off all the boxes, but talk about let’s get down and look at the minutia of some of the things there that are going on as far as like hotel stays. Talk about that, how it plays out for both deck drivers and single drivers. You got to hit that. I mean, that’s just one thing, but there are so many things that come into play. Let’s start there with a hotel stay. How do you determine where you’re going to stay, when you’re going to stay, and why you’re going to stay, where you’re going to stay?

17:29 Oh, gracious. That that is a very loaded question and very broad. But the best thing to do is before I even take off, since I train and I train two, one, two, three, maybe four people at a time, depending on what’s going on at Norton, what I do is do my hotel the night before. I have an idea how far we’re going to drive, where we’re going to stay, and what time we’re going to get there. Calling them, you know, you calling ahead of time and sometimes, well, most of the time, especially if you have more than three people or maybe even more than two people you stay at different hotels, there’s room, you know, you have to satellite the map to see what hotel you can stay at, make sure they got enough room that if they don’t got enough room for everybody, just make sure that your trainee go a little bit further up or a little bit further behind, preferably a little bit further up so they can stay at another hotel. I mean, you know, you just, you know, you just communicate that with them, then everything will be fine. But that, you know, planning the night before helps me much better than gathering them at the yard and then trying to figure it out as I go.

18:35 That’s a very great point because you’re talking about planning and communication. And when you’re training, you got multiple drivers that you’re training. How much input do you get from them or do they kind of say, you know, Shungo’s got this, we’re going to follow his lead? You know, it depends. It depends on the trainee. You know, you know, if I got guys who brand new, you know, water milk, you know, milk, you want what’s milk between the behind the ears or whatever—

19:04 You know, they eyes wide open like a dear headlights. They’re going to listen. They’re going to do what Sean go say. But even those guys, you know, they still make suggestions once they got used to it. But the guys who are more experienced, they have more to say and they’re actually a little bit more tough to train to be honest with you. But oh, they are. I promise you.

19:26 I think I know what you’re saying. I think I know what you’re saying.

19:30 Guys who come in who’s have independent contracting, used to own their own trucks or whatever the case may be, they have more to say and they least likely to listen depending on their personality. But for the most part, you know, they listen to what I have to say because I can be a nononsense guy, but I’m not. But I can be if I have to.

19:55 Right. Right. What’s I guess the message for from Shungo to deck drivers when you’re training? What’s the main thing? I know you can’t boil it down to one thing, but I guess you know organically speaking, what do you want to see them walk away with? You know, that’s such a great question and this it is very broad, but if someone chooses to be a trainer, I think what they should walk off with is besides themselves, they should walk off with their students wanting to succeed, their students going away. I’ve trained this guy. This guy is in great shape. This man or woman can do what I can do, and I have confidence they can do it. And they gonna prove not only to me but to Norton that they can do this job and they not gonna damage any trucks and that just let me give me even more confidence as a trainer that I know what I’m doing and I’m doing the right thing.

20:54 Gotcha. In your mind?

20:56 Absolutely.

20:56 In your mind as a trainer, what separates an okay deck driver, a good driver, and a really good driver? What separates those three categories?

21:07 Oh, wow. Well, well, let’s start with the okay driver. Let’s say I think the okay driver is the driver that doesn’t communicate well, doesn’t communicate as much as they should. Doesn’t tighten their load down the way they should. You know, they just they preparation is not where it should be. It’s not the standard. It’s definitely below the standard. You know, they rush. They don’t tighten their load down. They nasty with customers. You know, I’m going to even say that they drive 8 900 miles a day. I’m going to say that, too. That I think that’s the bottom of the barrel type drivers, you know, but that doesn’t mean they can’t learn from anything, but that’s what I would say. That’s just my opinion. But the guys who you know are good drivers, communicate better. They good with they dispatcher. Shout out to my dispatcher Ryan Chief and my first dispatcher Payton May and my current dispatcher, Miss Britley Britney and Miss Low and the Thomas. I love these people. Absolutely. And—

22:00 Shout out to Miss Jessica when she calls the first person to call when you call Norton direct. Shout out to these people and they’re good with their dispatch. They communicate very very well. They’re not nasty. You know, you know, they do their best to deliver on time. But the guys who I would say topnotch, they do everything on point and on time, meaning, you know, they do they go the extra mile to make sure that the customers happy. They go the extra mile to make sure that their trip planning is on point. They’re very good at doing their paperwork. They’re very efficient as Lloyd would say, efficient and making sure that the job is done right, you know, and those are the people that you have a good reputation from the for not only from the dispatch but hire management and people hiring personnel at the office.

22:49 Gotcha. You know, you talked about communication and preparation and you also had in included in there in the way you deal with customers. I would think if I’m hearing you correctly Shungo, if your communication and your preparation is right, your relationships with the customers and the dispatchers are going to be better.

23:09 Yeah, it should follow. Yeah, it should follow suit. It should be all universal and par parallel. I totally agree. Absolutely.

23:16 Is that something that you communicate to the people you’re training?

23:21 I do. I do. I do my best to tell my you know, I come I fall short at times. You know, you know, the thing is I the thing I don’t mean is that I don’t show my trainees how to do their paperwork that well, but everything else I do my best to make sure that they communicate well with the dispatch. Make sure, you know, everything is, you know, to their liking, everything is to the standard to the Norton standard, you know, and it gets tough at times, but, you know, it’s just like any other relationship. You have to communicate and communication is saying things you want to say and also saying things you don’t want to say. But as long as it’s said, you have a better understanding where a person is coming from than not saying it at all.

24:05 I would imagine it’s saying what you want to say and saying what you don’t want to say and how you say it.

24:13 Absolutely. It’s all about how. Absolutely. Most definitely. I mean, I can’t talk to my wife any kind of way, but you know, and I carry that along with my job. I don’t talk to my trainee, students any kind of way. I don’t talk to people in the office any kind of way. I come in with a smile and if I have something to say, good or bad as some may see it as bad, but at least I said it. I said in a professional manner and they can and when I leave the office, they can’t say, you know, Shanka was rude. He was an I’m not looking to make a lot of friends, you know. I can’t be everybody’s friend, but I’m going to be as professional as I possibly can on my communication.

24:51 How much does that crisscross over as far as your communication and preparation on the work side when you’re training and on the father’s side and the husband’s side? Do you does one lend into the other? Do they blend together? I mean, do you learn from each one?

25:08 I do, man. Because, you know, I have to you know, I got young kids, man. You know, my son just turned 16 years old and the heck, this dude is trying to learn how to drive for Christ’s sakes and my daughter, you know, my daughter is 12, you know, and she’s coming along and I have to learn how to make adjustments. You know, I have to learn how to communicate better. You know, you have trainees who take what you say and they take it very well. You explain it to them and they got it. And then you have trainees that you have to you said it to them at least a hundred times and they ain’t got it yet. So you have to keep adjusting to their way of thinking and way of doing thing and their way of learning, you know. So it definitely bleeds off, you know, it’s all universal. All it’s all the one. It all comes to the one, you know, how do I talk to my wife? Had I talked to my kids, trainees, people at the office, dispatch and dispatch tell you, you know, I call I do my best to build my dispatches up, make them feel good when I call, you know, I you know, I love him, you know—

26:12 And but yeah, but I definitely make adjustments in my approach because I have to.

26:16 Well, you know, we here I speak for everyone here at Norton Transport. We love having a guy like Shungo Walker working with us, working—

26:24 And you know, I know the dispatchers are going to really appreciate you giving the shout out because it’s nice for them to be appreciated by the drivers and vice versa. I mean, that’s such a handinhand relationship. I mean, you know, they are you’re the eyes and ears. You’re the quote unquote boots on the ground and we’re the people back here trying to put it together. Talk about the relationship you have with the dispatcher. Oh man, my relationship with dispatch is good. You know, it be challenges at time. You got to get dispatch to get on the phone more often, but my relationship with my dispatch is great. You know, Ryan Chief, who’s been moved over there to recruiting, that’s my guy, Payton Pton May, my very first trainer. That’s my guy. I love these guys. And you know, they’re good people. You know, Miss Britney. And I just do my best to have an understanding. Once they know who Shan goer is and how I run and how I do my loads, the better it is for them, the better it is for me. Rarely would I call office with a complaint. But if you got me calling office with a complaint, you better believe it’s a real serious complaint.

27:28 It’s the real deal. I—

27:29 I rarely give it. Yeah. Yeah. I rarely give it. Hardly ever.

27:32 I got you. Gotcha. Now, who Shungo Walker is, we just kind of rallied off or rattled off some of your classifications. Class A, you got your passport, your manual, certified, right-hand drive. Let’s go back a little bit in the history of Shungo Walker as a driver. I think you said—

27:50 Oh, jeez.

27:51 11 years on the road. Is that right?

27:54 Yeah, man. I’ve been 11 years on the road.

27:56 Tell us how it started. How did you get into the business? How did you get into the industry?

28:00 Oh, goodness. Well, I got into truck driving because I was broke and I was working at this man t-shirt manufacturing company that was going out of business and my brother was a truck driver and he had a house, two cars, a wife and four kids. So, I was like, well, heck, if my brother can afford it, truck driver must be a good job. So, I got into it and I worked for several companies, but the first company I was with was Central Refrigerated, very good company. That’s how I got started. And I got into deck driving because I saw a three-way ZBAR—

28:33 I think at my I think it was a truck movers setup drive past me. And I was like, “Wow, how do you get into that? How do you get that job?” You know, so I searched and searched and searched and I came across Team driveaway at first. Came across Team driveaway. Oh. Oh, I met a guy. I met a guy in Rollins. No, Laramie, Wyoming. Mhm.

28:54 He was delivering a single and a nice guy. We tal talk and name is Rico. And I went over there to team driveaway. That’s who he was working for. Then I started doing field deck work. I did field deck training for two months to get trained in field decking. I did that. Then I did field decking for a year before I left team driveaway. Then I made my way on over to cold iron truck movers wheeler transport. These are all strictly delivering deck set low boy. Willer trucking is low boy up there in Flushing, Michigan. And that’s how I got started. And I just been stuck there ever since because I love the skill set and I love the freedom that it brings. I can go home whenever I need to be with these knuckle knuckleheaded kids, be with my wife, and you know, I can just come and go as I please. Not tied down to a tractor trailer and I don’t have to jump up and go when they’re ready for me to go. I can go when I’m ready to go. That’s how I got started.

29:56 I guess you can’t put a price on that kind of freedom.

29:59 No, you can’t.

30:00 Now, from what you were telling us there, you’ve definitely been around the block. You’ve been with different companies and you’ve done a lot of time, it sounds like, in the deck world, but I’m assuming you put in a little bit of time in the singles world. Yes. Yes. Yes. I did singles. I did singles for team driveaway for about four to six months to my recollection. And then I went up there to the office like, “Look, man, you know, I like these guys are doing these used deck sets. Look like a highly skilled job. Look very challenging, something I want to do. Let me get into it. And my trainer, Mr. Daniel Nearhood, very nice guy, trained me and trained me very well. I always give him his praise cuz he deserve it cuz I was a knucklehead, but I was able to gain his trust in the end. And but yeah, I did singles for quite some time. Still do actually.”

30:57 Now, how do you compare the two, singles versus decks? And when I say compare the two, the physical aspect of it as far as what’s involved in moving the trucks and of course the compensation.

31:09 Oh well, you know, there’s no real comp. There’s no real comparison when it comes to singles and deck set. Singles is easy. There’s no physical anything physical about it. You know, you just throw your bag in there, crank it up, and go. Make sure it can make sure it’s able to you’re able to transport it. Make sure it’s able to be make sure that it’s transportable. You just throw your bag and go with your tank with your tongue hanging out like Michael Jordan driving up the road. But there’s nothing to that. But when it comes to deck sets, oh man, now that’s different. That’s much more meticulous work right there. You know, much more detail oriented, more focused, you know, make sure everything is tied down before you roll out. Compensation about as much is much better. And that you learn to appreciate it more because you’re not like you’re not driving a tractor trailer. It’s not like driving a tractor trailer over the road. It’s a different monster.

31:57 Mhm.

31:58 And there’s no real comparison. It’s I mean I think the only disadvantages advantage and disadvantages doing a singles and decks is that when you’re doing singles, you know, they really don’t help you with your transportation. You got to do more things on your own to get around. But when you do decks, they help you with your transportation. That’s a little bit more involved because there’s more compensation to it.

32:18 Is the payoff worth it on the deck side?

32:22 I would say so. Absolutely.

32:23 Gotcha.

32:24 I would say so. As long as you manage your money right and do your trip planning correctly, I would definitely say yes.

32:30 Gotcha. Now, I want to shift gears here a little bit and move on to something you had mentioned at the beginning here. Tequila. Let’s talk about what Shungo likes when it comes to tequila. Now, I’m going to leave it wide open to you. You sound like a guy who likes your tequila. Tell me what you like, when you like it, and how you like it.

32:52 Hey, man. Look here, man. Tequila is the primary liquid, not water. Okay? You got to have tequila in the life, you know, with or without the worm at the bottle. The real stuff down there in Tijana, I’ve been down there a couple of times. And it just makes life a little bit more smooth, a little more better. Whatever wor you have, you can just throw it out the window cuz you didn’t forgot about it anyway. And you know, it’s a good thing. You know, that’s how I tricked my wife the first time and now she’s hooked on it just as much as I am. So, you know, life is good with tequila in your life. I promise you should try it.

33:25 Now, are you a margarita guy or do you like how do you like your tequila and what kind of tequila do you like?

33:31 You got to have tequila straight. You got to have Don Julio, Joseé Quo, you know, Patron. Those are the three that I choose from. But mostly when I’m home, I’m with my dad, we have Joseé Quo, but when I’m by myself is Don Julio straight. I don’t mix it with nothing. Every now and again, I might get a Tequila Sunrise, but other than that, it’s straight to the chopper. Now, we know you’re in Tucson now and your children are there with you. Will there be any tequila tonight?

33:58 Oh, that’s such a good question. But you know what? Tonight is being my baby girl, daddy daughter night. We going to the movies and then we going to Peter Piper pizza. So, maybe tomorrow night, but not tonight.

34:09 Gotcha. What’s on the plate for the movie? You’re talking about you’re going to the movies. Have you guys picked one out or are you going to go and pick one when you get there? I have, unfortunately for my daughter, I have taken an executive position to go see the new Top Gun movie.

34:25 I’m glad you said that. I’m glad you said that—

34:29 Cuz that’s I’ve been wanting to see that movie for God knows how long. And I’ve had a hundred people tell me that it’s better than the first one. And I just don’t see how that’s going to happen. I’m interested. And that that’s what we going to do. We’re going to see Top Gun first and anything she want to do after that is on her. But I got to see Top Gun tonight.

34:50 Well, I’m going to tell you, I don’t want to spoil it for you because I have seen—

34:53 Oh, you saw it already?

34:54 I’ve seen Top Gun Maverick. Took my father who’s a Navy veteran. We took him. He really appreciated seeing it.

35:00 And I had not seen the original since the original came out.

35:05 That was the first time it had been that long. But I said I walked away from the theater going that may have been better than the original. But I—

35:14 Stop playing, man.

35:15 You’d have to watch them side by side though to say which one was better is I mean, you know, to have it fresh in your mind from the original versus Maverick. But I’m going to tell you right now, I’m not going to give anything away. Not going to play the spoiler here. They don’t leave a stone unturned as far as the story line. They take care of everything—

35:32 Really. Yeah.

35:33 Better than Iceman. Better than Talk to Me Goose. Better than him throwing shade on the on his girlfriend instructor when she embassed him in the classroom. Better than that.

35:43 It’s good. I’ll let you be we’ll talk again after this airs and we’ll circle back and we’ll let you be the judge. But that’ll be a good night for you going out to enjoy that. And let’s talk about that. What do you do when you’re off the road? I mean on the road, you know, it’s different for a lot of drivers, but what do you do when you’re off the road? You know, off the road. My life is my kids to be honest with you. My wife is my kids is my life. My parents is my life. You know, like I said, I teach out here teaching my son how to drive. Scared to death. You know, he has his driver’s permit. He always want to drive all the time. My daughter’s much more of it much more easier out of the two. You know, she don’t ask for much. My son is very demanding. Wife’s least demanding. Do a lot of work on the cars around the house. You know, the typical male, you know, do list, you know, it doesn’t matter if you’re a husband or not. You know, you got a son list, daughter list, I mean, a husband list daddy list, you know, I do all that stuff.

36:44 And the only thing I do for myself really is, you know, I go to library, read, do a little tennis, little sock out here with the soccer team. And, I do a lot of calls helping other drivers when they run through little issues. Now—

36:57 They can’t get anybody on the phone, they’ll call me.

36:59 With the soccer team, do you play? Do you coach? How does that work?

37:03 I get out there and do my best to keep up.

37:07 Now, I—

37:09 I looked at your profile. You were born in 74. Is that right?

37:13 So, yeah.

37:14 So, I mean, that’s great that you’re trying still trying to keep up and soccer is obviously great exercise.

37:21 Yeah. But as of late, I haven’t been able to, you know, I’ve been ill at been ill. So, I haven’t been out there on the soccer team. But when I start getting a little bit better, I’m going to be on out there with those guys.

37:33 Well, you kind of gave us a glimpse of what you’re going to do tonight. And let me check something real quick. Is it 5:45 in Tucson right now? Is that right?

37:42 Is it? Let me see. Yeah.

37:43 Okay. What’s on the menu tonight before you guys get out to the movie?

37:47 Oh, okay. So, you know, my mother-in-law here is Kenyon. So, we going to have some chupati and a beef stew with— Oh my god, what is that dish called? I can’t think of it right now. But it’s bananas and sauce and spice. It’s real good. And we’re going to eat that before we go to the movies. So, I ain’t got to spend $1,000 on some popcorn and nachos.

38:09 I hear you, brother.

38:10 Yeah, that’s what’s on the table right now.

38:12 Well, walk us through the chapata and the beef stew there. How’s that going to— Are you cooking or are you just eating tonight?

38:18 No, I’m I watch and I eat. I watching I eat.

38:22 Now, do you like to cook on the side?

38:25 You know, I’m a breakfast guy. I’m a breakfast guy. If you want a good breakfast, right? I’m your guy. I’m going to make you some shelf eggs like, you know, Gordon Ramsay style. You know what I’m saying?

38:38 You are you talking about the fluffy style eggs there where they—

38:41 Yes. Yes. Yes.

38:42 Gotcha.

38:43 Yeah. Yeah.

38:45 Let’s talk about kind of bringing it back to the road and food. Obviously, you know, drivers, you guys know some of the best places to go as far as where some of the best food is. In your years on the road, is there a place where you’re like, “Hey, I’m going this way today and I’m stopping here come hell or high water.”

39:07 Let me tell you right, I’m so glad you brought this question. I’m so glad you asked me this question. In Fargo, North Dakota, there is a barbecue restaurant. And I got to give shout out to my boy Patrick Abernathy who told me he was my one of my students. Patrick Abernathy told me about this barbecue place. Patrick Abernathy is older than me. I’m 47. He was like, “Sho, I’ve been on this planet for a long time and I’m telling you that this barbecue place is good.” I said, “Okay, Patrick, whatever, man. I’ve been to Kansas, Texas.”

39:39 Better than Texas. Texas.

39:42 Yes. I said, “Okay, went in this place.” And I ate till I fell asleep.

39:49 Oh my goodness.

39:51 I ate till I fell asleep. This place is called— No Bull Smokehouse.

39:58 No Bull Smoke House.

40:01 No Bull Smokehouse, Fargo, North Dakota. You cannot go wrong. I promise you.

40:07 Now, was it bison that you were eating there?

40:09 No, it was ribs.

40:11 Okay. Okay.

40:12 The ribs have to die for. The ribs is $4 a rib for one. Okay. You know, like one little piece of rib is like $4, but it is so tender and juicy. It’s absolutely phenomenal. Any of these guys that I take there, DJ, Cowboy, Mike, Segun, these guys will tell you this stuff, I mean, it is absolutely phenomenal. And—

40:37 That’s one of those things you would never think that you would see. I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but I mean, is that something you the best barbecue you’ve seen, Fargo, North Dakota? Is that something that blew your mind?

40:47 I mean, it was, you know, it just it really did. That place and another place that my trainee Sanders took me to up in Texas, I forget. We went in there and got some brisket. But this place in Fargo, North Dakota is absolutely delicious. I highly recommend it. 10 out of 10.

41:06 Wow. I mean, when you think about barbecue, you know, a lot of people think about Texas for the brisket, Kansas City for the ribs, Memphis for the ribs. Down in the south, I mean, you know, Georgia, North Carolina for that hickory barbecue, but Fargo, North Dakota, who would have thought, no bull smokers—

41:23 North Dakota.

41:23 There you go.

41:24 Fargo, North Dakota, man. I’m telling you, you know, when you go up here to the north the northeast area, South Dakota, North Dakota, Wyoming, Montana, Idaho, hell, these places got more cows than people.

41:39 I heard that. Now, let’s talk about continuing on the food train here. Give us another place. Let’s pull out of the out of North Dakota, but let’s say on the southern side all the way across the country from let’s say San Diego all the way out to Savannah on that that kind of rain there. What about some of the best food you had there?

42:06 There was this steakhouse in Idaho that I took a training to. This is when I first this when I was doing tractor trailer training. We pulled, you know, we was passing through and we had to drive over this mountain to get to the steakhouse. And when we was driving down to the steakhouse and back of the steakhouse was cows, just a whole bunch of cows in the back of the steakhouse with the fence around it. And I was like, “Wow, this is different. This is interesting.” And we had the tractor trailer was we had the semi-truck. We parked there over the side. We went in and I accidentally had medium rare steak for the first time. Okay. And it was ribeye.

42:54 It was a bone in Tomahawk ribeye steak and it was medium rare. I never had a medium rare steak before.

43:01 How was it?

43:01 And it was so delicious. It was just good. And I’ve been so I can’t even eat a medium well or well steak before. That’s like eating beef jerky out of the convenience store for Christ sakes. I can’t even do that anymore. It was phenomenal. It really was. But there was also I’m sorry. It was al another steakhouse in Florida, believe it or not, that was absolutely mind-blowing.

43:29 What part of Florida was it in?

43:30 It was near Orlando.

43:32 Gotcha. Gotcha. You know, when you said that about the medium rare, I mean, I was I could kind of see where you were going there. You once you go medium rare, you don’t go back.

43:42 No, you don’t. There’s no way.

43:48 Now, I want to turn it back a little bit. Of course, everybody in the truck industry is talking about fuel. Now, right now, we’re seeing fuel coming down just a little bit. Certainly not as quickly as it went up. How do you manage fuel as a deck driver? I mean, when you were talking about that, I mean, how do you look at it? Do you approach it some way? Do you have a strategy? How do you tackle it?

44:12 You know, I get that fuel the same way I would get it if I was owning a truck on my own, you know? I have apps on my phone that directs me towards a fuel that is good, but, you know, affordable, you know. And I definitely stop at the pilot so so Norton can get their discount on the fuel that they should. But that that’s my approach. I look it as if I’m filling up my own truck and I maximize on, you know, fuel pricing.

44:41 Gotcha. This is Shungo Walker joining us tonight on the 650 trucker from brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, if you’re just joining us, Shungo Walker, he’s Class A driver. He is certified as a manual driver, right-hand drive, and he’s also passported. Shungo, do you get up into Canada much? I don’t know. I haven’t done that deep of a research, but I wanted to ask you, did you get up into Canada much?

45:05 Yeah, man. I go into Canada, man. I go into Canada a lot, you know? I mean, I was working over there at such and such company. I’m not going to say their name because it’s glass. I used to go in Canada all the time. And then for a long period of time, I stopped. But as of right now, I have a load going into Canada out of Stony.

45:23 Okay.

45:23 Going into Quebec. That’s my next load. And yeah, I’ve been all I’ve been to a province in Canada.

45:29 It’s a beautiful country in Canada.

45:31 From what I understand, it’s a beautiful country.

45:33 It is. It’s gorgeous. And I love going in the winter. No, not the winter time, the summertime. I go in the winter depending on where I’m going to. But I do love me some cat. I definitely love Montreal without a doubt. Montreal, Toronto. But I think the best of the best is over there in Vancouver. Love me some Vancouver.

45:51 Over in the western side there.

45:53 Yes, sir. Right there north of Washington. I love me some Vancouver. Vancouver and Nova Scotia. Hands down.

46:00 Oh, you’re playing both sides there then.

46:03 Yeah, man. I love them both.

46:05 Gotcha.

46:05 I can I could be homeless living in Nova Scotia. You can drop me off. I live. I’d be happy.

46:09 What about it appeals to you?

46:11 It’s right there by the water. You know, the people are very very friendly. And very warm warm-hearted. It’s so clean just like Vancouver is clean. And oh man, if it wasn’t so cold, I would live there.

46:24 I’m too dark for that. I’m too dark to live in that cool weather.

46:26 Well, speaking about living there, you split time between Tucson and Atlanta. Being a driver, you know, Atlanta is often known as one of the worst traffic cities in America. I mean, as being a driver, do you have more patience for all the ailments that traffic brings or not necessarily? I mean, when you’re in a traffic jam, everybody knows there’s nothing you can do about it. How do you deal with it?

46:52 Right. Well, hey, man, listen, like you said, nothing you can do about it. You know, you just sit there and you do your best until it clears up. You know, if you can, you know, the good thing about Atlanta is well, it well, it used to be is that you can really schedule your time around, you know, traffic jams—

47:11 If you go in at a certain time, just like any other major city—

47:15 But even but like Atlanta, it’s not like that anymore. You go to Atlanta anytime is absolutely terrible.

47:20 But, you know, it’s not too much you can do. But as far as patience is concerned, you know, my patience in traffic is good only because I train and you got to have a lot of patience to train. So, you know, it’s I be pissed now. I’d be pissed in traffic just like anybody else would. But—

47:38 Right—

47:38 You know, you know, I throw my TikTok on and I just YouTube and I just waited on out there.

47:45 You know, I was just thinking of one thought there. You were talking about patience. You’re stuck in traffic. You’re in the middle of Atlanta. Let’s say you’re inside I-285, you’re stuck on 75, you can’t get out.

47:56 Gracious, bro.

47:57 How much does this go back to what you talked about the very beginning, being centered? Do you draw off of that?

48:05 Yeah. You know, I really don’t, man. I call my wife, I get into an argument with her, you know, that helps the time go by. You know what I mean? Call some friends—

48:13 You know? You know, just occupy, you know, occupy your time and your space with family and friends, co-workers, and it’ll, you know, it’ll pass, you know.

48:23 I got you.

48:23 It go through.

48:24 Now, what’s up next for you as far as on the road? You got the weekend down, or at least tonight down. You got some time with your family, going to see Top Gun Maverick. What’s up next for Sean Go Walker? You know, I’m just going to keep moving, keep moving forward, continue to go out here and work, do these loads, save some money out, you know, just continue to spend some time with my children, look out for my parents, my niece. I just had a baby, you know, go see my niece. Well, my great niece, actually, great niece, and you know, and just live my life the best way I can, you know, live life the best way I can. Stay out of trouble. Shout out to Justin Scott. That’s my guy. And Michael Norton and Miss Renee down there in safety.

49:06 Oh, absolutely. Just saw Renee actually saw all three and you know, we talked about at the beginning of this they all spoke highly of you. Everybody in the building does and we’re glad to have Shan Go Walker with us here at Norton Transport and we’re talking to Shan Go getting one-on-one with him here on the Six-Figure Trucker. Had to ask you this question. You know, it’s called the Six-Figure Trucker. We know you’ve been successful and you’ve got that freedom that you talk about with driveaway transport that you have now. Did you see yourself in this position? You’re younger than 50. Did you see yourself in this kind of position where you’re, you know, I hate to bring up the cliche, but living your best life? You know, you know, when I first started driving a truck, I told myself I was going to drive one year over the road and then I was going to get a local job and get in shape and walk up Stone Mountain. You familiar with Stone Mountain?

49:59 Absolutely. Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.

50:00 Yeah. That’s what I told myself. And that never happened. I had started training people after eight months of driving a tractor trailer because they needed trainers that bad. And I had got my first $2500 check for one week for training somebody and I was stuck. I was stuck. And I’ve been living my best life ever since to be honest with you. But I am looking to make some changes in the near future. But I’ve been doing extremely well thus far. I ain’t going to lie to you.

50:31 Can you tell us about the changes or is that—

50:33 That’s probably for another time. But you know, I’m still going to be in the trucking industry. I just need to be more be at I need to be at the house more with my kids now. You know, I’ve been on the road 11 years straight without any break in between. So, I’m looking to be at the house more often. My wife to drive me crazy and my kids.

50:51 Gotcha.

50:52 That’s my focus. That’s my plan.

50:55 Now, speaking of your kids, now you’re going to the movies tonight with your daughter. Is that right?

51:00 Yeah. Daddy daughter day tonight. Today.

51:02 Gotcha. Shungo Walker, what a great interview with you, Shungo. Thank you for joining us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Shungo, we really appreciate everything you’ve done for us. Everything you will be doing for us. We want to make your road as smooth as we can down the road. If there if you ever need anything, you know how to get in touch with us here at Norton Transport. Shungo Walker on the Six-Figure Trucker. Shungo, anything you want?

51:26 I got something to say.

51:28 Absolutely. Take it away—

51:30 Man. Look at you, man. I want to give most definitely a shout out to all the trainers either current trainer or recent previous trainers here at Norton Transport. My guy Jeff and Segun and so many other people who train these people put in a lot of hard work. It’s very stressful. It’s not for everybody and I just want to give them the respect they deserve. I definitely want to give respect to all the drivers here at Norton. Everyone that works in the office, dispatch, as well as yourself, John, for being a part of this company because I do like Norton. I love him a lot. I’ve done a lot of good work here. Shout out to my guy Dave and his lovely family, Barb and Shelby and Miss your Grace who works down there in Von Army. They do a great job down there and have a respect a lot of respect for Dave and his family and his dad that works there in the yard. And that’s pretty much it, man. But definitely to all the trainers who out there to train, shout out to all of them because we do we work hard out here to do our best to train these people up and put them out here over the road where they don’t screw anything up.

52:38 Well said.

52:39 Shout out to them.

52:40 Well said, Shungo. We really appreciate you talking with us and the shout outs you gave there to all the people that a lot of people may not be aware of who really play a role in making the trucks roll. And you know, let’s get down to it. Making the country go forward with you guys for the very important work you guys do out on the road.

52:57 All right. Thanks. Hey, man. I appreciate you, John. You know, I put this interview off for a long time, but I’m glad we was able to get it done.

53:04 Absolutely, Shungo. Shungo Walker on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. I’ll circle back with you and let me know about Top Gun.

53:12 All right, I will. I’ll go. Most definitely. All right, God bless.

53:15 You too. Take care, brother.

53:16 All right. Byebye.

53:23 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.