What’s good out there?

Liquid Trucking.

Welcome into episode 18 of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

I am your host,

Marcus.

Thank you so much for being here today.

I’m really excited about this episode.

We are going to talk about what is the worst of the worst.

It can really be anything.

I mean,

we’re gonna focus on drivers here.

I’m gonna pack this episode with five different drivers that are gonna come on and tell me about the things that they deal with during their days that are the worst of the worst and there’s a lot of them and a lot of them are similar.

Ok.

But,

uh,

we’re gonna get into some things that’s probably gonna make your skin crawl a little bit because you as a driver have probably dealt with these things before or some variation of them.

Uh,

I’m not gonna give away anything that anybody is going to say because it’s,

listen,

they’re fun conversations.

Uh,

I had on,

uh,

let’s start Josh Dabrowski.

Uh,

after that,

we had Mike Stanfield,

then we had polar bear,

then Drew Hearn and finally we wrapped up with Matt Cle.

Um,

and they’ve got just Asinine things to say,

things that just kind of wanna melt your face off because you could be angry or just straight up inconvenienced by them.

And I was kind of thinking,

what would my top five be since I’m not a driver?

Uh,

a professional driver?

Anyway,

what were my,

actually,

let’s call it the bottom five.

My worst of the worst.

Bottom five.

All right.

Number five is when my dog takes a dump on the floor.

I,

you know,

it doesn’t happen that often.

I have trained them pretty well.

But every now and then in the middle of the night when I’m not awake or around,

neither one of them can tell me that they gotta go and they just go and I’ll tell you there’s nothing that gets under my skin like walking out in the morning to go get my monster,

get a little caffeine in me,

get the blood pumping a little bit and there’s a dump on the floor.

So that is,

that is definitely a thing.

Number four for me is actually stupid drivers and I don’t really lump any truck drivers into this.

Ok.

When I say stupid drivers,

I’m always talking about four wheelers.

Have I come across the idiot in the truck from time to time?

Yeah,

we all have,

but I would say the lion’s share of idiots and,

and like 98.9%.

All right,

barely any truckers make this list.

I am talking about four wheelers,

uh,

tailgators,

people that cut you off,

people that drive way too fast.

Listen,

II,

I say it all the time.

I learn stuff all the time on this podcast.

And one thing I learn about is how prevalent this problem really is people are getting there driver’s license out of a Cracker Jack box.

And that’s a bad reference because all these kids that are getting them right now don’t know what Cracker Jack is.

So all of them are getting their driver’s license out of a,

uh,

a pack of Pokemon cards.

All right.

Maybe that brings me up with the times a little bit.

Number three,

stepping on a Lego or really stepping on anything.

I got these goat heads.

I don’t know if you guys know what these are.

We,

we grow them out here in Oregon.

We grow them,

they’re clearly an invasive weed,

but they kind of crawl along the ground and they make these little spiky things.

They have three points on them and they look like,

uh,

like a goat skull.

And the cool thing is if you step on them,

they will penetrate your entire foot.

And I’ve got them just outside in my driveway and they get stuck in the bottom of your shoes,

you track them inside,

bam right in the bottom of the barefoot.

Uh,

so stepping on anything that sucks,

including legos and goat heads.

That’s definitely gonna be number three for me.

Number two.

For me is an interesting one because I,

I try to live my life by this,

um,

adage that I don’t ever want to make a dent in anyone else’s day.

And that doesn’t necessarily mean that I don’t want to get involved in anyone’s day.

I just wanna be considerate.

And I want,

I,

if I’m,

if I magically float my way into your day,

I hope that when I magically float away from your day that I haven’t taken anything away from it.

That’s all.

Um,

and,

and you know,

that comes from me trying and not wanting to be a selfish person,

but I do know that I have,

uh,

you know,

I don’t ever shut up,

like listen to what I do for a living.

Obviously,

I have a problem.

Um,

you know,

not thinking about what’s going on in the six inches between my ears and paying attention to what’s going on in the world around me.

So inconsiderate people like people that just do stuff that,

you know,

they stand in the middle of the aisle at the grocery store with their cart parallel parked across it and it’s only wide enough to get two carts by.

Ok,

we’re in a two lane road here and you’ve parallel parked across both lanes.

That type of stuff drives me nuts.

People that just walk out into the middle of the street because hey,

I gotta cross the street,

I’ll tell you it’s inconsiderate.

It’s also stupid and dangerous but things like that where people in society just don’t pay attention to anyone else and they just go about their day just pinging off offenders and,

and,

uh,

you know,

tracking mudd in people’s houses that drives me bananas.

And number one for me is gonna be a little bit weird.

Ok.

And I get it,

I,

I understand that this is probably something that I shouldn’t freak out about,

but it’s another one that has to do with the grocery store.

And this one is,

is exclusive to the grocery store and I hope it’s not exclusive to the stores that you shop at because every single time and I go 3 to 4 times a week,

every single time I’m at this grocery store.

There is not a shopping cart to be found in the store.

All right.

Not a little stubby one.

I like the little stubby ones because I don’t go for huge hauls.

I’m normally getting like two or three things and,

and there’s never a stubby one.

There’s barely ever even a full size one.

The only thing that you can get are the little pote baskets that you have to pack around,

make your shoulder go numb.

By the time you’re on your third aisle,

take your damn shopping carts back.

There are receptacles for these things all over the parking lot.

And I have heard that the test of a good person is if they do the right thing even when they’re not required to and nobody is watching.

It’s the easiest one that there is the next time you leave a cart in a parking spot.

I want you to take three steps back and then run forward as fast as you can head first into your driver’s door.

The concussion and the dent in your door should remind you to take your goddamn cart back.

All right,

I’m gonna rehash these once we get to the end of the show,

because I’m gonna kind of compile a top five for the drivers that we talk to.

So let’s get into it here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

It’s the worst of the worst.

Welcome to the Gold Standard of podcast for the Gold standard of Drivers.

This is the Liquid Trucking Podcast with your host,

Marcus Bridges.

It’s time to bring in Liquid Driver Josh Dobrowski to talk about his worst of the worst.

Josh.

Thanks for being here,

man.

I appreciate you taking the time to join us.

Thanks for having me.

So,

what are some of the things that come up on your list of the worst of the worst?

I know that there’s a lot of worst things out there.

Uh But when I sent the text message out to you guys asking who wanted to be on this,

uh You were one of the first ones to respond,

which makes me think that you’ve got a list kind of ready made in your head already.

Is that accurate at all?

A little bit?

Yeah.

I mean,

everybody has their own,

like,

little pet peeves that gets to them on the road and stuff like that.

The traffic used to be a big problem for me.

Not so much anymore since I’m not really constructed by the sense on the mile.

But I,

I,

cities to me are just horrible.

I think they’re just extremely,

too overpopulated,

dude.

Some of the metropolitan areas in this country are uh an absolute shit show is the best way to say it because I,

I it’s like,

first of all,

do you find in cities that nobody gives a damn about anybody else?

Everybody’s kind of just out for the,

their own for their own well being.

So I’m from Baltimore,

Maryland.

I’ve lived in New York.

Like I like central New York,

the Hudson Valley area and it seems like the whole northeast of the country.

Nobody cares about anybody.

I’ve heard an adage about those cities before they say on the east coast people are nice but not kind.

And on the west coast people are kind but not nice.

Yeah,

I can,

I can,

I can agree to that.

It’s like people on the west coast would,

would drive by and be sympathetic while you’re changing a tire,

but they’re not gonna help.

Whereas a person on the east coast will stop by,

call you a dumbass for whatever you did to that tire and then help you change it?

Yeah.

Yeah,

absolutely.

How do you deal with that dude?

Because I mean,

you’re driving a giant truck,

it’s obviously got a precious cargo in it,

whatever you may be hauling and you’ve got these tight streets with people driving like maniacs around you.

Like,

how do you,

how do you reconcile all those things when you’re driving through a major metropolitan area?

You know,

it,

it used to get to me a lot.

I try not to think about it anymore.

I do the best that I can with what I’m given.

Right.

I said that’s all anybody can really do when it comes to like the,

the colonial areas,

like in Pennsylvania and stuff like that.

It’s extremely tight.

Like I told you earlier,

I was going,

I’m going to New Jersey.

It’s gonna be really tight when I get into New Jersey.

A lot of people when you get on the side streets and then like the residential areas,

kind of like the avenue and Boulevard areas,

they go past the spot that they’re supposed to and it’s hard for us to make those right-hand turns.

I know left handed turn,

but I’ll hit them.

So,

I mean,

what can I do to hit the intersection and wait for them to move right.

Which makes you look like the jerk.

But really all you’re doing is preventing an accident.

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Damn,

dude.

Well,

so what else about,

uh about your job or,

or,

you know,

the,

the places you go or the people you’re around,

what else is the worst?

We’ve established cities and I’m right there with you.

Uh,

what else you got for me before I started with this company.

Uh,

I was doing flat betting and I would have to say that the Shippers and receivers,

they were,

they were pretty ignorant individual,

especially since I was just starting out in trucking.

I didn’t really know what was,

what and how to,

to navigate when I got into a customer or,

or a receiver or anything like that.

Some of some people can be pretty rude,

like,

cause they kind of expect you to know already even though you had never been there before.

So tho those type of people that are pretty frustrating at times,

do you find that,

that you have better customers now that you’re working at Liquid,

you get better relationships and,

and better treatment at those places with this company?

I wouldn’t say so much.

I mean,

like if you’re,

if you’re thinking of like jumping lines and stuff like that,

no,

but II I do get treated a lot better from my experience.

I mean,

I,

I’m coming up on two years now so I’m still pretty fresh with this company but from what I,

what I can see,

I get treated a lot better when I don’t know what’s going on.

A lot of the shippers I’ve been to multiple times already.

I’m sure I haven’t hit all of them yet,

but I’ve been to them multiple times to kind of know what’s going on.

But even when I didn’t know what was going on,

they were,

they sat down with me and,

like,

showed me where I need to go in the facility and all that.

So it was,

it was pretty nice,

you know,

I’ve heard some stories about,

uh,

shippers and receivers from time to time,

uh,

almost punishing drivers.

Like,

if you,

you know,

you’re not there right on the minute that you’re supposed to be there,

you’re gonna have to go to the back of the line or they’re gonna try to work you in.

I,

is that like a grudge that they hold where they’re just trying so hard to keep the,

the,

a order of things correct for them or is that just a way that they try to kind of hold power over you?

Drivers heads?

Uh,

maybe a little bit of both.

I mean,

they’re,

they’re dealing with multiple personalities every single day so they never know what they’re getting in the door.

And especially like when it comes to like,

uh,

reefer or like boxing or something like that.

They always got somebody else that’s gonna take,

that can take the load.

So they kind of treat their,

those kind of drivers like,

like they’re trash.

But I mean,

I’ve,

I’ve never had a problem.

There’s been times where I’ve showed up late to a shipper or receiver and it,

it’s not a problem for me.

I don’t think they really pump out that much as like a distribution warehouse or something like that.

Plus my,

my driver manager takes care of pretty much everything.

I just let him know.

Hey,

I’m gonna be early.

Hey,

I’m gonna be late.

Can we work something out and they take care of it?

So that’s kind of a breath of fresh air there.

Yeah,

I imagine so,

man.

It’s,

and that’s a great relationship that you build over the years working with your driver manager and,

and having somebody have your back like that when you might be going to a bit of a vindictive customer that wants to,

that doesn’t care about your time.

I mean,

hearing some of these stories of guys sitting there for eight or 10 hours just waiting to get unloaded because they showed up a little bit late.

That’s the worst.

I mean,

I don’t know any better way to describe it.

That’s just the worst.

I mean,

maybe not as bad for guys that are getting paid by the hour,

but still it’s your time.

I mean,

it’s your,

it’s your day at the end of the day,

right?

Yeah,

absolutely.

I mean,

if,

if I’m gonna be stuck at a ship,

let’s say,

let’s say I got to pick up a load at eight o’clock and I’m stuck at the shipper until 12 o’clock.

I still got all my time on my clock that I need to run out.

So,

all that time that I wasted,

even though I got paid for,

I’m gonna be running,

running,

running,

running until I run my clock out because that’s the person I am and I’m gonna be stopped at 12 o’clock in the morning.

And then it’s just a ripple effect throughout the rest of your week,

I imagine.

Absolutely.

You’re playing catch up and I mean,

it,

well,

no,

if you’re crossing time zones that makes it even harder to play catch up because you’re,

you’re,

if you’re going east,

you’re gonna be losing an hour every single day when you could be gaining two hours if you stayed in the same time zone.

Right.

I totally get it,

man.

Well,

here’s a question I’ve got for you that I think I’m gonna ask every single driver that joins me in this episode,

what brand a vehicle or maybe what make and model of vehicle,

uh,

do a four,

does four wheelers.

I’m totally screwing up and tripping over my tongue.

Mike,

don’t edit this out.

I’m a human,

uh,

what type of vehicle does the worst four wheel drive?

Because I’ve heard a lot of,

I’ve heard a lot of suggestions on this and they all kind of fall into the same category.

So I’m interested to hear it from you.

You know,

I’ve heard you made this question a couple of times before in previous episodes,

I’ve never had problems with Netflix.

My problem is like BMW S and Mercedes for sure.

For sure.

That’s the BMW and Mercedes always.

I can’t tell you how many times I drive a,

a full size pickup,

but it’s just a,

a half ton.

It’s nothing,

nothing huge.

You know,

it’s not jacked up.

It’s,

it’s on stock suspension.

I can’t count the number of times that I’ve looked in my rearview mirror and I’ve,

there’s a BMW behind me and I cannot see their headlights.

That’s how close they are.

It’s like I’m towing them and I don’t even have my hitch on.

So I,

I just,

it,

as a four wheeler myself,

I know that I don’t deal with it even 1/10 of a percent as much as what you guys do.

But it’s very consistent,

man.

BMW.

Drivers are,

I feel like with Teslas because they’ve got all this technology that you can mess with them.

If you break,

check a Tesla,

it’ll drop back like five or six car links.

And I’m not,

please don’t take this as driving advice.

I’m no truck driver.

I’m an idiot in a four wheeler like everyone else.

But,

uh,

I have tested that on a Tesla brake,

checked them one time getting on the freeway and it,

that thing dropped back.

I could tell that they were in auto mode because it dropped back so far.

I was like,

all right,

well,

I’m gonna stay,

I’m gonna keep that in my mind but you can break,

check a BMW all day.

The only thing they’re gonna do is get closer to you.

Yeah.

There’s sometimes where I can’t even tell that there’s a car behind me until they actually jump in,

dude.

And is that pretty nerve wracking when that happens?

I mean,

you laugh at it now because it’s not actively happening,

I’m sure.

But does that piss you off?

Get under your skin at all?

Uh Not,

not that,

I mean,

I,

I don’t have a problem being tailgated at all.

Like I,

if I had a problem with it,

I’ll just slow down and eventually they’ll get tired of it and go around me.

What I do have a problem with is people not knowing what is on ramp is meant for and explain that to me a little bit.

So one ramp to a highway is meant for a vehicle to meet the high needs of the highway speed.

And when you’re moving it,

let’s say 70 miles an hour.

And you got some guy in a car and wants to merge at 45 miles an hour and you’re in dense traffic going uphill if you slow down,

like it’s gonna take you at least 30 minutes to get back up to speed sometime.

Sure be,

be between the surge and the gravity of the hill.

So,

like all they have to do is hit their gas pedal,

not speed but hit their gas pedal to meet the needs of the traffic that they’re about to merge into.

It makes no sense sometimes.

And it’s also the merging driver’s responsibility to find a spot.

Like a lot of times dr truck drivers I notice are very courteous and try to either slow down or get over if you’ve got a short on ramp.

But at the end of the day,

they don’t have to do any of that.

It’s up to you to find the right speed and find a spot to get in.

Correct.

You’re absolutely right.

But if we run them off the road and it causes them to get an accident,

that’s whose phone it is.

I hear you there,

man.

Uh,

it’s the worst.

Well,

before I let you go here today,

do you have anything else that we haven’t touched on yet?

That kind of makes your worst of the worst list.

I don’t have a problem getting passed on,

but when somebody passes on me and then slows down all of all the brand new trucks that,

that come out have radar on them.

So if you’re in front of me,

X amount of yards,

I can see what your mileage is.

What you’re going per hour.

If I’m going,

I’m going 70 miles an hour and you go around me,

it’s cool.

It’s fine.

But keep that speed,

don’t come in front of me and it break down at 65 miles an hour for no reason.

Oh,

dude,

it drives me nuts when people and that time when you,

and I’m sure this happens to you all the time.

You get stuck with that same person where you pass them,

then they pass you,

then you pass,

can we not just put the cruise control on for Christ’s sakes?

Like it’s,

I mean,

I use my cruise,

I would use my cruise control in town if it was more effective,

uh,

to,

to drive around.

It’s just,

you have to be turning it on and off too much.

But I’m never on the highway when I’m not using my cruise control.

I feel like a lot of people should maybe fall into that category because I don’t want to pass you six times and have you pass me six times.

I’d rather we don’t interact after one of us passes the other.

Absolutely.

Well,

dude,

I,

I really appreciate you bringing,

uh,

coming on today and,

and bringing these to me because,

uh,

we’re gonna figure out exactly what the worst of the worst really is.

And right now I feel like BMW drivers are in the pole position but who knows?

Uh,

it’s a race for them,

so they’ll probably try to win it.

But,

uh,

I really appreciate the time,

man and,

uh,

just be safe out there.

I hope that you don’t get a cramp from clinching too much in the seat when you get into New Jersey.

You and me both.

That’s Josh Dabrowski.

Liquid Driver.

Be safe out there,

Josh.

Hey,

thanks.

I appreciate it.

Next up here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

I’ve got Mike Stanfield back for more.

Mike.

How you doing out there today,

man?

Yeah,

I just think that people can’t get enough of me.

I think that’s what it is.

I’m just joking.

I’m doing good,

man.

That’s what I’ve heard.

I mean,

I can’t get enough of you,

man.

I look,

I called you back,

didn’t I,

I mean,

we’ve got a good thing going here.

I like it,

man.

It’s fun.

Well,

appreciate the time as always.

Uh,

you know,

when I sent out a text the other day,

I just said I wanna hear about the worst of the worst and you were one of the guys that got back to me right away and was like,

I’ll do it.

So I kinda have to imagine that uh,

much like Josh,

you already have some worst of the worst things in mind for me.

There’s so many stories.

It’s hard to pick just one certain worst of the worst in each category.

So like,

uh,

you know,

I’ll just go off the top of my head.

I’ve seen some pretty,

really bad accidents because of inclement weather.

Most of the times it’s during snow,

but I’ve seen some during the rain where it’s just been like you’re on lockdown like you’re not moving because there’s fatalities you know,

and it’s all because people just don’t wanna slow down and take their time,

you know,

and it’s,

it’s pretty crazy to see a coroner’s van when you’re,

you know,

sitting in traffic and seeing those dead body is being,

you know,

loaded in there because of some stupidity.

You know,

it’s,

it’s heartbreaking.

It’s sad and it’s just,

people just don’t get it,

you know.

How do you deal with it?

Uh,

when you see something like that,

especially when it has,

when it involves a truck driver.

Um,

like how do you deal with that in your own head?

Because you know that any time any place,

if that accident was not caused by something that,

that driver did,

that could have just as easily been you if it was the fault of a four wheel or something like that.

Um,

like what goes through your mind?

How do you calm yourself down after something like that,

Mike?

Well,

first I just pray for,

you know,

everybody involved and the families that are impacted by it and everything.

But for myself,

you know,

I just tell myself that stay vigilant,

you know,

that’s,

that’s what we can do is keep our eyes on the road.

Look ahead,

check our mirrors,

you know,

watch our tires and,

you know,

making sure they’re not going out of the lane because that’s easy to do.

Even if you’re staring ahead,

you know,

you could be drifting off one side or another real easily.

But it’s mainly I’m pretty,

I,

I don’t like to toot my own horn,

but I’m a pretty good driver.

I’m pretty safe and I take pride in that.

So I just keep telling myself,

keep doing what I’m doing and if I get to the point where I don’t think it’s safe to drive,

I just go ahead and shut it down.

Yeah,

it’s totally not.

And,

and I don’t think it’s,

look,

if there’s an ok time to toot your own horn,

Mike.

I think it’s when you’re talking about how safe of a driver you are.

And,

you know,

I mean,

because that is the one thing that you could end up paying the ultimate price for if,

if you’re not on your game and,

uh,

patting yourself on the back about that is ok in my book,

you know,

I,

I’ve,

the only experience here that I really have,

uh,

we were coming back from a football game down in the bay area driving up over the top of Shasta on I Five.

And there was a motorcycle versus,

uh,

semi right at the top.

And they,

for some reason,

Mike,

and I’ll never understand what the thought process was.

Other than just trying to keep traffic moving.

It was a three lane through there and they had two lanes blocked off and we were probably like the 10th or 12th car that got stopped at the most.

And first of all,

the first thing I saw was the truck driver kind of leaning on the outside of his truck and he had his head in his hands.

His truck was fine.

The trailer was a bit busted up.

But as we kept pulling forward,

we saw,

uh,

you know,

a covered body in the middle lane and it was very clear what had happened,

uh,

when you looked at the scene and everything like that,

but I felt not only for the motor cycler family and all the people that,

that was going to affect on that end,

I couldn’t,

I,

I just couldn’t get the truck driver out of my head because the,

the look on his,

the,

the look and the body language that he was exhibiting was like he was blaming himself and who knows what the circumstances were.

But I know that that guy didn’t go home and sleep that night,

you know,

and it’s just,

it’s got to be so tough and I’m sure that you’ve come across stuff like that and it definitely qualifies as the worst of the worst.

No question in my head.

Yeah.

And,

you know,

if that was me,

if I was a truck driver,

I don’t think I’d be able to get back out on the road if they even let me,

you know,

after that,

I think that would probably destroy my career,

not only based upon the fatality,

but based on my mental health as well,

you know,

because I don’t know that I’m a,

I ride motorcycles too and so I,

I can understand,

I just,

yeah,

I wouldn’t be able to get back on the road at all.

I,

I totally understand that man.

And you know what,

we’ll take the time right now to say it because this is gonna launch in,

in March,

this podcast and I believe around the 20th of March,

if I’m not mistaken,

it’s that time of year.

We should,

while we’re talking about this,

we should just mention it.

The motorcycles are gonna start making their way out onto the highways and byways a lot more frequently the weather’s gonna get better.

They’re gonna be out there and,

uh,

you just got to look for them.

I mean,

I don’t,

I don’t ride myself but you really have to keep an eye out for those guys.

And I know that you have that,

uh,

deep down inside too because you ride look twice,

save a life.

You know,

it doesn’t take much just to check twice.

You know,

sometimes I check more than that,

especially,

you know,

around the spring summertime when there are a lot more people out on bikes because they can get lost really fast in your mirrors,

you know?

Absolutely.

And,

you know,

it’s,

it’s worth mentioning too that,

uh,

a lot of,

I,

I don’t even want to say a lot of,

there’s a contingency of bike riders out there,

motorcycle riders that kind of throw caution to the wind.

They can dip in and out of traffic,

they can go really fast around us and it just makes you that much more at risk if you’re not looking because of how quickly they can show up and how quickly they can disappear.

Absolutely.

Nailed it on the head there.

Well,

uh,

as far as getting back to the worst of the worst,

uh,

maybe,

maybe we can go,

um,

you know,

away from the,

uh,

the,

the death that sometimes comes in this industry.

Talk to me a little bit about some of the other worst of the worst things that you experience out there,

whether it be,

you know,

stops or,

or truck stops or maybe it’s,

uh,

four wheelers.

I,

I got a question about four wheelers.

I’m gonna post to you in a little bit but I,

I wanna make sure we,

uh,

we get the air clear on all the other things that you’re probably thinking of right now that qualify as worst of the worst.

Oh,

yeah,

like,

ok,

so,

roads,

right?

We pay so much in taxes and there’s all these toll roads.

What are they doing with that?

Toll money?

You know what I mean?

Because some of these roads out here are just absolutely ridiculous.

I mean,

I’m right now I’m pulling a leaf spring trailer and,

uh,

those of us that pull trailers and pull air rides and then have to pull a leaf spring,

knows what I’m talking about.

Whenever you hit a bump,

you feel it and it hurts.

So,

uh,

I mean,

there are some places,

some states that their roads are absolutely amazing.

Um,

and then there’s states that their roads are just like you can’t swerve to hit a pothole because you just hit another pothole or you can’t swerve to hit a pothole.

You hit somebody and you have to hit those potholes and it’s doing damage to,

you know,

the trucks,

the trailers,

the tires even doing more damage to the road.

You know,

like let’s get these fixed.

It’s not that hard.

Right.

And the money’s out there.

Yeah,

exactly.

We’re paying for it.

The money’s out there and it just needs to be allocated correctly.

I can’t imagine what it must feel like to hit a giant,

you know,

three inch deep pothole at 60 miles an hour with £80,000 of liquid on your back.

I mean,

it’s got just jar your whole body.

Yeah,

you gotta be holding on to that steering wheel pretty tight because that’ll jar,

it’ll jar it right out of your hands too.

That’s crazy.

Mike.

Well,

uh,

you know,

there’s,

I,

I feel pretty fortunate here in Oregon we’ve got pretty good roads,

uh,

based on the other experience that I’ve had,

but there’s one that I just drove a couple of weeks ago,

uh,

highway 126 headed over from Eugene to bend over the Cascade Mountains.

There was a forest fire back there in 2020 burnt right through the middle of the highway,

burnt down a couple of towns out there.

It was tragic and they’re starting to rebuild,

things are starting to come back out there.

It’s starting to green up a little bit.

But I’ve noticed there’s some places in the asphalt where the fire burnt through that are such big,

wide and long potholes that you actually feel like you lose control of your vehicle when you go over the top of them because you,

you kind of do,

your tires aren’t touching pavement anymore.

Um,

it’s terrifying in a four wheeler.

I wouldn’t want to do it in a Prius.

So I can’t imagine what it must be like,

uh,

in a semi truck.

You know,

I’m proud of you for doing your part to save the United,

to save the world driving a Prius.

Oh,

there’s no way you wouldn’t.

There’s a lot of things I wouldn’t do in a Prius and number one on the list is drive one,

Mike.

I got a full size pickup buddy.

I’m,

I’m,

I’m kindred spirits with you guys out there.

I’m just not nearly as big.

That’s all,

uh,

that does bring me to the next question.

And it’s a question that I’m going to pose to every driver that I talk to on this episode.

And that is what make and model do the absolute worst four wheelers drive um,

anything that has four wheels,

that’s the best answer yet.

All right.

So there,

there are,

there are some vigilant,

you know,

four wheel drivers out there,

you know,

I’ll give them credit.

There’s a lot of nice people that,

you know,

when I’m trying to get over,

we’ll slow down,

flash of lights at me so I can get over stuff like that.

But,

I mean,

there’s not really any kind of specific car.

Um,

if they’re a bad driver,

they’re just a bad driver.

It’s just,

it’s incredible how easily some people get their driver’s license nowadays and how they just,

whatever they learn,

you just throw it out the window and they just do whatever they want.

Yeah,

it’s true.

And,

and it’s weird to me because I don’t feel like the,

the 1615,

16 year old kids of today’s day and age are nearly as excited about running straight to the DMV on their 16th birthday and getting their license.

It’s like I’ll do it when I get around to it.

Whatever that was,

that was the only place I wanted to be.

I think it was like,

I don’t even know how,

I guess it would have been the year 2000.

Like,

I turned 16 in the year 2000 and I was,

I,

I was actually at the DMV before they opened that day and now it just kind of seems like not a big deal,

but I’m wondering if maybe that’s because,

like,

you know,

I,

I’ll be honest with you,

my dad had me sitting in the driver’s seat when I was 1314 years old,

learning how to drive the old Ford Lariat diesel,

uh,

and learning how to drive a stick.

And I think that’s kind of where,

really,

where I fell in love with it.

I bought my first vehicle when I was 14,

um,

because I couldn’t wait,

you know,

but it’s not really the way of the road these days and it makes me wonder if these kids just don’t get as much practice as you.

And I did.

Yeah.

You know,

I’m the one that teaches my kids how to drive and I do it whenever I can.

Um,

I’ve got a 17 year old,

you know,

I taught her how to drive and she got her license and it’s like she just forgot every freaking thing that I taught her.

She’s had to come pick me up a couple of times and I’m like,

Jesus,

what are you doing?

Like,

this is not how I taught you how to drive.

And then my 15 year old,

she’s just like,

yeah,

I’ll go take my test,

whatever whenever I feel like it,

you know,

her permanent test.

I’m like,

all right.

Well,

I can’t teach you how to drive until you get your permit,

you know,

your permit.

Yeah.

I don’t know,

man,

it’s,

it’s a different age,

different era.

Um,

like I said,

like you said,

I got my car when I was 14,

I saved up,

I bought it myself.

And you know,

when I turned 16,

man,

I got my license and I got that thing,

you know,

license insured and I was on the road,

dude.

I,

I’m sure my parents thought I moved out a couple of times because it’s just,

you know,

if I can,

I,

I’ve been riding my damn red line all over this town for the last four years.

I want four wheels below me and a little bit of horsepower,

which fortunately I was able to get my hands on.

I’m not sure how well it worked out for that engine in particular,

but I sure had a good time.

So,

um I will say,

you know,

even today in Ohio and it’s been raining nonstop there,

you wouldn’t believe the amount of four wheelers who didn’t have their lights on.

And,

you know,

I thought nowadays,

like there’s automatic lights that would just come on,

but I guess it’s not dark enough,

but still,

like you would figure you would know to turn your lights on or even when your windshield wipers on most cars.

Nowadays,

their lights automatically come on.

But you wouldn’t believe the amount of people on the road that did not have their lights on.

I,

I thought there was this car that came up beside me.

I didn’t even see him because he didn’t have his lights on until he was right next to me.

Yeah,

dude,

I,

I see it all the time and it’s like you’re driving a concrete colored Honda,

like it with a little bit of spray and wash,

going off the,

the tires of,

of any vehicle you can’t see that rig at all and especially up sitting up where you’re at and the amount of water that comes out from underneath of,

of a big truck.

dude,

it’s,

it blows me away.

I actually,

I recently got into my wife’s rig with her and turned it on and her lights didn’t come on and I looked down and she has the auto thing and I,

like the lights weren’t on auto and I got kind of mad and I will admit I was in the wrong here because it was like,

I,

I just jumped to an immediate conclusion was like,

why the hell would you ever turn your lights off of auto?

Like that’s the,

that is such a fail-safe thing.

I can’t believe you would do that.

It’s unsafe.

I really read her the riot act and she’s like,

I just cleaned out the vehicle and when I was wiping the dash,

I clearly just accidentally switched it.

You asshole.

And,

but you know,

hey,

I guess that’s where my,

where my priorities lie is like,

I don’t want you out there driving without your lights on,

somebody’s gonna drive you right off the damn road.

It seriously is dangerous and I,

I’ll,

you know,

I’ll work on my approach,

but hey,

all I can promise is to grow as a person,

as much as I can.

Mike,

that’s,

that’s where that took me.

That’s all we can do,

man.

That’s all we can do.

Well,

Mike,

uh it’s been great having you on again.

Uh We’ve talked you and I actually off the air quite a bit.

You are gonna be kind of the star of our next food on the road episode.

I don’t want you to think.

I’ve forgotten about that.

I am gonna ask you one question though.

Worst meal you’ve ever accidentally made yourself while you’re out there on the road?

Oh,

I don’t know if I’ve made a worst meal,

man.

That’s why you’re the guy for the next food episode.

I’m a pretty good cook.

I don’t,

I don’t do too much cooking.

I do something mostly most of the time.

Now.

I do something simple like sandwiches and soups and stuff like that.

Uh,

just because like,

man,

I’m so tired by the end of the day.

I don’t want to cook anything.

I do.

Definitely.

I’ve been trying to get people to throw their recipes down on the,

uh,

liquid Truck and Drivers Lounge.

I made a feature post on there.

So if you guys are listening,

head over there and throw down some recipes,

man,

let’s try to get like a little driver cookbook going,

you know.

Hell yes.

I will share my crockpot Tailgate chili recipe.

It’s one of my favorites and,

uh,

it’s easy to make.

If you got a crock pot in the cab,

you could set it up in the morning.

By the time you’re pulled in and,

uh,

off for the day,

you’ll be eating some of the best damn chili.

And if you have some elk or some deer meat,

that’s the stuff to put in it.

Oh,

it’s so good.

Sounds like a plan,

man.

Well,

thanks for inviting me to the Liquid Drivers Lounge.

It’s a great little,

uh,

Facebook page that you’ve created,

Mike.

Uh,

I,

I’m loving just kind of sitting on the sidelines and watching,

but,

uh,

I think it’s time for me to get more involved.

You know,

I’m always looking for a new place to run my mouth.

Yeah,

dude,

we love a man.

We like,

we love the podcast.

It’s so much fun and it’s very informative to,

you know,

as the drivers out here and it’s something to listen to while we’re driving down the road.

It’s awesome.

I’m glad you’re a part of it.

I’m glad that,

uh,

Liquid decided to get it going.

So,

me too,

Mike.

I appreciate the sentiment.

You be safe out there.

We’ll get you on the next time we’re talking about food.

Ok.

Will do appreciate you Marcus next up here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

You might know him as Brian Elmquist,

but we call him polar bear here on this show.

What’s up polar bear?

How are you doing out there?

I’m doing really good.

Marcus.

Glad to be on again.

Hey,

we love to have you.

We really appreciate the time.

I know that you’re in,

uh,

some less than desirable cell phone service out there.

So I’m gonna jump right into this talk to me about your worst of the worst.

What are the worst things that you experience out there on the road?

Anywhere from road conditions to other drivers,

accidents,

whether you name it the floor.

Well,

once again,

I have a story today.

So coming across,

we call it the crow.

It’s a highway 212 going from South Dakota into Montana over here.

Least of Billings and out of nowhere,

this truck comes around me,

cuts me off to come back in about probably 10 minutes later,

maybe goes in a double,

no passing and the trucks coming at us had to literally take the shoulder to avoid him.

It’s just nobody,

nobody has any,

any,

uh,

courtesy of who they’re around.

It’s all about me anymore.

That’s nuts,

man.

How often do you see somebody like that?

Put everybody on the road in danger?

Well,

again,

I hate to have the stories but two years ago,

yeah,

two years ago,

coming across Texas,

see this cloud of dust,

you know,

wonder what that is.

Next thing I know on my side of the interstate,

I’m in the slow lane and this truck passes me in my Hammer lane.

So,

yeah,

once again,

I it’s just you,

that’s like I’ve said,

numerous times on here,

you have to be 100% on your game because,

well,

you’re old enough to know.

What were you told when you started driving?

You don’t drive for,

you don’t drive for yourself.

You drive for everybody else and that’s back before cell phones were there.

That’s back before all the distractions now.

And just,

you gotta be on your toes and that’s the worst part about now because there is so much more traffic,

there is so many trucks out here.

You don’t believe it just drive anywhere,

anywhere in the US and figure out,

go at night.

You know,

you can’t find a place to park in a truck stop because they’re full of trucks.

But there’s still many,

many trucks out here on the road.

Oh,

yeah,

there are,

I,

I,

you know,

I kind of favor a late night road trip a lot of times in,

uh,

instead of leaving the next day when I get off work.

If I’ve got,

you know,

56 hours to drive,

whatever it may be,

I’ll just go ahead and make the trip that night.

Uh,

as long as I’m not tired or anything like that.

But that is one thing I see on,

on a lot of highways and the interstates and everything.

Most of the drivers that are out there on the road that I’m around late at night,

like that are big rigs.

They’re not,

uh,

four wheelers.

And it’s,

you know,

I,

I was always had it drummed into me polar bear to drive defensively.

That was something that they said in every class I took every,

uh,

test that you took,

it was always drive defensively.

And I feel like maybe they’ve changed it to just be offensive when you’re driving because that’s what I see and that’s how I feel when I’m out there.

I am downright offended sometimes and I hate to use that word,

but I’m downright offended by the way that people drive just so recklessly and carelessly anymore.

There’s no word for it.

What,

what do you say?

How do you describe it?

Well,

I can come up with some four letter words but they don’t solve anything.

Polar bear.

Exactly.

Yeah,

exactly.

So,

uh,

what else is it out there?

I mean,

obviously this is something that’s already rang through.

You’re the,

you’re,

you know,

uh,

in a group of five drivers that I’m talking to today and you are definitely not the first one to mention that four wheelers,

uh,

a lot of the times or just bad drivers in general.

I don’t think it’s necessarily specific to only four wheelers,

but that’s something that you guys are constantly dealing with and that definitely qualifies for the worst of the worst.

Uh,

what about like,

worst of the worst mountain passes.

That’s something that nobody’s really talked about.

We’re seeing some crazy footage from Donner Pass right now.

Uh,

coming out with just blizzards,

trucks with snow piled all the way up to their hoods parked on the side of the road up there.

What’s the worst mountain pass for you to have to drive over in your opinion?

I mean,

I don’t do it in the winter time.

I did it about a month and a half ago.

Maybe I did don,

because I had to be on the northern part of California and I’m watching the weather and I’m throwing splinter,

I’m throwing slush if there’s snow on the ground.

But they have the chain law in effect.

And that’s the first time I didn’t even get my socks.

That’s what we use now.

Instead of chains.

I never even got my socks all the way on before they pulled the chain law.

You know.

But,

and,

and just because you go out of Nevada into California,

you go right into the mountain and it is a mountain all the way to,

you know,

till you get to over Donner.

And what’s it?

40 miles.

We’ll call it 50 miles from there to Sacramento.

So,

out of,

let’s say,

I don’t know what it is.

100 and 30 miles,

I think,

80 miles of mountains.

So that’s a bad one.

That one definitely ranks up there.

Yeah.

And then like I said,

like when it was on a couple of times ago,

Arizona,

you get over there by,

uh,

Kingman,

you know,

coming into Kingman,

them are some pretty ARS he’s there too.

You know,

I’ve been across so many,

I’m trying to think of what’s,

what on the,

on the spot now.

It’s,

yeah,

I’m gonna say those and then the grapevine because the grapevine there coming down into L A is,

you know,

it’s 3035 mile an hour,

maybe even 25.

And you’re trying to keep a loaded semi along with 3000 other semis at the same time going down that snake pa it should have been Snake Mountain,

shut up at the top watching it.

And you,

you know,

especially late at,

you know,

at night when you see all the,

the,

the lights,

you see the brake lights,

it’s one continuous snake,

it’s just curving around,

which is good because that way I hate to use,

I’m gonna use the term loosely.

But the idiots that are driving down the mountains too fast,

like on our first episode,

you know,

it’s,

you know,

are they empty or are they literally going too fast for the terrain?

Sure.

Sure.

And I think,

listen,

polar bear idiots is probably the nicest thing we called him on this podcast.

So I don’t think,

I think he might even be doing him some favors being that nice to him because,

you know,

if you are loaded and you’re out,

you’re out maneuvering your equipment essentially and,

and trying to just handle it all yourself,

man.

I,

my,

most of my experience with this type of thing is going down uh the,

the Pendleton side of Cabbage Hill on interstate 84 in Oregon here.

And I’ve talked about it a lot,

but that downgrade,

there has a smell associated with it to me and that smell is hot bras and I always see trucks moving a lot quicker than what I expect.

And that’s my first thought after talking to so many of you drivers,

is,

is that guy just on the brakes or is that guy loaded and he’s not slowing,

he’s not able to slow it down right now.

That’s,

that is really almost just what I’ll,

I’ll use the term terrifying because you’re right there with him and there’s only so many runaway ramps.

So what’s gonna happen?

You know,

and you,

you literally can’t get your brakes too hot to where they don’t work.

Right.

Yeah.

And then,

and that’s when you hope that nobody’s skiing on the,

uh,

on the runaway ramp that day because I have seen some pictures of other,

uh,

so-called idiots out there actually parking at the bottom of,

of runaway truck ramps and hiking to the top so that they can ski or snowboard down.

I didn’t know that that was a death wish type of thing.

Um,

I never knew that the adrenaline junkies had gotten that,

uh,

that bad in,

in in a way that bad where they needed it that bad.

But gosh,

I’ll tell you,

just stay off of those things if you’re listening to this and you’re a four wheeler.

And you’re wondering,

well,

I’ve never seen a truck on those ramps before.

Why can’t I be on it?

Trust me,

they’re coming,

sooner or later they’re coming and they can’t stop.

I’ve seen it before where there was,

uh,

two pickups going up,

one of them.

That’s unbelievable.

Have you ever had to use one?

No,

sir.

No good.

I imagine that just tears up the undercarriage of the truck.

It does.

And I’ve watched,

you know,

just googling it to see.

That’s a funny word but just googling it to see is uh just what does it look like and then um you know how the internet is,

the internet says,

hey,

you like that,

watch this and I,

I don’t know where they were.

Um let’s say you’re or something because you can tell the different style trucks and there was uh three different videos where they had went into it either deliberately or not.

And you can see it kind of looks like maybe it’s a dummy in there.

Not a real one this time,

but it looks like there’s a dummy in it doing it.

That’s why I’m thinking maybe it’s put on,

but they are literally bouncing all over the place and you see one part where the front tires,

I don’t know if they did,

but the front tires look like they come off the ground because it hit,

it hit with such a velocity into that gravel because it’s designed to do that.

You think you got a £80,000 vehicle running,

let’s say 90 mile an hour with no brakes,

something’s got to help stop you.

And then I like watching where,

let’s say that runaway ramp because you’re like going on a downhill,

they put the runaway ramp there and it’s,

let’s say an eighth of a mile long.

And then you’ve got a 1012 ft tall embankment there.

You know,

I mean,

it goes on,

it’s just funny.

So,

ok,

you make it all the way to that embankment and it’s gotta be like hitting a brick wall,

something’s got to stop you from going over that mountain,

you know,

ending up in the bottom of that ravine and there’s a decent chance nobody’s coming after you because if you roll side to side all the way down the bottom of that hill,

there’s a,

I’m better than 100% chance.

You’re not making it to call 911 to say,

hey,

I need help.

And if nobody’s cheesy,

you know,

you’re not getting any help if a tree falls in the forest and you’re the only one here.

Does,

does anybody else hear it?

You know,

that’s that old saying?

Absolutely.

Absolutely.

Well,

uh,

I’ve asked everybody else this question today.

Polar bear.

And I want to ask you before we run out of time here,

what model or make and model do the worst four wheelers out on the road drive.

Do you see any consistency there?

I would say like a sports car,

like a mustang or a Porsche,

something like that once again.

Like I’ve said many times,

you know,

we got the radar on the front of this and it just amazes me how fast people are going where,

you know,

you know,

let’s in the,

in some of these states.

Like,

I’m out here in Montana right now and it’s 70 here,

but South Dakota is what?

75 North Dakota is 75.

They,

I’m around you and they’re doing 95 100 or,

you know,

I,

I seen 11 went around me.

It was a blank but it was 100 and 13 mile an hour.

They were going unbelievable.

And I’m sorry,

but the amount of people that are just regular licensed drivers that can control a vehicle going 100 and 13 miles an hour anywhere.

But just a dead straight line is a very small number.

I don’t care how long you’ve owned that car.

Unless you’ve had some training.

That’s a,

that’s way too fast.

Yeah,

I had once again and I hate to put my stories out there,

but that’s what this was for.

I think it was two weeks ago and it seems like the bigger cities that if you have more than two or three lanes brings the idiots.

And this was a mustang.

And within,

I know it was within a mile.

This guy had went around,

went through,

it was four lanes.

He had literally went from,

he passed me,

got in front of me.

Zing zing zing all the way out to the Hammer lane and all the way back.

So when he come around in front of me,

he was doing,

it was above 90.

And how can the that word or the other thing is you’ll see,

you’ll see it.

So not a lot,

but every once in a while I take it back to the fast and furious,

you know,

it’s two cars racing in between them and,

and that car that I’m talking about,

you know what an hov lane is and everybody else does.

They literally,

it was a,

it was a dodge pickup.

He come off of the ramp,

got in front of me.

He’s already doing like 8085 and all the way over crosses the double white line doing,

let’s say 90 mile an hour.

And literally,

and there was a little kid in the back,

I’m gonna say 5 to 8 years old in a four door pickup literally had to slam on the brakes and I seen the ass end of it just,

just move over a little bit.

What in the is going through his mind,

ok.

So he’s going too fast and almost rear end somebody with a kid in the back.

You know,

is that kid,

even on your mind at that point?

No,

I don’t think that kid is probably ever on his mind.

Right.

Because what’s going through your mind now is holy.

Am I gonna be able to get stopped?

Because I’m going twice as fast as they are.

And that’s what I’ve said.

Probably once or twice on here.

I had my major wreck.

Yes.

But my next one,

is it gonna be because of somebody else?

And that’s the bad part.

The dot And everybody’s gonna run us through the wilderness when it’s not even myself that starts the wreck.

I’m out here doing my thing,

both hands on the wheel looking around,

checking out my mirrors.

But all of a sudden every once in a while you’ll get that road rage video where that’s what I always say.

And trucks are just as bad as this.

I got to be ahead of you.

Why?

I don’t know you’re going slower than me,

but that car has to force its way in front of you.

Clips the car ahead or doesn’t get far enough ahead,

clips your bumper,

turns them sideways.

Now,

guess what?

They’re a snowplow,

you’re pushing them down the road.

But if by chance you got enough room underneath and it’s a small car that car gets flipped over and now you are riding on top of it,

you know,

it’s terrifying.

It’s,

and it’s,

I think what you’re,

what you’re saying there and just to kind of bring it all full circle is you don’t have the time or the reaction speed to think about all of the possible consequences when you make a move like that.

So don’t make a move like that.

It’s that simple.

It’s that simple and bad weather brings out.

Yeah.

Yeah.

The worst of them.

The worst.

And that’s what we’re talking about here on this episode today.

Polar bear.

I really appreciate the time.

Stay safe out there.

Keep doing what you’re doing,

man.

We’re,

we’re lucky to have guys like you and,

and all the drivers that we’ve had on that are concerned about everybody else’s safety working for liquid trucking and we appreciate you every single day,

man.

I always enjoy this Marcus and like I tell you,

I think every time or if I don’t,

I’m sorry,

but you’re really good at your job.

You’re a really good interviewer.

Thank you so much,

man.

It helps to have really good people to interview.

I’ll tell you that right now.

So,

and that’s one thing I do real quick.

Like I see a fireman or bear somewhere inside.

I thank them for what they do.

You know,

because I tell them I’m in a thankless industry,

you know,

nobody,

thanks a truck driver and nobody thanks a bear for what they do.

So,

Marcus have a great day.

You too be safe out there.

Polar bear.

We’ll talk to you again soon.

Ok.

Yes,

sir.

Yep.

Bye.

Moving right along.

He’s back joining us for yet another appearance.

It is Drew Hearn Liquid Driver hanging out with us today on the podcast.

Drew.

How are you doing out there,

man?

Oh,

pretty good.

Just cruising along.

Where are you at today?

I am in Hayn Idaho.

Oh,

fun over here on my side of the country.

Yeah,

it’s a little stormy.

A little chilly,

but I’m in the couch so it’s all right.

All right.

Good.

Good to hear it.

Well,

today we’re talking about the absolute worst of the worst in your experience out there on the road.

And I’m just wondering what you got for me,

man.

I’ve had a lot of people already talk about four wheelers.

I’ve had people talk about weather conditions,

uh,

accidents.

I know that some of that’s probably gonna make your list.

So when you think of the worst of the worst things that you’ve dealt with out on the road,

what comes to mind first?

So,

on some of our newer trailers,

we have what’s called a,

um,

a fusible plug and they got a little lead insert right in the center of it and when it’s for us.

So that way there,

if there’s like a fire on the trailer,

that little lead piece will melt and it won’t allow you to open the internal valve.

Got it.

So that way they’re,

you know,

if we’re like,

hauling something flammable,

the internal valve can’t get open.

You know,

because,

you know,

that’s just a giant bomb waiting to happen.

You turn yourself into an £80,000.

Uh,

uh,

yeah,

dirty bomb.

Right.

Exactly.

We don’t want none of that going on,

but sometimes those go out,

you know,

the lead piece just works loose,

you know,

or it just gets old or sometimes they put steam onto our tanks,

you know,

to heat our tanks up and that lead piece will melt out and we gotta,

you know,

climb under the trailer,

get up in between the axles and replace this plug.

And let me tell you,

it’s dirty,

it’s nasty.

And what’s even worse is when you’re doing it in a truck stop parking lot and the whole parking lot concrete just smells like pest.

So you,

you know,

what,

what went on,

you know,

and,

you know,

there’s plenty of times where,

you know,

I’ve had to do it because,

you know,

they do like a rear load or something and I gotta get that internal valve open.

So I gotta climb up underneath there and in a nasty parking lot that bunch of people definitely pissed in the parking lot.

And I’m down there in the concrete,

you know,

laying in it and having to change out that fusible plug.

But,

you know,

it’s part of the job,

you know,

and I mean,

you could,

you know,

call and be like,

oh,

hey,

you know,

can you have a mechanic change this or whatever?

But,

I mean,

they,

they don’t really want to do that.

That’s why when you get hired on they’re like,

hey,

you have any kind of mechanical experience and if you’re like,

yeah.

Yeah.

You know,

then they’re like,

cool.

Right on,

then you can work on some stuff and I’m not afraid to work on some stuff.

So I’ll,

I’ll get underneath the trailer if I have to.

I,

I kind of call myself a backyard mechanic like I know enough just to get in there and start destroying some things and maybe fix it.

But,

you know,

you know,

it kind of is what it is.

It kind of sounds like one of the questions they should add.

Uh Do you have mechanical aptitude and b uh do you mind crawling around on pissy concrete?

Like that’s a,

I feel like you gotta,

you gotta warn some people,

man.

I fortunately I’ve never had to do that,

but I have walked around on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and I feel like it’s a lot the same.

It just smells like a urinal.

Uh,

and I know at every one of those truck stops there are perfectly good bathroom facilities just steps away from that concrete that you’re crawling around on.

So it really speaks to the laziness of some people.

Oh,

yeah.

You know,

a lot of these are,

they’re lazy.

They don’t wanna have to walk 100 and 50 100 yards to go to the bathroom or something.

You know,

they get up in the middle of the night and they’re like,

oh,

I’ll just open up the driver door and just let her go right here,

you know,

and I climb back in bed and I’m like,

all right now,

I’m the guy that’s gonna pull in later and have to lay in that to change out this fusible plug and get a deal with that.

So,

you know,

just making my skin crawl through.

Oh,

yeah,

definitely.

And it’s just something,

you know,

that that’s the manly part of the job.

Definitely.

You know,

you just fucked up,

you know,

and just get it done.

So,

and I’m not afraid to do stuff like that.

No,

it doesn’t sound like it,

man.

Before I let you go,

man,

we’re getting close here on time.

I know you and I have actually talked about this a little bit before in one of our episodes in the past.

But I’ve asked every driver today,

uh,

you stayed completely away from complaining about four wheelers as the worst of the worst.

But since I’ve been asking everybody,

I’m gonna ask you what make and model does the worst Four Wheler on the road Drive F one shitty F one fifties.

Ok.

You’re the first one to say a truck man.

Everything else has been.

Well,

uh,

polar bear his answer,

I believe was just four wheelers.

Um,

but we’ve heard BMW S,

we’ve heard Tesla’s now we’ve got F one F,

I’m building the list,

man,

because I’m gonna run my dash and just watch out for those people.

Let me tell you,

man,

they love those aluminum trucks so much.

They think they’re so big and bad.

Go ahead and come in front of me.

Watch what happens,

bro.

It’s a pop can on wheels.

I know a guy that had one of those things,

he actually had a,

a 250 it was a duly and he ran over a law and sheared the entire back quarter panel on the thing.

Like it,

it bumped up under the Dooley,

poked through the fender and just sheared it all the way back to the bumper.

I was amazed,

it literally looked like a pop can.

I’ve never seen anything like it.

Oh,

yeah.

You know,

they’re about the weight reduction but they don’t realize how faulty the,

the structural integrity is of it because they,

yeah,

they’re bad and,

and the drivers,

you know,

they just,

they think that they’re just king of the road and they can do whatever.

Oh,

I’m in a big bad F 150.

You know,

you’re in a Miata,

you’re in a big Miata.

That’s all it is.

Right.

Right.

Like,

ok.

Yeah,

you,

you wanna be in your F 150?

That’s fine.

Because guess what?

I got eight £80,000 right here.

That’ll contest that,

you know.

Well,

Drew,

thank you so much,

man.

It’s always a pleasure talking to you.

Uh I love having you on the show.

You guys have been awesome with your time uh,

so far this episode and uh just stay safe out there and I hope that uh everything is,

is good and smooth on this trip and we don’t have any more stories for worst of the worst at the end of it.

All right.

All right on.

Sounds good.

Marcus Liquid Driver.

Matt.

Clee has just filled up his tank and is getting back on the road,

but he’s also joining us right here on the Liquid Trucking Podcast right now.

Matt,

thank you so much for being here,

man.

Really appreciate the time.

Hey,

thanks for having me and it’s good to be back.

Uh,

well,

uh,

we’re always glad to have you even when the topic is,

uh,

maybe a little bit,

uh,

of a topic that could get under your skin today.

We’re talking about the worst of the worst and I’ve already had four drivers.

Come on here and talk to me about some crazy stuff that they deal with.

Uh,

and,

and you’re also gonna give us some of your time and talk about the things that piss you off a little bit.

So let’s just kick it off,

Matt when I say the worst of the worst.

What comes to your mind?

I’m an autograph.

That’s simple.

That’s it.

Out of all the places that I drive.

Omaha pisses me off the most.

I live just outside of Omaha and I don’t even like to drive my personal vehicle here.

Really?

And what,

what about Omaha?

Is it that drives you nuts?

You know,

if you go and look at the statistics and so on and so forth.

Omaha is rated it like some of the top horse drivers,

uh,

the most inconsiderate,

you know,

people I see it’s,

uh,

you know,

it’s an Eastern Nebraska thing.

I think,

I don’t know,

it’s,

I know that I know that people are inconsiderate kind of all over the place.

Dallas,

Texas and whatnot.

But I think Omaha is just by far the worst.

Ok.

Well,

you know,

the last time I was in Omaha,

actually,

it was,

uh,

for when we launched the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

Uh,

I stayed in Omaha and I had a rental car.

It was a minivan and I’m pretty sure that because I was driving a minivan,

uh,

people were,

you know,

they thought maybe I had a kid in the car or something.

So they stayed out of my way and they gave me plenty of room,

but I don’t know.

Next time I go,

I might end up in like a dodge charger or something like that.

And I can’t imagine that I’m gonna get any good treatment out there.

You know,

the thing is,

is driving is so simple,

you know.

You know what you’re doing every day,

especially if you go to work and come home and commute.

It’s so easy.

Just respect,

it’s a respect thing.

You know,

it’s not 100 mile an hour day.

Not every day is 100 mile an hour.

Uh,

actually I’d,

I’d be willing to,

uh,

to bet that most days aren’t 100 mile an hour days if you really break it down,

you know,

you know,

you go to work and if you plan your day,

you know,

and,

and you can commute to work,

go do your job,

commute home.

What’s the big hurry and get home?

Uh,

you know,

there just,

there shouldn’t be one because if you,

if you get into that big hurry,

it’s always been something that surprises me,

Matt,

that people don’t reconcile with themselves.

If you’re in that big hurry to get home,

you’re increasing the chances that you don’t get home without a trip to the hospital or the most.

Right.

Exactly.

And who wants one of those?

That’s only gonna piss you off more when you finally get home.

So,

uh,

so I’ve been asking drivers this question,

uh,

towards the end of the interview,

but I gotta ask it right now because we’re kind of led there in your opinion.

What vehicle do the worst four wheelers out there drive the most disrespectful,

the ones that aren’t giving you any room.

Do you see any consistency in make and model there.

Yeah,

I do actually,

I know that 90% of the worst drivers in my book are company vehicles and SUV four wheel drives.

Ok.

Company vehicle.

They,

they own the road.

Yeah.

And so many of them have a number on the back that says,

how’s my driving call this number?

You’d think that they would understand what that means.

But,

uh,

uh,

yeah,

obviously.

And if you’re driving a company vehicle,

even if it doesn’t have a,

how’s my driving sticker on it?

The phone number in the website is still emblazoned on the side of the thing.

We’re going to get in touch with your boss if we need to.

Oh,

yeah.

Oh,

yeah.

I’ve called plenty of them,

man.

Well,

good.

I mean,

somebody’s got to do it.

So you’re out there cleaning up the streets of Omaha Matt.

You’re doing the Lord’s work?

All right.

I can go with that.

I don’t necessarily know if we’re cleaning it up,

but I just would like people to show a little more,

more common courtesy out here on the road.

Yeah,

I,

and that’s probably every state and every city and every highway and by way across the country,

uh,

especially when it comes to,

uh,

truck drivers.

I mean,

you guys are dealing with so much out there in the,

I guess over the time that I’ve done this podcast and a couple of others,

um,

that have been four truck drivers.

I have my respect for you guys was already up so high.

That’s why I took this job in the first place.

But ever since I’ve talked to you guys,

what I’ve realized is that my respect has grown immensely because there aren’t too many people out there that are like me,

that I,

I mean,

if I see a truck that’s gonna,

that’s gonna be merging onto the freeway.

I’m either on the brakes to give him plenty of room.

I’m getting over as far as I can.

I’m flashing my lights.

If it’s clear for him to come in,

I’m doing all these things that I just try to think about.

If it was me in your seat,

what would I hope that the guy driving my truck would be doing?

And,

and this is kind of where I,

I try to,

I guess just be better when I’m around trucks and I know that I’m still not perfect.

There’s no way that I’m perfect,

but it’s,

I,

I feel like that’s very few and far between like out of every 10 drivers that passes you on the,

uh,

during the day.

How many of them would you consider courteous,

Matt?

It’d be more like one out of 40 anything out of 10 and then,

but it’s not just the four wheel,

it’s other truck drivers too,

you know.

So it’s an easy one out of 40 probably five out of 10 for truck drivers.

Actually use their turn signal,

you know.

So,

I mean,

for a little on the professional side there,

so,

well,

maybe they just ran out of,

uh,

blinker light fluid,

you know,

maybe they gotta get that fluid topped off.

Well,

you know what the cost of diesel exhaust,

but blinker fluid has been really,

really on the back burner for these companies.

I hear you.

What else gets under your skin out there?

Matt.

Uh,

obviously we’ve talked about drivers but what about,

you know,

any road conditions,

any,

uh,

mountain passes?

Uh,

are there any,

uh,

you know,

truck stops out there that you just can’t handle having to stop at?

What else,

uh,

is,

is bugging you in our worst of the worst episode.

The worst of the worst truck stop loves them getting really bad,

um,

loves truck stops but they’re,

they’re all getting bad there.

There’s a lot of expense that goes into them to keep them up and running just so we can get stuff and the common courtesy of helping these companies take care of them.

The truck drivers don’t help out.

They just trash em.

You know,

that would,

other truck drivers is a big thing for me.

The,

the unprofessional,

I’m not gonna lie.

Canadian truck drivers piss me off.

I’ve seen countless times,

you know,

washing their feet outside their truck and,

and then they just dump their bottle on the ground and let it go and,

and,

and it just irritates me to death.

And then,

and then they come down here and they think they own the US,

you know,

with their truck,

you know,

Drew Hearn just Drew Hearn just told me a story about sometimes there’s a valve or something that he’s got to fix underneath the truck.

And he said at every truck stop,

he stops at,

he just dreads having to crawl under the truck because he knows that the concrete is gonna smell like piss.

Yeah.

Yeah,

it’s horrible.

I,

I just horrible.

I just don’t get it,

man.

I mean,

look,

I,

if you have to,

if you have to relieve yourself in a milk jug so that you can stay on the road,

I’m sure the company’s probably not,

uh,

really excited about that,

but look,

I get it.

It’s just,

can you take it into the bathroom with you?

I mean,

everybody knows why you’re going to the bathroom.

You’re not keeping any secrets in there.

So let’s not dump that stuff out where everybody else has to deal with it.

Like there are places to put it that won’t make Drew Hearn have to crawl around on piss covered concrete.

See,

I’m,

I agree with him 100% and 90% of the drivers that are good,

actual professional drivers would agree with him.

It’s disgusting.

It really is absolutely disgusting and it’s nasty and,

and the other thing that stems from,

it’s this,

I’m gonna,

I’m gonna hit that topic.

It’s the younger generation of,

I call truck driving school idiots.

These are the ones that,

that never worked their way from the bottom to the top to drive a truck.

They went to school,

they got their little endorsement for automatics only and now they’re a truck driver.

Now they got their little stars and stripes.

Now they’re big,

they’re Billy,

big rigor and they don’t teach,

they teach them how to maybe drive it a little bit,

maybe how to do stuff in it.

They teach them the technology side of it,

but they don’t teach them any etiquette at all.

No common courtesy.

No etiquette.

No,

nothing.

You know,

I’ve,

I’ve,

I think I’ve shared this story before about a friend of mine that worked in preventative maintenance and he would always have an engineer walk out and give him plans and they would never work because the engineer never stepped foot inside the facility before he drew up the plans.

And I feel like this is kind of the same thing where these new drivers,

they,

you get licensed and ok,

you’re good to go,

you get hired,

good job.

You got a job.

They should have to jump on a party line with some veteran drivers like yourselves for the first,

like three months that they’re on the road and really learn the actual ropes rather than the ropes as they see them.

Does that make any sense?

Absolutely.

Yes,

sir.

Would you be,

would you be willing to be that guy?

No,

no,

because number one,

I’m 50 years old and I have six grandkids and seven kids and I have more patience for my dogs.

Well,

they,

they stay quiet once in a while.

Right.

My dogs do whatever the heck they want that,

you know?

But no,

I’m not a trainer.

I’m not the guy that can sit and train people because I worked my way up from the ground up.

I started way back when I was 1560 working with my dad,

my brother.

And for some reason I thought it’d be fun to give up my dream of being a chef and become a truck driver.

And,

uh,

you know,

here I am and I worked my way from the bottom of the top.

I worked with the old school truck drivers,

the old,

old school truck drivers.

I mean,

I can remember 16,

a gentleman.

What the heck was his name?

Tom was a good friend of my dad and he had a purple and pink Ken.

Work T 600.

0,

nice big old kitty cat in it.

Had a very religious man.

Very religious man.

But,

uh,

he,

he would come into my dad’s shop and talk to him at Fremont and the one and the only time I ever heard him custody them damn stupid young guys that come into this.

They’re just killing the industry and that’s where we’re at.

Yeah.

And he had two logbooks and they were both made of paper.

I’m sure of it.

Well,

he didn’t have his,

his whole story was Tom.

Tom used to.

I don’t know why I need a logbook.

I ain’t all logs.

Sound logic when you think about it.

Oh,

that’s great.

Matt.

Well,

listen,

man,

I,

I really appreciate you coming on here and talking to me about some of the stuff that gets under your skin before we run out of time.

Is there anything else that was on,

uh,

running through your mind today that we didn’t get to?

I think we pretty much covered it.

We’ll see how many phone calls we get.

Hey,

if we get phone calls out of this,

we’re doing something right.

That’s the way I see it.

Yeah,

I hope so.

Uh I just,

I hope all the drivers grow up.

She and Sm Barno out there and stance eight,

you know,

keeping the,

keeping the dirty side down and,

and,

uh,

making a good paycheck and get home with your family.

Well,

I’ll tell you,

it sure seems like they are.

Uh,

I,

I get to talk to a lot of drivers on this podcast and it’s hard for me to pinpoint a happier group of drivers and,

uh,

and also a more willing to participate group.

You guys have been uh,

p nominal.

I mean,

I sent nine of you a text message the other day and got five responses within like 20 minutes that right there.

I mean,

that’s amazing to me.

And,

uh,

I,

I can’t thank you all enough for just taking part in this podcast.

We wouldn’t be able to do this without that type of,

of,

uh participation from you guys.

And I learned something every,

every single time I’ve got one of you on the phone.

Matt.

So,

thank you again so much.

Well,

thank you for having all of us.

You know,

this podcast,

I know a lot of drivers are listening to it.

So it’s working out,

we’re finding out different things about everybody and,

and,

and company wide.

So,

you know,

it’s really neat that it’s really neat to hear the product after,

after all of this and see what’s going on.

Well,

we’re not going to re invent the wheel,

but we’ll make,

we’ll make sure that there’s plenty of grease on the thing,

that’s for sure.

Uh,

you know,

if we can do anything to affect anything about the trucking industry,

whether it just be one little thing for one person or,

or maybe the right person hears it and starts some actionable things,

you know,

I,

I,

we talk about parking spots all the time.

Like I just want you guys to have a day place to park at night if,

if we could accomplish just that out of this podcast.

And I know that’s a pipe dream,

but that’s why we’re here,

man.

So I appreciate,

appreciate your time.

Appreciate you telling other drivers about it and,

uh,

keep your dirty side down and your shiny side up as well out there today.

Ok.

All right.

Thank you Marcus.

No problem.

That’s Matt Cleat Liquid Driver.

Great stuff there from all of our drivers.

Really.

Appreciate all of you coming on.

Uh,

every time we talk to these guys,

it gets better.

However,

this time I think I developed a bit of a complex.

Um I can’t get over the fact that every truck stop parking lot is covered in P I,

I’m really,

I have a problem with this and I,

I look,

I hope that I can do something to change it just by talking about it on this podcast,

even though I know that won’t happen.

And I know that you liquid drivers aren’t the guys that are guilty of this.

All right,

I told you I was gonna rehash these and I was gonna come up with a new top five list based on what the drivers that I talked to had to say.

And I actually have it number five on my list of the worst of the worst.

After talking to liquid drivers.

Number five is going to be uh the weather,

just that angry weather that we talked about.

Man,

snow.

I,

I saw some videos of snow up to the hood of trucks on Donner Pass and it’s so dangerous.

It’s so crazy out there.

I think the advice is definitely good that if you don’t think that it’s safe,

shut it down,

uh,

because there’s no reason to put yourself and others in harm’s way just to get to point B on your trip.

And that being said,

numbers four through one are stinky pea parking lots and truck stops because I can’t get over it.

All the other stuff sucks.

The,

the angry four wheelers,

we talked about them,

the idiots on the road.

We talked about that.

We talked about uh equipment blowing up and covering you and Liz,

sorry.

But pea covered parking lots.

Take the cake numbers four through one.

Congratulations.

You’re the winner.

Uh Shut it down.

Give them the awards actually give them the razzies like those,

you know,

when they give the bad movie awards,

they call them the razzies.

You’re getting a razzie.

Every single trucking truck stop in the country gets a razzie for pee on the ground and it look,

I know it’s not your fault.

I know your employees aren’t out there like you don’t have a love shirt on taking a leak in the parking lot,

but enforce it.

Hire yourself some big angry looking dudes to just walk around the parking lot and any time somebody pees or dumps pee in the parking lot,

those guys could come up and snap them on the back of the neck with a rubber band and you know what?

That feeling should be.

Something getting snapped on the back of the neck with a rubber band should be something that you have to feel every hour on the hour for the next week and a half.

And that happens every time you offend,

keep your pee in the toilet.

Can’t believe this.

All right.

Liquid.

That’s the end of episode 18.

And don’t worry,

we talked about the worst of the worst.

It’s obviously,

it’s kind of a negative episode because we’re talking about things that,

that,

uh,

upset us.

But we’re gonna marry this up.

Coming up in a few weeks,

we’re gonna hit you with a best of the best episode.

And I know that I’ve got a ton of good stories coming out of a ton of good drivers.

One dude even has a story about how they saved the town.

So stay tuned.

We got lots of good stuff around the corner for you on the next episode and future episodes of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.

Stay safe drivers.

Keep the shiny side up and the dirty side down and try not to step in any pe thanks for tuning in and being the gold standard of drivers on the road.

Be sure to like and subscribe to the channel and tune in next week for another episode of the Liquid Trucking Podcast.