What are the biggest hurdles women face in the trucking industry, and how can we collectively tackle them without waiting for government help? Join us on the Rollin' 18 Podcast as we uncover six critical challenges that women truck drivers confront daily. From negative perceptions and training barriers to unsatisfactory company cultures and gender discrimination, we don't shy away from the tough conversations. We also highlight the importance of community support in driving change. Plus, stay tuned for a heartwarming segment on Shooter Jennings' tribute to his legendary father, Waylon Jennings, with more details in our upcoming episodes.
Beyond the industry struggles, we delve into the essence of driving ethics and respect on the road. Through personal stories and reflections, we explore how small acts of kindness and patience can transform the driving experience for everyone. We nostalgically recall the camaraderie among truckers in the past and express our longing to revive that spirit. The episode wraps up with a powerful reminder: maintaining a positive attitude and showing kindness can not only improve our day but also uplift those around us. Let’s strive for a more respectful and harmonious road culture. Stay safe, stay positive, and keep a steady course in life. God bless!
What are the biggest hurdles women face in the trucking industry, and how can we collectively tackle them without waiting for government help? Join us on the Rollin' 18 Podcast as we uncover six critical challenges that women truck drivers confront daily. From negative perceptions and training barriers to unsatisfactory company cultures and gender discrimination, we don't shy away from the tough conversations. We also highlight the importance of community support in driving change. Plus, stay tuned for a heartwarming segment on Shooter Jennings' tribute to his legendary father, Waylon Jennings, with more details in our upcoming episodes.
Beyond the industry struggles, we delve into the essence of driving ethics and respect on the road. Through personal stories and reflections, we explore how small acts of kindness and patience can transform the driving experience for everyone. We nostalgically recall the camaraderie among truckers in the past and express our longing to revive that spirit. The episode wraps up with a powerful reminder: maintaining a positive attitude and showing kindness can not only improve our day but also uplift those around us. Let’s strive for a more respectful and harmonious road culture. Stay safe, stay positive, and keep a steady course in life. God bless!
Text me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at (641) 990-5641. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.
Speaker 1:
Breaker 1-9. Hello drivers, welcome to Rollin' 18 Podcast. I'm your host, walter Gallin. Appreciate you folks listening to and or downloading my podcast. I'm going to put all the links down below. People have asked me oh, you know, at separate times. Am I on Instagram? Am I on YouTube? I was only on Rumble X and Instagram, but now I opened up a YouTube account as well, started a brand new one specifically for Roland 18. That way, you guys can see as much content or hear as much content as you want. I promise you, if you type in Roland 18 podcast on Google, it will show you a bunch of stuff. The only thing it's not really showing is Rumble, and I'm pretty sure because Google owns YouTube. Their algorithms don't want you involved with that other platform. But I think Rumble is a good place to be as well. A lot of people are on Rumble. It is a good platform.
Speaker 1:
Today, I'm going to talk about two things. Number one I'm going to talk about Waylon Jennings, and that's going to be at the end of this podcast Some great news about what his son, shooter Jennings, just released. I think it's very important. First of all, we're going to talk about the study which identifies issues keeping women from becoming truck drivers. I'm not going to read the whole story because of time constraints today, but I am going to read the six problems and issues that they've identified that are the challenges for women on the road today. There's a lot of places out there saying that women in trucking is around 15-20%. It is not, unfortunately. Women in trucking has been going down because I don't know why. Because simply because the government is not doing something right, the schools are not doing something right, truck stops, people on the road, who knows? But we want to change that because we think women on the road is very important to our mix. Women bring a lot of value to a lot of things. We are all equal even though we're different in many ways, and the value of a woman is just as important as the woman that designed the coordinates for the rocket ship to come back into space back in the 60s, or the woman that designed the code-breaking technology in the 40s in order to break code, but realized that whatever mathematical equation she came up with also helped invent Wi-Fi. Yes, it's all out there. It's all public information.
Speaker 1:
Now, the six problems that they identified and the reason. I'm only going to read the problems and the issues. I want you guys to click on the link down below, read the entire story, think about all the problems and the issues, give me your feedback and in a couple of weeks we'll do another podcast that we can solve together, and hopefully we can do it without the government's millions of dollars because that's what they give to all these truck companies and truck training places to try and help identify these problems, and yet they don't solve anything. We know what we say about the government when they get involved with money they spend a lot of money but they don't solve anything. Now they say the first problem is negative industry image and perception. They say the issues is inequitable social norms, misuse of social media, lack of younger drivers and aging workforce. We'll get into all that when we have the big debate in an upcoming podcast, but right now I want you guys to go over all this, read it, absorb it, give me your feedback and let's work on this together.
Speaker 1:
Problem number two unable to complete truck driver training. They say the issue is inability to pay for the training, lack of driving skills, ability or knowledge, no or limited access to child care, excessive travel to and from school. Problem number three unsatisfactory motor carrier company culture. They say the issues are unclear and inconsistent. Communication with drivers that goes for male or female. Absence of recognition and appreciation initiatives that is also true for all drivers. Problem number four inability to acclimate to the OTR driver lifestyle Issue, insufficient home time, inability to establish and sustain healthy habits and probably a few other items. Problem number five limited parking and restroom facility access. Problem number five limited parking and restroom facility access. They say the issue is shortage of available safe parking, lack of clean restrooms that is true. Problem number six excessive gender harassment and discrimination. Now you would think that would be all over the road. Well, it's not. Most of the complaints are coming and the issue is discrimination during training, concern over personal safety, probably out within the truck stops and driving down the road, things like that.
Speaker 1:
Ladies and gentlemen, we are all real truck drivers, except for those that don't act like it. We are the largest industry in the world. We need to act like it. I've always said that. But as far as personal safety goes, that is everybody's responsibility to help protect everybody out there on the road. Do not pretend when you see an issue or a dangerous situation come up on somebody that you're not involved, because once you see it, you're involved and you need to get involved. Enough of this pulling the cameras out and filming stuff. Get out and help other drivers. We're going to go over this. Like I said before, we're going to try and solve like I said before, we're going to try and solve this problem with women in trucking. We're going to try and get those numbers up.
Speaker 1:
Now about Waylon Jennings. If you go on Facebook and go to Waylon Jennings official page, it will have a blue check mark. You will see that about six days ago, shooter Jennings posted a post a really cool post about his dad and their band and other people on this Waylon Jennings Facebook page and I want to read it to you verbatim because it's important. He says I was going to make this post yesterday, but unfortunately yesterday belonged to the loving memory of our dear friend Jeremy Tepper, who just passed away. So today, on Father's Day, I wanted to tell you all a short story and also give you some very exciting news.
Speaker 1:
When I was young, in the house that I grew up in, there was a room that was always locked. The storage room is what my parents called it. I have vivid memories of dozens of gray boxes and cubby holes with notes, notes jotted in marker on the outside. I knew what it was, and what was in those boxes was my dad's work. In 2002, when Waylon Jennings made his exit from Earth, those tapes were in storage in his office and in various studios around Nashville. In 2008, with the help of friends, family and band members, those tapes were all transferred to digital drives. In 2014, we had them transferred yet again to more modern drives, but still they sat waiting.
Speaker 1:
Honestly, I didn't have the time, the tools or the resources, or maybe I just wasn't ready for it. Either way, I found myself here with Sunset Sound Studio 3 at my disposal, with my great assistant engineer, nate Haisley, helping me. We took out the drives and we plugged them in. What I expected to find was a catalog of all of my dad's albums and recordings. I knew there were a few songs that were never released for whatever reasons, so I had my fingers crossed that I would maybe find something special and rare along the way that I could share with you. What I found was a massive historical documentation of a man and a band with an incredible friendship, incredible work, ethic and deep passion for playing and recording music. What I found was way beyond my wildest fantasies and after reviewing hundreds of reels of tape, nate and I finally came to the end of the material.
Speaker 1:
So today, he said, on Father's Day, on the day after his birthday and Nate Haisley's birthday as well, I want to take a moment to make a very special announcement. And now here's the important part. He says I am in possession of a treasure trove of previously unheard full band Wayland Jennings multi-track recordings from the 70s and early 80s. I have begun preparing the material to be mixed right here in Snake Mountain on this beautiful 1976 Demedio Custom API console. Now he says these are not demos and these are not unfinished work, but they will take some time to explore, pre-mix and mix. Or prepare and mix is what he said. But you've got something to look forward to. And then at the end he puts the most fantastic sentence I've ever seen in my life there will be new classic Waylon Jennings music in 2025. Stay tuned, ladies and gentlemen, my heart is full.
Speaker 1:
Waylon Jennings was one of my top 10 performers. Artists, singers, you name it, whatever you want to name it. He was an awesome man. He was put on this planet for a valid reason. He changed a lot of lives. His lyrics, his sound, the way he presented himself all that was extremely important to the people that we grew up and fell in love with. That could make our hearts happy with the type of music that they played. Look, ladies and gentlemen, I was born in Los Angeles you know what I'm saying City boy, but I grew up to love all types of music, all different types, and my most favorite music out there in the world is classic rock and classic country. It has depth, it has soul, it has meaning and it showed me things in my mind that I never thought I would ever be able to see. We all love good music. We all have our favorite artists. We all have our favorite vision of what life looks like. Going down the road with that awesome tune playing in your ears, that wonderful sunset that you see while you're cruising down the road, you know that one moment in your entire horrific day that makes you think that being on the road is a-okay, that makes you think that being on the road is A-OK.
Speaker 1:
Drivers put up with a lot. We always do, we always will, and I believe that if we can satisfy our soul just a few moments a day out of all the trials and tribulations we go through on the highway, through the cities, the delays, the waiting in docks for hours to unload or unload. I believe if we can find one moment a day that fills our heart, it'll last us 24 hours, because that's who we are. That's the kind of stuff we put up with. I'm not saying we're perfect. We're far from perfect. In fact, I would almost bet you it takes a very imperfect person to be able to put up with life out on the big road in a semi, and that's why I don't understand why four-wheelers don't gather around and celebrate us just a little bit more. They know what we're putting up with. They kind of sense the type of things that we have to sacrifice in order to deliver the goods that these four-wheelers want to order. If they would just give us a little bit more patience and a little bit more time, I think we would start acting a little bit better. But never let your conscience, never let your anger, never let anything that gets in your mind that turns to spoil get in your way of being safe and driving like a professional, because the more we do that, the more most four-wheelers will respect us like they did back in the 70s and 80s.
Speaker 1:
I've always loved being a truck driver, ever since the day I started. There are times I wish trucks didn't exist, not because they're out on the road, but because the way certain people drive them, but because the way certain people don't follow ethics when it comes to being in a truck stop and the way society treats us a lot of times not building enough parking spots, not understanding what we go through when we stop for the night at a truck stop or at a place of our choosing. It takes a lot out of us and we sacrifice a lot from our wives, from our husbands, our children. We have to do better and I know we can do better. We can turn this trend around of hating each other to something that is more honorable, like we used to have, and I know it can happen and I'm going to keep advocating for that. I'm going to push for it. But I want each and every pair of ears listening to this podcast to start one thing right away Be patient, relax. Before you open your mouth and shoot out a bunch of vile words on the CB, or stick your hand out the window and give out the infamous bird. Try real hard to understand that you're in the same position everybody else is. So ignore the hostility, ignore the pain, ignore the suffering and start trying to do things that make people happy, that make us respect us just a little bit more.
Speaker 1:
I was stopped at the intersection the other day. I definitely got there first. Guy was directly across me, going the opposite way, but he was turning the same direction I was going to turn in. I waved at him to go first, because he's a car and I'm a big truck. I'm a lot heavier. It takes me a while to get up to speed. I let him go. He was very happy to see that because he looked at me and he was going to do the right thing and wait for me to make that right turn so he can make the left and then be stuck behind me. But when I did the right thing and let him go ahead of me because I knew he would be gone by the time I even got up to full speed. So why even choke him out and make him wait?
Speaker 1:
If you're in an intersection and somebody is going to make a left or a right and they're going to go the same direction you are, but you have the right to get ahead of them. Please don't. You're a truck, you're heavy. Do the right thing, let the four-wheeler go, let them get ahead of you and then go ahead and cruise out there, because it's going to take you a while to get up to speed.
Speaker 1:
Those are the small, insignificant things that we think are irrelevant, but they're not, because that one little action probably just told that four-wheeler hey, maybe big trucks aren't so bad. I love being a truck driver and I love all you guys that are out there driving truck. And new music is coming. We've got a lot to be thankful for. This man died in 2002 and in 2025 we are going to get new albums from him.
Speaker 1:
This is the type of things that should make you excited. These are the type of things that should make you smile greatly. So if you're out there and somebody's grumpy that day and they spew out some nasty stuff at you or whatever somebody's grumpy that day and they spew out some nasty stuff at you or whatever, just smile and say you know what driver it's going to be. Okay, you can even watch them freak out because they're like hey, I just treated this guy like garbage and he's being nice to me. What happened? Kindness happened and that's the one thing that should happen more often. As always, god bless, be safe. We'll see you next time. Keep it between the lines, driver. Thank you.