Rollin' 18 Podcast
Welcome to the "Rollin' 18 Podcast." With over 40 years of commercial driving experience, I can share some of my learning experiences. We can also go over the changes happening in the trucking world. Like any job, trucking is not all about work. Learning how to balance life with trucking can be daunting, but knowing how to do it can be rewarding and comforting. Let's roll on down the road driver, together. Text me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at (641) 990-5641. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.
Rollin' 18 Podcast
Overcoming Roadblocks: Trucking Realities, "Smokey and the Bandit" Secrets, and the Timeless Echoes of Vinyl Music
Join me, Walter Gatlin, as we explore the harsh realities faced by over-the-road truck drivers and owner-operators. Ever wondered why this vital workforce remains largely unrecognized as a voting bloc? Or why they face more frequent drug testing than many other professions? Let's uncover the labyrinth of regulations truckers must navigate without the safety net of minimum wage or sick days. We'll also tackle the impact of CSA 2010 points on their livelihoods, the dire lack of parking, and the sky-high costs at truck stops. Let's debunk societal stereotypes and misconceptions about truckers, highlighting the critical issues that weigh heavily on their everyday lives.
But it's not all about challenges—let's also celebrate some nostalgic delights! Get ready for a wild ride through the behind-the-scenes world of "Smokey and the Bandit," where hair-raising stunts and Jackie Gleason's comedic genius come to life. Relive the magic of Jerry Reed's quick-fire composition of “Eastbound and Down” and the unexpected on-set incidents that almost derailed careers. We'll round out our journey with a heartfelt homage to the music of the 60s, 70s, and 80s. Through my Vinylbound series, discover the rich history behind classic albums and why they still resonate today. Grab your headphones, settle in, and let's celebrate the intersection of trucking, cinema, and music together.
https://www.quora.com/What-are-the-common-topics-truckers-discuss-now-or-worry-about
Buzzsprout
www.rollin18podcast.com
YouTube
www.youtube.com/@rollin18podcast
Rumble
rumble.com/user/Rollin18Podcast
Facebook
www.facebook.com/rollin18podcast/
https://www.instagram.com/rollin18podcast/
X - Twitter
Email me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at rollin18podcast@gmail.com. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.
Welcome to Rolling 18 Podcast. This 40-year veteran is here for anyone wanting to stay up to date in the trucking world. Grab your coffee, hop on board and let's get on down the road with Walter Gatlin.
Speaker 3:Hello drivers and welcome back to Rolling 18. This is your host, walter Gatlin. Today I'm going to talk about some things that I found on the internet, and I went to a site called Quora Q-U-O-R-A, and it seems like a lot of people ask questions on this site. I guess it's kind of like a question and answer site, chat site, whatever, but Quora seems to be a pretty good source to get some information on what you need. Quora seems to be a pretty good source to get some information on what you need. My research that I had typed in was what are the most pressing critical issues that over-the-road truck drivers owner-operators currently face, and I came across a couple of very interesting things. I don't have time to read them all. If you want to click on the link down below the description of this podcast, you're more than welcome, because it will be there and it will take you to exactly what I found when I typed the words what are the most pressing critical issues for owner-operators and for over-the-road drivers? The one that caught my attention was extremely long, but I think I could read most of it and still have time to talk about the issue. But I'll try and get through this as quickly as possible, but it is very powerful and this person took the time to type down what I think many of us think many of us realize that's going on in our lives. And he writes the biggest issue is a lack the government doesn't recognize us as a voting group. But I'll touch on a few he says. He goes on to mention government. The government doesn't recognize us as a voting group, so they put their collective boots on our necks at every possible turn.
Speaker 3:We're drug tested more often than others and possibly more than any other occupation, including police officers. We have the myriad of new regulations that go into effect every year that we're supposed to memorize to be proficient immediately. Police believe the Constitution doesn't apply to us. Everyday, trucks all across America are pulled over at random for a warrantless search. Imagine doing your job and all of a sudden there's a cop in your face going over everything and writing you tickets for something as simple as a typo. This is a fact of life for us.
Speaker 3:The problem is, with all these regulations comes no protections at all within the law. There is no minimum wage in this industry. We work a maximum of 70 hours per week, yet we're exempt from overtime benefits. There are no sick days. Companies are under no obligation to provide insurance, so a lot of us run afoul of ACA rules. The police are allowed to libel you without due process.
Speaker 3:We have something called CSA 2010 that assesses points against us for infractions, and I'm going to read a statement that a driver made about that CSA score here in a few moments. The problem is you get points for warning tickets which you can't dispute. Accidents, no matter whose fault, give the same point value on the CSA. So if someone runs a red light and it's completely the other driver's fault, I'll still have points assigned to my CSA. Plus, I'll be sent for drug testing immediately, even if I'm not suspected of being under the influence of a controlled substance or alcohol.
Speaker 3:The DOT regulations aren't even laws. They were never voted on in Congress. They're just directives set forth by the Secretary of Transportation. The Constitution guarantees equal protections under the law, but apparently not if you're driving a big ugly truck. Lastly, we are required by regulations to take a 10-hour DOT break after 11 hours of driving, or 14 hours of total on-duty time.
Speaker 3:The government will drop the hammer on us if we don't, even if it's just a few minutes, yet they don't feel any need to provide us with a place to park to take a break. And that brings me to the private businesses. And he goes on to say private businesses, like truck stops, rake us over the coals with highly inflated prices and a new trend is trying to force us to pay for parking After we've already paid a premium price for fuel and at least 25% more for common items in their stores, they still try to squeeze us for parking. Places like Walmart used to be an alternative for parking, but in a lot of places they have been towing or booting trucks. I understand nobody likes seeing us in parking lots, but the truck stops fill up quickly because they're building them smaller, by the way. That's a fact and if anybody can dispute that, I would like to see you try. They fill up quickly in busy markets, markets and there's no place else to get to. Often in times, it says, here in Troutville, virginia, there was a TA truck stop until recently, when the state took the property to build a new X ramp, they destroyed 150 parking spots but didn't replace them with parking anywhere else. 150 parking spots but didn't replace them with parking anywhere else. That truck stop was always packed because I-81 is a busy corridor and once you get past Virginia going northeast, the parking gets really scarce. Now there are a lot less spots and nobody even cares. I'm sure he's referring to the people that took down the truck stop.
Speaker 3:Now the public doesn't respect us and some downright, downright hate us. Getting cut off in it in traffic is the least of it. There are so many trucker stereotypes and none are flattering. Every time I meet someone new and they learn what I do for a living, I'm inundated with the. My uncle almost got run off the road by a trucker once stories. Sometimes I feel like people think I'm responsible for the actions of another individual and I'm guilty by association. Then, just last week, I see Bernie Sanders talking about getting trucks off the road.
Speaker 3:People don't stop and think that we're human beings with flaws and feelings, just like anyone else in the world. We don't stop and think that we're human beings with flaws and feelings, just like anyone else in the world. We get little to no respect and lots of hate. You'd think that, since cops get the same treatment, they would be a bit more sympathetic, but no, it's quite the opposite and I can honestly say it's probably because shit rolls downhill. So that's all I got to say about that. So it looks like when your boss gets his butt chewed out by the CEO, he'll go out and chew on the employees. And that's how we are when it comes to DOT officers. In some cases not all Iowa DOT does a pretty good job in my state to try and show everybody respect, but I'm sure they reach their limit, just like anybody else that has to do this job 24-7.
Speaker 3:He goes on to say I don't think the way we're treated is really intentional, but it doesn't matter. We get treated like dirt. Yet, god forbid, we quit delivering everything you've ever needed, from the seeds the farmers use to grow food, raw materials to finish goods. We make the economy work. We don't need a pat on the back for doing our job, just a little less friction and a little more consideration for being a human being. That would be nice. Maybe we could start by having the government list truck driving as a skilled occupation. The last time I checked, you didn't need a special operator's license to do unskilled labor and I think everything.
Speaker 3:This gentleman took a lot of time to put down his words carefully and to explain to us exactly what he meant by what he was saying. In this day and age. It's very refreshing because people speak in Garbleese instead of the normal English language. Now, what he was referring to on the CSA 2010,. A guy posted why is it not illegal? Is beyond me. We get points which cost us our livelihoods, yet we have no recourse or warnings when it happens. Here's a couple of examples to consider, and this is what he wrote down.
Speaker 3:If a cop inspects your truck, gives you a ticket for a burnout taillight let's say you fix it you have the same cop sign off the ticket. Then, after you're gone, when you have no recourse about it, he decides that your tire was low on air pressure. So he adds that to his CSA report. Now you have the points for it because he decided to add it and you have no notification of it at all. You have no power to refute it either. I had this happen to me. He said. He goes on to say I also got pulled over, and for this is exactly what happened. He said no exaggeration, my mud flap being too floppy he put up with at an intersection, waited until he he was finished, asked him hey, I happen to have more solid mud flap right here between my seats. Would you mind if I took the time to change it. Will you keep behind me for safety? His response was nah, you're okay, it's legal. I'm like what Guess what? I still got the CSA points for it. I have that confession from him on video dash cam, tried unsuccessfully to get the points removed. No dice. Remember, these are points that an employer sees and will not hire you if they are too high.
Speaker 3:Governmental punishment without recourse, without representation. How is that possible in America? Let me explain to you how that's possible. Did you know that the American people in the United States of America, whether they be legal or illegal, download more child porn than all other countries combined? How does that happen in America? Did you know that the vast majority of children that came into this country 325,000 that came into this country illegally were released to people that the government didn't even know? And now they're missing 320,000 missing children. Yeah, when you ask the government to do something, you know they're not going to be able to do a good job. They don't own a business, they don't have a dime to their name. They spend our money, not their money. They don't make anything that makes money. All they do is make rules, regulations and piss off everybody. Then they try in political groups to separate us and to hate each other so we don't pay attention to them.
Speaker 3:I've been trying to explain this to my brothers and sisters out there in trucking for the longest time. You know, the only ones that can put a stop to this is us, because if every single one of us, even 80% of us, did the right thing and just shut down and stopped, there wouldn't be a choice. Ladies and gentlemen, what are they going to do? Train new drivers? I would love to see three-week drivers driving up down the road and across the entire country trying to supply what we've been doing for years and years and years. It isn't going to happen at all. So I don't know what they could do. They couldn't do anything except listen to us, but the problem is we don't get along. We don't know what they could do. They couldn't do anything except listen to us, but the problem is we don't get along. We don't do what is right for each other. Therefore, how can we, how can the government do what's right for us, because they're not being forced to. As long as they can treat us the way they do and get away with it, they're going to continue doing it, and that includes bad companies, that includes bad brokers and that includes other bad drivers.
Speaker 3:If you want, check out Quora. It's a good idea. You can put in a question about trucking anything you want and chances are it may have the answer, and I'm sure there's other platforms you can go to as well. Now I wanted you guys to hear a Burt Reynolds interview he did several years ago Because I was. I was going through some old videos of mine and I found a smoking the bandit and especially that famous song Eastbound and down. Now that's a piano cover that I found on YouTube and I really like this version. It is pretty quick. But this interview that Burt Reynolds did several years ago was talking about the part where Sally Field was jumping over that wall and landed into that baseball or football game, but he said it was the scariest moment of his life. I don't want to ruin it for you, so check this out.
Speaker 2:I'll never forget there was a scene where the girl that doubles Sally she was the sweetheart of one of the stunt guys and she was very capable of you know, you could throw her off a building and do fight stuff with her. She was very handy. But handling the car that's a whole other thing. And she got in the car and if you watch the movie it's petrifying when you think about it. And then we go over the wall and we'd land in a little league baseball game and every kid's mother was there, of course Some of them's fathers. The whole grandstand was full of people. She's driving and she just panicked. I've never seen this happen before. We've stunned people, but it's seen it happen with actors.
Speaker 2:So you're in the car with the star. I'm riding with her so we could get a camera up close on the right side so you wouldn't know it wasn't Sally. Sally was watching and she just rammed it. I mean, we were full out flying and I saw kids in front of the car disappear and I was waiting for that.
Speaker 2:And we went right over them and they were just falling and mothers two mothers fainted and I don't blame them. And then we went through it all. We got out the other side and we went through like a half wall at the head of it and the girl was you know she was, I didn't need to yell at her or anything, she was beating herself up pretty good and they got her out of the car and I got out of the car and then I ran back and I spent the afternoon with mothers, you know, apologizing, and we all went to dinner. And you know, again, that's those Georgia people. They just said, well, it all came out all right. And the kids said, can we do that again? And the kids just loved it and we ducked down, the car went right over us.
Speaker 2:I mean, if you think about it, that would have been the end of my career for sure. I mean you can't do things like that and we should have had some kind of control. But we were just supposed to jump over. Kids have the game here. We go around the game and go through the wall. We went right through the middle of the game and it wasn't supposed to be that way.
Speaker 3:Now. It's interesting to listen to some of these stories coming from these stars. Now, of course, burt Reynolds has since passed away, which is sad, but if you guys own Smokey the Bandit, watch it again. It is a great movie. If you happen to not own it, you can download the streaming to buy it online for next to nothing. There's a place, an app, I use on my phone, called my Movies. Anytime I buy a movie, I download it to that and it's there in my life forever. Time I buy a movie, I download it to that and it's there in my life forever and it's also backed up on the my Movies app. So if I lose the phone, break the phone, replace the phone, I can download the app again and all my movies are there. A couple of trivia for you on Smoking the Bandit.
Speaker 3:Hal Needham asked Jerry Reed to write a theme song for the film. A couple hours later, reed presented Eastbound and Down to Needham with an acoustic guitar. Reed started to play it and Needham immediately stopped him, thinking Needham didn't like it. Reed offered to rewrite the song, to which Needham replied If you change one note, I will kill you. The song went on to become one of Reed's biggest hits. That's cool to know. I mean it is really interesting.
Speaker 3:And Jackie Gleason once said that his cafe scene with Burt Reynolds was not the original storyline. It was Gleason's idea and it wasn't originally supposed to be put in the movie but it was so good as Jackie Gleason was just a natural. Anyway, if you're, if you have never seen the Honeymooners and I know most of you folks probably haven't Google Honeymooners on YouTube and watch a couple episodes you are going to be amazed how funny Jackie Gleason has been his whole life. It says here most of Sheriff Buford T Justice's lines were improvised, probably because Jackie Gleason couldn't remember half of them to begin with. They said here that adding the Junior Justice character was Jackie Gleason's idea.
Speaker 3:I can't be in the car alone. Gleason said Put someone in there with me to play off of that. And that's exactly what they did. I mean it's amazing what they do when they make a movie. Beaufort T Justice was the name of a real Florida highway patrolman known to Burt Reynolds' father, who was once chief of police of Jupiter, florida.
Speaker 3:How amazing is that? I mean there's so many things about movies, so many things about life. You know you go on the internet all the time and how often do you dig deep, like in an album or in a movie about? You know different things that could have or shouldn't have happened in a movie but they left it in any way, or parts that they cut out. It is so amazing to read this stuff. I also do a video series and an audio series called Vinylbound V-I-N-Y-L-B-O-U-N-D dot com. All one word, and I talk about the albums from the 60s, 70s and 80s, because there are so many stories behind these albums. I just love it. Anyway, thank you guys for listening to my podcast over here at Roland18 Podcast. As always, be safe, god bless and keep it between the lines. Driver.
Speaker 1:Thank you for listening to Roland18 Podcast. Please visit Walter's podcast site at Roland18Podcastcom or his social media sites such as Instagram, facebook and TikTok. All links are in the description.