Rollin' 18 Podcast

Reviving Truck Stops: Celebrating Judy Love, Trucking Adventures, and Safety on the Road

Walter Gatlin

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What if the golden days of truck stops as vibrant community hubs could return, offering more than just a quick meal and a place to refuel? Join us as we explore this intriguing possibility while celebrating the life and legacy of Judy Love, the co-founder of Love's Travel Stops, whose commitment to quality and community shines brightly in the trucking world. Reflecting on warm memories from the road, we honor Judy's contributions and discuss the potential for a revival of truck stops as welcoming spaces, advocating for healthier meal options and a renewed sense of camaraderie among drivers.

Taking inspiration from a classic 1977 movie, we dive into the exhilarating world of long-haul trucking adventures, filled with challenges and clever tactics to outwit law enforcement. We also turn our focus to safety on the road, sharing essential strategies for truckers to protect themselves and others while maintaining efficiency. From mastering the art of avoiding blind spots to the importance of pre-checks and planning deliveries, these invaluable tips are designed to enhance safety and ensure successful journeys for all who share the road.


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Email me anytime with news, suggestions, and stories at rollin18podcast@gmail.com. God bless, be safe, and keep it between the lines drivers.

Speaker 1:

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 Gadlin.

Speaker 3:

Hello drivers, I hope you guys are having a great day out there. If you're not, I hope you're having a good day, and if you're not having a good day, well, I hope your day gets better. I do have some somber news to report. It is always sad when we lose an innovator. Judy Love, the co-founder of Love's Travel Stops, has died at the age of 87. Judy Love is the co-founder of Love's Travel Stops, died on Tuesday in Oklahoma City. Love founded the travel stop alongside her husband, tom, in 1964 with a $5,000 loan.

Speaker 3:

Now, do you know when people start a truck stop, not when somebody buys one already completed? You know, like some of these, do we know when they get really big and they get all over the nation? A lot of times they lose track of why they're there. They're there for us, but for the most part, when we go into a truck stop today, we just don't feel like we're being taken care of because they don't give out the type of service that they did years ago. I mean just about every truck stop you walked into before they had a full-blown restaurant. A driver could sit down, enjoy a breakfast, talk to a waitress or a waiter, talk to other truck drivers. They had truckers-only seating, all kinds of differences. Today it's just grab a bunch of grease and go and it's sad but when Judy and her husband started loves and and I have to say that loves is still probably one of the cleanest in the nation. So the rest of you I'm sorry you have to hear that, but that's my personal experience. Every time I go into a loves it's pretty darn clean and from what I hear, I've been off the road for four years. I drive for a farm now but I still put on a lot of miles and even though I don't shower at a truck, what I hear I've been off the road for four years. I drive for a farm now but I still put on a lot of miles and even though I don't shower at a truck stop, I hear from a lot of drivers and they say the showers are still pretty clean.

Speaker 3:

The company announced Love's death, remembering her. As a financial leader for the company. She served as the company's secretary and treasurer. The children said Our mother, judy Love, was the heart and soul of our family. The children said our mother, judy Love, was the heart and soul of our family. The Love family said in a statement she cared deeply for us and those who worked alongside her and her dad. Her tenacity, strength and focus will guide us forever. She taught us the importance of hard work, honesty and the joy of giving back. While we miss her dearly, her spirit will live on through the countless lives she's taught.

Speaker 3:

Love's is a great truck stop, but I don't like the way truck stops are going. People still have to live in their trucks for a long period of time a week, two weeks, three weeks, some, some as many as 10 weeks, maybe even more and we need a place to call home, and that's what a truck stop used to be. But unfortunately it's no longer like that. And I wish a place to call home, and that's what a truck stop used to be, but unfortunately it's no longer like that. And I wish a lot of you younger drivers, you newer drivers, could have experienced that, because it is one thing that just it brought up the camaraderie, it brought out the friendliness in drivers. They got a chance to get away from the steering wheel and talk with other human beings and enjoy life Back when we used the CBs and the pay phones on the wall and called our wives and husbands and talked to the children and all that good stuff.

Speaker 3:

It was just a lot different back then, and I know things have to change. I'm a boomer, but I'm an ever-evolving boomer, so I know things change. I'm a boomer, but I'm an ever-evolving boomer, so I know things change. But there is a way that we could at least revert back to the things in the past that actually work, and restaurants is one of them, and I wish with all my heart that truck stops would start bringing back the restaurant, because this fast food and this grease frying and this fake food and everything, it's just killing us. It really is. And if there's somebody out there listening that has money to invest, you know, try and invest in some trucker restaurants. You know, at the truck stops, try and get rid of those fast food places because they really suck and they're just getting worse. I don't know why, but we need some home food choices. We need some choices that would make us feel better and I think as an industry we would get along better if we ate better. So I'm sorry that Judy had to leave, but she was 87, so that's a good life. She has a wonderful family, wonderful friends and she started a company she can be proud of because, as of this moment, loves is still the cleanest. I believe Loves, for the most part, has the best people. I imagine the company takes care of their employees.

Speaker 3:

Today I want to talk a little bit about safety, because today is not the days of Smokey and the Bandit. That's right. Safety is very serious and I know a lot of companies take it seriously. But on the underside of things, sometimes you know they'll alleviate that safety just to get the job done, and that's something that you drivers need to know you never need to do. Now I'm going to give you the top 10 reasons that I feel that safety is important, the top 10 reasons, the top 10 things you can do to prevent truck accidents.

Speaker 3:

But first I want to give you a little insight of what we went through when I started driving in 84. It was all about get the job done. Okay, doesn't matter, if you didn't get the job done, you better be in a casket. That was pretty much the thought of the day, and doing that sort of risky business is not good for anybody. Of course. You know I like to play Smokey and the Bandit clips. I've got one for you here when the Bandit first talks to his partner about doing a 1,800-mile round trip in 28 hours.

Speaker 2:

You mean to tell me we're going to drive from here to Texarkana, Texas, and back to here in 28 hours. It's only 900 miles there, 900 miles back. Well, for your information, that ain't never been done, not in no rig. That's because you and I ain't never done it in no rig. You've got to stop thinking so negative, son. Of course we can make it. We ain't never not made it yet, have we?

Speaker 3:

No, you see Now. The one thing they had to figure out was how to outrun the cops.

Speaker 2:

Well, god, almighty, would you look at that Beautiful huh, honey hush. Well, I don't guess we're going to be riding in a truck together this time, are we? Oh, no, son, no son, I'll be driving this one. Hey, blocker, blocker, you'll be driving the truck. This is bandit one, and is uh, bandit two together again, oh, yeah, like uh, fred and ginger and lester and earl, that's right, but we got a problem. What's that now? You know them smokies. They got them cbs in their car. Now, you know that. I know that. I know I haven't worked that out yet, but I'm thinking about it. Hey, you got an idea, I got an idea. Yeah, why don't we do this? If I say go to channel 21, forget it, we ain't going to 21. 21 is 19?

Speaker 3:

21 is 19.

Speaker 2:

All right if I say go to channel 6, forget it, we go to 3. I don't go to 6. I go to 3. Go to 3. Perfect, if I say go to channel 2, we're going to go to channel 1. 2 is 1. See, that'll confuse everybody.

Speaker 3:

That'll confuse them. Now there's still people that do it. You know, I've been known to do it too. I've been overweight and I just go around the scale and mind my own business. But I'm not on the type of time limit they were on during that movie. And when that movie was made in 1977, it was all about getting the load there. Period, no ifs, no ands, no buts. You made the customer happy or you were dead meat. Now, how to prevent a truck accident from motors.

Speaker 3:

My biggest thing about driving truck is distance. Always allow more space when following another truck or a car, and especially when you're following another truck, because a larger vehicle limits your visibility of what's ahead and a lot of people say well, you don't want to follow a car too closely because you know they can stop really quick. Understandable, stay back at the legal distance of a car, but with a truck, another truck ahead of you, you can't see hardly anything if you're up on their butt end and you know that to be true. By leaving plenty of space between your vehicle and the truck in front of you, you have more opportunity to react If you see to make a sudden stop or to swerve or anything like that, you can definitely see much better. We know what it's like. Even your half a truck length behind another truck, your visibility is cut by a large percentage. Don't do that. Always leave space when passing in front of a truck. You know. Don't think just because they flash their lights you can come over. You got 10, 20, 30 feet. That ain't good, because if you make that lane change and all of a sudden something happens in front of you, the guy behind you is screwed and he's going to plow into you. Happens in front of you, the guy behind you is screwed and he's going to plow into you. That's just all there is to it.

Speaker 3:

Stay out of a truck's blind spot. You know you're in a truck and you want to stay out of the blind spot just as much as a four-wheeler does. So you know that's. The one thing that everybody takes advantage of is the blind spots, and whether you're in a car or a truck, that blind spot could be a bad thing. You want to know what's happening all the way around you. You know how these four-wheelers are. They get out there and they get between. You know they get behind two trucks one in the left lane, one in the right lane and there's a third lane to the right and all of a sudden they want to pass on the right. Well, next thing you know you can't see that because that car goes right up into your blind spot.

Speaker 3:

Be careful when you pull over the highway and this is the mistake a lot of rookies are making, and I don't mean to be critical, but I'm going to say it anyway. When you're on that shoulder and you turn your flashers on, you either put your triangles out or you don't park on that shoulder. That is not a place for you to be at any time this day and age. Years ago it used used to be okay. There was 80 million less vehicles on the road. Today, not so much you want to make.

Speaker 3:

If you got to pull over to piss, you got to pull over to walk the dog. You got to pull over to check a blown tire. Hit the next exit. Get on the shoulder on the exit. That is your best, safest alternative. And when, if you do pull over on the shoulder which is not recommended and you do decide to take a piss and you get back in the truck, do not get back in that lane.

Speaker 3:

When you first start off in first, second, third gear. Don't do it, it's stupid. Turn your flashers on and gradually get up to speed on the shoulder. Let people know you're coming and then start merging over. Get up to 30 40 miles an hour. If you've got room, get Get over in that lane safely. Don't just jump in that lane at an almost complete stop. You're going to end up killing somebody. Now use caution if you're turning, a truck needs more clearance to turn and of course you know this than a car. In addition, the driver has less visibility. So if you're getting ready to make a turn and you want to lean to the left with that truck so you can have more room to swing to the right, always check your mirrors. If you've got a car right on your bumper, that car is going to take the risk. Sometimes that car is going to take the risk to go ahead and pass you on the right thinking you're making a lane change even with your blinker on, because a lot of them do not pay attention to that stuff.

Speaker 3:

Drive at illegal and responsible speed. I keep telling everybody I've done test after test after test and a few seconds is all you're going to save maybe a minute or two if you go exceedingly over the speed limit. It's not like the old days, you know. We can get out on the open road and chicken haul, you know, 80, 90 miles an hour. You could see for miles and miles and miles. Weather was good, all that good stuff. A speed limit is just that. It's not a suggestion.

Speaker 3:

And when you're in the city I drive, drive slower, a little bit slower than the speed limit, because I don't want to get caught up in all this left lane, right lane, changing bs. A lot of cities are not allowed in the left lane. If I'm in Des Moines, I will get all the way in the far left lane and do the speed limit and I don't give a crap what anybody says. I'm going to do the speed limit and I'm going to stay there because that is the lane that gets the least amount of lane changes. Okay, now, if it's real heavy in traffic and things are going a little bit moderately, I will get in the lane next to the far left lane just to make things a little bit easier for people. But for the most part, the only people that want to be in the left lanes are the four wheelers and they want to speed 10, 20, 30 miles an hour over the speed limit Too freaking bad. I'm here to do a job, I'm getting paid to do a job and I'm going to do my job to the safest of my ability. And if that pisses them off, that's just too bad.

Speaker 3:

Connected with the customer. We hear about fatal truck accidents happening mostly on highways, but every truck needs to exit a highway to get to the warehouse, retailer or deliverer destination. Sometimes the local roads can be just as tricky to navigate. Contact your customer. If you've never been there, find out. You know GPS isn't, you know it isn't 100% predictable, you know. Contact your customer, find out if there's any weird situations at their exit. Say, hey, is there something I need to know about? When I make you know, get off that interstate and go to your place. Is there something that you can, you know, help me avoid? And they will definitely tell you, because they drive to their job every single day. They'll know if there's any differences. That's going to freak you out or cause you to pause and everything. When you get there you're like, oh yeah, they told me this was going to happen and boom, you are ready for it. Hey, it'll take an extra minute or two to call them up front, but it will save you the hassle and potential danger when you arrive for anything unexpected that you're not used to Conduct a pre-check similar to planning your route.

Speaker 3:

You should plan your delivery if you're pulling into a rear of a crowded shopping area or any other populated space. Know that passenger cars might take shortcuts in places where they don't belong and that that we go right back to four-wheelers once again. You know being impatient. If you have a spotter, rely on that. If you are a solo driver and you get to a place that you have to blindside back and you don't feel comfortable with it, don't feel bad about that. Go inside the Lowe's or the Menards or wherever you're delivering, the Walmart, wherever you got to deliver. Hey say hey. You know, can somebody keep an eye on my pastor mirror? Stay in my mirror so that I know I'm not going to run over something, because that's the safest way to do things.

Speaker 3:

So follow the rules about driving hours. I know it's a pain in the butt because sometimes you go to bed, you're not tired, you have to go to bed, you're not tired, and here's what I do in that case. When I started legally driving, you know, instead of finagling the logbook and stuff, and now most people have to do it legally because of the ELDs. But what I did was, if I needed to sleep an extra couple hours, I did it. I didn't care. I would call dispatch and say look, I know I've been off 10 hours, but I'm dead tired. I couldn't sleep. For the first five hours I laid my head down. So tell them that's just the way it is. If they don't like it, then they're going to have to reschedule or do something, but it's better than dying on the road. Never, ever, ever, under any circumstances, drive under the influence of alcohol or drugs.

Speaker 3:

I know a lot of states are legalizing weed. I know a lot of people agree that it's a good thing. Well, it ain't never good when it comes to a semi, and unless you want to wake up in prison someday and go to prison for 20, 30 years because you killed a family of four, I don't think you want to be smoking on the road anyway. Always stay focused. If you can't stay focused, find a place to pull off and do whatever it is to get back into focus. That's all there is to it. No life is worth losing because you can't focus. So the one thing you need to do is just stay focused and if you can't stay focused, get off the road, go buy a soda pop or a coffee or whatever. Think about what it is you need to think about and then, when you come up with the conclusion of your thoughts, then go ahead and remind yourself that when you get back in that truck it needs to be 100% driving that rig, know what you're hauling. That is very important. We had a vehicle on the 17th of last month in Des Moines going 35 southbound, getting on the 80 eastbound ramp and it's a cloverleaf type ramp and obviously he didn't realize that the load in the back half of that trailer was really high, because that's the first thing that went over and it dragged the rest of that truck and trailer onto its sides. Doesn't look like he was going too fast, but he still may have been going a little bit more fast than he should have been on that exit.

Speaker 3:

The common sense to know what's in the truck you're driving is you know, let's say you're an independent contractor or you work through an employment agency. You might drive for different companies every day. However, it's crucial that you know what to do if there's an emergency and you've got a truck full of, let's say, hazardous materials, materials that can cause a serious problem. Anytime you haul something that's going to make a really bad adverse effect on the road, if you happen to crash, you need to realize that you need to be double safe on that road so that you don't have an accident. You know, because certain chemicals, certain explosives, certain things like that, you do not want to have any problems with that load. You also want to check your load to make sure it's not too high and too heavy on top, because that's important as well. Some accidents are just that they're accidents. They're going to happen no matter what you do.

Speaker 3:

You can't prevent everything and even the most cautious driver gets into scrapes sometimes. My brother just had an incident two years ago when he came too close to the awning on an exit from a receiver and he caught the gutter system and he stopped immediately. But it did a little bit of damage and it just happens. You know you just get a little too close. It's crucial that you know what you're doing and if you're concerned and you can't see past the, you know the the glass of your vehicle, stop, stop the truck. I don't care if there's 10 trucks behind you, get down, look, it doesn't hurt anything. But reviewing the tips for truck accident prevention and always using common sense and careful driving techniques, you can hopefully avoid a deadly collision. That's the main thing. You want to make it home alive. You want to make it home alive to your family.

Speaker 3:

If you do experience a truck accident, there is help. The legal circumstances around a truck accident can be confusing and hard to navigate, so a personal injury lawyer can help Consider using, you know, google and Google. Get on the internet and find out who would be the best, because the minute you, as a truck, get into an accident, the vehicle drivers are going to go get an attorney, and most attorneys hate truck drivers. Just remember that. Appreciate you guys listening to my Roland 18 podcast. Check out the links down below in the description. It'll take you to my Instagram, facebook, things like that, and you guys can check out what I do there too. Some of it's pretty funny. Anyway, god bless, be safe and, as always, keep it between the lines. Driver.

Speaker 1:

Thank you for listening to Roland 18 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.