00:08 Welcome to Six-Figure Trucker, the podcast where we share advice on how to be successful in trucking and have fun while doing so. We’ll share stories, news, and advice on how to earn six figures in trucking, and we’ll speak to guys and gals that are already doing so. Let’s get to the show.

00:30 Hello everyone and welcome to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. This is a venue where we lift up the truck driver he and she that go across this country delivering goods and services to all of the people who need them. And here at Norton Transport in the world of driveaway, we provide the trucks that move the freight. And joining us this evening is Brandon Leigh. And Brandon is of course we’ve got a many really good drivers here at Norton Transport. Brandon certainly one of them and he’s also one of the coolest cucumbers. He’s as cool as the other side of the pillow as they used to say on ESPN there. Brandon joins us now. Brandon, you’re in a little bit of a pickle. We just heard there. Tell us what’s going on with where you are now.

01:14 Well, I was headed down 95 heading to cross over into Florida and I guess three semi-trucks rolled over and caught on fire. So, it’s been a big mess. Been in an hour of waiting to get out of it. They had us turn around and go back up 95 to get off the expressway. Now, we’re headed to a detour now. So—

01:37 Gotcha. Now, Brandon is on his headsets now as he’s talking to us. So, you’re in the middle of this as it’s unfolding.

01:44 Yep.

01:45 How long have you been stuck in it? I think you said it was what, about an hour ago? Yeah, it’s been about an hour and 20 minutes I’ve been stuck in this big old mess.

01:54 That’s the only way you can put it. One big mess. And are you running parallel to I-95 or how have they rerouted you?

02:02 Yeah, they put us on a road that runs parallel. I think we’re going to detour around the crash there and then get back on the expressway further down the road.

02:10 And we know this going in. You and I do because we know the unit you’re in. You’re not exactly in a nimble vehicle right now.

02:19 No, not at all. Actually, that was one of my biggest concerns with this. I had to the cop was asking me you know, if I was going to sit down there and wait and you know, in the CNG, you can’t really just sit, you know, there’s not too many stations around. So—

02:33 Right—

02:34 You kind of got to hurry up and figure something out because if you sit anywhere for, you know, too long, you can run out of fuel and—

02:42 Yeah, it can be bad. It can be really bad because—

02:45 When they’re spaced out, the stations are there’s some miles between them. When did you last top off?

02:51 Well, I topped off last night before I had to do my reset. So, it was about an hour. Well, I probably drove after I fueled. I probably drove about maybe 30 minutes or so before I stopped to do my reset last night. And then, but the drive today, it was about an hour. So, I’m about an hour and a half in on like running time on the fuel. So, probably got about maybe 50 miles on it.

03:20 Got about 50 on it. And I think on those diesel gallon equivalent tanks that you have on those you’re in an Autocar Xpeditor. Is that right? Green and yellow.

03:31 Yes.

03:32 Yeah. I think those are 90-gallon tanks and maybe 105s, but what’s the range that you’ve seen on those? They should be around I mean playing it conservatively about 300 miles per fill up.

03:46 Yep. Yep. That’s about all you get on these.

03:49 That’s what you’re looking at there. So, how far away from your next station are you? I guess I get I’m thinking it was somewhere around St. Augustine.

03:59 Yep. Around St. Augustine. I got about 115 miles left to go. An hour and about two hours with all this traffic. So looking at a little ways here. It’s going to be a close one.

04:14 Well, you know, we’re certainly pulling for you here at Norton Transport. You’re listening to Brandon Leigh here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, let’s talk a little bit more about CNG and the way it requires some planning and you and I know you went through an a major transport. We’ll hold that for a second. We’ll get back to it in just a second, but talk about the planning when you’re doing CNG. Obviously, there are the fuel savings because—

04:44 Generally speaking, CNG’s marginally cheaper than diesel. There’s the fuel savings, but it comes with some time investment.

04:52 Oh, yeah, it does. It does. And in fact, in some places, it isn’t as cheap as you would expect it be expected to be, you know.

05:02 Yeah, it is. It’s up and down. Yeah.

05:05 Oh, yeah. Oh yeah, most places you can get it around like $2.70 usually, but you get to some of these places on the west side of the country, they’re kind of high.

05:17 Sometimes you run into about $4 some change, $5 sometimes.

05:22 So you’re getting close to diesel prices out in California there.

05:25 Oh, believe it or not. Yeah, it gets pretty crazy. But with the planning and everything, whenever you do these trips, you really have to plan because from truck to truck, it’s totally different with the fuel mileage. So, some of them you’ll get in them and they’re you know, like a semi, they’ll go some of them will go 1,200 miles, some of them will go 800 miles. And with these garbage trucks, you know, with the last one that I drove to Washington, that one went it was about 360 miles, 360 miles.

05:57 Mhm. And then this one is completely different. So when you’re planning, you have to you just kind of have to find all of the stations that are, you know, close by and keep them all in mind when you’re driving because when you first get in them, you need to monitor how fast they’re burning—

06:16 Right? The consumption is very important. And do you use the alternative fuels app and the clean energy app?

06:24 Yep, I have downloaded that. I utilize that.

06:28 How helpful is it as far as planning your trip, your next stop and that kind of thing.

06:34 Oh, it’s very helpful. Usually what I do is before I take, you know, before I do the run or anything like that, I look at the route that I’m going to take from state to state and city to city. I just type in the, you know, the city that I’m going to be in and it’ll pop up all the locations for that’ll accept the car that we have and everything. It makes it really easy.

07:00 Now, are you talking about on diesel and CNG or just CNG?

07:04 That’s with CNG.

07:05 Right. Right. Right.

07:06 That’s with CNG. Now, we kind of alluded to it earlier, but I’m sure you knew that when we were going to talk on the podcast here, the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport, that this trip would come up, the one you took. It was a marathon, a monster transport. Tell us about the one you did. I think it was over the Thanksgiving holidays, was it not?

07:30 Yes, it was.

07:31 That was a monster.

07:32 Started off.

07:34 Yeah. I mean, I think it was actually better that I did do it that I did start it over Thanksgiving holiday because so many people were in. It was a real good job real good drive for the first couple days, you know, getting out of you know, those busier areas. So, I mean, it wasn’t too bad driving over Thanksgiving. I think it was a to me it was kind of a good deal. It was a small sacrifice, but it was a better idea as far as like traffic.

08:02 Yeah. Less cars on the road there. For everybody that hears this tonight on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport, lay out the vehicle you were in, how far it was, and what you may have run into along the way.

08:15 Okay. Well, I was in was a Peterbilt garbage truck, natural gas vehicle, and started off I left out of Georgia, filled up in Georgia. And well, originally when I left Georgia, I didn’t really realize that how fast fuel was burning. So, I got about 40 miles away and then I saw how fast it was burning. I turned around and went back to Georgia, Ringgold and filled up there. Then turned back around and started heading back towards, you know, towards the west side of the state, right, through New Mexico. And—

08:54 I’m glad you said that because I had looked in our system and I was like, hm, this is odd, but now I know, now I know what you’re talking about. So yeah, we had put the Ringgold station on there as a good starting point, although it’s a little bit—

09:14 Out of the direction you were going. You were going west and then I think your next stop would have been Athens, Alabama. Is that right?

09:23 I think— Yeah, it was. It was. And by the time I made it, you know, about 40 miles out, I saw that it had already made it to half a tank. And I was like, “Oh, yeah. No, this isn’t going to work.” You know, I just went on and turned it back around. I was like, “No, before anything happens, I’m going to turn it around and get this thing filled up.” You know, you know, like I said, that was my first time, you know, with a garbage truck, a CNG garbage truck. So, not knowing the range on them, things like that. You know—

09:55 I got to tell you, for everyone listening out there that’s considering driveaway as a mean as a means of making an income and what you just heard from Brandon was very smart, very smart move. You got to think on your feet, particularly with CNG by making that turn going back and topping off the PSI on his tanks. That was a very smart move for the type of transport he was making. And what prompted you to do that? Was it just common sense, gut instinct, prior planning? What made you turn back and top off?

10:30 Well, well, with every vehicle that I drive, I pay very very close attention because, you know, with our pay and everything, you know, fuel mileage is everything. So, that’s something that you want to pay attention to with every vehicle. That’s like my main focus, like how much consumption, what’s the MPG on every vehicle that I drive. So, when you look at when you have a when you’re looking at distance on the GPS, you know, you see you have about 200 miles to go. And if I’ve only went 30 miles and, you know, you drop a quarter of fuel, you’re like, “Okay, yeah, that’s quite a bit, you know, right?”

11:11 So, that’s the type of thing that I pay attention to. I just I pay close attention to, you know, how much fuel is burning. Gotcha.

11:18 It’s just a great way to keep track of everything for yourself, you know. You’re listening to Brandon Leigh here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now Brandon is talking about a trip that he made from Fort Payne, Alabama to Bellevue, Washington. Now the most direct route is about 2500 miles, but that’s going diagonally across the country. But when you get to Idaho, there is no compressed natural gas after the southern point of Idaho. So, we had to route Brandon due west, southwest, and then due north once he got to California. And Brandon, correct me if I’m mistaken, but from what I last saw, you traveled about 3,180 miles in a Peterbilt garbage truck. Is that correct?

12:11 Yes, sir.

12:12 What was that like? I think you was it five or six days? It ended up taking me around six days of driving seven days on the road just because of having to do a reset 34-hour reset in between driving all the way there. So, it was definitely an experience.

12:36 And you know, we both know it was a new truck, but how comfortable was it? I mean, you’re obviously sitting upright in that truck and there’s not a lot of room. We saw the inside of the cab of that truck. Not a whole lot of room to stretch out, per se.

12:53 No, there was actually there was no room in there. There’s really no room for your legs or anything. And there’s no room, you know, really even for your for to rest your arm.

13:03 How tall of a guy are you?

13:04 I’m only 5’7—

13:06 Right? So—

13:08 So it wasn’t too bad as far as getting cramped up, but you know, you’re not going to stretch out in that.

13:13 No. Yeah. And I mean, even for me, I could bump my legs on the on part of the dash that would hang out. It was really a very uncomfortable ride. And most people I’m not sure if most people know, but most all these garbage trucks, they have the stiffest suspension.

13:31 So, riding on those things are riding in these things are like being on a roller coaster. If you go over a bump at 60 miles an hour, you better have on your seat belt.

13:41 Yeah, I bet.

13:43 I bet. And as far as the this we were talking about the fuel consumption and the range on these CNG tanks. Let’s talk about the speed. Obviously, there’s a correlation between how obviously if you put your foot through the floor, you’re going to see that CNG drop considerably, but these trucks—

14:03 What do you 58 to 62? That’s about max on them, isn’t it?

14:07 Yeah. From what I’ve seen, the max is 60 miles an hour on the garbage trucks. So—

14:14 I mean, it’s a garbage truck. That’s about what you would expect, I guess. But—

14:18 We know you made that trip. You made it successfully and we were very thankful for that to make a 3,180 mile junket in a garbage truck and you came back for more. It’s like I guess it was worth it in the end.

14:35 Yeah, it was worth it. It would have been a lot better if I would have done my reset, my 34-hour reset just before the trip. But every this everything I’ve noticed, everything that I’ve learned in this business is that if you plan well, nothing’s really too bad, you know. It just takes really good planning, you know.

14:58 Well, Brandon, I got to tell you, every driver we’ve had on this podcast has said the same thing about planning. Obviously, it’s kind of like a I don’t know if this is a really good analogy, but it’s like a fine wine. Gets better with time and the more you do it, the better you get at it. Is that what you’re seeing?

15:18 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely. You start to learn a lot about from vehicle to vehicle what it takes for each one to make it any amount of distance that you know, whatever is planned for that truck. You learn how much fuel it’ll take, how much you’re going to need for this, how much you’ll need for that. It just planning is everything and it makes the job a whole lot easier. You know, one day of not planning, just leaving your home and just going to work, you could cost yourself so much money just by just without planning, you know, and that’s really what makes this job.

16:02 You know, we talked to another driver and he was kind of speaking to what you were talking about here on the podcast and he goes, you know, some people play checkers, some play chess. I mean, when you’re a driver, when you’re an independent contractor and you’re in driveaway, if you play chess, you’re going to see the re the rewards much more so than those that just jump in the truck without a plan.

16:23 Yep. That’s definitely true. Yeah, it’s planning is really everything.

16:28 How much time would you say you invest in planning before you actually put the keys in the ignition? Well, when I look at when I’m looking at the load board before I take a trip, I start there. You know, I got to figure out where the load is, how hard is it to get to. So, that’s the first bit of it. Then you want to plan what’s the fuel prices in that area—

16:54 You know, how much does that cost? You know, what are you going to spend in fuel? Then you need to figure out what time these places open, what time these places close, you know? And how long of a distance, you know, how long are you going to take to do the trip? Because then you got to figure out where you going to stay—

17:16 Right?

17:16 You know, things like that. And then when you figure out where you want to stay, you have to figure out the best place at the cheapest price because you don’t want to spend a ton of money.

17:27 It’s like, you know, when you figure out where you’re going to stay, you got to figure out where you’re going to stay.

17:32 Yeah.

17:33 Exactly. I mean it I would say it takes me every bit of like for each trip probably about maybe three hours of planning complete planning trying to get really a good system down because you have to plan your flights too and you all of this has to do around your DOT hours. So I mean it’s a lot of planning and then you want to be home by a certain time you know say you have something to do.

18:01 Sure. So, and in between there, you have a 10-hour reset depending on how long the trip is—

18:07 Right?

18:07 And some scenarios, you get into a truck like this and it only goes 60 miles an hour.

18:14 You get into a truck like that, it only goes 60 and then there’s a three truck accident with a fire involved and you just don’t I mean, you never really know what’s going to happen, but a big but here for a three-letter word.

18:28 The planning pays off.

18:30 Oh, yeah. Definitely does. Yeah.

18:33 Now, Brandon, how long have you been doing this?

18:36 Well, I just started four months ago.

18:39 Wow. I would have thought much longer. I would have thought much longer with the courageous runs you’ve made—

18:46 And the adventurous runs you’ve made. Well, you’ve jumped in with both feet. That’s a admirable trait.

18:53 Yep. I actually I really love doing what I do. I love being on the road. I love seeing new things, you know. That drive to Washington, I mean that was I want to say one of the most beautifulest drives I’ve ever done. You know, the things you see going through California up to Oregon in Washington. It’s amazing—

19:14 In that drive. I mean, it’s not like you were in a convertible going over the Golden Gate Bridge in your drive there. You’re in—

19:24 You’re in a massive garbage truck. But you could still take in the beauty. What stuck out to you the most? I mean, you were talking about Oregon going through Northern California there. What really left an image or an impression in your mind?

19:39 Oh, the beautiful mountains. When you going through there, there’s so many national parks and stuff like that. I mean, you can only see the outside of them, but just to drive is, you know, to see those trees and see the mountains and the drop offs. It’s really just something to see.

19:56 Gotcha. Well, you were able to see some great scenery, some great sites along the way there, but where is home base for Brandon?

20:04 Around Tampa, Florida. I’m originally from Chicago. Just moved to Tampa.

20:10 How long ago was it that you moved from Chicago to Tampa?

20:14 That was about 6 months ago. So, you had your last winter in Chicago last year, and now you’re going to have your first winter in South Florida or Central South Florida.

20:26 Yep.

20:28 I bet you’re looking forward to that.

20:30 Oh, man. I love it. I love every minute of it. So far, we’ve been having 70° weather so far.

20:37 Yeah, you can’t beat that. But not to diminish Chicago. Been up there a couple times. I want to get your impression on Chicago as a place to live. Great city except for, as they call it, the Windy City. How did you deal with it, the weather there in Chicago?

20:55 Well, I was born there, so personally, I never liked it. I’ve been wanting to leave Chicago, you know, since I was younger. My aunt brought me down to Florida. I just couldn’t get my mind off it since I left. So, you know, just the cold weather and the ice and snow and you know before this, I was a diesel mechanic.

21:16 Okay.

21:16 And I would be working outside a lot, you know.

21:21 You work for Amazon, right? Diesel mechanic for Amazon.

21:25 Yep. I work for Amazon and I work for a Freightliner dealership.

21:29 So, you’re no stranger to the big trucks.

21:32 Oh, no. No, not at all. How much does that help you driving these trucks knowing the mechanics, the guts of the truck? I mean, you know, some people may see a sense of panic if something happens on the road, but I’m guessing for Brandon Leigh, that’s not the scenario because you kind of have a good understanding of what’s going on.

21:54 Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah. It helps out. It helps out a lot. You know, I’ve actually had a few trucks that had like small issues. I once picked up a truck out of Fayette, Alabama, and the sensor for the coolant was hanging out of it. And I saw the check engine light on, and I’m like, it’s probably going to be only a couple things. So, I just did my regular checks, took a look, popped the hood, and took a look around, and I saw that the coolant level sensor was hanging out of the bottom of the reservoir. So, easy fix. And—

22:28 You just fixed it yourself, right? Yeah, because so many things could take you, you know, three hours for somebody to come.

22:36 Oh, yeah. And it gets—

22:37 Something so small.

22:38 And it gets so incredibly expensive for something so small when you were able to fix it with your two hands.

22:44 Yeah.

22:46 Hey, we thank you. We thank you for that, too. I mean— Yeah. And it goes a long ways. I mean, in the whole course of the transport. We certainly thank you for that. Wanted to ask you now what moved you to Tampa? Was it something particular or just saying, “Hey, I like this place.”

23:06 Well, well, nothing really particular. I have a family down there. I have an aunt down there and a cousin that lives there. And before I would go down there, you know, in the summertime sometimes to visit my aunt. And I don’t know, I really love the palm trees and the sunshine and, you know, everything like that. So, I just made the move as soon as I figured out what I really wanted to do because, you know, moving across the country, that’s kind of a big deal, you know.

23:37 Oh, absolutely.

23:38 Your whole family, you know, you got most of your family in one place and I moved all the way down to Florida by myself. So, it was just something I really wanted to do and I thought about it for many, many years before I actually did it. And I was never too sure about it. You know, even that from the moment that I left, I wasn’t too sure about it. And then when I got down there and, you know, got my house and everything, I realized that I was it was probably one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

24:06 Now, how close to the water are you?

24:08 Oh, I’m about probably about maybe 10 blocks away from—

24:12 Oh, man. You’re living large there.

24:15 Mhm. Yeah.

24:16 So, on a good day, if you wanted to, you could walk to the beach or to the bay.

24:21 Oh, yeah. Mhm.

24:23 Now, are you closest to the bay or the beach?

24:25 There’s beaches and bays around me. But I’m pretty close to both of them. They’re all spaced out like right along cuz I live off of I’m not sure if you’re familiar with Florida area, but I’m like I’m right off of 19.

24:43 Yeah. And—

24:44 There’s a place down there in Tampa Pass-a-Grille Beach. I don’t know if you’ve been down there. It’s a great beach.

24:52 I haven’t been there yet.

24:53 Yeah, it’s a great public beach right down there. One of my favorite beaches to hang out at. And of course, if you’ve had a much time in Tampa, I’m trying to think of the name of it. It’s escaping me now. Wait a minute. Wait a minute. The Cuban district. It’s what’s the name of the Cuban district down there?

25:14 Ybor City. Ybor City. Just came in.

25:16 Oh, okay. Ybor City. Yep.

25:18 Have you been down to Ybor City? Oh yeah, that was actually my one of my first experiences in Florida. Yeah, Ybor City is a real good time. There’s a lot of stuff going a lot of stuff that happens down there. They a lot of clubs and bars and things like that down there. It’s a nice place.

25:39 It’s got a cool feel to it.

25:41 Yeah. Only at night it gets, you know, a little sketchy, but—

25:46 I got you.

25:47 Other than that, other than that, it’s a real cool place to go.

25:53 I got you. Now, Ybor City is known obviously for the Cuban culture and the cigars down there. Are you a cigar guy?

26:02 No, I’m not. No, I’m not. I did I didn’t even know about that. Well, if you’ve been to Ybor City, you probably learned pretty quickly since in the main strip down there, just about every other shop is a cigar shop.

26:15 Yeah.

26:16 So, let’s see. As far as your transport tonight you’re in a little bit of a unexpected slowdown now, but you’re hoping to make it down to Medley, Florida soon.

26:28 Yes. I got about an hour until my next fill up, and then I think I should have maybe another three hours to go. Three and a half hours to go after that. So, I’m hoping to make it tonight. I think it’ll I think I should be able to make it.

26:43 Well, that’s going to be a pretty good transport from you. And it’s obvious when you put the pieces of the puzzle together that you thought this one out going down to Medley, Miami, and you can shoot back over to Tampa. Is that the plan?

26:56 Yep, that’s the plan. Usually with trips like this, whenever I have something going to Florida, I’ll have you know, maybe my girlfriend come and she’ll pick me up and either city, you know, wherever I’m at in Florida, she’ll just drive there and pick me up. So, that’s the nice thing about, you know, getting loads going back to going back home. So—

27:16 That’s a good girlfriend there, too.

27:18 Yeah. Amazing. Never complains about it either.

27:22 That’s a really good girlfriend there, too. I mean that cuts down on your expenses and increases your profit if you’ve got somebody significant in your life coming to pick you up there.

27:33 Yeah, it’s very very very helpful. She comes— She will pick me up anywhere. I mean she’s even had to come and get me from Tennessee before. I mean—

27:43 Coming from Florida.

27:45 Yep. Coming from Florida.

27:46 Oh wow.

27:48 Now did you meet her once you moved down to Florida 6 months ago or did you know her before? I did meet her then when I moved down to Florida.

27:57 So, it’s obviously going well.

27:59 Yeah. Going really good. Going really good.

28:02 Well, fantastic. Fantastic. Now, you said that you made the decision to move on your own down to Florida. Had some relatives down there. Do you have a family of your own?

28:12 No, not single anymore, but no, I don’t have any kids. Actually, birthday is Saturday, as a matter of fact, tomorrow. So, yeah. No kids, no family or anything. Just me.

28:25 Gotcha. Now, you said the birthday. Whose birthday is tomorrow?

28:28 Mine.

28:29 Oh, your birthday tomorrow. Happy birthday, Brandon. I thought you were saying it was your girlfriend’s birthday tomorrow, but happy birthday to you.

28:36 Thank you. Thank you.

28:38 Fantastic. So, you’re going to spend it in the garbage truck. Fantastic.

28:42 Yep. Well, you know, tomorrow your girlfriend will pick you up and I’m sure you guys have some things planned to celebrate the birthday of Brandon Leigh.

28:53 No, tomorrow I’ll be in the dump truck.

28:56 Well, you’ll deliver to you should deliver tomorrow morning sometime.

29:01 No, I mean I have another load tomorrow. I pick up a dump truck out of it.

29:06 Oh, a dump truck. Dump truck. Okay. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay. Yeah, I got you. So you’re just going to work right through your birthday.

29:13 Yeah, I’m work tomorrow. I go to work Sunday, Monday, Tuesday. I mean, you know, as you get older, you know, birthdays, they just they become less important. You know, you just got to got to stay busy, got to get things done. You know, I’m just I’m one of those guys. I’m just a big worker guy. I like to, you know, work and stuff. Fun can come at any time. You know, when you when I decide to take a vacation is when I’ll, you know, really have some fun. But—

29:43 I got you.

29:44 Till then, it’s just like focus, you know.

29:46 I got you, man. Yeah. I put the hay in the barn when the time is good. How old will you be here in a few hours?

29:53 I’ll be 28.

29:54 28. All right. That’s good. I mean, I wanted to ask you, being 28 years old, got your girlfriend there. Being a single man as far as no children, how much does that play in an advantageous way for doing what you do in the driveaway world?

30:11 I mean, it’s really it’s not bad. I mean, I don’t really have too many like, you know, responsibilities or anything like that. It’s everything is like it’s just fairly easy to it makes my job easier—

30:23 Not having, you know, a lot of kids—

30:26 You know, things like that. So, it’s not too many worries.

30:32 Would you consider yourself I mean, you’ve probably heard the term. I know you’re kind of new to the driveaway world, but would you call yourself a runner? I mean, you’re ready to go from one to the next to the next to the next.

30:45 Oh, yeah. Definitely. Definitely.

30:48 As a runner, do you do your planning when you’re sitting in the hotel room? When do you have your time to do some clear thinking? Usually if I’m when I’m running like that, I do all of my thinking when I do my 10-hour reset. I mean, I’ve never been a person that could like, you know, sleep 10 hours like that. So, usually the two hours, I’ll use two hours or so to do my planning for the next day and figure it out like that.

31:18 Now, over the course of my reset—

31:20 During your reset, you’re talking about doing your two hours of planning. Are you a person that it’s like I have to do my planning, know what I’m going to do tomorrow before I can sleep? Well, is that something you got to do?

31:32 Oh, yeah. Yeah, definitely. Because if you like I said, if you don’t do your plan and it’ll change your whole day, you know, it’ll your whole day won’t will just be like a I don’t know. It’s like a free fall, you know? You just you’ll end up where you end up at any time. You know, there’s no planning involved. So—

31:51 I mean, I guess you’d like to get in front of it. Make smart decisions and control what you can control—

31:57 And when you don’t like you know what with like CNG trucks if you don’t plan that’s how you have so many breakdowns or you know where people run out of fuel and stuff it’s just you know people don’t do their planning they don’t pay attention you know so it’s this job takes a lot of planning and attention you know—

32:18 How much confidence and I guess mental acuity did it give you making that 3,180 mi run to Washington to make other ones. I mean, did you feel like walking away? It’s like if I made this transport, I can make any transport.

32:35 Oh, yeah, definitely. Definitely because fueling stations and believe it or not, you know, we had a list of stations to go to. See, there’s a lot in that because I ran into one that didn’t have fuel.

32:53 Mhm. Was this in California?

32:55 It may have been California, but it was completely out of service—

33:00 Right?

33:00 And you run into things like that a lot. I mean, I had one last night. They had four pumps there. Three of them were down, you know. They only had one that worked, you know. So that’s why I say was you have to plan very very well because you know if something doesn’t go right then you know you got to be prepared to go to another place you know or try to try to make it to another place because you get very you get a lot of stations that that may be out of service you know—

33:34 You just got to be ready for anything I guess.

33:37 Yeah you do. You really do. So, what did you do in that situation when the station was out of service?

33:44 Well, I believe I looked up another one. I found another one that was closer.

33:49 So, from what we’re hearing from you, it’s not just planning, it’s being resourceful.

33:55 Yep. Definitely.

33:57 You just have to be able to think on your feet, you know? You gotta you have to be able to, you know, if this doesn’t work, you got to figure something else out. Did your past as a diesel mechanic, did that helped you as far as that that component of being able to think on your feet?

34:12 Oh, yeah, definitely. Because, you know, being a mechanic, you always run into issues where you I mean, you may you might be doing a job and you don’t have the correct tool to do the job. So, you have to figure out another way that you’re going to get that job done. If you can’t get the tool, you have to figure how else you have to figure out a way, you know, to get the job done. You know, there’s no other choice. So, being a mechanic definitely taught me that, you know, there’s more ways that, you know, you can get a job done, you know, effectively.

34:45 You’re listening to Brandon Leigh, who is soon to be 28 years old, will be 28 years old by the time you hear this here on the Six-Figure Trucker, brought to you by Norton Transport. He’s dropping some knowledge in his short 28 years that he has learned and a lot of that comes from what Brandon has shared with us, his work ethic that he has and he’s a runner, so he’s not afraid to take load after load of course abiding by the principles and the requirements legally. So, Brandon, refresh us. Is it 10 or 11 hours that you guys can drive?

35:21 It’s 11 hours. 11 hours that we could drive. That’s 11 hours with a if you’re transporting property, not passenger.

35:31 11 hours with a 30 minute break.

35:34 Gotcha. So, do you prefer to drive at night overnight or in the middle of the day, in the early morning? What’s your best time to get the miles down?

35:45 See, and that that’s another thing that comes all with the planning of the trip. I prefer to do nights just because you can avoid the way stations but sometimes it doesn’t work out that way. You know sometimes you with certain trips you have to do it during a day just because of the simple fact that you have different places have different drop off hours. So, you know and depending if you’re running and you want to drive overnight because you can always drop off early in the morning and always make your flight, you know. So, me, I love to drive. I like to drive at night just because I like to run, you know, I can always drop off early that morning, get on a flight, and get to the next run. It’s almost like I don’t want to put words in your mouth, but it’s almost like you can get more done, do better thinking in the middle of the night when the traffic is—

36:47 You know, minimal compared to the, you know, the rush hour of the day. Is that the way you look at it? I mean, as far as like, you know, I can get more value out of driving at night.

36:58 Oh, yeah. You definitely cover a lot more ground. Because when you’re when you go into places it’s like coming down to Florida or coming south you hit not only do you hit way stations but you hit agriculture stations where you have to stop there too. So when you have to stop at all these places constantly and you know you get a hundred other trucks that pull in there too that’s a lot of time that you’re losing you know and if you stop at four or five way stations you know during the day you know that’s you waste about maybe two hours of your day in the line of a way station—

37:38 And time is money you know.

37:41 Yeah. Exactly. So the way I think about my job is the faster I get it done, the more I get paid, you know. So that’s why for me it’s better to drive it.

37:54 I got you. I got you. Now we know the time that you like to drive driving overnight in the night hours. What about the type of vehicle? I mean I know personally from my account some of the trucks that you’ve driven for us, you’ve driven garbage trucks, you’ve mentioned tractors. Is there anything that you’re like, I’m not gonna drive that unless it’s a last resort?

38:18 Yeah, I try to make dump trucks my last resort.

38:24 What you’re about to get into one?

38:26 Yeah, I got two of them as a matter of fact.

38:32 Now, what why is that? Is it for the obvious reasons there?

38:36 Well, I mean, dump trucks and garbage trucks, they’re about equal. I don’t I really don’t care to do them both. But for me, I’m the type of a guy if it makes sense and it can make and it can bring me home and I look at it like if I’m getting paid to go home—

38:54 That’s it’s always not too bad.

38:58 I got you.

38:59 So I do like to try to stay away from certain things like the garbage trucks and the dump trucks only because of the fuel mileage on them. The fuel mileage on them and the speed of them—

39:12 Right?

39:14 Even our even the diesel garbage trucks, they burn a ton of fuel. They get about 8 miles to the gallon, seven miles to a gallon. Whereas an automatic tractor, a brand new automatic tractor, if you drive it nicely, it’ll get 12. It get 13 something.

39:31 You put the words and that’s exactly what I was going to say was 12. I’m guessing with the unit you’re in now the size of that Autocar Xpeditor with about 90 DGE on the CNG tanks, you’re getting about five miles to the gallon.

39:50 Yeah, I would say so. I would definitely say so.

39:55 Well, we set you guys up a little bit better as far as the surcharge on the fuel on those type units. And you I liked what you said there about if it makes sense and it gets you home. I mean it’s really I mean if I understood you correctly it’s immaterial. What type of vehicle?

40:14 Yep. No it doesn’t. And you know getting home it saves getting home every day saves you money. You know you have to think about it like that too—

40:23 Right?

40:23 You know so that’s also in planning too. You know, like, you know, when I think about coming home, I think that’s one less hotel I have to buy. All right, so that’s that that cost is cut out. Flying somewhere to come get a load to bring it to Florida. Now I could pack my lunch for that because I’m coming back home—

40:43 You know, I don’t have to buy out the entire time.

40:46 So there are savings there. That cuts down on the Uber when I make it home because I have a ride to come home. You know—

40:54 You got that girlfriend.

40:56 Exactly. So all it cost me is gas money in our vehicle. So, you know, it makes things a lot easier. And with even if it pays a little less, it helps out where I don’t have to pay for food and I don’t have to pay for travel and I don’t have to pay for all these extra things that ate up all of the extra money. Anyway—

41:18 I got you. You’re a big picture guy. You look at the big picture.

41:23 Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Now, you’ve been in driveaway for 4 months with Norton Transport. How did you step into driveaway? I mean, being a diesel mechanic, what was the step that or the bridge, I guess, that got you into driveaway?

41:39 Well, I met a guy who worked for Norton, and I asked him one day. I said, you know, how do you like that? He said, man, I love him. You know, he said, he said he makes his own schedule and you know, the pay is good. He said, I would try it out. Said, “I think I’m going to try it out.” So, I made the phone call immediately, you know, almost immediately, and I got right in. Yeah. I don’t regret it, that’s for sure.

42:06 Well, that’s fantastic. We are we’re grateful to have Brandon Leigh here with us on Norton Transport. You’re listening to the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Now, Brandon, I got to ask you this question. You kind of touched around it and one thing that comes up a lot when we talk to drivers here on our podcast is the word freedom when it relates to driveaway and driveaway with Norton Transport. Is that something that really holds a lot of value for you?

42:36 Yes, it does. See, I’m a busy guy. I love to work, you know, so I’m always running. But when I do need time to myself or I do need to take a day off or I do need to handle something at home, it’s a beautiful thing that it’s not an issue, you know, and that that is the biggest thing for me, you know, I’m not the type of person that likes to take off at all, but when I need to take off is, you know, that’s when I need to do it, you know—

43:06 And—

43:07 With this business, you’re able to do that. That’s one of the my favorite things about it.

43:14 I got you. I got you.

43:15 It’s also a lot of freedom in just driving and being on your own and not having somebody, you know, standing over you—

43:22 Right? I mean, you’re making your own decisions.

43:25 Exactly. You know, and you’re accountable for your own decisions. That’s a big thing, too.

43:31 Sure.

43:31 You’re accountable for every decision that you make. And it makes you look at work a lot different. Do you do some quality thinking when you’re out there on the open road?

43:42 I do.

43:43 What types of things are you able to drill down on when you’re on the open road?

43:47 Really big life decisions. What do I want to do? You know, goals. I find myself mostly thinking about work and what my next load is going to be. But what you get out of that is, you know, your goals. You know, we’re all striving for something. So—

44:07 I got you.

44:07 I really just I really think about, you know, what my next moves are. I like to build cars, race cars. So, you know, I work hard for that reason.

44:18 What kind of cars are you building now? What kind of race cars?

44:21 I have a Lexus. It’s a GS300. Has like a Toyota Supra motor in it.

44:26 I gotta I’m working on that now. And that’s a big project of mine and I’m always thinking about that. Yeah. Always thinking about parts that I need and you know things like that. So yeah, that’s mostly what I think about when I’m driving.

44:43 I got you. Now I want to ask you this question, Brandon, because this episode with Brandon Leigh here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport will hit the airwaves right around Christmas. So, I’m going to ask you a question before a question here, Brandon. Are you a guy that are you big into surprises? Not surprises to you, but surprises from you. Do you like to surprise people with I mean, obviously, we’re talking about Christmas gifts and that kind of stuff.

45:14 Yeah, I’m more of a giver than I am, you know, I like to get receive presents or anything like that. I really love to like, you know, I like to make dreams come true. You know, somebody want like, you know, somebody in my family or somebody wants something.

45:28 Well, since this is going to broadcast, I believe if I’ve got my timing right, it should be right around Christmas when it comes out. If you can shield your girlfriend away from listening to this podcast. What kind of surprise do you have in store for her? I know that she made mention of some sandals that she wants and think there’s some shoes too that she wants and I’m going to get her some purchases and stuff like that. Just little things here and there right that she mentioned.

46:03 How rewarding is it for you to be able to do that to make your girl happy and satisfied, content on Christmas because of the income that’s coming in from working in driveaway? Oh, it’s truly amazing. It’s very easy to take care of everything I need to do to make everything I want to make happen because there’s unlimited work. You know, I can always work. I can always work. That’s another very very beautiful thing. Always being able to work whenever you want to, you know?

46:38 Right.

46:39 So, it makes me really happy. You’re listening to Brandon Leigh here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Brandon, you’re driving some big vehicles right now. This garbage truck came out of a even bigger garbage truck to the one you’re in now, slightly larger, the one you took out to Washington.

46:57 And this one you’re taking now.

47:00 Wanted to ask you, you got a dump truck next. Are you ready to get back in a more conventional just give me a sleeper, give me a cab, give me a cab and chassis. Are you ready to get back into something more conventional or are you going to take on another big truck?

47:16 It the truck really doesn’t matter to me because work is work, you know—

47:21 Right?

47:21 So I’m not really looking forward to any one particular. It is nice when you get certain things like a sleeper or a conventional tractor, you know, things like that. It’s nice because they’re I’m very familiar with, you know, I know how much gas they’re going to burn. I can plan I could plan everything down to a dollar on them, but I’m looking forward to anything, you know, anything that seems like a good idea to me. Anything that would work with travel or things like that. I’m really not too picky. You know, you can’t really be too picky. You know, you never without taking risk and you know rolling the dice on certain things, you would never know how it turn out. Sometimes it turns out better than other times.

48:09 So, I don’t really don’t I really don’t pick and choose that way. I got to tell you from the standpoint of us back in the office to hear what you’re saying there about keeping your options open as far as the vehicle and what you’re going to drive next. From a logistical standpoint, you’re a dream, man.

48:30 I appreciate that.

48:32 But I love the outlook, the perspective that you have when you look at it. It’s like the vehicle itself doesn’t really matter that much, but as far as it takes me to the next destination, which is where I want to go and then what eventually and finally gets me home is all that matters.

48:48 Exactly. Exactly. Because no matter what, if you that’s I cannot stress this enough with the planning, you know, no matter what, you’ll always come it’s almost it almost seems like I always come out around to the same income no matter what I do. You know, if I do it, if I take a job that’s smaller, you know, that that’s lower mileage but it’s bringing me home, you know, it ends up being the same thing because I saved in so many other areas. So, with every job, you just have to you know, you can’t be like, oh, you know, I don’t want to do that because it’s health junk. I don’t want to do that because it’s uncomfortable. You know, I look at work like it’s, you know, it’s work is work. It was never meant to be too comfortable. You know what I’m saying? I go home for my comfort. You know, I go home for comfort. Not—

49:46 It’s not meant to be at work. You know—

49:48 When you’re working, you’re working.

49:51 I’m working. Yeah. So, I don’t pick and choose vehicle space. I pretty much just do what makes sense, you know, for me. And it’s different for everybody.

50:01 Well, sure. Well, I mean, it seems totally logical to me and sensible to me the way you look at it where you keep your options open. And you know, from what I’m hearing and what you’ve laid out there for us, you’re a man. You’re a driver who plays chess, not checkers.

50:16 Mhm. Thanks, sir.

50:18 Well, Brandon Leigh has joined us here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Brandon, I want to leave the mic open to you here as we close out in the final minute here. What would you say to someone who is considering driveaway transport as their next profession? You’ve been there, you’ve done it, and you’re doing it right now as we speak. What would you say to someone who’s considering it?

50:42 I think it’ll be a great decision to give it a try if you’re looking for freedom and time with your family and, you know, and looking to make good money as well. The perfect job for you. The people there, you know, people that I work with so far, they’ve all been really nice people.

51:05 Right. Right. I got you. Before we part company, I just wanted to ask you as you are continuing your transport down to South Florida, what’s it looking like now? Are you still in the detour phase or have you made it back to I-95?

51:20 No, I’m on 985 now.

51:23 Oh, good deal. Good deal. No traffic on a good pace.

51:28 All right, the miles are flying by. That’s good. Good to hear. Brandon Leigh here on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Brandon, you know, from all of us here at Norton, myself and everyone else included. We’re very fortunate to have a driver of your caliber and your talent and your outlook and attitude. We appreciate everything you do and we wish you very well in our future transports. And certainly be careful out there.

51:55 I appreciate it. Thank you.

51:56 All right, you’ve heard it here from Brandon Leigh who’s on his way down to South Florida right now on the Six-Figure Trucker brought to you by Norton Transport. Brandon, thank you so much.

52:06 Thank you. Six-Figure Trucker is brought to you by Norton Transport. Norton Transport is a driveaway trucking company that customers can rely on. It offers excellent independent contract driving opportunities to professional, courteous, and qualified drivers that can provide the kind of service we deliver. If you’re interested in learning more about Norton or just want to subscribe to the show, check out Six-FigureTrucker.com. That’s Six-FigureTrucker.com.