Driver Recruiting Happy Hour Podcast

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Darin:
Cheers everybody, and welcome to the Driver Recruiting Happy Hour podcast. My name is Darin Williams. I'm the president of CDLjobs.com. With me as always, my partner in crime and a man who may or may not announce a run for the 2024 Presidential race on our show today. Matt Beach.

Beach:
I thought about it.

Darin:
Brother Beach.

Beach:
Did you ever, did you ever, uh, did you ever watch the Tiger King? Which by the way, that was, that got me through so much during the Covid

Darin:
Covid? Got you through Covid? Apparently you've never seen the mockup we did of me as the Tiger King.

Beach:
Oh, no. You've gotta get an image of that.

Darin:
I I'll <laugh>.

Beach:
I gotta have it

Darin:
Yeah, I can. Uh, I've got it. We did that. That was, uh, I'm not sure why we did that, but somebody did that.

Beach:
Did you have the same,

Darin:
I looked good with the mullet.

Beach:
Did you have, did you do the same type of campaign, uh, items that he created? Did you create your

Darin:
I did not. I did not run for anything <laugh>. Somebody just thought I would look good as the Tiger King. And so the picture was made. I do have it. I will send it to you.

Beach:
He ran for the, when that part of the, of the Tiger King show, when he ran for President of the United States. That whole, that whole episode was phenomenal.

Darin:
That's kind of what I envision your campaign run to be.

Beach:
Hey, that's how we get rid of Isis right there. Right there. We're just blowing them to smithereens.

Darin:
<laugh>. I think what American needs is a man from Soddy Daisy with a lot of guns.

Beach:
<laugh>, I hear you. How you been, man?

Darin:
Good, good. We, uh, uh, I spend a lot of time in the winter down in Scottsdale, Arizona. We've got, uh, because if you've ever been to Iowa in the winter, um, it sucks. So I leave, I came back and this, this, I'm gonna give you a little hint here. This was sitting on our patio

Beach:
I's See it? I didn't see it. It says beach. I like it.

Darin:
It's just coasters.

Beach:
Yeah. You know, I had, uh, so I don't, I have,

Darin:
I'm not sure if I can keep it or not. Yeah, you can. I'm not sure if I stole it from you or not.

Beach:
You might have.

Darin:
I'm assuming it just means general beach with the starfish and the, uh, rope line. But <laugh>, um, someone, 'em may have stolen it from you and given it to me.

Beach:
I actually,

Darin:
So, I appreciate it.

Beach:
I actually made coasters of my face, so I've done face stickers, and then I had coasters made of my face.

Darin:
<laugh>. I had not seen those.

Beach:
Yeah, they're, and they're leather. They're punched, and I mean, my face is punched and I mean, they're nice. They're really nice.

Darin:
And by the way, the world is still patiently waiting for the Beach bobble head. What's going on?

Beach:
It's still in the making. We're still going back and forth with it. Um, right now we're

Darin:
Still doing the laser. The laser, yeah. We're

Beach:
Still looking at It doesn't, it doesn't come out right. I look like, um, I ain't gonna tell you. It just don't, it just looks bad. But there's also, I've got, so I did my baseball cards. Did you see those?

Darin:
I did. I saw, I don't remember if you showed 'em to me or something. I should have. I saw a picture of 'em, I believe

Beach:
I need to get more made. Those were, I actually had people, I went to MATS and I actually had people ask me to sign 'em. So now they have something that they can definitely put in a plastic card casing, you know, and just one day show up with it. And it could be worth pennies. You know..

Darin:
When you're President,

Beach:
When I'm President, look, I met this guy. Hey, I know this guy. I Know this guy. I actually met him. I partied with this guy at MATS.

Darin:
This guy bought me a bourbon and gave me this card that I didn't ask for.

Beach:
So I need to get more of those made. But I also did, or I did, I have mocked up a, I don't know if I wanna say it on here, because all of our million viewers are going to, someone might steal it because they, they haven't really come in production and people are known to steal a lot of my ideas. And that's okay. That's just, that's flattery. Some people say sometimes I think it's just more weird. But

Darin:
It can be both.

Beach:
It can be both. Both a car air freshener to hang in your window.

Darin:
<laugh>.

Beach:
I didn't know how popular those things are, especially with the image I'm making of myself for 'em. It's, it's pricey.

Darin:
I will tell you that in my former freight life, um, 25 years ago, I took a bunch of air fresheners to MATS, um, with the Heartland Express logo.

Beach:
Nice.

Darin:
And they were very popular. I mean, seriously get, people were coming around to snatch those things up.

Beach:
What's that? Now, can you imagine? Now here's the thing.

Darin:
What does a Matt Beach air freshener smell like?

Beach:
Exactly. It's like you can,

Darin:
What's the fragrance?

Beach:
Can you imagine getting in your car? And you've got one and your, your significant other gets in inside. What's that smell? Uh, that's, that's Beach.

Darin:
That's Beach. It's kind of a bourbon, camouflage, and anxiety mix.

Beach:
It's uh, it's very, it's very persistent, but yet sassy. I smell

Darin:
<laugh>. It won't go away.

Beach:
<laugh>.

Darin:
How do you get

Beach:
Well, not Wait. It is only, what is this?

Darin:
How do you get rid of this smell?

Beach:
No, I'm thinking it's just, it's it's, it's, it's gonna happen. It's gonna happen. But they're, they are expensive. I can't believe what the going rate for is something that spells of Pine Sol. It's unreal now. I like it there. Different smell. You can, there's one I said, now, you know, I took a playbook from, um, um, oh gosh, who was it? Um, oh my goodness. I can't believe I forgot it. Forgot the name. But anyway, you know, could it smell like leather bound books? Rich Ma? I like that idea. Can it smell like rich mahogany? You know, what, what would beach smell like? I can tell you right now, it's neither one of those. But at the same time, if we can mock that up, that's, that's what I'm working on. That's what I'm working on.

Darin:
I've smelled you. So I I, that's not gonna be a surprise to me.

Beach:
<laugh>. And when you smell me, it's a smell. It's like

Darin:
<laugh>. It's memorable.

Beach:
Very good to see

Darin:
<laugh>. It's Beach is close.

Beach:
<laugh>.

Darin:
So you, you brought up MATS. Um, the last time that we saw each other was the last time we had a podcast. I've been out of pocket a little bit. And you've been busy. Um, we've both been busy just in different ways, but, um, the last time that we saw each other was at the Recruitment and Retention conference in Nashville, which was, um, another fantastic event by the folks at, uh, at Conversion Interactive Agency. Yeah. Um, they do such a, they they just do a good job.

Beach:
Yep, they do.

Darin:
Um, I can't imagine planning all that for, I don't know how many people were there. 500? I I mean, I honestly, I guess, I don't know.

Beach:
A Lot.

Darin:
I think maybe 500, right?

Beach:
It was, it was, it was a lot. Let's just say that

Darin:
Alot of people,

Beach:
They, they did a fast making

Darin:
Sure everybody, and they were all ahead of me in the beer line at the, uh, at the, at the deal

Beach:
Fast, very fast. Moving in the beer line, the beer line

Darin:
Yeah.

Beach:
But, uh, no, they, they did a great job. It was, uh, that was, uh, gosh, that's what my fourth, fifth one that I've been to. Um, and each year it just seems like it gets better. Speakers were great. The, the, the people that we had attend, the carriers, vendors, this, this all did a great job.

Darin:
Yeah. It's, um,

Beach:
Everybody got home safe.

Darin:
<laugh>. It's kinda hard to top every time, you know, it's, it's, it's hard to, hard to top year after year, and they seem to do a good job of it.

Beach:
Um, no, we haven't, Nashville hasn't consumed anybody yet. You know, you go, you go to, you go to the main team.

Darin:
Now, if you go back and watch our last podcast, it, it, there was some people that had almost got. It actually, it did get some people, we called out someone specifically, and I don't remember her name.

Beach:
But they made it. They, they were, I was wrong. I called 'em out, and then they made sure afterwards, like, you better somehow redact that because I made it.

Darin:
Oh. So this is our official redaction. This is, and by our I mean you in case we get sued.

Beach:
Yeah. That it, that's they, they know who it is. Sorry. You made it. You survived. That was my bad.

Darin:
But was there any explanation to why you were wearing her name tag?

Beach:
Yes.

Darin:
We don't have to go into that.

Beach:
No, we don't.

Darin:
I, I,

Beach:
There's a reason. There is a reason. And

Darin:
Well, I know the reason. You need to share the reason, because now it seems very scandalous.

Beach:
No, it was, can you hold this? I was like, yeah, I can hold it. And that was it. And I wore it the next day.

Darin:
Well, but there's a tradition that started, and I know a couple years ago,

Beach:
I don't know if anybody kind of moved on with that tradition. I mean, I ended up.

Darin:
Oh, really? This year. That wasn't the case.

Beach:
I don't, I didn't see many people swapping. I could have been wrong on that, but, uh,

Darin:
I didn't, I think stay out late enough.

Beach:
Yeah. I'll take it and I'll wear it. Do what?

Darin:
I didn't stay out late enough this year to participate in that tradition.

Beach:
You in and out, you came in, you turned around, you left.

Darin:
Well, yeah, I was a tight schedule. I came in to do the show and, uh, yeah. Left, right after. Yeah, I really did. I was only there for about 12 hours.

Beach:
All like,

Darin:
well, I was a little bit longer than that, but not much.

Beach:
The Tenstreet trip was like that for me. Uh,

Darin:
Yeah. So I had to miss that. I was ashamed. I was, uh, I'm sorry I missed that. I always enjoy that show. Um, the folks at Tenstreet also do a wonderful job. I like, uh, I kinda like listening to Tim Crawford speak, um, kinda guy who knows what he's talking about.

Beach:
Yeah.

Darin:
Um, so it's always fun to hear his take on what's going on and what's, what the future might hold. So, um,

Beach:
There's three events I absolutely love. R &R of course.

Darin:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative>

Beach:
Tentreet. Love it. The relationship and networking is great. They did a great job this year. And then the one that's coming up next week, which is the CVTA. Absolutely love it.

Darin:
We're gonna talk about. Um, no, you went to MATS, right? Well, of course you you took the baseball cards.

Beach:
Took the baseball cards, loved it. It was that way.

Darin:
So I have not been to MATS in years. I went to the, I went to MATS probably 20 years in a row, 15 years in a row. Um, and have not been to the last 10, I would imagine. Um, has it changed? Is it smaller? I would assume it's smaller. It used to fill up the entire convention center. It was all five wings.

Beach:
It seemed pretty full this year. I think it was a little bit just from hearing around it, probably a little bit less comparable to, to some, and as it has to be expected. But still, um, it, it was, it was packed. I mean, there was, it was def there was definitely a lot of people, uh

Darin:
Oh, good.

Beach:
A lot of carriers. I was surprised at, uh, the, the carrier count that I saw. And, um, so I think it was more, uh, I think you saw a lot of people coming to it just simply like, I've gotta get out. I, I gotta get out of this office. Get me <laugh>,

Darin:
<laugh>,

Beach:
I gotta go see people. Finally,

Darin:
I'm so desperate. I'll go to Louisville.

Beach:
Yes. And, um, but it was a good time. I mean, I didn't, um, there was a lot of great info. You saw the, the, the same swag. Um, I was looking for some creative swag. There was some creative stuff, you know, including my baseball cards. There was some, there was some really neat stuff that was being handed out. Then you had a couple of the, you know, you could, and I, I started laughing watching, there was a few owner op, you can tell either owner ops drivers someone, or just said, Hey, I'm just using this to go get swag. They literally were pulling their wagon and taking their hand and just raking stuff in almost

Darin:
Always.

Beach:
And you just see people going like, what? You just

Darin:
<laugh> a fine MidAmerica trucking show tradition.

Beach:
But it was, I mean, and, and I had, we had someone new that had never been, and I said, the one thing you gotta watch is to see if you see someone with a wagon, just literally. And then sure enough, they were, they were boom, I mean, filled, filled with pins, coozies, soft, you know, little stress ball relief.

Darin:
Stress balls. Yeah. Yeah.

Beach:
All the, everything. And so, but anyway, it was, it was, it was a good event. I, I, I thoroughly enjoyed it and got some, um, it was, um, very, it was good for me, for my side as well, just making connections and all that. So,

Darin:
Well, better planning on my part next year. I, uh, there were, there were travel days for me, and I'm honestly, that's why I was kinda short at the, the R&Rconference. That was a travel. Um, I had traveled that week and, uh, the, the Vegas, the Tenstreet conference, I was traveling again. Yeah. Um, so I gotta plan a little bit better on my end. But what that leads us into is the CVTA. Um, and I believe they call it their spring conference.

Beach:
Mm-hmm. <affirmative> They have a spring and fall conference. And they also a, they also do a, uh, which is another fave of mine. They do a, um, Hill day. So each mm-hmm. <affirmative> each, um, each year, um, around fall, or no fall, I'm sorry, fall February, they do a, they'll invite, um, a large group, um, whoever wants to attend for the most part, carriers, um, schools, um, any, you know, associates, vendors, I mean, those who are part of the CVTA to show up and do their support for certain states, certain legislative issues that, um, the schools and carriers are really wanting to promote. And you show up at, you show up at the hotel Downtown DC, they'll, they'll, they'll do the, like a strategy, tomorrow this is how we're gonna attack different, no, lemme back up. Not attack. I shouldn't say that. <laugh>.

Darin:
Don't say that with the Capitol.

Beach:
Don't say that. Especially in DC.

Darin:
<laugh>,

Beach:
<laugh>

Darin:
There goes your Presidency run.

Beach:
Yeah. But how, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's fascinating. Absolutely fascinating. Where you go in, you, you team up with different schools, different carriers at different senator offices, congressmen, you get to meet either them, sometimes they're, you know, young associates that are working there with a notepad going, yeah, that sounds great. I can't wait to go every time. And you go, Hmm. Hopefully it makes it, but still, you know, it's still really cool. It's a great experience to, to be part of that. One of the times we went, um, <laugh> was, um, we, we went to the, I went to Corker, Senator Corker's office who was, who was at one time for Chattanooga. And I know him really well. And, um, we went there and then he, he gave us an opportunity to follow him and go to the trolley. There's a train underneath the, um, the center, the, um, the where, the off, where the main offices are, and it goes really to the capitol. And you have to have like a pin, whatever. Again, we actually got to ride in that thing. Super cool.

Darin:
I've never heard of that.

Beach:
The, just to experience how they go from point A to point B, the tunnels that are underneath the streets and everything that makes that connection blow your mind.

Darin:
Yeah. I guess I never thought about that. Probably a good idea, huh?

Beach:
No. Well it's, but still, it's, it's good to get your face out there. You get in front of these, these senators, congressmen, you just, and you, you pitch, Hey, this is our concern. This is what we're pitching here. Entry level driver training. We need this more schools for this. We need better training for safer drivers for this. And so, um, we owe is always a big one. We owe, uh, we owe a money funding and stuff, you know, state funding and all that, and just trying to get more assistance wherever we can. And so if you ever see that come across and you're part of the CVTA and you see a Hill Day, I highly recommend participating somehow someway doing that.

Darin:
Well, that brings up a point here, you, this, this, by the time this airs, these usually take about four days after we record to, to, to, to hit the public.

Beach:
It's a massive marketing. It's a massive marketing project to get this out.

Darin:
Yeah. It's gotta go through. We've got, uh, people, uh, uh, we, we need, yeah. We've got people that, uh, help us. Um, staff of, yeah, two

Beach:
Yeah. Well, I think Spielberg's second cousin's roommate, sister's brother actually helps out with the market.

Darin:
<laugh>. No, he, he quit. I meant to tell you that. The check bounced. But anyway, when this comes to production, you will either be in or arriving in or leaving my winter home of Scottsdale, Arizona for the CVTA spring conference where you are running for a seat on the board.

Beach:
Yep.

Darin:
Is that what it's a seat on the board of directors of the CVTA?

Beach:
Yes. Yes.

Darin:
Now, I know we joke around a lot. I mean, that's what we do on here, just kind of to have fun. But this is impressive, Beach. This is, uh, this is awesome. I mean, I know what kind of time commitments these things take. I know, um, the energy and the effort that, that being on a board such as that, that entails, um, and the fact that you've stepped up to do so. Um, I know, I mean, you've talked about it for years, how passionate you are about the CVTA. Um, I did not even know what the CVTA was until you started talking about it. Um, and so, I mean, it's impressive. I want to get that. Um, that's, that's as close as I want to come to, to giving you a compliment,

Beach:
<laugh>

Darin:
on the recording. Um, <laugh>,

Beach:
No, I actually,

Darin:
Best of luck, if you win, I will join the CVTA.

Beach:
I like it. I like it.

Darin:
That's my

Beach:
I like it.

Darin:
I, you know, you've been pushing me and we've talked about it, and I will do so if and when I, there's no doubt in my mind that you'll be elected.

Beach:
Well, then there's, but then there's a whole process of, do we, if I went, then we've gotta look at your application, then we gotta go do we really want..

Darin:
So wait a minute. So after all this, I'm gonna apply it and you're gonna be the one that black balls me.

Beach:
I might do it.

Darin:
<laugh>.

Beach:
I just might happen. It just might happen.

Darin:
That would be fantastic. That would actually appreciate <laugh>.

Beach:
The, so here's, here's a fun fact. I actually have been on this board before.

Darin:
Oh, I did not know that.

Beach:
Um, back in 2019, I believe it was. Yeah, 2019, they reached out and said we had,

Darin:
Hey Grandpa, that's like four years ago. You're thinking back like, when was that?

Beach:
But so much has happened in that timeframe though, right? And so they had

Darin:
That's very true.

Beach:
They had, um, gosh, you're so right, man. When I say 2019, I feel like it's like 30 years ago, and it almost

Darin:
With Covid, it seems like 30 years ago.

Beach:
I know, I know. But they had a, they reached out and said, Hey, we had some, we have an open seat and we're going to have, we, we've all discussed it, and you are unanimous. We want you to be on this board. Would you accept the role? And I went, yeah, perfect. Sounds great. Was on it. Had the first meeting. Three weeks later, I was taken off <laugh>. And the only reason, hold on. The only reason why is because I left Covenant to go work for the marketing agency.

Darin:
And they Ah-huh. Yes.

Beach:
Carrier board seat. And they're like, you're not on the, you're not a carrier no more, so you can't be on 'em. Like, eh, it's okay. And they're like, you know, s*!t. Beach <laugh>.

Darin:
Yeah. Well, but once,

Beach:
And so I still hold the record and I, and I, and I'm, and I'm okay with the record of the shortest time for a board member to be on, be on the seat.

Darin:
So have they changed their bylaws now that, because still don't work for a carrier?

Beach:
No, no, no, no. There, there's different seats. So you have a carrier seat, um, you have your, um, associate's seat. They, they have different,

Darin:
Oh, actually you were representing a carrier seat.

Beach:
I was representing carrier seat. And you have the school seat, and then you got, you know, vendor and associate. But anyway, so all that says, they have different ones for different groups for the ones that are part of that, uh, part of the board. So

Darin:
Are you running unopposed or do you know?

Beach:
No, no. There are four wonderful people that I have

Darin:
Oh, really?

Beach:
known for years that are also running for, so there are four people.

Darin:
Do you know who they are or is this secret?

Beach:
No, I do. I know 'em, I know. So I've got four people who are running for, there's four, four of us in our, in our bracket running for two seats. And, um, I know 'em all, and all of them are phenomenal at what they do.

Darin:
However, this would be a wonderful time to introduce new evidence that we just found out about what horrible people they are before the vote takes place.

Beach:
That's true. That's true. I, I can make,

Darin:
We have a platform. I know. And I'm just, I know

Beach:
This is that opportunity to, to go all Tucker,

Darin:
Call 'em out individually. Yeah.

Beach:
Tucker Carlson, do you want I I could go all that. I mean, still. Um, no, they are, they're every, and I'm not just just saying this. There's, there's a, when you really think about how, how do we get drivers into the industry? And they don't just magically appear. They really don't. They have to go through a process and thank God they do. And that's

Darin:
A difficult process.

Beach:
And that's, and that starts with the truck driving schools of getting them in, getting 'em trained to the point where they can pass and get their Class A to the, to the, to the, uh, to the carrier. And you hear a lot of people out there go, I wouldn't, you know, student drivers are this, student drivers are, that they, I wouldn't hire a student driver for this because, and I, and I understand why and hiring guy, and, you know, your insurance company won't allow this so forth and so on. You still have to have, I mean, your six month driver to that, you're hiring your one year driver, your two year drivers that you're hiring. They came from a truck driving school.

Darin:
Everybody started somewhere.

Beach:
And so that's one of those where I'm like, you, you can't, you can't badmouth the schools and someone will go, well, the schools just need to a better part of training. They've been working on that, you know, from, you know. And so there's, there's some other great organizations out there beside the CVTA, CVTAs, one of my favorite ones. Um, again, I've worked with 'em for years. There's others, the NAPFTDS, Nationally accredited publicly funded truck driving schools, aka a, the alphabet soup of trucking as I poke

Darin:
<laugh>.

Beach:
But, um, they, they, they're focus is on the, um, um, you know, publicly funded schools, like your community colleges. It's a lot of them. Yeah. Do a wonderful job. And so I sit here and go, that's why I'm passionate about tr I love the truck driving schools. Uh, the relationships I've built with so many across my, I mean, my time here in the industry has absolutely, literally been some of the best. And it all starts with the CVTA and their conference. I mean, this spring one will, it's always the biggest one. Um, you'll have large carriers from 5,000 fleets to some with 50 trucks. That'll, that'll be there. And it'll be quite a bit. And then you'll have the school owners, school president. I mean, you've got some, some of these schools have 80 schools, some have 30, some have one, some have five, two. But they all do a huge impact on this industry.

Darin:
Yeah. What is your itinerary? When do you arrive in Scottsdale?

Beach:
I get in Scottsdale. Um, how far is Scottsdale to Phoenix? What? 20 minute drive? 15 minutes

Darin:
Flying into Sky Harbor?

Beach:
Yeah.

Darin:
Depending on where you're going. It could be five minutes.

Beach:
So I get in at, um, I get in the set Tuesday, uh, I think it's three o'clock. I fly in.

Darin:
And then the conference is?

Beach:
Wednesday, Thursday. Fly out Friday. Yeah. So there's a big golf event Tuesday. But I don't, I don't golf, even though I live in a golf course. I don't, I just don't golf. Yeah.

Darin:
I wish. I think that's at the Biltmore.

Beach:
Oh is it?

Darin:
Its a beautiful course. Yeah, I believe so.

Beach:
Oh, well, I,

Darin:
Beautiful course. They just built a new clubhouse.

Beach:
I've heard

Darin:
I golfed a month ago.

Beach:
this is like the mecca of golf.

Darin:
Scottsdale? Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Beach:
Have you been to... Also heard Crossville, Tennessee is a mecca for golf. Um, golfing. Have you heard of that?

Darin:
Uh, no.

Beach:
I, I mean, there's nothing in Crossville though. Apparently there's nothing in Crossville, but really nice golf courses.

Darin:
More than one?

Beach:
Yeah.

Darin:
Really?

Beach:
Yeah. You gotta look. Cause I've known people who, who come just to Crossville just for golf. And they come from all over the place. And I was shocked.

Darin:
I I golfed in Scottsdale cuz I was there.

Beach:
I dated a girl in Crossville. I know. I just, I'm shocked.

Darin:
Did her dad own a golf course?

Beach:
No. Not, not even close. Not even close.

Darin:
Is this information we wanna be sharing right before the election?

Beach:
It's fine. It's fine. We'll go. Yeah. It's,

Darin:
We need to pay this girl off to keep her mouth shut til the end of next week. All right. Now we're, blurring some lines.

Beach:
It's okay to make out with your fifth cousin. Right? <laugh>

Darin:
Not in Scottsdale.

Beach:
That's thin blood. Ain't it?

Darin:
Scottsdale's the beautiful. That sounds, that's not the first time you've said that. That's thin blood, we're all right.

Beach:
<laugh>.

Darin:
Scottsdale's a beautiful city. I hope you enjoy it. Um,

Beach:
What that? Now there's a, there's a honky tonk in Old Scottsdale

Darin:
In Old Town. Yes. Rusty Spur.

Beach:
Yes. And uh, my first visit to Old Scottsdale, it was the first, um,

Darin:
I sent you a picture from the Rusty Spur last month I believe.

Beach:
Yes. Yes you did. Cuz I think I told you about it. And you had never went, you went down.

Darin:
Yeah, I had never been in the Rusty Spur.

Beach:
How was, how was your first impression of the Rusty Spur? Was it everything.

Darin:
I, I, you know what? I fell in love with the place. Um, I started looking around to see where you would have signed your name or put a sticker of your face.

Beach:
Oh, I've gotta take,

Darin:
I wanted to find it on my own and send you the picture. But I couldn't find it. So I,

Beach:
I went to um, I was there and I was like, man, I gotta find just a good hole in a wall bar just to get away. Cause it was a conference. I was like, I just gotta get away from this place. And found the Rusty Spur, went in there, had a great time called a, um, I think even Marilyn Surber at the time. It was probably my first time I met her.

Darin:
It was Marilyn. I remember from our interview with her,

Beach:
I was like, Hey, I'm here. Come hang out. And there was a few others that came around and it was like a small group, right? And we were, you know, at the bar having a good time. Then they had karaoke, which I was like, I'm all about this. And then we went back next day.

Darin:
<laugh>

Beach:
And someone mentioned it where we went and one person, cuz I'm like, the next time I'm going right back there, we get there and it's the entire conference. <laugh> is at this bar.

Darin:
You mean the first 47 people that could fit in the bar?

Beach:
It was packed. And I'm saying like, dag gum it, but anyway, it was a good time. I actually loved it.

Darin:
So there's another place just right down the street called The Old Town Tap Tavern.

Beach:
I,

Darin:
It was wonderful.

Beach:
I thought I've been there too.

Darin:
They just opened a place next to the Old Town Tap Tavern. called The Back Door that has one of the best bourbon selections

Beach:
I'm in

Darin:
Around. It's fantastic. You'd like it.

Beach:
Gotta, I've gotta look ahead cause I wanna do, I've gotta find a place and I'm, I'll check that one out for a reservation of just bringing some people over. I mean, cuz it's going to be, like I said, this, this event's gonna be huge.

Darin:
And like a dinner thing or what?

Beach:
Yeah, A dinner thing after an after dinner thing. Possibly event. Just to be able to say come over, sit down, hang out. But

Darin:
The Back Door would be a really nice place.

Beach:
Okay.

Darin:
Seriously. It's in Old Town. Yep. Um, not sure where the conference is, but, um, if Old Town,

Beach:
It's not, it's not, yeah. It's, it won't be, it'll it'll be close by.

Darin:
Yeah, that'd be a good one.

Beach:
Yeah. I've got a

Darin:
Well, we wish you the best of luck. I hope you, I mean, seriously and I, I, again, I think it's uh, it's admirable. Um, honorable. I know, I know how much time and, and, and effort and, and those things take. So you willing to put yourself out there to do so is, uh, is is very impressive.

Beach:
I mean, already I'm on the, I'm on the legislative committee, which I'm super excited about. Um, I was on that committee's a, a while back, I'm about to say several years back, but that was not that far back. 2018 <laugh>

Darin:
Way back.

Beach:
The, just the work that was done. It, it, it was, that goes into all the ruling and things that we've, we've um, we've pushed forward on. It's, it's really impressive to step back and go and go. I was part of that. My name's somewhere on some document.

Darin:
Yeah, that's fantastic man.

Beach:
So that's why I've always told anybody who hires students who has a school or looking to, um, to increase that amount or just, you know, find, you know, tips on how, how, how, how can I do better. The CVTA is by far the number one place you want to start off with of getting there and learning more and, and, and building off from other, other individuals. Um, I mean, just on the, because even then you've got some carriers that I've spoken to, not even carriers themself, but you know, there is a, um, there's a company not too far from Chattanooga and they do lineman and they, uh, train lineman for, you know, lineman jobs. Well that's a top truck now that they drive where you have to have a Class A and that class A has to go through certain regulations now and all that. And they,

Darin:
no kidding

Beach:
they weren't familiar with it. And so getting them connected through the CVTA, they're like, okay, now we're starting to see why this is more important. Why we need to be there. Cuz they're on the you're you're on the front end line of new information that's coming out. Be be by being part of this group.

Darin:
Yeah. Fantastic man. I honestly, I wish you the best of luck. Um, I hope you get it. I hope you have the opportunity to blackball me after you're elected. Um,

Beach:
that would be funny now that, that would be funny.

Darin:
My, my public humiliation always brings great joy to people.

Beach:
I mean, there could be like a, there could be the application with a stamp that says rejected about the hit it or approve

Darin:
<laugh> just a big red, NO <laugh>, NO.Thank you for your application. No. <laugh>. <laugh>. Yeah. We don't need money that bad. Get rid of that clown. Get him outta here.

Beach:
How's things going with you?

Darin:
Good, swimming with the sharks brother. Yep. It uh, you know, it's a weird time in our industry, um, where there's pockets that can't find drivers. There are pockets that have so many drivers that don't know what to do. Yep. It's crazy. Yep. It's a crazy time. It's a good thing. It's a, it's a good thing.

Beach:
Well, even like right now, I'm, I'm, I'm leaning on people like you, um, other people within carriers, just overall industry leaders. I mean that if, if anything right now it's, we need each other and just wherever we can help each other out on and, and, and stay afloat and just be able to look at ways to, to improve what we do, but also again, partner up and, and, um, help each other out. Cuz that's, that's what we need right now. Um, I'm not saying it's for the world, but at the same time I think we can do a whole lot better for each other by working together.

Darin:
I think you're right. I think that's a good way for us to end. And what a great campaign speech. You should use that in in your, do you get to get up and talk in front of everybody and like, this is why you should vote for me.

Beach:
Hey, here. Now this is, this is interesting. I, I wrote, um, a a, um, kinda like a, just a follow up email cuz we were able to present to those that weren't gonna be, that were gonna be absent. So they have an opportunity to do an absentee ballot. Then I did another email to the entire CVTA, um, group, the list that I've got. And, but before I wrote it, um, I saw this video of this guy that said, this is, we're in the age now and I can't believe I'm, I'm saying this. He was like, 48 hours or some kind of 60 minute news, whatever. He goes, I, but I need to say this, this entire presentation was done by humans. Actual humans.

Darin:
Yeah.

Beach:
Thank you

Darin:
Crazy

Beach:
<laugh>. I wanted to put that in. Like, I literally brought that out because one of 'em went so well actually, typical go, this is straight up chatGPT.

Darin:
<laugh>.

Beach:
You're not this smart to write this.

Darin:
I know this guy, I've seen him.

Beach:
No, no, I wrote it. I wrote, uh, I can, I'm, I'm I can do stuff. <laugh>, but I

Darin:
Changing times. I mean,

Beach:
I mean it is, it's, and I saw Marilyn did a presentation with Freightwaves and someone else, I can't remember who it was. And they were talking about, you know, the future of AI and what does that look like for recruiting and recruiting drivers. I mean, it's, it's there, it's coming. But when is it? I I mean it's just, it's just an interesting thought of going, what's, what's the future hold? But for that one guy, I mean, it was a news anchor. He said, I'm, I'm going to end tonight with this entire person. This entire broadcast was done completely by humans,

Darin:
<laugh> by a human.

Beach:
Like brilliant.

Darin:
Yeah. Well, yeah. It needs to be said, I guess.

Beach:
I mean, I feel like right. I could be like Max Headrow remember him.

Darin:
Yeah. Yeah. We've had those issues with this podcast before <laugh>. We fixed all that <laugh>. Well, unfortunately, this podcast was done entirely by humans. <laugh> knucklehead, um, one knucklehead and one guy who's hopefully gonna be on the board of the CVTA by this time. Um, by the time you're watching this so Beach, uh, best of luck, brother. I mean that. Um, and everybody else, uh, we appreciate your timing in and, and listening along. We didn't have a guest this week, um, this month. Uh, but if you wanna be a guest, um, or the best way to probably do it, to get back at somebody, um, volunteer them. Yeah, that's a great way to get back at a buddy that you don't really care about. See, he'll do it.

Beach:
It's like the ice bucket challenge. I volunteer

Darin:
<laugh>. Here's, here's who I volunteer

Beach:
<laugh>.

Darin:
So yeah, it was good to catch up. We'll, uh, we'll have a guest next time, uh, but we just wanted to catch up after show season and talk a little bit about Matt, um, and the CVTA So hopefully that works out well. And, um, thanks for playing along, man. Be safe and keep on trucking. Yeah,

Beach:
Be safe man. Hope to see you. Hope to see you soon out in the road.

Darin:
Amen.

Beach:
All right, take care.