This week on the Oakley Podcast, hosts Jeremy Kellett and Megan Cummings welcome Brian Lang, one of our Owner/Operators at Oakley Trucking. During the episode, Brian shares his journey from a tow truck driver to an owner-operator, emphasizing the importance of family support and the evolution of the trucking industry. The discussion covers the challenges of the trucking lifestyle, the significance of dispatcher relationships, and the public’s perception of truck drivers. Brian also talks about his hobbies and future aspirations, highlighting the community and resilience within the trucking industry and so much more. Don’t miss this episode!
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Introducing Brian’s Story (1:18)
- The Importance of Success Stories (2:00)
- Brian’s Truck Details (3:33)
- Transition from Tow Truck to End Dump (5:54)
- Hobbies and Fishing (9:08)
- Challenges in Trucking (11:05)
- Changes in the Trucking Industry (14:18)
- The Journey to Owner-Operator Journey (16:07)
- Flatbed vs. Dump Trailer (18:24)
- The Importance of Dispatcher Relationships (19:09)
- Public’s Perspective on Trucking (24:51)
- Brian’s Future Plans (28:50)
- Brian’s TikTok Channel and Content (30:02)
- Hobbies of Bracelet Making (32:29)
- Final Thoughts and Takeaways (37:56)
Oakley Trucking is a family-owned and operated trucking company headquartered in North Little Rock, Arkansas. For more information, check out our show website: podcast.bruceoakley.com.
Transcription
Jeremy Kellett 00:12
Welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. This show is brought to you by Oakley trucking, headquartered at North Little Rock, Arkansas. The purpose of this podcast is to communicate with Oakley owner operators and their families by giving them up to date information concerning Oakley trucking and the trucking industry, from business advice to safety updates to success stories, also to give an insight to outside truck drivers that might be interested in joining the Oakley family. Hey, welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking business and family. I’m Jeremy Kellett, your host of this podcast that we’ve been bringing to you now for four years, and we have brought you some good ones. I hope you enjoyed it. I appreciate everybody. Appreciate everybody listening to the podcast every week, and we, I just want you know we try real hard to bring you some good information that we feel like will relate to our listeners. That is interesting, that success stories. Just so you know, we don’t want to try to be a boring podcast. We try to liven it up the best we can. And to do that, liven it up, I got Megan with me. What’s going on?
Megan Cummings 01:16
Little more enthusiasm.
Jeremy Kellett 01:18
Oh no, I’m sorry. Pick it gotta pick it up a little bit. Yeah, so Megan’s hanging out with me. We got Brian Lang, one of our owner operators, here at Oakley, and we’re gonna visit with him for just a minute. Got a great story I want to hear. I’m anxious to hear Brian’s story, and that’s something that I was talking to him about a while ago. We want to bring those success stories to light, to people you know, especially truck drivers. You know, we’re, I’m gonna do an episode here pretty soon, talking a little bit more about truck drivers’ reputations, why there’s a turnover, that kind of stuff. I’m gonna do it too. But it’s just, we wanna bring positive stuff to truck drivers. There’s so much negative out there Megan, that it’s, I mean, the billboards, the commercials, all that stuff. So we want to try to bring as much positive light on truck drivers we can absolutely,
Megan Cummings 02:04
I think they’re pretty great people. I do too. I mean, I might be a little biased, but
Jeremy Kellett 02:10
I mean, that’s what they are. Yeah, we show that on this podcast, and that’s what we want to do. So hey, as always, our sponsors do a great job. Who are our sponsors? Megan, help them. Aero truck sales and LubeZone, right? Yeah, been with us since day one. Day one. Sponsors, yep, and good, yeah. Great people. Good stuff. I mean, we get some good response from them, and we wouldn’t do business with those guys if they weren’t doing things right? So they are, and we appreciate them being a sponsor with us for all these years. So it’s really been good. I
Megan Cummings 02:40
I know this will come out after the party, but Keith Wilson will be at the party. He will, won’t he? Yeah, Keith will be there. What about Trey? No,
Jeremy Kellett 02:48
no, just Keith, Keith and his wife. Okay, so it’s gonna be interesting, yeah, yeah, yeah. This is right the day before the company party. So we don’t have any news to tell you about the not yet aftermath of the company, sure check
Megan Cummings 03:00
the newspapers on Sunday morning.
Jeremy Kellett 03:04
All right, Brian, what’s going on?
Brian Lang 03:06
Man, oh, just, I’m here today to get my truck ready for the truck show for the good part of the party. And, yeah, take a couple days off and prep that ride so I can represent Oakley.
Megan Cummings 03:17
Away a couple days off from the row, but not off from working.
Brian Lang 03:21
Yeah, the work has not stopped. I’ve been working on this truck for five weeks, trying to get it ready myself and save money and do everything myself. And I had to give in and spend some money. Tell me about your truck. So it’s a 2020, Kenworth w9 90. And the name of the truck is all in and originally, when I bought that truck, which is what your hat is, it’s what my hat says. It’s when I went and signed the paperwork on that loan, which is like twice the amount of my house. And they said, you have five years to pay that off. All these thoughts come in. And I just said, I have to be all in on this or nothing. So that’s where the name of the truck came from, and it’s kind of turned into a way of life. And don’t you,
Megan Cummings 04:04
isn’t that the name of your LLC? Oh,
Brian Lang 04:06
It’s a B Lang truck. Okay, okay, yeah, so, but yeah, it’s got a seminal paint job. It’s black and tan with the gold pin start. And you know, I wouldn’t trade it in for nobody, and I probably should have traded in a couple months ago, but we bought it new. Bought it brand new. Before that, I had a 379 Peterbilt, and I ran that one for about four years. And I just showed up at Kenworth to get a part for my Peterbilt. And he’s that I’m leaving out of the parking lot, and the dealer calls me. He says ” Hey, man, would you be willing to sell that truck to me?” I said, Well, if the price is right, if the deal is right, he goes, Well, I’m actually a salesman. I can put you in a new truck if you want to get out of that one, and I’m on the interstate at this point. And I said, Well, this is what I need. If you can make my needs happen, then you know, I’ll be interested in trying it. And he called me three days later. He said, Come get your truck. ” And the funny thing is, my truck wasn’t on the property yet. There was a black and blue one that I liked, and the day I was coming to pick it up, they had sent me a picture of that truck. I said, I hate to do this to y’all, but I want that other truck. So he had to redo all the paperwork, and I sat there for four hours waiting for them to get to paperwork, right. But I got the truck I wanted. So it has a new body style truck, but it has a classic look to it, and that’s what drew me to it. So I’ve been out here for about 28 years, and I still want to believe I’m one of the mold school truck drivers. I try to hold on to that, even though the flip flop nation is here. So we’re still trying to wear our boots
Jeremy Kellett 05:50
jeans, and we’re doing the same thing. So anyhow, take me back 28 years ago.
Brian Lang 05:56
I count my Tow Truck Driving in for my truck driving. I started as a tow truck driver in Seattle, and you know, the boss called one day. He said, Hey, can we need the large wrecker out here? Can anybody drive it? And of course, I can drive anything. And I get up in this truck I’ve never been in before, and it had two sticks, and I’m like, what do we do with all this? So I drive it to the scene on i Five, and it’s blowing a flame out of the exhaust. And, you know, everything’s red hot because I can’t get it out of the low range. And the boss said, he goes, I’ll teach you how to drive that truck tomorrow. And we finished the accident scene, and the next day, he taught me how to drive an 18 wheeler, you know, a large wrecker, and that became my main job. And towing got to be a little hard, because you deal with a lot of death, and I knew that was my time to get out. You know, I have one accident that will never leave me. And, you know, you have to believe even paramedics go through that at some point. So yeah, and I started truck driving, and I was just doing a deal back and forth from Seattle shortly after we moved to Arkansas, and said, what better place to be a truck driver than right in the middle of the United States? So, are you born and raised out in Seattle? My dad was in the Navy, so I was actually born in New York and been everywhere. If it’s cold, still, I’ve been there, so Wow, and yeah, and I wasn’t able to go into the military because I have some bad limbs, so they wouldn’t let me in. But we choose the blue collar way of life, you know, keep the world Maria. Do
Megan Cummings 07:36
you guys have any family in Arkansas, or was it really just
Brian Lang 07:40
When we decided to move here, my dad was living here, okay, and my mom was in LA and I said, I’m not moving back to California. I just, I can’t do that. So we had visited here a lot, and I have three kids, and it was a great place to raise my children and bring them up. So
Megan Cummings 07:58
always makes me feel so nice when people say that, because we’ve got a lot of drivers that’ll come in and they’ll be like, yeah, they can. I think I might just move out here, you know, which gives you a little pride.
Brian Lang 08:10
It’s a great place to raise kids. And we live in Mina, and there’s only, you know, less than 5000 people in our town. We barely qualified for Walmart, but we got us on so.
Jeremy Kellett 08:21
But how old were the kids when you brought them to Arkansas? I had
Brian Lang 08:24
to have twin girls. I think they were, like, four or five, and my son was six or seven, okay,
Jeremy Kellett 08:30
and so the majority of them And how old are they now?
Brian Lang 08:34
They’re grown. They’re grown. I have eight grandchildren, and wow. So things that progress pretty quickly, wife’s wife, I still got her. So when she sees the checking account, though, after this week, she might have two
Jeremy Kellett 08:51
thoughts, been a rough week, so, but you
Brian Lang 08:55
I know, it’s all for a good reason. But, yeah, we have lots of grandbabies. My son’s now in Florida, and my daughters are both in Minas still. So
Jeremy Kellett 09:05
yeah, what do you what do you do on your off
Brian Lang 09:07
tile lately has been working on that truck. But my hobbies are fishing. I’m a fisherman. I don’t eat fish, but I love to catch fish. So that’s kind of my got a place to go over there? Yes, we’ve been fishing Gillum Lake lately. I’m trying to figure it out. I took a break from fishing and sold my boat, and it’s been 14 years, and I just got a new boat, or a new boat.
Jeremy Kellett 09:31
What’d you get? It’s
Brian Lang 09:32
just an old Stratos bass boat, 17 feet. My brother in law’s a professional fisherman, and he designed a lure. And what’s his name? His name is KC K chusickel, and he designed a lure. It’s called nasty, okay? And it’s like nothing anybody has on the market right now. And he said, I gotta go to the Bassmaster Classic in Tulsa. Will you come help me promote my lure? So that kind of guy. Those juices flowing. And I said, I have to get that inefficient. He also has a boat repair shop. So this was a customer’s boat that wanted out of it, and he repaired this boat and set me up with all the greatest electronics that the pros are using. And now he has a boat he can jump on that’s with the electronics that are on a boat he’s familiar with. Okay, so, yeah, he came out a couple of weeks ago, and we went and figured out where all the fish is, and I’m new to all the electronics, yeah, so he showed me how to work all that. So we that’s
Jeremy Kellett 10:33
a whole nother podcast, yes, sir,
Megan Cummings 10:35
one that I’m not going to be a part
Jeremy Kellett 10:39
of. I can go all out. I could talk a lot about that.
Brian Lang 10:42
So we did some good fishing a couple weeks back, and you know, it was good to take a break from doing everything we’re doing with the truck. And we had a couple fish fries and I had steak. So it’s not a bad trade, no.
Jeremy Kellett 10:58
So you know, back to your trucking career, if you’ve been in it 28 years. What makes a man stay in trucking? You know,
Brian Lang 11:05
I get asked a different question a lot that sort of, kind of goes with what you’re asking, and do you like trucking? There’s part of trucking we like. But the honest answer is, nobody really likes trucking, but we do it because of the way of life that it provides. So I like doing what we do. My wife and I, every other year we go on a cruise, and the opposite year, we go see my son in Florida. And you know, this lifestyle that we get from doing this job before it’s us, the ability to do that, you know, this freedom, you know, is
Jeremy Kellett 11:41
Is it hard on a family, hard on a marriage?
Brian Lang 11:44
It is, and it takes a special woman that can do things on her own and put up with this lifestyle. I’ve been pretty blessed. I was a flat better forever, and I got to go home every weekend. And I think I can count on my two hands how many weeks I’ve been out, you know, over the weekend. So that helps is getting to stop by and spend your two two and a half days at home, or two days at home every week. And, you know, you get your honey do list done. But my wife is turned into the kind of person that can pretty much fix anything. And she’ll call and say, you know that garbage disposal is out, but I went and got in your toolbox and I fixed it, and I went back in. My toolbox is a mess, yeah? But she’s that kind of person that, you know, she meets it head on, and, you know, she took on that job and did it well. So special lady, yeah? And without a special woman at home that will stick with you and put up with this stuff is, you know, it’s a good thing to have, so will she ever come out on the road with you? Sorry, Jeremy, she has only been in this truck a few times, and I’ve had it for four years now, but she’s only been in it once. But fun fact, we’re spending the night in it this weekend. She’s coming out tonight, and, oh, so we’ll be tonight and tomorrow on the trip. Oh, good. So, you know, she’s got her own bed. She just has to climb up there. And she’s like, five foot two, and so it’s kind of fun to watch her climb up there and just don’t step on my table.
Jeremy Kellett 13:19
Well, that takes that, it takes that to make it work. I don’t think that’s talked about enough a lot of times. You know, I mean, of how, how marriage survives, how it takes compromise on both to make it last for so long. You know, especially as long as you are all done it’s pretty good. We’ve been
Brian Lang 13:37
together for 34 years. So she’s put up with a lot because tow truck driving was 24 hours a day. And you know, you sleep when you can, and you run 24 hours a day. So she was sort of used to me not being home. So the transition for me going from that to just being gone Sunday through Friday, it was easy for her to accept. So speaking
Megan Cummings 14:03
of the 28 years in trucking, I wanted to see so you’ve been in it for a while, different divisions, different kinds of trailers, what do you think? What’s a good way to describe how, how much it’s changed, like what it used to be, versus what it is now?
Brian Lang 14:18
It was more like a brother’s head back. Then, if a guy broke down on the side of the road with his head up, I mean, you’d see two or three trucks pulled up behind him trying to see if they could help today, you better keep your seatbelt on, because somebody might run through you. So in that, that’s the simplest way to put it. So, but I think a lot of that is we’re all on a time crunch, and we all have, we’re chasing that clock all day long. You know, I believe there could be some changes to this time you know, our E logs that would help out parking it will help out us. And, you know, there’s been plenty of I’m a very deep thinker, and I do my research. But, you know. The University of Washington in Seattle did a sleep study, and they found out, all you need is five hours of sleep at night. Realm sleep, you know, good sleep, five hours. So a 10 hour break is sort of much. It’s a lot. So it’s, I think we can change it and make it a lot better, but I’m just a small person that nobody wants to refuse so, you know, but we ran on eight hours break forever, and I think if we made our days 16 hours instead of 14, and give us an eight hour sleep or birth, that will free up these truck stops, and you don’t have to shut down at five, six o’clock at night just to get a parking spot. Everybody’s
Jeremy Kellett 15:41
trying to find it at the same time. Yeah, those are clocks. Anybody that gets up in the morning goes to work, then their clocks all run out, yeah, at the same time in the evening, and they’re all looking for a parking spot. Yeah, I
Brian Lang 15:51
I try to start my days as early as possible. I’m the kind that likes to get up at three in the morning and go so that’s that way I can be set up to shut down by five, six o’clock, but I’m ready to get up now. How
Jeremy Kellett 16:05
long have you been an owner operator?
Brian Lang 16:07
I’ve only been an owner operator for eight years. So what
Jeremy Kellett 16:10
made you make that step and how hard was it?
Brian Lang 16:13
It’s kind of a funny story. I was dying in the hospital. Literally, I’m in the ICU, dying in the hospital. I have blood clots,
16:23
oh no.
Brian Lang 16:24
And I’m just like, I said, I’m pretty deep thinker, and I’m laying there by myself in the ICU, and I don’t want to watch TV, and I’m just thinking about everything, and I’m trying to reach an end game with this business. And said, one of the better ways I can do it is to buy my own truck, make this money, sell the truck, and retire with some of that money, and then I can afford to work in my town, because everything will be paid for. And it was a great plan. So because you start off with one truck, and then I wanted to upgrade, so I bought this one, and then my plan was to retire at the end of 2026 and the truck would have been paid for January 1. I would have worked out the full year, and that way I’d have all that money I wasn’t paying out on the truck bail. And then the truck said, You’re staying in the industry. So I’m stuck for a little while longer. But, you know, I once told Annabelle in a previous interview, and when I bought my first truck, I was flatbed. That’s all I’ve ever downloaded in the tow truck. So I had a flat bed company’s page open and Oakley, and I’m saying change or no change. And I just, at the time, felt comfortable staying with what I mastered, you know, that I was pretty good at what I did. And, you know, I put it, put everything into flat bedding. And I actually been fielding phone calls from a guy that’s just getting into flat bedding and telling it how to tarp over FaceTime, and just helping him out right now, because he knows that I’ve got a wealth of knowledge in that industry so, but looking back at it, I really wish I would have hit Submit over here. I really do, because I’ve only been here going on two years now, and I just the family atmosphere here is good,
Jeremy Kellett 18:22
yeah. What’s that’s a little different subject, or, I mean, different way of looking at what’s the difference? If you got some guy out there listening to us now, that’s flat betting, and they look at you, you’re pulling a dump trailer, right? Yes. And they’re looking at, should I go pull a dump trailer or not for Oakley? What’s the big difference between going from flatbed to an end up? It’s sort
Brian Lang 18:45
of a hard question to answer, but simply the wear and tear on your body. I’ve been through a lot. My body’s been through a lot, broken legs, ACL shoulders, and it all happened on the job. And you know, flat beds are a lot. You got to work a lot in that industry, throwing chain binders strapped every single day. And if you’re a hustler, you might do it twice a day. So yeah, your body will like you more if you come over. So I mean, we’ve been easier on you. It’s been a lot easier on my body. And you know, there’s been other changes in my life that made that easier for me as well. But transition from anything else to coming here, will it? The work isn’t as hard. The first few times you put the trailer up in there is a little stressful, but I try to keep my confidence in check, because if you get a little too cocky with it, I mean, we all seen the videos, and I’m not trying to be that guy, because I sing in my truck, and nobody needs to hear that so. And I’m, you know, I’ll be humming a tune while that trailer is going up, and if it goes over, I don’t want orientation guys hearing me saying, right, but no, I think the job is physical. Easier to do. And, you know, I have no complaints here, none. And I’m not saying that. Come on now. I
Jeremy Kellett 20:06
I mean, there’s got to be something in two years. Well, in two years, I
Brian Lang 20:10
went through two dispatchers, one guy decided he was going to move on, and I got a new guy, and he and I were kind of butting heads at first. I think most of it was myself, and I just felt like I was, like, pushed off, and, you know, I wasn’t getting the runs I was getting, and I’m waiting a lot, and I was getting frustrated. And now Ray and I have a pretty good relationship, and I cracked him up today. He just answered the phone. Yeah. I’m like, What do you mean? Yeah? You say good morning or something. And then he started laughing. But you know, he was new, and he had to find his stride and figure out how to do his job. And you know, he’s juggling all these drivers, and I try not to be a pain in the neck with them, and let the man do his thing. So, but, yep, I wouldn’t change it for anything,
Jeremy Kellett 20:58
that relationship with your dispatcher. I mean, how important is that? Well,
Brian Lang 21:03
I can give you a quick example of my flat bed. Dispatcher was a lady, and she’s literally the best thing that’s ever happened in my truck and career. And she referred to my wife as her sister’s wife, and she still calls me today. She misses me. She begs me to come back, but I can’t, and if she knows why, so, but you have to have a good relationship with your dispatcher. He needs to know who you are and how you work. And if, once that finally gelled between me and him, I think we both know how. You know he knows he can count on me. 7am I’m at my customer’s. And you know that’s very important. You
Megan Cummings 21:44
know you’re talking to your dispatcher more than you talk to some of your family. Maybe. I mean, yeah,
Brian Lang 21:50
I’m kind of, I don’t like bothering him, because I know he’s got work to do. And I try to do that phone call in the morning is what I try to do now. Try not to bother but you know, we’ve, we have some experiences that happen out here that need more attention, and so that’s the only time I really try to bother him too much. So
Megan Cummings 22:12
right? Give
Brian Lang 22:13
me another load.
Megan Cummings 22:17
So if you had to sum up your career as a truck driver in one word, what would you use?
Brian Lang 22:25
There isn’t one word for me, because I talked to
Jeremy Kellett 22:28
one sentence fulfilling. There you go. Very good, very good. Best
Brian Lang 22:35
things that could come to my mind. It presents its highs and lows. And you know, you just have to be willing to put that foot forward. You know, I’ve been saying this after all the repair work that I’ve been going through the past few months is there’s a saying out there. I don’t even know where I saw it, read it, or saw the wind. There’s a reason why your windshield is bigger than a rear view mirror. Oh, yeah. This is more important than that. So when my wife was stressed out about all the truck repairs, I said, we just got to move forward. And we sat down, had to talk about that, and she had a little more easy understanding about why we just spent the money. We just spent it and you know, you just have to ride it out.
Jeremy Kellett 23:19
Yeah, well, it’s expensive running a company, trucking company, for sure, and that’s what you’re doing,
Brian Lang 23:25
yeah. And that’s one of the things I like about over here, is they allow me to run my company. If there’s something I don’t agree with, I don’t mind telling him I don’t agree with, you know, whatever that load is or but I also try not to be that guy that’s going to be that thorn in his butt. So I told him the other day. I said, I better be your driver of the year. I’ve never told you, though,
Jeremy Kellett 23:46
putting pressure on him, on you,
Brian Lang 23:47
I tried, I tried. I didn’t threaten him. Though, I can’t threaten people anymore with my pocket knife, because I got a new one and it’s really sharp. The last one was broken and dull. So I could threaten everybody with what about
Jeremy Kellett 23:59
the general public that’s out there on the roadways that have a persona about truck drivers, trucking companies. I mean, a lot of the general public, Brian, all they see is the billboards, the commercials, by the TV characters that I mean truck drivers are just, you know, they don’t know how to drive. They did it my way. I mean, to a lot of the general public, I think we’re a nuisance, trucking, truck drivers, trucking companies, trucking trailers on the road. And if you had all those people listening right here, the general public. They tuned in to the Oakley podcast. Never been a listener before, but they wanted to, hey, you got them all right here. They’ve never driven a truck or anything. What would you tell them jump
Brian Lang 24:52
and be a passenger for one day? This either you’ve done your research. Or you just stumbled on a hot topic, but I am actually in the middle of a lawsuit right now for a Sideswipe accident, really. And it should have been, you pay for yours. I pay for mine. But they got stingy, because where her car stopped was right underneath the billboard. I said, being involved with an 18 wheeler. Oh, wow, and she did. And yeah, I won’t talk too much about that, yeah, but if it’s ongoing, you probably don’t need to, yeah, but you know, it’s the mentality of these lawyers see an opportunity, and they think that we’re all millionaires, and you know, we might live comfortable lifestyles if you do things right? But I’m furthest thing from a millionaire, so, but they want to get us for as much money as they can, so I feel more like they think we’re that’s our lottery ticket. So get wrapped up with that. But I wish that the public would pay a little more attention and have some patience for us. You know, it takes a second to get the momentum, to get 80,000 pounds up to speed, yeah. And it also takes a second to stop one too. So, you know, yeah. So going through with what I’m going through, you know, I asked for prayers from my church all the time, and they were always checking in. But this thing has been going on for three years now, and there’s still no stop to it. Yet see him. And, yeah, if people just give us some space, yeah, and that’s all we ask for you, we slow down and make that give us our space for resistance, and they occupy our space. I think,
Jeremy Kellett 26:32
if they knew you Yeah, you know. I mean, I think that’s the part that’s missing. If I know truck driver, you know, I’ve got, you know, you would think they’d have one in their family somewhere, but, you know, if they know, you know, have a conversation with Brian Lang, and they knew, well, there’s Brian Lane going down the road, yeah. Well, I
Brian Lang 26:51
I have a college professor friend of mine. I’ve known him since he was a high school teacher, and every summer he jumps in the truck with me for a week, and he has a whole new perspective about what goes on out here. And, you know, he used to be pretty weaving in and out of cars and trucks, and now he has a lot more respect when he’s driving down the road. Makes a difference. It’s only because he rode with me for a couple weeks that helps. You know, I
Megan Cummings 27:15
feel like we’re all guilty of this. You know, you don’t realize how important truck drivers are until you need one, right until covid or some kind of weird strike goes on, and you’re like, well, we can’t get our goods because there’s no, no drivers to take it to us. You know, we’re
Brian Lang 27:31
heroes for what? Yes,
Megan Cummings 27:32
oh well, longer than that, yeah, you know,
Brian Lang 27:36
They wanted their lumber to build up their backyards, and I was the guy hauling it so well.
Jeremy Kellett 27:41
If people just, I mean, it’s bass fishermen. Okay, so we typically bash, I’m sorry I got back on that again,
27:47
sir, there we go.
Jeremy Kellett 27:48
I’m just saying bass fishermen. You know, we’re all, hey man, we’re all friends before we even know each other’s name. You know, we’re talking in the parking lot. We’re talking down on the lake, kind of like motorcycles. You know, you see all these guys in their motorcycles, and they, I’ll notice, they all wave at each other. Like, what are you waving at that guy for? You don’t even know him. Well. He’s riding a motorcycle. Okay? These two people. He was probably the one that just gave you the finger, cut you off or whatever. But now you’re, now you’re side by side and brothers on the weekend bass fishing, you know. So, I mean, it’s like, if you would just get if you just knew them, you wouldn’t act like this. Have to
Megan Cummings 28:26
remember that there are actual people behind the wheel driving. That’s exactly, you know, I got
Brian Lang 28:30
a family too, yeah, yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 28:32
Gotta make a living too. Yeah, yeah.
Brian Lang 28:34
It’s crazy out there. But I still won’t tell you where my spot is fishing.
Jeremy Kellett 28:42
I’ll get it out of you. Those electronics. What did we get to wrap this thing up? What does the future look like for Brian?
Brian Lang 28:50
I hope to run out 2028, and yeah, we’ll see what happens after that.
Jeremy Kellett 28:58
So you still got the original plan. It’s just kind of extended, bumped up a couple years. So yeah,
Brian Lang 29:03
and we’ll see we we’ve talked with some of the people I’m dispatched out of Catoosa, and I have spoke with them, and there’s a possibility to maybe just work a few days a week and run barge stuff, and I’m close enough where to run up to Muskoka, he won’t be that big of a deal, or even come up here. So, you know, I’d hate to pull the plug. I don’t want somebody to tell me it’s time to quit. I want to quit on my own terms. So if I can slow down when everything’s paid for and caught back up and just do three to four days a week, and, you know, maybe get that extra day on the lake instead of, but, yeah, I’d like to just kind of pump the brakes a little bit, and instead of just dropping off. I still think I have a lot of years in me, but you know, she wants me home a little more true until I’m home, and then she’s like, go back.
Jeremy Kellett 29:55
Enough’s enough. So you also are. Are you doing TikTok?
Brian Lang 30:01
Yeah, I’ve dedicated a TikTok page to promote Oakley. And we’ll tell everybody what it is. It’s, I’d have to look at it. It’s, I believe it’s double down, 443, or something like that.
Jeremy Kellett 30:15
Meanwhile, she’s looking up. Well, no, go ahead, tell me about your TikTok dude. Yeah.
Brian Lang 30:19
So I just doubled down to 443. Is the TikTok page, and I just talk about Oakley and my experience. And early on, I had a lot of people kind of button in telling me about their experience. And of course, they no longer work here. I think some of them never even worked here, to be honest with you. So if, if somebody gets on my page and starts talking nonsense. I kind of edit some of their language out because I don’t want to hear it. I’m sharing my experience here, which are
Jeremy Kellett 30:48
so well, give us an example. What are some of the things that’s on your TikTok? You know, I
Brian Lang 30:53
do a thing every Monday. A lot of times, I start my week at the house Monday, and I walk down and I’m in the dark, and I’m walking down to the truck that’s already running. I’ve already walked around it, and I just kind of, you know, share what my first beginning of the week is going to look like, and going down the road. And, you know, just, I’ve had a few guys come in and call up and get referrals. And that’s kind of my game. My end game with it is, if I can turn somebody on to the company. And, you know, it didn’t cost me anything to talk about it for three or four minutes on the internet once or twice a week. But if I can, if I can get a little something off of it, then it would be as well. Yeah, so that’s kind of my game with it, is to promote the company. And there’s actually a few guys that are here. They were already talking with y’all and, yeah, I didn’t get the referral bonus, but they came because of my videos also. So yeah, so I’ve been approached several times by drivers here that said they came here because of what I’ve said. So yeah, so just sharing my experiences here, that’s pretty much all it is, a lot of truck prep right now. So a lot of people follow my journey through the devastation of this truck repair ordeal so it’s behind us now.
Jeremy Kellett 32:11
I had somebody else tell me a secret about you. I don’t know if we want to get it out there on the podcast or let anybody know, so this might be part that we get edited out. We’ll let you decide. Because I had somebody tell me that you made bracelets. I did not say who that was.
Brian Lang 32:33
Well, if people ask, yeah. Let’s see. So my wife is into Korean boy band music, and she makes these bracelets when she gets to go to concerts. And hers has a bunch of names and letters on it, but I want it to make something nice. So I actually get all my stones from Thailand. My wife is half Thai. Her mother is full Thai. So she has a lady that goes back and forth to Thailand. So these aren’t stones that you can find at Hobby Lobby. You know the little metal is, but the stones aren’t. But we’re down for 10 hours. Like I said, I don’t need that much time down. So I sit, I have a desk in my truck, and I sit and I make bracelets and I wear them myself. So those are so cool. And I have two bands that were all my bracelets. So really, yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 33:26
oh, two bands.
Brian Lang 33:29
There’s a country guy. His name’s Drake white, which is my favorite. Oh, I know, I know the name, yeah. So Jeremy. He lives next door. Oh, he comes to Arkansas hunting all the time, so he’s here a lot, but he I actually had a concert a couple weeks ago, and I presented him with a necklace, and he’s doing a record promotion. He just dropped a new record, and I see my necklace on his neck all the time. I don’t tell anybody about it, because it’s kind of, yeah, you just did. But I know I just did that. It’s cool. And his whole band wears, on occasion, my bracelets. That’s awesome. That is so cool. Lady singer, Maggie rose, and she’s my favorite female vocalist, and her whole band wears my stuff. So wow, that was kind of cool. Durham, the drummer, Timothy, he Instagram, hey, I broke one. Can you send me another? So I just make it, send it to him, so I have his size on the written down, so I know how to make it a professional operation now, yeah, but I don’t charge anybody for anything. I just give them out. I don’t want another job. So this takes some time, and I get to make them and all the women in my church, my old church, every woman in that church, wore a Brian Lang bracelet. Brian Lang original. That’s it. And then we’re at a different church now, and I’m slowly pushing them off on people. Cool. So cool, yeah, so it takes a special kind of man to wear a bracelet anyway. So I wear them and they look nice. I think I have four for my note that’s in my other coat. But in my little outfit that I’m wearing for the company party I got bracelets to match my shirt. There you go, accessorizing, right?
Megan Cummings 35:22
Yeah, now you’ve got something new. That extra five hours, that’s a break. There you
Brian Lang 35:27
go. I sit there until my back hurts and but, yeah, it’s fun, and if you can make somebody smile, done. It’s all absolutely, you
Jeremy Kellett 35:36
know, see there, yeah, dig it out. You just finally. Annabelle gives us the little tidbit I am feeling
Megan Cummings 35:42
boring by the week, they have somebody else in here telling us about something like, the Lord, you
Brian Lang 35:49
i have hobbies. And I can’t. I was gonna bring a fishing pole and go try to fish off this bank here this weekend, but I didn’t bring it. My truck is so full of stuff. But yeah, I can sit there and make bracelets and it’s fun.
Jeremy Kellett 36:04
Hey, just another example of the Oakley podcast, bringing out the you know, how genuine owner operator truck drivers are, how good of people they are, what they do in their spare time. Oh, it’s just going to show you more and more. I mean, we
Brian Lang 36:20
got hobbies. Yeah, so I do have one more thing I’ll share with you guys, and you can cut it out if you like. But this year, I believe in promoting stuff that I use, and I believe in it, and I’ve been working with the guy, Van Brown. He’s the owner, creator of bull snot, and I’ve been working with him, and he’s actually sent me a bunch of stuff, and I’m gonna put together a little care package for one of the gifts for the truck show. And I have product here that I can provide, or, you know, sell to the drivers at a really good price and great
Jeremy Kellett 36:53
what? What is it? What is something? We just hear that bullshit. I’ll pass. I’ll pass. Yeah, sure. I want
Brian Lang 37:01
my wife always says to me, go get your bull snot and clean the mirror. Well, they make a glass cleaner, cleaner, butter, they make a leather conditioner, they make an air freshener. Then he has a hand bomb. If you got these old crusty hands, they got a hand bomb. But I have a lot of his products with me, and I’m here to try to, you know, it might be a bad idea giving these guys cleaning stuff and giving myself a disadvantage in this truck show, but I have it for them if they want to, if they want to pick up some. So it’s a great product, but I have the window cleaner, some of the tire buyers, some paint, Polish and stuff. So I heard he was one of the people they were trying to get to come out here, but he is occupied with another show this weekend. So, oh, that’s great. So I’m going to try to represent him in the best way I can, you know, get really nothing out of it, because I’m not charging a lot more for the product, because I just want to spread the word of the product, because it’s good stuff. So yeah,
37:55
well, hey,
Jeremy Kellett 37:56
Thanks for sitting down. My pleasure telling your story. Great story. Yeah, returning guests, that’s what you are. Returning guests, get us some more stories out there, but I appreciate you sitting down with us. We really do well.
Brian Lang 38:09
Thanks for having me. Yeah, hey.
Jeremy Kellett 38:11
Thanks everybody for listening to the Oakley podcast. We sure do appreciate Megan. Thanks for joining me. I appreciate you. No problem helping out too. Appreciate what everybody does to help this podcast and get it going and get it out there. We got, you know, Annabelle does a great deal. We have our guys at heart that really help us out, too, and, heck, make us look good, and that is a challenge. But anyway, it’s all good, great to bring you stuff like this, and we’re gonna bring you some more every week, so stay tuned, and we’ll talk to you next week. Thanks for listening to this episode of Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate or review the show in the podcast platform of your choice and share it with a friend. We love hearing from our audience. So if you’ve got a question comment or just want to say hello, head over to our website, podcast.bruceoakley.com, and click the leave a comment button. We’ll get you a response soon, and may even share some of the best ones here on the show. We’ll be back with a fresh episode very soon. Thanks for listening.