This week on the Oakley Podcast, hosts Jeremy Kellett and Megan Cummings welcome Luigi Llanos, one of our owner/operators at Oakley Trucking. During the episode, Luigi shares his compelling journey from a violence-ridden upbringing in Colombia to building a successful trucking career in the United States. The episode delves into Luigi’s life experiences, including his family dynamics, career challenges, and personal growth. Luigi discusses his transition into the trucking industry, the importance of community support, and his aspirations for the future. The conversation highlights resilience, determination, and the significance of family and community in the trucking world. It’s an episode you won’t want to miss!
Key topics in today’s conversation include:
- Previewing Today’s Episode with Luigi (0:51)
- Canada Recruiting Updates (3:50)
- Luigi’s Introduction and Journey to the United States (5:50)
- Family and Living Situation (7:09)
- Making the Decision to Leave Colombia and Move to the U.S. (9:12)
- Visiting Family in Colombia (11:15)
- Career Journey in the U.S. (12:16)
- Transition to Trucking (14:40)
- First Driving Job (17:11)
- Luigi’s Introduction to Driving for Donna the Buffalo Band (19:48)
- Unexpected Recognition (22:36)
- Web Development Journey (23:29)
- Luigi Learning Different Languages (27:32)
- Language Learning Techniques (31:01)
- Decision to Buy a Truck (34:06)
- Learning About Oakley at Truck Stop (37:18)
- Equipment Trade-In (39:35)
- Visualization in Driving (41:59)
- Building Connections and Community (44:45)
- Future Plans for Luigi (47:49)
- Reflection on Life Experiences (48:53)
- Final Thoughts and Takeaways (52:57)
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.bruce oakley.com.
Transcription
Luigi Llanos 00:12
When I was growing up in Colombia by the time I was 19 years old, I had already have nine guns pointed to either my head, my chest or my bat, because of the situation so every single time that you realize that your life has been in someone else’s hands, and for the mercy of God, you’re not dead. You kind of automatically have this sense of appreciation for life. Today is a gift. That’s why they call it pressing. The Bible says every day is gonna bring his own thing. So just relax is all gonna be fine.
Jeremy Kellett 00:51
Welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking, business, and family. This show is brought to you by Oakley Trucking, headquartered in 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 inside to outside truck drivers that might be interested in joining the Oakley family. Welcome to the Oakley podcast, trucking, business and family. I’m Jeremy kellett director recruiting here at Oakley trucking and I’m your host for this podcast. And also got Miss Megan Cummins, my co host how’re you doing? Megan?
Megan Cummings 01:29
Great, how are you?
Jeremy Kellett 01:30
Lovely, just great to speak to. Don’t sit down with one of our owner operators today and talk to him. Luigi has been with us a few months now and just got an interesting story. Five months ago, I got an interesting story, just his background and how he ended up where he is today. And looking forward to it. This is all new stuff to us too. We don’t really know the story so we’re anxious to talk to him a little bit about his success story and being ended up but we’re here at Oakley Truckee so but first Hey Hina appreciate everybody listening to the Oakley podcast as always appreciate our sponsors Arrow Truck Sales LubeZone gift we’ve come a long ways. I say that every week but it’s just amazing to me what we’ve done with this podcast and how we’ve come a long way. I talk to a lot of people that enjoy it. Because there are times when I’m like, Man, do we want to keep doing this? How are we gonna keep doing this and give them good content? But it’s just refreshing to get feedback from our listeners that we are doing something good and we’re doing the right thing and we take pride in trying to get the good content to you, you know, and stuff that will help our mainly our owner operators be successful. And that’s our goal. That’s what it started out to do. I appreciate everybody sharing it, checking out our social media, and just keeping up to date with it. Megan’s got any Well, I
Megan Cummings 02:47
was just gonna think or I was going to say something about the podcast. Don’t forget to leave us a comment on the videos or there’s a form Cory was shown me yesterday, there’s a form that you can submit to leave a comment that way on the website. Yeah. And that helps a lot. Yes. Yeah.
Jeremy Kellett 03:04
I will tell you what I would like people to do, and they may do it on social media or Facebook or something. But I’d like for him to give us some suggestions on some topics. I’d like for him to ask us some questions. Yes. Hey, you can mailbag. Yeah, let us answer if you don’t give us a good question. And we’ll try to answer it, you know, maybe one every week or something. So we just need people to participate. So check it out. Leave a comment. We got that website when Corey showed you the one with the actual podcast website? We can go there. Leave a comment. Yeah. Yeah. And that’d be good. And we’ll put that up on the screen and there might be a link to it. So anything going on in
Megan Cummings 03:44
permit department and recruiting? i Yes. I got some updates. Yeah. I’m still working on the recruiting gig. Trying to spread my wings a little bit. Canada’s great. Every chance I get I try to tell people to go up there. I think a lot of people think I’m joking, but I’m serious. Canada’s going good permits are going good. The 2290 season was pretty startling. Yeah. So we’ve still got, I mean, you still got plenty of time to file it. But that deadline shows up quickly. So yeah, yeah. And everybody’s we’ve covered that pretty extensively on they’re doing it themselves now. So is that going pretty smoothly to guests, people that are doing everything? Everybody kind of caught on to it pretty quick. I haven’t had too many questions or issues with the ones that we’ve gotten in so we knew you guys could do it. Wow. I mean, we got some smart owner operators. Absolutely. way smarter than me.
Arrow Truck Sales Commercial 04:46
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Jeremy Kellett 05:32
All right, well, let’s get started with Luigi LAN first. Appreciate you sitting down with us. Thank you for having me. Yeah, I just want to talk to you about your history and stuff. But first, I guess. As always, introduce yourself. Give us your name, your family, hobbies where you live.
Luigi Llanos 05:50
Well, my name is Luigi Janos Luigi Aleksandr Charles Camacho. I am originally from Colombia. I was born and raised in the times of Pablo Escobar. I know they
Jeremy Kellett 06:01
Everybody knows that it’s nice. familiar to a lot of people for many different reasons.
Luigi Llanos 06:05
I came to the US July 31 1996. At 10 o’clock, I landed at JFK. So it’ll be 28 years. All right, this year.
Megan Cummings 06:18
That was it. I mean, for you to remember the day and the time, that was a pretty special moment for you.
Luigi Llanos 06:23
It was the first time I was with a big plane and a six hour flight. And my biggest question of that time was where he says playing is going to win because all I get sees, sees the lights and builds it and as it wears this thing. Like I was changing my first tire for the people that came to pick us up in the middle of a lot of rain. Blow tires for girls in the car, and then just me driving. I get Sorry, I’ll change you so Oh, when you get when you Yeah, my first 45 minutes who they are, well, they got flat tires and the people that came to pick us up that’s like, Oh, this is gonna be an interesting adventure.
Jeremy Kellett 07:01
Well, yeah, yeah. So now you have a family. Here. You live in Rhode Island.
Luigi Llanos 07:09
Well, I have actually been leaving in the truck since August of 2021. You know, I separated from my ex wife and I have a 24 year old daughter. She lives in Washington DC. Okay. So I mean, I’ve really just been on the road since I was 21. Wow. Yeah. switched my truck to come here. The other truck was too heavy. Whoa, whoa. But I like the Kenworth that I have right now.
Jeremy Kellett 07:34
So let’s talk about how, I guess, go back to the beginning when you were born and raised in Colombia. And then how did you end up in New York City? Okay,
Luigi Llanos 07:44
so I went to school to learn how to speak English in 1992. From 1992 to 1984. I had a two year program, I was working for the statistics bureau. In Colombia. I was the purchasing assistant for the Center for the purchasing department for the north coast of Colombia, which is seven states. So one day, I was walking down one of the main avenues, and I saw this tall girl and I said she’s not from here. And we kind of just looked at each other. I think I realized that the guy that was standing next to her was a guy that was in my class, and so I couldn’t remember his name. And I finally found it. I was like, Oh, hey, Manuel, it just shattered across the street. He turned and then we both locked eyes. And, you know, I was like, hi, you know, then we came and started talking to each other. He introduced me to who became my wife, you know, Anna Carson. And we shook hands and we just looked at each other and like, I know, that night I went home and I couldn’t sleep. I was like, oh my god, I’m in love. This is crazy. This is crazy. I’m in love with a foreigner. This is bad. This is really bad.
Jeremy Kellett 09:00
She was from the United States. Oh,
Luigi Llanos 09:02
yeah. She was from the US. She’s from upstate New York. She was going to Antioch college at the time in Ohio. She was a student in Columbia. She was an exchange student, but she was a professor. Okay. She was not my teacher, though. I have to make it. I was not dating my teacher. So she was there. We dated for one month. She left September 3 of 93. And the reason I remember that is because my CD is borrowing Kia, where Shakira is from and Sofia Vergara, you know, from the same city. The stadium in my city is the stadium that they use for the soccer playoffs for the World Cup. I took her to a few soccer games. And then that was the day that our Colombia beat Argentina 500 was a historic moment in Colombia. And I remember that’s the reason right and they And then she came back in 1996. And we started the relationship again. But at that time, I had already finished the English program. And I was working for the statistics bureau. And she asked me, ” Do you want to go to the States? I said, you’re, I mean, let’s do it. So we got married in May for Lady six, and in July, three months later in Colombia, in New York, in Colombia, okay. Yeah. And then I just left. For days, I did not sleep before I left, because I didn’t know what was waiting for me.
Jeremy Kellett 10:37
She just said load up and let’s go to Nougat. Let’s go. Let’s
Luigi Llanos 10:39
just go. Let’s be like, All right, we bought tickets one way. Wow. So I’m like,
Jeremy Kellett 10:44
family. What do you think about it? Oh, they were happy.
Luigi Llanos 10:48
They were happy because they’re like, Oh my God. We’ve never seen Luigi like this. you’re releasing love. Bah, bah, bah. sob. We laugh, I mean, I laugh. It was crazy saying goodbye to everybody. Because I wasn’t sure when I was gonna see them again. So that was part of the adventure of coming to the US.
Jeremy Kellett 11:08
Did you have a big family in Colombia?
Megan Cummings 11:11
You still have family over there now. Visit occasionally. I just
Luigi Llanos 11:15
one. I just came back a while on May 30. To June 15. It was great to see them unfortunately. We had a tragedy in the family. One of my cousin’s wives went to visit. Three days later, he got hit by a car. Oh, my God Project killed right. On the highway. Yeah, he left three kids behind. Well, I never thought that I was gonna be the last time I saw him. Well, I was so willing to let him work. Like, Hey, man, get it together. Like it’s just not how it is. So yeah, I was fairly poor. But besides that, it’s great to go back home.
Megan Cummings 11:54
You try to do that often.
Luigi Llanos 11:55
I’m going to know that I’m working for you guys. So the goal right now is worth five months, and then go home one month. I’ve been waiting almost 20 years to be able to do that, you know, to go home twice a year. I haven’t spent the holidays with them and you know, almost 20 years.
Jeremy Kellett 12:14
So what have you been doing over here for 28 years?
Luigi Llanos 12:16
Oh my god, where do we go? When I first came in 96 my English was not that great. So I was living in Ithaca, New York. My first job was as a grocery stalker in an organic store. For me. It was like a hippie store. You know, it didn’t know anything. For me, it was funny because the smell of the people around me in upstate New York and I’ll say, what is the smell everybody wears? You know, it’s like, oh, last but surely. It was especially like, Oh, can I buy some so I can start wearing that. So I jumped from that to being in August, I started painting houses. I did painting houses for six years. painting houses and remodeling was a bartender.
Jeremy Kellett 13:09
This is all while you were still married? Yes. Yeah. Yeah, I
Luigi Llanos 13:12
was bartending close to Cornell University. And then I started doing advanced Spanish conversational. I became a teacher. For some programs there. TC TCI something in New York. My ex wife asked me to cover her for one night for the classes. And then it turns out that the lady was watching and she said, I really liked your teaching style. I was like, Oh, you do? This is like yes, I do. Would you be interested in doing two semesters here at this institution? Like? Sure. So they’re there. I was teaching advanced conversational Spanish with some people from Cornell University, which I thought was great. I had fun doing that. But then I separated in 2006 and I became friends with the Sicilian guys who were all a bit different. So I learned to speak Italian because you know, the name is Luigi. Like you need to learn to speak Italian. I was like, Okay, I learned to speak Italian. And I became really good friends with them. And then in 2006, I received a phone call when I was with my friend. We started to use our painting houses to kill and one of the Sicilian guys salvo. He says, Hey, Luigi, I need to come and paint my house just like you painted yours because I painted mine with really bright colors. Like wow, this is really great. Can you do mines like Sure. So I have received this phone call. It was Giovanni, the owner of the pizzeria in upstate New York. As again, Luigi, I got this guy on the phone. He says he needs a driver. So what do you mean he needs a driver? I said I’ve been on Myra, which is one hour away from Tribus where it’s like yeah, he needs to drive Alright, I’m just gonna put him on the phone. Like okay, cool. So he puts his sailboat and passes the phone to me, but he’s very mysterious about his taking this job, I’m gonna break your leg. What job are you talking about? So he gave me a phone and I was like, Hello, who is this? It’s like, Hey, this is Jack Ma. I am Luigi. Yeah. Giovanni told me you’re a professional driver. As a key. Yes. How can I help you? So well, we need a driver. Okay, when do you need me? We live in one hour. I’m sorry, say one hour. So I mean, right now, it’s gonna take me one hour just to get back. So what do you need to do? It’s like, well, we need to go to Chicago. Then we’re going to Colorado, Ohio, Kentucky, and then back to New York. I was like, Sure. Yeah, I’ll do that.
Jeremy Kellett 15:51
I mean, earlier now
Luigi Llanos 15:53
what the gig was. He just needed a drive. And he didn’t know what I was driving, or where you know. So I go back to upstate New York, go back to Terminus where he says meet me at the fairgrounds, and then I’m meeting with the first room. And then there’s just a gigantic pre-war boss, I’ll say, Look at this. This is a lie. The horns. This is like this is what you’re going to be driving like, Oh, I thought you just did a driver for like a minivan or something like now minivan. Just get on the bus. So I was like, oh, okay, sure. I got on the bus. And then they took me out for a road test. And have you ever driven one? I never drove a bus like that. You know, but I have been driving tractor
Jeremy Kellett 16:36
trailers. Oh, you had you’d already gotten your so yeah,
Luigi Llanos 16:38
I got my CDL in 2001. Okay. Yeah, I got my CDL in 2001. I came back. I went to school in West Virginia. Frazier spot on West Virginia for the Trucking School. Look at the three weeks of that got my license. I’m sorry, I forgot to mention that. Went back upstate New York made it to get a job ASAP. Look in the newspaper. There was a company that was hiring. J QCon. Trucking. You know what they were? So I went up there and it turns out the word milk tankers, okay. You know, the guy gave me a road test was like, How much experience do you have? I said, I just got out of Trucking School. I have about four hours driving. Right? It’s like, okay, well, we’ll just go for a road test. You know, I was like, Okay, great. Let’s go for a road test. So he took me out for a road test. And the guy came back. He’s like, saw how easy he was like, Oh, he’s great. It’s like he’s been driving for a long time. I think it’s just so well, when do you want to start? I said today fossil is like, Alright, come back at six o’clock. It’s like, Oh, okay. So I went back at six o’clock. And to me, that was like, one of the funniest things about the story, my driving career because he says, Jesus, the paperwork for your truck. That’s your truck over there was a freight lighter, all freight liner. That’s your trailer over there. Here’s my emergency phone number. If you have any problems, you call me. I was like, Wait, where am I going? Right. So you’re going to Brooklyn tonight and say Brooklyn, New York. They say give sir, like, all right. Oh, man. Yeah. So I did not have a trainer. I was just waiting for slow down Grinding Gears there. He gave me a whole lesson about driving a tanker and see how you turn and all these things because I didn’t get my endorsement. So I did that for six months. And they I switched to star transport out of Morton, Illinois. The trainer. He was with me for three days. It’s like, why is this guy? Why does this guy need a trainer? He drives better than it. They isolate. Oh, really? So what are you suggesting? It’s like, you know what I’m suggesting, just give him his tribe. So they made an exception. I like okay, well, let’s just get me started. So then six months later, they asked me to start trading. I say huh, trading is more money, Luigi, you’ll get a new truck. I was like, okay, Sign me up. I did that for one year by train with eight guys. That was very challenging. Having somebody you’ve never met insure the truck we do. Yeah. You’re not getting I
Jeremy Kellett 19:18
gotta sleep. I can’t wait. I need to get back to the bus. Yeah, so now we’re in the because so I guess you’re driving and then you’re also got your buddies that you’re doing some odd jobs with or the pain or something and right, the guy tells you that he’s gonna break your legs. If you take this
Luigi Llanos 19:34
jet, right? So sideways, like you take this job. It’s like, you know, it’s like, I just clean the house and turn it upside down for you to start painting is like, Okay, fine. So then I told Southborough you know, toggle. This guy needs to be human. Wow. It’s like, Yeah, I know. That’s his style. The font. It’s like, just get the heck out. And then we’re gone, but you’re coming back. It’s like I’m coming back. So relax. You know what this guy says? Okay, cool. So I did, you know, I saw everybody getting on the bus. And I still didn’t know what it was. I just saw the scars, common people getting on the bus. It’s like, alright, Luigi will be good to go. Okay, there we go. The first year he wants to, you know, hire. And then I started to realize it was like, Oh, these are theaters, you know, you’re parking in the back. And then I saw like, getting all the equipment, opening the doors, and I say, oh, man, the you guys are a band. Said you stupid. It’s like, I’m sorry, I didn’t know what you guys were doing. This is like, yeah, we’re a band that’s like, Oh, cool. So you can come inside and see the show. If you want to know I’m good. I just wanted to kind of keep it professional, you know,
Jeremy Kellett 20:46
What was the band?
Luigi Llanos 20:49
Dawn that the buffalo. That’s the name of the band. They’re from upstate New York, New Orleans is a very interesting thing following them from the guy that you can find living in the street to guys who own multibillion dollar computer chip components and things like that. And everything in between files theme. So I used to do about 130 shows a year plus private parties who then go into the Bahamas on a cruise. Wow. And I was the only one not working because I had no boss to drive by if they lost commerce, like Sure. Well, yeah. So in yours?
Megan Cummings 21:33
Wow. Do you keep in contact with any of those people? I mean, you had to spend a lot of time with them.
Luigi Llanos 21:38
Yes, I mean, we spend too much time. I spend too much time with them. I mean, so much time that I started to, I didn’t want to go into the hotels, like the boss for me was home. You know, my bunk was home, they live in a room and there was a home for me. I went to so many hotels, and it’s just like, I might just go into the hotel to take a shower and allow it to but the rest of the time I just rather stay there. I was just the amount of beautiful people that I met. You know, everybody was so grateful the bear was there. When I came to the US, it never crossed my mind that I was going to be in that type of environment. Where, you know, I used to say when I was younger, last segment in America, everybody wants to be a rock star. That’s why I used to say,
Jeremy Kellett 22:31
I have no idea.
Luigi Llanos 22:34
I was gonna be involved in the whole situation. And I remember at one of the festivals, this lady came up to me and said, Can I get your autograph? I say my autograph lady. I just drive the boss. He’s like your name is on the album. I was like No, stop. You say cat. So she liked the album. Test. Your Luigi I say yes. It’s like special things to Luigi for his amazing efforts and keeping us safe. I was like, Where would you like you know, so she’s like, right here. So after that I was just unbelievable. So they allowed me to participate in two music videos. I wasn’t there on the CMT channel with one of them? Oh, really? I think at the same time. I’m also a web developer. I went to school for computer forensics.
Megan Cummings 23:23
Are you lying Luigi, because you’re on the podcast, anything he did and keeps getting?
Luigi Llanos 23:28
I graduated in 2006 from my Tompkins core little community college for the computer forensics program. Wow. And I was honored by that bar, because my grades were good enough that the director of the program made an exception to have one student participate in our organization called the ACCA, which is the high technological Crime Investigation association. So I was able to join them. And that was really interesting going to the meetings in New York City. When
Jeremy Kellett 24:01
Do you find time to do that?
Megan Cummings 24:02
That’s what I was about to say i How did you find Well,
Luigi Llanos 24:05
You know, with the band, you go on tour, but I have free time. Now, I
Jeremy Kellett 24:09
guess they come back home for right.
Luigi Llanos 24:11
So in 2010, I launched a company called Local latitude as a web development company. So I do have clients here, the US laying in 2016 was in Colombia. And I said to my brother, let’s open up a branch here. And so now he runs the branch in Colombia. We have about three clients in Colombia just doing web development, social media, all this kind of stuff to stay busy.
Megan Cummings 24:38
With sounds like it. I have trouble folding my laundry in the evening from work.
Jeremy Kellett 24:45
Yeah, that’s a task in itself and developing websites, I
Megan Cummings 24:49
think, is there anything Okay, so we’ve got web developer, or Italian pizza maker in
Luigi Llanos 24:57
2006 when I paraded. I heard this little voice telling me fast. I was called to a very hard time at that moment making that decision. And it was December 2006. And then I heard the voice again. He said fast. Any and no, I was like you might go and cuckoo here or something. So I started learning fast. I was like, Okay, well, Jesus Christ faster. He saw a guy faster than Socrates will have. He’s a student who fasts for 40 days in order to understand the theorems of mathematics and all these sorts of things. I was like, Okay, I’ll fast. So I started learning about juicy fast, you know, so I did seven days. I was crying on the third day. In my mind, it was just like, challenging my mind to do. My wife is like, are you okay? For example, you know, you’re like, No coffee, nothing in your name. But they had realized that was such a powerful thing to do, like, in your mind, letting go of so many things. He was like resetting my mind. When I finished the fast I got in the car with my wife and my daughter. And she says, How do you feel? And it was the first time in my entire life that I was driving a car. Now, mind you, I was going from a trauma sport to Ethica. I’ve taken that row 100,000 times. And after the fast, when I started driving my car going to Cornell, I thought it was the first time in my life that I was seeing that row. And she asked me, How do you feel and I looked at her and never forgot. I looked at her and I said, there’s no fear in my heart. Like, none, everything is bright. I can hear the birds singing everything, the sky just looks different. You know, the flowers, the trees, everything, even the air. So I got hooked on fasting. And I started doing so after that my mind fair, so clear that I went to the public library. And I was like, Okay, I’m just gonna start learning languages. And the first book that I picked was Farsi, which is Persian, the F of Afghanistan, language in Iran. The second one.
Megan Cummings 27:27
So I knew there was something else.
Luigi Llanos 27:32
So I picked it up, you know, and I was amazed at how easy it was to learn that I just said, Oh, wow. So then I got a job driving limousines for this local guy. So I was driving downtown. And I picked up his passengers. Ithaca, New York, it was three women, one man, and they sat in the car, picked them up, which I started driving there, we’re going to see. And I started speaking to this witch. And I was. And I was thinking to myself, I felt like mercy. And number one rule when you’re driving limousines, you don’t speak to the client unless you’re spoken to. As like, I’m breaking the rules today. And it’s like, I’m sorry, he’s that Farsi. You’re speaking. And the guy looked at me, he said, Yes, you speak Farsi. And I was like, I’m just learning. You know? And this is why you learn in Farsi, so I, why not? Yeah, it’s like, okay, we’ll just say something in Farsi. So see, I can hear your accent. I’ll say you put me on the spot. So we’ll see how to solve it. Okay, Bastion. Shema Farsi, me for me, is your force is beautiful. And I was like, Wow, thank you. So let me introduce you to the people you’re transporting. So it turns out the person that I was transporting was the director for Middle Eastern studies for a Canadian university in New York City. And the two other ladies were from Iran. One of them was an actress and the other was an author of a book called the circle, which talks about how Iranian women are put in prison when they speak their mind. And the guy himself was a professor of Aramaic language of Christ. How I was just blown away. It’s like wow, that’s like he said, You need to continue to study the language sounds beautiful. Like oh, okay, thank you. It’s like, Oh, come on. We’ll come out to dinner with us. No, I’m sorry. I can’t borrow the rope and say we insist not really I can. The cake grabbed me by the shows like your comment with us. I just started picking up other languages. Yeah, the key folks,
Megan Cummings 29:55
how many do you know how many you can speak
Luigi Llanos 29:59
Wow. With the Italian matter, I’m still working on German and French and a little Japanese. Arabic
Megan Cummings 30:07
is just so wild to me. That is awesome. I mean, I just, it’s their songs, really, but to have the desire to want to do that. And then you retain all of that. Yeah, keep them apart mentally. I mean, do you have any extra feel free to lend me the founder?
Luigi Llanos 30:29
I think it’s, I think it’s the language program, you know, and the message that I’m gonna say, right now, it’s not brought to you by the Pinson button. Payments, Larry is the program that I use? And the reason why is this guy, Mr. Pimsleur, back in the 1930s 40s 50s. And thick us, he came up with a method that you could learn any language by just listening and repeating. The trainer teaches you to repeat backwards. Some other words, so when you repeat something backwards, he tells your brain, hey, this is important information, I want to store it into long term memory rather than short term memory. So when you’re learning a program, and it’s only 30 minutes, if you are asked a question, at the end of the program on the language that you’re learning, you surprise yourself that your mind remembers it. And you answered the question just like that, like, effort effortlessly, that you’re like, oh, wow, I know how to speak this language. And then a week later, you realize that you can repeat that. And then it just becomes like a song because then you realize, wait a second. So there’s 2500 words, spoken in every language around the world right now, the basic, and then when you learn those, because you already know what it means in the other one, then it just becomes like a song. You know, and they are like, Oh, well, this is how you say that entirely. And this is a saying in Russian, you know, so I think that’s easy. I think that’s what makes it easy. One of the guys that just signed up for the program, one of the guys who graduated, was in orientation class. Yeah, like Luigi. I’m signing from Pimsleur bras. Oh, got it. Oh, he is, yeah, he’s reading Spanish. It’s like I’m coming. I’m buying a house in Colombia. These guys that I’ve been talking to the water,
Jeremy Kellett 32:30
you’re an inspiration to
Luigi Llanos 32:32
help so
Jeremy Kellett 32:34
you know, your inspiration to me just sit down and talk with you. For sure. Yeah. Yeah, it’s great. So I guess, a great story I don’t even really want to go past.
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Jeremy Kellett 33:36
Kyle was also wanting to see how you got here. You know, I mean, I guess you were driving a truck you were in. Then at some point you bought your own truck. Okay,
Luigi Llanos 33:47
so when I was driving the band, I went to a show in Rhode Island by scalded Nene grid festival. And I saw this older woman and we sort of hit it off. Anyways, make the story short, I quit the band. And I started commuting from New York to Rhode Island. That was a six hour ride. And I said to her, you know, I’m kind of crazy by you. So she’s like, well, you could just move it if you wanted. I was like oh, okay, so they quit the band and just drove to Rhode Island and stay there. We started dated. Next thing I know we got married and I got a job haul in. In August I went to Rhode Island and I immediately got a job driving. I was driving for a company called American Mussel Harvesters pulling key food from John spore in Maine. So started doing that. And I told her what the day is like you should Come with me on the row. And she came will have to go far away and come back and she really liked it. I didn’t know that she came from a family of money for me. So I said to her, I said, we should buy a truck. So we got into, we put the money. So it’s like, alright, let’s buy a truck, we put a business plan together as you run it by her dad, and we got to try. So then we got married, we got on the row was February 21, I think was February 2001. And she was just riding with us. She was riding with your team. Yeah, she was a PTA assistant, one of the hospitals in Rhode Island in Newport, I was living in Newport. So that was kind of fun. So we did that. And then just for personal reasons, we decided to split and she knew that I was going to keep the business or family new to it’s like well, Luigi, but this business together, he’s thought great, you know, the the research of everything else. As a result, I was telling you that I be in the truck by myself, say August of 2001. So I ran my authority for three years, Tony, while was great. 22 was not so bad. And then 23 Just the spot free market coming down. Everybody I see everybody had a friend, I have a friend of mine who runs toy trucks, and we just kept talking, you know, kind of for like emotional support, in a sense, you know, says like, Hey, man, don’t sell Yeah. And the just the fray was terrible. Just the entire market. I kept following this lady, she has a channeling YouTube called Truckee made successful Miranda and she was doing a great job of breaking down information from sonar, and from freight wave and all these other, you know, statistics about the trucking industry. And we’ll start following her I think she went from 25,000 to 75,000 followers, because everybody say, hey, look, she’s telling the truth about what’s going on. And then in December, I think it was December 25. I was sitting in Kentucky truckstop. And I was walking around doing my inspection and there was a Oakley trailer, you know, standing parked next to me. Or when I was doing the inspection of my truck, I saw one of the houses of his truck was kind of sticking out and not connected. So I’m thinking to myself, like, how does he look? Right? So I knock on the door and the driver. He was on the phone. He looked at me what does he want? You know? It’s like, Hold on one second. And then he came out. And it’s like, Hey, man, I’m sorry to bother you. But like, Is this supposed to be like this on your trailer? It’s like, oh, yeah, it’s supposed to be like that. But hey, man, thanks for pointing that out. I was like, oh, yeah, no problem. I mean, you know, I would like someone to point something out on my truck or trailer. If that were the case. It’s like, yeah, okay, cool. Let’s say cool. We’ll use this company is like, oh, clean and secure. He’s like, Oh, so he starts talking about ugly. 45 minutes later. I said, Matthew, I really appreciate you taking the time. He’s like, What are you going to do is like, what am I going to do? I’m selling everything. I’m selling everything. I’m coming to Oakley. So I started to meet that night. I went on the computer and started looking at Oakley doing research. Like what’s the economy of this company? What did they do? And they realized that Trucking is just one of the things that you guys do. I’m thinking they must have steady free year round. I was like, I never thought about hauling a hopper trailer. Or a tanker. Well, I had tanker experience but not a pneumatic, pneumatic. Or an N dump. I always thought Man, the wing goes, it’s like, I’m not doing that. You know, so and then the challenge was to sell the equipment considering how the market was and still is, with the hybrid prices and everything else.
Jeremy Kellett 38:56
What kind of equipment did you have? I had a Great
Luigi Llanos 38:59
Dane trailer, Everest edition special edition with a thermal cane C 600. That was 76,000 DBLog Kathrada. Trailer and Hadapt 2021 Volleyball, globetrotter. 860 model, 500 horsepower. walwater. That was Craig because I was with her. You know, I was like, nah, this is the best truck for a couple so big. You know, it’s like, I’m not, I’m not going with any Peterbilt. You can’t even walk through here. To spend time with somebody in the truck you have it has to be some big space, spacious, open. So, I did all my research and on December 31, you know, everybody was celebrating the new year and I will say they got a truckstop like 20 guys and I’m thinking that’s it. I’m not doing any more loads. And I look at the closest truck dealership, you know, to you guys. And I said, Well, there’s one here called MHC I. I know they promote arrow sales, but arrow sales doesn’t have new drugs as debtless as far as I do in a second, I’m going for any adroit. So I picked MHC when I did my last load in Florida. And I said, I’m leaving Florida whether I have a load or not. I’m driving to Little Rock, and I drank beer and went to MHC. I introduce myself and I say, look, here’s the situation. I need to trade everything off and get any truck. Well, I work for Oakley. How’s it doing a proof? You know, you even talked to us as a recruiter? No, I haven’t talked to her clearly yet. I think I made one phone call to Harrison. Yeah, yeah. And I told her he’s like, okay, all right, well, this is what you need. And that’s when the truck search came, you know, because my truck was too heavy. It’s like, okay, cool. And I remember meeting this guy at MHC, and I sat at his office, and I said, I’m not leaving here. Until we find a truck for me. And you’re gonna tell me how much you’re gonna trade this, this truck and trailer for. And here’s all the data that you need. And I literally was sitting in his office from like, eight o’clock in the morning until 5pm. And the guys were coming and being like, What’s with this guy? He’s so he’s determined to get the bright
Jeremy Kellett 41:25
knows what he’s doing? Yeah,
Luigi Llanos 41:27
it’s like, here’s the end, I basically spent the last like a week, I parked my truck right there. And the trailer dropped the trailer MHC. And I think the entire thing took about a week across us. Yeah, I just stay in the truck and go back and sit in his office. Like, while you’re kind of persistence, it’s like, I know, when I won.
Jeremy Kellett 41:52
Chips, you hadn’t talked to anybody who would be improved. You just knew what you were going to do.
Luigi Llanos 41:58
I think a good driver always practices the art of visualization. You know, it’s like, even if you’ve never been to the place where you’re going, you have to visualize yourself arriving safely. You know, somewhere, like you went through a storm, it doesn’t matter. But that is okay. Thank you, God, I’m here. I think a lot of people need to do that more in their lives. And you visualize being here to visualize what I was like, when I made that decision, and that, I mean, the people that know me, my business partners, because I had a limousine company at the same time that I was driving the band. And I was also working as a web developer for a technology called Drupal. Or a pretty big outfit in upstate New York. So I had the limousine company, doing web development with Drupal and driving the ban on all these three things. So I didn’t have a day off for like, six and a half years.
Jeremy Kellett 42:57
So bring us up to the day. We will What do you have going on today? Well, right now. Are you just an Oakley owner operator? Do
Megan Cummings 43:05
you still have no way? That’s all you do? Yes,
Luigi Llanos 43:08
actually. Yeah, I’ve been happily BC. I got into the hopper trailer. I watch a lot of the videos so I had to be thankful to a lot of the guys that work here Oakley who have their YouTube channels, Robbie. The EX marine guy, Jimmy G me and paperboy and all these other guys because I actually had a chance to meet them in person, you know? Oh, good. Like when I saw it. I was like a paperboy. That’s me. It’s like I love your channel. Man. You taught me a lot before I came into it. You were part of my research and was like, Oh, thank you. So that’s great, because a lot of companies still don’t do that. Right? And so I’m like, Oh, this is awesome. This is really sad. The Casio I mean, Jimmy’s channel. She’s so fluent in Yeah, economy languages. I actually had a chance to meet him. Right after someone in his family passed I ran into him. In Ohio or so. Oakley was doing the hopper booth pretty happy about it, for sure. The steadiness of it. But for me, as a person who doesn’t have a property, I don’t have a place to stay. I mean, it’s just a truck. I can go back to visit my friends in New York. A great to be able to, to run into some other guys like for example, in February 20, when he was our last day of orientation, like we created this little group, you know, so with the other guys in your guys, notation, you know, like we actually had a great time the hotel will sit down. So we have Bobby precut. His CB handle is a big country. Big guy. Yeah, Andrew too. Mani, who just got his spirit bill, then you have Bruce, who went into ended up Mike Davis one to end up and yesterday I ran into Lloyd we call he wants to call himself cotton top, like, discuss this. So, it’s kind of nice, because we text each other. I mean, we call each other almost every other day sometimes. That’s awesome. You stay in touch. Oh, yeah, we’ve stayed in touch, you know, last night. I mean, it’s like, Hey, you’re the art. And so it’s kind of nice, because we know about the places where we are going, what’s happening, you know, weather wise, that type of plane. I know the names of the kids in the family and talk to them with Matthew. I talked to Matthew every other day, such pictures of his family and things like, what the plan is for cryptocurrencies and all this stuff that we talked about all the time. So it was kind of nice, because all of a sudden, you feel like you really are part of a family. That’s a big fin, you know, because it’s the year
Jeremy Kellett 45:58
you created that here. I mean, with the people you went to Yeah,
Luigi Llanos 46:03
just like the other day I was driving to Texarkana. I think it was and here I am cruising all of a sudden I hear their seat here. Hey, what’s going on, brother? What are you guys like ? I’m going back to the up save. Yeah,
Jeremy Kellett 46:20
you too, though. I know it was I’ll say who was?
Luigi Llanos 46:25
That’s kind of nice. Yeah. You know, because they recognize your truck and I just couldn’t see which truck was talking to me. I think it was a Black Peter bill, but I didn’t recognize that. That’s nice. That’s nice Robbie to people.
Jeremy Kellett 46:41
Oakley Trucking is a 100% Owner Operator company. We specialize in Hopper, bottom and dump and pneumatic drivers. We provide the trailer free of charge and you provide the truck. We have a large customer base that reaches the whole United States as well as parts of Canada. Our owner operators live anywhere from Texas to North Carolina to Pennsylvania to Wisconsin and everywhere in between and we get them home weekends. We take it seriously when you join Oakley trucking because we need you to be successful. Oakley offers great benefits and a competitive mileage base. So you know that when your wheels are turning, you’re generating money. No matter if you’re loaded or empty. We understand that you want to make a good living and that you make our living. We only take on independent contractors and to be honest with you, we are very particular on who we lease on. You must have a good driving record, good work history and a clean dependable truck. So if you’re interested in Oakley trucking or just want some more information, you can go to Oakley trucking.com. Listen to our weekly podcast, the Oakley podcast and subscribe to our YouTube channel. So let me ask you this, Luigi, we gotta shut it down here. But what’s the future? What is the future for Luigi?
Luigi Llanos 47:48
Foom.
Megan Cummings 47:49
This should be really, I mean, you’ve set the bar pretty high. Yeah, yeah.
Luigi Llanos 47:55
Well, I don’t know. I mean, I thought about trying Maddix but I think I like Hopper too much right now. Just put an APU in the truck. So here’s what I visualized. I want to stay here. Probably for a while. I don’t know, maybe 10 years. You know? I’m in the process of getting a property in Colombia for my mom. You know? And then we’ll probably get something here. Hopefully I’ll find a good law of fear in southern girls. I bet you will stay here in the state of Arkansas. I’m considering moving everything from my CDL to Arkansas and everything else. Yeah, I probably want to settle down here.
Jeremy Kellett 48:41
It’s a great place to be.
Luigi Llanos 48:43
I like it. I like it. So far. So good. Like the weather like you
Megan Cummings 48:46
i don’t like it a lot because you’ve felt like you’ve been everywhere.
Luigi Llanos 48:49
Just like Johnny Cash.
Megan Cummings 48:52
Yeah, the board’s right out of my mouth.
Luigi Llanos 48:56
It’s fine. It’s fine. So you don’t think you will move back to Colombia? You just go back and visit. I will probably just go back and visit for now. Yeah, probably go back and visit. I think I’m past a certain point because I’ve lived here longer than I have in my own country. You know,
Jeremy Kellett 49:15
When’s the last time you’ve been back? Just two weeks ago. So and how long? Were you there for two weeks? Okay.
Luigi Llanos 49:22
The longest I have been without seeing them was almost eight years.
Jeremy Kellett 49:26
Wow. How was the reception? Oh, it was great. Was it? My mom? I bet she Yeah. Oh
Luigi Llanos 49:33
my god. Yeah, my brother, my sister. My sister is married to a guy from Damascus, Syria. They were living in Riyadh in Egypt. The war broke up there. So when they moved to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, and then third shoes were in Colombia. Now. They’ve been there for five years. Now because not a lot of countries after some of the rules that they were given were accepted Syrian cities. sentence. He’s a civil engineer who was actually ironically specializing in the reconstructions of historical monuments. And then the Aleppo war took place and all these bombs and destroyed all the buildings in theory like alright, I go somewhere else are they mostly in Colombia, he became a Colombian citizen in Colombia was one of the only countries that actually offered him citizenship. So he took that, yeah, yeah, it’s they’re now working out whether my sister is with school?
Jeremy Kellett 50:33
Well, I hope to have you as an Arkansas resident,
Luigi Llanos 50:37
I’d very much like to be
Megan Cummings 50:39
nice. If you’ve shown anything, it’s that the world is not anybody’s worst heard. Luigi’s oyster.
Luigi Llanos 50:46
I mean, you know, it’s, I want to put it to you this way. And I know that we have to cut it. But this is what I think about this. When I was growing up, in Colombia, by the time I was 19 years old, I had already had nine guns pointed to either my head, my chest or my bat, because of the situation, so every single time that you realize that your life has been in someone else’s hands, and for the mercy of God, you’re not dead. You kind of automatically have this sense of appreciation for life. You’re not to be in a rush, you choose, you know, past his past. Future, you don’t know what he’s going to bring. But today is a gift. That’s why they call it pressing, you know, so, when you multiply that nine times, then you’re like, Man, I need to relax. I need to just take it easy. You know, I The Bible says every day, he’s gonna bring his own thing. So just relax is all gonna be fine. Wow. I mean, really? It’s all gonna be fine.
52:00
Yeah, we’re here. We’re,
Luigi Llanos 52:04
we’re here it is. And now we’re here. So same thing on the row. We’re all doing the same thing out there. But people take politics to lead you. So many of these things that are really,
Jeremy Kellett 52:23
really don’t matter, Matt.
Luigi Llanos 52:25
No matter, we’re all doing the same thing. And there’s so much aggressiveness out there. The guys that don’t even have a CB radio, and you’re trying to communicate with them and letting them know there’s an accident ahead of them. You know, I see guys now driving, they got their iPads, watching Netflix. I hate it. I really do. I don’t want to use that word, but I hate when I see guys with their feet up the window like this doing their nails driving and watching a series. What are you doing?
Jeremy Kellett 52:59
Yeah, that actually goes on out there. Because the
Luigi Llanos 53:02
reality is everybody says, oh my god, you know, that’s never gonna happen, or it’s never gonna happen to me. But when something happens, when something tragic happens, and he turns out to be one of your own. Yeah, they look at it in a whole different person. Yeah. It’s like, oh, I’m not a rat. I’m not a snitch. These are the words that I hear. It’s like no, call it in. Yeah, call it in. Because if it’s your daughter, or your wife, who was in front of that guy, and he had no reaction time. So I guess to close it up from my perspective is just kind of responsible driving out there. Now respect everybody, respect the four wheelers. You already know if they got paid plates from all our state, they’re going to do something and follow you. So just back off a little bit on riding people’s, you know, tailgating that way because I’ve been doing this I’ve been driving for a long time. And thank god, I’ve never been into an accident or anything like that, because I’m cautious. That’s what they taught you in Trucking School: recognize a hazardous situation before it becomes an emergency. When it’s raining, you know, let’s just keep it down. Where
Jeremy Kellett 54:13
you get and you got a challenging job. All these guys out here have a challenge every day. It is driving down with the way people don’t understand what it takes operator, tractor trailer, you know, the stopping distance, they don’t understand, and it’s sad that they don’t because it can cause a lot of problems for their wives. That’s unfortunate.
Luigi Llanos 54:38
I think Garmin can change that in a way because when you go to take your exam, for the first time you’re applying for a license. I don’t recall that there is a state where one or Two pages or even three or five questions within the test address the stopping distance of a commercial D. Yeah. So if you’re 16 years old, or you’re just first applying for your license, but you read Hey, did you Hey, Dad, did you know that a truck will take three football fields at 70 miles per Hello? Oh, you know, something that will call people’s attention and they’re gonna remember it. But if it is not, it is not taught if it is not hard. Yeah. You know, you can’t expect any chairs. That’s the definition of cuckoo. Yep. Yeah, keep doing the same thing expecting different results. That’s not going to happen. I
Jeremy Kellett 55:39
I think we’re gonna have to have another sit down with it. Yeah, absolutely. Just a lot of good information. A lot of good stuff. Very interesting. Very interesting. And it’s been fun to do. I’m glad you appreciate it and have sat down and told us your story. And it’s very interesting to hear. Never expected to hear all this. Did you? Speechless. Fantastic. But that just goes to show you the variety, I guess you would say of owner operators we have at Oakley trucking. And myself, many smart people are weak because of their experience, lack of Luigi and I mean, just all of our owner operators who just got so many good ones that we don’t even know about, you know, that even touch their story. I bet you I bet the guys you talk to every day they’ve got a story. Oh, yeah, they’ve got a history as they do they, you know, that is to me. I don’t know. I like bringing that stuff to our listeners. You know, I think it’s just, it gives that insight of what we’re about here. And the kind of people we’re looking for. To come join Oakley, the kind of people we are. I mean, I just think it says a lot. So. Alright, Luigi, thank you once again, man. I appreciate it. Megan, thanks for joining us. Pleasure. It’s been a good one.
Megan Cummings 56:59
I had to pick my jaw off the ground a second ago.
Jeremy Kellett 57:02
I’m looking forward to going back and listening. Yeah, we did. Well, thanks, everybody for listening to the podcast every week. We really appreciate y’all and we’re glad to bring you a new one every Wednesday. Be sure to check it out and tell everybody about it. We’ll talk to you next week. Thanks for listening to this episode of the Oakley podcast: trucking, business, and family. If you enjoyed this episode, be sure to rate or review the show on 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, theoakleypodcast.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.