Latest / Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson / Hitting the Highways with Heart with Cami and Thomas McKellar: A Trucking Couple's Tale of Life, Love, and Logistics

Transcript

Hitting the Highways with Heart with Cami and Thomas McKellar: A Trucking Couple's Tale of Life, Love, and Logistics · Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Welcome to Ready Set Collaborate podcast with Rhonda Pearson, where we will dive deep into the world of networking, collaboration and partnership, unlocking the secrets to a successful team working within innovation.
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: Whether you're an entrepreneur, a creative professional or just someone eager to understand the power of networking and collaboration, this podcast is your go-to resource.
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: Join us as we explore the stories, strategies and insights from experts, entrepreneurs and thought leaders who have experienced the magic of networking and collaboration to achieve successful results.
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Tune in to Ready.
• 0:44
  Speaker 1: Set Collaborate podcast on a journey towards achieving your goals with host Wanda Pearson.
• 0:52
  Speaker 3: Welcome, welcome to the Ready Set Collaborate podcast with Wanda Pearson.
• 0:57
  Speaker 3: I am so excited.
• 0:58
  Speaker 3: I have started a new series with some incredible friends and we're going to be talking about virtual driving and this is going to be an awesome educational that my friends, kami and Tom McKellar are going to actually teach us how to do this.
• 1:12
  Speaker 3: But before I would do that, I'm going to tell you who's sponsoring this episode.
• 1:15
  Speaker 3: Wd Pearson Associates is sponsoring the episode and actually the series, but I wanted to talk a little bit about how we can help you as far as legal-wise with our services at LegalShield, and we also have commercial driver protection as well.
• 1:29
  Speaker 3: So I would love to connect with you and I would love to help you stay protected, but also to give you a consult with you and see how we can help you with your legal needs.
• 1:37
  Speaker 3: So, wanda Pierce with WD Pierce Associates.
• 1:40
  Speaker 3: And first of all, I want to tell you please make sure you follow and subscribe to Ready Set Collaborate with Wanda Pearson.
• 1:47
  Speaker 3: We're on all podcast platforms Spotify, apple Podcasts, podbean, audible so make sure you subscribe to that.
• 1:54
  Speaker 3: All right, let's get this party started.
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: And Kami McKellar, welcome to my podcast.
• 2:01
  Speaker 3: I tell you it was tough to get you all being on that road.
• 2:05
  Speaker 3: As I said, they said, ok, I'm going to do it.
• 2:06
  Speaker 3: Now I'm going to do it.
• 2:07
  Speaker 3: Thank you all so much for being on this on this podcast, because it's something that I'm an educator I like to make sure that I educate my audience.
• 2:16
  Speaker 3: So tell us a little bit about yourself and how you get started.
• 2:19
  Speaker 3: I want to say, kami and I met at a networking event which is Experience Connections, and that's actually how I started this podcast and I talk about my journey with networking and collaboration.
• 2:30
  Speaker 3: So, kami, tell us about how you and Tom connected and became husband and wife team on the road traveling all over the country, and how you got started to your profession.
• 2:42
  Speaker 3: Tom, I want you to talk too.
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: We met our senior year.
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: We went to the senior prom and we never stopped talking.
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: So we've been married for 34 years now.
• 2:51
  Speaker 2: We graduated our youngest daughter we have five daughters last May and I knew that I needed to go back to work.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: We have five daughters.
• 3:01
  Speaker 2: They're in college, it's very expensive to live, we're thinking about weddings and I was just not going to sit home and clean house all day.
• 3:10
  Speaker 2: I wanted to be out making money.
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: We had, about 10 years ago, had just in passing said wouldn't it be interesting to be truck drivers, something that we could do together?
• 3:23
  Speaker 2: And then we just never visited again.
• 3:25
  Speaker 2: But then, when the opportunity for us to be empty nesters came up, we looked at each other and I had gone flying with my daughter, who is a pilot, and I thought maybe I could be a flight attendant and do some traveling and work with the same company as Thea and maybe be a flight attendant.
• 3:48
  Speaker 2: And she was the pilot.
• 3:50
  Speaker 2: I came home to talk to Thomas about it and this is what he said you can't do that.
• 3:58
  Speaker 4: I mean I can't do that.
• 3:59
  Speaker 4: I can do anything.
• 4:00
  Speaker 4: I said you have to be nice to people who are nasty at you.
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: I could do anything, I said you have to be nice to people who are nasty at you.
• 4:06
  Speaker 2: And so we got the biggest kick and I really wanted a job where I didn't have to wear makeup, I didn't have to get dressed up and I really didn't want to be nice.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: I just didn't want an office job.
• 4:21
  Speaker 2: I didn't want to be inside and since getting pretty dissatisfied with his work He'd been a fry mechanic for 34 years Very, very good one.
• 4:29
  Speaker 2: He's well known in the community.
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: It's a small community.
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: All over the United States he's competed they have a competition at the factory in Italy for all the top technicians and he's competed two or three times and come in fourth internationally.
• 4:47
  Speaker 2: But he was getting dissatisfied, and he's you know what, let's just do it.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: And so he quit.
• 4:55
  Speaker 2: But I went to school first to make sure that I could pass to get my CDL license she worked really hard it was very hard, hardest thing she's ever done.
• 5:05
  Speaker 4: She slept really good after it.
• 5:07
  Speaker 2: After I took the test and slept, I literally stayed in bed for a week.
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: It was exhausting.
• 5:14
  Speaker 2: So for Thomas to drive a semi truck is pretty natural If you've seen.
• 5:18
  Speaker 2: What's that movie that we just recently saw.
• 5:22
  Speaker 3: Smoking the Bandit band so he drives that truck driver.
• 5:26
  Speaker 2: He just slings the truck around.
• 5:28
  Speaker 2: He's very natural at it.
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: It's very hard for me.
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: I have to really think, but I'm getting better at backing good the backing part is really challenging.
• 5:38
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I'm in between trailers, but I'm getting better.
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: I'm getting more confident and so that's how we started just empty nesters.
• 5:47
  Speaker 2: We really wanted to be together something for us.
• 5:51
  Speaker 4: It is a love story, though she talks.
• 5:53
  Speaker 4: She admires me for quit working on, quit working with ferrari, which was a pretty successful career for some time.
• 6:01
  Speaker 4: But I admire her because I can't imagine too many women who are willing to get out of their nice comfy home and the security and the consistency and want to go out on the road and it's it's like camping.
• 6:15
  Speaker 4: And we don't like camping, though we do it.
• 6:18
  Speaker 4: We don't necessarily do it because we like it, we do it so we can ride dirt bikes with our girls or whatever.
• 6:24
  Speaker 4: Yeah, she really went through a lot too, and she has more certifications than everything I do.
• 6:28
  Speaker 4: She can do more stuff than me when she did the schooling and everything.
• 6:33
  Speaker 4: So I'm pretty proud of her for all that she's done and we're just really grateful for her sacrifice.
• 6:38
  Speaker 4: She's grateful for my sacrifice and we just love being together and we love being together 24-7 7 and that's what we are, and it's not easy, it's hard, there's ups and downs, but for the most part we love figuring out how to be an effective team that's awesome and you know what.
• 6:58
  Speaker 3: I appreciate that and you know what I forgot.
• 7:00
  Speaker 3: Let me read your bio.
• 7:02
  Speaker 3: I was so entranced with your story I and I have to say, because I remember cammy when she was going through that whole thing, as far as the testing and everything she was doing, how she passed I am so proud of her.
• 7:12
  Speaker 3: And then she was an ex-c leader doing the same thing.
• 7:14
  Speaker 3: She said I'm gonna go, uh, be a commercial driver.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I said what.
• 7:17
  Speaker 3: I am very proud.
• 7:18
  Speaker 3: But let me talk to you, talk about your bio, and then we're gonna ask some questions here because we're trying to wind down here but I want to get everything in.
• 7:23
  Speaker 3: But this is a love story.
• 7:25
  Speaker 3: This is really awesome as far as talking about and how you can see the smiles on their face.
• 7:30
  Speaker 3: We're going to see you on youtube after the the audio part of it and you're going to see how happy they are because mary, 34 years, this, and me and my husband, 42 years, and I don't know if you still smell like you're smelling each other.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: But no it's all good.
• 7:45
  Speaker 3: It's all good.
• 7:46
  Speaker 3: God has put us together and it's just been a blessing that we're still together.
• 7:49
  Speaker 3: So let me talk about your bio.
• 7:51
  Speaker 3: So, health coach, homeschool, mother of five beautiful daughters, kami McKell and her husband Thomas, have become, over the road, truckers last October.
• 8:01
  Speaker 3: God, it's almost a year, isn't it?
• 8:02
  Speaker 3: They have been a blast.
• 8:04
  Speaker 3: They have been having a blast all over the US and learning the ropes of the trucking industry.
• 8:11
  Speaker 3: Yes, they have.
• 8:12
  Speaker 3: I tell you, cammie and Tom, I am just so proud.
• 8:15
  Speaker 3: I remember she said she's waiting for you, tom, to retire and then you all going to get on that road and then, when you're doing, to graduate.
• 8:21
  Speaker 3: So you have done that.
• 8:22
  Speaker 3: Everything you say you were going to do, you have done that and I'm just so proud of having you as my friend and also as my legal shield client.
• 8:30
  Speaker 3: I totally appreciate that.
• 8:31
  Speaker 3: Yes, because that's still what I want to do.
• 8:34
  Speaker 2: Just say your record a few times More, like three times.
• 8:39
  Speaker 3: That's a few.
• 8:40
  Speaker 3: That's good, because you never know.
• 8:42
  Speaker 3: Peace of mind, right, it's peace of mind.
• 8:48
  Speaker 3: Pick up the phone and call the attorney, but no, thank you so much.
• 8:51
  Speaker 3: So let's get started.
• 8:52
  Speaker 3: Let's get some of these questions down here, because the time just runs by so fast.
• 8:55
  Speaker 3: So how do you stay healthy on the road?
• 8:59
  Speaker 2: So we don't eat out at the truck stops any of that.
• 9:04
  Speaker 2: It does make me nervous when Tom walks into the truck stop to use the restroom, because sometimes he'll come back with french fries or a Cinnabon.
• 9:14
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and once each time.
• 9:15
  Speaker 4: I've only done that once.
• 9:17
  Speaker 2: No bueno, that's no good.
• 9:19
  Speaker 2: So pretty much we cook in the truck when I stop at home or if I stop someplace like two weeks over Easter we were at a friend's house I'll do a little bit of meal prep, so I cook in the truck, okay.
• 9:35
  Speaker 2: If we do eat out.
• 9:37
  Speaker 2: We pretty much only eat out at Chipotle because we can get protein and vegetables and they pretty much use organic meats and things like that.
• 9:47
  Speaker 2: We stay away from sugars and fried food for sure.
• 9:52
  Speaker 2: Really, we take the time to cook in the truck.
• 9:57
  Speaker 4: She says we drive but she cooks.
• 10:00
  Speaker 4: I don't cook anything.
• 10:01
  Speaker 4: She's giving me more credit than I deserve there.
• 10:03
  Speaker 4: She does amazing.
• 10:06
  Speaker 4: The only thing I did was give her a nice granite countertop to do it all on.
• 10:10
  Speaker 4: It's about two feet wide and about two feet deep.
• 10:14
  Speaker 4: We put it on top of the refrigerator and she meal preps on that thing.
• 10:18
  Speaker 4: That's awesome.
• 10:21
  Speaker 3: That must work.
• 10:23
  Speaker 2: I still drink my water.
• 10:25
  Speaker 3: I drink a lot of water.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 10:26
  Speaker 3: That's awesome, I drink a lot of water.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 10:28
  Speaker 3: Yes, that's awesome, and I always wondered about the trucks.
• 10:32
  Speaker 3: Is there like a separate space in there for you to sleep in, for a white?
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: person.
• 10:38
  Speaker 4: It's a single bed and we both sleep in there.
• 10:40
  Speaker 2: It's a twin bed.
• 10:41
  Speaker 2: It's a twin bed and we sleep on the twin bed together.
• 10:44
  Speaker 2: Yeah.
• 10:44
  Speaker 3: Okay, and that's what you call love?
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, it is.
• 10:49
  Speaker 4: There's bunks and we use the top bunk.
• 10:51
  Speaker 4: We put down some plastic drawers and things to organize our clothes and Kami has her kitchen utensils and everything.
• 10:56
  Speaker 4: So we use the top bunk for storage and the bottom bunk is our bed.
• 11:00
  Speaker 2: But a lot of times I'm driving and he's sleeping, and then when I'm when he's driving, I'm sleeping.
• 11:06
  Speaker 2: So it's just during the weekends that we get to sleep together, because we try to keep the truck running all the time.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: That's awesome.
• 11:14
  Speaker 3: That is awesome, I tell you.
• 11:16
  Speaker 3: So let me ask you another question how are the top safety tips every commercial driver should know?
• 11:22
  Speaker 3: I mean, sorry, what are the safety tips every commercial driver should know?
• 11:26
  Speaker 2: You need to do a very good pre-trip.
• 11:28
  Speaker 2: Now Thomas does a really good pre-trip.
• 11:31
  Speaker 2: It's nice for me.
• 11:32
  Speaker 2: It would be very difficult for me to do this on my own.
• 11:35
  Speaker 2: There are a lot of female truck drivers and they're phenomenal.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: But Thomas looks at the tires, he looks at the tread depths, he looks at the brake shoes, he's looking at the mud flaps and the skirts and he does a light check every time we get a new trailer.
• 11:53
  Speaker 2: So your pre-trip is very important for the safety of the truck driver and people around you.
• 12:00
  Speaker 2: You don't want to get a flat tire while you're driving down the road things like that.
• 12:05
  Speaker 2: We make sure that we do a really good pre-trip and we eat healthy.
• 12:10
  Speaker 2: We drink a lot of water.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: We, if we need to rest, we rest.
• 12:14
  Speaker 2: We try to make sure we're where we get the sleep that we need, to make sure that we're awake while we're driving on the road.
• 12:21
  Speaker 2: Like sometimes we'll say, okay, I'm tired, then we just switch, we don't push it.
• 12:28
  Speaker 3: And I was going to ask that question next and that's great.
• 12:29
  Speaker 3: That's a good opening to it.
• 12:30
  Speaker 3: So what are some of the effective strategies for managing fatigue during the long haul?
• 12:36
  Speaker 4: So just like you said you switched off right.
• 12:38
  Speaker 4: Switch off and drink water.
• 12:41
  Speaker 2: I will tell you, at the beginning we had to pull onto some rest stops.
• 12:45
  Speaker 2: It's taken us a while to be able to pull the 11 hours.
• 12:50
  Speaker 2: We couldn't do that at the beginning, so it's definitely a learning curve.
• 12:55
  Speaker 2: Six months into it now we definitely have a routine, we have figured it out.
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: But it's been definitely trial and error with our time clock, because after so many hours you have to take 30 minute break and then you're only allowed to drive 11 hours and then after 14 hours there's a 14 hour clock and then at the end of the week, if you're only allowed to work 70 hours.
• 13:21
  Speaker 2: So at one point we were like, okay, you drive for five hours and then we'll switch to my clock and back and forth.
• 13:28
  Speaker 2: We were running out of time and so we realized he has to do his whole 11 hours and then we switch and I do my whole 11 hours.
• 13:37
  Speaker 2: So I will say it was a learning experience for us to figure out the clock and we have.
• 13:43
  Speaker 2: In the olden days they used to log everything and I'm sure that you could fudge, but you can't.
• 13:48
  Speaker 2: Now it's all electronic and so it's taken us a good six months really to nail down how to be efficient and keep the truck rolling in a safe manner it's been a good challenge.
• 14:04
  Speaker 4: it's entertaining to us because it's a puzzle that we've been figuring out together and a lot of times we stop and have a little debrief, like, oh, we could have done this better if we did this way, or if we would have done we would have left at this certain time, or if we didn't do this stop, we didn't have to do this other stop.
• 14:19
  Speaker 4: So we're always trying to strategize and it's fun, we have a good time figuring it out.
• 14:23
  Speaker 3: And it's funny and exactly what you said effective strategy in doing that.
• 14:27
  Speaker 3: So what I want to know is how do your family get involved with this as far as in your transportation industry, by them being in different?
• 14:34
  Speaker 3: Your daughters are in different states.
• 14:36
  Speaker 3: I know your daughter's going to college your youngest one but your other and you're staying with a daughter in.
• 14:40
  Speaker 3: You stay in Boston.
• 14:41
  Speaker 3: So how, how most of the family?
• 14:44
  Speaker 3: How are they involved in your transportation industry and moving around and especially during the holidays, how do you do that?
• 14:50
  Speaker 3: Okay, with what daughter?
• 14:51
  Speaker 3: Who do you spend the time with, do you?
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: meet up.
• 14:53
  Speaker 2: So far everybody comes to our house, because we have a daughter in Virginia in school, one in Illinois in school, one in Boston in school and then one in Georgia in school and then a married daughter who's a pilot, so so far they've all come home.
• 15:06
  Speaker 2: We were in California at Christmas and there was nothing going on, so we flew home for two days, Okay, Okay.
• 15:14
  Speaker 2: And then flew back to California, got a load and drove to South North Carolina.
• 15:19
  Speaker 4: Wow, wow, so that's kind of.
• 15:21
  Speaker 2: That's so far we had.
• 15:24
  Speaker 2: They got us a load toia over thanksgiving so we got to spend that time.
• 15:30
  Speaker 2: But for christmas, the girls up in here that we didn't know if we were going to make it home or not, but we were able to get a flight, and for two days, and we can fly standby because our daughter's a pilot.
• 15:42
  Speaker 3: So okay, okay, that's awesome.
• 15:46
  Speaker 3: You all are all over the time.
• 15:47
  Speaker 3: How do you deal with five women, four or five women?
• 15:52
  Speaker 3: My husband did.
• 15:54
  Speaker 3: If you include me, it's six.
• 15:56
  Speaker 3: That's what I did.
• 15:58
  Speaker 3: Yeah, that's awesome.
• 16:04
  Speaker 3: Yeah, how are you dealing with that?
• 16:06
  Speaker 3: And the good thing about it by you all being so loving and caring with each other and you know what kind of man you want for your daughters, right, you want to make sure that they are just just like my father.
• 16:17
  Speaker 3: I wanted my husband to be like my father and exactly, and it did, and I get we're married 40.
• 16:22
  Speaker 3: You go through ups and downs.
• 16:23
  Speaker 3: We're married 43 years, 43 years this year.
• 16:26
  Speaker 3: So it's, it's a challenge sometimes, I know it's.
• 16:31
  Speaker 4: Fortunately, we're infatuated with each other and we love each other.
• 16:34
  Speaker 4: But it still doesn't mean there's not, it's not hard, yeah, and it still doesn't mean there's not work.
• 16:39
  Speaker 4: There's work, and, and you just can't be afraid of work, you've got to work at it and I think some people they just get tired or they get lazy.
• 16:48
  Speaker 4: But to answer your question about having five girls plus a lot right here, she's pretty spicy, luckily.
• 16:57
  Speaker 4: I like spicy stuff and I like the challenge of spicy, but she's amazing because she's really trained the girls.
• 17:05
  Speaker 4: Raise the girls, I should say, raise the girls to really love and take good care of me.
• 17:11
  Speaker 4: I feel like I'm just really well taken care of um.
• 17:15
  Speaker 4: I know he's a great cook.
• 17:16
  Speaker 4: She wasn't that way when we met.
• 17:18
  Speaker 4: She's a fantastic cook which all my daughters would agree, and my number two is a fantastic cook which all my daughters would agree, and my number two is a fantastic cook like her.
• 17:26
  Speaker 4: So when she comes over, like Cammy says, if anything happens to me, this is going to have to take care of you.
• 17:32
  Speaker 2: So I made sure that when the girls were at the front door before their dad even walked in the door when he came home every day, we raised our daughters with no TV.
• 17:41
  Speaker 2: There was no TV in our home, not even a monitor, and so when their dad walked in the door, it was all about playing with the girls.
• 17:49
  Speaker 2: He just played and played with those girls.
• 17:51
  Speaker 2: And that's awesome that he never sat down on the couch watch TV with a bag of chips.
• 17:56
  Speaker 2: It never happened in our home.
• 17:58
  Speaker 3: Wow, wow, that is awesome.
• 18:02
  Speaker 3: So we're winding down, but I do want to ask this, this question, because I was to.
• 18:05
  Speaker 3: I was we were chatting to cammy about the earthquake that happened in new jersey.
• 18:10
  Speaker 3: We lived in new jersey.
• 18:11
  Speaker 3: We've never heard of.
• 18:12
  Speaker 3: Okay, we heard of in california, but how can commercial drivers navigate through challenging weather conditions?
• 18:18
  Speaker 3: You're driving in snow, ice, rain and stuff.
• 18:22
  Speaker 3: How do you?
• 18:23
  Speaker 2: so I'll tell you because I was born and raised in california by the beach no snow.
• 18:28
  Speaker 2: And georgia we'll get a flurry here and there, but we don't need to drive in it.
• 18:33
  Speaker 2: And snowmageddon we stayed home, but tom and I were on donner pass in january in the snow.
• 18:40
  Speaker 2: We had never done that before.
• 18:42
  Speaker 2: We had chains because you have to have them, and Tom had to put the chains on and when I was driving she was white knuckled.
• 18:53
  Speaker 2: I was white knuckled.
• 18:55
  Speaker 2: There was a car in front of me with their flashers on going 18 miles an hour and I just stayed behind that car with a lot of space.
• 19:03
  Speaker 2: I was a nervous wreck.
• 19:05
  Speaker 2: I did not like those icy roads at all it's very that was nerve-wracking
• 19:11
  Speaker 4: so the answer is there's a like what?
• 19:13
  Speaker 4: One time we were in california we had a downer pass was actually closed, and I just called five.
• 19:18
  Speaker 4: I dialed 511 in that state and you can find out the weather conditions and how to what roads to go around.
• 19:24
  Speaker 4: But sometimes it takes some sitting down and navigating and we a lot of times we do that and but weather hasn't been that much of a challenge.
• 19:31
  Speaker 4: It's more of having a big truck and you're coming to town, say massachusetts, it's tight, but boston's impossible for a truck, and so you have to look at google earth and look at where you can navigate through, where you can park where you can turn around.
• 19:46
  Speaker 4: You don't want to get stuck on a road where you can't even back up or turn around.
• 19:49
  Speaker 4: Yeah, so a lot of times it takes uh preparation before the trip to look uh at a digital image of um where we're going so we can make sure that we can get in and out yes, thomas is very good at looking at our end spot and all the in-betweens.
• 20:08
  Speaker 2: He's looking at everything destination, stuff like that.
• 20:12
  Speaker 2: So we do a pre-trip and then he also does a pre-trip with the maps and the google and he has he has his going at the same time.
• 20:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, that is awesome.
• 20:22
  Speaker 4: I think, tom, it's because you did mechanic work right A lot of the stuff that you had to handle Well, like the pre-trip, cammy was saying I probably have a leg up because I can see stuff that's deteriorating that some other people may not catch.
• 20:37
  Speaker 4: And it sometimes frustrates Cammy because she thinks I'm being a picky mechanic, like I'm trying to sell work or something, and I'm like no, cammy, we can't take this trailer Like.
• 20:47
  Speaker 4: A lot of times we hook up to a trailer that's old and the brakes are bad.
• 20:49
  Speaker 4: One time I had one leaking airbags or whatever.
• 20:51
  Speaker 4: I'm like no, I got to fail this trailer and I failed a lot of trailers.
• 20:54
  Speaker 4: And Cammy's like she wants to get on the road.
• 21:04
  Speaker 3: We're not money, the wheels aren't turning.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: Let's just go.
• 21:05
  Speaker 4: Nope, can't go and, and your safety is more important than that.
• 21:06
  Speaker 4: Yeah, and she understands that too.
• 21:07
  Speaker 3: She doesn't take away the frustration, though and that's what I was telling my grandmother what, what is patience?
• 21:14
  Speaker 3: So that's when patience come into play.
• 21:15
  Speaker 3: Right that you really have to.
• 21:17
  Speaker 3: And my father always said patience is a virtue.
• 21:19
  Speaker 3: Never understood what he was talking about until I got older, until I had kids and being married, and I said now I know what dad was talking about patience is a virtue let me ask you this last question here, because we're actually getting done.
• 21:33
  Speaker 3: But what are some career advancement opportunities available to commercial drivers?
• 21:36
  Speaker 3: Do they have career advancement?
• 21:38
  Speaker 3: What you do?
• 21:40
  Speaker 4: yes, so the great thing maybe the bad thing about commercial driving is they probably have the most turnover than just about any other job, but that's because commercial drivers are in high demand right now, and once they start getting miles and experience and a good record under their belt, they become more valuable, and that's when truck drivers will then start looking at finding a specialty job.
• 22:04
  Speaker 4: Maybe somebody wants to be home every night.
• 22:07
  Speaker 4: They don't want to be over the road, so they'll find a job that will look more appealing to them and a lot of times they'll pay more, and so we're looking at probably hauling cars.
• 22:17
  Speaker 4: I used to load race cars into the race car trailer when we had a race team at Ferrari, and so I'm very comfortable and familiar with that.
• 22:27
  Speaker 4: So we just got to get the over-the-road experience and we're considering doing that or maybe working on a race team, but right now we're considering actually working for a company that specializes in events, that does concerts when they go from.
• 22:43
  Speaker 4: Let's say, we wouldn't do this for Taylor Swift but, like Taylor Swift has probably 30 trucks that would break down her stage and take it to the next city, and then the roadies, of course, put it up, but they need truck drivers for that, and so the company we're talking to.
• 23:01
  Speaker 4: You commit yourself for three to six months on average.
• 23:04
  Speaker 4: It's like a contract.
• 23:07
  Speaker 4: You can't go home, you're part of that tour and you're a truck driver for that tour, and Cammy would have a truck and I would have a truck.
• 23:13
  Speaker 4: We get to drive together, we get to stay in hotels together, which is a benefit instead of staying in the truck.
• 23:18
  Speaker 4: But she would have to drive a truck.
• 23:20
  Speaker 4: I would drive a truck from one event to the other and then just wait until the concert's over.
• 23:25
  Speaker 4: So that's something we consider and it pays good, that's exciting.
• 23:28
  Speaker 3: That would be Lots of opportunities.
• 23:30
  Speaker 3: Yeah, so that's great to know.
• 23:32
  Speaker 3: So my last question what is it like to live and work in such a small space, together 24-7?
• 23:38
  Speaker 3: And I think we talked about that.
• 23:39
  Speaker 3: But what is it like being that?
• 23:47
  Speaker 3: And you said a twin size bed.
• 23:48
  Speaker 3: I remember when me and my husband first got married twin size bed.
• 23:50
  Speaker 4: I look at it now I was like, oh God, it's small, it's tight.
• 23:52
  Speaker 4: We joke about it.
• 23:53
  Speaker 4: Some people I can imagine some people get claustrophobic or go stir crazy being being with the mate that they love for such a long time in such tight spaces.
• 24:01
  Speaker 4: But it works.
• 24:02
  Speaker 4: For us it's fun.
• 24:04
  Speaker 2: We're having a really good time.
• 24:05
  Speaker 2: It takes me about eight minutes to sweep the floor.
• 24:08
  Speaker 2: I make the bed.
• 24:11
  Speaker 2: That's too much to clean the whole kitchen.
• 24:13
  Speaker 2: So it's fun that way and we love being outside.
• 24:19
  Speaker 2: We're loving all the different terrains of this great country that we live in We've seen things we had no idea existed, and it's been really fascinating.
• 24:31
  Speaker 2: So we're just seriously enjoying every minute of it and it's very challenging, which I like.
• 24:40
  Speaker 2: It's very challenging, which I like.
• 24:43
  Speaker 2: My mother-in-law has dementia, and so I want to make sure that my brain is stressed it, but in a good way.
• 24:49
  Speaker 2: I want to keep learning and experiencing things, and so this has just been a really cool Avenue for us to make a living, be together, see the United States, and we have met the most amazing people in truck stops, women in the bathroom that are we're brushing our teeth together, and you know me, wanda, I'm not shy.
• 25:15
  Speaker 2: I'll talk to people, ask them their story, what are they driving, do they like it, where are they from?
• 25:20
  Speaker 4: And so it's just, it's been a lot of fun that's awesome talking to somebody for a little while I'm doing my thing and or filling up the fuel or whatever, and she's not back in the truck.
• 25:31
  Speaker 4: And I get in the truck and I look I see her and she walks in and I go, wow, that was a long conversation, she'll go.
• 25:37
  Speaker 4: Yeah, we're friends on Facebook now.
• 25:39
  Speaker 3: Yeah, I love it.
• 25:43
  Speaker 3: Yeah, and we're friendly and that's a good thing.
• 25:46
  Speaker 3: And I see more women are now doing truck drivers as well, commercial drivers, so that's amazing.
• 25:51
  Speaker 3: I guess it's not just the man world, it's the woman's world too, to get in there.
• 25:55
  Speaker 3: But this was awesome.
• 25:56
  Speaker 3: So, kami, tell me a little bit about yourself.
• 25:58
  Speaker 3: We almost said about your business.
• 26:00
  Speaker 3: Tell me a little bit about that and how people and then we want to know how they can get in touch with you as well.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: Oh, awesome.
• 26:12
  Speaker 2: So I was well over 200 pounds, having the girls, and then I did everything from kill myself at the gym, the low carb thing for years, and the last thing I did was topamax and phenamine, which was the drugs.
• 26:19
  Speaker 2: I've lost weight on everything, but I've always gained it back.
• 26:22
  Speaker 2: And Thetamine, which was the drugs.
• 26:23
  Speaker 2: I've lost weight on everything, but I've always gained it back, but with Optivea it's the one thing that I learned.
• 26:28
  Speaker 2: If I hadn't had Optivea and lost my weight and learned how to eat in a healthy manner and work on my brain, there's no way I could have done this job.
• 26:36
  Speaker 2: I just wouldn't have been healthy enough.
• 26:38
  Speaker 2: You need to be strong and healthy and it's been such a blessing to me.
• 26:43
  Speaker 2: I really love it so much and I love being a coach because it keeps me accountable.
• 26:50
  Speaker 2: I'm not going to tell you to do something and then me turn around and not do it myself, so it really holds my feet to the fire.
• 26:54
  Speaker 2: But you can find me on Facebook.
• 26:57
  Speaker 2: I do have Instagram, but I'm not on that very much, but I am a big Facebook gal I think kids of my age and then I have email and which I'm sure is in the comments or whatever down there.
• 27:09
  Speaker 2: But thank you, wanda, for asking it is really true.
• 27:14
  Speaker 3: Give it to us again.
• 27:15
  Speaker 3: Give us your email address and how they can get in touch with you on video, so that way.
• 27:20
  Speaker 2: Do you want me to tell you right here?
• 27:21
  Speaker 2: Huh, yeah, just videos that way.
• 27:22
  Speaker 2: Do you want me to tell you right here?
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: Yeah, just tell us how to get.
• 27:23
  Speaker 2: My email is cammy and the number for health at gmailcom, and then Facebook, cammy, mckellar, and you could see the five daughters.
• 27:33
  Speaker 2: So you'll see that it's me.
• 27:35
  Speaker 3: Okay, that's awesome.
• 27:36
  Speaker 3: This has been awesome Talk with you.
• 27:38
  Speaker 3: I just I'm just smiling here and just listen to your stories.
• 27:40
  Speaker 3: I'm talking to you, I'm just smiling here and just listening to your stories.
• 27:43
  Speaker 4: We have a lot of stories On her Facebook.
• 27:47
  Speaker 4: She does lives of crazy adventures and misadventures.
• 27:52
  Speaker 2: Wow.
• 27:55
  Speaker 4: Her friends are big fans and if she doesn't do a live, she doesn't follow up with a live they start texting her and calling her or sending her a Marco message saying Kami, what happened?
• 28:06
  Speaker 4: Are you still alive?
• 28:09
  Speaker 2: So we are known as the parking lot lovers.
• 28:12
  Speaker 2: On my life.
• 28:13
  Speaker 3: Oh, okay, I love that.
• 28:14
  Speaker 3: I love it.
• 28:15
  Speaker 3: Parking lot lovers On your left.
• 28:18
  Speaker 3: Is that what it said On my lives, on my life.
• 28:21
  Speaker 4: On her Facebook live she calls us the parking lot lovers.
• 28:24
  Speaker 2: Because you'll see all the different parking lots all over the United States that we've slept in.
• 28:28
  Speaker 4: Okay, she's usually doing her live in the parking lot.
• 28:33
  Speaker 3: That is awesome.
• 28:36
  Speaker 3: I want to thank you all so much for being on my Ready Set Collaborate podcast with Wanda Pearson, and you can find us on every podcast platform, but definitely Cammie and Tom Thomas the Keller.
• 28:48
  Speaker 3: I truly appreciate you being on here and giving us some insights on commercial driving.
• 28:53
  Speaker 3: So, much fun.
• 28:55
  Speaker 2: What a pleasure, wanda, and this is our very first podcast to be a part of, and I love it that you were our first.
• 29:02
  Speaker 3: Well, thank you.
• 29:03
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, I appreciate it.
• 29:05
  Speaker 3: You were first on my list when I said oh, commercial job oh yeah, came in at that time.
• 29:09
  Speaker 3: That'd be my first one, because it is a love story.
• 29:11
  Speaker 3: You know how you start it, but make sure you subscribe, follow and share our podcast and this way you can see all the different episodes that we have on Ready Set.
• 29:21
  Speaker 3: Collaborate Once again.
• 29:22
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, kami and Thomas, for being on my podcast and I'm going to have you on more because you're going to tell me some more stories You're going to hear about that pocket lot lovers.
• 29:34
  Speaker 4: She's got lots of stories.
• 29:35
  Speaker 2: We love it.
• 29:36
  Speaker 3: Thank you so much, thank you.
• 29:38
  Speaker 3: Thank you for being on here.
• 29:39
  Speaker 3: I appreciate it Good night.
• 29:41
  Speaker 3: Thank you.
• 29:42
  Speaker 1: Thank you for being on here.
• 29:43
  Speaker 1: I appreciate it.
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: Good night.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Good night.
• 29:45
  Speaker 1: Thank you for tuning into this episode of Ready Set.
• 29:50
  Speaker 1: Collaborate.
• 29:51
  Speaker 1: For more information about the host head to WDPearsonAssociatescom and that's P-E-A-R-S-O-N.
• 29:58
  Speaker 1: Want to connect?
• 29:59
  Speaker 1: Send an email to Wanda at WDPearsonAssociatescom and, as always, stay tuned for the next episode of Ready Set Collaborating.