Episode #22 - Football Fever!!!

All football and trucking. In segment one, we recap the 2021 football season with Mike Larsen, lead dispatcher for Stokes Trucking and co-driver of the Utah State Football equipment truck. Segment two we talk with Hal Morrell, co-driver of the BYU Football equipment truck. In segment three, we talk about hauling the football equipment in the future. 

Transcript

0:11

Welcome to driver, to driver, a Stokes trucking podcast on driver to driver. We will discuss everything related to trucking. And put a stokes trucking spin on it stokes trucking doing the right thing since 1979.

Mark: 0:34

So after a month and a half hiatus, mostly because grace has other things to do.

Grace: 0:42

Have you seen my schedule?

Mark: 0:45

No I don't see your schedule

Grace: 0:47

starting tomorrow. I will be in a very bad mood

Mark: 0:53

Wait, how's that different?

Grace: 0:55

all the way until probably April 6th.

Mark: 0:58

You have been. home. For spring break for eight days, I asked you on day one. Hey, we need to record for the podcast. I Just started spring break.

Grace: 1:12

I did. I wanted at least two days to just do nothing because the rest of the days I've been planning sorority stuff.

Mark: 1:22

I finally know, is this. nine? Is it Grace Smith, which let's see Saturday, Sunday, Monday Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, it's day nine.

Grace: 1:31

I listened to it on day

Mark: 1:34

and You're leaving in like four hours to go back to college.

Grace: 1:38

I listened to it on day seven. And you were like, oh, I need to listen to it again to remember what we talked.

Mark: 1:44

Why do today? What we could put off until later, that's your philosophy, So. Who's first up on the podcast. Chris

Grace: 1:56

Mike,

Mark: 1:57

Mike, Mike Larson, our lead dispatcher, the co-driver of the Utah state football truck with me. So when me and Mike recorded, we didn't know. For sure whether we had the bid or not, we do now. And we'll talk about that in the question from the road. Yeah. So let's hop right into our interview with Mike Larson. Co-driver of the USU football truck. Grace.

Grace: 2:31

Let's roll.

Mark: 2:41

you're making on the podcast for a second time. The, our lead dispatcher at Stokes trucking, but also the co-driver of the Utah state football truck.

Mike: 2:52

Yeah.

Mark: 2:54

So, and we've established earlier, you are the. Aggie fan.

Mike: 3:01

I wouldn't. I mean, I'm an Aggie fan. I'm not

Mark: 3:07

Well, you're the biggest Aggie fan that I know. I think so I think you are,

Mike: 3:13

Okay.

Mark: 3:14

I don't know that many Aggie fans. I mean, I guess through the year I became,

Mike: 3:18

yeah,

Mark: 3:19

here's what I'd say.

Mike: 3:20

won you over.

Mark: 3:21

They gave me a lot more to cheer for than my Husker. I know that it's a lot more fun. Although the Nebraska game we went to was a good time.

Mike: 3:30

Yeah.

Mark: 3:31

So I want to talk about the season and everything, the ins and outs, everything we went through. I feel pretty fortunate that I got to spend the most successful season. Of Utah state football history with the fan, Riding shotgun with you the whole way. So what was your big takeaway this year? Maybe we ought to talk a little bit about what all goes into us, driving that truck. I think we did in the past, but, we generally would leave Logan. What 24 to 36 hours ahead of when, when he needed to be wherever we were going.

Mike: 4:06

roughly.

Mark: 4:07

And you're more than, you're a better sleeper than I am.

Mike: 4:13

I'm better sleep. around the truck.

Mark: 4:14

Yeah. I can't, I can't not that I don't trust you, Mike, but I can't sleep. I can't sleep with anybody. Driving sounds a little rough.

Mike: 4:22

Well, some people don't like that. Yeah. Yeah. Um, I dunno, I mean, we, we usually left like Thursday afternoon. And then, you know, if the game was Saturday we'd leave Thursday afternoon, or Thursday. evening. Well, Thursday at seven o'clock 7:00 PM and then arrive at the stadium or at the hotel. My every game day it was 10:00 AM. The day before the game, we did arrive at the hotel unload. drinks, The drink cards, that whatever else, bags, they had photography stuff. And film.

Mark: 5:03

talk about who would meet us because that was new this year.

Mike: 5:06

Yeah, yeah, Mitch. That was, that was outstanding. Cause last year it was, it. we were just on her own.

Mark: 5:14

Yeah. So Mitch Hardy, who's the assistant, one of the assistant DFOs director of football operations, and oh boy, Scott. What's Scott's last Do Marie Marie, Scott, Marie. Um, but those two has always meet us. And then thankfully Marie was in a little better shape than either of us and he'd help us

Mike: 5:40

hit out, puts on load it

Mark: 5:41

yeah. Lump cases off or whatever we had to get off the truck that time. what was the most fun game?

Mike: 5:48

Boy, that's a toughie. air force. Air force was like the most intense game. Back and forth. I thought we were done and we're back in it. probably the ma the mountain west championship, when we won it all. that was probably the funnest.

Mark: 6:04

How many times did you celebrate in the locker room with.

Mike: 6:08

Just the first game. Cause then you yelled at, me. No, this is, uh,

Mark: 6:16

tell a story.

Mike: 6:17

Yeah. So the game gets older, we're out celebrating

Mark: 6:21

the first game at Washington

Mike: 6:22

Washington state and so they're all out on the field celebrating. And I had to, I had to use the restaurant. I had to go pee, like no other. So I'm like, I'm going to hurry up and get into the locker room. You still cities. And then by the time I was done I walked back out all the teams coming in the locker room and there was only one way in, so I was stuck in the locker room and it was a big celebration.

Mark: 6:47

So, fast forward to him getting out of the locker room after they're done with the celebration, he walks outside and he says, where are you Ben? I'm like, I've been out here at the truck, helping them load. Where you been, I've been in there with the team. Are you a coach? What are you?

Mike: 7:07

Well, that's not true because both cause they invited us. I mean, when we got there, we just hung out in the locker room until the game starts. So it's not like it's, you know, taboo to go into the locker room. or

Mark: 7:21

No, no, it's, we're kinda in this weird. I don't know. Ether where we're not really part of the team, but we're around the team the whole time they're there and they know who we are, but

Mike: 7:35

Well, I think we're part of the team. They say we're part of the team. I'm part of the team. I feel like I'm a team

Mark: 7:41

I've never done any up-downs for Utah state, other than up and down out of the trailer.

Mike: 7:47

Yeah.

Mark: 7:49

And I bought a ladder for that. Cause I'm too fat and lazy to crawl up in there with that a ladder. So I I'm with the air force was probably one of the most fun, to be on the sidelines for New Mexico state was brutal. it was miserable. Only. Good thing about New Mexico state is we were done. It was. Four or 5:00 PM and load it up and head home. So we had a decent night. I think we drove. Did we drive straight back after that one?

Mike: 8:23

No, no, no. We stopped. in what's another one we stopped in and cause I had to use the restroom and then we couldn't find a fricking restroom around Farmington. We drove around farming everywhere.

Mark: 8:34

Yeah. If you don't follow us on Instagram, I'd recommend. Because at 6:00 AM on Sunday morning, I was posting videos of walking them through the Walmart parking lot,

Mike: 8:45

trying to find a restroom.

Mark: 8:49

It's poor. Mike nothing's open in New Mexico because of COVID. Yeah, I forgot. I guess it was New Mexico, New Mexico state. We stopped. It was New Mexico that we drove straight back from. Talk about Allegion a little bit. Tell the people about

Mike: 9:04

now that was a fun stadium

Mark: 9:08

in Las Vegas. It's the new pro stadium down there, but they played UNLB.

Mike: 9:13

Yeah.

Mark: 9:15

Tell them about the underneath

Mike: 9:17

Yeah. So, so when you pull in, you're pulling right in between the parking lot and then you turned down and it's like this steep drive And it pulls right underneath the stadium and off to the left, You've got the Raiders field because they bring their, their field is Israel grass and they roll it out. And then, you know, these is turf,

Mark: 9:39

so they roll it out so it can

Mike: 9:41

Sit in the sun. and Yeah.

Mark: 9:43

stadium is covered. Of

Mike: 9:45

And so that was just like mind blowing when you're like falling down there and then there's the radios fit or the Raiders. field. And you're pulling down under the stadium and there's, you know, that's where all the dogs are and everything. It was cool.

Mark: 9:59

Yeah. It was very different for us. Most of the places we go, the none of the stadiums have docs. I mean, when they were built, obviously Romney Pohlman is a really good example. This air force, they were teams were taking the train. You know, they weren't even flying at that time. They'd take the train and they just, all they brought was what they could carry. Essentially. They didn't have a crew now we're bringing these big semis and there's really not a place for them. None of those stadiums were built for that allegiance. Totally different. it was. And that was the first time we saw that. So they had a big tunnel under Allegiant that you could walk through. You could drive a car. Maybe a pickup through it,

Mike: 10:48

Yeah I think they just had golf carts. I don't think they drove any vehicles through there,

Mark: 10:52

but so far

Mike: 10:53

now. So, yeah, that was the thing is cause your Legion, And I was like, wow, this is awesome. But then you get the sofa And not only do you drive down under the stadium, but you just keep going there. and then you can drive all the way around. Not in the semi-truck We didn't, I mean, you probably could. It was big enough, but the, the buses do the buses drive All the way around the bottom of that.

Mark: 11:18

And I took my pickup in the horse trailer. They called it the other cargo trailer. We took, took, that through the tunnel tunnel was one way. we're going to broadcast this with the interview from BYU, how moral, is the co-driver for the BYU truck. And he talked about Jerry's world in Dallas where there's a tunnel there also, but he said that one is big enough to semis, can meet and pass each other in the tunnel. So maybe one of these days.

Mike: 11:50

we'll get a bowl game down there or something.

Mark: 11:52

Yeah. So the Aggies ended up 11 and three. We put. 11,000 miles. So each other more than we saw our wives from September through the end of December, I liked my wife better.

Mike: 12:09

Oh, That's cool.

Mark: 12:10

Not nothing against you,

Mike: 12:11

Yeah I'm with you on that.

Mark: 12:13

I love you like a brother.

Mike: 12:14

I like your wife better than YouTube. So.

Mark: 12:21

We've got that in common, I

Mike: 12:23

Yeah.

Mark: 12:24

So looking forward, what's the first game of next season.

Mike: 12:29

that's it? Isn't it now it's an, Alabama is their own game before that there

Mark: 12:33

is you, they play Yukon at

Mike: 12:35

Yukon at home. and then we go to Alabama.

Mark: 12:38

Yeah. So I've already checked into flights. Birmingham seems to be the place where we're going to need to send them. Um, I'm guessing we'll have probably some people join us for that. Um, but Britain, I guess

Mike: 12:58

Oh yeah. They're already making

Mark: 12:59

are they, are they gonna fly Southwest or Delta? They decided.

Mike: 13:05

Probably whatever's cheapest.

Mark: 13:10

Yeah. So, so Alabama's our first game then next year is kind of a light season after that. Um, I don't know. Are you guys, are you going to fly to Hawaii to watch him?

Mike: 13:23

Oh yeah.

Mark: 13:23

Wow. That's going to be,

Mike: 13:26

well, I mean, you might, I don't know if we're taking the whole

Mark: 13:30

you're not going to My wife's already planning. She's getting a trip to away in the fall.

Mike: 13:36

Oh, really?

Mark: 13:36

Oh, she's, she's positive of it. Yeah. I don't know. I, don't not that I really want to spend time with you in Hawaii versus her. I guess I'd rather probably spend some time third, but

Mike: 13:50

Yeah. Well, when did I, I talked about, oh, at the signing. day. Yeah. he's he's hooking us up. Yeah. Because, you know, Cause they wanted him to get a CDL.

Mark: 14:09

Oh. Cause they got to rent a little

Mike: 14:10

cause they got to rent a truck over there, out there in Hawaiian. let's just fly our drivers out.

Mark: 14:17

Well, I guess it's something looked forward to isn't

Mike: 14:21

yeah. I don't know if you want to edit that out. Cause then I don't know if that's a

Mark: 14:25

I dunno

Mike: 14:25

thing or not, but

Mark: 14:28

I guess we'll, we'll see when it

Mike: 14:30

we'll find out.

Mark: 14:32

And then the rest of the games are pretty close. What are you gonna do for BYU next year? Are you going to go?

Mike: 14:41

I'm going to

Mark: 14:41

You told me like a year ago. You're not gonna ever go into a game there again.

Mike: 14:45

I've never been to a game there. I had tickets to go and it, Um, the year of Gerritsen just tore them up, When was that? 18%. 17.

Mark: 14:57

Not at all,

Mike: 14:58

And, uh, yeah, I couldn't do it. I sent my nephew and my place, so Angie in Britain. and my nephew went and

Mark: 15:06

So you're planning on going then

Mike: 15:08

yeah, I drive the truck.

Mark: 15:11

It's just Provo.

Mike: 15:14

It's going to be hard.

Mark: 15:16

Well, I know that'll be the easiest dry we ever make.

Mike: 15:18

Oh yeah. But uh, it's rough.

Mark: 15:22

Did you listen to the interview with Hal? He's a nice guy.

Mike: 15:27

I'm sure. They're all nice

Mark: 15:28

He was wearing an Aggie sweatshirt when I talked to him. His daughter's a

Mike: 15:34

She's an Aggie. Yeah. Yeah.

Mark: 15:38

It's okay. They don't smell

Mike: 15:40

A lot of our fans would be like your fans. It's kind of sad.

Mark: 15:44

You go

Mike: 15:45

It is what it

Mark: 15:46

throwing your own fans under the bus again.

Mike: 15:48

just calling it as this,

Mark: 15:53

The the 2023 season is the one I'm, uh, sort of looking forward to, but also kind of dreading because it's, it's such a big year, start out going to Yukon, which is a 4,500 mile round trip. That's going to be,

Mike: 16:14

cross country,

Mark: 16:15

man, it's going to be miserable, but Iowa I'll end up having a lot of fans.

Mike: 16:22

you going to do that year in Nebraska. You kind of got it.

Mark: 16:25

Well, I'm going to cheer for the Aggies. That's how I'm going to do that.

Mike: 16:27

seen That's like me going to Provo. your yarn.

Mark: 16:32

Nah, I don't,

Mike: 16:33

It's your rival

Mark: 16:34

they don't offend me.

Mike: 16:36

I went to the Nebraska games. All those Nebraska fans hated Iowa. I didn't get it.

Mark: 16:41

We hate the school. We don't hate the fans. You gotta separate the two it's. Sometimes it's hard. I understood. I had some trouble with like Wyoming. Their colors are horrible. I got a whole list of jokes I could say about Wyoming's colors, but I can't, they're not fit for the

Mike: 17:02

the colors are orderable, but

Mark: 17:03

They're terrible.

Mike: 17:04

their friends are cool though. I don't have

Mark: 17:06

Well they're cool Cause he live in Laramie. It's cold

Mike: 17:09

worst fans. They're San Diego state fans. They're horrible. They're the worst they're right up there with. BYU. I mean,

Mark: 17:19

so the San Diego game was, uh, the championship game.

Mike: 17:23

and they all went home by halftime. It was awesome.

Mark: 17:26

Yeah. So, you know, I, I, I don't think I ever said this on the podcast. Well, maybe I did, but I think after the, it was after the air force game and they're three and O and things are really looking good. And I thought maybe. Yeah they make the championship game and a bowl game. We're going to get our two games back that we lost the year before. And then it just kept going. And Vegas was, the Vegas trip was kind of when it was like, oh boy. But then I started kind of dreading it like, oh, I'm gonna have to do two more games, man. I hope it don't. We have to go to the Texas.

Mike: 18:12

Sitting in California for a week and working out of the hotel. That was rough. So By the time we got home from that, I was like, okay, I'm good. I need to be home for awhile And there. was someone they started talking about going to the poker at humble or whatever bullet was, I was like,

Mark: 18:33

when they were volunteering to fill in, now, now the only ones going to do that, where the

Mike: 18:38

it.

Mark: 18:40

Uh, that, that is one thing. I want everybody to understand that, my well being Mike both have full-time jobs, working for Stokes trucking. A lot of my responsibilities aren't like immediate needs. So, so I can still get all my stuff done, even with traveling and trucking and things like that. Mike never missed a thing. He worked his job. Even when we were gone on the road, he'd work extra before we'd leave. And then he'd work when we got there, how long we worked for like three hours in the truck. Cause they didn't have a room for us when we got to LA you know, that was the whole reason we got the,

Mike: 19:23

you

Mark: 19:23

booth in there.

Mike: 19:25

and it wasn't, it wasn't bad working out at the truck. I mean, it, it, it sucks working off a laptop.

Mark: 19:31

Yeah. Yeah, because you need the screens.

Mike: 19:33

Yeah.

Mark: 19:35

But everyone should, like, I've got a ton of respect for him after this year doing what he did. And oh, by the way, he has the biggest volume of trucks and the most loads to deal with. And he never missed a beat through at all, even with two extra games and

Mike: 19:55

somehow some way. yeah.

Mark: 19:58

Yeah. Val, Val toxic. Be in the travel agent for that the bowl week, you know, and how, how man who is up at five every morning. And I was working until 10 o'clock at night and I was like, you should talk to Larson, buddy. He drove there. You, you flew. And it was a miserable drive too.

Mike: 20:20

not rain. That was the worst drive. we had.

Mark: 20:24

Well, talk about it. Talk about the worst T tell the people why it was so bad.

Mike: 20:30

It was fine until we got to like, Barstow and then it was

Mark: 20:33

go back to when the night before.

Mike: 20:35

own it with all windy,

Mark: 20:36

Well, just getting out of here, We're under the impression we're rolling out at seven, we've got to drive separate

Mike: 20:44

because we were taking the two trucks We're

Mark: 20:46

taking the two trailers and bowel was not feeling well. So he, the original plan was he was going to help drive and then he couldn't. We show up at the stadium at seven. And what time did we roll

Mike: 20:58

yeah, we didn't realize it through till like 10 or something? Because they were doing it because they practiced and the practice finished straight. When We showed up, to pick up the trailer. Well then lo and behold, they had to do laundry and

Mark: 21:10

load the practice gear that they had used they hadn't even really started. They'd started loading the game gear in the main trailer, but they really hadn't started loading any of the practice stuff. Anyway.

Mike: 21:25

Yeah, So we started, we, we left really late and yeah. and it was windy, windy, windy all the way down. And then in Barstow from Barstow to Carson, it was just a torrential downpour.

Mark: 21:45

Yeah. And it turns out everything that was in the horse trailer could have been on a flatbed. It would have been just as dry

Mike: 21:50

Yeah. Could that thing was a leak Yeah.

Mark: 21:55

Oh man. What a, we made it that's about all I can say. Cause we made it

Mike: 22:02

every every other game though, was great. weather. We never had a bad weather drive or.

Mark: 22:10

We really didn't and having missed. Um, and Scott Murray made this year a lot easier than the previous year. they did really, the people in athletics did do a really good job of taking care of us. Our rooms were ready to go, every game Mitch would ask me if we were okay if we needed. And that, that was just totally different than the previous

Mike: 22:37

yeah, Because the previous year we were just on our own. yeah, it was a lot better.

Mark: 22:41

Yeah. A lot better. Well, looking forward to, uh, for sure, two more years and perhaps more than that. Yeah. Based on the bid. It's kinda neat talking to some of the other football truckers and how they do things differently than we do.

Mike: 22:58

Yeah.

Mark: 23:00

I'm going to try and do a little more of that too. As we travel to schools, I may try and seek out those people and see if we can meet them when we're, when we go and then try and do a better job at grabbing the people that are coming in. when they're here, we, we met the Wyoming guys,

Mike: 23:20

We always invite him.

Mark: 23:21

yeah, we just need to go see them like face to face, you know, then they'll, they'll come have a burger pulled pork or something. So what about next year for the home games? What do you think we ought to do?

Mike: 23:35

It's tough. I don't know, we didn't. I mean, the truck is there. I don't know if we got very much reaction with it there. I think like, I don't know if there was somewhere we could just park it and leave it. It would be so much better, but where you can't really do that. And then one of us have to miss the one, normally you have to miss the start of the game because we're moving the trucks. It's almost better just to get some tailgate spots and not worry about the truck.

Mark: 24:06

I wish they'd let us park it in the AA lot, somewhere.

Mike: 24:10

Yeah. Like those spots that are just on the other side of where we parked on the street,

Mark: 24:15

wish there was some way they could figure out we could use it as a barrier. Where they normally would put barriers. Let's just park the truck there. Right. And then you don't have to worry about the barrier, but, um, a lot are fairly expensive parking spots. I understand that. Hopefully it discussion. We have this spring or summer with someone and I'm with you though. I'd rather just have tailgates. I don't, I don't want to have to clean all that stuff up, break it all down, put it all away

Mike: 24:47

Yeah. It's easy just to load up, load up the trailer and then go into the stadium rather than have to load it all up and move the truck And

Mark: 24:53

while I'm a fan. Now they've turned me. It's like, I got sick.

Mike: 24:59

We've created a lot of fans this year.

Mark: 25:01

We tried to. Yeah. We're going to have to get some more gear, made some more Stokes trucking USU gear. Hope. Licensing isn't listening. We don't sell it from

Mike: 25:11

sell it. We just give it away.

Mark: 25:15

All right. My friend, I had a blast this fall in, in hindsight. I w uh, me and grace had this discussion a little bit when we were recording last time that I just don't think we'll ever top 2020. Right. It's going to Allegiant doing the championship game, playing it. So fi w weather was good every

Mike: 25:40

game,

Mark: 25:40

except the very last one for what? A hundred miles. we will never have a season as good as we just had it just isn't going to happen. You know, it, we may get that good again. But who it was, it was a good time.

Mike: 25:58

Yeah,

Mark: 25:59

It was a lot of fun.

Mike: 26:01

it was a lot of good people.

Mark: 26:03

Not much, sleep.

Mike: 26:04

Yeah. Little short on sleep.

Mark: 26:06

We're not, we're not going to a football game during the bi-week again, either. That was a bad idea.

Mike: 26:12

but that was a good trip to

Mark: 26:13

It was a good trip would have been better. I hadn't been so damn sick

Mike: 26:17

Right.

Mark: 26:21

and you've been sick ever since we got back.

Mike: 26:24

it seems like that.

Mark: 26:27

All right, buddy. Thank you so much for, for prod me into doing it, to begin with and, and be in there by my side the whole way we've, uh, sounds like we're going to be doing it for a couple more years. Alright. but thank you.

Mike: 26:42

Thank you.

Grace: 26:52

That was a sick discussion with Mike Larson.

Mark: 26:56

I don't. I don't think it was sick. I might leave that in there. So that, uh recording that segment with Mike, I didn't do a very good job. of preparing. I should've had some more questions ready for him?

Grace: 27:19

Going to make fun of him.

Mark: 27:23

did I

Grace: 27:23

call him short, men are touchy about their height.

Mark: 27:29

You're right. I shouldn't, I shouldn't make fun of him. love Mike. He. uh, What he did this fall while we were driving was in hindsight, really pretty impressive. did all his usual dispatching and we were going. we were gone a lot for, for the football season.

Grace: 27:52

Your favorite days, where, when you take us out to lunch before you left,

Mark: 27:58

I did do that. Yeah. Yeah. So since we'd be gone all weekend, long you know, a game was on Saturday. We usually wouldn't get home until late Sunday. Um, on Thursdays, right? It's usually Thursdays.

Grace: 28:12

usually Thursdays,

Mark: 28:15

Was it Thursday, or Wednesday.

Grace: 28:16

it depended on where you were going.

Mark: 28:18

how far it was.

Grace: 28:21

the ones on the west or Wednesdays,

Mark: 28:26

so I'd take my wife. and My kids out to lunch before me and Mike were going to be leaving that day, just cause I wouldn't. be gone for four or five days afterwards and kind of ruined the weekends. ruined it turned out to be eight weekends, which we got a couple of bonus games that was fun. It was like, it was so much fun this year. was, um, I mentioned in that episode, in the segment with Mike, not going to top that. you Know,

Grace: 28:59

it was lineup of, um, where you guys, where they were able to go, but also like who they played at home too. I think it, when they were playing at home, a lot of their games were fun to watch they would play teams that would, I don't know if they do better than them or like it, it just seemed like they had to kind of push a little more to get a win or. Push more to try and win and lose.

Mark: 29:31

They were fun. Um, they were just a fun team to be around. Yeah. They, they, all those kids were super nice, uh, very polite, but we'd had a, just a blast doing that this year for Utah state. And we were very excited to rebid this winter when we did so. After this next segment, we'll get into that a little bit. Coming up. Next is an interview I did over the phone with how Morell, who is the co-driver of the BYU football truck. BYU. Mike, you can skip forward. You don't have to listen to this. if You don't want to.

Grace: 30:17

It's an interesting discussion. bad.

Mark: 30:20

no, I actually, I really. I mean super nice. guy. Um, sorta looking forward to meeting feely the other driver, one of these days, I'm actually gonna see if I can arrange getting the Well, got an idea to get the three football trucks, BYU, Utah state Utah altogether for a photo and maybe a little article. But I might follow that up on a later

Grace: 30:56

podcast

Mark: 30:57

That'd be something in the summer, but yeah, I've got that thought floating around in my head, England at a salt lake. They, they do the, You have

Grace: 31:06

youth

Mark: 31:07

football equipment hauling, so it would be somewhat easy to arrange. I think anyway, we'll get right into our interview with how from Bailey's moving and storage. Co-driver of the BYU football equipment truck. I am the real deal. Yes, sir. Hi, how are you doing?

Hal: 31:41

I'm all right. Thanks.

Mark: 31:42

Well thank you for, uh, taking a minute to join me for my teeny tiny little podcast here. I know Bailey's moving and storage takes care of BYU news. Moving for their equipment, their football equipment. Do you work for Bailey's?

Hal: 32:00

I worked a little bit for Bailey's, but I've been on their payroll since 1977.

Mark: 32:06

oh my, okay.

Hal: 32:08

There's not much, I haven't done a Bailey's moon and stories over the years.

Mark: 32:12

So are you semi-retired then

Hal: 32:14

semi retired. I do a little bit of

Mark: 32:17

salty.

Hal: 32:18

forum.

Mark: 32:20

Okay.

Hal: 32:21

and I've, I've even been, uh, I've even been a principal in the business that I, I sold my interest at the end of 2007.

Mark: 32:30

I see. So, um, I guess,

Hal: 32:35

a, little history

Mark: 32:36

yeah. Are you a,

Hal: 32:37

and Bailey's

Mark: 32:38

are you a mover by trade? Is that what you, what you've.

Hal: 32:42

I'm I did that for a year when I got back off. LDS mission back in 1977 and in the start of 78, I was offered a sales position at Bailey's and I just worked my way up in the ranks. Um, in 1989, Bailey's asked me to

Mark: 33:03

my family to Colorado.

Hal: 33:05

and we started Bailey's moving in storage Denver. Um, Bailey's is an agent for allied van lines. And

Mark: 33:15

was there for seven years

Hal: 33:16

I came back to Utah in the mid nineties and um,

Mark: 33:22

working my way up to seal.

Hal: 33:24

the business.

Mark: 33:25

I see. Okay. All right. That makes sense.

Hal: 33:28

I got my CDL in 77. And, um, know, I, I always liked having it. And I found out in my later years that I wanted to keep it because I believed that I would never ask anybody to do something that I, myself haven't done. And so, um, you know, the truck has been, it's been more of a hobby to me than it has been a career or an occupation.

Mark: 33:58

all right. So when, when did you guys start hauling BYU equipment?

Hal: 34:04

Well, let me see if I can go a little bit earlier than that. In around 2003, were approached by the LDS church. To see if we had a trailer that we could donate to the BYU football program, because it was getting so difficult for them to get everything they needed for games on a plane. And so the trend back then was that, um, major universities

Mark: 34:28

we're starting to get the roll trailer.

Hal: 34:30

and transport their own gear every game.

Mark: 34:33

So they came to us.

Hal: 34:35

We, we had trainers that were willing to donate there. Wasn't one. It was really to their liking their equipment manager at the time was a gentleman by the name of hill. And he just, there was, he wanted something with a gate. And so we eventually gave him permission to go to utility trailer The trailer he wanted manufactured. So he chose a 45 foot flat, four flat floor with a lift gate on the end. And that was in 2003. I think the trailer came about. They, I think they were able to use it for the 2004 seasons when they started using them.

Mark: 35:15

Um,

Hal: 35:16

that's the time

Mark: 35:17

they had a gentleman

Hal: 35:18

that was part of their process. Um, staff that dealt with system. I think, you know what the Tom system is the communication that goes on between the sideline coaches and the coaches up in the press box. And

Mark: 35:33

that's kind of a big deal.

Hal: 35:34

college football. And it has to be specially designed and manufactured so that people can't pirate into it and conversations.

Mark: 35:43

Yep.

Hal: 35:44

Anyway. So this gentleman, not only he ran that for him, but he also had his own track. And so he pulled this trailer for an and tell about the second or third game into 2011. And something happened him and, um, the BYU administration. And anyway, BYU approached Bailey's and said, Hey, we need someone to drive a truck and pull force. Are you interested in doing it? And at that time I was approached by my. Former business partner, Spencer Jones. Who's a former ag. He himself raised in Wellsville and he said, yeah, I've got, I've got an old partner that has a CDL. Maybe he'd want to do it. And so I agreed to do it. And so our first game was in October of 2011, we did the state game. That was the first trip to thumb feely Toffel and I drove to.

Mark: 36:43

And you guys are still doing it today, right?

Hal: 36:45

And we've done it. Feely has not missed a game, an away game yet. Um, feels he's an employee of Bailey's he's an over the road driver. And so he, he loves doing this. He's a, he's a big football fan, a big BYU. And so he really appreciates, been able to do this. also takes care of their home games for him because you know, the practice facility is a little bit away from where the, you know, the home stadium is. And so we have to get the trailer moved over by weekend so they can get everything off and onto the field and in the locker room as well as back on, and then back over to the practice facility. So he takes care of every one of those home games also. And he has done every game except one. It was a year ago. He had a daughter get married on a Saturday of a BYU game. And so filled in for him

Mark: 37:39

she, she didn't schedule it around the football. Are you serious?

Hal: 37:45

it was COVID,

Mark: 37:46

Oh yeah.

Hal: 37:47

did, she did, but then the season fell apart and BYU scrambled as best they could to get 11 games in.

Mark: 37:57

Yeah. Yup.

Hal: 37:59

but other than that, I had shoulder surgery in 2011, miss two games. And then in 2014, my wife made me take her to Europe for vacation. so I missed probably one of the greatest games BYU ever had by going to and playing the university of Texas. And, um, taste some hill just annihilated those guys rushing that day BYU had a big victory. So anyway, and then the only games that we've not been able to go to is that for some reason they won't let us drive to Hawaii.

Mark: 38:33

Yeah. Yeah. We're, uh, we've got that little,

Hal: 38:37

that Yep.

Mark: 38:38

that little hurdles coming next year for us. So,

Hal: 38:42

But anyway, that's so other than Hawaii, We drive anywhere and everywhere they need us to.

Mark: 38:49

so you guys that you mentioned the home game, see, we don't know. We don't ever have to do anything with the home games. Once the trailers unloaded, we actually moved the trailer out of there from the stadium it's empty, but everything's at the facility, you know, they, they practice right there at Romney, so,

Hal: 39:08

But see BYU doesn't they have a practice facility. They've got the outdoor field as well as the indoor field, which is a couple of miles south

Mark: 39:14

Yup.

Hal: 39:15

the stadium.

Mark: 39:16

And

Hal: 39:16

so on

Mark: 39:17

all the Garrett

Hal: 39:18

capped at the practice facility. And So they loaded on the trailer for, you know, Thursday before the

Mark: 39:23

Saturday

Hal: 39:24

game, it gets transferred over on Friday. They offloaded onto the field and into the, you know, into the locker room for the game. And then he has to, and he has to be. They want the truck on display. They want the tractor and trailer on display and, um, and then he's there to help them load up after the game. And he the trailer back over at the practice facility and drives the truck each week, you know, for his regular work for Bailey's moving and storage.

Mark: 39:53

is that the truck that he drives? It's the normally

Hal: 39:56

the truck he drives. Yes. Um, the first year we did. They had a rental. We just had a white tractor that they, that they Baileys ran it. And we drove that. the next year they purchased a tractor at BYU blue.

Mark: 40:11

And

Hal: 40:11

um,

Mark: 40:12

that's what you've seen up until this year

Hal: 40:15

Um, we've

Mark: 40:15

had a couple situations

Hal: 40:17

where we've had trouble with, uh,

Mark: 40:19

break down

Hal: 40:19

on the road. That were quite expensive. And so

Mark: 40:23

after.

Hal: 40:24

they got on the truck was about 12 years old day. Um, they bought a new one.

Mark: 40:28

Hmm.

Hal: 40:29

new one for this year,

Mark: 40:30

I see.

Hal: 40:31

and that's why it's painted white versus the one prior was blue.

Mark: 40:34

Yep. Well, cool. Uh, w. You know, the, our truck that we use it's wrapped, the whole truck is wrapped me, matched the trailer. And that's actually the truck that I drive whenever I go drive. It's that one? Um, it's set up just slightly different than the rest of our road tractors. We've got a Cascadia. Also. We had a booth. You know, the booth, you can fold down, up and down because me and the,

Hal: 41:03

top bunk,

Mark: 41:04

well, the top bunk folds down with also the bottom bunk will fold up in their seats that pop up and you have like a booth. You can sit at, you lose a lot of storage under the bunk by putting that in, but we're not me. And the. Driver. We don't usually go for, you know, weeks at a time or anything.

Hal: 41:25

Okay.

Mark: 41:25

So, so not having that storage, isn't that big a deal to us, but we both work in the office. Well, we've had the occasion where we need to work, you know, while one of us is driving, the other one needs to be on the computer. So that's why we put that in.

Hal: 41:41

All right.

Mark: 41:42

Yeah.

Hal: 41:43

Well, in my case with feely, feely can sleep really well in that I mean the bumps in. the road and the jiggling down the highway, doesn't bother him one bit, but it, I struggled to sleep. And so I'll normally drive at night,

Mark: 41:59

I understand. I can't sleep. Mike's really Mike, the co-driver he's really good about sleeping. I can't. So we usually, we usually schedule it. Uh, essentially I drive until I can't anymore, you know, and then

Hal: 42:18

Now

Mark: 42:18

him up and we switch

Hal: 42:20

feely. We'll use that a lot for work. Um, especially when he's on the road out of town. Um, but otherwise it's, it's parked in north salt lake at Bally's yard. A real funny story about that BYU or excuse me, the university of Utah hired a new athletic director, mark. And about three or four years ago, maybe it was 2018. They hired him and Bailey's moving in storage. Has the contract. The state of Utah moves. And so they were responsible for seeing that all of Mark's personal effects and household effects were delivered to salt lake city while he couldn't get into his home for a few weeks. And so things were put in storage, so they. They hooked the BYU tractor, the blue one up to, uh, uh, an orange allied trailer. and they showed up front of mark Harlan's home

Mark: 43:17

Oh,

Hal: 43:17

deliver his belongings. Mark Harlan tweeted out. He said, it's moving day at the Harlan household. We're not sure if we're off to a very good start though.

Mark: 43:31

that's outstanding.

Hal: 43:32

Could you imagine walking outside and there's your furniture van with a BYU tractor it up in front of your house? I mean the poor dispatcher, I guess he just is either not a football fan or it just didn't register with him. But, um, Hans alts and had a great day, was that on the radio, he was sending that out left and right. The people. So anyway, lots of fun.

Mark: 44:00

So what's the most. Place or experience you've had drive in the last 10 years. That truck.

Hal: 44:11

well, um, our second game that we drove to was versus TCU down in Dallas. And they played at the at and T stadium. And to me, that has been my number one spot that we've gone to in the 70 games are sold that we've driven to.

Mark: 44:31

so that would be where, where, the Cowboys play

Hal: 44:34

that's

Mark: 44:34

Jerry's world, right? Yup.

Hal: 44:36

That stadium is so large and it exists, it's in that stadium,

Mark: 44:44

there's a ton of leads

Hal: 44:45

under the stadium

Mark: 44:47

and we drive right up

Hal: 44:49

to where the locker room is.

Mark: 44:51

and that title big enough,

Hal: 44:53

that

Mark: 44:53

you didn't have to track your trailers.

Hal: 44:56

pass one another. And the reason why I know that is because we drove past the TCU trailer that

Mark: 45:02

was parked

Hal: 45:03

in

Mark: 45:03

front of.

Hal: 45:04

the TCU locker room for that game.

Mark: 45:07

And we all

Hal: 45:07

parked the tractor underneath that stadium. It was, it was an incredible experience.

Mark: 45:13

And what was

Hal: 45:14

great

Mark: 45:15

about it?

Hal: 45:15

too, is

Mark: 45:16

The locker room door to the back of the trailer?

Hal: 45:18

was three feet, not much of a push for all the items that needed to go

Mark: 45:24

Yeah. Yeah.

Hal: 45:26

That was, that was really, um, a special time being able to do that. In fact, I told feely, I says, when we're leaving, I said, I get to drive out of here because I'm going to drive

Mark: 45:38

all the way around.

Hal: 45:39

you know, this area here and then circle the, the stadium before I pull out.

Mark: 45:44

so is it, do they, is it one way, like one way traffic,

Hal: 45:49

no no. It's

Mark: 45:50

no kid.

Hal: 45:52

No kid.

Mark: 45:54

Yeah. So under, you know, I, I told you earlier, we'd gone to Sophie. Sophie has a tunnel like that also down in LA, but it's not that big. It's, it's big enough to pull a bus through. I pulled my pickup, we had a 24 foot cargo trailer. We pulled down there for university. I pulled that through, but it's one way. Right? So the tunnels, yeah, the tunnel is. Wide enough that to, you know, passenger vehicles could meet in there, but they keep all the traffic flow in one way, just because of accidents because it's curved the whole way around. So you can't necessarily see what's coming around the corner. Right? Um, that, that stadium, the scoreboard was amazing. Like the whole stadium was really cool, but. We that was, this year was a lot of fun. We did Allegiant. You guys did Allegiant.

Hal: 46:48

We did Allegiant. Yeah.

Mark: 46:50

Yeah. And then we played it so far. And then like yesterday I'm watching or Sunday laid around and watching NFL red zone and you know, here's a game playing it. So Phi and then the night game that night was at Allegiant and I'm like, yay. I stood right there.

Hal: 47:04

You're having desert views.

Mark: 47:06

Yeah.

Hal: 47:08

Um, when we, when we did Allegiant, the thing that I thought was troubling for one. It's September, it's the 1st of September and it is, 110 degrees outside. And, um, but they had us use the east dock and we had to push everything all the way over to the west side

Mark: 47:29

Yup.

Hal: 47:29

locker room was on the west

Mark: 47:31

Yup.

Hal: 47:31

And, and yet why couldn't they have had us used the west

Mark: 47:35

Yeah.

Hal: 47:35

has saved probably 150 yards.

Mark: 47:39

Yep. Yeah, they did the same thing with us.

Hal: 47:42

didn't understand it. Another you real unique place for us. was, well, we had two of them. One was Virginia there in Charlottesville. Um, they had a skid underneath the stadium and, um, our trailers only 45 feet long. And if we'd had a 53 foot trailer have never got in there.

Mark: 48:02

Another one

Hal: 48:03

was very unique was, was nasty. Um, excuse me, not Nashville, but Knoxville for the university of Tennessee,

Mark: 48:10

back down to the law firm and they're

Hal: 48:12

a tree

Mark: 48:13

right in the middle of the

Hal: 48:14

backing down. So you've got to finagle around this. Three to be able to get it in there. And that's where feely, he does a real good job. I'm real good at driving straight. He does. He does everything else, any backing up that needs to be done? I let him do that, but, but the probably the most unique place was, um, Texas, excuse me, was Georgia tech, Georgia tech. We had to go underneath a, a tunnel, which was only about. Uh, you know, a hundred feet long, but the problem is the tunnel was feet, four inches tall. And so what we had to do is we had to get out and we had to let all the air out of the airbags on the trailer. So the no kid. And so we had about maybe an inch of clearance to back up, cause the, this was on the south end of the stadium and a locker room is on the north end of the But once we,

Mark: 49:15

Once we got the

Hal: 49:16

you know, the air down, we were able to back all the way back there and we that's where we parked the trailer for the game. And then when the game was over with, we loaded it up, we drove through the tunnel. And when we got out of the tunnel, I got out and, you know, hook the airbags back

Mark: 49:33

yeah. I, that was, I, I didn't think about it before we start. Hauling the equipment, but afterwards I was like, oh yeah. Most of these places you go to that stadium was built long before anybody was using symbolize. You know? So that's a total afterthought. How we're getting that in there. Yeah, man. So I'm a little curious, do you guys just leave the trailer at, at BYU, right. And.

Hal: 50:05

we've, we've donated, it's been donated to BYU. It's theirs to do it as they please, it sits outside their facilities that are on campus And. they, they use a lot of it for storage throughout the

Mark: 50:18

sure.

Hal: 50:19

They keep things on it.

Mark: 50:20

Yeah. How much loading and unloading do you guys help with any

Hal: 50:25

well prep before the game, none, they have it all loaded. We show up, we hook on it. Once we get To our destination, we, we help offload and just mostly just get it off the truck and help them push it to either the, the locker room or to the, to the field. And then when, when the game's over with all the, the BYU people will, we'll get the things pushed to the truck and where feeling. I kind of just get it on and strapped in place and get out of there.

Mark: 51:00

To the LA a lot longer road games than we do generally. You're almost always driving as a team doing it. Aren't ya? Like nonstop there and nonstop home.

Hal: 51:10

Yeah. Yeah. If, if we, if we go and you gotta realize in the 70 games we've done, we've driven, um, almost 160,000 miles. And that's of course that's round trip with the farthest being around 2,500 miles to Miami. been there a couple of times. We've been to Boston a couple of times with the shortest one, going to what? 44 miles to university of Utah, to BYU. But, um, yeah, that's, normally, if we have a Saturday game on the east coast, we leave Tuesday after practice. And the reason why we, uh, we try to leave as I, I them I have like a little bit of leeway just in case we have mechanical issue. We have a weather issue. me an extra 12 hours.

Mark: 52:07

Yeah.

Hal: 52:08

we can make sure that if we have any difficulties or any problems that can get it taken care of and still get there when we need to be. And so we'll, we'll do that. Um, normally we, we drive straight we'll drive 11 hours at a time, you know,

Mark: 52:22

take our breaks.

Hal: 52:23

and, and try to do everything legally. So.

Mark: 52:28

you guys had the, the incident or an instance where you've had to repower the trailer? You have a tractor break down and you've got to get a rental or anything like that. Have you.

Hal: 52:38

Luckily it's been on the coming home side. It's happened three times.

Mark: 52:42

Oh, wow.

Hal: 52:43

In, um, we had a problem when we left Orleans, after they played LSU to start that 2017 season, we had, um, we had a problem with the motor and we had to leave the tractor there and get a rental and, and drive home. And we were, we were a day late getting back. Another one we had is, um, in 2017, we'd gone to east Carolina and played them and that'd be DYU. It was a tough 2017 was a bad year for BYU. I think they, they lost nine games that year, um, so we're leaving east Carolina and it's the middle of the night and I'm driving and all of a sudden the computer shuts the truck. We had the compressor on the motor go out and it was just throwing oil everywhere. So there we were parked on the middle of, You know, on, well, not in the middle, but on the, you know, on the shoulder of the freeway, we were there 14 hours until a tow truck to get us.

Mark: 53:44

You only ever want to be in

Hal: 53:45

the south when there's, uh,

Mark: 53:49

the NASCAR race?

Hal: 53:50

close by, because you're not going to get any.

Mark: 53:53

No. Oh, uh,

Hal: 53:56

hours until a guy finally picked us up. In fact, you know, we had the hood up on the tractor the whole time, and

Mark: 54:03

I get that night,

Hal: 54:04

on the channel two sports,

Mark: 54:07

they had a picture of the BYU

Hal: 54:08

truck with the hood up on the tractor and they made the comment was we know BYU. football team. Can't finish a drive either can the equipment truck

Mark: 54:17

oh,

Hal: 54:18

So that was, that

Mark: 54:20

no. I I've told Mike that all the time when I'm driving that particular truck, you know, it's got a big use, stayed on the side, just the, the tractor. I mean, you always want to be mindful of how you're driving and be courteous. I'm a little. Extra, whenever I'm driving that truck in particular, because, you know, I feel like I'm representing way more than I normally am when I, when I'm behind the wheel, that thing.

Hal: 54:51

billboard is

Mark: 54:52

Yeah. Don't give anybody any reason to be upset more than they maybe are with you, you know, like, um, I don't know. It's just, it's a little different, it's a little different, it makes things a little.

Hal: 55:05

um, we played Wisconsin in Westcon. Um, and that failed is a great place to go for a game. The band is incredible. The tailgating is and the fan support is tremendous. we, it was an afternoon game BYU beat the socks off of Wisconsin that day. I think they were ranked in the top 10

Mark: 55:31

And we're leaving

Hal: 55:33

Wisconsin and coming into.

Mark: 55:36

university of alive

Hal: 55:37

had just played

Mark: 55:38

and their gate

Hal: 55:39

was over with, and the fans were, you know, leaving the stadium

Mark: 55:42

here. We are

Hal: 55:42

going down the interstate and they're

Mark: 55:44

asking them They're all on

Hal: 55:46

sticking their hands out, their

Mark: 55:48

w

Hal: 55:48

giving us the high fives and just excited as all get out because we'd beat their rival. so

Mark: 55:56

That's awesome.

Hal: 55:57

yeah,

Mark: 55:58

so cool. You guys beat Nebraska at Nebraska.

Hal: 56:04

At Nebraska.

Mark: 56:05

Um,

Hal: 56:06

Yup.

Mark: 56:07

you didn't have any trouble leaving.

Hal: 56:08

that day.

Mark: 56:09

You didn't have any trouble leaving town from my hometown fans digit. Nobody give you any.

Hal: 56:14

it was fun because you'll, you'll always the interesting thing about BYU. It's it's not a school with alumni, it's a school of a church. And so you get just as many, know, LDS people. That want to in the games, even though they may have to the local college where the games at and Nebraska game, there was a lot of people that had a combined blue and shirt on. And, um, uh, was the day, um, that they had, um, Dwayne Wade and his wife,

Mark: 56:53

Gabrielle.

Hal: 56:54

union on the field, they honored her she was an alumnus of, um, Of Nebraska. And, but I said, that was one hot day. And I remember after the game loading up, I saw this elderly woman probably around 70, her husband were walking and her and I made eye contact us. We're loading the truck and she walks up to the edge of the truck. And I walked up to the back of the trailer and she looks at me and I looked at her and she said, God was on your side today because BYU had won that game on the last second hail

Mark: 57:27

Oh, yeah, I remember it. Well,

Hal: 57:29

So, yeah. And you know, what what's interesting is that was 2015. Well, last year

Mark: 57:37

our way back

Hal: 57:38

from a coastal Carolina trip, we broke down in York, Nebraska, and we, we needed to get, you know, the things back. to pro ball. And, and I said, I told feely, I says, you know, we'll be real lucky if anybody helps us out. Because they

Mark: 57:55

probably have a long way.

Hal: 57:56

of what happened when we beat them, you know, five years earlier. And we pulled into this shop and this guy said, I can't help you till two o'clock. This is like eight o'clock in the morning. So

Mark: 58:09

You come back into it.

Hal: 58:11

and I think I can take care of it.

Mark: 58:12

So we show them two o'clock and I said, I

Hal: 58:15

surprised you're even helping. You

Mark: 58:18

probably have a wall

Hal: 58:18

memory of speeding you five years ago. said, well, of course we remember that, but my boss told me is, uh, you know, uh,

Mark: 58:27

Nebraska. He says, get those guys care.

Hal: 58:31

and get'em out of here. They got to get back to Provo.

Mark: 58:33

Hmm.

Hal: 58:34

So two dolls to Nebraska people. We had, we were there, we left at 11 o'clock that night.

Mark: 58:41

Wow. Well, we do love our football back there in the Midwest. That's for sure.

Hal: 58:47

and I'm trying to think I won't forget that because I'm, I'm walking around at halftime and I had one gentleman come up to me and this grassy gear,

Mark: 58:55

And they've got a sandwich there.

Hal: 58:56

that they all eat. And I, the runs, the, he comes up and he says, Hey, have you ever had a runs a sandwich? And I thought, I haven't. he says here, what would you, if I give it to you? What eat it

Mark: 59:10

when needed.

Hal: 59:10

and sure.

Mark: 59:16

So me and my wife have lived out here. She works for Utah state. That's what brought us to Utah. And we've lived out here since 2010. We go back. We try to go back to a Nebraska game regularly. And usually when we do, we try and take some one from here with us, a football fan from here, because it's a little different experience than Memorial stadium, you know? And I always tell them, you don't have to wear Nebraska stuff. You can wear Utah state or Utah or BYU. I don't care. You know, we took a guy that lives in Boise to wearing a Boise hat not long ago. The Nebraska people always just strike up a conversation with them. Want to know, you know, who they are, where they're from and I don't know.

Hal: 1:00:04

were, they were good sports that day. They really were. And. I'm fine. Remember isn't Nebraska where the band comes out before the game

Mark: 1:00:12

yeah,

Hal: 1:00:13

you forever.

Mark: 1:00:13

yeah, yeah, That's

Hal: 1:00:15

mean, you know, the colleges around here have good bands, but the bands and the big 10 have gotta be the best in the world.

Mark: 1:00:23

Yeah

Hal: 1:00:24

incredible.

Mark: 1:00:24

there.

Hal: 1:00:25

from Wisconsin's to Nebraska's

Mark: 1:00:29

Yeah. Well, very cool. How thank you so much for, for, in indulging me and taking some time to talk to me. I'm sure there'll be a few people that listen to this.

Hal: 1:00:40

Well, I share with you one last story? Um, a year ago I got a phone call from a gentleman who, who knows who I am. And so he called me and he said that he's got a son-in-law, who's a big BYU fan and he's dying of cancer. And he's, he wanted to ride in the BYU truck as a last request. And so we made arrangements that, um, we met him at his home, him and his family. We put them in the BYU truck and we gave him a ride around his neighborhood. And this gentlemen had served in the military, spent a year in Iraq. It had been a Mormon Bishop here in Davis county. And, um, that was one of the most precious experiences I've ever had is to see community come together and support some. And all because of, you know,

Mark: 1:01:36

Uh, truck,

Hal: 1:01:37

that

Mark: 1:01:37

truck,

Hal: 1:01:38

brought that family, some, a little bit of happiness before he passed away a little over a month later. But, um, the

Mark: 1:01:45

truck has been, you know, a lot of fun.

Hal: 1:01:47

It's, you know, I'm, I'll be 66 years old here in a few days. And

Mark: 1:01:52

I think I got

Hal: 1:01:53

do it for at least two more seasons

Mark: 1:01:55

to experience.

Hal: 1:01:56

big 12 football or excuse me. Um, yes, big 12.

Mark: 1:02:00

Yeah.

Hal: 1:02:01

So in Nebraska fan, you remember the big 12 days?

Mark: 1:02:05

yeah. Yeah. I, I know most of the places you're going to be driving to theirs. It looks a little different than it used to back then, but

Hal: 1:02:11

I lived in Denver for seven years and I remember the Colorado Nebraska games in the nineties.

Mark: 1:02:16

yeah.

Hal: 1:02:18

They were fun.

Mark: 1:02:19

Well, it was great to talk to you.

Hal: 1:02:21

mean, I'm not capable of doing something like that. So, um, I, you know, we, we, we do have Twitter and everything like that, that, that BYU post on our trips and everything. And so that's been a lot of fun is to see the reaction that that brings out. And I'm assuming you. probably get a lot of the same reaction.

Mark: 1:02:39

I we've. Uh, yeah, so we created it didn't exist. Like USU equipment has a Twitter, but when we got the contract, I was able to get.

Hal: 1:02:51

get

Mark: 1:02:52

USU F B truck for Twitter and Instagram and Facebook, you know, and it's tied directly to our Stokes trucking accounts. And,

Hal: 1:03:02

and

Mark: 1:03:02

and we try to be pretty active. We're really active on Instagram, um, interactive with the fans. Like we did some giveaways, we were given away. We bought some Utah state hats and the, we had Stokes our logo stitched into the side. Right. And we, I was given those hats away. It was like, the last contest of the year was how many miles did we drive this year? Total? You know? And, and everybody was guessing I had the equipment. Kids were all guessing like their family members. And anyway, it was, it was a lot of fun, 11,661. I know you will. I started looking at our future seasons. Um, next year is not very much at all. As a matter of fact bit, the longest trip w the first game away game is Alabama, but that's like two thirds of our miles for the year is that game. We go.

Hal: 1:04:03

a couple of deer driving to Wyoming, to Alabama. They were on the freeway and I wasn't about to swerve to miss them.

Mark: 1:04:13

I, I did a lot of driving down there. Well, when I was younger, I mean, I've, I've been down, I've been through Tuscaloosa. It's not new country for me, but that's like 3,500 miles round trip. And the rest of our trips combined is like, it's like 2000 miles. It's nothing. Now we go to, we go to BYU next year. Right. That's one of them.

Hal: 1:04:33

Well, our first game is in Tampa, Florida, the university of south.

Mark: 1:04:38

Hmm. Is that, uh, in August or is it the first weekend? September?

Hal: 1:04:44

it's

Mark: 1:04:45

Labor day weekend. Yeah, that's that's when we go to the Alabama. So

Hal: 1:04:50

and we'll pass it on the way home or vice versa.

Mark: 1:04:53

I, whenever I see the BYU truck, I always wave now my co-driver, he's not, he's really not a BYU fan, but I'm not a fan, but I'll be friendly.

Hal: 1:05:08

Um, I'll, I'll be, I'll be honest. When I first started, I wasn't of a BYU fan, but I was a big football fan, but I'll tell you, as I've got to know the people, some of the players, um, you know, I'm a fan

Mark: 1:05:24

Yeah. Yeah.

Hal: 1:05:26

so.

Mark: 1:05:27

of a, I wasn't, uh, there's a little Huskers emblem on the back of our truck. Right? Cause I'm still a Husker, but as, as the year has gone on. I wear a lot more Utah state stuff than I wear Nebraska scuff these days, you know, it's they kind of endeared themselves to me.

Hal: 1:05:48

You know, I've got kids that graduated from Utah and Utah state. In fact, I've got a Utah state sweatshirt on right now and,

Mark: 1:05:56

You and me? Both buddy.

Hal: 1:05:58

I get a little nervous out in public. If I don't have BYU gear on,

Mark: 1:06:02

Yeah. Yeah.

Hal: 1:06:03

somebody's going to say something to me or something like

Mark: 1:06:06

Yeah. That's again, when I'm driving that truck, I'm a little mindful about what I'm wearing,

Hal: 1:06:12

Yeah. Oh yeah. Yeah. And Yeah. And you're right. You're, you're, you're a moving billboard down the road

Mark: 1:06:19

Yeah.

Hal: 1:06:20

everything you do is, is a big deal.

Mark: 1:06:23

Yep. Yeah. It's the neatest thing. Coolest thing I've ever done, ever done in my career is that,

Hal: 1:06:30

Yup.

Mark: 1:06:31

um, It does make me nervous forever nervous when I'm driving that.

Hal: 1:06:37

in sports illustrated and Rick Neuheisel, you get a phone number and say, call this number. And the next thing you know, you're on CBS sports radio with Rick Neuheisel.

Mark: 1:06:47

Oh, wow.

Hal: 1:06:48

Or you're being interviewed live on BYU sports nation, things like that. Or your next thing, you know, your wife's are reading an article in sports illustrated

Mark: 1:06:58

That's so cool.

Hal: 1:06:59

mentioned

Mark: 1:07:01

That is so cool. I did. I kept track of you guys when you did that, that trip.

Hal: 1:07:06

yeah,

Mark: 1:07:07

was one of them. I couldn't get enough of it.

Hal: 1:07:09

it. was fun.

Mark: 1:07:10

Yeah.

Hal: 1:07:11

then they lose and everything was done. We were, we were, we were has-beens we were one hit wonders.

Mark: 1:07:19

all right, sir. Well, you've got a friend in a Treemont and in Logan, if you ever need anything, don't hesitate to reach out to me.

Hal: 1:07:26

me. if you want to talk again, I'm always easy to get along

Mark: 1:07:29

Yeah. Yeah, that's awesome.

Hal: 1:07:32

um, I'm not, I don't have 10, many of the home games because it's kind of a headache. Cause I live up in the bountiful area. To get down there. Plus I don't get home til all hours of the night and they make me work and I don't get paid to afford it. So, but anyway, when I'm up there, look us up. I'd love to, I'd love to meet Sharon things like

Mark: 1:07:51

Hey, uh, we do, we, we we've been hosting a lot of our customers and vendors and employees. We buy them tickets for the games up here in Logan, and we've been doing a tailgate prior to the game. So we'll have, you know, meals. Drinks and everything. We've actually been parking the truck on the road in front of the stadium. That's what we did this year. I don't know if we're going to do that again next year, but the next time you guys come up absolutely. We'll uh, we'll feed your burgers and hot dogs or whatever we're having that day All right, sir. Well, I'll shoot you an email. Yeah, you too. It was great. Thanks so much.

Hal: 1:08:28

Take care. See ya.

Mark: 1:08:38

All right. That was a great segment with how moral I'm really glad he took the time to join me. I actually tried to arrange. A interview with Mani Selden, who is the owner of Seldon trucking, who hauls Nebraska's football club. I talked to him on the phone a couple of times and he was sick and then he was out truck I was out truck in and we never did quite hookup. I might do that on an episode sometime later. and this one's going to be too long, so I decided we'll just do Me and Mike and Al and call it. Good. So ask me the question from the road. Grace,

Grace: 1:09:24

are you guys going to be tailgating at the home

Mark: 1:09:28

well

Grace: 1:09:29

will you have Dr. Pepper?

Mark: 1:09:32

Is that a Pepsi product?

Grace: 1:09:34

It's actually looked it up. It's neither a Pepsi nor a Coke product. So that's why they're sold.

Mark: 1:09:38

stadium

Grace: 1:09:39

Um, they sell it. If a restaurant has only Coke products or only Pepsi products, they still sell still sell Dr. Pepper because in the mid 20th century, uh, S uh, like a legal battle came about where is Dr. Pepper or Cola product has, if it's a Cola product, it would be owned by the Coke company. And because of Dr. Pepper's ingredients,

Mark: 1:10:02

the 23

Grace: 1:10:03

the 23 flavors. Decided that it's not a Cola product, so it can be sold by both Pepsi and Cola, like Coke owned, like ran businesses.

Mark: 1:10:16

That was funny. last year, when we tailgated, we are set up on the street, um, through our sponsorship, through Aggie sports properties, we actually had rules. One of the rules was we were not supposed to have any Coke

Grace: 1:10:32

products

Mark: 1:10:32

because us use a Pepsi. school. probably was some diet Coke and some Coca-Cola served a tailgate last year. Cause Mike is like a Coke fiend

Grace: 1:10:45

diet Coke in Utah

Mark: 1:10:46

and diet Coke. Like your mom's, all about diet Coke. So I had it in the trailer I just didn't flaunt

Grace: 1:10:51

it

Mark: 1:10:52

as far as tailgating. Next year. I actually have a meeting Tuesday I'm meeting with the Aggie sports properties guys. Um, I want to, I want to do it different, I, I really want to be in the private tailgate lot so that we don't have to put everything away or, you know, get everything packed up and moved? That was the big problem. Mike talked about that in our segment was we'd have the semi there, and that was really cool, but then we had to pick everything up and put it all away and drive it out of there before the game, at the beginning of the game. So I'd always missed the. first quarter And sometimes part of the second, we are going to tailgate. we did the, get the contract for at least two more years. We are planning on tailgating. We're going to do, you know, similar to what we did last year, or we'd try to provide tickets for our, our employees and customers and vendors. I'm hoping that we move the tailgate into the tailgate lot. I don't know if the truck will be there because of that. Um, if they'll give me a place in the parking what I want to do. to be part of this. I'm going to start that discussion this week. I was, I was thinking about it, you know, they places in the parking they have. barriers. let's just use the truck as a barrier. Right? Let us park it somewhere where you're put up them goofy little fences will just, you use the truck as a barrier. I don't know whether I'll crack that, night, but, That's what I'm hoping to

Grace: 1:12:28

you could party with the SIGs and the Pikes and all the fraternities.

Mark: 1:12:32

and then There's no, I don't have to worry about this. Oh, you can't have Coke. Well, know, um, anyway,

Grace: 1:12:41

Yeah.

Mark: 1:12:41

We'll see. So we got the contract for two more years. The first away game is Alabama. Yeah. Your mom's going to like all the away games gonna miss too. She's gonna miss Colorado state and Wyoming. And, um, it remains to be seen whether I go to all of them or not Yeah, I'm thinking about letting Mike. Well, I, the first year I skipped one, I sent Mike with Brit or Britton went with Mike. Um, we'll see.

Grace: 1:13:18

You don't want to drive the Laramie.

Mark: 1:13:21

I, I I've done that the last time I drove to Laramie the game got canceled. COVID um, I don't know. Not really, I don't,

Grace: 1:13:34

but you don't think Wyoming's a pretty state?

Mark: 1:13:37

I I actually, I of considered a couple of those games or one game not doing the truck, letting what? Just letting Mike do it. Maybe me and your mom Um,

Grace: 1:13:51

I saw, I read an article about talking about like the best states to live in. In 50 years because of climate change, Wyoming is one of them.

Mark: 1:14:02

Yeah. We had to buy a bunch of ground out in the west desert out here. probably going to be a little. So two more years. Uh, if we get to go to Alabama with us here, There's one of the games is that Hawaii. So we won't drive that one. There's only going to be five games this year. Next year is a big. gear, Yukon Iowa. Yeah. So we're planning, where are me and

Grace: 1:14:25

I love Iowa.

Mark: 1:14:27

Your mom have already started planning for that one. I'm sure that's, you know, everybody you, you and your brother and his wife, will all go to the Iowa game. And, and Dan, uh, we've got family that lives in Iowa. So I'm, I'm expecting to have a fairly large contingent Iowa, Utah. state game, all the doubts. Yep. Um, And they have, the written. wrote, it into the bid this they have the option to extend it for up to three more years. Utah state does. So we're just going to keep doing what we've been doing and, um, keep our fingers crossed that they're gonna go ahead and exercise that option. Well, I'm sort of hopeful and somewhat confident that we'll probably be the guys for the next five So it's exciting. Michael probably be by the end of five years, he'll probably be ready to be done being the football trucker. I don't know, man. It's a lot of like, it's hard. It's really hard, especially since we're working

Grace: 1:15:30

for,

Mark: 1:15:32

if we didn't have a full-time job we had to do, in addition to that, I'm probably have a different opinion about that. You never know.

Grace: 1:15:44

Are you going to change the rap?

Mark: 1:15:46

we want to, if it depends on, if your boss can find some more help,

Grace: 1:15:52

we can really only hire one more person. Then we don't know when that's

Mark: 1:15:56

So, Um, I'm waiting on bill, bill Garren, who does the video production for USC athletics. He designed the rap. The last rap, trailer wrap is getting a little age. It's looking, it's looking a little faded. We need to add mountain west championship sticker, LA bowl, champion sticker. Um, we need to change the schedule, obviously I'm not a big fan of what the rap looks like on the truck, on the tractor

Grace: 1:16:23

itself.

Mark: 1:16:25

So I've asked him to come up with a redesign and we priced that into the bid. We were sort of planning to do that. So I'm hoping that we do have a new rap. We need to get that design done soon so we can have it done. It needs to be done by July 1st because that's when parade season starts, the trailer is in salt lake city, getting some renovation done to it. We're adding a bunch of interior lights to make it way brighter in there at night

Grace: 1:16:57

for the equipment

Mark: 1:16:59

for the equipment kids. Um, we're adding a bunch of exterior lights, clearance, lights, Freightliner. premier truck group. They're helping, we're going to put under glow lights.

Grace: 1:17:12

I love under glow lights

Mark: 1:17:14

in the truck and the trailer. Where are you going to have planning to have under glow lights, like in the grill? And they're all going to be color changing so we can make them blue or Amber, whatever. we're also doing, we're replacing the back doors. We're going to put a roll up door and we're going to put a lift gate. So I didn't really, I never. realized Me and Mike almost killed ourselves with the cart. The very first game we ever did. The drink, cart trying to roll it

Grace: 1:17:42

down.

Mark: 1:17:42

Right? Well, the way those drink carts get in the trailer is the equipment. Kids push them up the ramps and they're about 900 pounds. We're adding the lift gate to the trailer Cause it, I watched him do it once last year. It is like the most dangerous thing I've ever seen. We're So lucky nobody's been crushed, not anymore. Uh, I, Uh, I love them kids They're they're awesome. We're going to help them out. Add a lift gate. There's some other places where it will be advantageous, but for me and Mike too, then when we go to unload, we'll be able to unload an entire cart once and not nearly kill ourselves. So I'm pretty excited to get the lift gate on there. then we'll see if bill comes up with a design that looks good. We'll we'll rewrap the whole thing and be ready to go. for The next two years, for sure. And hopefully four or five. So, so that's that, that's a wrap on the 2021 Utah state football season. It's on to 2022.

Grace: 1:18:48

We saw Jimmy Kimmel.

Mark: 1:18:50

We saw Jimmy Kimmel. We also saw Jimmy camel at the LA bowl.

Grace: 1:19:00

So funny. That was my favorite part of the whole game.

Mark: 1:19:10

So if I, stadium is amazing, the suites are amazing. The whole thing The scoreboard the scoreboards, the thing that I just, I still can't. It's hard to wrap your head around how big it is, it looks. Um, not a bad seat in that whole place. It's cool. It's awesome. Maybe I think, I think the mountain west has a contract for a couple more years to go to the LA bowl.

Grace: 1:19:38

So

Mark: 1:19:39

they win again,

Grace: 1:19:42

could go to universal again. I love God.

Mark: 1:19:46

Yeah, that

Grace: 1:19:47

love the Simpsons. I really want to meet foamer and Marge again,

Mark: 1:19:53

our families went down. me and Mike's families went down to the LA. bowl. They're sending us pictures from universal studios. And, uh, a couple of my buddies were down there with, with Val. sending me pictures from the, from the pier. Me and Mike are working the whole week. Like We were driving uh, the night before the game. We're driving back to the, to the hotel after we dropped the equipment off at the sofa and I get a picture from. your mom, you guys at universal And I look at it. And I was like, Mike, did you know this was a vacation? I didn't, I wasn't aware. And he's like, yeah, me too. My family are, they were, you guys were, with, Larson's? Yeah,

Grace: 1:20:38

um, Britain and Angie. It was so dad, I love the Simpson. We could go to most Tavern.

Mark: 1:20:45

Oh we got to wait a couple of years. until you're old enough. All right. So, uh, that's a wrap on the football discussion for awhile. I'm not sure what we're going to do for the next podcast, but I'll try and come up with something a little more, a little more trucking related. Last couple have been a little off topic, so um, I'm not sure if you got any suggestions of anything you want to hear on the podcast. Feel free to reach out. Most everybody listening to this probably has my contact information. I think You can actually email. through The podcast host service. I'm not Sure. If now you can always email me mark@stokestrucking.com. pretty simple Mar K, because I'm not a C At look for,

Grace: 1:21:45

I don't think I've ever seen.

Mark: 1:21:49

Well, there may

Grace: 1:21:51

like you've waited in the water and stuff.

Mark: 1:21:54

did that come from?

Grace: 1:21:56

You said I'm not a C guy. Get it.

Mark: 1:22:02

I can sort it swim not.

Grace: 1:22:05

I took a swimming class.

Mark: 1:22:07

unfairly dense.

Grace: 1:22:09

I know. Like you could learn.

Mark: 1:22:15

Um, it's hard to teach an old dog new tricks, grace. All right, everyone. Thanks again for listening. Make sure to subscribe to the podcast. If you hadn't go back and listen to all the old episodes they're still up there. This will be episode number 22. I'm going to try and get them out a little more often. Um, moving forward, I got to come up with interview subjects. though. So, we will talk to you again soon.

1:22:54

Thank you for listening to driver to driver. Uh, Stokes trucking podcast. For more information on Stokes trucking, please visit our website Stokes trucking.com. You can also learn more about us on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram at Stokes trucking. The intro and outro music is I can't keep still. The bumper music between segments is fetch me another one, Both performed by the caffeine creek band Driver to driver is a frankfurter studios production