Speaker 1: 0:04

Welcome back to another episode of that's Delivered. I'm your host, trucking Ray, and today I've got someone truly special joining me. Today it's Calvin Logan, minnesota regional champ in the sleeper truck category Driving Championship in Minneapolis, and we're going to dive into what the experience was like for him and how he got into trucking and what life looks like both on and off the road. Calvin, welcome to the show. How are you doing today?

Speaker 2: 0:37

How are you doing, buddy?

Speaker 1: 0:38

Not too bad. Yeah, you know it's always great to get together and talk about the wins that we have, and I, uh, I mean you've really done it. You've made a win, uh for regional. Uh, I mean you've done a lot also just driving safe. You know, a part of that is being safe out there on the road. A lot of people don't know the struggle that's out there. I mean, they see the videos on social media but they have no idea what it's like in person. Not everything gets captured. So what was it like? We'll just get right into it. What was it like stepping into uh, ntdc and Minneapolis, surrounded by some of the best drivers out there in the country?

Speaker 2: 1:10

The championship is a little. It was a little overwhelming. Uh state I felt was a little more laid back. But yeah, once you get up with that, like the level of driver at champion at the championship level is they're good, they're excellent, they're excellent, yeah.

Speaker 1: 1:31

Some of those guys go back every year, try again, and they learn from what they picked up on that last time and they bring it back with them the next time.

Speaker 2: 1:40

So yeah, absolutely.

Speaker 1: 1:42

What's some of the things that you, when you saw the atmosphere expanding on that, you kind of imagine it had to be a little different than state level. How did the vibe compare to competing at Minnesota regional?

Speaker 2: 1:55

So it felt I'll just go back to state and then I'll just kind of go through the championship. State I felt was it was super laid back, it wasn't you know. And I kind of went in with a more laid back kind of mentality as well, like, oh, you know, I'm representing the company, I'll be able to, you know, do my best, uh. So it wasn't really it was fun. It was still fun, right, like the, the trucking association on the state level and the national level. They do a great job with, like, making it a family atmosphere, laid back, um, but the driving at the state was all forward motion, so there was no backward backing category at all for anybody.

Speaker 2: 2:39

Um, and then getting into nationals, once you go into nationals, there was a backing category and then just the level of the mentality of the drivers were definitely more of like, hey, I'm here to win this thing, I'm not here just to try out, I'm not here to try to play games, like you know. Just, it was very good. Like every professional, they lock you down for a whole day, um, so you're not even you're able to walk the course, um, which we were able to do at state. But uh, what on competition day. Yeah, they have complete control over you for the whole day, which was different, yeah.

Speaker 1: 3:26

I bring, the energy I bring the motivation to help get into the competition mindset.

Speaker 2: 3:32

I really do.

Speaker 1: 3:33

Yeah. So now that not every driver jumps into competitions, what pushed you or made you want to do this? Throw your hat in the ring and test yourself out this way.

Speaker 2: 3:43

Well, the, the, yeah. So for me it was all about competition mainly. Uh, there are a couple other drivers that you know work with us that I was like, oh, if they're doing it I'm gonna no problem, I'll do it as well. Uh, and then also it was my daughter's birthday on the saturday of the state competition and so I kind of, you know, was like, hey, I'm trying to get time off, that's what I need to be able to do this. And yeah, they gave me some time off and I was able to be home for the daughter's birthday. Everybody else couldn't make it, but my brother did for state, so he competed, but mostly competition. I like the competition Nice.

Speaker 1: 4:23

That's good. I mean we need that. It's healthy, it helps us grow, it helps us to not get stagnant or complacent. So very good Preparation-wise. You know there's a lot of prep that goes into these championships. People practice every day. How did you get yourself ready and did you do anything that surprised you once you were out there?

Speaker 2: 4:45

The championship competition, competition, I did, I practiced, I came in. I once stayed in June and so I came in. My off days were Mondays, so I came in every Monday and we would practice driving, practice, pre-trips, practice, a little bit of the knowledge, but that was mostly. I could handle that on my own, um, but yeah, every monday for about seven weeks, eight weeks, it was just pre-trip drive, pre-trip drive. So it's pretty, yeah, it was pretty. And then the week before, actually the week before championship, I took off as well and I practiced every day that whole, that whole week before.

Speaker 1: 5:25

Wow, man huge sacrifice Great.

Speaker 2: 5:28

Yeah, I tried, you know yeah especially for the family too.

Speaker 1: 5:31

I mean making that sacrifice.

Speaker 2: 5:36

I know you're, I don't know, was that pay cut in there somewhere? Well, I took a voluntary layoff, so I took the voluntary layoff the week before, and then our company they do pay us for doing the championship week, so I just get my, my normal mileage rate that I would have gotten. Uh, on going over the road nice all right, okay.

Speaker 1: 5:58

So a lot of drivers probably wondering hey, man, he made a huge sacrifice on the money side. You gain a lot on the confidence and the competition side. So yeah, um, great tip to let people know that companies do that. I wasn't sure if sometimes that works out, but uh, I did.

Speaker 2: 6:14

I'm glad that's it and like on the incentive base, because I know a lot of guys have asked like and I've been and I was kind of talking to him about it like I feel like it needs to be like a by driver incentive. I'm not always like a like money is obviously a huge incentive, but also it's home time and especially if I was like hey, you know, my incentive is I just want to be home with my family. So if you can give me the time off, I'm willing to do it. If you're not going to, well, then I'll try, but I'm not you not going to well, then I'll try, but I'm not, you know, going to sacrifice family time also, too much family time.

Speaker 1: 6:50

Smart man that pays off in the future. Yeah, good investment in your family. Think about the skills in the sleeper category. And for folks listening who may not know, the sleeper category is no joke. Not know the sleeper category is, uh, it's no joke in your mind. What separates a good competitor from a good one in that division?

Speaker 2: 7:08

you know, just from a good to a great one attention to detail, for sure, um, and then not not getting too caught up with the next obstacle. So, like in state, I felt like you know you got to set yourself in one obstacle to get through the next obstacle, which you do. But the ones that I kind of observed, it seemed like you know, if they're doing the backing event, they're only worried about backing right now. They're not putting their mind forward too far on. Hey, I need to set myself up. It's just, let's get through this one obstacle and let's get through the next. And the guys that could do that in one place, they were excellent.

Speaker 1: 8:02

Yeah, I mean that's huge. Staying on task, I mean that's a big one. That we learned in school. Um, you know, you don't get ahead of yourself or or get behind. Uh, so, living the present, that's huge yeah great mindset, great exercise to help people even um outside of trucking. That's awesome yeah, yeah um, advice for future competitors. Uh, let's say, someone's out there and they're thinking about, uh yeah, going into 2026 competition, giving it a shot. What's your advice for them?

Speaker 2: 8:34

I would say don't, don't get too nervous. Like nobody takes I mean, they take it seriously, but they don't take it as like live or die, like you could over the road, right. But have fun. If you think you're going to do something one way and I'm going to stop this tire on this line every single time, it doesn't work like that at all. But yeah, just go in with how you're trained, right like you, you drive safe every day. You drive safe every year. Um 99.9 of the time. You put your tractor and trailer where you want it to go, and so I would just treat it just like that. You're going to put this tractor and trailer exactly where you want it. If you do that, you'll do really well.

Speaker 1: 9:30

That means drivers got a head start, giving them that advice they can practice every day until 2026. They put that tractor and that trailer exactly where you want it to go each and every day. If you're going to win, if you want to come out swinging, it's awesome. So was there something you always pictured yourself doing other than trucking, or did trucking just find your way in your life along the way?

Speaker 2: 9:52

Trucking. Just found my, just found my way. Yeah, same here.

Speaker 1: 9:59

I thought about it but didn't see the path you know. But then eventually it cleared up. It's kind of like those foggy mornings so uh, community influence. Have you also had a pretty good connection with the minnesota trucking association, or have you heard of them before? Has that been something in your, your community, that shaped you and your career, to help you drive in this direction? Maybe you knew someone, um, what would you say?

Speaker 2: 10:25

I haven't, I haven't. I've heard of the Minnesota Trucking Association but until I won state I never really communicated with anybody. But everybody I have communicated there, great people Like so professional, they'll help you out with anything trucking wise. They really they really will. They're really good people.

Speaker 1: 10:48

Nice. Big shout out to Minnesota Trucking Association for helping our drivers out there. Uh compete and stay uh involved, and competitions, uh, cause it's a good experience spreads. You know your story with many people and then uh, they'll too feel like they can do it. So, uh, any road stories, uh, every driver's got a story from the road, maybe a good one, or finding uh, maybe even a little while. You know that's. Uh, that's always one we could take away.

Speaker 2: 11:17

A little wild one. Is that what you're talking?

Speaker 1: 11:20

about how about that not lately.

Speaker 2: 11:25

Lately, I would say. I would say no, it's been pretty, pretty safe, pretty good. Um, I would say, the wildest this year, or something that I always, I always laugh at, is uh, uh. Have you been down to the downtown Dallas hub? I have, by Harry Hines and some of the people you can see walking around at night.

Speaker 1: 11:51

I used to go with them too.

Speaker 2: 11:55

That's pretty much the wildest On the road, though no, like we haven't knock on wood. We haven't gotten in an accident hit a deer. We haven't gotten in an accident, hit a deer. We haven't no close calls.

Speaker 1: 12:08

Yeah, so that's how it is right. How about?

Speaker 2: 12:13

you, though? Have you had anything?

Speaker 1: 12:15

Ah, man, yeah, there's been quite a few. I've actually haven't given it much thought right now, but yeah, when I used to deliver Coca-Cola, I had a lot of stories because we would drive and we would park and and we would be in some really rough areas and you kind of wonder what's going on. Um, yeah, I mean, they had people steal from me and all kinds of stuff. Man it was. It was pretty well right, that's like, this is soda water. Yeah, that's all. And then you know, of course, when you're in the sleeper, uh, the biggest thing that I think comes to my mind is those bumps. You know it'd be nice to get some smoother roads, but I know that's a lot to ask for billions and billions of dollars. But when you're trying to sleep in the back and you get your team driving and you're trying to sleep in the back, man, that's uh, that's a huge deal just getting knocked around all the time Do you have to?

Speaker 2: 13:04

Because I've been looking at lately Do you use like a thick, thick comforter, like a thick top?

Speaker 1: 13:09

That's what you have. Sometimes it's like I'm levitating off the bed, is it?

Speaker 2: 13:16

I've been looking at upgrading because we just use like a foam, like a little three-inch foam topper, but I want to get something that's like seven inches thick.

Speaker 1: 13:26

you know what I mean yeah, I think I'm probably close in the 10 inch category are you yeah?

Speaker 1: 13:32

yeah, wow, yeah, big ups to you, man. You've been doing a lot some time with three inches. That's pretty amazing, awesome. Well, um, hey, it's always room that we can make things more comfortable and make changes. Um, we can share those stories and help each other out. So, yeah, so, life outside of the cab Now, when you're not competing or trucking, what keeps you busy? Any hobbies or any downtime activities, time with the family that you can lean on to to recharge?

Speaker 2: 13:59

Yeah, mostly just time, time with the family, um, like hunting, like to uh go golfing, uh, my, my youngest son, he's been into uh fishing a lot lately, so I'm trying to go fishing as much as possible and uh hanging out. Yeah, that's pretty much it. You know what it's like. Sometimes you just need to recharge when you come back from over the road.

Speaker 1: 14:22

It's just you never really feel like you're off, so it's just nice to hang out, hang out yeah, it's definitely a challenge trying to find that time between being exhausted, getting the proper rest and spending time with your family or those hobbies that you like to do. So all those projects right, you gotta get that. You're out there on the road thinking about what am I gonna do when? When I get back, I got to get this done, this, that this and that other, and then maybe you get half of that done.

Speaker 2: 14:48

And then you know that it's just time at home. It's just gone Like I leave tonight already and it's like I feel like I just got home.

Speaker 1: 14:55

Yeah, I think the biggest one I get, uh, doing a sleeper routes, people say, oh, you got a lot of time now. Oh, really.

Speaker 2: 15:04

Yeah, no time, tell me about it.

Speaker 1: 15:09

Yeah, so that's good. It's hard to keep work balance and all that just where it needs to be. It can be off-center quite sometimes. You got to put some effort into it getting it right. So big ups to you for doing that, putting the effort in with your family. Lessons from competing getting it right. So, uh, pick up to you for doing that, putting the effort in with your family. Um, lessons from competing. Do you feel like competing in the NTDC? Uh, has changed how you look at your job or even your goals going forward.

Speaker 2: 15:36

I mean it. One thing that helped me with my pre trips man, they're 10 out of 10s, I feel like they're pretty. They're 10 out of 10s, I feel like they're pretty, they're pretty good. But going going forward, yeah, it's more like I kind of said before. It's kind of just, uh, you know put drive the way that you know you can drive, and I think we're all pretty confident drivers for the most part out there and and it just yeah, it helped with the confidence too, like hey, I can, I can do this, like it's no big deal, it can be done. A little effort, a little confidence, and I think that goes a long way, especially in this industry. You know we need some good, safe, confident drivers that can do what they know they can do.

Speaker 1: 16:26

I like that. Many people may get that confused, say hey, you know no big deal, but that's the mindset you have to have, Otherwise you feel like you can't do your job, it feels impossible, you don't want to get in the truck. It's a lot of mindset, I feel like you know, especially with the competition as well. Many people talk themselves out of even going to the competition. I would have did great, but it's that head getting in your head thing, you know the headspace, controlling that and being positive, having a good energy.

Speaker 1: 16:55

It's not that it's not easy, but it's like you got to make it feel like it is easy yeah, and when you've seen it.

Speaker 2: 17:02

I I know you've seen it too, but sometimes you feel like where it's like you know, you, we've all seen the guy trying to back a straight back into a spot and it takes him 20 minutes and it's like I always feel like he's letting the truck drive him when you should be driving it, like you can put that anywhere that you need to. You know, and if you just do that every time, you'll be good.

Speaker 1: 17:27

You'll be good okay, yeah, don't let the truck drive. You drive the truck, um, and put it where it needs to be. I like that man, um, could coin that probably. Yeah, I always go. Hey, everybody's got a bad day, so now you got that out of the way, I'm gonna take the next right bad backing day. Yeah, absolutely so, yeah, so any uh takeaways that you want to hand out for for listeners out there about competing, about pride in the industry, how to just stay level and professional doing your job when there's so many obstacles out there. People want to express themselves on the road. That's not the best place to get expression of frustration and anger. So keep professional, because they always come back and tell you right, you're the, you're the professional.

Speaker 2: 18:17

Yeah, oh, one minute, yeah, one minute. Every time you've heard it, you've heard it. Yeah, uh. So just something like for, like just industry wise.

Speaker 1: 18:29

Yeah, any takeaway you want to give to the listeners. We'll just sum it up with a few words of wisdom uh, what would you uh want people to know when they're they're truck driving or they maybe they got a loved one out there that's driving truck and they, they maybe worry about them or maybe they wonder what. What is exactly uh other truck drivers are saying about their um, is it being sugar-coated or is it really is like it is?

Speaker 2: 18:52

you know, I don't. I don't think it's being sugar-coated at all. I honestly you know what I mean. I mean you've mentioned the roads, but I feel like it's a multi-layered onion that once you start peeling back, it can really mess up your mind space if you let it right. So it's like you know, you start, you start with. You know the roads are bad. Well then the traffic's bad, and now there's an accident, and now I'm running late, and now the equipment isn't the best. Now my employer's questioning me, and now and you see what I mean, and it can just, and if you you let that onion just get bad or open up, it will be bad. So I don't think anything is sugar-coated too much, and I've only driven for the company that we work for. I've never worked outside of a different one. But I would think everywhere that yeah, it's not sugar-coated, but if you can stay in the right, mind, avoid the blooming onions avoid the blooming onions?

Speaker 2: 20:01

yes, because it will. It's a trap, it's a pothole that doesn't end right, so you will fall into that pothole and it it can get. It can get bad. So, yeah, it just it's not safety. I feel like overall, just other drivers on the road has it can get bad. So, yeah, it's not safety. I feel like overall, just other drivers on the road has been kind of deteriorating a little bit like been on a downward trend, whether it's just not paying attention, not caring. When was it Last year Talking about crazy stories Last year and going on 94 just was the bismarck. I had a guy going the wrong way. I was going west and he was going east in the west hand lane, right, so it's just, yeah, not paying attention.

Speaker 2: 20:50

Safety, um, yeah, I don't think it's sugar-coated though, bro, I really do you feel like it is when, when guys have some complaints about going over the road you know a long time, do you feel like it's sugar-coated or do you kind of empathize with them?

Speaker 1: 21:09

oh yeah, I empathize, empathize a lot. Maybe one of the reasons why I started the podcast yeah um, it's not just to get clicks, it's also to be educational, to help people maybe to get into a career that they never heard of, but they like what they see when they see that this job pays this much and they go well, what's?

Speaker 1: 21:26

behind that and they kind of go man, you know, just trucking, always I like driving, and so you see those two things, I like driving, you like to pay, but then you don't know about all the other things that happen. And then also you don't really get to speak with a truck driver because they're on the road, they're going, going and going. So if you don't know someone personally, this is the best way nowadays is to open up the forum for people to share their careers and how it tears into their life. I think it's a huge deal for trucking because the industry still needs a lot of drivers to step up, because people are also retiring and saying, hey, you know, I can do this too, you know, yeah, but that head game thing, that's a tricky one.

Speaker 2: 22:08

Yeah, it is. It can really eat you alive if you want it, you know. So I try to always have the most positive attitude.

Speaker 1: 22:16

That you can have look at that it got me to the championship yeah it gets me through, you know, day to day, right like we can.

Speaker 2: 22:22

I mean we all fall into the man. This sucks. Like I don't want to do this. I want to be in montana again, or I don't want to be in denver again, or chicago, wherever right. But it's like if you fall into that pothole, buddy, don't fall into the pothole my pothole is wyoming yeah, beautiful scenery, but man something always going wrong there, yeah, and the construction they have going on there now too is like is anybody working a lot of? Tools awesome.

Speaker 1: 22:53

that's good, chatting with you, man, keeping it, keeping it real out here with all the truckers and letting them know that you know you can. You, too, can compete. You did it. So so can they just start practicing now? Start today and take it serious, instead of waiting until next year when you feel like you're under the gun want to make sure you put some time and effort into it each and every day. So that's awesome. Yeah, and thanks for all that you've done. We want to make sure that you know that too. We appreciate you representing the company, going out there and and doing that hard work and the sacrifices that your family made. May not have been the same paycheck, but, yeah, you got something in compensation, but you also got a reward that you can that lasts for a long time and a memory that you'll have forever. So that's huge. Yeah, thank you so much.

Speaker 2: 23:36

Absolutely dude.

Speaker 1: 23:38

So yeah, calvin, thanks again for joining us and sharing your journey. It's been a big deal to represent the state and national. I know that your story will encourage many others and push themselves to maybe even set up and compete in the future. So to the listeners out there, if you've been thinking about it, um, take some time to reach out to Calvin. If you see him, uh, if you, if you know where he's at, reach out to him until next time. Um, where where can people find you? They?

Speaker 2: 24:05

can find. They can find me at work for sure.

Speaker 1: 24:12

I like that. Uh, but yeah, you can call me, hit me up, I'm a pretty open guy, so all right, or you could play this back again and maybe I'll get to know some things that you haven't before or paid attention to. So that's it, that's delivered.