Why This Conversation Matters

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome back to another episode of That's Delivered. I'm your host, Truck and Ray, and today we're going to be talking about something most drivers never want to think about. What happens if a truck driver passes away while away from home? Joining us today is Anna Holand. She's from Fairmount Memorial Association and Pacific Northwest cremation and funeral. Through both her professional and experience with her husband recently entering the trucking field, Anna recently realized that drivers and their families simply aren't prepared for the emotional, financial, and logistical challenges that can happen if a tragedy strikes on the road. This is a sensitive conversation, but an important one because preparation can make an incredibly difficult situation a little less overwhelming for families. Anna, we really appreciate you coming on the show. Anna, thank you so much for being on the show. How are you doing today?

SPEAKER_01 1:01

I'm doing great. Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_00 1:03

That's awesome. I know you got an important topic to talk about, and we can't wait to dive into it. I mean, you're gonna do uh help so many people with using this information. Yeah, you're gonna do great. So a lot of times, you know, people talk about these topics and they say, you know, it's just I don't talk about it, you know, it doesn't really, really affect me. So why is that this topic matter? What's

The Real Pain Of No Plan

SPEAKER_00 1:24

the first thing that you would say that made you realize that this conversation for the trucking industry really needed to be to be had?

SPEAKER_01 1:32

Well, my husband came into this, getting his CDL driving, and I've been in this business for half a year now, and I realized that I started putting it together as a spouse, realizing that he's away from home. What if something happened to him? I'm in the business, so I know who to call and what to do, but most people don't. And I see that in our office every day. People that walk in, and just a regular, just in town, and it's just painful, it's sad, and it hurt my feelings because thinking about this other profession, uh it has to be incredibly difficult. Because the legalities, it's a lot of legalities. If you pass somewhere else, is who's who gonna who you're gonna call? Who's gonna take care of this? Meanwhile, you're grieving because your spouse died, or your son died, or your brother died, whoever's in charge of taking care of this, and and it's it's it's it's not a good feeling. And we feel it because we deal with it every day with all the families that come in, and that's why I figure out to reach out because I would like more people to educate themselves. And and just because you are pre prepared doesn't mean you're gonna die tomorrow. It's just if an event is something like that happened, you have a plan B and your family is protected economically, and all the grief that you have to be reaching out to figure out who's gonna bring him home.

SPEAKER_00 3:04

So, man, what is that like? I mean,

What Happens When Death Is Local

SPEAKER_00 3:08

I know you're dealing with uh a lot of those situations on the day-to-day for someone there locally, if they were to die in their hometown, what is that process like?

SPEAKER_01 3:18

So the process if you are well prepared, you pick up the phone and call us. We dispatch some uh a vehicle, uh a team, they go and retrieve you and take it, take you to our location where we do cremations, or if you're gonna be very full-body, the same thing. We'll take care of you, we'll put you in, you know, take care of all those details. As a cremation, you which is more and more people uh turn into it because of the cost, and it's way more effective in many cases, so we do both, but then you family come in. We have a group of funeral directors that will guide you through the process because you're grieving and you're you know, you don't know what to do. It's we're lost. Even I the um I'm in the business. That's why my brain was like, Oh my goodness, I'm in the business. If this happened to me, I'm gonna freak out. I cannot imagine somebody that's not aware of everything, they're not prepared. Now, if you're not prepared, that's when people have to pick up the phone and start calling and see who's gonna. We have people calling and saying, I have a body in the other bedroom. I need somebody to come and pick him up.

SPEAKER_00 4:31

Yeah. So you're saying you realize that it's already difficult to do locally.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 4:37

Then you think about truck drivers out there. Now your husband's in the logistics industry and he's learning it, he's talking about it, and you're putting two to two together, and you're saying, what happens if a person is hundreds of miles away? I guess what went through your mind at that point.

Dying Out Of State Gets Complicated

SPEAKER_01 4:54

Well, it's terrifying.

unknown 4:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

It's terrifying, and it's gonna be and at the same time when you start thinking, most people don't think about the cost, but it is expensive because it's not as easy if you pass, let's say you drive to Florida and you die there, they have to bring you all the way to Washington. It's not an easy process. You still have to somebody have to recover your body, and they'll most likely do an autopsy in some cases, you know, it could be depending on the circumstances, and then somebody have you there, and then that body has to or be cremated at that location, or we have to bring it back, and the cost is incredible of that. We we are in yeah, we're in Spokane, Washington, and from Seattle, which is four and a half hours to here, is probably around between two to four thousand dollars to bring you back home. So imagine being out of the state farther, and then it's all those red tapes because you cannot just bring a body, you have to send it. There are steps for it. It's not like somebody can just carry you, bring you, they have to have all the paperwork to bring you across borders. It's all that kind of stuff, it's a lot of stuff they think it is part of it. Uh, and we deal sometimes with it. We have families, they they're their dad, mom, whoever dies somewhere else, and they want to bring him home in the cost of that is expensive incredibly from here to Seattle, less alone from here, another state. And worse, if you are at the states, it's gonna be $25,000 to bring somebody home.

unknown 6:31

Wow.

SPEAKER_00 6:32

Yes, I know you say your your husband was serving as well, and you knew that that was taken care of that way, but this is different.

SPEAKER_01 6:39

That's correct. And I find out I did a little research on this, and some companies, no, no, I don't know all of them, I don't know which ones, but it's something important to find out because trucking companies have their insurance to bring their equipment back if you die somewhere else, but that doesn't mean they're gonna bring you back here, and that's the cost. They have their costs covered for their equipment, but you're not part of that most of the time. It's something very important that people don't realize that. So, because nobody thinks about driving somewhere and something happened, but it is a possibility, it happens quite a bit.

SPEAKER_00 7:16

Is there a particular company that specializes in it, transporting of the body?

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah, we work with a company named Sepio Guard, and they do that. That's what they do everywhere in the world. So if you go on vacation or visit family, I'm from Panama originally. So if I went to Panama and die there, all they need to do is pick up your phone, call them, and they'll do everything. You don't have to worry about anything, no cost. That's it. The price that they charge you once a one-time fee, is it covers everything everywhere in the world until you die? And luckily you don't need it, but normally what happens in our lives is we don't have something when we need it. Yeah, you know, so it's better to have it and not need it than need it and not have it. So type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 8:06

I totally get it. Yeah, that's something that we need to start thinking about versus trying to put it off. So

Calls Paperwork And Body Release

SPEAKER_00 8:11

who actually gets contacted first when someone's away from home and they pass away?

SPEAKER_01 8:18

Most likely the spouse, the police probably will call the if they are married, or whoever contact, because most companies, I'm will I'm assuming they uh when you're a trucker, you are signed up with your company and they are on top of their equipment, they know where you are and checking in and things. So they will be the first ones knowing that something happened. And I'm assuming from there it will be them who contact the family to let them know something happened. Or, you know, if you have if you are prepared and you have all your stuff set up, they can contact your family. But sometimes it depends. It really depends where you are, you know.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

So, what type of uh logistical challenges do families face when they're suddenly hear about this news? And I'm sure that everything doesn't always just work out smoothly. Correct. What are some challenges they face?

SPEAKER_01 9:07

Well, think about it. If this happened to you, you're gonna start picking up the phone, calling everybody that you know and see what you do, where he at, how I what happened is the first thing, and who is gonna recover the body, who has the body, what you know, all these different things. And from there is how I get him home. And you know, and that's very difficult because it's nothing you can do about it. You have no control, it's pure legality, is like whoever picked up the body, normally the medical medical examiner, somebody will have him until they can release it. And normally they have to have a not the funeral home to release it, they don't give you a body. You have to have somebody like our funeral home saying, Okay, we'll receive the body, and they have a funeral home, they will have that body to send to our funeral home. It's it's a lot of illegalities, it had to be done right, it had to be done correctly, just you know, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 10:04

I mean, you want to make sure you have the right address, you don't want that exactly in the wrong place, and then it's there too long when people are waiting for it. I mean, that could be I can see that going really bad.

SPEAKER_01 10:15

Yeah. And and and these things happen where it what if you're not aware. I had a person I worked with not that long ago. Her husband had a, I think was a heart attack, ended up in the hospital locally, and he was very he couldn't even speak. So she was desperate. She was like, He, I, the last thing we talk about, I thought that he won a full burial body. She had no money to do this because it's expensive, it's very expensive. So she's trying to figure out how to take care of her husband if he died. So now she's doing preparation and he's still alive connected in the hospital, trying to figure out. And she's it's it's it's horrible. I had to deal with her trying to calm her down and breathe. It's okay, steps at the time. And at that point, I we talk about cremation, and she was like, I don't know that he wanted cremation because we didn't talk about this. Luckily, her husband pulled got better. I don't know where overnight. We all celebrating at work because she called me and she said, He's getting better. So we're all super happy. Oh my gosh, thank God. And then she told me after he woke up and they were talking that he said, Don't spend the money that you don't have, do cremate me. And so she was very relieved knowing this, but it could have been a catastrophatic thing for her economically because she had no money, she don't make that kind of money, and to get and you're not prepared, and you don't know what your spouse wants, or your kids, or you whoever in the family, your friend, people like that. They sometimes come up and they are the ones doing adventures for their friends because they didn't have family, nobody knows, and then it's it is expensive once you get into it, you know. So that's why people don't realize we always try to get people the prepare, like make sure you have your stuff set up. If you want to be fully buried, start working on your plots at the cemetery, do take care of things because if you do die, who is gonna be in charge of all these things and the expenses and the pain?

Simple Steps To Prepare Now

SPEAKER_01 12:21

It's your family. You're gone, yes.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

They got their own problems already. I mean, that's a lot to put your problems on them, too. So, how can a driver prepare? You know, some what are some simple things drivers can do now to protect their families and avoid the confusion later? Maybe some documents or information. What would you say?

SPEAKER_01 12:41

I would say find a local reputable business. If you want to do cremation, find somebody local in your town. You can do print, there's a couple of different ways that you can print as if you want to go cremation. You have plans that you can pay at front because the cost is not enormous as a cremation, not crazy. You can do payments. Some places let you do payments, so you can do that and be covered. So have your stuff set up because if you do die, they will and you want to be cremated, they can do it. And it's already taken care of. So that's number one. Have you planned cremation plan prepare, and then be protected by having something like sepio guard at hand. They give you cards, you keep it in your wallet, and if something happened, it's all there, whoever is, pick up the phone, call and say, We gotta recover our body in Utah or whatever. And they make everything easy because instead of you trying to figure out who's gonna take care of this, you already have it all. Your spouse, your dad, your mom, whoever, your brother can say, He left us copy of everything, we know who to call. It's all done. It's just a phone call and they'll do everything. And so that's that's an easy way to be prepared, proactive with things like that. And it's not about you anymore. I know that, but it is about the you loved ones suffering and dealing with the economical and everything, it's painful.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

Yeah, I mean, people talk about the fuel prices changing, you know, that probably has an effect too. We want to control that, but we can't. But all we can do is try to start saving or have an insurance policy that has some type of writer in there. I mean, make sure that you look look over your policy, make sure.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

Correct, yeah, that's too in life insurance. But the thing is here, yes, life insurance are really great, but life insurance take a while and they to kick in once you die. So if you think about some people do say that, well, I have life in my spouse have life insurance. Yeah, but the life insurance takes weeks sometimes to pay back to the wife, husband, whoever. Yeah, meanwhile, you have a body sitting in a fridge, they have to be taken care of because the family is not gonna sit there for weeks to wait for that. So you have to bring that money from somewhere, and that's why it's always recommended pre-need, have your cremation if that's where you want to go. Have all just ducks in a road set up. If everything, if anything, anything ever happened, you don't, you're good. If nothing happens, you're still good because you eventually will die and use it. But it is so much easier having, like I said, you pre-need cremation or your funeral directive with somebody knowing that if something happened to me, they'll take care of it. It's all done.

SPEAKER_02 15:31

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:32

Because the life insurance, I have people with life insurance, and they're like, Well, the insurance still had to kick in, and it can be months before they pay you. So that's the problem.

SPEAKER_00 15:42

It's such a different mindset to have. We're fighting to live, we're fighting to put food on the table and and make ends meet, pay these bills, and all these different things, and now you got to think about what happens at the end. A lot of times we don't want to think about the end, but you know, it makes it a lot easier. And you personally, you've probably seen individuals' families more successful when they plan ahead. Uh, what what difference have you seen when you when you compare you know someone that's not prepared versus someone who is?

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Well, not prepared meaning you have to come in and try to answer questions. What is he wanting? What did she want it? I don't know. We never talk about it. Uh well, the cost, and sometimes people over overcompensate because you don't know. So you're gonna spend on things that you you you probably yourself would have said, no, don't waste on that, but I want this, or do that. Instead, families don't know, so they they start or spend too much or they don't know where to go with this, they are lost because your brain is somewhere else. You're trying to still grieve somebody you love. Meanwhile, you have to make decisions at a point that you should make decisions. Now, the people that we see a lot of people that turn around is when something you leave that. Let's say a friend of yours died and you went through all the pain helping the family figure out all these details. That's the people that come to me after all that and say, I want to print it, I want to make sure all my stuff is ready. So that's what you see because of you just went through pain and it was difficult and it was miserable, and you had to see how hard it was. Instead of taking the time to go do grief properly, you are doing arrangements or somebody they just die. So that's a big thing, right there.

SPEAKER_00 17:30

You know, you see it firsthand, correct to help someone, you be it be there in a time of need, but then you're like, Well, what about my situation? What about my family? So, doing that is going to be a good way to help them not have so much pain, um fusion. So it is, yeah, that's great. You mentioned programs like CIPROGURD. SEPIOGURD, yeah, okay, yeah, uh, to help coordinate those logistics and transportation if something happens there on the road.

The Human Cost Of Trucking Life

SPEAKER_00 18:00

Um, let's talk about the human side of the industry. Working around both trucking and uh family services. What have you learned about the trucking lifestyle that people outside of the industry often don't understand?

SPEAKER_01 18:14

One of the things is some of these guys are gone for weeks and they come home for two days. They gotta be gone again. And most of this to do things that we need, all the the the Walmart food, all the supplies, all the Home Depot, or whatever, everything that we have is because they are kind enough to put their life on the line and be gone. Be gone. It's not fun to be gone. I have seen it because as I said, my husband was deployed many times during his military time, and it makes you tough, and but it's hard because you have to raise your kids half of the time with them around, and same thing with them, probably more, because I don't know that they get paid as much either. So, and the benefits, uh you know, but it's a hard life, it's a hard life to be gone all the time from your family because you want to support them and you want to make the money to pay for the food and school and kids supplies, everything raising babies, and and that's difficult because it takes away from the guys that drive, being close to the family, but they're doing the right thing, but at the same time, they're gone, so it's not it's you know, it's a difficult life, and and the family suffer as well because you don't have your loved one next to you, you know.

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Yeah, you miss out on a lot. And if someone gets sick back home and you're out there on the road, too, yeah. It can be the reverse action too. Someone can uh pass away while you're out there on the road, correct? I mean, it's unique stress that the drivers go through, yes, that can oftentimes be, I guess, downplayed.

SPEAKER_02 19:55

Exactly.

SPEAKER_00 19:56

All you're doing is holding the steering wheel, you know, but all the other things that uh you're they're putting on. So the job can be very easy but very difficult at the same time.

SPEAKER_01 20:04

Yes, yeah. I mean, it could be easier if you have your partner with you, and I heard that too. It's a lot of people they go as a couple on the on the road, and that's awesome. But you still have kids and family and parents and pets that you can take. We talk about this, it's like, well, I can go with you. Well, no, we have pets, you cannot drag all these dogs and cats in the car and their trucks, and you know, it's things that you some people manage to do well, and some people you can't, it's not it's not possible to do that. Carry all the kids in the car to go in the truck to go trucking, and you know, our kids finally the last one went to college as well, so he's gone. But when you have little kids, you know, the responsibilities they do the right thing, but you gotta be gone. And if something happened to you, that income is gone from the family. You might have good insurance, but like I say, insurance sometimes helps so much, and you know, some it's not uh it's not a insurance, it's not a like a patch to fix everything.

SPEAKER_00 21:12

Exactly, it doesn't because you love the person you love the most is gone, and now you have to deal with all that and all the process which is your husband seen anything changed for his view of drivers or entering and trucking himself. How is how is he dealing with uh the change or the transition of doing something different?

SPEAKER_01 21:30

He he enjoyed it, he liked the the the freedom that he gets, so that's really nice, but it is a lot of betting because he had to decide what kind of jobs he can take to be gone so long. And you know, and the older you get, it's harder to be in the road, too. You know, when you're younger, it's easier. So it's it's all those different things. Loneliness, too. You it gotta be very lonely to be gone, you know. Oh thankfully, today we have technology that we have back when. He used to deploy at the beginning, it was when first you it was 2000, it was no FaceTime, no you can call from anywhere or anything. It was just like if he called, it was uh 15 minutes once a week from the Middle East. If he was a deploy there, just on the regular phone, you had to call, and now it's easier communication because we have so many ways to do it, but it's still lonely, so it's a lonely life, you know.

SPEAKER_00 22:27

Yeah, I think the human touch or the ability to feel uh has has so much good that it does for the body, and when we don't have that contact, when we don't have someone that we can hug and embrace, I mean that's it's uh it's a plays a toll on the body. Yeah, some people they get real busy working and workaholics, right? And they they do so much work and then they don't realize that they're not coming in contact with people, and they wonder why they're they're feeling a little detached.

SPEAKER_02 22:58

Yes, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 22:59

Never underestimate the power of, I think that's the most dominant sense that we have on as a body, the touch. It's more so I feel like it's more so powerful than our sight, but that's my opinion.

SPEAKER_01 23:13

Oh, yeah. When somebody gives you a real hug, you're like, Oh, that feels nice. They I feel love, you know. I feel somebody's there for me, but on the road, I mean loneliness, and it gets tiring. I uh I have a different respect for people that drive drugs today, like all the the stuff that we get gas, water, milk, whatever, anything, everything in the respect is huge because they are putting their life in hole to take care of us.

SPEAKER_00 23:42

Yeah, and something you know, sometimes it feels like we're just in the way. Uh we try to we try to do a little maneuver to pass. It just seems like we're just in the way.

SPEAKER_01 23:52

You know, my husband is he's he was always when he started learning all these things, he's like, don't do this because like sometimes people just cut in through front of truck. You never do that, you know. Like, you know, and I'm like, oh no, no, I won't do that either. You know, it's it's these things that he's like, and you you you you feel like oh thank you, this person, because because of you, things are taking care of where I live. I don't have to worry about where at whatever kind of meals or food or everything, you know. You just you realize thank you to this person, they are making things happen. And so, and I want to help make things happen for them too. Just knowledge. If you don't want to do it, it's okay, but know that it will be so much safer, better for your family, all this because you you're taking away the extra stress, the extra grieving, the pain. And if we feel lost normally when something like just as a pet, if you have a pet and the pet dies, not comparing, right? But truly, if my cat died, I love my cat to death, you know, we are broken up for so long and you don't even know what to do with them. Imagine somebody uh the out to do the the love that we have for you, my my husband, my children, my you know, friends, and something happened, that's when you lose your head. You cannot think about the right things to do. What is the next step? And so it's better to be prepared. You won't go in the road without roadside assistance. I won't. If I have a flat, I probably won't be able to change the attire. So I have it. So if I go somewhere, I'm protected. It's the same scenario. You don't go somewhere without being with your tools and your extra tire, and you have to be always prepared with everything that's gonna make things easier, not only for you, but your family.

SPEAKER_00 25:47

So, real talk, some story.

The One Talk Families Avoid

SPEAKER_00 25:49

You know, we can you can tell us some stories of about what you would do or what you would suggest, but what's one thing every tracking family should discuss this week?

SPEAKER_01 25:59

I think the reality of the fact that we can die anywhere, and what are the next steps economically too? What are we gonna do? What do you wanna be? Do you actually wanna be buried? Some people will say, Yes, I wanna, I don't wanna be cremated. So have all those details and say, Okay, I know what you want. If something do happen, I will not have to make the wrong choice because I wasn't aware of this, and just the the fact that we talk about it doesn't mean this something's gonna happen.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

Yeah, I don't want to be superstitious, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 26:38

That's exactly because that is superstitious, and a lot of times it's because we have somebody dying in our life, so we refuse to talk about it. We don't want to be sad thinking about you know, it can be anybody, the your grandma or your mother or your dad, doesn't matter, it's pain. We don't want to talk about pain.

SPEAKER_00 26:57

You start to get a little superstitious when you're trucking. I think uh I think they got the S word, you know. Yeah, you say snow, man.

SPEAKER_01 27:05

Be like, man, why are you talking? No, I I exactly get it, you know.

SPEAKER_00 27:11

You need to bring your chains, you need to make sure you have uh exactly you're safe not to gel up. You want to make sure you know you just driving around, just not talking about it doesn't make it not happen.

SPEAKER_01 27:21

So every year exactly, and and it's two things we know for sure. We don't know where we're gonna die and when. Yeah, that's for a fact, it's gonna happen, but it's just the make sure that you are prepared, like you guys prepare, truckers prepare with doing the check of my husband. You have to check all the lights, and you gotta make sure everything is, you know, the pre-check or everything, he's very good about that. I have to make sure this is good and the chains are good, and I have my all these details extensive because I have heard him and I don't remember half of the stuff that you guys have to make sure legally to do before the vehicle actually gets out of the wherever you're going every day. And same thing, just because you talk about I forgot my chains doesn't mean that something's gonna happen, but you are aware of it, and you're gonna make sure your chains are packed next time, just to be make sure you are a cover. Same thing with this, you just want to make sure your family is taking care of if something happens, and you talk about it, it doesn't have to be a dark talk, it's just hey, let's talk about this. I wanna be prepared. You and you never know, prepare everybody. I have a funeral director, and she has everybody in her family, including her children, taking care of. So if anything ever happened, it's just a funko.

SPEAKER_00 28:39

What's the biggest misconception that people have about funeral planning? Superstitious or something?

SPEAKER_01 28:45

Oh, if I do it, that means I'm going to die. You know, if I and I had somebody that told me that they told me to focus in life, yes, yeah, it is magnificent to do that. We all want to do that, but the reality is it can be anybody, right? We have people they are super young dying. It can be drugs, it can be just an accident. You can cross the road, somebody hit you, hit and run, and that's it, you're done. So it happens. You look at look at it, but it's just the superstition of the fact that we take care of our business before it happened, it's just being responsible and caring. That's that's what I take out of it because you are trying not to let your what happened to you, somebody else dealing with until the last second. So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 29:39

So that's just something I think you know, people are gonna really be able to think about, let it resonate, let it sink inside their hearts and say, I gotta do the right thing. Yeah, you know, you can have an adult conversation and just take care of these matters, make a checklist and make sure you get these things accomplished so you don't have to do them later. You're gonna make the checklist before or after, so you might as well do it before, right?

SPEAKER_01 30:01

Correct. Yeah, and before is it's easy, it's not a difficult process, it doesn't take that long. And

Getting Help And Final Takeaways

SPEAKER_01 30:07

I can answer lots of questions. If anybody reach out to me, I'll be happy to answer. But like I said, principle find somebody local that you can get your your business taken care of once if something ever happens. Because that facilitates the fact that your family have to start picking up the phone and calling, not knowing who to call and what to ask. It's all done. Once it happens, all you do is pick up the phone, somebody go take care of you. If you are away, SEPOGAR will it's $495 for the cost one time. And if anything ever happened, it's the same thing: a phone call, they'll deal with everything, take care of everything. It's no easier than that for that. So yeah, yeah. So and I recommend that to everybody, not necessarily only truckers, but anybody that is an adult because we don't know what's gonna happen, you know. So it's better safe than sorry, you know.

SPEAKER_00 31:04

I'd rather be safe, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 31:06

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 31:07

So you know, no one no one likes somebody that says, Oh, how come he didn't think of that? Well, I don't I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 31:13

It's like meh, it is the fear, I think. Sometimes people have the fear that, oh my goodness, if I do this, I'm gonna die. I'm thinking, I got a life insurance. If something happened to me, my family is gonna be fine, but that's gonna take a while until that cat kick in, you know. Yeah, so we do things like that because a lot of guys do the same thing, they have life insurance, so your family is well taken care of once if something happens. But it's in between that people don't realize that it's another step they are missing, and it can make things easier for everybody, especially if you travel anywhere, just go anywhere. You can just drive a couple of hours away from home and something happened. You still lost you your family, still have to pay thousands of dollars sometimes just to bring you back home.

SPEAKER_00 32:02

So this has definitely been encouraging and enlightening, not a not something that's you know that we want to shy away from. So I appreciate you coming on the show talking about it, Anna.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Yes, of course. I'm happy that you have me. And uh, like I say, anybody that have questions, I'll I'll be happy to pass you all that information if anybody ever wanna reach out and just have questions in general about how should I do this or what do you think? Or I if they want SEPU guard, they can always contact me as well, and I can set up all that for them just so they are prepared. So it doesn't take that much and it's not that long to take care of things like that. So, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 32:39

This conversation has been uh one that's been informative, it may be uncomfortable at times, but it's it's also practical and important because preparation can protect families even more, relieve a lot of stress during the time that can be the worst moment of their lives. So your honesty and your straightforward talk about how we should sit down and have this real conversation, I think it's what we needed. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 33:03

You're welcome. Yes, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 33:05

Yeah, and honestly, I think conversations like this remind drivers that looking out for our families goes a lot further beyond than what just happens behind the wheel.

SPEAKER_02 33:14

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 33:15

So let everybody know that people out there can learn more and reach out to you. And if they have any questions, I'll put the link in the notes for the show. And we really appreciate you coming on and talking about this. And anything else you wanted to say before we go?

SPEAKER_01 33:29

I think I'm here. If anybody, like I said again, I have questions. I think this is an important subject, and the older we get, the more important it is, but it's always important because just because we're young doesn't mean we're gonna live forever. And this just gonna make things so much easier in the family. That's the main thing, is your family. Because yes, we we live, we're gone, doesn't matter, I'm dead, right? But it's my loved ones who is gonna the ones dealing with this, and you know, this is an important, important step for everybody, not only truckers, like I said, but everybody they just make sure that if something ever happened, you're covered in your family.

SPEAKER_00 34:15

Very nice, nicely put. And we really thank you for coming on and all the listeners out there. Thank you for listening. Uh, this has been another episode of Dance Delivered. I'm your host, Truck and Ray. And until next time, stay safe, stay prepared, and keep rolling.