Bulkloads Podcast

Hosted by Jared Flinn

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373

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Aug 2026

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A trucking podcast that covers all aspects of bulk freight trucking. Hosted by Jared Flinn, owner of multiple trucking-related businesses. Jared brings on a new guest weekly to discuss technology, innovation, safety & compliance, insurance, trucking success stories, and much more related to the bulk freight trucking industry. This podcast hits on all aspects of the industry, our audience includes bulk haulers, shippers, brokers, merchandisers, farmers, and more. Check out our related businesses for bulk freight: BulkLoads - www.bulkloads.com Bulk Insurance Group - www.bulkinsurancegroup.com Smart Freight Funding - www.smartfreightfunding.com Transportation Management (TMS) - https://www.bulktms.com/ Permitting- https://www.bulkloads.com/tools/permitting/

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August 12, 2026Episode 37253 min

BLP:372 He Bought One Dump Truck Out of High School, Now He Runs 40 Trucks Across Kansas

Watch on YouTube Jesse Knight bought a four-axle dump truck the fall after he graduated high school in 1992, because there wasn't enough family farm ground left for a third man. Thirty-five years later, Knight Trucking runs roughly 40 trucks out of Lebo, Kansas, split evenly between end dumps and pneumatics, hauling rock, sand, salt, and food-grade freight across the Midwest. In this episode, Jared Flinn sits down with Jesse and his son Colby for a conversation two decades in the making, Jared first knocked on this door 20 years ago working truck logistics at Bartlett Grain. Jesse walks through the whole climb: leasing to a local rock hauler and sitting four months every winter, merging equipment with his dad and brother to form Knight Trucking in 1996, running the business out of his parents' house with his mom keeping the books, and then landing the I-70 milling and aggregate contracts that forced him to scale from a few trucks to nearly 60 almost overnight, while still driving one himself. He's candid about the parts most operators won't discuss: why he walked away from construction work when the risk stopped matching the reward, why he converted his owner operator fleet into company assets, how he prices freight so the truck actually makes money, what the Peterbilt 386 rollout cost him in repainted hoods, and why chasing kosher certification for his food-grade salt trailers produced about six loads before the business dried up. Colby shares his side too, diesel tech certificate, years in the shop, and getting handed the dispatch board when his dad left for a three-month trip. It closes on the two things Jesse says actually matter after 35 years: drivers who've stayed 10 to 30 years, and a family that never let the business divide it. ⏱️ TIMECODES 0:00 - 20 Years Later: Full Circle in Lebo, Kansas 1:22 - No Room Left on the Family Farm 1:58 - Buying the First Dump Truck in 1992 3:19 - Merging the Family Equipment: Knight Trucking is Born 5:38 - The I-70 Project: A Few Trucks to 60 in Months 8:30 - What Milling Actually Is (And Why It Takes So Many Trucks) 10:11 - How a "Snot-Nosed Kid" Won Big Construction Contracts 11:05 - Becoming a Spotlight Carrier for Cargill Deicing Salt 14:14 - Moving 200,000 Tons of Rock Across Kansas 16:51 - End Dumps vs. Hoppers: The Weight Disadvantage Nobody Talks About 20:27 - Colby's Story: From the Shop to the Dispatch Desk 23:42 - The Fleet Today: 50/50 End Dumps and Pneumatics 25:03 - Why He Rolled His Owner Operators Into Company Trucks 27:04 - "If I Tell Them I'll Keep Them Busy, I Mean It" 29:36 - Competing With the Big Kansas City Carriers 32:34 - The Kosher Certification That Produced 6 Loads 37:53 - Truck and Trailer Specs (And the Peterbilt 386 Nightmare) 42:54 - Surviving Fuel Volatility and Surcharges 43:53 - The Story Behind the Rocking K Brand 45:51 - Selling Out of the Farm and Cattle Side 48:46 - "It's the Drivers That Keep Driving Me" 49:37 - Why He Hates Watching Families Divide

July 30, 2026Episode 3711 hr 28 min

BLP 371: His Dad's Dying Words: "You're Not Welcome At Page" | So He Earned It Back

On his deathbed, Keith Titus told his son: "You're not welcome at Page. I have a plan, and you're not part of it." Three years later, the plan had failed. The company was down from 230 trucks to 70, losing a million dollars a year, and the bank had cut them off. Then Dan's mom — a 27-year school bus driver who never worked a day in the business — made a decision that changed everything: she put every dollar of her husband's life insurance into the company. "I grew up on a dirt-poor farm. I've got no problem going back there." In this episode, Dan Titus of Page Trucking sits down with us in upstate New York to share one of the most incredible comeback stories in bulk freight: five generations on the Titus family farm, a trucking company started in 1974 with $5,000 from his great-grandfather, losing his dad and grandfather a year apart, and rebuilding Page into 500 trucks, 900 trailers, and 650 families — hauling everything from grain to hazardous waste to 1,400° molten metal down the highway. Oh, and they heat their warehouses with Bitcoin miners. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 Outgrowing the building (again) 01:56 Five generations on the Titus farm — Cato, NY, since 1809 02:32 Dad starts brokering freight without Grandpa knowing 05:28 $5,000 from Great-Grandpa to start a trucking company 06:00 Why it's called "Page" — the $250 authority 08:07 Why his dad chose trucking over farming 13:24 "You're not welcome at Page" — his dad's dying plan 15:21 Mom inherits a collapsing business 21:05 Betting the life insurance money on the company 22:37 Half the pay, twice the hours — Dan comes home 25:45 Buying the business back from Mom 26:40 Teamsters, a $3M pension liability & near-bankruptcy 29:00 From 230 trucks… to 70… to 500 today 32:37 Closed-loop hauling: scrap, dross & aluminum 34:27 Hauling 1,400° molten metal on the highway 38:24 Overweight permits & custom trailer designs 43:40 The Goulet Trucking acquisition 51:42 Why waste hauling is huge in the Northeast 56:22 Heating warehouses with Bitcoin miners 01:04:18 Keith Titus — the next generation 01:09:45 No handouts: earning your way into the family business 01:14:25 The chip on his shoulder — out-innovating $20B competitors 01:20:38 "I'm not ready" — why Page will never sell 01:24:13 Raising sharks, not minnows ABOUT BULKLOADS We started 15 years ago connecting bulk carriers with shippers and brokers in the ag and bulk industry — and today we're much more than a load board. Our mission is simple: serve this industry, support small businesses and trucking families, and help them succeed.

July 16, 2026Episode 3701 hr 19 min

BLP 370: Rolling Coal, an $18M Fine, and Redemption: The PDI Story

They fined him $18 million. He built a diesel empire anyway. Jerad Wittwer grew up the son of a St. George milkman and rancher, overhauled his first engine at 13, and turned a passion for horsepower into Performance Diesel Inc. (PDI) — one of the most recognized names in diesel performance. But the road there ran straight through one of the most controversial chapters in trucking: EPA investigations, deleted trucks, and an $18 million federal fine. In this episode, Jerad sits down with Jared Flinn for an unfiltered conversation about the whole journey — the rise, the reckoning, and the redemption. He opens up about the mistakes he made at the top, how his faith and family pulled him back, and how PDI reinvented itself into a manufacturer building 12,000+ part numbers that beat OEM quality. Today the company is on track for $55–60 million in revenue, growing 22% a year — and Jerad still isn't for sale. This is a story about horsepower, risk, faith, and the relentless pursuit of building something better. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:00 – Welcome & St. George Roots 2:07 – His Grandpa, His Dad & the Milk Route 6:08 – Work Ethic & Overhauling His First Engine at 13 9:57 – Trade School & Early Mechanic Days 12:02 – Marriage, the Milk Route & a Walmart Detour 17:33 – Taking the Leap: Starting Performance Diesel 21:57 – The Tune-Up Boom Years 28:28 – "The Smoke Don't Mean It's Broke" 30:35 – Getting Into Semis & Manufacturing Parts 35:00 – When Emissions Regulations Hit 37:00 – The EPA Comes Knocking 44:58 – The $18 Million Fine 46:07 – The Comeback & Being the Only Company Released 47:36 – Reinventing PDI: 12,000 Parts & Better Than OEM 54:01 – Going Global & the "Gucci of Diesel" 55:45 – The Partner Buyout & Funding Growth 1:01:37 – Vision, Family & the $200 Million Goal 1:08:16 – The Future of Trucking: Autonomous & Electric 1:11:27 – Faith, Peace & Staying Grounded 1:16:14 – Dream It & Do It

June 25, 2026Episode 36943 min

BLP 369: 1 Gas Station to 1,400 Employees: How Wallis Built a Fuel Empire

Bill Wallis went to work at 13 to help his family. He served in the 101st Airborne, came home, and bought a single gas station in Cuba, Missouri in 1968. Today Wallis Companies runs 67 stores, a 42 truck bulk fleet moving 120 loads a day, and employs around 1,400 people. In this episode, Matt and Alan take us inside the fuel hauling world most truckers never see: the predictive dispatch tech, the back to back state safety awards, why their turnover is almost zero, and the tribute show truck they built for Bill called "Blue Collar Roots." CHAPTERS 0:00 Intro: Meet Matt and Alan 0:41 From a K9 trainer and a livestock hauler to Wallis 5:18 How Bill Wallis started it all in 1968 8:34 One gas station to 67 stores and 1,400 employees 12:40 The Covid pivot into ag hauling (and finding BulkLoads) 15:10 Inside the fleet: 42 trucks running 24/7 18:26 Where the fuel actually comes from 19:13 The art of maximizing every load 21:13 What keeps them up at night 25:37 Three generations of a family run company 32:30 Hauling hazmat: the safety culture 34:23 Winning the state fleet safety award twice 38:38 "Blue Collar Roots": the tribute show truck Subscribe for more real stories from the people moving America's bulk freight. #trucking #fuelhauling #familybusiness #bulkfreight #BulkLoads

June 18, 2026Episode 36850 min

BLP 368: We Doubled Our Trucking Company, Then 2025 Hit

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/qF-YbIEGZJM Rob and Kate have been together since high school. Years ago they took over the family farm and trucking operation, doubled the business, and then watched 2025 turn into the hardest year of their lives. In this episode they get honest about what it actually takes to run a trucking company as a husband and wife team. The 16-hour days through the freight recession. The financial calls that kept them up at night. The hardest decision they ever had to make. And how they protected their marriage and their kids while fighting to keep the trucks moving. If you run a fleet, drive for one, or you are trying to survive this market alongside the people you love, this conversation is going to hit home. Chapters 00:00 A Different Company Than the Last Time We Talked 01:51 Building Trucking Jobs Young Families Actually Want 02:50 Why Kate Walked Away From Her Career 05:39 Cutting Costs by Bringing Everything In-House 08:00 How They Doubled the Business in 5 Years 09:14 "2025 Was a Bloodbath" 09:34 When the Freight Recession Followed Them Home 10:52 The Support That Got Them Through the Worst Year 13:23 Trauma Bonding and Mental Health in Trucking 15:40 Yin and Yang: How Two Opposites Run a Company 17:21 "I Haven't Seen Our Bank Account in 5 Years" 17:53 Why Rob Has to Pitch His Own Wife to Buy a Truck 22:15 "I Have a Name": More Than the Owner's Wife 22:46 The Hardest Call They Ever Had to Make 26:43 Retire at 52? Building the Long-Term Vision 29:10 Working Yourself Out of Your Own Business 30:05 The One Job Rob Can't Replace: Sales 34:07 Will Their Kids Take Over the Family Business? 38:01 Legacy Without Setting Your Kids Up to Fail 41:30 Real Advice for Surviving a Freight Recession 43:46 The Covid Mistake That Cost Them Later 45:36 Who's Really in Your Corner When It Gets Hard 50:06 Closing: People Serving People BulkLoads.com - https://www.bulkloads.com/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Grover_Podcast Bulk Insurance Group - https://www.bulkinsurancegroup.com/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Grover_Podcast BulkLoads Factoring - https://www.smartfreightfunding.com/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Grover_Podcast BulkLoads TMS - https://www.bulktms.com/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Grover_Podcast BulkInsights - https://www.bulkfreightinsights.com/?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Grover_Podcast

June 9, 2026Episode 36743 min

BLP 367: The $1 Million Bet That Built a Trucking Dynasty

Tom Keller spec'd his first truck at 20 years old to haul watermelons off his family's farm. He'd drive a load to Indianapolis, not like the price, keep driving to Detroit, sell them, and set the cash on the kitchen table — then do it again the next morning. That hustle became Keller Logistics Group: 350 trucks, four divisions, and $200 million in sales out of Defiance, Ohio. In this episode, Jared Flinn sits down with Bryan Keller and Jonathan Wolfrum to unpack how a melon farmer's instinct for finding the next opportunity built a company that's survived every freight cycle since — including the recession that just leveled half the dry van market. They get into the speculative warehouse bets, walking away from General Motors, why they moved into bulk and ag freight, and what it actually takes to be named a Best Fleet to Drive For nine years running. If you're a carrier, owner-operator, or fleet owner trying to figure out your next move, this one's full of plays you can run. ➡️ Hauling bulk or looking to grow your freight? Find loads and grow your operation at https://bulkloads.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Keller_Podcast 🎥 Want your story featured on the channel? Get featured at https://bulkloadsmedia.com CHAPTERS 00:00 – Meeting Tom Keller 00:24 – The watermelon farm that started it all 01:22 – The Detroit melon run (cash on the kitchen table) 03:05 – From farm machinery to five trucks 04:10 – The thank-you card that landed Bryan the job 05:48 – "Bryan, we gotta be organized" 07:14 – Out-engineering the big carriers 08:58 – Scaling from 20 trucks and the warehouse gamble 12:39 – The 332,000 sq ft Dallas bet 15:04 – Walking away from General Motors 16:17 – The Campbell Soup phone call that changed everything 17:08 – Jonathan joins — 350 trucks today 20:48 – Faith, the prayer room, and "give to grow" 21:38 – Inside the Ignite Academy 25:29 – Why Keller moved into bulk and ag 29:54 – Farm roots run deep 32:12 – Breaking through growth plateaus with EOS 35:36 – Building a legacy, not a payday 36:39 – 9 years as a Best Fleet to Drive For 38:37 – The driver advisory board 42:53 – Closing thoughts

June 2, 2026Episode 36626 min

BLP 366: $10,000 to Replace a $300 Part? The Dealership Trap Explained

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vMtf0ZtSbbA Fleet maintenance isn't sexy — but it's one of the highest expenses in trucking, the most controllable, and by far the most ignored. Justin Brevik of Bosch FleetMe returns to the BulkLoads Podcast to break down exactly where fleets bleed money on maintenance and how to fix it, whether you run 3 trucks or 3,000. Host Jared Flinn and Justin cover the real cost of letting a truck sit at a dealership, the oil-change myth costing you thousands, why tires are your #1 maintenance expense (and the cheap fix almost nobody does), and how to move your operation from reactive to preventative to predictive maintenance. If you're an owner-operator, carrier, or fleet manager trying to protect your margins, this one pays for itself. Want to be featured on the BulkLoads Podcast? https://www.bulkloadsmedia.com/ ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 Joining Bosch's Fleet Maintenance Team 05:23 Fleet maintenance strategies 09:55 360-degree DVIR integration 11:18 Streamlining fleet breakdown response 14:40 Evaluating and training technicians 19:00 Dealership repair and staffing insights 22:11 Tire maintenance and oil changes 23:45 Fleet management tools overview

May 28, 2026Episode 36529 min

BLP 365: For This Business, Success isn't Measured in Trucks

Watch this episode on YouTube: https://youtu.be/OUVacbL2k7g For Matt and Sharon Kill, the goal was never to have the biggest fleet. But it took growing to 21 trucks — and nearly losing what mattered — to figure that out. The family started with nothing: one truck, a borrowed belt trailer, and a 1950s pay loader that lost steering every time you let off the throttle. After Matt got let go from John Deere, they accidentally built a four-way ag operation — trucking, manure spreading, farming, and feed commodity trading out of Saint Mary's, Ohio. 🎙️ Brought to you by BulkLoads — the bulk freight marketplace built for carriers, brokers, and shippers. Matt and Sharon have been members since the very beginning. Find loads, grow your operation, and connect with the bulk trucking community at https://bulkloads.com ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ ⏱️ CHAPTERS ━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━ 00:00 Meeting the Kill family 01:00 From John Deere to a borrowed belt trailer: how it started 04:10 Four businesses under one roof 04:32 The roller coaster: scaling from 8 to 21 trucks 06:42 Inside Ohio's massive ag country 07:08 The poultry litter business explained 09:20 "We started from nothing" — the old equipment days 11:07 Buying totaled belt trailers for pennies 11:49 The hardest part of the job 13:15 "Maybe we should just give this up" 15:31 Matt's learning disabilities and building it anyway 16:26 Who runs what: the team behind the operation 18:27 Where the business goes from here 20:25 Why no two farming operations are the same 22:28 Best advice for someone starting in trucking 26:33 Building it together from day one 28:42 What they pull from the BulkLoads podcast 29:13 Thank you

May 11, 2026Episode 36454 min

BLP 364: Why This 31-Year-Old Says Fancy Trucks Are Killing Owner-Operators

Watch on YouTube: https://youtu.be/n2-i0RKCoWs Craig Broerman left a corporate mechanical engineering career, sold the money meant for his grandparents' farm, and bought a belt trailer in 2019. Six years later, he and his cousin Alan Lennartz are running 7–10 trucks across the Midwest hauling DDGs, soybean meal, cottonseed, and industrial products — and they did it before either of them turned 32. In this episode, Jared sits down with Craig and Alan on location in Portland, Indiana to talk about the BulkLoads find that changed everything, the phone call in a North Carolina cornfield that made Craig get out of the truck for good, the mistakes they made buying "shiny" equipment, and the insurance and scaling realities nobody warns young carriers about. If you're an owner-operator, small fleet, or thinking about getting into bulk trucking — this one's a roadmap. ⏱ TIMECODES 00:00 – On location in Portland, Indiana 00:43 – From mechanical engineer to belt trailer owner 02:25 – Finding BulkLoads and the first direct customer 03:25 – Retiring his wife from her corporate job 04:40 – Alan's path: asphalt, COVID, and "buy a truck" 06:00 – The conversation that split the businesses 06:30 – The cornfield phone call that changed everything 09:40 – How they funded the first truck (the farm gamble) 11:00 – Why posted loads = desperation (and opportunity) 13:30 – Reading the cottonseed market before it shifted 15:30 – Playing the long game on rates and relationships 17:15 – Why Craig thinks 5 years ahead, not 5 days 20:30 – What's actually moving in/out of Ohio–Indiana ag country 22:18 – Why they can't run hoppers in this region 24:40 – The real ROI of the BulkLoads Conference 27:30 – Trust, transparency, and family in business 28:00 – Biggest mistakes: overpriced trucks and hiring too soon 31:30 – How they decide when to scale (and when to wait) 36:50 – Spec'ing equipment: powertrains, trailers, and tonnage 39:00 – 48' vs 53' Conestoga — three months of research 42:30 – DDG market shifts and lane risk 44:00 – The insurance ceiling nobody talks about 47:20 – Advice for young people getting into trucking and logistics 51:30 – Why this part of the country looks the way it does 🚛 ABOUT BULKLOADS BulkLoads is the freight marketplace built for bulk carriers, brokers, and shippers. From the load board to Smart Freight Funding, Bulk Insurance, Permitting, and BulkTMS — we're the operating system for bulk trucking. 👉 Become a member: https://bulkloads.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=BNW+PODCAST 🎙 Subscribe for more carrier stories every week 🎤 Join us at the next BulkLoads Conference

May 4, 2026Episode 36349 min

BLP 363: The $500K Lesson: Inside Blackwell Trucking's Pivot to Hopper Freight

Watch it on YouTube: https://youtu.be/xnLyii6krVg What does it take to run a four-generation family business through cotton, cattle, pipeline restoration, AND a 7-truck hopper fleet — all at the same time? This week we sat down with Bob Blackwell and his son-in-law Jared Reaves at Blackwell Trucking in Wayne, Oklahoma. Three generations of Blackwells have worked this land. Bob started chasing pipeline restoration jobs 25 years ago when one came across his field — and built Blackwell Trucking on the side just to keep his own equipment moving. Then the last four years took a swing at them. Pipeline work went quiet. Solar customers walked off with over half a million dollars of unpaid work. Flatbed rates collapsed. And the family that had survived everything from boll weevils to a 1970s farm bankruptcy was looking for a way forward. Then Jared heard a podcast in his pig barn that changed everything. In this conversation we get into the full picture: how pipeline restoration actually works, why Bob won't buy stockers, the brutal economics of cattle and cotton, why he calls solar "a shell game," the wreck-truck rebuild, the engine that came apart in the shop, the role of faith in their business, and the very human moments behind the family's "GIG, GAP" philosophy — God Is Good, God Always Provides. If you're a carrier wondering whether there's a more consistent path than flatbed, a shipper looking for hard-working family operators, or a farm-and-ranch family trying to figure out the next chapter — this episode is for you. ▶ Find consistent hopper and bulk freight: https://bulkloads.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Blackwell+Podcast ▶ Are you a shipper looking for family carriers like the Blackwells? https://bulkloads.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Blackwell+Podcast ▶ Subscribe wherever you listen: Apple, Spotify, YouTube CHAPTERS 00:00 — Meet the Blackwells: 3 Generations on the Same Land 00:55 — How a Pipeline Across Bob's Field Started Everything 02:30 — Why They Started Blackwell Trucking 03:00 — Today: 7 Trucks, Goal of 10 04:34 — The Podcast in the Pig Barn That Changed Everything 05:30 — Why Hoppers Are More Consistent Than Flatbed 06:00 — Working with Chris & Michael at RFG 06:50 — The End Game: Cutting Out the Middleman 07:30 — "It's a Turtle Race" 08:00 — Cattle, Wildfires, and What Bad Land Management Looks Like 09:30 — The Engine That Came Apart in the Shop 10:00 — What Pipeline Restoration Actually Is 12:53 — Inside a 100-Mile Pipeline Project 13:30 — The $500,000 Solar Disaster 14:30 — "Solar is a Shell Game" 17:30 — Three Generations of Blackwells 18:00 — Why Bob Won't Buy Stockers 20:40 — The 8-Cent Brangus Lesson That Changed His Cattle Operation 22:00 — When Bob Got Into Rodeo Stock 23:30 — Where He Markets His Cattle Today 25:40 — Cattle Prices: Then vs. Now 28:20 — Cotton Country: How an Entire Region Dried Up 29:30 — Milo, Sorghum, and Fallow-Ground Decisions 31:42 — "The Only Difference Between Farming and Vegas..." 32:30 — Why Weather Is 95% of the Business 33:30 — What They Do for Fun: Lake Murray 34:30 — How Jared Got Here: Saint Louis → Mizzou → Bartlett → Springfield 37:00 — Why Joplin Stockyards Surpassed Oklahoma City 38:30 — "The Wealthiest Companies Got Wealthy off the Backs of Farmers" 39:50 — Why Cotton Doesn't Pencil Anymore 41:00 — The Peanut Program and Government Subsidies 43:00 — The Soybean Crop That Paid for His Son's Birth 45:30 — Why Equipment Payments Don't Work Anymore 46:30 — Converting Cropland to Bermuda Grass 47:04 — How Faith Holds the Whole Operation Together 48:30 — "GIG. GAP. God Is Good. God Always Provides." 48:50 — The Check-in-the-Mail Moments CONNECT WITH BLACKWELL TRUCKING Wayne, Oklahoma CONNECT WITH BULKLOADS Website: https://bulkloads.com?utm_source=YouTube&utm_medium=Video&utm_campaign=Blackwell+Podcast #BulkLoads #FamilyTrucking #HopperFreight #AgTrucking #PipelineRestoration #CattleBusiness #SmallBusinessAmerica #TruckingPodcast