As Michigan-based small fleet owner Leander Richmond said in the last edition of Overdrive Radio. No, it doesn’t happen to drivers of cars, it does not happen to campers – it does, often enough, happen to truckers. He was talking about the phenomenon of private-lot or other booting of trucks in which drivers are sleeping, most often during federally mandated rest periods, of course. As so many of you likely saw last week with a report from a Dandridge, Tenn., Speedway fuel-stop location, that can include tow trucks hooked up to you while you rest, with a fee required to unhook. Richmond, as he noted in the last podcast, believes there should be a prohibition on booting or hooking to an occupied vehicle in this manner, and it’s a subject we’ll be covering in more depth in a later issue of Overdrive. For now, in this edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast some sound piece of advice before parking in any spot where you have doubt about the possibility of a tow-hook or boot in your future. And that is, if at an open location with any no-parking sign within eyesight –- do the reasonable thing and get out and ask a question in-store before you make a $300 or more costly mistake. That only works to an extent, of course. ... Some cases here where it most definitely didn't. And: Accounts from the one-truck businesses of Bryan Hutchens, Ruben Carrion, and Kit Spanfellner from That's a Big 10-4 on D.C. last month.

Small fleet owner Leander Richmond's efforts to fight the egregious practice of booting trucks when drivers are asleep in the bunk have been written about before -- he's been successful when booters violate local ordinances that govern their businesses, or in one recent case he details here didn’t even have a contract with a particular property owner to be doing what he was doing on the property. Local and/or state laws around booting and towing vary considerably, as he’s most certainly found in his efforts to raise awareness among truckers and law enforcement about the more predatory boots in that business. Here, what he sees as a possible solution to a problem exacerbated by the ELD mandate and its parking-related ripple effects along all manner of routes around the nation. Picture of Richmond here by Denise Marhoefer.

Also in the podcast: A window into one of the conversations with participants in "That’s a Big 10-4 on D.C.," which happened early last month on the National Mall in Washington. This talk introduces a little bit of the history, stretching back into the 1980s, and the long development of the business of independent Germann Soeth, of Frederick, Maryland.

Small fleet owner Leander Richmond's efforts to fight the egregious practice of booting trucks when drivers are asleep in the bunk have been written about before -- he's been successful when booters violate local ordinances that govern their businesses, or in one recent case he details here didn’t even have a contract with a particular property owner to be doing what he was doing on the property. Local and/or state laws around booting and towing vary considerably, as he’s most certainly found in his efforts to raise awareness among truckers and law enforcement about the more predatory boots in that business. Here, what he sees as a possible solution to a problem exacerbated by the ELD mandate and its parking-related ripple effects along all manner of routes around the nation. Picture of Richmond here by Denise Marhoefer.

Also in the podcast: A window into one of the conversations with participants in "That’s a Big 10-4 on D.C.," which happened early last month on the National Mall in Washington. This talk introduces a little bit of the history, stretching back into the 1980s, and the long development of the business of independent Germann Soeth, of Frederick, Maryland.

Thanks to the Tompkins Square record label and the man behind the voice you hear in the song at the top here, Will Beeley. Beeley's new “Highways and Heart Attacks” record is the singer-songwriter and hazmat pressurized tank hauler's third. Today, Beeley lives in New Mexico, with roots in Texas. His story in music reaches back to his youth in the late 1960s, runs through an iconic record label in Jackson, Mississippi and extends on up into the present day, with his new record following 40 years after his last, called “Passing Dream.” Nashville-based music writer Edd Hurt views that 1979 slab as an overlooked classic in the American songbook. On this edition of Overdrive Radio, take a run through parts of Edd Hurt’s and my own interviews with Beeley attendant to a special treat in the day to day of this trucking-business writer back in September. Beeley was in Nashville performing attendant to Americana fest.

Thanks to the Tompkins Square record label and the man behind the voice you hear in the song at the top here, Will Beeley. Beeley's new “Highways and Heart Attacks” record is the singer-songwriter and hazmat pressurized tank hauler's third. Today, Beeley lives in New Mexico, with roots in Texas. His story in music reaches back to his youth in the late 1960s, runs through an iconic record label in Jackson, Mississippi and extends on up into the present day, with his new record following 40 years after his last, called “Passing Dream.” Nashville-based music writer Edd Hurt views that 1979 slab as an overlooked classic in the American songbook. On this edition of Overdrive Radio, take a run through parts of Edd Hurt’s and my own interviews with Beeley attendant to a special treat in the day to day of this trucking-business writer back in September. Beeley was in Nashville performing attendant to Americana fest.

There's a new record forthcoming for 2016 Trucker Talent Search winning singer-songwriter Jason Lee Wilson, due in the new year. It's dubbed, simply, "Tennessee," and it's title track is an appreciation of home for the East Tennessee resident. He performed it as part of a three-song set at The Caverns venue in Pelham, Tenn., current home of the Bluegrass Underground television program -- you can hear it, and hear more about just where the song and the album are coming from, in today's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast. Also there, a talk with trucker/singer-songwriter Tony Justice about his recent performance in quite a nontraditional venue for many artists -- though not exactly for Justice himself: Bristol Motor Speedway, where he gave a post-race infield show for attendees of the Bandit Series big-rig-racing finale (congrats once again to Ricky "Rude" Proffitt for the season points championship). He also speaks to ongoing advocacy efforts of Trucker Nation, an organization he cofounded, and the difficulty he's had getting his crystal ball to work when it comes to the question of whether FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez's impending departure as agency head holds any import for the hours of service changes Martinez played a large role in fast-tracking.

There's a new record forthcoming for 2016 Trucker Talent Search winning singer-songwriter Jason Lee Wilson, due in the new year. It's dubbed, simply, "Tennessee," and it's title track is an appreciation of home for the East Tennessee resident. He performed it as part of a three-song set at The Caverns venue in Pelham, Tenn., current home of the Bluegrass Underground television program -- you can hear it, and hear more about just where the song and the album are coming from, in today's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast. Also there, a talk with trucker/singer-songwriter Tony Justice about his recent performance in quite a nontraditional venue for many artists -- though not exactly for Justice himself: Bristol Motor Speedway, where he gave a post-race infield show for attendees of the Bandit Series big-rig-racing finale (congrats once again to Ricky "Rude" Proffitt for the season points championship). He also speaks to ongoing advocacy efforts of Trucker Nation, an organization he cofounded, and the difficulty he's had getting his crystal ball to work when it comes to the question of whether FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez's impending departure as agency head holds any import for the hours of service changes Martinez played a large role in fast-tracking.

There's a new record forthcoming for 2016 Trucker Talent Search winning singer-songwriter Jason Lee Wilson, due in the new year. It's dubbed, simply, "Tennessee," and it's title track is an appreciation of home for the East Tennessee resident. He performed it as part of a three-song set at The Caverns venue in Pelham, Tenn., current home of the Bluegrass Underground television program -- you can hear it, and hear more about just where the song and the album are coming from, in today's edition of the Overdrive Radio podcast. Also there, a talk with trucker/singer-songwriter Tony Justice about his recent performance in quite a nontraditional venue for many artists -- though not exactly for Justice himself: Bristol Motor Speedway, where he gave a post-race infield show for attendees of the Bandit Series big-rig-racing finale (congrats once again to Ricky "Rude" Proffitt for the season points championship). He also speaks to ongoing advocacy efforts of Trucker Nation, an organization he cofounded, and the difficulty he's had getting his crystal ball to work when it comes to the question of whether FMCSA Administrator Ray Martinez's impending departure as agency head holds any import for the hours of service changes Martinez played a large role in fast-tracking.

Pam Wilson hired on with Utah-based large fleet C.R. England about a year ago as vice president of process development. That’s something of a fancy way of saying she was brought in with hopes of improving parts of the company that support those who make the it tick – that’s truck drivers, of course. At the time of Wilson’s hiring, as Aaron Huff wrote in Overdrive sister fleet publication CCJ earlier this year, among the large number of company-employed drivers that make up the over-the-road division (accounting for around 80 percent of the entire company’s drivers), “the large majority of its OTR drivers are in the process of completing the company’s 90-day training program after they have earned a CDL.” That represents a lot of turnover. Figuring out how to better set those new drivers up for success could pay dividends long-term, no doubt, company executives knew. The goal, as Wilson puts it, is to be a better safety net as a company, particularly important for those who are jumping into trucking for the first time and a situation where they don’t know quite what exactly to expect. Aaron Huff’s story turned heads for another reason, though. Wilson, in her 40s, didn’t immediately publicly come onboard as management upon her hiring. Rather, she called C.R. England’s training academy and started the process of getting her CDL – undercover, as it were, within the training program. Also: Voices from 10-4 D.C. last week with point of view on the issues from Germann Soeth of Frederick, Md.; Kit Spanfellner of Northwest Ohio, leased to Davidson Trucking; Generations Express owner-operator Bryan Hutchens of Oklahoma; independent Rueben Carrion of Kissimmee, Fla.; and Iowa-based Mike Jellison, also running independent.

Pam Wilson hired on with Utah-based large fleet C.R. England about a year ago as vice president of process development. That’s something of a fancy way of saying she was brought in with hopes of improving parts of the company that support those who make the it tick – that’s truck drivers, of course. At the time of Wilson’s hiring, as Aaron Huff wrote in Overdrive sister fleet publication CCJ earlier this year, among the large number of company-employed drivers that make up the over-the-road division (accounting for around 80 percent of the entire company’s drivers), “the large majority of its OTR drivers are in the process of completing the company’s 90-day training program after they have earned a CDL.” That represents a lot of turnover. Figuring out how to better set those new drivers up for success could pay dividends long-term, no doubt, company executives knew. The goal, as Wilson puts it, is to be a better safety net as a company, particularly important for those who are jumping into trucking for the first time and a situation where they don’t know quite what exactly to expect. Aaron Huff’s story turned heads for another reason, though. Wilson, in her 40s, didn’t immediately publicly come onboard as management upon her hiring. Rather, she called C.R. England’s training academy and started the process of getting her CDL – undercover, as it were, within the training program. Also: Voices from 10-4 D.C. last week with point of view on the issues from Germann Soeth of Frederick, Md.; Kit Spanfellner of Northwest Ohio, leased to Davidson Trucking; Generations Express owner-operator Bryan Hutchens of Oklahoma; independent Rueben Carrion of Kissimmee, Fla.; and Iowa-based Mike Jellison, also running independent.