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Lenay: Hello and welcome. The date is September 2 and you’re listening to the 60th episode of Big Rig Banter. I’m your favorite co-host, Lenay Ruhl
Troy: And I’m your other co-host, Troy Diffenderfer
Lenay:(Laughing) What’s up Troy? How are you?
Troy: I’m doing good. How are you?
Lenay: Pretty good. I guess we’re just a few days out from Labor Day weekend. You got any plans?
Troy: Yeah, actually this week coming up is my first wedding anniversary, so that’s pretty exciting. I’m not sure exactly what we have planned, because obviously given the COVID circumstances, we’re going to probably do something different, not necessarily a big trip or anything. Lyd and I have been talking and I’m sure we’re going to do something exciting, you know, dinner and maybe do something else after that. So, I’m really excited to hang with my awesome wife. So that should be really fun. What about you?
Lenay: Yeah, something else (Laughing) Yeah that’s awesome. What is the date of your anniversary?
Troy: It is… September 9th
Lenay: Are you sure about that?
Troy: Hold on, let me look.
Lenay: (Laughing) I’m just kidding. I’m sure you know.
Troy: No, I legit need to look it up… (pause) yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s the 9th. Right? Do you have the invitation saved?
Lenay: Yeah, you know I have it framed on my wall here in my living room.
Troy: (Laughing) No. Keep going.
Lenay: (Laughing) Ok. Well, I am going to West Virginia this weekend, actually, so I’m pretty pumped. We’re staying in a cabin in the woods, and my sister and brother in law have long time friends who live down there, so we just hang out with them, eat a lot of cherry-soaked in moonshine, and go mudding, and all that stuff.
Troy: That sounds… if I could pick what you would do for your birthday, that’s probably what I would pick.
Lenay: Really?
Troy: Oh yeah. I know you like hanging out in the country and being outside and you know, getting dirty and things like that so…yeah, that’s exactly what I pictured you doing for your birthday, and that sounds really exciting. I’m sure I’ll have to think of some cool birthday gift to get you, but it’s going to be a surprise. Maybe the next episode you can reveal what it is.
Lenay:(Laughing) I know, yeah, I forgot my birthday’s in like two weeks. Way to remind me!
Troy: I know, that’s exciting. I won’t say how old – I mean, I think you’re turning like, 23 or 24 right?
Lenay: Yeah, that’s right. That’s right.
Troy: Exactly. But I’m really excited for this episode topic. I think it’s going to be a really, really fun one. It’s something that me and you use a lot. We’re talking about YouTube and some really popular truckers on YouTube. I know I personally use it, not necessarily for trucking purposes but I use YouTube all the time whether it be looking up live concerts or looking up a new music video for my band, or looking up just weird, funny, compilations of people falling down or something like that. But yeah, I’m a big YouTube fan. What about you?
Lenay: Yeah, for sure. There’s a lot of great YouTube channels out there for truck drivers, and even if you’re not a truck driver, I personally find them very interesting. So, we’re going to go through, I guess, just each talk about a couple YouTube channels that we really like. One that I really like is Trucker Josh. I like his YouTube channel because it shows a lot of scenery in his, and as someone who has driven across the country twice, I just love looking and being like, oh I was on that highway or what the scenery looks like in states that maybe I haven’t visited before, so I really like that aspect of it. But he also is really candid about what it’s like to be a truck driver and has a lot of good info in there too.
Troy: Yeah, and I think just from a YouTuber aspect, showing all that scenery and things like that, that’s a good way to connect with your audience. It’ll make them feel like they’re in the cab with you, and I think that’s a great idea, to show a lot of the scenery, you know, for those that maybe haven’t traveled out that way. It’s a good way to kind of experience that while you’re still at home. Kudos to him on that tactic and showing that off. I think that’s a really good idea.
Lenay: Yeah, for sure.
Troy: I’m going to highlight one of my favorite YouTubers, and I guess I’ll tread lightly. Tread carefully.
Lenay:(clears throat loudly) oh Lord. I know where this is going.
Troy: This is one of my favorite truckers. She’s from Sweden, and her name is Angela Larsson, and I’ve been following her on YouTube and Instagram and social media, and she’s very informative. I think she’s really funny and she definitely has the YouTube thumbnails down, because they’re very… you know, they pop with color. They of course have her in it. She’s young and blond and attractive. She’s got the system down.
Lenay: Troy, do you have a YouTube crush?
Troy: No, I just appreciate a good marketer and she definitely knows how to market her page very well.
Lenay: I guess I agree with that.
Troy: Yeah but I think that was really cool, and you know she has a huge following. She has almost 200,000 subscribers so people are obviously watching. And I think it’s just cool that she’s over in Sweden. The accent is really cool, and it’s a different looking truck, and she’s crossing a lot of – she’s going into different countries, which is another cool thing. I don’t know. Maybe she’s listening. We do look at our Big Rig Banter stats, and there’s a few listens from Sweden so, you know, you never know Lenay. She could be listening to this right now.
Lenay: Yeah, yeah. And then she heard that you are married and moving on…
Troy: (Laughing) Yeah
Lenay: Another YouTube channel that I really like is also a woman. It’s called Happiness by the Mile, and I love her channel because she’s super authentic and really gives a good perspective into being a female truck driver and some of the things she goes through. In the beginning, she has a camera guy with her, but it looks like now she’s doing more vlog style. I really find her videos to all be engaging, informative, and obviously I love to see a female out there on the road and just how passionate she is about being a truck driver. It’s just inspiring to me, because, well, you know — girl power!
Troy: Yeah, I agree. And I’ve looked at that one too. You brought up a really good point of highlighting women in trucking and putting a face to women in trucking in a video and seeing her actually driving the truck and things like that. So that’s really, really cool.
Lenay: Yeah and she’s fairly young. Like I think she’s about – I’m just guessing. I don’t know – but she looks about my age, so I like that as well, kind of putting that perspective in there on not just women but younger women getting into trucking as well.
Troy: The last one I want to highlight is a YouTube channel called Driven Trucking. It’s not — it doesn’t have the number of subscribers as some of these other ones but I just like the titles of a lot of his videos because it’s really showing that first-person and showing what I think truckers really care about, especially when they’re watching YouTube videos. Some of the titles are “buying a big rig | what I wish I knew” or “How to ensure success as an owner operator.” These are the things that I’m thinking, if I’m a trucker, that’s what I want to really know.
Lenay: Yeah, I agree with that. I’ll have to check that one out.
Troy: But yeah, we want to know what your favorite trucker YouTuber is, or if you have a channel of your own, feel free to reach out to us and plug it, whether it be on social media or sending us a direct email. We always want to help promote fellow truckers, especially those on YouTube and those doing media. Send us some links! And also check out our blog covering some YouTube truckers on AllTruckJobs.com to read more about the YouTube channels. And once again, Big Rig Banter is powered by AllTruckJobs.com. If you’re looking for a new job, that’s your place to go. We really appreciate it.
Lenay: Yeah, absolutely, and if you have a free minute, leave us a review. We love to hear from ya!
Troy: Lenay, do you think you could be a YouTuber? Or what would your YouTube look like? What’s the topic you would cover?
Lenay: (Laughing) Hmm, I have thought about being a YouTuber. So, I thought about YouTubing my road trips and stuff. I think that would be a lot of fun. And then I’ve also considered like, a cooking one but it had a little spin to it but I can’t really go into any of the details on the air. What about you?
Troy: (Laughing) sounds good. I don’t know. I thought… well, I play video games, but it seems like a young person’s game, and it’s weird do say that being only 26 years old, but I’ll see like, 15 year old’s with three million views on YouTube and they’re playing a game and like, that’s a strange world. It is like the gaming and people streaming games and things like that. So, I thought about that, not that I’m a video game wizard or anything. but I don’t know. You’d have to have a certain personality to be successful on YouTube like that, and that’s not me. I’m not like, as you can tell from my voice, I don’t really get excited or emotional or like show a lot of emotions.
Lenay: That’s true. I don’t think I’ve ever seen you get really excited or mad.
Troy: That’s true. So, I mean, I don’t mind being pretty even keel, but I don’t think it lends its hand to it being a YouTube personality or anything like that. I definitely think it’d be cool. I mean, it’d be cool making a living making YouTube videos. I would take that any day, but I’m still searching for niche, that’s for sure.
Lenay: Yeah, right. Alright well I think that about wraps it up Troy, what about you?
Troy: Yeah, I think so. Enjoy your birthday. I’m really excited. I’m excited to hear about your trip, and yeah.
Lenay: Yeah, and happy wedding anniversary! One year down, forever to go.
Troy: I know, thank you. Thank you. But, once again, I’m your co-host Troy Diffenderfer
Lenay: And I’m your favorite co-host Lenay Ruhl
Troy: And this has been Big Rig Banter
Music – Thanks for tuning into another edition of Big Rig Banter. For your next job check out AllTruckJobs.com, the premier online source for finding the best driver jobs in the country. Browse hundreds of positions by freight or driver type to get back on the road with confidence. Click subscribe to keep the conversations coming until next time on Big Rig Banter.
