The following is a transcript from the video above featuring Dumptruck.
Hi, my name is Dumptruck. It’s true. I have been in the motorcycle industry for a little over 10 years now, I think it’s 13 years or something like that, if I’m gonna try and do math, and mostly I am an emcee for motorcycle rallies, concert festivals, all sorts of different marketing events, trade shows like international motorcycle shows. Basically, if there’s a motorcycle at it, I’ve probably talked around it or talked during it, and probably on a microphone.
I just got home from a 2000 mile ride on my new BMW motorcycle because now I’m one of the brand ambassadors for the BMW R18, and it is, I had no idea this was a thing; I had no idea I was on anyone’s list. Four weeks ago, I had no idea this was a thing, and suddenly I’ve flown out to California, you know, make a bunch of wonderful commitments, and get to start experiencing a whole new, whole new version of motorcycling. This machine is not like anything else, and I’m really excited to see where this partnership with BMW goes.
Dumptruck: Origin Story
So, Dumptruck always, the name. Dumptruck always like, raises eyebrows, right, everywhere, all the time. A lot of people who can’t really like deal with it, so they kind of won’t let it go, that they really want to know my given name, and my philosophy on that is if you ain’t doing my taxes, I don’t understand how that’s relevant.
But where does it come from? The name Dumptruck comes from this one time when I was in the Navy, and we’d been at sea for a while, and it was just about to be Fourth of July, so we go to Ocean Beach in San Diego, and it’s Fourth July, it’s 2001, and that’s me, two shipmates, about 10 civilians – who are still friends with most of them, closely and loosely, and it was the first day that I met all these people, and so we pack up a keg, furniture, and go down the beach, and the whole beach is taken over by this big, massive, pre-gargantuan bonfire beach party. It’s ridiculous; it was a really great time.
But for me, I just wanted to sit on the beach, be around people at the beach, and drink beer. That’s really it; I had no other aspirations. So, I sit next to the keg that we buried in the sand because that’s where the beer is, having the best time sitting there. Everything’s going perfect. I’m looking at the ocean; I’m not floating on it. I’m super happy.
And, if you fast forward about four hours or so, and everybody’s – you know – getting there, and a few of the guys start wrestling around, they just toppled on top of me, and I was just like, What the heck!” That’s mad man. I have, like, beer all over me; I’ve sand in my mouth. They don’t even care; they’re laughing, you know, just funning around, being dummies, and like we do, and I don’t say anything, and they don’t even notice, basically, and they keep wrestling, and they get about 20 or so feet away, and I run full force, leading with my face and my chest, and I smashed through all four of them when they didn’t see me coming. They all hit the ground, and this girl said it looked like a truck dumped everybody in one place.
Epic Motorcycle Trip: 31,334 Miles
This was a gift given to me after I got back from my longest road trip which was five months and two days. I went 31,334 miles, and I went through all 48 contiguous states that year. Before this trip happened, I actually was all over this area, and this is just kind of how I planned it for fun. I’ve always seen it, and this is like, “Hey, I’m gonna do this map!”
And, I was bunking with my friend Irish Whipskey, one of the roller derby players in Los Angeles and a really, really great friend, and so she actually had it framed and everything when I got back from the road trip so I’d have this memory, and she just had a room that I could borrow from time to time since I didn’t really live anywhere, but had some storage units and some really nice friends, and this is a fond memory. My ass still hurts. 31,334 in five months and two days to get a paycheck.
So, I mean, weather’s a thing no matter how far you’re riding, how short you’re riding, right, but there’s a big difference between being a two-mile rider where you stay pretty close to home – ain’t nothing wrong with it – and then when you do distance, especially you do distance for your first time. I mean, I packed the world on my motorcycle for my first trip. I mean it was massive, and as time’s continued, it’s gotten smaller and smaller and smaller, and it’s really all about your necessities and being prepared for everything, so if you’re going to go on your first long-distance trip, let’s say it’s going to be this time of year – we’re in November – and this is when the seasons change, and so sometimes it’s wet weather, but it’s almost always changing weather.
So, you have to have your rain gear. I mean that’s paramount. You need an extra pair of gloves – some that are going to go along with your rain gear, with some insulation, and those, like
Gore-tex, is probably a really great idea. They’ve got a lot of products out there that have D3O padding that are already in them, which is the shock absorbent, and worst-case scenario, stuff ends up not hurting you as bad as it could. Make sure that you’ve got layers to put on because some days it’s going to be warm and some days it’s going to be both warm and cold, so you’ll start bundled up, and as the day goes on you shred it down.
That’s my favorite way to do it because you’ve got options. Let’s see, if you’re going to do like 2,000 miles, like I just finished a 2,000 mile trip, you should bet on like 500 miles a day, leave early, stop often, and 500 miles is like the tip of allowing you to do that, and actually spend some time in the places instead of just going “Hey! that was awesome!”
Like, that’s fun too, just being able to see everything, but you know you can’t smell the roses if you don’t stop.
First Motorcycle
What really got me into motorcycles is that Sportster back there.
My dad actually bought it for my mom. He had just restarted riding again. I guess in the 70s he had a Triumph he used to rip around on, and I never knew him to ride a motorcycle, so he ended up getting one and was like – you know what, I want my wife to join me. Buys a Sportster; mom sits on it; doesn’t even start it yet, and she is so nervous and scared of it, he goes nope – you’re not riding anything.
And, it sat. It sat and it sat and it sat, and then one day he told me to come to the house, and we went straight to the county office, and he gave me the Sportster, which was – it still is a really big deal, you know, I mean, really big deal. That’s a big thing; that’s a moment. And, you know, especially for like, he and I, like, that was something that we could finally share, and it was really cool, and that’s where I really learned how to ride was in the Rocky Mountains, so after I took all my safety courses and training courses, and I took some advanced courses and stuff like that too, and just rode and rode and rode.
I was a truck driver for a beer company in the mountains, and so I knew a lot of these really cool mountain roads that weren’t typical, so after I learned those roads, I’d grab the Sportster and go rip, and just, you know, try and push it and push it and push it, and, you know, find my line and all those good things and really start to find a rhythm. And, that’s like where it began, like, whenever I got the first phone call to work for the motor company – first question was, “You have a Harley, right?” I was like, “Yes, I absolutely do – it’s in my backyard right now, blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah.” I was so excited. And then being that voice for that brand all over the country in a lot of different ways, and just fed my hunger for it, and it really put me in some really cool rooms, and I’ve been able to shake hands with and hug some very impressive and wonderful and kind people. And, now, you know, they’re also colleagues at this point, and it’s just been, it’s been really amazing to be a part of, and it just started with my mom being scared of motorcycles.
There’s been a lot of change in my life in general, coming up here in 2022, and getting ready to move out of my house and into a 30-foot toy hauler, and gonna pull that with the truck and throw some motorcycles in the back, and go back on the road full-time, but this time I’m going to have my house with me instead of having to sleep under my motorcycle. I have a feeling it’s going to be a lot more enjoyable that way and a lot more productive.
These days I’m actually doing less in seeing of events and more, you know, content creation: blog writing, photography, videography, you know, blogging, and all that kind of crazy stuff that’s on the interwebs, and that’s what’s allowing me to go on the road full-time is because I’m working the entire time I’m gone, so it’s like, yeah, I still get to, like, live a little bit of ramble, but there’s purpose to it now.
If you would like to follow me, you can find Dumptruck on Facebook – or there’s also Instagram. I don’t do twitters. I’m on pinterest – kind of – and if you look up “I Speak Good” on YouTube, you’ll see some things starting to populate here shortly, and that’s going to be a big focus of a lot of the content that I’m creating. Really hoping to inspire some people to go outside and travel for themselves.
You know what man, be sweet. That’s it. No matter where you go, be sweet. No matter who the people you’re around, whether you know them, whether you don’t, whether you agree with them, whether you don’t, you know, just be nicer than you were yesterday. We all need that.
Dumptruck is an online personality, voice over professional, emcee, and motorcycle enthusiast. Read more about his adventures on the road here and on his website, ispeakgood.com.