Snow, Socks, And 1,000 Classes Later

Frozen shoulders, tight yards, and a clock that never stops—this conversation dives into how real towing teams stay safe and sharp when the weather and the work stack the odds. We start with the small habits that compound into big wins: spare socks to fight moisture, warm hats and gloves to preserve judgment, and a plan to avoid the traffic side whenever possible. Those choices may sound simple, but they are the difference between a long career and a long recovery.

From there, we open up our next chapter of training. Partnering with the Cardinal Towing Legacy Group, we’re pairing hands-on recovery education with practical leadership coaching. When supervisors can brief clearly, delegate under pressure, and turn near-misses into team learning, crews run smoother and incidents drop. We also address the realities of urban towing—scarce storage, tight timelines, and constant traffic—by leaning into preplanning, precise communication, and disciplined rigging. Add ice or snow to that picture, and you need checklists, not guesswork.

We map out a packed schedule, including EV awareness modules, a two-day heavy-duty recovery series, and a multi-day advanced course in St. Louis built around loaded-unit scenarios and smart rotator use. If you’ve been waiting to level up your team’s technical skills—and their leadership—this is your moment. As we edge toward our 1,000th class, we’re grateful for everyone who has hosted, learned, and taught with us. The mission hasn’t changed: make the roadside safer, one well-trained operator and one well-led crew at a time.

Subscribe, share this with your team, and leave a review with your top winter safety habit—what’s the one practice you never skip on a cold call?

Transcript

Welcome Aboard & Listener Shoutouts

SPEAKER_05 0:04

You're on the train to success with April and West Wilburn. I'm DJ Harrington, the co-host, better known as the Toad Doctor. We're all on our way to the town of proper towing and recovery, along with our producer, Chuck Camp in the studio. Don't go to the town of woulda, coulda, shoulda. You could have done this. You should have done that. Listen every week to thought-provoking wisdom from great guests. So if you have Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, or the number one podcast, or maybe Amazon, or wherever you get your podcast, turn in on Wednesday and be turned on all week long. If you are a state association and want your announcements or upcoming state association news, or maybe a post show that's coming up, let us know. Our podcast studio phone number is 706-409-5603. I'm proud to be part of a great team at the American Dome Recovery Institute. I will turn it to April and Wish.

SPEAKER_03 1:23

Well, DJ, as always, I thank you for your kind words. Appreciate all your efforts you put into this podcast, making it grow and grow and grow. Of course, we appreciate the listeners. Appreciate April Wilbur. She does a ton of work behind the scenes. April, say hello to everybody.

SPEAKER_06 1:39

Hello, everybody. Hope all is well out there in in the world. We're um doing pretty good here. We're finally thawing out from the the winter. We actually got winter this year. We got a little bit of snow, we got a little bit of ice.

Winter Weather And Field Safety Basics

SPEAKER_03 1:54

Yeah, which uh for us is a lot, but for some of our listeners, what we got is nothing, boys. Some tough winters going on out there. Yeah. DJ, how are you doing? How are you surviving winter?

SPEAKER_05 2:05

Well, it's been very good here. We've had one or two really cold days. Uh I went to see my granddaughter play basketball. She won her championship, and it was cold for us here in, you know, in Atlanta. But across the weather, uh I talked to Jim Schellhouse today, and he is the weather's terrible all over the north. And so it's it's been tough tough traveling. And of course it's been tough for our you know, our listener base, because it's you know, we're we're always giving them tips, you know, to keep warm and bring extra pair of socks with them. You know, make sure your feet stay warm and your head stays warm. That's the two most important parts.

SPEAKER_06 3:00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 3:00

That's right.

SPEAKER_06 3:01

I've talked to a handful of people um in the in the north and the midwest and they're finally um getting out of the the ice that came to them two weeks ago where they've got, you know, a couple three inches of ice and they're finally getting themselves shipped out of it. So I think we're on the mend as far as the weather goes, hopefully.

SPEAKER_03 3:19

Yeah, but it wasn't just the north, the midwest, but the southwest got it.

SPEAKER_06 3:23

Southwest, yeah, the southwest did get it too. I did say midwest, but the southwest got got it, and they're like us, it it's not as common.

SPEAKER_03 3:31

I think even our friends way down there in Lake Charles uh got some snow. They don't never get it down there, and that's three points as well.

SPEAKER_05 3:38

Hey, in Georgetown, Texas, the the just the gentleman who retired as executive director of URG, Don Porter, fell on his shoulder and busted that up again. He's he's already April, he's already had it. A car accident with his shoulder, he fell on a golf course with his shoulder about six you know, six years later, and now again he falls on the same shoulder and they operated on him yesterday because of the slick ice that was out in Texas.

SPEAKER_04 4:19

Yeah, boy, they're definitely not used to it down there either. No, no.

SPEAKER_05 4:27

Oh no, yeah, you think but in Cincinnati and in all of those countries you know, it's the states, they've really had a tough time. And y your your listener base now is so far over twenty thousand, you sit back Wes in April and you start thinking, all right, now we're talking about weather in so many different locations.

SPEAKER_07 4:55

Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_05 4:56

And we have always told them bring an extra blanket with them, bring warm socks. I remember the list that Wes put together one time and I thought, boy, oh boy, Wes has been there. He knows he knows exactly what's going on.

SPEAKER_06 5:13

Yeah, he grew up in Northern Virginia, so then ain't that definitely ate North Carolina, that's for sure.

SPEAKER_03 5:18

During a cell, you gotta as an operator, you gotta keep your hands and your feet warm and dry. Get get out of 'em, get your feet as dry as you can, put dry socks on and start back out.

Community News And Industry Updates

SPEAKER_05 5:36

Exactly. Yeah, my brother Bill West, my brother Bill had told all his employees that now in the winter time they don't have 250, but they have about eighty-five to a hundred employees in the winter months, and he gives everybody uh ski hats to wear. And he said to me, DJ, it's important to keep that they keep their hands warm, their head warm, and their feet warm. And if you have wet socks on, the guy's out of work the next day because he's he's sick, he got a cold or you know.

SPEAKER_03 6:19

That's right.

SPEAKER_05 6:20

So he wants to keep everybody going, so but just like usual, you're you're aware of all this stuff, so Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 6:30

Well, speaking of being aware, we gotta when we're talking about prayers early, we definitely need to keep different folks in different parts of the world for their prayers. That war is still going on overseas. Trump has got a bunch of them shut down, but they still got that one to go for a couple more weeks before they get 30% off, so praying for those folks and the was the Venezuelan underrest right now, along with Iran. So hope hope those hot spots in the world calm down and hope hope things calm down in our country, of course. I think we've all been on edge for the last week thinking about poor uh Nancy Catherine. Catherine Yeah, what's going on with her? Poor thing she's been kidnapped eight what, eight days ago now, April. Eleven. Eleven. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:20

Eleven days.

SPEAKER_03 7:22

Yeah, I it's Wednesday, I guess it is. Praying for her eighty, what is she, eighty four eighty four eighty-four years old.

SPEAKER_06 7:33

And with every it seems like with every glimmer of hope there's a lot of heartache that goes with that because once you get your hopes up and then it doesn't follow through, it it's gotta be just devastating over and over and over again. I it's emotionally it's gonna be very hard to sustain as a family member. And and this poor dear woman, eighty-four, you're gonna have some medical problems and if she did. Or and does.

SPEAKER_03 7:58

Um I don't even know barely ever watched the daughter, but I'm feel emotionally for the young for the lady. I mean like you say, you know, eighty something out of your best physical shape, but God bless her.

SPEAKER_04 8:15

God bless that whole family out there.

SPEAKER_05 8:19

Yeah, I know I know it's very, very tough. The guy running for governor out in Minnesota, his daughter stabbed and and he just it's heartbreaking.

SPEAKER_06 8:31

He's pulled out of the race, um you know, understandably, but it's gotta be tough to be a politician in uh Minnesota. Uh I gotta tell ya. Uh I gotta tell you, that that's the whole his daughter was killed and there were two other um other state politicians that were like a year ago or so that were that were murder murdered and then everything else was going on there too is a whole nother can of um worms to open up that I'm gonna wanna get into right now, but Minnesota, Minnesota nice is what they say, but I'm not sure anymore.

SPEAKER_03 9:08

You know, every person I know from the towing industry from Minnesota is outstanding individuals. I only know a few of 'em, but every single one of 'em has been a pleasure to deal with over the years.

SPEAKER_06 9:19

Yeah.

Urban Towing Constraints And Realities

SPEAKER_03 9:20

Nice folks. So that isn't you know, I know that what we we're seeing some of the ugliness of the of the state. I know that's not the total state, that's like someone's ugly in New York.

SPEAKER_06 9:31

By New York City.

SPEAKER_03 9:32

By Manhattan or New York City in general.

SPEAKER_06 9:35

Well, it is called Minnesota Nice and that got that reputation in an honest way. The people Yeah, the people the folks there are the other ninety-eight percent of the state, you know.

SPEAKER_05 9:48

Uh when I d did uh training up in Manhattan uh West in April, I have to tell you that was the toughest understanding for me because they have such limited space in their yard and they would bring in vehicles and they would tell the people, you know, you have six days and then it's it's going. It's going bye bye. 'Cause they have very limited space in their yard. And so you either take it to a place to be repaired or it is going to be demolished. And it is so hard in Manhattan and uh it it's it's really something. Of course I met them in Baltimore and th they're fine, fine people, but boy, it is tough.

SPEAKER_06 10:48

Yeah, I think in that area it's tough to be, um it's I think it's kinda tougher to be a tour in that area. Only because of the limitations and the restrictions and uh you gotta have something to you to be able to do it. You know, to do that day in to day out.

SPEAKER_03 11:04

Well it's a whole different world than most of the folks have been dealing with it. That's all they ever know.

SPEAKER_06 11:09

Yeah, it's a it's a normal. It's the normal that you don't understand.

SPEAKER_03 11:19

Uh there had to empty them out, put cars everywhere to get a little bit of room in a story class so we could do the hands-on.

Break And Sponsor Message

SPEAKER_05 11:25

Exactly, West. Let's talk about towing. Let's talk about you.

SPEAKER_06 11:30

Yeah, let's let's talk about you, baby. Let's talk about me, but let's go to break first about that.

SPEAKER_01 11:35

That's sound, I've got it.com. It's 910-747-9000. That's 910-7479000. We look forward to serving you. Welcome back, listeners.

Institute Milestones And Mission

SPEAKER_05 15:17

Of course, you know you're listening to the number one podcast in the towing and recovery industry. This is really something that you need to be listening to, and we thank each and every one of you for telling your friends about it. You're listening to the the number one podcast, and I'm gonna tell you, this is a good one. We are the American Towing and Recovery Institute podcast with Wes Wilburn, April Wilburn, and DJ Harrington. Every week we do our best to bring you informative episodes. Make sure you download and listen. We're available on Spotify, iTunes, Pandora, Stitcher, iHeartMedia, or wherever you get your podcast. All right, without further ado, let me bring you back to West and April Wilburn.

SPEAKER_03 16:14

Thanks, DJ. I really appreciate the time words and again all your help make things happen. Of course, appreciate April. She doesn't want to make this happen than anybody else behind the scene well.

SPEAKER_06 16:27

Except for probably Chuck Hoover is her producer. Thank you, Chuck. Thank you, Chuck.

SPEAKER_03 16:39

A lot.

SPEAKER_06 16:40

Yeah.

SPEAKER_05 16:40

Yeah, he does.

SPEAKER_03 16:42

So as we sit here today, I'm just about to start my um thirty-third year, thirty-fourth year, ninety-three to twenty-sixth and thirty-three, I guess.

SPEAKER_04 16:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 16:54

A full-time providing telling recovery education to the industry. I'm really excited about where the institute is. As everybody knows, we're working with the Cardinal Telling Legacy Group now. They're taking things over and doing a great job with things, and they're bringing some different type of training more than cable training, how to how to tell how to book how to recover training that we provided.

SPEAKER_06 17:17

I still do.

New Leadership Training With Cardinal Group

SPEAKER_03 17:20

They're taking it to a whole different level with their leadership training. They had their first session out of Florida. Uh first session away from home where I should say it like that a few years. And I've heard nothing but good reviews about it. So as we're coming around the country providing the regular training, we're gonna try to have some of these sessions as well. That's probably whether you're in the operations level, your company or management level, leadership is a skill that's needed, and uh this always this course gives you some real good practical information on that. So we'll go over some dates here in a minute, but we're also gonna be providing our regular television. I'm still gonna be involved doing some of the classroom, still participating a little bit in the hands-on, but JC and Cody and a couple others do a great job of doing the hands-on. So we're just we're focusing on working back and forth and taking around trying to make sure most of everything we're talking about in the classroom either applies to your day-to-day operations or directly applies to the operations we're gonna perform that day at the class. So just trying to bring it all together, it's been a big focus. I think we've done a real good job. Megan, JT, the whole crew, Justin, everybody's working hard to help make growth the program. It's really exciting to see the growth taking place. We're gonna be at the Florida show, we're gonna do some electric vehicle training, we're gonna do some leadership training. We'll also be in uh Oklahoma, Alabama just a couple weeks ago, about just a day or two after this thing dropped. Where else are we gonna be able?

SPEAKER_06 19:03

Well, let's get the schedule up. Um the next weekend at the bat we're gonna be in Morgan, North Carolina doing a cargo tank awareness class with Perry Beatty at Liberty Towing.

SPEAKER_03 19:14

That's a good setup there. They do a great job at Liberty.

SPEAKER_06 19:17

And we like Cody so much, we're gonna be back at Cody's place in March. Um March 13th and 14th.

SPEAKER_03 19:26

That's that one day cargo tank awareness with Perry's one day class.

SPEAKER_06 19:31

That's right back.

SPEAKER_03 19:32

What's the dates on that?

SPEAKER_06 19:33

That is uh March thirteenth, and I have one here 14th. Is it a one-day class or a two-day class?

SPEAKER_04 19:38

Two days.

SPEAKER_06 19:39

Okay, March 13th and 14th. And then we're gonna come back to North Carolina on March 20th, short, North Carolina for a uh class at Hunter. We're gonna do a two-day heavy duty Toby and recovery class the 21st and 22nd, and on the 20th, the the day before that we're gonna do the EV class as well.

SPEAKER_03 20:03

And then I'll tell you, Hunter's always a great host and one of the founding members of the institute. Last year they had a had a couple of food trucks coming to feed everybody. One of the food trucks served lobster, that was everything served with different lobster dishes. And I recommend made sure everybody that wanted some tried some. Some people had never had it before, so it was a really neat experience. Of course I love seeds food, so I had some.

SPEAKER_04 20:32

It was excellent.

2024 Training Schedule Highlights

SPEAKER_06 20:36

So in April, we are gonna be on Florida at the Florida Toast show April 9th. We're gonna do an EV and a leadership class. And that's and that's gonna be actually free. Florida Toe Show uh always offers these classes uh for free, and we're making sure that we're gonna be there for that one. So that will be a good opportunity for you um to come to that if you're gonna be coming to the show anyway. After the Florida Toast show, May 12th, um, we're gonna do an eight-hour legit class in St. Louis. Actually, that's our that kicks off a big thing with we already talked about that one. Um it's gonna be a class from the twelfth to the sixteenth for classes. There's gonna be an E V. There's a leadership class, and then there's an E V class that follows it on the same day. And that is um May 13th. Then the 14th or the 16th is a three-day heavy duty tele recovery class.

SPEAKER_03 21:36

Advanced level.

SPEAKER_06 21:38

Advanced level. So I'm gonna um and then in June we're gonna be in Medford, Oregon uh for a two day heavy duty tele recovery class. And then Wes, I'm gonna let you talk about this le this four day class in Fabulous, 'cause I think that's gonna be a big event. We already got some people signing up for that.

SPEAKER_03 21:56

It's gonna be our advanced level class in the spring. If you like the towing recovery, heavy duty towing recovery course that we do around the country, this will take it to the next level. There'll be a lot of rotator use, but not all rotator use. Several major recoveries with loaded units, different vehicles for advanced level towing. We're working out the details on that right now. That's going to be a great course. It's right there where the home team is. They have great resources to make it happen if you're looking for an advanced level sewing education and also the leadership education all at one shot. You really ought to look at the state.

unknown 22:41

St.

SPEAKER_03 22:41

Louis is a great city. I love that the fact that they were headquartered out of there now. That's before you in fact you consider the EMA's pizza and the uh other great food of that region that I love so much.

SPEAKER_06 22:54

What is one of the great things about St. Louis too is kind of centrally located in the country? It kind of gives an advantage for people for a four-day class like this, or classes like this. You're I would say a plane right, everybody's a plane right away from someplace, but it is an easier plane right away if you if you're coming from different parts of the country.

SPEAKER_03 23:15

Yeah, right now we have a friend of ours from California coming in. And you know, it's halfway across, not all the way across like I normally am. So it works St. Louis works out real well. The folks there are just real nice as well.

SPEAKER_06 23:28

Super nice. Uh for these classes and more information um about our coding educational certification, you can email or log into amcow signup.org. That's amposignup.org or call 636-800-ATRI. And and my phone number is 9107479000, and all those roads leads you to um information about these classes.

SPEAKER_03 23:58

So we're really looking forward to the dates we have planned. We got a lot more in the works. Next time we talk next week, we're gonna have seven more dates confirmed on the on the training schedule. If you're interested in a training date, reach out to us. We'd love to work with you. Um again, we're just excited to be part of this moving train that's going forward.

SPEAKER_06 24:20

And I want to say one more thing. Uh two smart things. One, I believe this starts the fifth year of our podcast, the beginning of it. So we've finished four. We're going into five. And Chuck will have to get back to anyone how many episodes, but I'm pretty sure it's well over 200. And the second thing is is we're on the road to 1,000 classes.

SPEAKER_03 24:45

982, I think the other day. Next one coming up 983, I believe, without looking at the numbers.

SPEAKER_04 24:52

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 24:53

Now 980. I did nine eighty one, I got nine eighty two coming up. I think. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_06 24:58

It's very plausible and feasible and almost almost definitely we're probably gonna finish that up by this year. That doesn't mean that we're finished, though. We're still we're still moving forward.

St. Louis Advanced Course Deep Dive

SPEAKER_03 25:12

Yeah, but realistically, I doubt if we have to do the thousand, I'll take the lead. I'll hopefully have a a side card I can do with classes, but I I think at that point I'll stop to leave. So that it is challenging and things are moving in. We have such talent stuff we have to take over that part of that equation, too. So yeah, we're uh closing in on it. And like you say, it's not the end, but it's gonna be a definite change. And um, I'm just excited to be a part of it and humbled by it. Really appreciate every single individual that helped me get to that that's helping me get to that thousand class. People like Joe Collie down in Florida, God rest the soul, put a school helped me put a school together with only eight people that come. Still did it and helped. I met a lot of great people. I shouldn't stretch name names, there's so many that will be left out, but there's been a lot of people that helped me get here, a whole lot of people. And I'm thankful for every single one of them. So if I see you this year at the Board of the Show or wherever, make sure you tell me you're part of my thousand. I want to know that. I want to know who you are. A lot of times I remember faces, I'm having trouble with the name, although you guys are getting so old, I'm having a hard time recognition the face. Just the reality of the world we live in. So I was listening to a podcast recently, one of our podcasts. I said to myself, So, what's the best message I can send these folks off with at this busy time of year? And I think it's relatively simple. I know these calls to be done, I know you got to get out there and do them and make the money, but please do not put yourself at risk. It's a deadly profession on this bright, sunny, warm day, much less three o'clock in the morning on a snow covered inner state with ice that's frozen over. So just don't take any extraordinary chances. You're not super man or woman, you got a family to go host to, people that love you. Please get off that traffic side of the road, please wear proper saving the year, rest, etc. And please know that all of us here at the Marathon Recovery Institute and On the Go podcast are praying for you and your family. Be good, thank you for your service to your community, and thank God for America.