Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Some General Housekeeping

CougFan had it right when he said "...You cant be a truck driver without a black belt in pi$$ing and moaning." (Page 16, message #153.)

Writing is not unlike driving a rig. I can back up, pause, slow down, speed up, turn, U-turn and do things I can't do in a truck like jump ahead or back. The first write takes 20-30 minutes on my iPad in Pages (a word processor from Apple), copy it over here to Truckers Report, then another 20-30 minutes reading and editing.

Truckers Report gives me 24 hours to edit further and I'll re-read and pick out wording changes, typos and further edits until then. After 24 hours the edit function goes away. So I'll invest 1-1/2 to 2 hours or more on this message over the course of 24 hours. I'll often write over a meal and it's fairly easy. Surprisingly easy.

I do expect a few potshots. Some may disagree or have a different experience. That's okay. You/they are entitled to your/their opinion, too, and if the narrative doesn't please you, please move on to a thread that does. No one's forcing you to read this thread. This isn't your 'forced dispatch'.

Seasoned drivers forget how difficult starting out was. The things you weren't told. That you should have been told. Many companies think once you sign up with them that you're theirs to use, abuse and discard. That's what Truckers Report is all about. The guy/gal who cares what my five (5) months with Gordon was like is considering Gordon or a rookie with Gordon trying to make sense of it all. They are not 'fresh meat'.

They are real folks most likely with bills to pay, rent or mortgages, kids, child support, single, divorced, married, soon-to-be-divorced. Like them, we all want to know if we're getting in where the deck is stacked against us. Many a rookie pushed all his/her chips into the center of the table to make this move. They deserve your support and all the accurate advance information they can get. Gordon won't tell them.

As EZX1100 said in a different (USA) thread when someone said that you had to remember who owns the truck, "they dont own YOU and when you are working, you are there to deliver freight and feed your family, not learn how to balance a ball on your nose..." The issue there was USA Truck requiring repeated small-gallon, short fueling at multiple truck stops.

IMO Gordon's 'short ruins' is another low form of balancing a ball on your nose for no money.


Written August 6, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. I appreciate Desert_Skies' thanks on the previous post. All rights reserved by author.

 

Trip and pay details of my first 3 weeks.............. page 2, message 17.
Trip and pay details of my second 3 weeks.......... page 9, message 81.
Summary of loads............................................ page 14, message 139.
Best short summary of trucking for Gordon........ CougFan, page 16, messages #152, #153.

Dispatch #37--Green Bay WI E Green Bay WI L Gary IN L Forest View IL
272 miles.......................................................................... $ 84.32

The Tower Bridge over the Fox River in Green Bay has been the site of numerous suicide attempts. Seems like each time I've been to Green Bay I head over that bridge, now called the Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge, renamed after a local guy who found his calling in life wasn't the cheese business he had made a career of, but rather hit his stride, his 'life's work' in Paul's Pantry, a local Green Bay food pantry and philanthropy.

The link below takes you to an incident on the bridge, a 2004 high-speed chase that ends with Tina Zahn exiting her car and leaping off the bridge--and a Wisconsin trooper catching on to her and hauling her back up after she disappears over the side...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=jqdJ828zyA0

...plus you get a look at the Leo Frigo Memorial Bridge, if you haven't seen it before, this time from the trooper's dash cam and the east more industrial side of Green Bay below.

I had a drop-and-hook pick up over the bridge from my Green Bay delivery and a load going to Galesburg, MI. Yup, Michigan again. 350 miles. Hey! Not a stinker, or not quite a stinker--it's over 300 miles to Galesburg from Green Bay, right? But look at what actually happened. Empty to Green Bay (from Green Bay delivery to the other side of Green Bay to load), Gary, IN and ending at the drop yard in Forest View, IL. Gordon had to turn it into a stinker after all... right? Now, what's that all about, eh? Heading back to Illinois from Indiana with a load going to Michigan? Gary, IN to Forest View, IL? Looks like another GreyHound 'short ruin'.

I had stopped at the Iron Skillet in Gary, 'Gary Petro' (the worst excuse for a Petro--it's a franchise, not a company store--don't go there if you can avoid it) and from there got dispatched to go west, leave Indiana with my load heading east for Galesburg and take it back into Illinois to the drop yard in Forest View. At this point, I was very confused by this dispatched U-turn sending me backwards into Illinois.

Sounds perfectly insane, doesn't it. Not only that, although I had been to the drop yard before I somehow got turned around, found myself looking at the airport off Cicero and figured I better get the iPad out and have Google Maps figure out where I was and where I should be. My GPS had already got me lost trying to get to this drop yard once before. I needed the iPad and even then it took a while to get on track.

I had gotten lost and I called to alert dispatch and learned that a driver was waiting for me at the Forest View drop yard whose home was right near Galesburg, Michigan. My load would take him home.

His load would take me to Plainfield and home. When it was all over I called the Intimidator back and complimented her on a job well done. "Yeah," she said, "We worked really hard on that one."


Written August 8, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. There's a grippping excerpt from Tina Zahn's book, 'Why I Jumped', on ABC News; if you Google 'Tina Zahn' you'll find it. 10,001 views as of 6:00 p.m. Thanks! All rights reserved by author.

 

Dispatch #38--Forest View IL L Plainfield IN
184 miles................................... $ 57.04

Once I understood another driver was waiting for me I felt really embarrassed about getting lost on the way to a drop yard I'd been to at least once without a problem as well as gotten lost at least once, too. Oops! Lost again! The Intimidator was no help--Gordon dispatch never is, unlike some companies where a requirement at dispatch is to know the customers and the lanes. Knowing-how-to-get-there is not part of Gordon dispatch. You're the driver; you're the one who needs to know how to get there.

The Intimidator gave me the driver's cell number and I called him. I knew I was close, but just close, no cigar. As we talked on our cells, I finally got a visual on my iPad of where I was and that 'strangeland' around the Forest View drop yard. Finally. I remembered. The driver was surprisingly at ease about the whole thing, whereas I was in earnest. Like he was in no hurry.

He was the same when I finally pulled up. We talked for about a half hour. He had about the same time as me with Gordon, maybe a week or two longer, had been running 3600 miles a week. "But don't tell anyone," he asked. "Okay?" Well, sure... until now, at least. Metaphysically, we had a lot of similar views. I told him about the Healer back in Pacific, MO and complimented him on the show-room condition of his truck.

When he signed on with Gordon he had two years recent with either PAM or PTL, not sure which, told Gordon he would drive anywhere and stay out in any weather, no matter. Had the same DM as me, the Intimidator. This would be his first home time since he started. The Fleet Manager sent him to Pontoon Beach for a truck (as would be done with me later) and that first truck was so bad he told Gordon to keep the job.

Instead, they brought him back to Indy. And put him in a new truck. A brand new truck.

Yes, sometimes Gordon does blink.

By the time I got to the Plainfield customer it was getting dark. My instructions were to drop the bills off in a mailbox, spot the loaded trailer and grab an empty. A Schneider pulled up looking for the same mailbox. For a truck driver, he looked down right crisp, I thought.

He looked like he was on his way to church, freshly showered and shaved, neatly dressed. 'Turned out' he was and an owner-operator out of Kentucky, had been for 15 years; bought his truck new and had paid his truck off long ago. He'd been driving the same truck the whole time. Every Monday he goes on the Schneider board and picks his 'money' load northeast.

After delivering his 'money load' he takes small hops, whatever pays best and works his way back to Kentucky for the weekend and church on Sunday. Same truck all those years.

Never misses church.


Written August 8, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. Happy to hit 10,000 views tonight, a nice milestone! Listening to Little Steven's Underground Garage, WTTS-Bloomington/Indianapolis. Ends with Homer Simpson (I think), "Now I have to face stupid reality again." All rights reserved by author.

 

Stupid Reality Again

Roehl and Gordon both have about 2000 trucks, good equipment and a reputation for safety and running legal. Good places for rookies to learn the ropes. 'Life after Roehl' (above) is a worthwhile thread. A group of Roehl alumni (graduates of Roehl who went on to better pay, better lifestyles) share their insights about Roehl and life after Roehl while current Roehl drivers discuss their plans and some cut the cord with Roehl.

Good reading. Some Roehl drivers went to smaller operations, better pay and more home time similar to what I did. But then, I had better pay before Gordon, too (USPS contractor paid $23.67/hour or so). The Say-It-Ain't-So's want you to believe that you just have to suck it up, work all-consuming long hours, forget life other than trucking. Put in two (2) 40-hour/week work years for the pay of one good job...

Don't believe it.

After we got laid off from the mail runs, a buddy who had a truck ('96 KW with 3406 Cat) just waiting at home quickly got the remainder mechanical work done to put it to work at Landstar (like Desert_Skies, a Gordon alumnus) and is still there, seems to be doing well. Another Gordon alumnus we hear from, Blu_Ogre, made the jump to owner-operator, too.

The Schneider owner-operator I met in Plainfield offers another possibility. The Schneider Choice program with a load board for owner-operators that you choose loads from. There is at least one thread here (The Trucker's Report) comparing Landstar and its board with Schneider: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...hneider/219969-schneider-o-o-or-landstar.html

Does Gordon treat rookies different from seasoned OTR drivers? IMO you betcha! And the difference in Gordon miles of the Galesburg, MI driver and myself illustrates it. He's not racking up 3600 miles week-after-week with the 'short ruins' (thanks, GreyHound) loads I got from Gordon. Not that he didn't have stinker loads, too; because he did. He just didn't have as many and he had good, long runs that I didn't get. In fact, he had just returned from Idaho, for example. (Also, this was his first stop at home. Not my cup a tea!)

From Plainfield I headed home with the empty. It had been a long day but I still needed to get the rig backed up onto my property in the dark. I live on a large hill, had to drive a couple miles past my place to turn around and come back. Up at my place I first pulled onto the shoulder of the highway, waited for a solid break in traffic, then pulled the truck out into the highway so I could see to back in on an angle.

As the trailer and then the tractor cleared the highway and got up on my gravel, I had to lock the drives to get clear of the driveway in front of my garage. Satisfied, I shut 3579 down for a reset at home.


Written August 9, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. I'm curious about all the guests, 22 then 24 then 33 this afternoon, 7 earlier, 17 right now. Sign up and tell us who you are! All rights reserved by author.

 

Dispatch #39--Plainfield IN U Spencer IN E Indianapolis IN
E Terre Haute IN L Nashville TN L Franklin TN
416 miles........................................ $ 128.96
Assist unload #1............................. 15.00
Assist unload #2............................. 15.00
Total...............$158.96

I live on the rim of the Owen Valley Basin, about 15 miles south of where geologists say the last glacier stopped; and while most of the rest of Owen County is a clay soil, I'm all glacial sand pushed up in front of that last glacier and the sand on the property ranges from powdery 'sugar' sand to a coarse quartzite sand mix where you might find gold flecks. I haven't found any although some have claimed to pull working man's wages in gold flecks out of local streams and creeks--or so they claim.

Claims about money are cheap in my book. Real money, real money, is quiet. At first blush this dispatch doesn't look bad, 416 miles and just under $160, but it tied up a good part of two days, Monday and Tuesday morning. It's more like two $80 runs, two stinkers then, because it ties up most all day Monday but can't deliver until starting with the early appointment Tuesday morning.

Some fresh but minor-looking damage on the empty I picked up back in Plainfied prompted me to called OTR Friday night and email a pic off my iPad. OTR asked me to bring that empty to Indy and let the shop evaluate it for leaks. Okay, fine. I would take that empty home and see the shop on Monday. I didn't know yet about the two-drop load out of Terre Haute.

Monday morning I QCd my 8 (Macro 8, ready for duty) at 8:00 a.m., which is pretty regular for me. Dispatch came back with these two (2) drops in Tennessee for Tuesday. I had heard of these loads since some drivers don't like them. I needed to be in Nashville at 7 or 8 a.m. the following morning. That made the hour to drop off the empty or have the shop look at it inconvenient. I'm about half way between Indy and Terre Haute.

I figured an hour to Indy, a half hour with the shop or hook another empty there, an hour and half to Terre Haute, an hour to drop and hook and five hours to run the 260 miles to the first stop in Nashville. That's 9 hours, plus an hour to unload. The main thing on these loads is make it on time to the first stop. Just run it out from there.

It made sense to get to Nashville Monday night, take ten parked at the customer's, deliver the two drops in the morning and ready to roll on from there. Counting back from 7 a.m., as long as I got to the customer by 9 or 10 p.m. I'd be fine. I could do the first delivery on off-duty hours after all since the DOT was probably not hanging out in the morning at the customer's. Then I'd have the hours to make the second stop.

Counting further back 9 hours, I could leave around noon-ish and be fine. Okay, fine. Nope. Too easy.

It didn't happen that way at all.


Written August 10, 2013 at home, six miles north of Spencer, IN--Owen County. One of the mods pulled a posting I made here earlier today and a reposting to another thread. He explained that it seemed provocative and more about the individual than about Gordon. An intelligent, well-spoken mod is a good thing. Thanks! All rights reserved by author.

 

Trapped in a Sandbox

It rained that Sunday when the Indianapolis Colts got whipped for three quarters in Detroit against the Lions, and then pulled out a surprise 35-33 win. All I noticed was the rain; I'm a sports zero. The ground was already pretty well saturated. About noon on Monday the ground squished as I said good-bye to my dogs and headed out to the truck.

When I went to pull out, though, 3579 pulled up a little and stopped, made no more progress. I backed up a foot or so, thinking a little scoot would help. It didn't. I got out, walked around the truck and a bulge of dirt had been pushed up in front of the tandems like the dirt mound pushed up in front of ancient glaciers. It didn't look like enough to stop the truck but I got a flat shovel, scooped the dirt away and put down pieces of plywood on either side in front of the tandems, just in case. 3579 still wouldn't move, drives locked or not.

This time I got out and took a more careful look at the drives. The back left and the front rights had dug into my uncompacted number 2 stone like someone caught in desert sand. Out in the Coachella Valley I saw all sorts of vehicles, including semis, stuck down to their axles in off-road desert sand by inexperienced drivers who dug themselves deeper rather than out.

My #2 stone was like a bunch of peas in a bowl of wet jello. When the drives turned, the surrounding water allowed them to just push out of the way. Okay, fine. I called Favorite DM, who would expect me progressing towards Nashville and told her that I had a problem, that I would take care of it and would be on time in Nashville. Then I went into my garage for a couple 20-ton bottle jacks.

I have a about five of these bottle jacks. By the time I got both sides jacked up and blocked up, the #2s smoothed out and some plywood underneath the drives, it was well after 2 p.m. By the time I had a shower, which I needed by then, it would be near 3 p.m. Now I had another problem. If I left now I'd make my first stop but wouldn't have my ten done soon enough to make the second stop in Franklin, about a half-hour down the road from Nashville.

Favorite DM suggested skipping Indy and just take the damaged trailer to Terre Haute and let OTR worry about it, said drivers do that all the time. I thanked her but knew I wasn't going to do that. I would have to leave around 10 p.m. and run it. I hate driving from 11 p.m. to 4 a.m. and that's one of the reasons I took the job with Gordon rather than a much better paying job hauling mail at night again. I wanted to sleep at night.

About 11:15 p.m. I dropped the damaged trailer by the Indy shop, left a note under the pigtail latch and QCd OTR. Fortunately there was another empty.

When I got to Terre Haute, Swift from Orientation was there and he just beamed. He looked like a very happy Cascadia camper (Swift lives in his truck). Swift and SuperService were the heaviest smokers and Swift had taken to calling me 'Mom' when I ragged at them for their smoking--but always with a big smile. Now he had that big, wide smile again.

Clearly, driving for Gordon agreed with him.


Written August 11, 2013 at the China Star Buffet, Ellettsville, IN. All rights reserved by author.

 

Detour Number One (#1)

So hold this thought, then I want to take a detour. I'm in Terre Haute after dropping the damaged trailer off at the yard on Dividend Road at 11:15 pm and fortunately found an empty. I need to be in Nashville at 7 am and have bumped into 'my good buddy' Swift from Orientation. He has a run out of this customer, too. I forget where. It really does feel like a little reunion of sorts. We don't discuss Gordon but by all appearances he's very happy and not having any seller's remorse about trading Swift for Gordon.

Now I want to take a detour.

For the last few days I've kind of left my thread here and participated pretty heavily in two others. Kind of let this go while that has been going on. Separately, double yellow, who I think does not agree with me on a lot of things, posed a time management quiz to me in one of those other threads:

So I want to digress here. I'm on a run to Philly of about the same length, maybe I'll talk about that a little bit, too. Tonight I'm at an Ohio rest stop on I-70 about 300 miles out from Indy and show 6 hrs driving time on my log but have been running 70 for quite a while where I can (legally).

Our trucks are usually buttoned at 71 but this one has had a bunch of work done on it and I put my foot into it on a flat and realized I had zoomed past 70. Maybe she's ungoverned. Dunno. Anyway.

I arrived at the shipper at 8:45 am and didn't depart until 12:45 pm. Two hours of that time is not paid. The rest my company pays at $18/hr and since the 2 hours is used up I'll get paid for my unload/load in Philly and my delivery when I get back to Indy. So that's pretty cool for trucking. Helloooooo, Gordon??? (Just kidding... NOT!!)

Anyway, I'd like to take a look here at how double yellow actually managed to arrive in Laredo at 0800 (8 am) in real time and my 'plan' would have me there at 1900 (7 pm). That is, double yellow arrived almost 12 hours earlier than my estimate. You might want to learn this; at the very least, you'd like to know how double yellow pulled this rabbit out of his hat.

Very cool, double yellow.


Written August 14, 2013 at an Ohio rest area about 300 miles east of Indy. All rights reserved by author.

 

Detour Number One (#1)--continued--My Estimate

So here's double yellow's time management quiz again and my estimate:

I'm much more conventional than you and intrigued at how you ran this. (I'm assuming this is an actual run.)

From Savage, Mn 2 hr live load ready @ 3 pm.
Day 1 out - 3 pm to 10 pm....... 7 hrs driving
Day 2 out - 8 am to 7 pm......... 10 hrs driving
Day 3 out - 8 am to 7 pm......... 10 hrs driving

1) Earliest drop unless Mason City accepts early del or Savage loads earlier = 7 pm Day 3 (all Central)
2) Available again = 8 am Day 4 (I know a lot of 'seasoned' drivers like to roll out early am. I like 8 am.)
3) Available from 70 = 35.25

From Walcott IA 0800
205 mi to Mason City dock 4.25 (if cannot unload earlier, will ask to drop trlr and bobtail to TS for any necessaries on off-duty driving--narrative doesn't indicate any needs. Will not fuel until after unloaded and probably not here.)
116 mi to Savage MN 2.25 live load @ 1300 (1 pm) if cannot do earlier. Loaded by 1500 (3 pm).
Savage MN to Laredo TX - 27 hrs
DVIRs 3 days .75 Savage MN to Laredo
Fuel probably twice, at least once between Des Moines and Topeka, second as needed. .50
I extended your 90 min (1-1/2 hr unload and load time to 2 hrs each)


August 15, 2013 from Philly. All rights reserved by author.

 

Detour Number One (#1)--continued--double yellow's estimate and actual run

Here is double yellow's estimate and actual trip:

I'll be adding some discussion of double yellow's run, hopefully tomorrow or if not, after I get back home from this Philly run. It looks like double yellow beat by a mile the 'Gordon Way' (50 mph plus 1 hr per 250 miles) and my rather conventional estimate. If so, it's well worth scrutinizing. Thanks, double yellow!

BTW, since my load to Philly is placarded it doesn't park just anywhere, doesn't go through tunnels or through metropolitan areas (goes around), comes to a full stop at all railroad tracks. What would have been a 635-mile trip for another truck to the same location in Philly, went 818 miles. 309 yesterday and 509 today. Very good $$. The more specialized your truck driving niche, the more $$. The self-insured carriers that make a living on newbies are on the bottom of the driver pay-scale food chain.

Unloading and loading in the morning. Got here 7:30 pm due to multiple delays including late shipper yesterday and tandem tire replacement this morning. It's all good. That's PAID time. On I-68 in West Virginia, amidst those long, sweeping, beautiful hills, a Swift used the green-and-brown quick brake, ran tractor and trailer up against the side of a hill. He was okay, walking around on fairings of the very tilted truck and catwalk behind cab. Assessing his 'oops' situation.

Friday, 8/16: Dropped trlr @ dock 7 am. She says 'unless I get lucky' outbound could take all day. Hey! That's fine. $18/hr all day then. This isn't Gordon, after all... I'm a tourist in Philly with a large, 10-wheel motorhome. Dispatch text to me: "just keep track of your time"--no problem!

Friday, 8/16, 9 pm: Customer called 10:30 am that load ready. So I'll put in 7:30 am too 10:30 am, 3 hrs @ $18. If your time isn't free, it tends to help them focus, you know. Didn't actually leave out until 11:30 helping out another of our drivers. Location: 1st rest stop inside W. Virginia w/b on I-70. 363 miles today, 7.5 hrs driving and 1.25 hrs on-duty on log. Shutting down for the night. Return load to Indy is not placarded, so it runs as any other would. PTI, spot and hook, fuel, PTI.


August 15-16, 2013 from Philly and on way to Indy. All rights reserved by author.

 

Detour Number One (#1)--8/2 Split Berth

Most of us know there is a split berth rule but, I think, few of us know how and when to use it. Every time I read up on the 8/2 my brain goes into a fog and the examples never take hold. So that's why I want to take the time here to parse double yellow's quiz and his Laredo trip and see if he did make use of the 8/2. Have to tell you that I won't know 'til were done, myself. You know, that fog sets in...

The 14-Hour Clock

As heavy-duty drivers, we are always functioning within a 14-Hour Clock. Once we start driving or go on-duty our new clock starts. To do that we need TEN (10) CONSECUTIVE HOURS off-duty, in sleeper berth or a combination of off-duty and sleeper berth. TEN (10) CONSECUTIVE HOURS.

We might as well tattoo that inside our left forearm and check it daily for reference. So let's consider it tattooed there for now, okay?

The 11-Hour Rule

Check your left forearm. See where it says a 14-Hour Clock. You can only start that timer after TEN (10) CONSECUTIVE HOURS off-duty, in sleeper berth or a combination of off-duty and sleeper berth. Right? Good. Once you have TEN (10) CONSECUTIVE HOURS off-duty, in sleeper berth or a combination, you can start a new 14-Hour Clock. If you have an EOBR (electronic on-board recorder) it's when you start on-duty or driving. Same for manual paper logs.

Within that 14-Hour Clock we have up to 11 hours that we can drive and the FMCSA would like to change it to 10, IMO probably because we are in a habit of cheating, not showing actual on-duty hours as on-duty. Or maybe for a more healthy lifestyle. Anyway.

After 11 hours we have to stop driving until we get a new 14-Hour Clock. Right? Good. Check your left forearm again. TEN (10) CONSECUTIVE HOURS. Off-duty. Sleeper berth. Or a combination of off-duty and sleeper berth. Remember that we have the option when to start that clock. You'll need that.

So 11 hours we can drive within the 14-Hour Clock is called the 11-Hour Rule. We can drive up to 11 hours within a 14-Hour Clock. And we can be on-duty within that 14-Hour Clock when we are not driving. Or off-duty. Or sleeper berth. But the clock started when we went on-duty or started driving.

Go ahead and tattoo the 11-Hour Rule on your right forearm so you can check it daily for reference. So let's consider it tattooed there for now, okay? When you look at your right forearm, you see the 11-Hour Rule. When you look at your left forearm, there's the 14-Hour Clock. What's it take to start a new 14-Hour Clock? Right. TEN (10) CONSECUTIVE HOURS... Right.

The 8/2 Split

The 8/2 Split stops your 14-Hour Clock. Cool, huh? That way you can use up any available driving hours since your clock started. But what's it good for? Most of us have no idea. Because you still need (check your left forearm, please) TEN (10) CONSECUTIVE HOURS off-duty, in sleeper berth or a combination of off-duty and sleeper berth for TEN (10) CONSECUTIVE HOURS to start a new 14-Hour Clock. The 8/2 Split doesn't do that. Instead, it puts your current 14-Hour Clock on hold and when you start back on-duty or driving your clock resumes where it left off.

So what good is it? Dunno. It's above my pay grade. But hopefully by the time we get double yellow's trip parsed we'll know the 8/2 Split better and where to use it to our advantage. Hope springs eternal, after all.


Written Sunday, August 18, 2013 from home, six miles north of Spencer, IN. All rights reserved by author.