Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Post I made at: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ther-mega-carrier-j-b-hunt-2.html#post3536439

 

Also posted on: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...175-trouble-getting-company-hire-me-i-11.html

/On another post I mistakenly identified my Landstar buddy's truck as a KW. It's not. Ran into him with his truck a couple weeks back at Wendy's in Spencer, IN. After talking a bit I suddenly realized that while he looked 'relaxed', he was actually exhausted. Had no sleep. But he had all new rubber, bought himself a good trailer and was thinking about a glider kit and move his Cat 3406 into it. Landstar helped him out with all new low-roll-resistance Bridgestone tandem (trailer) tires.
/Listening to Click-and-Clack on NPR, Sat morning. Then I'm going out to spread some year-old horse manure on straw that I spread yesterday on a mound out by the hwy. I know why you guys stay out 3-4 weeks. Too much work to do @ home!! Oh, yeah. Not a 'lifestyle' unless you call work @ home avoidance a lifestyle. Face the music. Get a M-F, home daily and you'll do the rest of your 80-100 hrs/wk at home. Real work for a change!!

 

Posted on: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...ing-your-hazmat-load-wrong-2.html#post3536940

/Suppose I should get outside and spread that horse manure on the straw on the mound out by the hwy like I planned for this am. I'm sure tow614 thinks I've spread enough here... TTR is almost as good work avoidance as OTR. : 0)
/Huh-uh. Too late now, I think. Time to brush and bathe the big dogs (allowed at the picnic park), get ready and go to the company picnic. Well, I did get some power washing done in between...
/Hopefully these carried-over posts feel somewhat relevant whether your interest is Gordon or other. Hopefully.
/Didn't know the company picnic was an all-nighter. Not for me. Brisket, bbq chicken, pork chops, hamburgers, hot dogs, some kind of very special (good) shrimp salad dish, pie (several varieties), chips, dips, great green beans with bacon or some other meat. BYOB--so I had to play Wimpie. Ugh! Who drinks light beer?? Ye-ch-ch! Fun band. The owner is 'just one of the guys'--so I've been told and sure seemed like it. Met him once before. Despite not being on-leash for almost a year, the dogs were great. Kids babysat them while I wandered off. They were still wet when we got there and we all smelled doggy, I'm sure. Open air dance on the grass.
/The GM (General Manager) and the DT (Director of Transportation) sport ZZ-Top beards. The story is that it started as a dare and ran out-of-control. The GM is thin and trim, early gray and ALWAYS wears a woodsman baseball cap, has ALL day-to-day decision-making power but he carries it lightly--until a decision is needed, then it's still light but he just makes a decision, like no sweat. The DT is a bad-boy kind of guy, sort of off the wall, a big bear of a guy, wearing over-sized yellow shorts today, over-sized company shirt (even on him) and shaved both sides of his head for the picnic except for a mohawk down the middle. The owner wore an over-sized PINK company shirt and the band joked that you had to be really sure of your masculinity to wear... Gave away a lot of gift cards and cash in small $25-$75 amounts. Someone said they called my name for $60 cash. Not my thing, wasn't paying attention.
/The owner has not been around much for a while, something about a property he has in Colorado. The HR guy came on about the same time I did and has hired 15 drivers since. They were hurting so bad for drivers when I came on that the owner was pulling loads. His KW is older, but newer than ours, and very tricked out in O/O fashion with lots of chrome and lights. When he wasn't pulling a load, he'd hold court on the front steps with 3-4 drivers. Just one of the guys. Except he owns the place. The GM and DT brought him over to say hi. When introduced today, he teased that I didn't look anywhere near as bad as they had told him. I told him that he looked a lot younger than I remembered. (It's true.) For a small company, has a full-on management team and they've apparently known each other for 25 years, give or take, but worked apart until hooking up together here. 15 mechanics and very sharp Director of Transportation. Also a Director of Operations, Office Manager, Safety Manager and various staff. Lots of titles for an informal, small place.

 

How time flies! Back on page 20, msg 196, the narrative had me in Terre Haute and meeting up with one of my Orientation group who lives in his truck and we didn't even discuss Gordon. He just seemed really upbeat and positive. On the next msg, I took a 'little' detour, double yellow's challenge involving his use of the 8/2 Split under the new HOS. That detour has not concluded yet, but in my part-time driving I think I hardly need it. So I think we'll return to the 8/2 Split, not sure when.

Plus there was about a 10-day detour into: http://www.thetruckersreport.com/tr...199-gordon-trucking-is-a-sespool-drivers.html That thread went to 40 pages in no time and will remain active to anyone who searches 'gordon'. Maybe one of these days the OP, Wolfin, will return and have something to say. The thread is now locked so no one can add anything to it, but it still increases in views every day. The mod explained, "Same players, same insults, time to move on." (That's slightly paraphrased.)

Here's msg 196, page 20, where I got a late start to a two-drop load because the drives dug themselves into my truck parking area #2 stone and I had to bottle-jack the drives up, smooth out the stone and place plywood underneath. By then, my hours wouldn't work out to make both stops. I'd make the first one, but wouldn't have the hours to get the second. I was going to have to wait and run through the night.