Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

Pivot This?

So, can I pivot this otherwise shatty experience? Leverage it? With my interest in food at an all-time low right now and the diarrhea finished, need I go right back to a solid food diet or instead extend my detox further and push off a little more weight? I do feel better--different. Never tried a 'cleanse' before but have seen the $35 packages at Sam's Club and wondered why, what for?

Here's Dr. Oz's '3-Day Detox' for an example of a three-smoothie-a-day detox: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/dr-ozs-3-day-detox-cleanse-one-sheet

And here's a Dr. Oz article ('Detox Made Safe and Simple') on cleansing in general: http://www.doctoroz.com/videos/detox-made-safe-and-simple

What I've had to eat since last Thursday afternoon--six days ago--is 4 eggs, 16 ounces of cottage cheese, a corner of a piece of hamburger from some spaghetti I gave to the chickens, about an ounce of mixed nuts, a quart (32 ounce) strawberry-banana probiotic, about 3/4 of a 'green machine' smoothie and a few raw asparagus stalks. That's it. Oh, yeah. Three bowls of soup, $3 or less each, some pediatric electrolytic drinks and two pieces that finished off half a frozen spinach and goat cheese pizza.

The size 38 jeans that sat in a box while I wore 40s this last year, now feel good. Got plenty of outside work to do.

Had the 'detox' tea from Dr. Oz this a.m. It was just green tea and some fresh lemon squeezed in. Made up the Breakfast Drink in the blender. Tasted fine. Have all the ingredients for the lunch and dinner drinks. I'm not hungry.

Hey! What's to lose? I'm good for most any new game for about three weeks. Then I usually drift off. We're only talking about three more days here...

Stay tuned.

My next run picks up in Prairie du Chien on Monday when I get there. Today is Wednesday. I'll be working directly with a broker on an outbound load so at 8:00 a.m. Monday I plan to be at the shipper in Illinois with my ten already in. They can load me, start my 14; I'll deliver that, pick up the Prairie du Chien and return home Tuesday--personally lighter!


Written April 30, 2014 at home, six miles north of Spencer, Indiana while tornadoes and rain wreak havoc in the Southeast. All rights reserved.

 

Detox Day Lost?

I wouldn't normally buy into any quick weight-loss regimen but my 7-pound weight loss last week from Thursday afternoon to Saturday morning wasn't my idea, it was food poisoning.

As I began to rehydrate, my weight continued to drop some to an 8-pound weight loss, probably due to my lack of interest in food.

Plus it made sense to me to transition into a detox regimen rather than try go right back to 'normal' food. So Wednesday I started Dr. Oz's 3-Day Detox. Still, my big concern Wednesday was how busy the afternoon was because I have a history of getting sick, feeling better, plowing ahead and relapsing. Well, you don't relapse from food poisoning unless you're stupid, right?

Then Wednesday night I got a call from a guy with vinyl-coated, 10-foot tall chain link salvaged from a closed tennis court. He said he had 70 feet or more and wanted $75 bucks. Wow. I've been buying commercial-grade, 9 gauge 6-foot tall chain link and have over 350 feet. Made an appointment to come out the next day, Thursday (yesterday), despite that he's 75 miles away.

Turns out he's less than 10 miles away from the shipper we plan to use for our out-bound loads on my runs to Prairie du Chien. I could go visit! We have a concern about this load because we MUST get the Prairie du Chien off the floor on the assigned pick-up date. We want the outbound load, but not if it honks up the load from Prairie du Chien to back here.

Thursday morning had my Dr. Oz morning smoothie, then drove out towards my new 10-foot tall chain link fencing. Called the freight broker for details about the shipper and we had a good, long conversation, what he knows, etc. I make my deal for the chain link and feeling hungry-ish, stop at an Italian restaurant in town. The waitress doesn't know the mfg, which seems odd, but brings out a piping hot bowl of broccoli cheese soup, obviously homemade from white cheese of some sort.

Add a slice of thin-crust pizza for a buck and it wraps up my meal. So far, life's good. The shipper name the broker gave me doesn't fly but when I find the address it's the right place. These folks strike me as very open, very straight-forward. Three warehouse loading doors, go ahead and back into any open door, first-come, first-served loading. There's a scale so no need to end up heavy or illegal. No problem parking over night. It's all good.

About 50 miles on the way back home, though, I get hit with severe, severe cramps. Oh, oh! I stop and have a banana, doesn't help. Nothing helps, it seems. After a bunch of small stops I head to a Subway, buy a $5 sub figuring it'll force out whatever's blocked. So I eat half and not too enthusiastically, figuring that I'll stay there until feeling better. An hour or more passes and I leave. Still takes a couple more stops before--finally--I'm okay. Whew!

To celebrate I stopped at Family Dollar, bought an 8 ounce can of mixed nuts and ate half on the way home, like I normally would. This morning my weight loss is a full 10 pounds down from last week when food poisoning set in last Thursday afternoon.



Written Friday, May 2, 2014 at home, six miles north of Spencer, Indiana.

HTLD stock continues to slide this week, closed Thursday at $21.48--no big drop off, just a series of daily closes lower but ended the week up slightly at $21.54. Growing pains since the acquisition:

Profit ($14.1 million) at 16 cents a share was down over $5.5 million for the First Quarter from $19.73 million last year (23 cents a share), despite an increase in revenues since the acquisition to $224.5 million (Gordon/HTLD), up from $134.27 million (HTLD alone). So with the addition of GTI revenues, HTLD actually made considerably less than it did ALONE at same time last year. See: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/heartland-express-q1-profit-down-20140423-01036

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First Pay from New Job $901.23

A direct-deposit of $901.23 appeared in my checking yesterday from the new outfit; the deposit represents three trips that started at 7 a.m. on either a Monday or Thursday and wrapped up the following early afternoon. The rest stops at Bettendorf (Iowa) like me on the way out for my mandatory 30 (minutes) and on the way back for 10 (hours).

That's about equivalent to a 5-6 day week, except it's spread over two. Some weeks like my first week we'll double up and then we'll have a week or so off. I've just had over two FULL weeks off after those three runs done in two weeks. Very cool.

Those runs ran empty out and I recently visited the shipper in Illinois we expect to get outbound loads from but hasn't happened yet. The broker was to call me by 5 p.m. Friday if we had a load for Monday and didn't call. So Monday's a skate again. Empty out and light back.

Thursday morning of last week (before I got walloped with food poisoning later in the day) the Yard Boss called, wanting to know if I could pull a USPS load out of Indy (Indianapolis). Those loads pay $24/hour but I told him 'no'. Had plans to pick up a 12" Delta plane and I'd just as soon he not start 'using up' my time off.

He had also asked for two Fort Wayne's for last Monday and Tuesday. As it turns out, I wouldn't have wanted those anyway with the food poisoning roller coaster I went on last week. Happily, he got someone else to run them and I didn't have to turn them down. A good thing.

Up a Pound, Still 9 Pounds Below

My weight this morning (Saturday) is up a pound, still 9 pounds below where I was at before the food poisoning hit. Yesterday I was down 10. But then added a bowl of soup in the afternoon yesterday, another broccoli-cheese, this time with a good yellow cheese from the pizza house over in nearby Gosport again. So like the stock market, my weight fluctuates.

But I'm still on the three-smoothie Dr. Oz '3-Day Detox' and today is day 3. May continue this but add a soup or something else every afternoon or so. I'm so darn close to another weight milestone, would seem like a waste not to continue. And I'm down a waist-size in my jeans, to 38s from 40.

Half a Subway sandwich leftover from Thursday afternoon got deconstructed--the honey-oat bread got split between the chickens and my dogs, same with most of the meat (I nibbled some) and I ate most of the veggies altho the dogs and chickens got a little of those, too.

Hey! What's more important than your health??


Written Saturday morning May 3, 2014 at home, six miles north of Spencer, Indiana. All rights reserved.

 

Animal Visitors

Sometimes when the dogs go off at night I head outside with the high-beam spotlight which easily and quickly picks out wildlife by reflecting their eyes. The dogs went off a few times last night and I went out twice. First time, the spotlight picked up the burning-yellow eyes that turned out to be a smallish deer out back on the near ridge but looked close to the ground--initially I thought might be a raccoon.

Yesterday there was a dead raccoon down the hill 300-500 feet on my side of the highway. When I saw that it occurred to me that there might--probably will--be others. Sometimes you'll see a mom and a couple pups spread apart 50-60 or more feet, all dead on the highway. A while back I caught an opossum inside the fenced area off my back deck. Turned him over to Wildcare, a nearby wildlife rescue org.

So the second time out the powerful beam picked up a pair of eyes down the highway near where the raccoon lay yesterday. It didn't move off for a bit and when it did could have been just a cat until it dove down the ditch and I then could make it out--raccoon! Oh, they do like chicken and eggs; they'll dig under, climb over your fence but hopefully not with the dogs right there. Guess I'll buy one of these one-way-in cage traps. Rural King has them for under $30, likely easier than the struggle I had with the opossum.

The small deer was back, too. Apparently it's alone; that spot is a sleeping spot and used before by deer. She rousted herself up once I moved with the spotlight in hand. Her tail flew up and she easily bounced off down the other side of the hill and out of view.

Then this morning I heard a wild turkey that I've heard mornings before but this morning it was talkative. Usually I hear just one warble; this time it repeated and repeated. Like the deer, it seems to be alone. Like the deer, you usually see them in groups. Haven't actually seen this one yet, though.

Down 10 this Morning

This morning I'm again down 10 pounds from a week ago last Thursday. Was there before but down only 9 pounds yesterday. Still doing the Dr. Oz detox, but not religiously. Did the morning smoothie, which has banana, berries (I use strawberries because I had them in the refrig) and spinach. Then had a bowl of homemade vegetable soup at Chamber's Smorgasbord in town. Nice soup with lots of 'stuff' in it including meat and cabbage.

Seems I need (prefer?) something hot each day. The smoothies are strictly cold. Plus I think the variety is good. Had the lunch smoothie for dinner and skipped the dinner smoothie. The lunch smoothie is the heaviest meal of the three detox meals, has celery, cucumber, kale, lime, almond milk and pineapple. Tangy. The evening smoothie that I skipped has blueberries, mango, kale, coconut water and avocado.

At minimum I'd like to drop two more pounds, which takes me to a new 5-pound milestone. This evening I'll head over, square up the truck with my gear (all of which I took out because I had a full two weeks off--plus some!), take it across the street to fuel and spend the night. Not sure what I'll do with regard to this detox but I'll probably let it go for the run. The blender's not coming over to the truck and I don't think you make these things up in advance--but maybe! Not this time.


Written Sunday, May 4, 2014 at home, six miles north of Spencer, Indiana. Thanks for the suggestion, Bumpy! I might put some kind of marker over there to point here and explain that I'm following an unexpected bout of food poisoning with a modified version of Dr. Oz's Three-Day Detox.

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To the Land of the Redwing Blackbirds Again

Pulling out of town Mellancamp's 'Rocking in the USA' for all he's worth, an Indiana guy, too. Last night I grew impatient about 8 pm as it took longer than I wanted to gather up my gear which was in several places including my garage. Parked in front of the chicken coop (not THAT one, the one that gives me 2 eggs a day... haven't been eating the eggs so I've got 1-1/2 dozen beautiful brown... ) and waited, and waited. 8:30 went by as I resisted the temptation to just shush them (three golden comet chickens) in for the night.

Talk about knowing how to work. These girls strut out in the morning and scratch and peck all day. Very serious about it, too. Finally around 8:45 they went in on their own. Closed up the coop, took the dogs out for one more run up the hill and when I pulled out it was still early enough not to have to worry too much about highway-crossing deer.

Had a salad up the road, bought some things from Wal-Mart and headed over to the truck. Mileage hasn't changed, 1,000,234, since I shut down--Hey! Almost 3 weeks--19 days ago. I was thinking I had two weeks off; I've had three (almost). Whatever... Would've like to have fueled but my receipt would not match my log so waited until morning. Then saw a drip, drip, drip below the radiator and wetness around the fuel filter and pump this morning. Well, it looked like fuel and dirt, not coolant or oil. After talking with the Yard Boss we decided it might just go away once the engine warmed up after sitting (almost) 3 weeks, gaskets would swell back up and they did and it went away.

So this detox thing, Dr. Oz's 'Three Day Detox'--you detox and get better and better each day, right? Well, no. When you flush (which is what you do, flush) toxins out of your system, you feel worse, achey, fatigued, itchy and your skin may just break out. The good news comes later... we'll see.

Normally I'd go straight through to Bettendorf Rest Area but stopped at Mackinaw Dells Rest Area, about 3 hours out, made a quick deposit in the biffy and... cramps when I got back to the truck. Hey! What's this? I was feeling fine! Well, I'd also been munching on mixed nuts, a turkey and colby sub and a seafood salad from Wal-Mart, goat milk, a 'plain' probiotic (less sugar) smoothie and pediatric electrolyte. Go figure.

So there I was, about an hour and three biffy visits until I felt good to go. Made another stop at Wisconsin Exit No. 1 for about the same duration. Swapping out my driver's side headlamp gave me something useful to do. Three screws outside, then four screws inside. Had same personal problem, not as bad.

Now I wait. Shipper not ready. Of course. I learn there have been emails back-and-forth all day as the right and left sides get to know each other again. It's all good. As I sit here can feel activity. Apparently they're taking the stuff right off the manufacturing line and moving it right into the truck.

Oop! Just got the all clear. That was quick, little over an hour since I pulled up and backed to a door. Time to go sign bills.


Written Monday, May 5, 2014 at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Some of you have always thought this was a shatty thread. Now, you have proof. Gonna see if the China Buffet by Wal-Mart has soup... Oh, forget Chinese tonight. Cinco de Mayo today and the Acapulco Griill is packed. It's not on the menu but they made me up a killer Siete Mares (7 seas--seafood soup).

All rights reserved.

 

Leaky Coolant Reservoir

Like many drivers, I don't know as much about the mechanical end of the trucks I drive as I'd like. Spent the night at Wal-Mart in Prairie du Chien and had that great bowl of Cinco de Mayo (Siete Mares, actually) soup next door at the packed Mexican restaurant. In the morning, in the dark, there was a three-foot circumference wet spot on the ground under the front right side.

Oh, oh! With a small outfit you don't have the luxury of swapping your load out with another driver and heading to the shop. No. And in the dark I didn't feel like smelling and examining to find out whether I had oil, coolant, power steering fluid or fuel. We had already sort of concluded that the fuel line to the APU might be our culprit. All I wanted at that point was to get some distance before it got light when I could take a better look.

Discussed the leak with the Yard Boss before pulling out; we both knew that an inspection could throw the truck OOS (Out of Service). The initial plan was make the delivery, have our local mechanic look at it--but he does only the most minor engine work. Illinois does that. Our guy does trailers, brakes, tires, drive line components, lights, etc. Not engines. But he could look at it and if it were just a loose clamp... well, maybe.

That was Plan 'A' until I found the pinhole leak in the coolant reservoir--red drips (we have red-colored coolant) led me to it--apparently frequent on this flavor of International Eagle with Cummins ISX. Plan 'A' would have had me driving tomorrow to Illinois to get the truck fixed or switched out. "Why don't we go direct to our folks in Illinois now?" I asked.

It was closer; they do that stuff and if need be they have other trucks. And do they!! Large shop, 57 new trucks on order, some have already arrived, lots of trucks. I dropped my trailer and bobtailed over to the shop. "Who's in charge?" I asked. When I found him, he asked if I would mind hooking back up and they'd check my trailer and tractor out at the same time. Just nose it in. There was room for me and two tractors in front of me in that bay alone.

They had me out of there in an hour despite that Brenda in the office forgot to tell Bob, her husband and GUY-IN-CHARGE, that I was coming. One mechanic slid under the trailer and started checking my brakes; two went after the tractor, one of them R&Ring the reservoir.

Called the Yard Boss once I had backed in and the receiver started unloading me. "Are they always that nice??" "Well, to be honest, no," Yard Boss said, "But since they did so well by you I'll call tomorrow and thank them."

Yes, please do.


Written Tuesday, May 6, 2014 over a bowl of clam chowder. Ran a little more than 925 pretty easy miles yesterday to today. The redwing blackbirds as you approach Wisconsin find perches close to the ground, right off the highway, where they feast on bugs. I enjoy them all. All rights reserved.

 

Science of Logistics

Such is the state of the science of logistics today. I ran up here empty and my load back to Indiana is 8 pallets that weigh all of 600 pounds. Fits nicely in the nose of my 53' trailer, same pallets I always get. Monday's pickup had 26 and weighed around 4,000 fully loaded to the tail of the trailer. The receiver has floor space for 100 of these and more than once I've been diverted to a warehouse because the receiver has no room.

This load was a surprise when Yard Boss told me about it. "Yeah, Vic, the numbers are on the email I sent you along with the load numbers for today." And so they were. He said he'd leave the new schedule in my car but revealed nothing further. This gig's supposed to be one Prairie du Chien a week, occasionally two and frequently a week or two off. Very cool!

So I looked over the schedule, circling the weeks for an opening for my still undone trip West and there was no opening. All through May-June the loads are back-to-back, Mondays and Thursdays. Off Wednesdays mid-week and the weekend. WTF?? I got an immediate visual of grabbing one of Yard Boss's ears and twisting it off his head.

The next thing that came to mind--other than all the stuff I can't get done with just one mid-week day off--was to change how I set up for the trip. Gonna be a day trip out, one-night layover and day trip back. Simple. No push for Bettendorf/Moline after loading. About 425 miles out, same back unless I need swing over to the shop in Illinois. So rather than come up last night and sleep in the truck I took care of my critters this morning and drove up. That's about 8 hours of driving, right? No big deal.

But I ask you: Why does every trucking company feel entitled to pull the ol' switcheroo??

On the drive up to the truck this morning, a box turtle prepared at the fog line to cross to the other side of the highway. These little guys are imprinted on one specific acre of land. Take them to another place and they will die trying to get home. And once they decide to cross a road, cross it or die they will.

It took about three Indiana country driveways to get stopped and prepared to turn around as several cars and trucks passed by. Was he still alive or crunched? Didn't know yet, of course. You can't just point these guys back where they came either. You have to pick them up, take them across the road in the direction they're pointed and all ends well this time. Gun the engine.

Happily, he's on his way to romance across the highway and I hope he gets lucky--again!

Now the important question is whether this Mexican restaurant can nail the Siete Mares (Seven Seas) seafood soup that's not on their menu.

Yes, yes, they can!!


Written Thursday evening, May 8, 2014 at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. All right reserved.

 

Jim the Trainer

About the only time I pull into a truck stop on this gig is to replenish the creamers I carry with me. I'll grab a big handful of hazelnut, caramel. Irish cream and--most importantly and the whole reason--Stok, the dark creamer with a full cup of coffee's worth of caffeine in each little creamer. And they're free! I always ask and never been turned down. "May I grab a handful of creamers?" Sure.

Same caffeine as in a 5-hour energy drink. Did I mention, free??

I like the smell of coffee but don't like to drink it. If I feel a little droopy, there's creamers within reach and I open two: one Stok and one of the others because the Stok on its own is an untasty little shooter. There's room to pour in some of one of the others and then back and forth. Easily handled while driving. And voila! just had cup of coffee and will brighten up shortly.

So I pulled off into the Woodhull Pilot to replenish my creamer stash and saw a driver exiting a Gordon truck as I swung through. He looked... familiar and so did his truck number. Didn't matter though. Haven't had a chance to really talk to a Gordon driver since HTLD took over. Inside, I knew him!

"Don't I know you?" I asked.

"Dunno, maybe," he answered.

"We spent 24 hours together, a sort of stress test and you saved my job."

And so he had. My first week I scratched a trailer on a Friday. Dumb, tired thing. Hadn't touched anything in 30 years. Then on Monday, I let the truck roll backward and the gal behind me claimed I backed into her. The Plainfield traffic cop who came out thought differently. "Lady, if that big truck had backed into you and your Kia, you wouldn't have to look for the damage. You've got no damage, lady. No damage, no police report." Simple as that.

We still exchanged insurance info and I had to report it to Gordon. I was so shaken I was ready to forget Gordon and trucking for a while. Afraid another shoe would drop and it wouldn't be a scratch or a near miss. No, I'd quit trucking before I'd risk that. Can make more as a computer guy anyway.

It's been two years and Jim the Trainer had 5 years with Gordon back then after some 18 years with Barr-Nunn. So seven years with Gordon now. A trucker's trucker. Absolutely no braggadocio. None. Very few words. After the acquisition he wisely moved to a dedicated account and no longer dispatched out of Indy. We talked about Julie the Intimidator--could be very imposing until you got to know her. And Brian the Safety Guy, who moved on to do safety for another Indy outfit. Great guy, that Brian.

Jim the Trainer's still getting good miles and just hopes they (HTLD) don't "screw it up, you know, how they treat the drivers." He allowed that some have left, some like him have stayed and they've hired some and even some of those have left. But if they don't "screw it up" he's still all for GTI.


Written May 8, 2014 at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. All rights reserved.

 

Short Interest in HTLD

HTLD has continued a two week slide in small drops, closing today at $20.64. What I find interesting is the short interest that is propping the stock up.

Here's the published short interest since the HTLD acquisition of GTI:

Date..............Shorts..........Volume.......Days to Cover
4/30/2014.....5,345,151.....596,111......8.966704
4/15/2014.....5,305,103.....534,603......9.923444
3/31/2014.....4,716,275.....522,145......9.032501
3/14/2014.....4,352,071.....585,064......7.438624
2/28/2014.....3,965,068.....502,561......7.889725
2/14/2014.....3,712,398.....546,870......6.788447
1/31/2014.....3,438,551.....461,422......7.452074
1/15/2014.....3,609,984.....615,466......5.865448
12/31/2013....3,214,358.....506,380......6.347719
12/13/2013....2,874,561.....467,902......6.143511
11/29/2013....2,614,511.....514,247......5.084154
11/15/2013....2,967,872.....821,073......3.614626


A short sale takes place when a speculator sells a share of HTLD that he/she doesn't have; that's a bet against the stock, betting it goes down. The speculator hopes the stock drops and later can 'cover' the sale at a lower price. So, for example, sell at today's $20.64, hoping it drops to $18 and cover the sale by a buy at $18 for a $2.64 profit.

On 11/15/2013, just after the acquisition, there were 2,967,872 shorts on a daily volume of 821,073, which if all that volume was to cover shorts would take 3.614626 days. (That's the highest daily volume listed, by the way.) After the acquisition, speculators took a position against HTLD to the tune of almost 3 million shares and instead of dropping like they expected, it almost doubled. That's big bucks and the number of shares shorted has steadily increased.

HTLD just kept climbing until last week. As of 4/30/2014, the shorts have increased to 5,345,151 on a daily volume of 596,111 which if all that volume went to cover the shorts would take 8.966704 days to cover. So the big bets out there against HTLD have increased in spite of the increasing stock price.

The problem for the shorts is they have to buy to cover their short position and that tends to drive the price of HTLD up, not down where they want it. Not only that, you can see the short position growing at each point since 11/15/2013 and those shares were sold at the lower prevailing prices back then. If they shorted at $18, for example, hoping the stock would drop from there--but instead it's still up $2.64, they would lose $2.64 per share if they cover at today's higher price, $20.64.

With over 5 million shares shorted, there's big, big support for HTLD stock because the shorts have to cover at some point. In the meantime, those short positions are hoping for lightning to strike HTLD and get it back below the price when they shorted so they can cover at a profit.

Capisce?? It's a little complicated and counter-intuitive for sure. Right now those who bet big against HTLD and Mike Gerdin to the tune of over 5 million shares have BIG, BIG paper losses and they're praying, just praying that HTLD stumbles.


Written May 9, 2014 after a run to Prairie du Chien. Having a bowl of broccoli cheese soup and then on home, six miles north of Spencer, Indiana. All rights reserved.