Post Gordon ~ Thoughts, Commentary & Reflections

$700 Shelbyville, IL~Sturtevant, WI

This Shelbyville~Sturtevant pays less at $700 than I want up to that area, I want $750 or better to the southeast corner of Wisconsin. Get unloaded and run the hills to Prairie empty.

The reason I accepted this is because it could load on Sunday and they're 24/7, a good account to know about. It had been listed on Trulos for Friday and I called the broker and asker her if could pick up on Sunday since most places would receive Friday load on Monday. She checked and said yes but they could only go $700.

I took it. Got a 3 pm appointment, probably should have been 1 pm but I wanted more time at home and figured 3 pm Illinois is 4 pm Indiana (Central vs Eastern). Left out from home at 11 am, with truck in my yard, fueled, got trailer and, well, you already know I got beat up on 32/33. Took more time, too. Had expected to arrive 2 pm for 3 pm appt and arrived at 2:30 instead.

Still good.

It worked. Got loaded, I think, by 4:15. Broker had listed receiving for this load from 8:30 am to 9 am, my best bet to drive straight through, get there by 11 pm and take an 8 or a 10, depending. Broker said no on-site parking but truck stops nearby.

So leaving Shelbyville, I ran 57 north to 74 west, to 39 north, to 43 east and then got lost in the weeds somewhere. What a difference compared with coming back. A couple quick turns and I was on 94 heading west and home free... It's always seems more difficult getting there!!

When I found my destination, there was a short line of trucks along one side of a two-lane entry, like you would see at a Wal-Mart DC only no guard shack. Since I was about out of hours I just pulled up behind the last truck, drew my curtains and shutdown for the night.

Set my alarm for 8:30, woke up about 6:30, everyone's gone... to where? Then, as a couple trucks came in while I got dressed it became apparent receiving was open. No one answered the number provided. I drove in, walked into receiving. Turns out receiving opens at 1 am (Central).

"Oh, we've been waiting for this," the clerk said, "Back into Door 26 and we'll take care of you." Door 26 had construction in front of it, yellow tape and those metal foldable things with yellow lights. Felt pretty good about driving past, doing a U-ee, driving back through, swinging the trailer around and angling nicely into the spot with maybe an inch clearance from the metal thingies. Nicely done even I do...

Took until 9 to unload. So we swapped the 'definition' of appt from appointment to start unloading to appt to empty. Okay, fine!!


Written Monday, June 16, 2014 at the Willow Creek Rest Area, mile marker 85 or so, southbound. Bad wreck near Baxter Road, about 30 miles north, had all of I-39 shut down. Took us off on Baxter, down about a mile and a half, then 3-1/2 miles south (roughly) and back onto the Interstate. One fatality, a semi and some cars involved. See: http://www.saukvalley.com/2014/06/1...ce-confirm-fatality-on-interstate-39/ar0fiv2/http://www.saukvalley.com/2014/06/1...ce-confirm-fatality-on-interstate-39/ar0fiv2/.

All rights reserved.

 

Proceeding Directly to Prairie du Chien

"Everything's sort of blown up here, Vic. You're going to have to cancel the load and go right back to Prairie du Chien." O-o-okay, fine. So after I fueled the truck, hurried home to check on my critters, took a quick shower and soon was on my way back to the yard to leave again for Prairie du Chien.

Well, trucking's always about delays, change orders, and maybe about part-time jobs that e-x-p-a-n-d. There'll be three runs to Prairie du Chien before the end of the week. And you-know-who's driving. I still have business in town on Friday and will work around that nonetheless.

Yesterday's lunch was smoked sturgeon and smoked catfish. Got both because when I asked the gal which was best she said, "Well, I'd say sturgeon but my dad would say catfish." The sturgeon's really good but I agree with her dad. The catfish has the edge, but just an edge, on the sturgeon. Ate while being loaded with all of 8 pallets. Come all the way from Indiana...

"Do you know anything about a 26 skid load that's due now?" I asked when I signed the BOL. No one seemed to know anything. The receiver in Indiana had mentioned he needed the 26 skid load, not the 8 skid and before I left I looked over my sheet and it wasn't there.

Concerned, I alerted the Yard Boss and he'd been trying to reach the Buyer in Indiana to no avail. The sheet I work off has not been updated for some time. Fully expected that by the time I reached Prairie I'd be picking up 26 skids instead of 8 but it didn't happen.

Until today. When a whole bunch hit the fan and has me on my way back to Prairie du Chien and canceled an $1100 load from Indy to Tomah, Wisconsin with the broker guaranteeing $50/hr wait time on both ends for any wait after the first two free. Would have been the best pay load yet and I've been eyeing US 35 that runs along the Mississippi between La Crosse and Prairie du Chien.

What a treat! Not! At least not this week.

"Arlene, you've got a rate confirmation in your email for $1100, don't sign it yet, okay?" She said that Brian has it. He's the CFO (Chief Financial Officer). I heard Arlene tell him not to sign it yet. Shortly after that the Yard Boss called me and officially sent me back up to Prairie, empty. Direct. And put all hurry up possible on it because we need to do the same on Friday, okay??

Sure. Okay, fine. That's trucking, right?



Written Tuesday, June 17, 2014 from the Spoon River Rest Area, I-74 westbound. Turns out we're already an approved carrier with Landstar. Spent some time on the Landstar board, talking with brokers and broker assistants. The Tomah load we had the rate confirmation on came off Trulos, though. Too bad had to cancel. All rights reserved.

 

The Universe, The Universe

"That was for Monday," I hear the voice from the guard shack phone, referring to my magic pickup numbers for the now-notorious 26 skids that the Indiana side is in sore need of. Got a light but steady rain coming down now. Had been intense in spots, but now this is what in Indiana we call "a good soaker."

And I wait. Maybe take a nap. Bought a couple pieces of smoked catfish on the way in. Finished that. Well, I was here Monday and picked up 8 skids. Not critical skids. This 26 is critical. Got emails a-flying' and some folks looking for cover. I'll do 3 turns this week.

The only 'convenience' here is an outside biffy, where I squirted hand cleaner to get some of the fish smell off my hands.

So why does the Universe throw this or that at us, take this or that away, eh? Still have that broody hen, had to dump her out of the nest box again and she puffed right up like a turkey, just not struttin' her stuff, just righteously angry. Then, as I got in the car, a large, very large bird of prey swooped over just above me, no doubt eyeing the coop.

Do I take the time now to add some more netting? The girls have good cover out their entry. It's actually a trampoline. Very strong. Provides good shade. None were in sight. The visit by the large hawk had them retreat into the safety of their coop. Could the bird of prey land and just walk in and take them? Would it? Would the dogs bark enough to scare it off?

I see wild birds have been helping themselves to some of their pellets and black sunflower seeds. Nope, decided I did not have time. I'd risk their lives. As I drove past the Sunoco up at the junction saw a black and white dog standing looking at traffic from the shade from a tree over the side of the road. Some people drop off dogs there. Has happened before.

About a quarter mile down the road I turned around. Would put it on the back deck that has a fence surround and put out dog food and water. When I drove up the dog had crossed the highway. I pulled over on that side and whistled to it, but it kept moving and even hurried off some, ribs showing from lack of food. Dog's been on its own for a while.

And it probably has had to defend itself. Just past where I turned around had seen a coyote cross the highway there on the way to the yard in the truck, which I'd had at my place.

The Universe giveth and the Universe taketh away.

Okay, fine.

But a couple explanatory notes from time to time would be well appreciated.


Written Wednesday, June 18, 2014 while loading in Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin. Got an updated list from receiving in Indiana yesterday, has a two week break after July 7, finally a window big enough to make my trip west, Los Algodones and then West LA to see Mom in a VA Memory Care Unit. She served as a 2nd Lt. nurse in occupied Germany for a short time after WWII. 93-years-old now.

All rights reserved.

 

My APU Doesn't and Then Does

Last night at the Spoon River Rest Area my APU wouldn't run. I'd reset everything (there's a reset switch in the passenger-side side box), it would just act for a moment like it would run, then red-light and shut off. Went through that scenario multiple times because it was warm and muggy. No use.

So this afternoon I came over to Wal-Mart in Prairie du Chien after my pick up to finish out the 2 of my 'double yellow' 8/2 split. APU's been running fine going on 2 hours now.

We have a big detour due to sewer construction on the main drag through Prairie and a 25 mph speed limit on part of the detour, along the old Main Street where 25 mph would rattle your teeth, at least a 7-8 or above on Vic's Road Pain and Punishment Index.

At 15 mph it's just tolerable at about a solid 2-3 or better on the Index. Yet the police department has all sorts of signs out and even a flasher, flashing your speed to you. No way I could get up to 25 mph...

So why, then, did a gal cop have a Celadon pulled over??

If he were silly enough to run that just at the speed limit he got all the punishment deserved. At 35 mph he should probably get a medal for above and beyond. Beyond stupidity, at least.

Vic's Road Pain and Punishment Index has a range of 0-10, 10 being a jawbreaker and zero being the buzz you would get sitting in the seat for 11 hours at 1500 rpm. Every Senator and Congressman should have to experience at least that much. I will start to rate my regular roads.

For example, coming out of Bloomington-Normal on I-74 eastbound you have a pretty nice road for a while interrupted by 6-7 index belly dumps off the end of those short cement bridges like you were in a cowboy nightclub and were silly enough to ride the bull at a low enough setting to stay on but would just throw you around some. Oh, yeah.

After that you hit an old section of highway almost until you get to Champaign where the right lane is nothing but a stitched together patch quilt of cement and tar repairs. That's a 5-6 on Vic's Road Pain and Punishment Index for sure.

I'm also working on Vic's Road Fatigue Index, again 0-10, 10 being you're really asleep, you keep nodding off and if you keep driving something bad will happen very soon. Pull over. Now.


Written Wednesday, June 18, 2014 from the Wal-Mart parking lot in Prairie du Chien. My Vic's Road Fatigue Index had reached a point where a cup of coffee would have my eyes open while my brain would just sleep away anyway. Need a few real z-z-z-z's.

All rights reserved.

 

26 Critical Skids

So yesterday I picked up these 26 critical skids that SHOULD have picked up Monday and delivered Tuesday. After an outbound Sunday from Shelbyville, Illinois that I dragged out to Sturtevant, Wisconsin on Monday, I ran over to Prairie du Chien, picked up a load and delivered Tuesday in Indiana. Our 'fairly' normal 'schedule'... except that I was hired in to run just one Prairie du Chien a week and we've run it back-to-back all May and June. Two loads a week...

What happened next wasn't 'normal'. Turned right around Tuesday afternoon for Prairie du Chien and picked these 26 late skids up Wednesday, will deliver Thursday morning (today) and there's another 8 skids in Prairie du Chien designated for pick up... today (Thursday) for delivery Friday (tomorrow).

Gave up (canceled) an $1100 plus $50-wait-time-after-2-free on both ends load that would have picked up Wednesday in Indy and delivered up to Tomah, Wisconsin. Oh, well...

These 26 skids weren't on my list. Surprise! Actually, the receiver had mentioned he was looking for a 26-skid load we had no information on. I alerted the Yard Boss and his repeated inquiries to the Indiana customer came to no avail. There was no information to be had. Turns out on the Indiana side our customer really wants three loads a week out of Prairie du Chien from us at least through August... and just never bothered to give us a heads up... or an updated list.

As I understand it, they're hurting pretty bad on the Indiana side for these 26 skids, too. Well, this is trucking, too. Too much of a good thing can sink you just as deep as too little in some cases.

The Yard Boss has already borrowed a truck and driver from another unit to cover some new runs and doesn't have another truck somewhere in his pocket next to his keys. What to do?? What to do?? These runs pay really well even without the outbound load. With the Indiana customer now apparently screaming for these 26 skids that we didn't know about, the Yard Boss has seriously given consideration to telling the Indiana customer thanks, but... no thanks. Find someone else... for all of it!

I mean, the guy (Yard Boss) has just so much hair to pull out... I got an updated list from the receiver in Indiana on Monday and whoa!! We'd need another truck and driver to pull all this on time!!

Well, it's above my pay grade.

Let the powers that be figure it out.

Ya-da, ya-da, ya-da.


Written Thursday early, early morning June 19, 2014. Been a nice, steady soaker sort of rain all night. At my favorite rest area, Willow Creek off I-39 southbound near Paw Paw, Illinois.

All rights reserved.

 

Blame W. Edward Deming...

Back in Indiana, as well as in Illinois and Wisconsin, you can bet fingers are pointing back-and-forth to assign blame and figure out a solution for the 26 critical skids I'm hauling back to Indiana.

The guy to blame though, isn't in Indiana, Illinois or Wisconsin. He died in 1993. You can view a timeline of his life here: https://www.deming.org/theman/timeline.

Rightly or wrongly, W. Edward Deming has been credited with the rise of Industrial Japan after World War II and the success of the Ford Taurus in the United States. Deming is called the father of the 'third phase of the Industrial Revolution'. But who's counting after all?? Not me for sure.

Deming invented this whole 'just-in-time' concept for one thing, that changed the way manufacturing operates. It made things like axles, as perishable as tomatoes. Well, not quite. Deming made them SEEM just as perishable as tomatoes because he had companies designate just so much floor space for axles, for example, that would get magically replenished just as that floor space emptied.

In domino fashion, the supplier of those axles has just so much floor space for wheel hubs and rear ends and gears to go in those rear ends. And they magically replenish just as the floor space for those empties.

That is, if all works as it should.

The whole unit can't go together if one critical gear is missing.

Then, some days you have 26 skids of something, anything, that should have arrived on Tuesday and doesn't. Next thing you know a line slows or goes down in one plant that threatens to slow or bring down a line in another plant.

Yuppo. Heads will roll... or can.

This is bet the farm stuff (bet the company) and guess what?? The rubber band that connects all these various interconnected parts of a larger system are trucking companies that have to adapt to the constantly expanding and shrinking shipping and receiving needs of their customers.

Toilet paper, for example, has to arrive on time at the Wal-Mart DC in sufficient quantities and in timely fashion so those shelves out in the marketing aisles have product so you and I and everyone else can go home and poop... so if you poop today--and you probably should--you can thank W. Edward Deming for that poop paper down at Wal-Mart.

Before that happens someone at like, Kimberly Clark, has to run the long, big rolls that get cut down into smaller rolls and packaged, then quickly moved into awaiting trucks. The less sit time the better. The faster it gets transported to end user, the better. Makes you part of the whole poop train, eh!

We call it logistics and its based on the mathematics of statistics that Deming honed with work with the unlikely likes of the U.S. Census.

Who woulda thunk, eh??

And someone may have just expanded past the elasticity of the rather small trucking company I drive for. Stay tuned!!


Written Thursday, June 19, 2014 at the Willow Creek Rest Area on I-39 southbound near Paw Paw, Illinois, where there's plenty of poop paper thanks to W. Edward Deming. All rights reserved.

 

Deer Snorts

The 26 critical skids got delivered before lunch and receiving treated it no different from anything else. You'd expect at least a handshake for all the drama and emails zipping around. Our much larger sister unit in Illinois was told to pick up the new load the customer laid on us, starting Monday.

"So which load do they take?" I asked rhetorically.

"You take the heavy one, the 26 skids. They take the light load," straight-faced and dead-panned the Yard Boss.

"You gave away the farm!" I retorted. Now 26 skids out to the tail weighs 4,000 pounds and 8 skids about 1,200 pounds. Either way you're running empty. We get paid for a full trailer either way. I tried to move around some personal business, get it done today and would have gone right back out.

Wouldn't budge. The earliest I can leave out's around noon tomorrow. That's picking up tomorrow night or Saturday early an order that's designated for pick up today and for delivery tomorrow. Remember, these pick up and delivery dates are set in stone. Can't move. Can't. W. Edward Deming says so. Got it all worked out statistically.

God herself would have to personally sign off on deviating from those designated days.

Well, sorry. That's the fastest I can get there.

I'll call first tomorrow before leaving out. Just in case.

When I got home about the first thing I did was take the dogs out. The thanks I got for that was a deer snorting at us from just past where you can no longer see into the woods for the fully blossomed underbrush. Could have been and probably was no more than 10-20 feet away.

My problem-child chicken is broody after all, not egg bound. She'd be dead by now if egg bound. Got one egg out of the nesting box while all three were out of the coop. When I came back from town she was back in the nesting box defensive as ever, her tail raised up and feathers bristled to warn me off. Well, I still have a dozen eggs. Why fight her for a couple more right now.

Maybe I need to build her a separate mother-in-law apartment and get a rooster of the appropriate flavor (breed, to you). Could have the pitter-patter of little chicks and she'd have something better to do than guard the nesting box from the other two sisters of hers.

We'll see. Lots of heat lightning tonight in clouds that reach to great height in the southern sky as lightning bugs glitter up and down the edge of the woods. Up at the Junction, a Knight refrigerated has apparently run out of hours and has shut down at a wide spot beside the road.

Now there are two loose dogs up there, the second a corgi mix.

Neither one's much approachable, look pretty rough. This one had a collar, too, or what's left of it.


Written Thursday, June 19, 2014 at home, six miles north of Spencer, Indiana. All rights reserved.

 

Interview with GTI 'Ed', Tractor 102xx

Right under my nose, wouldn't ya know!

Westbound on 18 right around the Madison (WI)/Fitchburg line, I spot a Gordon truck up ahead of me and fall in behind, figuring to follow this puppy to wherever and whatever. Get interview, right??

Now it's 65 mph to Dodgeville where 151 and 18 split, where 18 goes to Prairie du Chien. This Gordon runs about 55, leaving a full 10 mph unclaimed on the table except for spurts up to 60, 61, 62 and then back down. Wobbles from time to time. I figure I'm not in a hurry.

Driver's either tired and sleepy, or who knows??

Maybe he/she had lunch on the truck while driving. All I know is the truck took off after Dodgeville where the speed limit's 55 mph. Driver's now running hot, hot, hot. I can barely keep up and stay quasi-legal on this last 55 mph stretch whereas I usually run the 65 mph a mile or two faster. As we approach Prairie, I'm hitting 65 mph in sections and spots and don't at all like it.

The short of it is that I lost him/her. While the truck loligagged on the better 65 mph road, it was out in front on the rougher, winding, up-and-down 55 mph. I've driven 18 enough that if I want to push, I can probably push with the best and especially approaching Prairie, I pushed thinking I could at least catch him/her on the long grade in, marked at 5% or more.

Not to be, not to be.

After my PU, which from guard gate to exit took all of 45 minutes, I headed up the road less than a mile to an account I knew Gordon had. Why have I never seen a GTI in town?? Because when I did finally leave--quite a bit later because I had a considerably long chat with Ed--what did I see at the BP "truck stop" in Prairie?? Another smurf!

Right under my proverbial nose...

Yuppo! There was another GTI, probably the one I'd been chasing, parked at the end of a row of tight-packed tractors and trailers. Two GTI blue smurfs in Prairie du Chien the same night. Not only that, Ed said there were a couple more earlier that had left. Hey, when I'm in town I'm over at Wal-Mart, not packed like a sardine in a diesel oil TS.

I found Ed parked for the night, alone, on a dark side road alongside this Gordon account and I don't know how long we talked but it was a lo-o-o-ng time!! Here's an experienced driver HTLD will most likely lose as Heartland proceeds to "screw it up" as Jim the Trainer said, "you know, how they treat people and all..."

To be continued...


Written Saturday, June 21, 2014, part in the early morning and the rest in the regular ah-hem (morning, to you) that normal folks, not night owls, know about. All rights reserved.

 

'GTI Ed'--A Likely HTLD Departure Soon

So I followed one smurf into Prairie, only to end up in a long chat with another. The first was pulling an older P series trailer like the one I scratched when I worked for Gordon; Ed had a newer P series, a nice looking trailer and a clean, sharp smurf.

The other smurf looked like it had just come in through a snow storm and had the grey, road-salty layer of needs-to-be-cleaned covering tires and wheels.

Ed has not done badly at HTLD/GTI. Travis STILL sends you your dispatch 2 times, which messes with your QualComm. Hey, come on, Travis, time to figure out what you're doing wrong there. No other DM ever sent me an extra copy, Travis always did and according to Ed, still does.

Ed started trucking for a half second with C.R., spent 4-1/2 years with Knight on the refrigerated side, then about a year with a Michigan outfit before coming over to Gordon, when it was still Gordon and the acquisition had not hit yet, about 8 months ago. Mom and Dad live in Michigan a stone's throw from Canada and he takes his home time there, runs US Fleet.

There is this perception that Heartland is going to muck it up. Jim the Trainer had it. Ed has it. This week, in part due to home time, he's had only 1500 miles. But he had 3,000 before that and a 3,800 which turned out that way because of the way the week fell, not because he actually had such a super week. Hasn't been bad, mile-wise. But he expects it to get worse...

The perception, after all, is the reality.

Really, here's the bottom line: Ed's still at the 38 cents that he came in at with Gordon after 8 months. While HTLD brags up what it pays its drivers, it hasn't bumped him up a notch, nothing, while it ya-da, ya-da's that it pays up to 52 cents/mile. Well, supposedly new drivers can only come in up to 48 cents.

Why, then, hasn't HTLD bumped Ed's pay up?? Ed's an OTR driver with 8 years experience, 4-1/2 with Knight Refrigerated. Appreciation's a fickle thing to get right. If the attaboy you get sounds hollow, it is hollow, no matter how loudly stated. Ed's not disgruntled. He just figures the best at this job is past.

Ed's not looking for a better tomorrow at HTLD/GTI. Not. At. All.

The way I figure it, Heartland could add a dime a mile to Ed's pay, the 48 cents that HTLD 'claims' it pays new drivers of his experience--and up to 52 cents a mile, right?? Ed figures it about the same way. If Heartland would pay a new driver with his experience 48 cents a mile, why not pay him the same??

Ed stays out 2-3 weeks, which is more HTLD than Gordon. With Gordon, staying out 3-4 weeks was standard for US Fleet and many stayed out 4-6 weeks. Not so with Heartland.

Ed has a nice, clean truck that has had its share of problems and at least one bad experience with HTLD maintenance in Phoenix.

Took something like 8 hours to get through the inspection line while they worked mainly on his trailer and the mechanic in the next line to look at his tractor started to have an attitude with him. Lost a full day and no 'gee, sorry' for the trouble and delay. More a cranky, 'what's taking you so long'. Hey, Ed was just holding the steering wheel. The delay wasn't of his making.

It sounds in spades like Heartland is losing the PR effort with GTI drivers.

Is that only Ed? I don't think so.

Ed strikes me as a pretty straight up kind of guy, the kind of driver ANY company should want to work for them. The trucking industry's not for the faint of heart. I look at the angst, tension, anxiety and chaos that my boss, Yard Boss, goes through on a daily basis and he's managed to survive his job for the last 15 years because he lives it, 24/7. I can call him 24/7 and he answers his phone.

At Gordon, I felt a little conflicted about dispatch. Had Travis as a DM and liked him. Regaled Ed at length how they gave me this awesome, showroom-clean truck in Lathrop and followed it up with the crummiest dispatch I'd ever received. Gave notice. Gordon doing Gordon. Gave Travis notice, wasn't his fault. He plead with me that he'd have something good after. Keep it.

Just keep it. Gordon did something nice for me, a really pretty truck and expected something demeaning in return. Gordon doing Gordon.

We laughed about that aspect of Gordon dispatch. What I felt I could trust most at Gordon was OTR (on the road service) because they trumped operations. I felt Gordon OTR had my back like Yard Boss has my back here at this job.

Ed doesn't feel Heartland has his back.

To keep drivers, valuable experienced long-time drivers like Ed, Heartland needs to figure this out. Ed will be driving for someone, count on that. He's a driver. That's what he is and will be. Whether he's a driver for Heartland much longer remains to be seen. Ed's not particularly expecting it.

Heartland, take notice.


Written Saturday, June 21, 2014 at Wal-Mart SuperCenter, Prairie du Chien. Pulling out shortly for Indiana. All rights reserved.

 

A More Sharply Pointed View: Trucker 'Triple X'

"What are you doing here at 10:00 on a perfectly good Friday night when you could be out having a beer?" the shipper in Prairie asked me last night. He's actually a Miller Light kind of guy and I'm more Dos Equis Amber. Well chilled. Not beer buddies. Nope. Not comrades in beer unless Tom ups his brew.

This morning I noticed that Wal-Mart had some Wisconsin cheeses. Had a provelone, parmesan and asiago to choose from, among others; got an 8-ounce wedge of BelGioioso (www.belgioioso.com) aged asiago described as 'all natural cheese, a unique taste like no other cube for a zesty snack'.

Produced in Denmark, too... ah, fooled you, produced in Denmark, Wisconsin.

With my morning Wal-Mart business done, I tooted up the street to what passes for a truck stop and found the GTI I had followed in from Madison not there. Well, that sorts of beats me up, I thought.

So this afternoon I run into a vestige of the Gordon-that-was, the Gordon that tow and joseph, in their better moments, rare those may be, try allude to and rings all hollow to me, until Trucker Triple X today.

Triple X grew up in trucking, has a long ponytail and lives in his truck, uses his folks' residence for legal purposes. But lives in his truck. Triple X's grandfather, father, and brother all either did drive or do drive for Gordon. And Triple X and his family feel like Gordon stabbed them in the back.

Triple X's been driving for Gordon since '08 and now they do this? Triple X says Heartland has not changed his life--yet. He expects, though, that it's coming.

He runs Ohio and the West and the first time HTLD tells him to take a New York load, is his first and last New York pre-plan. Not. Happening.

He says the companies (GTI and Heartland) are run as separate, distinct companies and will be for some time. He does feel his miles have dropped, down even into the 1800-2000 mile range, although some weeks are better. Most importantly, he finds HTLD, "Rude, crude and abusive."

His contacts with Heartland, drivers and mechanics, have been edgy, tense and even with the numerous 'load rescues' he's done, felt disrespected in each encounter. For example, an HTLD driver shut down at the Wyoming port of entry for lack of chains couldn't have been more indifferent and unsympathetic to the chain requirement.

Triple X tried explain to the driver that you don't have to use 'em, you just have to carry them. It's the law, right? Would not penetrate the driver's angry tirade, aimed as much at Triple X as to law enforcement.

Since he doesn't have a lot of expenses, Triple X doesn't much notice if he has a bad week this week or last, since the next week will be good and even things out. Well, hopefully.

Like tow and joseph (in their better moments) Triple X is a Lifestyle Trucker. He's never been a corporate trucker and never will be. Fortunately for him, there is a world out there of brokers and all you need is an MC number, a truck, a trailer, ya-da, ya-da. Not all THAT simple. Double yellow's going that route. Good timing. Good for him.

Establish your reputation and they could care less what you look like, live like. Well, pretty much. It's much more open and looser than driving corporate.

I'm pulling outbound loads to Wisconsin and the money's good right now. A buddy, Tim with Landstar, grosses $5500/week and doesn't travel out of Kentucky, Ohio, Illinois and Indiana. Doesn't have an ounce of braggadocio in him. Tim would think nothing more sophomoric than bragging how many miles you drove. Tim wants more money for less miles.

The less miles the better.

Hey!! A Heartland just pulled up and parked next to me!!

Guess I'll have to fold up this Ipad, walk down off this hill and go visit my new neighbor.

To be continued...


Written June 21, 2014 at the Willow Creek Rest Area, I-39 southbound (well, mostly written here). All rights reserved.