Our Own Lone Wolf!

A rumbling is happening at Hurricane Express lately and I am going to tell you all about it.  The rumbling you are hearing is our new HR manager, Jack riding up on his Harley Davidson.  Jack is here to be the leading ear to all the employees and drivers of Hurricane Express.  When you feel like a problem isn’t being resolved in a timely matter, Jack will be your man.  So let’s find out a little bit about this loner of the great highways.

1.       He is a runner! (Stephan may have a running buddy) His longest run to date is 51 miles!  5-1 people!  I just want to repeat this again.  The man puts on sneakers and ran 51 miles.

2.      He is also a cyclist.  He rides a bike so he can do duathlons.  So apparently running 51 miles wasn’t enough so he jumps on a bike to put in another 20 miles on a bike.

3.      Harley Davidson, loves them, rides them.  Has a 2012 and already put 99k miles on it.

4.      He cut all his fingers off with a skill saw.  They reattached 4 and he has part of a pinky.  (Don’t worry when he was telling me I was trying to sneak a peek and then he finally showed me, just part of a pinky is missing.)

5.      OCD!  To the point that he never moves anything at his house and everything is black and white.  The man likes order in his life. 

Jack lives in Spavinaw, OK and he has two grown daughters.  One he adopted from the Philippines and has given him two grandkids.  His other daughter is working on her master’s degree at OU.  He has been working in HR for 16 years, and even spent time in transportation working scheduling and logistics. So he is no stranger to our area.

Jack will spend most of his time here at Hurricane putting on new driver orientation on Monday and Tuesday, working with all the drivers to find out what can help them out on the road and he will be on call some weekends but will not be dispatching.  So just remember if you need help, have an idea or just need to get something off your chest give Jack a call.

Truck Driver Appreciation Week!

Today is about our drivers!  The backbone of any trucking company is the drivers.  Without you nothing would go anywhere, like really, not go anywhere because you drive it there.

I have been in the transportation for a little over a year.  I have learned a lot about what a driver brings to Hurricane Express.  So here are some thoughts of gratitude from an outsider.

1.       I think it is amazing that OTR driver can pack 90% of their life into a very small area, then hit the road for weeks on end without seeing their family.  It takes a special person to give their commitment to a job and know it might be 6 weeks before they see their wife.

2.      You work 24/7.  I mean just, WOW!  If I was a driver I wouldn’t even, make it out of the yard because there is a bed behind my driver’s seat.  You guys commit to driving 11 hours a day, get 10-hour break, then right back at it.  There is no go home and watch TV, make some dinner, curl up in bed.

3.      You put up with every type of driver out on the road, in multiple cities in the same day.  You deserve a medal for that alone.

4.      You are very good at hurry up and waiting process.  Ok, let’s be honest, no you are not.  You guys have the itch to get on the road and move, but most of you are good sports and know that’s name of the game.  It’s part of the job.

5.      You can find a friend anywhere.  Truck stop check-out line for 5 minutes and you have found a lifelong friend.

6.      You have each other’s backs.  I see our Hurricane drivers always supporting each other.  A new driver needs a little help on how things work and by the time he leaves he has 3 phone numbers for any issues.

7.      Your job is hard!  Most people think come on they get to drive all day and see the country.  I drive 180 miles every day and it drags on.  I can’t imagine getting up at 2 AM in any type of weather to do a Pre-Check then drive 650 miles with a 30 min break. Then do it all over again. 

     So to all the drivers out there, THANK YOU!  Just remember the next time you go the grocery store little elves didn’t magically transport those items from where they are made.  So everyone out there take time to tell a Trucker, Thank You!

To all my Hurricane Express Drivers, THANK YOU for everything you do for this company!  I am glad to be on this team with you!

Dennis Lewis...Highway to Heaven

We at Hurricane Express really take pride in ourselves that we try to listen and hear our drivers.  Most of us know about each other’s families whether it be the ups or downs.  So nothing hurts us more than to lose a close member of our Hurricane Express family.

On Thursday, August 25, 2016, we lost a very special driver, Dennis Lewis.  Dennis had been with us for 9 months and really made an impact on our hearts.  Dennis loved the road, it was what he loved doing.  Dennis had made truck 99 his bright lime green home.  What is funny is that bright truck showcased his loud never outspoken personality.

Dennis started his career with Hurricane by contacting me though Facebook.  Now if you know Dennis that might make you laugh.  Dennis just doesn’t fit the Facebooking type, but oh man he loved him some Facebook.  I don’t remember Dennis being a hard to hire guy, his work history was good, just hadn’t found his home.  He came to orientation and he fit the trucker fashion, giant cup of coffee, T-shirt with front pocket and jeans.  I had no idea when we sent him out if he would be a good fit for our company but he would soon prove that there was no mistake on why we hired him.
 
Dennis was rough around the edges but had a heart of gold.  I can’t remember many times that he didn’t walk in this office without a gift for Safety.  He told me it was to keep on Deborah’s good side.  (Dennis wasn’t the greatest logger and was moved to elogs.)  If we didn’t have coffee at the office he would go buy some.  He loved doing for people and never worried about money.  Always told me can’t take it with you might as well enjoy it.

The week before Dennis passed, he was in the office. This time he brought giant Reese’s Peanut Butter footballs for 5 of us in the office.  He also left $25 with the safety department to make sure Deborah got a birthday cake.  We also ordered 6 or 7 t-shirts with pockets in them.  That was always his biggest complaint, why didn’t our T-shirts have pockets in them.

I also know Dennis had some nieces and nephews that he loved to babysit.  He talked about them many times and how much fun they were to play with.  He loved to meet his family at the casino to take them out to eat and I know he had taken them all out to eat about 3 weeks ago.

Dennis was proud to work for Hurricane Express and we are proud to have him as a driver.  I had been talking to the other recruiter and said I would take 15 or 20 more Dennis Lewis’s.  He was a bit of pain sometimes but wouldn’t trade him for the world.  Dennis truly touched my heart and I find peace in knowing that he was doing what he loved when he passed.

Dennis Lewis, I know you have taken your final road trip.  We will miss you!

Rest In Peace, Dennis Lewis 

What takes so long to get hired?

What goes into a company hiring a new driver? Many drivers really don’t know what all happens on the other side of the desk when you apply. So today we are going to go step by step on the importance of each step and reports that our company must run to get you qualified to become a Hurricane Express driver.

1.  At Hurricane we must have a signed application with 10 years’ work history. So as a driver it is important to take your time and figure out your past 10 years. Don’t leave work out, just because you had a bad experience at a driving job and you want to forget about it doesn’t mean it didn’t happen. Do not fudge on your time at places, companies verify work history or report to DAC. If a company wants 3 years OTR experience, we can verify it. If you lie about it, that might take you out of the running for a position. So try to get your dates pretty close, most companies understand when you are off by a month or 2.

2. Once we get your application at Hurricane, we start to process that application by first checking your OTR experience and adding up your experience. We are looking for 36 months of OTR experience. We check to make sure companies have DOT #’s and have more than 10 trucks in their fleet.
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3. Next at Hurricane we run your PSP. The Pre-Employment Screening Program (PSP) allows motor carriers to obtain five years of crash data and three years of roadside inspection data on prospective drivers. PSP records may not be used for current employees; they are to be used exclusively for pre-employment screening purposes. This allows us to see if you have any DOT reportable accidents and how you did on inspections. If you have had an accident, we need an accident report. (Note: If you ever have an accident that law enforcement is involved get a copy of the accident report and keep for 5 years.) We also look to see if you have any violations, where they because of the equipment or driver. We are mainly looking at driver violations. This means you need to stay on top of what happens with your DOT inspections. If you have to many driver violations or an at fault accident, we will pass you by.

4. After the PSP is cleared by Safety we run your DAC. The DAC employment report is a detailed summary of a trucker’s work history in the trucking industry. Most trucking companies today participate in sharing this information about truckers. The DAC employment report contains items such as length of employment, number of accidents, reasons for quitting or why they were fired, if they are eligible for re-hire, type of driving, commodities hauled and types of trailers pulled. This tells us a lot about a driver. We are looking for length of work history, accidents and reason for leaving. DAC can be great for drivers if they have handled leaving jobs in the proper way. At Hurricane we use the DAC as verifiable time.

5. Once we have the DAC if we still do not have 36 months verified we will start sending out verifications to your past employers in the past 3 years that where not listed on DAC. Here is where the waiting game starts. All companies have 30 days to answer employment verifications. Most are nice and complete within 3-5 days, but some can drag it out if they want too. When this happens there is nothing we can do until they have reached their 30 days. At Hurricane we can use your Federal Tax records to verify your past employment at a job for hiring purposes if needed. This is a good reason to keep these records for 10 years. Scan and email them to yourself so you have these records saved and at easy access.

6. Once we have 36 months verified, we send your file to the VP of Operations for final review. He is going to look at your application, PSP, DAC and verifications. Do you have good employment history length at positions? Why did you leave? Job jumping? Your personal reasons for leaving? Violations? He takes all this into account and makes the final decision on your approval for our program.

7. Approval or Denial- This can come 1 day to 20 days depending on verifications. If a driver is approved our next step is to contact the driver and let them know they have been pre-approved pending on their MVR results.

8. CDLIS and MVR- Your CDLIS tells us all your past state CDL numbers, so make sure you have put all your past CDL numbers on your application if you had the license in the past 3 years. Once we have those will run MVR on any license numbers you have had in the past 3 years. A MVR is going to tell us about any suspensions or tickets that are on your record usually in the past 3 years. Some states do go back 5 years. All MVR are cleared by safety.

9. It’s time for orientation! Once we have completed everything it’s time to attend orientation! So get your stuff packed and don’t forget your CDL, SSI and Birth Certificate.

So this gives you an idea of what it is like to be hired by Hurricane Express.

A Healthy Trucker is a Happy Trucker

One of the biggest things I hear our drivers talk about is how hard it is to stay healthy while out on the road.  So today we are going to take a look at easy ways to eat healthy and hopefully be cost effective while out on the road. 

*Disclaimer*  I am not talking about a weight loss diet plan, eating healthy side effect can be losing weight, depending on your portion size.  Please understand eating healthy does not always mean weight loss will happen.  You need to consult your doctor and determine the best way possible weight loss program for your body type. 

I will say this, eating healthy will make you feel better.  Anytime you start to cut out fried, sugary and processed food and put vegetables in your body after a couple of weeks you will notice a difference.  So here is the start of some simple steps you can make in your day to day routine.

1.     Let’s start with the most important thing you can put in your body.  WATER! WATER! WATER! Put down the soda, juice and coffee and start with a bottle of water each morning, then go get your cup of joe.  Each day you need to drink half you body weight in water.  So put down the water bottle and get you a couple of water gallon jugs to refill your cup.

2.     Don’t skip breakfast, eating in the morning is fuel for your body. You need the fuel to keep you going all day.  Take the time to eat a healthy breakfast: eggs (best if not fried in grease), nuts, protein shakes, real fruit smoothies, oatmeal, low fat cheese or Greek yogurt. 

3.     During the day make sure you have some healthy snacks: Apple slices, grapes, strawberries, blueberries, almonds, bananas, mangos, watermelon, etc.  These are all things that can be put in Ziploc bags for easy storage. Don’t starve yourself if you are hungry, like stomach growling put some food in your belly.  Just be smart about it.

4.     Next thing is you don’t have to have a huge lunch.  Try an open faced sandwich on a slice of whole wheat bread, a bowl of soup, tuna with wheat cracker or lean meat wrap. 

5.     If you are on your 30-minute break get out of the truck and move around and I don’t mean to the restroom and back.  You are in your truck driving 11 hours of the day most days of the week.  You need to get up and move anytime you can for at least 10-15 mins.   Make some time at the end of your 10 hour break to do a lap around the truck stop, use the steps on you truck to get up and down 15 or 20 times.  Get your heart pumping before you climb back in the seat.

6.     Dinner time should be you smallest meal of the day.  Try eating a little a very lean meat such as chicken or turkey.  Once again an open face sandwich or wrap makes a fast and easy dinner.  This is also where a crockpot will come in handy because you can make a meal that will last 2 or 3 nights.  Saves time and money.

Here are some great simple recipes to help get you started.

PB&J Whole-Grain Toaster Waffle

Prepare a whole-grain toaster waffle and slice in half. Spread with 2 tablespoons nut butter and jelly of your choice, and layer sliced strawberries on top. Whole-Grain Toaster waffles can be purchase in the freezer area and are super simple to make in small toaster.

Overnight Oats

This is the ultimate lazy-person breakfast. Before you go to bed combine oatmeal and almond milk in a sealed container the night before, mason jars work best.  I normally add a scoop of protein powder, 2 tsp of peanut butter and some fruit (blueberries, strawberries, apple, banana, etc) shake it all up and put in fridge. By morning, you’ll have delicious overnight oats! These can be heated in the microwave for 1-2 minutes if you're in the mood for something warm.

Avocado Egg Salad

Ingredients

1 egg (Hard-boiled)

½ Avocado (diced

2 slices bacon(crumbled)

 Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions

Slightly mash the avocado.

Dice the hard-boiled egg and add it to the avocado.

Add the bacon, mix gently to combine.

Season with sea salt and black pepper.

Slow Cooker Fiesta Chicken

Ingredients:

§  2.5 pounds boneless chicken breast

§  1 can Campbell’s condensed cheddar soup

§  Salsa (16 oz jar)

Instructions: Add all three ingredients to your slow cooker. Cook on low for 6-8 hours, or high for 4 hours. Stir periodically. Stop for the night and enjoy a delicious, idiot-proof home cooked meal! Serve over rice or eat alone with some veggies. Switch up the salsa spiciness for some zip!

Sweet Potato-Kale Stew

Ingredients:

§  2 large sweet potatoes, diced

§  1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced

§  2 tomatoes, diced

§  1 red onion, chopped

§  1 can of low-sodium red kidney beans

§  1 tbsp chili powder

§  1 tbsp chipotle sauce

§  2 cups kale, shredded

§  2 cups orange juice

Directions:

Put all ingredients in the slow cooker except for the kale. Cook on low for 12 hours. In the last 20 minutes, add the kale.

Fresh Lemon Chicken and Rice

Ingredients:

2 cups long grain white rice

2 cups water 3 Tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts (1 pound total) 1/2 cup fresh lemon juice 2 teaspoons lemon zest 1 teaspoon garlic 1 whole lemon

 Directions:

1. Place rice and water into slow cooker.

2. Place cubed butter evenly into rice and water.

3. Place chicken pieces into the slow cooker, on top of rice. Pour lemon juice over chicken. Sprinkle lemon zest and garlic evenly over top.

4. Cut whole lemon into thin slices. Arrange slices on top of each piece of chicken.

5. Cover and cook on LOW for 6 to 8 hours.

Remember if you are looking for healthier crockpot recipes it is easy to search online to find plenty.  It just takes a little prep and you have to go to the grocery store. 

Unsafe Driving- Protect your CSA score.

Unsafe Driving

Compliance, Safety and Accountability (CSA)

    Unsafe Driving is one of seven BASICs (Behavior Analysis and Safety Improvement Categories) used in the CSA scores. Unsafe Driving includes violations for speeding, improper lane changes, following too closely, failure to obey a traffic control device (sign or light), seat belt violations and radar detector violations. Using a hand-held cellphone, texting and unauthorized passengers are also violations found in the Unsafe Driving Basic. The trend is showing that more and more drivers are not given citations or warnings for a violation. Instead the violation is noted on an inspection form and thus cannot be disputed in court.

    All violations that pertain to a BASIC are assigned a severity weight that reflects crash risk. The severity weights range from 1 to 10, where 1 represents the lowest crash risk and 10 represents the highest crash risk relative to the other violations in the BASIC. Scores are also time weighted from 1 to 3, with the most recent violations having the most effect on the scores. Points are updated to our BASICs scores in CSA and a drivers’ safety records in PSP each month. We are required to stay under a threshold of 65% in the Unsafe Driving Basic. If we go above 65%, we are subject to interventions which includes our equipment and drivers being subjected to more frequent inspections by law enforcement.

    There are no excuses in the CSA environment. Things like “the officer said he wasn’t giving me a ticket so it wouldn’t count” or “I was running with traffic” or “I didn’t see the sign saying they were inspecting in the rest area” will not cut it. In CSA, the only thing that works is to not violate rules, regulations or laws. CSA scoring is based upon any “defect” an officer “observes.” If he or she sees it, they write it and both the driver and the company bear the consequences. It is imperative that all drivers understand CSA BASICS and comply with all traffic laws, state and Federal regulations at all times. Drivers who fail to understand or who just don’t care will simply not survive in the world of CSA. EVERYTHING COUNTS!! Safety is our number one priority. Stay in compliance and stay safe.  

Happy Mother's Day!- To Our Office Mother!

So this week we are going to have a special addition of the blog for Mother’s Day.  At Hurricane we have 8 Mothers the work in the office, so of course we want to wish them and all the Mothers out there a Happy Mother’s Day. 

Today, this blog is going to cover a very special Mother at Hurricane.  Many of you are wondering who is this person, well that would be Kadeon and Sheldon’s mother, Kathy.  I would personally consider Kathy the Office Mother, if you don’t feel well she is checks on you though out the day.  If you are having a bad day, she seems to always show up at the right time to just ask how you are doing.  When she hears you having a rough time, she just happens to walking by and has words of wisdom that always hits the right spot. 

Many drivers don’t always get the joy of talking with Kathy because she works very hard in her office and normally gets to the office before anyone else.  So today I have asked Sheldon to give me some stories about Kathy. 

Here is a little bit that Sheldon shared with me-

            Kathy was born in Utah, grew up in New Mexico and went to Santa Clara University in California. She has lived in California, New Mexico, Utah, Arkansas, Kentucky, Oregon, South Dakota, Virginia, Pennsylvania and in the jungles of Mexico.  She had children born in California, Oregon, Kentucky and Arkansas. She came to Arkansas with Eddie and their 3 young children in a small school bus with bunk beds.  They lived in the school bus and an army tent for almost a year while Eddie was building their house.  The school bus is still on their property where it was parked over 40 years ago.  For approximately 20 years she lived on 40 acres (outside of Pettigrew) that was surrounded by National Forest on 3 sides.  All four of her kids were raised there.  They didn’t have indoor plumbing, hot running water or electricity.  Our closest neighbor was 2 miles away on a private road that was originally a logging road.

She homeschooled all of her 4 children for varying amounts of time.  Her oldest daughter was homeschooled through 11^th grade, her other daughter was homeschooled through 9^th grade, Kaedon was homeschooled through 8^thgrade, and Sheldon was homeschooled through 4^th grade. She helped found an alternative school (Headwaters) in Pettigrew, Arkansas and taught there.  The school is still in operation.

Kathy loves gardening and plants.  She enjoys crocheting, she has crocheted blankets for all 9 of her grandchildren. She enjoys hiking and takes breaks during the day to just step outside to enjoy the sun for a minute.  She is an active Catholic.  Once a month she delivers Communion to the sick.  Many of the recipients are elderly people in nursing homes.  At one point she had her CDL learners permit.  She has driven a loaded tractor trailer on our highways.  She said that the greatest thing about it was that the trailer followed her wherever she went.

Here are some quotes by office staff-

You can tell that Kathy’s is a strong, loving and wonderful person by the way her kids have grown up to be kind, respectful and hard workers.  Her kids have their own families now and they are being raised the same way.  There is no greater compliment I could think to give a mother. -Deborah  

Kathy is one of the most honest and nicest people that I have ever known, even if she tries to keep it a secret.  When my mother passed away, Kathy was there.  She didn't leave me while I was waiting on a ride, she cried with me and afterwards she was the sincerest and caring person in a sea of condolences.  She always remembers the little things going on in people’s lives and inquiries about them long after others have forgotten.  I consider her to be one of the most interesting, caring and beautiful souls that I know. -Christie

I love the fact that she always asks about my kid and how she is doing in life and takes the time to listen about my family.  Not many people in a work place do that, so it is very special that she come back weeks later to check on them. -Amber

So as you can see, Kathy is very important person here in the office.  She can be the calm in our storm, the light when it is cloudy and to be honest she can be very funny and blunt about what she has to say. There is nothing better than to her hear giggling.

           I feel like this blog gives you a better look at everyone in the office and sometimes it gives me a look into their life I would have never seen.  I have had lots of drivers come into the office and tell me they never knew such and such did that.  I found writing this piece about Kathy that most interesting thing I have written so far.