In The News

Team hauls loads that ‘should have been there yesterday’

NORTH LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — Team drivers and husband and wife, Bob and Pat Houghton can’t always say what they haul since often loads are for the government, but what they can say is that the loads they haul are those that “should have been there yesterday.”

The Houghtons drive team for FedEx Custom Critical. Bob, who’s originally from the Philadelphia area, has been driving for 40 years. He previously hauled tanker loads and has over 3 million miles of driving under his belt. They split driving time equally.

Pat, who’s originally from South Jersey, has been driving 16 years and got into driving because of her husband. They have been married for 20 years and now are together 24/7. Before becoming a trucker she worked for a veterinarian.

“I got into trucking because of him,” Pat said, referring to her husband. “I like to meet different people. Some of them are really, really nice. We get to see mother nature’s art gallery.”

Pat doesn’t like to drive in the big cities like Los Angeles or Washington, D.C.; she avoids rush hour traffic when possible.

The Houghtons are subcontracted to Pat and Wes Savoy out of Conyers, Ga. They drive a 2007 Custom Columbia Freightliner with a custom Bentz sleeper. They live in Conroe, Texas, but only go home for a few days every three or four months to check the mail and take care of medical issues that may arise.

According to Bob, the new Hours of Service rules have hurt team drivers.

“It was alright until they started changing all the rules,” Bob said. “Fourteen-hour days, 11 hours driving, that’s killed the team. The purpose of team is to keep moving and as long as you kept moving you didn’t lose time.

“With new rules you can’t keep your logs balanced. But I wouldn’t give it up. I’ve been doing it too long.”

And besides the changes in rules, he thinks drivers have changed as well.

“Drivers today are not what they were 30 to 40 years ago,” Bob said. “It’s not their fault so much. I can’t stop and help others because of what I haul. A lot of drivers don’t really care, though. They’d as soon run over you as look at you.

“I used to stop and before I could get the flares set up there’d be four other trucks stopped. Part of the negative change is because of company policies; some are just the drivers.”

Before getting into trucking Bob was a city bus driver in suburban Philadelphia. He drove in Upper Darby for about five years. And he didn’t even have to have a CDL back then to drive a bus or a truck.

“I pulled doubles before you had to have an endorsement to pull them,” Bob said.

But despite how he started out in trucking without a CDL or driving school, Bob does believe that drivers need some training.

“What ticks me off is that Joe Shmuck can come home on Friday after working all week and drive his RV down the highway with no training,” Bob said. “He might have a 40-foot camper with a car or boat behind it and have no special training.”

Despite the ups and downs of the industry, Bob is in it for the long haul.

“It’s been a good life,” Bob said. “I’ve done it so long I don’t know what else to do at this point. I’d do it all over again. I’ve met a lot of nice people. I’m still friends with a lot of them. It’s not a job, it’s a lifestyle. It takes a certain person to do it.”

Pat told about one shipment they hauled; it was a mirror for a telescope for NASA. They could not cross I-80 because the altitude in the area might have caused it to break. Once they hauled a huge tire for the Discovery shuttle.

Pat is happy to be in the trucking world.

“I like it; it gets in your blood,” she said. “I could not go back in an office. I like the different personalities.”

And what about being with your partner all the time?

“We’ve been together 24/7 since 1992,” Pat said. “It works for us.”

“It doesn’t necessarily work for everybody,” Bob added. “But it works for us.”

The Houghtons agreed that a lot of drivers could improve the image of the industry by dressing better and taking better care of hygiene issues.

“The dress code needs to be better,” Pat said. And Bob added: “There needs to be a dress code.”

They both offered advice to fellow truckers.

“Have fun! Life is too short,” Pat said. “Have fun at your job. You have to like your job and if you don’t, get another job.”

“Take pride in yourself and others,” Bob said. “The way you dress, the way you look. I wouldn’t let half of them on my dock because they haven’t showered and are not dressed appropriately to be in public. It seems many drivers just don’t care.”