Phil Madsen's Blog

Learning Something New Every Day

Truck drivers Phil and Diane Madsen live, work and play on the road; transporting expedited and critical-shipment freight in their custom-built truck. Phil's blog is a blend of travelogue, brain dump and commentary on road-inspired topics.

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Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area or the load is delivered. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page

Wednesday, February 1, 2012 I learned today how hurricane shutters are installed on a Florida house. Learned by removing them.

Diane and I woke up this morning in our Florida vacation house where we plan to stay until until mid-February. Today was mostly the same as the other days we have spent here, which have been very nice. I am especially enjoying the mild temperatures that enable us to open all the windows and enjoy the breeze blowing through the house.

New today was removing the hurricane shutters and brackets that came with the house when we bought it. We are having new windows installed in a week or so. The crew wants the shutters and drapes removed before they arrive.

The shutters will not be re-installed. Single-pane windows are being replaced with double-pane windows that are guaranteed to stand up to 175 mph winds. If a hurricane comes, the house (a manufactured home) would blow to bits before the window glass broke.

• Because of housing market timing and because we live and work in a truck, Diane and I get to have a different kind of conversation about a house than many homeowners do. The house was purchased for just $40,000 after the Florida real estate crash devastated the market. The crash is not over. House prices continue to decline in this area. We expected that when we bought the house. We paid cash and view it not as an investment but as a consumer good. In this market, a house is not something that will go up in value but something that costs money to own and maintain.

As such, the house is an item we can live without. We already know that if we happened to be here when a hurricane evacuation order was issued, we will hop in the truck and drive away. If the house was lost to a storm or flood, it would be a sad event, especially after buying the furnishings and making the improvements we have, but it would be more like losing a lake cabin instead of a primary residence.

Nothing essential is kept in the house when we are away. If the house was destroyed, our 132 inch ARI truck sleeper would provide all the comforts of home we need, just as it has done for years. There would be no business interruption since the truck is our business and we would have our laptop computers along.

Owning a truck and earning a living with it enables us to be light on our feet regarding a house. A house is nice to have but not essential. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page

Thursday, February 2, 2012 I learned today the schedule and events of the Selectus Annual Conference 2012. Learned by studying the flyer.

Diane and I woke up this morning in our Florida vacation house where we plan to stay until until mid-February. Today was the same as most other days we have spent here.

I write occasional articles for an expediter magazine (Expedite NOW) . The conference will be in a convention center near Orlando. Knowing that this conference would be held not far from our Florida house, I arranged to cover the event as a reporter. It is a convention for Selectus members, most of which are small motor carriers. I'm not a member but am being allowed in as a reporter.

If you are an expediter and review the conference information, you will see why I am excited about immersing myself in this event. It is an opportunity to learn a great deal about a segment of the expediting industry that I now know little about.

Diane and I have only been in the business eight years and have leased our truck to two large carriers in that time. The Selectus event is a gathering of small carriers and owner-operators who run under their own authority. At our first carrier we relied on dispatch to put good freight on our truck and keep us moving. Our present carrier's dispatch system is decentralized and agency based but we still rely on the carrier for a great deal. Own-authority owner-operators live in a different world. I am looking forward to learning more about it and sharing with I learn with my readers.

As the event date draws near, I am spending time online to prepare. That includes reading the web sites and SMS reports of small carriers; catching up on the big news Bradley Jacobs made when he took over Express-1; reading about freight forwarders, freight brokers, 3PL's, 4PL's, load boards, and other entities that populate the mysterious, giant blob from which much of the freight that expediters haul originates; and thinking up the questions I will ask the people who will be there. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page

Friday, February 3, 2012 I learned today more about New Smyrna Beach, Fla. Learned by walking its historic Flagler Avenue.

Diane and I woke up this morning in our Florida vacation house where we plan to stay until until mid-February. Today was the same as most of the days we have spent here except for a short trip to New Smyrna Beach.

We were there the weekend before last for an art fair. Now having a piece in need of a frame, we returned to go to a frame shop. We had work done last year by the same shop but spent no time on "The Avenue" that is widely promoted in these parts. Today we did and it was delightful.

Flagler Avenue features several blocks of small shops offering an enticing variety of goods. The east end of the street ends on the (Atlantic Ocean) beach. Cars are permitted to drive onto the beach and up and down the ocean shore. Bikini-clad beach goers brightened the day of the construction workers who were building a new beach-side structure. We did not have time to stay with the borrowed car we were driving but resolved to make a day of it when time permits.

• As delightful as the days have been for us in Florida, Diane and I are feeling the itch to get back on the road. We might be there already if not for the conference I will be attending next week. We have been out of service since before Christmas and are beginning to miss the road. We enjoy the work and the interaction with customers and fellow truck drivers. It's fun to drive a truck, especially on the open road. I'm ready to do it again.

Diane is ready too. She went to the truck today to get a book or something but did not immediately return. She sat in the driver's seat for a while just to be there and scratch in a small way the itch to drive again. We have spent thousands of hours in that seat. It is a familiar and comfortable place. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page

Saturday, February 4, 2012 I learned today that The World's Toughest Trucker TV series will be coming on soon. Learned by seeing the TV ads and announcements in trucking publications.

Diane and I woke up this morning in our Florida vacation house where we plan to stay until until mid-February. Today was the same as most other days we have spent here but I am getting busier with trucking related stuff.

I wrote two days ago about preparing for the upcoming Selectus conference. Most if not all of our 2011 income tax documents have been received so work has begun on that. Diane and I do more than taxes at this time of year. It is a good time to review all our numbers for the prior year.

The World's Toughest Trucker series is of greater interest to me than other TV shows about trucking (if you can call them that) because I was invited by the producers to apply to be in that show. I blogged on April, 11, 2011 about the invitation details and why I did not apply.

The blog you are reading now is what got me "discovered" by the show and invited to apply. I thought it was hilarious at the time. The world's toughest trucker I am not. Having seen the previews, I doubt that the show would have wanted me in a role like that. I'm not a good enough actor to pretend to be the kind of trucker they portray.

By choice, Diane and I do not have a TV in the truck but there is one at our Florida house. I have watched too much of it while here. It saddens me to see one so-called reality show after another making people look stupid who who are doing trucking, fishing, logging and other blue collar work. American working people deserve more respect than they are being given in these shows. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page

Blog entries are made so as not to reveal customer specifics or the current location of the truck when we are under load. Entries are updated to include location information after we leave the area or the load is delivered. Blog author Top of page Bottom of page