He’d rather be fishing, but loves trucking just the same

JR Gonzales spent some time in Central Arkansas talking to a reporter about life on the road. (The Trucker/Barb Kampbell)

By BARB KAMPBELL
The Trucker Staff

8/29/2008

For a guy who wants nothing more than to be fishing in Porterville, Calif., living in Dallas may not be the ideal thing, but trucking is.

“I like trucking and I get paid for it,” said JR Gonzales on a late July morning at a Central Arkansas truck stop for an interview with The Trucker.

Gonzales has been driving for Ronnie Dowdy Inc. out of Batesville, Ark., for about seven months; he drove for Jim Palmer prior to that for three years and has been a long-haul driver for 20 years. A friend in Dallas got him into the business. Currently Gonzales hauls reefer.

Originally from Porterville, Calif., a place he really calls home, Gonzales currently lives in Dallas and is a single guy with a 20-year-old “boy” named Anthony.

Gonzales said his favorite thing to see when out on the road is the mountains.

“I love the mountains,” he said. “I like them in the snow.”

Gonzales told a reporter that she did not look like someone in the trucking industry and added, “About eight years ago they told me I don’t look like a truck driver. I started gaining weight, now I look like it,” he said with a big laugh.

When asked about then versus now in trucking the smiles turned downward a bit as he reeled off a couple of thoughts.

“There’s no courtesy anymore,” Gonzales said. “It’s not like it was when I started. They’ve [truckers] gotten real bad lately. They come out of trucking schools and don’t know anything. [Get] broken down and they don’t care. Change has been for the worst.”

And as to the ongoing Hours of Service issue, he continued, “HOS is ridiculous. I don’t see how they can tell us when we’re tired and when we’re not. If I knew how to do something else I’d do it.”

He had one quick reply when asked what he likes to do in his time off: “Fish.” His favorite place to fish is in Porterville at a private pond called Costas. He fishes for catfish with his largest catch weighing in at about 20 pounds.

“I go up there with my buddies and fish … hardly ever get there,” added Gonzales.

On a day in Central Arkansas where the temperature was expected to be at least 100 degrees, the weather was sure to come up.

“California is hot but nice,” Gonzales said. “Here it’s hot and humid; back there it’s just hot.”

Diesel prices aren’t affecting him much, he said, since he’s a company driver.

“I try to save the man money; I do what I can,” Gonzales said.

Even though earlier in the interview he discussed his frustration with HOS and said he’d change careers if he could, the truth of the matter is he probably wouldn’t.

“I love it,” said Gonzales of trucking. “There’s not anything else I’d rather do. I’ve been doing it for 20-plus years and I still like doing it.”

But there is one thing he wants to do soon: “I got to go see my mom; she lives in Porterville.”