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4 days ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
When truckers are surveyed about the most difficult U.S. cities to drive through, Houston often ranks near the top of the list, with drivers jockeying through the heart of the city to access the port, railyards and other freight hubs. With a population of nearly 7 million, the Houston area remains one of the fastest growing cities in the country. In fact, it’s currently ranked as the fourth most populated city in the U.S. behind New York, Los Angeles and Chicago.
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1 week ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
Change is seldom an easy endeavor, and when technology is involved, gaining acceptance throughout an organization can be difficult. After all, while computers are good at solving math problems, they don’t always perform well with issues involving people. In a human-focused industry like trucking, which is increasingly driven by information technology, balancing human interaction and technology is important.
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1 week ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
Driver safety and risk mitigation are at a crossroads. The rapid evolution of artificial intelligence (AI) is equipping carriers with increasing options to employ technology into their safety programs. But AI is only as intelligent as the humans who create and operate it. While AI is bringing more options to detect safety issues to carriers, the human element is still a vital component in analyzing the data AI provides. AI alone is inefficient and ineffective in solving safety problems.
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1 week ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
A number of young fans of legendary western actors and singing cowboys grew up in Roxton, Texas, in the mid-20th century — my parents among them. On Saturday afternoons, they’d walk to Front Street to catch the latest Roy Rogers, Lash LaRue, Randolph Scott or Gene Autry release on the big screen at the Roxy or Best Theater.
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4 weeks ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
Guy Clark (1941-2016) hailed from the West Texas town of Monahans, about midway between two other West Texas towns, Odessa and Pecos. According to Guy, there wasn’t a lot for a boy to do in Monahans in the 1940s. Perhaps his favorite pastime was putting a penny on the railroad track and seeing how it turned out after the Texas & Pacific locomotive and rail cars rambled over it. In fact, one of his best-known songs, “Texas 1947,” makes mention of the ritual.
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1 month ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
Economists and industry analysts in the logistics sector are optimistic these days. After several years of a freight recession, they see a light at the end of the tunnel. Analysts say the industry has endured the recession, and it advises carriers to prepare for a period of “thriving.”Daniel Rutherford, virtual CFO for Summit Virtual CFO by Anders, believes the thriving period of the economic cycle has already begun. “Hopefully we’re on the upswing coming out of 2024 and into 2025,” he said.
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1 month ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
If anyone doubts that severe weather season is upon us, all they have to do is take a look at what happened in the eastern U.S. in mid-March. Over a three-day period, nearly 100 tornadoes were reported in 13 states stretching from the Great Plains to Pennsylvania. Unfortunately, over 40 people were killed in the storms, some of which were so powerful they knocked buildings from their foundations, shearing the iron rods that held them in place.
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1 month ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
She might not be the most recognizable country star today, but at one time Wanda Jackson was a pioneer on the country music scene, particularly over the rockabilly airwaves. Her characteristic vocal “growl” made her popular in several genres — country, rock and gospel — all of which she recorded simultaneously. Jackson was born southeast of Oklahoma City in the town of Maud, Oklahoma in 1937. Her father worked any odd job he could find and played piano in small towns in the area.
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2 months ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
The freight recession that gripped the transportation and logistics (T&L) industry for the past 32 months is fading, and analysts in the mergers and acquisitions (M&A) sector are focusing on one word in 2025: Normalization. According to the M&A experts at Tenney Group, the market appeared to loosen in late 2024. During a recent webinar hosted by the Truckload Carriers Association, attendees were cautioned that freight recovery is not complete.
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2 months ago | 
thetrucker.com | Kris Rutherford
Phil Vassar first appeared on the country music scene in the late 1990s. That doesn’t exactly place him in my category of “classic” country. However, he’s older than me … so that makes him a classic in my book. Plus, it’s hard to ignore his discography when it comes to some of the best music of the past 30 years. Just “American Child,” an autobiographical hit suggests, Phillip George Vassar was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, in 1962.
