Page 31 - ATR 5 2014 web

for that, but we were structured where
it didn’t take us out … We’re both cau- At home with the McConnells
tious to a fault. The last thing you’d
want to do is overextend yourself just FAvoRite FAMily MeAl: tacos. “the boys love tacos, all the time,” says erin.
for the sake of growth.” “Gus wants hot dogs, but we won’t do that all the time.” Meanwhile, Hugh
“It goes back to families,” Erin says, “i’ll eat anything.”
offered. FAvoRite spoRt FoR tHe boys: “All of them. Football, basketball,
And Hugh continued, “That affects baseball, soccer,” erin said. “We may have a wrestler this year; Gus is
people. When someone comes to hire interested, and he’s pretty good at it.” Hugh adds, “Having two older
on with us, I feel obligated to them to brothers has helped him.”
fulfill my end of it, which is to provide suMMeR vACAtions: “We love to go to the beach and do nothing,” erin
enough work for them that they can said. “We fish, sit on the beach and play. this year we went to Dauphin
support their family. If I have to bring island [Ala.].” Hugh said, “they’re just boys, we do boys stuff.”
them in after six months and say, ‘I otHeR Hobbies: “As a family we love to duck hunt, deer hunt, turkey hunt
gotta let you go,’ that doesn’t do any of – well, i don’t, but they do,” erin said. Hugh adds, “We had a family duck
us any good.” hunt this year. We like that. they can talk and fidget, and it’s something we
can all do together.”
SEEn iT all WHAt Do you Do FoR A Couple’s GetAWAy? “We really try at least
The witty Ray Cole, 66 years old once a quarter to get away, have a date, but it doesn’t always happen,” erin
and the company’s longest active driver, said. “Hugh and i love several restaurants in town; brave new Restaurant, i
will keep a listener in stitches when he’s love brave new, and we love going and staying at the Capital [Hotel]. Hugh
quizzed about his experiences with the added, “And bruno’s. i went there as a kid, i watched them throw pizzas
McConnells through the years. on old Forge, and that’s where we went on our first date, at the bruno’s on
“I always say I’ve been around so bowman Curve.”
long I’m like the furniture,” he said.
“They did get rid of a couch the other
day, so I’m getting nervous.”
Of Hugh, Cole said, “I’m the broth-
er he never wanted.” Cole bought his
first truck when he was 25 and drove “she brought iN a differeNt PersPectiVe oN
his own truck for McConnell up until thiNgs. we’d always doNe thiNgs the way
last year, when the company provided we’d doNe them iN the Past. her comiNg from
him one of theirs.
“The new ones are priced so high. where she had worked, she brought other
Hugh said, ‘I got you a brand new truck. ideas, aNd that was iNterestiNg.”
Now when you break down, all you
gotta do is call me.’ And I said, ‘That’s —hugh mccoNNell
what I do anyway.’
“You just couldn’t ask for better
people.
“One reason people stay with “We just have a good crew, we afford it.’ They said, ‘That’s what we
McConnell, we are home most every always stay busy, always seem to have thought.’”
night,” Cole said. He considered Ed work. Now, we have two weeks’ vaca- Cole was happy the day Erin joined
McConnell like an older brother “even tion and holiday pay and a 401(k) that the McConnell family.
though he wasn’t much older than they put money into. We didn’t used to “I went to the wedding in
me” — “It liked to have killed me when have those. Don’t get me wrong, Ed was Magnolia, sure did,” he drawled. “Hugh
he died,” Cole said — while he watched good, but [Hugh] made it even better. didn’t let me kiss the bride, though. I
Hugh III grow up around the shop and We make a bit more money. Trucking don’t know what the problem is. I need
teach himself to drive a truck. has changed a lot in the past 10 years.” to ask him about that.”
“We’ve got good equipment, good Cole recalls the days when Ed When he’s serious, Cole adds, “The
trucks. I think we have five new trucks McConnell and his longtime dispatcher, McConnells are my friends, not just
coming in,” he said. “We have some of Ronnie Pitts, ran things. “Ed and who I work for … They always found
the best equipment going. Hugh is a for- Ronnie asked me once what I thought
ward thinker. We make a decent living. I was worth. I said, ‘You couldn’t 

aRkansas tRuCking RepoRt | issue 5 2014 31