Abilene Motor Express....A New Place To Call Home

It's always been that way though. I started August 2016 and even back then we had patio perchers who would sit around and wait for long-haul loads out west instead of taking the short runs to PA or OH or NJ. Most of those same dudes flat-out refused to drive above the Mason-Dixon line.

 

Driving 62mph ain't gonna kill ya. Schneider drivers do it all the time.

 

I can't say much being I won't go north of Maryland nor to Chicagoland because 99.9% of the time I get lost in those places easily and gotta do a quick illegal u-turn in a wide enough spot so I don't tear anything up and I always find the low bridges in those places too which I am smart enough to not try to go under. Fortunately only stern warnings from cops and no tickets for being in wrong places. I will go everywhere else though and drive in all weather and even sling chains when called for. Don't consider myself too picky. Some of the most picky and whiny drivers here are the o/o and l/o Ive dealt with. Don't know how many of them even make it with how restricted they run themselves. Had a load towards home stripped of me once from an o/o that threatened to call Alan Jones if he didn't get the west load he wanted. Had to reschedule my doc appt. and ended up with a short load opposite direction of WA. Is what it is though. So many o/o and l/o cry so much because they don't get the best loads all the time. Gotta take the bad with the good. Going to be down weeks and that is why you gotta have maintenance and rainy day accts set up as an o/o or l/o.

 

Ya Slacker...

 

Most of the time if you take the short runs they are backed up with a better run after. I always tell the ones crying about miles to take the short runs cuz they are usually backed up with better ones. Those short runs also sometimes have a lot of deadhead miles attached to them so it adds up.

 

Only had one load at Abilene I came close to refusing... was under a load going to Jax, during a Hurricane, instead of coming east and running I95 south into the hurricane, I took a longer more western track to let the hurricane run up the coast and I snuck into Jax right after it rolled through...

whew, cut that a bit too close.

Then the phone rang, not the QC, it’s my DM, hey, we need you to move that empty refer to the east coast of Virginia... uh, WHAT??? Ya, can you get it there before the Hurricane hits that area? Wait, you want me to take this EMPTY refer up the coast, catch the Hurricane that I just avoided, drive through it (again, in an empty refer), and get ahead of it, ARE YOU NUTS???

I thought he was pulling my leg... so I talked to Chris N... nope, totally serious... guess a few Walmarts were going to use us as backup freezers in case the Hurricane knocked out there power. (Chris was encouraging and joked about it... but then said to shut down if it gets too crazy.)

I told him I’d try but intentionally taking an empty into a Hurricane doesn’t seem to be the smartest thing I’ve ever done... but it would be a fun story for the grandkids... lol

I got halfway there and as I start to catch up to the storm, my hiney starts dancing around on me... back it down to 40-50... pull off into a truck stop, came across two other Abilene drivers, one loaded going north was shutting down, the other was fully loaded and just came south through it... he agreed that it was a bit too breezy to run an empty into... so I called a safety and shut down.

Rolled out after it got ahead of me... luckily the Hurricane turned east and missed the area I was taking it to... so they didn’t end up needing the backup freezers.

but I got a fun story out of it
and hoping I don’t get another.

lol

 

Totally Agree... Chris is a #### good guy. I really liked working with him out of the WM Yard... If I ever had a problem I’d run it through my DM like one should... but if I ever needed to escalate the issue, CN took care of it. (I tried very hard not to abuse him... lol)

When I left they asked if I would be happier in Savannah, I didn’t have to think twice, Hell No... Chris and WM was in my Pro Column!!!

btw... did they ever develop Savannah into something more than a Drop Yard? If I had stayed, I was going to move my personal vehicle to that yard and just drive home from there for my hometime. Or visit my daughter who lives in Savannah.