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

I left the Petro in Spokane at o dark thirty this morning, made it up and over 4th of July and Lookout with zero issues, then from just east of Missoula for 100 miles was nothing but ice and snow. This was on the eastbound side at the 142mm. If you blow up the picture, you’ll see what’s left of a white SUV under the steer tire of the truck. Talk on the CB was the 2 people in the SUV, the driver of the big truck and his dog all made it out with minor injuries.

 

Some thoughts about yesterday’s fleetwide message regarding our second raise in 5 weeks. I’m also going to go back to my post of February 3rd, the one that, unfortunately came across rather incorrectly and had me called into the big cheeses office for an hour and a half discussion about things I wrote.

First off, up until the February 24th announcement of a .02 CPM raise, all I got was my yearly longevity raise. Part of the post I wrote was out of frustration about not getting a raise for the last 4 years. Last April, when my 2020 longevity raise was due, I found out that it was being put on hold until the company could get a handle on what might be in store with the pandemic. Though I was somewhat PO’d, I understood. I was told that when they figured out what was going to happen, I would get my .01 plus all the miles I ran retroactive. True to Abilene’s word, I got the raise 2 months later plus the 24,000 miles I ran.

Without going into detail, the conversation in the office for an hour and a half was eye opening. I was told some things in confidence, as the last 5 weeks has shown from Abilene, what they said has turned into truth. The .02 raise in the February announcement was very appreciated and put me at ease. 5 weeks later which brought us to yesterday’s announcement, has shown me this company does what they say. I had no idea that in 5 weeks time, they bumped us up a total of .05 CPM.

I’m very happy with what I make here. People will have their own opinions, but I can only speak for myself. We will also have the locker room lawyers that don’t work here but have all the answers. People need to realize, there’s more to an OTR job then just CPM.

Here’s what I have here at Abilene.......
8 full years driving here.
First name basis with everyone.
152,000 miles per year of the lanes I want to run.
No micromanaging.
Great customer base.
New equipment.
New truck every 18 months.
71 mph company wide speed limit
Home without any harassment for 5-7 days every 3 weeks.

Money......
Now at .50cpm
Yearly bonus of .01 for miles driven from 01-11/30 paid the first week of December.
.04 safety/mileage bonus every month.
2 weeks paid vacation based on your weekly salary.
$3000 put into my 401K, based on my contribution, by the company every February.
I also train, very little, but it amounts to about 6 weeks a year that amounts to about $5000 extra.

So, what was an $82K a year job, has now turned into a $90k+ job. It’s OTR, a certain lifestyle, it is what it is, my good fortune is I’m at the end of my career, the bad part? They just made it harder for me to leave. I will say something I haven’t said in a while, I’m not leaving here to go to another OTR company, living in South Florida has always been a tough area. I have a home here until I retire, after 42 years of this insanity, 8 years driving here at Abilene, this is the end of my tunnel.

One last thing, I wrote on February 3rd that I wasn’t able to sell the company to a prospective driver, now I can. That right there makes me feel good.

 

I’m not going to definitively say no, but on the other hand, we have drivers that don’t go to the NE, and their DM’s keep them out of there. We have a boatload of freight that goes to Texas, SE, and Midwest. I’ve seen over the years here they run you where you’re comfortable. But unfortunately, there will be the occasional trip offered to those areas.

 

Quite the morning this morning. Woke up at 5am at the Hillbilly Hideout in Ozark Arkansas for a 2 hour drive to Little Rock to make my 8am delivery on time. Just as it was getting daylight, I’m in the right lane before the 430 split. There’s a big truck in front of me that starts to slow dow and puts his 4 ways on. I followed suit, then suddenly he swerved to the left, and I see a 4 wheeler in the right lane stopped, steam coming out from every inch of the car, a big truck on the shoulder ahead about 100 yards in front of the car. I couldn’t get over to the center lane so I had to take the shoulder. I slowed down enough to make all my emergency maneuvers riding the shoulder. I passed the car then noticed the truck on the shoulder was missing his ICC bumper, the doors were both smashed in and the trailer buckled in the rear side. The driver was on the shoulder talking to a bloodied individual. Don’t know what happened, but I was able to do an S maneuver and safely miss everything and everyone. Phew....quite the excitement at 6:45 am. On my way to my delivery. I get on 430, go around a curve, down a hill, and what’s in the right lane in front of me? a couch. Nowhere to go because of traffic, so onto the shoulder I go again. At this point, I’ve had more issues in an hour an fifteen minutes then I’ve had the last 6 months. I get to PFG Foods, get checked in, and I’m empty in an hour. Plus the fact the folks were super nice made up for my nerves being shot. Got empty, dropped the empty reefer at BH then bobtailed to the yard and grabbed a Reno. Load delivers Tuesday which is good because I’m running on recaps. I’m back here at the Hillbilly Hideout again taking my 10. Lesson for the day? Stay out of the right lane. Be safe everyone!

 

20 years ago I wrecked my bike on 95 at 7:30 in the morning because of a wheelbarrow sitting in the right lane. Spent 2 days in the hospital because of the wheelbarrow. The right lane is a killer.