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

It all has to do with attitude. You are just starting out. There's a lot of information overload. Listen to your trainer, ask questions and learn. This has been a very rewarding career for me that I chose 33 years ago. If I had to do it all over again I would do it exactly like I did. I don't regret anything I've experienced all these years. Every day I start my job I only hope I can do it in a safe manner and learn something new. Good luck in your endeavors and remember, safety first.

 

I wouldn't say my way, but I feel it's the right way. Time will tell!

 

I finally have some free time to update my travels. I got empty in Newport News last Friday morning and was dispatched back to the yard empty. I had to drop my empty at one of our customers then bobtailed to the yard. I fueled the truck then went into dispatch to get a load. I checked in with Jonathan and he asked me to do a favor. I just love being asked for a favor, you never know what you'll get in return. He told me a driver dropped the ball on a load that needed to be picked up at Perdue in Accomac Va going to Keasbey NJ for Saturday morning. Not a problem, I've loaded at this Perdue plant a couple of times over the years, and I delivered to Wakefern more times than I can count. Plus, this load qualified for the Northeast region pay of ten cents extra per mile so I was all over it. I got to the plant at 6pm, dropped my trailer and went into sleeper. It was 255 miles up to Jersey from there so I figured right after my 10 was up I would leave. I woke up at 3:30 Saturday morning, found my trailer, got my paperwork than left for Jersey. I got there at 8:30, was backed right in and was empty at 11:30. I sent in an empty call and waited, and waited. Finally, at 3pm I was finally dispatched to deadhead back to Richmond, at the Northeast rate of 45 cents per mile, only problem was that I now was running short on hours. I made it to North East Md and called it a night.

I woke up early Sunday morning, showered, had breakfast, called the two favorite Moms in my life for mothers day, my mom and my wife, then left for Richmond. It was bound to happen, I finally had my first warning light pop up, my left headlight was out. With these Volvo's, it usually is the headlight wiring harness. I got to the yard at 11:30, fueled, and went to see the shop about my head light. He asked me where my truck was and I told him at the fuel island. He told me to bring it up to the shop and he would jump right on it. I drove it to the shop and walked over to dispatch. Jonathan was on duty and thanked me for bailing him out with that chicken load. He asked me how many hours I had left for the day and I told him 8.5. He handed me an LTL load with 5 drops starting in Ohio and ending in Minneapolis. I looked over the paperwork, thanked him for the load then went to my truck. I saw the hood of my truck was down and figured the mechanic hadn't worked on it, I mean I was only gone for 15 minutes. To my surprise, it was fixed and ready to go. This was somewhat amusing to me. I came from my previous company that would have taken me all day for the same repair, and here I was done in 15 minutes. I thanked the mechanic, went and found my trailer, scaled out the truck at the yard then left. I had enough time left on my day to drive the 470 miles to my first drop.

I got to Navarre OH Sunday night, took my 10 then made my first drop. I love LTL work, always have, I enjoy the trip planning, the drops are usually small shipments and they come right off. These loads are put together at our loading dock in the Richmond terminal. I kicked off 1 pallet of machine parts, 650lbs for a bakery in Navarre. My second drop was in Granger IN, 295 miles away. I got that 4100lbs off at 2pm. Then I had my third drop of 2300lbs in Gary IN that I got off at 4pm. I now had enough time to get to Mauston WI to take my 10. I got there at 8pm, fueled then went to bed. I woke up this morning at 6am, showered then drove to Minneapolis to kick off 10,000lbs, that took me all of 20 minutes then went over to just north of Minneapolis to get my last drop of 1900lbs off. I was done at 11am, sent in my empty call then walked across the street from where I was to get a coffee at a Dunkin Donuts. When I got back my reload info was sitting on my computer. I had to deadhead down to Rockford IL for a drop and hook with a load going back to Richmond that I'm dropping at the yard.

I had enough time to get the load and get to a T/S before my clock ran out. It worked just fine, in my head. I ran into construction traffic, lost an hour so I made it to the Flying J in South Beloit, about 15 miles from the customer. I'll grab the trailer in the morning then head to Richmond for Thursday morning. I'm now running off my recap so I need to watch my hours. I left the house last Wednesday and have 3600 miles in since I left. I'm liking this, the learning curve has dissipated and now I'm getting into the way the system works. I'll grab a Florida load out of Richmond and be home Friday night for the weekend. Be safe all, God Bless.

 

Very productive and very busy. I can't update like I use too, but I'll do my best.

I followed your truck issues while I was home the week between jobs. I wrote the truck number down to make sure it wasn't assigned to me when I got out of orientation. Glad to see things are working out for you also.

Like a well lubed engine.

 

Sitting in a rest area on Hwy 35 just before West Virginia. I have to be in the yard with this load by noon so I'll leave out at 5am. I'm 6 hours out and will get there with an hour left over on my 70. I've burned through all my hours in a week. Now I'm working off my recap. I can't wait to get home and reset this weekend. This running off the recap is a little stressful for me, too much planning and such.

 

Thanks, it was nice to end the week a lot better than it started. Be safe on your way back.