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

No idea. Load assignment says Sysco Customer Direct on Lasso Rd in Lakeland. Also says HPL, but in a separate text msg, it says to let dispatch know when I get loaded so they can send Sysco ETA-so it’s a live load. Or is it? Or what is it????
I was talking with a driver at the Loves in Ft. Pierce earlier and he said he used to work for BarrNunn and the same things happened there when Knight took over that has begun happening here-to a T. This guy is 71 and still driving because his wife isn’t eligible for Medicare yet-2 more years-and he needs the health insurance for her.

 

Looks like a pallet spot,looks easy,but sometimes looks can be deceiving.

 

Opened the doors when I got the receiver and the ######## was loaded to the doors.....there is definitely more than this one stop on this trailer like all the bills say. Looks Ill be dropping this trailer back at Colton after done here and finding another empty for my load to Memphis. Operations can figure this mess out themselves, lol!

 

Man I have really soured on the whole operations team here at Abilene the past few weeks.

 

Works really well with a bunch of freshly graduated college students, doesn’t it?

 

Starting off my Boar's Head run with a bang. Reefer unit was in alarm status when I hooked to it this morning. Cleared the alarms, it cranked up -- and then shut off 3 minutes later. Tried this a few more times, same thing. Cranked up, ran for 3 minutes, shut off with an alarm.

Informed breakdown, got into an argument with the dude on the other end of the phone who wanted me to leave the lot. Told him that BH wasn't gonna let me leave the lot with a reefer in alarm status, and even if they didn't care, I wasn't gonna leave the lot until I knew the reefer was fully functional and I was sure the load was safe. He grudgingly agreed to send a truck out. Informed BH of the situation in case they wanted to reload the product onto another trailer.

Tried a little percussive maintenance to clear the ice off the intake vents, got it up and running, and it ran for 20 minutes. So I figured we were in the clear, since one of the alarms thrown off had been "air flow". Pulled out of their lot with a jaunty wave, and grabbed the phone to cancel the service call.

Three seconds after I turned out of their lot and onto the road, the reefer unit threw another alarm and shut down. But now it's my responsibility since I've left the lot. Called breakdown, told 'em to cancel the service truck and I would drive over there to get it repaired. Unit restarted several times and stopped with an alarm several times before I finally arrived.

And here I sit at the Carrier repair shot in ankle-deep snow while they repair the reefer. It's been a while since I had a major repair issue, so I guess I was due.

 

Well, turns out all the crackers actually did go to CA and I just gotta turn in all these extra BOLs when I get to WM. Guess UNFI is supposed to deliver to the other UNFI warehouses in the other three states. However, there was $1,005 rescheduling fee being there were 3 missed appts somehow on this load which took forever to get straightened out. Ended up with 2 hrs detention pay.

 

Yeah. It was and it was easy.

 

So here’s what my truck has decided to do today:
It throws a check light and “light control module in high voltage mode” and “SDP malfunction” and “battery high voltage”. All the while my voltage is swinging between 16.0 and 14.0 and sometimes my digital display will go out and restart.
I called breakdown and he said that it is a fuse getting ready to go out and that (here’s the really funny part) the Abilene shop makes sure all trucks have extra fuses and headlight bulbs. Um, yeah sure, keep smoking whatever it is you’re smoking there, brother. Now, I know how to test fuses and all, but there was no forthcoming explanation from him on how to do so. I know knight drivers (like has been said) are required to fix a lot of their own issues, but this isn’t a fuse issue IMO. I think it’s either the voltage regulator or the alternator. If it was a fuse, I doubt I’d be getting the wild swings from ok voltage to extremely high voltage and back. Anybody have any thoughts? I plan on stopping at a shop along the way. (Tomorrow. I’ve been up since 2330 & I am tired.)