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

Flying home tomorrow. LAX to WPB. Of course, there had to be a monkey wrench or two thrown in. The cheapest flight and only nonstop flight is out of LAX. Ontario is 3.5 miles from this hotel, but no nonstop flights and at a minimum it was going to be a 12 hour odyssey. Plus, the price was $200 more, so LAX it was. The flight departs at 10:25 local and lands at 6:44pm at the house. WPB airport is only 7 miles from the house.

Here’s the laugh of the day. At noon Richmond time I texted Joe at Richmond to see if he had an update. None. At 4:30 Richmond time, I texted Cam to let him know what was going on. At that time, both he and Joe said to fly home. I get my ticket, reserve a car service and take a collective sigh of relief because now, after a week of this crap, I’m going home.

Monkey wrench time. My phone rings about 3:30 local time from the dealer. Let me tell you, this dealer, Valley Power, has been straight up and kept me in the loop the whole step of the way. Everyday at 3:30 I got a phone call from the service manager telling me where we are. I am told that they have located the part. It’s up in Fresno. It’s being shipped out today, they’ll have it tomorrow, and between that and the new DEF tank being installed the truck will be ready Friday by noon. I almost wanted to jump out the window, but being on the second floor, with my luck, I’d wind up like Christopher Reeve the rest of my life.

We agreed that I can pick the truck up a week from Tuesday after I fly back from vacation. I texted Joe. Got called back and explained to him what just transpired. He too said to go home. He didn’t want me to stay until Friday, then by chance something else goes wrong and I’m in this hotel until next week. I agreed and I’m leaving at 4:30am for the airport. I can’t get home fast enough. I’m pretty much over anything trucking related.

I went back and watched that recruiting video. I haven’t had a good laugh in over a week. That video made me bust out laughing. I’m thinking they need to edit it so we can have equal time on the real issues that drivers go through. I was talking to my wife and she said what would happen if a driver wasn’t able to pay for a motel upfront or fly home. I told her minimally they’d have to get money wired to them on their fuel card with the hopes the hotel takes EFS. Then, if they’re a new driver, they’d be told that they would be picked up by another driver and ride back across the country, in a truck that you have no idea what’s inside, and with whom you’ll be sharing the next 4-5 days with. Oh well, I’m outta here.

 

Thank you sir!

 

It will be reimbursed on next weeks payroll. Trust me, the person that signs off on this has already been made well aware of the cost. He’ll have every receipt with a detailed expense account of where my credit card was used and why. Plus, he’s also the one that has already approved my breakdown pay. This whole fiasco has come to $3000+

I had nothing but time on my hand to make sure these issues where addressed before a circus takes place.

 

I’m outta here!!

 

Just

Just landed. My wife is out front patiently waiting for her hubby.