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

Not me. I'll be 74 this June. In 1968 I was out of the Navy, done mechanic school and being an auto tech and 8 years behind the wheel of a big truck.

 

Talk about being "old", let this old "Grouch" tell you bunch of young squirts something. You keep mentioning 1978, I had the pleasure of sitting 4 days and nights during the famous blizzard of '78. I was just south of Gary, In. and the state police was making everybody get off, The state of Indiana stayed shut down for 4 days and nights. I sit at a truck stop just off 1-65. Nice thing about it, I was driving for a union company and got paid pretty good for those days. In 1978 I was working on my 15th year out here, now come Feb. 18th I will be out here 60 years. It ain't fun, it ceased to be fun several years ago, so why don't I give it up? After 60 years I don't know too much more and I certainly do not want to go home and sit on my ### until I die.So, I haul the mail 2 nights one week and 3 nights the next. And after 60 years, I must say I work for the best company that I have ever worked for. Wished I had found Alon Ritchey years ago.

 

1968, if you were in Norfolk, Va, and rode the bus home or anywhere, you might have ridden with me. 1968, marked my 5th year with Carolina Trailways. Let me say this, of all people that I ever hauled during my years in the bus business, sailors were my favorites. Never had one ounce of trouble out of a sailor, perfect gentlemen. On any given Friday, we would take 45 or 50 buses out to the military bases in and around Norfolk and load only servicemen.

 

Home for the week,hadn't planned on it,but I had a week of vacation,Ihad to use,and freight around Richmond was in the toilet.

 

Got a load of jeans to Luray, VA. Those curves on 211 were tight, had to drive on the double yellow lines to get around them. At least the receiving docks here are easy, enough room to pull up straight and back in. Real nice folks here too. Loaded on the floor about waist high to the 48 foot mark so Ill prob be here a couple or so hours.

 

Only took 3 hrs for them to unload, not bad for a floor load. Next load is a convention load picking up in havre de grace, md dropping on the WM yard, then a 34 being Ill be outta hrs when I get there. Will be a good week this week, thankful Ive been able to not sit like a lot of ppl seem to be stuck doing.

 

QC message today says we get a whole STREAKIN' BEACON WASH for a clean DOT inspection. Sure as #### sounds better than the hundo bonus we used to get for one. Whatta ####in' place to work.