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

Wound up spending 9 hours at the delivery yesterday, then spent another six hours today getting the trailer brakes replaced. Figured I was already halfway through a 34 I don't need, might as well go all the way so at least I'll have a fresh 70 on the other side.

 

Come out the house today getting sent to pittsburgh to hook an empty then supposed to get loaded outside the pittsburgh area in delmont between 1500-1700. Stopped at the pilot in morgantown for fuel and discovered the right rear inside tire on my truck went flat between the house and here. Breakdown says 2 hour eta for tire place to get here, hopefully not. Got so used to driving my jeep that has a manual transmission I keep reaching for a stick and stomping my left foot in my truck today thinking Im going stall out coming to a stop.

 

Tire tech showed after two hrs. Ended up with another load getting put on me since wouldn’t make it before closing time on the original one put on me. Going to need to get to the shop soon cuz I don’t think the truck wheels wheels are supposed to spin with the brakes set plus shocks need replaced too I think, tried saying something last time in the shop with the way my drive tires were wearing.

 

Picked up a load in Maryland to deliver in Chesapeake tomorrow morning. Two stop delivery, with the first stop at 6:00am.

Was planning on spending the night at Frank's, since I ain't been there in about 6 years, and since it's only 10 minutes from the receiver. However, I was thwarted by a high wind advisory on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel. I'm hauling a light load, less than 15,000lbs of freight. And they told me I wasn't allowed to go over the bridge due to the wind. So I'm parked at the rest area at the foot of the bridge, and we'll see what the winds are like when I get up in the morning.

 

Winds had calmed down by 5:00am this morning, so I made on-time delivery at 6:00am.

Tried to park at the 2nd stop for their 10:00am appointment, but they have a gate on their property, and no convenient place to park on the street. So I'm here at Big Charlie's until then.

 

Picked up at wegman’s yesterday in Pa then dropped at wegman’s in ashland this morning. Got sent to HP next in Sandston going to Charlotte for 0800 lul but wasn’t ready til 1130. Of course I hook the trailer when ready and discover some knucklehead dropped it there with a bent wheel and flat tire. Stopped at the yard to get it replaced and parked in Haw River for the night at the J, hopefully get out without having to knock on doors in the morning.

 

Got back to the yard and was given a load to New Jersey. Delivers tomorrow in Edison at 8:00am. Unfortunately, I didn't get the load in time to make it to the other side of DC before the traffic thickened up. Would have run out of hours before reaching a place to park in north Maryland. So I'm parked at the weigh station in Woodbridge, with plans to get up at O'Dark Thirty in order to make on-time delivery.

 

Made it here to Edison 20 minutes early for my delivery. Was turned away at the door because this shipment was apparently due yesterday. Called the office to let 'em know, and was told "Let me find out what's going on and I'll call you back."

I dunno if "Let me find out what's going on and I'll call you back" is the biggest lie the office likes to tell, but it's certainly the most common.

Been sitting here for 1hr 30min. Finally called back in to the office for an update, found out they'd straightened things out with the receiver over an hour ago, and I coulda been halfway unloaded by now.

Sleep dep making me crankier about it than I would usually be.

 

In Raleigh,getting a paper load,for delivery up in Ashland this evening. Been local runs since coming out the house,maybe things will change.

 

Gotta love gatorade overloading stuff….going to be a really long day today having started at 0430 this morning. My Iphone decided to lock up this morning and couldn’t get it on again and Amazon would not unload me without a way to contact me when my trailer was empty. Their yard trucks don’t have radios cuz “safety issue to them”, so couldn’t have a yard dog knock. Thankfully my phone decided to unlock when I was about to send a qcomm message. Lot of short loads but they add up when strung together. This place sure has fallen from what it once was, I miss going to the window in Richmond and getting a west coast run after a 34. Long haul seems to be dying, at least here anyway.