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

Believe me, I didn't loose one bit of sleep over it. I had a choice of sleeping along the fence of where I delivered, which was the fence that separated the air cargo facility I was delivering at, and listen to jets landing and taking off all night, or get a restfully quiet sleep 12 miles away. For safety reasons I took the violation.

 

I got back to my truck after my shower and had my load info sitting on my Qualcomm. It was the same place I drop and hooked at in York last week. I was hooked and loaded at 10:30 yesterday morning and empty in Richmond at 2:30. I had 7 hours left on my clock when I got back in the yard and went into dispatch to get something else. I was given a chicken load that was loaded at Perdue in Prince George. I ran gown there and drop and hooked and was rolling towards Atlanta. The only problem was it needed to be delivered at 4am and I would be 3 hours short getting there. Dispatch worked out a swap with a team that needed to go home. We swapped in Duncan SC last night. I now have a load that has one drop in Atlanta that delivers as soon as I get there today, and finals out in Mobile in the morning. All is good on the earnings/hometime front!

 

Is it me or does this type of stuff happen to anyone else? I left the house last Friday at noon and haven't stopped yet, well, let me rephrase that, I'm sitting at the Pilot down from the yard taking a reset. I was running out of hours so I got a load assignment for 3am Monday morning, which works out good because the reset will be up at 2am and I load 14 miles south of here. Here is my week from last Friday through today......

Lake Worth Fl to Homerville Ga to Deltona Fl
Deltona Fl to Columbia SC to Swanton Oh
Swanton Oh to Toledo Oh to Carlisle Pa
Carlisle Pa to York Pa to Richmond Va
Richmond Va to Prince George Va to Duncan SC
Duncan SC to Stone Mountain Ga to the Alabama welcome center to Ellenwood Ga****
Ellenwood Ga to Duluth Ga to Spartanburg Sc to Wytheville Va
Wytheville Va to Mountain Top Pa
Mountain Top Pa to Tappahanock Va
Tappahanock Va to Richmond Va

That's 10 separate trip numbers in 7 days that equals 4100 miles. The trip with the asterisk was a doozy. I left Duncan SC, made my first drop in stone Mountain then headed towards mobile Al for my second drop. Right at the state line my dispatcher called me to tell me that the consignee in mobile would not be able to unload me until Monday. So they sent me back to Ellenwood Ga to drop the trailer at a US Express yard and bobtail to Duluth Ga to pick up an empty trailer at a customer. This has been a very hectic week. I am now on a reset and will be loaded early Monday morning going to Hebron KY for Monday afternoon. This is the same load that I did for my first trip with Abilene after I got out of orientation. It's now exactly 2 months since I've been here, I have another month to go then I'll be through with my 3 month probationary period. I usually like to wait a year before I give a review, but this job has a lot to write about so I'll give one next month.

I'm tired, in fact, I'm wiped out. My wife say's she can tell in my voice that I'm tired, and that I'm cranky. She's right, I am. But at least I can rest for the next 34 hours. I have home off time scheduled for next weekend. I am so looking forward to it. Be safe all, God Bless!

 

They seem to know only one way, and that is using up all your available hours. At least it's with driving and not sitting. I thought of you the other day going to Mountain Top when I passed the Tamaqa exit.

 

Thanks pal, I sure will. Be safe going out to the northwest.

 

Quiet, I'm sleeping!