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

I'm home.....finally. It's been, for me a long 3 weeks. All I can say is that I'm very thankful that in the 3 weeks to the day that I was gone, it was all driving and doing what I get paid to do, drive and deliver. No layover and made the most money in a 3 week average than I have in the last 4 years. Not that I haven't made good coin the last 4 years, but this last go around has been the most.

I was suppose to be home for 4 days but because of the holiday, and screwed up shipping times, I have a load that delivers in Sarasota Monday morning. I got authorization to go out of route and spend the weekend at home. I'll leave out early Monday morning to deliver then head right back out. I sat down with the man in charge of home time yesterday and aired my complaint about having to change my home time twice to accamodate dispatch. I explained to him that I am flexible with my home time, but that I want 4 days off. He looked at the computer and saw I was due the time off, so he took my home time out of the computer and showed this as a driveby to the house, which means under a load and put me in for regular home time next week, So the way it's planned now is that I will unload Monday, get back up to Richmond on Wednesday, then turn around and come right back to the house. I'm easy to work with, time off for me really means how many nights I get to sleep in my bed while home. The way it should work out is home Thursday, deliver Monday, out on Tuesday. We'll see. The only way it will change is if I'm offered another westbound load. The one that really is understanding about all this is Lesli, my wife. I thank the good Lord every night before I go to sleep for having the wife I do.

I was talking to my buddy Chris (the rookie) today and we were going over our trucks, his company he works for now gave him a 2013 KW with 93k on the clock when he started there after leaving Calex. I got my 2013 Volvo with 209K on thew clock, when I started here. He had just 2 minor issues with his truck, and I too had just 2 minor issues with mine. We both say how very fortunate we are to be able to drive equipment that has been absolutely trouble free and hasn't left us on the side of the road with our thumbs stuck in our ear. This last round for me was a total of 10,300 miles to where I'm at right now, (home) and the only thing I had to do was put about a half gallon of antifreeze in the radiator. That's it, with all the driving I did through the mountains of Montana, Wyoming, Utah and Idaho, heavy loads, and idling, this truck I'm driving is an absolute dream. I remember the day I was assigned this truck, I had to go see the shop for some supplies, the head mechanic told me that the team that was in this truck had not one issue with it, and that in the 8 months it was in service the only thing it had done to it was regular oil changes, a new EGR valve, and a few updates to the software, that's it, and so far the 5 months I've been in it has been a sleeper bunk A/C line, and a new headlight wiring harness. That's it. Knock on wood, I see me keeping this truck as long as it's in service in the fleet. So that's it for now. Time to eat this Chinese food that just got delivered.

 

The owners have a huge museum just south of our terminal that you can see off 95. It's free to truck drivers to get in, and if you have your truck and trailer with you there's parking in the rear. I haven't been there yet but it's on my bucket list. I do know that every so often he sells/buys an old farm tractor and it's put on one of our trailers to be delivered. Runningman did one in the spring that he delivered in Iowa someplace to some farmer out in the woods.

 

Good luck and welcome aboard. Orientation is on Mondays and Tuesdays. By noon time on Tuesday your head will feel as though it's about to explode. I was lucky, I knew going in what to expect, had a great mentor in Runningman that got my phone calls daily asking for help. With his guidance and me learning from my mistakes in the beginning it all fell into place. My biggest issue was with the Qualcomm, but now all that is is an afterthought. At the end of the day it's all about picking up and delivering the freight on time, safely. Living in Richmond is a help, but i'll tell you this, if you get back to the yard with hours to run, you will run. If you have any ?'s in the beginning just ask here or if you want I'll send you my # and you can call me. Believe me, there is a learning curve here and all the help you can get in the beginning will help.