Abilene Experience

Well went down yesterday and picked up a load @ LL in Hampton. It was on a reefer-dumb. Scaled out on their scales and they said 79940. Perfectly balanced. Headed over the Bay Bridge tunnel headed for Plymouth Mass. Got up to the New Church scale on 13 at the MD line. They pulled me in for overgross. 740lbs over -$74 ticket to Abilene. And I had burned up a bunch of diesel getting there. Realistically LL scale was 1000 lbs off. So dispatch sent me back to LL. Rework and cut the load. Axled out again now at 78500. We got up the J at Carneys Point and for giggles I scaled it. 1/2 tanks now. 12740 steer, 30760 drives, 34460 trailer. SO I fixed that but, DO NOT TRUST THE SCALES AT LL!!!!! They are way off!!!!! Hell my closest CAT scale was in flippin suffolk or New Kent. They routed me away from both.

 

Had to call in and throw the gauntlet down on dispatch. This truck is now officially a Northeast training truck. SuperSolo at best. NOT A TEAM TRUCK!! My job is to take the trainees off of the 2nd stage and Finish them in the NE. Welcome to the Jungle so to speak. What did dispatch want?? A team run. Told them nope it will get there when I get it there. Sally and Scott had to smack dispatch around to get that through their skulls!!!

 

Oh yeah! She really laid into Brett to make sure he understood what my role was. Training not teaming. SuperSolo in the Northeast ONLY! She was quite pi$$ed at what they tried to send me for next load. Evidently Tim is my guy for managing myself and trainee, but Brett is planning me. A lot of folks have issues with Brett, but after we butted heads last summer and I called him out in front of Scott, he has treated me with respect and my miles have been above 3000 or even 3500 consistently unless I take hometime.
I cant stress the importance of building a relationship with their FM and the planners. Dont pester them with stuff you can handle or ask another driver, never be late, run your truck like its your business! Especially new hires! Build your reputation and they will take care of you. Another tip is always ask your FM to get you preplanned as soon as possible. Even if they cant do it at that moment, it has cut my downtime waiting for a LA down tremendously. Sometimes it runs me a bit ragged, but I can rest on hometime!

 

Well we got to Allens Pickles in Long Island about 1130 pm Thurs night. Woke up at 7am, saw the whse guy and he gave me the dock immediately. George was still catching up on some sorely missed rest and was horizontal with a heartbeat as he says. George is one funny and cool guy. Ive given him the nickname of "Deuce" because it is hilarious how "regular" his bodily functions are. You can keep time by it! Its a pleasure to have him aboard my truck. I hope all the driver trainees I get have half the personality and willingness to learn as him.
While in the dock Mike from our crew showed up in his rig for another pickle load. Very cool guy lives in Richmond/Chester and ran for AMX in the late 90's, left to be an O/O then ran 10yrs for Marten. Now hes back. Good guy. I rescued a load off of him 3weeks ago (HP ) 2 stopper in WI and MN... They dispatched him out without the hrs and we met up at the J north of Indy.
Got George behind the wheel and off we went over the GW and South. I took over at the end of the NJTP and drove it like I stole until I gambled on NoVA traffic and got gridlocked below the scale for 40 minutes. Should have hit the safety shot 5 iron and go 301, but no I had to take a shot with Big Dog driver! Put it smack in the water! As I told George, sometimes you just have to go for it! Just reaffirmed my 1pm rule if southbound in Baltimore! Save the heartache and go 301!!
On hometime now for the weekend. Back out Monday.
Safe travels all!

 

By the way, the acct Allen's Pickles is about 15-20 miles from Queens/Brooklyn on the LI Expressway heading East (naturally). It has TONS of street parking. It is on a street that ends at big cul de sac at a marina. Parking either side of the street and you could nose to tail 40 big trucks there. Overnight allowed and no traffic. It is and will always be my safety spot up in that part of NYC. I have used it for taking my 10hr break more than once and its quicker to get there than it will ever be to try to escape up 95 North or South. I know it by heart and can give you directions to get there. Just PM me or give me a call if you need it.
36 Garvies Point Rd
Glen Cove, NY
I think its (ALLGLE) or (ALLLON) on the customer info request but I am not certain of that. I just know its saved me once or twice. File it away in the gray matter in case you need it.

 

And yes I know what time it is and that Im on hometime, but I cant sleep! Cant wind down easily the first night home with satellite Tv and a DVR full of shows I have missed!!!!