From Day One - Abilene Motor Express (Richmond, Wytheville, VA)

Couldn't make it to Hasbrouck Heights. Shipper in Richmond told me the would stay til 9 to unload me, it is their warehouse. I knew DC would be a cluster when I hit it so I went up 301. Was doing pretty good but Waldorf slowed me down and then when I hit the Baysox stadium it was over with. Seemed like everybody cut out at 1630 and then that storm rolled in. Was still flipping the coin on time as the shipper said it could be delivered today too. Hit the Key Bridge and called the warehouse to make sure they would be there til 2100. As I don't speak Chinese that was fun. He seemed as if it was a nuisance I would be there at 2100. He said he would call me back. I told him if he took longer than 5 min I wouldn't make it. He called back a half hour later and that put me in the no go status. Told him I could deliver between 1500-1600 after my appt. Bo called me at 0300 and said he had a driver that would swap out my load to get it up there earlier. I park at a shopping center behind the house so the other driver called when he got there and I walked over and swapped with him. I do have to give to our office guys, they did what they could with limited resources.

 

We all need to give a big congrats to BB. When we were at the yard yesterday Keith came by and said he did such a great job with Jeremy and only had Kyle one week they are now making him a double trainer. He will have two trainees on the truck at all times and no need for hometime...lol

 

My adventures with the two convention center loads went as follows. The first wasn't bad just had to sit at the actual unloading dock for 5 hours then finally got off loaded couldn't really complain cause load was supposed to be there at 8 am I got there at 1045 am. Before someone says I was late think again. I came off home time on Tue at 0730 and was told to sit tight not start my clock until swap arrived. Swap complete at 930 then fuel and pti and on my way oh it was 1095 paid miles so no way 2 get there by 8am. But anyway ran nonstop except are mandatory breaks. So I took that loss for the team.

 

The reload the next day was a CHR load at a convention center that I got to the staging area at 650 appt was 700am I sat there till 945 then they sent me over to the convention center where I finally got finished getting loaded at 400 pm. I keep calling chr every 2 hours giving them updates and they will pay detention pay as long as you keep them updated and get a person to sign what time loading was complete and if the customer refuses to sign your b/ls call CHR right then and tell them and your covered and will still get your detention pay. And moat importantly send in a macro 37 on your qual comm.

 

So yes it was frustrating sitting all day yesterday but the good Lord blessed me with a light load my first ever CHR load under 40 k in 9 years. And it pays 2400 plus miles and I will have dinner with my parents on Sun which happens to be my Birthday. The only bad thing is I thought you only carried chains on I 70 from 1 sept - 15 may but it's 31 May but again I'm blessed and will continue and pray for a green light on the last scale I have to pass thru this evening. Everyone have a safe and blessed weekend and remember those fallen heroes that died so we can have a free nation.

 

Finished orientation and assigned a truck. A grey 2012 Kenworth T 700 with just 259k. 29012 is my number. The APUs a/c kicks arse. Currently parked here at the Rockwall TX yard. Hope to get a load that will get me a drive-by as I need to pickup some things at the house. Met my DM yesterday. Nice lady. No hometime available until June 1. Anyway, so far so good. They really have not crammed the lease thing down my throat. Yet. Nice truck with all the amenities. The yard sounds like one big APU running. Deuces.

 

Yeah!!!right!!! Non stop team the NE. That would be awesome.
Kyle decided to take the challenge. His first ever Brooklyn load he drove it in. I co-piloted from the jump seat. He did absolutely awesome. I cant compare Jeremy and Kyle equally though. Both have natural talent, common sense, and aptitude. Jeremy I got 3 weeks out of school. Kyle has run 5 months through two great trainers. It shows. Kenny and Terry did great work with him. I am a huge han of developing our own talent. Like baseball, draft them and brung them through the minors. It takes longer but the quality is great.
Or we could buy TALENT like Mr. UTurn. I hear he is Facebook friends with Dru. They eat at the Waffle House together. The truth is his dog drives the truck while he primps in the back!!

 

Hey each driver runs 8 hours, would never have to reset.

I had had to pay big bucks for an engineer to come up with a contraption so my tiny puppy could operate the gas and brake pedal. My days were sad when they were rehabbing the Waffle House. I couldn't eat with Dru...lol. But that's a good idea though, need to take him out to teach him the reality of trip planning. Not say "it's 600 miles you can make it in 9 hours".

 

Maybe thats where he got his mileage estimates from. The kids placemats of the USA. It was only six gummy worms to North Dakota from Georgia...

 

Yesterday morning at receivers I watched a trainee. Saw the trainer lose it with him. No patience. What made it really awful to watch was that it was a yard-jockey trainee. If the trainee was off of a road tractor thats one thing. When I shuttled reefers the other Sunday I was amazed at how quick it turned. Wish I had that day cab for Blue&White!!!