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

Got empty in Danville at 6am yesterday morning, drove over to the Pilot, fueled and grabbed a shower. I had a little time to kill until the planners got in. I got back to the truck and had a deadhead move back to the yard. I did a drop and hook at the yard with a load going to Riverside, but had to swap it out this morning in London Ky with a team, it needed to be in California 3am Monday and a solo couldn't do it. Right now I'm just about finished getting empty. I'm pretty sure they'll be sending me to Groveport for a BH load.

 

As I figured, I was sent to Groveport to drop and hook for a load going to Valley Park Mo for 3am Monday. It was a 267 mile deadhead and a 470 mile trip. On my way up I had to call into dispatch and get a trip number straightened out for the load that I only delivered in London Ky. Ryan picked up, he's the load planner for the load I was dispatched on. He apologized for the short trip for the weekend and told me I was on a preplan to load at 6am 17 miles from my drop on Monday. He started out by letting me know that if I wanted to, I could swing by Groveport and drop it there, apparently he thought I would pitch a fit for going into Brooklyn. I told him no problem, send it to me and I'll do it. It delivers at 3am on Wednesday.

I was going over my miles for this pay period, when I get back to Richmond Wednesday evening, I'll have 3650 miles in for the week I will have been out, after taking off 6 days. Timed right, like I have said, getting paid every two weeks has it's advantages. I should finish this pay period with 5400+ miles. April 14th will be my 2 year anniversary here at Abilene, for me, it's been a great 2 years. I've really enjoyed my time here, the people I work with and for. Our drivers are a bunch of the most helpful, giving, friendliest group I've had the pleasure to work with in 35 years of doing this. I'll be posting my 2 year review shortly after the 14th.

 

I'm going to make this kinda short. I can only speak for myself. Abilene has been, and is, one of the best companies I have worked for in 35 years of doing this. I haven't had many jobs in that time, in fact, they are just my sixth company in that time. For me, hometime is paramount for me. I look at the big picture, hometime, equipement, freight lanes and pay. Do I want to make more? Sure I do, but I'm very fortunate to not have to depend on just my income, my wife is very successful at what she does, and we had the luxury of selling a business a few years ago that has allowed us to not depend on every paycheck that comes into the house.

Now, if you want to get home every 10-14 days, have top notch equipement to drive, great freight lanes and customers, miles to run, affordable health coverage and a management team that will sit down and work out any problems, then this is it. If you box yourself into a corner, and refuse to go to certain parts of the country, then it will become difficult. We run all 48 states and all of Canada. I have a passport, I'm originally from the big city up north, I go where I'm dispatched. I never get a phone call to ask me if I would go to Brooklyn or to Alberta Canada, I get dispatched and go. We do have drivers that don't go to certain places, it's their call, I understand their reasoning, and they have made it up in other areas. It doesn't make them any different then me, it works for them and what I do works for me.

I'm coming up on 2 years here, and to be quite honest, I can't believe it's been that long. That saying, "Time flies when your having fun" is very true for me. My first truck I was assigned had 181K on the clock, I had it for 6 months then got a brand new, out of the box Cascadia. Had that for a year then got my current truck, a KW T680, brand new. I look at things that maybe some people don't. For me, if I am away from home for 2 weeks at a time, I need to take home, after all said and done, $1150 per week, after my health insurance, and I do. I need to be kept moving while I'm gone, I do. I need to average 3000 miles per week, just so I feel I'm being productive, I do, plus some. I made $61k last year, about $4K of that was extra money I made training. I'm not training as much this year, that's a whole different topic for another day.

Again, my experience here is mine, I can't speak for anyone else. There are regulars that post here that will chime in, listen to what they have to say, I respect what they have to offer, they, and myself, do at times, hit rough spots, but we all bounce it off each other and work it out. The regulars on here don't wear blinders, they have an open mind and look at the big picture.

In closing, I will say this, I'm very glad I came to work here, after 2 years, I can honestly say I would do it all over again!

 

You da man! Enjoy hometime, should see you Wednesday in Richmond.