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

I was going to write a long post with all the admiration I hold for John both as a professional driver and a truly great guy. But I'll suffice to say he's now a true friend and that's no easy bar to reach with me these days (Insert globs of flowery stuff here).

He's a no BS, get straight to it and cut no corners trainer and it's been my privilege to pick his brain for 3 weeks. The guy is a walking atlas as well. If you ever need to know how to get ANYWHERE in this country, call him and have pen and paper ready. He could not only write the book, he could write it better.

I'll truly miss my Rand McJohn! ... LOL ...

So now I'm ready to go out there and start fumbling the ball as most any newbie would with the QC procedure and what not. But what John has taught me will help immensely in shortening the learning curve. (Soon as I've slept enough to remember 50% of it that is) The past 3 weeks were pretty much a blur of miles through light and dark. .... LOL

I also want to give a BIG shout out of thanks to his lovely wife for loaning him to me for 3 weeks.

Also, last and certainly not least, a BIG THANKS to Kimberly for the simply AMAZING way she organizes, reorganizes, and MAKES it happen out there for all of us. I'm sure as I once was, many are not aware of just how large and integral a roll she plays and the immense amount of responsibility she has on her shoulders to keep the freight and drivers moving. I don't know if she'll ever see this but, once I'm cleaned up and presentable I intend to tell her this in person before rolling out again.

But for now, Thank You So Much Kimberly! Your level of professionalism which I've now seen first hand, does this old dog's heart good. You're an incredible asset to AME and should you ever leave, it will be their loss and in my humble log book? not an easy one to recover from!

Next time y'all see her, give her a smile and a thanks. Even if you're not sure why.

 

Funny how fast that clock seems to go!

 

More likely to be dead batteries than fuel. That would explain the smoother running at higher rpms as the alternator would be providing more current that the ecu and fuel system needed but the batteries couldn't provide.

 

Night is the only time to run 95. I fully expect to halve my average mph if I have to use 95 during the day.

 

I went to givens for the first time yesterday. Shipper wouldn't let me write "slc" on bills and said I should count load instead. It was a bunch of nailed shut wooden crates and I had no way to confirm what they contained or however much the bills claimed they did so I declined to get involved in any way other than I am paid to and went outside and sat in the truck.

Last thing I need is for something to be missing and the shipper to claim that the driver checked it was all there.

 

Not likely. Once jumped I idled it for 2 hours then hooked that trailer and shot to the pilot where it idled fine for another 2 hours. It was only on calling for power it coughed and freaked out. Once in the yard here it idled fine all night and then started right up on a test I did at 6am. The batteries are ok. This issue is far deeper than that but we'll see.

 

Ugh... Those suck...

 

Ya, I've hit that more lately too... Not sure what the right answer is... I still write "SLC" on it even if there is a sign, or my "initials" quickly become SLC if I have to initial a statement like that.

Never had someone "stop" me from doing it though... Not sure what I would do then.

Maybe ask them to open the crates up so I can verify... LOL ... Once it becomes more of a time consuming issue for them maybe they will change their tune... LOL

Anyone else hit this?

 

Ok you hadn't mentioned it idled fine previously just that it smoothed out at higher rpms while sat on the shoulder.

 

I actually wrote it on the bills when he said he can't have that on his bills and said I had to cross it out. I could have refused but I wasn't in the mood for a stalemate with him refusing to load unless I crossed it out.

There was no way I was going to attempt to open 32 wooden crates and count the contents. Even if I did how could I be sure that the contents were exactly what was listed?. There were multiple item numbers on the bills and they were the kind of product that looks very similar...well the bol claimed they were.

As soon as I was back in truck I sent a qc message advising that I could not write anything on bills. I didn't get a reply so I took that as silent consent to roll as is.