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

Right after my last post yesterday my reload info came across the computer. I had to deadhead down to Irwindale Ca and live load a load going to Perris Ca for a drop. I drove the 355 miles down to the shipper and was loaded in an hour. I then ran the 68 miles down to Perris, dropped the trailer then bobtailed to our Colton drop yard to pick up a reefer. My new load was sent to me after I arrived to Colton. I had to be in Oceanside at noon today to live load a load going to South Plainfield NJ for Monday. I had yet more extra time to spare, after adding up my miles for this pay period that ends midnight Saturday night it comes out to what I would have made running as a solo driver.

I called Tim this morning and explained that if I was kept on this load these miles would count on my next pay and this is unacceptable. I asked him if I could drop the load in either Wytheville or Richmond on Saturday night to get it in for this pay period. He told me he would work on it. In the meantime, I had George hook up to the reefer we needed and spent 2 hours in this forty acre field practicing his backing up. I gave him the truck, told him to drive around the lot and back into the same hole time and time again, all the while as I was sitting on a rock drinking my coffee and observing. Every so often I had to get up off my lazy arse and point something out. All in all he did fine. On a scale of 1-10 I asked him what he thought he earned, he told me a 7, I told him not quite, that I put him at a 5. The reason why I did that as I explained to him was the first 2 times he set up, backed in, followed the trailer with the truck and generally did a helluva job, the next 3 times he set up completely wrong, almost drove the cab extenders into the side of the trailer and completely got flustered. I explained to him that I don't expect anything more than what he did today and that time will give him his needed experience. Practice makes perfect.

I just got my dispatch assignment for this load I'm loading. After loading this load I need to meet a driver Saturday in East St. Louis and switch trailers with his going to Seattle Wa. So Tim took care of his part like he said he would, thanks Tim, good job.

 

Bouncing across 40 as we are just going through Gallup. We got to our pick up in oceanside at at 11:30, got backed in at 5pm, started loading us at 7pm and was done at 7:30. You bet I put in for detention. You schedule a truck for a certain time then tell me the product isn't ready, not my fault.

I spent. 2.5 days in California as a team, now I have to run 4400 miles in 4 days. We left last night and made it to Barstow, George woke up yesterday morning to a completed reset, I woke up to my reset this morning. Now we both have our full 70's to run on, and we'll need it. I need to switch trailers in east St. Louis about 1 pm tomorrow then be in Clackamas Or Monday at 7am, then Tacoma Wa 3am Tuesday morning. It's going to be a struggle this weekend, we 'll be in snow across Nebraska Wyoming and Idaho the whole trip.

 

Yes I am. Parked in the corner up against the freeway looking at the back of the trucks at the fuel island.