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

You rock!

 

Naw, they got a forklift.

Dispatch says: "Be careful, the parking lot is kinda tight."




That ain't me. That's Truck #1. I'm Truck #3. MacDaddy is next.

On the upside, I've already been pre-planned with a deadhead back to Wytheville. At the rate we're going, and given how long it's gonna take me to wiggle my @.ss into the dock and then how long it's gonna take me to wiggle my a.$$ back out, I expect to hit Wytheville sometime around midnight.

And it's only an hour and 40 minutes away.

 

Yup... that’s the place... then they let two other drivers with “just a few items” jump the line... no more... parked next to prevent anyone else from bumping that dock.

Deadhead to Hill Phoenix next for me.

 

They might have a forklift, but can’t use it as the pallets are packed in alternating sideways... or for whatever reason, they sure ain’t using it.

 

My turn in the dock now. Didn't even bother trying to get the tractor straight. I'm jackknifed in.

Dude asks me "Can you slide the tandems back?"

No, cowboy, I can't. You're gonna hafta make do.

 

Parked for the day in Iowa. Freezing rain right now.....morning oughta be interesting.

 

They didn’t care about the tandems on the first two trucks... you must have gotten the guys on the second shift or something.

 

Feeling like it’s going to be one of those weekends...

Today I shut down after 3.5 hours of actual drive time (~200 miles) ... oh, plus 2.5 hours of detention... (woot woot)

Drop the box at HillPheonix and head to the yard to see what I can do with the last 7.5 hours of my clock ... not wanting to use them all just wanting to roll ... only 5 loads going anywhere... nothing longer than a day...

I swear, yes literally swear some days, that if you need an empty, the yard is full of frieght... now I’m looking to get off this yard with something to get me through the weekend and I guess every trailer here must now be empty.

None of those five need to be there tomorrow so I’ll touch base in the morning to see if any other options pop up... if not I’ll take what they have and roll out for a very light weekend of driving.

(with days like this, I’ll never catch @JohnBoy ... lol)

 

Just looked at my 8 Days tab since getting my truck back from being in the Shop getting 3 injectors replaced.

Last four days are as follows:
01/07 4 hours
01/08 9 hours
01/09 10 hours
01/10 4 hours

took a couple days off the truck while it was in the Shop... then will be taking 4 days off next weekend for my oldest daughters wedding.

Ugh, thinking I might not even get the Penny Bonus for January Mileage...

 

Got loaded in Santa Fe Springs yesterday. Made it to Johnson’s in Seligman and shut down. Started rolling at 4am. 10 miles down the road winter hit. Snow pack on top of ice. Got off at the Loves in Williams for fuel. This is where my day almost ended. The off ramp is straight with an ever slight descent. I knew the ramp was a mess as I started slowing down. My brakes locked up and I started sliding, straight thank God. I pumped and released my brakes just enough to get stopped right at the stop sign. The race car driver in an England truck coming in hot behind me couldn’t stop. I braced myself for the crash, it never came. Dude realized he was about to possibly meet his maker and swerved the truck, went down the ditch, through the fence, and took out the light pole in the restaurant parking lot. I jumped out in the 3 degree temp and ran through the snow to make sure he was ok. When I got there, his trainer was up almost coming to blows with the trainee. I went back to my truck and went to get my fuel.

I’m dropping this trailer in WM and turning around for Reno.