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

Interest rates are rock bottom now and with so many out of work and therefore out of the buying market, if they have a stable income, it is a great time to buy.

 

Abilene has hand sanitizer and mask at the yard,see dispatch.

 

WM is jam packed with trailers. Dropped my SC load and got a load of giant bags of stones to Phoenix now. Approached the dock wrong and ended up having to blind side back in because another truck decided to pull in and block me from going in a circle to reapproach the dock. My blind side backing needs practice once in a while anyway, lol!

 

There’s at least 10 loaded trailers there of old hangers for the prison that have been sitting at WM for a month. They don’t want them because of the virus.

 

I noticed that looking for an empty, ended up with one of the new trailers for an empty. Wondered where those hangers were supposed to go.

 

Well, I don’t see why they can’t take them... they have been documented to have been in quarantine for 30 days... well beyond the 14 day standard... lol

 

Well, par for this course, came out after five days of hometime... no one in RVA to answer my call that I was ready to roll... waited until 9am when my DM reports... finally got a load around 11:45... but PU was due noon to 3pm... four hours away... so I was already late.

Then when I knew what kind of trailer to get under, I hit the following... Hooked to Trailer 1, pretrip, the reefer battery didn’t have enough charge to crack the unit up... unhooked... hooked to Trailer 2... PreTrip... massive flat tire... Unhooked and moved to Trailer 3... before hooking I thumped the tires and switch on the cooler... unit was dead, screen would not even power up...

Reported to DM my delays and which trailers had issues (no red tags in my truck... ugh)... and suggested they have loves and reefer company come out to do some repairs... he said they have been telling others about the trailer issues in Savannah ... hooked to my fourth trailer, AFTER thumping tires and turning on the cooler.... everything worked... so I roll out and called the broker about my now adjusted ETA... “no problem, get there when you can” ... lol

so ya, delay in rolling out, equipment issues

but... 1,400 mile 2 day drive to Massachusetts ... I guess it’s a push... never been passed Hartford... and glad to come out to greet a few miles off the bat.

 

If that Publix contract comes around again, jump on it... I had a few blind side backs to polish my skills... lol

 

Ya'll should see what the Wytheville yard looks like,trailers 3 rows deep in the back lot.

For the most part,the gatorade pu has turned into a live load,because there so far backed up.

 

(Pure Rant about Knight Breakdown)

Well, Abilene will probably be getting a call from Knight about the attitude of one of our Drivers...

(Yup, thats right, it be me)

— before I begin,
— I know that I am not a mechanic
— I know that I don’t want to be one

(Absolutely NO disrespect to those of us who are gear heads... or even Professional Mechanics in general... I have pure respect for those Professionals that keep my personal vehicles and my Truck running... but at 53, I know I’m not taking on the liability of working on my own Truck let alone a Trailer that one of you might grab next.... even if it is a “simple adjustment” which I’m sure it might be... key words, might be.)

Ok, on this now the fourth trailer of the day, I can’t get the tandems to slide... (pins retract but wheels won’t lock up to slide trailer) ... and I’m already regretting even the thought of needing to call Breakdown.

————

Me: hey, I’m at a Loves and need approval for them to look at my Breaks... pins retract, can’t slide tandems, Blah Blah Blah

Him: what do you think it is?

Me: Well, I’m a Driver not a Mechanic... not sure I’m qualified to speculate. So, can I get this approved?

Him: But you are a Driver... right?

(Already not fond of the direction this is going)

Me: Well, if I were a mechanic and if I were to begin to Troubleshoot, I’d first eliminate breaks needing to be adjusted... but again, I’m not qualified to speculate.

Him: guess I need to contact your Shop Manager about getting his Drivers Trained to address these issues in the field.

(Me with shocked look on my face)

Me: I am addressing this issue in the field... now please approve Loves to touch my Truck please and thank you

(ok, I just added the Please & Thank You... lol)

Him: well I’m not sure why you are getting an attitude... the Knight Drivers do this stuff all the time.

(Hey Buddy, a word of advice, that is soooo the wrong direction to take this little convo.)

Me: well, I’m not a Mechanic, just a simple steering wheel holder who is needing his Truck fixed as I’m under a very tight two day run and really need to get rolling.

Him: that’s what I’m trying to do is help you keep your wheels moving to make more money.

Me: well, this little convo is above my pay grade as I’m not sitting in the Board Room, just needing my breaks looked at so I can roll. Now, please call Loves and get this approved so it doesn’t take all night.

(Ok, I probably didn’t say Please... lol)

(At this point, I might have mumbled something about missing Volvo Breakdown... maybe... lol)

Him: well, we don’t call them anymore... I just put it in the system and you go check in.

me: ok, so is it in the system now? Do I just check in with them now?

him: yes

me: ok thank you... click
(Ok, I just added the thank you)

/rant

ok, one of the reasons I am glad I came to Abilene in ‘15 was that they didn’t expect me to use a wrench for anything other than an attitude adjuster... While there are a few, one of the reasons I stay is that I’m not expected to be something that I am not, a mechanic.

If they are going to be expecting us to work on Company Trucks, I already know of two companies that are paying at least 10 CPM MORE and they don’t expect you to work on a Company Truck... and as I recently read, one company is even very proactive about pulling in trailers for routine maintenance and review... to keep your wheels turning... to make you more money... which is the direction that I once thought we were heading here at Abilene but that’s a mere distant whisper at this point.

The irony, no mechanic on duty tonight and the Gentleman behind the counter and the Mechanics Apprentice are NOT qualified to touch breaks... even for a “Simple Adjustment”.

... but Knight is ok for us doing it... lol


so glad nothing has changed here