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

I’m home. Arrived yesterday at noon after getting empty in Miami. This load that I thought had too much time on it, was one of those loads that are to be babysat and not able to go home while under it, turned out to be a complete fluster cluck.

The load was scheduled to be loaded at 1300 on Tuesday. I got a QC message that there was a delay because of missing product so it was pushed back to 1600. Get there at 1530 and was informed that it will be ready at 2000. Now I’m playing the up and down game. At 2000 they tell me they’ll come get me when it’s loaded. At 0145 they wake me up to tell me it’s loaded. Get hooked and roll. This load is one that you must drive 200 miles without stopping as well as other rules. I figure the hell I’ve been through to get this load, they won’t mind if I stop 39 miles short.

I’m not usually a pleasant person when I have to start my day at 0145 in the morning, in fact, I’m down right miserable. So, at 0545 I pulled into the Petro in Kenly, having calculated that in order to do this load legally and make an OTD, I would need to do a 7/3 split sleeper berth break. Got there, parked, washed up and went to bed. 15 minutes later, just as I was falling asleep, my phone rings. It’s the tracking company calling me to see why I stopped short. I then realized, by the phone call, this is one of those loads that is off the value charts. Again, refer back to me being downright nasty while doing a load like this. The conversation didn’t go well. Especially the part when I told the dude that if me coming up 39 miles short was going to cause a failure on his part, his companies part, the shippers part or anyone else’s part, this is where I’m at, and any one of those parts are more then welcome to come get this truck and show me how to do my job. I gave him my location, gave him the exact location in the parking lot and told him I’m going back to sleep. I put my phone on silent and went back to bed.

I finally made the delivery on time, as scheduled and safely. In the meantime, I got a QC message yesterday to fill out a macro for detention. They put me in for 5 hours of extra pay. Didn’t help the foul mood I was in, but hey, a hundred dollars is a hundred dollars.

So I’m home, I’ll be coming out next Friday to start the insanity again. Be safe all.

 

I was told once a few years ago that if I stopped short, I was to call the 800 number to let them know my location, why I’m stopping, and to call them when I leave. I can just hear this conversation,

Them: why did you stop short?
Me: had to drop a deuce.
Them: are you leaving now?
Me: not yet, I’m constipated.
Them: call us when you’re done.
Me: it might be a while.

 

I lost interest in these children they have manning the computer/tracking software. A few years ago I had this type of load on and drove nonstop to Kingman. 15 minutes after stopping I get a phone call from what sounded like a very sweet young lady asking me why I was stopped. I told her I was going to bed for the next 10 hours. She got very ill with me and told me I only drove 192 miles. I told her my odometer tells me 208, and that after 40+ years of driving this route, I’m quite sure the country hadn’t shrunk. She told me that they go by air miles, I had to assure her I was driving a tractor trailer and was not flying a plane. She went on to tell me I had to keep going, that was the last I heard from her, I hung up.