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

Day one of orientation is in the books. Very impressed with the whole operation, the way they do things and the way they take care of the equipment. I got to the terminal at 7:30 this morning. There was me, a husband/wife team 2 other solo drivers and a military guy that served our country for 5 years in Afghanistan but needed a refresher course because he didn't have enough recent OTR experience. Seems to me running around a third world country in a war zone for the US should be worth at least recent experience in a big truck.

We all sat at a long conference table with our company policy and procedures manual with our names on them in front of us. Our instructor got right into the teaching mode. We had a ton of paperwork to fill out, that took us to the lunch break. Right after lunch we all went to get our physicals and drug tests. We also had to take an agility test to make sure we can lower and raise the landing gear, pull the fifth wheel pin, lift a 50lb bag that duplicates handling a bag of tire chains, climb a ladder showing we can get into and out of the trailer, pull a weighted sled to show we can push and pull a pallet jack and a bag showing that we can lift our overnight bag and put it into the truck without any of us keeling over from a heart attack or stroke. Because I already took my drug test 2 weeks ago I won't need to wait to take my road test in the morning. Tomorrow we will meet with various department heads to discuss paperwork, fuel, logs/Qualcomm and dispatch. When that's all done we will get our truck assignments, then I can put my belongings in there and bring this rental car back. Myself and the team are being dispatched tomorrow night, the others will be dispatched on Wednesday.

I promised myself that I wouldn't compare Abilene with my previous company and I won't, but let me just say this, every truck, trailer and shop bay are spotless, we have to go over our assigned truck with a shop person and note every ding, scratch and cleanliness of truck. I'm a clean freak, these people seem worse than me. I have some work to do tonight so this will be it. I'll post again tomorrow night.

 

They have. Sorry for the delay in posting. I'll post my doings tonight after I start my 10.

 

Finally, I'm able to catch my breath. Tuesday was a long and final day of orientation. We met different department heads, the owner of the company and then had our road test. At 6pm we got our truck assignment and went over them with a fine tooth comb. I went back to the motel and got my stuff from the room to put in the new digs. I was told to get back asap and go see dispatch. Here's one thing that I question, after cramming 3 days of orientation into 2, I was totally spent. There's only so much that this 57 year old brain can absorb in such a short period. I was hoping that they would tell me to be back first thing in the morning, but instead they dispatched me to drop and hook at a customer 16 miles from the yard and be in Hebron Ky by 6pm. I set up house in this unbelievably spotless 2013 Volvo 780 and was finished about 11pm. I hooked to and empty then laid down until 2:30am then started my first load with Abilene. I got to the customer at 3am, drop and hooked then had a 573 mile drive to drop and hook on the other end. I stopped in Raphine Va for breakfast and a shower then drove straight to the receiver. I was in and out in 20 minutes and went to the TA to take my break.

I woke up the next morning to the sound of my Qualcomm chirping. I was dispatched on a load that picked up down in Murray Ky going to Birmingham Al with 2 drops. I got those off this morning. While sitting at my first drop I got my next dispatch, deadhead down to Mobile and load a load going to Richmond. I got loaded this evening, got to the Pilot north of town, fueled and scaled and will be in Richmond early Sunday morning. The plan is to drop this load on the yard and get one to Miami. I should be home Monday early evening and empty on Tuesday. That will give me right at 3300 miles for the week. Not bad for my first week.

Abilene is run so completely different that the old company, much more computer work both for dispatch and logs. There's a big learning curve but I figure with everything I've done so far no one has called me or messaged me that anything is wrong, so I must be doing something right. I like it here, like I've been told by everyone, do your job and they will leave you alone. So far so good.

I do have to give a shout out to Runningman0661. He's been so very helpful, answers my calls when I've bothered him and has called me to make sure I'm not walking around with my head up in the clouds, thanks Jason, very much appreciated!