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

Yeah I just did that tx run,that's the one I was turning my truck in on lol.

As far as W.Memphis,the people running that show are clueless,I'll leave it at that.

 

Up and working. Mud flaps and brackets installed to the tune of $390. I was thinking as I was making my coffee, I wonder how the mothership would appreciate if I said, F’it and rolled over because I wasn’t quite done with my sleep? You know, sort of like the majority of the drivers here do. At least operations would still have something to do, rescheduling freight because sleep and rest can’t be done in 10 hours, 12-14 is what’s needed. Wonder how they’d take it if I suddenly got the F’its.

 

Nothing in Memphis is associated with work ethic.

 

Man I hate it when Im lightly loaded and flying up hill at 65+ mph and sum jack wad decides to pull out right in front of me because he is going a whole .5 mph faster than the guy in front of him when I am about to pass them and I gotta stomp on the brakes....common sense would say slow down and stay there until over the hill.....

 

Wait…….common what??????

 

Called my DM earlier today to ask about the possibility of dropping this reefer off at the West Memphis yard so I could get another load and not leave 10 hours of my 70 sitting unused on the table. Was told that it was very, very unlikely because West Memphis can't even cover the loads they already have, much less cover another load they weren't expecting.

This left me with a decision: Drive out my clock today and tomorrow and take a 34 (which I don't need) close to the receiver OR half-### my way down there driving 7 hour days for three days and just run on recap next week. After giving it some thought, I concluded that starting my Monday morning in Austin with a fresh 70 might put me in a better position to get a West Coast run, and so I planned to spend the night on the West Memphis yard and then head to the Pilot in Jarrell, TX (a mere 40 minutes from the receiver) for a 34.

And then sometime around 2:00pm my AC stopped working. Absolutely no air whatsoever coming out of the vents.

No way I am driving into central Texas with a non-functioning AC. It was 90F in Missouri, and it was like driving in a sauna. So I am currently here at Love's in Matthews, MO, awaiting their tender ministrations.

The most annoying thing, of course, is that as I have sat here waiting my turn in the repair bay, the AC has started working again. Which suggests to me a frozen compressor, though I don't know why that would completely stop all air from the vents. Usually when the compressor freezes up, warm air still comes out. But there was nary a trickle of air of any temperature coming out today. Hopefully they'll be able to figure something out despite the fact that it's now working just fine.

There is a slim but non-zero chance that I can still make it to Jarrell, TX from here in time to take a 34 and still make on-time delivery. We'll see how it goes.

 

My new ‘22 Volvo with 27K on the clock decided to fry the AC blower motor. I was at Richmond taking a 10 and woke up drenched in sweat. Brought it to the shop and was told they have already replaced 10 blower motors on the ‘22’s already. 20 minutes later, new blower motor and ice cold air.

 

Last week I hooked to two trailers in a row that each had a mud flap bracket hanging by a thread because of a nice clean crack running vertically out by the horizontal arm holding the flap

Wonder how far back in time you'd have to go to find the last driver before me who even looked at the mudflaps. You didn't even have to get your face right next to either one to see that something was seriously wrong.

 

Got back in the truck on Monday from a weekend of hometime. First assignment was to grab an empty reefer and haul it to Boars Head Groveport.

Walked the yard, looking for an empty. None available over in the area that's supposed to be for empty reefers. Drove over to the middle of the yard to continue my search.

One of our lease/OO drivers was over there. Asked me if I was looking for an empty dry van like he was. I told him I was looking for an empty reefer. He pointed at one very helpfully and said "That one is empty. Dropped it last night." I checked, and sure enough it was empty.

Driver's side mudflap was ripped almost in half and the bracket was bent. Dude had already gotten back in his truck and rolled off before I could ask him about it.

As it was the only reefer on the lot that was empty and wasn't redtagged, I hooked to it and rolled it over to the shop to fix the mudflap he had somehow missed when he dropped it on the yard.

 

Priceless.