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

mitrucker · Jul 20, 2023

JohnBoy said: ↑

Ok, my take on this short haul, east of I-35 BS Abilene has decided to go to. It sucks. Here’s why. Now this is just my take and for me. I left Richmond Saturday, went to KCMO for Monday 0500. Drop and hook. Waited 3.5 hours for a load assignment. Finally got a load assignment at 0900. Deadhead down to Gatorade in Edgerton KS for a live load at 0800. Not starting out to good on Monday morning. Get down there and was told I’m late, I mentioned to the nice lady that’s how she sees it, I see it as the load planner is late. She told me I’m now a work in. I explained to her it really doesn’t matter to me, we are talking about Gatorade. She laughed, I laughed and 6 hours later I was leaving. Meanwhile, Knight must have about 75 dropped trailers there, Abilene the red headed stepchild? None. So now I’m onto Gatorade in Indianapolis, that was a drop the next morning. Got there at 10am, dropped, was instructed to pick up an empty reefer for my next load of Boars Head. Only one available, but it was still being unloaded. Was instructed to wait on it. 2 hours later, I’m headed to New Castle for a drop and hook headed to Frederick Colorado for this morning. My next load assignment is as follows. Empty at 0600 after starting my morning in Limon Colorado. Deadhead 22 miles to lineage cold storage for 1700 this afternoon. So now I’m doing a split sleeper so I can do this pick up legally and drive back out to Burlington to take a full 10 hour break. Load delivers at Kroger in Salem Va Sunday night at 20:00.

So, since leaving Saturday, I’ve had 3 loads, touched 6 trailers, bumped 4 docks and will end my week at a disgusting Kroger DC. If this is what they’re going to, they can have it. I’ll just ride off into the sunset a little earlier. I’m too old to be doing this type of work, been here too long, and really don’t have an ounce of patience dealing with food warehouses or inept load planning. Oh, and because this is a Kroger, there will be a lumper charge, so about midnight Sunday, I’ll have to play banker and try and get someone in Richmond to hand over some coin.

September 3rd can’t get here soon enough. Me and Mrs Johnboy are flying to Venice Italy and boarding a Celebrity Cruise for 12 days around the Greek Islands, then spending a week in Venice and Lake Como when we get back. My wife is hoping that will change my attitude.
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This is how Knight does business. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.

JohnBoy · Jul 20, 2023

mitrucker said: ↑

This is how Knight does business. Been there, done that, got the t-shirt.
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Can’t even get a hat from these people. At least that would take the edge off.

mitrucker · Jul 20, 2023

JohnBoy said: ↑

Can’t even get a hat from these people. At least that would take the edge off.
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All I have left is a duffel bag that I still use.

motocross25 · Jul 21, 2023

JohnBoy said: ↑

Ok, my take on this short haul, east of I-35 BS Abilene has decided to go to. It sucks. Here’s why. Now this is just my take and for me. I left Richmond Saturday, went to KCMO for Monday 0500. Drop and hook. Waited 3.5 hours for a load assignment. Finally got a load assignment at 0900. Deadhead down to Gatorade in Edgerton KS for a live load at 0800. Not starting out to good on Monday morning. Get down there and was told I’m late, I mentioned to the nice lady that’s how she sees it, I see it as the load planner is late. She told me I’m now a work in. I explained to her it really doesn’t matter to me, we are talking about Gatorade. She laughed, I laughed and 6 hours later I was leaving. Meanwhile, Knight must have about 75 dropped trailers there, Abilene the red headed stepchild? None. So now I’m onto Gatorade in Indianapolis, that was a drop the next morning. Got there at 10am, dropped, was instructed to pick up an empty reefer for my next load of Boars Head. Only one available, but it was still being unloaded. Was instructed to wait on it. 2 hours later, I’m headed to New Castle for a drop and hook headed to Frederick Colorado for this morning. My next load assignment is as follows. Empty at 0600 after starting my morning in Limon Colorado. Deadhead 22 miles to lineage cold storage for 1700 this afternoon. So now I’m doing a split sleeper so I can do this pick up legally and drive back out to Burlington to take a full 10 hour break. Load delivers at Kroger in Salem Va Sunday night at 20:00.

So, since leaving Saturday, I’ve had 3 loads, touched 6 trailers, bumped 4 docks and will end my week at a disgusting Kroger DC. If this is what they’re going to, they can have it. I’ll just ride off into the sunset a little earlier. I’m too old to be doing this type of work, been here too long, and really don’t have an ounce of patience dealing with food warehouses or inept load planning. Oh, and because this is a Kroger, there will be a lumper charge, so about midnight Sunday, I’ll have to play banker and try and get someone in Richmond to hand over some coin.

September 3rd can’t get here soon enough. Me and Mrs Johnboy are flying to Venice Italy and boarding a Celebrity Cruise for 12 days around the Greek Islands, then spending a week in Venice and Lake Como when we get back. My wife is hoping that will change my attitude.
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I went to Denver twice this week and man I forgot how rough 70 is. Soon as you see “Welcome to Colorado” you might as well grab that left lane, cuz the right is rougher than a cob. I think I hit a pothole that was a 2 bed/2 bath. You’d think with all that weed money they could fix the roads, but I guess no one asked me.

gntorres61 · Jul 21, 2023

Always said you guys (and Rebelchick) are troopers for putting up with what you do!

RebelChick · Jul 21, 2023

gntorres61 said: ↑

Always said you guys (and Rebelchick) are troopers for putting up with what you do!
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Not me anymore. I left in 2021. Of course the current place has their issues (as they all do), but NOTHING like what’s been happening at Abilene.

ExtremeUnction · Jul 21, 2023

Been my week for tires.

Picked up a pre-loaded trailer yesterday in Lancaster, due to drop on the yard. Hooked up, LRI tire was off the bead. Sat for 10 minutes waiting for it to air up, never did. So I called breakdown and found a tire place 7 miles away. Headed that way, and in the process of driving, the tire caught. By the time I made it to the shop, it was on the bead and inflated. So I declined the shop repair and drove it to the yard and put in a ticket.

This morning, I got a load to pick up something in Henrico, just a few miles away. It's a live load so I can't bobtail over. And as I've mentioned before, when the load assignment tells you to pick up an empty off the yard, that's just wishful thinking. They don't actually know if there are any empties on the lot. And usually, there aren't. Usually, if you open a trailer door and find an empty trailer, your first thought will be "What's wrong with it?"

And so it was that I spent 20 minutes walking the yard looking for an empty. The only one I could find? Had two, possibly three bad tires. RFO tire was shredded sidewalls and nothing else, LFI tire was worn down to the belts, and the LRI tire was off the bead when I hooked the trailer, though it did catch when I drove it to the trailer shop.

I have seen more shredded tires in one week than I have in the entire rest of my seven years here at Abilene put together.

JohnBoy · Jul 21, 2023

Next week should be comical. My DM is on vacation, I deliver Sunday night in Va, and I have hometime scheduled starting next Friday for a week.

JohnBoy · Jul 21, 2023

ExtremeUnction said: ↑

Been my week for tires.

Picked up a pre-loaded trailer yesterday in Lancaster, due to drop on the yard. Hooked up, LRI tire was off the bead. Sat for 10 minutes waiting for it to air up, never did. So I called breakdown and found a tire place 7 miles away. Headed that way, and in the process of driving, the tire caught. By the time I made it to the shop, it was on the bead and inflated. So I declined the shop repair and drove it to the yard and put in a ticket.

This morning, I got a load to pick up something in Henrico, just a few miles away. It's a live load so I can't bobtail over. And as I've mentioned before, when the load assignment tells you to pick up an empty off the yard, that's just wishful thinking. They don't actually know if there are any empties on the lot. And usually, there aren't. Usually, if you open a trailer door and find an empty trailer, your first thought will be "What's wrong with it?"

And so it was that I spent 20 minutes walking the yard looking for an empty. The only one I could find? Had two, possibly three bad tires. RFO tire was shredded sidewalls and nothing else, LFI tire was worn down to the belts, and the LRI tire was off the bead when I hooked the trailer, though it did catch when I drove it to the trailer shop.

I have seen more shredded tires in one week than I have in the entire rest of my seven years here at Abilene put together.
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At least you can get fed before you leave.

ExtremeUnction · Jul 21, 2023

JohnBoy said: ↑

At least you can get fed before you leave.
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Got my tupperware ready!

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