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

I have not had the occasion to darken the door of HQ since the water problems of last week, but I believe FinFn1372 reported that they were working again.

 

Deadhead to pu a load in Suffolk going to Miami for Wednesday morning,yes sir.

 

Finishing up a 34 in Amarillo then finish this trip to Glen Allen to get this mozzarella cheese kicked off. Nobody said anything so guess it will ok to deliver Thursday morning. Hopefully they reschedule and not just tell me to show up. Load was due tomorrow but that wasn’t happening. Swing by WM to pickup my new permit book too.

 

When you hook the trailer and raise the landing gear, you are right there by the fifth wheel already. Literally do not have to take any additional steps to put yourself in a position where you can visually inspect the fifth wheel latch and ensure that it's hooked up properly.

I occasionally think to myself "Man, I did the tug test. It was fine. I don't need to visually inspect the latch." But then I am confronted with the fact that it's just so ridiculously easy to check anyways right before or after I raise the landing gear that I always do it regardless. I have had to do the Crank of Shame a time or two for other reasons, but never for this.

 

After my 44 years of tug tests and visual checking the jaws I still do the same with my 5th wheel rv trailer every time I hook up because I don't want to lose the trailer. It sure doesn't hurt to take a few extra minutes to get out and look just to be sure.

 

Colder weather means we will witness this phenomenon more frequently. In 25 years, I’ve had a partial hook occur twice with the locking jaws only closing part way, both in very cold conditions. I always hook with the windows down and radios off. If it doesn’t sound right, it probably isn’t. I still check them visually every time, but the cold will intensify the LF (laziness factor) and lead to more drops.

 

2 tough backs in Miami tommorrow,reload came through pu 6 miles from delivery going to Hagerstown for Friday,that's good running.