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

I have only been here a few months but back what @JohnBoy said... This company seems to take care of the drivers in the cabs... From awesome trucks with fridges to inverters to idling policy... I HATE a hot cab in the summer months and I will be so glad they let us idle. This is our home on the road and A/C is needed to keep drivers happy and rolling.

I too thought it strange about no APUs but the bunk heaters work great in cool/cold weather and being able to idle in summer makes APUs unnecessary in the Big Green Trucks.

 

At first I agreed about the cameras... Not a fan of Big Brother watching my every move. But I have adjusted a bit. I don't know their full capabilities but I like to think if something were to happen it might be in my best interest to have it on camera.

And I do want to get home safely too, so if a camera watching me helps me stay focused on safe driving then that's a win for me too.

I still don't care for the idea in general but if you are a safe driver and doing a good job, which is what we are hired to do, then it's not a problem.

But I do toss my ball cap over the camera when I am not driving or otherwise on duty. I'll let them watch me for all 11/14 hours but once I am off duty.... The cab becomes my home.

Besides, no one wants to see me in my Spider-Man pajamas with the footies in them while watching My Little Pony. {blush}

 

I've hauled Gatorade out of Newport,TN and they didn't secure the pallets with nails. Hauled a few dozen loads of that stuff over the years.

 

And the PROFESSOR would know how to jimmy rig a quick fix for any VOLVO glitches

 

The truck I'm in now also has a bunk heater and the company is fine with idling. I don't like wasting fuel but I dislike trying to rest while hot even more. Not a fan of the cameras like I said, and not a fan of auto transmissions, but neither are deal breakers which would prevent me from applying like a restriction on idling would be.

 

I read on here somewhere Abilene goes into NYC. How often does that generally happen and how big of a pain in the butt is it?

I have made picks/drops in cities like Chicago, Baltimore, Philly, etc without much stress. My tightest maneuvering has actually been in a few small towns in PA with shippers/receivers in the most inconvenient places I can imagine with only inches to spare on turns.

 

We go quite a bit. One of our biggest customers is in Brooklyn. That being said, you'll get your occasional run up there, not on a steady diet though.

 

it is truly a myth that NYC is worse then everywhere else
there is just more of it
I mean what could be so bad when it is the city of John Boy birth

 

I've never been to NYC, only made it as far as Jersey City. But I used to run Chicago almost daily, I never had any problems that I couldn't solve. And many will tell you Chicago is as bad, or worse.

 

Only been there once in the last five months... With two stops... First, our major customer, was really tight, for this newbie, but the other was wide open. Getting in and out can be a bear, or so I hear, but we escaped rather easily. Some roads we were on were tight but I ended up in a tighter spot on roads in Atlanta.