I did ask.  Can I have Sunday off?  Monday is my birthday but my "peeples" want to celebrate it with me on Sunday. Okay, I didn't mention Superbowl Sunday, I want to be home for that.  I'm not a fan of either team but I'm rooting for the Eagles.  Just cause' mom says she'd like to see them win. If Steelers were involved, the whole family would be rooting for them.

So, she said, well, I'll see what I can do.  She is under pressure to get the loads given out.  And now that I can unload these trailers, a whole new world has opened up in terms of new places to go, but also puts me online to take other, senior drivers off line for them to go home and have off time.  I know, I'm new, Oh well. My only "complaint", which it isn't really a complaint, but these other 2 new drivers haven't learned how to offload yet.  If they got dumped into that world as I was, this would take  some of this off of me. I want to work and make money, yes, but I want a couple days off here and there as well.

So, I have 2 days off - actually 2-1/2 days considering I got home today around 2:00 pm, but I will pay for it. I will have to get up at 3:00 am Monday morning to be on the scale at 5:00 and get loaded after weighing out.  And then, drive all day long to Brownsville. It's a great run money wise, but getting up that early?  Ugh.

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Okay, a bit has transpired here since yesterday.  With my friends moving back, they were asking Rene if she wanted to earn some extra money and watch her boys after she finds a job.  Great opportunity for Rene.  Something she can do, something she likes to do and she'll be over here a lot.  She already said she would make dinner for everyone while watching the boys.  So, I'm not losing my personal chef, lol.  She's really good cook.

I started looking for places for them. Just to see what's out there.  It's still too early to start looking for a place tho.  I mean, it's April 1st they have to be out of here.  Most places aren't going to hold a house for that long and I'm not paying rent for an empty house.  I'm going to be working a lot - hopefully anyway - to get enough cash up for the deposit and get utilities turned on. They will continue to pay their rent, but it will go to me and they will hopefully have a nice place to stay.  We'll see what happens.

It's really working out much better than I had thought tho.  I mean, with her being over here watching the boys during the day and cooking, she's not only making money, she's also doing something with a little more purpose in life.  Not to mention she LOVES to cook.  If we're all here at the same time, that's 7 people to cook for.

But, James is going to truck driver training school and then OTR.  He'll be home at most every 2 weeks.  Maybe 3 weeks out.  That's my experience with OTR and I doubt it's changed much. In fact, I'm sure it hasn't cause I've seen all the ads and even applied at a few of them a while back.  I dunno. He's got young kids and he won't be home much.  I can't judge him tho, he wants to provide for his family.  ATT isn't cutting it for him.  I dunno if he'll make more right off the bat with trucking, but eventually he'll make a lot more.  In fact, I told him that if he keeps his nose clean for a year and doesn't have any accidents and keeps away from getting tickets, I could recommend him to where I'm working.  If I'm still there, lol.

Not that I don't want to be there, but 90 day probation still isn't up yet.  So, Just kind of hanging over my head until that goes away.  I intend on staying there for at least a year if possible.  Just taking it a day at a time.  Been through quite a bit in the short time I"ve been there, I hope they see that..I was sent a text yesterday saying I hadn't turned in my mileage from a particular trip and that the only way I get paid is if I do so.

I explained that that was the trip the truck broke down, I got distracted by trying to get the thing towed, getting it to Tulsa and then dealing with this tow truck driver damaging the truck at the repair shop.  Not like it was a worry free day.  My manager replied:"well can you get it?". It being mileages.  I replied, no, the truck is in the shop, I have no access to it.  Further, the axles were removed, so the odometer reading wouldn't show the 140 miles the truck was towed.  I did have the mileage for the rental truck starting at that facility, going up to the plant and then back to our yard, so they just took that, added the miles it takes to get from the yard to the repair shop and that was that.

I was wondering what she would say to that.  She said, dang, well she'll (corporate lady) just have to fill it in.  After I at least could give the rental truck readings that was good enough for her.  I do like my manager, she's a caring person.  She has a lot of stress trying to get the loads taken care of and still trying to appease to drivers wanting time off.  What would really help is if these 2 other new drivers were to be thrust into the world of having to unload such as I was. Then, they  could also be sent to these places that nobody wants to go to.

I dunno, but the main objective was that Brownsville would be completely covered after getting 3 new drivers.  I dunno if that's true or not.  I do know I'm going down there Monday and I am hoping she'll get me back in that Marriott. That is a great  hotel!  But a "lessor" place would suffice.  Just nothing like Motel 6.

Funny that Motel 6 used to be my go-to hotel. It was cheap, it was good enough for a night's sleep and that was that.  But over the years, a lot of their properties I had been to had deteriorated.  Paint outside, ripped furniture, stains on carpeting, mold in the shower.  I haven't been to one in quite a while.  I've seen that they have started taking over existing hotel properties versus building and entirely new hotel.  Some of them - look - nice.  But I dare not go back into one. Their once great prices - which is what attracted me to the places in the first place - aren't so great anymore, either.  I remember seeing them as low as $15.99 back in the day. $19.99 Then the price went up and up and up.  To the point now, they are not longer the bargain they once were.  And for the money? I can pay $20 more and stay at a much nicer place.