I'm still quite impressed with President Donald Trump.  He's taking the tough stances that should have been taken on a myriad of issues even decades ago on certain issues.  Right now he's telling everyone that Germany made a very bad deal to agree to build a pipeline to Russia while wanting US protection against Russia? Yea, that's pretty messed up.  He's also demanding that NATO members up the ante of their military spending to at least 2%. 

Anyway, I did end up buying a vehicle at the Ford Dealership where I got the Caddy whose transmission went 200 miles into driving it.  There aren't too many dealerships that I know of that would just buy a vehicle back outright and not end up having me pay anything  in that exchange.

If they are going to be that above board, I figured they deserved my business.  I ended up getting a Ford Expedition - a large SUV - with almost all the bells and whistles that the Caddy had.  A lot of the stuff the Caddy had I wouldn't have ever used for lack of desire to figure out what all those buttons were for.  The things drives like a dream.  It has a rear door that opens and closes by itself.  It also has a sunroof and has all the gadgets on the dash including built in navigation.  I still need to learn how to use it lol.

I"m not looking at this as a "forever" vehicle.  It's just that my credit still isn't up where it needs to be to get a late model vehicle and still have low enough payments to keep it in my comfort range.  I mean, sometimes they are offering 0% financing on new vehicles, tho I'm not really interested in a brand new vehicle.  If this thing drives like it does now for a couple of years, I'll be happy with it.  It is very large meaning it will comfortably pull the trailer for whatever I need to use it for.  It has a full tow package of course, so nothing need added to the vehicle to make it tow ready.  I'm very happy with this decision as the other vehicle they had in my price range was really a pile of junk.

Yes, it is a GMC Sierra 4x4, but it was too old, had too many miles on it and the interior was worn out.  The steering wheel was worn down in the place where the previous owner held the wheel. Carpet and seats would have had to have renewing to make it nice.  The exterior had dings, scratches and the hood was fully oxidized.  I had a lot of people saying I should get the GMC over the Ford - I'm not the biggest Ford fan in the world but I"ve owned a few - but this truck just wouldn't have made me happy, not at that price. 

I got this vehicle with no money down at the payment I wanted and gap insurance added for free.  It is well within the book value for a dealership vehicle. I might have been able to find a better deal somewhere else, but time is precious to me and spending days and days worth of time looking at vehicles just not in my realm of desires of things to do with my time off.. 

Now then, it's Wednesday.  I had to look at the phone to determine that. The days of the week don't mean much anymore with this job I'm working.  I worked Sunday and Monday and now on second - much needed - day off.  I didn't ask for it off, I'd rather just keep getting this Brownsville run and if that means only getting a day off and then right back to work, so beit.  But I was worn out and 2 days off has been really refreshing.  I'm forcing myself to try and make it a year there to at least get some time distance between the last jobs and not appearing to show as if I just jump around alot......and getting my tanker/hazmat experience in and hopefully at some point either transfer over to my compnay's fuel division or find another company that will hire me for that job. 

That's quite a bit different type of tanker hauling than cryogenics, I'd have to get trained in it, so the best option would be stick with current company if at all possible.  I've been reading online that the truck driver shortage is affecting pay substantially in many trucking companies.  One guy was talking about it the other day on an internet trucking forum saying they had upped his pay to .65 cents per mile to keep him from finding greener pastures.

Sixty five cents per mile!  That is crazy good money for not being an owner operator.  Even my own company is now starting experienced drivers out at .55 cents per mile, 2 cents per mile more than I"m making.  I'm not really going to complain about my mileage pay because I get other pay on every single trip.  Stop pay at least $100 worth on every trip, pay for doing my pretrips and almost always at least a little detention pay.  They give safety bonuses out quarterly as well. 

Well, I lost my debit card 2 days ago.  No, 3 days ago I think.  Anyway, I was out on the road when I realized I had misplaced it.  I called the last place I had used it at the hair salon, they didn't have it.  I tore the house and car upside down looking for it, no go.  So yesterday, I canceled that card and had them send me a new one. Not even 24 hours later and the card is already here?!!!

My manager just called.  A tanker load rejected by a plant in Illinois, can I come in in the morning and take it to Cheniere?  Uhh, sure I guess lol.  It means I don't have to load the trailer, I still have to take it into the plant to have it reweighed, but that's just a matter of maybe a half an hour max. Loading is a matter of 2-1/2 to 3 hours.  Which squeezes the time it takes to get down there, get unloaded and try to get back up in a single day.  With 2 plus extra hours - it should be no problem.  No guarantees, but I don't like Cheniere taking more than one day for it doesn't pay enough to justify it.  It's less than 500 miles round trip. 

Well, I'm going to get ready to go to daycare.  One of the kids needs picked up at 5.  My friend picked the other one up at around noon, took him to the doctor to find out what's wrong with him, brought him back here but left the baby at daycare.  She could have just brought them both back lol, now that I think about it, I dunno why she didn't.  Anyway, she's working late to make up for the lost time for the dr. visit. so I'm going to get the other one. It's like 2 miles away.

With that, I bid you a good day.