Just back from yet another Brownsville trip. I could literally do those the rest of my driving career and be happy with it.  Lots of miles, easy enough route.  I have Houston down now.  GPS always wants to take me through the middle of downtown, but hazmat doesn't allow me that option.  There are 4 routes I can take.  Sam Houston tollway either going east or west or 610 going east or west.  610 west is usually a freak show.  It's the shortest route but I have gotten caught up on it enough times.

Enough times, that is, that I found an app that shows real time traffic.  For all of Houston.  I mostly take the Same Houston/8 route, but there are times when even that isn't working and I got east.  Anyway, I rarely get caught up in ridiculous traffic jams now after finding that app so I'm good with it.

I've had other drivers telling me about routes around Houston, but after looking at how much extra time it adds to the trip, I rejected all of that info.  They don't want to deal with traffic in a major city.  I get that and I can respect that, but they are spending FAR more time on the road than they have to. I drove Phoenix city routes for years, Houston isn't even as bad as Phoenix traffic.  My goal is to make it to Brownsville in a single day's drive.  That doesn't always happen, which is fine, it's all paid time, but mostly it does. It's great miles, it's great money and I get home after 2 days . \

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Ok, back from yet another Brownsville trip since I started this post.  It's Tuesday, the day before the 4th of July and I have no idea whether I will be home or on the road tomorrow.  I'd prefer to be home.  In fact, a couple of days off would be really nice right now.  I'm a bit burnt out on the driving factor considering how much of it I've been doing.

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4th of July.  Just spent yesterday doing much of nothing. I went to the dealership to look at vehicles but the salesman I am dealing with is on vacation and I didn't want to start all over from scratch with another salesman, so i left.  But this particular dealership has several vehicles that I am interested in at pricing that might make it worth taking a look at.  I'm all about talking prices down tho. Whatever they have posted, it's coming down at least 2 grand for me to purchase it.  That was all I got done yesterday.  I was so out of it today that I slept in until 10:00 am.  It feels like I skipped half the day. Tomorrow, I have yet another Brownsville run and this is, of course, the first/early load.

So tomorrow will basically suck unless I can somehow manage to get at least 6 hours of sleep in.  I always go to bed in time for it, but I always wake up early and usually not manage to be able to get back to sleep.  I don't know why.

I just checked my DNA progress, it's on the final stage before they produce "raw data".  I won't have to wait for them to send it to me, either, I can view the info online as soon as it is uploaded.  I'm very curious as to what the results will be.  I've always had this questionning in my mind as to whether my lineage is what I was told it is.  I'm not calling mom a liar, not at all, but she didn't have this kind of info available through DNA processing.  If there isn't any Irish in me I will be ... shocked actually. But, that is what I'm going after, the truth of our family lineage. 
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Today?  I was going to go get a haircut, nix that, they are all closed around here because of the 4th.  Weird these small towns.  In Phoenix I could go to anyplace probably and get my haircut lol.  So,, off to Walmart for more clothing and some stuff for the truck.  I don't think the salesman is  in today, either, so I'm not likely to do that.  The washing machine is still  broken as Sears parts has screwed up the order 3 times now.  I didn't order it, if I had, I would have cancelled the order and driven to the town 30 miles over and acquired the part. 

I can either go to a laundromat and waste hours there or I can just go to Walmart and get more much needed new clothing. I'm opting for new clothing.  I have worn out my jeans to the point that I am going to replace all of them. Work jeans that is.  I don't have much "casual" clothing.  I'm just not much of a clothes shopper. I get what I need when I need it.  Other than that, unless someone with fashion sense goes with me, buying clothing for other than work is not my forte.  And so, I probably won't get much of anything done today besides cleaning, which I have already done a large amount of and probably do some grilling.  Like, steaks or something. 

One thing I can say here and now that I am very pleased with is my continuing trips to Brownsville.  It's really a great run and really works out for as close to the way I'd like a work schedule to go as possible considering the type of work I'm doing.  I'd rather do 2 Brownsville runs with a day off in between than a 4 day run and no home time.  It all adds up to the same amount of miles, actually I think the brownsville run adds up to more miles and it is less taxing on me.  My goal is to eventually find a hazmat job that gets me home most nights.  Right now, I'm sticking with this place just to at least attempt to get a full year's experience and have that on my resume. 

In fact, yes it does add up to more miles.  It's 562 miles to Brownsville, the 4 day trips are less than a 1,000 miles each way.  So, the numbers add up to about 400 more miles with 2 brownsville trips versus less than 2,000 mile on a 4 day trip.  I dunno if she'll send me out on any of those 4 day trips, most drivers want those runs and I have made zero mention that I want any of those runs and have made it distinctly clear that I really love these 2 day brownsville runs.  Those other drivers don't live around here, they would rather spend the time on the road.  I do wonder if they have ever run the numbers, tho, to see that they could be getting more miles? 

Well, Happy 4th of July and I think I'll get my shopping done and then find a war movie to watch.