Well that wasn't so nice.
I get to the yard, get into my "new" truck, get everything situated, hooked up to the trailer, do a pre-trip, find some thing wrong.  It was early, but the mechanic was there anyway dealing with a problem on another truck.  So, I hadn't got on the clock yet, I just waited for the mechanic to come and fix the problem before doing so.  I had plenty of time - the first load was the truck that broke.  The driver took another truck to go get the trailer loaded, but that set everything about an hour behind. 

So, he took care of the problem, I was satisfied the truck and trailer were road worthy and got on the clock.  Note - I am an hour late now because of the first driver/load.  6 minutes on the clock - we are required by the company to have a 10 minute pre-trip, but I had already done that off the clock.  Well, diverting here, you want to get your truck hooked to the trailer and do your pretrip before you get on the clock.  If there is something wrong, you will just be wasting your drive/on-duty time for no good reason.  You can stay off the clock until the thing is fixed. Further note: once you start that clock, there is no stopping it.  I mean, you can go off-duty and not have it count against your 70 hours, but the on-duty clock is still ticking.  It's weird, I know, but that's how it works.

Now, if I stay off duty for 10 hours, the clock resets to 14.  Anyway, I was 6 minutes into being on duty and my manager calls. They cancelled the load :(  I mean, I was ready for a 1,500 mile trip, including stocking up the refrigerator and doing everything that I do to get ready for a trip.  It's not a small amount.  Getting up early, driving clear to work, doing pre-trip, etc etc etc - wasted for nothing.  The thought crossed my mind that I should get paid for showing up to work for nothing, I wasted 74 miles of fuel and 2 hours of my time.  That should at least be worth the fuel it cost me to get there and back. 

And right then? My manager calls again. BTW, you need to fill out a trip sheet so you can get paid.  Fill it all in like normal and then write on it "Load Cancelled".  That way we can bill them and you can get paid for it. Right on.  Still deflating.  Now I have to spend a day at home - doing whatever - and then probably have to get my mind into trip mode for tomorrow.  It just really threw everything off.  Even worse? If I would have made it up there without them canceling it, they would have sent me to a hotel to wait.  Getting paid for sitting around doing nothing. 

Oh well.  I dropped the trailer, parked the truck got my food out and went to Waffle House for a meat breakfast.  With eggs of course.  Drove to Lowe's to look at St Augustine grass plugs  -  they show them having them online, they had zero quantity when I got there. I bought some small flowers on sale price instead.  Might as well beautify the house. 

And now I'm home and could kick myself.  I needed to go to walmart for dog food and air fresheners for the truck.  Walmart is across the street from Lowe's..........

Oh well. It's only 3 miles lol, not like a long drive back. 

I have half a mind to go back to sleep for a while. The dogs are with Rene no need to get them right away. 

That's really a great idea! 

Happy Monday!
And hence, the embarking on a new adventure - a new (to me) truck.  Who knows what the day may hold? A much better ride? A day full of problems?  Lol, no clue.  I need to get 600 miles today, that's what I do know, in order to make this not only a 3 day trip, but to be up there in time for them to not complain that I'm too late. 

They do that - complain about drivers that either don't make it there early enough or don't call the day they get loaded with an estimated arrival time.  They're nice people and all, they just have a schedule to keep up with and their ethylene tank gets empty, meaning they really can't do anything until we arrive with the next fresh load.

Dinner yesterday with Rene and Maria was pleasant enough. Excepting the bill, gag.  Rene is leaving this weekend allegedly, so no more Rene.  I've been waiting until she leaves to really try to find another renter.  I didn't know what she would say to a potential person moving in considering her recent behavior. 

Did some preliminary research on stocks and how/what to buy.  There are apparently sites that you pay for access to to get full analysis on trending stocks and stocks on the rise or predicted to go on the rise.  No, I haven't signed up for any yet.  A lot of information about how you just shouldn't do it because there are people that are smarter than you that do it for a living.

And......?  I'm not dumping 50k into it all at once to find out I just lost - 50k.  I think my first endeavor will be less than $500.  I can lose $500 and not really suffer too much.   It might be as little as 2 or 3 hundred the first round.  Kind of like the way I entered into blackjack, start small and usually get small returns, but still, get those returns.

Anyway, I best get offa here and get moving. I want some extra minutes at the yard. Just in case.