Interesting day.

Started last night, when I got to Brownsville and - found a trailer there, but the other driver who left 2 hours ahead of me, not there.  So I texted my manager - do I take this trailer or leave it for the guy ahead of me? She called me back and told me that trailer has a bad tire and not to take it.  Fine by me! The other driver, for unknown reasons, couldn't make it all the way to the Brownsville yard.  Instead, he made it to the brand new Love's they just opened up - 4 minutes away.  And apparently, he went over his allotted hours by - 4 minutes. 

I went to the new Love's last night and spent the night there versus in that nasty yard.  I had no idea that Loves was even building a facility in Brownsville.  It will change the way I do my trips down there. I won't have to fuel up on the way down there anymore, I can just do that in Brownsville and not waste the time along the way, handing me an extra 20 minutes or so for on-duty time.

This morning, the other driver showed up with his loaded tanker, I said he could go with the empty that had just pulled in the yard and I would deal with the trailer with the bad tire.  I offered that because he had to get on the clock to drive to the yard. The second you get on the clock, you are toast, you can't turn it off, your 14 starts counting.  I wasn't on the clock, even tho I had driven the tractor to get something to eat because I was able to drive on "personal conveyance" which is off-duty driving.

Regardless, several hours later they decided to replace the tire, my company, instead of forcing the company that we are hauling for to do it - it was one of their trailers.  Why? Because we need the trailer to load and bring back down.  4 hours after that decision, a tire truck finally shows up.  I didn't get out of Brownsville til' after 3pm, with the instructions to get the trailer back to the yard "as fast as you can".  So, I drove all the way back today, got in the yard at 1:15 am.

I don't know why, but I could have driven all night long and then some.  I got back into the yard, dropped the trailer, hooked to the trailer I"m taking on Monday, did my paperwork, faxed that to corporate, got my stuff out of the truck, drove home and here I am.  It's 2:30 am and I am amped up. I have no clue why, I just am.  I could literally stay up all night long right now and I couldn't give you a reason why I'm wide awake and sleep? Not even in the workings. 

Meanwhile, the people that sold us the boat finally replied! Remember I said I forgot to get under the cover the engine and see if the problem is there? Yup, that's where the problem is.  It's got a bad started, hitting it allegedly will get it to fire.  You know when starters go bad, sometimes tapping them with a hammer or such will get it to cranking?  They said to clean the brushes. I might take it apart and try that, or just find out how much a new starter costs and go that route. But at least I know what the problem is. They didn't respond to my query about the gas tank.  I'll deal with that after I deal with this starter business. Now whether I do that - later on today - or not - depends on how I feel after I finally go to sleep and wake up whenever.

I don't have my dogs with me, it was too late to be going over there and waking up the house, tho I definitely wanted to get them : (

Now, arriving home was a bit odd as well.  One of the pickups is gone.  Weird, they didn't say anything about going anywhere.  Then I got to the front door, the glass door in front of it was locked, meaning no one is home. They only lock that when they are leaving, not at night when sleeping.  I hesitated to open the front door, what if the alarm is on?  But I wasn't going anywhere else, I texted Taylor with no reply. Didn't expect one this late but I had to try.  Nope, the alarm wasn't on, but the house looked as if they had left hurriedly.  I started to worry about Jaxon after seeing it, Taylor posted earlier today that he hit his face against the corner of the table.  His face looked bad.  But, I mean, on the cheek so you wouldn't think any kind of brain injury or something worse than just a bruise on your face.  Still, I am worrying about it.  I don't know where they could have gone - unless they took the kids to Maria's and decided to go out somewhere. 

Well, I have a full day home anyway and then back out again Monday morning to Corpus Christie.  Haven't been to that place in a while.  Haven't wanted to be at that place, either lol.  Hot, muggy and nasty. 

I'm psyched about the boat now tho.  I looked up starters for a Mercury 150 and saw a price range in the $40 to $60 range. That's really nothing.  I don't have the model number so I can't get a precise price right now, but if that starter is the only problem besides whatever is going on with the fuel, I'm going to be in great shape.  I'll order a new starter and take the boat into the upholstery shop and they can redo all of that and order the new bimini top as well.  I found a set of 8 life jackets for $45 - Texas requires you to have at least 4 of them on the boat as well as a fire extinguisher.  I think something else is required but it's slipping my mind at the moment.  They have an online beginners thing where they tell you what to expect if the law cruises up to your boat on the water to do an "inspection". 

Sounds like the trucking industry. Just pull you over without probable cause or reasonable suspicion. 

Anyway, there are a lot of small items that need replaced on that boat.  I was bummed they took the trolling motor off, those can be pricey. You don't have to have one, but they're nice for fishing. They also removed the sonar for fish finding. Again, you don't have to have it, just a nice thing to have on there.  Even some of the cup holders are gone.  As long as I can get the motor running and get all the upholstery redone, I will end up replacing all of that stuff. 

And here comes the neighbor kid at almost 3:00 am, cranking down the street at 45 plus mph in a 25 zone, revving out the noisy engine and tearing up the neighborhood. His dad will hear about this later on today : )

Anything else?  I dunno, I think so but my head is starting to get foggy, meaning I can try to go to sleep.