So, my manager put out a text to all drivers in our division. There's only like 13 or 14 of us, not as many as it might sound.  It's the "holiday season" and as normal, business is slowing down.  Well, that's partly true.  Some of the plants shut down to do yearly scheduled maintenance.  It isn't that they are stopping production because of a lack of demand for the product they make.  

I know our 2 biggest accounts do that annually.  And the Mapleton does it as well, but I have to wonder if they are doing it this year since they basically just reopened after replacing every single valve in the plant, according to them.  

Whatever the case, he was pleading with people to head over to Massachusetts for a tour of helping out with a plant over there.  I was at that plant when I went to Vermont this year.  It is a huge operation.  It's oxygen and nitrogen being delivered all over the region including parts of NYC and Boston.  The streets in that region are narrow and aren't exactly truck friendly.  They countered for that by getting shorter trailers, but still.  I wouldn't want to do it now for a couple of reasons. First, you aren't even going to be able to go out on your own for at least 2 weeks, possibly 3, while you are in training.  Second, you are living in a hotel and while that's nice for a while, it gets old and third, there isn't a lot of decent restaurants nearby and you have to waste a lot of personal time going to find places to eat at.

Of course, if I ever do anything like what I did in Vermont again, I'm going to ask for a kitchenette and cook my own food and not have to fool around with going to restaurants every single day.  But I have zero intentions of doing any of that this winter.  Now, that may change of course, especially if work slows down so much that my paychecks are so thin that I can't cover bills with it.  Just that you end up in places that are frigid cold, snowy and not a pleasant or ideal working environment during the winter.  

At least that answers why I've been doing so much sitting lately besides the cheniere fiasco.  And not seeing alot of drivers texting that they are loading.  So, even tho I hate elongated trips, I am glad I have something to make a bit of money in this run today going to West Virginia.  I'm just going to cut back on "recreational" expenditures and tighten up the ship and buy only stuff I need, the want list will go out the window excepting to buy presents for Christmas. 7 people I can think of to buy for, 2 of them are a married couple and I only send them one present every  year, the same thing, Omaha steak package.  2 are kids - the boys here - they are young and I can buy cheap toys that they won't understand are - cheap toys.  Now for James and Taylor?

I actually have something in mind that may be a bit pricier, but something that they would both enjoy and would give them some away time.  Hot Springs is one of their favorite places to do mini vacations.  It's about 3 hours away and is not too far from Grandma's house - the boys can go to grandma's while they go enjoy a 2 or 3 day vacation together.  That pretty much just entails getting them a hotel room and help with expenditures. There are, of course, other things I could get them but I can tell ya, this house is full. There isn't much room for anything else.  

I dunno if I"ll do that, yet, I have plenty of time. I'd like to see how work plays out in the next coming days.  I am also potentially going to spend most of my savings on a piece of land if I can get December 1st off, get to the auction and actually have the winning bid on something.  I've narrowed that list down to about 7 properties that I would like to have.  Oh, wait, no it's more than that. There are 3 properties with at least 5 acres but they're outside of town. 15 to 20 miles away range.  That would be something for the RV park dream.  Or, get the property, sell it and use that money to buy something a bit closer and easier to manage.  

I'd really like to score at least one property regardless of whether it's land or a house.  

Noon loading time, ugh.

Okay,off to the races.

G'day.