Tuesday, July 20, 2021

 So, here I sit at the loading plant at the loading rack. Have been sitting here for 2 hours and likely here another 2 hours - before going to the scale house to sit for another hour? It's already a quarter after 4 and I am about 45 minutes away from them even starting to load my truck.  I know, I know, I should be happy to get detention pay, but the later I sit here? The later in the night it's going to be before I arrive at the receiving plant and right now, it's looking minimum 1 am, probably 1:30 or 2.  THEN I have to find a place to park.  It wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't the prospect of having to be out until the wee hours of the morning. ....

Oh, the part that really is unpalatable is the fact that the two trucks ahead of me showed up WAY late, in fact, they were showing up to the plant the same time as I was .....  I should have left 5 minutes earlier and I would have beaten them both. I got here 20 minutes early as it stands.  The plant? IF there is a problem, should be letting people know - dispatchers and managers at the trucking companies - if there are delays. They do not, they don't care and they don't care if anyone says anything to them about it.  Company management can complain about it and they just shrug their shoulders, oh well, sorry about that.  

I could have just sat at home for over 3 hours, closer to 4 and enjoyed home life versus sitting in this truck.  Oh well, eat it and move on I guess. It's going to be a late night.  Of course, I could just make it far enough to be able to make it the rest of the way up there tomorrow and all the way back.  Or just get me up to Tulsa tonight and finish the rest of it tomorrow?  What is anyone going to say? That I am a wimp for not wanting to have to drive until 1:30, 2:00 or ever later in the morning?  Oh yes, they want their product, but this can all be blamed on the loading plant disregarding appointment times and letting drivers show up whenever they want - very late - and still putting them ahead of the drivers that - show up on time.

Excuse my ranting, just venting a bit here so I can move on with my day.  

New info: I get info that's diluted, fractional or missing pieces about this property situation all the time.  I find out today that they surveyors are "going to show up sometime this week and submit their report next week".  I'm trying to keep a good attitude about it, getting sour about it will accomplish nothing but - being a sour person.  It also "is what it is".  It's alright, I have been spending even more time doing all kinds of research and now looking at pictures of other RV sites and how they have their lots set up.  I must say that I may be going too far with my intended actions for building parks in comparison to other parks and how they have theirs set up - and still getting excelling reviews.  

Tho, many of the reviews really are about the people running the place.  Customer service is golden, it always is in any industry.  Some of these places have "on site management 24 hours a day". They live there, apparently. I have no current plans to do that.  Other places have office hours and then an emergency number to call if there are any problems - that is more in line with what I was thinking.  Maybe someday I would live there - after the place starts making money and give me the credit to build a nice house in the rear of the property, away from the RV's.  No, I have no intentions of living in an RV if I don't have to.  

I guess I just wish that I could have this purchasing stuff over with, have the land in my name and have the ability to move on with the next steps.  I'm not writing about those next steps again here, have already done that a few times in this blog.  I will write about them once I start calling the places to come out and give estimates on the various  things I need done right at the start.  

Lol, they finally got the trucks ahead of me loaded, now they are telling me another 30 minutes before they can load me, they are out of product! Let's see, it's almost 5pm, an hour and 15 minutes to load, at least half an hour at the scalehouse - they'll be in a  hurry to get me out of there tho since they will be waiting on me so they can go home.  Still, that's 6:30 pm.  Yup, I'm not real happy about this and I am seriously considering just making it 200 miles today, enough to be able to finish going up to the plant tomorrow and make it back tomorrow as well.  If my company doesn't like it, I literally don't care.  I'm not the one that caused this situation and until the loading plant changes it's policy about appointment times - which it has already stated they won't - I'm not going to give an icy cold petunia whether I make a schedule or not and I will blame it directly on them, legitimately so. 

Yup. I'm going to order ahead some wings from the Godfather's at the Love's in Paris (Texas, lol), I call ahead about 20 minutes and they are ready when I get there.  Have dinner on the road and just stop when I please.  Even driving straight through, getting out of here at the estimated time which is far later than I thought even just 30 minutes ago - we're talking arriving at the plant now at around 1:30 am, get out of there in 20 minutes time and then drive an hour or so looking for aplace to park this truck.......

These things that continually occur, all the time, are just some of the reasons I want out of trucking permanently.  It makes me a very unhappy person sometimes and I hate to come across like that to everyone.  It makes attempting to get a 200k loan and just build the whole park all at once more and more palatable.  Swim or sink, do it, hope for the best, pray for the best outcome and ride with it.  I intend on it being profitable.  That's the goal.  Failing is not even in my mind, never has been. Questioning whether it is more advisable for a small amount of debt versus a large amount? Yes I"ve struggled with that for quite a while, but I do believe I can make it work either way, it will just take longer going about it the "lessor in debt" scenario.  And I'd have to figure something out for a bathhouse.  They have portable units you can rent, that are very nice.  

I've seen them here at this plant when the bathrooms are shut down for whatever reason, they bring in these luxury restrooms with showers, they are quite nice, putting it mildly.  It's the only temporary solution I can come up with for having a bathhouse right off the bat without going into extreme debt.  They have propane tanks to fuel the water heater and they have AC units on them.  I have no idea how much they cost to rent, I doubt cheap.  But if my options are limited, I am going to do what I need to do.  If people demand bath houses, then some version of it, they are going to get.  It may not be ideal or perfect, but it will be a start.  Same with the office. If I'm choosing the "less debt" route, it will be a portable office building that you give a down payment on and make monthly payments.  

Whatever happens, I'm bound and determined to have this thing work out.  

But none of that even begins to happen until the property is in my name. I went by there on my way to work - I just can't help myself, I have this need to see this thing get moving - no they weren't there, the truck was still in the driveway. No reason to suspect it would be gone right away, I didn't say anything to anyone and won't for now.  

At some point soon? I am going to wish I had a lot more vacation hours available.  Rent that bulldozer, get those driveways cleared out, clear out the lots and lets get this thing moving.  Just marking the driveways will be a wonder - there is so much junk in the way it may be just good enough to clear out 10 feet wide along the western fence line without any markings to be able to get back in there without having to literally climb through weeds, thorn bushes, trees, and thorn vines.  I am definitely going at least 20 feet wide on the driveways so going 10 or even 15 to start with would be good enough to get a start on it, be able to mark out the lots.  The first 15 to 20 lots on either side will be full drive throughs, this is what they want, this is what they are going to get. Possibly more.  Maybe ALL the lots.  They fetch a higher price but they also alienate people that have shorter rigs and don't feel like they should have to pay as much.  

There is a registration setup I was looking at this morning that has you input the length of your entire rig, the type of outlet you want (50, 30 or 20 am) and then comes back with a price. With something like that, I wouldn't have to put prices for the same lot at different rates - for the amount of electricity being used is my qualm. 3 AC units with all kinds of appliances and electronic gadgets in the RV doesn't use the same amount as an older RV with one AC unit and no appliances.  $30 per night versus $55 or $60.  

Or, you just install smaller length lots beyond the pull through lots that are back in and those people can enjoy a nice camp ground without paying as much and not being alienated.  You can't make everyone happy, but you should try, IMO, to make as many of them happy as possible! 

Lol, it's well after 5 now and still not loading my truck.  The projected arrival time at the receiving plant gets later and later - if I even decide to make it that far.

With that, I am going to do some more research since I have plenty of time on my hands and be productive with my knowledge seeking exercises in internet use. 

G'day


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