Another day of automatic bliss. That truck is sooooo incredibly slow when it starts out from being stopped.  I shift at least twice as fast and probably faster when I am using a stick shift.  But, I made it down to Brownsville and came back up okay.  

But I am extremely bored with this job. Money is nice, but being along in the truck all the time is not so nice.  It just gets old.  I may start looking for a local job and at least see what's available out there.  Oil field trucking is back up - but we all know how fickle that can be, booming one day ghost town the next. They make good money tho.  Most of them want you to have experience with it. 

Like what I"m hauling now, you just have to find a way to get your foot in the door.  Having had hauled tankers the last 4 years without accidents is quite helpful, that's what I would be looking to do, haul the salt water and oil produced by the natural gas wells that are abundant in this region. 

I'm also not in love with what's going on at the loading rack nowadays.  One particular company is being given favoritism to show up whenever they please and load in front of whoever is there that is on time.  I show up early to the loading rack every time, the only exception is if something happens to the truck or the trailer at the yard.  Which is rare. So the dude telling me that "all of you" are "always" late was extremely annoying.  I flat told him I was 20 minutes early - that was the last load, I will be 30 minutes early today.  

We'll see just how early he wants everyone there, the plant has informed us that it's 15 minutes.  The problem that can and does occur with too many trucks loading too fast is that the plant runs out of product, they can't produce it fast enough to keep up with a constant stream of trucks getting loaded without any down time in between.

Hence, there is usually a gap between one truck getting loaded, completed and off the rack and the next one showing up.  The "privileged trucks" from that company are there right now, loading.  I know this because of driver reports.  Are they scheduled to be there at that time? Who knows.  I would venture a guess as to probably not.  Whatever the case, I intend on being at the rack at 11:30 am today, my load time is noon.  That's double the plant minimum arrival time.  

It will screw up any chances of getting back tonight, but that's ok, I wasn't planning to anyway. Taking a break from doing Oklahoma in one day since the manager got on another driver's case about driving on Personal Conveyance time too much.  He made a valid argument: You guys do too much of it and safety (department) will just remove it off the Quaalcomm and you won't have it at all.  My goal will be to make it back at least as far as the casino truck stop tonight and then 124 miles left to go tomorrow morning. Enjoy Sunday at the house alone and prepare myself mentally for going before the judge tomorrow morning and hopefully either getting the speeding ticket dropped completely or downgraded to something lessor.  

I was talking to the cop neighbor last night, he said it won't go beyond a pre-trial hearing -which is what will take place on Monday, they don't want to waste the time and resources to do a jury trial for a speeding ticket, but urged me to make sure I declare I want an jury trial if, for some reason, the judge won't budge.  I'm just go in there with hat in hand, so to speak, ask the court's forgiveness, inform them it occurred in my personal vehicle but counts against my CDL, will negatively affect my driving record to the point my company may even let me go, I've been watching my speed in my personal vehicle - not tickets since then and definitely trying to make sure I don't get any more - didn't know the speed limit had dropped on the Interstate (which is true, I had only heard about it, I didn't notice the signs had been changed) and can you pleeeeeaaaassssseeeee drop the charge altogether or reduce it to something much less severe?  

He also said the higher up judge he had spoken to about it had likely already spoken to this judge.  

I dunno, but if it does go to a jury trial, I'll have to get a lawyer and shell out the bucks to protect my CDL.  I've read a lot of posts online about this very issue, most drivers say that when they go to court, the judge just lets it off.  I personally don't care if I have to pay a fine, I just don't want a 15 over ticket on my record.  

No, there is nothing new on the property front. And this chest cold got much more severe yesterday to the point I was wondering if I'd even make it back to they yard. I just spent some 11 hours in bed. I wasn't asleep the entire time but I definitely didn't feel like getting up. It's another reason I won't be interested in finishing this run today, I won't feel like it.  It's 552 miles to get back to the  casino truck stop, that's plenty.  And I slept in this truck, it's clean at least and doesn't have awful odors floating around in it.  Oh, the property, well just saying that yesterday I did not feel like calling any contractors because of the chest congestion and feeling pretty cruddy. 

I will - maybe - take that quest back up on Monday after court. Court is 9:40 am.  I say maybe because it depends on how I feel. I'd like to hope that getting home tomorrow late morning and spending the day resting that I will be feeling better by Monday, but you never know.  I feel compelled to get this thing going, but I am at the mercy of contractors.  If I had a trackhoe and a dozer I could have already had all of this done, but alas, I don't own such expensive equipment.  

Inflation is hitting hard right now as well and I suspect the cost of all the electrical stuff needed is going to be jacked up.  I just want to get it done before it gets jacked up so high I can even afford 14 lots.....

And as I started the last entry out, now I"m looking into a "cash out" refinance that refinances the house plus gives you the amount of money it's worth over that. Well, as much money over that as the bank will allow anyway.  I should be able to get 80 grand if that is true.  I will definitely be looking into that on Monday, that's a sit-at-home-and-peruse-bank-sites-on-the-internet type of thing.  

James, Taylor and the boys are on their way up to Missouri for a 4 day visit to see family up there. The grandma just died and they are going to give emotional support. They just left maybe an hour and a few ago, they still have quite a ways to go.  

Dogs will be staying home. Maria offered to watch them, but over at her place. Discussing it with Taylor, we both agreed we'd rather have the dogs at home, protecting the property and giving some verbal warning to any wannabe thieves.  Addler is not a wimp, I can tell ya that, but when it comes to that back yard, none of those dogs are shy about giving notice that they are there and don't even think about coming back here.  I have a camera back there as well and it has a microphone.  

Finally? I really don't feel that well and going to work today is going to be a drag to say the least.  But, if it gets really bad, the most I have to do is get up to the plant, drop and hook and then just go find a place to park.  It doesn't matter as far as the company is concerned, they just want the trailer back tomorrow.  Speaking of that, one of the other drivers posted a pic from that plant's entrance last night. Another truck from another company had quite well misjudged the entrance and pulled the trailer into a ditch.  The pic was replete with 2 tow trucks in the scene and standing there assessing the situation.  

No, it's not funny, but that entrance is huge.  I know it was night time but we all pull in there at night. Just swing wide and you'll miss that ditch - by far.  It's not even close.  You see pics of this type of thing on the internet all the time. It's a wonder to me, your mirrors don't lie, they show you where you're at in the turn.  I hope I never make that kind of mistake, is all I can say.  

With that, I think I will leave even earlier than I originally planned, go get some breakfast, drive by the property- I do that a lot lol and looking to see if they installed that pole yet.  And just to keep the property in the forefront of my mind.  I also need to go over there and get some good pics of the trees and stuff and see what the site developer thinks. Not today, tho. Maybe Monday. 

G'day