Monday, August 16, 2021

 It isn't any secret - at least to me anyway - that autonomous trucks are a thing and they are coming soon to a highway near you.  In fact, I saw one at a truck stop on the West Virginia trip I did last week.  It has cameras mounted all over the front of the roof, it's obvious what it is.  

How long will it be until they are actually driverless?  Unknown.  Right now, the technology is required to have a human behind the steering wheel.  So it isn't really going to answer the demand for more truck drivers, not until they can actually drive themselves. Even then, the technology is only good on interstates, they can't navigate city streets, they can't fill themselves up and they can't back into loading docks. 

About the first time one of these monstrosities takes out a family of 5 in their SUV, there will be instantaneous public demand for regulation and demands for guaranties of safety.  I suspect there will eventually be lanes on the interstates devoted entirely to these vehicles with concrete dividers to ensure public safety.  All of this is a ways down the road, autonomous trucks are coming,, but I am not concerned about it right away. It's the major trucking companies that will buy the things up, companies hauling hazmat such as what I do will probably not be real interested in it until it's safety is more or less guaranteed.

I only say all of that because I was thinking last night about this RV park nonsense - it's become nonsense in my mind because of all of this ridiculous trouble just trying to acquire land, even tho I already have approval for a loan, a good appraisal, a completed survey and an incompetent title company.  I don't even know if autonomous trucks will be a threat to the current choice of hazmat hauling in my lifetime, I'm not exactly a spring chicken and I have no aspirations of continuing on in this "career" forever, but it's just another thing driving me on towards finding something else to do to earn an income beyond trucking.  

I could always do a forklift job and make less than half the money I'm currently making lol.

It just crossed my mind that I put that hunting camera up over a week ago.  I need to go get that thing, take a look at what may be roaming on the property back there.  And also in case this deal falls through, it was a $130 camera, I'd like to get it back lol.  

And my realtor just called them - they are listed as open on Google - they should be it's Monday morning during normal business hour - no answer. So I called them as well, no answer tho I did leave a message : )

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A few conversations later....the lady that is running the title company went off into personal issues, namely, her husband having medical problems of which she didn't identify (I didn't ask,, that's none of my business), how hard it is to get good help due to covid (true), the fact that this property is not in her county (she has to use the services of another title company to get things done) and that there is a trust issue.

She said trust issue and my heart sank.  NOT again. THIS is what happened with the Finklea property.  I sympathized with her husband's issues, listened to her rant about a lot of stuff and we ended the call. She said she was trying to get the property to close on Friday.  This is far more information than I'm getting from my realtor who apparently knows all of this.  She has been short on info but I think that's just the type of person she is.  I want details, to the nth degree details, that's who I am.  I'm not going to fault her, but it's a bit more reassuring to hear the whole story and understand that no, everything is not completed and therefore that is why it's taking so long.  

I did ask why they would have chosen a title company in another county? She said it's because of people moving here from California and the overload on title companies with them buying up properties.   I watched this occur in Arizona, not just in Phoenix either, they bought up all the good properties up in the mountains and drove property pricing up drastically in all markets.  Hence my house being worth around $275k.  

I'm wondering if this is why these people at the tax lien sale auctions are bidding up prices.  Yet, those over priced properties don't sell, it's only the ones like the one I'm trying to get that sell quickly - tho mine was on the market for a while.  They took horrible pics of it.  Did nothing to show the beauty of the property at all.  You actually had to go see the property in person to see the potential for it and that it's not near as ugly as the satellite view makes it look.

Regardless, I'll just hope for a Friday close.  She didn't give a guarantee, it was just "I'm trying for Friday".  I don't want to contact my dispatcher with that info right now, I doubt I'm working tomorrow since the part wasn't coming in until tomorrow. I'll give another day to see if anything changes, otherwise I'll just let my dispatcher know it's "tentative".  

Finally, I don't disagree with America getting out of Afghanistan. But what kind of stupidity is it to withdraw our troops and leave all of those Americans stranded over there and the embassy with sensitive documents?  It's just another sign of the lunacy we have occupying the White House.  You would THINK they would have thought of this before just saying goodbye.  You would think that at the very least, the generals would have thought have this right off the bat. And now, Biden is babbling in an address to the nation.  I think I"m going to switch off of that, the guy lies, embellishes and changes his tune more often than a hummingbird flaps it's wings in a second. 

With that, I'm outta here.  

 Friday late-morning Typical morning when there is no work.  It was, I should say, until the new guy called.  "There's nothing wron...