Uhh, well maybe Southwest wasn't a good idea, I didn't buy tickets anyway.  To Phoenix for a funeral, that is.  Southwest is still canceling massive amounts of flights due to "employee non-compliance". LMAO.  Poor bastards, they're actually subject to the workers that make the airline successful! THIS is what will force corporations that want to force it's workers to do things that no corporation should - back into compliance with the American blue-collar worker.  

You shit on us long enough, we're gonna take a dump right back on you.  You watch, it's going to spread. I actually LIKE Southwest Airlines, don't get me wrong.  They have the 2 bags for free deal that's never changed, even when they could charge just like everyone else. They resisted that temptation and you can save a lot of money in airfare just by that virtue alone. 

But I do not like the idea that they are going to somehow force employees to get a vaccination of a drug that apparently many employees don't want.  In any large corporation, if enough employees band together and stand strong, they could actually force a corporation out of existence.  This is where I can give unions some credit, the Southwest dilemma is undoubtedly got an airline union coordinating all of these pilots calling in sick.  What is Southwest going to do, FIRE all of them?  Lmao again. They can't fire hundreds or even thousands of pilots.  I don't know how many they have, I just know that these pilots are pushing back.  What if the REST of the airlines' pilots did that? American, Frontier, Delta, etc? 

I could write a small book about my thoughts about what's going on in this country right now - but it wouldn't accomplish anything, so why bother. Well, sometimes you just have to let it out, that's why.  But, it's getting late and I digress. Actually, I'm wide awake and sleep eludes me at the moment, so I will stay up as late as it takes for the sleep bug to hit and then I will hit the sack.  

Addler was all over me coming into my room tonight, he's such a good doggy. Loyal, protective - if he's in the house and you don't belong here, you are not going to have a good encounter with that particular dog.  He's not just a growler.  He will bite you and it will hurt.  But I don't have dogs so they can attack people, it's nice to have them around in case, but I just like dogs in general and Great Danes are my favorite breed. He started talking to me as soon as I cam in the room lol. 

I accomplished a lot on the phone today. I can legally do that while driving, and that is a good time to get all of that talking done.  I called Swepco - the power company with lines running through my property - again today.  The lady said the best she can do is send another email, she can't directly contact the engineer department.  Ok, thanks.  30 minutes later, a lady calls.  Long story short, she said she would contact the engineering department and they should contact me back soon.

The Squeaky Wheel.  A full, entire minute after that conversation was over? A guy from the engineering department calls.  Short conversation, he's coming out Friday, meet me there, discuss where the pole will go and make sure it's all good and then he can give a price.  How much does it cost to have a telephone pole installed with a transformer? I hope to soon find out.  I'll take a guess: 2 grand.  I'll take another guess: shouldn't cost 2 grand. It's just a tree shaved down to a pole and slathered with some sort of goo.  The transformer? Well I don't have any idea how much those cost.  Or whether I should have to even be paying for it.  They will make their money off of that property if all goes well, that's a fact.  The equipment to make that money should be on them, not the proprietor of the business. IMO, anyway.  

I've said it before and I will reiterate it now: I have no clue what I am doing here. Sure, I did months worth of research. Many, many months. But I"m basically the general contractor and I am subbing out the jobs - saving a lot of money, but not having all the info these people want.  Or any real knowledge of what each phase of this project entails.  Just wading my way through this folks.  Ask a lot of questions, pick people's minds, extract whatever knowledge/wisdom I can get and incorporate it into my thinking.  

The electrician that the water install guy recommended today went into a big long dissertation about how the pre-made pedestals I was wanting to have installed.  He did it in a very courteous, non-demeaning manner, but he was directly opposed to such a setup. I was curious what he considered a better idea and of course asked him.  Well, we've been doing this a long time and we've had parks actually have those pedestals removed. We build our own version of one that is a much more simple yet effective and longer lasting version that is nothing more than the 3 outlets on a sidebar.  

I didn't ask him how much more or less they cost.  He was quick to inform me that he was swamped with work and couldn't even come out to take a look at what I needed for at least 2 weeks.  There isn't really anything to look at but they all want to come out anyway. The septic people, yes they need to come out. The electrician?  I guess to satisfy that what I'm saying is actually reality, lol.

It's 1:00 am and I'm going to sleep, it finally hit me, lol.  

G'nite.  

 Cross Plains, Tennessee.

Drove til 4:00 am on Monday.  The appointment time was at 1:30, which naturally lead to a much later departure time than I am normally accustomed to - tho starting to get accustomed to these ridiculously late nights - and the plant was having a problem.

Specifically, the scale stopped working. It was working fine when I came in, but something happened to it and it was down for a few days, actually.  Anyway, driving to the scale, finding it busted, had to drive clear back to the other side of the plant to another scale, weigh, and then back to the busted scale, scale house.  That added another 25 minutes or so plus they were having trouble figuring out how to use the other scale info in their system - different software, different systems - and it just took forever to get out of there.

But I was determined to make this a 3 day trip if possible, so yes, I drove til almost the time many people are getting up for work lol.  That got me to Smiths Grove, KY.  Then yesterday, I drove up to WV, dropped and hooked - and dropped and hooked - and dropped.....and....hooked...again......then got out of there, still determined to drive as late as necessary to position myself to get home today. 

Well, tonight anyway. That took my all the way up to 3:00 am.  

Today? Well, I will miss Nashville rush hour, dunno about Memphis, but there is a storm that just went through my town, replete with tornado sirens going off, heading this way.  So the fate of making it home tonight or not? I dunno.  I was going to stop at Smiths Grove again last night, I gained 50 miles coming down here, so maybe I can make it.  If not, I'll be pretty close to home lol.  

Well anyway, I called Swepco again yesterday. They had record of my call and wanting a call back from an engineer.  So, they red flagged it, which allegedly sends it to an expediter, which allegedly will get me a call back.  I just need info - unless they can come out and do the job without anything more than asking.  I doubt that, tho, they will probably want specifics on how much power I will need and I, of course, will have no idea. Lol.  But they should still be able to tell me how much it costs to install a telephone pole and putting up a transformer.  Ballpark it, please. And whatever other specific information I will need to get them to come out and do the job.  

I'm waiting for that call and info before I start calling electricians.  Going armed with knowledge is better than just groping in the darkness, knowing nothing, obviously knowing nothing and possibly being taken advantage of.  

I'm also going to call Fidelity - again - and ask why they haven't returned my phone call. 

And, ATT again.  The dude that installed the water setup said there are definitely lines inside of that underground cable.  I'm getting totally conflicting stories. I need a person from ATT to look into it and find out what's running through there. Wish me luck, the first phone call went absolutely nowhere.  Getting past the first wave of people looking at computer screens to prompt them what to say is a wee bit on the impossible side, but I will have to just keep pressing them until I  can get through to someone that actually has the knowledge and probably a degree in some field of electrical application.  

I have my work cut out for me, which is why I was desperately trying to get home tonight, so I'll have tomorrow to go over there and start measuring out everything.  I predict that I will be so tired tomorrow that doing much of anything will be a chore.  So I dunno about that. I'm motivated, but this has been a grueling trip and I am going to need some recovery time.  

I'm really thinking I need to cash out my 401k sooner than later.  I'm definitely going to need the money and I really don't see a lot of optimism in the stock market with people looking at the economy and wondering if there is even going to be a crash.  It's gone up, tho, in the last week, a couple of grand.  Yet, the future of this park rests squarely on the use of that money.  I'll be thinking about that long and hard today while driving, I may just go ahead and pull the trigger on that.  It's simple, the Prudential website makes it very easy to cash it out. They withhold the taxes and the penalty and send a check for the rest.  I'll end up with around 51k if I did it today, looking at what's in there.  Doesn't sound like much but it's enough to clear the land, get the water in and hopefully get the electric and a septic system installed. After that?  Well, I'll figure it out.  And pray. And ask the Lord for guidance.  

Once I get that far? It's all over. I'm all in, it will happen one way or the other, Lord willing and I"m still alive and breathing on this planet.  

One thing I can say about the last few days: driving at night is pretty tough for me, not a night owl, but ohhhh the traffic is soooo much better!  That is a great pro versus all the cons I can come up with.  

Anyway, I just had some time before my 10 hour forced break is up. If the government would get it's nose out of my personal business - and every other truck driver - I would have left 2 hours ago.  I didn't need 10 hours, I needed about 7 hours of sleep, that's what I got and then I woke up.  I don't know how they came to the conclusion that truck drivers need or want 10 hours off every day, I'm sure some of them do, I am not in the class and I know a lot of other truckers that also think it's ridiculous that the federal government believes that one size fits all for millions of drivers.  We would get a lot more driving done and right now, that's allegedly what this country needs.  

But, these clueless politicians with power make these rules and there isn't anything anyone can do about it, excepting with truckers who are quitting in droves, saying enough is enough, they are letting their feet do the talking. Hopefully, my time to do that will occur in the next few years and I can live my days in peace running a hopefully successful operation that is giving more income than I even need so that I can help others.  That's my heart.  I believe that's God's heart.  Not sure what route I would go, but there's plenty of homeless in my town and impoverished people.. 

Who knows what is going on around us at any given time. You read stories about families that don't have enough to eat, but their neighbors know nothing about it.  They say nothing about it to their neighbors.  I understand not wanting to seem like a "beggar" or something, but at the same time, there are still alot of people around that will help out needy people, especially families with kids.  But, those are the types of people I like to help.  And missionaries. With a true heart for God.  The ones that don't have giant ministries, that labor tirelessly for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.  The ones that you've never heard of, the people that are doing the Lord's work on this earth.  I'd like to help them out.  I have plenty of connections to find such people.  

I just am chomping at the bit to get this project moving along.  I knew there would be stalls at the beginning just getting utilities in, but now that I've found a man that has a good heart and isn't a rip off and has the equipment to do the job, I can at least get moving with the land clearing - when I can get over there and mark everything out. 

Well it's almost time to leave.  Another 11 or so hours from now and I should be in Longview.

G'day.