So, I texted the owner of the construction company again today. It's Wednesday and it's not that far from a potential starting date of Monday. So I simply asked him if he was still going to be tied up in Dekalb next week?  A few hours later, he replied yes and then another text saying he will be finished next week and will be starting work on my project 2 Mondays from now.  

I'm okay with that. Would have preferred to get it started next week, it is what it is.  Oh and there was another few texts about putting in the gravel, it isn't part of the bid and I wanted to see if he does that as well.  He will basically build me an entire park as far as the driveways, lots, electricity, water and sewer/septic system is concerned.  

The office building - if that's the route I go for also installing showers, which it kind of makes sense right now to do so considering the costs of everything - would be hauled over by the seller and presumably set up by them as well.  Of that, I have no actual clue.  That will be a discussion with them. They do sell those things with a down payment and monthly payments after that, which would help keep from draining my bank account completely dry.  

So, a few things in the offing for fact-finding missions is whatever portable building I will buy, how much it's going to cost to do the interior and also getting quotes on building a swimming pool.  These are the major expenses after the contractor completes his work, the rest of it will be minor compared to the costs of these things.  I"d actually like to get under contract with them and get the prices set.  

However, the pool requires financing and tho I believe I can get financed, that's not set in stone. I looked at few pool financing options today, pretty high interest rate, I'll keep looking.  I don't need an $800 per month payment on a pool.  That just sounds like a lot of money for such a thing.  But, those were personal loan rates, I'm going to see about other types of loans with potentially lower interest rate.  

The cash out money was wired into my account today. I have all the money I'm going to get for this venture without having to borrow more money.  If you skip the pool, I have enough to pay for everything, I think, without any more loans.  Beyond the office/bath house/laundry room facility, there's advertising, signs, picnic tables, fire rings, a doggy park, grass seed/install, probably a lot more minutia I'm just not trying to think of right now. It was just encouraging to at least get a date set for the ground breaking and also the money coming in to my account.

The refi ordeal is over. Next is to pay off some debt.

If you're questioning my pool desire, it's an absolute necessity IMO.  If I'm lucky, I'll be opening by summer time. It gets hot here.  If I want people to come year round, it's going to be because I have something for them to do - year round including summer time.  A pool doesn't make your park a destination in and of itself, but it definitely adds to the appeal.  It will suck into my initial opening phase profits, of course.  It will pay off keeping  the place full (I'm hoping) and certainly when the park is expanded.  

Oh, I'm in Brownsville again.  Last 6 out of 7 trips have been to Brownsville. I was pretty annoyed when I showed up to work this morning, got in the truck to fire it up and was greeted with a new Quaalcom ELD.  I didn't know they were even considering replacing them.  No announcement was made and I had no clue how to operate the thing. Much different than the one they replaced it with.

It took a while for it to even get running and then, a lot of stuff was missing and a few things weren't even working, such as the ability to actually get into on-duty mode and log my pre-trip inspection.  It eventually worked.  

After loading this morning and driving down the road, it dawned on me that this thing might just have a camera on it.  It took 2 seconds to locate the camera and the microphone, both of which I covered with 2 layers of duct tape.  This is a non-starter for me.  I don't care what they think about me covering it up and I'm not trying to hide the fact that I'm doing it.  If they don't like it, we can part ways. This is a line they can't cross with me, this makes a total for 4 cameras that have in this truck.  2 front facing and 2 inward facing with 3 separate units.  

It is a given they can't afford to lose any more drivers, but this company will cut off it's nose to spite it's own face type of thing.  They don't care - and therefore, neither do I. I'm not married to this company, I am not under contract to this company, if they want to force their surveillance s*** down my throat, they can have their truck back and I will find employment elsewhere - without the effing cameras.  I don't care what anyone thinks about this, either and I frankly don't want to hear about it.  I have lived without these damned cameras my entire trucking career until this company.  

That particular subject irritates me.  Especially the part about the COO promising that they will only install forward facing cameras.  Liar.  

Enough of this.  I'm a bit cranky, I woke up in the middle of the night and spent 3 hours trying to get back to sleep.  Just the way it is with me, I either sleep like a log or I don't hardly sleep at all.  My afternoon nap when I stopped for my break? I would have probably slept for hours if I hadn't set an alarm on my clock.  I'm hooked up to an empty - no detention pay this time - get up at 4:45 am and get back up to Longview.  

Not to mention other things going on that I cannot - well I will not - go into on the internet.  These are hard times for some people, is what I will say about that.  And my oldest brother - I have no idea how he's faring after he became deathly sick with a Covid booster shot.  My son is feeling better at least.  My mother is doing okay as well.  We can only live one day at a time and thank God for His goodness and mercy that He freely gives us.  If we're looking to the future for "better days", probably a good time to stop and think about that assessment.  You are not guaranteed tomorrow - or months or years beyond that.  I'd like to be alive and in decent health another 30 years, but I face the reality on a daily basis that people are constantly dying all around us - and all different ages - and you could be next. 

I don't dwell on it in a negative sense, I just think how wonderful it is to be alive, even if there are tough times going on in the economy and inflation.  There are always tough times in some sector/aspect of life.  Just have to make the best of whatever is going on and enjoy life.  If you think I'm a completely negative person, think again. This is my blog and I just write the thoughts as they come to me.  The land and house loans were admittedly a pain the ass and I didn't want to deal with it, but it's over and now I can rest easy from it.  I also admittedly don't enjoy having to leave the house all the time and go on the road endlessly.  But every day presents some good things and I'm grateful to still be alive at almost 58 years old, I've live a fairly hard life. That's not a complaint, it's just reality.  

That's all this blog is, really, reality.  I could fluff it up and speak of other things, but I tend to just keep it real here.  This is the place where I write some of my thoughts and then I scrutinize them.  And make adjustments.  Or give considerable thought to what I'm doing and if there is a better or different way.  Fortunately there isn't any drama in my life such as when I was living in Phoenix and dealing with someone else's kids of whom they weren't taking care of, weren't feeding and I did my best to help them out, only to get a lot of threats and eventually carrying a gun with me all the time.  Evil, wicked people that have no conscience and have no regard for life.  

Well, that IS getting negative, thinking of the past sometimes does that for me. Regardless, it's my self imposed bed time and that is what I'm going to do - go to sleep and hopefully stay asleep all or most of the night.