Another late night drive last night - with heavy rain thrown in.  The last 10 miles of the drive were in a construction zone with a concrete divider which was causing the water to pool up on the roadway, forcing everyone to slow down.

Everyone, that is, except an idiot truck driver who came zooming past me, got about 100 feet past and then started losing control of his truck.  Yes, it's called hydroplaning you dumb - well anyway, I watched this circus on wheels as he's slamming on his brakes and trying to regain control of his truck.

I was thankful my day was over and I was only a few miles from the exit to get to the truck stop that I normally try to make it to on the second day of this particular trip.  It leaves me with around 600 miles to go, which is nice because if I run into problems, I have extra minutes versus stopping at another place 50 miles north of here.  These are the only 2 truck stops in this entire corridor that you will find some place to park at the time of night I'm trying to find a spot.  

Parking is still and issue and I suspect with Elogs, it is a permanent problem that will likely see no relief anytime soon. Supposedly the federal government is looking into building parking lots all over the place - it was an idea that I have had and still would like to follow through with if I could find a couple of acres to use.  I don't even have to own the property, just rent it and see what happens.  If I could find a place big enough for say, 500 trucks - parking only, nothing else - and charge $6 or so per night, I am betting I could make a nice profit even with an attendant on sight.  I'm not really sure how I would handle the payments and enforcement of such without having a human sitting out there in a guard shack taking those payments.  

It's not that I would mind paying someone to do the job, it's finding someone to do the job that is at issue. Right now, in our town and surrounding area, employers are begging for people to come work for them and are raising their hourly rates to try and get people to even come apply, much more work.  

I did have to laugh - inwardly anyway - at the contractor thinking that paying $20 per hour for a driver was a "lot of money".  $160 per day X 5 is only $800 per week and that's before taxes.  I get that he has to be able to make a profit, but in the world of trucking, you are going to have to start thinking differently. People want to make enough money to not only live off of, but also to have a life beyond trucking.  This is why I think to myself, even if all I got was Oklahoma runs, I would be far better off than many of these local drivers that work all day long, yes they get to go home at night, but they are really not much better off than me.  

In reality, that contractor would have to bare minimum pay $25 per hour to attract any talent and more like $30.  Even then, it's only $1,200 per week, but that's a bit more palatable than $800 for working 5 days a week, all day long, sweating and working your butt off - he isn't just going to have that person drive a truck, no construction contractor ever does that.  You are going to be in ditches or operating equipment or whatever.

I had given thought to that job is the only reason I am going this far into it.  At least he IS - right there - in my town.  He goes out of town into surrounding communities, of course, but nothing more than probably 40 or 50 miles.  

The weather today? Well, it may play into whether I make it back to the yard tonight or not.  It looks like the worst of the red cells will disappear (radar) but it's still going to be raining. The upside is that it's Sunday and that usually means much easier traveling.  I'm going to try to make it back today, yes I am and hope that I don't get a run tomorrow so I can get out there and mark off the lots.  At least get the corners of each lot marked off and then contact the contractor and see what he does for the actual pads for the RV's to park on.  I want them offset and I may just go ahead and mark off at least one of the pads to ensure he understands how I want it done.  

I wish I were there right now so I could see if there is any standing water on the cleared off section. I really don't believe there will be because there is a slight grade and all the areas where water could pool before are now flattened out.  I'd also like to see how the water is running over the trails or if there are any spots where I need to install a drainage pipe under the ground. I don't want standing water on anything where I intend on having people staying or walking, including the tent campgrounds.  

Not too concerned about tent campgrounds right now - it's too hot for people to want to camp outdoors like that, at least in my mind.  There is no electricity back there - yet - though some day I would definitely like to get a line run back there.  

I slept great last night - for almost 6 hours than woke up this morning and couldn't get back to sleep, ugh.  It makes for a long day. Oh, my mom is hitching a ride up to the mountain property with my brother who also has a place up there.  They are staying up there 2 weeks. So, mom doesn't have to stay in the valley for the rest of her life, at least.  She is very grateful for my brother doing that for her, she can no longer legitimately drive with her vision problem and that's got to be a very hard psychological blow.  The ability to get ones' self around, mobility, is a freedom that probably most of us take for granted.  She has been driving all the way up until now, I suspect even her short trips to the grocery store are going to go by the wayside, she will either have to Uber or get someone to take her.  

This will motivate me to get my eyes checked as frequently as the eye doctor tells me to for the rest of my life.  Glaucoma can be treated successfully, from everything I have read, if caught early enough.  I still think she should sue the pants off the "eye doctor" that somehow missed the fact that she had glaucoma developing and could have prevented this situation altogether.  But, I understand at her age she doesn't want to fool with it.  

Anyway, departure time almost here, need to get ready to drive.

G'day.