Church was great!  I mean, the message was a basic one but it spoke to my heart directly . The kids enjoyed church as well.  I took them to Applebee's as a final thing to do for Spring Break, which is over today. Tomorrow,  the 2 younger boys go back to school, the older one is apparently going to do things with grandma at some sort of festival.  And I will be forcing my @$$ out of bed early to get over there and get s*** done.  Let's try to get most of the wiring done tomorrow?  Maybe?  

Whatever.  As stated in a comment in the last post, I have thoroughly enjoyed not having to sit in a truck all day long, alone, being watched by idiots in a corporate building somewhere scrutinizing my every move, being watched over by all sorts of electronic devices and basically making driving a miserable experience. 

The answer to that is buy my own truck.  I don't want to do that, but I wouldn't have to be exposed to people I don't even know are watching me if they so choose.  No, they probably aren't watching drivers all day long, they are probably reviewing "coachable events", as if any of those idiots could teach me anything about driving trucks - from people that have never driven one.  They have no clue what it's like to sit in a vehicle for 11 hours behind the wheel and then spend the rest of the time in the truck but not in the driver's seat.   

When you buy a truck, you become married to the thing. You can't just walk away from it like you can from a trucking company's truck.  And from what I have learned from OO's, it's a very difficult time to be an OO right now with all the undercutting going on from foreigners coming to this nation to drive trucks - many of whom have no training driving trucks and apparently get some sort of pass with their license acquired from that other nation with far fewer requirements.  

Still, I could drive a chemical/hazmat truck and make very good money. Several job openings.  It's just the idea of going back to that.....

And anyway, I'm going to at least finish the washer/dryer setup before I make such decisions, but rest assured, the idea of going back to trucking, as unpalatable as it may be, has been in my mind in the last month or so. Haven't discussed it much here because I just can't get myself to cross that bridge - yet.  Trust me, if I start going broke, I will be back in a truck.  That's a no-brainer.  I'm not going bankrupt over my desire to just do the park and nothing else.  

It would certainly help my chances of getting a decent loan if I were employed with a sizeable, annual income.  I'm still on that "just need another" 14 -40 lots to live comfortably. The more, the better. Of course, you get too many and then you have to have employees - and that can be quite costly. 

I'll just add here the washer-dryer setup is getting close.  The problem is when you are running wiring, you are supposed to do all of it when you are doing it. That means the washer, the dryer, the light switches, lights, outlet for range, outlets for the cameras, everything.  

Look, I'm seriously tempted by this 4 day a week, 70k per year job training drivers. It has a curriculum, you just follow it and give your own advice, of course, after decades of being in the industry.  These new drivers are woefully undertrained and misinformed about the trucking lifestyle.  Many truck driving training courses are only giving the bare minimum to pass the CDL tests.  It teaches them nothing about the nuances of driving trucks. Maybe they don't want you teaching them that stuff, probably would have people dropping out if you tell them the stark realities of the industry?  

Yes, I can make a ton more money going out on the road and hauling hazardous materials, but do I want to? LMAO, if you've read this blog for any length of time, you will know that answer to that question is a definitive NO, LOLOL.  

Anyway, these antibiotics are dragging me down. They are doing their job but they are making me sleepy all day long.  I'm not using that as an excuse to do nothing tomorrow, just saying it's dragging me down. The benefits, however, are worth the trouble.  

I have tomorrow planned.  Lowe's - again - and then start hooking up the outlets.  Electrical outlets, that is.  Well, maybe I can bypass Lowe's and just take an extension cord from here for the day, pretty sure we have a few laying around that aren't being used.  I don't really want to go to Lowe's tomorrow - at all actually.  

That's all.  I'm done for the day, watching  a movie, chilling, hanging with friends, etc etc etc.  

 Sunday - morning

Yesterday, I went over to the property and finished the router stand setup.  The box I bought was curious.  There are no holes in it except for cutouts that you can remove for screws.  It's supposed to be a junction box - so where are the wires supposed to come in at?  Well, whatever the case, I got out my hole saw and cut a hole big enough to get an extension cord up into it as well as drilling out the holes for the screws.  

Unfortunately, the extension cord I bought wasn't long enough to reach to the pole, so I had to use another one that is being used to bring electricity to the shed until I get electric in there.  I would like to hope this coming week I will have everything done on electric and I can fire the box up with power and have outlets instead of running a cord.  

Until then, I will have to go buy another cord.  

Anyway, the device has 3 bars of service now instead of the two it had which is enough to pump wifi throughout the park. I kind of think I should have placed the pole somewhere else, sort of. Instead of behind the row of trailers, I think I should have put it in front.  The drawback to that is if you put it next to the driveway, there is the real chance that someone coming into the park and backing in will hit the thing and destroy it.  Still, reception would be much better if I had done it that way.  It's not a big deal to cut that thing out of the ground and put it somewhere else, the pole doesn't have to be super high to get the required signal strength.  

I was thinking of putting the devices near the ends of the park and that way, all the units will be covered, I can also install a camera along the driveway that can receive the wifi signal and also be able to cover the intended HipCamp area with wifi as well.  People want their amenities, that's all I can say about that.  I definitely must have wifi in the shed for a couple of cameras.  One inside watching the machines and one outside keeping an eye on the driveway.  In total, I'd like 4 cameras. The 2 at the shed, one at the main driveway and one on the HipCamp area.  

This will cover my @$$ for any bogus claims - or even legitimate claims - for damages or injuries.  People can lie, the camera does not.  

I mean, I did get the water stuff done this week, tho I haven't charged the half inch pipe up yet to see if it leaks. In fact, I turned the water pressure back off. I will turn it back on Monday when I get over there and leave it on all day long.  If it's going to spring a leak, I want to be there to be able to shut it off.  However, a couple hours after I shut it off, I opened the valve that lets water into the water heater tank.  There was still pressure in the lines as you could hear the water spurt into the tank. That is a very good sign.  All of that trouble is finally paying off.  

I need another T to add to the half inch line so I can direct it towards the other side of the shed for the shower and toilet setup.  Put the T in, a short piece of pipe and then a half in valve.  That way I don't have to shut off water to the entire shed to be able to work on those lines.  I have 4 valves installed so far.  The toilet will have it's own shut off, the shower sill be able to be shut off with the 2 valves I will have installed that go to it, there is a shut off to the entire shed and another valve in the existing trench.  The trench is for the sewer line going to the toilet and shower.

I realized after I started installing the water lines for the water heater and the washer that I didn't need to run water to the other side from the outside. I will just go from the inside through the 2X4 studs.  I will install another water spigot where that one in the trench ends and have it available for HipCampers.  I am not going to plumb water out into the HipCamp area, it's too much money and I don't see any need for it. If they need water, they can pull up to that valve I will install and fill it up.  No sewer out there either, same thing: I have the parts to install a sewer dump  next to the shed. 

I will advertise it as well. It won't be cheap tho.  $15 to dump. That's mid-range going rate. Some charge as low as $10 and others go as high as $20, I even saw one listed at $25.  It's a deterrent - stay at the park instead of just coming into dump. But I don't really care that much, it won't get that much use, more of a convenience.  I don't necessarily just want people coming in there to dump, but HipCampers will be able to use it for "free" - included in the price of their stay.  

Honestly, if I knew what I was doing, I would have had all of this done by now.  

I can see weeks worth of trying to figure out how to install stuff that I have never installed before.  I don't expect the wiring to take terrible long tho, it's pretty simple stuff.  HipCamp wiring will wait until I get everything else done. 

I actually have done some framing in the past - but we're talking 3 decades. Still, it's also pretty basic stuff.  That doesn't mean I'll breeze through it but at least I have an idea of how it works. The bathroom door will probably give me some headaches and framing in the shower stall.  I'm not going to get a door for the shower stall, it is made so you can either use a door or simply put up a shower curtain. A door assembly is at least $300 unless you find someone selling one on the Marketplace. Just not worth that much to me, if someone really wants to take a shower in there, they aren't going to care about a shower curtain.

The door will have a lock on it, I'm just making it possible for someone to clean up if they don't have access to a shower or if they have a family with kids and don't really want to use the trailer shower for all of that.  

BTW, T Mobile has a deal going for cameras as well. There is a monthly service fee, of course, but it records 24 hours a day and it's 2 cameras.  One for inside the shed and one facing the Park driveway.  These types of cameras are plug and play. No additional equipment needed beyond needing a wifi connection.  You can look at what's going on 24 hours a day and it records, 24 hours a day.  I didn't opt for that yet, but I suspect I will be.  It is likely I am going to install the next router next to the shed - in between the shed and doggy park.  That way, the shed and the Hipcamp has access to internet and a portion of the RV Park will also be covered.  

Just so glad that T Mobile has this deal and it's a "forever" thing, at least according to their claims. I don't know why they are offering it that cheap for unlimited data and the ability for each device to hook 66 devices into it.  They claim there is no reduction in speed with that many devices hooked up. I don't know, I just know that it's an amazing deal and is saving my @$$ both over the local, wired company that wanted over 7 grand just to install the wiring and Verizon, which is charging and outrageous amount of money. My current bill is $375. 

Things are slowly working out.  It's been a bumpy road and I've made my share of mistakes, but it's going to be ok, as the old saying goes. Well, I hope so anyway and asking the Lord's blessing upon it. I need to call Verizon since they haven't asked for the unit back and give me instructions on how to send the thing back to them - or take it back to the store.  And the trash can - that account needs ended, completely spaced that out.  And set up auto pay for the dumpster - still a bit of things to do beyond just shed stuff.

Slowly whittling away at the expenditures and bringing the costs down.  This way, even if I need to go get a job, it doesn't have to be an OTR or Regional position that keeps me out all the time.  In fact, I am very interested in the driver training position available. Home every night, Monday-Thursday, 3 day weekends. 10 hour days tho.  Nothing new to me, but I haven't been working in that capacity for a while.  It would take a bit of adjustment time to get used to that again, lol.  

Keto - no weight loss in the last several days, that's pretty typical. But the fat loss is becoming noticeable.  

Map - Google still showing a forest instead of what it is now.  I wish I would have made a few changes in the trees taken down.  The tree row at the south end of the portion where the park is could have stayed up, providing a natural view barrier to those ugly tanks.  I was thinking ahead into the future that I would need them down, but when is that going to happen? And even so, I didn't really have to take all of those down. There is nothing I can do now about it beyond planting more trees.  Anyway, the satellite image shows those trees standing.  I need Google to update the image lol.  That way I can make a map of the park without paying $300 to someone to bring a drone out. 

I still have yet to take that video - well retake it.  I want to upload a video of the park and a separate video of the walking trails.  I did get one but the camera was shaking around too much. 

And that's that. The boys all want to go to church. I say all - the step-brother is here for he week even tho other 2 have to go to school this coming week.  Different Spring break schedules from different states.  I am not going to be dealing with the third this coming week, thankfully, I have too much to do to be able to supervise children and get work done. It's fairly distracting to have them constantly asking for this and that. I don't mind doing it, I just need the quiet atmosphere to be able to think things through while doing that project.  I very much like going over there alone or with Addler.

Well, off to church.

Have a Blessed Day in the Lord!