Tuesday - morning, semi-early

I don't have to be at the plant in Lufkin until 1:00 pm.  And Lufkin is only 90 miles from here.  I don't have to load the truck, either.  So, I will probably leave here around 10:30 am, stop at Love's and fuel up and perhaps I will be at the plant a little early.  Who knows. I don't need to be with another driver to load since I am not loading the truck.  It's nothing different than the myriad of plants I was in and out of in the last job.  Pull up on the scale, go in the guard shack, tell them I've never been here before, they will know what to do next after I tell them what I'm loading. 

Watching Israel/Hamas war scenario on the news. Nothing has changed, it doesn't appear, since I was watching this stuff yesterday.  Biden's intended trip is, IMO, nothing more than a political stunt.  He'll taunt his "record" of having to go into a war-torn country that is currently in the middle of a war.  I can tell you right now, the person that tops the list or is very near the top for doing something unbelievable like that is Trump. Walking across the demilitarized zone with a relative handful of security agents into an extremely hostile nation.  

Anyway, we still don't have a House Speaker, they are taking a vote this morning?  And apparently there aren't enough votes for Jordan, who is feverishly attempting to make the dissenters happy.  How, I have no idea.  How long do we go on without a Speaker? No idea. 

So, I am going to have to get with the program and get that area behind the shed done so I can pull the truck through there. There is no way I will want to drive that truck back to the back when it rains, it turns into a mud pit back there and I can imagine getting stuck and trying to somehow get it out of there without having to call a tow truck.  The area behind the shed can get wet but it won't turn into a mud pit.  I just need it as a turn around.  

What it means is backfilling about 10 feet of not-too-deep trench that I had made back there to install power lines, that idea is defunct and I gave up on that.  Clear out the brush, not terribly much of that either, cut some branches off of trees, move my trailer to some other location and it "should" be good.  I'm pretty sure there is enough room to basically make a wide U-turn.  I'm not positive about that, but these trailers are only like 42 feet long.  

I'm not necessarily sold on this company yet, they are probably not necessarily sold on me, either.  Once I start offloading without supervision they will probably become more relaxed with my employment there.  I, however, am thinking about working 7 days a week and know that this isn't what i signed up for. But, as always, recruiters lie, leave out important facts that you don't know to ask about and other things that are critical information for a driver to figure out whether he wants to work there or not.  She did tell me about the lower paychecks and I can see that being true with such few miles.

This job is a supplement to my income, not the main source of it.  I already have a full time job doing the RV park - well it's not really full time, but there is enough to do over there.  

The trailer I am pulling has a significant amount of damage to the passenger side. They know about this and apparently aren't going to fix it. I consider it a magnet for troopers to pull me over.  I've been pulled over for damaged trailers before.  And have gotten into arguments with troopers about it.  If it doesn't affect the operation of the trailer or it's safety, it is irrelevant.  But, troopers will still argue about it anyway.

Just a few things that affect my thinking about whether to work for a place - or not.  I will likely start looking for another local job. No rush, but see if anything comes along that is better. Trucking is not a good industry to be in if you're looking for specific hours unless you are willing to trade off money for a more structured lifestyle. It would help if I could get earlier load/offload times, but I'm sure other drivers have that via seniority. I would be off work today, for example, around 1 or 2 this afternoon instead of 5 or 6.  Actually, it may not be that late, I'm just padding it for psychological reasons. If I'm loading at 1:00 pm, it should be over with by 2 and then back to my yard by 4.  So, I say 5 or 6 in case it just doesn't work out that way.  

Well, I'm going to go to the park early.  Get the trailer sealed up, do my tablet work, make sure the thing will fire up, stuff like that.  

G'day