Today was about as long as I want to go on any given day.  It took almost an hour for the washout, but amazing, it only took an hour to load the trailer. The first load took closer to 3 hours.  It was 7-1/2 hours round trip.  The washout was a new experience, nothing terrible tho. The person checking me had no idea what he was doing, apparently new to the office, he was actually doing the washouts and doing office work.  

Off from the washout place in Nacogdoches, over to the plant to load.  This guy there today was efficient, fast and wasted no time at all.  We suspected after discussing it that the previous crew was giving me a hard time for being new and wasted hours for no more reason than their own, personal entertainment.  

Back to my yard, the grumpy old man, lol, met me with a beer in his hand, asking about where the "alleged" firewood is? It's right there, dummy.  He was looking right at it and somehow didn't see it?  Whatever the case, I didn't feel like lingering at the park. My sleep was a mixed bag last night, waking up in the middle of the night and taking hours to get back to sleep.  

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to be up there to offload at 10:00 am, which I consider a decent time for it means not having to get up extremely early. Probably 6:00 am if I want my coffee time, but that's a far cry better than 2:30, 3:00, 3:30 am, etc.  So, get that thing offloaded no later than 12:30 pm (hopefully anyway), get the 2-1/2 hour trip back over with and be done by 3:00 pm.  The Arkansas portion of the trip is definitely longer both for more miles and a much longer time in the plant.  This is the run I'm doing for now, I don't know when they will start me on the Ennis TX run.  I don't really care if it's never, but the plant is south of Dallas so not a terribly long drive, but definitely more miles than what I am doing now.  

Ennis is 150 miles, but 3/4's of it is 70 mph at least Interstate.  I'm not going to concern myself with something I haven't been scheduled to do yet. I have to finish this run tomorrow and then start over again on Sunday - and hope that Sunday goes at least as fast as today did.  That'll put me back here, in my bedroom, early, even before the automatic internal sleep thing kicks in. 

Oh, I somehow mistakenly thought today was Saturday. I dunno, folks, you start to lose track of days in the trucking industry. They don't care about your weekends, they DO care about theirs.  I really want Sundays off permanently and I am going to have to cross that bridge here pretty quick.  I will also want at least some Saturdays off as well.  I probably won't be offered Sundays off and I will have to decide whether to eat it.  I will probably eat it, because starting at yet another company atm doesn't sound particularly enjoyable. Not after what I just went through getting the training done with this company.  It's easily the worst time I have ever had at an orientation/training. 

It's a no-contest thing, where I can think back to other places I have worked including the last job and think, orientation was a breeze compared to this place.  

+++++++++++++

Dinner done, lunch for tomorrow made, dog fed, everyone gone - they went on a dinner date, no kids still, I'm tired, I'm going to lay down, watch some tv for a few hours (still early) and go to bed. 

 Nothing fancy this morning.  Saturday - early and drinking coffee after already having had taken a shower and pretty much ready to go.  

So we have Israel going up against Hamas, Hezbollah allegedly going to join the fight against Israel, we have Russia v Ukraine, China threatening war against Taiwan and allegedly North Korea was involved in the initial assault of Hamas killing well over 1,000 Israeli citizens.  Anyone ever think we might be on the brink of a world war here?  Iran is threatening Israel as well, but Iran controls Hamas so that's nothing new or shocking.  

Biden claims Israel wants to "completely annihilate it's neighbors, completely annihilate it", which is a ridiculous and outrageous statement.  Israel has no intention of intentionally killing Palestinian people, they are out for Hamas, while Hamas is using it's ago old tactics of human shields, including the killing of over 500 people in that hospital. They're saying it was an accident, I have my doubts.  

"Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem".  That's the only thing I can do about this, trust that God has His plan in place, for the scriptures clearly say that Israel is the apple of God's eye and it becomes obvious with many scriptures through the Bible that Israel is his chosen nation.  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  

Oh, it didn't take long to figure out the reason I don't pickup and deliver the product in the same day is that it's impossible to do so in 14 hours.  It's around 7 - 8 hours to load and that long at least to offload. Plus the driving is likely more than 11 hours. It doesn't bother me, I'm glad it doesn't all happen in one day or I would be running 14 hours every single day.  I wouldn't be working there under such conditions and I don't want to come anywhere near 14 hours on any given day.  Exceptions are ok if something breaks down or something happens at a plant, but certainly not on a continuous basis.

Well anyway, it's about time to leave.  The kids are coming home today or tomorrow.  The house has been quiet.  Taylor is heavy with that baby and suffering pretty good. Another week and a half and it's coming out.  I am just wandering through this current phase of life wondering why I am doing all of this, effectively working 2 full time jobs.  I know why I took this trucking job, but was it the right choice? It's kind of saving my @$$ right now, so at least temporarily, I'd have to say probably.

But did I seek God about what He wanted for me right now? Not really. I just figured it was the "right thing to do" and here I am.  So now, a little late in the day, I am praying and seeking the Lord His will concerning all of this and some direction about what I should be doing next. Keep working like this indefinitely?  I don't know, but I don't want to do this forever, that's for sure.  I don't even know if I could last a couple years doing this and the park.  

Time to leave.

G'day