The Problem With Today

 Wednesday  semi-early

I wasn't going to get up this early, but something woke me up and I just said oh well and got out of bed. The dog wanted out as well.  He's a real trooper wanting to go outside in 10 degree weather and tromp around all over the place - that won't last long tho, lol, and he'll be whining at the door. Yes, I let him in, we aren't making the dogs stay outside in this below freezing weather.  

Yes, it's 10 degrees and it feels like 10 degrees.  

So what is the problem with today? Well, to start with, the roads are still covered with this sleet/snow mixture that starts to melt down on the top and the refreezes and has done that several times now. I can't imagine trying to get to my park right now much less down to Nacogdoches to wash out the trailers.  

Second is the fact that the truck refused to start 2 days ago. Batteries didn't have enough juice in them to crank the engine.  I put a charger on it, left and thought I was coming back. But by the time I was going to try to come back, the roads had iced over again and I said no thanks, not worth it.  As it is right now, not worth it. 

Third, if I can even make it down there, how many trucks will be sitting in that washout yard ahead of me, waiting to get cleaned out? How many hours might I have to sit there and wait?  If I drive down there, will I even get the truck loaded today?  

4th.  Is the fuel gelled up in the fuel tanks?  I know they put anti-gel in the fuel at the truckstops, but is it enough and strong enough mixture?  

5th.  Just how long is this day going to be in terms of leaving here and getting back home?  I truly wonder if I even do make it back home today.  If I can't get the truck running? They'll send someone out to jump it.  They will get it going, I can guarantee you that unless the plant in Lufkin says nope, we don't have anything ready because we are shut down.  

6th. The fact that the dispatchers are no pro-active. They don't call the plants, they wait for the plants to call them.  It's kind of dumb.  Who cares since it's the drivers paying the price for their lack of initiative, right? 

So what to do now? I'm going to sit here at least until the sun is beaming and doing something to the ice on the roads. I can't drive my SUV over there in this stuff. It's not a 4 wheel drive and it's got highway slicks for tires on it, not all terrain tires.  Next time I have to replace tires I will definitely be putting something that gets traction in mud, snow, whatever.  In fact, 2 of the tires are getting close to replacement time but guess what? 

There isn't like a huge pool of money laying around to pay for them and I am trying to not put anything else on credit cards.  It is going to have to be an extreme emergency to use credit for anything right now.  

I'm not going to see any big paycheck with all of this time off that's been going on.  The pay period ended on the 15th and I think I had 8 days of work on it.  That's a 15 day pay period with only 8 of them having had worked.  I do have a full park - we'll see how much of any profits are eaten up by excessive electric bills for running people's electric heaters.  These people will and do take advantage of free electricity and eventually, I am going to put a stop to that even if it means people leave the park.  

And yes, I'm still worried about the water situation.  We'll find out about that either later today when things thaw out or, if it doesn't thaw out today, it definitely will tomorrow.  Today is only slated to get up to 40 degrees and then back down to freezing or slightly below 32 but tomorrow? Mid 50's.  

Anyway, I have no idea when to actually try to leave here?  It's almost 9:00 am now, considering trying to get out of this neighborhood. I got stuck the other day trying to climb up the hill, the wheels just spun. I had to back up around 300 feet to get to level ground, turn around and try another route home.  But, if I can make it out of here, apparently the highways are relatively clear. Well, take that back, 59 is doing ok, 43 looks pretty bad, I'd have to go out of my way to get to 59 and take an alternate route down to Nacogodoches.  

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9-1/2 hours later.  The drive over there was a bit white knuckle. Roads were still covered with that sleet/snow mix and has iced over several times now.  I slid a few times, kept it very slow and did, indeed make it. Once I got the truck out onto the Interstate and then the state Highway, it was great.  The roads were clear.  

The visit to the washout was not fun.  There were no other trucks there and there was a reason for it. Their equipment was down. They originally told me it was water frozen in the feeder tank to their machinery that pressurizes the water and also heats it if they so desire.  But that wasn't the case at all. It was their machine that wasn't working. I suspected right away that the pump was simply frozen and they needed to do something to warm it up.

I didn't bother to tell them that, they wouldn't have listened to me anyway.  It took them over 3 hours to get it running. I was the first truck they had tried to even get the stuff up and running for since the winter event took place.  It was nearly 4 hours before I left there.  The plant was great.  They loaded me up quickly, it was after hours and the people running that place after hours are quick and efficient. 

But, it was still a 9-1/2 hour day due to the washout.  

Tomorrow will be another long day. That's because the trailer is out of inspection and needs to be inspected immediately. Who knows how many hours that's going to add to the day.  They are talking having me go to El Dorado to the yard to get it done.  That's easily another 3 hours.  

Anyway, it's getting late and I am beat.  I just knew this day was going to be something like this.