I got on this 20 mile stretch of road that GPS told me would save time.  It was one of the most horrible roads I have been on in probably like the last 20 years.  It was so bad, it should be shut down until they fix it.  Live and learn, I will never take that road to Ennis again.  Other routes are an angled road that leads to Ennis back off of 20 or go into Dallas and hit I45 south.  Yeah, I don't want to go into Dallas if I don't have to.  Plus it showed an accident with a long back up, shouldn't have even been an option on GPS.

Everything went ok at the plant. 
A few nuances I needed to learn.  The air hose doesn't put out half the volume the hose up in Gurdon does, it takes forever to even get up to 22 psi and then it dropped all the way down to 10, where I shut off the valve on the trailer to let the pressure build up a bit again. 

It wasn't really that much fun and I really have to take a pic next time I'm there, which should be on Tuesday.  You see, where they have you offloading - which is the only place you could possibly offload, it's not like they can do it anywhere else, it's also a throughway to the back where trucks go to load whatever product they are making here, I think it's roofing materials.  

Yeah, there is just enough room for 2 trucks to pass by each other.  Not for the faint of heart for those in the back wanting to come back out, but this is their setup and I'm certainly not waiting for trucks to load and get out of there.  Sorry, but you can make it through, just take it slow.

One guy stopped and shook his head. They don't have very good management here, do they?  I don't think it's management's fault, I think whoever designed the plant should find something else to do with their lives.  

________

Many hours later, in fact, after 10 pm.  Kids came into the room, then grandma showed up with another one and we were watching a movie.  I dunno, but those kids better not get up too early and if they do, they best not wake me up.  I have 2, full, glorious days off and I don't need to get out of bed at 5:45 am or even earlier.  Although Monday I would love to swap with the other driver who won't show up til' many hours late anyway. Actually, he could just show up at his "normal" loading time and I will be done and gone.  

Regardless, I am tired after a long day and going to bed.

 Friday - 8:30 am

Yup, still at home.  Have this delivery and then I expect either the entire weekend off or Sunday at the very least.  They want me to load and deliver Monday, that's fine tho I really need a couple days off here. Wednesday wasn't a day off since I worked at the park literally all day long.  So, we're at 12 days in a row working including today.

I guess the only thing I really dread about today's delivery is how I'm going to get that big hose back up on that rack on the back of my truck.  I've never used it, we put it on there at the yard in El Dorado, we being the mechanic and I.  It's not exactly light.  I dunno, I'll figure it out I guess?  Lol

The rest of it is just procedure, most of which I have completely forgotten for I only did it once, did it with a trainer and the trainer did most of the work, showing me as we went along. That was months ago.  

It's nothing different offloading this stuff than it is anything else. Hook the delivery hose to their tank, hook up an air pressure line, turn on the air pressure and open the valves.  Pump the tanker out, make sure air has pushed the product out of the line, close the plant valve, close off the truck valves, walaah.  Remove the line, put a plug on one end and a cap on the other and you're good to go.  

I expect to be there a couple hours while trying to remember their protocols, hooking everything up, getting a plant employee out there to check it out and get it going.  But, I'll be showing up at noon instead of the 4:00 pm delivery time. This according to the other driver who says that most guys show up at noon on the second load. That's fine by me, I do not want to be out until 9:00 pm or whatever tonight.  

As for anything else?  Well, I'll tell ya on the 22cd when I find out how much that paycheck is and whether I can pay that huge property tax bill.  I certainly have nothing left over to "save" for anything.  That was my goal, that went to pieces and has been shelved for the moment.  How can you save money when you don't have enough to pay the current bills at is stands? I'd be fine if it weren't this giant property tax that is already due.

In other words, no, there is no hope of expanding the park in the immediate, foreseeable future.  So, that talk has kind of gone out of my head and mouth.  I am not saying it will never happen, it just isn't happening right now.  And besides, I really want to install power meters to see who is consuming what.  I figure there are power trolls in the park and I want to identify them.  They can either pay more or they can leave, that's up to them.  I don't have the money for that, either, so it's just sort of sit here and wonder what I can do about the park finances.  I may, indeed, raise the overnight fees, but I can't by too much.  I get sporadic travelers coming in.  

As for other things, the world of politics has completely gone to hell. It probably originated in  hell to begin with, so there is that.  I'm not a fan of either party at this point, but the left is completely out of control.  Sorry, but I don't want anything to do with their ideologies that basically want to tax you to the point you are a slave of the state.  Maybe we're already there, if not, it's certainly headed that direction. I also don't believe we need to be getting rid of natural gas appliances or shutting of federal lease availability to gas operators wanting to drill.  We are certainly in no position to be forcing EV mandates on the country with an already strained power grid, we should never have released that money to Iran and a host of other things that come to mind right now.  

And not worth writing about, for it would be venting and that doesn't really accomplish much besides release some internal pressures that build up when you see the economy in dire straits regardless of the bright and cheery proclamations of lying politicians, starting with Biden.  

So forgetting those people and their internal insecurity issues that they are taking out on everyone else by forcing people to do things they know the people don't want to be subjected to, I go to the grocery store, balk at the continuing rising prices and buy the stuff anyway. What choice do you have?  Don't eat?  The rental yesterday, $60 more than the last time they quoted me.  The only thing that's really come down is the price of fuel. I'll take that over nothing.  

I left the tablet out in the SUV, I need to see if they've dumped more junk in there. We are resolved to doing this Ennis run until they restart the Gurdon run. Actually, Gurdon is being done right now, but with locals. It's Crossett, AR to Gurdon, AR, which precludes us drivers that don't even live in Arkansas from doing it at all. They have crossed us over. Those drivers aren't doing the Ennis run they usually do, we aren't doing the Gurdon run we normally do.

Whatever. Get this next week over with and get back to normal.  I knew I would get Ennis runs from the get go, it's just these late loading times and longer distances/time to get it done.  If I could get the early run, I'd be fine with it and get done at a reasonable hour. It would mean getting out of bed at an ultra early hour, I can do that tho to get the day over with.  I like my afternoons and evenings "free" from this job. 

Well, I best get moving.  It's almost 9:00 am, I need to get over there, get my pretrip done, get the truck running, check everything out and get ready to roll.

G'day