Saturday - evening

Finally made it to the finish line to get the rest of today off - well I worked today so I don't call it an off day, but  you get what I'm saying, and then tomorrow off. And then?  Right back at it on Monday. 

We are counting the days until vacation and I'm taking fully 8 days off of work. I reminded my manager about it yesterday when he was discussing all of this working going on - he said yes!  Ok, just wanted to be sure. I didn't tell him that I will be going on that vacation regardless. It was asked for, it was approved, get an OTR driver in to take my place while I'm gone, that is my suggestion and he understands he probably isn't going to get by with me gone and not having someone come in and take my place temporarily. 

Now. I have a huge vibration on that truck/trailer. A few days ago, I was looking at the tires, 2 of them side by side on the trailer tandems were dry rotted, to the point one of the caps appeared to be ready to come off. Trust me, I have examined this truck endlessly looking for the source of this problem.  

So, after unloading, I stopped at Southern Tire Mart in Hope, AR and they not only agreed with me but pointed out a large ballooned out portion on one of the tires I had identified as deficient. Dang, I didn't even see that!  So, both of those tires were replaced. I got out on the open highway and the vibration was gone!  

Until the next day, after loading and the vibration was right back. So, the tires helped but didn't fix the problem.  Sick of this nonsense and feeling like the truck is going to shake apart at any moment, I decided to get a cleanup mat used for spills at the plant and get on my knees and get under that truck and trailer and examine everything I could see. I am an ex-truck mechanic, I can figure out problems, I just don't feel like laying on my back in the dirt at my RV park.  At all.  In fact, I don't want to do any work on trucks anymore.  

But this situation? I spent half an hour looking all over everything while I had the resin (glue) flowing out of the trailer into their tank system and when I was ready to quit and give up?  The last thing I looked at?  A stabilizer arm on the trailer.  The rubber bushing had basically disintegrated. This must be it! I contacted my manager, sent him a pic. I sort of just said, well I don't know if this will cause the vibration (but pretty sure it was the culprit). He said "well you found the problem, that will absolutely cause the entire rig to shake like that".  

So, I was offered two unpalatable options, one far worse than the other.  I can go to the yard in El Dorado, pick up an empty there but there is a caveat.  The trailer needs and entry cleanout.  This is where a person gets in the tank and chips away at built up glue deposits. It's an at-least hours long ordeal.  You are talking the extra HOURS it takes just to get to El Dorado and then more HOURS spent at the washout.  

Option 2: Go to Haughton, drop the defunct trailer and pick up another one.  Although it does add hours to the trip, it is nothing like the first option, I immediately went with 2.  

But, situation went from bad to drastically worse. I went back to the delivery tube to check the air pressure.  Something caught the corner of my eye. Drops off fresh glue on the ground nowhere near the valve and outlet.  What? I got to examining it, it was dripping from the bottom of the trailer!  The damn trailer has a leak!  I contacted the manager with pics and he said ok, we're taking it to Brandon's to get it fixed. I have no idea who or where Brandon's is and I don't care, that headache will be off of me. 

The guys were out there removing the weeds next to the trench.  Then they laid out the pipe and then asked when I would have another day off. I thought about that for a while, this isn't working.  I replied that if they wanted to help do this project, it would just have to be after I get off of work and just go back to work - on the project.  They didn't care, sure!  Great. Next week I will see if I can get them out there in the 97 degree heat which almost always has a real feel of well into the 100's and get the sewer pipe laid, done and over with. Then find the water line, trench to the trench where the existing trench is and lay that in there. 

I figured this out. You CAN lay the sewer and water pipe in the same trench - but. You get the sewer line in there, test it and make sure it's leak free and it's flowing good. Once you ascertain that, you dump about 2 feet worth of dirt on top of it and then you lay your water pipe down.  Water pipe is under pressure, obviously, so you don't have to worry about fall.  After you get that whole system installed, then you dump more dirt on it and then lay your electrical. 

This enables you to use the same trench while separate sewer from water and electrical from both.  ]

But yes, I am hoping to start back on this next week and get at least 3 if not 4 lots going. I'm tired of turning people away - a thing that started up again recently.  

All 3 kids are here - or have been here anyway since last weekend. I'm referring to the oldest who was brought down to visit with us last weekend. The grandparents brought him and now they arrived a little while ago to take him back tomorrow.  It's not been too bad this time around, they are mostly behaving which is nice.  

With the park? I do have a plan here. Get at least 10 lots in - might take a while but I'll get it done - and then show proof the I am taking in X amount of money and try for that government back loan.  I need decent income to prove that I can pay whatever a 400k loan will cost me in monthly payments. I want the other 25 lots installed by the contractor and the rest for a pool and the rest after the pool for a building of some sort. I'd love to put in a fancy log cabin - but that isn't in the cards. Not now, maybe never.  Or just a nice building.  I'll probably have to opt for a metal building, much cheaper. I need 2 full sized bathrooms with showers for men and women. 

I need an office.  I need a gathering place and I want at least a C store to sell RV staples and whatever snacks and food I want to carry.  A deli would be nice but highly optional.  These are goals. I must get to work on the next goal - the 16 lot expansion - before I can think about the rest of that stuff.  I'm going to need a temporary bathroom and I'm thinking I can get those two to do that work in the old coach I have to transform it into a bathroom and another small laundry.  

That's a plan. It's not the final plan, it's just a plan that I have stuck in my head so I have a clear way forward and hopefully, out of trucking.  I do not want to rely on social security for retirement, the amount I would be getting is absurdly small compared to my monthly income right now.  I couldn't live off of that, or if I wanted to force it, I would be very poor.  Obviously I could sell off my assetts and not be poor, but in my mind, a thriving RV park netting 8k per month would be wonderful. 

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11:00 pm and time to go to bed.  Went out to eat with the grandparents and 2 out of 3 grandchildren.  The 3rd was engrossed in games - they haven't had access to them much in the last couple of days. Grandparents and I are somehow not only getting along now, but actually dining and chatting.  Amazing.