In Brownsville, Texas - again.
Coming down here a lot in the last week and a half.
I drove 400 miles today before stopping, I wanted to drive as many miles as I could to see if I could see any of our trucks coming back up - 2 drivers went down there yesterday.  I had this feeling that there wouldn't be any trailers down here.  I dunno why, but I wasn't tired at all driving today and I only got 5 hours of sleep last night.

Anyway, upon finally arriving here, I saw Edgar's truck sitting in the back facing the front.  That was the ding ding ding and money signs moment.  If he is still sitting here, I am going to be here until at least Monday.  I got my paperwork done, dropped the trailer and then knocked on his door.  He said that the guy in the yard told him there were no trailers showing up at the border, didn't know if any would come tomorrow, but if they did show up, they wouldn't be here until late afternoon.  Well, then I saw that the other driver was also still there, hiding away around a corner. 

I've never seen them bring up 3 trailers in a single day, I've never heard of them doing that, hence the conclusion that I will be here until at least Monday.  And - if they don't show up with trailers at all tomorrow, you can figure Tuesday.  Well, that is if our manager doesn't say screw it, drive back up here bobtailing.  But I asked the other driver about that, he said she told him that she needs the trailers.  We have been coming down here steady with something like 10 or more loads a week for quite a while.

This place is pretty fickle in that department, They usually have shutdowns here and there that leave us high and dry for runs.  I mean, it happens frequently, the plant shuts down and we are kind of screwed. Our terminal relies heavily on this place to keep drivers busy.  I may not get down here that much - it's all the luck of the draw I guess - but there are drivers coming down here 1 or 2 loads every single day.  You take this place out of the running and we are sitting around waiting for 2 days after every run, guaranteed.

Regardless, unless they have changed policy again, I will be getting a hotel down here tomorrow.  Actually, even if they have changed policy,  I will get a hotel on my own dime regardless.  I have no desire to sit around in a truck alllll day long.  In fact, I am considering driving over to Padre Island and spending some time on the beach.  I have shorts, some cheap sandals and sun screen with me.  No beach towel but I can figure that out.  I kind of want to be sure about the trailer situation first, tho.  It would be a bummer to get to the beach and then find out that I have to go back to the yard lol.

Well that's that.  My starter motor project on the boat on hold until I get back. I am taking it into a repair shop in the town where the truck yard is.  If they can't do anything, I'll go to a marine parts store over there and see if they have one or can order one.  I'm not paying a mechanic to do such a simple job, that starter was quite easy to get out of there.  Very accessible, took 5 minutes and that was that.  Now, if a new or rebuilt starter doesn't fix it and I can't figure it out, then it goes into a shop.  I'm 80% confident that it is the problem tho.  It wouldn't even try to do anything until I tapped it.  I really should have just taken the boat in yesterday to the upholstery shop, I keep thinking I should get the motor fixed first and make sure I have a running boat.

But now that I have the boat, I'm fixing it regardless. So my thinking wasn't all that great in that department.  Should have gotten done what I could get done. 

Oh well. I didn't figure this was all going to happen overnight, no big deal.

Well it's getting late, time for Truck Sleeper Inn bed.
 

Well, I burned up my 70 hour work window - down to 9 hours left.  You can't do anything in this line of work in 9 hours excepting get a trailer loaded. Or perhaps take a pre-loaded trailer to certain destinations that you can make within 9 hours - but you wouldn't make it back.  They do not like having drivers out on the road for a 34 hour reset because it forces them to pay for a hotel.  They have, in face, since making this change in the company, eliminated a lot of free hotel stays.  I would have far better liked it if we had stayed the company I had signed up with.  More perks and a lot more hotel stays.  It's been a while since I've stayed in one per company expense.

Brownsville, you now only get one if you're there a second night.  That hardly ever happens because they forced the company down there to try and get trailers back up to the yard in time for when drivers arrival. They were doing okay at it for a while, but they have recently been slacking, which is fine by me.  The only reason I didn't get any detention pay on this last trip down there is because one driver decided he was going to go on vacation - there in Brownsville. Presumably staying at the beach some 20 miles away.  The word had it he got into some tiff with our manager.  The specifics I have no idea and really don't care. 

Well, I knew this driver was down there, I didn't know when he was coming back and he didn't answer his phone. So, I hooked up to that trailer and dragged it out of the yard, stopping at the new Love's 2 miles down the road for the night.  To be honest, I wanted to get home anyway, I was glad to get the trailer this time and get out of there. I knew I had a 34 hour reset coming up and I wanted to get home and get started on it. I definitely have today off,, I may have tomorrow off as well.  I'll find out when my manager sends out the work assignments for the weekend. The only runs according to the schedule available are either Brownsville or Oklahoma. I'd be ok with Oklahoma I guess, it's better than nothing. 

Anyway, 34 hour reset meant sleeping in this morning and trying to catch up on some z's.  My new bimini top arrived yesterday and after checking my new starter should arrive some time today.  I have no idea what it's going to entail to get that starter installed. On cars they can be either very easy and accessible or a pain in the rear. The starter is right there, on the outside of the boat motor, but I did not have time to examine the intricacies of how to get it off of there.  It's just regular mechanics that all motors share in common - but - boat motors are tight and everything is crammed in there. 

I'm trying to motivate myself to get over to the other house, hook up the boat and drag it over to the upholstery shop.  I'm just not really interested in doing much of anything today, I've been running hard and long hours and it takes it's toll after a while.  I'm really hoping for tomorrow off, 2 days would do me some good.  I informed the folks living here it would be a couple of weeks before we would ever get to taking that boat out - get everything fixed on it first and then take it out. 

Alright, I've decided to head over there. I want to try to fire up the motor again.  At least hear the thing running. 

One thing I’m getting tired of hearing is people telling me that boats are money pits. Yes, you could sink some serious money into any given boat with all the accessories you can buy. Yes. If the boat has mechanical issues that can be quite costly. But lots of hobbies and pastimes cost dough. Take hunting for example. You can spend thousands of dollars just on a good hunting rifle. Or old car aficionados.

Even non-boat based fishing can add up. Bird watching with expensive binoculars. 

Book reading, video games, dvd collections, it all adds up. I already knew after searching for months that whatever I ended up with would need work. I figured on bad upholstery and perhaps replacing some accessories. Perhaps minor mechanical work...tho the boat would have to fire up and run before buying it. Wasn’t interested in boats with bad or missing motors. 

I was tired of being a home body. One of the guys Pooh poohing  on my parade, lamenting on how much boats cost, has a Jeep Rubicon. He has dumped untold thousands of dollars into that thing. I started to get irritated with this guy telling me how much money I was wasting with a boat knowing how much he has spent on his Jeep. 

It wasn’t just him tho. People who have never owned boats giving me their endless wisdom of how much money I’m going to waste. I hate to be rude, but the next person that starts in on this line of bs

I’m going to politely ask to change the subject. I counted the costs before I got into this, I knew there would be upfront money involved, now please can it.

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Long drive home today.  Not because it was a bunch of miles, but because I didn't feel like driving. I go through that from time to time.  When it hits, I just want to pull over, get out of the truck and go do something else.  Or go to sleep.  Or just sit there and do nothing.  Those are bad days, I can tell ya.  I'm home now, hopeful that it leaves my mind by morning because I am headed to Brownsville again tomorrow morning.

I'm going to have to get my mind off of the boat I guess. It's going to be weeks before I can go out with it, I am guessing that right now. Just the way it's going to work out. I was going to take the thing into the upholstery shop today - but I was not here early enough today - because the plant yesterday was not getting the certification on the product showing up within specified parameters.

S*** happens.  Just have to mentally deal with it.

Sleep is a factor here. I haven't been getting enough of it, too many late nights.  It really affects my mood. 

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Wednesday morning.
I'll take the guess that several nights of fitful sleep are going to catch up to me tonight and I'm going to sleep quite well. 
Regardless, this Brownsville run is getting tougher and tougher to get down there in one/same day. 
They have 20-25 plus miles of construction going on building 59 into an interstate directly south of Houston. That's been going on a while now, but now, there are a large number of new sites popping up all the way down to the border.  They are going to build that whole thing into an interstate.  Which will be nice - when they are done with it - but it will be years and years before that's a reality. 

It adds a lot of minutes to the drive and I am finding myself making it there in time to get my post trip inspection done - 10 minutes our company mandates and getting off the clock with a few minutes left to spare or even down to zero minutes. It used to be over an hour left on the clock, plenty of time to spare, no rush.

Well, off to the races.

Happy Hump Day. 

Refugio, Texas.
Long day yesterday. 
Got the truck loaded quick enough, but the samples weren't cooperating with the lab so a bunch of us drivers from our company were sitting there waiting on COA's - certification of analysis.  They just keep retesting until the test shows it's good lol.

Got down to Portland, they were able to take me in right away - it was that or have to wait until this morning to offload. I wanted to get that stuff out of that tank last night and get it over with. 

Anyway, it was a full 14 hour day not including driving to work.  I'm not really complaining, just saying it was a very long, filled up day. I have 7 hours to drive back up to the yard and be done for today. Going out tomorrow? I have no idea.  The schedule is full of short runs only, so would be best if she were to give me another run.

I was able to find the correct starter for the boat yesterday and ordered, they already shipped it.  Took me a bit of time to figure out how to even get the cover off of the engine.  I"m not boat savvy, as I have already freely admitted in another post.

I have been watching numerous videos on launching and recovering boats.  A bunch of lame ones out there, attempting to tell you how to back a pickup truck.  That I didn't need. They were more focused on how to back the truck than how to launch the boat.  I watched a bunch of videos until I found a dude that was more focused on getting the boat off of the trailer and the specifics of how to safely do it - and how to not so safely do it and the consequences of skipping an established procedure. 

That was good information. I am as ready as I'll ever be in that aspect to simply get out there and make an attempt at it.  I can't be any worse than some of the videos I was watching of people doing it wrong lmao.  But I think I'm going to take the boat in and have the upholstery done first before I take it out and also do a complete, thorough cleaning. That will likely take half a day as all the cubby holes are full of dirt and junk. I am likely not going to change out the carpet. It isn't perfect but it isn't all torn up, either.  Just an expense I don't need right now, but the upholstery I can't live with.

It looks bad and I just don't want to be out on a boat that looks like that.  I also ordered the new canvas for the bimini top.  Dunno when that will be in, a hundred bucks and change to have a brand new, bright blue top on it. The one on it now is torn and looks cruddy. I might live with the cruddy look if it hadn't been torn. 

I guess one of the biggest contentions of boating is people at the launch ramp.  You can apparently piss people off by taking too much time, ie: loading up your boat while in the ramp. All of the videos distinctly stated that you should have everything stowed in your boat and ready to go before you get to the ramp. Ok. I'm hoping to find a ramp that is vacant and no one around for my first go at it.  But, I am definitely not taking that thing out on the water with a bad starter. Can you imagine floating out on a lake and not being able to start the thing?  LOL

It doesn't have a trolling motor so there is no backup motor to at least limp it back to shore.  I'll get one of those eventually, just not on the priority list atm.  Good ones are rather expensive. 

Well, I had more but it's time to go!  Get this trip over with.

G'day.

I mean, gag.  Go to bed at 3 and get up at 8:30?  Maria wanted to go to Walmart, I needed to go for dog food and other things. So we went!  An hour of that and done.  Over to that house and totally forgot about the boat : (  I wanted to get the model number of the starter motor and order a new one.
Going to have to save that for when I get back from tomorrow's trip, for I have no intentions of going anywhere else today.  I was going to take her out for a bite to eat, but she canceled out a few minutes ago.

Which I'm  now glad.  I'm really tired, just out of it.  I've got a rack of ribs slow cooking in the oven - didn't even feel like firing up the smoker today - those should be done in the next 4 or 5 hours.  Those are for tomorrow's trip. It's just an overnight trip so that's all I'm making.

I somehow came across a site with fairy tales from the past yesterday and was reading some of them.  My memory of Rumpelstiltskin was quite skewed from the actual story. Mother Frost I had never heard of.  The Twins - that was really weird.  And several others.  Many of them with terribly lame endings.  Like, you expect some sort of climax and instead, just bland, take-the-punch-out-of-it story lines that made reading the entire thing seem like a waste of time.  I mean, the stories were interesting - just the endings.  Like, really? lmao.

I remember reading a journalists take on fairy tales - ghastly stories with people getting killed and maimed.  I don't think people have their kids read any of that stuff anymore, so I guess it's a moot point.  But I grew up with Wiley Coyote being blown up, falling off 10 thousand foot cliffs and other untimely "deaths" and other cartoons just as violent and you know what? I don't have any thoughts about killing a bunch of people, running people over, licking food and putting lids back on it in supermarkets.

Kids are being cleansed from all that "evil" stuff  and what is the outcome of that? Not very well adjusted adults that can't handle much of anything in terms of criticism or dealing with opposing viewpoints.  Or work ethic.  Going and playing in the dirt all day long has been replaced by sitting on a couch and playing endless video games.  I'm sure the earth isn't going to end, but the culture is definitely changing. Morals are no longer a line that can be crossed, it's grey area where anyone can interpret anything to be whatever they want it to be - and go on the internet and shout it out to whosoever will read their bs.

Godlessness is going to be the downfall of our society. That's my assessment, viewpoint and opinion.

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Interesting day.

Started last night, when I got to Brownsville and - found a trailer there, but the other driver who left 2 hours ahead of me, not there.  So I texted my manager - do I take this trailer or leave it for the guy ahead of me? She called me back and told me that trailer has a bad tire and not to take it.  Fine by me! The other driver, for unknown reasons, couldn't make it all the way to the Brownsville yard.  Instead, he made it to the brand new Love's they just opened up - 4 minutes away.  And apparently, he went over his allotted hours by - 4 minutes. 

I went to the new Love's last night and spent the night there versus in that nasty yard.  I had no idea that Loves was even building a facility in Brownsville.  It will change the way I do my trips down there. I won't have to fuel up on the way down there anymore, I can just do that in Brownsville and not waste the time along the way, handing me an extra 20 minutes or so for on-duty time.

This morning, the other driver showed up with his loaded tanker, I said he could go with the empty that had just pulled in the yard and I would deal with the trailer with the bad tire.  I offered that because he had to get on the clock to drive to the yard. The second you get on the clock, you are toast, you can't turn it off, your 14 starts counting.  I wasn't on the clock, even tho I had driven the tractor to get something to eat because I was able to drive on "personal conveyance" which is off-duty driving.

Regardless, several hours later they decided to replace the tire, my company, instead of forcing the company that we are hauling for to do it - it was one of their trailers.  Why? Because we need the trailer to load and bring back down.  4 hours after that decision, a tire truck finally shows up.  I didn't get out of Brownsville til' after 3pm, with the instructions to get the trailer back to the yard "as fast as you can".  So, I drove all the way back today, got in the yard at 1:15 am.

I don't know why, but I could have driven all night long and then some.  I got back into the yard, dropped the trailer, hooked to the trailer I"m taking on Monday, did my paperwork, faxed that to corporate, got my stuff out of the truck, drove home and here I am.  It's 2:30 am and I am amped up. I have no clue why, I just am.  I could literally stay up all night long right now and I couldn't give you a reason why I'm wide awake and sleep? Not even in the workings. 

Meanwhile, the people that sold us the boat finally replied! Remember I said I forgot to get under the cover the engine and see if the problem is there? Yup, that's where the problem is.  It's got a bad started, hitting it allegedly will get it to fire.  You know when starters go bad, sometimes tapping them with a hammer or such will get it to cranking?  They said to clean the brushes. I might take it apart and try that, or just find out how much a new starter costs and go that route. But at least I know what the problem is. They didn't respond to my query about the gas tank.  I'll deal with that after I deal with this starter business. Now whether I do that - later on today - or not - depends on how I feel after I finally go to sleep and wake up whenever.

I don't have my dogs with me, it was too late to be going over there and waking up the house, tho I definitely wanted to get them : (

Now, arriving home was a bit odd as well.  One of the pickups is gone.  Weird, they didn't say anything about going anywhere.  Then I got to the front door, the glass door in front of it was locked, meaning no one is home. They only lock that when they are leaving, not at night when sleeping.  I hesitated to open the front door, what if the alarm is on?  But I wasn't going anywhere else, I texted Taylor with no reply. Didn't expect one this late but I had to try.  Nope, the alarm wasn't on, but the house looked as if they had left hurriedly.  I started to worry about Jaxon after seeing it, Taylor posted earlier today that he hit his face against the corner of the table.  His face looked bad.  But, I mean, on the cheek so you wouldn't think any kind of brain injury or something worse than just a bruise on your face.  Still, I am worrying about it.  I don't know where they could have gone - unless they took the kids to Maria's and decided to go out somewhere. 

Well, I have a full day home anyway and then back out again Monday morning to Corpus Christie.  Haven't been to that place in a while.  Haven't wanted to be at that place, either lol.  Hot, muggy and nasty. 

I'm psyched about the boat now tho.  I looked up starters for a Mercury 150 and saw a price range in the $40 to $60 range. That's really nothing.  I don't have the model number so I can't get a precise price right now, but if that starter is the only problem besides whatever is going on with the fuel, I'm going to be in great shape.  I'll order a new starter and take the boat into the upholstery shop and they can redo all of that and order the new bimini top as well.  I found a set of 8 life jackets for $45 - Texas requires you to have at least 4 of them on the boat as well as a fire extinguisher.  I think something else is required but it's slipping my mind at the moment.  They have an online beginners thing where they tell you what to expect if the law cruises up to your boat on the water to do an "inspection". 

Sounds like the trucking industry. Just pull you over without probable cause or reasonable suspicion. 

Anyway, there are a lot of small items that need replaced on that boat.  I was bummed they took the trolling motor off, those can be pricey. You don't have to have one, but they're nice for fishing. They also removed the sonar for fish finding. Again, you don't have to have it, just a nice thing to have on there.  Even some of the cup holders are gone.  As long as I can get the motor running and get all the upholstery redone, I will end up replacing all of that stuff. 

And here comes the neighbor kid at almost 3:00 am, cranking down the street at 45 plus mph in a 25 zone, revving out the noisy engine and tearing up the neighborhood. His dad will hear about this later on today : )

Anything else?  I dunno, I think so but my head is starting to get foggy, meaning I can try to go to sleep.

Alright, bound and determined to get this stuff done, I went to the courthouse today, presented them with all the paperwork and - got busy.  They showed me what needed filled out and there ya go.  I spent almost an hour there after all said and done, and of course Texas taking it's toll in taxes on the amount paid.  Private seller to private seller is still taxed and not a little bit either.  The really weird thing to me is a separate title for the boat, trailer and motor.  I mean, the whole thing is sold as one unit at the dealer.

Get that done, the entire time trying to figure out the top for the sun shade cover and getting the upholstery redone.  Those are priorities.  At least get that much done.  Well, after meeting Taylor for lunch at chili's, I went to a local upholstery shop and found several finished boat seats.  Very nicely done and his estimate for the whole boat was less than $300.

That's a really good price, IMO, local so I can support the mom and pop stores here, I'm good with that. I'll be taking the boat in next week. They want to go fishing this weekend. Well, we'll see about that.  I also went to a local marine store and bought my own adapter for the hose.  It's got a hose adapter on one side and the other has a huge cup with another cup on the frame on the other side. Water shoots into the ports, hence you don't burn up the engine while trying to test it.  I'm not sure if I"m doing that today, but I probably should to continue with getting this ball rolling.  I need to go over there anyway and measure the canopy.  They come in all different sizes, I found a site selling those relatively cheap.

OEM replacement almost impossible to find, the only one I did find they wanted almost $800 for NO thanks.  I found a site with replacement - generic - that will cost around $100. Everyone wants to be able to get in the shade and out of the sun, me included.  If we go this weekend, that isn't going to be done yet tho.  Dunno how long it takes to get it shipped, but whenever that shows up after I order, I still have to figure out how to install the thing.

______________________

Fuel line cut for the gas feed to the motor.  Apparently they had the motor running for James to see out of a gas can. That is a bit disconcerting.  I gave up on it after that.  It was hot - really hot and muggy out - and I was sweating profusely, decided to call it quits. 

What I'm doing today is unknown.  The sleep bug finally hit me and I've been in bed for 10 hours.  That night I was out until 3:45 am - as happens anytime I stay up that late - messed me up for a couple of days.  I still haven't figured out how to turn the thing on.  There must be a switch somewhere or something I'm not seeing that was disconnected off of the battery, because the main console has no power to it at all. Yet, the motor trim is working fine, which is powered off of the battery. 

I think the idea of taking the thing out this weekend is a fairy tale.  I may end up taking it to a local mechanic to look it over and figure it out for me.  If I could find a schematic for the boat that would be greatly helpful.  To that end I contacted the boat manufacturer asking them for such and willing to pay. 

Oh, and while I was at the DMV yesterday, the tax office is in there as well,  I asked about the next tax auction.  Allegedly in October.  They hold the auction there - a mile away from my house - and do it outside the doors of the building.  Weird.  That last one had several large acreage properties that started out the bidding low enough I could have potentially landed on of them.  No payments, just property taxes every year.  I'm very interested. 

Ahhh, I've at least found some wisdom about the power issue online.  Perhaps there is a master switch under the console that needs turned on.  Or main line that has come apart.  But they had it running and James confirmed all lights worked, so it's got to be something those people unhooked, I wish he would have asked a few more questions about the boat while he was there or that these people would have offered that information.  Especially when he saw they were running it out of a gas can versus the gas tank. A bit of - why are you doing that and what is wrong with the tank?

Something must be wrong to cut the fuel line to make it work?  So there may be some work to do ahead of me.  Whether I fix it myself or take it to a shop will be determined on whether I can figure out what's wrong with the system.  I'm not a boat mechanic, but as far as a fuel system goes, it's the same principle as a car fuel delivery system.  But the most obvious thing was the hand bulb fuel pump. They had it wrapped with electrical tape.

That's redneck stuff.  It's a pump you operate by hand to pressure up the fuel line and prime the carburetors.  It was obviously leaking, I bought a new one of those yesterday and was going to install it until I found the cut line. 

Well enough. Whatever I'm going to do, I need to get moving. 

And seeing the boat in person.
It's 19 feet long - a bit shorter than I expected but it will serve the purpose.
The people ran the motor for a while when James was there - with a hose hooked to the motor, so that gave me a sigh of relief.
No clue whether the transmission is still good or if the hull has any leaks. But - James went under the boat, all over the thing, looking at the hull and said he couldn't find any places that were cracked.

A live well! built into the floor, very nice.  Couch needs upholstery as well as the captain's chair. 

The canopy needs replaced, I knew that, but getting frustrated at trying to find a replacement. I have the titles and everything. I'm not expert at boat parts, I'll keep looking.  Or call Hurricane tomorrow for some advice.  I'm not necessarily interested in OEM replacement since that will likely be quite expensive. 

I sent pics to an upholstery place, they're going to give me a quote tomorrow. 

The thing is dirty, needs a good cleaning. 

The motor is not the original motor.  No idea what size the old motor was, but the 150 horsies is very good for me.

The trolling motor is gone.  May or may not get another one.  Not a priority.  There is a mount for one on it at least.  Usually, most sellers include the trolling motor - but I didn't pay a fortune for this boat so I'm not going to complain. 

I have no idea how to start the boat.  Probably just as well I don't. But there is a key.  You turn it and nothing happens. Obviously must be a power switch somewhere, but I wasn't that interested in starting it without water anyway.  And besides, I had already heard from James that the motor had been run for a while and was running nicely.

The ladder is also missing.  There is a hanging ladder - you jump off the boat, you can get back in.  So I'm going to have to find something to replace that.  Kind of strange, really, that they took that off of there. 

I'm taking all the paperwork to the DMV tomorrow and see if I can get it all done - or missing something.  That is the first thing on the list.  I will go to the local marine store and see if I can buy my own water adapter so I can run the thing and change it from forward to reverse and see what happens.  That's  a lot cheaper than taking it to a shop since I now know the motor runs strong. 

But, all things considered, it will be a nice boat once I get the issues dealt with. I'm figuring another grand it will be done.  Those canopies aren't cheap but I want it.  I have no desire to spend and entire day baking in the sun when I can have some relief.  And the upholstery looks s***** so that needs done as well. 

The thing only has to run, shift from forward to reverse and into neutral and not sink to make me happy lmao. 

That's that. 

Wasted tired.  It always happen when I have to stay up too late for work.  I got about 6-1/2 hours of sleep, but it didn't do any good.  I'm running on some other energy right now.  There were 12 trucks sitting in the yard when I got back today. I expected that after a plant shut down.  Definitely not going out tomorrow, may or may not be going out the next day.  If they get that plant fired up, they'll line up as many loads as possible to get the product out to needy customers who will be hurting. 

What I do know, is that there weren't any long runs after tomorrow left.  There is only one tomorrow as it stands and I know I'm not getting that, so it's either Brownsville, Oklahoma or Cheniere.  In any of those cases, I don't need to do a bunch of precooking meals, a little but nothing like for the 4 day runs I was blessed to get for a short period of time. This plant shutdown is exactly why I would take as many long runs as I can get without saying anything.  The lean times come and go, but they definitely come. Have to be prepared.  I'd be happy to get an OK run over another Cheniere. 

My house in Phoenix is allegedly worth 50k more than I owe on it.  I would love to sell it off and make that kind of profit.  But - I would be ousting my friends.  It's paying for itself, for now anyway.  They haven't made any statements saying they are leaving anytime soon, but I feel a visit is in order. Nothing elongated, go to the valley, spend a couple of days, leave.  I've learned my lesson.  Leave out of the town next to me rather than driving to Dallas or Fort Worth.  The drive, the hotel stay, the parking fees are the same as just paying extra to fly there from the local town.   I pay nothing to park at the lot at the local airport.  It's 35 miles away. Far less hassle.  Okay, that's not always true. Sometimes the savings is worth the trip to Dallas. 

I just tried my Slimthin waffles. They were quite delicious. Pre-made, a very small amount of it for the price paid - not worth it. $4.99 for a very small baggy of them.  So next, I have ordered a box of Carbquik.  It's the mix to make your own pancakes or waffles. But, the ingenious people have already en massed a large number of other recipes made with it, including pizza dough. 

Ok. Extreme fatigue has finally caught up to me.  11:00 pm. Time to sleep. 

Alright, I'm the owner of a flat deck boat!

But I haven't seen it beyond pics yet.

At the moment, I'm stuck in Woodville, Texas, where I arrived at 3:45 am.  

Cheniere, up to their usual pranks.  First they failed to notify the plant operator that I was even there to offload.  That's security, they are supposed to call them.

Well the dude didn't.  I waited in the parking lot for over an hour and decided to call the operator myself.  It's not unusual that they don't bother to come tell you anything about what's happening, they'll just leave you sit there. But now that I have the phone number for the operations room, I won't be sitting around for hours on end without at least calling after an hour is up and finding out what's going on.

The operator knew nothing about me being there. 20 minutes later a golf cart showed up to escort me in. Once inside the plant? "Oh, well our pressure is at 100". WTH.  What is wrong with these people?  They always do this! My truck? The safety relief valves are SET at 100 MAWP.  At 100 or probably even less, those safety valves will open, releasing vapor and product all over the place!  Whatever. They brought the pressure down to 72 - which is still wayyyyyyyyyyyyy toooooooo hiiiiiigh.  I mean, seriously.  It took three hours to unload that truck because I am only allowed to take the pressure up to 85 on the truck, meaning pushing the product out against 72 pounds. 

I didn't get stopped last night until 3:45 am.  I was literally dying, well it felt that way anyway. I didn't get out of the plant until almost 2 am and then I couldn't find a spot to park anywhere.  Truckstops full, I drove almost 100 miles before finding a place.  

I passed out in the sleeper and slept 4 hours before waking up - only to go back to sleep again.  Anyway, it just ruins my day when I am up that late.  It takes a day to recover - for me anyway - after staying up so late. It wasn't by choice, but since the plant was down, I didn't get started until late.  I mean, I knew yesterday was going to be a long day. 

So now, I'm tired, grumpy but couldn't sleep any longer and stuck here for another hour.  142 miles to go before arriving at the yard.  

Anyway, the boat is parked at Maria's, there's no room for it at our place. Well there is but I don't want those damned trees dumping large branches, small branches, leaves, twigs, acorns and gumballs all over the thing.  Maria did a survey of it.  Captain's chair needs reupholstered and the bimimi cover needs replaced. She showed a pic of wires all rolled up, but after asking James, he said that was for a fish sonar, everything else works on the boat, he made sure of that. If I want a fish finder, I'll have to have one installed.  

Not a priority.  I want the bimimi cover replaced and definitely reupholster the captain's chair.  But what I really want to do is take it for a test drive on the nearest lake and make sure it doesn't sink and it does work.  James had him run the motor for a minute to make sure it would fire up.  But out of the water and without a hose adapter hooked to the motor, you aren't supposed to run them at all...the water from the lake cools the engine.  I guess a minute or two isn't going to heat it up enough to damage it.  

But before I can do anything, I have to take the paperwork in to the MVD and hope and pray that it's all proper and correct and that they will issue me title and registration without any problems. I tried my best to make sure all the necessary paperwork was included for the transaction and that the areas the seller needed to sign were signed off on.  

Meanwhile, I also am watching videos of how to launch and capture the boat. I've never actually done that.  We had a sailboat when I was a kid, but it was not that big and easy to deal with. This boat is much larger and much heavier.  I'm a bit uneasy about that part of it, because I've seen videos of pickups being pulled right into the water with the boat.  Or taking too much time at the launch ramp and upsetting others waiting.  But, that's the breaks, everyone has to start somewhere. If they don't like it, they can come and help and offer pointers : )  I mean, if I were an experienced boater and I saw someone having trouble, I'd at least offer to help them.  If they didn't want the help, fine, sit back and watch the show, maybe make a video of it lol.  

I will invest in the top and the chair, but it's more important to me to find out if the thing runs properly and has no leaking issues.  I'm excited tho.  Whatever it needs I'll deal with it. Already a bunch of people want to go.  And that's cool, too. But honestly? On weekdays when I have a day off? Hook that sucker up to the SUV, get the dogs in the back, go to the lake and have some fun, solo time.  Well, I dunno about the dogs.  If they'll get on the boat lol.  That might take some serious coaxing. Take some beef treats with me to lure them on there.  

Oh and the rumor about having to have a boating license was only partially true. That's only for those born after some date in 1993.  I'm much older than that lmao, not that I don't want to learn everything, but I don't have to have some sort of license.  I may take the course anyway just to get the basics down tho.  I'm really a stark, shiny, brand new boater, green as all get out, as far as owning one goes. My experience from 40 plus years ago are just memories.  Rules have changed and it's a completely different type of boat. 

What I'm stoked about is not having to sit around the house all the time.  That gets old.  Taylor and James are all over this too, they want to get their fishing stuff together and get out there as well.  They've been wanting to.  But, I wasn't going to buy some trashy looking old boat for an over inflated price. That's what's available in the up to 5k range.  "Boat runs but needs some TLC". Pics of a thing that has been hit, dented, the side rails are broken, the flooring is trash, etc etc. And they want 4 to 5 thousand dollars for that junk!  "Boat has been sitting for 4 years, ran before we parked it, $4,500".  Unbelievable.  Or the boats that have no titles.  And the always lovely ones that all the upholstery is totally trashed. So you're looking at at least a grand more than their already inflated price to get it looking decent.

Right up front, the boat was listed at $2,550 and I knew I wanted it as long as the motor worked.  Well, no way to tell if it has any holes until getting it into the lake.  Hopefully not. There is a boat shop 40 miles away that specifically specializes in repairing hull problems including fiberglass, but let's hope that isn't even in the picture.  I figured for that price, even if I had to dump another grand into it, I would be coming out ahead.  They had originally listed the boat as non-running and no one wanted it.  It needed a battery, the motor needed the carbs cleaned out and other work done to it.  They replaced the battery, the stereo, got the motor running and put new tires on the trailer.  I did buy this thing "sight unseen". Sure there were pics, but real life looking at a thing shows much more than pics may. 

But I will give James credit.  He went and got the thing, I was busy with work yesterday.  He made the guy fire up the motor and show that all the lights and electrical stuff works.  he inspected it carefully - I trust him in that - he did the best look at it he could do.  He doesn't have any experience with boats, either, as far as I know, but there is at least a medium of common sense that can be used to look at one and know whether you have a keeper or walk away from it.  None of these older boats have good upholstery on them unless the owner has either A: kept the boat covered or B: has had the upholstery replaced.  

This one has a couch on the side, the captain's chair and 2 fishing chairs on the front. The rear couch is gone. Which is fine, it's intended to be a fishing boat, we don't need a bunch of couches, one is enough.  If I really get into it, I will have a live well installed where the rear couch is missing.  Just a holding unit to keep fish alive until you are ready to clean them.  I think they pump water into them continuously and  it drains out as it comes in to keep it fresh and the fish alive, but don't quote me on that. 

Well I'll pick this up later. Like after I get back to Maria's and get a chance to look at it in person. I've got 5 minutes before I can get on the clock and get the Hercules out of here.

G'day.  

Keeping my posting to a minimum for now since it's just the same stuff, over and over.
4 day trip to Ohio - uneventful.  Just another trip.

Had a day off, then over to Cheniere yesterday.  They, of course, ruined my chances of getting home the same day by making me wait 3 hours before we even got started unloading. Actually, they brought me into the plant, realized their mistake, took me back out and I waited there for hours.  As normal, they don't care how long you have to wait, they don't care about anything but their own doings. When unloading the truck, a group of them form together, talk about their grievances with work and totally ignore me.  I'm a pretty social person, but I'm not going to get involved with their gripes with their company. The lowest paid person there is making 130k per year for doing grunt work.

I have no sympathy.  Well, a little.  That place is out in the middle of nowhere, they have kept them there for 30 days straight now.  30 days without a day off and not going home either.  Alot of them, anyway.  The person that lives the closest - that I have heard thus far anyway - lives an hour and a half drive away.  But these are young men - in their 20's.  I wouldn't have had a problem with that at that age and was working 7 days a week back then anyway.  In fact, I'm still putting in more hours than any of those guys.  Not that I'm anything special, but the work ethic in this day and age is a bit less than what we experienced growing up.

Anyway, one guy sat there and complained for almost 2 hours to the rest of them about the cliques in upper management and how they haven't said anything to him at all in a long time.  This dude is making $51 per hour plus huge, vast amounts of OT.  But he's quitting, lmao.

I got home at around 2:00 pm.  As normal, the trailer I took yesterday had a problem that wasn't reported. Namely, a tire with a huge bald spot on it, flattened.  This is clearly a tire that had been locked up and rubbed the tread right off of it.  The tire next to it was not like that, so I assume it happened in Mexico. They steal our tires all the time.  I missed it on the pre--trip inspection - I check all tires but I admittedly do not move the truck to see if the portion of the tire on the ground is good.  Then again, I didn't get this trailer in Brownsville, someone else did and obviously didn't report the fact that it was bald.  See, I knew something was wrong because after I started driving it to the plant, a huge vibration in my truck was going at 35-50 mph.

After leaving the plant and loaded over 79k, the vibration was horrible.  Fortunately it went away after hitting 55mph.  It's a recurring thing, tho, to get a trailer that has an issue and the previous driver does nothing to rectify the problem.  Regardless, I dealt with the tire this afternoon - called the Michelin tire hotline and had them come out and replace it.  Because that's what you should do as a professional driver. Not just let it go and think someone else is going to deal with it.

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Well that was interesting.  Last night, I was on one of the local Facebook selling groups.  Someone posted that power had gone out - and then - our power went out and then came back on.  Then someone passing by the plant where I get the truck loaded took a pic - of a bunch of black smoke going up into the sky and proclaiming Eastman is on fire.  I looked at the pic - it was the main flare off- it stands at least 100 feet up in the sky-  it had a flame coming out of it at least 60 feet high. I've never seen it like that, nothing even remotely close to being that much fire coming out of that thing.

And then, there were black smoke pockets coming up through the trees throughout the plant.  I thought, dang, the plant is on fire?  No, it turned out, they had all of their flares fired up - they have a lot of them on that property.  A power substation at the plant had "blown up", so they said, probably a giant transformer caught on fire would be my guess - and caused voltage to go up and down, initiating an automatic shut down of the entire plant.  Besides the plant shutting down, one of the flares was burning so hot it set the nearby dried out grass on fire, a minor issue.

But, of course, that screwed up everything for loading today.  I didn't even think they would load any trucks today, but I saw several group texts - first load started loading at 7:38 am. That's when the first load should be done loading.  Then an hour later, another driver texted that first load hadn't even started yet.  Lol, the other driver noted the lines hooked up to the truck weren't white yet.  The product is so cold, the lines become enveloped in frost once the liquid starts flowing through it. Quite easy to tell if it's pumping.

So now?  It's 10:15 am, they still haven't started loading the first truck.  That was my guess last night, they wouldn't even begin to think about loading anything after a system wide shut down.

The issue, of course, is if these plants we take the ethylene to don't get the product in time, they, in turn, also have to shut down.  But that's the breaks. S*** happens, deal with it.  At least it isn't our fault, just a random event that is affecting everything else.

My good or bad fortune, depending on how you want to look at it, is that my manager texted me early this morning after trying to call - I was in the shower at the time.  She stated the plant wanted the Cheniere loads filled up first.  We do whatever the plant wants, it's their show, it's their call.  But she knew I wasn't anywhere near the yard where my truck was already hooked up to the trailer and ready to go, so she asked if it was okay another driver that happens to be there just take my truck over there and preload it for me?  Sure, why not?  That's where I"m either fortunate or not.  Fortunate that I'm not sitting at the plant, waiting endlessly for something that may not even happen today? or unfortunate that I am not sitting at the plant, making a nice, tidy sum of money per hour to sit and wait?

I decided fortunate. I'd rather be home. Plus, whenever the load actually does end up getting back to the yard, I will have full hours available to get to Cheniere and get unloaded.  Instead of losing the 2-1/2 hours at the plant it takes to do all of that.  That gives me extra hours to get down there and wait for even an extended period and still have time to unload and get back.

So, that's where it's at for now.

And I finally found a boat.  Right price, flat deck boat, decent condition, 150 horse motor, lady said come get it today - which James will do, I went to the bank and got the money out - and then? She disappeared.

Gag.  This is pretty much what happens with every boat I've wanted.  I comb the ads and finally find something and baam! It's sold out from underneath me. Tho that is usually while I'm on the road. I'm not on the road now and could go deal with this myself since the plant isn't pumping the product, my truck is sitting there 3rd in line and will be many hours even if they do get it going

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Alrighty.  The plant finally started loading, my truck is getting loaded now, I'll be heading over to the yard soon.
Meanwhile?  A boat! maybe?  I finally found a flat deck boat with lots of room and in good shape and a bigger motor (bigger for a flat deck/pontoon boat anyway) at 150 horsepower.  Most of the pontoons and flat deck boats I see have very small motors 40, 50, 60 horsepower and I know I wouldn't be happy with that.

This one has had carpet redone and the upholstery is mostly in good shape.  Titles for the trailer, motor and boat : )

I dunno where it's at yet cause' James is busy - I hope - getting them to sign off on paperwork to transfer titles to my name. I went to the county courthouse and got the actual paperwork so I knew there wouldn't be any issues.

Welp, off to work/Cheniere.

Monday morning.
Usually, I've been on the road since Sunday morning - I mean I've worked every Sunday for months now.  You kind of get used to things that once were considered sacred and untouchable after doing it for a while.  So, I get to start the week on Monday like "everyone else".  I'm hopeful for a 4 day trip, come back and get sent back out on a 2 day trip and then get 2 more days off. 

That's in a perfect world. Considering other drivers saying they've been sitting, I dunno what's going to happen. 

The current media uproar is Epstein.  If you don't know who Epstein is, good for you! That means you don't watch the news and in this day and age, that might not be such a bad thing!  The question of course is whether he actually committed suicide?  I don't hardly ever go for conspiracy theories, but this one definitely lends to suspicions and questions.  Seems quite convenient and the timing very odd of his just dying.  He had pleaded not guilty, has all the money in the world to put up the best defense that money could buy, why would you at least not wait until the declaration of a jury?  You could conjecture that he "knew he was guilty so why prolong it".  Possible, he wasn't allowed out on bail.  With all that money, he could have simply flown over to a nation that doesn't have extradition agreements with the US and lived there the rest of his life. 

Just another thing in a long list of odd things that is going on.  I think the real problem our society is currently facing is Progressive idealism and wanting government control of every single thing.  They are using the "free giveaways" to try and achieve that desired ending.  But make no mistake, the free stuff is just the method to get to their madness.  That idealism wouldn't be appealing to the masses if there wasn't a carrot on the end of a stick.  It's fascinating that people simply choose to ignore the history of socialism and communism. We've simply discarded the axiom that says "if history repeats itself......".  Why? 

Meanwhile, Donald Trump is their favorite go to for both those running for president on the democrat side and the liberal media which loves to howl the evils of Trump at every turn,.  They constantly say that he is doing things to take scrutiny off of himself, when in reality, it's the democrats doing that exact thing.  Note that Bernie sanders doesn't really go after all those evil millionaires anymore, he is focused on billionaires.  Why? Because he IS  a millionaire.  Double standards, forked tongues, hypocrisy.  It's so obvious it's like it's up on a giant billboard on the side of the highway for all to read - but everyone that is in love with this free stuff idealism simply ignores the reality of it. 

Whatever the case, I spent a good portion of yesterday cooking.  I am one pound away from where I left off before going on vacation.  The reality that if I want to keep this weight off, I will have to stay on this diet or some form of it the rest of my life kind of sank in after this "experiment".  The fact of the matter is, tho, is that I went hog wild crazy eating everything and anything I wanted for 6 days, had planned to do so in advance and took full advantage of that opportunity.  So, from one end of the scale - not eating the foods most people eat - to the other - eating a lot of junk, calorie packed, carb packed foods. 

Well, gotta get my stuff in the vehicle and get out of here.

Happy Monday!

It's 9:30 am.  I would love to get the day started, ie: start cooking the things I want to take with me on the next trip.  But, the boys are still sleeping and the adults didn't get in until 3:30 am last night.  I'll give it another hour but then, I'm going to have to start making the stuff I want to make.  Specifically, a loaf of Keto friendly bread, a keto friendly pizza, no bake cookie dough bars and a half cut of brisket.  I could get started on the brisket, but no need. Too early.  I should be able to get that thing done in 3 or 4 hours. 

I particularly liked the pizza on the last 2 trips - one pizza lasted that long.  It's a quick, easy snack or lunch that doesn't even have to be reheated.  It doesn't take long to make..  In fact, I could make that one now, now that I think of it, the only noise is the microwave. On a 4 day trip, I definitely want to take a whole pizza with me, as well as the BBQ pork I smoked and then put in the crock pot - that stuff turned out delicious.  The bread I want to be able to use to make BBQ sandwiches.  The brisket just a stand alone meal, having a salad with blue cheese dressing with it. 

I was actually hoping for a 3 day run such as Mapleton or Morris instead of a 4 day run.  Stryker is about 600 more miles than either of those two listed, so it's worth it for the miles, I just prefer 3 day runs over anything longer.  But as I mentioned in another post, I am not complaining about it - at all.  The only other thing that would be "nice" would have been starting today - Sunday - to have trouble-free driving.  However, two days off is nice once in a while :  )

Oh, well Taylor decided this week she was going to go out with a friend over in Shreveport and have James be the "designated Uber driver".  I agreed to watch the boys - they were going to be going to bed anyways not too terribly long after they left.  Babysitting while they are asleep is easy, lol, just leave the doors open so I'll wake up if they have a problem.  The dogs alerted me when they came home last night, Addler wasn't too fond of people walking into the house that late at night. 

Today, for me? A cleaning, cooking, laundry day. Well laundry is almost done actually, I started that last night.  I wanted to start cooking early so I didn't have to feel pressured later on in the day, and with that thought, I'm definitely making the pizza as soon as I get done with this entry.  There isn't much else going on in my small, little world right now anyway.  I drive  a truck, keep up with politics - tho I'm definitely watching less and less news, it's really so negative and the same s*** every day - Trump is a racist! or Trump is a White Nationalist! comparing him to Hitler. It just gets old hearing the same stuff.  Other than that, I really have nothing going on - which is a good thing actually.

I like to look for some of the interesting stories that are off the political trail as well.  Such as the dog that was spotted by the motorist that had been leashed to some sort of power supply box on the side of a freeway.  The leash was holding the dog up, choking it.  Whoever put the dog there like that is an idiot. The motorist cut the leash and took it to some animal shelter.  The shelter checked for a micro chip and sure enough, not only did the dog have one, but the owner had been looking for the dog.  It was good ending to a story that started off rather badly.  It is also a reminder that I want to get my dogs chipped.  Be nice if they'd invent a GPS tracker you can put in with that chip.  Where's my doggy? Get on the internet, access the app to locate them and there ya go!  No, I do not advocate doing that with humans.  But dogs I'm fine with.  Hmm, well I should be back on Thursday, perhaps I will do it Friday - if I'm not sent out again the day after getting back.

That's been happening alot and the reason i was happy to get 2 days off. I also talked to another driver a few days ago that stated he had been sitting alot.  This is why I'm keeping my mouth shut about complaining.  Whatever I get, I get, deal with  it. Complaining might get you - nowhere with the manager. She's a nice lady and all, but she doesn't like drivers complaining about getting low paying, low mileage runs. I've only said something after I've gotten too many of them in a row.  But, realistically, it does no good.  It only serves to frustrate and irritate her.  She has a lot of drivers to deal with and at least some of them are chronic complainers.  I don't count myself on that list, I don't complain to her about every little thing.

I might vent on here about things, but I keep it at that.  I still think it's ridiculous that that terminal has no shower, laundry or dedicated driver's lounge.  I still despise the radar junk that beeps on the truck - tho I have gotten better at ignoring it.  I really don't like driving 65 mph when most other traffic is whizzing by you at 70 mph.  I get cut off all day long because of it.  But, I have gotten used to it -- better than when I first started this job anyway.  Doing some calculations, I am on track to making at least 80 grand this year, the same as I did last year, maybe a couple thousand more than that if it stays on track.  Really, if I were to stay as busy as I have been for the last 2 to 3 weeks, I would be more on track for 90k plus.  But it's whatever, 80k is fine, I'm not greedy, it's paying the bills, building up a retirement account and paying off old debt plus a much nicer ride.

Money talks.  It shouts louder than all of those negatives I posted above. 

Anyway, this is the day that the Lord has made and I will rejoice and be glad in it! And God is greater than all of those complaints and the money. 

G'day. 

How will history look back on the Presidency of Donald Trump?
Will historians label him the traitorous, white nationalist, Hitlerish, racist Mexican hating, black hating person that the left currently says he is?

Or, will he be looked back on as a highly successful President that made huge accomplishments that helped turn the nation back around?

Or what?

This new movie The Hunt coming out has turned the entire nation upside down in either an uproar because of it's content - allegedly a hunting resort for rich, liberal elitists to hunt down "Deplorables" - aka Trump supporters.  I've watched all kinds of outrageous things coming from the left since Trump took office. Grifford making a bloodied head of Trump, a play at a New York park depicting the murder of Trump, a rapper doing a skit of killing Trump, actors saying outrageous things such as Madonna "blow up the White House" and others wanting harm done to the President or even having him killed.

The left claims to be the party of peace, but from all appearances, that's an unbelievable proposition. Pelosi calling him a racist and wanting him in jail - and both her and Schumer repeatedly saying he's having a "temper tantrum" - because he won't cave to their demands?  This political climate is going to lead to out and out violence if something or someone doesn't come along that can throw water on the fires of anger, hate and reaction.

Moving on.  I'm going to make bake free cookie dough bars today - I think. I'm trying to get motivated. Tomorrow for sure.  These are Keto friendly "sugary" concoctions that look delicious.  It's pretty much granted you can only eat one per day and still be able to eat other things on that day as well, but something has to give here.  6 grams net carbs gives me something to enjoy.  I'll make a batch and freeze them - I won't eat a whole batch any time before they go bad.  I'm 2 pounds above where I was when I went on vacation.

No regrets and will do it again.  But i am going to go on a 60 hour fast with a bunch of people in a Keto facebook group I'm in. They do it once per month.  That's a fairly good fast.  They have some products they want to sell at outrageous price - $70 for teas and supplements during the fast.  I don't think I'm going to do that, I'll just do the fast along with them and drink water only, as has been my habit during fasting most of my adult life.

Heading back up to Stryker on Monday.  I'm not complaining at all about these long runs.  I'll take them as long as she gives them to me.  I didn't complain about the 6, very short runs in a row to her either.  I'm trying to keep my mouth shut and just take whatever comes.  But 2 Strykers, a brownsville and now another Stryker in a row is very good.  I know I'll get caught up in another series of short runs eventually, gotta take the long ones when they come along.  I have the route down to science now.  Well, science if the hours are available. Biggles Cafe is the first night's stop, it's near Centralia Illinois.  If I make it there, I have relatively few miles to put on the next day.  Realistically, I could make it a minimum of 450 to 500 miles and be guaranteed to make it the next day.

But I always push myself to drive as far as my time will allow it.  There is another truck stop further up the road from Biggles in Farina.  I was just a few minutes short of being able to make it last trip. I would rather make it up there if I could, perhaps time will permit me to make it this next trip. Or, perhaps I will get caught up in the plant and not even make it to Biggles.  Whatever the case, I do like getting a run frequently enough to be able to figure out where to stop without having to scour the app to try and figure it out.  The 3rd day, I'm trying to make it back to the Love's on I-40 in Palestine, Arkansas, 688 miles from Stryker.  These are "in a perfect world" types of driving days where I'm not getting slowed down by construction or accidents or bad traffic to the point I have to stop somewhere before those places.

_________________

Late.  Taylor went out with a girl's night out thing, James was the designated driver and I - had no aspirations of going anywhere. Stayed with the boys, put them to bed a few minutes ago, one was happy to go to sleepy land, the other was screaming.  Lol.  I would have let them stay up later, but they have a schedule and a routine and if you try to mess with it, especially at their age, they will be up early  in the morning.  Now, I don't have to deal with it in the morning, but I certainly don't want them to have to wake up early to kids. 

Oh, well the screaming boy - 2 years old - fell asleep within 3 minutes of my turning off the light and leaving the room : )  I knew he was tired, he's an obstinate little boy but it was time to go to sleep.  The older boy - 4 - I let stay up a half an hour later  He was the happy one.  But, I mean excepting the 2 year old not wanting to go to sleep before the 4 year old and letting my ears know about it - it was a good night.

Meanwhile, my smoked pork butt transferred into the crock pot also was finished.  Very tasty!  Dumped a half bottle of sugar free - and delicious - BBQ sauce on it, very nice.  I've got a half brisket thawing and laundry going, but the rest of my cooking will be tomorrow.  I want Keto bread for the next trip!  Well I want bread trip or no lol..

That's it for me.  G'nite.

Not too bad of a trip. And great money.  Last one I did - this same trip - was worth almost $1,300.  It's a lot better money than these little short trips.

That trip up to El Dorado - for all it entails - is only worth $312 and that's before taxes.  Okay, it's not so bad because it truly is a day trip.  But as things have been going lately, 2 4-day trips are better than all of these little nonsense trips taking up more time than they are worth and working a lot  of hours for low pay - well low pay compared to other runs.

I'm ready for a Brownsville run, it's been a bit since I've been on one. 

This trip went identical to last one, which is amazing because things have to really run in rhythm to make that happen. Yesterday was another 688 miles - the same as last time, I actually made it back to the same Loves in Palestine, AR as I did last time. That's a lot of miles for a truck that only goes 65 mph.

My only gripe on this trip was finding a knocked-off mud flap on the trailer. Whoever was responsible for that didn't bother to have it fixed, neither did they report it.

They just dumped the broken off flap in the cabinet in the back of the trailer and apparently decided to dump the problem on someone else.  That's really total bs.  Yup, I said something to my manager today about it.  There is no way a professional driver should just be dumping that kind of s*** onto someone else. All he/she had to do was report it when they got back. In reality, they should have fixed it while on the road.

But I can guess what happened. They backed into a parking spot somewhere, didn't stop before the tires hit the curb, the mud flap got caught between the tires and the curb and - rips right off of there. They may have some fear  of getting into trouble or something, but mud flaps are cheap and it happens.  The problem  is if you are caught by a Trooper driving down the road like that, they will write you up for it and then it goes on your CSA record.  It also goes on the company's CSA record.  That becomes an issue if you get written up for something as easily avoidable for a fixit ticket as a mud flap. 

Whatever the case, the mechanic wasn't there on Friday - he should have been but he had run out of hours and the company isn't doing OT right now - and when I tried to get a hold of him for authority to get it repaired somewhere, he wasn't responding.  I ended up driving the entire trip with that mudflap missing.  The caveat is that these trailers, in the rear, are very low to the ground.  So low mudflaps are almost irrelevant.  Not like a typical truck on the rear. I'm just saying it doesn't really kick rocks back out of it - they end up hitting the chassis instead. 

The last write-up for a CSA infraction I got was while driving for Ferguson in Arizona.  I had 7 small sticks of pipe on the rear of the trailer - with 4 straps on it - far more strappage than needed for that small amount of pipe, but they said I needed 5 on it regardless.  There was approximately 1,600 pounds of pipe, the 4 straps were rated, combined, to hold 22,000 pounds.  I called bs on that one, but there was nothing I could do. The point being, however, I haven't had any write ups for along, long time and those points back in AZ are undoubtedly off my record right now, I should have a perfect CSA record at this point.

I'm getting much better about not eating out on these long trips.  I take enough food to fill my gut all 4 days.  I only ate out once, and that was breakfast at a cafe I was parked at overnight.  Biggles Cafe near Centralia, Illinois.  Nice people, decent food, absolutely horrible parking lot. Covered with huge craters, it's actually dangerous to drive a truck through there, especially a tanker.  But once I got back there I had no choice but to continue.  They said they are planning on redoing the entire lot soon.  Good, because on the Stryker trip, I could do that every time.  It's as far as I can go on the first day heading north before I run out of hours.  And nobody likes to park there because of that parking lot. 

I mean, on the Truckers Path app there are endless complaints on reviews about it. 
But the waitresses are sweet as can be.  Just very nice people, makes you happy you went in there.  I don't expect I'll get another Stryker, Ohio run anytime soon, just the way that "luck of the draw" stuff works, I was shocked to get 2 in a row.  I'm actually ready for a 2 day trip.  But not a s***** one, a Brownsville style trip.  I don't have enough hours for another 3 or 4 day trip, so if she does send me anywhere tomorrow, it's going to have to be a shorter one.

Oh, anyway, my truck refrigerator can only hold so much food. So I would rather put in meat/dinners and heavier foods than putting breakfast foods in there.  I am finding that I am not as hungry as I used to be anyway.  Not much energy output driving a truck. The biggest thing is just trying to stay awake! 

I can also say that I have all but gotten over the homesickness that I experienced when I first started this job.  I was in pretty bad shape for a while there.  This 4 day trip was basically nothing. I get a bit "anxious" I guess is the word, the last day on a trip when I'm only a few hundred miles out and anticipating getting home and having my dogs with me.  That's pretty natural, I think. 

I'm waiting for my new teeth to show up to the dentist.  2 lower fronts and the botched front upper that was too short when it arrived.  The dentist knew it was too short before he even put it on there, but checked it anyway.  I'm paying far too much money for that kind of irregularity. 

Pretty uneventful trip  Drove almost 700 miles yesterday - a record for me - after deciding I wanted to just drive until I ran out of hours.  I had a minute left on the clock when I was done lol.  Ended up in Palestine, AR, started the day in Stryker, Ohio. The funny part is I started out yesterday - well I had to unload the trailer first.  Then I decided I was just going to drive halfway and quit for the day, finish the drive up today. But around halfway through the day, I was more into it and just kept on going after the 500 mile mark...

My manager said I may have to work tomorrow.  Gag.  Not that I don't want to, but there's a dinner get together tomorrow evening that I want to go to.  I just politely asked if it's possible, please schedule me for Sunday? She said fine, if she can get by without me, she'll do it.  And, if it did work out, Sunday has more better runs than tomorrow.  In fact, there's another run going up to Stryker. I would love to get that one, high paying trip and definitely worth being out 4 days for. 

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Tomorrow is here. I am going back to Stryker - tomorrow - Sunday - it's Saturday today.  I've spent the day shopping, laundry, cooking and getting ready for another 4 day road trip.  I'm quite worn out and still doing required work modules on my computer and still have a get-together to go to in a couple of hours.  There is a chocolate sweet recipe I was going to make - but I"m too worn out for that.  

I really, reaaally, realllllly don't want to go to work tired tomorrow. It will be 600 minimum miles of driving after 2 plus hours at the plant, being worn out isn't on the menu.  But, maria wants to do this for everyone and it's important to her.  I think I"m just going to go for an hour or so and call it a day.  I at least have an out that it isn't first or second load, so I don't have to get up super early.

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And here we are, Saturday night. We just spent 4 hours over at Maria's who was hosting a get together for some of the neighbors and us.  Steak, hamburgers, etc.  But I just spent the entire day besides those 4 hours messing around with getting stuff ready for another 4 day trip.  Cooking in advance doesn't exactly take 5 minutes. A thick pork chop - a meal in itself.  A rack of ribs - only wanted enough for one meal but it is what it is, I can't eat a whole rack, one meal worth of chicken wings and keto pizza.  I had a slice of the pizza, it was quite good for being a "fake" version of the real thing.  Its enough food, probably too much but I'd rather go prepared and eating out costs much more than all of that stuff. 

Whatever the case, politics is still fascinating me.  The idea that all republicans are racists, that we are all thrown under that blanket, every single one of us now and even more-so Trump supporters is ridiculous, outrageous and unbelievable.  How do they allow themselves the privilege of making such unbelievable, unfounded, baseless accusations? How far is this going to go?  Where does it end?  I'm dumbfounded at this point with all of this nonsense going on.  Even Pelosi has jumped on the bandwagon calling Trump a racist and previously - a month or so ago - say he should be in jail.

Med4all. It's no longer for senior citizens, it should be for everyone and they are telling us, health care is an absolute right, they are now saying. The endless spending idealism they are propagating would bankrupt this nation.

I'm waiting for the violence.  It's coming. If this rhetoric continues and they keep ramping this stuff up, I don't believe this will go on forever without confrontations.  I'm not advocating violence, not by any means. But human nature will eventually kick in.  I don't see any other end to this unless they come to their senses, dial it back and stop treating the "other side" as mortal enemies.

I'm still following all of this stuff, just not spending near as much time as I was previously doing it.  It's too stressful and I don't want or need unnecessary stress in my life.  Politics can go to the hell it came from as far as I'm concerned and the people engaging in this s*** - I don't want to go to hell, but let's get beyond this nonsense already.  Or just fight it out and let the winner prevail. 

It's time to go to bed.  I have a 14 hour day facing me tomorrow.  I just got home tho, figured a few minutes down time to relax before going to sleep would be good.  My goal tomorrow will be at least make it to Mount Vernon, Illinois.  Actually, that area is full of truck stops that fill up by the time I will get there so it will have to be that dive truck stop up the road. If I even make it that far - but Sunday driving is usually pretty trouble free.

Have a nice evening. 

After 6 low paying runs, I apparently hit the jackpot and am leaving for Stryker, Ohio today.  I took a chance and cooked food fitting for such a trip yesterday - without knowing where I was going.  I had asked my manager at around 11 am yesterday, but she didn't reply to me until I asked her again 6 hours later.

But by that time, I had already smoked a nice cut of beef, made some buffalo chicken wings and some cream cheese and spinach stuffed chicken breasts.  Now, of course, I am very pleased that I went ahead and did all of that.  I would be hurting for finding food on the road without being able to take all of that with me.  Oh, and a couple of breakfasts as well - eggs, chilis and ham.  So I'm set.

This is also the run I gave up when I was trying to get my med card - and that interim manager played her little games and then got belligerent with me in texting.  I never get rid of texts : )  If she ever tries to say she didn't say all that s***, I'll have written proof to back me up.  

Well fun fun.  It's 12 minutes before I have to leave and it just started raining.  Gag.  

Meanwhile, the race card continues to be pulled with political pundits, commentators and politicians all calling Trump a racist!  He's a racist because - he says things that don't even mention race?  Lmao. Apparently, if you criticize a person and that person happens to be dark or black skinned, that is automatic racism!  Does these people understand how foolish they are making themselves look?

I wonder what swing voters are thinking right now.  Vote for the side that wants a Green New Deal that is now estimated, released today, to end up costing QUADRILLIONS of dollars over time. We are no longer in the trillions range.  A thousand trillion dollars.  That's an unimaginable amount of money.  Vote for a party that has so much infighting, it makes the daily news?  Vote for the party that has no visible platform beyond accusing Trump of being a racist?  If I were a swing voter, I'd either vote for Trump or perhaps consider not voting at all.

Welp, time to go get wet apparently. I was hoping it would stop before I had to leave, but the rain is coming down even harder now. 

4 Oklahoma runs, a Cheniere and tomorrow an El Dorado run.  All of these runs are low paying, 6 in a row.  El Dorado is tomorrow.  It's really bad luck!  Yup, cause on Monday there are a slate of good runs going out.  There weren't any good runs going out today, they all sucked but that's the way the cookie crumbles I guess.  I figure if I get a 7th low paying run, I'm going to say something about it whether my manager wants to hear about it or not.  Her system is totally unfair if you happen to just catch the days when nothing good is going out - or - you catch a day when a good run is going out, but you don't get that run, you get a s*** run instead.

But.....in calculating an average month intake of pay so far this year, I'm well on my way to 85k gross pay for the entire year.  I just did that math. That doesn't eve seem possible, but I guess it is what it is.  It's just that when I get stuck in these elongated ruts of low pay runs, my checking account suffers and it takes quite a few good runs to get it back up to where I like it.

Oh! They finally put air conditioning in the bathrooms at the terminal!  Think about having to sit on the toilet when it's almost 100 degrees outside in a bathroom that has zero ac and is much warmer feeling than the outside temp.  They still haven't put in a shower tho.  I would use it if they installed one, get back from a run, take a quick shower and freshen up a bit.

Anyway, I got home early today so at least I have most of the day to enjoy home.  El Dorado is only like 145 miles the way that I go, it's totally and usually possible to get it done in one day.  But......that depends on the loading plant and more importantly, the facility in El Dorado.  I haven't gone in a long time, but I've been stuck there for 7 hours waiting for them to unload. It just takes a long time, it's not because they don't get right on it.  It's great for detention pay, at least.

Addler about plowed me over today when I came in the house. Maria is still in Houston so James and Taylor were watching my doggies for me.

I think my entries are getting boring. Same old thing every day, excepting for vacation which was marvelous.  And contemplating next vacation.  I'm not taking any action on it until I get some good runs under my belt and ensuing pay.  People telling me to go over to Ireland during the summer. But looking at the temps over there, it looks pretty nice.

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Lmao.
The plant held me up for 5 hours yesterday.  I like to never got out of there!
Then, when I came out of the scale house, I saw one of my tractor tires half flat!  😂😂😂
So I call the mechanic, bring it to the shop? Nope, take it to the tire shop in Kilgore.
2 hours later, I'm finally headed to Oklahoma.  7 plus hours before I even left the area to get up there.
Enough to get up there, drop and hook and drive 30 miles to an abandoned truck stop to spend the night - in the middle of nowhere.  Good thing the middle of nowhere also has a Quik Trip.

Really odd place to put one of those stores, there is literally nothing else out there. No other businesses, no hotels, no houses, nothing. Yet every time I drive by the thing the parking lot and fuel pumps are loaded up with cars.  Just weird.  It provided a nice walk last night for dinner - a salad - and this morning for coffee.

Yup, I"m full blown back on Keto diet - 2cd day back on.  I couldn't possibly continue on with the carefree, eat-whatever-I-want-whenever-I-want-to.  I'd gain all that weight and fat back quickly and hike right on up from there.  No thanks!  I haven't checked for ketosis yet, I figure it's too soon after eating all those carbs for all of those days in a row.  I might check it tomorrow.

Anyway, I got back from that trip alright and am getting another run for tomorrow, at least my manager told me that. I'll probably get a shit run. there are only 4 runs available and only one of them is good. The rest of them are utter garbage.  2 of them are the worst runs we get. Cheniere and Airgas Houston.  I am hoping for a streak of luck here, just hoping!  The good one is the Brownsville run.

Meanwhile, Maria.  I bought her dress for the wedding, then the shoes.  Thankfully her son finally sent her the money to get transportation down to Houston - he had promised her to do it but he kept putting it off.  I wished her a good time today as I picked up my doggies, left her a few bucks for food or whatever and came home.  But, I am ready to go right back out again.  I need money, the road is where it's at for me, let's go!

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And here we are. Friday morning, 4:00 am, getting ready to leave. For where, you ask? Where else! Oklahoma! Woohooo!  There was only 1 good run available today and I was pretty sure Iwasn't going to get it. Then there is another Oklahoma run and then...there are 2 far worse runs.  I'm just hoping I get one of those nice runs that's going out on Sunday. 

Welp, the day ain't getting any younger.  But, I don't have to take the dogs over to the other house. Maria is going to Houston today for her son's wedding, which automatically means my dogs will be staying home.  In fact, it's so early I'm not even putting them outside. Taylor will do that later when she gets up. 

Ah, final day of vacation. 
I have been given an Oklahoma run. I absolutely despise this run but at least it's a short one to get me back into the flow of things. 

But, I have spent most of today at both the dentist's office and at urgent care.  The dentist was preplanned - and not a very good idea to try and go to a dentist the day after returning from vacation.  I figured it would be a bad idea, but I also figured I needed to get all of this done. 

So, the crown was the wrong size. The dentist wasn't too happy about that.  I should have a pemanent tooth now where the temporary one kept falling off and I finally gave up on it and threw it in the trash.  So now, I have another temporary one, but this time he put on permanent cement to keep it in place. Good thing, because it's going to be 3 weeks before I can get back in there. They weren't going to give me another appointment for 2 weeks anyway, I just decided I need to get some work in before taking another day off for this stuff.

They also ground down 2 of my front bottom row teeth - that was the other part of this plan - and going have those crowned as well.  So, 3 teeth today with temporaries on them and all cemented with permanent glue.  Hopefully I don't have to worry about that until I get back in there. 

Then off to the urgent care.  Couldn't hear out of my left ear after the ocean and I was getting concerned that the salt water might cause an infection.  Well, the doc said she couldn't even see the ear drum I think she said for the amount of junk in there.  So, an assistant came in, dumped it full of stool softener - sounds gross but that's what they use apparently to loosen up the was.

But, after draining that out and her digging away deep inside there, the situation actually got worse and my hearing was affected even more.  She gave up on that after 20 minutes and went to the other ear. Not near as bad, but there was junk in there blocking the view as well.  That stuff came out - incredibly gross looking stuff that was not even ear was.  Not to make anyone queasy lol.

Then, the doc came back in, got a totally different thing to unplug the left ear and away she went.  All kinds of gross stuff came out of there.  And walaah, my hearing came back to normal.  She looked again and declared it all cleaned out, but, she thought it was getting infected so I'm on antibiotics. 

Those 2 ordeals took many hours of today up when I was actually looking forward to resting and doing much of nothing. Not to mention laundry and getting ready for tomorrow.  Today will also be my last day of abandoning the diet.  We're having spaghetti for dinner and I plan on downing 2 large plate fulls.  I also bought some milk - another Keto no-no- and have drank almost the entire half gallon.  I really got well off the Keto diet during this vacation. I gained around 6 pounds.  I expect to get rid of it quickly.  I don't find it likely to gain that much weight in 5 days time, probably water weight in there as well, I'll find out soon enough. 

And here I am, finally, in my bedroom.  Taylor stayed home from work today as well - planned to recuperate and recover before heading back to work tomorrow.  We are both dreading that proposition.

And reconnecting with my dogs today.  They have spent more time over at the other house than they have here in recent months.  Unfortunate part of the trucking life, you're out a lot.  But my doggies are always happy to see me when I pull up after a run over there. 

I have plenty to do, but I'm only doing the stuff that I must do today.  I'll pick it up once I get back from Oklahoma 2 days from now. 

As for this entry? Done and done. 

Let's see here.
We spent yesterday touring shops in downtown version of Galveston, replete with a giant cruise ship - the Carnival Freedom - docked right there, towering over everything. Pretty cool sight. We also went on an old - but still in use - pirate ship.  Absolutely fascinating.  I always like getting on those old ships and seeing how they lived.  This particular one had giant placards everywhere telling the story about each portion of the boat you were on.

The captain's quarters were quite small, tho this wasn't a huge vessel. I looked at the sleeping space and wondered how he could even fit on the thing. Very cramped quarters. Frankly, the crewmen's quarters had much larger beds and tho you were double and triple bunked, it would have been better sleeping, at least for the body.

Now, having to listen to other men snoring all night long wouldn't have been so pleasant.  That was the most interesting thing we've done on this trip, as far as I'm concerned.  Not complaining at all, we've had a marvelous time so far.  The adventure is coming to a close, as we have to leave tomorrow.  I don't know what time they plan on leaving, I don't have to work the next day after we get back so I'm all good.  I needed some time off from work.

We also went to Pleasure Pier last night - all the way until it was closed at midnight.  I fell asleep but later was awakened. I can't say that I've slept all that well on this trip but I haven't let it phase me.  I suspect when we get home I'm going to spend the rest of Monday and all of Tuesday recuperating from this.

Today, we took a Lyft to a mexican food restaurant. I'm not sure why we took a Lyft. It wasn't a drinking affair so we could have saved the money and just drove the pickup over there. But, it's fun to ride along with the drivers and all of them telling their tales of this and that.  Most of them don't live on the Island, they come from Houston and other nearby cities.  They try to get an airport ride over here and then one going to the airport from the cruise ships back and make some decent money along the way. 

After that, over to a bar.  I had a drink but I wasn't interested in getting drunk today, which is more than I can say for the other 2.  They're having a good time, I'm not knocking them.  But today, we spent the whole day at the beach.  Now I understand the fungus stuff and potentially getting into someone's system. The water is pretty warm, not cold enough to stop that kind of growth in the water.  I took my chances and spent hours out there.  I will, of course, be looking for any signs tonight and tomorrow of that dreaded sickness that that fungus is giving people.  I did get into the swimming pool at the hotel after getting done with that swimming. At least get into some chlorine!

Oh, to clarify, I'm not interested in getting drunk on any day.  As it was yesterday, I didn't even have a drink until it was almost 3:00 pm.

Anyway, I am  sitting in the hotel room taking it easy.  Beautiful day at the beach. Wind blowing, cool breeze came in with it - weather off the coast.  James wants to go back to Pleasure Pier tonight after we eat whether the lady of the house is going or not.  We purchased 2 day passes, we might as well have some more fun. Well, honestly I'm ready to just call it a day.  But, they're younger and more energy and all of that, just that she is out of it right now and I dunno if the lights are going to come back on today or not with her lol. 

James says he's going with or without her.  This wasn't the cheapest trip and I"m sure he wanted to get his money's worth out of it. Prices for everything over here is kind of like what you would expect to pay for food and drinks in a NFL or similar stadium - expensive. 

We are going to SaltGrass here - eventually. Not sure when lol.  I am going to have a steak and lobster tail, I think.  It's like 2 buildings over from where we're staying, I've never eaten there but everyone says that chain has excellent food.

I think I'll end this one and peruse the internet. 

Arriving at Galveston beach, the hotel let us in early.  No time to waste, Taylor had her itinerary and we weren't in the hotel 10 minutes before she had already ordered a Lyft ride to Moody Gardens.

Pretty cool place. We spent 5 hours there I think.  We saw everything there is to see.  Didn't quite do everything, but that's just because the price goes way up.  Like the zip line. $35 just for that.  We did do the rope course tho. It's 4 stories tall with varying degrees of difficulty in crossing solid platforms to much more difficult ropes that you are "standing" on.  I did that for an hour, lol, and regretted that.

Not because I fell off, but because my legs were very sore!

Oops!

I may have lost weight, I am still not in any kind of "great" physical condition, not like I used to be anyway. It was fun tho. Going through the aquarium and the rain forest was also pretty cool. Well, cool in the aquarium, very warm in the rain forest! Oh, and no  one got drunk. 

Yikes. Just got out of the shower, they are already texting me for breakfast at Denny's. Sounds wonderful! 

I only know today's agenda has some shopping in some touristry type of location in town. Other than that, well, I think she wants to go to Pleasure Pier - it's an amusement park on a pier - I want to walk over to the ocean and sleep on a towel?  And maybe actually brave the waters and fungus junk and get wet?  

Who knows!