So, yesterday, I got up at 4:45 am, got rolling at 5:05. Left the truck stop casino parking lot - and no I didn't do any gambling, I just went to bed after the night before not sleeping but maybe an hour.

Got oto Paris, Texas, stopped at Love's to refuel, coffee, water.

Pulled ouf of the Love's to the 4 lane highway, it's highway 271.  There is an acceleration lane for trucks turning right to get the speed up a bit before attempting to merge into traffic. I turned right into that lane, started shifting through the gears.

Another car was coming, but it was in the passing/inside lane, so at the end of the acceleration lane, turn signal on of course, I merged into the outside lane.  

This car comes speeding up in the inside lane and then slows down to match my speed, right beside my trailer.  I thought nothing of it - at first - they were supposed to slow down for the slower speed limit, tho not that much. 45 mph, we were going 35.  I just sat at 35 thinking he would just speed up and get past me.  

He did not. I needed over in his lane to make a left hand turn at the light about 1,000 feet up the road.  So I accelerated to get past him and get over.  He accelerated when I did.

It was then I came to understand we were going to have a problem.  +I slammed on brakes, slowed down way faster than he did and got behind him.  He slowed down to 20mph.  I just slowed down even more. Note there wasn't any other traffic out there, it was early  Saturday morning.  He limped his old, junky looking car up to the light.  I'm calling it as it is now.   

He made the left turn, got onto the on ramp to the highway and sped up a bit.  Got ahead of me and then put his arm out the window, replete with the middle finger.  I don't know if he thought he was making me angry, I was just at the point of attempting to determine whether I needed to call state troopers and started taking video of this nonsense. 

He flipped me off for a while - bad mood? Juvenile?  Just lost all his money at the casino? Thrown out by his girl friend? Just a wanton as*****?  Who knows.  I do know that I did nothing to warrant him acting out against me like that. I was literally minding my own business.  I don't look at people in traffic much anymore, they tend to get up set and the first thing they do is call the company and make up a story about how I cut them off or something like that.

He then took off , got about 500 feet ahead of me and turned his lights off.  Even tho it was dark, I could still see the outline of his car in the darkness.  Why he did that? No clue.  He then got off the highway at an offramp and pulled up to a red light down there. I accelerated, not gonna wait around to see if he's still going to play his games.

I got past the on ramp where he was the other side and up to a light on the highway. I passed through it and it turned red afterwards.  Yup, he got back on the highway and .... ran the red light.  Didn't even slow down.  He comes racing up to me, flashing his lights from high to low beams, straddling the center lane. Where are the police when they could be useful for something?  

I had had enough.  I started to pull over to the side of the highway. I was going to stop the truck, get out, get his license plate number and call the police. He had kept himself just out of sight enough for me to get that number, otherwise the police would have already been called.  Consequences be damned - and there  can be a lot of them even tho the CDL driver has done nothing wrong. Companies tend to believe drivers that "have gone out of their way" to make that call to them. They judge and jury the driver before even asking them the first question about the incident.  

I thought about that, but I also thought - I have a video of most of what this idiot was doing.  If they fire me, so beit. I'll find another job.  But it didn't come to that, this guy saw what I was doing and took off.    As I said, I had had enough.  If he had a gun, a knife, whatever, at that point I didn't care.  I'm getting that license number and calling the police and then come what may.  I was never able to get the plate number, unfortunately, for even after the fact, I still would have called and reported this guy.  

I haven't had anything like that happen in a long time.  What set this person off? I did nothing, literally, to this person. 

That was the beginning of my day yesterday. Fortunately, the rest of it went rather well. When I got home, we went out to Longview to try out a new restaurant. It's called Hook and Reel - a bit on the pricey side bit it's seafood and it's always higher priced plus inflation right now is killing everything. Delicious, wonderful food.  Great service, it was really worth the drive over there.  I had heard good things about it.  

Today/Sunday. No load today, thankfully. Didn't want one tho I never said anything about that to dispatch. I'll pretty much take whatever they give me without complaining.  I'm going out early tomorrow. 2 Oklahoma's in a row - but - there are a lot of trucks sitting in the yard and there are a lot of those unbelievably bad Cheniere runs going out.  I'm glad to have no part of them.  

Today? Continue on my closet project and probably take the doggies for a walk.  I'm still grounded by mama Facebook.  I doubt at this point I will ever get rid of the account myself, they'll just have to do that for me, which I presume is coming sooner or later.  Whether I end up starting up another one with a different email address, who knows.  

Rain - it's been raining here, the only reason I might not go to the property. The ground will be wet and in the back, I dunno if that equate to mud or not.  I would like to traipse through the front portion tho and see if there are any obvious water channels running through anywhere.  Mark them on GPS for future reference.  The rear I don't much care about, but I also would like to see if the stream has picked up any. It hasn't been running very heavy in recent times.  I bet that's different now.  

I'm going to start looking for a blogging platform that also allows for uploading videos. This one doesn't do that. Every time I try to upload one, even a short one, it won't do it.  If Facebook goes away for me, I want some platform to be able to show videos of some of the stuff going on.  It may or may not attract that much attention, but I want the option available.  

Tomorrow, I'm going to start calling the water install guy once a day, every day, until he answers his phone.  That's the only way I know of to get a hold of him. If he doesn't answer tomorrow, I will follow it up with a text, which he probably also wont respond to, but trying to get him to get out there and give me a quote on land clearing.  

I will also call the electrician and see if he's had a chance to get out there and take a look.  Again, another guy that is hard to get a hold of, it seems like they all are. I'm not a regular customer of theirs that takes priority.  But, patience.  It's pretty obvious that even if I had all the money I needed to do everything right off the bat? It would take a year to get it done. I've read this from other people trying to build new parks, it's just a slow process and don't be in too big of a hurry. I'm not, now, it's winter. I'd love to open up next month and get the operation going, but realistically? It's probably 6 to 12 months off.  I can't see it taking any more than a year tho.  It really shouldn't even take that long.

Well, the day ain't getting any younger and I have things I want to get done today.

G'day. 

 Happy Saturday morning from near Bogata, Texas!

Well that was nice.

I just wrote an entire post and hit "a button" and it disappeared, all of it. Hitting undo? Didn't undo anything.  

Nutshell

Left Brownsville this morning.  Got to the yard, got in the rental car and started heading north.  There was already a rental car there from someone else's excursion, they said to use it.  Rather than wasting time driving all the way home, spend 7 hours there and then drive all the way back, I opted to make better use of the time.

I ended up in Paris, Texas, ate at Applebee's and now at the Quality Inn. Decent hotel. Much better than other Quality Inn's I've stayed at.  I chose this place because it is much cheaper than all the other similar quality hotels in the area and this one is on my dime. I chose to come up here and get some of the driving out of the way today.  \

The other electrician returned my calls today.  I called him yesterday and today with no reply, I then texted him and sent him the drawing I made of the intended setup.  I must have another quote to find out of this $26,600 quote from the other company is legit.  It could be, I'm not saying it isn't  They might even be cheaper than what this guy will come back with, who knows.

Let's look at the factors. Supply/demand.  Definitely the demand is greater than the supply right now. If you haven't heard about the supply chain issues by now, you are definitely living under a rock. Well, perhaps you just choose not to listen to the eternal mutterings of blabbering heathens in the mainstream media, can't blame you for that.  That will always see rising prices, companies will take advantage of it.

The other issue is inflation.  I can apply blame for that on the government. Huge, gigantic spending bills are not really helpful to American citizens. I do not believe these politicians care about citizens, they care about their agendas and right now, the Socialist/Communist agenda is front and center for many of these politicians.  

Anyway, couple those two together and prices for everything are skyrocketing.  Been to the grocery store lately? The gas pumps?  How about a lumber store?  Or anywhere, really.  

Anyway, this electrician is the one that says he builds his own pedestals and just from his life time of experience I would prefer to use his services.  He said he would get me at least a ball park figure soon.  He's going over to the property to take a look as well.  

The other guy - the one that installed the water tap - didn't reply to my call today. I didn't call him yesterday, he's fresh off of vacation.  I texted him after the no-reply call and he still didn't respond. Seems like that's a normal thing for him.  I am also going to ask him about installing the water lines from that tap. Never thought about it, but if he's installing a tap onto a main water transmission line, certainly he does the smaller installs as well? Can't hurt to ask. I'll be calling him again tomorrow.

And I think that's enough. It's getting late and I'm bushed.

G'nite. 

 Well.

Sitting at the plant at the rack getting loaded. 

Coughing went down yesterday. Hardly gone and not really feeling much better, I can't just take off work forever. So I'm going to run this regardless of how I feel.  Hopefully the subsiding coughing is a sign of this thing getting out of my system. Antibiotics, vitamin C, vitamin/mineral pills, a steroid shot and serious cough medicine hasn't done much, I can attest to that.

Anyway, this dude from this company that says they can do all of it came back with quotes on everything.  The septic went up a thousand bucks along with the installation of the pipe to each unit - that went up $1,500.  I mean, ok, I can deal with that. The fresh water pipe was quoted at 3 grand.  A bit high for what they have to do, but I can deal with that as well.

The shocking part? Electrical installation.  We're only talking 14 sites. It's cable and pedestals. Yes, the stuff isn't cheap but it isn't that  expensive.  I figured on the high side would be around 15k. 

Well, I wasn't anything remotely close to the actual price he quoted me at: $26,000.  Yes, inflation is raising the prices of everything, but that much?  

Im definitely going to get a second bid before I make any moves here.  I am still waiting on a call from the other electrician who said he had me in his book for whenever he would be done with his current project. But I don't need him to be done with anything to be able to come out and give me a quote.  

2 more quotes I need - land clearing and electrical.  I might also get another quote on septic.  Long process but there is no need to simply be throwing money at the wind.  I don't have that much money to begin with and I want it to go as far as I possibly can get it to go. I was hoping it was at least enough to get everything done on the utilitiy, land clearing and pad creation part done.  With his quote, I'd need another 5k loan.  

Well, whatever. I'm going to call the other land clearing guy tomorrow, he should be home from vacation today, I'll give him a chance to recover and then ask him to please quote me on the land clearing portion. The other guy that can do the electrical as well.  He said it would be 2 weeks before he could come out, it's been 3.  He might give me the same quote as this guy today.  He might even be higher. Or he could be a lot lower. I won't know until I get a bid.  

I've actually written other entries, but I just left them hanging.  I've been feeling pretty miserable and everything is out of whack.  

I mean, some stuff has happened. Rittenhouse was found not guilty on all counts and of course the legacy media types, politicians - democrats and especially the far left, hollywood elites, and sundry other personalities that have acclaim with their base have all denounced the verdict, to the point they started talking about a federal investigation.  Oh? Double Jeopardy anyone?  The feds can just supersede the state with this verdict?  Perhaps they can drum up some fresh, new charges? I dunno.  

And then this horror at the parade in Waukesha.  Wow!  You wonder the depths that evil men can go in order to be able to do something as vicious, heartless and cold as what happened there.  I watched a video of it and that was enough for me.  

And the oldest brother is at the house. It changes the dynamics of the house and how things go.  The youngest being mostly ignored by the 2 older, things go south quickly. Because the youngest will let everyone know about it in no uncertain terms.  Whatever the case, it's probably just as well I'm gone today and tomorrow at least. 

The truck - my truck that broke - is done. I have to go to Tulsa to get it.  I'm thinking maybe I can work it out that I can be home tomorrow night late and have Thanksgiving off and then go up the next day.  But, I'll do whatever my employer asks, considering the amount of time I have had off. 

Well, they are shutting off the valves and I'm about to have to leave here.

It's a Brownsville, run, btw.

G'day. 

 So, I knew the oldest boy was coming for a visit.  Over a weekend, it's tolerable. Barely, but it isn't anything we call can't recover from quickly. The grandma brings him down and stays with him.  However, the grandma visit has been greatly extended to a full week.  Now don't get me wrong, it isn't that I don't like the grandma.  But...

Number 1.  She spoils the kids.  When I say spoil them, I mean giving them sweets, snacks and garbage to the point they won't eat regular food, especially the 4 year old. Then, when mom and dad invoke their parental authority to enforce the boys eat their food? Temper tantrums. When they get into trouble, they run to her for solace and make it into good parent/bad parent shit.  It's totally wrong, IMO and she shouldn't do that crap.  

Number 2.  Because of that, the whole atmosphere in the house grows rather divisive.  Now you have grandma on one side giving the boys full reign to do whatever the hell the please and then you have the regular house rules on - our side - saying no thanks.  I have determined that this time, I am going to enforce the regular rules - especially the noise and running around nonsense - and I don't care if she likes it or not.  

Okay, the oldest brother is from James side, another mom.  He lives in Arkansas and I think it's like 4 hour drive each way or something like that.

Number 3.  After they leave, it will take forever to get the house back into some sense of normalcy again.  The 6 year old will be pouty because the oldest has left and the 4 year old will be cranky because grandmas isn't around to give him his way.  The best way to make something like this work is to for grandma to take them all back to her  place, let them do whatever and then come back home to where they know they aren't going to just do whatever they want.  

Number 4: Grandma.  She goes off on long, drawn out stories that are never-ending.  It's guaranteed that whatever you did? She did better and she will cut you off to let you know about it. It's highly annoying.  I tend to try and stay away from her - but I live here, she does not.  When a person always one-ups you on anything you are saying, yes, that just tends to drive people away.  She also isn't in love with the fact that the 6 year old tends to cling to me a lot more than he used to.  The 4 year old, but the 6  year old yes.  In fact, the last time she was here, he didn't even go say hi to her right off the bat.  I had to encourage him to go say hi to grandma.

That's just sort of a layout of things to come at this house, I suppose starting tomorrow afternoon.  I dunno how they are getting off school that long, must be Thanksgiving holiday or something.  

I'm hoping these antibiotics kick in and soon, because I'd really rather not be here for all of this chaos.  I get aggravated after enough of it and then I start saying stuff.  Unpleasant things, cranky things. I don't blame the kids, I blame the adult that encourages the kids to act out like that.  

Whatever the case, the guy finally texted me back this morning - yes, we can start within a week or two after you give  the go ahead.  This is the company that says they can do everything from putting in electricity, running water lines and installing a septic system to creating the pads.  The only actual bid he's given is 12 grand to clear the land.  I was hoping for 10.   I'm going to wait until next week for the other guy.  Whatever his bid will be, that's it for quotes on that.  I'll pick one of them and start with this project, finally.  That other guy won't do electrical or septic, but I could get him to install the water lines as well and dig a trench for the pool.  The pool may not be going in right off the bat, but I want that drainage pipe in the ground for future reference so everything doesn't have to be torn up all over again. It will have to run to the rear of the property, so that's quite the long trench.....around 1,400 feet long worth of trench and the pipe.  

The rear of the property tapers down in width.  I noticed it before but I confirmed it yesterday. It's around 170 feet with the easement driveway on one side and the other guy's land on the other.  But, 170 feet is quite a lot of room, especially considering the lots will stop at around the 1,065 foot mark.  

I've got to get whoever ends up doing nailed down to doing some leveling work as well.  That should be included in the price since I have it written on my plans, but I need that acknowledgement that yes, you are going to move dirt from one side to the other and get it a bit more on the level side of things.  

Anyway I have one firm commitment for them to come out. Actually 2 or 3, but the others are thousands of dollars higher in price than this company, the only one left is the old gentleman and I am really curious to see what he will charge me to do that work.  I'd really feel like I'm missing out on a potentially good bid and I know he does solidly good work.  

Well I think we're supposed to be leaving soon for school.  The 6 year old's school lunch for parents or whatever it is officially being called.  The boy doesn't know we're coming.  It's kind of a monkey wrench into the soup, I need to go get that boat out of the shop. Not that I'm doing anything with it, it's just been over there forever and I'd like it here, thanks.  And, I'm going to really try to do something about marking some of the lots over there.  Trees I want to leave up have to be on the site border lines, I can't just walk through there and guess which trees should stay up.  I won't be leaving a lot of them, these trees dump too many leaves and I don't want too much mess to be cleaning up.

Well that was easy. The school's site says it's a Thanksgiving Dinner for parents. Glad I'm hungry! lol.  Good Lord, we're leaving soon and I'm still hacking away.  Cough medicine to the rescue! They'd be looking at me funny going in there coughing like this lol. I was walking through Kroger's the other day coughing and this lady looked up at me and gave me a - stare or glare, I am not sure - lmao.  I had just gotten tested so I knew I didn't have Covid, but they don't know that and everyone is terrified of contracting that virus.  

Well, I don't want to contract any viruses is what I can say, they all suck. 

And with that, it's time to get ready to leave.

g'day

 Just not sleeping at night.  Coughing has subsided greatly but whatever's going on with this nonsense, it's keeping me awake. Not having to go to work? No big deal. If I were driving right now, tho, it would be miserable.  I completely forgot to start the antibiotic regimen yesterday....got distracted with property stuff. Picked up the prescription, yes, just didn't start it.  

But I was growing stir crazy today.  Well, just as a rehash, I got sick probably 5 or 6 days ago. The coughing got worse and worse until I just enough of this, I'm going to urgent care, which I did yesterday. I was supposed to go out on a run but my dispatchers said no thanks, hon, you are staying home, you don't need to driving sick like that, you sound terrible.  

So this morning went out with Taylor on multiple errands.  It ended up at IHOP, we were both hungry and a nice omelet sounded good, we both had one in fact.  One of those last all day long meals, I am still not hungry at all.  Also went to Boot Barn, I bought the 4 year old a bit better pair of boots, the ones I bought for him a few months ago had already worn out and were separating.  A bit pricier, but not that bad because it's small child size, he should get 4 or 5 months out of those, worry free. The boy loves his boots.  Better than sneakers, amazingly enough.  The older one likes boots, too, but not as much as the 4 year old.  

Back  home, took a nap.  Had to, sleeplessness caught up to me.  The steroids I think is what's causing it, because when I took the prednisone pills for a couple of days it was definitely having some sort of effect on my system. It was a tradeoff - little sleep but much less coughing all night long.  

Then off to the property.  Still looking for the telephone pole, lol, not there yet but I had Addler with me an we went for a nice, long walk.  Not too strenuous, but definitely needed to get the blood pumping through my veins. Laying around doing nothing gets extremely old after a while.  I don't know how able-bodied people can do that every day.  I can see kicking back for a while, but not all day long.  

I measured from the edge of the street to 15 feet the other side of the power lines.  From there I started 280 feet - that's the length of 14 spots. 7 on each side, so actually 7 lots long at 40 feet wide.  I really think I'm taking the right route at 40 feet wide.  It's a good amount of room - but it's not too much.  I can see with a 9 foot wide trailer and losing at least 5 feet on the driver's side plus the room the slide outs take, you are still left with a goodly amount of room on the passenger side for your living area.  

Quality over quantity, 50 lots total, which is what I intend on putting in total, would take in a minimum of $1,500 per night gross receipts.  That's even if you  I can totally fill it up during the peak season - tho with enough advertising I believe I will be able to.  I have around 250 "extra" feet at the rear. It's plenty of room for a dog park, a swimming pool, a bath house a pavillion and maybe even a party house - weddings and such.  Parking along the side of the existing driveway.  

The plans are becoming a bit more definitive over time.  I think it's the best idea to have the facilities all together near the rear.  A bath house in the middle is the only different route I might go, so it's not too far from anyone to walk to.  Or perhaps in the end, one in the middle and one in the rear as well.  

I was also looking into swimming pool financing again.  It's amazing, but they have financing just for swimming pools. The best thing I could find is around $500 per month for an elongated period of time making payments.  Yes, I would consider it at the beginning.  If I'm not even opening before Spring, I have time to consider that kind of payment every month.  Propane service may be a thing, in the future, as well.  I'd probably just ask guests about it - if this facility had such a service, would you use it? I wouldn't mind getting one of the local services coming maybe once a week if they would agree to it to fill people's containers at the sites.  Simply have a sign up sheet and see if there's enough interest to have them come out.  Even in the summer people will use propane for their water heaters and indoor cooking.  

Anyway, even with only 14 lots to start and if I could keep them relatively filled up most of the time, making  a pool payment wouldn't be that bad.  I'll have another loan payment as well and I want the operation to make the property payment as well.  Plus a part time employee.  $1,000 + $452 + $500 = $1,952 for payments per month, plus electricity, water and internet.  And an employee on top of that.  I'd up that $1,952 to around $3,900 for everything but the employee.  28 hours per week, office open from noon to 4, Monday through Sunday.  Or Sunday through Sunday I guess you'd say?  add another $1,680 for that employee or employees at $15 per hour.  I'm looking at $5,580 per month expenses. Which is a lot for only 14 lots, but it's doable and still pull a profit.  

30% of gross for 14 lots would be around $3,780 per month, so that's going well over the 30% cap, but that isn't permanent.  And that includes a pool payment. Oops, forgot about pool care.  Weekly service.  $1,800 more in monthly expenses, it's about 44% versus what they say should be 30% max.  But once the operation gets up to 50 spaces, 30% is $13,500 - that's a significant difference and ability to do much more and have more employees.  Of course at that point I'd be quitting trucking and I would be part of the payroll.  And I won't be part time. I'll be out there all the time working maintenance, clean up and upgrades.  At that point there would be another monthly payment added - a piece of machinery for bush hogging, clearing, backhoe.  Perhaps a farm tractor.  

This isn't just a dream to me.  This is going to be reality if I have anything to do with it.  Lord willing.  

So far, since I've started looking, I've seen absolutely no one outside of their houses.  I'm looking to ask about these ATT pedestals, surely someone must know whether there is actual service and whether Fidelity has an operation. Otherwise, there are mobile hotspot options which are costlier, but internet is vital to the appeal of any RV park.  At least the option for mobile hotspot is there, hopefully there is a business plan if it comes down to having to go that route.  

Ahh, and I saw a tiny little green snake.  It didn't move when I stepped over it, it caught the corner of my eye.  I got a stick and picked it up, it didn't even try to get away.  Bright green it looks like from what I could find it's called a Rough Green snake.  Non venomous, I didn't think it was but, just in case, that's why I picked it up with a stick versus picking it up with my hand.  I thought it unusual the thing didn't try to escape.  

I am kicking back now. I tried not to exert too much today but I thought it was time well spent. Hopefully the antibiotics will do some good - if the doc is right this isn't a virus and antibiotics will actually help.  It was peaceful, serene and lovely to walk through the woods. It made it all that much nicer with the thought that those are my woods.  Just me and my doggy. Water still running in the little stream. Not a lot, but it's there.  Walking trails covered with leaves, fall is kicking in and the deciduous trees are dumping their leaves in a quick hurry.  

Well, I was going to go get the boat today- it's finally done.  Months sitting at that place.  They didn't call me, I had to call them, lol.  Maybe tomorrow. Tho, we are going to the 6 year old's school tomorrow to partake of some parent lunch or whatever it's being done for, parents are showing up, I was invited.  Phoenix - the 6 year old - doesn't know we're coming.  So it'll be a surprise for him - whether it's a nice surprise? Remains to be seen when we see his reaction to showing up.  Mama's been getting on his case and grounding him from certain things for doing poorly on tests, kind of a motivational kick in the @ss type of thing to get him to pay more attention and focus himself on his work and learning.  

But if I do get the boat tomorrow, I won't be able to take it out just yet. The trailer license plate is current but the boat registration is not. Get busted on the lake without it current? They write you a ticket just like in your car.  And anyway, I need to install a trolling motor,  I won't take it out again before one of those is on there to at least get me out of any trouble if the darn engine still wants to have trouble firing up.  

It's been a long time since I have taken that boat out.  Covid hit and everything was put on hold.  I didn't care about the boat at the time, it could wait. The shop has had it running. They turned it, off. Left it running, turned it off, turned it back on. They had no problems with it, of course they didn't.  No clue.  I don't want a new boat, I don't want another boat, I just want this one to work.....

Next will be to take the 4 wheeler in and get it fixed.  Can't do that until one of the friends of the family brings my 16 foot flatbed trailer back. He has had it several weeks, time to bring it home sir, I have need for it.  I want to ride it on the trails at the property and keep them "maintained" - riding on them will keep anything from growing on them.  Trust me, the tires on that 4 wheeler will tear up any plants, lol.  It's  a beast. 

That's enough for one entry. I completely forgot to take pics for the site designer to use for temporary pics of the "park".  These would be pics of the trees - nice pics, not anything showing where I have cleared out the back and front portions. He adamantly suggested not having "under construction" pics.  That's fine, I can take photos that will make that property shine, look right as rain, appealing to nature lovers.  Too late to go back today, the sun is already going down. I want full, over head sun for those pics for the everything to stand out.  Was a perfect day for it too, it wasn't over cast, just a nice day. 

Oh well, maybe tomorrow- maybe.

 

 

 The misery of whatever I have drags on. Kept me awake much of the night, quit trying to sleep around 8:30am.  I have a load appointment at 1:30.  I just contacted my dispatch and told them if I don't start feeling better after this trip, I'm going to need to take a few days off.  

I never heard back from my manager about the ticket, I also didn't hear back from my neighbor about his attempt to get the judge to remove the ticket outright.  I'm not going to push him on that one, tho, He offered, I said yes, please do!

Inflation is ticking up at almost 7% average nationwide. That's pretty substantial.  We've been stocking up on food while the prices are still manageable.  In fact, they're going to get a third freezer - they asked me first if I wanted it since I'd be the one filling it up - which I immediately said yes to. We've cleaned out much of the old stuff in both existing freezers and have refilled them.  

I just buy meat when it's on sale, which there are still some deals to be had. Boneless skinless chicken breast and hamburger meat being the biggest acquisitions.  Anything else is dependent on prices.  Alot of it is just stuff that is on sale and there are never any limits on how much you can buy, at least not at the Kroger's we go to.  I'll show up with 15 chubs of 3 pound packages of ground beef and they say nothing to us about it, the same with chicken.  We also stocked up on dry and canned goods.  

This isn't waiting for a war or some natural disaster, this is just stocking up in advance of what appears to be a sustained increase in inflation that isn't going to get better any time soon.  It's stuff we eat all the time, it won't go to waste. Some things are treats of course and soon we should see turkeys on sale, a couple of those won't hurt and maybe some prime rib roast.

After calling the man yesterday - again - and not getting through to him, I spoke with their office. It automatically goes to the office if he doesn't answer. I just wanted an answer.  Is he interested in doing business with me or not?  I got pretty direct about it because I've waited over a week now for him to at least respond to the texts I sent last week.

30 minutes later he called. $12,000 to clear the property and then he had questions about the lot setup. The electrician apparently was asking.  Yes, the lots are going to be 40 feet wide, 65 feet long on the west side and 70 feet long on the east.  The pads are going to be 10 feet wide - tho I might adjust that to a bit wider. That's the part the RV's park on.  These people will have ample room to enjoy their space.  There will be no complaints about small spaces and all crammed together.  

I also went over there yesterday. They are apparently close to installing the pole. There was a fresh set of flags put right next to where the pole is supposed to go for ATT. There is no reason that ATT should have anything there? I moved the stakes over away from that a few feet. They just drill straight down for those poles, it's not a huge excavation area.  The area for ATT was a giant box made out of orange marking paint, weird.  

Meanwhile, the jury is deliberating the fate of Rittenhouse.  I find it amusing that all of these protesters are calling him a racist for his actions.  All of the people involved where WHITE people, there weren't any black or other minority people killed or injured by him.  I've watched all of the videos - I watched them as they rolled in after the incident happened long ago.  I see a very good case for self defense.  If a person pulls out a handgun and sticks it to your head? If I have a gun, I'm going to fire that pistol in self defense. If some dude is smashing me in the head with a skateboard, that person knowing full well I have a very high caliber rifle that can blow him away and does it anyway? I dunno, I might shoot him or I might clobber him with the butt of the gun. I will  defend myself, that's for sure. 

It's so easy for everyone to look at all of that and say he should have done something else. You run for your life with people chasing you down the street, adrenaline pumping and in the midst of chaos and wondering if you're going to live through that night and then come back and tell us your new version of what you would have done....

Oh, well anyway, I also tried to call the guy that installed the water tap. He called back, said he was at the fuel pumps, about to leave town for Nebraska. Nebraska?!  Me and my daughter are going on a hunting trip!  Can't fault the guy for that, we discussed that for about 10 minutes lol and then I told him at the end to please remember me when he gets back? Oh, you bet, I sure will!  I want to wait and see what he says about clearing the land, I know he'll do an excellent job and I just want that final bid put in there to make me feel better that I got a lot of different contractors giving me their quotes.  

They all will work around any trees I want to keep up...there is  no way I'm just having all of those trees taken down. It's just not gonna happen. At least some of them are going to stay up, period.  It would be such a waste in my mind to have them all just plucked up and gone with nothing to replace them but maybe some 6 foot tall pines that I will plant that will take many years to grow and get to any height that they can offer any shade or give the beauty of nature appeal. 

It's just going to be difficult to determine which trees should stay and how many.  I may get out and traipse through the woods - at a very slow pace, I"m really not feeling all that great right now.  In fact, I think I will go to urgent care and see if they'll give me a shot for the coughing.  They'll probably ask to do a covid test - which I might allow if they are going to do it free again. Free to me anyway.  I ain't paying for it.  

I was finally able to get into Paycom and make my health care selections.  I upped the various types of insurances quite a lot.  I'm not getting any younger and who knows what may happen.  I'll get $1,100 a week in long term disability if something happens, that's more than enough to pay my bills.  That was the biggest concern on my mind after I found out earlier this year they had removed it without my knowing or permission - I didn't check anything last year when the registration time comes around.  I don't know how long is long term - it didn't say on the website and I had forgotten to take the info packet with me.  But I also added other stuff. It doubles what I am currently paying but I am good with that. It doesn't take but one bad thing to happen to you to wipe out your savings. 

My dispatcher just called. I had texted them earlier and told them if I didn't start feeling better after this trip, I would be wanting to take a few days off and rest.  The dispatch manager called me back an hour later - I'm having you stay home and rest, I found a driver to take your load.  Note that I didn't ask her to do that but as bad as I am feeling today? I'm elated she did.  She flatly informed me that I sound "terrible" lmao on the phone and that they are taking me off the queue and call them back when I am ready. 

It's kind of a push both from them and Taylor - are you going to go to Urgent Care today? - to go and see what they might prescribe me.  Taylor and James are on their way home.  They should be here this afternoon sometime.  

Anything else? No, not really. I haven't called the other electrician back - yet.  I'd like to get that pole up and get the land cleared before I do much of anything else.  The 12 grand bid is about 2 grand more than I wanted to pay for having that done.  I want at least 2 bids on electrical so I know that I am getting a good deal.  And I still need to get another septic contractor out there to give me a quote on a system.  At least 2 bids, please, on everything.  Just doesn't make sense to take the first thing that comes along and run with it - not when you're talking that much money.  

So, off I go.  Just a drive by unless I "feel it" and get out and go for a quick walk into the woods and get a refreshed sense of what I want to do in there.  It helps to make regular trips over there even if drive bys to keep the vision fresh.  It is a vision, beyond goal stage now. Getting the property realized the goal of stating the business, now we move on to getting it done.  Sloooowly but surely, we are making progress.  I'm just so happy I don't need permits for much of anything! The county doesn't give a hoot.  Just the septic permit/s.  I don't currently have to have any blueprints, I don't need them for I am not currently getting a loan and when I do get a loan, it's not going to be SBA - not yet anyway.  

Oh, and I need to work on rules.  I'm just going to gather rules from a variety of parks - they all have them listed online - and weed through them and tailor them to this operation.  And I just remembered - still haven't done anything about it yet - I need to get that LLC going in my name - soon.  Or however I can write off the expenses related this year so far with implementing this operating on  my personal taxes? I will probably have to visit an accountant to get info on that.  

G'day.  

 So court.  

Went to the courthouse, the first floor, signed in. Told to go to the 4th floor. Got in there, they asked me what my name is? Gave them my name, couldn't find it.  I handed her the letter with the case number on it and then she found it.

Turns out the guy sitting at the defendant's desk seat is the judge. I was wondering who that man was, lol. He said the best I can offer you is a 71 in a 70 zone.  OK.  I wasn't going to argue that, if it screws me at work, it screws me.  I paid the fine at the first floor window and got out of there.

Fast forward and my cop friend next door asks about it. Yea, I replied, they reduced it a 1 mph over infraction instead of 15.  "Uhhhhmmm" he replies.  Fast forward, that was unacceptable to him and he's going to try to get it removed altogether.  Nice to have friends like that.  Note that it isn't the higher up judge that he knows that I was dealing with.  

I dunno, but I didn't think trying to get the ticket removed altogether was really worth the far greater aggravation and time and money spent over a 1 mph over speed infraction.  I was not going to try to stop him from trying, he's been in those court rooms for 25 years, he knows all these people, he grew up with all of these people. Yes it's at least possible he could get it dismissed.  

The property.  An underground utility locater company came out and put a huge amount of orange paint on the ground right next to where the telephone pole is going to be installed.  What? this is well away from the street. It is 20 feet away from where their line runs. What is this nonsense?  So, I moved the telephone pole stakes several feet closer to the property line but still on my property, just barely.  I have NO idea what ATT has going on there, but trust me when I tried to find out again, today.

No one that I have spoken to at ATT yet has been able to tell me what services they offer and all of them tell me they don't have anything going on on that street.  Funny, I replied today, this new marking from the utility locater has flags saying "ATT" on it.  I was on the phone a long time and got nowhere.  Can I please talk to someone in engineering, in planning and development, whoever had all of that infrastructure installed on that street?  There is no way that I can do that, sir.  It's typical of ATT for it's right hand to not know what the left hand has done. 

"It must be a newly installed set of lines". No, it's not.  I couldn't get any info on how to actually speak to someone who would be able to find out what is actually installed on that street.  So, I found something on line that is a request for service to be installed in the neighborhood.  It's amazing, but it's typical, of a giant corporation to not be able to find who you need to speak with.  

I did not call Fidelity, the local internet provider. I didn't, because the telephone pole isn't installed and I don't even know if where I reposted the stakes is going to work.  I wouldn't mind taking a shovel and digging down to the ATT marking and see what, exactly, is under there and why, more importantly, it is there.  

My giant doggy, Addler, is crashed out on my bed, lol. I don't mind when I'm around, i can monitor it, when I'm gone, I load the bed up with stuff to keep them from getting on it. 

Ohh! and the company I was giving up on? I called one last time.  They informed me that he - the guy that I was talking with - was busy. Ok, and cool, but I texted him twice last week and heard nothing back from him and tried to call him now?  It really doesn't bother me if they don't want to deal with me for some reason I have no idea what.

The man texted me 10 minutes after speaking to the office. 12k to clear the property, would give me a formal bid on the rest of it.  

I also called the guy that did the water tap installation.  He didn't answer but called back later. He's going out of town on a hunting expedition with his daughter.  Cool! We talked about that for a bit and then I expressed my desire for him to contact me when he gets back.  

That's it.  I'm done for the day. 5:00 pm, taking it easy until tomorrow.

Late load, I won't be worrying about other companies trucks butting in front of me, they do that earlier in the day, not later.  

Steroids working but I'm still coughing horribly at times. Ugh.

 Rather hellish day driving back.  I'm not going to sit here and try to say it was a breeze feeling the way I do.  It didn't help the next door neighbor was complaining about the german shepherd jumping over their fence and getting into their garbage....The dog is more trouble than it's worth. It causes problems all the time, but especially when I'm not around. I had NO idea she was still jumping over their fence, I thought she had gotten over that.

One of the very few times in my life I would like to get rid of a dog.  I've tried and I've spent the money, trust me, I have dumped out the bucks trying different methods.  No one has control over her when no one is home.  

________________________

That was last night.  About an hour from now and I'm headed to court to try and get the speeding ticket either reduced or done away with altogether.  I had to sit here and think for a while all the relevant factors that I can and probably should say to at least give the judge a snapshot of where I'm coming from.  I'll even tell the judge I'm okay paying a fine, I just would really please and thank you like the ticket changed to something else/lessor so my driving record isn't stained as bad as it's going to be with a 15 mph over on it.

It's unfortunate but true that the system does not delineate between your personal vehicle driving and your commercial vehicle driving.  Whatever happens, it goes on the CDL and unless you fight it, there's nothing you can do about it.  It's was also true that you cannot go to driving school, but I"ve heard some saying they have changed that.  I'm going to look that up after I get done with this entry and see what Texas allows - if anything.

There is also a deferral, but I don't know if that applies to CDL drivers. It's basically a deal where they say if you drive the next 3 months and don't get any tickets, this one will go away.  Well, it's been over 3 months.  I haven't had a moving violation in over 7 years, that should help my case along a bit as well.  I'm not actually worried about this, whatever happens, happens and if worse comes to worse, I will ask for a jury trial, get a lawyer and spend the money to preserve my license.  I gave up worrying about it weeks ago when I thought, well, I'm just a human, I'm not perfect, never claimed to be, I make mistakes like everyone else. Sometimes I do stupid things, like everyone else has.  Shrugs shoulders.  

I remembered around 2 am - after waking up and hacking away, unyielding coughing that simply wasn't going to stop anytime soon - that the doc had prescribed me Prednisone the last time I had a cough like this.  Yup, out of bed, 2 of those pills as the directions say. About 40 minutes later maybe? I felt that stuff going through my system and all of a sudden- the coughing stopped.  I still have enough of those pills to last for several days.  I won't need to go to Urgent Care today, those two pills are good for 24 hours.  

Steroids have always helped when I have a dry hacking cough like that.  I dunno how it works, but it definitely does!

Family still up north, they're coming home tomorrow.  I am still not feeling all that great.  I really don't think I'm going to want to go to work tomorrow.  I definitely wasn't feeling it yesterday, it was a long day trying to just keep focused on the road and tough it out.  You start feeling like this and working is the last thing on your mind.  I went to Chili's after getting into town,  no one home meant no dinner waiting and definitely wasn't in the mood to cook.  Had a drink - that helps a lot too - stops the coughing somehow.  

I really don't know if I'm going to make any calls about the property today.  I guess it doesn't matter about talking to people on the phone but if per chance one of them wanted to meet over there today? Not into it.  If I didn't have to go to court I would have just stayed in bed.  I figured to get up an hour and a half early, take a long hot shower, get that steam down into my lungs - that helps a lot too.  Drink a cuppa and get mentally prepared to at least make a decent case for myself.  

I hope I can curtail the coughing while in there, yes the steroids are working but they haven't eliminated the coughing 100%, it's like they got rid of about 90% of the coughing.  I'm afraid they're going to throw me out of there if I am hacking away.  I figure at least wear a mask in there, I definitely could have Covid.  I've never gotten headaches with a coughing cold before but I've had them the last 4 days since this all started.  That seems to me to be a sign of Covid.  But the coughing? Pretty much status quo misery that occurs every time I get sick.

Yea I think I will make some calls today.  Especially that guy who said he could do all of it, it's been a week since I last contacted him with no reply whatsoever. If he for some reason doesn't want to do it, that's fine, just tell me so I can move on.  That's all I ask. The other 2 as well, It's been over 2 weeks now, they said they could come out and take a look, we'll see if they answer their phone and just give them a friendly reminder that I'm still here and I still need this work done....and probably drive by there anyway and see if the power company is ever going to show up.....

Funny how a cup of coffee slowly starts to motivate a person out of slack and slumber, lol. 

I'm enjoying my time off of Facebook, btw.  I moved the app on my phone to the last page, all by itself, instead of at the bottom of the screen where it always shows no matter what page I'm on with the apps. That way I don't just automatically click on it.  I was going to delete the app altogether, but decided against it. There are interesting videos that show up there from random people, it takes you to Tik Tok. I don't have a Tik Tok account and I don't have the app on my phone but you can still watch other people's tik tok videos, some of them are hilarious.  The Trump app is apparently coming somewhere around the beginning of the year?  Whenever it's rolled out I'm going to join that and see how it compares. I would like to ditch Facebook permanently....no longer in love with their propaganda and censorship.  It really has just become a tool of the left and the far left to tell people how to think and what you are "allowed" to say. And if you come up with anything they don't like?  Baaammm!  And they must flag accounts that get repeated suspensions.  

If they eventually ban my account? I dunno if I"ll start another one.  It might just be the last hurrah, goodbye, good riddance, am already getting used to life without it now on my 3rd 30 day suspension, them treating users as some sort of school children that need monitoring is ridiculous. It's not like I go around cussing people out and calling them personal names, I'm not a troll in other words.  What you see here is what you get on the internet. I don't act out like a 5 year old having a temper tantrum as many, many grown adults do all over social media.  You see in the news where some celebrity or media figure has tweeted or posted on Facebook some outrageous statement about people they don't like - and usually directed against Trump supporters - neither Twitter nor Facebook does anything about them.  

The double standards are glaringly obvious.  

But it's also amazing how Facebook can seemingly take over your life if you're not paying attention to how much time you spend on it.  What would the progressives do without conservatives to bash on that platform?  As it stands I don't even go into debate groups anymore, save one, very small group (:and no, it's not an echo chamber) that has diverse views but the people remain civil. Many of them have been banned from facebook and are using alternate accounts, their main accounts disabled forever.  

And on that thought, I am in trucking groups where people talk some serious s***, I come nowhere even remotely close to the things these people say that don't get banned.  I'm mostly in those groups to dispel the constant misinformation that many truckers dish out all the time. Seasoned, veteran drivers that believe things that are not true, at all.  Newbies looking for info, I like to try and help them out.  many will get on there and bash them, but I take a stand against the trolls and I give real life, useful information to people that are just starting out in the industry and really are just clawing their way through the menagerie of all the things they need to learn.

I wouldn't even like attempting to start out as a newbie, greenhorn in this industry.  It's so overloaded with endless regulations and trucking companies looking over your shoulder, watching everything you're doing and troopers pulling you over all the time and some of them giving you a hard time even when you're being respectful to them - it's no wonder more people quit than stay in the industry within their first year.  I guarantee you that if I get any kind of ticket out of this, even if it were reduced to not having a seat belt on in my personal vehicle, my company is going to try to get all over my case about it.  And I'm going to shrug my shoulders, ask them about their perfection and if they have ever gotten a ticket and tell them to do what they must.  If that's part ways, it's part ways.  I'm not going to be shamed or humiliated because I did one single thing in the last 7-1/2 years that I have lived in Texas, in my OWN vehicle.  

I'm not going to apologize, I'm just going to say I'm human, I make mistakes. Show me a single driver here that hasn't had some kind of ticket in the last 7-1/2 years and I'll buy them dinner.  It's really outrageous that they hold us to such high standards - these companies and the states - but they don't hold themselves to the same standards.  You literally have to be a perfect little driving angel.  If you get enough tickets, they will suspend your CDL.  2 15 over tickets I believe is a year suspension.  I don't have 2 of those, but saying if I got another one I'd be being dragged before some counsel and being told I can't drive anymore.  

Just one more reason I desperately want out of trucking - before that happens and they take my livelihood away.  I'm not going to sit here and proclaim that I'll never get another ticket again....that would be stupid to say.  But I can tell ya, if I were just driving to my property every day and taking care of business there? The odds of getting tickets would go down greatly since it's only a little over 4 miles away, versus the 32 miles to work and the endless driving in a truck all over the place.  I can just be a hometown boy, working my own thing, minding my own business, helping others as much as I can and not having a corporation breathing down my neck along with a state that is insane along with all the other states and the feds in doling out punishments to drivers.  You wonder why they say there is a driver shortage? 72,000 of them have been disqualified for failing a drug test.  A vast majority of it marijuana - which can linger in your system for 30 days. Then you have drivers being disqualified for ridiculous reasons. And you have drivers that are saying screw this, I've had enough and hanging up their keys.

It's going to get far worse.  Only when automation takes over will it ever get better.

That's my rant for the day, I'm offa here, get my mind into a neutral mode and head over to the court house.

G'day.  

Nope, no power pole yet.

Because breakfast 

Random sunrise pic

Something 

Today’s accident. No clue what happened here, looks ugly. 

And my iPhone got me into Paycom and I was able to finalize my health care selections! 

 

 Barnsdall, Oklahoma.  Remembered to bring everything with me this time, fortunately, as I'm stuck up here for the night and probably up until around 11 am or noon.  They shut down the plant - but didn't cancel my load for osme reason. It's strange because when I got up here, I saw 2 full trailers and no empties.  Why would they want to have 3 loaded trailers up here with a shut down plant?  

Apparently they told the last driver to bobtail back, they didn't give me any such instructions and I can tell ya, I'm pretty glad I don't have to drive anymore today. It was a struggle getting up here, this sickness is kicking my @$$ and I don't feel all that well.  But now, I can sit here for the next  - probably 15 hours and take it easy.  

Won't be able to use this computer too long tho.  One thing this truck doesn't have is a built in power inverter.  Really strange because all of our other trucks have them.  And when they go out, they immediately replace them - they know us drivers want to be able to use ac electricity.  Plenty of dc power outlets in this thing, but that doesn't help my computer any.  

Anyway I was coughing, hacking and not feeling very nice at all today.  I was wishing I was at home, in bed.  When the other driver that was up here called me this morning and told me that they had told him they weren't going to offload any trailers today, meaning I would be stuck up here overnight, that gave me at least a little extra umpf to get up here, drop the loaded trailer and get parked in their parking lot.  

So, the new system for payroll is a complete pile of unmitigated garbage and giving employees problems logging in system wide.  And some employees don't have email accounts and refuse to get them, so they can't even set up an account with the system.  For me? I just tried to log in about a dozen times and was rejected every time until it locked me out.  I have until tomorrow evening to make my new selections for my health care coverage.  The wonder minds at corporate chose to end the ability to make changes on a Sunday instead of a weekday where at least people could call in asking for help logging in.  

I want to add long term disability, something they took me off of last year without my knowing about it and something I definitely want at my age.  It simply means if I become incapacitated, I will still receive a paycheck every week for - years actually.  And they used to give short term disability away for free, not so now and I can't access it - at the moment anyway. It gave me a 10 minute time out.  I'm going to try on my phone maybe I"ll have better luck.  I will be very unhappy if I can't make those changes,  I will feel rather unprotected.  You never know what's going to happen to you, I'm working in one of the most dangerous professions that exist in America. I think it's number 7 on the danger scale.  

Well whatever.  It's detention pay time, tho my dispatcher called all concerned that I won't be able to make it back for Monday.  I'm not near as concerned about it as she is. I didn't bother to tell her I'm sick or that I have no desire to drive any further tonight anyway.  I just said it's not going to be a problem, they will likely have a trailer unloaded mid morning and I will have plenty of time to get back and be where I need to be Monday morning.  I also didn't tell her what I am doing Monday - which is going to court.  Information they don't need to know.  If the ticket is dropped, they will never know about it, if it isn't but is converted to something lessor, they will hear about that and tho the company won't like it, it won't be near as bad as a 15 over speeding ticket.  

Whatever the case, I'm going to get off of here, shut the computer down and save it for the morning so I can do some searching for things I need to find for the property.

G'nite. 

 Another day of automatic bliss. That truck is sooooo incredibly slow when it starts out from being stopped.  I shift at least twice as fast and probably faster when I am using a stick shift.  But, I made it down to Brownsville and came back up okay.  

But I am extremely bored with this job. Money is nice, but being along in the truck all the time is not so nice.  It just gets old.  I may start looking for a local job and at least see what's available out there.  Oil field trucking is back up - but we all know how fickle that can be, booming one day ghost town the next. They make good money tho.  Most of them want you to have experience with it. 

Like what I"m hauling now, you just have to find a way to get your foot in the door.  Having had hauled tankers the last 4 years without accidents is quite helpful, that's what I would be looking to do, haul the salt water and oil produced by the natural gas wells that are abundant in this region. 

I'm also not in love with what's going on at the loading rack nowadays.  One particular company is being given favoritism to show up whenever they please and load in front of whoever is there that is on time.  I show up early to the loading rack every time, the only exception is if something happens to the truck or the trailer at the yard.  Which is rare. So the dude telling me that "all of you" are "always" late was extremely annoying.  I flat told him I was 20 minutes early - that was the last load, I will be 30 minutes early today.  

We'll see just how early he wants everyone there, the plant has informed us that it's 15 minutes.  The problem that can and does occur with too many trucks loading too fast is that the plant runs out of product, they can't produce it fast enough to keep up with a constant stream of trucks getting loaded without any down time in between.

Hence, there is usually a gap between one truck getting loaded, completed and off the rack and the next one showing up.  The "privileged trucks" from that company are there right now, loading.  I know this because of driver reports.  Are they scheduled to be there at that time? Who knows.  I would venture a guess as to probably not.  Whatever the case, I intend on being at the rack at 11:30 am today, my load time is noon.  That's double the plant minimum arrival time.  

It will screw up any chances of getting back tonight, but that's ok, I wasn't planning to anyway. Taking a break from doing Oklahoma in one day since the manager got on another driver's case about driving on Personal Conveyance time too much.  He made a valid argument: You guys do too much of it and safety (department) will just remove it off the Quaalcomm and you won't have it at all.  My goal will be to make it back at least as far as the casino truck stop tonight and then 124 miles left to go tomorrow morning. Enjoy Sunday at the house alone and prepare myself mentally for going before the judge tomorrow morning and hopefully either getting the speeding ticket dropped completely or downgraded to something lessor.  

I was talking to the cop neighbor last night, he said it won't go beyond a pre-trial hearing -which is what will take place on Monday, they don't want to waste the time and resources to do a jury trial for a speeding ticket, but urged me to make sure I declare I want an jury trial if, for some reason, the judge won't budge.  I'm just go in there with hat in hand, so to speak, ask the court's forgiveness, inform them it occurred in my personal vehicle but counts against my CDL, will negatively affect my driving record to the point my company may even let me go, I've been watching my speed in my personal vehicle - not tickets since then and definitely trying to make sure I don't get any more - didn't know the speed limit had dropped on the Interstate (which is true, I had only heard about it, I didn't notice the signs had been changed) and can you pleeeeeaaaassssseeeee drop the charge altogether or reduce it to something much less severe?  

He also said the higher up judge he had spoken to about it had likely already spoken to this judge.  

I dunno, but if it does go to a jury trial, I'll have to get a lawyer and shell out the bucks to protect my CDL.  I've read a lot of posts online about this very issue, most drivers say that when they go to court, the judge just lets it off.  I personally don't care if I have to pay a fine, I just don't want a 15 over ticket on my record.  

No, there is nothing new on the property front. And this chest cold got much more severe yesterday to the point I was wondering if I'd even make it back to they yard. I just spent some 11 hours in bed. I wasn't asleep the entire time but I definitely didn't feel like getting up. It's another reason I won't be interested in finishing this run today, I won't feel like it.  It's 552 miles to get back to the  casino truck stop, that's plenty.  And I slept in this truck, it's clean at least and doesn't have awful odors floating around in it.  Oh, the property, well just saying that yesterday I did not feel like calling any contractors because of the chest congestion and feeling pretty cruddy. 

I will - maybe - take that quest back up on Monday after court. Court is 9:40 am.  I say maybe because it depends on how I feel. I'd like to hope that getting home tomorrow late morning and spending the day resting that I will be feeling better by Monday, but you never know.  I feel compelled to get this thing going, but I am at the mercy of contractors.  If I had a trackhoe and a dozer I could have already had all of this done, but alas, I don't own such expensive equipment.  

Inflation is hitting hard right now as well and I suspect the cost of all the electrical stuff needed is going to be jacked up.  I just want to get it done before it gets jacked up so high I can even afford 14 lots.....

And as I started the last entry out, now I"m looking into a "cash out" refinance that refinances the house plus gives you the amount of money it's worth over that. Well, as much money over that as the bank will allow anyway.  I should be able to get 80 grand if that is true.  I will definitely be looking into that on Monday, that's a sit-at-home-and-peruse-bank-sites-on-the-internet type of thing.  

James, Taylor and the boys are on their way up to Missouri for a 4 day visit to see family up there. The grandma just died and they are going to give emotional support. They just left maybe an hour and a few ago, they still have quite a ways to go.  

Dogs will be staying home. Maria offered to watch them, but over at her place. Discussing it with Taylor, we both agreed we'd rather have the dogs at home, protecting the property and giving some verbal warning to any wannabe thieves.  Addler is not a wimp, I can tell ya that, but when it comes to that back yard, none of those dogs are shy about giving notice that they are there and don't even think about coming back here.  I have a camera back there as well and it has a microphone.  

Finally? I really don't feel that well and going to work today is going to be a drag to say the least.  But, if it gets really bad, the most I have to do is get up to the plant, drop and hook and then just go find a place to park.  It doesn't matter as far as the company is concerned, they just want the trailer back tomorrow.  Speaking of that, one of the other drivers posted a pic from that plant's entrance last night. Another truck from another company had quite well misjudged the entrance and pulled the trailer into a ditch.  The pic was replete with 2 tow trucks in the scene and standing there assessing the situation.  

No, it's not funny, but that entrance is huge.  I know it was night time but we all pull in there at night. Just swing wide and you'll miss that ditch - by far.  It's not even close.  You see pics of this type of thing on the internet all the time. It's a wonder to me, your mirrors don't lie, they show you where you're at in the turn.  I hope I never make that kind of mistake, is all I can say.  

With that, I think I will leave even earlier than I originally planned, go get some breakfast, drive by the property- I do that a lot lol and looking to see if they installed that pole yet.  And just to keep the property in the forefront of my mind.  I also need to go over there and get some good pics of the trees and stuff and see what the site developer thinks. Not today, tho. Maybe Monday. 

G'day

 I knew nothing about refinance cash out until today.  I only knew about HELOCs.  A Helco is a second mortgage, a cashout is refinancing the house plus getting whatever they will give you for the value of your home beyond what you owe on it.  It's basically starting from the beginning on paying for your house.  

————————

In the automatic and forgot my keyboard. Just a quick statement. Facebook suspended my account again. For 30 days. They didn’t have the alleged offending statement available so I had no clue what they were even referring to. 

Fast forward several hours. Facebook didn’t even give an option to have it reviewed,  but they ended up reviewing it anyway. They then said that my comment did not violate Facebook standards so the comment was put back up. 

What comment? Where? So they took the suspension off of that but then decided to suspend me for 30 days for “offenses” going back a full year that I have already been suspended for. 

Yes, you read that correctly. They are suspending my account twice for offenses I have already been banned for!

Unbelievable. 

I am beginning to despise Facebook. 

No long entry tonight, don’t have my keyboard and don’t feel like writing anything out on iPhone keypad. But, my new site is up. It’s just a single page. Says coming soon! And the name of my park. 

This guy is an expert at what he does and his prices are quite reasonable. It will take a few months for my park name to actually come up in any searches without having to dig for it. So it’s good to get it going now. 

I’m going to take some pics of areas of the property that will make it look very nice. Just tree pics. I’ll send him a few dozen different pics and see if he likes any of it. 

Well enough. I’ve got a deep chest cold thanks to the 4 year old. Won’t come down on him too hard but he wouldn’t stop coughing everywhere and not covering his mouth. Not feeling too great and just got into Brownsville. Just gonna go to sleep and hopefully get some good rest. 

G’nite. 

 Of course, the company shorted me a great deal of break down pay.  My tour sheet that lists all of that was quite well detailed.  They send out settlement sheets that show a break down of what's being paid where.  So, I immediately contacted my manager, sent him all the info and a copy of the tour sheet and informed him that I am not interested in a repeat of getting shorted such as what occurred that night several months ago where the airbag on the trailer broke and they refused to pay me for it.

I will await his action on it and see if he can get this taken care of.  If not, I informed him I would be talking to the powers that be directly about this situation, as I am not going to be sit around dealing with getting their ancient equipment fixed - some of the trailers we have are 30 plus years old - and think that I should just be doing it for free.  I'm actually to the point that I would consider getting a lawyer and suing the company for failure to pay worked hours - however that would work out.  

This stuff irks me. Any time I have a break down after that incident, I wonder whether I'm going to get paid.  If they screw me again, the next time it breaks down I will contact my manager and tell them to send someone up to tend to the truck or trailer for free, as I will be refusing to do so.  I won't call the break down number, I won't do anything but tell them to deal with it.  Or give me in writing a guarantee before I do anything, that I am going to get paid for every single minute that I'm dealing with it - whether on or off duty. This isn't my policy, I didn't make this up, this is their policy and there is no valid reason not to honor.  I'll give my manager a chance to see if he can get this changed without all the - friction that will likely ensue if this company refuses to pay up.  

Telephone pole still not in, never received a return call from the power company about an estimated install time.  I'm not going to call again for at least another week. Just let it ride, I don't have to have this right away.  I need it in - somewhat soon - but not right now.  You do it now because you find out it can be up to 2 months before they actually show up to do the install.

I did talk to the website designer at length on the phone.  He doesn't just do web design, he engages in getting google traffic steered towards your website.  He knows how to manipulate the algorithms that determine whose sites show up at the top of the searches.  This guy has been involved in helping businesses grow for 27 years, he definitely has a grasp on what he's doing, I think I found a winner on that level. What we are going to do is have up a prototype stie that won't really have any info on it, but it will be on Google. It apparently helps to have it up months in advance to get the ratings up. 

Well, hurry up and wait.  Just can only give friendly reminders that I am still here, still needing all kinds of work done, please don't forget.  

It will get done sooner or later.

Brownsville run tomorrow - in the automatic truck.  It is a better driving truck than the previous automatics I have driven.  I'm not in love with the thing but it's tolerable.  My truck is currently being repaired, I'm hopeful the thing is done by the time I get back from this next trip and go up and get it.  Even the drive back from the hotel and repair facility - they switched it to hourly instead of mileage, losing another $70 or $80.  I was shorted around $400.   

Today, i found out from an old associate from Ferguson that the manager there had been fired. This is the guy they enlisted from a purchasing position - where he was alone in a building and not interacting with anyone excepting on the phone because he can't deal with people without getting angry.  His immediate first actions as new manager was to get lividly angry and shout at the top of his lungs at everyone.  And so on and so forth - of which I eventually turned in as well as another for abusing employees. The "investigation" turned out that "no one else can corroborate your story".  And I said at the time, of course not, they are afraid of him and losing their jobs.  

Why was he fired?  Because he not only threatened to beat an employee's ass, he actually went to the guy's house!  Some level of vindication is felt at this point in time. The guy has anger issues, everyone working around him knows that, but people are afraid of losing their jobs so they won't rock the boat.  

Well enough.  I have stuff to do.  It's already late afternoon, dinner to be made and other stuff I need to get done before I go to bed to get up early for loading tomorrow morning.  

 This dude with the construction company was wanting plans, so I made plans and sent them to him.  My version of plans, not some engineer that wants 2 grand and way up from there to do it.  I don't  need plans for a loan since I'm not going that route - yet -  I therefore don't need professional plans - at the moment anyway - and balk at the idea of giving that much money for something so simple.  This layout, especially for only 14 sites, is not that complicated.  

But I get the need for seeing the dimensions of everything in linear feet to be able to give an accurate quote.  I put that together while waiting at the loading rack this morning.  

The dude didn't even reply when I sent it.  I also sent it to the dude that set up the water install. He didn't reply either, but he typically doesn't right off lol.  I'm not sure he even does text messaging.  

When I get home tomorrow, I'll try again on a larger sheet of paper - much larger - and try to get the nuances more visible and easy to understand. 

Im sitting at a cheap hotel in Paris, Texas.  I am in yet another truck, this time an automatic transmission - hate those things.  Anyway, I completely forgot to get my second set of truck bedding this morning. I have 2 sets in case of - stuff just like this. I mean, they did clean out this truck, I'll give them credit for that, but they did not replace the mattress and I am definitely not sleeping on a mattress with no sheets or blanket. Not in something that has probably been slept in by a dozen different people - or more - and who knows what they are all about.  

It's standard to throw away old mattresses and start with new when you get a used truck into a yard.  Apparently they missed that memo.  I was going to stay at a nicer hotel, but the truck parking was all filled up and I couldn't find another place to park.  Not without blocking cars in and such.  I drove across the street to this place. It's not bad, actually, a bit of road noise but that should die down the later it gets.  It's almost midnight.  I figure to get 6 hours of sleep hopefully before the noise starts up again in the morning.  

The AC in here doesn't have continuous fan like most hotels.  That noise helps me sleep.  

Well, I didn't realize I had blown an hour and a half until I just looked at the clock. I got here around 10:30.

Think it's time to get to sleep. 

 As I bumble my way through this RV park mess, I decided to take another, fresh look at the the RV parks in the area.  Refresh my memory, it's been quite a while since I looked and I do remember looking at them gave me inspiration. Not only to have as much of everything they all have, but then some. 

One thing the whole lot of them is lacking is a swimming pool.  I could not find one in any site, even the more "luxury" parks didn't have one.  Some of them have small lakes - something I have plenty of room for in the back of my property, tho I think I'm just going to start with a large fishing pond.  Something like 50 to 100 feet in diameter, so to speak, but I don't want a perfectly round pond. That doesn't look natural and I will be looking at pics of ponds all over the place to see what I want to have dug out - if/when I get there.

Well, not if I get there, it's a necessary part of the operation.  The drawback is the pond will have to be in the rear of the property, people will have to walk a fair distance to get to it from the park area.  I don't know if that's going to cause problems.  From the rear of the RV park it will still be another 700 feet off, the rear of the park will be around 1,350 from the street.....

Still, quite intriguing there are no pools. In fact, there is only one public pool in the entire town.  Some of the hotels have pools tho.  The reason I want a pool wasn't because no one else had one, I wasn't really sure about that until I started looking, but because it gets hot in northeast Texas in the summer and I can't really see a way to get people to want to come without some activity outside of the RV that isn't going to have people dripping with sweat.  You have to give them something to do, that's all I'm saying.

A pool is definitely not in the cards from the get go unless I can get financed for one.  

One of the supposedly better parks in the area had a giant gravel area for the rv's to park in.  There were spaces, I guess, but no grass, no picnic tables, no fire rings, just dirt and gravel.  It had a man made lake. It has a huge laundromat.  I can't compete with that right off the bat but I can put a few machines in.  Other than that, there is a large laundromat about 2-1/2 miles up the road.  I just thought that park, touting itself as the best around, had a long ways to go to make them competitive.  Maybe with the other parks in the immediate area it's better.....everything I plan on doing right at the start will make my park better than that place in many ways and when I eventually get done with upgrades, it will hopefully resemble an RV resort without the RV resort nightly stay prices.  

My intended nightly price is within the parameters of anything around my area.  Low priced, but I think the reason it's that way is because these parks have been around forever yet apparently aren't interested in upgrading to appeal to a much larger audience.  Much of the parks I am looking at here are nothing more than over night parking lots, to put it simply.  

It just reminded me that I'm  on the right track, I think anyway.  I'm going to have to find these parks on satellite and see if I'm missing something. One of them lists nature trails, but it didn't look like much.  I'm going to spend a couple thousand more in getting the trails I have done leveled and completely cleared and finishing up the rest of it.  The websites were pretty spartan as well. One of them had a - half-assed - description of their park and the rest had much of nothing. Probably because they have much of nothing to offer. I can only surmise they are either content with just people traveling through the area staying a night or - probably a lot of it - people living in those parks.  

Monthly rental rates that I saw are highly unappealing to me.  Not much money in that.  That's the old model - cram them in as small an area as possible, give them the basic amenities and call it good. 

I may not know as much about how to go about getting everything done as I would like to - but I do know what I want in terms of the end product.  That's the key. Old school, old model business platform.  People stay at them because there aren't a lot of other options in some or even many places.  Large corporations are getting into the RV business, building giant parks with water parks and all kinds of amenities that I can't compete with.

But not everyone wants to stay at mega parks.  Fortunately.

My first attempt at drawing a plan was a resounding failure.  I made everything too big on the paper and I couldn't show the entire park on it, just the spaces I need to put in at first.  That simply won't work.  The drawing has to show both driveways going clear to the back with a turn around back there - even if it's just cleared to begin with.  These people are pushing to clear the entire 7 acres, which is okay if it doesn't cost a fortune.  But to do that, I have to give them my proposed setup.  

I decided where to put everything - whether it at the beginning or future project - so I have to start all over and try again.  And again and again until I get it right.  

Well enough of this.  I have work tomorrow in a truck that I have no knowledge of it's condition.  I will show up early and see what I'm getting myself into.  Still irked about that driver telling lies so he could get his own way. I don't care about that truck, I do care that a person is attempting to taint another person's image for no particularly good reason.  

At least I corrected that nonsense with the people he was telling it to.  Rigidity and unwillingness to adapt doesn't work well with this particular company.  Being branded such a person - doesn't get that person very far.  

With that, g'nite.  

So the new dispatcher calls me today and we get into a conversation that leads to her saying, Oh, well Joe tole Ryan that you wouldn't ever drive that truck, at all.

What.  Joe - he called me yesterday and he discussed he wanted the truck the were going to give to me while my truck is being fixed - Peterbilt hasn't even given my company a quote yet on the repair cost . 

He had been told what I had said to another driver beyond him about not wanting to drive that truck - caveat: until it's cleaned out and detailed. 

Joe heard what I said yesterday. The same thing was said several times over, I WILL drive that truck after they clean it out, for we went into the specifics of a cleaning lady that is used to clean trucks out.  I said in no uncertain terms, several times over, the fact that I would drive the truck AFTER it's cleaned.

JOE flat out LIED to the company about MY desires and that s*** pissed me off.  I said to Amanda - my new dispatcher - that I never said any such thing and considering how much the conversation was hashed out, I had to conclude that that driver was lying about what I said.

It makes me look bad if I absolutely refuse to drive a truck without ANY concessions about what it would take to change my mind.  I don't feel like I should have to drive someone else's trashed out truck.  The company has the onus to make sure it's cleaned out and yes, throw out the mattress and start fresh.  

Note that this other driver said the exact same thing, the truck needs to be cleaned out before I will drive it.

The reason he  lied about what I said became quite clear yesterday: He wanted that truck now and I shouldn't have it, he should get it right away.  I was polite to him about it but I am quite firm when it comes down to what dispatch is telling me.  He also lied about what he said dispatch told him.  

I'm not going to call Joe up about it, we don't talk on the phone often, but if he ever calls me again? I'm going to call him out on it and I'm going to tell him I do not wish discuss anything further with him - about ANYTHING. This is pretty much my status quo with drivers because this is what they do.  They twist and contort other people's words to not only make them look bad but also to help that driver in their cause, whatever that may be.

I don't talk to other drivers much on the phone, I can tell ya that.  I have ample experience with how this works.  

What my dispatcher told me was that Joe had told the lead mechanic that I had said that I would never drive that truck and of course word got out to everyone after that about it.  I texted the mechanic and informed him that that is not what I said and informed him of what I did say.  Didn't push it too far, just enough to come to the understanding that what he said and what is truth are two separate things.

This stuff irritates me to say the least.  It's not just that he got his way, I don't care about that at all. Let these people be petty, it comes back to bite them in the @$$ down the road.  

Onto other things. 

The 4 year old came down with something. Whatever it is, he has a 102 fever.  Hacking/coughing away, he's a miserable little boy right now.  He decided he wanted to sleep in my bed lol, with Cartoon Network on, I couldn't just tell the little soul no so I let him.  It's early, Mama just gave him a cocktail of stuff to bring the fever down.  

Am I afraid of getting sick? Well, when these boys get sick, it's pretty much a granted the whole house is going to get sick right along with them.  Hence, we've all had Covid.  There is other stuff floating around there besides Covid, people, there are other illnesses that cause incessant coughing and fever, just saying.

Anyway, I do have work tomorrow. Another truck opened up - same deal tho I didn't say anything, they are having it detailed. Should be done by now, actually.  It's an Oklahoma run, if the thing is nasty I will only have to tolerate it for a day or overnight at best.  And, if it IS nasty in the sleeper, I will get a hotel and send the bill to the company. I'm not attempting to sleep in some nasty, gross, smelly sleeper. Been there, done that, won't do it again.  

Property.  The dude that said they can do everything? Finally responded. "Can you send a drawing of how you want it done"?  Oh? You've been waiting this long for that?  Never asked for it, apparently their electrician wants it.  Fine, I will do my version of drawing it out I just have to wonder why they would wait until I had to call them to give me that information. Tells me they aren't in need of the work and tho I will send them whatever I come up with, I will also wait until the other contractors can come out and give me their quotes as well. 

There is no point in getting into a hurry to do something that might have a better price or even a better price and better results.

I called the power company and the guy called me back later. He said he would give me a date of their intended installation when he gets back to his office. It's almost 5:00 pm, I'm assuming I won't be getting that call today.  It's just being persistent I guess, I'm a real customer with cash, please get back to me.  

So, will I spend the rest of today drawing up the plan? Yes, I think I will.  I have this thing mapped out in my mind, included distances in linear feet, I can put something together that will show them exactly what I want to do.  It is pretty simple stuff - but it's in my mind and I understand they aren't mind readers, they want to see exactly what I intend on doing, I will do my best to make something that they can easily understand without having a lot of questions.  

Whatever I need to do to get this thing rolling, I will do it.  

Well whatever.  I need to finish making dinner, get my stuff ready for the morning and some other stuff that needs doing around here.

G'day. 

 It is finished. After getting the car from the airport, I went back to the hotel, spent the night, got up - earlyish - and then headed out.  A normally around $500 trip turned into around $1,400 with 3 vehicles of driving and a lot of hourly breakdown pay.  I'm sure I'll have to fight and claw for all of that pay, it's a huge mix of different vehicles and times listed for breakdown pay plus normal pay;  Tho, on the last breakdown trip, my manager did his due diligence and I received all of it without any problems.  

I did drive by the property in the hopes of possibly seeing a brand new telephone pole installed - but not yet.  Monday I will be calling several places about an update on getting bids or doing work.  

Oh, and I checked the truck that they were allegedly going to have detailed - not done.  They have a lady that comes to the yard and does it, with accolades and high praise for her work.  I won't drive that truck without it getting cleaned out first.  If they demand I do, it will be with the caveat that I am not sleeping in it and short trips. I'm back now, my truck will likely sit up in Tulsa for at least a week if not longer.  That's just the way it works. 

Now, with leaving early the other day. Remember the dispatcher called me and had me racing out of here to try and get to the plant on time for the earlier load time?  Yup, I forgot to both make my bed and put objects on it to keep the dogs from getting on it. So, my bedding was disgustingly filthy. Already in the washing machine, thanks.  

So,; I assume (possibly wrongfully so, I'll find out soon enough) I have tomorrow off.  I'd really like to get out there and start marking trees I don't want taken down in any land clearing endeavor.  I'm hoping land clearing is coming soon, within  the next few weeks anyway, but the price has to be right.  Ididn't originally earmark a lot of money for land clearing, but as with most other things about this proposition, my thinking has evolved.  I would like this operation up and running for the Spring season.  That means we gotta get busy and get those contractors installing everything.  

Which also got me to thinking about the bath house. As the old saying goes, One Chance To Make A First Impression.  People want that thing and they want it from the get go. Excuses don't wash.  And the consequences could very well be negative reviews all over the internet - no bathhouse, 2 star property, blah blah blah.  You know, those reviews never go away unless the author retracts them - which I doubt hardly ever happens.

So, if my business got negative reviews for that from the start, they are going to stay there and even if I have a big banner saying "BATHHOUSE IS NOW HERE!!" .....it's not going to change those reviews and probably the first thing a lot of full time RV'ers look at and get no further.  So, I really have to make it happen, the bathhouse that is.  A swimming pool can wait, it's not a necessity such as a bath house.  A pond? Not really, it's part of the appeal. The walking trails? No, not that either. Muist be completely.  And a doggy park.  

So, I have new resolve to figure out  how to make these things happen on limited funding and get it done before any grand opening occurs.  I figure 10 grand minimum probably more like 15 to 20 for a decent bath house.  Yup, I changed my mind again but with a good reason to do so.  I will find the financing, some how, some way. If it's a loan, so beit.  To that end I'm going to start contacting construction companies on giving me a price for one. 

Well actually, I need to find some plans for one if they're on the net somewhere and see what designs are already drawn up that can be purchased.  I need to get some idea of how much it will cost.  I will wait until the land is cleared and the utilities installed before I make any decisions on what to build and where to build it.  Somewhere along the row where the pull throughs will be. 

I'm truly not trying to come off wishy washy changing my mind about things - several things so far - but I am learning as I go and I would rather eat the humble pie now. Yes that was a bad idea, but no harm done for nothing has been done yet type of thing.  

I'd actually like to go to the property today and take the dogs for a nice walk. Absolutely gorgeous day out there, but I think I will hang out with people and maybe go over tomorrow with doggies. And maybe try to decide where to put the doggy park.  I'm thinking bath house on one side of the main drive way and doggy park on the other.  

A lot of this stuff will be easier to envision, tho, when the land is cleared and I can walk along and get a better picture in my mind how it should all go. And deciding where a swimming pool will eventually go. There is no point in putting in lots where you intend on building in the future.  But, the first 7 lots on each side will have no bearing on that so not a huge concern right off the bat.  Yup, the next obstacle right now is just getting the land cleared.  

Well, it's not really an obstacle, more like the next step.  Just its in the way of my making several other decisions and I'd like to get it done.....

Well, it's Saturday afternoon and I'm just going to relax - besides doing some laundry lol.

G'day.