Oklahoma run behind me- like returned at 9:00 am yesterday. 

So I had a full day off in between runs and out to West Virginia tomorrow. Tho this new manager has me loading at 12:00 pm.  That's way too late for that run.  9:00 am at the latest.  There is far too much driving and they want the product there the second day, not the second night.  But I said nothing.  This dude will figure it out - when the plant complains the product isn't there when they want it.  And he calls me or whoever down the line whenever it finally becomes an issue. I'll tell him straight up, but only if he asks. I'm not into getting into these people's bad side/under their skin.

They can make your life miserable with bad runs.  And trust me, they do it.  Some worse than others, but they do it. 

So, I'll be driving til' midnight at the earliest tomorrow night, probably more like 1: 00 am or later.  To get the minimum miles in for each day (by my standards, not necessarily the company's, I go well beyond what they think you should do in a day and since we're paid by the mile, getting it done faster isn't a bad thing).  I'm not patting myself on the back, I'm just driven to get the trip done and go home.  I'm afraid this trip will tip into 4 days because of the issue of starting too late in the day. 

Whatever the case, today was spent at home. I didn't go anywhere.  Not because of isolation and quarantine, but because I didn't want to go anywhere.  I've decided to start back on Keto tomorrow - after quite a while being off of it. I gained back 15 pounds and quite the gut to go along with it. Growing out of the 34 waist size, enough.  I have enough keto friendly food to take with me I'll never have to shadow the door frames of any truck stop venue.  In fact, I found a recipe today that was really quite awesome!  It's something I'd eat Keto or not.  James loved it too - Taylor not so much because of the red onions that are in it.  Onions are not her thing - but when I'm making  a dish calling for onions, I chop them up til they're in minced condition and then cook them down.  She doesn't notice it in there and you get the flavor.    Yup, I tell her there are onions in it, the dish I made today? was road food, just had them take a taste of it. 

The lady that was in the hospital for a month is home - and apparently complaining about whatever.  I'm sorry, but Maria makes this deal too difficult. She doesn't have anywhere to go, but she complains about everything when it comes to other tenants.  It's with great reluctance that she gets other renters in there. I'm not paying $900 a month for her living situation.  That's what it would cost me without 2 more renters in there, no thanks.  She also gets far too dramatic when things  start to go south, such as the house falling out from under us and the owner wanting to give it to a family member.  The lease is up, the only footing I had to extend it was the coronavirus.  This man is a Catholic Priest, I called him out on that, having to find a place to live under such extreme circumstances. 

Yeah, I went there.  If I consider myself a person that loves the Lord - and moreover, following His edicts  - not claiming to be a perfect person by any stretch of the imagination - but if so, and following the Word, how much more so a person that claims to be a "man of the cloth" and standing in the position of a man of God? Yes, I take issue with that.  I'm glad there's 3 months now to figure this all out - after my interaction with them, the owner and his brother - because this town has very little in the way of rentals right now and they are either cheap - shit holes - or very expensive. 

Anyway, Maria - I've given her more direct statements recently.  Learn to live with other people.  Deal with it. I've done it for decades. Not years, decades. Everyone has their quirks.  Don't get freaking bitchy about it, talk to them if it's really bad.  But nagging on them, crowding them, bitching at them, that's not going to work and I can tell ya, if she keeps that up? I'm going to bow out of this situation.  No one ever  said life was going to be easy.  I mean, she could find a job - an at-home job if necessary. She could  be doing something. She has had mini-strokes, but she is quite capable of moving around and cleaning house and such.  She's not in a wheelchair, she's not an invalid.  She is not helping herself and I'm growing weary of it.

I guess I'm venting but this situation over there is really starting to get to me.  My house in Phoenix? They deal with it.  They don't call me every day cranking about some renter. Sometimes they tell me about a renter with serious issues - but they've either already gotten rid of them or getting them out of there. But - they know that everyone else? Gonna have some things they may not like. Tough, be happy you're not on the streets, live with it.  Or go live on the streets! Whatever makes you happy!

Mark - dude at the house in Phoenix- good guy.  The lady, however, well not saying she's a bad person but she's done some stuff that really got me going. 

As much as I had wanted to spend it,  I'm hanging onto stimulus money and everything else I'm getting right now.  Greed? no.  Spending? Well if you can tell me when these governors are going to lift all of these restrictions and get our economy back up, let me know.  Americans are rising up against this nonsense at least.  Sick people? Stay home. People that are vulnerable? Same thing. The rest of us? Go back to work. How many of these small businesses that are shuttered by government decree are going to go down permanently because of it?  Open up the restaurants, the bars, the "non-essential" businesses. We're not going to recover from this if we keep this going on. 

A nice day hanging out with family, regardless of what is going on. 

I don't want to dig into the new manager too much right off the bat - but...

Today, stopping at a Rest Area near Victoria, Texas, I took my 30 minute break. Got up, went to the back of the trailer, took pressure and fill reading and then inspected the trailer itself.  Took 2 seconds to see a flat tire.  Gag.

So, I call the tire hotline, they get a truck set up to come out.  I then tell the new manager about the ordeal, letting him know I wasn't sure if I would make it to Brownsville today or not - just depends on how long they take to get to the rest area and replace the tires.  I ordered 2. The tire beside the blown tire was bald on one section of the tire, something I had missed in my pretrip inspection.

I"m not perfect, lol.  That portion of the tire was probably on the ground and not view-able at the time, for I inspect the tread as well. I don't run bald tires.  It's dangerous, it usually leads to a blowout and it always costs time.  The reason you want excellent tires on that trailer is because of the product you are hauling.  It doesn't play well with fire.  A blown tire can catch on fire if it's driven down the road long enough, I've seen it too many times.  In fact, I've seen entire trailers burned down because of it.  Yea, we aren't going there. 

I then asked the manager who was already down in Brownsville and were there any other trucks coming down today?  "I don't know yet".  Huh? How do you not know who is waiting in Brownsville? I started thinking. And more to the point, how in the heck do you not know who is going where today?  I said nothing of the sort to him, probably not a good idea to start trouble with a new manager, who knows what he might do.  So I texted Clarice, see if she knew.  I haven't been doing dispatch for you guys for over a week now, you need to ask  your manager.  Oh, I replied, well I asked him and he didn't know.

LOL! she replied and geeze after that.  She's worried about her job.  Now that she isn't doing ethylene, she isn't doing much. Her division has been very slow. Whatever the case, the tire guy showed up, took a bunch of pics of the tires - they have to do that to prove that the tires actually needed replaced.  The one that blew out? It was on the inside.  That side of the tire, of which you cannot see unless you get down in the dirt and crawl up under there, was dry rotted. It just caved to the tire pressure. 

Well, after that a driver in Brownsville called me and told me Ricky had just left and he was still waiting on another trailer - and how much he'd love to stay another night. Well I ain't giving up an empty, I had to do that last time with that driver that was sleeping all day long and didn't leave when she was supposed to. No idea  what became of that.  Well I know she isn't getting the second day of detention pay - she didn't deserve it, it wasn't hers to get. 

I finally made it down here almost 3 hours later than I should have.  So I'm going to get an overnight detention pay at least.

Meanwhile, one of the tenants at the other house texted me today - Hi Ben, I'm moving out next week.

Lovely. 

Just, awesome! One more headache to deal with in that situation on top of the already present problem of having to find a new place.  Maria is, at least, trying to find another place.  She texted me a link to a 2 story house type thing, but split up into 3 apartments.  They wanted 7k plus for the entire property, including 2 alleged rental units in the back.  The pics, however, told the story. Bad roof, no AC, caved in ceilings - because of the bad roof. House a total disaster. It's completely worthless.  Sorry, I thought, I ain't getting into that disaster.  Wouldn't be shocking if the place is condemned by the city. 

Maria literally has no place to go. If she loses that place, which she is cause' the owner isn't going to budge on it, I tried, she's homeless. See I can't do that to people. I don't want to spend ALL of my money helping people but at the same time, I can't just see people ending up without a place to live that I could have helped and more importantly to me, the Lord would say I should have helped since I had the wherewithal to do so.

I'm far more concerned with eternity than what my little earthly existence eeks out here.

Whatever the case, I am completely stuffed. And I didn't eat that much. Last night's dinner.  WE ate last night feeling like stuffed turkeys, it was tri tips on mashed potatoes.  The stuff filled us up.  I just ate another medium sized serving of it, feels like I've been eating for hours.

Time to kick back and let this stuff digest. 

New manager = fail right off the bat.

Told me 2 days ago I was going to be sent out - today.  He said he would text me later that day or yesterday morning with the run.

It never happened. Around 6 pm yesterday, I texted him.  Cause' I don't want to find out today - Monday - that I'm going somewhere and he forget to tell me. That's a good way to mess up an entire day. 

Next thing I see is a text with the run sheet on it.  Then the claim he had sent it the day before but it didn't "send for some reason".  Whatever.  Other managers would insist on a text back to make sure it went through. 

And of course it's the first run. I dunno how I got into this funk of having to get up at 4:00 am - at the latest - to get to work to get to the plant in time. And then, the plant - that insists on the first load truck to be there at 6:15 am - doesn't do anything until around a half hour later.  So, you get on the 14 hour clock that runs regardless of what you're doing, including waiting at the plant, and getting wasted.  But if you don't show up  on time, they complain? 

One driver yesterday was extremely unhappy after seeing a text from him going to the group.  Someone else texted back $$$$$  He then texted a pic of an alarm clock. Exactly. The money waiting is minimal, the need to get out of that plant and get on the road is far greater. 

Well I'm going down to Brownsville today, so I like the run at least. 

I've had the whole weekend off as well.  But, you know, trying to go to bed at 8:00 pm just doesn't work for me. I'll wake up at 11 or 12 and lay there awake. 

Well enough of that.  I think this virus stuff is starting to affect everyone's psyche.  I still can't believe the police in this little town are pulling people over asking them what they're doing.  They'll be examining and studying this government over-reach of power during this time for decades to come.  How historians will look back on this situation and the endless decrees various levels of government will be of great interest to me.

Then again, I fully suspect that some of this will end up in the Supreme court anyway. What gives the government the right to just say - shut down your businesses, close the doors and send your workers home?  Lots of reports of people going broke, not being able to make their mortgage/rent payments.  Talk about stressing out?!!

This little town and the surrounding county is up to 45 cases and one death.  It goes up - slightly but it's going up - every single day. 

What about China? It's now a fact that withheld information about this virus from the beginning and didn't tell anyone about the seriousness of the nature of this virus.  Should they pay?  How do you just get away with messing up the entire world?  The theory that it was developed in a laboratory is continuing on and getting more press. 

But to tell you the truth? I"m so sick of seeing 24 hour a day coverage of it, I am hardly watching any of it.  Just enough to see what's new - which is usually nothing besides governors engaging in outrageous abuses of power - and understand where we're at with this.

Other than that, I am watching movies and shows.

And with that, I'm out of here. 

Glad to be home frankly. Yes I could be sitting in Brownsville collecting detention pay, but yet I like going home too. I've put in a heavy week driving wise, starting with that run to Ohio.  They wanted to send me again, I didn't say no thanks - I won't turn down any load - but I did say I was almost out of hours.  I would have had to have done a 34 hour reset on the road.  Which isn't the end of the world, they still give you a hotel to do that.  But as described by the new manager yesterday, the whole company is on "lock-down". 

Meaning profits from other divisions are not happening, especially the fuel hauling division.  That's a no-brainer.  No one is driving anywhere besides trucks and even trucks are getting sidelined as the economy shuts down.  Brokers - these are the people that up loads on the load boards for owner operators to see and potentially take one - are reducing their rates.  To the point lots of OO's are staying home. I've been reading that all over the internet. They won't take "cheap freight" is what they like to call it and would rather stay home and do nothing than running down the road not hardly making any money.  I can't blame them, but then again, I'm not an OO and I don't know how much money these people have saved up for the rainy day situation.

Our fuels division is the largest division in the company. What I haul is probably the smallest.  But highly profitable. And so far, nothing has slowed down that I can see.  Except they are sending drivers from other divisions to haul loads.  When they bring too many of them, we are going to be back to sitting around 3 and 4 days at a time.  I can understand trying to help other drivers who are sitting idled, but in my view, it would be better to lay them off and let them get the stimulus unemployment money. 

Anyway, the company on lock down means they may take further Profits and shareholders always take precedence in most any company over the employees needs.  Hotels are a thing of the past. What I really don't like when a company starts making excuses to take away the perks is that it usually becomes the new-normal. The economy could come roaring back and they would likely still keep the perks in check.  When you lose perks in a good economy, that is when the idea of "corporate greed" comes creeping in. 

I'm seriously ready to go sit down at a restaurant and have a nice meal.  I can tell you that it wouldn't be any different than all of those people cramming into Walmarts, Lowes and grocery stores.  In fact, it would be quite easy to have social distancing in a restaurant. They' have to take out some tables and space them further apart, but it's better than being shut down.  If there's one industry that is greatly suffering, it's definitely the restaurant and bar business.  If you  believe the economy isn't going to descend to unrecoverable depths if this shut down is kept too long, I can't help you.  Small business is the backbone of america. The stimulus loans for small business is already gone. I knew that would happen.  And if enough of these small businesses shut down permanently, there are going to be a lot of people out of work. Remember, small business employs 2/3rd's the working force in America.

Anyway, it's Saturday morning. I have no grand plans today.  I'll start looking for a new house, I guess, for the ladies.  The stuff available right now is small and over  priced.  Well, just looking. I really don't know what to do with this situation. I'd actually like it to go away and not have to deal with it, but what amounts to throwing people out onto the streets wouldn't sit well with me either.  Basically, tho, to be able to pay for what's available right now would mean having to raise their rent.  They can't afford that. Something will have to shake out here, somehow.  I don't know how, but I trust the Lord that something will open up.  It'd be great if I could just get the property I want, with a house on it and get a trailer or something decent for Maria to live in.  lt would be a win-win for everyone.  Maria has a place to stay, could help with the kids whenever they are having to stay home, she wouldn't have to worry about eating and could just join us for meals.  That would cut her expenses quite a lot.  Seems like a pipe dream tho to get into decent land with a decent house on it right now.

And it probably isn't a good time to be considering such things with a tanking economy. My income is not guaranteed, no one's is right now.  People aren't spending money and it's reflecting upon the numbers. 

It's probably a better time to increase the "prepper" stance of buying enough food to last months, a generator and enough gasoline or propane depending on which style to get to last a while.  I've been wanting to get a generator for quite a while anyway - the storms come, the power goes out. There's a thousand dollars worth of food in the freezers. That's a conservative estimate.  I also want to buy another 40 or 50 cans of food and more dried goods.  The pantry is getting full, but we could make more room. Probably a good time to buy some more ammo if there's any available anywhere. 

A generator tho. That is high on my list of priorities at this point.  And enough extension cords to reach the things that need to be reached with the electricity.  Namely, 2 freezers, a refrigerator and yes, folks, my room. Lmao, because my AC will work at least even if the rest of the house has no cooling.  I have a couch, everyone could come in here. 

Well, enough. 

So I drove down to Brownsville yesterday - it was the first load so I got there earlier than normal, around 7:30  But, I stopped at the truckstop first to fuel up and see if there were any drivers ahead of me to get a trailer - drivers tend to go to the Love's to hang out for the night. Not a problem, I do that too if there aren't any trailers in the yard. I can get a shower in the morning and free coffee.  There weren't any.

At the yard - down there that is - I was looking for any of our drivers there.  I scoured the yard, it's not that big. I did that because there was an empty there.  I love the detention pay, but if there's an empty, I'm hooking up to it that night and ready to go in the morning.  No tractors in the yard, I dropped the loaded trailer and hooked up to the empty - doing a full pre-trip. These trailers go down into the interior of Mexico, stuff happens to them.  Everything was good tho. I got up at 4:45 am, got myself together, did another pre trip inspection - I just do that by habit, stuff can go wrong. Even overnight, I freshly dropped trailer might have had a nail or something in a tire and the tire go flat overnight. 

Nothing wrong with it, everything good, did my paperwork and left. 

I have to add here that I didn't sleep that well.  And the night before I didn't sleep well either.  So I was driving on 2 days worth of not sleeping well. I only made it 247 miles before I decided that that Rest Area north of Victoria, TX? I was going to stop and take my 30 minute break and snooze a bit.  I fell fast asleep, woke up 20 minutes later feeling much better.  When you have to start doing - weird - stuff to stay awake, it's time to pull over and sleep a bit. A 20 minute nap almost always does it for me. 

Much later on, I got to the yard - the rest of the trip was uneventful.  The new manager was there, we talked about. But I was taken by surprise by the statement about Marie - the only lady driver in our division.  What was the deal with E007?  Huh?  I replied.  That was the number of the trailer I pulled back up.  Well Marie was supposed to bring that back up.  Oh? Was Marie down there? I looked everywhere to make sure that there weren't other drivers, I explained, going through the truckstop and through the yard.  Yes, but he wasn't taking me to task, and already knew about Marie.  It took her a day and a half to get down there.  She should have been under that trailer long before I got there and out of there.

I was instantly disappointed that I missed out on easy detention pay that I would have gotten and freely spoke that to the man.  But not in a haughty or disparaging way. Just musing.

I texted the interim manager - Clarice - sorry I took that trailer in front of Marie,, I didn't know she was down there and I looked to make sure first.  Oh she should have been under that trailer and out of there long before you got there, she texted back.  Clarice has a tempter.  Try not to cross her.  In reality, Marie would have tried to get 2 days worth of detention pay out of that, that's cheating. And unethical.  Hell, it's stealing, to it's immoral. You are claiming you had to wait more hours than you actually had to to get the trailer. I dunno what, if anything they are going to do with her about that. I don't actually wish any ill will, except this has been going on since I started working there. 

Driving down there yesterday, I was going through a village/town/whatever called Mahl.  There is a truck stop there.  You come up a hill, go around a curve and then start heading back down the hill. 55 mph speed limit.  So there I was, going down that hill. I saw the truck at the exit ramp of the truck stop. It was just sitting there.  There was a car next to me - 4-lane highway.  I was maybe 150 feet from that exit and that truck decided it was going to pull out.

I'm fully loaded at 79,220 pounds. On a downhill. At 55 mph.  I thought I was going to die.  I knew the truck couldn't get slowed down that fast in that short amount of distance.  But miraculously, the car driving next to me slammed on it's brakes, the driver seeing what was going on, to get out of the way and let me over!  Not ALL drivers of cars are distracted or playing on their phones, thank God, because I can assure, I wouldn't be writing this post right now.  The driver of that truck? Blooming idiot, almost got us all killed.  I'm not going to lie, not proud of it, but I flew past him because he wasn't even moving by the time I got up to him, got over, got down the road and then, slowed down. First to get his company information and truck number and then? Yes, I did it.  I stuck my arm all the way out the window and gave the middle finger.  The Eagles were flying yesterday. 

I then found the company on Google an called them.

The news ain't over yet.  Mark called from Phoenix.  A crack head he let into the house - ok Mark didn't know it was a crack head, but mark was going off on that.  Yes, people have been laid off, after I asked, but they are applying for unemployment.  Ok, Keep asking them,  I can't afford to eat an entire month's worth of bills there. Well I can but it's a lot of money, if they are collecting state unemployment plus the $600 per week stimulus for unemployment, they can pay their rent. 

Then, the owner of the other house over here? Texted Maria, time to leave.  That's the short version and then I got involved.  The man called me, his brother who owns the home wants to let a family member move into the house.  So, we have to be out by the end of next month. WTH? You want us to move with this pandemic going on? Isn't your brother a Catholic priest?  What kind of godly person does that to anyone in the midst of something like this going on? Note that I did NOT say that I was throwing anyone out of my house - but if they can afford to pay, they need to! 

So this guy called his brother again. Yes, Ben, you can stay for 3 more months, but my brother already talked to his - whatever the relationship was, i don't remember - he already promised her that she could move into the house.  He's throwing out 3 people - well one is still in the hospital - but 3 people that are living on fixed incomes.  I dunno what to think about that.  Just don't. I wouldn't do it at my house, that's what I can say.  People already living there? Try to accommodate especially if they've been there awhile. 

I dunno. I try to help people. I don't think God is going to condemn me for doing that, especially in relevance to a large number of scriptures.  But it's such a headache sometimes.  Like, more than I want to deal with.  But I will trust Him that an answer will pop up in the next 3 months and this situation will be dealt with. 

There's more, actually, lol, but I"m tired. I've run my 70 hour clock almost out with all the driving I've been doing. And it's taken it's toll. Time to sleep. 

Can I tell you that I was actually happy to see an empty trailer in the yard down here in Brownsville when I pulled in here? Usually I want to see no empty trailers - it's worth a lot of money to wait - but this town is shut down to the Nth degree.  I have masks now - they are mandatory in this town anywhere you go - but still, a lot of restaurants are completely shut down, everything is at a virtual stand still. 

I'd just as soon get under an empty and go home.   There  is another driver coming down here today as well - whoever that is is going to have to wait.  I got underneath this one so whoever that person is couldn't take it, I'm here, it's mine! lol. 

Meanwhile, the other house.  Not the one in Phoenix.  The brother of the man that owns the house texted Maria today saying that the 6 months is up.  The lease that is.  He apparently had misconstrued the desire for a 6 month lease with the desire to leave the house after that 6 months is up. I'll lay that one at the feet of Maria, I said no such thing and she is the one that mostly communicates with this guy.  So she started freaking out today, sending me screen shots of the conversation.  "Gus, do I need to go start looking for a new place to live?". 

Panic attack.  "I have nowhere to go if I have to leave here".  These are my projects in life.  Helping people. It comes with its risks and it comes with intervals of upheaval and having to deal with things I'd rather not have to deal with.  She got the extremely unadulterated hint, for example, that she is going to have to learn how to deal with living with other people if she wants that house situation to continue.  For I am not going to keep shelling out a bunch of money because people got into heated arguments and the new person leaves. 

Look, I don't always agree with my friends where I live. I bite my tongue almost always and just deal with it.  I love my living situation regardless of some things I'd like to see changed. It's not my house, they are free to do with it as they please. We all get along.  Very well, actually.  But we don't just get along, we like each other's company.  We hang out with each other.  I could easily go get my own rental place. Or for the cost of housing in that town, I could buy a second home.  But, I don't want to.  I'm not staying in that town because I like living in that town.  I am living there because I am with good company.  They are going through the midst of hell right now - well that has changed actually almost overnight.  But they are cool people. 

What changed? Childcare is free for 3 months.  Apparently a part of the stimulus.  That's a grand a month they don't have to pay.  They also got their stimulus check which was two adults and two children.  On the other hand, James employer is restructuring.  Getting rid of 3 plants or whatever and streamlining into one.  That meant that were going to lay off a lot more people and they were going to find out today.  Writing this post reminded me of that so I just texted him. He looked freaky last night. You could see the anxiety all over his face. 

Ahh, well he wrote back quickly:  I was told I was stuck there for now lol.  Okay!  haha

Meanwhile? The numbers of cases in our county of Coronavirus is going up.  Yup, it's not even 100 people -- yet.  But the curve is going way up, not flattening out or going down.  I'm not wishing this shit on anyone, but I knew from the beginning when they started reporting this crap over in China it would spread around the world. I said that when it started getting reported.  It's not going away. The government is controlling us far beyond any measure I have ever seen in my life time, at least in America.  Who gave them all this power? WE DID.

I have choice words for the government right now. Both state and Federal. They can kiss my @$$.  Little state governor devils handing out executive orders like pancakes and waffles at Waffle House. I am NOT opposed to social distancing or even wearing a mask, but damned if you are going to tell me not to go out on a blooming lake.  Or watch a freaking movie. They can DO social distancing at ALL of the venues we love.  Meanwhile, they are crowding the grocery and warehouse stores with people and they think nothing of it. WTH. This is where the disconnect comes in.  I can't go out on a lake with my boat - far from anyone, but you don't give a shit if I go into a store crammed full of people?

I drove on the Beltway in Houston today. I looked over at the Home Depot parking lot. The lot was literally FULL of cars.  Walmart and HEB the same exact thing. HEB is a grocery chain in the south.  What is the sense of all of this? 

I'm not exaggerating, btw. Those parking lots were FULL all the way out to the outer parking spaces. I'll snap a shot of it tomorrow if it can be seen from the other side of the beltway - cause' honey, I'm hooked to the trailer, I already inspected everything, my paperwork is filled out, the ELD junk is filled out, I'm ready to go.

But hey fam?  You want to take that boat out on the lake? Nahh bro, can't be doing THAT now can we?

Whatever. A lot of this doesn't make sense unless you want to invoke politics into it and then it starts making a lot of sense. 

Whatever the case, it's almost bedtime. I intend on getting up early and getting back earlier than normal. That's my intention, who knows what my brain will say in the morning.  Alarm goes off: Uhh, no, you don't have to get back that early, snooze a little longer! lmao

My stimulus money showed up in my bank account this morning.  A sizeable sum of money owed to me was also paid. And the lady renter that is in the hospital is paying up her rent.  And now a proposal to give every american over the age of 16 $2,000 per month for at least 6 months being floated.  Because we can just print money and make that happen!  These people in government making these decisions.

Isolate anyone that has the virus, keep the sick and elderly quarantined, put everyone else back to work.  I don't care if anyone doesn't like that idea, because, of course  - we're all going to die!  Well we're all going to die anyway.  I don't know when, but it's going to happen.  Our economy and our way of life is going to die right along with it if they keep everyone in their homes indefinitely.  Meaning, 6 months?  Naw, fam, we can't be shut down for 6 months.  Or go ahead, do it!  Let all those businesses die. All those small businesses - the back bone of our society - how many of those will go under?  Heck how many of them have already gone under?

Meanwhile. I haven't seen my next door neighbor in quite a while. He's the banker/cop.  Turns out he is still doing security work at the Sam's club a few towns over. First it was large numbers of people just walking out with goods that they didn't pay for.  Then, it was people attempting to buy more than limitations that most stores are putting on certain things.  After that - now - it's no more than 10 people in the store at a time.  Can you imagine? Sam's Club is a huge store.  10 people! Why even bother being open? Is there a crowd of people - close together - standing outside waiting to get in? I don't go to Sam's Club anymore, I haven't in a long time. Too easy to just spend way too much money in those places, the temptations to buy everything is too much. I just stay away.  One thing for certain, you aren't going to mess with that man. He works out - hours - every day.  Huge man, arms the size of most people thighs.

Whatever the case, we are taking it easy today. Taylor had a low grade fever last night that didn't last long and went away. So why she told work about it I have no clue, they told her to stay home.  I guess.  She is going into the docs today sometime. Are they going to give her the virus test? Who knows.  If she has it, I'm screwed and so is everyone else in the house.  Sit at home 14 days.  Or end up in a hospital.  Lol, whatever comes, comes.  I have no fever, I check every day now.  Why? Why not.  Doesn't cost anything, might as well.  I'm more concerned about the 2 little ones going to day care every day. That's where disease spreads like wildfire.

_________________

Friday morning.  Getting ready to head out to Brownsville. I now have ample masks to go into truckstops with - these masks stop the virus both ways, not just going out.  The reported cases in this area more than doubled.  Apparently a nursing home got infiltrated with it and everyone got sick. None of them have died, thankfully, but that remains to be seen. The county Judge extended the shelter in place decree and there are lots of people not working here.  I can tell ya that if you aren't working, $1,200 won't do much. Might pay your rent/mortgage for a month and maybe a utility bill or two, but that's about the extent of it.

Just astounding to me they are talking about even more stimulus money. Open the damn businesses back up, quit making up money out of the thin blue air. 

I was talking with someone yesterday that doesn't understand why we can't just keep printing money?  Ever hear of hyperinflation? Do you think that money is free? Yes!  Really?  Yes, I don't understand this.  THIS is why this nation is screwed.  People think that you can just print out money and it's furrrrrrreeeeeeeee!

Have a virus free day. 

The first time that ever happened.  The plant took the load yesterday afternoon when I got up there.  They used to force us to wait until the next morning, spending somewhere around 16 hours doing nothing and not getting paid to wait.  THAT was my issue with it, if I have to wait, I should be getting paid, just like everywhere else. Why is this place any different?  The new manager took care of that.  You will unload our trucks when we arrive or you will be paying detention pay for their time spent waiting.  So, I got out of there fast. The dude that took me in there was in a hurry to get it over with. He wanted to start the pump before I even had 40 pounds of pressure built up in the tank.  But I said, sure, fire that thing up!  

I had visions of trying to turn this into a three day trip.  But over 2,000  miles!  I was going to try anyway.  If I could somehow, magically get back to the truck stop I was at this morning, I thought, I could definitely make it back to the yard tomorrow - which is now today.  So I pushed it hard.  It helps that there isn't much traffic out there. There is a 1/3rd of cars out there than you would normally see, my guesstimation anyway.

I got back to that truck stop in Farina, Illinois with a couple of minutes left on my drive clock.  Today, wanting to make it back to the yard turned into having to make it back to the yard if it all possible. The manager needed the trailer for tomorrow.  652 miles is what I was facing this morning.  I pushed it again today and got back with plenty of time left on the clock.  Took it's toll tho, I am wiped out from all of that driving.  

But whatever, it's nice to not have to spend another night in the truck.  And Addler is not happy lol.  I guess I've been gone to much, he is in a foul mood for a doggy.  

Oh! The lady at the other house.  She had pneumonia we finally found out and she hadn't been taking care of herself, ie: diabetes.  She is now a type 1 diabetic, which is the really bad one. The one where you have to take care of yourself.  So I don't know how that's going to work out.  But, she's alive and Maria said she sounds a lot better than she ever did.  I never asked for the rent.  I thought that would be a rather - inhumane - thing to do.  The thought of having to cover that money this month never went away, but I kept my  mouth shut about asking for it. So it was a great relief to hear that she is, indeed paying her rent without my ever asking.  It was good to hear tho that she's doing much better.  

Home?  Uhh, I dunno lol. Everyone was in bed when I got here.  It's only 9:00 pm but I guess they all went to bed early.  I'm probably going to sleep in in the morning, What's there to do anyway, everything is still shut down. People are getting sick of this isolating stuff.  Lots of news out there about the effects of the virus on people's psyche and especially this idea of having to stay at home. And the arguments for starting the economy back up again - by sending everyone back to work....and the constant Trump bashing.  

I dunno if there is a ban on boating, I'm going to have to find out. Cause the boat bug is biting and I want to get out on the lake.  Which lake, don't really care. Any lake.  Lots of them around here.  

401k is coming back up rapidly.  That is a relief.  It's only down 10 thousand now. The stock market has been on a crazy up and down ride for a while now. But it's going back up.

And I'm going to bed.  Tired and my back is hurting for some reason.  

Happy Easter!
This was my day, lol.
Wake up to thunder/lightning.  Aspyn not happy, Addler ignores it.  Some dogs can't deal with it, some can, just the way it is. 
Rain - pouring rain. 
So I get up around 6:15 am, take my shower, go out to the kitchen to find - the whole family is up? This early, on Easter and a Sunday to boot? 

Taylor - lightning = don't mix. 
James - awakened by it, I don't think he's particularly disturbed by it, it just ruined his sleep.

Got my stuff, got the dogs, got out.  About 5 miles out from work, a screen pops up on my phone: Tornado warning (not watch, warning) - take shelter.  Sorry, I'm in a vehicle traveling down the road, I'll take shelter at the yard if I make it that far. If not, goodbye world!

I made it, but, the rain had messed up the keypad to open up the gate.  I'm texting my manager at that point. Uhh, that gate won't open.  Took a video of it and sent it to her, the thing was making a loud, constant buzzing noise and it was definitely not accepting any keypad inputs.  Is there a walk through gate? Nope, but there is a giant drive through gate on the side - it has a padlock on it.  We'll be changing that! she declared.  Yup, but right now, I need to get in there. So I put out a text on the group text.

Anyone at the yard? The keypad isn't working, I can't get in. Joe - another driver - texts back, yup hold on.  A few minutes later he slowly moves his tractor to the gate to open it.  If you drive over 5 mph, it automatically puts the truck in drive mode on the ELD and you are screwed.

It is a downpour.  The yard was flooding - there was a stream/river going through there.  I pulled up to my truck and got out and instantly was drenched.  Not a little wet - drenched. What a lovely Easter!

Did I say the tornado sirens were going off? Those started when I got that alert on my phone on the way to work. They were still wailing away when I got to the yard.  The wind was howling.  I got my stuff out of the SUV - clothing and lots of food, this is a 4 day trip, I'm not going to go hungry.  Got the truck running, got on the ELD and signed in - off duty mode - but signed in so it could catch up on my logs.  I drove over to the office, got out and immediately was hammered with rain.  My manager is texting me the whole time - she's looking at radar over where I"m at - she said in 5 minutes, it's going to get far worse. 

The prophecy was correct.  Things were rattling in the building and the water running through the lot looked like you could but a canoe on it and float.  A few minutes later, 2 other drivers - terrified - had come running out of their trucks into the office. "I ain't staying in that truck!!!".  Couldn't blame either one of them, it was that bad.  I haven't checked the news for Longview yet, but a town east of where I live had a tornado touch down. 

Meanwhile, a driver at the plant getting loaded said the plant was shut down.  We were all surprised they even started, the lightning was enough to shut any of those types of plants down.  Tornadoes and extra added touch of hell.  But he finally got back on there 45 minutes later - and the tornado warning gone - we started back up! And back out in the rain again, I was the next load.  And getting wet - all over again tho I had never dried off from the first 2 drenchings. 

I wondered how driving would be today.  I slept during the load - we are still being forced to stay in our trucks = in the passenger seat - while loading.  Get a pillow, lay out on the seats and snooze.  I"m not well rested these days, I wake up various times throughout the night, just the curse of getting old I guess.  I sleep, but it's a wake up, go back to sleep, wake up, go back to sleep type of thing.

That stuff caught up to me early on today. I was battling fatigue, wishing I could stop.  But to get the miles in? Nope.

Remember the trucker's clocks.

14 hour on duty clock.
11 hour driving clock
30 minute rest break clock forced on you at 8 hours.
And a 70 hour clock but I don't have to battle that one too often. 

When your 14 and 11 hour clock are battling for the time, you can't stop too early for the 30 minute break - which I almost always take a nap at.  You stop at 7-1/2 hours or later on the 14 hour clock. That way, when your 30 minute break is over, whatever is left on your driving clock, you get all of it. If you stop too early, you won't get all of it and you either have to take another 30 minute break - or most likely just stop earlier than you would like to.

I battled it out until I got just west of Little Rock, AR.  Couldn't take any more, got that sleep in - I set my alarm for 40 minutes, I knew after I left there I would be driving for 8 hours. And that I did. I'm in a little town called Farina, Ilinois. It has a huge truck stop in it.  It's never full - tho plenty of trucks pull in here. It's a nice, clean place with a large convenience store. 

I'm here until 8:30 am.  I guess it would be helpful to say where I'm going, it's the Stryker, Ohio run. I despise this run because you show up at around 2 to 3 pm the second day and then have to sit for 17 or 18 hours until the next morning when they will unload you. But, one of the drivers I was talking to today at the office said that the new interim manager called that plant up and said look, if  you don't start unloading us when we get there, we are going to start charging you detention pay. Yup, I sit there for free.  All of us do.  Well some of us don't make it there as fast as others, but you get the picture.

So, with the faint hope that maybe I can get unloaded tomorrow afternoon instead of Tuesday morning, I pushed the driving today further than I've ever made it on this particular run. 

I have to tell you that the roads are eerily vacated of car traffic. It's like the Twilight Zone, they have all but disappeared. Sure, there is some traffic out there, but nothing like normal. Not even close.  It's mostly trucks.  I'm not complaining about that, I can make more miles, such as today, because of it. There are too many people driving cars that have no business driving anything out here.  I"m not going to go into that right now, it's almost midnight and bedtime.  The point being, they drive in such erratic behavior, endless scenarios, and they slow me down. 

Oh and the truck stop? Weird. They have their soda and slushee machines shut down, the virus.  They still have coffee going? I'm not complaining, I want my coffee in the morning but so strange.  Why shut soda down and not the coffee?

I've got somewhere between 5 and 6 hours left to get to the plant in Stryker tomorrow.  I'll certainly be testing out the idea of unloading tomorrow afternoon instead of Tuesday morning.

It's been an interesting day. But I'm sleepy and I want my 8 hours of sleep.  I sleep much better in this truck than in any other sleeping arrangement.  The engine vibration - dunno how that works but it lulls me to sleep and keeps me there far more often than not and definitely more than sleeping at home. I'm not saying I would rather stay in the truck than go home, screw that, but when I'm out on the road my sleep is much better.

Hope y'all had a good day today, I watched an online service from my previous church and then watched a sermon from an evangelist I used to work with.  It's all good.  Christ has risen! 

C'yall later. 

Lmao.

Brownsville, Texas has a decree in place that anyone going anywhere in public must have a facemask.

Color me stupid for not knowing that. Cause' we should intrinsically know this stuff wherever we go!

I went to the Love's, everyone there had masks on. Great! I don't have one! But they didn't tell me I couldn't come IN to the store. I went about my business and left.  

Well, I had just come into town, I usually go through the parking lot to see if any other of our drivers are hanging out there - if so they get the next trailer that comes in from Mexico.  But this time I used the restroom, got a drink and left.  

After getting to the yard and dropping the loaded trailer, I went off to get something to eat.  Upon pushing the door in, a man confronted me - yes, with a mask on - telling me "you can't come in here".  Wut.  Ohhhhh?  You don't have a mask on.  I thought about being a caged tiger or animal that is forced into submission to human will.  I could think differently, but I won't. This isn't the nation I grew up in, thanks.  This is all bullshit. If we are going to live our lives in fear every time a f****** virus comes along, good luck! Get yourselves a lot and pay for your casket cause' you're ALL going to DIE!

The dude had sympathy at least. I don't live here and no-one I have seen anywhere is actually forcing anyone to wear a mask.

Let me add this: I LOOKED FOR A F****** MASK YESTERDAY. All over the damn town where I live.  NO MASKS ARE AVAILABLE ANY FREAKING WHERE WHERE I LIVE< THANK YOU.  

I'm cussing. You're damned right I'm cussing. This SHIT is starting to annoy me. We aren't ALL GOING TO FU***** DIE.  Wait! WE all ARE going to DIE!! Yes!!! I didn't say WHEN you are going to die, but if you are reading this, it's probably not going to happen TONIGHT or TOMORROW. It could happen, yes.

Oh you don't believe me? Google Brownsille Texas face masks. That's all you need to do. The nuggets of their version of livelihood will pop up.  Maybe we should all wear NASA style spacesuits!  Because we are The Martian and we be facing death! Lmaooooo

Yea, I'm not going insane, just getting annoyed.  I don't need this shit. If I get sick, so beit. If I die from it, so beit. God is in control, God's will be done.  I don't care about all this political bullshit that is going on with this situation and there are alot of politicians I could name that can go f*** themselves. 

YES! I SAID THAT!! Thank you very much. A town that won't let you in stores - or even "out in public" without a facemask on.  Because ma'am, that virus? It's going to jump on you from that tree, right on over there! See it? Yup, like a monkey, it's going to invade your immune system! Just ... like....that!! 

Whatever.  I'm in the trucking yard, since I "can't" be out and about,  Live your lives in fear! Because that's what God wants, right?  NO. Because that's what the ENEMY OF YOUR SOUL wants. Thank you, hope you don't get this virus, if you do - which a lot of us probably will - hope your suffering isn't too long and hoping for a full recovery.

Isn't that what we do as humans? Hope the best for each other? Instead of this news media bullshit invoking hate and anger against others? Others.... people.... mortals...that cannot control viruses....this shit is messing with me. What happened to us HUMANS coming together when a common "enemy" comes against us? 

Obviously I don't think a 300 pound man should be assaulting a small, older woman.  But in this case, she says things when she gets unhappy with her living situation - which happens everywhere she goes - that piss the people it's directed at off.  And she does it constantly once she gets into that mode.  I'm referring to Rene and I predicted that eventually, her newest living situation would go south and sure enough, it did.  The dude allegedly tackled her and she showed a pic of a scratch on her neck.

So, she got her own place. Likely she went through HUD to get public assistance for rent or perhaps a housing project.  I'm not sure since I didn't press her on that, but she has it dressed up nicely and I am happy for her that she finally has her own place.  She does not, however, have anyone to blame once she gets mad about...wait.  Of course. There are people living next to her and there is management.  So, that will break down eventually as well. She'll start calling the police on neighbors.  How do you know this? Because I lived with her for 2 years, another year plus in the other house and on the receiving end of her angst not-to-mention watching her go off on other people.

I have no idea why a person would like to live in a self-fabricated, perpetual, miserable state of being, but that's their choice.  Some situations need addressing, sure.  But it's how you deal with it that makes the difference. For example, the boy next door starts this nonsense with revving up his engine and cranking his truck around corners in the circle in the neighborhood, making all kinds of noise? I either say nothing or I just politely ask my neighbor to please tell him to stop.  Once you make enemies out of your neighbors, life isn't going to be pleasant living there.  Been there, done that, tho my circumstances had been going on for years and I had nicely asked the neighbors to deal with their cats - for years. I'm referring to my house in Phoenix.  That turned into a full blown war with neighbors. I still don't regret that, for they laughed at me asking them to please deal with their cats.  They thought it was funny the cats were shitting all over my property, destroying plants and making a nuisance of themselves. I eventually told them all if they didn't do something about their cats - especially the idea of feeding ferrel cats and attracting more and more of them to the neighborhood, I was going to deal with it myself.

They weren't laughing then, but they wouldn't change anything and I eventually started catching those cats in a cage, putting them in the car and releasing them elsewhere.  I never hurt any of them or killing them, as I was accused of doing. I don't hate cats, but this was 30, 35 even 40 of them and the neighbor behind me had huge piles of cat shit laying all over his property, the smell was nauseating and it was attracting a lot of bugs and flies.  That whole scenario changed with mark and lynnette taking over there and me moving.  They just tolerate it.  I couldn't.  I like being outside and enjoying my property. Kind of hard to do with the smell of cat urine and poop in your nostrils.

Whatever the case, Rene has been doing this with the people she lives with and neighbors for all the 4 or more years I have known her and I have no reason to believe that in her newest living accommodations she will do anything different.
________________

That was yesterday/Monday.

Today is a nothing day.
Well at least as in going to any shopping stores, save a local restaurant that just reopened in another part of town.  I went through the drive-thru, got my order and left.  Never went inside, never got out of the vehicle.  Again, I am not going out of my way - at least for now - to find toilet paper.  If I happen to be in a store I'll look.  There is a local facebook group that is giving alerts to whenever they find it anywhere - but by the time anyone else gets there, it is already gone.  Even with strict limits on how many you can buy - which is usually only one package now - it all disappears quickly. 

So today is a clean my room day including washing all dog bedding, human bedding, clothing, vacuuming, etc etc etc.  Taylor is home today as well - teleworking.  She has plenty she can do on the computer without having to go into work, the company she works for apparently is finally coming around to the idea that perhaps we should at least practice as much "social distancing" as possible.  I'm not for shutting down America in it's entirety.  But I have already explained my position on that so many times everywhere, I am not going to bother going into it here. 

In fact, I'm posting scripture on my wall, I find the politicizing of this pandemic to be rather disgusting.  Well, I might post something about the virus, but it's not going to be a blame this politician or blame that one type of thing.  Reality shouldn't succumb to political opinions that aren't necessarily truth - or mostly - not true at all.  Right now? Carson is on the news saying it appears the numbers are slowing down - new cases of the virus.  Great, but no magic wand is going to make it go away.  It's going to be around forever, just like the other forms of coronavirus and also the flu.  Just that they will develop vaccines and/or antibodies to combat them.  That's right. This stuff never completely goes away. 

So, how much of this virus reporting is just pure fear tactics and how much of it is truth? I dunno. History will look back on it and render a judgement.   For now, we just have to live through it and move on with our lives. 

2cd full day off, I'd be a bit surprised if I don't get a run for tomorrow. Then again, I can't see the schedule anymore because we aren't allowed inside the building anymore.  So I have no idea how much work is available.  Kinda sucks not knowing.  I'm not asking her - the manager.  She'll just get mad and who knows what will happen?  She doesn't like anyone asking even a simple question about when you might be getting another run. No, I didn't ask her, she was telling me about other drivers who have. She gets mad, she has a real temper, not worth crossing her.  Nothing new anyway, I was sitting up to 4 days with the previous manager.  Would just like to get another run on the books for the next pay period,  going out tomorrow on a 2 or 3 day run would do that. 

Well, back to cleaning.  Have a safe, blessed and virus free day!

Back. This Oklahoma trip was actually worth something for I had to spend the night up there waiting on an empty trailer.  13 hours of detention pay almost doubles the money the run is otherwise worth.  I was actually relieved when I pulled up to the plant and saw two trailers at the rack and zero trailers where they put the empties. They don't unload trailers at night there.

  I don't mind spending the night in their parking lot. I have food, a convenience store across the street and no one bothers anyone out there.  Police sometimes stare from across the street for unknown reasons, maybe they're bored. It's a very small town I can't imagine they get much action there.

To look at that plant, however, you wouldn't know that the economy is basically diving, people aren't working and staying home and that our nation is in a shelter-in-place verdict from state governors.  They are going through that Ethylene like there's no tomorrow.  Whether it continues on that way remains to be seen. But the Brownsville run is also functioning normally, they haven't slowed down production one bit.  They shut down a lot due to problems with their plant, but that's normal for them. 

I dunno about you, but we are pretty well stocked with food.  I just keep buying small quantities of this and that whenever I go to the store. Rice here, beans there, canned food over there.  I could stand another 50 cans of canned goods.  Now, before you call me a hoarder, I've been doing this for many years now.  Stock up, eat the stuff that gets close to expiration - or - eat all of it over a period of a few months or longer - and then replace all of it with fresh.  The freezers are full to the brim.  We are good for a while. Except toilet paper lol. I'd love to get my hands on a 24 or 30 roll pack and then not have to worry about that for quite a while.  We actually found rolls of paper towels.

So yes, I went to the grocery store today and stopped at a drive thru of a local restaurant to support my local community.  Half the town is wearing masks. Of course, there are no masks to buy anywhere, so I dunno if they already had some on hand or scored before they went to unavailable status, but I saw plenty of people with the highly coveted N95 masks that actually stop the virus from getting through the filter. 

Whatever the case, I'm stuck at home the rest of the day. There are things I'd like to do, but one thing I'd like not to do is get that virus. 

Haven't heard from the manager yet. I wouldn't mind another day off so I'm not contacting her today.  There were plenty of trucks in the yard yesterday so I might get my wish. 

I'm spending more time in the Word.  That wasn't virus initiated, I've had my mind on the Lord quite a lot lately.  Feeling like I'm missing something, I can only search the Word and seek the Lord for answers. 

Sitting at the plant - in my truck - in the passenger seat. New policy here. But, it allows me to pull out my laptop and get some bill paying done.  They actually built a platform out of scaffolding at the entrance to the plant for a person to stand on with a thermometer to take everyone's temperature.  It's one of those kind you just aim at the person's forehead, the thermometer never touches you.  I had heard about this so I took my temp this morning before I left the house, well within normal parameters. 

Frankly, I'd rather go lay down in the sleeper and take a snooze, but that isn't allowable. They won't let you sit in the driver's seat - I guess so you can't turn the truck on and move it, but they take the key from you anyways.  Just weird.  At least it isn't hot out today, they aren't allowing us to run the trucks for AC or heat, either.   And I won't be able to take a pic of the weekly schedule now since we aren't allowed in the container where we used to wait.

I didn't squawk about any of this, people are contracting the virus here - as is the case pretty much everywhere. I believe the only good isolating ourselves from everyone else is doing is to make it so hospitals aren't all overrun at once everywhere.  Because as I said early on, before it ever left China, this virus is going to spread around the world and everyone is going to get it. Most will live, some will die.  And that's really what is happening.  Lots of conspiracy theories about China inventing this virus to spread it around and cause the US economy to fail. Would I put that past China? Absolutely not.  But I tend to dismiss those types of theories unless there is solid evidence. 

The local news is reporting 26 new confirmed cases in this region - where they're lumping several counties together for the states in the "northeast Texas region". And 3 new deaths.  This area is expansive, with small towns and people living out in the country with a lot of ranches and private properties people use for hunting.  So to say 26 in one day is probably a lot.  But, the last flu that went through here earlier this year?  Our little town was saturated with people acquiring it.  Social distancing probably does work, I've been doing as much as possible, but there are those places you have to go to to get food, gas, etc.  There is no apex yet and there is no sign of the virus abating, not really anyway. Less new cases, they say but no apex yet or flattening the curve they like to call it.

The plant I'm going to doesn't even want you getting out of the truck.   They don't want you signing in as normally the case.  Just pull up to the auto gate, drive to the scale, get weighed, drop the trailer.  Get weighed tractor only again, hook up to an empty and get out.  I won't make it today as far as I normally do because this is a late load.  I'll get back tomorrow afternoon and I'll have Monday off as well unless this manager does things differently, I don't know. Previous manager sent out work on Friday covering Saturday, Sunday and Monday.  I frankly don't mind a full day off.

Well I think I'll try to take a nap. This passenger seat is pretty uncomfortable, was never forced to sit in it before this.....

Everyone at the house in Phoenix are "essential" workers, hence I am not worried about loss of income to pay the bills over there. Well, Lynnette is only working one day a week right now, so I let her off paying rent for this month.  The card reader for electricity is in the $600 range currently, a few months worth.  That's what she pays, the electricity over there.  Not during the summer of course, their rent isn't that much.  The bill during the 3 hottest months is usually over $400.  For right now, I am happy that the house paid for itself this month and no cash outlays.

The other house - over here - different story. That lady is still in the hospital.  She has been removed from ICU but she's still going to be in a rehab or something for 3 or 4 weeks.  She is on disability, this virus does not affect her ability to pay the rent, but I suspect I'll end up eating that money this month.  People get weird ideas in their heads.  Well, I'm not there so I shouldn't have to pay the rent.  No, you rent the room regardless of whether you use it or not, it's occupied, I can't rent it out to anyone else.  I have no idea what's going to happen there, but I'm not prepared to eat two months worth of that nonsense, not when she is perfectly capable of paying up.  In fact, her expenses at the moment are zero since she's on medicaid or medicare, not sure which.

At the house here, Taylor got her Fridays back.  That will be really helpful for them.  James is still at 4 days per week tho and that situation apparently isn't going to change anytime soon. 

My work is fairly constant atm.  I'm going to Oklahoma today, just got back from Amarillo yesterday late morning.  Not the greatest run - Oklahoma - but if I get something better this coming week that will make up for it. That's a big if, I never know what I'm going to get sent.  They brought several drivers into our division - temp or not I'm not sure - but it's too many.  And two of them are complainers.  If they don't get the runs they like, they whine about it to the manager. Clarice, however, said none of that will phase her and she'll dish it right back out to them.  Yes, from historical context, I believe she would. 

I'm going to see if I can find out what that plants makes that gets shipped to hospitals when I'm up there today.  I only know they make wax, anything beyond that? I've never really asked. 

 Speaking of drivers, one of them called me yesterday questioning me about the West Virginia run. "ben, they have me going up here with one of the new trailers, do you know if they're taking those up there now or is that a mistake?" I knew instantly what he was concerned about and told him yes, we have been taking the new ones up there for at least a year now.  The new trailers are 10 feet longer than the old ones, the facility up there is very small and it's a challenge to get a small one in the hole where they go, much more a much longer one. 

He's not a good backer is the point.  Everyone knows it tho we cut him some slack on it. I told him to cut as close to the building as possible and swing it wide after driving over the concrete pad where the trailer goes.  "Well did they expand the facility, move the fencing or anything?". Nope.  They actually could, there is a huge field right next to the facility which belong to them, it's really a giant complex, Union Carbide.  I just assured him he could do it. You might have to do several pull ups but you'll get it in there.  He'll be up there this afternoon, I could tell he was nervous about it.

Are you sitting at home? I've gone out to support local business here for curbside service. The Schlotzsky's - great sandwiches.  No one was there when I went the other day.  Lowe's - it's the only big chain type of home improvement store in town and they are already shutting stores nationwide, they've been doing that before this virus.  So I went in there for a short visit to get some supplies, it would truly suck to have to drive clear to the nearest town that has a Lowe's and Home Depot over 30 miles away. I actually like Home Depot much better than Lowe's - but not enough to drive that far every time I need something from there.  Of course the local Kroger's, that's really unavoidable.  I have home made hand sanitizer, I do not have a face mask - yet.  You can't find those anywhere as it stands. Now they're telling us to use non medical grade masks - such as you can find at Lowe's for contractors - but I suspect they've sold out of those by now. 

James went to Walmart yesterday and said there was actually toilet paper in there.  Did you get any? No.  Why not?!!!  We have some  toilet paper, maybe enough to last all of us a month, we don't have a hoarder's supply.  Another pack of it would have been good.  I don't go to the store looking for it specifically anymore. I look if I happen to be in a store, but it's not my goal anymore.  He just replied that we have enough. Okayyyy lol.  I wasn't suggesting buying 100 rolls but another 6 or 8 pack would have been good.

Well the boys finally woke up. Now I can get my stuff done.  On Saturdays or Sundays, if I'm home, I don't do anything outside of the bedroom until they are awake. Cause' I don't want to be that guy that woke them up, forcing the parents out of bed earlier than necessary.  I'm out of here at 10:15 am, about an hour and a half from now. Plenty of time to make a nice breakfast, finish my laundry - dryer - get the vehicle packed.  There isn't a trip I go on no matter how short of a distance or short duration that I don't take at least 7 days worth of clothing.  I had started to get a bit less on the amount taken with me - until the Oklahoma breakdown - which reinforced the idea of taking for more clothing than necessary for you never know what's going to happen. 

And finally, I'm ready to go back on the diet.  But, I dunno if it's a good time for it.  You eat what you can eat right now, and those choices are greatly limited.  There are several restaurants with drive thru windows that only allow drive thru, you can't go in and you can't walk up to the window, they won't serve you.  I might wait until this virus stuff is over and back to normal - are we ever going to get back to normal? Or will life unalterably change after this thing is done and gone? Oh, I was reading a scientist has developed an antibiotic - yes an antibiotic, not a vaccine - which works on rendering the virus useless.  If you've seen the pics of the virus, it has those spikes on it. The scientist was discussing how the virus uses those spikes to invade cells, the antibiotic he developed rids the virus of those spikes so it can't proliferate. 

He also stated that antibiotics are vastly easier to make and much more quantity can be produced in a much shorter period of time and expense.  His work has been handed over to military medical teams - that specialize in this kind of thing - and hopeful that by summer, human trials can begin.  Regardless of how bad this virus is, you can't just start injecting people with stuff and not having had done scientific, clinical trials first to ensure the public isn't going to die from the cure. 

Well, off to the races. 

Text message.

Don't worry about the trip number.

From the new manager. 

???

That was the text, lol. hadn't spoken with her since yesterday so I had no idea what she was referring to.  A while later another text: Take LE075 to Amarillo to have it repaired.  

Good Lord, I'm not even at the house, I thought, is this something that has to happen right now?

So I said I'm not at the house ATM, can it wait til later or even early morning?  

She said tomorrow would be better, just treat it as a regular load and leave when you would with that. 

In other words, we are slow and she is trying to keep people busy.  Oh, I would have left today.  But I was literally in the middle of smoking a ham and cleaning and getting stuff done. I can drop everything I'm doing - but the ham? Yeah I could have dumped the thing in the oven at 250 and it would have been good for them by the time they got home for work.  

I would have gone if it were an emergency or if she just said she needed it to go. 

So I figured to get up around 4 am, get over to the yard, fire up the truck and hook to the trailer and get on over to Amarillo tomorrow - 500 miles - and try to get back at least 100 miles this way.  For the life of me, I can't remember where I stopped the last time I did one of these runs.  Cramming my brain but it's not coming to me.  I'll have to look at a map. 

___________________

That trip over.  Dallas this morning was a mess. Not much traffic, but even in light traffic, people just don't deal with driving in the rain very well. Case in point was the idiot driving at least 80mph if not 90,. He went over into the exit ramp lane to pass everyone, then attempted to zip over 4 lanes. I saw it coming before it happened and immediately started hitting the brakes - heavy.  He lost control of the vehicle the car spun around 2 times, how he didn't crash head on into the center divider, I have no idea.  How everyone else that this occurred directly in front of was able to stop before ramming into him - well I'll just assume that everyone was actually paying attention to the road.

But even braking early, I came awfully close to ramming one of the cars and subsequently pushing it into the idiot in the car that had stopped, facing the center divider. Yes, I call him an idiot because he was driving stupidly for the road conditions.  Whatever.  Driving further, 2 cars had collided.  Further - a car on fire in the center lane.  No apparent collision, not sure what happened there, but it was holding up traffic. Further down, a truck accident, then a pickup that slid off the road, down a steep embankment and got stuck.  I should have figured this would happen in the rain and just gone around Dallas, but I thought since traffic would be light because of the virus, there wouldn't be so many issues. 

I dunno, but I stayed away from people as much as possible on that trip. Amarillo is under heavy reporting of people contracting the virus, I didn't do anything there but drop the trailer and get out of there. I never came in contact with anyone there.  My stop last night at the truckstop the same.  Minimal human contact and staying away as far as possible.  Love's - the 2 stops there, well that's a roll of the dice.  The first one was virtually empty, just washed my hands really good and got out of there. Today's stop? Fuel, bathroom, wash hands in hot water and soap and get out of there. I can only do so much, but I'm doing whatever I can to keep from getting this virus. I'd hate to bring it home and get everyone sick. 

I figure this virus is going to change a lot of things about how we live our lives in this nation.

I dunno, but while I'm maintaining as many safeguards as possible, I"m not happy about the idea that the government has basically taken over everything without even having to declare martial law.  But I have no desire to go into all of that right now, I just got home, got a hot shower, washed thoroughly.  Dunno about any work.  This is Friday so runs get handed out for the weekend today.  Nothing yet, but it's still early. 

Anyway, enough for this one. 

So we're on lockdown.
What to do today.
Well, smoking a brisket or nice meat sounds good.
But it means I'd have to go to the store.
There is no ban on going to the store, it's just risky as far as I'm concerned.
A teenager working at Kroger's yesterday was coughing all over the place.
No, he was not covering his mouth.
I got the hell away from him, whatever he has I don't want it regardless of
whether it's this virus or not. I cannot understand how people can be
sneezing and coughing in public and not at least try to cover their mouths.
I might go tho, a nice brisket sounds really good.

Meanwhile, the lady at the other house.  They finally found family members
somewhere in Illinois.  The hospital warning they were going to convene and
ethics committee pretty much told the story.  Guessing, sure, but probably a
good guess: someone has to make the decision to take her off the ventilator.
Presumably, when that happens, she dies.  A rather gruesome and sad prospect.
This lady just moved in there.  I'ma lose some money on that house over there
this month - just turned the 1st of April.  Don't disparage me for thinking about
money in such a situation, I'm the one holding the bag for that place when
something goes foul with it.  Really would like to find a way to get Maria
out of that house and into something to live in that doesn't cost me anything.

Such as a travel trailer on the property.  I doubt it's legal here tho.  Most cities
have ordinances against such things.  Just another reason I'd like to be living
in the county, outside of the city.  They mostly don't care what you do out
in the country, keep it to yourself. Hunting, shooting, fishing, living arrangements.

Unless I took out a loan, the prospect of getting land is well out of reach right  now.
Well, I mean there are things I could do but those considerations are at least for now,
off the table. My consideration to take out a loan is rather dampened with this virus
running around messing with the economy and the fact that I already have 2 small
loans going which were intended to pay off credit card debt - which they are.  But
I don't think it's a good time to be getting into another loan.

Got back to the yard around 12:15 am last night.  Got out of there at almost 1 - a lot to do to get out of there including turning in a lot of paperwork, which I have to double check to make sure it's correct. Get home around 1:40, dogs in tow.  Yes, I went and got my dogs that late, Maria said it would be no problem so there ya go.  Slept 5 hours and then off to the races.  The bank with a bunch of cash - the bank is not allowing anyone inside.  Starbucks for Taylor,,, she wanted an iced whatever. Over there with that drink, then to Schlotzky's - the doors are still open, you can go inside, you just can't sit down to eat in there.  Then to Kroger's, where I found a lot more stuff than what has been "normal" Still zero toilet paper tho.  When I say none, I mean, NONE. 

But we have enough tp now, all 3 of us have gone on missions to find it and at least have enough for maybe a month and a half or so.  However, there was PLENTY of pasta, that had been all gone, so i stocked up on that and various dried goods.  Enough to make me think our pantry is at least on it's way.  But, before I put that stuff in there, I need to check dates on existing stuff and chuck what is beyond expiration. 

Meanwhile, the loading plant. The first load today?  He got on the group text and said they weren't loading, something wrong with the pump. that was like 6:30 am. It's now 1:50 pm and they still haven't fixed their pump. This problem has been going on for months and months now. They need to replace the damned thing, but they're trying to nickle and dime everything.  I get it: it's a million dollar pump. It's also over 40 years old. So now they are sending the trucks that are there back to the yard.  Well, I know I won't be getting a run tomorrow. All the stuff today will have to be loaded before they can move forward with more loads. And they have to fix the freaking thing before anything is going to get loaded.

So, if this goes on for a while, I'm going to ask yet again about going to Austin to get the railroad card.  LNG is up and down, but when it's up, they can't keep up with the demand. 

I took my temp a little while ago. 97.8. I had to look that up, seems low, but the range for normal starts at 97.7 from what I found.  So it's fine. The least I can do before anyone gets home today was to wash up, clean my hands thoroughly before preparing dinner and check my temperature.  It could all be futile in the end, but I've also been engaging in social distancing - to the extreme. I stay away from people in truck stops as far as possible. 

All that driving yesterday for naught. They needed that trailer back for a load this morning - second load to be precise.  Not that it's a bad thing I got back even if late.  Roads are veritably deserted.  I mean, there is very little traffic out there anywhere, even Houston at 7:30 pm on a monday night there was hardly any traffic at all.  So much so I was able to take the 610 west loop instead of going all the way around on the Beltway 8. 

Meanwhile, my GE stock is up again.  Not much, but it is up.  The Dow Jones is down, but not over a 1,000 points down. 
____________

Our town is now subjected to shelter in place rules.  Okee dokee.  I'm not sure I had plans to go anywhere tomorrow anyway.  Restaurants? No, curbside service.  Bars?  Nope.  Movies? Nope.  Can you even fly in the states now?  No clue.  Plenty I can do around here if I go stir crazy. 

Whatever the case, this one is done. 

Day 3 in Brownsville.
Starting to get antzy. Not because I hate waiting, but because they ran out of drivers to haul loads up there and had to cancel a load coming down today.  So now, no matter what time a trailer shows up today - there are supposed to be here - I will have to drive all the way back.  Meaning if one got here at 9:00 pm I"d be driving until 7:30 am to get it back.  No thanks.  I'll do it, yes, but pleeeeaaassseeee I'm hoping one gets here soon. It's 12:30 pm right now, I'm good for driving up until around 1:00 am.  After that I'm toast and fighting to stay awake.  Even 1:00 am is pushing it. 

But I'll do whatever I have to to keep my  job.  They can easily push me out of their system to get someone who will do the night driving, I'm not taking that chance.

Since our company laid off 400 drivers, especially. But - most of that was in the fuels division.  Obviously, fuel consumption in this nation has gone way down because no one is going anywhere besides truck drivers.  But I just read that our company is fighting to give the rest of the drivers facing lay offs work outside of our industry. They've already connected with Werner, JB Hunt and others to haul loads for them - that's all grocery stuff,  the hoarding is still continuing but sooner or later, I'm assuming most people will run out of money for over stocking their pantries and buying hundreds of rolls of toilet paper.  But I'm glad they are finding ways to keep our drivers working.  It may not be optimal, but it's far better than nothing, or being on unemployment and not getting near as much as you normally would with a paycheck.

Just disconcerting that we don't have enough drivers right now to cover the loads.  Sounds like they could easily bring in a couple more drivers to pick up the slack.  A person hauling fuel can easily pull what we pull, they just won't be able to do any offloading at the plants.  We have lots of drop and hook places we go, including Brownsville. I'd rather see them bring in a couple more drivers than watch our business go out the window to a different cryo hauler.  We had that happen in 2018 and we never got those accounts back. Well sometimes if the other hauler is too busy, but for the most part, they get those runs. It's limited and not that much, but it took business away from us.

Even more conversations with other drivers about the now gone manager.  This one driver was getting set for up to 8 DAYS at a time.  WTH.  He admitted he doesn't run as hard as some of us do, that might have something to do with it.  These brownsville runs they want down here same day unless its impossible because of hours to get it here.  Still, 8 days. If you have that much disdain for a driver  you should just get rid of him.  But, she was doing that to a lot of us, just not as much sitting.  It was really obvious, too, who was getting all the runs because they were on the group chat ALL the time giving updates on loading times when they were getting loaded.  Why she played favorites I'll never really know for sure, I just know I have a pretty good relationship going with current manager - trying to keep it that way and keep busy. 

So, here I sit, keeping an eye out for any trucks coming in with our trailers. This yard has all kinds of trailers in it, only a limited number of them are ours.  I suspect all 3 of us waiting down here will be out of here today.  I'm first out, thankfully.

The disruption to our lives with this coronavirus is spreading. But, we now have enough toilet paper to last a while - no we didn't hoard we just wanted enough to last a month or two.  We're there.  If people would just calm down and understand the food chain supply isn't down, go back to buying normally, we wouldn't be in this dilemma.  I found more water today at the truck stop, so I got another case. We're good with that for a while too. But it took so long to find any, I have 2 cases in my truck now instead of the one I normally have.  That isn't hoarding. Hoarding would be buying 10, 15 or 20 cases of water, well beyond anything you directly need. 

I have stepped back a bit watching continuous news.  They are literally reporting this virus news around the clock. I was watching a lot of it until a few days ago, I decided to back off a bit. Not totally, I want to see what's happening with it, but I just don't need to be filling my head with that stuff all day and night long.  I tend to get carried away with watching the news when stuff like this happens.  I watched all of the OJ Simpson trial coverage, for example. I watched the news forever in 9/11.  Operation Desert Storm the same.  But this is going to go on for a while.  The only real changes are the numbers of people getting it are going up and up and the complaints of ventilator shortages keep rolling in.  Essential workers are getting pushed hard - doctors and nurses especially. Truckers? We run hard regardless to make that paycheck.  It's just that we are not sheltering in place and the don't want us to.  For obvious reasons.  Well, ok and they are asking truckers to drive longer hours in temporarily suspending HOS rules. You can drive as long as you want. Instead of 11 hours you can drive 15 if you have to, but the same rules about the 10 hour break are in place, so I've heard anyway. Once  you are done driving that day, however long you drove, you still have to take a 10 hour break. I'd be fine with an 8 hour break.  I don't need 10 hours and many truckers have complaing about that rule for a long time. 

I'm not sure if they suspended the 70 hour rule. I haven't looked into it. Our company hasn't suspended it that I know of but certain operations might have, such as oxygen to hospitals.  Well, I"m get offa here and get prepared, I have word that a trailer is coming in soon.

Arrive at the plant today. Get through the security gate and over to the scale. Sit there and wait.
Normally don't have to wait more than 5 to 10 minutes. I was there 40 minutes.  First load, it's early but that doesn't mean anything at that plant.  Well, except for today.

Everything changed there overnight, they didn't bother to tell anyone outside of the plant.  The scale house is closed even to plant employees, the only ones allowed in there are the personnel assigned there.  So, the loading rack personnel can no longer go in, input the weight of the truck/trailer and then go to the rack.

So, after sitting there all that time, a plant pickup pulls up next to my truck, a dude gets out - it was still dark - and then I recognized him when he got up to the window.  I'm thinking, what is this dude doing?  He says he can't into the office, I can go to the rack. There is a readout on the building in full view of the trucks so you can see what your empty and loaded weights are.  You need the empty weight to give to the rack employees, you definitely want to know your gross weight. If it's overgross, we be going back to the rack and getting product unloaded.

So anyway, I get to the rack and everything there appeared normal. But it was not.  I got into the container - it's a shipping container converted into an office - sat down as normal and then saw the operators looking at a printed sheet.  In huge letters it said that drivers were not to come into the office at all.  So I just sat there and waited for them to tell me whatever. They had contacted us about all of this stuff.  The main operator was clearly irritated.  He didn't want to answer any of  my questions.

Note: He is normally very sociable and we talk alot, so this was unusual in itself.

Next thing I know, yes, please go get into your truck in the passenger seat, we will bring the paperwork out to you.  This is all Corornavirus stuff.  As the pandemic spreads, so does the fear.  Not that I want to get that s*** and neither do I blame them for not wanting OTR truck drivers in there potentially bring that virus in with them without even knowing it.  But please. Get rid of the attitudes, we are all in this together, we all have difficulties to face in this crisis, don't act like you are alone in your misery.

Of course I didn't say that to him, I just got up and walked out, got into the truck and texted the group of drivers about everything going on.  Also note: you are not allowed to run your truck while you're forced to sit inside the thing and wait. It wasn't hot this morning, but hot days are here. Sitting in a hot truck without the AC? No thanks.  I'd rather sit outside under a shade tree than sit in a hot truck.

Clarice saw my message to the group and later asked if I was off the rack? Yup. Call me.  She dropped more F bombs and other lovely niceties than I have heard coming from anyone in a while.  She was pissed that they hadn't contacted her about this change and also extremely irritated that drivers were having to sit in the truck while loading explosive material. We can't see if there is something going on at the back of the truck.  That wasn't my concern tho, lol, I just don't want to sit there sweating my ass off the next time I go in there and it happens to be warm and humid. But she went on for 10 minutes, dropping expletive after expletive after expletive, about her disdain.

What's more fun than getting up at 4 am for work? 
Being awake half the night.
First, with stuffed up nose - allergies and then the kid next door.
He decided it was a good idea to come backing in between our houses with
a diesel pickup truck, revving it up and making all kinds of noise.

This is going to be a looooong day. 

Oh, btw? The internet here comes on and off.  Why? Because everyone is at home. 
Everyone is on the internet. 

Lol.  I'm going on the road 4 days, that's all I can say.  Brownsville 2 days and Oklahoma 2 more. 
Got my hand sanitizer, made a bunch of food and likely the roads are still going to be pretty light, even through Houston I'm guessing.  I'll find that out later on - well you know, as long as yet another truck doesn't break down somewhere..

Yea, a bit of a pessimistic mood this morning, probably cause' I didn't get anything even close to enough sleep.  I mean, I got up 20 minutes early because I gave up on it, hence the time to write out a post. I have no idea if I'll be on here again in the next 4 days, definitely not tonight. By the time I get to Brownsville and operating on not enough sleep, my first thought will be to go to bed. 

And I'm only going to check one place for tp down there, the only place I found it last time. But I will try.  James scored a 6 pack at Walmart yesterday. He actually showed up before Walmart opening time - they are all closing now at night to restock and sanitize the store. There was a line of 50 people he said when he got there and then line doubled by the time the opened the doors.  He said by the time he got in there, all the toilet paper was gone - excepting one 6 pack that was hiding in the back.

Hey, at least we aren't going to run out this week. And on the road I never have a problem - the rest areas are always well stocked and the truck stops are usually stocked. 

I"m curious through all of this coronavirus woes going on - people dying, people getting extremely sick - how this will change our society going on in the future after this thing is over?  Will we look at how we interact with each other differently? Will new technologies emerge?  Will society create new social rules that won't go away?  I dunno, just musing. 

But for now? Time to get my stuff out of the fridge and get ready to get out of here.  Taylor is worried she's going to catch this virus and die.  Literally, she is. She has respiratory problems, lifelong version of it.  Jaxon, the 3 year old, has asthma.  Those are not helpful things to have when confronting a virus that attacks your respiratory system.  I dunno what to tell her.  Stay away from people as much as possible, yes social distancing, sounds ridiculous but it's a thing now, wash your hands often, keep your hands away from your face at work and do whatever you can to keep yourself free from it.

Cause' honey, we have 2 cases of it in our little town now and it's only a matter of time before more get it.

I predicted when they first spoke about this virus in China, before it went anywhere else in the world, that the entire world would get this thing, we would all get sick and some of us would die.  Grim prediction, but it doesn't take a genius to figure it out.  People travel to China - lots of people. Even people in this little town, some of them are from China, here studying at one of the local colleges.  I think the colleges are shut down now, I know all of the grade schools are shut down and kids are - whatever the remaining working parents are doing with them.  That's gotta be an additional hardship if you are used to having the school system having your children while you're at work.

I think it's time for us all to get on our knees and seek the Living God and ask for His help.  That's what I think.