I had no desire to get out the laptop tonight, but, I had to pay credit card bills.  I just do it all in one fell swoop every month - and I was late on this one.  Not late on any payments thankfully, but I usually do this on the 1st.  So I just went through all of that and looking at balances realized I have racked up a bit more debt on them than I am comfortable with.  So, I'll focus on that in the next coming months and get it paid down.  

Anyway, I'm done with the second day of the 3 day trip to Illinois, back to back trips, I'll be glad to get home and spend a little more time than when I was there on Sunday.  The Mapleton run is a good one tho, it's decent miles and not too terribly much road time.  I mean, I've got 324 miles left to do tomorrow, that's about 5 hours plus fueling and taking a shower in Domino, Texas at the Love's.  

The Mapleton plant replaced everything.  I know I said that the other day, but they honed in on it again this morning.  I don't suspect we'll be getting any days worth of waiting pay up there any time soon.  They've got it dialed in that they get the thing unloaded very quickly.  And they are going through product much faster than they used to.  So, that means a lot work coming from that plant to keep us busy.  You see, I don't have to have detention pay at this company to make good money. It's easy money, but driving is just as good.  Obviously there is allure to sitting around getting paid, staying at a company paid hotel, but I'll drive and do the same or slightly better.  2 mapleton trips a week all year long would make 93k.  

Not that I want the same trip, twice a week, just showing the pay from doing this trip.  I"m all about the money, if I"m going to work, I want the dough.  

I'm sitting at a dilapidated old truck stop in Newport, Arkansas.  This is as far as I can drive from the Mapleton plant before running out of hours, I was down to 8 minutes before I got off the clock. Trucks are showing up all at once.  That's ELDs for you.   

I'm  still extremely unhappy to find out this dude that worked on my boat initially - I was trying to find someone that knew what they were doing and not having much luck - bought a "new" battery for the boat and come to find out - it's 2 years old!  So he just dumped a battery in there from wherever he got the thing and charged me full price for a new battery.  

Just gonna let that one go.  Might take a few days to get that out of my system - people defrauding people for money irks me - but at least I think I can now put the boat in the garage at Maria's new place.  The judge - he's a county judge and owns the property - won't let Addler over there tho.  He has something against large dogs, lots of people do, nothing unusual there, but kinda sucks, because its a beautiful property for doggies to go sniffing around in the woods and maybe hunting and using their instincts a bit more.  

Taylor said she wasn't going to be taking any money from me for watching the dogs when I'm gone.  She cited all I do around there including watching the boys.  If I'm home, I'll watch them, for it costs money - good money - for babysitters and the boys like me, we get along well for the most part.  I mean, I could go into the ridiculousness of 3 and 5 year olds, but I"m sure most people understand the details of young boys fighting over toys, smashing things, screaming, etc etc etc.  The 3 year old is still in the terror age, tho he's very slowly coming out of it.  I think. Lol.  I didn't fight with her on that - I do my share of stuff around there.  I slack sometimes, but that just means I do the bare minimum such as doing dishes and cleaning up.  Dishes seem to be that house' enemy.  I'll get back and there they are.  They're not mine, I didn't make them dirty, but I can't deal with a dirty kitchen so I just clean them, listen to some music and sparkle everything nicely.  

Okay, well anyway, I'm going to the lake either tomorrow if I get home early enough or Friday - if I"m not sent out again, tho my hours will be too low on the 70 clock and they likely won't sent me anywhere unless they are desperate. Because it will mean doing a 34 hour reset on the road, a thing I very much do not like.  Sure you get a free hotel, but you don't get paid for it. Might as well do 34's at home with my doggies and hanging out with friends and getting stuff done.  

I'm tired and this post is done. Long day and got up early this morning.  

650 miles yesterday, 325 miles today and I'm home.

But now without the manager calling me 20 miles out from the yard.  We chatted about boating and fishing for a few and then he got straight to the point.  I mean, I already know if he's calling me on a Sunday morning? There is a run or some errand that needs to be done.  That's without question, especially this dude.  His Sundays are sacred, so another driver told me after he got scolded by said manager for him calling the manager on a Sunday a while back.

Which is rather meaningless to me.  I don't call managers unless there is a serious issue.  A blown tire? Nope, I call the road service line and they find a service to come out and replace the tire. Breakdown? Yep - because it will affect delivery time and he'll need to update whichever plant about it.  Stuff happens, the plants usually don't give a hassle about a late load if there is a legitimate reason. But that's really the only time I either call or text him. 

Well anyway, he asked me how many hours I have left on my 70 clock?  Umm, guessing since I'm driving but I probably have about 40 or so available.  Okay, well I'm looking for someone to take a load up to - where else? - Mapleton.  He has a short memory, I had to remind him I'm just getting back from Mapleton. Not that I was trying to refuse the request, but I already have a trailer on the truck might as well reassign it so I don't have to drop and hook at the yard.  So, back today, back out tomorrow. 

But, he did give the info that Brownsville run I wouldn't get until wednesday at the earliest and Oklahoma run is going down again.  Which doesn't make sense we're sending product to Mapleton - they send product to the Oklahoma plant, owned by the same company.  And it's only going to be 3 days between loads for Mapleton, they are quite ambitious wanting to take another load that soon.  I half expect it to get canceled, but I'll fully prepare for it anyway. 

My plans tomorrow were to take the boat to the lake : (

Just have to wait until Thursday I guess.  I'm going to need to find a new place to store the boat now that Maria's house is no longer an option.  I don't want to store it here,, we have enough stuff here, I'm not even going to ask.  Plenty of storage lots around here, just have to start calling around and find the best deal with good security. 

Well that's it, really.  Plenty going on around here, but not really anything I should be commenting on on the internet that anyone can read. 

I finally gave up looking for my birth certificate and just ordered another one online.  I have 7 months before it needs to get here. Last time I tried, it took 3 plus months and that was before COVID 19. 

Anyway, time to kick back, relax and enjoy the rest of my Sunday. 

G'day. 

Up at 4:40 am, off to the races. Up to the plant - and found out that the plant had not, indeed, blown up.  That news that the plant had blown up was given by 3 different level managers in the company.  Where they got their information, no clue. But the manager up there, that I get along with quite nicely - we talk about smoking meats and that is one of his greatest passions - said the plant was bought out and the new owners wanted every valve and sensor in the entire plant replaced, along with a lot of underground pipe. 

No wonder it took so long. That plant is huge, there must be thousands of valves and equal amounts of sensors, well probably a lot more sensors.  I didn't get out of the truck because another driver had said they don't want you getting out.  Over an hour sitting in a hot truck and one of the guys came up to my truck window - I also know this guy, I've spent hours chatting with him in previous trips up there before the plant shut down - and he said uhh, no, you just have to have a mask on.  OH really?  I have a mask, in fact I have several of them in my truck.  But, a friend made one for me so I use that alot. 

So I went and got a fresh hot cup of coffee out of the operating control room - that is always offered - and then went outside to chat.  The smoker man - John - said no, lol, we don't care if you get out of the truck, they are just mandating masks now.  I said well, a certain driver said we aren't allowed to get out so I was just following the rules.  Who was that driver, was it Gary?  After that? I heard a lot of negative things about Gary.  He gets there very late. He doesn't tell them he is going to be late. The paperwork you get with the run always has the same thing written on there, part of which states that you are to call them "immediately" after you get out of the plant and let them know you arrival time. 

But the biggest complaint? Gary is full of himself.  He knows everything and he is quite smug about it.  Lol, well I didn't even know that he came off like that up there. He does like to talk about himself and his endeavors and how he has done this, that and the other thing and doesn't really want to hear anything from anyone else.  I just said to them to advise the new manager, he doesn't seem to tolerate that kind of nonsense.  And then off to smoking meats talk we went for an hour after that.

I'm pretty sociable person. I don't want to sit in a damn truck and bake my ass off when I could be standing outside where it's much cooler and chat with people that are very cool people.  I'd love to work at a place like that. John knows far more about smoking meats than I do and I just gobble up his advice.  He has quite the following with bringing some of his product to work for employees to taste and I have had the opportunity to taste his finished product a few times - quite good, especially the brisket.  He took his gloves off when the truck was unloaded, disobeyed Faucci and offered a handshake. Yes, I don't give a damn about Fauci and "you should never shake hands again" bs.  We shook and then I was out of there. 

Oh, this is supposed to be their day off, so they were very happy I showed up early. John came racing up to the plant as I was sitting there waiting for security to open the gate - John opened it with remote control lol.  They all left as soon as the truck was unloaded. I fought the clock today, get this crap done.  I actually had full hours - it didn't take near as long as it normally does for them to unload, so I was out of there in 2 hours.  7-1/2 hours left on the drive clock. How far can I go?

Well, I'll tell you. I know this route and I can guess pretty close how far I can go with the amount of hours available to the miles I can drive.  I figured I could make Newport, Alabama. With a fallback to Pocahontas - 55 miles I think up the road - as a fallback now that I saw  brand new truck stop built there when I was heading to Illinois.  But I made it to Newport with time to spare.  No way to make it any further with any guarantee of a place to stop and since there was only 30 minutes left on the drive clock, I was comfortable with 652 miles driven. 

Well whatever. I can get up at 4:00 am if I want and drive this thing out.  I'll likely get up at 5:30 am and get driving by 6.  But I can tell ya, if my brain wakes me up at 4:00 am, I'll get up and got. At the same time, there is no need to get up that early as this trailer isn't needed at the yard tomorrow, so I'm not setting the alarm that early. 

More going on, but I"m getting offa here and putting this laptop to bed lol

I am so tired. I wasn't going to pull out the laptop...but...

First thing is that I didn't sleep worth a crap. Happens frequently when I get the first load, early rise.  I dunno why, it just happens that way.

Getting on the road, about 120 miles into the trip, my manager texts me. First thing I thought was this load canceled.  Wrong, he then called me.  Uh, you should be getting back from this run on Sunday afternoon, right? Yes, as long as everything goes right.  Okay, well when you get back, you'll need to take your 10 hour break and then head down to Brownsville to pick up an empty. 

I didn't much care for that idea for it would have me leaving at around midnight, maybe 1  or 2 am.  But I just agreed to it and said okay, sounds good.

Then I get a text - you 2 modules on your training that you need to do tonight before it expires.  Okayyyy? 

Heavy rains storms - the type that slows you down because of greatly reduced visibility - on and off all day.  Up and down mountains - had to pay attention to speed going down the hills.  If I go too fast, I get a ding from the company.  It's whatever, I try to not get those things but it happens, but I kept on top of it today so I didn't get any.

Then after thinking half the day about the brutal schedule coming up - 2 nights driving most of the night long - I get another text: Brownsville cancelled. Yes!  Sure, I want the money, but not at the expense of my sleep and feeling nasty for days after having to do it 2 nights in a row. 

So, I stopped at a favorite grill instead of driving up the road another 60 miles today. I would have just driven out my hours to get far enough ahead to try to gain some time on the Brownsville run.

Anyway, I got on here to do these ridiculous modules. Training  the same things I have been trained on a dozen times at various plants, orientation and previous training modules.  Most of these plants make you sit down and watch a video on safety before you can enter the place. 

Well that's that. The modules are done, it's not late - 9:00 pm  but I'm out of it. Going to sleep. 

Today.
I went and got the boat, but I did not take it to the lake.  I had other things to do today and no time for that.  They fired it up, showed me it running and said I had probably flooded the carbs. The mechanic informed me these older engines are extremely particular about how they are started. He had it sit there and running for a while.  Which is all nice and fine, but it isn't in the lake with back pressure, which is the real litmus test.  But, I didn't argue with him, he knows what he's talking about I just don't know if that is the real problem or not. 

We shall see.  I brought the thing home, dropped it in the front yard, put the hitch lock on it and then proceeded over to Maria's.  I was going to help move, but upon arrival, I saw that it wasn't the small stuff I was informed it was.  I needed the trailer. So, I went back home, backed up to the trailer, got out and started looking for all the tie down straps.  No where to be found.  I texted Taylor, she said James has them in the back of his truck

:(
Having no interest in buying even more of those things, I gave up on that. James is going over tomorrow to finish up, I'm happy about that because Maria is in a very sour mood about all of this right now.  Kim isn't helping at all. I can definitely believe that, she spends more time drinking than anything, she has no motivation that I can see and also said we should "leave everything there and f*** the owners". Well, the owners will - screw - me for the deposit and I want that deposit back. It's $400, it's mine, no good reason not to get it.  Whatever they don't want can simply be hauled to the dump or if worth anything, just give it away.  I don't need more stuff over here! None of us do.

I then got 5 gallons of gas for Taylor - she wants to mow the lawn at work - it's a side job they pay her separately to do - but they didn't have gas and they weren't going to go get any.  I went to the coffee shop, got me a latte and her a mocha whatever it's called and then over to the gas station and then to her work. 

I'm kind of glad I didn't move any of that stuff today, while I was going to taylor's work I was handed via text message my next assignment - trip to Illinois.  I hate that it's going to ruin my entire weekend, but I don't hate the money. Brownsville has been lagging on the detention pay lately, 3 trips in a row down there I haven't gotten any. I'll take a longer trip and get more money out of it. It's a 3 day trip, the third day usually only has 400 miles left on it versus the 600 I drive the first two days.  I know where I'll likely stop for the first, second and third night. Tho I haven't done that run in quite a long time, all of the details of how it goes is firmly cemented in my mind.

This is the trip that canceled 82 miles after I left the plant a few weeks ago.  I don't want the trip to cancel tomorrow, I want to get up there and then they can shut it down and put me up at a hotel lmao.  Or just do the whole trip at least and make the money.  Ok, that canceled trip worked out tho, because I got sent immediately after that to oklahoma and since there were no empties up there I had to wait overnight, I made more money doing that than the full 3 day trip to Illinois. 

Anyway, I will have to decide what to do for food. I could make some stuff, chicken namely, for dinners. Or, I could stop at Kenny's the first night - it's a bar and grill south of St Louis, eat dinner there, then go to the steak house at the state line in Missouri, just south of Neelyville.

______________

Day over. Looked at the text for tomorrow again - first load Gag.  Like I want to get up at 4 am to get the day rolling.  Regardless, I made some chicken and bought lunchmeat.  Not too much, but enough if I get stuck somewhere or if I don't have any options for eating out.  Time for bed.

I was very happy to get a fresh set of eyes and ears giving opinion on Maria. 
Maria was complaining about Kim.  Kim this, Kim that. Kim was complaining the entire time, maria intoned, that Taylor was over there, I'm surprised Taylor didn't say anything to you about it.  Taylor - is a different kind of person. She doesn't look at things the way a lot of other people do and she isn't concerned at all what people think about her and she freely gives her opinion when asked and if it's something that either interests her or relates to her.  We're all pretty blunt around here, lmao, I can't imagine what those kids are going to grow up like being around such input. 

Oh, anyway, this is the other day when Taylor and james went over there to help them move.  Kim is a drunk. Granted.  But she isn't an angry drunk. She might complain about things a bit - her current situation with the inheritance is definitely something on her mind.  Most of the time she just agrees with everyone and asks people to repeat themselves.  I'm not, btw, dissing her by saying she's a drunk. She IS a drunk.  She drinks a lot, she is drunk a lot and Maria complains about that as well.  Ok, but....it's not an angry drunk kind of drunk. That does make a difference, at least. 

So Taylor came home for lunch because the next door neighbor's dog needs to be let out. They are all out on their own adventures and needed someone to let the dog out for "potty" purposes.  She had a completely different story about the move than Maria - and frankly I'll trust Taylor over Maria any day when it comes to moods, complaining and whining.  Basically, Taylor said Kim didn't complain hardly at all. She was drinking yes, and Maria came up and said "WANT ANOTHER BEEEEEEER, KIM?" Mocking her.  Maria doesn't live well with other people.  She's one of those people that needs to have their own place by themselves.

But she isn't in that position and Kim is giving her free rent to stay there. Bit***** about having to clean all the time?  Where else are you going to find where you don't have to pay any rent?  Money freed up, her quality of life could improve - if she so desired.  If I were poor and broke - and I have been in my lifetime - I would happily take whatever situation like that came my way and put up with whatever bul***** I had to. It's a large house, they could just as easily avoid each other. 

So at this point, I don't wonder if Maria is actually worse than Kim and actually the one making things quite difficult. She has 2 dogs and a bird.  She's really being given a gift.  It's a beautiful property back in the woods, out of town, away from people.  It's a beautiful house.  I dunno. I can see having issues living with other people - I've been doing it most of my adult life - but nothing, at least in this case, that can't be worked out.  She asked me if I would help her get into a new place.  I did not reply to that question yet.  I don't think she needs a bailout, I think she needs an attitude adjustment.

Whatever.  I got up today and got out of the house.  The bank, the internet/cable company, Kroger's, the hair dresser,  a bite to eat at Applebee's and whatever else I'm not thinking of right now.  Oh yes, the pawn shop to get some 9mm ammo.  Stuff is hard to find right now and the price tag agrees with that assessment.

Oh, and I'm very glad Addler is at home now.  He will be on a strict diet for a while until he loses the fat and is lean again.  I take that stuff seriously - they did not over there.  I can get him slimmed down in a few months on just dog food only diet, no treats.  We've been down this road several times now since it went from Rene to Maria.  Rene - kept those dogs nice and lean.  Maria - I have no idea, really, what.  Just must be getting fed extra junk, possibly other tenants, I dunno.  Whatever the case, the bigger the dog, the more the need to keep them fit and trim.  They live longer, their hearts don't give out at early ages.  Addler is a great dog, I'd like to see him around for a while. Not dying some early death because people are dumping garbage down his throat. 

Aspyn - jury will be out for a while.  I will give her treats because she is way too thin. Whether she had worms or not we'll find out as time goes forward and if she starts to fill back out or continues to lose weight. Frankly, I may just get the pancreas powder anyway.  I can get it cheap enough and it isn't going to hurt her to have it even if she doesn't need it, that according to the vet.  Dump it on her food, that's it.

I'm very hopeful the estimate of the truck taking a day and a half to fix is accurate. 2 days off is very much appreciated right now.  Tomorrow morning, I'm getting up earlier than normal for when I'm home and go get the boat.  Well, try to get the boat.  The thing best done did run before I even exit the property with it. 

And that's it for now. 

All wheel lock.  That is an option on the truck.  It's not 4 wheel drive, it's realistic all wheels lock drive.  Versus the other option where the other drive axle locks in but only one wheel actually locks.  That's what saved me this morning from having to try to find someone to pull the truck and trailer out of the bloody mess they parked that trailer in, in Brownsville.  You could see where the driver was digging out his tractor from underneath the trailer. They don't care and if you have issues they don't care about that either. 

I got out of that mess and then listened - on and off - to the Barr hearing today in the House.  A sham of a "hearing", democrats were giving speeches. They didn't want to hear from Barr. I don't know how many dozens of times when Barr would start replying to the few questions proffered to him that they said "I reclaim my time". They didn't want  an answer from him, the point of the hearing was obvious and a total sham.  These people judged him long before he ever walked into that room. They shut him down so many times, he just started speaking over the top of them, the same they were doing to him. 

Anyway, I'm off for 2 days.  The   part - that's what the mechanic described it as - came in  and told me 1-1/2 days to install.  There isn't a "part" that takes that long to install unless you're replacing a drive shit and doing a lower end rebuild - then it takes longer than that. This is the AC unit, there is no way it's going to legitimately take that long. These mechanics are desperate for work to keep them busy - i get that - but I have a paycheck to earn and it isn't going to happen with that truck sitting in the shop.  Yes, I love time off. No, I don't like what happens to my paychecks afterward.  A day off is good - well okay.

Right now, there is a boat to get from the shop and "fire up" like they said it would. There is finishing moving Maria - I haven't even been involved with that but that's because when this came to pass at the last minute, I was already committed to the road.  I don't know what's going on with Aspyn, her dewormingt treatment is over with, now it's just see if she will gain some weight.  Addler has gotten fat again - I haven't been giving him treats for some time, so I'm glad, actually, he's stuck here at the house.  He's on dog food only and that will most certainly force his fat issue back down.  James and Taylor won't give him treats regardless, so it should eventually see some fat loss.  I do not like fat dogs - not my own anyway. I have never liked it and I have never tolerated it.  They are animals and they should be lean and in shape.  They tend to live longer when they're in good health.

Whatever the case, nothing ever seems to stay " the same". There are just lapses and periods of time - short, long or in between - that you have moments of peace and then? Off to the races. 

Whatever the case, I received an unsolicited $2,000 check from someone today - total surprise and not sure why they are sending me money.  I have not asked anyone for money. I am not broke.  I don't think I "sound" broke. Those are  - at least for now - the days of the past.  Never say never, I could end up broke again - or just making it anyway - I don't take any current condition for granted.  Namely - my job.  That stuff comes and goes.  Or the predictions of what's going to happen in November, and I'm not referring to the Presidency, tho that would be the fuel for the fire. 

Will that actually happen? I have no idea.  I just live my life in accordance with "plan for emergencies" - which includes food and water supplies, alternate electrical sources and hunting/ammo to hunt your own food.  This is minimal stuff, not like our ancestors didn't have to deal with far worse on a daily basis. If you listen to the doom and gloomers, you are going to lose everything. If you listen to God, you will gain everything in the end so what difference does it make what happens in this life? 

I'm going to to force myself to drive clear over to that boat place tomorrow morning, get the boat, fire it up dry for a few seconds - it best fire up before I leave that yard - take it to the lake and see what happens.  Wait.  See what happens if the weather clears.  I didn't even think about that. A while ago, James, Taylor and I were sitting on the front porch.  A very bright streak of lighting hit and immediate resounding and very loud thunder.  A minute later, the same thing from the same area - it couldn't have been a quarter mile if that.  And thennnn, another one!  Same area!  That thunder will shake you to your bones being that close and that loud.  I was amazed after all the lighting strikes nearby that the power didn't go out.

Well okay. It's  10:00 pm, I have a show to watch and the go to bed. 

Last post I just put up - I guess I got busy and forgot to hit the post button. I'm not in Oklahoma, lol, I'm in Brownsville now.  We aren't getting much detention pay down here, they have apparently streamlined the process - but the company will start to miss the extra pay at some point and wonder what's going on.  Cause' they make a bundle off of us sitting here doing nothing.  It's not just the drivers making money off the sitting around deal, especially when it's slow, they're bringing in revenue. 

Anyway, I came down here after the Hurricane hit land.  Like 2 days after.  So there was some rain but not hurricane grade stuff, thank God.  This yard tho.....unbelievable. Giant mud puddle. And the empty trailer is sitting in a huge pool of water and obviously the truck that pulled out from under it had - some trouble.  Like a giant pit where he spun out and left me hanging.  I have all 4 locking hubs on this truck, I hope I don't have to wait in the morning for someone to pull me out of  here. Just a waste of time.  Well, I perhaps could legitimately call it a detention since getting stuck in mud and pools of water in their yard isn't my fault?  Who knows. I'm not stuck at the moment, I just backed up to the trailer but didn't try to get underneath it - that's where the trouble may kick in. 

I'll find out in the morning. 

Meanwhile, the move from Maria's house to now "Kim's" house isn't even near completed. I had nothing to do with any of it, they didn't get the house until after I was already committed to an Oklahoma run and then the next day - today - a Brownsville run. I'm hoping a day off after I get back tomorrow - unknown and not asking.  If they give me another run, I"m taking it without hesitation.  My housewarming gift to my son and his wife for their new home is a brand new refrigerator - that's some Benjamins there - don't want debt on it, just pay it off and be done with it.  I've got some debt on other things I'm paying off, namely that generator.

Anyway, this new manager was having a cow about all the drivers sitting down here - so he went on a warpath to get empties up here on time for drivers to get out of here.  Except? No one wanted it and everyone said differently.  He figured it out, I guess, but too late.  My suggestion to the new dispatcher - who is not my manager - was to send bobtails down here to get empties so loaded trailers would have to wait.  That's what the previous manager did and kept us getting detention pay far more often than not.  We were texting back and forth until  I said that and then she disappeared lmao.

Uhh so that's that. 

Up - not too early tomorrow - 6:00 am, nothing seriously bad - get out of here and get back to the yard and go home.

I need to get to the boat shop and get the thing and take it back to the lake.  That is really pressing on me, I've spent enough money on that thing, it's time to have some fun with it!  My patience wearing thin, it's been too long and too much with it. 

Anyway, it's bedtime and I need my sleep - it's a long drive and getting longer. This Interstate ambition the state has with this entire stretch of roadway is getting old. More and more new construction opening up the entire length of the trip and more and more delays. 

Uhh, yeah, no more complaining lol. Y'all have a good night.

So....

Maria and Kim were approved by the judge (he owns the property, wasn't any legal proceedings) to move into the house. The lawyer is going to send him the money for rent and deposits. They are moving today, I won't be able to help them since I'm heading out on the road in a bit, they are stoked. It's a beautiful home.  Absolutely gorgeous and I know Maria will take care of it - but fortunately this time none of it is in my name, I have no legal obligation for anything.  Which is good cause' Addler isn't allowed over there anyway. They believe they can talk the judge into it, I don't have such optimism, but, James and Taylor will take care of them when I'm gone.  

That will, of course, result in me doing things for them I may not normally do.  The money spent at the other house will now be spent here. IF they get the judge to change his mind, I'll help Maria out with a fixed amount of money per month.  I really couldn't own dogs without help, I'm willing to pay for the help.  I'd far prefer the dogs over there, it's a huge property they can run around all over the place.  

Speaking of dogs, I took Aspyn in yesterday to the vet.  She's been losing weight, some diarrhea, tho eating healthy.  $363 later I was informed they weren't sure if it was parasites or a condition German Shepherds get where their pancreas isn't working properly and you have to give them special powder that, they also informed me, costs  $300 per bottle.  They suggested the deworming medicine first and if that doesn't work, we can try the powder.  Well, I found the powder - it's just some sort of enzymes added to the diet that help the pancreas work properly - for less than $50 per bottle.  So if the deworming doesn't work, I'll just get my own powder, these vet bills are always ridiculous.  But I wanted her checked out, she's lost a lot of weight.  

I have a run to Oklahoma today.  And then off to Brownsville Monday morning. I was off two full days after the PA trip.  Which was nice and yes, FedEx delivered the driver's license yesterday.  I didn't have to tell my employer - thankfully - that I drove 1,400 miles without a license on my person.  The drivers going to Brownsville today were complaining about the weather.  I looked at the radar. It looks like a hurricane! I mean, I guess it's not but it looks wicked evil, nothing I would want to drive through.  I have no idea what the weather will be monday, but hopefully all of that will be gone by then.  There is very little likelihood that anyone going down there today will actually make it.  Fast forwarding the radar, they will be driving through an extremely large region of extremely heavy rain - it will all be in red radar area.  There are ways to try and go around the worst of it, but you'd have to go wayyyyyy out of the way.  

Got up much earlier than I even wanted yesterday.  I just happened to wake up, so I decided I might as well get up and get this trip over with.  Even with fueling - which took a long time because the fuel lanes were all full of trucks - and heavy rainstorms I get back around 10:30 am.  Got off the clock around 11, attempting to ensure 2 days off, but I probably won't get it.  I could get a late load tomorrow - and I'm okay with that as long as it isn't a long run.  Brownsville would be great.

Taylor showed up about at the house about an hour before I did.  I was over chatting with Maria for quite a while before I came home.  Apparently Kim's dad's trust lawyer is going to pay for the rent at the house they are getting.  It's a beautiful home, I know Maria will take care of it.  It won't be in my name at all so I don't have to worry about bills if something happens. Not that I wouldn't help them out in a pinch, but I have been wanting that load off my back since Donnie and Rene left.  I like helping people out, but this situation has been a financial drain that I want to stop - while not throwing people out on the streets at the same time. 

Apparently Taylor was discussing not long ago with maria their desire to move to Colorado.  I didn't know they had renewed that interest, seemed to have died off.  But now that she went to Colorado for her dad's wedding, I can only imagine she has all of that fired up inside of her again.  She grew up in a little town north of Denver.  I actually have friends I haven't seen in at least 15 years that live in Denver.  But do I want to live there? That is something I would have to ponder - mostly the job market and what kind of paying job I could get would be on the high end of determining factors for me.  I am making more money now than I have ever made in my entire life and my savings and 401k accounts prove it. 

I dunno, but they will have a lot of work to do to sell this house if they are going to go through with it, I have time to think about it.  My company has lanes running through Denver, but those are lower paying jobs.  Would I stay here with my job? Move with them - that offer was put on the table long ago when they started talking about it. The lure of the mountains is strong with me.  I grew up around mountains - of which this area is lacking. What it is not lacking, however, is lots of trees and greenery.  I like that too - for the most part.  This may be Texas but it's definitely the green portion of Texas. 

Whatever the case, I'm home today, Addler wasn't happy with me yesterday, but he's warmed up to me this morning. ol.  I've been gone too much, admittedly, OTOH these long runs are far and few between. 

I was driving home from the yard yesterday and noticed that the registration on my SUV has been expired since the end of last month lol.  I was fretting driving around with that like that until Maria told me there is an extension - indefinite - on vehicle registration renewals becauseof COVID-19.  I looked that up this morning and sure enough, on July 3rd, the Governor extended the waiver until further notice and said when they resume normal operations they will let everyone know and then you will have up to 60 days to get it taken care of. 

Well, that's nice, but I'm doing it today.  Waiver or not, I still think it's just a magnet for cops to pull you over.  The funny thing is, all of our trucks that are licensed out of Ohio have been expired since January.  We carry around a waiver from ohio. Last 2 times I was pulled over the troopers didn't say anything about it, so apparently it's valid in all states.  Regardless, our local registration renewal office which is only a mile away is open for business.  They are rarely ever busy, you just have to wear a mask to go in there - that's strictly enforced.  I've been reluctantly wearing a mask in public places such as rest areas and such.  I feel like it's caving to the establishment - but then again, this pandemic has ruined a lot of people's live and mine, so far, is not one of them, thankfully. Ruined is in death, permanent organ damage and/or financial disaster.

_______________________

Well working tomorrow is out of the question. `Why? Because when I went to the county courthouse today to renew my registration, I couldn't find my driver's license.  What?  I went through that wallet 3 times looking for it.  They didn't need ID - though I had my LTC license in there would have worked - but i was struggling to think where I needed to pull out my ID last.  HOLIDAY INN, suddenly came to mind.

I honestly couldn't remember whether they had given ti back to me.  But it was the last place I pulled it out.  I called them - I'm so and so, stayed there a couple of days ago, you're the last place I used my ID.  Lady checks, oh yes we have it here. No apology for not having had given it back. I should have remembered, it's on both of us, but that's their job.  I am very lucky that in that 1,400 mile trip back and going through several weight stations, I didn't get pulled into the office to show paperwork or pulled over for an inspection. That can be an out-of-service violation where they put you out of the truck. 

Now I'm informed the hotel has FedEx'ed the ID back - at a cost of  $36 charged to MY ACCOUNT.  THEY kept my ID, didn't give it back and they are charging me to send it back to me?  I made several calls after that, ending up back at the hotel where, of course, the general manager "Isn't answering his phone, may  I take a message". Oh yes, you sure can!  Unbelievable that "Guest Relation" at Holiday Inn corporate headquarters "can't refund your money, you will need to take that up with the hotel". They tried to claim that "guests leaving items at the hotel will have items sent back to them at guest expense".  As if I had left it in my room!  Yes, folks, I was highly annoyed at their monotone replies giving outrageous reasoning why they shouldn't eat that expense. 

Nix Holiday Inn off of my list of hotels to stay at.  They used to be the grand palaces of hotels way back in the 70's.  They had all kinds of perks and amenities, they were one of the higher rated brands t stay at.  I looked up all of their brands, the only other one I have stayed at in the past is Candlewood Suites.  I have already written up several negative reviews of my lengthy list of things that occurred on that visit. 

Okay, I had my ringer off, the lady called back from the hotel and left a message saying they were removing that $36 charge off of my card.  I'll give them kudos for that, but I'll negate those kudos with all the phone calls I had to make to make that happen.  I'm not broke, I could eat it and just move on, but this one of those "the principle of the thing" situations that I felt I needed to push. 

Now that I have that behind me...

There is a person at the house that is in a very bad mood> Not me lol, I was a bit agitated but I'm over that now.  I dunno what's going on with that person, tried to talk, nothing.  Weird - sort of.  People get into moods here and it's a bit different than what you might experience - elsewhere.  Not that I'm any different, I usually just shut my mouth and disappear into my room if I somehow end up in a bad mood.  Better to say nothing to anyone and get over it than start trouble for no good reason.  Whatever the case, I went to my room, shut the door and they can have the rest of the house all to themselves. 

As for me, well, the driver's license is coming tomorrow. Fortunately I am apparently not getting a run for tomorrow - i didn't want one anyway - because then I would have to try to explain why I drove back from Pennsylvania without  a DL.  I honestly didn't know for I didn't remember them not giving me back my license at the desk. We were busy talking about things and it obviously slipped both our minds. BUT - it is THEIR JOB to give that back, I'm just a guest.  I'd actually be fine with eating it equally, I should have remembered, I'm pretty "religious" about making sure that I don't pull it out unless asked and definitely paying attention til they hand it back. Fail on both our parts. 

I am so ready to have this trip over with.  I have a little over 7 hours left on the 70 hour clock - I have 304 miles left to go. That's about 5 hours in a truck - almost all of it is Interstate driving but there's a few towns that slow you down pretty good.   But, Jackson,  MS is only 20 miles down the road and I can get through there before all their version of a rush hour occurs. For a town that size, they have a pretty terrible rush hour going. 

I did 652 miles today.  I could have gone another 70 or so, but there isn't anywhere to stop besides Jackson and those truck stops are always full, just not worth the hassle.  I'm in Morton, MS and it's a truck stop I used to come to when I was doing that job based in Jackson. They have trucks going into the Koch plant here frequently.  That is a job I definitely don't miss. It's a dump of a truck stop, but there is a restaurant and the cooking is divine.  I have been very good about eating the food I brought with me - in fact, I ate all 4 dinners plus sandwiches.  So, a freshly cooked pork chop with some amazing lima beans - I'd love to know what they did to cook those absolutely delicious!

Anyway, after tomorrow it will have been 8 straight days out on the road and that's far more than I want.  The Palm Pennsylvania only comes around like once a month and I haven't had to do it in at least a year, I'm hopeful it's at least another year before I have to do it again.  There is one other, much longer run, tho, that I would love to do again, that state of Washington run I did once.  That one should be coming up near the end of summer - they take one load per year.  I mean, I didn't much like being gone that long - it's over 4,000 miles round trip, but some of the views in some of the states you go through to get there are amazing. 

Okay, well I can get up as early as 3 am to get this over with - but I am not getting up at 3am lol. Not because I don't want to - tho I don't really want to lmao - but because I don't want to get back too early to ruin potentially 2 full days off. It's only 34 hour reset.  If you get back late enough, you are guaranteed two days off.  If you get back early, you may get sent out the second day on a late load. 

And I just heard from another driver that we are being run constantly - like get back from a run and go straight back out the next morning.  These are times that get really old, but, manageable on shorter runs.

Kim and Maria have found a house, apparently. The man that owns it doesn't want "Great Danes" so I'm going to have to discuss with James and Taylor about taking care of my doggies while I'm gone. This guy will allow my Aspyn - the German Shepherd - but Addler and her being separated isn't a great idea. Finding a house here has been a real chore. There was one that was definitely available, a run down shack, pile of crap wanting $750.  Whatever happened here, rentals suddenly became all kinds of popular. 

This only fuels the fire for me to want to start up that mobile home park. Get that thing going honey,there is money to be made!  I'm really thinking I should at least try acquire a business loan.  What's the harm in looking around? Land, infrastructure installation and improvements.  Buy some older homes - in good condition thanks not talking slum lord here - rent them out. Have Taylor do the bookkeeping for me - she already offered and probably James would help with repairs, pay him hourly rate to go deal with stuff. 

I'm never going to get that thing going without a substantial loan.  That's all I can say about it at least at this point in time.  I'm not getting any younger, if they need some sort of education credentials to get the loan then I'll have to consider 2 years online school to get it.  BA in business, I assume or something similar.  I am going to start looking around at least.

I think I'll quit here. Go to bed early and get up early.  Just not 3 am version of early lol.

For whatever reasons, I didn't sleep well - at all - last night.  I was up more than half the night.  I did get to sleep when I went to bed and probably around an hour and a half after I woke up - but I was miserable.

But whatever, get up, take a shower, get out of there, get to the plant.  Lol.

This plant - of which I haven't been here in at least a year - had added extra entry precautions. Namely, taking me to a booth in the office, taking my temperature - they are doing that everywhere now - and then having me read and sign off on some sort of affidavit that I don't have COVID-19, haven't been around anyone that has and haven't exhibited a huge number of symptoms.  That was a bit reaching. Do you sneeze?

YES! IT"S ALLERGY SEASON.  My eyes are itchy, watery, red, I've been sneezing for days but who can't tell the difference between allergies and a virus when it hits you?

Anyway, I got in there, waited 30 minutes for anyone to show up, the dude that unloads the trucks finally showed up.  Can you get out of the truck to let me show you where to park? Yes, I said while thinking I've been in here enough times to know how this works.  But he had painted lines where he wants the trailer angled in at and where the tractor - almost jackniifed according to the arrows, should be at.  I just want the trailer lines, I don't care how someone else got the trailer in there at what angles the tractor was to the trailer when they finished.  Different drivers do things differently, the end result is all that counts.

And frankly, after hearing from the people at the West Virginia plant about how long it takes other drivers to get the trailer parked there, I don't want lines telling me where the tractor should end up.  I was totally cordial and nice to this guy, lol, my thought life differs from words coming out of my mouth, I really am not in to offending people for no particular reason.

So, I did my thing - the truck was not jacknifed when I got the trailer into position.  Actually, it was off about 8 inches, I was going to do a pullup and finish the job getting it perfect, but he waved me off.  I got out - do you want it between the lines? I was going to pull up and get it there...no, he replies, this should be just fine.  Okay! Can I run the truck while waiting? Uhh, no he said, so I complied. 

Yeah, I had looked up the temps.  It was already hot and not that late.  The heat index was showing it going up to 110 - in Pennsylvania! Dang!!  I shut the truck off and tried to go to sleep - telling ya, I was brain dead from lack of sleep.  Well, it started heating up in there quickly, I did manage to sleep a bit, but I woke back up, the heat was starting to affect me.  By the time the dude knocked on the door of my truck, I was starting to get miserable.  When I opened the door to the truck, the heat blasted me! 

He said - your truck doesn't have a generator - no, I replied - he's referring to an APU but close enough.  Okay well it's going to get really miserable out here, you can run the truck.  Thank you Jesus! And thank God! I fired it right up.  And thank you! Fired that thing right up and blasted both AC's  it was hot in there. 

I had no reason to think anything wasn't going right with the offloading, but a bit later I got out, went to the passenger side, opened the side box where I keep my bottled water and then notice the dude staring at the manual dump valve on the trailer.  I'm going to dump the trailer air, he looked up at me and said. Sure! The valve dumps the air from the air bags on the trailer only, letting the bags down and angling the trailer down for better flow of product. 

But it became clear there was more to this than just dumping the air bags.  He was genuinely confused about something.  Need some help?  Can you come take a look at this? I walked around back of the trailer - he had the emergency shutoffs in the right position but the emergency valves weren't opened.  You cannot offload the trailer with them closed, lol.  I can't explain what I had to do here without visuals, just too much to even try to write about - I spent 10 minutes before being able to get them to rise - their are airbags that inflate when pressurized and it took a minute to figure out what was going on.  It was rather surprising that he hadn't even begun unloading, I had no idea all of this was going on and he didn't say anything to me, until I just happened to be out of the truck grabbing some water bottles. 

Whatever the case, 5 hours later I left. It's some detention pay, no biggies. I got out of there and enjoyed the drive out of that area back up to the Interstate. Very scenic.

I drove 329 miles before stopping - I was still tired from lack of sleep. Drove into a rest area and crawled into the sleeper.  Set the alarm on my Iphone - if I go into a deep sleep it could be hours before I wake back up.  And sure enough, that alarm went off and it was if it was the middle of the night waking up out of a deep sleep. 

And it's about time to go to bed, thankfully. Was just too early to be sleeping.  Other things going on - Maria and not finding a house, yet.  Taylor on her way back to Missouri - she had a memorable experience at dad's wedding.  James is home, went to work today. I think the boys are still at grandma's in Arkansas, they won't be coming home until Taylor gets home. Issues at work that were brought up to me - that is a post for tomorrow or whenever I make the next post.

Oh!  I have  17.30 hours left on the 70 hour clock. I have 941 miles to go.  GPS is telling me 13 hours and 27 minutes. But it assumes speed limit speeds. I calculated my arrival time at the yard.  Lol.  With mandated breaks and stopping 2 times more for fuel, plus pre trip and post trip inspections all eating up time?  I'm either going to make it all the way back - or - I'm going to be within 30 or so miles, I'm guessing and have to stop for 34 hours lmao. 

Got within 104 miles yesterday before quitting.
I had maybe 40 minutes left on the drive clock, but I got 660 miles done yesterday so I figured good enough.  I was undecided whether to head over closer to the plant today or stay here and get a 34 hour reset - which isn't guaranteed I'll get it cause I'd have to show up late at the plant for the appointment. Even tho the plant won't be ready to unload at the 8am appointment time, it doesn't look good if you don't show up on time unless you have a legitimate excuse.  Of which I definitely have none.

Plus, I did the math on the hours left. I have 27 hours left on the 70 hour clock. It only counts down when I'm on duty.  It took a little over 22 hours to get to where I'm at, I'll have another 2 to get to the plant. Bringing the 70 clock down to 25 hours.  24 hours total to get there, I'll go off duty the minute I arrive at the plant.  Actually it's about 1 hour 45 minutes to get to the plant, I'm just rounding up.  I usually do that and I usually am ahead of that rounding up, but in my mind better safe than sorry.

Regardless I have a good chance of making it back without having to take a reset.  If I don't - tire blowout, ridiculous traffic, whatever slowing me down - I'll just have to eat it, take the reset and spend another night in a company paid hotel.  The reason I want to leave here where Im at instead of staying until monday morning and just getting up early is because I need to get this truck washed. There is a Blue Beacon a mile away from me.  I can go there, shut off the clock and get the truck washed finally, it's rather dirty.  That won't eat up anything but a couple of minutes of time to get there and leave there. 

Yes I stayed at a cheap hotel last night.  I'm fixing to leave here, actually, to go get the truck washed and then head over to Centralia I think it was called, it's 30 minutes or so from the plant.  There is a Holiday Inn there, yup I'm spoiling myself this trip and who's going to stop me? lmao.  Look, I spent 4 days in a road busting @$$ - 2 days on the Brownsville trip and right back out the next morning, after hurriedly attempting to get things ready for the trip - to Pennsylvania. And then, 2 grueling days driving all day long in ridiculously heavy traffic.  I-81 is unbelievable.  It's like a traffic jam on a freeway in large city out there. I couldn't believe how many cars were traveling, attempting to pass anyone was a chore in itself.  No one wants to let you out, drivers are mostly inconsiderate anymore. 

The days of friendly drivers? Mostly gone.  A few here and there, but I just see a lot of rudeness and selfish driving out there nowadays.  Even if the lane is closed ahead of you and you HAVE to move over, they still don't want to let you in. Had that happen several times yesterday. Put on the turn signal and wait for someone to let me in.  They just keep passing you - and I finally just start coming over, what am I supposed to do, stop on the Interstate and wait? NO.  I may take a different route home. I can take the route that goes to the plant in West Virginia back.  It's like 4 or 500 miles of I-81 and I really don't want to go through that again.  The advantage tho, is once you're off that miserable road, it's smooth sailing for the most part all the way back and a much easier drive than the WV route.

I'll just have to decide that Monday. For right now? Packing up and getting out of here.

Well, I knew today would be a long day, I had no idea just how long of a day it would be.

Getting up at 4:45 am, doing my usual routine - I only got to spend the night with my doggies after being out on the road 2 days but I gave them extra special attention.  Because the prospect of being out on the road as long as 9 days wasn't setting well with me and the dogs? Well Addler will be getting very grumpy in about 4 days from now. 

Anyway, getting to the plant this morning, the truck in front of me was "hot".  Meaning air in the tank.  They won't load volatile, flammable, explosive cryogenics into the trailers without getting rid of the air first and that can take some time depending on how much air is in the tank. It only gets air in those tanks whenever they are opened up and worked on. 

I went to sleep waiting, the other driver was kind enough to honk his horn on the way out to let me know he was done.

Almost 4 hours at the plant.  That's way too long, especially when I have an agenda to get the trip over with as fast as possible.  I guess it doesn't matter, tho, I will arrive in Pennsylvania on Sunday and have to wait until Monday morning to deliver it.  But - might as well crank it out 2 days in a row and get there early Sunday and have a free day? Sounds good to me. So, I drove 672 miles today, which is excellent for a relatively slow truck. 

And tho I didn't get enough sleep because I stayed up late last night cooking - I was very happy I went to the trouble of doing so.  These truck stops mostly have garbage food, stuff I have little interest in eating unless I'm so hungry that anything will do.  But the hamburger steak I made with mushroom loaded mushroom gravy was quite wonderful. 

My 17 hour day is over.  Relax a few, go to sleep, repeat today's miles tomorrow. I was 1403 miles from there this morning leaving the chemical plant.  I'm down to 746, if I can do another 650 or more tomorrow, I'll only have a couple of hours drive to finish out the route to the nearest - hotel actually - and spend the day there.  I have no desire to stay in a truck for 20 hours waiting - I've done it many times but these longer trips?  Bahh Humbug.  There's only cheap hotels in the area, nothing decent, so I will just go to the one I went to the last time I was up here, which was how long ago?

I don't remember. A year? longer? 

I drove an extra 50 miles than the last trip up here, I know that.  I remember the town I stopped in last time and thought, naw, I am used my 16 hour exception, I'm going to get up the road.  The funny thing about where I"m at now? You see the signs - those signs that tell you what food, gas and hotels are available at the next exit - but at the exit? There was nothing visible.  I got on the exit ramp, pulled up to the stop sign and still couldn't see anything. Weird.  Turned right - the Pilot truckstop appeared in my vision after driving 500 feet. I didn't even have to guess, I knew that place would be full. 

Yup. Not only full but trucks all over the place doing what we call "creative parking".  Parking where you aren't supposed to, blocking things, etc.  The other truckstop was what I was looking for. Less popular - I don't care, just need a place to stop before my 16 hour clock runs out.  I go down the road, around a corner and lo and behold, there it is. I was elated to find 2 open spots - this time of night who knows if you're going to find a spot or have to keep driving up the Interstate until you find on.

Whatever the case, exhaustion just hit me. Not like I'm some spring chicken working these kinds of hours lmao. 

G'nite. 

Tired does not adequately describe how I feel right now.  Exhausted is a much closer word.

I started early this morning, there was an empty down there last night so I hooked up to it - last night - and got it ready to leave this morning.

I was 100 miles into the trip back when the manager called. Was E005 there, it wasn't supposed to be? He must have been looking on GPS and knowing I was heading north.  Yup, it was there. 

200 miles later he calls again. Im going to try to sell you a pitch here.  What on earth, I thought.  Drive to the other side of the world was my second thought.  I wasn't far off.  He had checked every available driver's hours on the 70 hour clock - I had the most.  That was easy,  all the other drivers started the day before me after their 3 days off.  Mine just happened to start the next day.

I had 55 at the time- I'm down to 48? I think.  He went on about a trip to Palm, Pennsylvania.  I was not necessary happy to hear about that, but I kept my chin up. That trip is a waste.  You drive 2 days and a couple of hours the third day, you sit around for nearly 24 hours and then you go unload.  They won't unload you early, a waste of time to even try.  PA is veritably shut down right now the last I heard - COVID19 - so there isn't any thought about doing anything. 

I listened to him throw out his sales pitch, he gave the odds of anyone going actually making it back without having to take a 34 hour reset.  I didn't look at my available hours, but its around 1,400 miles one way.  That will eat up - 25? - hours of the one clock going up.  Off duty for however long waiting to unload - that doesn't count on the 70, any off duty time - then 4 to 6 hours to unload and then head back.  I'm figuring 55 hours of on duty time approximate - there is no way I'm making it back to Texas without having to take a reset.  I figure I'll be somewhere in either Mississippi or Louisiana and will have to sit for 34 hours. 

The good thing is that they have to pay a hotel - that is why they don't want to have on-the-road resets, especially now that the company is broke. They have clamped down on everything, but I will absolutely insist on a hotel and a decent one at that.  That's well off into the future.  But something I need to give consideration to.  I can tell you this: I can make more money in two runs to Brownsville, if at least one of the runs has overnight detention pay - spending 4 days than spending 7 days - or 8 if a reset is needed. 

It isn't exactly a waste trip, it's still decent money but it's much more out on the road that I prefer.  I haven't been there in what, a year? So I'll eat it without complaining.  Some drivers love this trip.  I dunno if we're out of the 3 day off funk, so perhaps it's good I'm getting something. No-one is home to boot, they're in Colorado at the moment.  I can tell ya, tho, being home alone is fine by me.

Whatever the case, get back to the yard, unhook the truck, hook up to the trailer for tomorrow, do my paperwork and send it in, off to Kroger's, over to Maria's, get the dogs, home, cook and prepare for tomorrow, check the cats, their dog and throw out old trash, finish cooking, fill up the dishwasher, pack my bag with a lot more clothes - enough for at least 10 days - find the cat watering bottle stuck closed - cats were rather thirsty, the bottle wasn't letting out the water, fixed that, cats went crazy on water - thank God found that before I left - finished cleaning the kitchen and now - just waiting for cooked food to cool down so I can put it in the refrigerator and then go to bed.

That's a 16 hour day going now.  I'm going to pay for this tomorrow, nothing new.  Drive dead tired for half the day, take a 40 minute nap - I'll pass out on that one - wake up feeling much better and drive out the day and then go to bed shortly after tomorrow driving is done.  Goal: as close to 700 miles as I can get.  Goal next day: same as first day.  Goal 3rd day: get near destination. If early enough, get a cheap hotel .  No sense sitting all freaking day long in a truck.  It's going to be at least 9 straight days on the road including this Brownsville run I just got done with, I'm going to want a full sized bed out of a truck and relax. 

Well that's been today.  The drive to Brownsville was uneventful - the the amount of road construction is still increasing.  At the rate they are doing this Interstate project it may be that we won't be able to make it down there in a day.  And then, that run becomes much less desirable. 

Both Taylor and James made it to their destination in Colorado today.  They are driving separate vehicles.  Taylor sent me a pic of a party - lots of people there. Taylor grew up there, everyone knows her.  She is, however, probably exhausted and ready to go to bed lol.   The boys are doing fine - that would be expected, grandma definitely coddles them I would have to say after watching the interaction many times over.  But whatever, that's what grandma's are for.  At least, that's what I remember about my grandma when I was young.

Okay I figure another 15 minutes and food can go into refrigerator and get - 6 hours of sleep lol.  Just gonna try to get a good attitude about this one and get it started - and get it over with. 

I am trying to light a fire under those ladies feet. They have 15 days left to find a place to move into.  The available places have rented out - weird everything is suddenly renting around here.  We tried to go look at a place yesterday - I went and got Maria - but the man wasn't answering his phone so we just looked at it from the roadside.  This is Texas, you really don't want to walk up in a person's yard you don't know and they don't know you're coming. 

Taylor made it to Missouri a lot faster than I thought she would. But I had to stop and think - I'm thinking in terms of driving a big truck and going 68 miles per hours.  She drives must faster than that lol.  I dunno when they're leaving for Colorado but I'll assume today. 

James brought the boys home from daycare while I was out yesterday, got their stuff and left.  He kept it a surprise - meeting up with grandma - until the very last second.  He was parked somewhere in Texarcana - boys asking what they were doing. But - none of this stuff where they're constantly asking where is grandma, when are we going to get there, etc etc etc?  Cause', they didn't know what they were doing there.  Grandma drove up behind them, got out and sneaked up to the pickup and stood there looking into the rear window. Jaxon exclaimed Grandma!! - but Phoenix didn't hear it.  So James was like - look, look around! 

So, that was the beginning of all of that for them yesterday.  James is leaving out today after work.  Would love to have the house all to myself but I'm off to Brownsville today.  So, the house will be deserted for 2 full days, maybe even 3 depending on what's going on in Brownsville, for James isn't coming back til Sunday I think.  It's fine tho.  The house has cameras, an alarm and neighbors if nothing else.  It will be a target tho. No vehicles in the driveway or out front.  There are plenty of thieves that cruise this neighborhood on a regular basis. 

At least their version of a dog is in the back - there are a lot of valuables back there. Even if locked into a shed, a thief would have all the time they need to break the lock. 

I think about such things but I don't worry too much. Not worth it.  I'll have driving to focus on today and that will take me all day long - at least until 8:00 pm since I'm the third load.  But what wonderful sleep I had! Well, excepting the dream.  I was at a port somewhere driving a truck, I had gotten out, there was no one around.  I walked along a dock looking for someone and then all of a sudden 6 dudes appeared out of nowhere and then the bloodiest battle.  I pulled out my gun and unloaded the magazine and then somehow a sword magically appeared - lol - and I started hacking at these people while they were chasing me around the place. 

That's what I woke up out of.  I'm not particularly interested in getting into sword fights with anyone, but I do recognize a spiritual link there.  The Sword of the Spirit.  It isn't for fighting physical battles, it's for fighting spiritual ones, the 6 dudes could easily be representative of 6 evil spirits, could even be a warning of oppression.  It could be anything, but I tend to try to put these types of dreams into some spiritual context.  And will be asking the Lord about that today.  It certainly isn't anything I expect to happen in real life, I go to piers sometimes but they are never deserted and it's all highly secured every last one of the places I go to you have to go through a security gate. Some of the guards are armed.

Anyway, today should be a good day, I fell rested for the most part and I've had 3 full days off.  it was time to go back to work yesterday but I have no control over plants shutting down and waiting my turn for the next run in the queue.  I'm suspecting it was 3 days tho because the fas machine wasn't working, the internet was down Saturday and didn't come back up, I learned yesterday, until Monday afternoon.  Yikes, kind of hard for them to operate without the internet.  In fact, impossible. All the information about drivers and what they are doing and where they are on the road comes through the internet. Everything is done internally through email. Not sure how they worked that one out.

Well, it's 7:00 am and I need to get out of here. 

G'day. 

The dawn of a new day.
Taylor left about half an hour ago with the boys.  The boys went to dayschool, Taylor hit the road headed to Missouri.  The boys have no clue that mom is going to be gone 8 days and further have no idea that dad is coming after work to pick them up and head straight up to Arkansas to drop them off with the grandparents. 

Everything kept changing about Taylor's trip - I mean there's been 4 changes now, the final version of it was started today. Now, James is also going to go up there to pick up a bunch of stuff and bring it back here.  This is Taylor's stuff that was left at a relatives long ago.  Anyway, I sort of have the house to myself.  I say sort of because I've been off work 3 full days now, it's very likely that I will be heading out on the road somewhere tomorrow.  I'd expect to hear from the new dispatcher in the next several hours - it's still early, I got up to wish them all goodbye. 

In a nonchalant way of course, they didn't want the kids to know because of what happens when you tell them in advance.  When are we going? Are we leaving yet?  etc etc etc ad-infinitum.  So we all just said nothing about the upcoming trips.  The boys will be exceedingly happy once they find out that they are going to grandma's. It's not just grandma, the other half brother is up there as well, he's only a few years old than the oldest one here, they usually get along pretty well.

James isn't leaving for Colorado until Friday, I believe, he's just dropping the kids off today.  Taylor is going to Colorado for her dad's wedding.  Forgot to throw that in there.

As for me, I went to get the boat yesterday.  Took it to the nearest lake about 10 miles away, decided to try and fire it up in the parking lot.  No sense trying to launch it if it's not going to work.  It wouldn't fire. It cranked over nicely but firing was a different story.  I mean, it didn't even try to start.  The battery started wearing down, decided to take it back to the shop.  Continuing on with cranking it would have left a dead battery and no way to tilt the motor back up for traveling. 

Once back at the shop, they wrote up a new repair ticket and I left.  Went looking for ammo - it's pretty sparse and hard to find.  9mm especially.  Academy Sports had no 9mm or 40 cal.  I eventually ended up at a pawn shop where they had a few boxes of 9 mm and as much 40 as I wanted. Well, they would only sell me one box of the 9mm, which was fine, my main pistol at this point is the 40. On my way home from that, I stopped at Wingstop and then off to the house - where in the middle of that drive back the shop called me and informed me that they tried to start it and it fired right up.

I became suspicious of that.  I know how to start the thing, it's not that difficult, it wasn't even trying to fire up.  When I texted Taylor about it, she also had her suspicions.  Like they forgot to hook something up. I'm telling you, when I tried to crank that motor, it wasn't even trying to fire even a little bit.  Not like I haven't had the thing running before.  Well whatever, I guess I'll have to drive clear back over there again today. They want me to come and show me how easily it fires up.  Great, I'm thinking, that doesn't really prove anything.  If they made a mistake, why not just own up to it?  I wouldn't have an issue with it.  I have more an issue of them trying to make it look as if I'm the culprit who doesn't know how to start an engine that I've started in the past many, many times over.

But I'll keep my mouth shut. They've been in business 30 years and they know these old motors, it was really my last resort locally.  Otherwise I would have had to drive to Dallas or Houston with the thing to get it repaired, something I was less than interested in in doing.  This is their first attempt, btw. They said the dude that put on automotive plug wires and plugs had it wrong and that it doesn't work with these 2 stroke engines.  it has to be some special type of wire and plugs - whatever is in them they told me but I have forgotten.  They replaced all of that and declared it running fine! lol okay well maybe it's running fine in the shop in a tub of water, we'll see what's going on with it out on the lake. 

I just want the thing to be able to fire up, idle, move when I want it to move, idle it again, etc.  If I could ever get it to that point then I would focus on the minor issues the thing has.  I found a brand new trolling motor yesterday at Adaemy for a very reasonable price.  I also found a ladder on an old junk boat they have out there that I could use on it.  And other things that aren't really costly.

Other than that, I have no plans today.  There's plenty to do around here - too hot.  We didn't quite finish up the cleaning job we started a month ago, still plenty to go in the back yard.  I'm less than motivated, especially thinking that I may be going out tomorrow to who knows where.  Brownsville preferably but at this point I'll take whatever.  Except Houston. Don't send me to Houston! lol

Okay, well time to get busy about the day.

Interesting day.
Up early - 4:00, jolted out of deep sleep by the ridiculous phone alarm - annoying as all get out but that's the intended effect - get to work, hook up trailer to the plant, loaded out on the highway.

As usual, I'm really not all that good with the first or second load, it's just way too early for me. I went to bed around 8:45 last night, it's just the earliest I can manage to get myself into bed and sleeping.  Driving I was thinking of how long a day it was going to be - or at least until I get X amount of miles done and can take a refreshing 30 to 40 minute nap. 

85 miles up the road, the phone rings.  It's the new dispatcher.  Hi Ben, I had to call to let you know that Mapleton cancelled the load.  I had this feeling yesterday it would cancel, but I had hoped I could get up there and then they would have me wait in a hotel and get paid detention pay.  But 85 miles? out of 750? Nope.

So I was instructed to take the trailer back to the yard and then we would go from there.  Flip a - safe - u turn and heading back, another phone call. Take it to the plant, get new paperwork and take it on up to Oklahoma instead.  Now that was more like it. At least not waste the day.  So all the way back to the plant and then all the way up here to the plant in OK.

And, there are now 4 loaded trailers sitting here and no empties.  I saw the last driver going the opposite direction shortly before I got here, I had the expectation that there would be no empties and they don't unload them at night.  Not at this plant anyway, lots of plants will unload them 24 hours a day, they don't care what time you get there.  Dropped the trailer and now sitting in the parking lot until probably late tomorrow morning. 

I had the thought of driving to Bartlesville and staying at a decent hotel I've stayed at many times up here - but it's 25 miles away and I decided against it.  I think it jeopardizes detention pay if you leave the plant.  I'll take the pay and stay in Hotel Truck Sleeper.  At least the restaurant across the street is open again.  Diner style food, decent, good prices had a pork chop and some greens.  Oh, it used to be we didn't get detention pay up here, hence staying at a hotel wasn't an issue.  If I wanted to anyway. There are no hotels in this little town I'm in now, it's a very small town. 

I'm not sure how they managed to get us detention pay here, it doesn't happen often.  Regardless, with that, I will make more in 2 days here than the 3 day trip to Mapleton I was going to take.  I find it odd that a new plant with all new equipment is already having issues.  They used to have trouble all the time, I figured replacing everything would eliminate all of that. 

Well, a call came into me this morning, anyway, while I was at the plant.  It was Taylor. Phoenix had gone into the bathroom and told dad that there was water all over the place.  Taylor said it was coming from the air conditioner.  So they were going to call an AC service out.  Yes, I thought, that thing needs replaced, but the problem doesn't need an HVAC repair person as she was going to do.  Pay hundreds of dollars?  I told her this happened once before. Pull the PVC off the drain, it is very likely clogged and simply needs cleaned out.  Yes, that was the problem and tho they really need to seriously consider replacing the central ac/heat, this situation didn't need additional money paid out for a simple repair. 

But I'm glad they are considering replacing it. It was deemed near dead by an AC guy last year.  It's rusted out and it continues to have problems.  At some point, they'll have to replace it. 
\
Anyway, I'm stone dead tired.  Just caught up with me finally. Time to go to sleep.

Well I get a day off. Whether I go back out tomorrow remains to be seen. Right now? I/d be happy for a couple of days off, even if it means I work the entire weekend.  I've driven over 4,000 miles in the last 8 days, that's enough for me to have a few days of rest and relaxation at home.  Of course, work may not think so, lol, I have no choice if they send me a run for tomorrow.

The world of politics drones on.  Locally, a bunch of people showed up yesterday - some heavily armed - and stood off against each other while there was a county commissioner meeting about a confederate statue that stands in the main square next to the old courthouse in this town.  No decision was made for it was a public commenting meeting.  I don't care either way about old statues. This one has sat there for 115 years, but now all of a sudden people are offended by it!

Did any of these people even know that statue was there before some person locally decided to start a change.org petition concerning it? Did they pay any attention to it at all if/when they drove by the courthouse?  Probably not.  They declare that it must be put in a museum!  Now, I wouldn't care about that, either, if there is a vote on it.  That's what should happen, the community should decide whether that statue stays or goes.

But if it did end up in a museum, what do you think all of these people that are calling these statues racially motivated and are demanding that they be put in museums will do after they are actually placed in those museums?  You guessed it - they'll play cancel culture with the museums, call the curators of the museums racists and demand these museums be defunded. 

Defunded. An ugly word, but is it even a real word?  I don't actually think so. It's something dreamed up in left think tanks to produce to the American public that is gullible enough to follow these edicts.  I'm not falling for any of this s***..  Defunding the police is not only a terrible idea, but it's likely just another ploy. Who in their right mind doesn't want the protection of police? 3 of the council members in Minneapolis that voted to defund the police there requested private security to protect them. No kidding!  Hypocrites.  This is nothing more than a power grab and a method to see how many people will just fall in line and follow blindly without questioning their illustrious leaders who know everything, the public be damned.

Who is asking the general public in  making all of these decrees? BLM makes demands and governments bow the knee and succumb to them.  Where is the rest of the public in all of this?  Nowhere to be found, we must just blindly follow and submit.  No thanks. As it stands, a bunch of citizens showed up to that meeting yesterday defying these people.  I'd defy them just to make a stand that one small group of people shouldn't get to decide for everyone what should happen with that statue. It should be put up for a vote.  I was called a racist on a local Facebook yesterday because I dared suggest that it be put to public vote. 

That's why I have no current information on my employment anywhere online, at least that I know of. I may just pay for the service that goes through all of your online info and make sure I didn't put anything on there, but I'm pretty sure I have nothing stating my current employer anywhere on there. I have my former employer on there - the cancel culture can call them all they want, I'll never be going back to them for employment anyway.  But that's the point - if I make any statements contrary, online, to these cancel culture people, the first thing they are going to do is try to find your employer and get you fired. 

These people cannot stand differing viewpoints. Whining little babies, most of them are "kids" - if you look at a lot of these protests, yes there are older adults there but a vast majority of them appear to be late teens/early 20's.  They know nothing but what they were taught.  If you don't get your way, demonize the person/people that are rejecting your stance.  If that doesn't work, tear everything down and burn it up! 
_________________

My trip today - in town - included driving by the town square. There were two people out there - and was confirmed they are there to stop anyone from toppling the statue. After that, a coffee shop stop, a trip to Taylor's work to deliver her a Macchiatto, over to chili's for lunch - of which Taylor and James joined me - then off to Kroger/s for dinner fixings.  I was going to stop at the pawn shop at Jame's suggestion, but I forgot on the way back.  There for ammo.  Just enough to have some extra in the house. 

I'm off to Mapleton tomorrow. That's the plant that has blown up 3 times.  The chemical plant ended up doing an inspection of the plant before they would allow us to start hauling loads up there.  I still haven't heard anything about if anyone was hurt in that last explosion.  It isn't a very comfortable feeling to know you are entering an area that has exploded into flames in the past, but I won't turn it down.  I would have liked 2 days off tho.  After this trip, they'll have to give me a 34 hour reset at least.  And as usual, I say nothing about my desire for time off.  I will only ask that if it's absolutely necessary. Which it will this month when we have to move from one house to another.

Provided, of course, that we find another house.  The owner finally sent a registered letter - but too late. We could legally stay another month since he didn't send the notice until well after the first. 

But I want out of there now.  That guy is a jerk. Amazing he's a Catholic Priest.  You'd expect a bit more moral standards from a person like that. 

Well whatever the case, I have very little prep work to do for tomorrow's trip.  I'm making dinner tonight and that will include extra for the trip. I have sandwich makings and I might make something else. 

With that, this post? Is ended. 

Short trip, got that over with.
I no more than got back to the yard and left for home when I got a text from yet the newest version of a dispatcher: You're going to Brownsville tomorrow.
Yayyy!  I think.
Okay, it's my favorite run, I've just gotten used to at least a day off between runs.  But hey, I have most of today off so it's not that bad.

Meanwhile, yesterday when I was getting the trailer loaded at the chemical plant.  Another driver pulls in behind me.  Most of us drivers have this text group going where we text if everything is going smoothly - or not.  This dude is a transplant from another division. Actually he's only supposed to be a temporary driver, but I know all too well that he's around probably permanently.  He was gloating the other day that he will never have to learn how to unload the trailers.

Thusly, he will never get any of the crappy runs.  I bit my tongue on that one.  There's nothing I can say or do that will change anything, no sense in starting needless trouble.

But, this dude also refused to participate in the group text - even tho he's in it and takes advantage of the information that is given.  So, I texted the group, saying: "3rd load done, 4th load driver who does not participate in reports is pulling in".

He had a freaking cow, lmao.  Exactly what is that supposed to mean???

Elaborate for me!!!

I politely wrote back that it means that if you get to the plant and something is wrong and they aren't loading for whatever reason, it would be courteous to let other drivers know of the delay.  Or at least contact your manager so they can let others behind you know.

This is the driver that was sitting at the plant on first load a while back that wasn't getting loaded because the plant's pump wouldn't turn on.  He was in the group, he didn't bother to text anyone and he didn't bother to contact the manager at the very least and tell him what is going on.  I lost several hours of on duty time waiting there.

Anyway, he complained to both my manager and his manager. He is still under his manager in Louisiana even tho he's working out of our yard.  So when I get to the yard today, my manager calls me into his office and - nicely - asked me to please not call out other drivers. Some of them are easily offended babies, he explained and you know what people like that do: they complain to everyone.  I had an idea that this driver was going to complain after seeing his reaction on text messaging.

I didn't actually say his name on the group text, hence no one else knew who it was - until he texted that is with his faux outrage.  My manager - the new guy - said he would be working to get everyone to at least contact him whenever there is a hold up.  Fair enough, but that's what everyone should be doing instinctively anyway if they aren't going to text all of us.  They all know if the plant isn't working, everyone coming in after them is going to be delayed.

I just said look, when I'm at the plant I'm focused on getting in and getting out of there as fast as possible. I have a schedule for every run.  I can tell you where I will stop on longer runs and approximate time I will arrive at destination.  Many of us rely on getting in and out of the plant in a timely manner.  For me, the biggest thing is not turning a two day run into a 3 day run, or 3 into 4, etc.

He did throw me a compliment: I have to call more than half the drivers in this division to tell them I need their trailer back the next day,  please get it back here.  You, however, I don't ever have to ask anything.  I give you the run, you get it done without any need to call or bother you.  You're one of the few I don't have to worry about.

That was a nice thing to say, I thought.  If I do experience any delays on the road, he's the first one I text.
___________

Tuesday morning.  Off to Brownsville wonderland - in the rain.