Well my hope for rain tomorrow morning has been cancelled.  It's going to rain all day today, instead and just be cloudy tomorrow where the forecast previously stated it was going to rain in the morning. I just wanted whatever advantage I could get in seeing fewer people at the auction tomorrow morning and possibly scoring an RV property.  I have around 8 grand I can bid up to for any given property before I have to bow out of the bidding.  Mom opened up an account for savings that she said she was going to put some money into, but she never did it and I'm not going to ask. That was her idea and I'l just have to go it on my own with what I have. 

A few properties shouldn't - realistically anyway - go any higher than 8 grand, it would set the price per acre at 2 grand and that's about as much as I want to go for any given property unless it's in a prime location or has some redeeming feature that would be appealing to the RV crowd.  Then I can see going up as high as 3 grand per acre maybe more - if I had the money to do so.

If tomorrow produces no results, it is what it is.  Just keep saving and saving until I have enough either for a substantial down payment on a mortgaged land or buy it outright at the auction.  Or even buy private owner seller land outright for cash. No payments would be nice, obviously.  

__________________

A rather frustrating morning.  First to the city planning and development building, where the gentleman that basically tells the city what will be done with what properties was helpful, even printing out a huge zoning map of the entire city - but also not very helpful in the idea that most of the city will not allow an RV park.  Ok, so I could take this before the city council and see about a change in zoning for any given property? 

Only if I ok it.  And, per Texas law as of sometime in 2019, spot zoning is no longer allowed anywhere in the state.  I'm learning stuff if nothing else. Spot zoning is where they would allow one portion of an otherwise zoned area to be changed without changing the rest of the zoning in that area. The only way around it is to change the entire zoning for that whole area.  And, he says, the city council hears what his opinion is of whatever it is a person is trying to do and if he disagrees, highly unlikely the city would allow it.  

It was the 11 acres I was looking at in the city limits.  It's zoned R3 - it's basically only allowing "residential" housing, whatever that means and trying to get him to define that was like pulling teeth.  "Well, I'd have to go and take a look at what's around that area to determine what would be allowable".

Subject moved on to the piece of property where I'd like to put a mobile home.  Nope, he says, But, I reply, there are 2 mobile home 100 feet away on the same street?  Well they were probably grandfathered in.  Well how do I find out what I can do with this property? You ask me. 

Lol, ok.  So I have him the county property ID number. Again, his statement was to see what's near it.  There are old trashed houses, newer - but far from new - regular housing, mobile homes, mansions, there's all kinds of different structures on that street, there is not confluent  at all. It's all different.  Well, I'll go take a look and get back to you.  That didn't sound promising, but my other idea was these portable buildings.  They look like a small house.  I could move one onto this property, permanently situate it on block, put skirting around the bottom, run electric, water and sewer into it.  Design the inside of it, install a kitchen, bathroom, living room and bedroom and call it done.  Put it up as a rent to own. I don't even need credit to get one of those buildings, though I'm sure you need a good down payment.

Leaving there, I went to the county courthouse.  Looking up cases, that didn't help at all. Several properties with no addresses, no GIS, no satellite view, no description beyond a survey of where they are at. Over to the Appraisal district, they took me into a room with computers and said you can sit down at that one and look the properties up.

Nothing. On any of them.  I called them in, eventually a man shows up.  He looks up one of the properties I'm quite interested in for the acreage is ok and the starting bid is quite low.  After he "found" it and left, I realized he's found a property with a different ending number.  I tried looking this property up on several different applications and found nothing.  I called him in again, who then told me he'd have to call someone else in.

This lady comes in, looks at what I am looking at, goes to an old survey map from the 60's, starts looking.  I asked her how they could be selling a property where they have no idea where it is?  Blank look on her face, she couldn't find it on the old map and gave up on it.  The same was true with all the unidentified locations for properties, so I just gave up on it.  You can't just buy a property blindly and hope somehow you can magically find where it is and then, if it's even suitable for what you want to do with it? Ridiculous.

After eliminating all the properties that had too high a starting bid or were too far away, I only ended up with one single property that I could bid on tomorrow. It's smaller than I want at 4 acres, but it's absolutely beautiful and outside city limits.  There is city water across the street, power lines running at the front of the property and underground cable across the street as well.  That would give access to high speed wifi, a thing many RV'ers demand have accessible.  Unfortunately it's starting at almost 6 grand, so I will only be able to bid up to maybe 8 grand and after that?  I'm SOL.  I mean, I could buy that 4 acre unidentified property, apparently you have to pay a company that does surveying to find it for you.  I dunno how much that costs, but it's probably not cheap. Yet, if the property turned out to be something going cheap - it's starting bid is 1.5 grand - I could easily see paying that extra price.

That's  a pretty risky gamble. The other thing in high supply are properties that are landlocked.  You cannot access them, there are no roads of any sort going to them. A couple of them  you'd have to walk down railroad tracks a mile or more to gain access.  I don't need that, thanks.  Just a waste of money and time, you can't use it unless you could convince a property owner next to it to allow it - and probably pay a steep fee to put in an access road and you couldn't sell it, who wants to buy unaccessible property? 

So I'll play that one out when they get to it.  The 4 acres that I am interested in has nice roads getting to the street that leads up to it. That street is a bit narrow but nothing an RV couldn't easily navigate and the entrance would be flat and level, make an extra wide entrance and they'll love the area.  A ranch across the street, my hunting property on undivided interest the other direction across the tracks, a small property north of it that is unused and about a 4 acre tract south of it that - who knows?  Maybe a person could convince the owner to sell it, they aren't doing anything with it.  

But that's neither here nor there.  I have to actually win it.  I have 8 grand, that's what I can spend, that would be 2 grand per acre.  

There are other properties I'd bid on tho.  Houses on them, they are starting low, but as I have seen, those will get bid up to 50, 60 or more grand.  A person with money could easily make a living - a good living - off of buying and selling these properties.  Especially the ones with acreage.  

Now just let me say, that 11 acres tract? Would be a wonderful place to build a house and have all that property to yourself.  I'm not going to try to do that, the thought entered and slipped back out of my mind quickly. That doesn't help me do what I want to do here.  

So there it is. Spent all morning on this.  Oh wait, there's another property that would fit the bill only a mile away from our house - but I forgot to see what the zoning is there.  It's in city limits as well.  

Whatever the case, I kind of feel like I should have just gone to work instead of taking tomorrow off for this, but now that it's a done deal, I'll be there first thing and see what happens.  The worst that can happen is the property bids too high and sends me back to the drawing board.  The drawing board, however, is complete.  Save more money - a lot more - or cash out the 401k to acquire the property.

Of course, if I do that, I won't have enough left over to develop the property.  That 401k is the money needed to develop the property into an RV park, if I spend it on buying property, I am left with nothing to develop it with.  But, maybe that wouldn't be so terribly bad?  I'm sick of trying to get property, it's really starting to gnaw at my wit's end.  I've spent a large amount of time looking for property, trying to find one that will fit the bill and then - find out it's under contract, three times now that's happened!

I've been doing this all day, I'm taking a break from it.  I've scrutinized that list several times over. There are a large amount of single house tracts that I'll have to sit and wait through before they even get to the single property I'm interested in.  So I'll be there an hour or more before they get to it. Gag.  

If that falls through, then I am definitely going to seriously considering cashing out the 401k sometime around a month before the next tax lien auction.  Get the money in hand, just about guarantee that, as long as there is suitable property, I will score.  Or, have it available for a substantial down payment on land for a mortgage/financing.  Like, 1/3rd down or something.  Give them 25 grand on a 80 grand property I don't think they're going to care if I already have a mortgage on a house in Arizona, I stand to lose a lot of money if I default on the loan. 

So that's it.  I'm going to go look at a mobile home on land that is a few miles away from here, then go meet Taylor for lunch at her work.  That will be a nice distraction.  The house I wouldn't bother to go see for I am almost sure that it will get bid up high - that would be a turn key rental property, but since it's so close, I'll take a look.

G'day. 

Having no idea what I would face driving the rest of the way back today, leaving the truck stop I was at in Cross Plains, I was at least encouraged it was Saturday and not a week day.  But, it was supposed to rain most of the way back and that usually ends up with accidents and people freaking out all over the place, driving 30 mph in a 70mph zone on open highway in the passing lane - well you get the picture.

I was 40 miles into it before I got entangled in the first ordeal.  An accident.  The entire freeway shut down to stop and go, it took about 20 minutes to get through that.  Then it took forever for everyone to get separated out on the highway so vehicles weren't  all driving together in a big group - the aftermath of that accident 50 miles or more down the road.  

Then it was a construction zone that had everyone going 5 to 30 mph.  Etc. Etc. - including spending 30 minutes trying to get fuel at a very busy Love's in Palestine, AR.  But, I did make it back with time to spare on the clock.  Not the end of the world if it took a partial, extra day, but why bother, get this stuff over with.  

So I'm home.  I'm a bit unhappy that I don't have enough money in savings to cover a larger purchase at the upcoming auction.  I have enough for opening bids on several properties that would fit the bill, but if these rich people show up, they'll just up bid well beyond anything I have in the bank. Since you have to have the money in the auctioneer's hands within an hour of the auction ending, I can't go beyond what I have on hand.  

I'm going to go anyway, you never know.  Plus it will be rainy and cool outside. These auctions are done outdoors, rain or shine, that ought to keep some of them home.  But, I'm only interested in attempting to win a bid on one property, if I don't, I'm not picking up anything else. I already have the 3 lots and the hunting property, I don't need any more of that.  Monday, however, I am going to go back to the city and attempt to get a copy of the zoning map for the town.  There are several mobile homes up for bid - these are homes that will have to be moved -  if I could find a decent mobile and if I could put one on one of these properties, well that would be nice.  Those mobiles go cheap at the auction, hardly anyone bids on them.  It would cost more to have the thing moved than it will to buy one. 

Oh dang. I just checked the law firm's list, they have stamped a large number of the properties "WITHDRAWN" - usually meaning the owner came along and paid up the taxes. In some of those properties, they are worth hundreds of thousands of dollars being sold for 15 -20 grand?  But, I have to go out to my vehicle, get out my list and see what I have checked on there that is of interest compared to what has been withdrawn.  If there's too many, I'm just going to contact dispatch tomorrow and tell them I'm available for the next load that I will be up for.  

Okay, I can't wait til tomorrow to check this out, lol, going to get that list.

None of the properties I was looking at affected. I wasn't seriously considering the properties with houses since the starting bids is well above my current finances and undoubtedly will go very high.  One property in particular stands out, it's in my town, on the outskirts tho. It's 11 acres and has access points from 3 different streets.  It's completely undeveloped and covered with trees. The property would be great because there is no need for a water well or to install sewage vault with leech fields.  Tying into an existing system is far cheaper.  

But, the opening bid is $5633, I could probably go up to 8 grand and then have to cut out of the bidding.  In reality, to be able to win a bid on such a property, probably need about 22 grand.  

I may just table this RV park thing for a while and get it out of my system.  It's just not happening.  Yet.  If I wait two years my old 401k presumably will be worth more and I won't have to pay out the 10% fine for cashing out early.  

Or, just an aggressive savings plan that has at least a grand a month.  Can I afford to take out $250 out of every paycheck? Hmm, maybe.  Cut out eating out, don't buy an big ticket items (next on the list was a computer desk with hutch), live frugal.  That depends on work as well, of course, but I wasn't planning on quitting anyway even if I ever do get property and get something going.  

But, the plan is to go to the auction regardless of odds of winning anything.  The rich dude has said twice now that sometimes a bunch of people show up and bid everything up - and sometimes not many show up and stuff goes cheap.  With that in mind, I will go, if I don't get what I need, I will leave empty handed and go back 3 months later to the next one.  

Okay, well it's Saturday night, everyone is in bed except me - but it's only 9:30 pm - I have no plans for tomorrow.  Actually, I may.  Now that I think of it.  The back yard is an utter disaster. I need the exercise.  I just walked outside with no jacket on, it's nice outside.  Good working weather, I may just get up and go out there and resume the cleaning project I had started before this wicked storm came through.  I'm thinking I could also potentially set up the new pond.  That is, if no more serious winter weather is coming our way?  

Well, it's a plan anyway.  Take my mind off of things.  

 I rechecked the property after getting news about it.  That property had been on the market over 200 days.  So what happens, now the third time, when I want to seriously consider buying it? It's on contract.  Meaning someone has committed to buy.  The deal isn't done yet, but it's likely it's a done deal. 

Getting frustrating.  I found 2 other properties, one of them is too far off the beaten trail the other looks like it's barren from satellite image.  I don't need something so far out of the way no -one will bother with it and I know I don't want a virtually treeless property.  I was sold on the one today.  It had it's quirks but I thought I could work around all of that.  

Back to square one.  

One has to wonder if this just isn't God's plan for me.  

Or is the enemy attempting to get in the way?

So it's probably too late to get a loan for the tuesday auction, meaning that isn't going to likely produce anything either.  I'm still going to go to the auction for one reason: There is no way of knowing if a lot of people will show up or possibly very few people.  I've heard the rich dude saying it goes both ways.  If there are few people, I might still have a chance at one of the cheaper properties with enough acreage.  

Regardless, I am heading out - 10 days after my last run - tomorrow.  My manager contacted me, asked me about my license.  I seem to remember you were doing something with your license?  Yes, I thought, I texted you the entire story.  But, he talks to too many people in any given day.  Well didn't you need to do something else after explaining it again? Yes, I had to go give my fingerprints for the hazmat endorsement, I got that done yesterday.  Ohhh, ok, well you are in the running for the lottery, I'll call you back later.

The lottery being an actual run.  There are only a couple of loads a day going out.  I really didn't care where the run took me, get me back on the road making some kind of money, even if it's a low paying run. I'll take it over nothing.

Instead of him calling back later, the dispatcher texted a couple of hours later: You won the lottery!  Yayyy! She said she would text me the details shortly, without telling me where it's going.  All of these plants are hurting for the product we deliver now.  Like shut down status.  Amazingly enough, the run is back to where I last went, West Virginia. They take a load per week that I know of, meaning we are going to be delivering it .... 5 days late.  

That's obviously not our fault, but I do hope this storm and all the tragic consequences it had doesn't also get these plants to thinking about some other way of getting their product.  There's actually only one way I can think of, and that's to have other plants that produce the product to get the licensing to load trucks with it.  Like, in other regions.  That would be devastating, of course, for that would mean loading out of another plant - somewhere - in the US.  

Whatever.  The kitchen being torn up, we went out to eat again.  But we determined that going out with the kids is more trouble than it's worth.  It's just a chore, instead of enjoying the meal, you're trying to get kids to behave, sit still, sit correctly and actually eat the food.  If we must eat out, it's either no kids or takeout and bring it home.  

I'm going to reign in expenses and eating out is one of the first things on the list.  We have done a of that in recent times and it takes a pretty good chunk of change to pay for all of that. I'm not saying I always pay for it, but I am saying it's more money than it's worth, doing it that frequently.  I don't mind cooking for the most part.  Oh, well there is one perk tho, Taylor will be getting 50% off eating at Chili's when she's been working there 90 days.  That's for up to 6 people in a party.  So that's doable I suppose, the bill today for 2 kids 2 adults was $20 with that discount given to her.

Well, I'm already ready for the road tomorrow.  And it's not an early load, a relief since I have only been getting up early the last two days. It's 9:00 am load, which is perfect for starting back up again.  But if it's 9:00 am, that means there's two loads before me.  I dunno, I'll have lots of questions at the plant tomorrow lol.

So anyway, I'm going to relax, go to sleep and tackle tomorrow - tomorrow.  

 Well the endless searching for suitable land for an RV park continues.

Today, I found what was described as a mobile home park for sale.  No pads, it says, you'll have to install your own.  

Well ok, let's go take a look!

There is a small mobile home park on one side and a junky thing on the other - completely obscured by trees on both sides of the property.  

Quiet, a bit of interstate noise but nothing that I think would cause RV'ers to think this is a bad place.  I walked most of the property, tho I didn't venture into the thickets because I didn't feel like it.  There was much more property beyond those thickets, but save that for another day.

There is water on the property yes, areas where RV pads are unsuitable. But, considering we just had the worst snow and sleet storm in decades here and that fact that this property would have been covered with snow, there were plenty of areas available, especially in the back, where plenty of spots could be placed.  

The front of the property as well.  Some trees would have to be cut down, yes, but to make a nicely treed in pad? Many people would love this.  

There are a few things that are definite probably nots that I will have to look into.  For I was talking to a person that was out on the street - but next to his mobile home. He had some information. He claims the pond is where all the septic systems drain into.  If that were true, those lines would be tied off and they would have to figure something else out.  My property, I'd have to sink some money into my own septic system, they'll have to deal with it.  They are mobile home parks, albeit very small, the owners would have to come up with their own system.  

There is a septic system at the back of the property.  Whether it's still usable I have no idea, but if they had one there, then that answers the question of whether or not the land is suitable to install one.  There is overhead power lines running all the way to the back of the property - the place I'd want to have the RV pads.  It's really nice back there, I think so any way.  There are ample places that weren't wet an RV could park and ample room for a turnaround for them to get out of there. 

There is city water coming from a nearby small town. Not my town. Apparently the property is between towns, which is also nice. Only have to deal with the county.  The meter was right there in front of the mobile home park, the line, according to this guy, runs over to the property.

There is a drive going through the mobile home park that goes all the way back and into this property. But, it's a private drive, it's privately owned property.  The man said they'd probably let me use it if I were to rent a space.  Maybe. The spaces are cheap - $250 per month.  

My plans would be to clear out the entire property. Get the underbrush completely out of there. A large undertaking on 28 acres, yes, but there really isn't that much of it.  A dozer would clear it out quickly.  Yes I'd have to learn how to use a dozer, but I've operate lots of earth moving equipment in the past and learned quickly.  I don't think that would be an issue and much cheaper than paying far more money for a contractor to come out and do it.  

My plans for an rv park is to do as much of the grunt work as possible myself or get locals that need work to do it for an hourly wage.  Create a huge fire pit in the middle of the open space and burn everything, no hauling necessary.  Grade a road in there from the street.  I don't think I'd want to have RV's attempting to drive through a mobile home park, that would likely be a huge turn off to anyone wanting peace and quiet and thinking it must be a dump if you have to drive through there to get to it.

I found an ATV trail or perhaps what used to be a driveway into the property from the street.  I don't foresee a huge problem just plowing a fresh road in there.  Some drainage pipe would have to be installed, but again, that is all stuff I could do and I have connections over in Louisiana for that pipe, get it at a much cheaper rate.  I walked that entire trail, it's a no brainer to me that a 15 foot wide drive could be easily plowed up through there, dump rock on it and call it good.  

The property has been for sale over 200 days.  The neighbor said it's worthless because it's a flood plain.  Perhaps part of it, yes, but definitely not all of it.  There is more research needs to be done before I would sign on the dotted line and hand over the down money.  I can also lay my own water line from the street.  I have operated backhoes, digging a trench is easy work.  2 inch PVC pipe would suffice to start with.  

See the large portion in the back is not all wet. A bit of water in some places but nothing that would stop me from putting in sufficient pads to made it a revenue churning affair.  Since the property has been up for sale for so long, I'd like to hope they might come down on the price since some of the land is unusuable for pads.  Not unusable for walking/hiking.  I love the front of the property because of all the tall pine trees. Just cool spots where some trees could be cleared and install pads.  I am sure a certain sect of RV'ers would agree.  

No, I'm not jumping into this but this is the first property so far that really had appeal to it with the trees and the layout.  The one I saw yesterday I wasn't impressed because there were mostly very small trees, much of which would have to be taken down and burned.  It would leave just a huge open space. I have read enough posts in various RV groups where people really want trees and hiking trails. I understand 28 acres isn't a huge property but there are definitely areas of it where hiking trails could be installed. That just a matter of clearing brush and having a dirt walking trail, nothing fancy. 

Since I now have the opportunity to have more down money, I expanded my search greatly.  A larger property is much more appealing.  Just so much more you can do with it.  I could see a installing a large concrete pad, covering it like a gondola style thing, putting in picnic tables and having a large BBQ to the side of it. A gathering place for people to socialize.  That wouldn't take place at first, but it would definitely be a part of the long term plan.  These are all things people say they want. The surrounding area is mobile home on private land beyond the small parks on either side.  

It is not the perfect property, I can say that to be honest.  It does have great potential.  There may be other properties. I will go to the county courthouse tomorrow and look up any info on this property that is available.  Whether there is a flood plain on it will be acknowledged by the county either way.  But the back of the property is up on a hill.  That should eliminate flood plain issues up there and that is where I thought pads could be set up.  With electricity right there, literally, installing the power line would be a minimal expense.  Simply have them run it to a pole and into an outlet and the rest is up to me to run.  Power and water are a must, septic is something I have resolved would have to be paid for by me.  

This particular venture would require me having a note on the property and the rest done with my own money, meaning requiring me to cash out the 401k.  It's a risk.  Yes.  But with so many people living out there, I think I could lure in long-termers/semi-permanent residents.  Set them off in a different area than the overnighters and the week long stays.  

I'm still going to look around, but this one is definitely near the top of the list of anything I've seen yet.  The neighbor said he'd thought about buying the property.  Yup, he's living in a small mobile home in a park.  I doubt he has the financing for that and why bother?  He can go on that property any time he wants.  He was astounded to hear me tell him there is deer on the property.  He must not be the hunter he claims he is, for it was glaringly obvious the trails they have made and the droppings.  I don't need another deer hunting property, but it's interesting that they run through there.  Perhaps people staying there could get sight of them as some sort of a further attraction.  I wouldn't want hunting on the property, too much risk, but some people like nature and seeing such things.

He stated he was afraid of snakes and that's why he wouldn't go over there. Well, I walked a large portion of it and didn't see any snakes.  I'm not saying there aren't any - this entire regions has Copperheads, water bellies and other snakes, both venemous and non-venemous.  

I'll need to go back when it's raining and ascertain for sure what is getting flooded. 

Meanwhile, the contractors are back, fixing portions of the new vinyl flooring that were not done right.  They had to go allthe way down to the 2X4's at the bottom and start back up. Why they didn't do this in the first place is unknown, but it isn't adding anything to the cost of the project. 

But, it's in the kitchen.  So, we are going out to eat yet again.  Where I have no idea. Taylor asking me where we are going to eat, I'm like, I dunno, lol.  

I do not have a load going out tomorrow. That will make day ten of not having work. Another driver said there were 2 loads going out tomorrow.  The plant is only able to produce a small amount of product - who knows why.  Probably storm related, just guessing.  If I didn't have money saved up I would be sweating it right now. Even so, I don't want to be spending savings on living expenses.  I'm not talking about finding another job, but this week's check is going to be small and I will likely not get a paycheck next week.  

Well that's it. Tomorrow I'm going to also check out properties at the court house.  For the tax lien sale. I'm afraid I won't have enough money to buy any of the good properties, but I will go anyway.  I won't, however, buy any more in town properties and I was trying to get info from the city about what I can place on the ones I bought.  They were, of course, closed for lunch when I went.  Try again tomorrow.  The same was true of the court house. I did go there today to look, same thing. It's lunch time, we close for an hour! lol that's when I found this property and went looking at that instead. I could go now, it's not too late at 3:30 pm, but since I have tomorrow off, I'll just keep it for tomorrow to have something to do.  

 Day 8 of no work.

No statements yet when the plant will be back in full swing.  Or even half the output they normally put out? I was at Applebee's yesterday and discussing this same issue with several other folks who also had been off of work for quite a while now. Not because they wanted to, but because what of the Snowpocalypse - so some people are calling it - of Texas 2021.  Some name will stick to this dreadful storm that came barreling through here and messing up a lot of people's lives.  

I put up a post in the local facebook group that was started at the beginning of the COVID crap. It was to help support local businesses that were shut down but then allowed to reopen for curbside pickup or delivery only.  It evolved into all things - our town - and so it was, that the pic was of a crew of city workers and a crew of gas workers working in a ditch in the middle of our street.

A water line burst, so I was simply noting that they were doing due diligence to get all of these leaks fixed so the water pressure could come back up and the lines could be flushed out.  We are still on a water boil notice.  I accidentally drank a glass of tap water last night. It was horrible.  It was really awful.  I had already chugged it down my throat before I realized what I was doing.  I don't feel sick today, thankfully, but I won't be forgetting about that again.  The town is buying up bottled water as fast as it is put out on the shelves.  

Anyway, people started pissing all over my post.  Blaming the city for the horrible job they have done in maintaining the underground water supply and alleging that they should be somehow held responsible.  Apparently the water system is 50 years old here that hasn't been upgraded.  

Okaaaay, that IS old. I was IN the waterworks business for a dozen years, I know how this stuff works.  At the same time, other than this unending hard freeze we had with these storms that came through, I haven't seen a lot of leaks anywhere.  So I started cranking right back on those people.  The city won't let them shut the water off to the houses while they fix the lines, they're afraid of backlash. I know all of this stuff and more because I had a lengthy conversation with an older gentleman that was overseeing the repair of the line.  So the workers were working in freezing cold water. They had opened the nearby fire hydrants to help reduce the amount of water out of the pipe and had a water pump in the hole, but they were still working under pretty miserable conditions.

I just couldn't believe these snarky, cold hearted people continuing on.  I threatened one of them if he continued to piss on my post I would block him.  He shut up.  Others came on and pissed all over the place noting that the workers appeared to all be standing around doing nothing.  At some point, the cavalry arrived, including a city official, on the post and also started pushing back against these people.  This is probably nothing unique in having people in small town that have lived here all of their lives acting out like this.  But it was appalling.  

This morning I posted on the post that water pressure appeared to be back to normal - a good thing, they can get all of these leaks fixed and then we can start using tap water again.

Anyway, I'm up "early".  6:45 was wake up call with kids running around the house. I decided I best start getting back into work mode, getting up earlier and not shocking my system if I happen to get an early load appointment time whenever I finally do get a load.  Maybe tomorrow?  My checking account is going to start taking a backward slide and that annoys me.  I like to see it going up and up and up.  When I'm working full tilt, every month it goes up a thousand to 2 thousand bucks after everything is paid out, said and done.  

But I have the purpose of going and getting fingerprinted this morning and then, hopefully finding this property and seeing what it is.  It has city water and rural electric.  Those two are a must, septic can be installed but I am very hesitant about having to install a water well. They're expensive to install, expensive to run and high maintenance.  And I still find it humorous that people poo-poo a person's desire to start an RV park.  It's going to cost you 30 to 50 grand per space! they declare.  No, sir, it won't.  It won't be cheap or free, but it's not going to cost anything near that much.  And now, I have leads on actual business loans that I am at least going to take a look at. This info coming from people that have already acquired these types of loans for the purpose of building their own park.  It would be interesting to see if I could get a loan big enough to cover the land, lot installations with everything that entails, a small building for laundry and perhaps a couple of showers, a small office - one of those portable buildings to start with, get the septic installed and get it going.  

Yes, risky depending on the monthly payments.  But I think there is a time lapse between the time you get the loan and the first payment. It's a construction type loan and obviously you have to have the place built first before you are taking in any revenues to make those payments with.  Any business has inherent risk, I was just trying to take the path that offered the least risk.  But perhaps that isn't they way I'll ever get this thing going? I dunno, I would have to think and pray about that for a while.  

Anyway, it's time to get going.  Perhaps I'll report later what the property looked like and if it looks like it would work. 

G'day.  

 I spent nearly 3 hours this morning taking endless hazmat tests, as I reported in the last post.  I was confident that whatever trick questions they might throw at me, I could pass the test.  But when?  How could I show up at the local driver's license department when the office that canceled my appointment was 65 miles away? Take a chance driving clear over there and get - nothing out of it?

I just decided to show up there. At the local one, screw driving 2 plus hours round trip.  They will accommodate me.  Why? Because it's just what was going to happen.  No good reason to believe that, but I showed up with documents in hand, the lady at the door opened it and asked me if I had an appointment? 

But before going in there I noticed only one vehicle in the parking lot.  I knew I at least had a chance at this.  No, I don't have an appointment.  Well tell me what you need then? I proceeded to tell her how my appointment had been canceled, that this driver's license is my livelihood and that I was under the impression that I could show up on standby?  

She ushered me in.  There was only one man sitting there and he had already filled out all of his paperwork, he was waiting them to start his CDL test - a thing I wouldn't have to take, thankfully.  She handed me a literal pile of paperwork and said this is going to take you some time to go through. She then showed me the ticket she had given me - it had a caveat: this ticket number will not necessarily mean you will be seen today - because I was standby.  

I got through 3 of the papers and the lady called my number!  Now mind you, this is a small office to begin with and they were only having ONE window open.  She yelled at me through her screens asking if I was still working on paperwork? Yes, I had to unfortunately reply as other people with appointments started coming in.  "It will be several minutes before I fill all of this out" - I replied to her and thought, at least that long if not longer.  It  was really a pile of paperwork with a lot of redundancy.  

After filling out that, going up to the window - she wasn't going to take anyone else until she was done with me oddly enough but thankfully - paying the price, getting my temporary license she said, "take computer 1".  Gag. I thought I had skated the Hazmat test. I had even paid for it, she had printed it out, gave me my temporary license!  Okaaaaaayyyy.  Good luck! she said.  She knew, many people go in there and fail that test.  They don't properly prepare themselves.  You don't study that manual, that is useless. You just take sample tests over and over and over and over until you get enough right that you are pretty certain you are going to pass.

But it intimidated me, I am not going to lie.  Passing that test means job or no job. They'll let you retake it, yes, but not the same day.  By the time I had gotten to the computer, many more people had come in, many had been turned away that also wanted to be on standby and several people were waiting outside.  Stroke of luck getting there when I did? I doubt it.  I felt that feel you get when the Lord is telling you to do something.  Now, that is, don't waste time.  I was going to wait until 1 pm, when they allegedly take their second round of standbys, but something in me said differently. Now, go now! 

The test has many trick questions.  And worded differently than the tests - multiple dozens of them, if not 100 plus - that I had taken online.  I sat there on several questions and reasoned in my mind what the answer should be.  Questions that I hadn't been asked in any of the sample tests I had taken, but thing I had encountered and figured, well, that should be the answer.  I guessed I had minimum 6 answers wrong and wondered if I would get enough questions right.  I'm serious that out of all of those sample tests, there were questions on the real test that were either not asked in the samples or worded completely differently and with multiple choice answers that were very close together in their wording.  

They really don't have to make this that difficult, do they?  I got to the last question, answered it and stopped to take a breather. I went through the test quickly, it usually takes me little time to finish tests, I either know the answer or I take an educated guess or I take a wild guess, but I won't waste a lot of time on any given question. I'll give it enough time to read it through a couple of time if necessary, reason with it in my mind, but it doesn't take long.  I can tell you that I was quite surprised when I looked at the results screen: 29 out of 30 correct!  

I really felt the Lord was in this today.  That's what I can say about that.  I did prepare myself, but I know how these tests are loaded with trick questions and very tough questions that you are staring at the 4 answers that you can pick and trying to decide which one is correct.  

Hazmat. The love and hate of it.  Love the pay, hate the endless stipulations, regulations and demands of it.  It's not quite over  yet.  I have to go get finger-printed tomorrow morning.  Hazmat is serious stuff to the feds.  You will have a federal background check done - every time.  And they will freshly fingerprint you - every single time.  It doesn't matter about work, there isn't any tomorrow, I had contacted the dispatcher - Sheila - and told her that I was going in tomorrow to get my fingerprints done. I've been off this long, I might as well take the extra day off and get this s*** over with. The plant is up and running, but they are having trouble making product.  I dunno why, but I'll guess it's weather related.  

The street was torn up up the street from my house - like 100 feet at most - fixing the watermain break there. That was very fast for them.  But it was pouring out a lot of water and these main breaks are undoubtedly a large part of why the water pressure is so low in the city.  

The city's grocery stores are barren.  Super 1? Nothing.  Vegetables gone, meat - gone.  Milk - gone. Eggs - gone.  It's all - gone.  Manager said come back in the morning.  No thanks, I was just looking for a bag of potatoes and green onions.  They didn't have either.  Every town's markets in this region are like this, it's going to take time for the supply chain to catch back up.  It's quite amazing, tho, how fast 200 jugs of milk go right out the door. That's due to social media. Someone says a store has it, everyone swarms the place and it's allllll goooooooone.  

I don't need milk.  I can live without eggs - tho I scored those yesterday.  I don't eat regular bread.  This was just mostly for the house hold here and yes, I have been reporting on the local sites who has what and if you want any, you better get your @$$ in your car and get down here immediately.  

I found out at the driver's license office why the county court building wasn't answering it's phones this morning (tax sale): they have no water.  How does that work? Cause the county jail is in that building as well.  It's up on the 5th floor I think.  Somewhere up there.  

The company that does the fingerprinting has finally opened up an office here in town. Last time I had to drive 30 miles to the nearest location. So, they made me an appointment for tomorrow morning, which is fine, let's get this done and over with!  

And the realtor just sent me a listing for 33 acres.  It's 88k asking price. That's actually quite good for land around here - but it's kind of high. The payments would probably be higher than what I would like to get into.  I'm going to go look at it tomorrow.  I just finally got home after running around half the day, I don't need to go out there right now. It's been on the market since last August, it's not likely going anywhere.  

STILL no work for me. They are sending out limited loads right now, the plant isn't able to produce enough product for unknown reasons.  Today I figure the driver's license department is probably open after everything being shut down - but - I still needed to do more study/practice tests.  I can safely say that I feel like I'm ready to take the test for Hazmat endorsment.

I'm consistently getting 90 to 100% on the large number of practice tests that I have taken.  I kept going through one particular site the last couple of days because it would ask the same questions over and over and throw in new ones that I didn't know the answers to.  I've done that test at least 20 times today and finally getting to the point where my score is enough to pass. I think the real test is 30 questions long and you need 80% correct to pass. I needed to be able to get everything at 90% minimum to feel like it's worth spending the time going to a DL office and standing there waiting for an opening without an appointment - and not even being guaranteed that I will be able to in that day.

And now, they are even further behind since they've been closed an entire week. I do not want to continue driving on an expired license regardless of the state mandate.  I have no idea if other states will honor that.  If not, they will write me a ticket and put me out of the truck.  

The kids are gone, thankfully.  Schools are still closed here - not because of weather but because of lack of water pressure.  Taylor's work has been shut down - a local restaurant - because of no water pressure as well.  So, some parts of town have water pressure and other parts of town do not. The city needs to get its act together and get this town up and running.  Anyway, I've had the best study time this morning that I've had yet what with the kids not being all up in my business and running around the house yelling and screaming and stomping on the floors and making all kinds of noise.

They've been pent up for over a week as well.  The daycare is open regardless of the schools being closed and there they will stay all day long until around 5ish.

Went out with Taylor yesterday - get her out of the house and have some conversation about what's going on.  For my part attempting to solidify my future in this house and whether my presence is still welcome here - but we affirmed our friendship and that was enough for me.  It's an odd situation.  She is done with him, but not forcing him to move out.  He'd be screwed completely financially.  I think he's sleeping in the boy's room.  I dunno, but I suggested at the least get a travel trailer for him and have him live out back.  She thought they were too expensive, but actually you can buy older ones in still decent shape. Doesn't have to be huge, but a place where he goes at night and separates himself from her, for I can tell ya, she wants literally nothing to do with him right now.

I don't blame her, I fully understand which is why it was strange that he's still here.  But that's not my venue, I'm not going there, was just basically trying to assess the situation.  As I stated before, I hold no ill will against James, I still consider him a friend and whatever they work out is okay by me.  However, I did offer that if this situation required getting out of the house, I would be willing to buy a house on land outside of town.  3 bedrooms at least with 2 baths, that way we have a place to live and I have the property to build the park on.  Oh I'm still all about that park, but it seems so elusive.  

The city has yet to upload a new auction sale list, so I'm calling them today. It's almost 3 months now and it should be getting close to the time for another sale.  It's one hope I have for getting that property I need.  I actually wouldn't mind starting a park in various other states with much cheaper land or with views or with some sort of uniqure "thing" that separates the property. These full time RV'ers travel all over the place.  But - I do want a southern home for it so that they can come year round.  

There's a lot of RV parks around here, mine would have to have a unique setting. So far I've determined that far and wide, full time RV'ers want much larger spaces.  They complain about it in forums all the time.  I don't understand why RV parks cram them in so close to each other that when one RV deploys it's awning, it's almost touching the RV next to it.  Picnic tables and a fire pit are also high demand.  Laundry facility and propane for sale also high on the list.  A closed in dog run park also very high on that list as well.  

Some of them complain about full time RV'ers in parks - they don't want them there - but they don't give the reasons why.  In the setting around here? I'd have to have some full time people living in there, just no way around it.  Full hook ups are a must and many of them demand wifi.  And after reading a lot of posts about wifi, that sounds like it can cost a small fortune to have - it's a thing where you'd have to charge more for anyone using it.  I'm not sure why these people don't just have Verizon or ATT, perhaps some of the places they go to don't have reception, but I"m reading that many RV parks do not off wifi - either free or paid for - that one would be up in the air depending on the costs.  The bottom line is to make money, not throw it out in amenities.  A laundry room would be a one time set up cost, a dog park the same thing.  Picnic tables and firepits also the same. Get it set up, forget about it for the most part excepting a laundry room the machines may need perioidic repairs, but it's a must have.  

Full hookups are a given.  That's water, sewer and electric at every site. Pull thru's are preferred for many people that are hesitant about backing up those giant things. A lot of these people sell their homes and buy fancy, giant RV;s with the proceeds and go about living in them full time.  Many of the people I have been reading haven't been doing it long or haven't even bought their RV yet and asking for advice.  I don't give any advice, I do ask questions about things people say they want.  For example, people wanting huge, fenced in dog runs.  I asked whether they would like it better if the property had a forest and walking trails and you could just let your dog run off leash?  I haven't been back to that yet today to find out, I got busy with hazmat tests, that takes priority over pretty much everything right now. 

But, I am glad that I haven't actually acquired a property yet, the more reading I do, the more I get a feel for what people want/need in an RV park.  It's a mix, but there are certain things that most of them want.  I can tell  ya that all of the parks I have seen around here have them all crammed in there.  That might attract people wanting to live in them, that won't attract travelers - who pay a higher price for a nightly or weekly stay.  I have lots of things in mind. Even if I ever get this venture going, I won't have all of that at first.  Too much up front money. Things would need to be built as I have the money to install them.  Like a huge kiddy playground - those seem to be immensely popular with parents full time RV'ing.  Yup, they take their entire families and do home schooling and work out of the RV as well.

Hence the demands for high speed internet.  

Well enough of that - tho that is a lot of what is floating around in my head right now besides having had crammed a bunch of useless Hazmat info in there that will disappear after I take the test.  That endorsement will be good for 5 years and I'm not sure I will be working after 5, at least not for a company.  I guess I need to do an evaluation of my finances and see if I could afford a higher priced property.  It only makes sense, really, to get at least 25 acres for multiple uses.  An RV park, some mobile home pads elsewhere on the property.  A house to live in, that type of thing.  25 acres would afford for that and still have plenty of room for hiking trails and nature walks type of things. That would appeal to families for sure wanting to get their kids out of the unit and exploring the wild blue yonder.  Oh and a swimming pool.  That would not be something I'd put in at first, 30 grand or more for an amenity that may or may not pay off would not be a wise business decision from the start.  

So, I'm going to go back to hazmat tests - I'm do it a couple more hours at least today while the house is quiet.  It's just really nice to have a quiet house for once.  If by chance I don't get a run tomorrow, I'll be at the driver's license office before 8 am and be waiting at the door. This was their instructions to get in on stand by.  I may even ask to be passed by for a load so I can get this s*** over with. Sorry for the language, but this stuff is really annoying, having to take a test for something that is your livelihood, that you already know everything you need to know. I don't need to know anything about explosives - dynamite and the like - I never plan on hauling that stuff. Or chlorine, or a host of other things. 

G'day.  

 The sun is out shining full tilt - again - today. It was yesterday as well but the roads are still covered in snow and ice.  Local FB marketplace is full of people reporting horrid road conditions.  I fully expect that to start changing today as the temps rise. It's 28 degrees now at 9:00 am, another hour or so and it should be above the freezing level.  Now they are saying to watch out for giant icicles falling, lol.  

But I'm looking out the bedroom window at the street and it is still covered in snow.  A person posted a pic of 2 semi trucks crashed - one laid over on it's said and another jacknifed up against the center divider - posted in a trucking group.  Said they had just passed by him going ridiculous speed - 2 towns over from me.  The pic shows the trucks and the road - solid sheet of ice. 

This isn't driving conditions. This is stay home conditions, paychecks be damned.  I'm not going to be crashing into anything with highly flammable, potentially explosive, cryogenic liquid because some plant somewhere is demanding the stuff. Tough.  They could quadruple my pay and I would refuse to go anywhere until the roads are safe to do so - and right now, they are NOT.  Maybe, just maybe, this afternoon that will change.  By tomorrow definitely  But I'm very glad I stood my ground.  The reports keep coming in of I-20 closed, last night there were 5 places just in this area alone that it was shut down.  

Diverting traffic?  I dunno, but those side highways are even worse.  

So, another day at home and Lord only knows what's going to go on here with the current situation that isn't likely going to change -ever.  I reported about that yesterday.  I hold no ill will against either of them, it's just a very unfortunate situation that will change all of our lives.  I can't say I like it, but I can say it isn't the first time in my life that living situations have drastically changed over night.  What's going to change? Well one of them, obviously, is going to have to leave.  One of them will stay. Or both will leave and the house will be sold. I have no clue.  I think it's stay for one and the other leaves, tho, which I would prefer to stay even if it means upping my rent. 

It would be no different moving somewhere else and it wouldn't even make any sense.  Big house, decent sized property moving to a smaller house, smaller property at the same or higher rate?  I dunno how much equity is in this house for them to make anything off of selling it.  

I would prefer them to work it out. But this is the third time and you can only betray a person's trust so many times before that person declares enough, consequences be damned.  I know how this works, but the biggest losers in this scenario are young boys.  They will adapt, yes, but it's not going to be easy for them at first.  Confusion, fear, anger, lots of emotions, acting out, stuff like that.  Regardless, I'm making no plans to move anywhere - at the moment - until I see how this plays out.  I've already offered to up my ante in my living situation to keep this house.  Otherwise, I have to go find a new place to live, a place that allows large dogs and someone to care for my dogs while I'm off on the road.

That's a pretty tall order in a town with limited rentals as it stands.  I guess I'd just buy my own place instead, forget  the RV park for now for I would have to get a mortgage and that would cancel any further bank loans.  I would be relegated to either a tax sale auction - if I even had the money to do that - or owner financing.  This is a totally dire last resort type of thing that might even have me considering moving somewhere else.  But my mind tends to go down these rabbit trails, it's more of a "prepare thyself for come what may" type of thing than it is anything that may actually happen.  however, there are some properties with houses on them that have acreage out in the country.  I haven't seriously considered them for an RV park because of the price tag - a house and acreage isn't in the price range I am looking for but if I were going to live on the land that would present a totally different scenario. 

So, for sake of preparedness, I'll take a fresh look at properties online today.  I believe I'll be able to stay in this house - but that isn't guaranteed. Depends on if they can agree on everything.  Lawyers aren't absolutely necessary unless there is disagreement on who gets what and who gets control of kids or if they're splitting it 50-50 or what. That's none of my concern excepting the outcome will determine what I do next.  So yes, I have to at least be considering my options here.  

The job will keep me in this area.  I have never made so much money and I need to keep that going for a while until I get something else going.  Which is the continued focus of today after this entry and looking around at housing options: more hazmat tests.  I did as many as I could  yesterday until I got burned out on it and shut it off.  I was still missing some, but getting a lot more of the answers correct.  The motor vehicle departments will be closed today, not gonna bother even trying, I couldn't get to any of them anyway. I'd really like to get this license renewal behind me, but right now that's just not possible and I'm pretty sure I'll be back out on the road again in the next day or two, depending on if the roads clear up and if the plant is producing Ethylene again. 

Meanwhile, just heard that almost nothing in town is open today.  Why? Not because of the roads, but because the water pressure is too low to the point most businesses don't have any water pressure at all.  I'd like to get out of this house and go eat somewhere if the roads clear up enough to safely traverse.  If it isn't one thing, it's another.  There are a large number of underground water main breaks they are working to fix and

 Sadness.

That's all I can say.

I got a text: Be prepared.

Whattt?

A series of 3 screen shots followed.

I won't go into the details, but it was the 3rd time. 

Taylor announced she is getting divorced. 

I dunno what was going through James mind to be contacting a female outside of marriage like that, well I do know since I'm also a male but I'm not married.  I'm not looking either, but that's a completely different subject.  

Addler, bless his heart. He knows when I'm not exactly happy, he just sits there and stares at me with his ears perked up.

This is going to change everything.  

I may have to move. Taylor looked at me as she came into the room, are you still with me? Taylor and I are close friends at this point.  She has had offers to move back to Colorado - free living.  It's family that want the boys around.  I don't know what Taylor's intent is, we are going to have to have long discussion away from James.  

I'd rather stay here. James will have to pay child support - he's the one being unfaithful.  I can up my ante to keep my living space and have a place for my dogs - I am not moving back to Arizona.  As much as I'd love to see mom a lot more, I cannot move back there. 

But it's so sad to see a breakup like this, especially with two young boys.  3 and 6 years olds are going to have a very difficult time understanding how and why this is happening.  

I get it tho and I don't blame Taylor.  A partner's unfaithfulness in a committed relationship doesn't work. I hate to say it but it's usually the men that engage in that garbage.  It's wrong on so many levels.  

Well we're trying to talk but James is around and that's uncomfortable.  My mind instantly went to where will I live.  What are her plans.  Will she want to stay here or move to folks in Colorado?  She wants to stay here.  That's a relief.  I don't want to move at the moment, I'm kind of tied up here right now.  Job pays well, I have properties, in the middle of attempting to find an RV park property.

Tho......I could find much better property in Colorado for an RV park. That's just plain fact. I've seen lots of them in my searches.  

To stay in this house, I would have to up my input into rent about as much as a house payment.  Ok. If I moved somewhere, I'd be paying a lot more.  A house payment plus all the extras - utilities, wifi and satellite.  And the house payment here is less than any place for rent around here - or the same but a much larger house with a lot more room.  It really would make no sense to move out of here if we were staying in this area.  

Yup, I just looked.  Several different sites for home listings.  $650 a month - for a bitty little house. $800 per month for a house with 1,000 square feet less than this house has.  Etc.  They just had new flooring put in here, the place will be looking great once everything is put back together.  

Whatever. I'm giving it 99% chance that this divorce will go through. How many times can you breech a woman's trust before she finally says no thanks to any more of it?  

Yup.  

 Everyone was going stir crazy today - I just wanted to go out to eat.  We ended up at a Mexican food restaurant and then informed that we are going other places.  Harbor Freight and then Walmart.  I just stayed out in the pickup with the boys when they went to walmart, I had already been in there yesterday no need to expose myself to that place again.  

Right up the road, a hill that goes down and then back up - trucks were getting stuck on the upside because of ice.  I don't get the need to keep driving in these adverse conditions.  Money is nice, but not that nice.  You aren't making any progress, you are taking twice as long or more to get anywhere, get off the road.  The pictures flowing in from around the country confirmed that fact.  

Meanwhile, a person called me at 7:15 am today.  I'm in the middle of a deep sleep.  I have no reason to get up early, so I was a bit flustered when I found out this person was asking about how we were faring out here.  I'm glad they were concerned for our safety, but that sleep was mighty fine.  Never-the-less, it led to a flurry of other activity.

Namely, the next door neighbor's house.  James and Taylor took off shortly after I got up to take her to work.  Work said no, we are only opening for take out for 4 hours today.  Well, James had texted me asking about where the water valve tool is?  Turns out, the neighbor's house water lines had burst, going through the attic, right over the carport.  Water was pouring out everywhere.  I knew this was going to be a chore. 

Got out the water valve, a screw driver and a thing that churns up the dirt.  Found the main water valve under the snow, dug that all up, got the lid off and - that thing hadn't been touched in years.  You could barely see the meter, much less the pipe that goes to it and out of it.  It took about 20 minutes of digging before I finally found the valve and shut it off.  Damage already done, but ya gotta get the water off regardless.  Not to mention the city has turned the water supply down. Wells are running dry as people have their faucets left on overnight to keep pipes from breaking.

I can only guess the neighbor didn't have hers turned on.  She barely lives there, she found a man and mostly stays over at his house.  She did have the heat on, but that wasn't going to help where the pipe burst over the carport, no heat going in there.

Anyway, good deed done for the day.  Lol.  

Plans for the rest of the day: started last night actually. Taking sample tests for hazmat endorsement.  Need to get all of that junk back into my head.  Absolutely worthless information, all for the manufacturer. Some of it is for the driver, but only a miniscule amount of that information is relevant to the driver. The driver learns what he/she needs to know from the carrier about safety, unloading, what to do in a spill, etc.  In a spill, you try to turn it off or mitigate it. If not? Run for your lives!  Keep people well away from it, tell them what it can do if it blows up, they'll leave in a hurry.  

Anyway, many of the questions I had no clue.  That's the honest truth of it.  What line will --- blah blah blah --- information on the safety data sheet will show up on what line? WHO CARES, as long as it is on there.  That's the manufacturer's concern, NOT mine.  They've been doing it 5 decades plus, their procedures have long been set into place, long passed government scrutiny.

Yet, it's stuff I have to know if I want to pass the exam.  Which I do, lol.

And stir crazy kids.  Lol.  Days and days and days  in the house, not being able to go outside and get the energy out, they are driving the entire house insane.  I think they should get bundled up and go play in the snow for a couple of hours.  But that's me, growing up in the snow, parents made me put on all of my winter gear and said goodbye, don't come back til' you hear the bell.  We didn't care, it was all pure fun.  

Half expecting to get a load for tomorrow.  Roads will start to clear up today and will really start melting off tomorrow. Heck, there is a good constant dripping coming off the house right now even at freezing temps cause' the sun is out.  Our street, however, is still covered with at least 4 inches of snow.  We'll see what it looks like after today.  

Well that's it for now. Getting texts, messages and phone calls asking how we are.  We're fine, really, we are.  There is a 4 wheel drive pickup here, if we need anything. The power is on, we have bottled water - not much left but it'll suffice and if we absolutely have to we'll boil water for drinking - we have loads of food, the grocery stores are open again, albeit limited food supplies, a generator to supply the house with electricity if the power goes out,  nothing really to complain about.  I'm actually happy to sit in my bedroom and vegetate.  Especially after last trip and the icy hell that traveling entailed.  Getting home was number one priority.  I don't want to spend money at hotels, that's what I have a room at the house for.  I also still have stuff left to do with my room. Things to go through, decisions to be made on what to keep and what to throw out.  

With that, I bid you a good day. May the peace and love of the Lord Jesus Christ fill your hearts, souls and minds.  Be at peace, stay warm and have a beautiful day.  

 I've been reading travel news all day.

I'm looking at my GPS right now.  I-20 is showing red lines clear to Dallas, well into Louisiana.  59 is closed in 5 places going south.  Red lines on every highway, major or secondary.  I read an update from a driver on I-20 that had been stuck for 9 hours. The red lines means stopped or extremely slow moving traffic, btw.    

I've read numerous stories from many states about trucks simply getting stuck. The ice is bad enough they get on it and can't move.  Traffic completely stopped. I found a story about what this person was talking about - the same thing. Hilly stretches of road trucks are getting stuck on.  

There is zero point of any truck driver  - or anyone at all really - going out on the roads right now. You aren't going to make it anywhere.  I mean, it's gotten 100% worse out there since I was out there yesterday, amazingly bad.  I knew it was going to get worse but I didn't know how much worse.  This is why I was desperately trying to make it home yesterday, why sit in a truck when I can sit in my room at home and get stuff done?  I've been putting my room back together all day long.  The big stuff is in, the computer set back up.

I wasn't going to put the computer back together until I got the new computer desk - but that is impossible right now and I'm going to be sitting here for at least another day, probably 2.  Texas simply isn't prepared for such an event and probably never will be. Why should they?  Spend all the money on equipment you may never need to use again? I get it, but I don't get why they aren't just hiring out for graders to get out there and clear the roads.  That is a bit ridiculous.  

Anyway, between reading the news and reading various posts by truckers stuck everywhere in the trucking Facebook groups, I'm just glad I'm home.  If I weren't, I'd be sitting this out in a hotel somewhere.  Another thing that is happening is that truck stops pipes are getting frozen up and truckers are complaining about having a place to go number 2.  I'll go find a tree, I'll find some place to do it - figure it out, this is the most basic of human business.  I didn't know the truck stops were getting frozen up like that tho.  And lots of truck stops are actually closing down.  

It started snowing again this afternoon, the roads are worse than they were before, that mixed with the sleet that was coming down for hours?  No.  I mean, we went out to Walmart today - in James 4x4 and that was it.  Then Taylor wanted to go to the store - if I'm stuck here for days, I want snacks - so they went to Walmart.  If there wasn't a 4x4 here, we wouldn't be going anywhere. Wouldn't be the end of the world but still.

And now, the town has issued a boil water alert.  Plus begging everyone to temporarily stop using washing machines and dishwashers.  Why? Because we're all dripping water out of the faucets to keep the lines from bursting.  Some towns were reporting that their wells were so low they had to actually shut the pumps off.  That is a tragedy - water freezes up in the lines, the pipes break and then when the water starts running again? You have a flooded house and a huge repair bill.  Look, I can supply my own electricity with a generator, but there isn't a well here to supply our own water.  

This is really a tragedy - this weather - that just doesn't happen here.  I absolutely refused to take out a load for tomorrow, but after all the talk was over with, the loading plant announced the pumps were broken and they can't load anyone anyway.  I dunno if cold has anything to do with it, the weather that is - that stuff is already cold. But perhaps it's the outdoor stuff that operates the pumps. I dunno, but the dispatcher laughed when I said something about if we are being forced to go out, she said this company will never force anyone to drive in weather like this - but, she has to ask, per the company rules.

I wasn't so sure.  James offered to take me into work - for $5 per  mile if the company would pay it.  I almost offered it to the dispatcher before thinking about it and realizing this company would actually pay him to drive me to work in these conditions.  

It's not really going to start "warming up" until Saturday. The high tomorrow is 33 degrees. That's the high.  That's not enough to do anything with all the snow and ice on the roads and the low is going to be 17.  Friday looks only slightly better with a high of 35, but the low at 14.  I don't predict any real change in road conditions until Saturday, when the high will be 44 and at least the stuff will begin to melt.  I doubt I would take a Friday load is all I'm saying and possibly not even Saturday.  

Ok. I apparently haven't updated since I was at the truckstop in Cross Plains, Tennessee.

Well this is going to be a rather long entry.  I got up that morning, looked at a blanket of snow on the parking lot, but wasn't about to not at least get ou there on the Interstate and see what's going on.  

It was actually not that bad.  Yes there was sludge on the road, snow on the side, but it wasn't icy so I went with it.  It started snowing somewhere outside of Nashville and it was making the windshield clog up with sludge.  

I don't even remember to be honest where the real nasty stuff started and the highways were covered in snow and ice, but I drove hundreds of miles through that nastiness.  At slow speeds, I knew I wasn't making it home that day - two days ago/Monday.  I passed 100 cars and trucks stuck on the side of the highway or had slid off the highway into the center median.  

Even a snow plow had slid out and state Troopers had shut down the passing lane, apparently waiting for a wrecker to come pull him out.  When I saw that, I started thinking about whether I really wanted to drive in this stuff. I've never seen a snow plow like that before.  They're usually weighted down with salt in the bed and off road style tires that have better grip on snowy/icy roads.

But, I kept going. It was miserable driving.  Just on edge the entire time, I wanted to go home but how bad did I need to get home versus fighting with this weather, driving conditions and traffic?  Well, I drove out my 8 hours, I didn't want to stop but it's a mandatory rest stop for 30 minutes.  The exits were covered in snow and I could only imagine what the truck stops must look like.

I was right.  JJ's truck stop near Little Rock, Arkansas was a horror.  It's a huge place but it's not paved.  The entry ways were covered in ice and snow.  A truck had jack knifed trying to get into the place.  Trucks were having a pickle of a time getting out of the parking lot.  Seeing all of that changed nothing for me, I had to stop, I had no choice.  Well I got in there easy enough, started pulling up a  hill and right at the top I had seen an empty spot to pull in.

As luck would have it, 2 people went trudging through the snow right when I was going to pull in - walked right in front of, I had to stop.  Stopping meant losing momentum, and of course I got stuck.  So, I backed all the way down the hill, looked at my clock and just stopped there.  Out of the way, I took my break there. Half an hour later, I was ready to roll, trying to at least make it back to the Texas state line where I know several places I could stop.  

The brakes were frozen.  In just that short period of time, the brakes stuck to the drums and rotors.  I knew I'd be stuck there for a long time. The place has a shop - but it was closed.  I talked to our mechanic who said try this and that - none of that worked but I tried for 2 hours anyway.  After that, I got a hold of our company's road repair line.  After giving them all the info, I went into the store again. I had gone in earlier for a cuppa when I had first pulled in there and told them I was stuck there, sorry, I'm trying to get someone out to fix the brakes.

Well, when I went in the second time, they were on the phone with a mechanic company.  They then informed me that they don't allow "outside" repair companies on their property, they only allow the shop that they authorize.  Whatever, I don't really care who fixes the thing.  They offered me a free cup of coffee, asked me to please not get mad at them for forcing the issue.  I didn't really care. At that point, I'm on break down pay and those brakes freezing up in that icy cold weather was none of my doings.  I told them as such - I'm getting paid good money to do nothing, I don't care how long it takes, I was resolved that I was probably not leave there that day.

It was hours before that showed up.  By then, it was night time, the temp outside was in the teens and it was cold.  But, they got out there and started beating on all the brake drums and the rotors.  When that didn't work they brought out a torch and started heating everything up.  An hour plus of that they finally got the brakes to release, only to find that I was stuck.  It wasn't even that deep, maybe 3 inches, but it was solid ice and my tires just sat there and spun.  It wouldn't rock, it wouldn't do anything.

So, they took their truck, hooked a winch up to it and with my putting the truck in gear and them pulling it, the truck broke free.  I backed all the way off that hill, got moving and rolled up it this time clearing the top. The only place left to park was in a snow filled, angled spot.  I just pulled in it, they followed, took my company 2 hours to pay them, when they were leaving, they laughed and said we'll be here tomorrow to pull you out!

NOOOOO, I thought.  Next morning, I locked all 4 axles in and tried to pull out.  Yup, it wasn't letting me. But, I could back up, so I kept going back and forth until it finally cleared the front bump and struggling, got me out onto the driveway.  I dreaded trying to pull out of there, I had watched truck after truck trying to get out and making several attempts before finally making it.  I said to myself, screw that, I'm getting a running start the first time - barely cleared the top, the tires started losing traction.  

Got out on the miserable highway, drove 10 miles to the Love's, got in there, wishing I could have bypassed it but I needed fuel.  It has like an 8% grade entryway about 75 - 100 feet to the bottom and to the pumps.  Well obviously, going in was a breeze.  Trying to come back out? First try I was moving pretty good until  a truck came to the entrance forcing me to stop.  Nope, it wouldn't go.  Backed back down and then on the level part, back as far back towards the store as I could go.  The second try I was moving good with the axles locked in, it was a breeze getting up to the top and out of there.

The highway was bad.  But I was intent on getting home yesterday.  It stayed bad for - 50 miles? I don't remember, but all of a sudden, the entire Interstate was cleared.  Like magic, I was able to go full speed.  I cruised like that all the way to the Texas state line - where the roads went bad.  A few miles into Texas, I get off and onto Highway 59 - it was absolutely HORRIBLE.  I took a video of that and had it on my Facebook yesterday.  I didn't stop, just kept driving clear back to the yard, 30 miles per hour max speed.  

The yard? Horrible as well. A foot of snow on the ground, the truck started spinning out trying to get into a parking hole.  After that, my SUV? Was caked in snow.  Got that running, got the snow off of it and spent 10 minutes trying to get it out of the parking hole.  Then I spent 5 minutes trying to back up from the truck.  I finally got out of there, but the towns? ridiculous.  

I was traveling slowly.  Please, just get me home! I didn't buy all terrain tires for that vehicle, I had highway only tires on there. My trips are mostly back and forth to work, we don't get weather like this, old timers have never seen anything like this here.  I was on highway 80, outside of Hallsville, when it happened.  The vehicle just started going sidesways, I lost all control of it.  Nothing I tried changed the direction it was going - sideways, off the road and down an embankment.  I've never had that happen before, it was a rather - strange - experience. 

My vehicle didn't run into anything - tho another 50 feet and I would have slammed into a guard rail, it stayed up right and I was fine.  But I was also quite stuck.  But, this is Texas and people take care of each other.  I just sat in there discussing what to do with Taylor.  A man stopped, got out and asked do you need help> Yes PLEASE!!! Is that truck 4 wheel drive? Yes, I think I can pull you out of there.  Ok.  2 minutes later,  diesel dually 4x4 also pulled up, a bunch of young men got out and offered their help as well. 

I was amazed, really, they all just stopped out of the kindness of their hearts.  The first truck hooked a strap up to my trailer hitch, got in and started pulling and pulling, my SUV went sideways instead of up the embankment, but he kept on trying. The other guys said they would hook up to him if needed and pull the whole train forward.  But, it wasn't necessary, the smaller truck eventually got me up the hill and onto the roadway again. I pulled out some cash and said thank you.  I don't want your money. Are you sure?  Yes, he replied, I'd like to think if something like this happened to me someday, somebody would do the same kindness for me.  Yes, I thought, the Lord will be there for that, I believed anyway. 

I said thank you again and - got home with no further problems.  This town is shut down.  We went in James truck today to see about getting some stuff - James just wanted out of the house, he was becoming stir crazy.  His truck has 4 wheel drive so driving in this nastiness was no problem.  The Walmart was half empty, I mean product wise, especially the grocery store part.  We didn't go there for food but I ended up getting some supplies, plus the throw rug I wanted. Put it on the new carpet so I can have my office chair in here without destroying the new carpet.  Nice looking rug, complements the new carpet.  

So, while putting stuff back - the house is still in a shambles and today is the first real day I've had to start dealing with my stuff - Sheila/dispactcher texts me. Do you feel like you want to go out tomorrow? Uhhh, noooooo.  I told her about running off the road, the road conditions here in town, the fact that these town don't have snow equipment - we never get stuff like this here or if we do, it melts the same day or by the next morning.  Further, that another driver had reported that coming up from Brownsville, he spent 2 plus hours going the 70 miles from a town down south back to the yard.  She said don't sweat it, I wouldn't go out either but we have to ask.  

I got on the driver group text and asked if anyone was going out tomorrow? No, resounding theme from every single drive on there.  They all started going on about how bad the roads are and no, it isn't worth having a Fed Ex moment like you saw on the footage of that horrible 100 plus vehicle accident that happened in Fort Worth.  Yesss, I thought, at least we are all on the same page. Driving in this stuff is just plain horrible.  The road aren't being cleared, that's the problem. I saw yesterday a couple of graders cleaning up the highway up south of Texarcana, but that was it.

It did make me wonder why they couldn't just get a bunch of graders out there instead of snow plows? They could rent them from construction companies or just hire the companies to come out and clear the roads?  I mean, it's going to be below freezing until Friday and then, it's only going to get up to 35 degrees.  That isn't warm enough to clean up these roads. Saturday it will get warmer but geeze, if they don't start clearing out these roads, these towns are going to be shut down until moma nature says ok, I've given them enough, bring on the warmth and sunshine!

I'm not stir crazy, it's the first full day I've been home. But everyone else here is, including the boys who have been in my hair the entire day, only getting a break from them because they were put down for a nap.  They're good kids but they aren't allowed outside right now, it's too cold.  Schools are shut down, of course, along with everything else.  So I'm having a bit more patience with them than perhaps I normally would.  

Well I'm in the middle of getting stuff done, it's time to get my room back in order regardless of the rest of the house.

 2 days in a row running my butt off trying to get as far back on this trip as possible.

If you've looked at the weather forecast - for just about anywhere - you'll know why.  

So, I got all the way back to Cross Plains, Tennessee - about 700 miles driven today, almost 700 yesterday.  

It's not going to make any difference tho. It's going to start snowing tonight and will continue on into the morning.

Normally I'd rate my chances of getting back home tomorrow at around 95%

Tomorrow? I'll give it a 50-50 chance. 

My question to myself: Do I get up at 4:00 am, when I will be able to start, or do I wait until daylight so I can see what I'm driving over before I get to it?  

The real bummer?  If I would have gotten a Brownsville load yesterday, I would be "stuck" there until Monday.  It happens that way, the plant is behind schedule or something happens and then, trucks get stuck down there and yes, they are getting paid.  

If I get sidetracked by weather? I don't get paid for having to wait it out.  Probably wouldn't be too fair to the company to have to pay for something that is completely out of their control, I guess.  Weather is fairly predictable tho, if they know it's going to be inclement weather and they send you anyway, should there be some sort of stipend for taking the risk?  

So that's that.  Whatever happens, happens.  I'll go find a hotel an hole up for a day if I have to, really doesn't matter that much I guess.

I pulled into the last spot left in this truck stop earlier, thought how lucky I was.....until I heard all the noise coming from the truck next door.  Trucks have these air release valves that spit out air out of tanks that also spit out any moisture that gets into the tanks.  That's the point of them, to try and keep water out of the tanks and thusly rusting everything out.  

Well, this truck was spitting every 15 seconds.  And not only doing it that often, but loud.  I sat there and wondered how I could have such luck.  I mean, my windows were closed and it sounded like they were - open the noise was that loud.  Fortunately for me, however, a truck left it's spot several spaces down and yes, I moved over to that space.  I need my sleep, especially for driving in inclement weather.  You really have to be acutely aware of everything going on.

As for the house? I warned James that the generator is out of fuel, if the power goes out, there isn't going to be a running generator.  Cause' you have wind, snow and ice.  That's a recipe for a power outage, at least in our area and at 4 degree temperature tomorrow and 15 real feel right now?  yea, you aren't staying in that house with some way to heat at least one room.  So he went and got 10 gallons of fuel and that made me feel better even tho I'm not even there.

I also warned them - probably needlessly since I'm sure they know - about the pipes. Hard freeze, keep some water running.  

Then I was reading in a local facebook sell group, people arguing about whether they should be able to leave their dogs outside?  Are you serious?  I mean, it was livid anger stuff from both sides.  I wouldn't even dream of leaving Addler outside in these temps.

  "Did you know that Texas law requires pets to be brought inside during severe weather?

As a major winter storm is expected to dump freezing rain and bitterly cold temperatures over many parts of Texas this weekend, officials are reminding people about the risks of leaving your pet outside.

“It is illegal to restrain your dog under these conditions,” wrote Harris County Sheriff Ed Gonzalez on Twitter Friday afternoon.

According to Section 821 of the Texas Statute, it is illegal to restrain your dog during severe weather conditions. This includes heat advisories, freezing temperatures, hurricanes, tropical storms and tornado warnings."

 I didn't know that until I started reading this elongated thread with people arguing.  Some of them said it's actually a felony.  Anyway, I was rather aghast that anyone could try and defend leaving their dogs out in such freezing cold weather.  Why even have a dog if you are going to treat it like that?  I know, some people just want outdoor dogs for security purposes.  And probably other reasons that I can't think of right now.

Well whatever. I have no other news on my end, the weather is what's on everyone's minds right now anyway.  I'm set the alarm for 4:00 am, get up and look out the window.  And then decide what to do lol.  I wish I were home, tbh, just don't feel right about being out here like this.  Im not afraid of driving in the snow, it's the ice that the weather reports are referring that get me a bit - thinking about whether I want to drive in that or not.  

If I'm relegated to driving 50 mph or slower in that mess, I won't be home tomorrow.  No I'm not feeling sorry for myself, I just want to get back so I can get back out and go somewhere else, preferably Brownsville where i won't have to encounter quite such weather. 

Whatever the case, I am exhausted, ending this one and going to bed soon. 

g'nite. 

 2 Brownsville trips later. Actually I should have just said nothing, if I had, I would still be down in Brownsville right now collecting detention pay.  But, it's good to be home and especially with the weather that's going on right now.  That 100 vehicle pileup in Forth Worth? Icy roads? That's only 175 miles from here.  

Anyway, I got down to Brownsville last night, pulled through the Love's Truck stop  - didn't get any fuel for I had to stop in Kingsville to do that, I was running low - didn't see anyone there, went to the yard, dropped the trailer, saw the empty sitting there. But, as is my want, I do not hook up to empty trailers in that yard until I"m ready to go and I wasn't going anywhere until this morning.  The reason? It's a small yard and if you have your tractor jutting out into the driving area for other trucks to pull in, they can't make the tight u-turn to turn around and get positioned to back into a spot. 

And then, they may come banging on your door in the middle of the night. It's a 24 hour operation. Well, I texted Sheila - the dispatcher, are there any other drivers down here waiting on trucks?  She said Terry was going to be there at 8:30 - about 45 minutes after I got there - should I tell him that you are going to take that trailer?  Sure, I said, no thanks, I thought lol.  I need you back for more loads!  

So then, Terry showed up. He pulled in front of my tractor. He's a likable guy - in his late 60's.  We started talking about everything going on there. I did end up saying that "I thought you had already retired?"  No, he said, but if I don't get anything after this trip, this may be my last load. He was supposed to start a vacation next week, taking paid time off and then retire after that. Sheila was fond of Terry - he's been there 25 years. But, there is a syndrome type of thing where people that are leaving a company for whatever reason?  Get a bit lackadaisical. I won't speak ill of him tho, he's obviously been a good part of the driving team for years and years and yes, he should be retired.  I just think in your 60's it's time to get out of working. 62 at the earliest to get some SS benefits since you have paid into that junk all of your life. 

Changing the subject, I have been spending inordinate amounts of time looking up info about RV parks. It is hard to believe that people are definitively telling everyone that it costs "30 to 50 thousand per space" to build a park. Some elite thing in the middle of a large town? Next to a national monument?  Along side a popular lake? These parks are like resort hotels.  Lol, I had an elongated conversation with one of them in a facebook RV group, we finally got down to the problem. His location in a large city. I didn't really need to hear anything more. Untold amounts of bs from city officials about what he needs to do. We were on good speaking terms. Just his dissing of anything about trying to start your own park.  

His experience - may or may not be mine, but I am not prepared to do what he did. He put up his rather large property as collateral for a loan to buy an abandoned nudist colony and transform it into an RV park. I wish him well, I really do. I hope his dreams and visions of the outcome are what he expected and wanted. I, on the other hand, am not going to start a park with 2 swimming pools, a hot tub and other things that are not on my horizon right now. Those are things you grow a park into. Well, you can start out with a half million plus dollar project, I don't have that kind of money and I am not interested in that kind of debt.  

I can tell you, it is not going to cost me 30 grand per space lol.  It might cost several thousand per space, yes, but 30 to 50 grand? lmao.  The cost is considering the cost of land, that's considerable input. And everything, really. I'm  intent on putting in as much as I can without contractor help. And then, I will try to contact people I know from my waterworks days and see if they can do me a deal.  

These people are not going to sway me. The fact that I can't find a suitable property - or property way over priced - is a bit disconcerting.  But that perfect land will show up sooner or later. The internet is not always a great place to receive the type of encouragement you need. I will find a property and I will make it work. It may be spartan at first, but I will develop it. There will be a savings account with funds funneled into it from earnings to build it up to a destination point.  There are plenty  of junk RV parks in this region that have no development whatsoever. Just a few acres with RV's parked on them.  

Again, I've been doing my research.  

Other things? The house is still in a shambles.  Not disappointing, I knew it was going to be in this condition but after viewing my room and feeling it on my feet, the outcome is well worth the hassles.

But, the house never recovered from moving everything out of the way foe the kitchen, living room, dining room and hallways. The stuff is everywhere.  I have tomorrow off, I will be moving things back into my room. But I'd like to get rid of the junky computer desk that came with room and get something - a bit nicer.  

It's nice to be home. My mind can be full of things, but home sweet home.

G'day