Texas Mineral Estate V Surface rights

This guy running this gas operation is a real peach.  Considering himself a "real Christian" and thereby insinuating that I am not, he went off on how I am attempting to intimidate his company.  I literally laughed out loud reading that. This guy is setting terms, telling me I cannot  drive on "their" drive way and that "the gate will not be moved" and other such things.

What other things? Well, they want to know if I'm going to be running electricity and installing a septic system, they want to know if it will "interfere with our operations".  I dunno dude, you tell me?  How is underground electric and a septic system located well away from the well going to affect you? And what do you tell the neighbors about their septic systems, sitting right next door in one case. 

He wasn't answering my questions so I stopped answering his.  Instead of a cordial reply to my queries, he just ignored all of that and went straight to "their" interests.  Greed is a nasty thing.  It drives you internally and causes you to think in ways you otherwise would not. They act as if they own the property, but I am slowly coming to an understanding of mineral rights versus surface/property rights.  

Yes, they are given wide latitude to do what they need to do, they are not given latitude to do anything beyond that.  I don't think the dude was too happy that I had done some research and had identified the Accommodation Doctrine (Texas).  I am not claiming any level of expertise here, but the rule is pretty self explanatory. Whatever the case, they are the bullies, not me.  I was trying to be nice, courteous, respectful - all of those types of adjectives - they were going to the throat, ignoring most of my verbiage and demanding information instead of giving any.  

So now, I think I best get a septic install company out there to give me an estimate - and more to the point - what type of system they can install and where it will go.  They won't charge for that and I need the info. Not for them, for me - is there a possibility that they would have to install it closer to this well and even if so, how would that possibly mess with their operation?  

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And how could electric going to pads affect their operation?  Those lines aren't even dug that deep into the ground, maybe a couple of feet down?  I would love to hear his logic on all of this, but I also would love him to start acting civilly.  Again, I have read that these gas/oil operators speak and act with impunity, difficult to deal with and don't care.  I even heard this from my realtor's husband today, describing his experiences working with gas well operations.  Horror stories abound all over the internet, in great detail I might add.  

Fortunately, most of that is referring to drilling operations.  Still, it is apparent that it drags on after the drilling is done and over with.  

The saga continues. But it was left with - let's cool things off and start back up on Monday.  

Yes, well I wasn't the party starting the trouble - until he went way too far with his demanding, aggressive attitude and then I started dishing a plate full of his medicine back to him. He didn't much care for that which is when he accused me of attempting to intimidate him and his company.  Whatever dude, grow a set, stop acting like god and come back down to earth with the rest of us.  

You'll like it here, trust me, just get rid of the god-complex.  

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End of that, onto other things. They all had a great time today at the zoo, pictures abound.  They went back to the hotel afterwards and played in the pool.  This is what I miss living on the road, everything that is fun and with people I like to hang out with.  They are going to the Science museum tomorrow and I suspect they will spend a good portion of time at the pool again before heading home.

I, meanwhile, am in the truck for the night at the yard.  I got back here around 8:40 pm, by the time I was done with paperwork, unhooking the truck and then backing under another trailer? It was far too late to be thinking about driving home and then turning around 7 hours later and coming back here.  

I'm definitely going to try to make this Oklahoma run a one day trip.   It's been happening a lot lately and I like it. If not one day, then I'll stop at the new truckstop in Pittsburgh and spend the night there. It looks like a nice place.  But yes, I will be on the road tomorrow and was informed by a friend that tomorrow is Father's Day and wished me a happy day.

Tomorrow is also Sunday, but it's whatever.  I do what I have to do until I can get out of this industry and go full time RV park stuff. If that ever even happens?  I don't know, lol, but whatever the case, it's time to go to sleep.

 This little deal I'm involved with now could very well be a too-good-to-be-true situation.  

Yesterday, after the man at the gas company said they were refusing to move the gate? I started doing research.  It took a few hours to finally come across the information I was looking for. The info I was searching out was property rights for the person that owns the land versus the person that retains the mineral rights to the land. The names are mineral rights holders and surface holders.  Surface holders are the people that own the land, mineral rights are the people that owned the land at one time, sold it off but held the rights to the underground minerals.

It turns out? The mineral rights owners have far more "dominance" than surface rights and are able to basically do whatever the hell they please.  At least, so it read on sites that were clearly on the side of the mineral rights holders. 

Trust me folks, I spent many hours researching this yesterday, I wanted to get to the bottom of this and find out whether I should even be trying to do this with that gas well there and these gas company people getting "confrontational" - their words and their increasingly aggressive behavior in the language they are using with me.  

I kept looking. I wanted to find anything that says anywhere that the mineral rights holder has the right to stop the surface right holder from accessing any part of his land.  I failed in that mission - as I hoped I would, but you can bet it wasn't because I wasn't trying. Google can be finnicky and you have to put the right words in the search field to find what you want. But if you don't know the terminology associated with whatever you are looking for, you may never find it. 

Still, my reading continued and I finally found sites that appeared to be more neutral - they weren't biased towards either side and were simply stating the facts as Texas law currently exists and a long standing history of Texas courts siding with mineral rights holders.

However, much of that - actually almost all of it - is referring to drilling operations and the rights the mineral owners have in bringing in vast amounts of equipment in order to search for the Texas T they are looking for.  The sob stories of landowners having their senses assailed with all of that equipment and the ensuing 24 hour per day noise, the lights, the odors, the dust, the amount of people they bring into those projects is actually shocking to people that didn't do any research whatsoever and weren't prepared for the vast intrusion into their daily lives that such operations invoke.

If you know me, you will know I don't get into much of anything without doing some sort of research first. In this case, it's been much more than other things I have gotten myself into - or got out of before I got into it after finding out certain information that led me to believe whatever it was/is isn't worth the hassle.

You see, in Texas, there is also an "Accommodation Doctrine". This is a synopsis I found of the doctrine, copied and pasted: "In 1971, Texas adopted the modern Accommodation Doctrine in an attempt to balance the scales between mineral and surface estates.³ It requires that owners of mineral estates reasonably accommodate the use of the surface estate.⁴ The doctrine is violated when the surface activities of the owners of the mineral estate are not “reasonably necessary” to extract the oil or gas if the mineral owner has other reasonable means of production available that will not interfere with the surface owner’s use. Simply put, if reasonable alternative drilling methods protecting the surface owner’s existing use are available, the mineral owner must make reasonable accommodations.^5"

 Is it reasonable for this company to have a gate over 900 feet from the entrance to their operation?  Your guess is as good as mine, but I would come to the distinct conclusion that it is not and hinders the ability for me to be able to use the "surface estate" in the manner I need to. It will cause me to have to use more land than I want to use for building driveways that are completely unnecessary.  

So, I wrote yet another letter - not having had received a reply from yesterday tho I didn't necessarily expect one - and informed him that, tho being no authority on the subject - it becomes clear to even the casual reader that mineral rights does not include barring land owners from their land.  And so on and so forth. Not worth going into all of it, I simply made my intentions clear and that I would use that road and that gate will be moved.  I offered no more ideas of spending more money to make them happy. They are filthy rich from these endeavors but they are also obviously quite greedy, as my readings have suggested.  

My intentions from all of this is to see how far they are willing to take this before I sign on the dotted lines and hand over almost 17 grand in down payment money.  If it appears that it's going to be too filled with threats, legal action and the like, I will rethink all of this and potentially move on.  I lose $100 in option money, my earnest money remains intact.  I think there is a short period on that earnest money tho, like 7 days or something, I need to re-read that contract, for I will have to make up my  mind about it before that option period ends. If the option period expires, I will not lose that earnest money, I will simply move on with the purchase and come-what-may.  

Whatever the case, I'm at the yard in Brownsville, got down here at almost 1:00 am, have about 25 more minutes before I can leave here - there were two empty trailers when I arrived and 2 empty trailers were sitting at the loves last night when I drove through there. I always drive through the Loves parking lot to see if any drivers are waiting in their tractors for empties before I go to the yard to drop the loaded trailer.  Of course, a driver might be elsewhere waiting, that's just the most common place they go to for the night.

However, upon arrival, there were two empties sitting here and after my trailer was dropped, 3 full ones.  So, I'm hooking up to one in a few minutes, get it ready to go and get out of here post haste. She has me scheduled for another load going to Oklahoma tomorrow morning at 7:30 am. I can make it if all goes well and I get out of here when I can/should leave.

G'day

The youngest woke me up this morning with death curdling screaming at the top of his lungs. I was in dream land, haven't a pleasant dream at that, sleeping in - or trying to anyway - for the long day ahead of me. I'll be driving until at least midnight tonight in trying to get down to Brownsville.  

That's a wake-up-on-the-wrong-side-of-the-bed moment.  Like, pissed me off type of thing. Whatever happened, did he have to scream like that? Turns out? He was screaming because he wasn't allowed to have a waffle.

THAT kind of unbelievable screaming over a waffle.  

Onto other things. 

I found a site where RV parks advertise their parks - for free I might add - including numerous pictures of each site.  I typed in my area and started looking at some of the places.  I couldn't believe how junky and plain all of them looked. Not a few of them, all of them.  There was one place, I take that back, that had gone way overboard.  It looked too aesthetic.  I mean, just a turn off. There is a mix of finesse and nature to be had in any of these parks.

It is  considered camping after all.  But, having said that, some of them do really well. 

One of them, down by a town called Diboll -it's the road going down to Brownsville along 59 - built a new park last year and I wanted to definitely see that one.  He has that place 2/3rds filled up all the time.  Location is the only thing I could determine and after looking at the pics - location is the only thing he has going for him at that place. Or her, no offense to anyone's gender.  

I can see why campers are always complaining about being set in so close to the next camper on either side. I may waste some space in leaving up small stands of trees between site, but the loss is the gain.  People will have 70 foot long pads, 40 feet wide.  

 I have determined my pad angles to go in at 45 degree angles.  Some advocate for 30, 35, 40 and at max 45 degrees.  Personally I'd put them all in at 90 degrees to the driveway the same as truck stop parking lots but people apparently don't much care for that.  I think too much of an angle looks tacky.  45 degrees is the consensus for the higher end - less of an angle.  I simply don't like 30 or 35 degrees and 40 is just a tad much as well.  If you can't back an RV into a 45 degree angle, you probably need to take some backing lessons.  

I've read countless forums with these people who have never driven much less backed an giant, 42 foot RV, they don't want to learn and they want pull throughs.  Oh, I'll give them a few pull throughs.  They'll pay $65 per night for the privilege of me wasting that much space.  Actually, I may not do pull throughs.  The width of that area is almost 200 feet, I cannot possibly fathom wasting almost 200 feet for one pad.  That's a bit ridiculous.  

I'm going to have to think how I can do that.  I want a few pull throughs I just don't want to waste so much space!  Yup, I'm just going to have to dwell on that for a while and ask some questions from someone with a different perspective and just try to think of an answer to that. 

Because now, I'm thinking that there can be a huge amount of space between RV's parked on one side to the RV's parked on the other side.  Buildings could be put up in between in the future if the operation ever takes off and upgrades are desirable.  Bath houses are very popular.  A pool - very popular.  Yes, I could fit a pool in between pads with 60 feet of space.  We ain't talking a huge pool, too expensive and maintenance also expensive the bigger they get.  

It was what I was thinking about today after everything else I have contemplated.  A 60 foot wide space leaves room for a party room, a bath house, a pool, a playground, a dog run, all of that and more. You are talking about almost 1,400 feet of length by 60 feet wide.  That's a lot of room!  It never really dawned on me until a little while ago how much space I will have in there.  It would be a totally unique setup as well.  

See, some people don't care for walking trails for dogs. They want a fenced off dog run.  I'm like, wow, the possibilities here!  What kind of appeal is that? A dog run and a huge walking trail for people and dogs to walk.  

Think gondolas with picnic tables and a rentable party barn.  No, that party barn would have to go in the front away from the RV's. Strike that one.  That's another thing I don't know, is there a minimum setback from the roadway before you can put anything in? Like in Phoenix, it's 25 feet.  But this is county land and I couldn't determine whether that's mandatory or not.  Not from looking at other properties anyway.  

Oh well. My mind is wandering with this one.  Far more possibilities with this particular setup than Finklea.  

My realtor today?  Said she had "NOT" prayed for patience with everything we have gone through lmao.  I think she is near done with this.  She has stuck through this and put up with a lot of crap. NOT from ME, thank you, I have been very grateful for all of her help for which she has received nothing as of yet.  

This property isn't being divided, there is nothing "new" here as far as the title and the property goes, aside from the mandatory appraisal and possibly needing a current survey, this deal should go through.  I am confident I can work out the issues with this gas well dude, he seems to be open to working with me.  He claimed he was anyway and has toned well down from his initial "barking" about access and that gate. HAVE YOUR GATE, JUST NOT THERE, thank you. I don't get the damned resistance abou that ...... gate.  PLEASE. I do not want anyone messing with your operation any more than you do! I have attempted to fill this guy's head with that fact, I have no interest, whatsoever, in disturbing their operation.  The only way that could occur is if someone ran into something there or if some malicious act with intent to damage or destroy.  IF someone has malicious intent, that isn't me and that person could easily get to that property from other properties to the south, east or west.  

I am ending this, for I will fill my head up with so much stuff to ponder that I will never go to sleep.  I have to go to Brownsville tomorrow - thankfully now that I think about it - a later load time at noon.  Thankfully because I  know that on the night before a Brownsville run? I usually don't sleep well. I have NO idea why that almost always happens, but it does. And now that I have filled my head with all kinds of fresh ideas that I can do nothing about right now but will dwell on it anyway? LOL.  Literally just started thinking about some of the stuff I wrote in this entry and now I will have to engage myself in looking up even more info.  I won't do that tonight but I know I will sit lay in bed pondering it, going down endless rabbit trails of thought and attempting to figure things out.  Especially that pull through dilemma.  

Hmm, Brownsville trip will give me plenty of time to think.  There ya go, BB, think about it tomorrow, not tonight when you are supposed to be sleeping!

G'nite. 

 Thanks to Fin for the good wishes in previous post. 

And yes, I am communicating with them quite a bit.  They want to meet with me. Their first stance was they don't want anyone back there.  But they simply cannot assert that, it's not their property but boy howdy are they extracting a lot of money's worth of gas out of that ground.  

I sent them a rather completely defined proposition of what I want to do this morning after the senior director over operations texted me back a lengthy statement of what their needs are in this situation.  

His biggest issue is 24/7 access. Noted and granted.  Fire trucks, salt water trucks and maintenance personnel all need access, I didn't need to hear that for I knew that already and outlined that to him today.  I'm not ignorant of gas well operations, no expert but it is obvious people need to be able to access it whenever they need to in case of emergency.  

He also guffawed at the idea of moving the gate.  But the gate either will be moved or it will be an automatic gate - at my expense - for access in and out with keys needed.  He apparently hasn't been out to that property in quite a while - he's more of a desk jockey than anything - and said he'd have to go out there with his gas foreman to assess the situation.  

He sent me his email address and I sent him a lengthy, respectful and professional style statement.  It contained my intentions to develop the front of the property and that both operations could operate in harmony without one greatly affecting the other.  The operations could be mutually exclusive yet be in peaceful existence of each other.  

Asserted again that I neither need nor want access to the gas operation. No need for it.  And, that a driveway built around it could have barbed wire fence installed to keep people out.  I would also agree to no trespassing signs on the fencing along that operation.  They didn't ask for a barbed wire fence or no trespassing signs, but to keep from liability I want to ensure that guests stay off and out of that area altogether and the only way I can see that happening is fencing around the entire pad and their gate moved to the front of it.  

But my insistence that that gate be moved will not change.  It's 419 feet from the street and 951 feet away from the front of the entrance to their well operation.  It would make no sense to me that they couldn't agree to simply move the thing. Their property remains gated and I have full access to the east side of the driveway, uninhibited.  

The alternative, I just thought of, is to build a driveway directly beside their driveway.  That would defeat their purpose in keeping people out of there and then they would have to install a barbed wire fence the entire length of the property.  But they couldn't do that without my permission and I won't give them permission. We can make this work out without going to court, getting lawyers and turning this into a nightmare.  I have ample room to build another driveway right next to the one they built.  But in reality, anything they do on that property that is for access purposes is subject to the owner's wishes.  

I've been reading Texas law and expert opinion on this subject, I felt I needed to arm myself with correct information instead of beliefs that may or may not be true.  It is as I suspected and specific to oil and gas well operations: anything that goes on on that property is subject to the owner's approval.  So, there is previous owner approval for the access where they have it.  All fine and dandy, I need to read the specific wording of the agreement to see it states and what addendums and clauses may have been inserted into it  

I then told him I was planning on building a recreational area out of the back 15 acres - namely walking trails and a pond at some point, hence the need to have access.  It is unlikely that any court would agree with any gas/oil operation that the owner of the property is not allowed access to all of his property outside of the gas pad area unless, perhaps, it was agreed upon in advance.  I also included my intentions of installing another driveway on the west side of the entrance.  I'm afraid I'll just have to eat it and make the curved turn also an area where even long motor coaches can turn around.  This way if one driveway is blocked there is always another way out of there. However, the only time I can foresee a driveway being blocked is if their equipment was stopped on it for whatever reasons or an RV was unhitching a car from the rear so they can back into a spot.  

Most of my spots will be back in, the standard for the industry.  Only a handful of pull-through sites will be made available and I will fetch premium prices for those.  I may see about including camp sites - tent style camping - in the rear of the property as well.  Give them a picnic table, a fire ring and a grassy area to pitch their tent.  Sorry, y'all will have to figure out elimination of internal fluids and solid waste yourselves.  

Okay, actually not. I think it's required to have a bathroom if you want tent campsites.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy but they have to have access to one.  I think. I've started reading a lot of rules and regulations on campgrounds only to find out I was reading a particular county's site, not the state site.  I wonder what the state says about outhouses, lol. When I grew up, outhouses were the norm at state parks everywhere - and we went to a lot of state parks.  A hole in the ground and that's that.  

I have lots of ideas with this property.  I am not concerned about the gas well, it's a bit of a "thing" in the middle of everything, but it isn't terribly ugly and I don't see it as a problem. I can foresee, however, if this gas company wants to make an issue out of things.  They aren't against this setup, not at all from what I read this morning in the text.  I ended the letter with the statement that I would rather come to agreement in peace instead of a strife filled, contentious, irritating relationship that will have both parties at edge with each other.  And likely end up in court, a thing I want to avoid at all costs.

You say yes, but you haven't closed on the property yet.  No, I have not and it will be a bit before that happens.  But I cannot possibly go into this situation without an understanding with this gas company before the 20% down is paid, the property closes and it's in my name. Remember, I can pull out of this anytime up until the closing is actually done.  I want guarantees, in writing, I want an understanding, in writing of the relationship between the two entities - I will get an LLC created - of what is and is not acceptable - to both parties before I close on the property.  The gate seems to be an area of contention, in fact that is the only real contention and 24/7 access. Yes, but understand I also want 24/7 access.

I also requested the code to the lock on the gate.  I hate to cut another one of their locks, but they have no right to stop people from viewing the property as potential buyers and certainly now that I am under contract they need to either give me access or I will simply take a pair of freshly purchased bolt cutters and continue on - with the seller's agent's blessing - the practice of cutting the lock.  I don't want to walk the thousand feet to the back every time. I still have some trudging to do on that property now that I looked at the satellite view again, I want to see if there are clear property delineations on the property lines on the east and west sides.  The south side has an old, destroyed, barbed wire fence and there are surveyor markings on a tree. This is clearly, at least to me, the property line to the south.  I realized after looking at the property maps on the county site that I did not go far enough east during that last trip in there to see if there was a fence or surveyor markings anywhere. I had seen much larger trees and assumed that was on the other property - but I was wrong, there is a chunk of those trees on "my" property.  

I don't think I am jumping ahead of myself to do due diligence.  I have learned a lot from looking at other properties and finding out things after the fact - but not too late after that fact - that would stop me from wanting to buy those places.  I always stop and listen.  What kinds of noises are there?  Nothing, thankfully, or very light. In the back of the property you hear the sound of the water going down the stream and the sounds of birds chirping and that's is all I have heard the two times I have been back there. I am contemplating a trip there today.  I would have gone earlier but I got busy with other things.  It's just that it's pretty hot out there right now.  There is  a heat wave going on in Texas and the rest of the west for that matter.  To the point that officials are urging residents in Texas to conserve energy for fear of blackouts.  Good luck with that, people run their AC and they don't care.  I have the generator and can run extension cords to my room and keep it cool - I have a window AC unit that helps make up for the fact that this room was an add on and tho it was connected to the central AC, there is insufficient cool air or warm air for that matter in the winter coming in here to sufficiently cool/heat the room.  The rather large window AC unit makes up for that.  

Anyway, just saying it's hot out there, but I have to go back to work tomorrow.  I've been off 3 days - I did not relent on them fixing the da** truck. They were not going to leave it broken for months simply because it still works.  My dispatcher sent me a run for Brownsville tomorrow - late load at noon unfortunately - it is what it is - but a good run nevertheless to start back up again.  I've enjoyed the 3 days off excepting for cranky kids.  The other brother is here for 2 weeks and they get into a lot of trouble and then they are cranky afterwards.  I would like to go back out today and get a look at the portion of the rear of the property that I haven't seen yet. This time? I bought a $5 machete from Harbor Freight and I will soak my exposed skin in bug spray.  The dogs I won't take, it's just too hot.  Addler doesn't seem to mind the heat but I suspect he would overheat running around out there and Aspyn is a German Shepherd - pure bred with the undercoat, she loves the winter but summer time she's panting crazy.

Speaking of her, the pills are working. She was losing so much weight she was visibly malnourished, even tho she ate tons of food. She would down a huge bowl of food every day and still starving. The vet diagnosed her with some disease that is prevalent among Shepherds that their system cannot process food - then produced a $300 bottle of pills.  I balked at that, figuring they would have the same available on line for much cheaper, they did and I got them.  She gets a pill before every feeding and has put on substantial weight.  Her habit of jumping over the fence has disappeared, a thing that was irritating me greatly and making me want to get rid of her.  

But what she was doing was foraging for food.  She was constantly hungry even tho her belly was full.  The starvation was driving her to go look for more food elsewhere. Now that she has those pills, she isn't hungry all the time, eats far less food and isn't jumping the fence.  The pills are $37 for a 100 day supply, btw, a far cry from $300.  I just can't believe they tried to pawn those off on me at that price. Petmeds is an excellent source for dog/cat medicines, you usually still have to have them call your vet for approval. I spend enough money at the vet, thank you very much, they can approve it and tough.  

Ok.  It's 91 degrees, feels like 94.  Yesterday the real feel was 105. I'm considering going out there - with a large bottle of cold water of course.  No kids, no dogs and also I want to get my ATV going now that I have a place I can ride it lol.  

Yay.  The realty sites are already showing the property as "contingent" "under contract" etcetera. It doesn't take them long.  I like that they say that for it hopefully discourages people from taking a real, hard look at any given property.  I have to say that I am kind of unhappy with myself initially dismissing this property.  I know, I had Finklea and Finklea with those towering pine trees is a beautiful site to behold.  But, realistically, Finklea would have cost more to develop. The water line was at least 200 feet away, probably more like 300, an underground water transmission line would have had to have been installed just to get water to the property.  Same with electricity - not so far away but still have to run it across the road and the same with the cable. Water is running right through the front of the property and so are power lines.  

I only need a contractor to dig down to the line, install a saddle, install a line running up to the meter that they install and then the rest is my doings after that.  The power company installs a pole and runs power to the pole for access.  I don't have to run across or under any streets. That will save a ton of money.  The cable is on the other side of the street, I don't know what they will do. Run it across the power lines most likely, that appears to be what they do out here.  It's underground but that won't stop them from getting it to me.  I need that cable for more appeal.  Sewer I have not ascertained yet if there is sewer available or if it's strictly septic. If septic, I expect 15 to 20 k expense.  I expect at least 15k expense for electricity and that's for a limited number of pads.  

I am not going to concern myself with any utilities beyond ascertaining that they are there and likely calling the entities to ensure I will have access until after the closing.  This isn't going to be a race to the finish line.  I'll need to get bids on several things right off the bat.  All utilities will have to have the basic installation to the property performed by an authorized general contractor. That will be expensive, yes, but nothing near as expensive as what I outlined above with the Finklea property.  BTW, if the Finklea property did become available now? I'd likely turn it down.  This property is 25 acres, 12 more than Finklea, is in the country yet close to the city and is close enough to the Interstate and highway 59.  It's a very appealing neighborhood and it has trees. Not pine trees but good enough.  The tallest trees on the front of the property are mostly 25 to 30 foot.  Nothing grand but they offer shade and that nature feel to it well enough.  Oh, and this property is like 3 miles from the house.  Next visit I will take odometer reading on vehicle and get exact distance, but it isn't far.  

And I will visit the Bridge and Road division of the county in person to ascertain what, if any permits I will need. Probably the one the state requires for new construction for construction over 1 acre.  I guess they come out and monitor what you are doing and if it's going to affect the ground water by disturbing the soil too much.  Minimal soil will be affected tho, it's only grading it level and that won't take much, the front of the property is fairly level as it stands.  It appears to have good drainage during any rain storms.  If a septic system needs installed, that is all by a state approved contractor that is licensed by the state, I need do nothing but tell them where I want the thing. They get the permit and they do the soil testing to determine what kind of system to install.  Preferably one with a leach field versus those types that spray the water above the ground.  That takes up space and isn't exactly appealing.  

In reading other people's woes of their attempting to build an RV park in Texas, they are encumbered by county or city officials in their county.  Different counties have different rules/regs concerning these things. Initially, when I first read all of these statements about the red tape these people were running into, I had second thoughts about what i was intending to do. Until I came to the understanding that it's specific to the area they are doing it in.  Some counties have stringent rules on construction of new RV parks, there are none here or if there are, the county doesn't know about it - I called and asked specifically - and I can't find anything online besides endless rules to be found in other counties.   There is also a similar named county in Mississippi which also really threw me off at first. They have obnoxious amount of rules - it's unbelievable. You might as well not even try to build one there - now I understand when I'm reading these rules, I need to really identify what county or city they are referring to. I put in a Google search specific to my county and then realize the results - are not specific to my county.  

But, I do read their rules anyway. There are some good ideas in all of that jungle of regulations. You can be inspired by anything, even things that may mostly be negative in nature.  Along the lines of what not to do or something you just may not have thought of.  I have done unending research on this subject in the last several months. Experts, city, county, people that own parks already, RV'ers that use the parks, all kinds of information from a myriad of sources.  It's been a fascinating adventure - when you are attempting to engage in something you really have no first hand knowledge about, you naturally dive into a sea of information and start reading, reading, reading and taking it all in. Taking notes, writing down names and phone numbers for future reference, how to do this, how to do that, etc.  

Ok, this post waxes long. Lots of thoughts in my head, have to write some of it out and then? Read all of it and attempt to understand that my reasoning and information and thought processes at least seem to be on the right track. You may see more book length entries in the future, lol. 

I think I will go over there and probably do another live Facebook streaming video after I get into the thick of it. 

G'day.  

 Well here we go.

They countered with $83,500 and I instantly accepted.  I have sold myself on the property and there isn't much of anything that will change my mind on that.  There are a few details I want to confirm before closing date - but we are a long way off from that.  They have to get an appraisal which is taking long periods of time to acquire.  I dunno if they need a new survey.  There is clearly a survey done - the ribbons were on the tree this morning.  Those ribbons weren't exceedingly faded I suspect it's a more recent survey - tho - doesn't necessarily mean it was for this property, could have been for the property behind me.  

Anyway, it's $16,700 down payment plus closing costs - which $1,000 of is required to be paid by the seller per the contract we are all signing. Same contract as before, either party can pull out at any time.  The kind of contract I like, if some information is obtained that sours the deal, I am not constrained to it. I only have to give about $900 earnest money, all of it refundable minus $100 fee.  I've already lost $350 on a property I can't buy, this best not happen again after the appraisal for I am not willing to just eat this again. I will stay in the contract if that happens.  

The mortgage payment without taxes is $450.20 per month, easily handled with current paychecks until I can get the operation up and running.  Taxes are $920 per year, not that great for undeveloped land, but that's this area. The ISD takes far more money than they need, as evidenced by building a massive covered stadium for the football team at the local high school. We don't even have that in Arizona where the temps are much higher and people die or end up in the hospital with heat related illnesses all the time.  They must have spent millions of dollars for that thing and the people that see the use of that facility say it is hardly ever used.  

Imagine that. Some school board member's pet project approved and run through likely without much debate.  Kids can take the heat - give them ample water and some electrolytes if necessary they'll be fine.  It's one reason why I started watching the city council meetings but now that I think of it, I'm going to have to see if I can find the school board's meetings online as well. I have vested interest in it, already paying property taxes here even without the purchase of this property.  

Anyway.  I checked county codes again - I keep going back to that .There are state codes but nothing really too significant beyond septic systems and construction activities that you have to get a permit for. And that is only for water run off during storms.   

_____________________________

Next day/Wednesday.  No load today - I'm hoping that means they are fixing my truck.  

We are waiting on the seller to sign off on the documents and send back to my realtor who will in turn forward it to my lender who is already apprised of the situation.  

So while that is going on - the waiting period will be long because appraisals are taking 4 to 6 weeks, the same as with the Finklea property - I will be attempting to assess what utility companies offering access in the neighborhood.  I know the city has the water supply, I'm not sure who the power company is there - there are multiple power companies with operations in this region - and I'm not sure about the cable/internet.  

I have come to learn that many of these people want home away from home situations with their RV's including access to cable tv - a hookup you have to provide at each campsite.  

I'm also awaiting delivery of the lease agreement with the gas company. I want to read all of it and find out what provisions have been made for their access to the property.  It's not their access I'm concerned about, it's mine and customer access.  I don't want and won't tolerate a locked gate on the property, period, unless they have some provision for that.  That will definitely mean creating a new driveway, tho I was going to do that anyway, but also would mean wasting a lot of space at the rear of the driveway in creating a turnaround for RV's to exit the property.  But it doesn't matter as long as I can fit at least 15 sites in there I'm good with it.  

Still even if they have some provision in there I would like to hope they would work out to have their portion of the property gated, not the entire length of the front portion of the property.  I don't really want to have to go to court and hash this out in front of a judge, it's a simple courtesy, this is my property, you are guests, you have your access rights, I'm not trying to diminish those rights, I'm simply trying to exert my right as the property owner. They already conceded we could use "their" driveway - granted they took down the trees and built it, but that's still going to be my property.  

If the gate at the front was enforceable then I would simply ask that we can install an automatic gate - something I'd like to do anyway on both driveways.  That would eliminate the need for park staff and the ensuing bills that would entail.  Online registration and payment, issued an access code to the gate/s, they come, find the pad numbered to their registration, park, hookup, enjoy.  

______________________

Well that was cute.  They tried to send me to Brownsville today last minute thing to pick up empty trailer. I'd love to take that, but there's this issue of the engine fan staying on that I've been writing up and not getting a response to. So I forced the issue. "I've been writing this thing up for days now" - the mechanic gets a copy of the writeup in his mail basket in front of his office. He claimed no knowledge of it so I replied to the dispatcher that I was not interested in taking another load or another task until the truck is fixed, that I wasn't about to allow it to continue on like the vibration thing did for TWO MONTHS.

I then contacted my manager, who never replied - as is his want when people are bringing issues to him he doesn't really want to address - but I finally got back from the dispatcher that she found another driver to head down there while they try to get my truck fixed.

After that? Off to the inspection station - my registration expires the end of this month, over to Harbor Freight - machete, wheel measurer and a cheap set of bolt cutters - and then off to the property. Soooo hot out today, I only wanted to measure the length of the driveway and the width of it.  I was literally blown away to find out my estimate was way off.  But then again, I was trying to be conservative in it so as to get my hopes up.  

The length of the driveway from the street all the way to the end where it goes into the gas well pad? 1,370 feet!  Even more dramatic, at least to me? 197 feet wide from the edge of the driveway! 

That simply means the entire RV park can be constructed in that front half, I don't the rear of the property to engage in the business and that makes this situation very much simpler in terms of dealing with this gas company. 

The back = guessing 15 acres, not really sure?  Have the power company run a line back there and set up a mobile home, make some walking trails, dig out the pond and have a place for guests to walk their dogs - hikes and have a weekend getaway.  That would be future reference. Well the hiking trails I'd probably want to get started on right away, instant appeal.  The pond and house however, yes future stuff.  

The driveway?  Very easily can plow another drive way on the other side of the property all the way to the back and curve it around to intersect back into the existing driveway.  30 pads down each driveway.  40 feet wide, that's 1,200 feet leaving 250 feet for an entrance building.  According to an online calculation to give the number of acres, that's a little of 6 acres of land there not including the existing driveway.  

What this does is allow me to put in giant, lengthy spaces - 70 feet long on each side plus have rom in the middle to keep trees in place plus have 10 feet of trees between pads, every pad.  

The initial phase will to be to install a driveway on the other side, improve the existing driveway a bit - not much work really needed and then put in around 20 pads.  To do this without getting into a huge loan and keeping payments down, that's what I want to do.  Water is definitely there, there's a fire hydrant right up the street and I saw water meter boxes in the ground along the way.  The power lines are on my side of the street.  There is cable along the street as well, the boxes don't say what company and I'm a bit hesitant to walk up on people's property - in Texas you know, guns and freedom loving patriots?  People don't take kindly to that sort of thing.  

In fact the only drawback I can see here is the neighbors at the front. Not exactly an appealing property but not trashy either. They keep the lawn groomed at least, it's just an old house that is in desperate need of a fresh paint job.  There is, however, a Pitbull and it likes to bark at strangers. It's undoubtedly not used to seeing people walking along the length of the driveway. I'd hate to think of the dog barking all day long, but once I was past it it stopped. A good sign at least.  Also they are truckers - I don't hate truckers lol - but he is parking his tractor on "my" property.  

Am I getting ahead of myself again? Well, possibly I guess. The realtor is coming today for the earnest money and after that is when it becomes official - I think.  I dunno, but I wrote a check and left it on the counter in case she shows up when I'm not here.  I just pulled out the map the city gave me - a huge thing 3 feet deep by 4 feet wide - and rechecked. The street is no in city territory.  No city restrictions.  The water I checked on the PUC, allegedly it's from the city so I have no idea what kind of ordeal I may be in for, but everyone else  has water so if they start trouble, we will go to court if necessary.  you can't legitimately tell everyone else, including other businesses, that they can have water but I can't - for whatever reasons.  Look, if I have to, I'll have a well drilled and that's that.  I don't want to, but I am not going to rule it out entirely.  There is ample water supply everywhere underground  Heck, there's a stream with clear water, not that I'd want to use that, but for non -potable use not out of the question.  

I got back in the property and then stopped. Today that is, while doing the measuring.  It is so serene and peaceful, albeit hot right now.  Yesterday the lawn maintenance people were out there making noise, but it wasn't that much and didn't last that long .Today, there was nothing. Just birds chirping. Even occasional vehicle noise wasn't loud or obnoxious. The roadway is decent. must better than most properties I have looked at.  A salt water truck came by - not terribly loud either as it passed on by while I was on the street taking measurements.  It's not a busy road.  No property is perfect, but this one certainly is well up there on the "gee this is pretty nice now that I've come here several times and taken it all in" list.  Finklea would have been nicer albeit 12 acres smaller.  Get over it, BB, that is now ancient histroy.  

Alright, I have satisfied my need to find out information. There will be more, of course, but the basics are covered.  I don't think there's sewer lines, but who knows?  If the city has water going down there they may very well also have sewer lines. That would be such a big plus. 

Anyway, that's it. That's all for now. 

 It's only getting up to 92 today, lol, I best be getting out of here.

Off to this property that I need to look at to see if there is a way to make a driveway around the gas well pad.  Well, that and hike back in that mess and see what's in there and also if I can somehow build a drive down into that basin.  

Reminds myself to pack pistol into that stuff, I have no idea what's in there and I don't want to go in without something for protection.  

_________________

Long interlude.  I went over there - no kids or dogs - I figured I would be attempting to find a way through all of that underbrush with all of those sticker bushes and vines and didn't need kids getting stuck or dogs either.  I'm glad I didn't take either for it was even worse than I imagined back in there.  It's completely over grown with that nonsense and the entire back portion of the property would need a clearing operating to get all of that out of there. Keep the trees, get rid of all of the undergrowth.  

I was happy to see the stream still flowing even tho it's not raining. There are lots of water ways in this region that only flow during a rainfall. The ground back in there is pretty moist, but that's because it doesn't get much sunlight.  Clear the small trees and the underbrush and that won't be an issue and it will dry up.  

The front portion of the property will be the RV park.  That driveway is all of 3 football fields long and then some. I estimate around 1,000 feet.  The wide of that area I'm guessing around 100 feet.  I can put 20 pads in there. At an angle, they just pull in from one driveway and then drive straight out through to the other driveway I would build, that would circle around the rear of the driveway to the main driveway and out.  

The other option, I'm guessing anyway, is to have maybe 5 fully drive through (pull throughs they call them) and the rest? Back in.  In a staggered formation, I could put alternating pads on each driveway and double the amount of pads I could have from 20 to 40.  

That isn't really an option right off the bat - it will cost too much money to put in 40 pads right off the bat.  My plan is to do as many as I can with the 401k money and not go into any further debt than what the property costs.  If I need a small loan to finish things off, I can do that.  But, I can plan the set up for 40 pads if it appears I can do it that way.  

I can tell you right now that if I could keep the thing even half full half of the month I would be making anywhere from 6 to 12 grand per month off of it, that's a conservative estimate and the variable is how often each individual lot is used and how much it is per night.  Or per week. Or per month - I plan on offering all of it. I'd really rather have full timers in there living there to have "guaranteed" income versus dealing with people coming and going.

The thing about people coming and going is you make more money, a lot more money, but you have to have someone there during the day time.  Again, this proposition isn't out of greed or believing I will become a millionaire off of it. It's simply a way to buffer retirement and get out of the trucking business sooner than later.  

I'm going off on all of this like I was with the Finklea property - until I found out I couldn't actually acquire it even tho I was under contract.  But yes, I put in a bid today for 80 grand.  The asking price is 87 grand.  I only wanted to come down a bit for the fact of the portion of the unusable part of the property that I really don't want to pay for - you consider these folks that own it got their money to sell off the easement to them, usually a good chunk of change or even royalty checks.  

I informed my realtor I would pay the full asking price if they aren't going to budge from it.  It likely is worth every penny, but since it's been sitting on the market for a while, I thought maybe a small reduction from the asking price wouldn't be terribly bad to ask for.  I don't want to insult the owners - people can get pissed about individuals low balling so much that they are basically asking for a handout - I've seen that happen and I really think I can make this property work to the extent that I'm willing to pay full asking price if necessary.  

The lots would be set up in the front and they wouldn't be driving over the gas pad area.  The sign saying no hunting, fishing, dogs, firearms, alcohol and vehicles subject to search? Coming down.  They can keep that crap and burn it . The gate? Coming down. I'll work with them about putting one up at the pad entrance, but I'm not having that nonsense on my property, if it indeed does become mine.  They've gotten away with doing whatever they please with it because the owners have done nothing with the property - they live in Atlanta Georgia. What a hellish place to live, no offense to anyone that lives there but I wouldn't live there if you paid me to do so.  

My plans would include a hiking trail along side the pad and into the rear of the property - there's probably 15 of the acres back there.  Get whatever machinery I need to clear a trail all the way around the perimeter and crisscrossing through it.  An extreme nature hike, I was back there and I know that would be a selling point.  And definitely build a pond. With a live stream running through the property, that is a no brainer. It's nothing more than digging a giant hole.  I wouldn't want to pay anyone to do that, operating trackhoes is fun lol.  I'm a bit rusty but I'm sure it would come back to me quickly.  

This property isn't quite as nice as Finklea granted - I like the massive pine trees shooting up 75 plus feet at the Finklea property, those are really my favorite trees.  This property doesn't have many pines, but I can deal with it. It has trees, that's the end of that story.  The trees aren't massive - but they're big enough to cast shade on everything and give it the nature feel. It's good enough.  I can plant pines if I really feel the need to.  

I came up with plans pretty quick.  I've gone through this several times in my mind at different properties to the point I can envision quickly how I would want a property set up.  This one I might have someone design it for paperwork's sake and get an actual blue print of where the pads go. I'll buy one of those wheel distance measuring devices that you just roll along the ground.  I'll need an accurate measurement of exactly how long that driveway is in order to be able to plan the location of the pads.  

I don't want to get too carried away here.  I've been let down several times now.  The beauty of this property is that it's only like 4 miles away from the house.  It's a rural developed area. Next door neighbors to the west have a massive cattle ranch going - but it's quite beautiful and serene.  To the east it's just another undeveloped piece of property with tall pines on it. Except at the front, there is a house there.  The entire street is a very nice area. Even the old mobile home is well kept and the lawn manicured.  Everyone takes care of their property.  And no, there is no HOA, it's just county land but people obviously take pride in their property.  I would do the same. Clean, meticulous, neat and tidy.  

Okay, sit back and wait for an answer.

Meanwhile, Brandon - one of James friends tho I consider him a friend now too - came over and showed me how to take apart my new AR15, clean it, oil it and put it back together.  He's a good teacher, he's into guns bigtime. It was like going to a classroom the way he was showing me how to do everything.  I have a working knowledge of that firearm now, something I didn't have before today. Don't worry, I haven't bought ammo for it yet, I wanted to learn how to take it apart and put it back together first.  It needed oiled for sure, the thing came from the factory with no visible oil on it.  So that was a nice mental diversion.

I've done nothing else today besides go with Taylor to do some grocery shopping. I'm awaiting word on a run for tomorrow, if there's going to be one I'd like to know soon in case it's a longer run.  Haven't been on one in a while - don't particularly want to go on one but I won't complain.  I need the truck fixed tho, that engine fan staying on constantly is very noisy.  

I think I'll stop this one here.

G'day.  

 I have slowed down on posting for there hasn't been a lot to report.  

But 4 days lapse is a bit much even by my standards lol.

I officially own all 4 of the properties I purchased at the tax sale in December.  Now I have to find out how to get titles in my name, sheriff's deeds aren't going to work, I don't think.  I'll contact the title company I have already been doing business with concerning the Finklea property and see if they know how to get it done or some advice.  

Other than that, it's contact a real estate lawyer. Someone must know.  

Property.  My 50k bid on the 8.8 acres on Cooks road hasn't been responded to yet.  Turns out the realtor forgot to bring it up to the seller.  So, I expect in the next few days to hear back something from them, tho I am not holding my breath.  This guy is a bit weird. Overpaying for tax sale properties and way overpricing the properties after the fact.  I guess if it works for him.....

The other property I haven't made a decision on but I"m getting close to thinking that I may put a bid on it.  Hurry before someone else gets it!  Although definitely possible, not highly probably.  The setup of the land makes it not so nice for people that want their own property without any other interruptions going on on it, namely, a gas well. 

I was going to go out there yesterday after I spoke - finally - with the man that runs the regional operation for that company. Turns out that company is huge.  I needed to clarify some things.  First off, the sign they have at the front of the property.  No hunting, firearms, dogs, alcohol etc nonsense.  He stated they don't really have the right to enforce that but they are interested in safety.  They don't care if they use "their" driveway, but ask it be maintained. No problem with that, I would upgrade it by widening it a bit and dumping fresh gravel on it and using a roller to compact it.  

I specifically told him I was wanting to have RV's on it - it isn't their property but I think it would be nice going into it that they know what I intend on doing with it and whatever objections they may have even if they can't really do anything about it.  I would rather operate in peace with them - they have been there a while. They don't want anything driving through the well operation.  I countered that the only way to the back of the property is through that area, y'all literally have all or most of the width of it in the back eaten up.  

Again, it was safety. I can understand that. There is a 16 inch high pressure line coming up out of the ground, you can imagine what might happen if someone ran into it.  Explosion, destruction, death, maimed, etc.  It was a good conversation even if we disagreed, it was civil and he made his desires known.  But it was as I thought, they just have an easement, the right to access, not the right to dictate terms of what a property owner is going to do on their property.  

But after studying the satellite map, it looks quite doable to build a road around the edge of their pad on the east side of the property, head south, then back west again before getting over to another easement on the side of the property. That easement is their pipeline - but it's underground there.  A road can be cleared on it, gravel dropped and they will have access to their pipeline without having to do anything and I will have access to "my" property.  

I just asked my realtor about what she thinks a good offer on it would be.  She sent me info on the Ponderosa property - the dude upped the price 25k!  LOL!  Good luck with that!  The seller also lied about there being another buyer - which means his realtor was also lying. There was no other person making bids on the land.  If it weren't for all the noise from the mining operation I probably would have still bought it - or tried to anyway, no way I'm paying $110k for 17 acres out there.  It's not a great location, the nearest water seems to be about 700 feet away - that's a lot of pipe installation - and a lot of the property is under water.

Regardless, my realtor is going to be home soon and said she would find some comps in the area and get back with me.  Lol, that's not how I have been making my offer decisions. I just decide how much I think the property is worth per acre and make an offer based on that.  Perhaps a bit simplistic since there are a lot of other factors one could take into consideration such as location, availability of phone, electric and water, noise levels, etc but it works for me.  

Enough about that, yesterday I finally got my @$$ out of bed, got dressed and got outside and started on that pond setup.  It was hot out there!  Real feel of 105, it felt hotter than that even.  Especially considering I was in the direct sunlight that entire time, that's where that thing goes, in the middle of property and attempting to keep it away from trees as much as possible.  This setup will keep the river of junk flowing from other properties from getting into the pond and help keep garbage falling from those old oak trees into it to a minimum.  I did get it all set up as far as the underlayment, liner, waterfill filter, pump and UV sterilizer - that kills algae.  It's a UV light in a specially designed case and as the water is pumped through it, the UV light kills any algae.  It's a brand new one.  I've got a lot more setup to go, but getting the hardest part over with was well worth it.  I"m glad I got a foot in the door on that, now I have to install a setup for fish to hide under.  Get some water plans, install water sprayer to help keep the water cool and other things that will need to be done.

Anyway, I'm not going to make it home tonight unless by some miracle they are done in the next hour and a half.  I don't really care, I'm exhausted. A thunder clap woke me up and had me jumping right out of the bed in the middle of the night - it hit VERY close to our house - and it took hours to get back to sleep. So, I think I'll end this one and take a nice nap.

G'day  

Brownsville, Texas. 

They're in this yard dumping material on the ground again.  

This yard gets messed up.  It's small, there are a lot of trucks coming in and out and it rains frequently.  So, they have piles of - whatever it is, concrete shavings mixed with asphalt? Kind of what it looks like.  They have these piles everywhere, difficult to get around this yard. They don't have anyone here with machinery yet to spread it out and compact it. 

I was second load yesterday, late start for getting down here, but since I was second load, the first load beat me to the only empty trailer down here and they are undoubtedly well on their way back to Longview by now.  Not that I mind, it's all detention pay for me and I didn't feel like driving this morning anyway.  

Umm, I have a couple of draft posts I never finished and therefore never posted, hence the gap in putting anything up. Not that there's anything new to report anyway.  

I went to the lender's place yesterday and met the guy in person.  Gave them a check for an appraisal for a property - I can't buy.  $350 for nothing.  I wonder if there is any way to force the seller to pay that back, I entered into a contract with him to buy the land and - he couldn't deliver, no fault of my own.  My lender was ready to get this done.  

I've scoured the properties available, nothing really stands out.  There is one property about 11 miles north of me, about a mile off of Highway 59 that is of "some" interest, but the area doesn't look like it's ever taken off.  Location is everything, that's what I read over and over when it comes to RV parks and of course that should be true.  This location? I'm just not sure about.  The 35 acres for 87k is a wonderful deal tho.  But, I don't want to dump money into a property and then find out it isn't going to attract anyone. And, this property has been for sale for almost 300 days, not like I could turn around and sell it off if it didn't work out.

I'm in no rush on that one.  I do want to walk the property and see what's on it, it appears to be elevated so thee shouldn't be any standing water, or not enough anyway to cause a problem. 35 acres is a lot of land, there must be some portion of it usable for what I want to do with it.  But, a minimal investment for around 15 lots and see what happens? Dunno.  Electric, water and ATT right there.  Might even be sewer, not sure about that one.  

No rush on that one.  I see nothing else in my price range right now that will work.  Well there is one, Taylor even said it might be worth and extra long drive each way for a location like that for that kind of money. I dunno. It's probably 35-40 minute drive each way to get there. Along a busy highway, yes, 48 acres, yes, my price range, yes.  I'd rather have something closer to home and easier and quicker to get to tho. 

So right now, there are no properties that stick out besides over priced properties that are well outside of any price range I want to pay or could even afford. Well I could afford any of it, but it would eat up all of my finances.  I'm just going to wait a while and see if anything new comes up that might fit the bill and is in closer proximity to my house.

Today is Thursday and also the second Thursday of the month, meaning a city council meeting tonight.  I will likely be driving, I can tune into it and see what kind of ridiculous nonsense they are going to engage in.  I try not to miss any of these meetings, I had no idea how clueless these people running our town are.  They don't do any research on anything, they vote out of their feelings.  They have no understanding of contractual obligations or how such things work.  The city manager has pulled his hair out of his head attempting to explain such things to these people and they still don't get it.  

I could literally do a better job than most of them on that council and I make no claims that I have any grand knowledge of those types of things, but I clearly have more knowledge than most of them. Would I run for the position? Probably not, I"m not a fan of having my entire life scrutinized from since I was a baby so that opposition can find a gotcha from when you were a teenager and declare you unfit for the position.  It is a position of power considering you are responsible for where the money goes in the city. Which is what is confounding.  They just vote on things they think sounds good and nix anything that makes far more sense.  

I will listen to it, that's for sure. And I installed Zoom on my phone just so I can voice my opinion. Last time, their zoom wasn't working and most of the meeting wasn't even broadcast due to "technical errors".  

No idea when/if an empty is coming today, but preferably before noon.  After that, they still expect you to get the trailer back before loading time in the morning, meaning you drive all hours of the night to get it back there. That's the only real drawback to this run.  If an empty shows up at 4:00 pm, they want it back, no questions asked.  

I've heard nothing from my realtor in a couple of days.  Not unusual at this point, there is nothing to go look at, she knows what I'm looking for and she knows that I have looked at or dismissed from the start everything that is available.  She won't contact me unless something comes up that she thinks might work.  Or, if by some miracle, the Finklea property actually becomes available, I get to use the $350 appraisal and get this property searching over with. That would be grand.  

Nothing else terribly important. The "other" brother is coming down for a 2 week visit with the boys.  They all like each other and get along pretty well, tho the youngest still has issues with selfishness and wanting everything to be all about him. I guess that's typical for a 4 year old, but he's slowly learning he doesn't always get his way and tough.  The temper tantrums aren't quite as ridiculous as they once were, but they are still there.  Lol.  

The house is getting cleaned up - quite nicely.  Sooner or later it's going to be time to start on that back yard.  I have already stated I will do nothing to it until I get a chance to dig out a trench in between properties and see if that can stop or greatly reduce the amount of junk coming from neighboring properties.  I have cleaned that back yard up far too many times to see it trashed with just one rainfall.  I don't see the point in spending hours and hours cleaning something up and then having it trashed again the next day or in the next few days.  I may very well get motivated to do that, but since the rest of the house is getting cleaned up, I started focusing on my room and attempting to get it looking a little more classy.  Getting rid of the convertible sofa I bought for Addler, he doesn't like it and it's taking up space.

Aspyn uses it but I can get her a doggy bed, put the two beds side by side in front of my bed and open up some space in the room. I also want a new computer desk - a more fancy looking thing with plenty of drawer space.  I have no place for my important papers besides a very small drawer in current desk, I want to change that scenario and get something with a hutch and a corner desk for more room.  The rat infestation got into my closet, they opened up a hole at the bottom of the wall and - crapped on everything.  I have to go through all of that stuff now and throw most of it away I guess. Many knick knacks from my previous living arrangement in Arizona, mostly kept for if/when I got my own house.  I suspect much of it will have to be trashed.  Rats don't care where they poop or pee. 

Well that's enough for this one. Hurry up and wait.  It's 10:30 am and have heard nothing from anyone about an empty coming.  

G'day.  

 I am in no wise in a state of desperation to sign on the dotted line, hand over the cash and call it good on any given property.

So, it is with a great sigh of relief that I went out there to inspect this property myself.  

When the realtor went out there the other day, she was there at sunset.  The mining operation had closed down for the day, apparently, and there was no noise.  

Well, this is Sunday and there was a great deal of noise coming from that operation, specifically the sounds of the backup beepers on the front end loaders and trackhoes and the sounds of what is probably the loader dumping the lignite into trucks to be hauled to the power plant.  

But, of greater concern was this small sign I saw on the street corner of Ponderosa and Holcomb road.  I got out of my vehicle to go up and read what it had to say, if someone went to the trouble of posting it there, I wanted to make sure it had nothing to do with anything going on there.

It was a notice that there is going to be a hearing before the county judge about closing the road permanently!  Holcomb road is the access road to Ponderosa road, Ponderosa road is the road these two properties I bid on are located. There is no other access to Ponderosa road besides going through Holcomb road, I know this because I drove to the end of Ponderosa and it dead ends. .

That just blew my mind.  I instantly thought of some dude selling off his property because of no access.  Yet, how could they get away with shutting off access to property owners?  That makes no sense whatsoever.  Was the mining company going to pay to build another road to access it? Was it going to pay property owners somehow? Why would they want to shut the road down?  If I owned property on Ponderosa, I would be at that hearing and pretty vocal about it.  Still, one wonders if this is actually going to happen and that's why this person is selling the property.  

With that in mind, the road closure and the constant noise, I texted my realtor and asked her to contact the realtor and bow out of it.  It is quite fortunate that on all of these contracts, they all have a provision that the seller or buyer can opt out at any time. I would be a very unhappy camper right now if I were bound to that contract. 

Now? I'm still interested in the 22 acres with the gas well on it.  I Just haven't been able to get anyone to answer the phone at the gas company to ask questions about the signs they have on the proeprty - no hunting, guns, dogs, fishing, etc.  And the fact that they feel like they can lock the property up - that they don't own.  

Other than that, some properties of slight interest.  They're far away from my house or they are well out of the way of any major highway and down county roads that really aren't suitable for people driving a motorcoach. Possibly okay for a pickup pulling a bumper pull or 5th wheel, but I just don't think such properties are appealing even if the price is fantastic.  

I guess I will just wait for more properties to come on the MLS.  My credit will have to be redone with the lender anyway.  I'd like to say time is on my side.  It really isn't.  Perhaps I should just scale this thing down to less than 5 acres and start with a parking lot style RV park versus a much nicer operation with a lot more acreage?  I'm looking online at smaller properties, they want too much money for them.  I can't get a loan on less than 10 acres of land according to this AG lender.

Well, enough of this.  Get some stuff done.  

Happy Sunday. 

 A product of my own ridiculousness last night, I got into the yard, dropped the trailer did my paperwork and headed to the property.  It was too late and it was raining.  Darkness settling in, I decided I'd go back tomorrow - which is now today - and try again.  

Headed to Applebee's - hunger and the fact that no one was home cinched that idea easily.  I got to talking to an older couple at the bar -  the place was empty - and a few hours passed by without my realizing it.  Got home - still hadn't checked the clock - saw the cop/banker guy out on his front porch - that's a pretty rare thing to see, he works 7 days a week - and went over there instead of going in the house.  That went on for a couple of hours and before I knew it, it was after midnight!

So much for getting up early to go look at the property, it's almost 9:30 am, lol.  It's supposed to rain today. That isn't going to thwart me from going over there, I figure I'll take an umbrella and still walk the property.  The only thing I can tell you is that I am not in love with the last - 100/200? - feet of roadway going back in there. 

I did see the old mobile, and yes it's overgrown with bushes and vines and there are 4 pine trees in the front of it - directly in front of it, growing up against the side of the mobile. The front door was open, not a good sign if you had any thoughts of salvaging the thing and redoing it.  That means rats, mice, snakes, animals whatever can and probably have gone inside of it.  I quickly wrote that thing off, tho I suspect I will go into it today to look anyway.  Umm, pistol in my pocket thank you very much.

I will probably take the dogs as well, they are due for a hike, that is, if I can motivate myself to get out of here soon, it's not raining right now and apparently won't be until this afternoon.  

About the time I was going to bed last night James and Taylor showed up - they went straight to bed, it was 1:00 am at that point and just have to kick myself today for staying up so late needlessly.  Oh well, it was fun socializing with people.  

Besides the portion of road I don't like, I remain hopeful to like the property at least and also hunt for the water supply.  Everything is covered with long grass, if it's out there it's going to be difficult to find. The only thing I can say is that the Texas PUC map overlay shows both properties in that grid and therefore in that water supply system.  That does does not automatically mean there is water line under the ground going through there. It just means I can get service to the property, but likely would have to pay for it to be run from wherever it stops to the properties themselves. 

Oh, it's Sunday and I have the day off. Finally, a Sunday off.  I'm going to get out of here, get over to the property, take a good long look rain or shine and then get back home, do some cleaning and enjoy the day off.  Tomorrow is off to Oklahoma - late load means I won't get to do it in one day unless I stay up until 4:00 am - no thanks, I'll just get back to the truck stop casino where I normally stop, spend the night there and finish out the trip on Tuesday.

With that, I best be going.  

Probably do a live stream on Facebook.

G'day.  

 I'm not really a big fan of washing my dogs, I'd rather take them somewhere and let people bath and brush them, I'll gladly pay the price. 

But, when I walked into this bedroom last night at 1:30 am, the smell was revolting.  It just assailed my nostrils and I decided today was going to be wash day for both of them.  

It's a chore.  It took almost an entire bottle of dog shampoo with conditioner and quite a bit of time to scrub them both down. Aspyn was loaded with excess hair, it just came off in globs.  Shedding time as it is, summer is coming and she is going to get rid of that stuff.  Well, between washing her and after she dried, pulling it out and then brushing it down, she's looking much better.  

And smelling a thousand percent better.

Addler is much easier. Short haired Great Dane, hates the baths but just stands there and takes it.  

___________

Friday, early morning.  

I saw a new listing come up, informed the realtor I would be looking at it when I get back - going to Brownsville today, leaving the house pretty quick here actually.

She grabbed her whole family, got into their car and drove over there and took two videos of this place.  It looks like a nice property, but even with a video it's kind of hard for me to try and place a bid on something that I haven't actually visited and experienced myself.  

The issue? If this property is as good as it looks, it probably won't last very long, especially at the price.  There is water and electric and perhaps even sewer nearby. The only real issue I might have with it is it isn't exactly close to any major highway.  Probably 4 or 5 miles off of 59 and another 4 miles added to that to get up to 20.  

I looked at a satellite of it and it appears there is also a pond on the property, a huge plus if it's decent.  There's lot of ponds that - are not decent - as evidenced by a small property I looked at yesterday.  Nasty, green, full of algae, it wasn't exactly pretty.  It is right off of 59 a bit south.  I was thinking of putting some mobiles on it or 10 or so rv pads.  But I would have to have electric run from across 59, water is hundreds of feet up the road and septic installed.  And of course the obligatory clearing of the entire lot - it's just filled with thick underbrush and those nasty thorn bushes.  I don't know that names of that particular plant, but this region is full of that garbage along with thorn vines.  Oh and the noise. 59 is a major truck route, this property is right next to the highway and there is constant, loud highway noise.

The odd thing? It is obvious that people don't appear to care about highway noise considering the large amounts of homes you see all over the place positioned right next to busy interstates and state highways. 

Well, I'll think about it today.  If it weren't dark I'd go look at it before going to work.  It's tempting to pull the trigger on it, I'll say that. It isn't that far out of the way, not like some other properties I've looked at. It's 20 minutes or so from my house.  

Anyway, off to work.

G'day. 

 I just stood in awe of the people that showed up.

Not because they were anything special, but because after the auction started, these people were going wayyyyyy beyond anything even reasonable for even market price, much more what you'd think you would score at an auction.  

2 acres - $18,000.

27 acres of inaccessible property - literally there is no legal way to access it - 60 grand. 

Properties with junk houses are uninhabitable - 10, 15, and more thousand. 

People buying up empty lots for ridiculous amounts of money.  I waited until all the properties I was interested in were bidded on way too far for anything I would even consider buying and left.  

No, I'm not disappointed, more properties will come next time. And the time after that.  It was just a slew of people with money-lined pockets getting into bidding wars.  I do wonder if they will regret any of it after they find out that what they bought? Was nothing worth near that much money. 

One house that was burned down sold for over 10k, I can't remember how much, but it's worthless.  The property is definitely not worth that much money,. lol. I did warn the man next to me about the 27 acres - you can't access that property, dude and the person that owns it tried for a year to sell it.  He stopped bidding on it. I don't usually warn people but this dude was standing right next to me.

So, I ended up leaving there empty handed. Yes, I could have bid way up, but why?  Here's what's going to happen, these properties will end up going for sale it ridiculous amounts of money and they will sit there forever.  No one will buy them and I will laugh at them.  

I came home after that, sat around talking with Taylor and waiting for the rain to stop.  When it did finally stop, I took the boys with me - get them out of mama's hair for a bit - and went to search out this 22 acre property. They were determined to go hiking, I described it as an adventure, but not all of it would be fun.  I knew that because this entire region is vexed with thorn vines that are not pleasant to get stuck inot your skin.  

I was as patient as I can be with a 4 and 6 year old, tho the 4 year old was definitely not liking some of it.  He didn't hate all of it, but when we got down the grade and into the thick of everything, well I was helping him quite a bit.  Not that that matters, but he was hollering and whining alot.  We got in there as far as I determined I could go with these boys and decided it was time to head out of there. The brush was only getting thicker.

I likely won't even take my dogs in that this stuff, they will get cut up pretty good plowing their way through it. 

After looking at the 2 videos I made, I determined that I need a body cam to take decent video of everything in front of me. It's too hard to try and make your way through all of that stuff and try to keep the camera - Iphone - in a position to get a good view. Neither video was all that great in those terms.  

I mean, if I'm going to take videos I don't want the view to be terrible and annoy the viewer.  I've seen enough videos of incidents and terrible views, a body cam is affixed and isn't subjected to moving of the hand that is holding the camera.  They're kind of pricey, but it's a hobby and hobbies you spend money on.  

So that's that.  I don't consider the auction a waste of time - it just depends on who shows up and some of these people knew each other - they weren't at any previous auctions, I remember the faces of the people that are doing a lot of bidding. The rich dude showed up, he was bidding up lots of properties including the 2 acres I wanted.  I went up to 8 grand and quit. The property ended up going for 18 grand, they can have it, it's simply not worth that much money.  Not to me anyway.  

Other acreage out in the middle of nowhere also got bidded way up.  I was in awe of how much money these people were willing to pay for this stuff. Do they know something I don't? Overpriced properties simply don't sell,, I could link just one of the realtors sites loaded with auction properties that no one is buying.  

Okay, so the property I was looking at today with the boys? That driveway, starting at the road, is around 900 feet long.  I could do something with that property just from the driveway alone and save the rear of the property for a later date.  If it's even accessible.   

 Memorial Day.

Got up at 7am.  Looked out the windows, no empties.  There wouldn't be any, but I had to check.  The other driver in line ahead of me nowhere to be found.  I got my coffee maker going, had a cuppa and got out of the truck and walked around, stretched.  Later on, I saw on of the yard guys had shown up, taking readings off the tankers.  

Any idea if/when an empty will show up today?  He got a blank look on his face, thought about it for a few seconds and said, I don't know if any are coming today or not.  Okay, thanks. He then asked if I had brought a certain trailer into the yard.  No, not me, why?  The driver hadn't put the papers/bills into the mailbox. 

That was my cue to contact my dispatcher.  Umm, 83911851, they're saying the driver didn't put the bills for that load into the mailbox.  She replies, the bills for which trailer?  Remember, this is all texting, in writing.  "83911851".  So the bill of lading isn't in there? No, the driver didn't leave ANY of the paperwork.  I then went on to say that the man stated that he didn't know if any trailers were coming today, and I couldn't be waiting around until this afternoon for empties to show up.

"Let me contact (the manager)".  She texted back several minutes later: You can go home, sir.

And leave I did.  All the way up 50 miles, where I passed by a large number of state troopers parked on both sides.  I passed on of them and he immediately jumped out onto the highway, cut in between the vehicle behind me and my truck and I knew I was going to get pulled over.

Inspection. And asked all kinds of questions, wanted to see my logs, lights, turn signals, tires, brakes, etc etc etc etc. And then asked where my "spare fuses" are.  I had some in there, but I don't use them and I couldn't find them.  He wrote me up for not having spare fuses......and also for the fire extinguisher. The clasp that holds the band on it had come open. Instead of just saying - the thing needs to be clamped down again  - he wrote me up for unsecured fire extinguisher.  Petty, bs nonsense.  They are warnings, yes, but warnings count against the company.  

It's the CSA crap  - just more federal bs leveled against companies and drivers to make lives miserable.  There was no good reason to write me up for either of those things, neither of them have anything to do with "safety", the fire extinguisher is in perfect working order, it's just the clasp came loose and fuses have nothing to do with highway safety.  

This crap is the reason many older generation drivers are exiting trucking.  And why the increase in the numbers of drivers needed nationwide.  None of us want to continue to put up with this bs.  The federal government won't catch a clue about it until so many drivers are gone and the cost of everything goes way up for supply and demand.  Just pile on even more garbage, watch the exodus grow. It's going to affect you - yes you, whoever you are- eventually at any store you go to.  I don't even care anymore, I'm looking to get out of trucking and hopefully tomorrow morning I'll catch a gift in the right direction to getting there.

After that bs, I got caught in a mile long wait at the immigration checkpoint about 89 miles up the road.  After that, long lines of cars going through small towns. Everyone must have been going home from Padre Island is all I could surmise.  

Arriving at the yard, I went into the office to find two drivers in there.  They were both quite drunk.  Somehow the subject got onto the tattle tale driver who reports everyone/thing to corporate.  I flatly told them do not drink in this office around that dude, he will report your @$$es and try to get you fired.  The one dude looked at me in shock after I relayed to him the fact that he had already tried to get 4 people fired.  Seriously? 

Yes.  I personally don't care what anyone does in their off time, regardless of whether they are at the yard - many of them "live" there.  But the company does - if they catch anyone drinking on the premises they will automatically be fired, no matter they aren't driving anywhere, it's a gated yard and private facility.  That means cops can't come into the yard and arrest people for DUI for sitting in an idling truck, the facility has an automatic gate.  

The company can operate however they please, everyone knows the potential for trouble, but with a driver tattle-taling?  Just don't do it when he's there guys, that's all I can tell ya, don't want to see you get fired.  Ok, in reality, the manager is never there at night.  Upper level management make visits occasionally - it's nowhere near any of them, they have to come in from out-of-state.  If they show up, it's day time, not night time, excepting one middle level manager who will arrive at night and try to catch people doing things they aren't "supposed" to.

Anyway, I made it home. Steak dinner waiting in the microwave. Decent hour, not too late, I can watch some tv, look up a few properties a second time and make a decision on whether I want to bid on them, get a decent night's sleep and get up in the morning for the sale.  It's supposed to rain - pretty much all day tomorrow.  Maybe it will keep people away from the sale, tho it  didn't last time it rained, the rain wasn't that bad last time. It looks like thunderstorms, I can hope people don't show up, especially the ones with money lol.  

I have an agenda well beyond the sale tomorrow - that shouldn't be at most a couple of hours if I end up buying the property I want - just go to the bank, get a money order, get in line, pay it up and leave.  After that, a trip to both properties on cooks road - depending on the rain. Aspyn - really need to get her into the vet. Addler - get him into the bathhouse.  Aspyn needs it too but she needs her rabies shot first.  And other things on the list that I need not go into, for I doubt I will have time after I get other things done and probably will be sent back out on Wednesday.  

Well, I really want to find the time to drive over to Longview and get this AR scoped and some ammo and try shooting it.  All of that can be done at the indoor shooting range over there.  That probably won't happen tomorrow, not if I can get the dogs into the bathhouse and the vet.  

Whatever the case, I have a couple of properties to look over again and then, watch a rerun of star trek or the Big Valley, lol and go to bed.

G'nite.  

 Pick up where I left off. We viewed the property yesterday. The front is about a 500 foot long driveway, about 100 feet wide with 75 feet of trees deep next to the driveway. At the end of the driveway is the gas well operation.  It expands to the entire width of the back of the property, hundreds of feet wide.  But it's just a couple of tanks and a piece of equipment used to bring the gas out of the ground.  The rest you can just drive through there with no problem.  

The back - is where the problem was.  I got out of the pickup, started walking back and  - found basically a dropoff.  About 10% grade for a visual.  It goes down appears to be hundreds of feet at that angle.  No RV'er is going to want to drive down that steep of a grade even if I had it paved with asphalt or concrete.  I didn't have time to walk all around and see if there are any other access points.  The boys were in the truck and we needed to go home for arrival of a new dishwasher.

Before we got to that property, however, we ended up at the other one I had originally gotten approved for.  I started reconsidering that - and eventually caved.  I offered 10 more grand less than what the owner had dropped the price to.  He's been sitting on that property quite a while now and that is his business - buy tax lien sale properties and resell them. Oh how I would have loved to have been at the sale when this one was sold. He only paid 11 grand for it, but paid other taxes apparently and it ended up being 15 grand.  I won't hear until later this coming week what his reply will be.  

Meanwhile, I had to drive down to Brownsville today.  I mean, I knew there weren't going to be any empties down here.  I pleaded with this new dispatcher to give me an Oklahoma run, she was having none of it and for whatever reason I was forced to come down here.  So, I'm going to sit here until about 10:00 am tomorrow morning and then tell her I need to start heading back up, are we still honoring the commitment to allow me to bobtail back up since no empties are here? She'll have to contact my manager and then a decision be made.  In reality, this decision should have been already been made and disclosed to me.  I was approved for the day off, there isn't any good reason not to allow me to have it.

Anyway, I knew there weren't going to be any empties because another driver called me when he was just leaving down here earlier today saying that two empties had come in, he and another driver took those and there is still another driver waiting down here. It's Sunday, they aren't bringing in any more empties or if they do, it's only going to be one for him.  

As I say, I'm not going to let them get away with just forcing me to stay down here until late afternoon for an empty to arrive. If one arrives mid morning, I'm fine with that, but I don't want to be driving until 2 am to make it back and get very little sleep and then up and at it for the auction. 

Well I'll be. A further look at satellite of this newly listed 22 acres on Cooks road reveals a road going down the side of it all the way to the back and then onto other people's property.  I never saw that road when I was there the other day.  This is worth taking a look at.  This is not part of the tax sale, it's just property for sale but I'm guessing - and will look - that it was also bought at tax sale however long ago.  Hmm, inconclusive whether that was a tax lien sale. It says HCAD trust - that's the appraisal district, but I haven't heard of that term before or how you would get a trust property?  Must be some other type of sale that I don't know about.  

Well, answered that one. They also have separate trust sales listed, currently none in my county but I have no idea how often those sales are held or even where.  I will be looking at that, this property was bought under a tax sale, apparently, just another type and apparently was done late last year in December.

Learn as I go here, folks, I never said I was an instant authority on this subject.  

Well, I'm stuck here for the night anyway, so I'm going to watch a movie : )

Have a great evening!