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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

G'day.  

 Lounging around in a hotel room. Super 8 - not trashy actually, it was the closest thing to the Peterbilt repair shop that would take me in early - like many hours earlier than normal check in time. Otherwise, I would be at Comfort Inn.

Because of the fiasco at the yard and getting loaded yesterday morning, I completely forgot to put my clothing/toiletries bag into the truck before leaving the yard the second time heading up to Oklahoma.  Of course, it would be the one time I forgot that the truck also - broke down and had to be towed to Tulsa. 

I only know that something is wrong with the actuator/s that help engage the clutch when you push the pedal down. I came very close to crashing into a another truck at the Love's in Okmulgee last night when I went to push in the clutch to put it in neutral and hit the brakes to stop for the other truck.  The pedal would not go down at all, no matter how hard I pushed on it. At the time of panic and you are wondering what to do next, you are pushing very hard on that clutch pedal.

I ended up killing the engine, which probably wasn't too helpful to the system in itself but I had no choice.  I wasn't going that fast, at least, maybe 5 mph, I was just leaving the Love's after fueling up so I could get down the Indian Nation Turnpike, stop at the casino truck stop for the night, get some breakfast at the casino the next morning and then head back in.  

Anyway, the truck is at the shop and presumably they have or are looking at it now. They said it would only be a couple of hours before they could get to it - rather unprecedented in the world of Peterbilt repair facilities.  I'm going to wait til' around 3 pm and then contact the lead mechanic and see if they have contacted him with what the problem is and eta for repairing it.  If it's going to be too long - days - I suspect my manager will want me coming back. The company doesn't much care to pay breakdown pay, it's an hourly wage the entire time you are broke down.  

Fortunately for me, I had a dirty set of clothing I had forgotten to get out of the truck from the last trip - that is in the laundry right now, another hour and I will have fresh, clean clothes to put on. I've had the same clothes on for 2 days now, lol.  Otherwise, I'd be taking a Lyft to the nearest Walmart Supercenter and buying new clothes.  It's one thing to wear the same pants for 2 days, entirely another to be wearing the same socks and shirt that long.   

16 hours of breakdown pay so far.   I always measure how good the getting is by the average amount I get per day driving.  So if I left now, I"d have 3 days worth of driving pay - for 2 days worth of work. I'd actually love to have to spend the night here.  I notified everyone excepting my manager - he doesn't really like dealing with anything. My dispatchers would have let him know by now.  If I contact him, he's going to find a way to get me back and an overnight hotel stay with restaurants nearby is more appealing to me. But, I don't make those calls and I'm just waiting on word for what's next. 

Paid for a year's worth of the domain name for my RV park earlier.  Wanted to get that done. It's obviously nothing that anyone is chomping at the bit for or it wouldn't be available, lol, but that's the name I like and no one really suggested anything else - I was definitely open to other names as I'm not the best name-maker on earth - but no one said anything.  I think it's a good enough name and it's going to have to work.  I sent that info to the web designer.  

Now onto the disturbing news that came from the White House that has truckers riled up all over the place.  The issuance of directives from OSHA to force employers to force employees to get vaccinated or get tested once a week.  I feel that's an outrageous intrusion into citizen' personal lives, the government seriously has no right or mandate to be demanding such a thing. To inject a foreign substance into one's body should solely be the decision of the person getting the shot, NO ONE ELSE.  The only exception I can see is parents wanting kids vaccinated for things like polio.  

It's not like you can just "opt out" of work. Well, you can but what are you going to do? And now, they are considering making the same mandate for employers employing LESS than 100 employees. In other words, pretty much everyone.  If anecdotal evidence would serve any useful purpose, the truckers in the various forums I'm in are almost all saying no thanks with ensuing explicatives.  I do believe many truckers would quit before taking the vaccine tho.  I've been saying I will quit my job before I get that stuff injected into my veins.  

So, it was interesting to get a statement from our company's CEO, I believe it was, stating that the company has no intention, whatsoever, to force any employees to get the vaccine.  They kind of alluded to it in a previous email some months ago, but nothing that was this direct, to the point and explicit about it.  What they probably understand is they will lose a significant enough amount of their work force that would effectively shut down plants all over the place.  Hospitals getting their oxygen - might not get their oxygen.  I'm not really for that, but everything else can go, such as nitrogen, helium, Co2, a long list of stuff we haul.  

And apparently, there is an exemption for people that "mostly" work outside and aren't around others that much.  Well, truckers are sort of outside, in their trucks, definitely alone or with a co-driver and not much interaction anywhere, really.  Shippers and receivers mostly want nothing to do with truckers, just take or load the trailers and please leave.  In fact, many of them are quite hostile to truckers, not affording them use of restrooms and other facilities that they may have.  The towns they are in don't want trucks parked anywhere....this nation has become a rather hostile place for a truck driver and his or her truck.  

The CEO spoke of that exclusion and the idea that truckers are likely to be exempted from this mandate.  The CEO also spoke of lawsuits - of the like I already know about, states are either already filing them or have them ready.  The daily wire - Ben Shappiro media outlet - has vowed to take the feds to court and also refusing to comply regardless of the consequences.  That guy usually puts his money where his mouth is, the rubber meeting the road, he's going to back up his words.  Gutsy move taking on the government that has vast, virtually unlimited resources when it comes to court proceedings and actions.  

I do believe an injunction from a federal judge somewhere will occur quickly.  If the federal government can force us to inject liquid into our veins, what else will it be able to do?  Unbelievable powers to force their will upon citizens.   

And in better news, beyond the astounding losses the democrats were handed in the recent election, Pelosi and her bellicose, controlling and self-aggrandizing attitude has been put down yet again by House moderates who apparently are not in love with this reconciliation bill and want the CBO estimate on how much it's actually going to cost.  I was watching a video from a republican representative who put a huge stack of papers on her desk and informed everyone they had just given them to her and yet expected a vote on it without having time to read through it.  This is Pelosi's style and I am glad that finally some of these politicians are getting some back bone to stand up to it, even from her own party.  The infighting the democrats are engaging in may spell the doom of the bill altogether. 

Remember the "let's pass the bill so we can see what's in it" or similar statement she made a long time ago? Apparently that approach won't work anymore.  On the Senate side, Manchin is firmly entrenched in the idea that this bill will cause more inflation and have consequences that Americans aren't going to like.  He actually states he's representing the will of the people that elected him, not Washington bureaucrats, progressives and even citizens that are harassing him at every turn.  The man needs his own security detail, judging from some of the video I have seen.

________________

And of course they are now saying the truck probably won't be fixed until the end of next week.  That isn't good news.  I found this out from the mechanic and then my dispatcher calls me and tells me the same thing, when do you want to come back? One said leave today the other said leave Monday lmao.  I just said leave today - but that was hours ago and they still haven't gotten any rental car info to me.  Most of those places close at 6 and it's 5:09 pm. I have to be able to get there in time.....

I'm just going to leave tomorrow even if they get me the info in the next few minutes.  It's legit, if the manager dispatcher says it's okay, which she did, then I can stay the night here, collect more breakdown pay and then go home, collecting mileage pay while driving (on medium length trips, mileage pay pays better than hourly wage) . 

Oh, yes, back to the bad part: putting me in another dude's truck.  I drove that truck to the plant and back yesterday morning, it was disgusting.  The dispatcher was telling me how I could drive his truck and I said no thank you. Whyyyyyy? Because it's freaking disgusting, that's why.  Gross.  She said she'd get it detailed and cleaned out.  Well if she does that then ok. Apparently this guy got fired. I asked her, she said she had heard he is no longer with the company.  I asked another driver and he knew the whole story, but would only tell me he "was terminated" from the company.  Again, and as always, there is no job security with the company I'm working for.  I learned that not long after I started working there, I just play along with it and if the same happens to me? Oh well.  I won't be happy, I try to do whatever they want, but in the end, they don't care if individuals come and go.  

They should, tho.  They have a very hard time replacing drivers in this current driver's market. Doesn't really make any sense. 

                                                                                                      

 This nonsense started yesterday in Brownsville.  When they finally showed up with a trailer, they came running up to my truck, telling me there is something wrong with it. Okkkkkaaayyyyy.  

I get over to it after they had just dropped it, got underneath it and then went to see what they were talking about.  The landing gear on the passenger side. It wouldn't crank up.  They cranked on it, it'd go up a few inches and then drop - like, drop drop.  I'm looking  at them repeatedly trying to get it to go up and wondering why they just dropped this trailer like they just had with this gear doing this - and they knew about this problem before they dropped.  

What would have happened if the thing had just let go and gone down? I can tell you exactly what would have happened, the whole trailer would have fell over onto it's side and right on top of us, that's what would have happened.

So they get two guys with long metal bars to lift up on the bottom of the gear while another guy was cranking and eventually they got it to go up.  After a certain amount of cranking, it was fine.  I texted my manager, mechanics and 2 dispatchers in one group text. Told them what was going on with it and that I would not be dropping the trailer in the yard when I get back.  There is no way I'm going to have a catastrophe like that - a trailer tipping over on it's side and costing tens of thousands of dollars worth of damage and possibly getting hurt or even killed in the process.  

So last night, late, I got back to the yard, left the truck hooked to the trailer. I had already been given a run for today, but it wasn't until noon, apparently the mechanics figured they could replace the gear before then.  

This morning. Woke up earlier than I needed to but I was rested.  Got in the shower, got back out saw a missed call from the dispatcher.  Called her back, she was telling me that the plant wanted me to show up at the 10:30 spot instead of noon and that my truck was still indisposed because the mechanics were not well inclined to be dropping that trailer in that condition, either, and were in the middle of replacing the gear on the trailer.  So, I had to rush to work, get into someone else's truck - a total slob, I must add, nasty inside that thing - go to the plant, load, come back to the yard, drop the trailer, park his truck and get into my truck and hook up to the loaded trailer.

Yes, they had fixed the trailer, the thing was sitting in the yard when I got back.  So I got my stuff, got in and drove off.  I had this nagging feeling that I had forgotten something, but oh well, it's only an overnight or even a day trip to Oklahoma.  It was 130 miles later when I stopped to get a sugar free candy bar out of my clothes bag that I realized that my clothes bag? Is still in my SUV at the yard.  No biggies, right? Just have to wear the same clothes the next day, not the end of the world.  

Fast forward to the highway that leads you up to the plant.  It's highway 11, you turn right off of highway 20 near Skiatook.  Well, there was a big state highway truck parked in the middle of the street when you turn, lights flashing, no one is going through there.  Gag.  I pulled up to him and he jumped up on the steps.  What's going on?  Well, there's been an accident.  Oh, do you have any idea how long it will take for them to clear the road?  Well, I can tell you, the coroner just showed up less than 30 minutes ago, it's probably going to be a while.

The coroner?!! At least one fatality, that's going to be a while.  It's always said to find such accidents and see people dead, I've seen it several times in my trucking career.  Come up on an accident before first responders have arrived and see - bodies.  And in at least a couple of cases, they were obviously dead. The lady's head that was crushed into the steering wheel - and I mean the steering wheel was a part of her head - she was dead - dead.  

Anyway, that eliminated any hope of making it back today and I didn't really care at that point.  I had to go all the way back to 75, head north up to Bartlesville, back over to 123, and then back to 11 and the to the plant.  Dude at the plant looked at me wide eyed when I told him about having to go around and the fatality.  "You haven't heard anything about it?". He looked at me funny and said no, but I'm sure I'l hear about it before the night is over....

Out of there, I drove to Oklmulgee, I usually stop at the Love's Travel Center there to refuel, get some ice water and a guac burger, lettuce wrapped. Did all of those things and then headed out of the parking lot to the street......

I got to the turn to go up to the street - it's an L turn and there are trucks parked everywhere here, including along the entrance/exit.  A truck was coming in just as I was about to make the turn, so I pushed the clutch in to get into neutral.  The clutch made a cracking noise and then? Wouldn't push in! I'm starting to panic, I'm headed straight at this truck and I can't get it out of gear to stop it!

Under normal circumstances, I could have just pushed in the accelerate, sped up a bit and it would have allowed me to float it back into neutral. But I needed to stop, not accelerate.  I ended up hitting the brakes and killing the engine by forcing it off through braking it down to the point it died on it's own. 

I am now stuck here, partially out into the lane and there is nothing I can do. The clutch will not push in. This truck isn't moving unless it's either fixed or it's towed. I'll guess it ends up getting towed, who knows. I was on hold for 45 minutes with the repair line for our company - no one answered, hung up and tried again.  I'm over 8 minutes now.  Annoying.  Everyone complains about this company our company uses to get roadside help in event of breakdowns but it falls on deaf ears.  

And here we go again.  After well over an hour, a lady finally answered the phone, got all the info, said they would have someone come try to fix it - just like last time not that long ago - and do that instead of having it towed. Last time, it was pretty obvious that the truck would have to be towed. This time? I have no clue what's wrong with this thing, none whatsoever. I don't know why the clutch won't push in and the engine compartment is so filled up with engine and related junk all around it, you can't even see the linkage for the clutch pedal.

And I can tell ya, I'm not getting on my back on the asphalt in this dirty truck stop to look.  I don't care that much, this isn't my problem. I am paid to drive the truck, not repair it. I will fix minor stuff if I can, yes, but something like this? Nope.  They want us to drive trucks with mega miles on it, they are obviously also enamored with the idea that they are going to break down and they are going to be dishing out money for repairs on the road.  It's already 11:13 pm - this is going to be another long night.  Excepting for one thing: If the mechanic isn't going to be able to get here for hours, don't bother.  I'll take my 10 hour break so I can get on the clock and they can pay me my breakdown pay versus them attempting to tell me that "you were off duty" so they won't pay me.  

I'm more unhappy with myself for forgetting my gear.  It figures that I would have to go through this when I don't have anything with me but one set of dirty clothes besides what I'm wearing.  But who knows, maybe a mechanic can come out here and magically fix it! lol!  

Well, fatigue is setting in. I'm going to try to catch a few winks before this ordeal starts. It will be a mechanic, showing up at 2 am or something, wanting to know what's wrong, trying to figure out what's wrong and then telling me whether he can fix it - or not.  And if not, then I will be waiting for a tow truck.  And then, it will be towed to Tulsa, the closest Peterbilt shop to me.  Actually probably only like 50 or 60 miles away, and then a hotel, take the dirty clothes, wash them at the hotel and at least have some clean clothes to wear : )

Or whatever happens, lol.  

Editing: Was about to post this and then the repair lady called back. Everyone telling her at repair shops that that is a dealer issue, have it towed.  How would I know?  I don't, I have no clue what's wrong with this thing.  So now, wait for them to find a tow truck, come here, hook up and haul it back up to Tulsa peterbilt.  If I recall correctly, there is a hotel right across the street from it.  And if it's going to take more than a day? My manager will find a way to get me back without the truck, even if it means renting a car.  

G'nite

 I spent some time correcting the new dispatcher in her thinking without coming off as obnoxious or otherwise superior.  She was upset that other drivers had to wait over the weekend for empty trailers to show up.  She thought it "sucks for you guys".  My reply?  Uhh, if you ask everyone, 90% of drivers are going to say they absolutely adore and love waiting down here, getting paid to sit around doing nothing.  

I got here - Brownsville - last night and much to my delight there were no empties here or the other/new yard.  The driver ahead of me got the only empty and that was quite fine by me.  I haven't had a detention stay down here in months, ever since the got use of a second yard and however they worked it.  

But there is always one factor that will come into play, sooner or later: The receiving plant in Mexico.  When they start getting behind, they still order more product and don't care how long it takes for empties to get back up to the border. They are leasing our trailers - they have the sole use of probably 10 of our trailers and they are paying through the nose for it - plus they pay wait time for both the driver and to the company - they are the customer and one of our biggest ones - they are in the driver's seat here.  Which is totally fine by me, it wouldn't bother me if they never got caught up.  It wouldn't bother most other drivers, either.  I'm told there will be an empty here soon, it's almost 11:00 am, a nice chunk of pay for sitting around, it's an entire day's worth of driving. See how that works? I get a day's worth of work for doing nothing but waiting overnight and part of the day.  If it does get here soon, I will get back late tonight, have tomorrow off and be happy as a bug in a rug.  

This is where a lot of our "extra" pay comes from and jacks up our wages every year.  No one was particularly happy that they had arranged it to get rid of detention pay, but I knew and said so a while back, that the plant in Alta Mira will get behind or shut down, all the while ordering more product and we will eventually see at least some detention pay once again.

Moving on, I had a local website developer create a logo for my park.  It was very nice, I thought, until I posted it on facebook and one person pointed out that the door on the travel trailer is on the wrong side (correct) and another agreed that there should be a doggy somewhere on the logo to identify that pets are welcome.  Everyone instantly understood the gist of the logo tho, it informed you without actually saying it that trailers, tents and camp fires are welcome.  Hence the need for a dog and possibly a family with kids waving?  I dunno, he's going to fix the trailer, move the fire and add a doggy. If there appears to be room for a happy, elated, wonderful family (lol!) waving then I will ask him to do so. 

If not, it will just be mentioned in the description of the park, families welcome. That will turn off some of the older generation and so be it. I'm not going to discriminate against any particular grouping of people excepting obnoxious drunks and slobs.  Neither grouping of people is welcome and especially drunkards making life hell for everyone will be asked to leave immediately. I don't care if they drink, that's their choice, but not to the point of harassing other guests and making too much noise etc.  You know how drunks can get, especially the boisterous ones....

The fact of the matter is, a lot of the older generation drinks.  Beer, liquor and wine.  To exclude them would be negating a lot of income.  And again, I frankly don't care as long as a person doesn't go too far with it and is in control of themselves.  

I have to get the domain name and get a site reserved and I'm going to have to do that quickly.  I don't want anyone else getting that name, in fact if I have time I will do that after I get done with this entry.  Yes, I know,  no one has ever used it before why would they now? I don't know and I don't want to find out the hard way.  

I decided to contact one of these endless mulching companies to see what it would cost for them to take down the trees and underbrush.  His pricing was nothing short of outrageous, far beyond anything I've heard yet at $2,800 per day. Where does this guy even come off attempting to charge prices like that? He even admitted a trackhoe and dozer would cost less than that, but the advantage is that I won't have a huge burn pile to spend "months" burning.  

He does make a point I would have to tend to the fire, but months? Douse a pile with diesel fuel that has been nicely stacked and it will take days, maybe, not months.  Maybe months to finally get all of it down to nothing, but I can assure you that the lion's share of it will not take months to dispose of and I won't have all of that mulched material all over the ground.  An advantage of a trackhoe is the tree and it's roots are completely gone.  A dozer will be able to push dirt around and get it some semblance of level (doesn't have to be perfect, just want it close).  

This guy sold me on the trackhoe and dozer as soon as he made his case for his mulcher and saying the other say is cheaper.  The other way also gets the roots out of the ground.  The roots are of concern because these trees can possibly make a come back.  Even if they don't, the roots will be in the way of the dozer to flatter everything out.  I don't need to be a rocket scientist to figure out that the track hoe method will be the most advantageous, regardless of giant burn piles.  I like burning things lol.  And anyway, I'm not doing the whole park right off the bat.  The burn piles can go in areas where I will eventually put in sites, there is no immediate need for it all to be gone, poof, just like that.  

So, however long it takes, it will be fine.  

I'm still waiting on quotes, one from the water install dude - but he said a couple of weeks before he could come out and walk the woods and get me a quote. The other from the guy that already looked at everything.  His quote might take a while since he is coming up with all the utilities and the land clearing.  

I'm figuring around 11 grand worth of gravel not including spreading and compacting it.  So around 15k just for gravel alone.  12k for septic, at least 12k for electric, around 4k for water and 15k for gravel and that's the park without anything else.  That's $43,000.  

That doesn't include a small building, a couple of washers and dryers, installing a dog park fence, signs, some lighting, finishing the walking trails.  There is website design costs but I'm just figuring that out of my normal paychecks, not money out of 401k.  That will include the online payment and reservation option.  In fact, you won't be able to stay at my park without online reservation, most all of the parks do it that way and it's quite efficient. On top of that, if I can do it, is a pond.  A small lake/large pond will have to wait until later, but I really want to get something in there. Was already looking at costs for bass to stock it with.  Not bad pricing, but I'm going to want hundreds of them dumped in there at least. Some will die and they aren't big fish at all. 3 inches to start with, apparently that's what you can get around here. 

I haven't done a lot of searching on that tho, I would like to see if I can find some larger stock fish. 3 inch fish will take years to grow into nice sized bass worthy of any fisherman's time to try and catch - and release, thank you.  

What I can say is I'm working on everything at this point.  Everything that I can think of that I will need I'm getting done.  Or I should say, getting a start on and getting some pricing and picking the brains of those that know.  

I'm still qualifying for large personal loans.  Up to $100k. Some of them are ridiculous interest rates, the lower rates are much higher payments - but - they are on shorter terms and no longer than 6 years to pay off.  A last resort, yes, but it's an option at least.  If I find I must go that route, I will not do it until I have all the utilities done, sites set up and then be able to quickly get everything done and get the park up and open for business.  I don't want to be forking out that much money on just my paychecks alone.  And, if that kind of loan is needed, it's going to be the smallest loan necessary to finish everything off.  Keep the payments down as much as possible.  '

I could see getting a 2 room bath house done tho and get a broader appeal out there to a greater market. And nothing quite too fancy, just a shower with a toilet and a sink, heating and cooling unfortunately but I can't see people being happy in an ice cold room or a sweltering hot room and of course hot water.  Something small, simple and to the point.  Lumber costs are still through the roof, tho, that's the thing that would run the cost up of even a small structure. It's in my mind tho, I may see about getting some quotes on building one and see what I am facing to get it done. 

I'm slowly working my way through this menagerie of decisions and waiting for so and so to give quotes and come out and look, etc.  

As for now? Just gonna sit back and wait for trailer. Hoping to make it back to Longview today -but they're gonna have to get here soon with it to do that.

Walmart, at least, had several pair of my sized jeans!  So I bought 4 pair lol.  Just throwing that in there, I couldn't find any at the walmart in my town.

G'day

 October 1st.

Been off 4 days. 

Expecting to go back to work tomorrow.  If they don't send me a decent run by 2 pm I'll be contacting them.  They really should have sent me out yesterday - but who am I to complain about time off? My only concern after a while is slim paychecks.  

Anyway, I've been making phone calls about getting stuff done on the property since last week and this morning was no different.  I was actually deep asleep before I heard little feet pounding on the floor in the living room going into the kitchen - that didn't make Uncle Ben too happy, I went out there to find another little kid Taylor had brought home. Turns out the power was out and the kid was actually there with his mother, I just didn't see her at first.  

The power wasn't out at our house but apparently a lot of the town was blacked out.  I guess I feel people bringing their kids over to other people's homes should exercise just a bit of control over their offspring and mind some manners.  It was a pretty rude awakening and I'm still out of it. 

Regardless, I got up, sat down at the kitchen bar and started making more phone calls.  The last call I made was back to a company I had called the week previous last week and the gentleman had informed me to just call him next week - which was last week - to have him come out and give quotes.  He called me back after I made the initial phone call and we ended up meeting out at the property.  

We discussed everything.  Literally, everything it was going to take to build the first portion of the park including clearing out all of the front land.  His ball park quote for septic install for 14 sites was $7,500 give or take and another $4,500 to put in the sewer pipe to each pad and run the water line to the sprinklers.  That was an astounding difference from his first quote over the phone.

Note the first quote was for 25 sites.  My next quote I originally thought 10 sites, then went up to 12.  But he said it wouldn't make any different between 10 and 14, so you might as well go with 14.  Hearing that price tag was the first really good news I've heard yet.  A far cry better than 26 to 30k.  After hearing that, I just said fine, let's get a quote for 14 sites and a quote to clear out all the land.  

The quote will include installing the septic, lines, water line and electric.  At least I had the right size water tap installed, he said they only deal with 2* line - which is what I have installed.  He was impressed that I had already called the power company to install a pole.  He went on saying most people don't even think of that.  Well, I did, I was going to do all of this myself, just be the general contractor and tell everyone what I want done.  If 1 company can do everything at competitive price that's even all the better. Any problems? Call that company up and tell them. Power ain't working, water line broke, septic is backed up, please come and fix it.

Oh yes, I fully expect some sort of guarantee on all the work if I go this route.  It just really depends on what the quote comes back at.  I'm hopeful, I'll say that much.  He also said electric parts prices are all over the board right now, just like the other electrical contractor stated and that it would be impossible to give a ballpark on that, prices are going up and down. Let's get this done before the prices go up so high I can't afford to do any of this.  The 4 thousand dollar power pole kind of gave me  a clue.

I've got that guy's number, the power company - he's local - if I don't hear back from him by the end of the week I'll call him at the beginning of next week and see where we're at with it.  The man today said they take their sweet ole' time and you are on their schedule, lol.  Yup, not the first person I've heard that from and I suspect my rather incessant phone calls to them is the only thing that got me to getting that guy out there as fast as he did.  I don't have til' the second of never to get power out there.  

It's perfect weather for camping right now.  The sooner I get this thing up and running the sooner I can hopefully start seeing guests coming and spending a day, several days, a week, whatever.  I've contacted an online reservation company.  They charge $2 per reservation to do everything online.  My price for a stay will go from $30 to $32 plus tax.  The going rate around these parts is around $30 to $35 with a few places much higher that have a lot more amenities.  But I doubt I will ever raise my prices unconscionably high, I just need to be able to make a living off of this and hopefully give some out to the community and God's work.  If I ever did put a pool in, the rate would go up $5 per night to pay for the maintenance of the thing.  And yes, I absolutely intend on putting a medium sized pool in some day - Lord willing and I'm still breathing and alive on the face of this earth.  

He said somewhere around 5 grand to install a half acre pond.  Not bad. I'd rather have a full acre. If they bring all that equipment out here to clear the land I'm going to want to have them dig out even a small pond to start with just to get something going back there.  A much larger version - as with any other upgrades - can come in the future.  

And another thing I just learned yesterday after reading through SBA loan documents.  Yes, that's still in the offing -- at some point I actually intend on going that route I just want to get an operation up and running nowish, not a year or two years from now.  That the info says is that any money spent on start up costs goes towards the down payment........keep the receipts.....of course, receipts are necessary for tax write offs.  You don't think I"m not going to take advantage of any tax write offs I can get?  Lol, I don't even think Biden is trying to do away with that (he's now officially one of the most unpopular presidents of all time, even democrats are turning against him because of inflation). 

Anyway, that was great news.  If I spent all of this 401k on the property, all of that goes towards the down payment for the SBA loan.  I don't have to come up with yet even more down money on top of what I have already spent, something that lingered on the edge of my mind while I was attempting to decide what to do.  So now that I have that established, yes, I do feel like I'm on the right path.  But if it's in the financial realm of possibility right now, I would like to get all 7 acres cleared to start off with.  But if it saves a bunch of money to not have 2 or 3 acres done right off the bat, so beit. 

I'm going to make this work - Lord willing - and get this thing going.  I always say Lord willing because that's what the Bible says about people going to a village to earn some kind of profit - you're tiny little self - me included in that description and calling myself nothing more than dust from the land "And Abraham answered and said, Behold now, I have taken upon me to speak unto the Lord, which am but dust and ashes" You are not guaranteed tomorrow, you have today.  I had today, I made the calls, I feel like I got something done, we'll see.  I expect he'll have a quote for everything fairly quickly, he had ball park numbers off the top of his head, that's his job is the numbers game, he should be able to give a specific quote for everything in short order.  

I'll say it again, because it's what it is: I really have no idea what I'm doing here.  I change my mind about things because I get new information.  I consider the new information and make decisions based off of it.  By the time I'm done with this, I"ll know exactly what to do if I ever wanted to start another park - or more specifically - buy a smaller property and put some mobile homes on it.  Pretty much the same difference as an RV park excepting your septic system has to be bigger per unit.  

I know what I want in terms of the finished product, it's the path to get there I am completely unfamiliar with.  I still sit here in wonder, after all of that research I did it's still like wading into unknown waters, wondering if there's a drop off I can't see I'm about to step into and really just hoping I meet the right people who can give me the specific information I seek at that point in time.  I can tell ya right now, if this guy comes back with a price I can afford, I'm going for it.  I'll have the whole thing built quickly and have the lion's share of it done with.  

Then, if need be, take out another loan, pay off 2 loans that are now down to a grand a piece - and $300 per month total payments, knock those payments out plus finish the project. One of the loans is for the crowns I had put in the other is for credit card debt consolidation. I could go through a list but I think I need not go there right now. I do need to write all of it down and start looking at the things that I need to get to work on now versus later.  

But yea, I definitely think I want at least a small pond dug out back there right off the bat.  It's just a part of the setup that I feel needs to be done at the beginning.  I can get a small business operator out there to finish my walking trails. I went out there again today since I was already there and walked around the trails.  Pretty nice, actually.  If I need to, at some point, have a well dug back there to supply the pond then so beit. I'm hoping that tiny stream will be enough, especially when it rains it grows in size substantially . 

Well there it is.  Eternal waiting games are plenteous in this proposition.  But the ball is rolling, if ever so slowly. It will gain momentum.  I hope, lol.

As for the rest of today?  I just need to hear about tomorrow's run, for there needs to be one.....

g'day

 Soooo.

Took the dogs out to the property and met up with the power engineer. 

He looked at where I want to put the pole - which is right there where the power lines are already running.  He said, ok, good we won't need to run a lot of line.  Great, how much do you figure this is going to cost? 

$4,000.  Four thousand dollars?!!!  I mean, I didn't give him any lip or anything, but that was a much higher price tag than what I anticipated.  I was guessing, of course, but I figured around $2,000 to $2,500.  

But what can I do?  I can't have a park without power.  I really can't do anything out there, even if just on a personal level, without power so I just agreed to it. He said I would probably cost less than that, his estimate was on the higher end.  Whatever it ends up being, the power company will give a credit to my account to make up any difference. 

I have no idea when they are going to install it, he said he was going to go work up a work order and they will get it done.  It will include a power line running down the pole and into a pedestal right there at the pole. Shrugging shoulders, moving on with this.  Whatever the costs are, I just have to pay it. If it means I run into a road block getting other stuff done, it is what it is.  

He also said I didn't have to pay that up front, I could make payments for up to 60 months.  That was a bit of relief, I won't have to dig into my savings just to get the pole installed.  He figured a minimum payment of $150 per month plus whatever the electric bill for any give month is. I opted for that, whatever I can do to save as much of my working capital as I can? Let's do that.

Next, I called the water install guy and started discussing with him about clearing the land.  He said it costs the same amount to move the equipment in whether it's an acre or 50 acres.  What he was alluding to was the idea that you may be better off just getting the entire 7 acres cleared right off the bat.  Yes, but how much money is that going to cost? 

I don't mince words when it comes to the cost, I want/need to know that upfront.  He finally said look Ben, I never walked past the front of the property.  I need to drive on back in there and walk the woods and see what I'm getting into before I can give you a price.  Fair enough.  I'm going to guess right up front that he's gong to quote me 15 grand to do all 7 acres and I'm probably just going to shrug my shoulders and say fine, let's get it done.  And I'll want a quote on a 1 acre pond dug out while we're at it. 

He doesn't want to use a dozer, his experience - and mine for that matter in removing those trees - is that those small trees don't just fold over in a solid line, they twist and bend and they're hard to get out with a dozer, they prefer to use a trackhoe to pull them out of the ground.

The last guy that came out to give me a quote said the same thing.  So I am going move forward under the idea that anyone that wants to come out and do this project is either going to have to pull the trees out with a trackhoe or they are going to have to mulch them down with a large Bobcat style machine that has an attachment on the front of it.

Whatever the case, I'm going to have this guy give me a quote for the pond as well.  I'll start small, no more than an acre and see what I can get it done for.  He will already have the equipment out there.....or even a smaller pond, whatever I can get done without spending a fortune, a half acre pond is better than nothing.  

It dawned on my today that the surveyor has yet to come out or even call me back. He was supposed to have already been out there, now I'm going to have to find his number and call him and ask if he's still going to do it or not. 

And I never heard back from the septic installer I called, they said they would call back the next day - that's obviously not happened yet.  Septic can't be installed - or water or electric for that matter - until the land is cleared.  

The funny thing about this land clearing business? A neighbor told me that after the trees were harvested off of the front portion of my land, the owner had a hay field going.  That means at one point the entire lot had been cleared with no trees or underbrush at all.  Oh how I wish that were still the case at this point, I would have nothing but some leveling to do.  Just plant more trees and be done with it.

Anyway, he's not going to call me back for a couple of weeks. Everyone is busy right now.  Nice that they are staying busy in a rather rancid economy, everyone I know is broke right now.  When I say broke, I mean living paycheck to paycheck type stuff. Been there, done that, hated it.  But, even in the worst economy there are still plenty of people around that have money.  The ole' rich get richer and poor - going broke type of thing.  

So, moving along at a snail's pace tbh - but I sort of expected that.  You can only do so much at once.  There is nothing I can do further until I have the driveway cleared and the lots cleared out and hopefully leveled a bit.  Well, I could probably have the septic installed since I want it in the rear/back western corner of the property, land clearing probably won't affect that installation.  

Well, here's a bit of good news: The realtor just stopped by, she said the check for me would be around $1,500.  That's $500 more than I expected.  She originally told me my profit would be around $900. 

That could pay my way to AZ and back if I decide to go.  I have to decide today, the funeral is tomorrow and no, I haven't made any reservations.  I wasn't sure if I was going to go or not.  I dunno yet, tbh, I've found ok airfares it's just a lot of traveling in the span of 2 days and then probably back to work the next morning after I get back.....I'm feeling pretty exhausted right now with all of the late nights on my last trip.....

The only other thing of note going on is the friend of the family that was in a bad accident yesterday. He's a volunteer firefighter with the county, he was traveling 50mph somewhere with his lights on.  He has a full set of emergency lights that are highly visible from all sides - yet the person that ran into him said they didn't see him. His pickup was totaled and it was reported he had to be extricated with the jaws of life to pry open the door to get him out.  He survived the ordeal and is already at home recovering.  It put on quite the scare yesterday for everyone, wondering what his condition was.  He already has pre-existing conditions tho, I suspect this will make those worse. 

Anyway, that's enough for now, I have more phone calls to make.  If this process is going to be at a snail's pace, at least make sure the snail is moving even if - very slooooooooooowly.  

G'day. 

 I mean, it's no secret that I was going to cash out the old 401k to finance this proposed business.  I've been talking about it for over a year now, at least.  Giant loans can come later when I can show revenues and no need for complicated forms that I have no current info for, for future projections.

I mean, I don't feel bad or have any reservations about the fact that I just cashed it out today.  Electronic transfer, it should be in my bank in the next 2 or 3 days.  Well, next week since tomorrow is Friday.  But it's done and it's all there.  I don't trust the stock market right now, not with the finances that were intended on starting up this business. My current 401k - is getting up there quickly anyways. Dumping a lot of money into it every paycheck, it's almost at what I just cashed out of the old one.  Imagine taking only 4 years what it took almost 12 to get the same amount of money.  

Oh that I would have started into this hazmat business long ago.  But, I wanted a local job back then and I was around for my son while he was growing up.

But yes, I did put in the request for complete cash withdrawal.  The government will get a fine paid to them for me saving my money and deciding to use it before some "time frame" the government decides it should be.  It's bad enough that I pay copious amounts of money into Social Security, why does the government have the right to fine me for taking my money that I have saved out of my account before a required age?  What stake does the government have in this? NOTHING. 

Yet, I knew that going into this and it's whatever.  I need the money and I need it soon, not years from now.  I'm hoping this venture will finance my retirement.  There's risk here, of course. Any business venture has risk.  But not that much risk. If the RV park idea fails, the single wide mobile homes rented out will work, guaranteed.  It's not even a guess.  But them cheap, fix them up, rent them out.  I'm not living in a dream world with any of this.  I had 130k with this and the current 401k combined.  It's not even close to enough to retire on. Maybe some day 

The Phoenix property is a retirement fund. It will sell for a good price whenever I decide to do that. I'm not retired.  I'm not even close to it, frankly, I'm still 5 years off from the minimum age to collect SS.  I"m just not throwing Mark off the property - he's faithfully tended to it for the 7 years since I left there. He fixes everything, or has it fixed if he can't, he rents out the rooms, I'm just not going to sell the place and throw his ass out onto the streets. That's where he'd end up.  There is literally nothing in the area "cheap".  The whole entire area for miles around it has had housing prices escalating to ridiculous levels. 

I'm doing this. Whatever the first product turns out to be, it is done.  

Tomorrow I will be over that at 9:00 am to discuss power with Swepco engineer and then I will be measuring and marking the area that needs cleared. And attempting to decide what trees will stay and where. The "and where" part will make it more tedious, the lots will have to be marked out so I can determine what can stay.  However, if the contractor says you can't keep the trees because I want it leveled, they will all come down and I will just have to plant new trees and that's that.  I've mentally prepared myself for the idea that level lots are far more important than a bunch of trees.  

I'm done.  It's getting my normal version of late at 10:00 pm, versus the 4:00 am, 3:00 am and 1:00 am stuff I did the last 3 nights.  This idea of keeping trees and measuring lots will be mentally challenging and wading through the brush and all of those thorns and potentially more hornets - not going to make it any easier.  

Anyway, I'm off to never-never land. My dreams of late have been strange.  Interesting, but weird. 

G'nite. 

 I'm aghast.  I was going to go meet up with a friend here - my friend's I live with friend but we are friends now - he was in a serious accident going to a fire call .  We only know he crashed into a ditch after a car that "didn't see him" ran into him and the jaws of life had to be used to extricate him from his pickup. 

I've seen far too much death in recent times with people I know, it's time for this trend to take a different route.  

That's all.  I don't want to talk about anything else.  Apparently he's going to survive the crash, but with increased agitation to neck and back injuries he sustained previously.  

I don't know, folks.  But life is far too short to not take some risks.  401k is cashed out, bank transfer in the next few days. I intend on profiting from this expenditure and I am not taking out any loans to get it.  

If you have a problem with that, have a problem with it. I don't, it's a risk that I believe will be worth it in the end.  Failure is not an option, failure is not the goal.  It's not even in my horizon.  I don't think about failing, at all. It's, okay, plan B and if plan B fails, plan C.  l

I'm still working. It's not like I've stopped everything and said ' OKAY! I"M GETTING RICH NOW'

We are all concerned about this man's health at the moment. That takes priority over much of everything else.

Not going to stop me from going to the property tomorrow at 9:00 am and meeting with the Swepco engineer. Not at all. Life always goes on, but you also always have these things happening to people in mind

Because we care. And we love. And we hope. And we pray. 

 Uhh, well maybe Southwest wasn't a good idea, I didn't buy tickets anyway.  To Phoenix for a funeral, that is.  Southwest is still canceling massive amounts of flights due to "employee non-compliance". LMAO.  Poor bastards, they're actually subject to the workers that make the airline successful! THIS is what will force corporations that want to force it's workers to do things that no corporation should - back into compliance with the American blue-collar worker.  

You shit on us long enough, we're gonna take a dump right back on you.  You watch, it's going to spread. I actually LIKE Southwest Airlines, don't get me wrong.  They have the 2 bags for free deal that's never changed, even when they could charge just like everyone else. They resisted that temptation and you can save a lot of money in airfare just by that virtue alone. 

But I do not like the idea that they are going to somehow force employees to get a vaccination of a drug that apparently many employees don't want.  In any large corporation, if enough employees band together and stand strong, they could actually force a corporation out of existence.  This is where I can give unions some credit, the Southwest dilemma is undoubtedly got an airline union coordinating all of these pilots calling in sick.  What is Southwest going to do, FIRE all of them?  Lmao again. They can't fire hundreds or even thousands of pilots.  I don't know how many they have, I just know that these pilots are pushing back.  What if the REST of the airlines' pilots did that? American, Frontier, Delta, etc? 

I could write a small book about my thoughts about what's going on in this country right now - but it wouldn't accomplish anything, so why bother. Well, sometimes you just have to let it out, that's why.  But, it's getting late and I digress. Actually, I'm wide awake and sleep eludes me at the moment, so I will stay up as late as it takes for the sleep bug to hit and then I will hit the sack.  

Addler was all over me coming into my room tonight, he's such a good doggy. Loyal, protective - if he's in the house and you don't belong here, you are not going to have a good encounter with that particular dog.  He's not just a growler.  He will bite you and it will hurt.  But I don't have dogs so they can attack people, it's nice to have them around in case, but I just like dogs in general and Great Danes are my favorite breed. He started talking to me as soon as I cam in the room lol. 

I accomplished a lot on the phone today. I can legally do that while driving, and that is a good time to get all of that talking done.  I called Swepco - the power company with lines running through my property - again today.  The lady said the best she can do is send another email, she can't directly contact the engineer department.  Ok, thanks.  30 minutes later, a lady calls.  Long story short, she said she would contact the engineering department and they should contact me back soon.

The Squeaky Wheel.  A full, entire minute after that conversation was over? A guy from the engineering department calls.  Short conversation, he's coming out Friday, meet me there, discuss where the pole will go and make sure it's all good and then he can give a price.  How much does it cost to have a telephone pole installed with a transformer? I hope to soon find out.  I'll take a guess: 2 grand.  I'll take another guess: shouldn't cost 2 grand. It's just a tree shaved down to a pole and slathered with some sort of goo.  The transformer? Well I don't have any idea how much those cost.  Or whether I should have to even be paying for it.  They will make their money off of that property if all goes well, that's a fact.  The equipment to make that money should be on them, not the proprietor of the business. IMO, anyway.  

I've said it before and I will reiterate it now: I have no clue what I am doing here. Sure, I did months worth of research. Many, many months. But I"m basically the general contractor and I am subbing out the jobs - saving a lot of money, but not having all the info these people want.  Or any real knowledge of what each phase of this project entails.  Just wading my way through this folks.  Ask a lot of questions, pick people's minds, extract whatever knowledge/wisdom I can get and incorporate it into my thinking.  

The electrician that the water install guy recommended today went into a big long dissertation about how the pre-made pedestals I was wanting to have installed.  He did it in a very courteous, non-demeaning manner, but he was directly opposed to such a setup. I was curious what he considered a better idea and of course asked him.  Well, we've been doing this a long time and we've had parks actually have those pedestals removed. We build our own version of one that is a much more simple yet effective and longer lasting version that is nothing more than the 3 outlets on a sidebar.  

I didn't ask him how much more or less they cost.  He was quick to inform me that he was swamped with work and couldn't even come out to take a look at what I needed for at least 2 weeks.  There isn't really anything to look at but they all want to come out anyway. The septic people, yes they need to come out. The electrician?  I guess to satisfy that what I'm saying is actually reality, lol.

It's 1:00 am and I'm going to sleep, it finally hit me, lol.  

G'nite.  

 Cross Plains, Tennessee.

Drove til 4:00 am on Monday.  The appointment time was at 1:30, which naturally lead to a much later departure time than I am normally accustomed to - tho starting to get accustomed to these ridiculously late nights - and the plant was having a problem.

Specifically, the scale stopped working. It was working fine when I came in, but something happened to it and it was down for a few days, actually.  Anyway, driving to the scale, finding it busted, had to drive clear back to the other side of the plant to another scale, weigh, and then back to the busted scale, scale house.  That added another 25 minutes or so plus they were having trouble figuring out how to use the other scale info in their system - different software, different systems - and it just took forever to get out of there.

But I was determined to make this a 3 day trip if possible, so yes, I drove til almost the time many people are getting up for work lol.  That got me to Smiths Grove, KY.  Then yesterday, I drove up to WV, dropped and hooked - and dropped and hooked - and dropped.....and....hooked...again......then got out of there, still determined to drive as late as necessary to position myself to get home today. 

Well, tonight anyway. That took my all the way up to 3:00 am.  

Today? Well, I will miss Nashville rush hour, dunno about Memphis, but there is a storm that just went through my town, replete with tornado sirens going off, heading this way.  So the fate of making it home tonight or not? I dunno.  I was going to stop at Smiths Grove again last night, I gained 50 miles coming down here, so maybe I can make it.  If not, I'll be pretty close to home lol.  

Well anyway, I called Swepco again yesterday. They had record of my call and wanting a call back from an engineer.  So, they red flagged it, which allegedly sends it to an expediter, which allegedly will get me a call back.  I just need info - unless they can come out and do the job without anything more than asking.  I doubt that, tho, they will probably want specifics on how much power I will need and I, of course, will have no idea. Lol.  But they should still be able to tell me how much it costs to install a telephone pole and putting up a transformer.  Ballpark it, please. And whatever other specific information I will need to get them to come out and do the job.  

I'm waiting for that call and info before I start calling electricians.  Going armed with knowledge is better than just groping in the darkness, knowing nothing, obviously knowing nothing and possibly being taken advantage of.  

I'm also going to call Fidelity - again - and ask why they haven't returned my phone call. 

And, ATT again.  The dude that installed the water setup said there are definitely lines inside of that underground cable.  I'm getting totally conflicting stories. I need a person from ATT to look into it and find out what's running through there. Wish me luck, the first phone call went absolutely nowhere.  Getting past the first wave of people looking at computer screens to prompt them what to say is a wee bit on the impossible side, but I will have to just keep pressing them until I  can get through to someone that actually has the knowledge and probably a degree in some field of electrical application.  

I have my work cut out for me, which is why I was desperately trying to get home tonight, so I'll have tomorrow to go over there and start measuring out everything.  I predict that I will be so tired tomorrow that doing much of anything will be a chore.  So I dunno about that. I'm motivated, but this has been a grueling trip and I am going to need some recovery time.  

I'm really thinking I need to cash out my 401k sooner than later.  I'm definitely going to need the money and I really don't see a lot of optimism in the stock market with people looking at the economy and wondering if there is even going to be a crash.  It's gone up, tho, in the last week, a couple of grand.  Yet, the future of this park rests squarely on the use of that money.  I'll be thinking about that long and hard today while driving, I may just go ahead and pull the trigger on that.  It's simple, the Prudential website makes it very easy to cash it out. They withhold the taxes and the penalty and send a check for the rest.  I'll end up with around 51k if I did it today, looking at what's in there.  Doesn't sound like much but it's enough to clear the land, get the water in and hopefully get the electric and a septic system installed. After that?  Well, I'll figure it out.  And pray. And ask the Lord for guidance.  

Once I get that far? It's all over. I'm all in, it will happen one way or the other, Lord willing and I"m still alive and breathing on this planet.  

One thing I can say about the last few days: driving at night is pretty tough for me, not a night owl, but ohhhh the traffic is soooo much better!  That is a great pro versus all the cons I can come up with.  

Anyway, I just had some time before my 10 hour forced break is up. If the government would get it's nose out of my personal business - and every other truck driver - I would have left 2 hours ago.  I didn't need 10 hours, I needed about 7 hours of sleep, that's what I got and then I woke up.  I don't know how they came to the conclusion that truck drivers need or want 10 hours off every day, I'm sure some of them do, I am not in the class and I know a lot of other truckers that also think it's ridiculous that the federal government believes that one size fits all for millions of drivers.  We would get a lot more driving done and right now, that's allegedly what this country needs.  

But, these clueless politicians with power make these rules and there isn't anything anyone can do about it, excepting with truckers who are quitting in droves, saying enough is enough, they are letting their feet do the talking. Hopefully, my time to do that will occur in the next few years and I can live my days in peace running a hopefully successful operation that is giving more income than I even need so that I can help others.  That's my heart.  I believe that's God's heart.  Not sure what route I would go, but there's plenty of homeless in my town and impoverished people.. 

Who knows what is going on around us at any given time. You read stories about families that don't have enough to eat, but their neighbors know nothing about it.  They say nothing about it to their neighbors.  I understand not wanting to seem like a "beggar" or something, but at the same time, there are still alot of people around that will help out needy people, especially families with kids.  But, those are the types of people I like to help.  And missionaries. With a true heart for God.  The ones that don't have giant ministries, that labor tirelessly for the sake of the Kingdom of Heaven.  The ones that you've never heard of, the people that are doing the Lord's work on this earth.  I'd like to help them out.  I have plenty of connections to find such people.  

I just am chomping at the bit to get this project moving along.  I knew there would be stalls at the beginning just getting utilities in, but now that I've found a man that has a good heart and isn't a rip off and has the equipment to do the job, I can at least get moving with the land clearing - when I can get over there and mark everything out. 

Well it's almost time to leave.  Another 11 or so hours from now and I should be in Longview.

G'day.  

Water install paid, turns out this guy has all kinds of earth moving equipment, he can just bring out a dozer and plow everything under in no time and be done with it. I wouldn't expect more than a day for him to get 12 lots cleared out and the driveway, if 2 days I'd be surprised. His rate is $125 per hour for a dozer with operator - that's pretty darn cheap around these parts.  

I met up with him this morning, my load time today isn't until 1:30.  He wants his money and I want more information.  He gave me a contact for electrical installation which I will be calling later on today.  I have to mark out the lots before I can get him to give me a quote on clearing all of it.  I probably should have gotten that done already, but I didn't and oh well.  Next day I have off I'll be out there for sure and attempt to get it all marked out.  

So, I need to get out there and measure everything out and mark it.  Get him to clear out all of that and then I can move on to getting quotes on electric. 

However, he let me know in no uncertain terms that the power company would try to pressure you into having them run 3 phase out there - from the road, that's 1.2 miles, no way am I paying for that.  I say that, of course and then what?  There's 7,200 volts running through that power line and there isn't that much going on on that road.  There is that other RV campground down the street but they are hardly ever in operation.  

We'll see. I think today is the last day of the 3 business days they should be calling me back.  All of them should be calling me back today, actually.  If they don't, I'll be calling them.

Conflicting stories on the ATT underground line.  I've heard there is just the pedestals and the sheathing, no fiber optics or any kind of line running through them. This guy told me he accidentally scuffed one of them and there is definitely line running through it.  I'd like ATT to actually tell me what is going through there, but getting past the clueless computer screen operators that answer is next to impossible.  I tried and I eventually gave up on that.  I think I"ll have better luck with the internet provider that looks as tho they have a line running down the road.

I really wasn't going to start trying to get all of this figured out until I had the property in my name - which it is and the title documents were finally sent to me and my name is now on the county assessor site as the listed owner of the property.  So, I'm getting this going, seemingly at a snail's pace but it is what it is.

I had to tell the guy what I am intending on doing with the property, he was asking and he didn't have nay issue with it at all. He's an oldtimer, I'm guessing in his 70's, certainly late 60's, he runs an operation with a bunch of employees working for him and doing all the work. He was talking about an RV park a friend built a few decades ago - not terribly far from where my operation will be at - and says it's always full.  

Yes, I've noticed most of the parks in any decent location are full or mostly full.  

Well I'm half going to AZ for a funeral. I really don't want to travel via airplane atm but it is either that or don't go. Plus it's a lot of time off, really would like to keep up with everything, just hit with $3,256 for the water install, the first land payment coming up at $700 and change, don't remember the exact figure, it's only that high the first month and then down to $442 after that.  Just  saying, I don't want to eat into savings for monthly bills.  I gotta make up my mind quick, the departure date is soon and I have to get airfare. The good rates are already gone, but I needed approval first.  So instead of $100 round trip, it's $247 with tax.  Gag.

Well, off to the races. My West Virginia trip starting in a few hours, I'm outta here. 

My original thought on the water install was 4 to 5 grand. This guy originally said $1,100, but that was a much small diameter installation.  So, I can't say I'm unhappy that the thing is going to cost me $3,200.  I figured between $2,500 and $3,000, but inflation is pushing the cost of everything up, it's actually a bad time to be thinking about building much of anything.

Never-the-less, he is also interested in clearing my lots for me. He has no idea what I'm doing with the property, I only clued him in on the fact that it was going to be for a business venture, but I never said what. Let me go get the water turned on through the city and give them their $600 fee and then I'll feel more comfortable.  

I dunno, but I'm meeting with him today to pay him the tab and discuss him doing more work out there.  I didn't really give him any thought about it, he has a mini-hoe, I don't know if he has other machinery.  But it would take forever for a mini-hoe to do that work.  Even just 10-12 spaces would take quite a bit of time.  I dunno, but he told me that while his worker had to get some part somewhere, he was just sitting there an decided to start moving things around.  We're talking about all the timber and the giant piles of torn down trees I have sitting in the front.  I dunno if he dug out some of the stumps or exactly what he did, but I'm heading over there soon.

I dunno why, but my employer gave me 3 days off.  I didn't ask for it but I won't turn it down. I have chest congestion that started on the first night of the last brownsville trip. The dispatchers knew I had this going because I was coughing on the phone last time I talked with them and indicated I wasn't feeling all the great on the way back.  Perhaps they gave me the time off to recover.  

I am actually going to - well potentially anyway - take the boys over there today as well, they want to go hiking and the 4 year old will like it much better with some trails to walk on instead of attempting to fight his way through those nasty, thorn covered vines.  Last time on the property, well back in there and off the trails, I also encounter some sort of wicked, evil tree whose trunk was also covered with sharp thorns  Eventually ALL of that stuff is coming out of there. I don't know how long it will take, maybe years of just working at cutting it down and digging it out, but I don't want any of that stuff on my property! 

It's okay, whenever I can get a pond installed, they will dig a ton of that stuff up with machinery and get it burned and gone.  I'll ask this guy about digging out a pond as well.  I doubt I'll have him do it tho. He doesn't like credit cards and by the time I get to the pond portion of it, that's all going to be on credit.  And he would need a much larger trackhoe and a bulldozer or possibly a front end loader as well.  I think the other company I had out would be a better choice for that.  

Im getting a little more motivated about getting this small version. done  I should have the money to do it, if not I"ll be close enough that I can figure out something. Either credit cards or another personal loan.  I really would like to get this done quickly and get the operation up and running soon - like within the next 6 months at most and start getting some people to stay in there and start getting some money extracted back out of what I am putting into it.  

There's a lot to get done.  And I'm afraid that the electrical portion of the deal is going to cost more than anticipated what with inflation pushing everything up.  I'll blame Joe Biden and his version of a White House for that.  Y'all blamed Trump for LITERALLY everything that happened in life, not even just connected to politics, but claims that our society is breaking down because of "Trumpisim" and the "Cult of Trump", I can legitimately blame Biden for his lack of any common sense, he's a Communist at heart, he wants all of these illegals in here and he wants to keep spending money like it grows on trees for a purpose.  

All I can say is, I feel the need to get whatever I can get done, done as fast as possible before it even becomes impossible because of economic or even government conditions to do so.  The idea of civil war has resurfaced and I really, really want no part of that tbh.  I've seen enough death and destruction world wide in my lifetime, I don't need or want to see my fellow countrymen dying at each other's hands.  We still have the Constitution and we still have a Supreme Court that can shut down a lot of this nonsense, hopefully, especially vaccine mandates. Screw that and frankly, screw anyone whether it be government official or average every day citizen who backs such garbage.  I'll make my own decisions about what goes into my body, whatever that may be and whatever form it comes in.  You can keep your vaccine.

And after seeing what my mother has been going through since February, no thanks.  She didn't just get that second shot with ensuing side effects.  it was 8 months ago she got that shot and let me tell you, when that stuff hits her she is down for the count.  I'm not going to go into the lengthy list of things that happen, she's a pretty private person and I'm not going to let that out on the internet.  I'm just going to tell you it is very unpleasant stuff. Fortunately for her it's not a daily event, it comes and goes. I consider that vaccine a form of evil in itself, being used by a bullying government to force everyone into submission. Just on that principle alone I oppose getting it. Couple that with my mother's severe reaction to it and my reaction to other vaccines earlier in life and my reactions to other types of medications such as Penicillin? Yeah, I think it would be a death sentence for me.  A dose of Penicillin right now would likely kill me.  It's why I got pissed when I was sick, down in Brownsville and this idiot doctor tried to give me ampicillin, a derivative of penicillin.  

ANY doctor knows that if you can't take penicillin you can't take any of it's derivatives.  I saw that prescription and looked at this lady that gave it to me. "Did you check the form I filled out before you wrote up this prescription?".  She looked at me funny.  Go get that form and look at the part about medications and if there are any I can't take.....

When the hospital called me to ask about my experience there, I laid into them.  What kind of moronic idiots are you employing there that would do this to a person?  I informed them that I had left a nasty review online and that there would be more coming and if they wanted to do something about it, BRING IT.  That stuff literally could have killed me and if I hadn't checked it, I would probably be dead right now. That's what the doctor told me after I got penicillin the first time and had an extreme, weeks-long-lasting reaction to it.  "Don't ever get a shot of that again". I was 10 years old when this doctor was talking to me about death and severe reactions and I still remember the severity of his tone to this day.  He was making it quite clear that another exposure to penicillin would likely end my life.

I'm supposed to be wearing a bracelet or a wrist band or at least have the info in my wallet.  I forgot about having that kind of ID on me long ago. 

Well, enough soap box ranting, that vaccine subject gets me riled up.  After thinking about all of this park stuff, I really only need 50 spots at most in that park for the finished product. If I could fill up 50 spots every night during peak season that's 45k per month.  Figure half of that for expenses, or even just leaving 1/3rd after everything paid out every month and that's still 15k profit.  

I'm proceeding - cautiously - with the hope that a septic system for 10 or more sites is going to cost less than 15k.  Preferably more like 10k, but I'll prepare myself in my thinking for a higher price tag in case that's what it turns out to be.  It's time to get the lots built and to that end I'll be talking with that guy today and if he's too high priced I'll talk to more people.  Until I either find someone with a price to my liking or I just have to eat it and say, ok, it's going to cost that much, let's get it done.  

50 lots, 2 rows is only 750 feet of linear space needed.  I could actually go 40 feet wide lots and still only have 1,000 feet used up leaving a couple of hundred feet in the rear for a turn around.  And the facilities that may eventually be put onto the premises could either go in the front or along the east side, already existing driveway.  And my calculation for monthly gross income is based on only charging $30 per night. I could get more if I eventually can get a swimming pool installed and other nicer amenities. 

You're jumping ahead of yourself again. No, I have to think of the future with upgrades and where I will be able to put them and also building pathways between a few lots for guests to be able to walk over to them without intruding upon someone's else's rented lot versus having to walk all the way down to the end and come back. That would annoy me as a guest having to do that, this is why I try to think of everything I eventually want to have in there. Accessibility is key.  3 or 4 pathways in between a couple of lots will have to be installed.  I won't need that to begin with, those amenities won't exist and all of the lots are going to be on the east side to start with.  

The other thought is to have a pool and laundry room in the middle of the property.  Meaning put in say, 12 lots (when I get that far of course) and then leave open around 100 feet and then put the rest of the lots in the other side.  

Lots of thinking to do on that subject, but no rush.  Not with only starting out with 10 or 12 lots.  I'll put in, initially, as many as whatever sized septic system will allow.  It best be at least 10 and that better not be so high priced that I am still reeling from the price tag.....

I am heading over to the property now, dogs in tow and going to see what the guy did out there and possibly start measuring out the lots.  I'll have to do that before anyone can start clearing anything in there.  I have it all laid out - in my mind lol.

1 am.  

I mean, I started driving this afternoon around 1:15 pm and I had to take an alternate route from Houston to bypass a complete highway shut down for yet another I-69 project.  It just adds more and more time every time they start up a new construction site for this Interstate venture they are building.  

They either don't understand that there are a lot of trucks out there that are on schedules that need to be kept - or they don't care.  I'm guessing the latter.  At the rate they are doing these construction popups everywhere, it will eventually become necessary to take a completely different and much longer route down there.  

Regardless, there are a few things.  First, after getting to the yard, getting all of my stuff out of the truck - there is another driver using it this morning, he has to be at the plant at 6:00 am, lucky him lmao (his truck is also broke down) - I did indeed drive by the property.  Just to see if they completed the water installation project.  Lo and behold, it was all done.  I don't have water turned on yet, I have to pay the city $600 for some new start up fee that they charge everyone when a new line is installed. And then I can have it turned on.  I may or may not do that tomorrow.  

Second, of course they want me to go clear to Tyler to get my truck from the shop. That's how they justified booting me out of the day cab - I can't say I'm unhappy about getting out of that ridiculous machine, but going to Tyler is a bit far fetched as well. I'll have to drive to the yard and then either get a ride over there or take an Uber.  I'm guessing an Uber. It will take a minimum of 3 hours out of tomorrow's available daylight  hours to get it done.  I'm charging them from the time I leave my house to the time I return to it.  The entire trip is solely to get the truck, I don't see how I should have to pay anything to get that done.

Third, this RV park that seems to be turning into a nightmare.  26k just for septic.  I realized today that that doesn't even include the sewer lines being run to it, it's just the system itself with the vault and I think this was an aeration style that has sprinklers.  I would rather have the leach fields under ground.  

I came to the conclusion this morning that I will simply further reduce the number of sites to start with again, going from 25 down to 10.  Bigger is better - excepting in this case. Well, it is better, but it's out of reach at the moment.  Well out of reach, at least without getting a huge loan.  

If I can't do 10 sites with 50k plus whatever I have in the bank I can afford to spend plus if necessary maybe 10k in credit card debt or a little more - maybe even 20k - I'm going to stop what I'm doing and just not do anything.  I just can't believe the costs of some of this stuff. I'll have over 15k just in gravel even with only 10 sites - but that's because I need a driveway that goes clear to the end of the park and then does a turn around.  If I do a turnaround at the end of the 10 sites, I'm going to have to clear all of those trees out of there, all of it, for that turnaround. It would shorten the driveway to 350 feet, tho, and drastically cut the price of the gravel.

So it may end up that I do that.  Then I've got around 7k worth of gravel which includes one driveway and 10 sites.  

The water installation to the property is completed, btw, I checked on the way home tonight.  I haven't even heard from the guy about the bill, I'm guessing $2,500 to $3,000.  The parts are ridiculously expensive, I already knew that from my years spent in the waterworks industry and we now have high inflation.  Actually it's probably going to be more like $3,500.  I think there is about $2,500 worth of parts in that little setup with a stainless steel saddle, 2 2-inch brass ball valves and a $1,100 meter.  I'm still wondering what the need for 2 2-inch ball valves was for, but it's a done deal now so eat it and move on.  

The funny part is that the ball valve attached to the saddle doesn't even have any access to it. They just buried it under there without putting in a pipe with a water valve lid on it to access it with. That's pretty odd stuff right there.  That $325 or so part will just get filled with dirt and if it ever had to be used? Good luck.  

I have no clue about electric costs, still waiting for that phone call from the power company engineer.  However, I am going to start calling electricians in the area tomorrow and see if anyone does this kind of setup and actually knows about RV electricity.  

Now, don't read anything into what I said.  I'm not giving up by any stretch of the imagination.  I'm just continuing to decrease the number of lots until  get to what I can afford.  However, 10 is the threshold. I will not do any of this if I can't at least get 10 sites in there with the available finances.  15 would be better.  But at this point I don't really care how many RV sites there are as long as it's a minimum of 10.  If it's a grand per site, which that appears to be the calculation, then I'll go with 12 sties and call it a good start.  I'm guessing electricity will cost me $500 per site what with the new power pole, the cable running along the driveway and the cable going to each pedestal and the pedestals themselves.  

That's for the materials, tho, not including labor.  

Water will be whatever this install costs plus a couple of thousand worth of pipe and fittings and the cost of a ditch witch rental.  I doubt I'll pay anyone to install that, it's easy and saving money on labor would be nice if only somewhere in this deal.  So let's say 5 grand for all of that total. No, let's up it to 6 grand.  I'm going to go with 10k worth of gravel and hope I can make that work.  I'm somewhere around 33k. 

Land clearing.  I think around 5k. No make that 6.6k for 3 days. Shouldn't take them longer than that, much smaller job.  We're basically around 45k at this point.  I want a small, portable office building. But I'll buy one on payments and just pay the down payment.  Oh wait, those are unfinished tho.  Maybe no office building necessary for only 10 lots.  I will not have  a full time staff, I won't have any staff at all unless I can find someone to live on the property rent/electric free - supply your own RV tho please - and simply be the face that represents the property.  

I'd like to have at least a small laundry room.  One washer and dryer, that's it to start with.  A small shed would do for that.  

A website that makes the reservations online and takes the payments online. Everyone is doing that, you don't even fool with money on the property.  I dunno how much it costs to have one of those built.  

We're in the ball park of 50 k after all is said and done.  I'll have to have someone come out and finish the trails for me, but that's a days work, we'll figure a grand for that.  

Picnic tables and fire rings for 10 lots will cost around  $2,000.

I'm figuring a pond will cost around 12k.  It shouldn't take them more than a week to dig the thing out.  Yes, folks, it's going to be a large pond, more like a small lake.  Still, it's just digging dirt and doing something with the dirt.  Actually, I could have the dirt hauled to the front of the property and level everything out.  Instead of digging down on one side going to the other, just have it dumped in piles all over the place and get them to level it out with their equipment.  The pond goes well beyond the 50k, but it could be put on credit cards.  It's necessary.  I need something that says look at me! I have something here that you want!  Hiking trails in the woods and a huge pond filled with fish!  

So next on the list is clear the land - meaning I need to go out there, measure everything out, mark the lots and the driveway and then get someone to do the job.  Then I need to see if it needs leveled.  If it does, let's do the pond next.  They can haul whatever dirt needs to be hauled to level it and then the rest can be piled up in a huge pile near the pond for future use - namely - leveling the rest of the RV sites once I get to doing more. They can make a mountain over there, lol.  

Everything leveled and compacted, we can do the water, electric and sewer installs, then lay the gravel and then - we're done.  

My mind gets carried away with this stuff and the time passes. 

And I'm starting to get tired, finally.  Second wind hit me earlier and the drive was easy after that. Mostly that was due to curling up in a ball in the truck and taking a nap on my 30 break, lol.  

G'nite. 

 I am so tired.

I got in here at this hotel around 2:00 am, got to bed quickly and slept very well.  

But I woke up groggy and out of it.  

I then started thinking about my 11:30 departure.  If I leave then, it will be the middle of rush hour traffic in Houston.  

I just don't have that in me today.  Not after that grueling drive last night.  My dispatcher got me 2 days here for a reason - so I wouldn't have to be rushed out of here and I'm going to take advantage of it.  I won't leave here until 12:30 at the earliest and at least let some of that horrid traffic die down a bit by the time I get there.

I'm just sitting here in a daze. These late night drives are just not my cup of tea. 

I don't complain about it tho. Not yet anyway, tho they have been dumping them on me a lot more than in the past.  The new dispatcher, I dunno who is saying what into her ears, but drivers tend to complain about everything, whining like little babies.  

But when you do that, you can also get - treated like that.  I just try to stay on dispatch good side and do whatever they ask of me without questioning it.  They did ask me last night if I was planning on delivering last night or the next day? They don't like to hear "the next day". That adds 10 hours plus however much longer it takes for you to get down there. 

Not to mention I'm in a day cab, I can't just pull over anywhere and go to bed.  They got me this hotel down here yesterday, sent me the info and that was my motivation to complete the drive.

The news yesterday, on a different note, wasn't exactly good.  The septic install company called and went through a whole list of things they could do to help me get the project completed.  Septic, electric, water, even clearing the land and making the lots.  

Yeah, I thought, what's the price tag for all of that? 

Well, I did get a ball park for septic and it was not what I wanted to hear.  I was hoping in the 16-20k range, he said they have done many RV parks and just got through doing a 30 hook up lot for another place.  Oh? I wondered how many people are building RV parks around here?  What kind of competition am I in for?  That isn't going to stop me, but money could.

He said based on that 30 lot install, I am wanting 25 to start out with, it would cost around 26k.

I'm pretty sure I gasped, involuntarily, over the phone.  

If sewer costs that much, how much is it going to cost to get electric in there? I wondered but not out loud.  This is just for 25 spaces, not the full park's worth. So basically, there is truth to the idea that a 75 to 80 site park would cost me somewhere in the 80 to 90k range.  

Let's just say that wasn't the most pleasant of news and got me to wondering how much this entire set up at only 25 spaces would end up costing me and if it would be just better to get the whole thing done.  Meaning all of that nonsense filling out all of those forms and paying a company to do all of that work to give projections and estimates. 

When you don't know what to do, don't do anything.  At least in a scenario like this.  The water is already installed and I will find out how much to at least get power to the park.  I mean, if I never build a park on there, I am still going to want electricity to do something else.  Such as buy old mobiles, install them, fix them up and rent them out.  What's the difference? A lot less hookups for one.  No one has to be on site 2.  Less money is the end result, less revenues but a lot less hassle as well.

That would be plan B, a plan I am not currently interested in, but it's there, on the shelf, if it comes down to it.  Hide them in the woods, neighbors won't have to see any of it, lol. There are, actually, old and trashy looking mobile homes on the street. Not many of them but there are a few and they don't look good.  

Plan C would be to do nothing with the property on a commercial basis and just look forward to eventually building a cabin in the rear of the property and call it done, drive trucks for the rest of my life or as long as my health holds out and deal with it.  

Building a cabin on the rear of the property at some point in the future is actually something I would like to do regardless of any commercial operation at the front of the property.  There is a lot of room between the two.  Which would, in my mind, make it essential to at least put up 5 or more mobiles and say here ya go, maybe put in 5 or so RV lots for permanent use, not the kind of operation I am wanting to build.

I'm not giving up, lol, but the reality is that this operation I want to get going even on a small basis is going to cost far more than I anticipated and I would have to come up with some serious cash in loans and also have some reassurances in my mind that once it's done, the thing is going to take off and fill up. 

And that, might be hard to do without amenities such as a pool or a bath house.  

I feel lethargic right now.  No energy, just blaaaah.  Like, I could just go back to bed and sleep for 3 more hours.  

But, it's daylight, I am going to take a shower and I am going to force myself out of here.

G'day