By the time I left the park, it was like 10:30.  They wanted me to bring the truck first to the yard and then drive another truck up to the plant.  I decided against that and drove to the plant first, dumped that load and then spent 2-1/2 hours going on these back roads going through a bunch of small towns with slow speed limits and most of the highway speed limits are 55 mph. It's Arkansas and that's what they do.  Interstates being the exception.

There is no fast way to get to El Dorado and the location makes zero sense.  They should have a setup near an Interstate, not some hick town in the middle of nowhere that is far from Interstates and costs a lot of time to get to.  But whatever, this company is pretty backwards in its thinking all the way around.  

So I have this offloading down now.  No questions in my mind about any of it, just get it done.  One of the operators wanted me to keep checking their tank - that is not our venue and tho I know how to check it, that is really on them.   He was afraid it was going to overfill.  They have this setup with 2 giant tanks.  They're like 24 feet tall.  An entire tanker full of product only fills them up 4 feet worth.  That's a big tank lol.  

I went inside several times and checked the thing, it was getting close but I figured it would be right at it's maximum fill line and I would be done and I was correct.  I got done, put everything away and went back inside, something we don't really have to do but these people seem to want to check my work.  I asked them, I'm done, do you want to check my work or can I leave?  They wanted to check.  I figure they're looking for any spills and to ensure there are no lines still attached to the tanker.  Well of course not, I'm not going to just drive away with lines attached lol. 

What I was looking at was the fact that another driver had put the drip bucket into the containment area - this is the area where their line and filters and inlets are for their setup, if it leaks, it just stays in the containment area and yes, it leaks constantly while offloading - on the floor instead of up on the ledge.  They had used all of the cloth blankets to put the bucket on and had left a bunch underneath the bucket. It was all stuck on there. 

I was scratching my head. Do they have other new drivers and if so, why would they do this? There is obvious resin on the floor, why would you put the bucket into the resin?  I wondered if everyone would be blaming me for this mess. I cleaned up the cloth blankets and threw all of that in the trash and got out new ones.  

Off to El Dorado  - 2 hours worth of that, then 30 minutes in the yard dropping the trailer, moving the tractor, getting the other tractor, hooking up to the trailer, moving my stuff from one truck to another, updating the elog and then finally leaving.  I took another way to get home and it's definitely much easier drive and faster.  It was coming from Gurdon that took forever today.  There is only one way down and it's zig and zag and what a drag.  Going any other way looks like it would add 50-75 miles.  

Home several hours later.  They day was done for everyone else, the boys were already in bed and the parents not far behind them. Me? No thanks. I have to wind down, think about my next steps, catch up with the news, visit with the doggy, stuff like that.  

Whatever happens, I am keeping the goal front and center in my mind and with everything I am doing.  Pay off debt.  But I've got bills that are coming due that will have to move some of the goal further out.  The property taxes and the insurance, to be precise.  I'd love to pay off the washer and dryer, $800 owing on that.  Just get rid of $220 per month payment.  If you look at getting rid of payments, that one makes more sense than paying down credit card debt first. It's only $800 and it's $220 a month.  That's a decent chunk of change.  

Getting late.

 Monday - 8:00 am

I don't have to leave here until 11 am.  

The dog got up in the middle of the night, started wretching and puking all over the floor. Out with him fo the rest of the night, cleaned up the mess and went back to bed.

I thought maybe sitting on the situation (not the dog) overnight would help after writing a pretty anger-filled post last night and not posting it, and it has to some extent.  

The problem - the inside door latch quit working yesterday.  I have to roll the window down, lean out the window and reach down about 3 feet to open the door from the outside.  I complained about this door in Oregon and I said something to the mechanic in Arkansas and then I said something to the manager in Arkansas. It's not like I didn't say anything to anyone.

That and the AC only working half the time? I don't want to drive this truck again until they fix it. I'll take this load on there up today, but after that, I intend on forcing them to fix this damned thing.  It isn't so much that the door handle broke as it is I reported this several times over to the people that could do anything about fixing it.  And it's been warm so the inside of that truck gets nice and sticky with humidity and feeling icky in there with the AC not working.  

Last night? I was ready to quit.  I have had this feeling a couple of times with this company, most of it was over in Oregon going through that hellish orientation trying to sleep in that A frame office with that laundromat going on all hours of the night underneath me- and several other things that I have written in this blog for memory's sake. 

I need a job, but do I need this job? My senses told me before I even left for Oregon that I should just dump this idea and move on.  Move on to what? I don't know, there's go to be something out there local that will work for me.  I think what set me off initially was this idea that you have to bring a sleeping bag for the bed, the don't provide sheets.  When I got there, the whole situation escalated greatly.  I made sacrifices, to put it mildly, to work with this company.  

I think I should just start looking again and seeing what's out there.  I have to make a promise to myself that I will never knowingly go into something like this ordeal ever again.  In fact, I just now decided that yes, I'm just going to start looking for another place to work.  The only thing that might stop me is that I am getting experience on tankers that I have never done before and these types of tankers are all over the place. They use them for milk/dairy, gas/diesel/jet fuel, the resins I am hauling, caustic materials, all kinds of stuff.  Stick with it long enough and I can call myself experienced with it and open up a very broad field of opportunity.  

Cryo is ok, but local jobs are very limited.  I imagine they haul it from the Longview plant to plants in Dallas and Houston, I haven't found those jobs, yet.  Gasoline I could easily learn now, but you have to still find a place that will train you.  

Just calming myself down and letting some time pass was good. 

I'll just think about all of this for while and find out what their decision is on fixing the truck.  I shouldn't have to keep asking. I don't care how much of an inconvenience it is for them, it will certainly be an inconvenience for me if I have to take it to their shop in Arkansas and sit there and wait for who knows how long to fix the thing.  If more than a day, I expect them to do something other than put me in some horrific "bunkhouse" type of situation. There's hotels in El Dorado, amazingly, didn't think it was a big enough town for that.  

Anyway, just sent them a text now that it's Monday morning and they are all in that office up there.  We'll see how this goes......

And now they are asking me to bring the truck up there, of course.  I replied I need to deliver the load today.....

They aren't replying to that so I assume they want the load delivered and then, back to their yard, where they leave early so ......

well nix that. They want me to bring the truck up there, drop the trailer, get into another truck, take it up to deliver the load and then come back to the yard.  The mechanic will "work" on the truck while I'm gone, lmao.  Okkkkkkkkkk........

I'm leaving much earlier than I originally thought.  Give him as much time to see if he can deal with this today as possible. 

G'day

 Sunday  - not particularly early, but certainly early compared to anything I was doing before this job

I don't want to do anything today.  I'll just have to erase that from my mind and embrace all of this. Probably 7 hours total, leaving here at 10 am and likely arriving back at around 5 pm.  The kids will probably be home by then so that will be more stuff to deal with.

I can tell ya, I love the kids, but I also love the peace and quiet we get around this house when they aren't here.  If those kids are awake, there is something going on.  Screaming, fighting, loud laughing, running, they can be a real annoyance.  Don't take it wrong, I just like these infrequent breaks we get from them.  It's sort of a psychological thing where you have to get your mind back into the groove of constant noise. 

Anyway, when I got home yesterday, I decided I was going to take the dog for a walk.  He needed the release and I wanted to see the deer feeders that tenant bought, he has them up on both side of the rear of the property. Deer have been feeding at one of them, varmint at the other one - or both.  Well, I got out on the trails and the 2 night stay people were out there with their German Shepherd.  It didn't like Obi.  

It was a surprise as well, I walked around a turn and there they were, fortunately their dog was on a leash and for whatever reason I had Obi by the collar.  I just walked on, they asked if the trail goes around, I said yes but there is a section of weeds you would have to walk through.  I hate to have to say that, but it's true.  Oh, well we don't want to walk through weeds, we'll just turn around. Well, at least go to the bridge!  The lady said yes! Let's go to the bridge!  I left them since the dogs weren't getting along. 

This tenant is buying his own piece of property, clear out in a town that is literally out in the middle of nowhere.  I mean, whatever makes you happy.  I figure this town I am living in is small enough lol.  That place is 20 miles from the nearest town, which is our town.  He wants me to go out there with him to throw in my 2 cents worth, I don't mind doing that but not today.  I'll be out til 5 or later and then home to greet the kids and then I will have to take that load to Arkansas, tho the offload time is not until 2, which sucks.

I'll probably end up showing up a little early.  Half an hour anyway.  It's 2 hours offload so at best I'll be home by 6 pm tomorrow evening.  And then, I have no idea, they haven't sent me anything else. That doesn't mean they won't, I suspect I'll be working all week and then the weekend off.  If they don't give me the weekend off I will likely refuse any loads they try to dump on me.  I don't care, they aren't going to keep me on this kind of schedule endlessly.  This was their promise and it's beyond what I wanted to begin with, to take it even further? No thank you. If you don't think I'll refuse loads for next weekend, you don't know me very well. They could offer me double pay and I'd still turn it down.  I don't want to work that much, I don't care if it's shorter runs, it's still a full time job in the regular world.  

The trucking industry, as I have endlessly stated, doesn't care about driver's personal lives or mental health.  They don't care if you don't have opportunities to socialize with your friends or go to church.  They only know their greed and they want you to work and if you don't put your foot down, they will work you to death.  Because these trips are normally (I think and hope that 11 hour day was an anomaly) short, I could work every day until I die.  

It's a 70 hour work week, but it's not set  by days, it's just set by how many hours you worked the previous days.  If they don't add up to 70, you have however many hours it does add up to to be able to work.  So, in a 7 day work week, you would probably come up in the low 50's for the number of hours you had worked before any given day.  You would never run out of hours on the 70 hour clock.  If I were in my 20's and had no life, I might think about working every day, but I'd probably just go regional or OTR and make the money.  I'm in this for the money, yes, but not the high dollars you get for working 14-16 hour days.  

They keep saying Israel - the IDF - is about to go in - but it doesn't happen.  I'm guessing it will happen, who knows why they are holding off. Attempts to get more hostages released, a comprehensive invasion plan, getting their military situated? It's not a really good time in this world right now.  China, Russia, Iran. These are the main hostile actors and you combine all of that together and you have a scenario where people are talking about WWIII.

I dunno, but I'm 45 miles from an AFB with B-52 bombers and world headquarters, it is on a nuke target I am sure.  If a nuke comes, stand outside and wait for it, you won't be able to get far enough away fast enough, everyone else will have the same idea and the highways will be at a standstill. Might as well die at home.  Just a realist view of it. At a younger age I would have the flight fear reaction, now? 

I don't actually believe we are facing a nuclear war, I am just reading it all over the internet and references to it in the news.  I think I have enough problems to have to think about a war with whoever - china and russia - if it happens, it happens but the end of it is predictable and therefore, I just don't believe the big nations would start a war. Now, Iran? If they had nuke capability? You can be rest assured Israel is eyeing Iran in this military initiative.  Iran hates Israel and has called for its destruction throughout - well I think my entire life I have been hearing that rhetoric.

But back to my world? I'm fixing to leave.

G'day

 Saturday - early

Not my idea of a Saturday - the getting up early part - but whatever.  I got up early so I could enjoy some coffee and see what's going on over in Israel.  Nothing has really changed excepting they are reporting that Hezbollah has decided to fully involve itself in this war theater and so, I assume, a lot of them are going to die as well.  

And watching the politicians going full tilt meltdown.  I consider the Squad to be anti-Jew trash and they can go jump into an icy, cold lake. I don't say such things often or lightly, you can't take the side of terrorists that kill innocent civilians - or even if they did vote the Hamas in, you still don't take the battle to the civilians unless they are engaging in a guerrilla style warfare.  

If citizens in their districts keep voting them in, they are also anti-Jew trash, at least the constituents that voted for them.  If you are one of those people, yes, you are a pile of trash.  I don't suspect anyone that reads this journal takes sympathy with Hamas, but if you do, you have an idea of what I think of your viewpoint. 

This reminds me once again of the situation with Iranian students in the US protesting against our nation.  That didn't last very long if memory serves correctly as Americans had more balls back then and weren't putting up with this nonsense.  I could say a lot more, but this is as far as I go with it on the internet.  

Yes, I find this situation insufferable with so-called American citizens taking sides with evil, is what it boils down to.  

As hoped for, the current power bill, which just came up this morning, is lower than the last 2 months at around $1,300.  It's still high, the heat has lingered, AC's have still been pumping out the cold air during the daytime excepting during some days where the temps didn't go too high.  

Today slated to hit 90 degrees.  2 Mondays from now, if the forecasters are correct - which they more-often-than-not are wrong, the temps will go down and pretty much stay down.  The next coming week is low to mid 80's, after that we are going to be in the 70's.  

As an example of what I am now assuming is just taking guesses at what the weather will be like, a very high percentage chance of rain for tomorrow, Sunday, is now gone.  3% chance tomorrow and then 42% chance Monday.  The 4 day swath of pretty good percentage chances of rain this coming week? Down into the 20% range.  I could put up a dart board and then write in the little separate spaces on the board things like "90% chance of rain", "Cloudy with some blue skies", "Rain likely", throw a couple of darts and there ya go.  That's the forecast and about as accurate as what we get with these people that work at the national weather center, or whoever these people are and whoever is paying them for ridiculous, errant, wrong, zilch, nada, bad, incorrect weather forecasting.  

On a lighter note, the dog is doing well. He didn't wake me up last night, he does want out right now, lol.  But I'm fixing to leave so he can go out for the entire day, or at least until I get home. If I get home at a decent hour, I will take him to the property and take him for a nice, long walk.  Get some energy out, get him running around. He runs around the back yard tho.  He chases the Shepherd, they play together a lot.  I think it good for dogs to have other dog companions, especially when the humans in the house are gone for the day, which is basically every week day around here. 

Oh, I also slept fairly well last night. That is an amazing thing in and of itself.  It's around 5 hours total of driving today, 2-1/2 hours of total unload time including weighing in and out and finding the dude to indicate which tank he wants the product dumped into and signing off on it. That can take some time in and of itself.  I have my methodology down in my mind at this point at least.  I'm no longer worried about it, I made it through the first day alone without any issues and even had my work checked by a plant supervisor. He is welcome to check it whenever he wants, actually, doesn't bother me at all.  I just wish it wouldn't take so long to pump out the product.

It didn't take near as long to pump out similar product in Oregon. Maybe 45 minutes.  This is 2 hours and I have a gauge on the truck that shows the suspension load in terms of air pressure. It is at 70 right now, when it gets down to 22, I know it's almost done.  The 22 is the weight of the trailer itself pushing down on the air suspension.  I also have the pressure setting down pretty good.  I monitored it closely last time and finally figured the angle for the valve handle to leave it at to keep the pressure at 30 psi.  

I was initially told 25 psi, then I was told by the trainer that he goes as high as 41psi.  Others say in the 30's range, I'm just sticking with 30.  I don't want to do 25 because that will just make it take longer to offload. Mostly what I learned is to make sure the dome lid is on very tight so it doesn't leak any pressure out, that will cause offload times to go into overtime as well.  

I think the training was ok, not great, but ok, considering the wide disparity of ways these drivers do it.  They all end up getting it done without any problems but the lack of an actual method that is followed by everyone is - strange.  The driver I trained with the other day doesn't use the velcro straps.  I asked him about it, he just gave me a strange look.  I said, well, the company wants us to do it so I'm doing it on mine.  It isn't likely those arms would just fall down on their own, but if they both did at the same time, you would have a disaster.  You could turn the valve off - there is an internal valve you just hit a lever and it closes almost instantly. But you'd still have product on the ground and you'd have to report it and who knows what actions the plant might take against you.  

IE: ban you from their plant.  It takes 5 seconds to put the things on there, it's a safety net that I am willing to continue using just to have that peace of mind.  

Anyway, it's time to get out of here.

G'day

 Today was about as long as I want to go on any given day.  It took almost an hour for the washout, but amazing, it only took an hour to load the trailer. The first load took closer to 3 hours.  It was 7-1/2 hours round trip.  The washout was a new experience, nothing terrible tho. The person checking me had no idea what he was doing, apparently new to the office, he was actually doing the washouts and doing office work.  

Off from the washout place in Nacogdoches, over to the plant to load.  This guy there today was efficient, fast and wasted no time at all.  We suspected after discussing it that the previous crew was giving me a hard time for being new and wasted hours for no more reason than their own, personal entertainment.  

Back to my yard, the grumpy old man, lol, met me with a beer in his hand, asking about where the "alleged" firewood is? It's right there, dummy.  He was looking right at it and somehow didn't see it?  Whatever the case, I didn't feel like lingering at the park. My sleep was a mixed bag last night, waking up in the middle of the night and taking hours to get back to sleep.  

Tomorrow, I'm supposed to be up there to offload at 10:00 am, which I consider a decent time for it means not having to get up extremely early. Probably 6:00 am if I want my coffee time, but that's a far cry better than 2:30, 3:00, 3:30 am, etc.  So, get that thing offloaded no later than 12:30 pm (hopefully anyway), get the 2-1/2 hour trip back over with and be done by 3:00 pm.  The Arkansas portion of the trip is definitely longer both for more miles and a much longer time in the plant.  This is the run I'm doing for now, I don't know when they will start me on the Ennis TX run.  I don't really care if it's never, but the plant is south of Dallas so not a terribly long drive, but definitely more miles than what I am doing now.  

Ennis is 150 miles, but 3/4's of it is 70 mph at least Interstate.  I'm not going to concern myself with something I haven't been scheduled to do yet. I have to finish this run tomorrow and then start over again on Sunday - and hope that Sunday goes at least as fast as today did.  That'll put me back here, in my bedroom, early, even before the automatic internal sleep thing kicks in. 

Oh, I somehow mistakenly thought today was Saturday. I dunno, folks, you start to lose track of days in the trucking industry. They don't care about your weekends, they DO care about theirs.  I really want Sundays off permanently and I am going to have to cross that bridge here pretty quick.  I will also want at least some Saturdays off as well.  I probably won't be offered Sundays off and I will have to decide whether to eat it.  I will probably eat it, because starting at yet another company atm doesn't sound particularly enjoyable. Not after what I just went through getting the training done with this company.  It's easily the worst time I have ever had at an orientation/training. 

It's a no-contest thing, where I can think back to other places I have worked including the last job and think, orientation was a breeze compared to this place.  

+++++++++++++

Dinner done, lunch for tomorrow made, dog fed, everyone gone - they went on a dinner date, no kids still, I'm tired, I'm going to lay down, watch some tv for a few hours (still early) and go to bed. 

 Nothing fancy this morning.  Saturday - early and drinking coffee after already having had taken a shower and pretty much ready to go.  

So we have Israel going up against Hamas, Hezbollah allegedly going to join the fight against Israel, we have Russia v Ukraine, China threatening war against Taiwan and allegedly North Korea was involved in the initial assault of Hamas killing well over 1,000 Israeli citizens.  Anyone ever think we might be on the brink of a world war here?  Iran is threatening Israel as well, but Iran controls Hamas so that's nothing new or shocking.  

Biden claims Israel wants to "completely annihilate it's neighbors, completely annihilate it", which is a ridiculous and outrageous statement.  Israel has no intention of intentionally killing Palestinian people, they are out for Hamas, while Hamas is using it's ago old tactics of human shields, including the killing of over 500 people in that hospital. They're saying it was an accident, I have my doubts.  

"Pray for the Peace of Jerusalem".  That's the only thing I can do about this, trust that God has His plan in place, for the scriptures clearly say that Israel is the apple of God's eye and it becomes obvious with many scriptures through the Bible that Israel is his chosen nation.  God is the same yesterday, today and forever.  

Oh, it didn't take long to figure out the reason I don't pickup and deliver the product in the same day is that it's impossible to do so in 14 hours.  It's around 7 - 8 hours to load and that long at least to offload. Plus the driving is likely more than 11 hours. It doesn't bother me, I'm glad it doesn't all happen in one day or I would be running 14 hours every single day.  I wouldn't be working there under such conditions and I don't want to come anywhere near 14 hours on any given day.  Exceptions are ok if something breaks down or something happens at a plant, but certainly not on a continuous basis.

Well anyway, it's about time to leave.  The kids are coming home today or tomorrow.  The house has been quiet.  Taylor is heavy with that baby and suffering pretty good. Another week and a half and it's coming out.  I am just wandering through this current phase of life wondering why I am doing all of this, effectively working 2 full time jobs.  I know why I took this trucking job, but was it the right choice? It's kind of saving my @$$ right now, so at least temporarily, I'd have to say probably.

But did I seek God about what He wanted for me right now? Not really. I just figured it was the "right thing to do" and here I am.  So now, a little late in the day, I am praying and seeking the Lord His will concerning all of this and some direction about what I should be doing next. Keep working like this indefinitely?  I don't know, but I don't want to do this forever, that's for sure.  I don't even know if I could last a couple years doing this and the park.  

Time to leave.

G'day

 It took far more work than I anticipated to get a truck route going through that area.  It was a lot more dirt than I expected and ended up having to haul it from other areas.  I could say I wish I would have never dug that trench in the first place, but seriously, I had a vision for a HipCamp area that in the end? Never panned out.  I could probably produce an effective Hipcamp arrangement, but it, like everything else, would cost money. I would rather gamble on a Glamping tent than a Hipcamp setup at this point.  Or just add more spaces to the park, but of course that costs a lot more money.  

I dunno, but I worked my @$$ off getting that all done, the only thing left is taking the tree trimmer over there. it's basically an electric chainsaw on a pole that can reach up probably 15 feet with my long arms anyway.  That's probably 20 minutes worth of work I need to do there and frankly, I'm done for the day.  That trimer is her at the house. After I left the park, it was bank, near Harbor Freight, Great clips, lunch, Krogers and then home.  

I was kind of sad, actually, to have to chop that tree down.  It was about 25 feet tall and was living a good life. Well, I chopped it up into firewood sized chunks and so, it can be used for something at least.  There was absolutely no way to make it around that tree, unfortunately.  I don't even know if I want to continue with this job, but for now, I'm going to make accommodations for it and having today off was the perfect timing for it.  

Tomorrow is a trip to Lufkin again to get loaded. I think they are going to have me on this run for a short while to get used to it.  The trip will now entail stopping at a washout before getting to the loading plant.   The manager said today that I should add about an hour for the washout, meaning leave an hour earlier that I would if I were just driving straight to Lufkin.  It's a 10:00 am load time. I'm going to leave 3 hours in advance to figure this out and leave ample time.  The load doesn't deliver tomorrow, so unless I get stuck at that plant for another 3 hours, I should be heading home around noon.  Or earlier.  I want short days, that's what I signed up for. 

Not 11 hour days such as yesterday. My mind is here: if you are going to work me 11 hours, you are going to pay me for 11 hours whether the miles reflect that or not. I'm trying to keep my mouth shut for now, because I'm just now getting out of training and the whole scenario - should - change.  We'll see, but now that I'm back into this nonsense, I have no problem finding another job if it becomes necessary. Let's hope it doesn't become necessary, I don't want to have to go through this again.\

And even if it's not what I want, I will probably stick with it long enough to get this kind of trailer hauling down to a science. I can tell you that I haven't forgotten anything about hauling the cryo products I was hauling before. It's all methodical. Do this, that, the other thing, back to this and get it cranking. All you want to do is get the stuff out of your tanker and into their tank.  It's the process of getting it there that can get confusing and even a bit complicated - only because there is no continuity to how it should be done. 

_________

The day is done. I figure to get up at 5:30 am for coffee and time to reflect, contemplate and pray.  I need to leave my park at around 7:00 am. That's enough time to get washed out and get down to the plant on time for the loading.

 So I'm being lazy this morning, slept in, slept ok last night, watching a little tv, but the park calls me.

I have to get that ditch backfilled before the rains hit.  If I don't do it, I have no idea what I am going to do if it rains, the back of the driveway gets muddy and then...what?  

Yeah, that will motivate me to get with the program here today.  It's the only day I know of to be off until the rains hit, so it's today or not at all.  I don't really even know if that area back there is large enough to turn around a tractor trailer rig, the only way to find out is to back fill that ditch and clear out  the brush, move a trailer, cut down some branches.  

Yup, that will take hours at least.  It may take hours just to do the ditch? It doesn't appear there is enough dirt to backfill it and I will have to use a wheelbarrow to haul dirt in from a bit of a ways away.  

Whatever, lol.  Get it done and move on.  There is also a tree next to the driveway with a large branch that has sort of come down quite a bit that you have to move over to get by it. I want that down as well.  

Well, the list of things to do has multiplied after remembering I need a haircut, trip to the bank to deposit cash and a trip to Kroger's for lunch foods.  I do not stop at truck stops to eat. Takes too much time and th food is full of garbage/junk.  I just take sandwiches and snacks. Leftovers if there are any.  

No, I want to get this ditch stuff done first, get the hardest part over with then move onto easier stuff.

With that? 

I need to get busy. The day is slipping away.

G'day

 Long day.  11 hours  is long enough, anyway.  I got over to the property this morning thinking I'd have to run up to NAPA auto parts, but I found the pin laying in a bin on the top.  There was no cotter key, so I got a nail and did a temporary fix.  When you're trying to do a pressure off unload, that dome lid needs to be sealed tight up there. One of those lugs loose will cause it to leak pressure and it will just take that much longer to get the job done. 

That was a sigh of relief because by the time I got that and everything else done, it was time to leave.  I would have been late if I would have had to run up to the auto parts store.  I got on the road, only stopping once and that only a few minutes at a rest area in Arkansas off of I-30 to get rid of the coffee I had consumed earlier. 

Up to the plant, they didn't bother to tell me I had to go in through gate 4 to weigh in.  In fact, there were 4 gates and I guess which one I would take.  It turns out that gate 1, the one I went through, was the correct gate for offloading, it was not the correct gate for weighing.  Anyway, I turned around, back to the road, over to gate 4, weighed back to gate 1 and then I  parked the rig and went over to see what he was doing.

He being the other driver.  Well, he wasn't anywhere near being done offloading the tanker.  We went through all the steps of his version of offloading. One thing that was sealed in my mind today: there is no consistency on the differing versions of how different drivers offload these tankers.  There are various ways they do it and I guess it all ends out well enough, but it's strange that there are so many different ways to do it that leads to the same conclusion. It gets confusing.

You remember one way one driver did it, another way another did it and you get all of it mixed up in your mind.  Remember, today was the 5th driver that I have had training me.  I just decided to do it his way. He was far more methodical in his procedure and had it down to a science.  His way of doing it allegedly reduces the amount of time it takes to get a washout.  Which was of great interest to me, anything to speed up the process is a good thing.  

Well, he finished and said goodbye, lmao.  You're leaving?  Yes. Well can you at least stay long enough to watch me do the initial setup? So he stuck around another 10 minutes and then he left.  I figured I had it down anyway, so I bid him ado.  I can't be babysat forever, at some point I have to be able to do all of this on my own without supervision and make myself worth something to the company.  

It was two full hours before the truck was empty.  The other driver figured it would take me as long as it took him to offload and so it was.   I went through the ending procedures to clean out the tank and then clean out the fill hose, shut everything off, put up the hoses, got everything good and was about to take off - when - a dude that works at the plant came out.  I don't know if there is a camera out there somewhere or what, but he showed up right when I was about to get into the truck and leave, go to the scale, scale out and drive .. home actually.  

Hi there, he said, I'm Ed and I was sent out to check to make sure you have everything right. My pride wasn't hurt, I'm new, I understand that, so I showed him everything I did and asked him if it all looked ok to him?  Ok Ed, well I'll see y'all again soon! He then asked if I was going to be doing more of this? Yes, it's a dedicated run for this and another plant I haven't been to yet.  

Was all of this stress and worrying over this worth it? Maybe.  It helps force me to pay attention.  There was a lot to learn. It may not sound like there is a lot to learn, but when you are engaging in a process that you have never done before and having have it have potential severe consequences if done wrong, you want to learn correctly.  The other driver was not following company procedure on a few things, but then again, he wasn't really trained on it either.  One thing that stuck out was he wasn't using velcro straps around the cam lock arms.  I think this is an important step that shouldn't be ignored. It isn't likely those arms will just pop off of there without being manipulated to do so, but what if they did?

Well, the hose would pop off and you would have this resin going all over the ground, that's what and that's why the company wants everyone to use them.  

Most of these plants have really nice people working at them, good natured, not loud, boisterous or over-bearing.  So, after that I went to the scale, the man handed me a fresh scale ticket before I could say anything, i was out of there.  I didn't get back to my park until 6:15 and out of there around 6:30.  

Home, I had 5 pounds of hamburger meat about to go bad, I cooked all of it. A huge meatloaf and a large pot of taco meat. Lol, that "huge" meatloaf shrunk to a normal meatloaf size after that 73% lean ground beef shed all of that fat and left a huge amount of liquid in the pan.  It turned out good, tho.  

I've got tomorrow off, amazingly enough.  I don't know why, they didn't tell me, they originally had me working 9 days in a row. No worries, I don't have the weekend off, lol.  Or Monday and Tuesday so far.  I don't know what I'm going to do tomorrow, but what I should do is trim back some trees, backfill a ditch and get the area behind my shed ready for rainy season to turn that truck around.

I should also go get at least 200 pounds of rye grass seed and have that available to put down before the rains next week. The forecast has changed again, so I dunno if I'll do that or not.  

It is unfortunate that I barely slept last night and right now, at almost 10:00 pm? I'm not tired at all.  I don't need a repeat of last night....

 Just have a few minutes, if even that.  I got up on that trailer yesterday after I got back to my Park and found one of the lugs had the pin missing on it that connects it to the trailer to keep the dome lid secure and snug. 

So, I'm getting that lug this morning (I don't know why I didn't do this last night, I think I just wanted to go home), running over to Napa, getting something to hold that lug in place and call it good until a correct pin can be located and installed.  It's only one lug, the trailer is loaded and nothing can get out of it, but still, it needs to be correct.

I am driving 2-1/2 hours to Gurdon, AR to meet up with another driver to do final training - well final for this run anyway - to see how they do things at that plant, how the plant wants everything done and a refresher on air-off offloading.  Not that I really need one, I've got that stuff running through my mind so I don't forget any of it, plus checking my notes occasionally. My main concern is getting the product to the right tank and not having any spills.  

Yesterday was a bit much as well.  The shipping plant didn't have enough product and was busy pumping it from one location in the plant to another so they could fill my tanker.  I was sitting there like 3 hours for them to do this and get the truck loaded.  That's a far cry from an 'hour or less'. 

Anyway, my time is running out here, I've been running around the house getting my morning rituals done so I can get out of here, the time to leave? Right now.

G'day

 Tuesday - morning, semi-early

I don't have to be at the plant in Lufkin until 1:00 pm.  And Lufkin is only 90 miles from here.  I don't have to load the truck, either.  So, I will probably leave here around 10:30 am, stop at Love's and fuel up and perhaps I will be at the plant a little early.  Who knows. I don't need to be with another driver to load since I am not loading the truck.  It's nothing different than the myriad of plants I was in and out of in the last job.  Pull up on the scale, go in the guard shack, tell them I've never been here before, they will know what to do next after I tell them what I'm loading. 

Watching Israel/Hamas war scenario on the news. Nothing has changed, it doesn't appear, since I was watching this stuff yesterday.  Biden's intended trip is, IMO, nothing more than a political stunt.  He'll taunt his "record" of having to go into a war-torn country that is currently in the middle of a war.  I can tell you right now, the person that tops the list or is very near the top for doing something unbelievable like that is Trump. Walking across the demilitarized zone with a relative handful of security agents into an extremely hostile nation.  

Anyway, we still don't have a House Speaker, they are taking a vote this morning?  And apparently there aren't enough votes for Jordan, who is feverishly attempting to make the dissenters happy.  How, I have no idea.  How long do we go on without a Speaker? No idea. 

So, I am going to have to get with the program and get that area behind the shed done so I can pull the truck through there. There is no way I will want to drive that truck back to the back when it rains, it turns into a mud pit back there and I can imagine getting stuck and trying to somehow get it out of there without having to call a tow truck.  The area behind the shed can get wet but it won't turn into a mud pit.  I just need it as a turn around.  

What it means is backfilling about 10 feet of not-too-deep trench that I had made back there to install power lines, that idea is defunct and I gave up on that.  Clear out the brush, not terribly much of that either, cut some branches off of trees, move my trailer to some other location and it "should" be good.  I'm pretty sure there is enough room to basically make a wide U-turn.  I'm not positive about that, but these trailers are only like 42 feet long.  

I'm not necessarily sold on this company yet, they are probably not necessarily sold on me, either.  Once I start offloading without supervision they will probably become more relaxed with my employment there.  I, however, am thinking about working 7 days a week and know that this isn't what i signed up for. But, as always, recruiters lie, leave out important facts that you don't know to ask about and other things that are critical information for a driver to figure out whether he wants to work there or not.  She did tell me about the lower paychecks and I can see that being true with such few miles.

This job is a supplement to my income, not the main source of it.  I already have a full time job doing the RV park - well it's not really full time, but there is enough to do over there.  

The trailer I am pulling has a significant amount of damage to the passenger side. They know about this and apparently aren't going to fix it. I consider it a magnet for troopers to pull me over.  I've been pulled over for damaged trailers before.  And have gotten into arguments with troopers about it.  If it doesn't affect the operation of the trailer or it's safety, it is irrelevant.  But, troopers will still argue about it anyway.

Just a few things that affect my thinking about whether to work for a place - or not.  I will likely start looking for another local job. No rush, but see if anything comes along that is better. Trucking is not a good industry to be in if you're looking for specific hours unless you are willing to trade off money for a more structured lifestyle. It would help if I could get earlier load/offload times, but I'm sure other drivers have that via seniority. I would be off work today, for example, around 1 or 2 this afternoon instead of 5 or 6.  Actually, it may not be that late, I'm just padding it for psychological reasons. If I'm loading at 1:00 pm, it should be over with by 2 and then back to my yard by 4.  So, I say 5 or 6 in case it just doesn't work out that way.  

Well, I'm going to go to the park early.  Get the trailer sealed up, do my tablet work, make sure the thing will fire up, stuff like that.  

G'day

 Long day. Didn't help that I didn't sleep worth a poo bears bad toilet paper. 

It was drive up to the yard, sit there for 3 hours getting acquainted with people and waiting on a mechanic to do his inspection of the truck, 45 miles east to a washout facility to pick up a trailer and then back home.  It's the sleep stuff that gets me. If I don't get a decent night's sleep, I'm just fighting through the day with fatigue and just doing things to keep myself attentive. 

Back to my yard at the property, parked the truck, took note of the fact that I am going to have some serious work to do to make that area behind the shed accessible for turning that truck around, noticed the new dog dung trash can was already completely full and overflowing - that was odd.  I just put that thing out there 2 days ago, actually a day and a half ago.  It's not a huge trash can but to see it that full already? 

So I took the bag out, put it in the big trash can and put a fresh bag in there.  

The New Jersey lady came out of her trailer as I was getting out of my freshly parked truck.  I didn't know you drove big rigs?!  37 years of it. 

Taylor came and picked me up, thankfully, she is in her own hell with that baby causing her constant pain. They are going to induce it with some kind of drug to come out early. Like a few weeks early, but she still has a couple weeks to wait until they can do that.  Home, no dinner, got out the pork chops, made that, mashed potatoes, gravy and corn - simple, quick and filling.  Did dishes, made lunch for tomorrow even tho it's a late start, one more thing nixed off the list of things to do.

Trust me when I say that although that sounds like a lot, and frankly it is, I don't have near the energy to do that every day for the next 11 days that it would take to carry that out on a daily basis.  Because yes, I am to work for 11 more days and then get a weekend off.  I'm pretty sure I can't keep that kind of schedule, but we'll see.  Tomorrow, for example, is just drive to Lufkin, load and come back.  That's not even 4 hours of driving total for the day.  

Today was an oddball because of having to go up there for a trailer and to meet everyone and get the truck looked at.  That won't likely happen again anytime soon.  I very much do not like Arkansas 2 lane highways, only because the speed limits are mostly 55mph.  Feels like you're barely moving.  

And when I got to the wash out place, I didn't know what I was doing and had to ask the workers.  So, you leave that lid open like that? Yes, the inside of the trailer has to dry out.  Oh.  But we can do whatever you want...nooo, no no, I'm learning here, new to washouts, I just needed to know it's okay to drive down the road with that lid opened like that. Yes, they do it all the time.  

The Lufkin trip will not always be as fast as tomorrow should be, that's because you have to take the trailer to a washout before you go to the plant to load.  I won't have to do that since I just picked the trailer up at a washout up in Arkansas.  They suggested that I drive 50-100 miles and then pull over and close everything up.  I didn't do that, I just drove it back to my property and will deal with it in the morning.  I think it's the idea that it should all be closed before you arrive at the shipper.  

I will never have to load trucks, I will likely always have to offload.  Wednesday, I will follow another driver up to the plant in Gurdon to have a one day training session. That should be all it takes.  Actually, I have it down now that I had what they want done explained today. The last part that I was struggling with is easy now.  

They want you to chase out the product with air, water, air just like you would do if you're pumping off. Why? I don't know, it only adds a few minutes to the process, not a big deal... once you get to the final part of air pressure in the delivery line, you just go close the plant valve. You already closed the internal and hand valve on your trailer.  The rest is just putting everything away.  The idea is to get everything out of the delivery line before putting it up at the plant.  The next person comes along and doesn't have a heavy line loaded up with product sitting in there.  Makes sense, but they don't do that at all with the Oregon drivers unless it's a pump off.

I'm learning.  Lots more to learn, there is yet another plant to load at and a different plant to offload at after I get this one down.  Then, it's alternate between the two as dispatch need arises.  The only difference between the offload plants is the other one you have to use your own hose.  Which looks like a true pain because the hose is on a rack mounted to the back of the truck and you have to get that hose way up high to get it over the rack and then strap it down. Those hoses are heavy. 

I think the only thing I'm really objecting to right now is this idea of working 12 days in a row, if you count today, which you would.  And doing that all the time.  12 days on, 2 off? That's a bit much.....BUT...if I"m home a lot that helps.  It sounds like, at least with this Lufkin/gurdon run, that the first day doing Lufkin is a pretty short day and the second day, not a lot more. Gurdon is only 2 hours and 15 minutes from here.  It's up there, deliver, and back. 

Just the first time will take many more hours because I will be with the guy delivering his load and then he will come with me delivering mine.  Same product, same plant, just a training day.  Get this training junk over with and really, this isn't a big deal - I think. Probably gets old doing the same thing over and over, just gotta keep in mind that I have an end game here.

But I can't really determine how the end game plays out until I see a "normal" paycheck.  This next coming paycheck won't be normal because it will be that 2,700 mile trip and a few days from working in Oregon.  

If I'm calculating this correctly - my mind is jumping all over the place right now - it really shouldn't be more than 6-7 hours per day with 8 at most on any given day.  That is nothing in the trucking world.  

Meanwhile, I just had to write an owner's draw check from the business account and pay myself. Yes, I got a nice chunk of change for the first paycheck from this company, but it's almost gone already.  This  was my financial state of affairs that took a huge hit from these excessively high electric bills.  As I said a month ago,  and a few months ago, I knew September was my deadline and that I possibly could make it going into October. I was spot on with that and I had actually predicted that many months before I ever got there.  

So, these new RV'ers hadn't even left yet when I get back today.  They have no idea what they're doing but they definitely enjoyed my park, they told me that in no uncertain terms and the lady said she hadn't slept so well in ages. That's all she did, sleep, take the dogs out to do their thing, back to sleep.  Hey, I ain't judging people's vacations, I'd absolutely love to be able to sleep like that!  

Anyway, I just went incognito to check out my website and book a site.  There is a field you can click that says "view terms and conditions". It says plainly you have to be out by noon unless you call us first and ask if you can stay longer, and then, if the lot isn't going to be used, you can stay until 3:00 pm, after that, you will pay another night's stay. The catch here is this: You must click on the field that says "I have read and agree to the terms and conditions" before you can finish the reservation.  

I said nothing to them. Let some other RV park that is strict about it's rules confront them, I felt it unnecessary considering I didn't have anyone else coming in and they had had such a nice, relaxing stay. Why ruin it for them?  Leave on a negative note? What possible good does that serve?  The only way I would have said something is if someone else came in - for their lot - and called me telling me their lot is already taken. Huh?  

I guess you could call today a productive day, yes it was.  I'm just concerned about the toll it might take having to work every single day for almost 2 weeks, even if it's a light schedule. I'll miss church this coming weekend as well.  Not a fan of that idea at all.  

Oh, there's probably $300 worth of quarters in those machines at the park right now. I opened one up and was shocked to see the thing almost completely full.  I get paid on the 22cd, I think I'll wrap those quarters up, deposit it into my account and give it to James. I own him for the drywall work. I started paying him last paycheck, it would be nice to get him paid up. That way he isn't going to hesitate about asking him to do other stuff as it arises.  I can trust James to do things right.  I don't have to worry whether he'll half-@$$ something, he never does anything without a calculated thought of doing it right the first time regardless of how long it takes him to do it.

I did not pull the quarters out. I had nothing to put them in.  

That's it.  I don't know how I can have all of this energy after doing everything I've done today. I am not tired now that I think about it, hopefully that will change after I get myself into bed and turn something on on the tv.  I don't have to get up early, that's a beautiful thing.  I can only hope I can get a decent amount of sleep tonight.  Like, go to bed at 10:30, get up at 7:00 am, get stuff done, get out of here, get the Lufkin stuff over with.  I should be home between 5:00 and 6:00 pm if my thoughts about how long it should take are correct.

Should be close.  I did a large number of these loads in Oregon, same stuff here as there, over and over.  It's about an hour - hour and 15 from start to finish.  I'm not going with that other guy to do this.  I'm not loading the trailer so it's just a matter of finding the entrance, finding the scale and tell them I have never been in there before, what do I do now? No different than the myriad of different new places I went into with the previous job.  Giant plants, send someone to escort me or give me a map.  

Expect when I arrive to question that I'm at the right place and getting the correct product.  My anxieties about how all of this works are starting to fade.  It's completely new to me, but the training has been good and I've been exposed to it over and over.  The only thing that sucked was the fatigue, lack of sleep and yes, I tell them that when they ask. How was training? I tell them about that horrid bunkhouse, how they can believe that anyone can get a decent night's sleep in that abomination and why they subject new drivers to such nightmarish conditions.

Lol, well, that is probably going to stick with me forever.  When some of the reviews said things like: "Run, don't walk, run from this place" they weren't far off.  You can't expect decent help when you are putting people through such a wretched, vile, nightmarish process.  I'm not 20 years old, thank you very much.  

With that? I bid you a good evening, lol. I'm not depressed about that experience now, I'm still paying for it tho.  I doubt you ever truly get caught up on losing such a large amount of sleep. I told the new manager quite bluntly that I will never stay in that place again.  If there was some reason they wanted me to go back for some training or whatever, it will be a hotel or it will be nothing.

Oh, btw, it's Christmas at Walmart! and a lot of other stores, lmao.

G'nite.  

 There are 3 ways to get to the yard that are truck friendly. All of them add almost 40 miles to the trip.  The ways to get there that are much shorter are not truck friendly, have low bridge weight tolerances and you get busted bad if you're caught overweight going over them.  I don't have any way to get up there legally without having to go through weigh stations.  I despise weigh stations, I normally get green lighted through, but I still don't like going through them.  

Lunch, update logs, fire up the truck, put my boots in the cubbyhole, get the tablet and recharge it, etc.  Getting ready for tomorrow.  All of those logs have to be verified even tho I haven't driven all week long.  You know, FSCMA rules and all.  And troopers.  And the possibility of getting pulled into a scale house. There are several ways up there, but anyh way I choose to go? They are  open more often than not.  

I want everything ready since it's up at 5:00 am, shave, shower, enjoy a cuppa or two and then hit the road.  Just have to get a bag of clothes in the truck. Always must have a least a change of clothes, that just-in-case syndrome where something might happen you don't go home that day.  It's 99.999999999% guaranteed that will happen eventually.  

I will only be going to the yard, meeting people, hopefully getting some things fixed, hooking up to a trailer and going back to the Park.  That's where I intend on parking the truck. There will be no hazmat loads, apparently, so that's acceptable.  You can't leave hazmat unless it's in a locked, gated, fenced, secured yard.  I don't remember if it has to have cameras, but every one of those yards I have ever been in have 24 hour monitoring.  

____________

Monday - early

Up, truck started (barely), getting things ready to go.  Got up early so I could deal with things without being in a rush.  It should just be drive up to the yard, meet/greet, get info about loading and offloading, perhaps a few things fixed on the truck, grab a trailer and leave.  I would say 3 hours up there but who knows.  If that is true, I would then guess around a 9 hour day, home around 3:00 pm.  

We'll see if that fairy tale comes to pass.  On a "normal" day, which starts tomorrow I suppose, I do wonder what a typical day will entail in terms of hours.  I'm going to catch a little news before heading out to see what is up in Israel.

G'day

 Sunday  mid-morning

Been up for quite a while, actually, getting stuff done.  I'm on my last day of freedom before the grind of daily working comes to pass. I can tell right off the dispatcher is going to be a problem.  She came right off as all the host of other trucking dispatchers that don't care about your personal life, you will drive the truck and that will be that.  I don't want to clash with anyone, but I feel like she is going to want me working 7 days a week in perpetuity and that isn't going to happen. I could see possibly working a weekend here and there, but I am not working 7 days a week. They don't even force you to do that in long haul trucking.  

____________

Went to church, over to the park to confirm the 2 night stay had left - which they hadn't. I have a long term coming in today, so that kind of got me going.  Went straight home, pulled up their phone number and called them.  This is the RV Park, what time were y'all planning on leaving today?  He replied he is at the entrance to the driveway and will be hooking up and leaving immediately, he and his wife had gone to breakfast with their student they have at one of the local colleges and were just now returning.

Ok, I thought, breathing a huge sigh of relief. My long term is coming in at 3:00 it was only 12:30, so we're good.  I said no problem then, I have someone coming in at 3:00 so I was getting a little concerned.  I don't have any other empty lots and won't have until tomorrow, unless the other QuickTrip worker is staying. He's due to pay his rent today but he's not home.  I saw him a few days ago, seeing that guy is pretty sporadic.  

I turned the battery charger off this morning to the truck and now, 6 hours later, fired it up.  A little sluggish but that's the way it was when I first got into it in Oregon.  An interior light was left on - the kids got into the thing a week ago and turned the lights on, unbeknownst to me and left them on after they got out.  I saw one of them and turned that off, but yesterday I noticed yet another one on.  Any lights left on in a vehicle, obviously, will eventually wear the battery/ies down.  

I only say all of that because at 6:00 am tomorrow, I will be leaving out of here for the yard in Arkansas. I don't want to be having to fool with jumper cables, battery charger and hoping I can get the thing to fire up.  Presumably, I'm meeting the manager and the dispatcher, hopefully getting some things fixed on the truck, pickup up a trailer, coming home and then loading in Lufkin, I believe it was.  Lufkin is something like an hour and a half from here, so a 10:00 load time is pretty easy.  Come back here, leave the next morning at whatever time I will need to leave to go up somewhere in Arkansas and deliver, then back here, down to Lufkin, etc.  

Then, I will be put on another dedicated run that is similar but is more miles, I believe.  I dunno, but I'm both ready to get started with this and at the same time, ready to just stay home and deal with my park, lmao.  No worries, I'm sure I'll get with the program and get into this situation as much as I can, but I can foresee butting heads about weekend work.  Need not go into that again, I'll deal with it as best as I can without getting myself fired.  Tho, if they express to me that they expect me to work on weekends in contradiction to what the recruiter said, I will be looking for another job.  And good luck to them finding someone like me that is willing to take lessor pay for the home time.  

It's a good problem to have in having a full park and trying to keep it that way. The family backed out, I know because I called them this morning.  I would have had to cancel a man that wanted to come in today if this family was actually coming, but I had this feeling they were not going to follow through.  I texted them twice last night with no reply.  I called them an hour ago and they said no, it's too far away.  It pissed me off, actually, because I was going to cancel the other person coming in, I had to leave them on hold while I figured this out.  

THIS is why many RV parks require a deposit to hold a lot, a non-refundable deposit and I'm thinking of doing the same thing now.  This lady tried to tell me she "had just now seen my texts from last night". BS and in a pig's eye.  You just now saw texts sent over 15 hours ago?  Please.  I would have lost this other person's business and he has been in the park before. He has a nice looking trailer, he's quiet, doesn't bother anyone, perfect type of people to have in there.  I think the reason this lady "changed" her mind is because I was asking for the condition of the trailer. I forgot to ask when she first called but once I remember it, I wasn't leaving it to chance.  It may very well be they have a trashy looking trailer and that is what really got them to just blow me off.  

I could have directed them to the trailer trash parks nearby if they so needed.  

So, just checking the camera, the 2 nighters just left and this other guy is coming in in about an hour and 15 minutes.  This keeps my park full. Tomorrow, the 3 nighters are leaving and then that lot will be empty.  So currently, just the quik trip dude. I will be going over later to see if he's home again.  I can't see his lot from the camera and I really need to get about 4 more cameras over there to be able to see everything.   

I'm seeing several days of rain next week after this one coming.  Like, if it were true, I could put down the grass seed. It's amazing that there are several patches of rye grass coming up around the place. I put down far too much seed last year, some of it must have gotten into the dirt and waiting for cool temps to come back out?  Rye grass doesn't come back such as Bermuda, it has to be replanted every year. Hence, pain in the butt but the seed is far less expensive than any variety of summer grasses. The price went up, but not that much on the rye grass. $39 instead of the $35 I was paying last year. That's at a local mom and pop feed store, everywhere else is much higher.  

___________

Phone call.  Hey, I'm here at the park but lot 1 is taken!  I look through the camera, who on earth pulled in there? The 2 nighters were already gone, I verified that earlier.  Ugh. I replied I'd be over there in 10 minutes to find out who is doing what there, cause' there isn't anyone else slated to come in today.  Well, lot 2 is open! he says. Ohhhh, ok, the dude at lot 2 moved to lot 1.  We're all good, you can take lot 2 and you won't have to move again.  

Went over there, grabbed my month's rent from him and then lot 1 wanted to get into this long, unbelievable conversation.  I mean, seriously.  Dude.  I finally said I need to go.  It's Sunday afternoon and I have stuff to do. Yup, I up and left lol.  

The QuikTrip dude wasn't home, as usual. Hit and miss with him, I'll keep going over there until I see him.  Actually,  he has until tomorrow noon to either pay or leave.  But if he intends on staying, it's not like he's going to call me or anything.  He'll just stay there until I finally get a hold of him.  

Well, enough of this.  I'm going to relax for a while and then go out and check to see if the truck is going to start.  I kind of think it will now that the lights are off in the thing.  Make some lunch for tomorrow ot take with me and get my computer in the truck - I will be taking the laptop with me in case there is something that needs to be dealt with for the park. There is no smart phone app for the software.

 Saturday - semi early

Got up early, just now getting to blogging.  The kids left with grandma half an hour ago, they'll be gone until next Saturday.  It's some sort of vacation - kids get lots of them nowadays from school - Taylor, James and I will be working and they would have had to pay for day care for them to stay home. Grandma coming was an easy fix, tho I don't know about staying up there an entire week. The youngest starts getting homesick and asking for mommy.  

The trucking company called yesterday.  This time, it was a lady who had an Oregon prefix, so I assumed it was headquarters calling about something. She didn't introduce herself on the phone and I began to wonder if it was a person calling about an RV lot, these people do that a lot.  Instead, she started asking me if I wanted a load for tomorrow?  I was quite hesitant for a number of reasons.  This conversation, however, started out with things other than trucking so I had no clue who she was and only half way into the conversation did she identify herself as my dispatcher and that I should save this number.  

What kind of person calls you in that type of role and doesn't even bother to explain who she is?  The manager was over hearing the conversation and eventually took over the phone call. Why don't we have you come in Monday morning, preferably early and we can meet in person, get the truck fixed and work this out?  Ok, was my reply, Monday was my desired start day anyway.  Providing everything goes ok, the truck will be fixed, I"ll grab a trailer, go home after all of that and then head to Lufkin, I believe, to load and then back to the house.  Then to the facility to offload the next day, rinse, lather, repeat.  

We'll see. I tend to get stressed about new jobs and doing things I haven't done before. In this case, I've done it but only with supervision.  However, there was a twist in this situation, or sounded like one anyway, where you air, water, air at the end instead of just pushing the final amount of product through the hose to the customer's tank.  That procedure was done only for pump offs in Oregon, not for air offs. So I'll be asking direct questions about that when I get up there Monday.  I want to know what the plant and management want of me in this endeavor long before I ever arrive at a plant to offload.  

But, out of memory:  Enter plant, find the tank. Ensure it is the correct tank by matching the numbers and name on the tank with the numbers and name on the paperwork.  Check to ensure the tank has enough room to take an entire truckload.  Open the valve on the top of the tank to let air pressure in.  Put down the mats and the buckets under connection points - which should only be 2, one on the tanker and one on the customer tank.  Hook up the hose, taking the lids off slowly to allow any product to drip into the buckets.  Make sure you put the velcro straps around the arms that hold the lids on - this ensure the arms don't fall back and let the hose come off during offload. 

Hook up the airline.  Go find someone to sign off on everything.  Turn on the air pressure, open the valve on the customer's tank, then on the tanker and let'er rip.  The hose will start cavitating when the tanker is empty.  But leave it do that a minute to ensure the product is all out of there and you also check by lifting up the hose, it should be light.  In fact, you pick up the hose after you start offloading to check the weight of it so you know when you are at the end.  If it's an air, water, air situation, then you close the valves on the tanker.

You hook the air hose up to the bleeder valve where the hose connects to the tanker.  Turn that on for a minute.  Then hook a water hose up to the same valve and turn that on for a few minutes and yes, it does pump water into the customer's tank and they apparently don't care.  Turn off the water, remove the hose and put the air hose back on, pushing any product back through and while you have pressure on, turn off the valve to the customer's tank.  Unhook the air hose and let the pressure out and then unhook the delivery hose at the customer's tank and then the tanker, putting the lids back on and the velcro strap around the arms.  Put their hose away, roll up their air hose and put that away, roll up the water hose and put that away.  

Now you open up the valve where the air line was attached to the tanker to allow pressure to build in the tank and let all of that pressure out.  It comes out through the top, there is no worries of any product coming out.  You can just leave that valve open even driving down the road until it's pressure free, it's just air coming out.  You put their buckets and tarps away and you are done, you can leave.  It's like an hour process.  I forgot, you have to put out the storm drain tarp over the drain if there is one in case of an event.  Event is not something you want to have happen, obviously.  

But I have this down in my mind pretty well, I think about it daily to keep it fresh in my mind and not start forgetting stuff.  I wrote this out to see how much I remember, all of it really. I would have remembered the storm drain thing if I had been there. It's just sequence.  Some places don't allow you on top of the tanker unless they provide a set of stairs, meaning you have to open that valve before you enter the plant.  All of that and more is what I spent 9 days memorizing.  And doing, plus learning how to load, but it turns out we don't load, we only offload.  Loading is actually easier than offloading.  

As for today? Well, the Fire Ant Festival is going on downtown so apparently we are going to go walk around and check everything out.  I'm just going to enjoy my 2 days remaining off and then get up at 5 am Monday, get dressed and ready to go and hopefully go out and turn the truck on.  I have had the battery charger on there now for about 15 hours or longer.  It should fire right up.  

Oh, I have a mother and her kid moving in on Sunday - but I forget to ask her about the condition of her trailer.  People try to pull fast ones on me.  I don't want junk in there.  

Yesterday, I mowed down everything around the fire pit I built last year.  Or was it earlier this year? Well, whenever it was, it took many hours to get all of those weeds down and mulched up.  I just went over and over it while at the same time, I built a huge fire in the thing to burn out all the weeds inside of the fire pit. The firewood almost gone, I saw several black widow spiders in that mess.  I didn't know they had black widows in Texas.  I was being careful, tho and was concerned about snakes.  No snakes, but if a black widow bites you, have fun with that! Been there, done that, bought the farm and sold it. 

I now need to go over and collect money from new rv'ers. They haven't got a clue what they are doing and called me several times yesterday. Lol.  They didn't even know where to buy propane and was asking if I sell it? Nope. I might consider it if I had, say, 100 lots in there.  But with only 16 lots, no. It wouldn't be profitable and the setup isn't cheap.  I'm all about profit right now, get money in.  Well, I've been all about profits, just want to get that business checking account to start building up money in order to save for Phase II of the park.  

Not going into that right now, I've already discussed that at-length in this blog and right now? I'm heading over to see about collecting 2 night's worth of fees. 

G'day

 Friday - early

Not going to get back into the habit of getting up late.  Just too rough to try and start getting up early after you're in that groove.  I didn't need to get up early for anything...my new manager said he would be calling this afternoon.

I take that back, late arrivals last night, I need to go collect money before they take off out of there. 2 trailers showed up yesterday, one at 5: 00 pm and another much later.  The late arrivals called and I just told them to take the space.  We had already agreed to pay up this morning.  So, just before they get out of there quick, I want to get my money.  

I'm just trying to down a cup of coffee and get a second cuppa before leaving. Amazingly, everyone is gone as well. James is over cutting pine trees somewhere, Taylor doing work related stuff 2 towns over and the kids are in school. Kids will be gone for a week next week for there will be no one here to watch them and they don't want to pay child care. They will, instead, go to grandma's.  

I'll be busy attempting to adjust to the new lifestyle of trying to juggle a job and a business at the same time. The job sounds pretty easy.  Go up, load, come home, leave home, go unload, come back home. Go up, load, etc.  The manager seems to think it's going to work out that way.  It's got to be that it's too many miles to make an entire trip in one day.  Of which I'm glad or I could envision a very grueling day of driving the entire day plus load/offload.  That's the other part of the equation, you can't force loading or unloading any faster than it goes.  And in my case, it will take longer than normal at first for I will be triple checking everything to make sure I have it all right.  

Whatever the case, my time is about up here. People tend to leave early and tho we agreed, I want my money. I have both lots being refilled again today with people staying for 2 and 3 days. I'm thinking about changing my weekend rates more in line with the RV industry.  People travel to see their kids/students in this town on the weekends.  Why charge them more? Because I can, that's why.  Everyone else in town is much more expensive excepting the trashy parks which no one that has a 150k trailer wants to stay at.  

Anyway, more later. 

 Thursday - semi early

The dog will get me up even if I have decided I would rather sleep in a little. Which I haven't - because of the dog.  He wants out at 7 am if not earlier.  Even if I let him out directly before bed, his internal alarm clock doesn't care, it's time to go.  However, the first thing he does when running outside isn't going pee, it's going to the pond and drinking copious amounts of water. That is our outdoor watering trough for the dogs.  Good water, the fish have gotten used to it.

The online software system was going berserk again, turns out the date set on the software for the length of time the "current" rates were set ran out and people were running into "no rate set for the dates listed".  I haven't checked it in a month, a customer actually called and informed me.  I figured the problem out quickly this time without the software operator's help and have that back up and running.  

Long term left last night, but they told me they were leaving.  The man is being moved to a jobsite that is right next to an RV campground some 30 miles from my park. I can't blame him for moving and frankly, with a family of 4 living in there? Their power usage was highly likely disproportionate to the amount of money they were paying for the lot.  I have raised the rate for that lot and already one of the existing park guests wants it, even at the higher rate.  

That's because their yard will face no one next to them.  It is one of the highly coveted end lots with the passenger side facing the yard which is something like 80 feet wide. I decided I would charge extra for both of those end lots.  The other end lot will probably be leaving soon as well. It has been many months since they moved in there and they were waiting on 3 separate closings on land before they could take possession of the final property they were getting.

Of course, it wasn't just closing. Once they get or probably already have possession of the property, they have to get power lines run to it, water and sewer.  I don't know their plans, I haven't talked to them in a while.  I don't often see them now that the school year started, she is a teacher and I assume the 4 year old is in pre-school.  Or Kindergarten depending on his birth date.  

So, I have 2 lots available now and likely more lots coming available soon.  

Surprise, surprise. The family that left left a glowing review. It was hard to gauge whether they liked it or not, they are very private people and keep to themselves.  Which is fine, I did get the opportunity to speak to the man last month which is when he informed me he was being forced to move.  I was interested in the part of the review where she says her kids loved the walking trails. I never saw them using those trails, lol, I'll have to take her word for it.  

Speaking of those trails, I was trying to think how I could get my mower back to the rear of the property to cut down numerous weeds that have grown.  I don't really know how I can get it back there and be able to get it back out.  Well, I sort of do but the hill is so steep, I wonder if it can make it back up it.  I ran that thing for hours yesterday, yes it needs new blades but it just meant some areas I had to make 2 passes to get it nicely cut down.  

Oh, back to the lots, well I was about to make a new Google note for any potential customers but I got distracted by the new review lol. Probably the best review yet.  

I haven't heard from work and if they don't call me before next week, I'll be fine with that. But, I'll be ready to go to work next week.  If they want me to start sooner, that's fine as well, I'll get with the program and get started with this stuff.  I need to get to a plant and do my own offloading sooner than later anyway so I don't start forgetting stuff. I did take down extensive notes, tho and it's not really rocket science, but there is a sequence to how things need to be done.  

I dunno what else.  I mean, there is always finances and tho they could be better, I'm not terribly concerned about it now that we're heading into much cooler weather. The only cause for concern would be if the park empties out, ie: lose 4 or 5 people without anything coming back into take their place.  The 3 people that came in together is always a concern, I have no idea whether they are happy or unhappy. Asking them doesn't get any kind of direction in how they are thinking. So, at the beginning or near the end of every month, I wonder if I am going to continue receiving that check.  They won't be there forever, obviously, but if they want to leave just because of some "thing" that they want changed and it's something I can accommodate for, I would rather they just tell me.

It's the "you can't please everyone" thing.  Now the people that I had to turn away I wish were on my doorstep asking for a place.  

As for Israel, I guess it shouldn't be unbelievable that there are people in this country that have actual positions of power that are supporting Hamas.  Or that they actually believe that Iran had no part in this. Hamas is clearly an Iranian proxy group and under IRGC direction and control.  I didn't hear Biden's statement that came days after this situation started, but apparently he is actually siding with Israel.  I have no idea where this man's loyalties are, I don't believe he has an original thought.  He is being controlled by handlers who tell him what to say, when and where to say it and even shut him up when he goes off-script. 

One of the biggest arguments is that children are being killed by Israel after you start talking about Hamas targeting civilians.  The difference is critical: Hamas use children and elderly as human shields. Israel is not directly targeting civilians but when you are so evil that you would put human flesh in the path of oncoming missiles, what options does Israel have? The left calls for a cease fire, sorry. I don't blame Israel for wanting to end this situation permanently. The news shows where these Hamas tunnels are - underneath schools and hospitals and areas where civilians reside.  They do that on purpose.  But I can do nothing beyond praying for the peace of Israel.  God will have the final say here, I firmly believe that.  

Anyway, I have stuff to do today and sitting here isn't getting it done.  I'm going to clean up the table for laundry, I have a lot of my stuff on it for I have nowhere else to put it.  I need a large shed to set up shop in.  Tools and supplies.  I have no such thing excepting a very small shed that can't even begin to hold all of my things.  I don't have the money for such venture at the moment, I just keep a lot of it under the table.  But I have half the table taken up with tools and things, I will go through and sort stuff out and get it organized underneath the table. 

It's a bit tacky, I have nowhere else to put these things.  And this is stuff I use, not just junk.   

Well, enough. Need a haircut before I head over there, been over a month since I've had one.  And take a look at the freshly abandoned lot and make sure there aren't any issues with it that need to be dealt with.

G'day

 I spent 7 hours messing around with lawnmowers yesterday.  I ended up spending money on new tires for the riding mower, just one left to go, but it's still holding air.  Those tires aren't cheap.  I also ended up driving clear to Longview to find the right size belt, of which I did - or hoped I did anyway.  

I got back from that trip, put the belt on and it appears as tho it's the correct size.  Loose when not engaged and firm but not too tight when it's engaged.  But at that point, I had only replaced the front tires, trying to get out of this without dumping too much money into the thing, at the same time, trying to get it running to where I won't have to fool with it for a while.  

But, it was obvious one of the rear tires needed replaced and so, I went and bought a tire, took it to the tire shop - I can't bust those tires off of there - got that done and now it's sitting in the back of the vehicle.  I didn't get back there after that yesterday, it was near 4:30 in the afternoon and I was done.  I'm waiting to go over there for the tent lady needs a ride from a repair shop.  Her car's tail lights aren't working, she got stopped for it, got a ticket and that was that. James tried to figure it out, there is a short in the system somewhere and tho he took half the car apart (not literally, of course but he was digging well into it), he couldn't figure it out and declared he didn't have the time to be fooling around with it any further.

Don't blame him at all.  I've let her have a break on rent/payments until she gets that resolved. Otherwise, she has no wheels, can't to go work and I have people living in a unit that isn't paying anything.  It's not like the New Jersey people who don't work at all, she's actually trying.  There is a huge difference and hence my differing viewpoints of these people.  They're both poor but one is trying. I would say the other is not, but the NJ lady has a serious disability with her hands basically fused together, but that dude living with her? Healthy, young, could be working, won't keep a job. If she were alone I would have a different perspective.  

I'm slowly easing myself back into weight lifting again. Nothing grand, just my arm muscles have slowly been wasting away with truck driving that doesn't really demand anything of you. This new job is different, lifting hoses and walking up and down stairs and ladders, but nothing like the flatbed job with Ferguson that had me lifting hundreds of pounds on a daily basis, multiple times per day.

I feel like I  am slowly returning to some semblance of normal in my sleep patterns.  Still far from rested, I wake up now and it's nothing like it used to be and I thought what used to be wasn't all that great.  Again, that orientation and training is nothing I ever want to go through again, not under those types of circumstances anyway.  

So, Republic Services calls anything in the dumpster that goes above the top level of it "overage" and charges you extra.  $67 per pickup.  There are no other players in the area that does dumpster service.  There is one service that local businessmen were trying to get to start service here that is far cheaper, they started the discussion in the local gossip group and many concurred the extremely high prices of Republic, but they never followed up with it.  I tried to get anyone to update, no word.  

I'm going to revisit this issue today and see if anyone got anywhere with this.  The other company said if enough businesses would sign up, they would expand service into our region.  I have done whatever I can to reduce expenses, I was okay with the price they were charging but now that I have found out that they are charging that much extra even for a small amount of overage, I'm going to try again.  I haven't had a lot of it going on since those people across the street moved out, but every dollar spent on expenses is less profit for me.  That's the bottom line.

The giant electric bill hit the bank last night after paying it yesterday, ouch.  I've got some payments coming in the next several days that will help, the quiktrip worker never did respond, I'm going to text him again today.  The electric bill will go down more this next billing cycle, but it still stayed warm for a couple of weeks into it. Temps are definitely down now, highs in the low 80's the next few days and then drops to highs in the low 70's after that.  

If I can get that riding mower going this morning, I can spend the day cutting everything down and be done with that for a little while and can face the prospect of going back to work. I don't do the doggy park anymore, that lady does that by her own accord.  However, there is the entire area behind the trailers, the small field behind the shed, the area next to the driveway next to the field (there is a line of trees in between the two) and there is the front by the signs.  

Oh, that riding mower also needs new blades. Just not going to do that right now, will take too much time and it works - not as good as it could - but it works.  The blades aren't particularly expensive, the problem is taking the entire deck off the mower so that it can be brought out from underneath the tractor and turned upside down to work on it.  It's just going to take a day to do it, I can easily predict that right now.  I don't know when they are going to "demand" me going back to work, spending a day on that isn't in the cards right now.  

I'm just sitting here watching continuing coverage of the war in Israel.  I am personally not a fan of wars, I understand why Israel is engaged in it and it's a necessary evil, but it's still sad to see so many people dying.  They put up mothers and fathers of children who have gone missing and they tell the story of how those children ....

....time is up. The tent lady called, she's headed to the shop, I'm picking her up and taking her to her work.

G'day

 Monday

Not particularly early (8:00 am) and I don't really care.  I'll get over there and get with it eventually, I'm just enjoying a quiet house, the peace of my bedroom and drinking my coffee in solitude.  

But yes, it's time to get with it and get that place tidied up, including having to return a drive belt and hopefully get the correct size. I've subsequently determined that it is supposed to be 101 inches long versus the 96 inch long one I bought.  Whatever the cost, I need it and I need it today.  I will be using the push mower to do the lots themselves and that is what I am starting out with. The riding mower is for the land behind the trailers on the west side, the front entryway and other areas where slinging rocks doesn't matter. 

_______________

Never finished that one, it's now Tuesday, semi-early, forcing myself out of bed regardless for I'm sure I won't be getting up late for this job, whenever they force me into it.  Watching rather intently at the evolving situation in Israel and the Gaza strip.  If we can send billions of dollars to a military force in money and equipment to a nation we have no, real, vested interest in, should we not also do so with arguably our top ally?  Well, I don't think it's arguable but apparently others do.

But, I take a different view of Israel for the Jews are, according to the Bible, God's chosen people.  Another item of interest is that RFK Jr just announced he's running as an independent.  He had literally no chance as a Democrat, the Democrat party officials wouldn't even consider him or think about putting up any kind of debates.  At this stage, I don't think Biden is coherent enough to be able to participate in any open dialogue style debates anyway.  Why they want a person running this nation that is obvious cognitive/mental decline, well I know why, it's still unfathomable how they believe their reasoning therefore justifies putting a man who should be sitting on a fishing boat somewhere in keeping him as president of the united states?  

I'm sitting here in my bedroom watching live coverage of ongoing rocket attacks against Israel. I don't know what Israel is doing back at them, just turned the tv on to see what was going on.  The most outrageous part of this is the state department putting up a statement that was quickly taken back down that Israel should cease fire.  Over 1,000 of Israeli citizens killed in these outrageous actions and they are supposed to just eat it? Would the US just sit around and say, oh well, we were just bombed numerous times and the bombing continues on but we should just cease fire? Maybe Biden, I dunno, no sane President would allow that to happen.  

The mower didn't want to start yesterday. The lady with the German Shepherd informed me that she had just used the thing the other day and was working fine. I put fuel in it and I have to assume the fuel is bad.  I'm going to have to drain the tank and put fresh fuel in it. She said I could use her mower, but it wasn't running either. That was easy, just had a completely clogged air filter of which I replaced and went ahead and replaced the spark plug for the fun of it.  

I got half the place done, sans the riding mower of which I went to 3 different places yesterday looking for the correct size belt.  They are out of them. It's not that they don't carry them, they have shelf space for it but they simply don't have them. I will either have to order one online or possibly drive to the larger town 30 miles away. 7 more lots this morning and at least the people's immediate areas will be freshly mowed down.  Oh, I was going to just go buy a new mower yesterday when this lady offered the use of hers. 

I haven't heard from this manager yet and frankly, I don't care if he doesn't call me for at least a few more days.  But I have this feeling a phone call s coming soon, probably today.  Meanwhile, the New Jersey people paid $400 yesterday. Yup, I went straight up to them and demanded money.  Nicely, politely, but yes, "I need money and I need it today".  I'll have some for you shortly, the man replied.

That was an odd reply, I thought but just said ok, thinking I"ll just see how this plays out.  They had a Ford Expedition sitting there, nice vehicle even if older.  It wasn't theirs, they were selling it for someone and the person that bought it showed up 5 minutes after I confronted them, bought the thing and then, yes, they handed me cash.  

So I currently only have one lot owing which is the former Quick Trip worker who hasn't replied to me after I contacted him back.  He isn't home, either, I assume he's busy working and doesn't have time for it.  Pretty much the way things go with some of these workers that get busy and work for X amount of days in a row before getting a few days off.  

"President Biden is set to break his 2 day silence today".  This man has no business running this nation, period.  Apparently Israel is shooting missiles back at them.  I take no pleasure in human suffering on either side of this conflict but Hamas is clearly a terrorist organization, backed by Iran and I find it a little more than just purely coincidental that Biden hands over 8 billion to Iran and then suddenly, they are at war with Israel.

Sorry, but this situation is really capturing my attention for I really want to see what, if anything, we do to help Israel.  

Anyway, I guess I'll drink my second cuppa and get out of here.