I got called up at 6:30 am.  It was the safety guy.  He's not in any way involved with dispatch, so I don't know why this Sheila person is contacting him to contact me.  In the time it took her to write him that email, she could have just contacted me directly.  They wanted me to take a trailer down to Houston to have a "Visual" done on it. That's both doing the annual inspection required by the Feds and an inspection of the unit on the cryogenics level.  So I obviously got out of bed and got moving, drove down there, got the inspection done and got back up here in time for another load in the morning.

Which, never materialized.  I have zero knowledge of what's going on.  I do have this inkling - again - to start looking for a new job.
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Oops, as bit behind on my blog. Well I did go down to Houston, got that trailer inspected  and back up to the yard. Then, the next morning Sheila calls me: I need your help with something. I new it would be a trip somewhere, so I immediately agreed. Turned out to be a whopper of a trip.  Bobtail to Nashville (bobtailing means driving with the tractor only, no trailer), pick up a trailer and head to West Virginia with it/ Turns out a driver had his truck break down.  I pulled into that truck yard at something like 630 miles of driving that day, hooked onto the trailer and dragged it out of the secured yard.  I wanted to leave early, didn't want to be stuck in there.

Fortunately for me, there was a restaurant right there, so I grabbed a bite, went to bed and then got on over to WV.  I'm on the last leg of this adventure, sitting in a small fuel station parking lot in Malvern, Arkansas.  This tiny place actually had showers, of which I needed one badly lol.  I don't always get a shower every day on the road, much to my chagrin, but that's because I am finding the big brand truck parking lots full by the time I get stopped. Everyone is blaming it on elogs, I've had elongated conversations with truck drivers about this debate, turns out they are just cheating on their logs - or have been on paper logs anyway - elogs forces them to keep it honest.

I dunno, but you can count on truck stop parking lots filling up early nowadays and don't even bother trying after 7 or 8 pm.  They are full.  I have a couple of apps that I use to find alternate parking places, usually not truck stops but who cares when you need a place to park and sleep for the night. That also means, however, not getting a shower.  I passed by a Love's earlier, 6 pm - it was completely full.  So, I used that app to find this place today. There is a HUGE truckstop up the road, but it's hardly got any asphalt, it's mostly dirt and it's been raining. I didn't even bother looking, I always have to get out of the truck after driving, no way am I going to sludge around in mud.  But, that place proabably has room for at least 500 trucks.  It's just a vast open lot, and I do mean vast.  It's got fuel and a restaurant at the front. I would have pulled in there for no way it's full at 6:00 pm. 

Okay, well anyway, James found a job today. He went in for an interview and they didn't let him leave lol. He went straight to work. Hopefully he can make it work there instead of going OTR, though every time I ask him about it, he has his heart set on OTR. Yet, if he found a decent place and good money, perhaps he would just stick with it.  Rene is going to watch the kids and the other guy is still looking for a job.

So, there it is.  I'm going to text Sheila tomorrow morning - please do not leave me hanging for 6 days again, I need to work, thanks. Send me out Monday at the lastest, please and thank you.

As for the morning, I could leave around 4:15 am.  I think I will just get out of here around 5:30 am.  I need some sleep.  I took a nap on my mandated 30 minute break this afternoon and fell in to a deep sleep.  Thank goodness I set the alarm, I don't know how long I would have slept before waking up. I had the curtain closed to the sleeper and that keeps it pitch black in here.  Here, is where I am now, the sleeper, cause I'm fixing to go to bed early  It's 8:30 pm and if I go to bed now, getting up early wont' be such a problem.

G'nite. 

Sunday evening.
Likely won't be going back out again until Tuesday morning.  So, I've had a week off. Didn't want it, could have taken a vacation with it if I had known in advance.

But, maybe I'll have time to get something done about a bad tooth.  It was filled when I was 15 or something like that.  Well, a whole portion of the tooth broke off yesterday.  Just out of the blue, not even chewing on anything.  I've got lots of teeth problems.  I've let it go. Chipped teeth, probably some fillings need to be done, some fillings that need to be redone.  I was already informed 3 or 4 years ago that the best option would be to have a realignment of my mouth by putting caps on all of my teeth.  18 thousand dollars, no thanks.  But, they haven't gotten any better. I really dread going into any dentist office at the moment, I know they will have nothing but bad news for me.

But go I must.  I can't just leave that like that. It will rot out and I will end up having to have the tooth pulled. Heck, they might have to pull it out anyway.  And then, I'm walking around without one of my teeth. That will look sooooo pretty!

As for today?  Well, we tried one more time to hitch Addler up with the Dane in heat.  She wasn't having any of him.  I mean we tried, definitely.  1st over at the other property, then over here, then the guy left him with me in hopes the dog would relax.  It took hours for her to relax, but that didn't mean she wanted anything to do with Addler.  I can tell ya Addler tried for hours and eventually gave up on it.  I mean, just flat laid down on the ground, worn out, panting, went to sleep lol.  So, fail the second week in a row.  I know Addler will do it cause' he was doing Aspyn when she was in heat before we got her fixed.

Meanwhile, the guest that moved in here is - still here.  I'm guessing he isn't going anywhere anytime soon, either.  It's neither here nor there for me. I have my  room, my own personal bathroom, I'm good. What it may mean in extra utilities is unknown until the end of May.  It will cost more tho. I have ample experience with that in renting out rooms.  The electric bill highly likely to go up irrelevant, as they are leaving lights on all over the house and leaving doors open.  I'm not going to complain - yet. That bill is coming out of my pocket, I'd like to see people shutting off lights in rooms that are not being used at the moment and shutting the door.  There is a glass door in front of the wood door in the front and a storm type door behind the wood door in the back. Closing both doors is optimal, especially when running AC.

Again, nothing to seriously complain about unless the electric bill goes up substantially.

Drama.
Not really interested in it, but I was subjected to it last night. I wasn't any part of it, but I had to sit there and listen to all of it. One of James friends was over where the drama began with his wife texting Taylor and asking her why she had asked James friend to come over?

It went down hill - wayyyyy downhill - from there.  At the end of it all, the man was told to get his stuff and get out.  All 3 of them left, I just sat there wondering how that could go that far south in such a short period of time.  He got his guns and ammo - fearing she would sell them or otherwise remove them from the premises, a few basic things and they call came back around midnight. 

I went to bed after that.  I had agreed to listen for the boys if they happened to awake, which thankfully they did not.  What happens today with all of this I have no clue, whatsoever.  Obvious issues within that marriage, James friend that is, but none of my business really. 

Anyway, my manager is out of duty for a while.  Understandable with her father passing and a very close relationship. What got left out in the process of handing drivers over to the interim manager is that they didn't have my phone number and therefore assumed I was on vacation.  I'm not sure what not having a phone number has to do with a vacation, but I emphatically informed them that I did not ask for time off, couldn't afford time off and need to work.  I was polite, don't worry, I didn't make any threats of quitting tho the thought certainly crossed my mind. 

This company really is very unorganized.  They have their stuff together as far as knowing about hazmat and having all the proper licenses and permits, knowledge of the industry, but when it comes to employees, they aren't even close to be on track with anything.  It isn't the worst thing in the world and much of it, I am guessing, has to do with the company I am working for being acquired by a much larger company.  But I believe that was years ago and I would think with the passage of time that they would have had all of those details worked out.

It's too soon to look for another job anyway.  I need a year there before I think about doing that.  Preferably 2 years and some experience showing on my resume with hazmat tankers.  A week off isn't going to kill my finances. Not at all, in fact I'm not concerned about going "broke" right now at all. But it's some serious money towards savings that I won't be getting.  But it's a foregone conclusion that I won't be going back to work until Tuesday morning.  The weekend loads are handed out on Friday, including Monday.  These corporate and office people don't work on weekends, or certainly want their time involved with any workplace interaction severely limited, so all work is handed out in advance. Not to mention the plant office is skeleton crew as well, it's just how they have it worked out, tho that plant is open and running 24 hours a day, 365 days a year excepting for scheduled maintenance shut down.  I think. 

But I let them know I hadn't asked for time off, I wasn't on vacation and tho I had made good use of the time, I needed to work.  They are going to need to send me on a 3 or 4 day run next week is all I can say about that. . Perhaps someone will bow out of a load and I can take one sooner.  Tho I have plans for today now that I know I'm not going to be working.  Namely, spraying both properties with tick/flea killer in the yards. The dogs are getting affected by it and I need to deal with it.  I was informed by 2 pest control companies that they were going to charge me $199 and $169 respectively for each property.  Totally unacceptable.  I'm not going to spend almost $400 to have 2 properties sprayed, end of story.

Last year, I sprayed this property myself and the problem of mosquitoes, especially, was kept at bay.  I was just short of shocked to hear them telling me with a straight voice that they wanted that much money to spray a property that would likely take them less than 15 minutes to accomplish and probably ten dollars worth of product.  So, that's what I'm doing. 2 large garden hose spray jugs of poison, $15 a piece and another hose to be able to reach all portions of the properties.  Cost me around $80, will work just fine and will save a ton of money. 

Well, I guess if they called me today to go out I would just go ahead and take the run anyway.  But, it's after 10 am and that isn't very likely at this hour of the day. 

Anyway, I paid most of my bills already for the coming month.  Mortgage not included, but that money is coming in in a few days and so is the money for the other property here.  There are bills that come at the end of the month - for next month - but by then I will have made up for this loss I am currently experiencing.

I don't suppose much else.  Just cleaning stuff today.  I came out of my bedroom this morning to an unmitigated disaster in the kitchen, so I cleaned it all up.  They made dinner, I figured it was my part to go ahead and clean all of that mess up.  They stayed up very late, much later than me, probably discussing the friend's marital situation, fortunately my ear plugs and fan muted that noise and I slept right through it.  I'm still attempting to decide how to enter the stock market on my own without going through 401k.  So far, I am pretty much not doing anything but research, looking up websites, reading articles, etc. 

I want to start out with $500 and see what happens, but not haphazardly just dump it into a stock somewhere and hope it goes up in some set amount of time.  My mother suggested CD's - she's been doing those for decades, but the rate of return isn't enough.  Another thought I had was to rent some sort of dwelling structure and then sub rent it.  But, that's kind of risky out here. It would be unknown if I could get tenants to fill up the room and if not, I'm stuck renting a place I'm not using. In phoenix, if I had a second property, I could easily fill it up.  As long as the place is decent and has all the perks, you can rent a room within 24 hours of it vacating.  In fact, you end up with a list of people you can rent it out to and you have to make a decision based on interaction with them.  Anyway, I thought about a couple homes in the immediate area of my house there, but I think they are doing as much as they can right now maintaining my property and adding something on would probably be too much for them.

Tho, the incentive would be that they would end up paying nothing for anything in the house they are living in now.  As it stands, I think I have them down to $200 per month. 

No hurry to do the wrong thing.

Score.
Hooked the trailer up to the Jeep, drove the  65 miles to get the dresser and wow, was it worth the drive!  I was amazed at the quality of it and the fact they weren't asking that much for it. $240.  I imagined the thing was worth at least a grand.  It's absolutely an amazing piece of furniture, I dunno if hand crafted or not but definitely on the higher end of the quality scale. Near perfect condition, a few very minor blemishes that can be covered over with treatment. 

Brought that thing home and then the lady texted me.  It was nice talking to you, you seem like a very nice person. I actually bought that dresser 14 years ago and paid $2,700 for it at the time.  They easily could have gotten $500 for it.  But, they appeared to be well off considering the house they live in and the cars parked in their driveway, an older retired couple.  I was shocked at the price tag, and the fact it was that long ago they paid that much for it. 

What can I say? Sometimes you score things in life, right place at the right time, etc.  I didn't really look all that long for this, either. I just got on Craigslist, scrolled through a bunch of junky looking particle board disasters and then saw this beauty sitting there, calling my name.  The price tag was good.  Note that I did not have a dresser before this.  I was hanging everything in my closet and I really need that closet space for other stuff.  So, in my room and bathroom, i have a brand new toilet, vanity, bed, computer chair and now this wonderful dresser.  The only other thing that i intend on getting now is a large screen TV.  Not a priority, but the prices of these large flat screens have come down substantially. 

Well that's my excitement for today.  I was going to get out and mow the lawn, but I changed my mind.  I figure to rest the rest of the day, I would be surprised if I didn't get a text with a load going out tomorrow.  I've been off 2 days. I would surely love another day off, but the finances don't work out if I do that.  Well, they do, I just don't save anything. 

I get hit with a lot of bills every month, 3 houses worth. But one house more than pays for itself, the second I'm contributing a couple hundred a month in exchange for watching my dogs and this one, I pay all the bills except the mortgage as my monthly rent.  It's a bit high at this house, but it's only temporary.  I figured to give $500 per month for my living quarters plus helping with food and necessities in the house after they both have jobs.

She is working, he went in for another job interview today.  He had no word either way of whether they were going to hire him or not.  A local job, imo, would be far better for him than going OTR.

Well ain't that cozy.  Another trucking company calling me begging me (literally, she sounded desperate) to come work for them. Just another mega-carrier.  They don't pay anything, you aren't home much and your quality of life goes down with both the low pay and in frequent home time. No thanks. 

Pleasant surprise today when I went to pay my mortgage online.  I had a message in red letters saying property taxes had been paid and my payment amount had been updated.  I was thinking, red letters, this is going to be bad.  Instead, it came down $100 per month!

Ugh, but I just got off the phone with my mortgage company and found out the insurance they have on the house ONLY covers the house.  No damage, theft, nothing.  So, that became my project for today, find a new insurance company, of which I believe I have found and at half the price. If that works out then my payment is going to come down another $100 per month, putting my mortgage at near $700 with escrow.  That's pretty awesome.

I'm kinda just rambling here.  I've got to get that toilet replaced. I got the new one, just sitting there. I actually was able to stop the leak on the old one so I kinda lost motivation.  But, I definitely need to put the new one in, not only because I bought the thing but also because this old one doesn't flush very well. I mean, this is old technology here.

Nothing really new going on here.  I thought I was going to get sent out this morning, but that didn't happen.  I'm ready to go out on another run, need the dough.  Saving money for retirement, paying off debt slowly and attempting to save for a vehicle.  I mean, even if I don't pay cash for a vehicle, I want enough down money that the payment will be low and the length of it will be 3 years,.  I'm basically trying to save up 8 grand for that project - I may be able to find a decent pickup for that money and not have to get into a loan at all.

Day 2 of being off.  I kinda like having the days off, but it almost guarantees I will be working through the weekend.  I am cutting the manager some slack since her father just passed away and she is busy making funeral arrangements and family and such.  I'm not sure how she can even do her job while having to do deal with all of that plus grief at the same time.  They do have people at the corporate office that can fill in for her in just such occasions.

But, that's none of my business. Just at this point, I'm going to need a longer run, a couple thousand miles worth would be good.  Get some miles racked up towards next paycheck. 

So, I am about to get off of here and get ready to take a trip to a town about 60 miles away.  I found a beautiful dresser on Craigslist - I have no dresser in this room/house and I desperately need one. This is more antique vintage, in perfect condition and they only want $240 for it.  Guaranteed it's worth at least twice that if not more. I'll post pics of it on my FB wall if/when I get the thing back here. It's supposedly very heavy, but they said they would help me load it on the trailer.  I hope so, cause I sure as heck can't put it on there myself.  It's too far away to ask anyone to go with me - probably close to 3 hours round trip by the time it's all said and done, but well worth it for the quality and the beauty of it.  Must needs to get moving here~!

The City showed up yesterday after taking the water meter reading. I didn't get the personal attention, James did.  Just letting you know, y'all are using 28,000 gallons of water per month, which is a huge spike from the 5,000 you normally use.

I knew what it was right off: the toilet in my personal bathroom. Unbeknownst to me, the thing had been leading the entire time Rene was in here. She turned the water valve on and off instead of asking me to fix it.  Well, anyway, I was looking at it yesterday. The flapper valve was very bad, but the seal below it also no good.  Meaning taking the toilet apart to fix it.

Nix that.  I'm going to replace the entire toilet, hopefully today.  I'm off for a second day, which I'm definitely not going to complain about.  That will be the extent of my goals today besides minor things.  I fully expect to be sent out somewhere tomorrow, likely a 3 day trip.  So I'm not going to wear myself out doing stuff around the house.  James is still...

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Got completely sidetracked. That was days ago.  I got a phone call writing the post - can you please run down to Houston?  I had a last minute load thrown at me.  Uhhh, I guess.  I was not in the mind frame of going to work.  It persisted throughout the day.  I got up to Tulsa area late, so i didn't do my bowling and mexican food restaurant thing, I just found an abandoned truck stop that I knew about and parked there for the night.  It really sucks, tho, getting a call that you are needed to go out that same day, in a few hours at that. 

But went I did, got up the next morning, headed up to the plant from where I had been parked and waited. And waited. And waited some more.  2 trucks ahead of me, but it shouldn't have taken 10 hours to get them unloaded and then to me. They changed how they deal with the pressure after unloading trucks. Instead of burning it off on a flare, they send it back through the system to recompress the vapor back into liquid. It is a very elongated process that takes hours to accomplish.  I had no idea I would be sitting there literally allllll day long. 

By the time I got out of there, it was 5:15 pm. I had 4 hours left on the clock to drive, so i took off, hoping to at least get beyond the Indian Nation Turnpike and not have too much left to drive this morning.  Well, I ended up at the Choctaw travel center near Durant, Ok.  And low and behold, right next to it? A rather large casino, this right near the state line. I got the truck parked and debated with myself whether to go in and play a few rounds of blackjack.

Haven't been in a casino in what, a couple of years?  I couldn't resist.  I got $200 out of the ATM, sat down as a lone player at a $5 minimum bet table and went to town.  I was having great fun just playing against the dealer, a thing in the past I never really liked.  This went on for an hour and I was up $400 before 2 people showed up at the same time, sat down, and yes, ruined the table.  Bad choices, but I still was winning enough to not lose everything I had just won.

They eventually got up and left, I stuck around, got my winnings up over $600, went on a losing streak, down to $400 and decided I wanted to leave there with more than I walked in with, so I cashed out.  Walked over to Chili's - it's right there, in the casino - had a nice salad and then went back to the truck and went to sleep.  It was a thoroughly enjoyable visit and i was glad I had gone. The place didn't reek of cigarette smoke, either, as many other casinos do, even tho plenty of people were smoking in there.  Just denotes that they invested in a good system to take out the smoke. 

Whatever the case, got up just before my 10 hour mandatory rest break was up, got myself in gear, got the truck in gear and drove back to town. Just in time for another driver who was looking for that trailer - I should have been back last night but obviously that wasn't happening.

I went to Home Depot, got a new toilet for my personal bathroom  - a pretty decent one with good flushing power for $119 and tax - then headed to Starbuck's to get Taylor a Frappucino, back to town. Lots of running around later and I'm sitting here laughing at the old toilet. The new flapper valve I put in there apparently decided it was going to conform itself to the seal it goes into and now it isn't leaking lol.  I'm not regretting getting a new toilet.  The old one doesn't flush very well and doesn't, therefore, clean out the bowl very well.  But, I am not going to do that today. I do have tomorrow off and I have a run going out on Monday down to Brownsville, a run I very much like because it's good miles and at least half the time good detention hours, tho admittedly the last two times I've been down there, there was a trailer waiting for me and I didn't get any detention hours out of it.  Still, the miles are good and it keeps it  2 days.

No dinner planned here.  I got in too late to think about defrosting something. But lo and behold, there is still a bunch of that Ribeye roast left and after having a couple bites, it's still just as wonderful as the day I smoked it.  So I'm going to have that an veggie for dinner and then pull out some ribs for dinner tomorrow. I intend on smoking them and still adding some BBQ sauce at the end of the smoke. 

It's 2:30 now.  Undecided whether to carry on with productivity or relax.  Dogs want to relax, lol. Got them shortly after I got home, gave the drink to Taylor and unloaded the toilet.  Addler about jumped over the fence when I showed up over there. 

A few other things.  I'm thinking about taking an ankle deep wade into the stock market. Plenty of apps to help with that, Ameritrade has one for starters.  A few others as well.  You don't have to start out with  pumping a lot of money into it, just get my feet wet and see if i can learn about it.  I think there are online courses I can take. I dunno. Not looking to be a day trader but definitely looking to broaden my horizons with investments.  Now that I'm making a lot more money that is.  Savings are good too, yes.  That's going full blown all out at the moment.  In total I'm having around 17% of my paychecks going into either 401k or savings account.  I am not missing the money. I'm thinking of upping it to around 25% and see if I can live without it. 

Rental properties are still on the goal list, but I'm kinda starting to get old.  I'm still working on getting my credit score up.  I've noted that it's going to take about 15 more months before most of those late mortgage payments go away and my late payments are down to the point that I'm at a high percent of on time payments.  Currently it shows 90%, they want it at around 96 to 97%.  I'm still paying down debt, that will take a while too. 

I am also planning a trip - no date yet - to Phoenix  I wouldn't mind including a trip over to California on that itinerary to visit the beach.  Or even take off from phoenix to Ireland.  Pricing is pretty cheap right now, 3 or 4 days visiting over there wouldn't hurt me : )  I got that passport for a reason, I'd love to put it to good use.  I've got money now, a helluva lot more than that loser job of 12 years was giving me.  There are tradeoffs in this job, but I'm slowly getting used to it.  The tradeoff being no being home every night and weekends no longer sacred. 

I was approached this morning at a truck stop I had stopped for fuel at in Paris. Not France, lol, but I laugh every time I drive through that town.  No fake Eiffel tower anywhere, either, haha.  Anyway, he points to his truck parked in the parking lot - i was in the fueling lanes - and I immediately recognized it.  One of our parent company's other divisions.  He was asking about our division.  He said he had just bought property in lakeport and talking about having to be out 3 weeks in a row and how bad it s.  Lol, I laughed, no I'm not out 3 weeks at a time after he asked. I get home after every trip. The longest trip I've been on was 3 nights/4 days.  Most of them shorter. Even if I have to go on a trip the next day, I still go home that night. 

I told him they were looking for a few more drivers and had actually borrowed a few trucks/drivers from your division to keep up with the workload.  He can make the same amount of money or more at our division and get home FAR more frequently.  But, that's up to him to pursue it, I just gave him the info.

Anyway, I can take solace in the fact that I could have it much worse in terms of work schedule.  And I'm making more than double what I used to.  Quality of life has improved without having to worry about paying bills and buying the things I need to buy, such as this toilet.  And being able to buy some things I want. 

With that, I'm ending this one. Still haven't decided what to do with the rest of today, lol. 

Mid week.
I got called out on what I had hoped would be a day off after a co worker called in for need to go see a doctor.
It was a relatively short run, 2 days, still worth around $700.  I went up to my usual parking spot next to the bowling alley, but didn't go bowling this time neither did I get a hotel room,.  The rate at that hotel goes up and down - substantially - on any given day.  There is a Days Inn on the other side of that bowling alley and looks as tho there is room for a truck to park there as well.  I haven't actually done the hotel thing in a while now on any of these runs.

That mostly due to the fact that time didn't permit.  I mostly only want to do a hotel if there is ample time to stay at it, ie: I got there early to mid afternoon (destination) the day before delivery.  I didn't really show up up there that early, as it was a later load time and it took over 3 hours to get loaded. 

Anyway, no issues on that trip.  By the time I got back to the yard yesterday, I noticed I was almost out of available hours.  Meaning I've been doing some serious running the last 8 days.  So, that forced the issue of a 34 hour reset and hence, I am home today, probably not tomorrow however.  For whatever reason, we are extremely busy and there isn't any time off being given excepting of course for the forced time off we have to take.

I suppose a 3 day run would be nice and get home to have Sunday off.  I'd really like to go to church.  I'd really also like 2 days off in a row.  I guess that's not going to happen anytime soon.  But a nice dream. 

I am currently saving for a trip to Phoenix. I haven't been there in something like 2 years.  I would like to take a look at the property - tho I know it's being maintained very nicely.  See some friends, stay with mom a couple days, see my son and visit him and his new wife at their digs in Tempe.  I've got to save up not only for a trip, but also for the days off that i won't get paid for.  But a few weeks running like I have been pretty much pays for it and then some. 

Meanwhile, taking advantage of today. I've put off store visits for a bit because - I get home from these trips and need down time.  But, you can only do that so long before the pressure of things you need to get done take precedence. Such as a hair cut, things for the truck, things for the house, groceries, etc.  So, off to the races!

Trip to Cheneire was - eventful.  After spending over 3 hours in the plant due to a mistake by the plant operator, I drove down there.  I got within 12 miles of the plant, coming up to an interchange I needed to get on. Police blocking it/  They tried to wave me on, not happening. I asked them how long? Bad accident, fatalities, road blocked for a 5 mile stretch, accident investigation team just showed up, you're looking at a minimum 2 hours, probably longer than that.  They were nice about it. I asked them how to get around?  They said well you can wait at the truck stop but yes, it's going to be hours or, you can go - such and such a route and that will take you there. 

So I started this route and then started looking at maps. Because of where Cheneire is, there is only 2 ways in there. One from the Texas side and one from the Louisiana side.  It turned out to be a 105 mile drive to get there.  Yes, you read that right: a 105 mile detour.  It was the only other way there.  Well, I got out onto I-10 and decided I would get some fuel just to be safe.  I can say you with great assurance that that was a very good decision after what happened later on.  I got a hot dog, figured it might be a while before eating again and I hadn't stocked my fridge for this run, it was only supposed to be a day run, go down, come back up, ,go back to the plant in the morning and head up to Illinois.

Yea, didn't quite work that way.  The drive along the beach was great tho.  All these beautiful houses up on stilts, the beach right there next to the road way with the waves lapping up in some places almost all the way to the road itself.  Pretty cool.  Anyway, I got there, got checked in, got into Gate A, they told me to wait at the hill. I waited at that hill for almost 2 hours for them to show up.  When I got to the rack to unload, I was told to hook everything up, but - don't start building pressure. This all turned into a nightmare.  Their plant pressure was too high, they were trying to bring it down.

I finally got word they had it "down" to 50, which is still high.  I got the truck pressure up to 90, turned off the pressure coil. It was still slowly building pressure after that, but I figured it would stop since no fluid was running through there. I was wrong.  We opened the valves and - all kinds of ethylene pouring out their faulty hookup.  Long day growing longer, we tried several times to get the hookup to not leak.  This went on forever.  I mean, I had 4-1/2 hours of on duty time left on the clock when I got there, plenty of time to get unloaded.  When I finally left, I had to drive to their parking lot and spend the night there, I was totally out of hours and couldn't drive anywhere legally.  Not to mention my company would flag me for driving over hours.  I had no food with me. My mistake.  I just figured this would be an overnight trip, or at worst, I'd find a place to stop and eat.  But, as I stated, this plant is out in the middle of nowhere. There aren't any stores out there. I think the nearest one is 8 miles away on that Gulf Beach Highway. 

I spent a fitful night's sleep, got up early this morning, drove back to the yard.  I had already given up the load to Illinois, foregone conclusion I wasn't making it back in time and there was another driver who wanted the load, I gave it up to him freely.  I visited with Donny and Rene at Applebee's, went home to find a houseful of people. I knew they were there, tho. The older kid - 3 year old - was brought home by grandma.  Grandma made dinner - pretty good stuff - and they left earlier this evening. 

So, I'm sitting here watching the final season episode of the Walking Dead when I get a text from my manager: Joe has to go to the doctor tomorrow, can you take his spot?  OK, I didn't want to work tomorrow. I didn't say that to anyone, just in my mind. Once it gets into my mind, it's hard to dismiss it.  I "should" be off until Tuesday since all load are doled out for Saturday, Sunday and Monday on Friday.  It wasn't totally shocking tho.  I've come to expect that my life can be interrupted by this job at just about any time.  I've also come to expect that the truck can break down at any time and I may have to spend time in hotels. Or, the plant will reject the load until they are able to take it. Or the plant has problems and it's going to take forever to get the product off of the truck.  Or whatever. 

There is no set schedule is the point. It has it's pros and it's cons.  I'm dealing with it for now.  Probably not a forever job, but it's doing what i needed it to do.  I've had years and years worth of getting home every day and not working weekends, those thought processes haven't left my mind.  I'm slowly getting accustomed to this job, but I can't say that I'm just fine with it yet.  If I'm out on the road too long, I start getting antsy.  My thoughts go towards home and it's hard to shake.  But as I said, it's getting easier over time. 

I told Ann sure, I'll take it, having no idea where it's going on how long I'll be out.  Turns out it's going to Barnsdall, which I actually like. It's the place where I get up there the day before - usually pretty early, sometimes get a hotel, park next to the bowling alley, eat at that fabulous Mexican food place, maybe throw a few games on the bowling alley, enjoy myself.  I haven't taken a hotel in a while, if I get up there early enough, I might just do it.  Oh, wait, let me check the price of that place. Last time I was up there it was almost $100 and I won't do that. 

Well the Candlewood Suites is at $76, but I forgot about the Days Inn on the other side. It's going at $57.  I dunno, I'll make that decision tomorrow. I can't book in advance because you never know if you're going to even make it up there.  I've had too many breakdowns.  Anyway the run isn't worth as much as some other overnight runs - unless of course they have problems at the plant and I get detention pay, but I've already had several good runs, 3 consecutive, so no biggies.  Next paycheck should be awesome, especially considering that this run should also be on that paycheck since I should be back in time to get it posted. 

There is plethora of other things I wanted to discuss, but it's getting late and I am very tired. 

I'm back from Illinois.  I checked in at the office after unhooking the truck and getting my paperwork done.  There were two other drivers in there talking with Ann.  I was too busy to stop, at that moment anyway, trying to get my stuff done, get in my car and go meet Taylor and James for dinner at Applebee's.  Their treat : ). 

But, after I got it all done, Ann comes up and says, well, I've got two runs for you this weekend.  I mean, I just got back, I'm thinking, I'm ready for a day off at least.  But I didn't say that.  No point in it.  But I was still a bit incredulous, considering how these runs work: 2 runs?  You're joking. She started laughing so I thought, yes, she's joking.

Uhh, no, I'm not.  Cheniere tomorrow and Mapleton, Illinois, on Sunday.  She knows I won't say no t any runs she wants to give me.  I just won't. I might as well just work and get the paychecks. I had extended time off and it showed on today's check, but I expected it.  Anyway, tomorrow will be a full 14 hours. There is no guarantee I get it done in time to be back at the yard before the clock runs out. 

I could tell she was giving leeway for that.  Meaning, even if I had to take a 10 hour break to get back, load time isn't til later in the morning.  I would basically be getting to the yard the next morning, dropping a trailer, hooking up to  another and heading straight back to the plant.  That's not ideal, tho, cause' that means you don't have the full 14 hours for that next trip. You ate up some of it on the first one and the way she has this planned, it's gonna have to work perfectly for it to work.

So, that's my last several days.  The trip wasn't bad.  I found a new app that give MUCH more options for truck parking, not just truck stop parking lots.  It's any known places where trucks can park.  This is much more advantageous for those of us truck drivers that don't want to live in freaking truck stops.  I mean, it even includes hotel where trucks can park - albeit the driver isn't staying at the hotel.  In this case, it was a restaurant that has enough space out back for maybe 4 or 5 trucks.  And I have to tell ya, the truck stop a few miles down the road was crammed full of trucks the day I passed through and this morning, coming back, same thing. 

I spent two nights at that restaurant, had some very nice food and didn't have to deal with all the bs at truck stops. There are only 2 advantages staying at a truck stop: fuel and showers.  Fuel no biggies, can stop anytime for that, showers a bit more difficult because can be time consuming just getting into a shower.  Many times there is a wait. If I'm stopped for fuel and want to get a shower, it's just a matter of whether I'm lucky enough that there is an immediate opening.  If not, I'm out of there and down the road. 

Well tomorrow is going to be a long day. I"ve only been home a few hours - went and got the dogs tho.  I won't make apologies for bringing them home even if only for one night and taking them back again tomorrow, early.  And tomorrow evening, same thing, if I get home. 

Anyway, I'm bushed. Time to go to sleep. 

I didn't figure it would take her long to find a job. She started looking 2 days ago, she's off to work this morning, already.  That would be Taylor.  The job she found is right up here alley: quality control. That was the type of job she had here when they left for Georgia.  The pay isn't the greatest but she's getting a foot in the door. They will find out quickly that she's smart, even keeled and is really management material.  I predict she will move up quickly, if there is room to move up at that place.  If not, it's a job that will bring income.  They're kinda broke- neither of them is working. James is waiting on his license which could be another week and a half.

You can only live on borrowed money for so long.  She hasn't worked since she left almost 2 years ago, she said she was nervous this morning.  I figured she'll get over that quickly and fit right in there.  I'm just happy that at least one of them is going to have an income.  I kinda had this feeling I would end up having to cover the mortgage here - and that would break my bank quickly.  I'd have to beg Ann to stay out on the road continuously, something I don't want to do.  Anyway, good on her, maybe a tough decision considering they just got back here and not everything is even put up yet.

The talk of the day is this situation in Syria and the Chinese leader apparently caving to the pressure that Trump has applied on trade equalization.  Note that there hasn't been the dire trade war the left has been predicting would happen. It's as if they want America to fail just so they can see Trump go down in flames? While we all go down with him?  That doesn't even make any sense.  Not to mention these liberals and democrats are praising this Chinese leader for "taking the first step and making himself look like the better man".  What the hell is wrong with these people? We are talking communist China, not Sweden or Switzerland or something.

Well anyway, I went to pay my cell service bill, had totally forgotten about the $300 credit I managed to get.  I owe nothing and still have substantial credit left over : )  Kinda nice considering I took all that time off. This is pay week, but I am not expecting much of a paycheck.

Well, I've been doing quite a bit of driving in the last 4 days. 2 round trips to Brownsville. it was  my favorite run until they apparently figured out how to keep the yard down there having at least one of our empty trailers in it. Well it's still a good run, just not as good as when you have to wait and get paid for it.  Actually, I could just do that run all the time and I wouldn't mind it.  I have the route memorized, tho I got lost yesterday trying to find my way through Houston.

Houston has hazmat routes.  You have to go 610 east or west to go around downtown. That or the tollway which takes you even further out of the way.  I can't drive 59 through the center of town and I can't drive I49 either.  Well, I went east on 610 yesterday only to find it shut down. I got off and ended up on an unfamiliar freeway, which took me to either 49 north or 49 south.  49 north had no hazmat sign on it, so I had to go south. I really don't remember how many different freeways I was on until I eventually ended up back on 610 east - beyond the construction that had it shut down.

Anyway, if Ann sent me down there again tomorrow, I certainly wouldn't complain.  But, I'm pretty sure my next run is either going to be a short one or a very long one.  Brownsville is in between - but for a 2 day run it's really excellent pay. I make around $700 each trip - 3 of those a week, well that's pay I wouldn't balk at, lol. The cool part about the Brownsville trip is it's just an overnighter. Unless there is a delay, then I get paid to wait and I get to go to a hotel, which I very much like as well.

Well I got the rent paid back for the new house and I got the money lent to James and Taylor paid back today.  That was a sigh of relief.  $1,300 of money.  I'm seriously glad to have this moving behind me, but it's really burnt me out. I'm trying not to do much of anything for a while and just recover from all of this.  I had to find a house - a feat in itself in this market, get the house secured, contact a lot of companies for services for the house, buy a refrigerator, move them, move me, move my friends back in, deal with the aftermath.  Plus work.  Plus other things I need to deal with.

Funny how much life costs.  I'm responsible for utilities, satellite and internet for 3 houses now.  Fortunately I am not actually paying all of that on my own.    I'm paying this house I'm living in, I'm giving Rene and Donny $200 per month towards costs for watching my dogs - which they have already spent quite a bit of time over there.

And, I might add, they are absolutely LOVING that place. The back yard is HUGE.  Addler can gallop like a horse and not have to slow down, making long, sweeping turns - or - coming to abrupt stops.  Aspyn is playing a game with him by hiding in  a stand of thickets that Addler won't go into. She comes barreling out of it only to have Addler chasing her all over the place.  Then she either high-tails it back to the thickets or comes crawling up under a human chair, lol.  Not as if Addler would do anything to her, tho, he loves to play.

Now, they need a lot of stuff over there, no doubt.  But I covered the basics and they can get by with it. I'll pick up stuff over time, but hopefully they can charm someone's heart and maybe some people will give them stuff.  Still, I have my own bedroom in the house - Addler and Aspyn sleep in it.  I'm not sleeping there, that bed is wayyyyy too soft for me, I wouldn't sleep at all. I am still helping both parties out with food.  They're all basically broke. I'm the only one at the moment bringing in an income outside of government sources.  But that changes tomorrow, at 5am.  Taylor is going to start working with a friend at a Taco Cabana in a nearby town.  They are going to go broke quickly if one of them doesn't start bringing in an income, she saw that and she is leading the way in that department.  I'm paying more than my fair share of costs here, which I don't mind but they definitely need to be able to at least make the mortgage payment.

Oh, anyway, Rene did score a table - but no chairs.  So I'm gonna see if i can find some cheap to go with it.  There are some affluent people in that neighborhood. Also some people that are retired but obviously well off.  I don't want to be the sole source of charity is all I'm saying. Rene is good at reaching out,  I hope she finds more stuff.


































                                                       

I'm kind of slacking on posting because I have been too busy.  Yesterday - April's fools day and Easter - basically did me in.  It started with me getting up early and finishing moving my stuff out of the now-old bedroom and into my new one.  Then, the cleaning people showed up and did their thing.  Not long after, Taylor arrived and shortly after that James in the U-Haul.  They had far more stuff than I had remembered. They had obviously picked up quite a bit of stuff since they had moved to Atlanta. The U-Haul James arrived in was much larger than the Uhaul they left here in 2 years ago.  The thing was packed from front to back, floor to ceiling.

But, we had to wait for them to finish cleaning.  I was busy trying to fix a clogged up drain. Of which, on and off, I worked on the entire day.  I snaked that thing out 3 times, the last time going about 15 feet into it.  There is not way, I thought, that this drain could still be clogged.  None of the rest of the house was clogged up and 15 feet? I must have gotten to a tee, because I couldn't go any further.  I almost panicked when the snake wouldn't pull out of the drain for the fact it was in there so far and around so many turns.

We tried Drano after that to no avail and then this stuff that's basically sulfuric acid after that.  I was stumped.  I threw in the towel, declaring that I had given up after fooling with it all day long.  Then, a friend of Taylor and James came over and we were discussing guns - the favorite topic of everyone around here, and no, not on a political basis, these people just love guns.  It came up about the sink and I offered everything I had done.  This guy said, well just the vent stack, it might be clogged up.  It never even crossed my mind to see if the vent was clogged up.  We decided to do that the next morning since it was already late at night.

Meanwhile, there were a large number of people that had shown up to help move and so, Rene cooked a huge dinner.  A whole ham and a whole turkey that I had bought earlier in the year on sale.  I figured we needed to eat that stuff before it started to get the freezer burn taste.  I made a big pot of home made mashed potatoes - turned out really good actually.
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Well, after an excellent night's sleep, I'm feeling much better.  That stuff really took a toll on my body.  I'm not 20 years old anymore, lol.  I have clothing to go through, kind of let that build up in my closet, no point in keeping clothes I don't wear anymore.  Anything in good shape I'll take to Goodwill, the rest is getting chucked. 

Oh, finish the story I started above, I got distracted yesterday.  I'm not really the big eater I used to be and Rene and Donny don't eat a whole lot either.  But I knew these people are all younger and would likely have huge appetites, hence the reason I wanted both a ham and a turkey for Easter celebration. I wasn't wrong, either.  They devoured that entire turkey.  I mean, I spent 30 minutes cleaning off the tidbits and came up with a nice amount of leftovers, but the "real" meat of it was entirely gone. They went through 2/3rd's of that ham.  And half of a huge pot of mashed potatoes. It was amazing seeing them eating all that food. 

Besides that irritating drain clog, the day was a success. We got all their stuff moved into the house.  I got all my stuff moved into my room, laundry done.  We had a couple beers that night - well they wre doing shots but whatever.

Then yesterday, after discovering that the vents were clogged and that fixed the problem, a huge monkey off of our backs.  Plumbers aren't exactly cheap. Even the "cheap" ones are charging a $60 fee just to walk through your front door and at least $100 to clear out the drain.  I'm not complaining about plumber fees, they have to earn a living, just right now, spending money is not on my list of things to do.  As it stands, I'll get my $800 back for front the rent money today and the $500 I loaned James and Taylor to get over here. They borrowed money from a relative but the check didn't actually clear until today.  They wouldn't have been able to make it back here without the funds I loaned them. 

I've been off work far too long, that's gonna hurt in a few weeks, but it is what it is. I needed the time off, just not getting paid for it.  That will eventually change and I will get $24 hourly wage for comp time.  Right now, I'm gonna hit the road tomorrow morning and ask her to keep me as busy as she can for a while to get back ahead. I would really like a run to Brownsville and spend 2 days waiting for  a trailer and get all that detention pay.  But, I have no control over where I'm going unless I happen to be sitting in her office and she asks me where I would like to go, throwing out available options.

Yesterday was leftover day, but I can see that cooking is no longer optional. Rene change her stance on it, she says now "she'll cook sometimes".  I'm just blowing that off and treating it like she isn't going to cook at all.  That way I won't think, gee, she's coming to cook today.  Instead, I'll have to pull out the cooking hat again and starting thinking in those terms. James and Taylor are good cooks too, but they just don't like to do it  I remember now that I would clean up if they did the cooking lol. 

But, James is getting his Texas license and then, he'll be applying at a place he's already talked to and then off to trucking school. He'll be gone a long time.  At least two weeks to start with, maybe a short home visit and then out on the road.  But probably longer.  However long the school is at the compound, that's how long he's going to be gone. I think it's a month and then you get paired up with a trainer and sent out on the road for a while to learn the ropes.

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I got my wish. A run to Brownsville. I can only hope there won't be any trailers waiting and that I'll have at least a 24 hour wait for one to show up. That would be dreamy like, the pay for waiting is substantial and worth it.  I've been off work for a while now, I will need the cash once I get a full paycheck again. 

Anyway, it's a lazy day today.  Thundershowers, rain pouring, dogs wanted inside. I was enjoying the rain but I decided to come in and watch a movie. I haven't had a TV in my room in almost 2 years. I could have had it installed in that other room, but I just said no to it an hanged out in the living room instead if I wanted to watch the news or a movie.  Not into much else on TV, but it's a nice diversion for today. 

Took yet another chance on an internet find for a person to come help today.  I was starting to get nervous when 9am came around and had heard nothing from him.  I texted him at 9:05 am and received no word, but then.....he came up in his car. We got straight to work.  Carrying out beds, furniture, kitchen stuff, personal items.  This guy was working his tail off, very happy I happened on one that actually has a work ethic.

This went on for 3 hours straight and we finally got it all over there. I think Rene has a few items left but they can come back for that stuff in Donny's pickup.

So, the dude has now switched to his cleaning service - which is why I called him over here in the first place.  The moving part was an unexpected bonus, I was planning on finding someone else to help me.  Much easier to just transition straight into cleaning - of which I'm doing none of.  At least not right now.  I'm taking a short break and then prepare my room for the move over there.  I need him to help me move my bed, a computer table and a futon over there.  The rest I can do myself while he continues on with his cleaning project, which is the entire house.

Now, this house isn't filthy or anything.  It's got some dust here and there and the windows need cleaned. But I wanted the couches and my futon shampooed and cleaned, the carpets cleaned and just spiffy up the rest of the house, get it smelling good in here for their return.  I was going to have the living room floor redone - stripped sanded and rewaxed but I couldn't find anyone to do it under a thousand dollars so I passed on that one.  It really is a do it yourself project if you have the time.

Time being the operative word.  I don't have the time for it.  You have to rent a special machine to sand the floor down - in this case the floor is definitely going to have to be sanded.  It's a lot of work, at least from what I read describing how to do the job.  I suppose I could have done it with time I've had off, but really, just wasn't in the cards.  I was busy running around getting stuff done and I was attempting to get all of the services turned on over there.  Plus attempting to get my own stuff ready to move.  I didn't get as far along with that as I wanted to, but it's not really that much stuff, it won't take me too terrible long to get all my stuff moved over there and frankly, I don't have to have it done today, I can also finish up tomorrow morning.
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Went off to Applebee's, met up with Donny. Rene going off on him again.  She's being doing this for a while, the move not being especially helpful to her mood, apparently.  Basically being handed a gift on a platter but acting like the world owes her everything.  Mood swings. Wouldn't surprise me if she's bi-polar.  She is in constant pain, tho, I have some sympathy for her.  But she takes it out on the people that care for her.  Bad chemistry.  Donny is in a peculiar situation.  He could, of course, go off on his own. He doesn't really have enough to have his own place, not with his love of satellite tv and unlimited internet.  Rather costly, the Directv set up he likes. He pays for it - but that's only because he's paying room rent, not paying for an entire house.

He's also in bad health.  I'm not putting the man down, I'm just saying it like it is. He's a cool dude, no doubt about that. But his health is ailing.  He doesn't have hopes of being alive until he can start collecting SS.  I don't wish it upon him, but I do wonder the same.  He declared that this house - the one he just moved into - is the house he wants to die in. Moving is hard on anyone, but certainly a person getting up there and in poor health. I had to politely ask him today to please slow down, stop moving around, take a breather.  I understand he wants to put in his fair share, but that's what I hired a younger guy to do, do half the heavy lifting, I did the other half.  And even the light lifting, just take it easy.  Donny can stand to get some exercise, but not under this kind of duress.

It's just a person in that condition finding another place on their own, well, I'm sure it can be done but how much of a toll on that person while doing it?

And update: Rene, once again, apologized to both him and me for running her mouth.

Whatever the case, I'm 2/3rd's done with my room move.  I worked on getting them moved all day and then, took a short nap, then went back to work.  I've got the big stuff moved into my room. My computer desk and got my computer all set up again in here. That was mandatory, lol.

I woke up at around 2:45 am, well before I needed to.  I also knew that I would never get back to sleep simply because the work day loomed in m mind, instantly and so, get up early.  I didn't feel bad then, but I knew later on I would be paying for it.

Same thing as always: get to the yard, hook up to the appointed trailer, pre-trip inspection, check pressure, fill out paperwork, head to plant.  Showed up at plant early, like 4:40 am.  But, the guy working the Ethylene rack was already at the scale house, waiting on me. 

I mean, he got right to work and tit was over fast enough, faster than normal really, but then< i had to wait for an extended period at the scalehoue because we had switched drivers.  I was supposed to be subbing for the second driver, I ended up subbing for both, which threw the plant paperwork off, they had the BOL ready for the first load, not the second. 

By the time I was leaving that plant, tho, I was starting to feel it. It always hits me on that early load time, which is why I hate it and will defer from it any time I can.  My head started aching, I was feeling very poor and I just wanted to go home. thank God that's exactly what I did after I got back to the yard.  I never saw the other driver, but he wasn't  able to fire up a truck and leave with it until later anyway.  Which was the whole point, he was schedule for X loading time, he couldn't do it because he was on reset. 

Got home, slept for 3 hours, got up from that and still felt miserable. Went out to Kroger's, bought a bunch of meat that was on sale, probably 70 pounds worth.  They are moving back, they have much bigger appetites than any of us, they are not in a position yet to be able to afford better meals, I'm in a position where I don't mind helping out for a while until they get back on their feet and can contribute. 

That's what I do in life, that's what I've always done my entire adult life.  I know these people, they are worth the investment.  She will get a job, he will get his training and go OTR.  Not a move I would pick, but he's got to live his life.  I just say that because of his kids.  But, there are other reasons that really do make more sense for a person like that to go that route for a career.  He's a great person, I'm not saying anything bad about him at all.  The other concern I have is that eventually ... and ti may be years or even decades down the road - the industry is going to switch to autonomous trucks - no human drivers. 

I think especially for someone just going into the business. In my case, I'm fairly confident I have enough time left to finish out my career and be done with it before they figure out how to deal with driverless trucks doing hazmat.  And for now, they are only designed these trucks to be aids to a human driver, not to replace them. But it's coming.  Robotics are going to take over a lot of jobs and I have to wonder about the future of this nation.  Will robots do more damage to the economy by eradicating so many jobs that they companies using the robotics end up losing business because  too much of their clientele have been put out of work? 

This is the first Sunday in quite a long time that I have been able to be home.  And since I made a couple hundred dollars today, I don't mind this at all.  Tomorrow, I wasn't given a run so I assume Tuesday I'm out of town.  I hope a 4 day run, get back on Friday and then 3 days off.

As for the rest of this day?  I doubt I'm going to be doing much of anything.  Unless I get a call to go somewhere tomorrow, I intend on getting some stuff done tomorrow but relax today. 

So the situation has changed for tomorrow morning. I was to get up, get to the yard get my truck, hook up to trailer and get to the plant by 6 am.  Now, I am doing 2 favors for 2 different drivers.  These people best remember this stuff.  I like whatever precious time I have off and to have to get up at 3:30 am to do a favor for someone is really pushing it for me.  I don't like the first slot and that's that.

But, Marie called me from somewhere in Alabama and asked I could - well it first it sounded like she was asking me to get her trailer loaded too.  I don't think so, I won't be able to get to the yard with the full trailer and back in time for the second appointment.  No, that's not it.  Well what is it? I won't be able to make it in time for the first appointment that I was scheduled for, can you take the first slot for me and get Troy's trailer filled and then I will be there in time for the second slot.

I agreed.  I didn't want to, I hate that first slot.  But after thinking about it, I hate it because it's so freaking early and then you have to drive all day long.  Tomorrow won't be like that. I'll get the trailer filled up, take it back to the yard and then go home and sleep. Or if I'm too tired, I'll sleep in the sleeper for a few hours and then go home. Either way, I don't have to spend the entire day driving.

So, it still sucks but not near as bad as the normal scenario.  I'm a fan of the 3rd slot, but the 2cd slot is better for having a lot of day hours to drive after getting out of the plant.

Anyway, I got quite a bit done today.  And realized that my trailer is out of current registration. So Monday morning, I'll do deal with that. It went out at the end of February.  Cops around these parts are sticklers for getting people on expired plates on trailers.  I could probably get away with it on this move on having to go 2 miles, but why risk it.  The courthouse is a mile away, lol. It's where you pay the taxes for registration.

I have a few other aspirations for today, but that early thing is going to get me, so I may just resign to the idea that I've gotten done what I'm going to get done and that's that.

The logistics of moving 3 separate entities on a couple days time in and out of the same house is rather interesting.

Alarm went off at 6 am.  I shut if off and went back to sleep. I was sluggish and didn't want to get up. 45 minutes later my brain said, hey, you wanna get home today?
Get out of bed!
It was a comfortable hotel room bed, the room didn't stink and I could have stayed there sleeping for several more hours.

I took a long, hot shower.  I just couldn't motivate myself this morning.  The hot water felt good.  I was in there at least 20 minutes.  I finally got out of there, got dressed, got all my stuff, headed to the truck.  Then went to try anything they might have that might seem appetizing at their breakfast bar. A couple of sausage links and a bowl of cereal with a cup of coffee.

After I had settled in for the night, last night, a couple of other cars showed up at some of the rooms.  But other than that, the place was still deserted.  If i were the dude that purchased the place, which I'm not, but if so and with that bad of a reputation, I would be all over the trucks with special truck rates. There is nothing there locally, it's a ghost town, it's totally an Interstate driven business and thousands upon thousands of trucks pass it on a daily basis.

I'll do my part.  Several trucking apps that show hotels and their customer ratings.

Anyway, I got out of there, started driving. Dog tired.
I climbed out of that phase, drove 400 miles before stopping again, and that only because I needed fuel. And the need to stop for fuel drove me past the point of being able to stop with a 30 minute rest period. So, I fueled, made lunch out of my refrigerator, threw away garbage, did paperwork, checked the truck and trailer and was out of there. I only had 76 miles to go.

I got back to the yard and spent quality time with my manager. We went out to the trailer and I showed her the various problems with it - the main one being the manual vent valve that wasn't closing fully and letting liquid Ethylene pass through it and - onto the floor of the cabinet where the valves are located. I figured she wouldn't like the pressure - especially leaving it over the weekend, so I opened up the valve and blew off 31 pounds of pressure.  Then she said there was another trailer that needed vented but she couldn't get the valve open. Got that vented off too and then? Home. For the weekend.

I got home, dogs went crazy. Gone 4 days, that's too much for Addler, he can't deal with that. I'm gone overnight or a couple of nights, that's fine, but beyond that he gets grumpy.

After that - lots of talking.  What went on here when I was gone and my buddy and his parents showed up.  Sounded like it all went well, though. The parents slept in my bed, which is fine, but my sheets are " dirty".  Lol, I don't like to sleep on sheets that someone else has slept on.  Just doesn't work for me. I didn't get them washed tonight, so I will be putting other sheets on there over top of them. They don't fit the bed or I would just change it out.  I'm going to go out and buy 2 sets of sheets for that bed because this is going to happen enough while I'm gone after they move back  in that I don't want to have to deal with it.

And then? My manager calls me.  I dreaded that, she told me I could have the weekend off to recuperate.  I'm dead tired. I mean, I am only staying awake long enough to ensure I will either sleep through the night, or if I do wake up, I will be able to go back to sleep. And I fully intend on sleeping in in the morning. But, she has a driver that is coming back on Saturday night. He won't be able to get the trailer loaded because he will still be out of hours.  Could I please load the trailer for him?  Or, if you want the load, you can have it as well. Brownsville. Tempting, but I'm exhausted. I got sick on this trip and I never had time off to get well.  I don't really want to take time off, per se, but that dude can have the Brownsville trip on Sunday and I will hope that she gives me a nice, long run on Tuesday. I had expected a trip on Monday, but that didn't happen.  \

She's out of enough trailers right now, I guess it works out that I haven't been feeling well - but still driving - and taking a couple days off isn't that bad for me.  Trailers are a constant issue. The one I brought back will have to be taken into the facility that built it down in Houston. There are 4 other trailers already out of commission. Remember, these are specialty trailers, there aren't thousands of them floating around.

So if Monday IS off, I will spend it getting other stuff done.  But, then I have 3 days coming up off on the next weekend.  I'm concerned about paychecks is all. After living with pathetic paychecks from 12 year employer, though, I can deal with it. I'm trying to get ahead, is all, even a nominal paycheck at this place is twice and  a half more than I made a the old place.

____________________

Now Saturday morning - late Saturday morning.  I slept in today.  I won't be able to do that tomorrow so I figured to take advantage of it today.  My manager didn't give me anything for Monday, so I'm assuming I won't be at work again until Tuesday.  I reminded her of the 3 days off I need next weekend - Saturday Sunday and Monday.  She had that down.  Just making sure.  I can't now have those days off.  It will not be any fun stuff, at all, excepting to see everyone moving back in again. And a bunch of their friends are going to show up to help them get moved back into the house, so that's a big plus right there.  It means I can focus on getting my old room set up again while they are busy getting their stuff back and and starting to unpack. 

Going to get out there today and offload the stuff that is on my trailer and get that ready to move my friends out of here.  It's only a mile and a half away, so not a long distance move, it's more just getting the stuff onto and off the trailer than it is the time spent traveling.  I'm really not looking forward to any of this, lol. 

Meanwhile, at work.  The other 2 drivers - that have yet to learn how to unload these trailers - are finally going to be thrust into it. Their days of ease are going to be over.  I didn't say anything to anyone about it, but I thought it extremely unfair that I was sent up to PA to battle it out with blizzards and sub zero temps and thrust into this world of unloading cryogenics while all this time, they have had to do none of that.  The point is that they get a lot of the gravy runs because of it. 

Well, one of them is going down to  Cheniere with another driver - tomorrow I think it is - and is going to be forced to learn how to unload this stuff.  It's only fair that they get the junk run along with the good ones.  I'm guessing tenured drivers have been complaining about it.  You get these short runs - they're good for a day's work, I guess, but you have to run hard, all 14 hours, all day long, to get it done and get back.  And then, the next day you don't get another run, so you've lost 2 days on a crappy run, basically.  Cheniere is worth close to $400 when you add up everything, which if you could do it every day of the week, great.  But you can't, the only way any of that is fair is if it's evenly handed out to everyone.  The El Dorado run is another example of a short run that doesn't really pay that much considering it winds up going into 2 days to finish it. 

And then, there's all this fun stuff like 2 days ago having Ethylene blasting out of a tube and haven't a freaking clue what to do about it.  It's not like I was trained on any of this stuff.  Even after calling an experienced driver and figuring out what was happening, he had no clue what to do either. The situation corrected itself. The product is so cold it must have froze up wherever it was escaping through that valve.  At least they did end up putting that trailer out of service.  It's being sent back down to the manufacturer in Houston to address the numerous problems.  The fact that these trailer are less than a year old and already having all of these problems is not a good sign. 

But, I"m getting tanker experience.  I need to stick there at least a year if possible before thinking about moving on to anything else.  I need to have that on my resume - that I have hauled the hazardous materials, the stuff that is extremely flammable, can blow up, freeze you or suffocate you and show that I am competent with it.  I feel like I handled myself pretty well a few days ago considering the gravity of the situation.  Fortunately, in those plants, there is no smoking allowed and sources of ignition are no where present the unloading site.  Well, they do allow smoking, but only in designated areas and nowhere in the vicinity where this product is being handled. 

Anyway, once this other driver is trained - and they will considered him trained after this trip whether he knows everything or not - he will be dumped into this system as well. There are a lot of nuances to learn, as I am finding out on each of these adventures, such as keeping the pressure up on a pump system versus keeping the pressure up on a pressure unload system. Vastly different. No one bothered to tell me that, either.  I guess they've been doing it so long, they don't realize that a brand new person isn't going to know any of this stuff, a lot is taken for granted.  And for all 48 hours of training I went through, literally none of it was hands on training.  None of it taught anything about how to unload the trucks or taught anything about the potential problems you might encounter.  So, I still get a little nervous every time I have to unload just for the problems I have already experienced and what unknowns might occur next. 

I'll tell ya one thing.  All that safety gear they issued me when I first started? I have all of that stuff on, every single time unless it's a drop and hook. Fire proof jump suit, solid leather shoes with steel toes, a hard hat with a plastic shield to protect your face and safety goggles under neath that, Welder style gloves that protection your hands from the freezing cold running through those lines.  I'm now leaving the face shield down the entire time.  I don't trust any of that equipment, if that stuff blows into your face, your face is basically going to come off.  I know various ways to shut off the flow of the Ethylene if there is an emergency. 

It still seems insane to me that this company has people operating equipment like this that they haven't fully trained anyone on.  In fact, I was given a "Class B" card when I started saying I can haul it but not authorized to unload it.  That never changed.  Not that I'm going to take any flak from the safety department over it, that wasn't my doings. When they sent me up to PA, I didn't learn until I got there that I would have to offload the LNG.  I was pretty well shocked, scared and terrified all at the same time when that manager started talking about that.  I flatly told him I have never unloaded any of this stuff.  He just gave me a look. Well I"m sure you'll do just fine.

WTH?!! I'm sure I'll do just fine, what?  Screwing up and dying? Those were thoughts coursing through my mind at the time.  I ate those words and thought, ok, it's come to Jesus time, deal with it Ben, get through it and after it's all over, you'll have learned a lot of stuff that you probably weren't going to learn any other way.  And boy did that prediction come true on that trip.  And ever since then.  It all unloads pretty much the same, all of these cryogenics.  Once you've learned on, you've learned a lot about all of it. There is a product they haul that ignites paper and wood and such on fire if it comes into contact with it - I"m really NOT interested in hauling that stuff.  And now I'm learning from drivers for other companies that hauling acid is a much more lucrative, well paying gig.  And, owning your own truck your profits triple. Not expenses, profits. These are people that have been in the business for decades, I'll take it they know what they're talking about. 

I even brought that up yesterday in the manager's office. Maybe I should just get my own truck.  The Safety Officer immediately chimed in, yes you should!  I don't know why he responded like that, but Ann just looked at me funny. Lol. It's a thought I will entertain for a while, tho not seriously until after I get a good amount of time doing this stuff under my belt.  I'm not really interested in being responsible for the maintenance on a truck just yet.  It costs a lot more of your personal time and tho the money may be awesome - $160 k per year - it's really quite the sacrifice, especially if you end up having problems with it.  And, I can foresee myself driving for another company somewhere down the line because I really cannot get used to this idea of 65 mph.  I'm sitting there with 90%  - actually more than that - of everything other vehicle on the Interstate passing me.  I've driven minimum 70 mph all my trucking life.  I thought by now I would be used to this 65 stuff, but it annoys me.  I could get much farther down the road in the same amount of time.  You drive 10 hours, that's another 50 miles.  There are many occasions where that 50 miles would have made the difference in getting a much nicer place to park or a better hotel room at a better price. 

Oh, forgot to say, I see other tankers cranking on down the road at minimum 70 every day, all day.  The solace I take in 65 mph is that even at that speed, I'm making far more money than a large percentage of other company drivers cranking down the road like that.  They have to go as fast as that truck will let them because those trucking companies put them on impossible time sensitive assignments with appointments that are near impossible to keep on-time.  If one thing goes wrong - accident that holds up traffic, rush hour traffic - whatever - you are not going to make that appointment and you are going to be shuffled to the end of the line and you are likely going to sit there waiting for hours and hours until they get enough free time to get to you. 

Well, I am rambling.  On and on, lol. Just the thoughts going through my head.  I probably ought to get busy.  I have a lot of prep work to do for next weekend, I guess these days off I probably should be happy with. I was just so tired last night, I went to bed - well I fell asleep in my computer chair, woke up a couple hours later, went to bed and then didn't get up to almost 10 this morning. 

Off to the races.

So, fresh story. First off, whatever I got hit with, it wasn't fun. Stopping at rest areas all the way down the line to take care of business.  I was thinking about just calling my manager and telling her these people at this plant are going to have to wait.  I am sick and I don't feel good. But, I thought twice about that - let's get this over with, hell or high water - and get going home. 

So I go up to a truck stop near the place. Actually, I tried to get into a hotel just down the road - I would have rather had a bathroom handy - but there was no place to park the truck, contrary to the manager's belief.  I sure as heck wasn't pulling it into his parking lot and the next nearest parking lot was full of cars.  Back to the truckstop - only a few miles away and spent the night there.  I was supposed to be at the plant at 6 am, but darn if I couldn't get myself up this morning;

That alarm went off and I felt like a ton of bricks had just been dumped on me.  I turned the thing off and went back to sleep for another half hour. So, yes, I was late, but only by 15 minutes and they didn't car.  But ohhh my, was I still feeling it. 

It only got worse.  I got the truck in there, got it backed up, got every thing set up.  We're standing there, opened up the pressure builder and started building pressure in the tank. But we all heard it: a hissing sound. I was like, where is that coming from?  It took awhile, but there is a 3 way valve that feeds the bladders that raise up when you push in a handle on the outside of the trailer.  It's an emergency shut off.  If there is a problem, you push that handle at the rear of the trailer or the handle at the front of the trailer - no, you pull it out - and it shuts off the valves allowing the product to be released from the tank. 

I had NO idea what to do, I am still new to this unloading business.  Most of the places we go to, we don't do any unloading.  Just some of them.  They went back inside, I stood there fooling with things til I figured it out - but had texted my manager about it.  Well, I figured out what to do about keeping air pressure up on that, which really was much more figuring out than it should have had to have been for something that seemingly simple. 

But then...I smelled Ethylene.  I've smelled it before, several times now actually, it has a distinct odor.  Neither pleasant nor bad, just an odor.  I started looking around and here it was, a tube was spilling it out the bottom of it.  I mean, you don't want to see any of this stuff coming out anywhere. In fact, you really don't ever want to see it at all.  It was pouring out that tube.  I shut everything down on my end, all the vales and the emergency shut off - it was still coming out of there at a high rate.  

I ran over and banged on the door to the facility, they needed to shut down there end of it. Not that it was going to affect the truck in any way.  Well, 2 of them come out, one of them starting sh******* his pants and having a literal panic attack.  I just looked at him.  I'm thinking, I can't afford to get panicky, I have to figure out what's going on here and figure out how to get it stopped. By then, my manager and this other driver had already called, but I had missed both calls. I'm not going to say I didn't get scared seeing that stuff coming out of there, but I fell far short of having a panic attack. I forced myself to keep at cool and collected as possible and work through this. 

Well, they left again. Which was fine by me, that dude needed to chill out.  I mean, f*** this and f*** that - every other word was an f  bomb and s*** and this and that and the other thing.  I ain't doing Ethylene.  I had my thoughts, I kept them to myself.  About that time, I called the dude back.  He knows his stuff.  I told him what was going on and he thought about it for a second and said, hold on, let me go back and look, I'm at they yard right now.  He says, well if there's product coming out of that tube, it means the manual blow vent valve isn't seated all the way. 

But, by then, I had already followed this tube's course and figured it out - the product is getting past that vent valve and it shouldn't be opened at all. But, I had already checked that before I even got started with anything. I go through and make sure all 13 valves are completely shut. No surprises, please.  Well, that vent valve was shut, tight.  I wasn't even able to move it when I tried to tighten it down. 

We're discussing this on the phone, and he says, well, try opening it up - quickly and shut it right back off - and see if you can get the valve to reseat.  I sat there with him on speakerphone and put all my might into that thing and couldn't get it to budge.  Now mind you, there is liquid in this system right now, not just vapor, opening that thing up would mean liquid shooting out of the top of the blow stack.  I wasn't really enjoying this experience, at all. It was much to much reminding me of the trip up to PA and all the problems I had had with the trailer they assigned to me while I was up there. Anyway, like magic, the flow stopped.  I figured that it had frozen up and wasn't allowing anything through there. 

But, I kept trying to open that valve and finally got that thing to budge, opened up up and shut it back off immediately, but even that had liquid shooting out the blow stack.  I firmly shut that valve, still nothing coming out of that tube.  There was still vapor coming out of the stack, but we figured that there was fluid on the exit side of the valve and it's going to sit there and boil until it all evaporates. 

I get these people back out there, let's do this.  It ain't leaking, I'll just keep recharging the air system for the bladders to stay up.  Started building pressure again.  They turned on the pump and away we went.  And away I went. Mother Nature wasn't telling me anything but go to the bathroom, and go right now or you are going to have an accident.  I left, just said I've got to go.  Just in time, got there.

Back outside.  Stood there for over 2 hours.  Got higher than a kite, btw.  I didn't know Ethylene willl get you high. I had read somewhere where it will be you feeling dizzy and such, but this was more like smoking pot.  I was standing there, leaning in the cabinet in that pool of Ethylene that was building up on the bottom of it - and immediately vaporizing and I was breathing in.  I didn't even give that a second's worth of thought at the time, was only focused on trying to get it to stop coming out. 

I can't lie here, I actually felt pretty darn good after that stuff hit my system lol.  Nothing I would ever do intentionally, but dang.  I ended up Googling it later on, it isn't extremely harmful to humans (tho there description leaves out the flammable part and the fact it's 125 below zero boiling point), has a list:    Ethylene is of low toxicity to humans and exposure to ethylene is unlikely to have any adverse health effects. However, inhalation of air containing extremely high levels of ethylene may lead to effects including headache, drowsiness, dizziness, nausea,weakness and unconsciousness.  

Okay, when it started wearing off I got a bit of a headache, but nothing serious or stopping  me from doing anything.  

I finally got out of that place hours later.  And I wasn't feeling none to good.  I didn't know what I was going to do. Drive? Or go find a place to park and sleep this crap off. The delivery is made, I can do either.  I decided to drive.  I actually started feeling better a few hours into the drive.  That's when I made my plan to drive at least 500 miles today.  I had already blown at least 4 hours at the plant, plus I knew I would have to stop for fuel and take a 30 minute break, so getting much over 500 probably wasn't going to happen.  \

I stopped driving about 20 minutes before I had to stop anyway.  I did not get my hotel last night, so I got one tonight.  It's a hotel that was just bought out by new management.  The new place is a Travelodge and it is nothing near as bad as the reviews said it was, but that's because the reviews are under the old hotel and it was, apparently, a total dump. They have remodeled the room I am in, fresh, carpet, nice furniture, comfy bed, nice bathroom. $50.  There are cheaper places around here, but not that much cheaper and not with it's own restaurant.  But, it's kind of eerie.  It's deserted. If there is anyone else staying at this motel, you can't tell it. There are no other cars parked anywhere excepting in front of the office and restaurant.  There aren't any people walking around.  The restaurant was empty, the hotel lobby was empty.  Looking at the reviews, this place has a bad reputation.  I am going to help change that.  It's not perfect but it's nowhere near as bad as some of these reviews are claiming - and those reviews may have very well been honest when old owners had this place.

I'm going to go to sleep in about an hour, get up at 6 am, get free breakfast and coffee, get out of here.  GPS tells me I have 6 hours and 54 minutes of drive time.  But it's never right. It's basing it off of you going the speed limit, which my truck can't do. It's set at 65 mph and most of these roads are 70mph. So you add at least 5 minutes per hour.  If you hit any traffic, it goes up.  Not to mention stopping for fuel. And then, if I go over 8 hours, I am forced to take a 30 minute break. So, I'm going to call it 8 and a half hours and I'm thinking that's pretty close to accurate.  I over estimate on my numbers with travel time, so I'm calling it 3 pm and I'll be back at the yard.  Home by 4:30 at the latest. I'm going to have to show the manager the stuff that went wrong, tho they know about it already, still.  I mean, they can't keep using these trailers that are always broken. 

Of course, the problem is the mechanic quit and we're left to fix as much of it as we can, otherwise, you might end up on a trip to Amarillo to get a valve replaced. Which is ridiculous but that' how they do it.  But then, you have both a driver and a trailer out of commission. 

Ugh, anyway. I"m starting to get tired.  It's been a long day. I never thought I would make it as far as I did today. I am happy to be in this hotel room.  I'm thinking I'm going to bed in a few minutes, not an hour, lol. 

A day from hell.  Started out okay, I guess.  Woke up before the alarm went off, saw my hours reset and decided fire up the truck, drive around the parking lot, refuel and head out.  I parked there last night on purpose: get into a place where I can refuel without going anywhere.  Get it done with my pretrip inspection logged the same.  And, not have to stop all day long after leaving.  I thought, anyway.

The day...didn't go as I wanted it.  My stomach started getting queasy. What did I eat? stuff in the fride, it's cold, it's fresh, there is nothing wrong with it ... and .... I hadn't had any since the night before. The only thing I got at truck stop was a hot cup of coffee. Next thing I know?  TMI - too much info.  Got off the Interstate quickly is what I will say, and too late.

After that.  I stopped 4 times to deal with "this".  I was feeling very crappy too,l I figured a bug, not just bad food.

So, I drove 517 miles dealing with all of that.  But that wasn't the supreme deal of this day.  Ohhh, noooooooooooooooooooo. I was driving through Indianapolis on the hazmat required alt route.  I don't remember, it's Interstate designated but it's a loop around it.  I'm driving along, whoopdee do - and suddenly?  The freaking truck starts slowing down - rapidly - as if I had slammed on the brakes. I was in heavy traffic, in the center lane.  My instant thought was get the thing off the highway or I'm going to be stopped in the center lane. I glanced to my right side and saw traffic was far enough behind, I cranked that truck over to the shoulder where it stopped just after I had gotten it over there.

I had an idea what happened, but I had to go back and look. Sure enough. This trailer - is not like any other trailers that are out there.  They put in all these safety mechanisms, but this particular one, I have been afraid of since I started working for this company. The rear of the trailer has a cabinet with doors on it.  There are 2 plungers that the door pushes in when you close it on the left side.  When those plungers are in, the air system is all fired up/full.  When you open those doors? It releases all the air to that system including the brakes.  The brakes lock up.

And sure enough. One of those plungers? The nut that holds the plunger screw into place was loose. They have no jam nut on it to keep it there.  The roads I was on were brutal, rough, extremely bumpy, the road basically knocked that sucker loose. But note: there are ways to prevent this from happening and I'm shocked the manufacturers of this thing didn't see that or implement it.  Especially with something that can just shut the whole damned truck down. I had noted that this setup didn't have any jam nuts on it from the get go, I didn't do anything about it because - I'm the newbie here.  But, these are brand new trailers and a radically different style than their old ones - and when I say old, I"m talking 30 to 50 years old.

Whatever. I get to 9 miles off from my destination.  I am not  going to sit in front of a plant for 11 hours with no access to a bathroom with this stuff going on.  I'm at a small truck stop, I hope it's open all night, cause I might need it - allll night.  Tho my system seems to be at least stopping all of that if nothing else