5:00 am. 

Fell asleep yesterday at 5:30 pm and didn't wake up until midnight. Fell asleep again and woke up around 2:30am. Decided to get up and read a bit to trick myself back to sleep. It worked until around 4:00 am and that was the end of sleeping.  Sounds like a lot but my whole internal clock is out of sync and I'm feeling it. 

The realities of this trip are starting to settle in.  Junk trucks, various mechanical issues being the top complaint both I and the other driver have.  The one I drove yesterday wouldn't shift into gear without completely grinding and clunking it in.  One of the front brakes was making a horrid noise, metal on metal sound as if the brake linings are completely wore down. On both trucks I have driven, the Quaalcomms aren't working meaning I have to do a paper log.  

Federal regulations limit it to 7 days per month a driver using paper logs as I understand it.  

I'm happy to be in a hotel, but I sleep better in my truck.  We are also not assigned a truck, in fact, no one there is unless you are an owner operater and have your own truck.  That's troublesome.  I don't do slip seating and if I had known that that was the situation here I would have rethought my decision and said so. I should make a list of things for the "next" time they ask me and if they can't answer the questions, the answer will be no.  But, the manager just goes through the list of drivers he thinks would fit in well enough and if they say no, apparently they can, he moves on.  I might be doing them a big favor, but I'm not doing myself any favors besides the guaranteed minimum pay per day, which they almost 100% likely will screw up and I'll have to force the issue.  

I'd have to say that if this ever happens again, I'm not going unless I'm going in my own truck or they can guarantee me that there is a truck that will assigned to me while I'm there to drive that is in good operating condition.  How this company making as much money as they are can't keep their equipment in good shape is unfathomable. Think about it. They flew two of us up here. They put us both up at motels.  They are giving us $40 per day allowance for food. They are giving us a $300 per day guaranteed wage - which is good because that would be another sticking point.  We are getting all of this, you know they are making excellent money on this account, why aren't they at least as interested in keeping their equipment in good working order?

That's a good way to piss drivers off.  Apparently they do this "all the time" as it has been related, pulling drivers from all over the place because they can't keep any local drivers happy. Well no duhhh.  

Anyone that has been driving for any length of time know that this little game they are playing here is bs.  I'm putting my nose to the grindstone and toughing this out. 

And now being shipped down to Connecticut - near New York, not far from Boston, who knows what hellish conditions may be found down there?  I'm doing one trip up here today, coming back to the hotel, getting my stuff and driving 250 or so miles down there to face what, I have zero idea. After 7 days I'm asking to go home.  I was going to stay 2 weeks but I doubt I'll be able to handle it without getting thoroughly pissed off, these people don't have their acts together and it shows, glaringly, more so than looking directly into the sun. 

With that, I'm off to the yard to see if there even is a truck available to take out this morning.  

G'day.  

 Tired.

Second night in a row getting lousy sleep.  It's the AC unit I finally figured out, it makes  a loud thumping noise when the compressor shuts off.  

But the day moved along quickly and I was done at 2:00 pm. Went to a local restaurant - had to call in advance and make an "appointment" - they aren't calling them reservations for whatever reason I wasn't concerned to find out about - had a special of Prime Rib, got a side order of some beef dish to go and that ate up my $40 allowance for today.  

I didn't think there was any point to going back out again later if I got hungry and this isn't a per diem, it's a daily allowance and if you don't use it, you don't get the money.  It  was $38 without the tip.  

Anyway, the driver that's been training me obviously had had enough of it and said I was good to go.  He lied about not getting training pay tho.  I'm sure he was also lying about getting only mileage pay for doing this gig. It's only 127 miles round trip and you can only do two of them a day, an owner operator would balk at that few miles, no money in it.  I don't know why he felt the need to lie, but I didn't call him out on it.  

Whatever the case, the other driver has had enough of this already and wants to go home.  It's semi junk equipment, most of the company tractors have issues. Many of them, I found out today, have been getting written up forever - months in some cases - and never fixed.  I wrote up the tractor I drove today, numerous issues that the company already knows about.  This is the reason we like to drive our own trucks to these gigs.  At the same time, I wouldn't be staying at a hotel for free or having a rental car.

Anyway, when I got to the terminal after work,  the dispatcher there said well, I just got a text from the head head big big honcho - whoever that was he never gave a name.  After your run tomorrow - I only got one run sent to me for tomorrow - you are to drive down to Connecticut and help out a branch there that is overloaded and not enough drivers.  I mean, really? Now what are they getting me into?

As with this place, details are in short supply. Actually, there are NO details of what I would be doing there, or even what I would be hauling.  Trucks? Who knows.  Check out of your room after work and drive there. And then what? Move into a truck with a sleeper? Get another hotel? What?  These people are pushing the limits of my patience with this nonsense. Get some details, man, don't treat people like this. 

But, I'll try to "eat it" and just do it since the money is guaranteed pay every day. I thought it odd that they only had one run for me for tomorrow.  Like, why even bring us up here if you aren't going to keep us busy? Not that I said that, I don't care if I work 4 hours and stop for the day, that's on them not me.  They make the schedule, they decide the workload.  

Isn't Connecticut just a giant subdivision for New York?  If they put me in harm's way, I'm going home. I'll pull out my credit card and pay for airfare myself out of there. New York is not in the cards.  

Not impressed with this northeastern gigs and I can understand why people don't want to work in any of these places. I didn't grow up here and I have no need for it. I'll do it for the pay and the luxury of seeing new places, but that's about it.  I was informed by other drivers that we aren't slow in our division now, I can go home and work.  

Oh, the Marriott? They didn't do room service yesterday, I thought maybe  an oversight.  I didn't say anything about it.  But when I got back here today? Same thing.  I went to the front desk - where i had to wait forever for anyone to show up from anywhere the place was deserted - and asked. Uhh, no, she said, Marriott has made a nationwide policy that if there is a guest in the room, we aren't going to go in and do anything because of COVID-19. 

How convenient.  I was supposed to be here up to 14 days and these people weren't going to clean the damn room? If I wasn't leaving here tomorrow, I would have asked my company for a different hotel. A plethora of them around here.  Skip Marriott, please, they used to be my favorite brand until they conjured up this nonsense.    Shall I just throw my trash out into the hallway? Lmao.  

For a higher end brand to make that a company wide decision is utter stupidity.  Shut your hotels down if you aren't going to serve your guests. 

Whatever the case, I'm too tired to do any more of this atm. It isn't bedtime but I need to kick back and relax.  

 A  6 hour day.  A miserable 6 hour day.  I was so tired this morning it was a chore to get out of bed, rush to the shower, get dressed and get out within 15 minutes to head over to the yard and find.....nothing.  The truck they had said I would be driving was not there.  Lovely.  Clock is ticking I got there early just so I could make sure I wasn't hold the other driver up.  Turns out he's an owner operator - they're highly motivated, they don't get paid like us company drivers do so they have to hustle.

Not that I don't hustle, but there are lots of drivers that slack.  It is the same in every trucking company.  The go getters - get the gold, the slackers get small paychecks.  Anyway, the terminal manager answered the phone when I called - very early this morning - and said okay, and gave me another truck number. Yes it's out there. Good, but the Quaalcomm/elogs don't work, you'll have to use a paper log book.

Gag, I don't even like those things anymore and I'm a bit rusty with it, but ok.  Get to the yard where the loaded trailers are - the dude comes running out after I had already hooked up to the assigned trailer. They just told me you can't take that tractor because it's been used for 7 days without elogs functioning.  

These people have no clue what they're talking about. A different driver can get right back in it and use it for 7 days. One it's legal, 2 if it weren't there is no way a State Trooper would be able to tell. 

Whatever, this day started out bad, and I was ill prepared for all the headaches, especially all of that fuss at a very early hour.  And getting maybe 4 hours of sleep didn't help.  Something woke me up shortly after midnight and I was awake for hours. I eventually got back to sleep, that alarm going off was hellish tho.  

The deal? New Hampshire isn't even a part of that run.  The plant is only 63 miles away.  But, it's 63 miles of 35 mph, 40, 55, 50 etc - slow speed limits and lots of cops.  No sway are you going to go speeding through those little towns, not that I want to anyway.  So that added an explanation of why you only do 2 runs a day, I was informed you might be able to squeeze in 2 but they don't normally ask you to do that.  Well, I'm getting a flat rate per day so whatever they tell me to do, that's what I'm going to do.  I'm expecting 2 runs tomorrow/Sunday.  

One of the absolute worst aspects of this deal is the automatic transmissions. NOT a fan, at all.  Trying to back those things under a loaded trailer is ridiculous.  They don't respond when you hit the fuel, it jerks into motion even with slight pressure on it and there is no way to smoothly hook it up. It rams the kingpin and I'm not a fan of that at all.  It would have been FAR better to drive my truck up here, I can gently ease under and trailer with a clutch/manual transmission.  

But I'm stuck here now so it is what it is.  

The other thing was they had only gotten us one rental vehicle and that won't work at all.  We are getting dispatched at completely different times. Mine was 5:00 am, the other driver is Noon today.  I just happened to get done and back to the hotel before he needed to leave so it worked out. But I've had nothing to eat and the only thing in walking distance is a convenience store across the street.  

Oh, and this place is weird! They are all voodoo-ed out with corona virus and masks.  You can't go into any restaurant without reservations!  I didn't even see a fast food place here, just steak houses and Chili's and such.  I mean, I can eat at those places, lol, but making reservations for a Chili's is just strange to me.  

Okay, my manager got me a rental vehicle, I have to go back to the airport to get it.  Taking an uber over there and get it over with, stop somewhere - call first of course for reservations lmao - and get something to eat, then come back and take a nap.  

More later.  

 Uhh, okay. I was originally told I was going to New Hampshire.  Then it switched to Vermont.  In fact, all kinds of info has been lacking but what I do know? 

The dispatcher finally called me and afterwards sent me a text for driving assignment for tomorrow: 05:00 at the yard.

Are you serious? We have been traveling all day long, I have been up since 3 something am.  I didn't say that, but it was heavy on my mind.  It's already 8:30 here, just got into the hotel!  

This is called wind down time. The manager forget to get a rental car and I didn't notice the oversight until I got here.  

This dude I've been traveling with is okay - until he starts whining about every little stinking thing.  I mean, I just got annoyed with listening to it and said I'm going with the flow here. Nothing is going to be perfect, we are lacking info, yes, but it will pan out, we're making money.

I'm allegedly only doing one run tomorrow and it's 4 hours worth of driving I'm told.  Weird.  

Just thought I'd through a few thoughts in here, but it's really time to hit the sack.  Whether I can actually sleep this early and stay asleep is another issue. 

Anyway, the other driver just called me, it's only 63 miles to the plant we go to to deliver and they can only do 2 of those a day?  That's weird, must be more to that story than what I know.  

I'm offa here, time to go to bed.

 So, I'm at Philadelphia International Airport? I think the name of it.  The day didn't start out well, I can say that for sure. 

For one thing, I didn't sleep well at all. Went to bed a bit unhappy - grandma shows up and takes over the entire house.  Her way or the highway. She hasn't started that nonsense with me personally yet and I've warned them that if she does, I'm not having any part of it, she will hear about herself.  I already watched her berating her son in front of her son's children, that was quite enough for me.  

After that, I just got up early and drank coffee, spent some time with the doggies - figure I won't see them for quite a while - and then left.  Well, after finally getting my tickets and luggage checked in, $70 for that, my bag full of clothes and a PPE bag, I was then ramrodded through the scanner

As usual, the scanner showed 2 spots on my body with red zone - one of them being crotch area of course.  Of course! Every. Single. Time. No, I don't have a belt on. Yes, I empty out my pockets.  This time I bit my tongue. I ain't getting in there without them molesting me.  Reach all the way up to my crotch, feel my ass, stick their fingers down the waist band, it's pretty humiliating.  Then they took a sample of whatever on a stick, stuck it into a computer that analyzes it. Bombs? Who knows.

After that, the computer at the podium where show your ticket to enter the jetway? Malfunctioned.  Yeehaw! Plane left 40 minutes late, good thing I had a cushion of time at FWD.  We raced straight over there and got there in time for the first round of passengers to load.  Well I hadn't eaten anything but I didn't have time to get food so wasn't looking forward to that. And this was my first flight since covid. First leg no drinks at all, nothing not even peanuts. Second leg, a paper bag with a very small thing of preztels, a half bottle of water and hand sanitizer wipes.  Gag.  No inflight service.  Well anyway, on the first leg, we started going around in circles. I was noticeable.  Bank, straight, bank, straight, bank etc.  

The captain finally comes on - the radios are down at DFW. How on earth can their communications just go down like that they can't even communicate with the flight crew? I've never even heard of such a thing.  Well, eventually he gets back on - we have communication now, we're heading in.  

Second flight was on time and we got here to Philadelphia 10 minutes early, straight to the gate on the other side of the airport, confirm we're at the right place and then over to an eatery for $14 wings.  However, the wings are on the company. Keep the receipt, I'm all good. 

So here we sit waiting on the final leg. It sounds like I may be up here 2 weeks.  2 trips a day, I'm told, 4 hours a piece to the same plant, drop and hook every time.  Not sure about loading, I'm hoping it's local drivers load it and OTR takes it to the plant.  Just if we can only do 2 trips a day and it's 8 hours worth of driving, those will be great days! Guaranteed minimum pay worth far more than 8 hours of driving that would be wonderful.

The dispatcher called earlier, introduced himself and then I asked questions.  Daycabs, so that's the reason for the hotel every night. Back to the yard every day after you're done, so back to the hotel.  It sounds easy, but he didn't say where we are going and it's possible that Boston is a destination. We are so hoping that isn't it, that it's some rural area and it's mostly highway miles like most of what I already do entails.  

Well it's getting close to departure time, time to get off of here, 

 Well, that took longer than expected.  But I got all my gear, checked it all out, added some stuff I figure I'll want for the road, repacked my bag and removed pants and shirts -- and hope I won't regret that but it's enough for 8 days - went to Cracker Barrel for breakfast, realized I had forgot to grab a pile of extra paperwork for trips, went back to work and then home - finally it really took several hours.  

Oh, well I visited the manager too.  I was not really happy to see the entire yard emptied of trucks besides mine and the other driver that is going - after being told everyone is sitting a few days ago.  Well obviously not everyone is sitting, I now know Brownsville is up and running contrary to what he told me, I know because I saw one of the trailers heading to the chemical plant to get loaded. I don't know that he lied to me or that the information was accurate at the time of telling me that, but it was still a bit unsettling.  I zipped my lips about that however.

He finally got a bit more info.  Hauling CNG - it's cryogenics contrary to the initial info given us - but it's allegedly drop and hook.  They are allegedly day cabs - thats a tractor with no sleeper so you have to spend the nights in hotels.  The hotel was assigned and extended out for a week.  I'm hopeful to be there a week, frankly, unless the working conditions are horrid, just to make up for what I've lost in 4 days off this week.

I did find out that I will get paid for the entire day tomorrow.  That's going to be about 14 hours from start to ending up in a hotel room.  I am assuming we will be working every day we're there - or however they work out local runs.  Guaranteed minimum daily amount gives me confidence that whatever happens I''ll get paid somewhat comparable to my current pay and not wasting my time with going up and back.  

Fairfield Inn - staying at a Marriott the entire time. That's very nice as well.  Near a giant lake, tho I doubt there will be anytime to go sight seeing in that capacity.  Rental car.  We're set. I don't have to take truck bedding or pillow with me.  Numerous restaurants within walking distance of the hotel.  I get a separate room than the other driver - that would be a sticking point. Some companies try to get you to shack up with another driver, no thanks. I'm too old for that, too set in my personal habits and ways and I don't want to hear someone snoring all night long, it will  keep me away - all night long.  This company makes huge profits off of these cryogenics divisions, I have no problem with them paying for all of my expenses.  

It was really relieving to hear we are doing daycabs and staying at the same hotel every night, that means however long the run is, it is doable in a day or perhaps several runs a day. We have zero specifics on that.  I tried to look at satellite view of where the yard is - no cryo trucks or tractors anywhere to be seen in the entire area.  It is a short hop away from the hotel at least, not a long drive in the perspective.  

Day is coming to a close.  I've kind of been writing this throughout the day as stuff is going on. Spent hours on the phone with Lowe's in Phoenix about the refrigerator for Caleb and Grace's new house.  I wanted to make sure it was going to arrive for they are moving in starting tomorrow.  They need a refrigerator lol, they were living in an apartment up until now with a supplied unit that comes with the apartment.  Lowes found the order but couldn't find the refrigerator.  That greatly worried me.  Exactly why I called them. This literally went on all afternoon until I finally said enough of this nonsense, if you can't find it get a manager.  The manager apparently told the lady that it was back there, it is scheduled for delivery, no worries.  

Thank you!  

My bags are packed. Enough for abour 8 days instead of 12 or 13.  I'm not convinced of the 2 or 3 day time to be there, I am going prepared.  They hand picked us for this job, they know we aren't slouchers, I'll do as much as anyone else is doing - excepting maybe the first trip. That's always a learning experience.  Getting into the plant, loading? I assume, getting out of the plant - paperwork - going to where it's being delivered and alleged drop and hook.  For one plant to have to have 45 trucks dedicated to it full time is amazing.  I can't want to see this behemoth of a place.  And also just getting back and forth - what routes to take, what routes to avoid.  You don't just get that right off the bat, you have to drive it out and find that out through experience.  It's how I perfected most of the runs I do now with regular job.  The more you do a run, the better you figure out how to run it.  You are going to get here night one, you are going to get there, night two, you are going to get back to the yard, day 3  - so one and so forth.  

I'm sort of excited about all of this just because it's something different and it's definitely a different landscape with different scenery, new people, new everything.  A challenge as well - things you haven't done before that you are thrust into, can you rise to the challenge and conquer it?  I hold myself to far higher standards than most if not all of these trucking companies, I strive to excel not because they want me to, but because I don't like living a half assed life.  Barely doing the minimum.  

Kind of been a stressful few days. AC going out at Phoenix house, refrigerator at my sons's house and being on hold with a trip.  The house is now loaded up with people.  The kids are cranky.  I think I'm going to go to bed early, if i wake up at 3: 00 am I'm fine with that, I have nothing but flying to do tomorrow. 

 So after waiting almost all day long, I finally got a text - no more phone calls lol - from the manager.

Your flight leaves at 6:30 am - sending me the itinerary that will take it more than half the day to get there with 2 layovers, one of which is over 3 hours long.  I will be getting paid a minimum $300 a day guaranteed plus $40 per daily allowance for food - keep receipts.  It's only supposed to go on for 3 days tho.  That's kind of messed up.  What on earth could be so important that we need to fly out there for 3 days? lol seems like a waste to me. 

So, I am going to treat this like the last time I did this and pack for at least a week,, the manager also suggested that.  I had asked how long, he said that and then I laughed and said last time I did this they didn't want me to leave.  His reply was "When they get a taste of Texas work ethic they are not going to." 

"I dunno how we stack up", I replied.  He had already looked into it and said "at the bare minimum you and Ricky like money. Some of the guys up there don't even appear to be motivated by that".  

Well geeze, get rid of them and get new people, I thought, there are plenty of drivers out there that would love the opportunity to make this kind of money.  When drivers are sitting around from the various companies at the scale house where we get loaded and bring up pay, they are literally shocked at what they are paying us. I guess the difference is that they aren't doing cryogenics and they aren't interested in it. 

Whatever dudes, I wasn't thrilled the first time I hauled the first load out of that plant and it took a while to adjust to it but it didn't take long to love the paychecks. Tho, $300 per day is lower than what I normally make driving out a 600 plus mile day, that's why I'd like to stay up there a week.  Then I'm getting some decent money out of it plus eating for free.  

Anyway, I leave GGG at 6:30 am, arrive DFW shortly after that - a pretty short jump - there for an hour and forty minutes, arrive at PHL at 1:22 pm, wait there over 3 hours, head over to BTV, arriving there at 6:14 pm and then - I have no idea, no further information was given lmao.  Hopefully not go straight to work, I'd rather do that the next morning but I'm down for whatever they want us to do.  Oh, this is Thursday, this little adventure starts tomorrow morning.  I'll get to fly over some interesting terrain during the daytime so that will be fun if I can get a window seat.  Hmm, I wonder if I can preselect a seat?  

I am SOOOOO glad I wrote this entry and it prompted me to look up the seating info.  I have no need to sit next to that other driver all 3 flights, I want a window seat and I wasn't assigned one on any of them.  That has been changed on all 3 flights for free.  The first flight, the jog to DFW - is almost full, but there was on window seat left.  The second flight however is a half empty airplane. Ohhhh if it will only stay that way! The last 10 flights I've taken anywhere the planes are jam packed. The rear of the aircraft is virtually empty besides us back there.  But still, I have zero desire to be sitting in  a middle seat.  Looks like first 2 checked bags are free and I can bring my laptop on the plane for free with me.  

I don't go on trips like this without my laptop. If I'm out longer than expected I want access to the internet. Yes my phone works but that's such a small screen, no keyboard, I like to have the option.  

Ok, that off my mind, now it's just re-doing my bag.  I packed enough in there for 12 days when I thought I was going to drive up there, I'm going to unload that down to about 7 days worth. I have to go over to the yard - 70 miles round trip driving - and get my PPE bag.  Can't do any of this stuff without the fireproof suit, the "oven mitts", steel toed shoes and hardhat with face shield.  Oh, and the AC off of my mind as well. My son is dropping by the cash for Mark to pay the guy behind us.  Mark had originally wanted to not go with him because "he's getting old", not taking into account that this guy fully knows what he's doing and the fact that he'll do it far cheaper than calling out an AC company.  In the end I was prepared to call whoever out there and get it dealt with, but let's try the cheaper route first?

When Mark gave me the total bill, I was relieved and told Mark how much it would have cost to have a company come out - more than 4 times what he's charging us. "Ohhhh, I didn't even think about that".  "Yes", I replied, "that's why I pushed you to see if Sam could do it".  At this time of year, the AC companies are all busy and they usually won't get out to you the next day anyway.  Mark doesn't have any business kind of mentality, he just thinks in terms of getting things done without taking costs and other factors into consideration. Which is fine, he does a good job of running the house but I have to keep on top of him sometimes.  

So, off to the shower and off to the races.  I want to get my PPE this morning while it's still early and get that over with.  Do some final touches on my room before I leave, someone will definitely be staying in here with all of these people in the house tonight, grandma is showing up. The 5 year old's first day in Kindergarten is today, he's there now.  He was excited about it - and then he didn't want to go.  I had a good conversation with him about how fun it will be and there is nothing to be afraid of.  Well, okay, there could be, lol, I still remember my first day of school because I got into a fist fight with a black kid. Racial tensions back there bled down to even the little kids.  I didn't start the fight tho, that kid pushed me.  I pushed him back and it was all on.

G'day.  

 Guess I'm post happy today.

Mark finally contacted me, the house is cooling down, he said. It's all the way back down to 95 degrees in here! Like that was some great thing lmao. But it's working, just that it's incredibly hot there, the last time that happened the unit had to literally run nonstop all day and well into the night before it finally cooled off again.

My phone - both calls and texts - have been off the hook today.  Between my son, Mark, Taylor and work it's been one after another after another. I gave up on trying to take a nap.  

But the AC is fixed. $125.  That would have cost minimum $400 for an AC person to come out, but I suspect $500 to $600 now.  It was $400 years ago, prices haven't gone done any, especially for AC repair to come to your house.  Of course, Mark doesn't have any way for me to send him money, so I had to ask my son if I could transfer $125 to him and could he take the cash over there? Tomorrow he replied . Cool.  It's like a $35 dollar part lol.  

Anyway,, the manager called yet again: Would you be willing to fly up there? Oh YES I replied without a second's worth of hesitation.  Sure the money driving up and back would be nice, but I'm fine getting a free airplane trip to a state I haven't seen in forever and experience something different without almost 4,000 miles of driving to get there and back.  I can get that trip over with much faster, tho I still don't know how long I'll be up there, what I'll be hauling or really, what this is all about except alluding to drivers needing vacations, some off sick and shortages.

But, when he said that, he said that's what he had heard, not necessarily what's going on lol.  Okkkkkkkkkkkkkkk.

Really weird this whole situation.  I'm packed and ready to go - but I will need to know how long I'm going to be up there, I could seriously reduce/lighten the amount of clothing I packed if it's not going to be forever.  I packed enough to last 12 days without having to do any laundry. Lol .  

So I'm back into a holding pattern.  They know it's kind of messed up with keeping me holding for this long not having any idea whether it's a go or not . I'm not really in love with the idea of getting into someone else's truck tho.  That usually entails a dirty truck that needs serious cleaning. Just the way it is.  You virtually live in the thing while you're  on the road. I like mine clean and smelling good. Not filthy and smelling like a pit.  And it opens up the possibility that they will want to use my truck for someone else. My fear is some trashy, filthy dirty person getting into all my stuff and smoking.  A smoker's truck is like a nightmare, it's truly horrible to try and sleep in what amounts to a giant ashtray.  

I've been trucking for a while, lol, I know how lots of other drivers are.  I was in one of them awhile back dropping off a fuel card - the truck was absolutely disgusting inside.  Smelly, filthy, dirty.  Another one I looked through the door - the entire floor looked like a construction site with dirt all over it.  

Kim also called. She sounded depressed.  After explaining what's going on I didn't really think there was any reason to be depressed about anything. The brother has an appointment tomorrow with the lawyer.  The lawyer will spell out to him what he can and can't do. The brother is obviously quite ignorant in this situation and has no clue, he should have gone to a lawyer at the very beginning.  He keeps saying stuff he can't do - but those things aren't mentioned in the will.  I hope a lawyer will help him straighten out his thinking on this and then, help her.  

She's really upset with Maria, is the issue. She claims that Maria's stuff takes up two full bedrooms, several closets and the garage. I knew she had some stuff, didn't know it was that much.  She also was complaining about Maria buying too much stuff for the fridge and freezer and not leaving her any room.  I understand Maria having a lot of stuff - she had her own house previously - but there comes a point where you just have to part ways with things or - if you can afford it - get a storage locker to put it in.  

Just drama. I listened to as much of it as I could stand and finally coaxed her off the phone.  I am waiting for a call back from my manager, that's a fact and the truth.  Mark also wanted to talk forever, I just had an extended phone call with him yesterday and the day before, just not in the mood for it right now.  I need for this trip to either materialize with all the necessary info or go away and get it out of my mind.  I didn't sleep that great last night so I'm probably a bit cranky to boot.  Not terrible bad, just not in to having conversations on the phone right now.  A nap would have been nice....

So this is my day at 1:00 pm. The ladies are cleaning house.  That was nice of them to do. 

Anyway, I guess I'll get off of Blogger for a while and watch tv lol.

 So now, my manager calls and connects online another higher level manager. Ruhhh-rohhhh, what is going on here?  Well, turns out, just a manager that wanted to say thanks for being on hold for 24 hours and really appreciates that i was willing to go on a moment's notice.  

Well that's the nature of trucking, lol, you get a last minute call for a run, unless your are incapacitated for some reason that is really a legitimate excuse to say no - and it better be a doozy - you take whatever they give you. Because if you turn it down?  You are setting yourself up for crappy runs, sitting longer than other drivers and basically way down on the totem poll.  With a very lucrative job like this, I'm not turning down anything.  I sometimes have to throw some info back at them - like the load they wanted me to take to Brownsville last week.  I told them I'd love to take it - and I really did want to go - but I will have to take a 34 hour reset down there after I get there.

They call back 10 minutes later - you're off the hook lol.  That's their call, not mine, but they will be paying for a hotel for me and that's a fact.  Just like this trip. There will be at least 2 34 hour resets - if I go.  Lol, it's still  on hold. 

So anyway, after the upper level manager thanked me,, then it was to the nuts and bolts of the situation.  Which is? Nothing. He literally still did not know if we're going up there or not.  It's a "project" of some sort, without defining what the project is or what the need for far off drivers is for.  Whatever it is, it sounds like it would be far longer than just 3 or 4 days up there. I know how this place works with such things, they just throw out limited information and then you find out the reality when you get there.  

They did promise me extra pay if I do indeed go.  I didn't ask for it, I make good money lol, if there's one thing I won't complain about it's the money. If with fewer perks after the company acquisition, I'm making great money.  This week's paycheck is over 3 grand.  It's more in one week's pay than I made in a month at Ferguson.  Well at the end, anyway, when they cut all of our hours back, completely eliminated overtime and cut my yearly overal pay by at least 20 grand.  It's what pushed me out of that place along with that jerkoff manager - who besides having anger issues was also responsible for the pay cut and his manager wouldn't over ride him.  Great, you want personnel that focus on excelling at their jobs, good luck at that pay rate.  

Oh and this job is in New Hampshire, not New Jersey - now I would love to go up there! That really changes it for me.  My recollection of that state - and I admit it's been several decades since I've been there is a beautiful, scenic filled state with lots of things to see and do.  Okay, I'm not on a vacation, but I do get to sight see lol.  But my manager said less than 50% chance I'm going, he was giving odds lol.

Okay, enough of this one. 

 So after my last post earlier yesterday, my manager calls me.  I'm going to be like a used car salesman, he tell me on the phone. Ok, what is it? I figured something that would put me on the road for extended period, that's the way he talks I guess when he thinks it's something drivers don't want to hear.  Summarizing - a division in New Jersey, drivers out sick and drivers on vacation, they need fill ins.  Ok, sign me up, I said without hesitation.  I didn't even have to think about it after his prior note that I probably wouldn't be working until next week. 

The Brownsville run and the Oklahoma run are both down.  That screws us for runs, totally and completely.  They are our major workload, without both of them, we have little else in terms of heavy workload to keep us busy.  The Mapleton plant was a nice shot in the arm, but certainly won't keep all of us busy or other runs that are regular but infrequent.  

So I immediately started thinking about everything that needs to be put into place to make that happen. Food, mostly.  I can't keep enough food in the truck for 10 plus days but I can at least fill it up and hope that I can get to a grocery store up there when it's depleted.  But, I also thought, hmmm, this could fall through and I'm buying a lot of stuff for nothing. Off to Kroger's I went, keeping the purchases minimal.  I already have stuff to take, just was short a few things that will keep if the run doesn't go through. 

Meanwhile, I get a call from my house in Phoenix. The dreaded call that I knew was coming sooner or later: Mark "The AC isn't working".  It's been years since it has broken down, I can be grateful that it has lasted this long.  But no one is going to live in a house when it's 109 degrees outside and heats up considerably more than that inside a house with no cooling.  I asked him about having Sam, the neighbor behind us, to come over and look at it?  Before I spend 8 grand on a new AC unit, for that is what they will tell us.  

Sam is getting old, he replied. I said well whatever, Sam knows what Hercules he  is doing and he will just fix whatever need to be fixed.  But Sam is getting old! Well I don't care about that, call him and see if he can come over and look at it!  It's gonna be out overnight at least anyway.  He then argued about some new freon that is out and you can't get without a license. Great! We don't have whatever that is in our system, CALL SAM!  It could be a compressor or it could be an electrical problem.  Sam will figure it out and give you an honest answer at least.  He finally conceded and said he'll call Sam and get back to me. Look, Mark, i replied, I'll have the system fixed, I just think it would be good to save some serious money if Sam can get it going, he wants the work, he's been over several times before, he can fix it if it's fixable.

So, Mark calls me back 10 minutes later. Sam is fixing an AC and will come over afterwards. So much for the aged theory.  If he's somewhere else fixing AC, he can also be at our house fixing AC. Good, I thought, a thousand dollars is easier to digest than 8 grand - that's about what I figure it will cost to have the entire system replaced.   A compressor is around $500 at cost, maybe less plus freon. Sam won't rape us for parts cost and he will charge whatever he thinks his time is worth.  Anyway, after this post I'm going to start looking at AC companies and see what I can come up with.  I have to be prepared if Sam says the unit needs to be replaced. He won't do that much, he'll replace a compressor or fix electrical problems, he isn't going to replace an entire system.  

________________________

Manager texts back after hearing nothing from him and asking for details.  Umm, they haven't conacted me and I probably won't hear back from them until tomorrow. If you don't hear back from me by mid-morning, I'll get you on an ethylene run asap.  This was sent to me and another driver, I had no idea they wanted to send two of us up there. Regardless, I didn't cook anything and I didn't make any plans for leaving first thing in the morning, as I was earlier directed to do.  I don't know why I had to wait half the day and finally have to ask if it was still a go to get any info.  

Meanwhile, I texted Mark a few minutes ago.  Did Sam come over? No.  Well did he say he was going to come?  Mark then called me.  I talked to him at 2:00 pm and he said he was coming.  Well call him again, otherwise I'm doing something else.  I already found a business online, the house isn't going to go without ac forever and lose all my paying tenants.  No thanks.  I dunno why he didn't call him back sooner, but he said he would after I asked him to please do so.  

So now I have 2 issues. The trip to NJ isn't a big deal, it goes or it doesn't. The AC - big deal.  Big big deal. Mark can't just let that stuff ride, if I have to pay out the ass to fix it, so beit, I'm getting it done and over with.  

________________________

Still in limbo/Wednesday morning.  Manager should be showing up to work around now, I expect to hear something one way or the other.  The steam was let out of my sails yesterday and now I really don't want to go.  I really don't like being left on hold when facing a very long trip. I have everything ready - excepting food. Too late now to start cooking, I wouldn't even if I did. Make all the food for nothing? No thanks.  I'll ditch the diet for a while if I have to I guess.  I don't expect to hear from Mark for a bit.  

Hours later. Manager finally contacted us - he'll be getting us the info "ASAP", they are "discussing the trip up north".  That was an hour and a half ago.  Allegedly wanting us to leave by noon.  It's beginning to annoy me.  Make up your minds, we're either going or not.  I don't care either way at this point, in fact I could just stay home and do nothing looking at this week's paycheck that is enough to cover 2 weeks.  That's a LOT of driving going up there and back and that doesn't even cover whatever they're going to have us doing, which has yet to be defined.  He must have said New Hampshire, not New Jersey, for New Jersey isn't 1,800 miles from here.  And frankly, there are a lot of divisions between here and there with drivers that don't have much to do, why they want to bring drivers from almost 2,000 miles away is unknown to me.  

That's quite a chunk of change just to have us drive up there and back.  What I'm getting annoyed with here besides it being up in the air is the fact that the day isn't getting any younger and they'll expect us to drive at least 600 miles each day to get up there-  that was already stated.  I'll be up late doing that today 

Anyway, there are 2 ladies here now that don't live here.  The lady from Maine is here for 2 entire weeks.  She seems pretty cool, the other one is very low key and is probably happy to have a place to stay until she can figure out what she wants to do. Doesn't sound like she's going to go back home.  She was talking about renting a room in a friend's or relatives house somewhere.  I believe the grandma is coming today.  I guess grandpa isn't coming, he has a job that keeps him busy. He was in retirement, he got bored lol.  

Whatever, I'm getting off of here. Take a short nap in case I'm leaving. My clothes are packed and ready to go, food is an issue but oh well, live on sandwiches I guess.  

Tuesday.

The entire issue has been all but forgotten.  I mean, I won't forget about it, I just don't think it's worth ruining relationships over.  Apparently everyone else agreed. It rattled Taylor tho, she was crying and not happy about what had happened.  I think she seriously thought I was going to take my bat and ball and leave.  It would have to be a very major thing happening that's a deal breaker either for them or for me to have me moving out of here.  I have, however, given serious consideration to where I would go in case that happens.  Just considering, not actually planning. But I would probably stay in this area and continue working at my current job.  Unless I could find a job somewhere else that i would want to go that is comparable in pay.  That would be difficult to find right now with COVID-19 going on and the downturn in business everywhere.  

I mean, I ideally I'd like to live now wherever I'd like to retire and get that situation up and going.  Preferably the mountains.  Of which there is very little of in these parts.  But, I'm still going to go to the tax lien auctions and hope to get something decent - that is really something that I would like, get a property and pay for it all at once.  Owe nothing on it so I don't have to worry about payments, something I'm sort of loaded down with at the moment in paying back debt off and a car payment and all the work I have had done on my teeth.  Then, after the 180 day hold on the property before it actually becomes yours - the owner can still come back and pay everything owed on it plus a percentage to the person that bought it at auction - you can use the property as the down payment to have a house built on it.  A 5 bedroom hours with 4 bathrooms, guest suite, a couple of fireplaces would be nice lol.  A huge pantry and other amenities.  

But I digress. I'd rather build a mobile home/RV park and start a lucrative line of permanent income coming in.  Getting the property to do that is step one.  So, I've been stuck on step one for a long time.  All I can say is I'm actively saving for it.  About 10% of my monthly income is going directly into a savings account for that purpose.  Even more going into 401k - which is up higher than any amount I have ever had them at.  A full recovery from the crash that the doomsday sayers were saying would wipe out everyone's wealth, that sort of happened, but I didn't touch anything, left it all where it was at and now it's booming again. 

What happens in November remains to be seen.  Oh, where would I like to go if I had to move? Kentucky, Colorado, Arizona - the mountains not the city - and other places where there are mountains. Texas is nice, tho, because there is no state income tax.  Of course, when they turn the state red, that will disappear.  Taxation knows no boundaries to liberal progressive democrats who love to steal from your paychecks and hand it over to someone else.  I actually believe in "safety nets" they like to now call them, but only to a limited degree.  Invalids, seniors that are broke and would suffer unimaginably, disabled who legitimately cannot work, things of that nature we should take care of. The rest of it, however, is well beyond any Constitutional scope and nowhere in the Constitution is there any provision for single payer healthcare insurance or "green new deals" that would end up with a massive power feed to the federal government, far beyond anything we've ever seen in this nation.  

Anyway, I have no idea what I'm going to do today, I really haven't thought about it. The temps are ridiculous with the humidity making going out doors a bit undesirable. But, the boat is running pretty good I'd really like to take it to Caddo lake and go for a joy ride lol.  Everyone is at work, there shouldn't be too many boaters out there, that's usually a weekend thing when there is huge numbers of boats on the lakes and - rather dangerous situation as far as I'm concerned being a novice boater.  But, I won't get any experience with the thing sitting on the side of the house.  

It would, however, also be a good day to go over and visit the ladies at their new house.  Kim keeps me updated on what's going on over there with the inheritance.  The brother that controls it seems to have come around and will try to help her, finally agreeing to get a lawyer and make heads or tails of the will and what can and cannot be done.  I suspect the lawyer will say  you can basically do whatever you please as executor of estate, but you are "supposed" to follow the intent of the person that has passed.  If you don't, you can be sued by the other people named in the will.  That's pretty much what I would expect to hear back from a lawyer.  Handing it over to some management company is a very bad idea, IMO and I said as much to Kim, asking why her brother can't simply handle it?  Not like he has to spend his entire days managing the estate, make the decisions and get it rolling and that is really the extent of what he would have to do.  But, it's really up to her to push for getting whatever she can out of it, I'm just trying to motivate her.  She could buy a house anywhere she pleases.  She doesn't want to and it just baffles me as to why.  She's as old as I am, I would love to have the security of knowing I'm living in a place that is paid for an nothing owing but monthly utility bills. 

Okay, well enough of all of that.  I'm hoping to get a run that will get me out of here and keep me out at least until Friday. I don't really want to be here when grandma, grandpa, the current house guest and a visitor from Maine are in here all at once. It's already 5 of us - their family and I  living here and now adding 4 more people?  I'd love to visit and chat with the friend of Taylor's - who was texting her the other day and asked how the "old guy" is, lmao.  So she took a picture of me sitting there with my arms crossed and a look on my face lol.  She said back coool.  Okay then. But it's too many people, I don't know where they are all going to sleep and that's not my problem. I do let them stay in my room when I'm gone a s a courtesy to James and Taylor.  I've never had any issues with it but then again I don't leave any cash or valuables laying around either.  

Oh, and my new birth certificate has already shipped! I'm absolutely amazed. The last time I tried to do this, it took over 3 months for them to ship it.  We're in the middle of this pandemic and somehow they already have it on its' way here in just a few weeks time? If I had known this when I was going through literally everything looking for my lost version of one, I would have just ordered a new one then and there.  I cannot renew my commercial driver's license without a birth certificate. The only other thing they accept is a marriage license, lol, no thanks.  Lots of credentials expire in February, I need all of them to continue work.

Oh, work lol.  Because so many other of our divisions have slowed so far down due to decreased demand directly attributable to COVID-19, they are bringing more drivers into our division.  Probably why I've been sitting for 2 full days.  One of which is a chronic complainer, I dislike the man very much.  He was the one that voluntarily took a position to help us new drivers when we came into the system 2-1/2 years ago.  The company had promised to pay him for his time but after spending some time with a driver, they refused to pay him, or so the story goes. I doubt that's the real story but it's all I have to go on.  Anyway, he refused to give any more help unless he got paid, got pissed at the manager at the time and switched to a different division.  Nothing but negativity, all the time, the man has a mouth that won't stop and I don't want to be anywhere near him. His buddy - another driver who never left - was sticking up for him at the office when we were discussing it the other day.  

But I didn't back down. The man never had to volunteer to do that and if a new driver needed help now? I would just help them for free.  No need to pay me for a few minutes time here and there on the phone, I know what it's like getting dumped into this job without any experience and no one to help you, save one dude that explained over the phone how to unload the truck.  It was nothing near as helpful as if I was there with someone unloading the truck and watching what's going on. It took a while to figure out the nuances and frankly get over the fear of dealing with this kind of chemical. I really wouldn't want anyone to go through what I went through, such as the first time, unloading LNG and having it spray out of one of the release valve tubes, raining on my head which thankfully was covered with a hard hat and I was clothing in winter clothing, saving me from extreme freezer burns.  

So I'll be happy not to even come in contact with that dude.  Anyway, I guess I'll have to live with longer periods in between runs once again.  The paychecks have been nice while keeping busy.  And I get into the groove of being on the road alot when - I'm on the road alot. Sitting at home? I tend to get into a funk where I don't want to go back out.  Just some mental thing.

Oh, I bought a small "tailgator" generator for the boat.  Harbor Freight just opened up in our town and they had one on great sale. It's only 900 watts but it's enough.  It's very small and also uses 2 stroke fuel, that's handy since the boat also runs on 2 stroke. And some other small items for the boat to get the canopy back in shape - I don't want to fish on a hot boat with no shade, no thanks.  

And  with that, off to the races. What races? I dunno, just a thing to say lol.  

 So I'll skip a lot of stuff to go straight to the drama at the house. 

For I got a text from Taylor - about something I have (not going to say what it is here on the internet, it's not illegal tho) - did you have it last? Uhh, no. Well they've disappeared.  She was in the middle of a huge drama with the others at the house attempting to determine who did it - it's impossible that the kids did it.  That's 100% certain.  So, it left 2 people that could have done it - no one else could have possibly done it for no one else has been here.  So I received a large number of texts, Taylor felt pushed into the middle of everything and asking how I could ever trust them again.

Those were not the thoughts that crossed my mind.  It's not the end of my world and I will get over it. In fact, I already have.  But, I went into my room with my dogs and shut the door, I don't need this drama after being out on the road for 3 days.  I don't mind the extra person being here, but at the same time, I don't need trouble with her or anyone else.  One person left, both persons denied doing it - yet one of them had to have done it.  Taylor is not a liar - she literally tells the truth about everything.  Even if it makes her look bad.  I know I didn't do it and I didn't even start this situation.  I would have been a bit irritated if I had found it myself, I probably would have said something, but I wouldn't have made a huge issue out of it.  Taylor apparently thinks I will leave over this.  

I had to tell her flatly that it isn't the end of my world. Yes, I'm a bit pissed, but it isn't worth ending friendship over. Or even carrying it around for days, or weeks or months.  I've learned not to do that with personal relationships.  Unless I really want to end a relationship. I have no interest in carrying grudges and bitterness. When you do that, it hurts you far worse than the person or people you are holding it against.  There is no denying that, it can literally ruin your life.  I've seen it so many times in my own life with family members, friends and acquaintances and there is biblical principle to back up the idea of forgiveness - don't even let the sun go down on it - don't hold it to the next morning. In some situations, that would probably be rather impossible to do, there are things people do that you have to have time to get over. 

This wasn't one of them.  

So, I'm highly likely to just sit in my room alone for the rest of the evening and let this wash over.  I have a large number of recorded shows I want to watch anyway. Air Crash Disaster, Bar Rescue, Star Trek will keep me entertained.  Everyone here is literally in a bad mood.  It's nothing I really want to come home to but my doggies were very happy to see me : )

____________

Well that didn't take long. They have decided that after all of these people come over and leave, they are not going to have friends over here anymore.  I thought and said, that's not who you are.  This is the first time anything like this has happened to me here.  Yes, but it's not to us.  Okay, well I figure this will wash away, water under the bridge eventually.  They can't not have people over. They don't do it all the time but it's in their nature and I really don't have a problem with it.  

Onto a few other things.  I got a $500 money order in the mail when I got home today. It was for the deposit for the house.  I don't recall giving them that much, but nothing is recorded. I could have sword it was $350.  It's whatever to me, they sent me the money, it's going into the boat.  It needs - well it doesn't really "need" it but it would be nice to have - a large trolling motor.  It would also be nice to have a sonar.  Can't have both, they both are rather costly items, I'll have to decide which to get.  It also needs a ladder but there is one at the boat shop in their junk pile of old boats. I need to get over there and get it before they ship that stuff off to the landfill. And I'm pretty sure they'll have a rim - they had several there last time but I didn't know there was an issue getting boat wheel rims.  

I dunno how this corona virus affects things like this, but you can't find a wheel rim in that size anywhere in town.  I really want a spare tire for that trailer and there is a mount for it on the side of it.  Of course that was stripped off the boat like everything else.  I'm just happy the boat appears to be in working order.  That was really concerning me. 

I wouldn't mind taking it out on a different lake tomorrow.  Tomorrow is Monday.  Everyone can go off to work, I can go off to the lake, it's only 18 miles away - different lake than the one I've been going to.  It actually has a lot of fish in it.  But I haven't decided on that yet.  It's been quite the day today, I'll decide tomorrow - tomorrow.  

I think that's about it.  Everything has substantially died down here, I missed the worst of it - tho I was getting texts while it was going on, I had an idea of how intense it was getting.  Just glad it's over.  

 Yesterday. Arrive at the plant, go through the temp check station - most of these plants are checking for fevers now before you can enter - get up to the security shack and - 2 vehicles ahead of me, not moving and security waving me down.  Obviously, the plant is shut down.  A fire visible and a spill not visible.  That cost about 40 minutes of waiting time.  By the time they gave the all clear, the traffic was backed up a quarter mile.  It's a huge plant producing almost 100 different kinds of chemicals, it is open 24 hours a day and employs a lot of people and contractors.  They own 6 locomotives just to move all the railcar traffic in and out.  

Once inside, weigh the truck and go back to the loading rack  Got me hooked up and I went to sleep for a while.  But after an hour and a half I wondered what was taking so long?  A while later, the loader finally came and said all done, our pressure was too high so we had to blow that off before loading you.  I wondered if I would even make it to my first night stopping point after the plant eating up so much of my 14 hour clock time.  

The scalehouse had mercy, at least, I wasn't in there 10 minutes before they had my paperwork.  There's 2 plants up here. One is 750 miles and this one is 824.  So, coming up here it's the same stopping point the first night, but then, in the morning, you have extra miles to drive plus this plant I'm at takes longer to unload.  That's where I'm at right now.  Another 4-1/2 hours of driving to get up here from where I was parked this morning.  This plant also forces you to drop the trailer inside the plant and then you leave, waiting outside. You can't see the offloading operation from here so I can't tell when they're done. Just have to wait.  I figured about 2-1/2 hours from what he was describing.  I have to make it back at least to St Louis in order to be able to make it home tomorrow.  

No guarantees there, but I"m hopeful.  In fact, after this entry I'm going to take a nap.  At least an hour lol.  

No word from Kim or Maria about their current plight.  I'll wait for them to contact me.  

The newest guest at our house is still there. Bad marriage, she came to get away from it for a while.  Dunno, but they've been having a bad marriage and marriage counseling hasn't helped them. She works from her computer so it doesn't matter where she is, she can do her work.  Just an interesting situation that has been deteriorating for some time now.

I got Caleb his new refrigerator - well I ordered and paid for it anyway.  Kind of a "once in a lifetime" thing. He seems to have a good marriage going and he seems to have his act together.  I am trying to save money but I think this investment is well worth it when it comes to your own offspring and  motivated and successful enough to get into his first home.  I kind of feel sorry for him, the housing market there is tight, there aren't that many homes available so the prices are starting to skyrocket.  

Mark told me on the phone today that someone offered $180,000 for my house.  That's a lowball offer but a year ago it would have been a decent amount. Now the house is worth $40,000  more than that and no end in sight where it stops.  Or even crashes lol.  I've seriously thought about taking an equity loan out on it and going to the next land auction and seeing if I can get land.  Then I only have the equity loan payment and no extra for the land, own it outright and only owe property taxes on it every year and property insurance.

I'm thinking of doing that because rates are so low right now.  I dunno if anyone's lending right now, haven't looked yet, been kinda busy. This is my third trip in a row up here - great money but costly on road time.  I wasn't sent a run for Monday so if I get back tomorrow perhaps I have the day off. Can't say that for sure, tho, this new manager has called me several times for taking runs out when I thougth I had a day off.  He doesn't operate like the previous manager and I'm just getting used to his ways of doing things.  If he calls with a run, I won't turn it down tho.  I just think you get off their "good" list when you do that and then you may not get anything good coming your way.

Trucking is a whole different style of industry and mindset, especially with management and dispatchers.  It has probably reversed back to an employer's market for drivers since COVID-19 has destroyed so much of the economy and taken away so many jobs.  Before Covid, it was definitely a driver's market - you pick and choose.  

Well enough for this one.  I'm going to shut this computer down, put it up and take a nice little nap and hope to at least make it the 263 miles back to St Louis area so I can get this trip over with tomorrow. 

So, it's Thursday.  

Got up this morning, got out front, hooked the hose adapted and fired up the boat.  Cold blooded beast, takes a while before it will start running smoothly. But it's an old 6 cylinder 2 stroke, so it's really not that bad.  I wondered how it would run on the lake, under back pressure and the only way to find that out was to take it to the lake and see what happens. 

The thing took a while to get running smoothly, something I guess I'll just have to live with, but after that I had no problems at all.  I ran it all over the look at various speeds and then idled down and let it sit for several minutes idling.  It started to cut out so I gave it some gas and took off again.  Having had run the thing all around a huge portion of the lake - there were other boats but none of them in that area - I then took it to the "dock"- a primitive ramp with no pier, no place to actually place your boat besides just aiming for land and beaching it.  

So I beached it with it idling, never quit (a miracle in itself from everything else that was going on with it before), got the suv and backed the trailer into the water.  Well, I backed it too far in apparently and lessons learned with a small ding on the boat.  After a couple of tries to get that thing lined up with the trailer, I rode it in there, but apparently too fast and because the trailer was too deep in the water, it hit the crank.  I was like, dang.  I could have saved it, too, if I had known it was going to do that simply by putting it in reverse and hitting the gas.  I'm new to this, lol. Old boat, no worries, one of the reasons I wanted to start out with something older. If I screw up, at least it's not a 40k piece of technology that I just trashed.  

The incident got me to forgetting about the motor idling tho.  I was about to pull the boat out and realized that I had not only left the motor idling, I also hadn't tilted it up to avoid the prop from smashing on the ground.  I think I need to write down the procedure for launching and capturing the thing until I have it solidly in my head.  Just little things you can forget and if you forget them, that little thing can be costly.  I was amazed, however,, that it had idled that long with no issues at all. It was just sitting there purring away.  

On the way back, tire blew out.  I really thought it had good tires on it, if I didn't I would have replaced them.  These two - black - guys were right behind me when it blew out. They pulled over in front of me, got out and offered assistance.  Considering I was rather screwed - no spare tire - I handily accepted that offer. I only mentioned their skin color, by the way, because of all the s*** going on in America now.  I absolutely do not believe that America is deeply infused with racism.  I believe we are all God's handiwork and can choose to see beyond whatever color your damn skin is. These 2 were in the poor department, driving an old beat up truck and pulling a beat up trailer. But- they go around looking for the odd jobs to keep their pockets filled with some money in them.  

I had a long talk with the driver of the pickup - the other decided he was getting into the back of the truck to allow me to have room to sit in it. No rear seats. I rejected that notion, we can all sit together, there is room. No, he declared. So, I just got in and we talked a long time about everything.  I mean, I have had black friends and I have had numerous, various encounters with black people throughout my life and the personal encounters haven't been all bad and usually very amicable.  Just saying here, we can get past all of this bs the media is pumping out right now.  Look beyond what a person looks like - whether young, old, white, black, brown, red, yellow, whatever religions, whatever else comes to your mind.  

I was particularly encouraged that they get out and hustle every day, do whatever they can find to do, mostly their main thing is cutting down trees but they'll do whatever, they bust their asses and don't feel like they are being left behind or that society owes them anything.  I've been poor, I know what it's like, no one needs to tell me what it's like struggling from day to day.  I think we probably spent about an hour and a half with this endeavor, from pulling the wheel off, going to the tire shop, getting the new tire and getting back and putting it back on.  I handed them $80 for their generosity - they didn't ask for anything either.  I thought that not only fair, but I have always thought it a good idea to help out your fellow man/woman.  They helped me, I could only help but give them something back.  

The experience was enriching and rewarding beyond any flat tire.  

Anyway, at the tire shop I got a text from the dispatcher: it's run to Morris, Illinois. It's not that much further up the road than the Mapleton run, I think it's an extra 50 miles, but that 50 miles changes how the run works.  It's still a 3 day run, but the 3rd day is all day driving, not half a day.  I will go up to Kenny's tomorrow, spend the night there as with the Mapleton run, but then driving up to Morris will add 100 miles considering going up and back, so I won't make it to Newport tomorrow. I will be happy if I make it to the truck stop on the state line in Missouri just south of Neelyville. That leaves 450 miles left to go, if I recall correctly.  

Yesterday - Maria texted me that the lawyer wasn't going to pay the rent and that they needed to move out immediately.  What.  My first thought anyway. We just moved you both in there and you're telling us that the deal isn't a deal anymore?  So I texted Kim, who called me instead of texting back. She was rather pissed that Maria had texted me that, although the situation can be dire, it's not hopeless.  The problem is her brother hired some sort of management company to deal with Kim's portion of the inheritance and it said they couldn't pay the rent, she needed to buy a house with the money instead.  

Okkkkkkkkkkk - so buy a d*** house! She knew this all along, apparently, but opted for renting.  Well I remember this now from a while back. She could buy a house if she wanted to but for unknown and undefined reasons wanted to rent.  Whyyyyy?  I'd FAR rather own a house than rent one. But, the stipulation in the will is that the house can be charged rent back to her.  So, even tho the trust bought the house, if the brothers so decide, they can charge her rent.  It makes more sense now, sort of.  The father wanted her to stay on all forms of government assistance that is possible and likely if you own a house, you aren't going to be getting that assistance. But after that thought, I wondered - the house probably won't be in her name, so that shouldn't matter.  Kim isn't telling us the whole story of her relationship with her father.

But, he did leave her the money, over a million dollars I am hearing, just with huge stipulations. So, I said yesterday, but a house, a huge house on lots of land.  Have the option of extra bedrooms and you can rent them out if you need to pay the rent if they charge you for it, plus left over to pay for the utilities which I don't think the will left any provision for.  She doesn't think well, she drinks too much, is drunk too often and I was goading her to be honest. DO something about your situation, ,call your brothers, humble yourself, don't get into a fight with them, you are really at their mercy with this situation.  That's the lines I was taking with her the entire conversation. They can help her immensely - or they can opt not to help her at all.  The will was far too wishy washy and left gaping grey areas.  

There are usually only temporary lapses in drama in life, I have found over and over.  I was highly irritated at the thought of moving them again after just having moved them into that house. BUT, if it's in a permanent residence, I can see that.  Taylor says that Kim doesn't want to live in this area is her hesitance of buying a house here. Fine, move to wherever she wants to move to and get it done!  It's all pretty clear cut for me, not so much for her.  She isn't getting any younger, she could have a nice property with a beautiful home if she wants it.  I'd love an opportunity to talk with the brothers.  But I'm a 3rd party, no involvement except my input to Kim.  

On another note, a friend of James and Taylor came today.  Why? Because marital issues.  She lives in Dallas. Sweet lady.  She came into the house without knocking, but she has her own keys apparently.  Why I do not know.  Anyway, she knocked on my bedroom door alerting me that she's here. So, we spent some time chatting on the front porch.  

And now? I'm doing laundry and preparing for what else - the first load, get up at 4:00 am. I can only dream of getting a good night's sleep. It almost never happens on first load and I am perplexed why I have such issues sleeping on the night before it.  Going to bed early doesn't help.  So I'll probably go to bed at a time to get 7 hours of sleep.  

______________________

A few hours later and almost time for bed.  James set a fire in the pit, I enhanced the fire with the amount of junk we need to get rid of.  It's burning nicely : )   Well actually it's past time for bed for  8 hours sleep. I gave up on that long ago on early loads.  I burned up the cardboard - a lot of it.

I'm ready for my next trip. The lead mechanic texted me a pic of the dash - no more notices of the wingman being inoperative. I've driven 3,000 miles without cruise control - that's not fun, I can tell ya. My leg is hurting after holding the accelerator down almost 11 hours  I get out of the truck and walking like a man with a broken leg until a walk it off.  I can stretch my legs out when it's on cruise control, on an open highway with no or very little traffic to deal with.

Oh, I purchased the refrigerator for my son Caleb.  A bit pricey, but I got a long term warranty on it and it's a 25.5 cubic foot unit - much nicer for size than what they were originally looking at. It will be delivered there in time for them to move in.  It should be anyway, It's my housewarming gift - he's my son, not just a friend and I am glad to give them something quality that they were going to skimp on. It should serve them well for years to come.  

And with that, I'm off to bed. Goodnight.  Y'all take care, have a good evening and be blessed.                                            

The rest of the trip back was uneventful.  Stopped at Chili's on the way home for a bite to eat, went to Kroger's for dinner fixings and then went home.  Sometime this afternoon i got a phone call from my dispatcher.  She said I was the "only" one left that could do this run. It was a run going to Brownsville. I said fine, I'll be happy to do it  - but, I only have 15 hours left on my 70 hour clock.  So, after I get down there I'll have to do a reset. 

 Whhhhaaaatt?  She said she thought it said I had over 30 hours left?  Nope, I just got back form back-to--back Mapleton runs.  I can get it down there if you need me to do it, tho.  "Let me call Brandon and than I'll call you back".  It was a while - obviously they had to go through whoever is available or going to be available's hours and see if anyone else could do it without a reset.  The company, as I have stated a few times previously, does not want to pay for hotel stays.  I'd far rather do a reset at home, but I was more than willing to go out again tomorrow.  Anyway, she called back and said you're off the hook. I replied I would have been happy to do it!  So that was that.

Her end input was " I need you fresh and ready for Friday".  Lol, getting dumped with more weekend work, as usual. If I weren't making so much money I would definitely object to it.  And, there is a Mapleton run going out Friday, not going to be shocked if I get dumped with another run up there.  Tho I can tell you, if I were to do only Mapleton runs all year long, I would be making close to 100k.  I don't want to do Mapleton runs all year round, just saying it's a decent paying run.  

So, anyway, Maria texts me today, telling me that Kim's trust won't pay for the rent and they need to start packing to move now.

I didn't reply to that for quite a while. I had to process that and try not to get agitated or irritated that we spent all that time and money to move them over there and now they have to move?  I ended up contacting Kim and asking what's going on. An hour later she's calling me on the phone.  Her dad left her money - with a HUGE number of strings attached, I know that for a fact for I have read the will. But, they told her originally they would pay the rent, now the brother has switched from the lawyer to some sort of "management company", that is interpreting the will to say that she has to buy a house and the trust will pay for it.  That is not what the will says.  It says they "can" pay for her expenses and that she can buy a house, but, the trust can force her to pay rent.  It's a really weird setup.  Daddy left her with a lot of money that she basically can't use unless her brothers agree to it.

So I advised her to buy a house! What on earth.  Why rent a house when you can buy one?  Well they can still charge me rent.  Eat your pride, humble yourself, be nice to your brothers, make your case.  Humility - whether she wants to show that or not - goes a long way and she is only screwing herself being argumentative.  

Umm, I'm ending this one.  It's not that late - 9:35 pm - but I"m tired and going to bed, lol. Pick up on this where I left off type of thing on next entry.  And hopefully going to the lake tomorrow.

I had no desire to get out the laptop tonight, but, I had to pay credit card bills.  I just do it all in one fell swoop every month - and I was late on this one.  Not late on any payments thankfully, but I usually do this on the 1st.  So I just went through all of that and looking at balances realized I have racked up a bit more debt on them than I am comfortable with.  So, I'll focus on that in the next coming months and get it paid down.  

Anyway, I'm done with the second day of the 3 day trip to Illinois, back to back trips, I'll be glad to get home and spend a little more time than when I was there on Sunday.  The Mapleton run is a good one tho, it's decent miles and not too terribly much road time.  I mean, I've got 324 miles left to do tomorrow, that's about 5 hours plus fueling and taking a shower in Domino, Texas at the Love's.  

The Mapleton plant replaced everything.  I know I said that the other day, but they honed in on it again this morning.  I don't suspect we'll be getting any days worth of waiting pay up there any time soon.  They've got it dialed in that they get the thing unloaded very quickly.  And they are going through product much faster than they used to.  So, that means a lot work coming from that plant to keep us busy.  You see, I don't have to have detention pay at this company to make good money. It's easy money, but driving is just as good.  Obviously there is allure to sitting around getting paid, staying at a company paid hotel, but I'll drive and do the same or slightly better.  2 mapleton trips a week all year long would make 93k.  

Not that I want the same trip, twice a week, just showing the pay from doing this trip.  I"m all about the money, if I"m going to work, I want the dough.  

I'm sitting at a dilapidated old truck stop in Newport, Arkansas.  This is as far as I can drive from the Mapleton plant before running out of hours, I was down to 8 minutes before I got off the clock. Trucks are showing up all at once.  That's ELDs for you.   

I'm  still extremely unhappy to find out this dude that worked on my boat initially - I was trying to find someone that knew what they were doing and not having much luck - bought a "new" battery for the boat and come to find out - it's 2 years old!  So he just dumped a battery in there from wherever he got the thing and charged me full price for a new battery.  

Just gonna let that one go.  Might take a few days to get that out of my system - people defrauding people for money irks me - but at least I think I can now put the boat in the garage at Maria's new place.  The judge - he's a county judge and owns the property - won't let Addler over there tho.  He has something against large dogs, lots of people do, nothing unusual there, but kinda sucks, because its a beautiful property for doggies to go sniffing around in the woods and maybe hunting and using their instincts a bit more.  

Taylor said she wasn't going to be taking any money from me for watching the dogs when I'm gone.  She cited all I do around there including watching the boys.  If I'm home, I'll watch them, for it costs money - good money - for babysitters and the boys like me, we get along well for the most part.  I mean, I could go into the ridiculousness of 3 and 5 year olds, but I"m sure most people understand the details of young boys fighting over toys, smashing things, screaming, etc etc etc.  The 3 year old is still in the terror age, tho he's very slowly coming out of it.  I think. Lol.  I didn't fight with her on that - I do my share of stuff around there.  I slack sometimes, but that just means I do the bare minimum such as doing dishes and cleaning up.  Dishes seem to be that house' enemy.  I'll get back and there they are.  They're not mine, I didn't make them dirty, but I can't deal with a dirty kitchen so I just clean them, listen to some music and sparkle everything nicely.  

Okay, well anyway, I'm going to the lake either tomorrow if I get home early enough or Friday - if I"m not sent out again, tho my hours will be too low on the 70 clock and they likely won't sent me anywhere unless they are desperate. Because it will mean doing a 34 hour reset on the road, a thing I very much do not like.  Sure you get a free hotel, but you don't get paid for it. Might as well do 34's at home with my doggies and hanging out with friends and getting stuff done.  

I'm tired and this post is done. Long day and got up early this morning.  

650 miles yesterday, 325 miles today and I'm home.

But now without the manager calling me 20 miles out from the yard.  We chatted about boating and fishing for a few and then he got straight to the point.  I mean, I already know if he's calling me on a Sunday morning? There is a run or some errand that needs to be done.  That's without question, especially this dude.  His Sundays are sacred, so another driver told me after he got scolded by said manager for him calling the manager on a Sunday a while back.

Which is rather meaningless to me.  I don't call managers unless there is a serious issue.  A blown tire? Nope, I call the road service line and they find a service to come out and replace the tire. Breakdown? Yep - because it will affect delivery time and he'll need to update whichever plant about it.  Stuff happens, the plants usually don't give a hassle about a late load if there is a legitimate reason. But that's really the only time I either call or text him. 

Well anyway, he asked me how many hours I have left on my 70 clock?  Umm, guessing since I'm driving but I probably have about 40 or so available.  Okay, well I'm looking for someone to take a load up to - where else? - Mapleton.  He has a short memory, I had to remind him I'm just getting back from Mapleton. Not that I was trying to refuse the request, but I already have a trailer on the truck might as well reassign it so I don't have to drop and hook at the yard.  So, back today, back out tomorrow. 

But, he did give the info that Brownsville run I wouldn't get until wednesday at the earliest and Oklahoma run is going down again.  Which doesn't make sense we're sending product to Mapleton - they send product to the Oklahoma plant, owned by the same company.  And it's only going to be 3 days between loads for Mapleton, they are quite ambitious wanting to take another load that soon.  I half expect it to get canceled, but I'll fully prepare for it anyway. 

My plans tomorrow were to take the boat to the lake : (

Just have to wait until Thursday I guess.  I'm going to need to find a new place to store the boat now that Maria's house is no longer an option.  I don't want to store it here,, we have enough stuff here, I'm not even going to ask.  Plenty of storage lots around here, just have to start calling around and find the best deal with good security. 

Well that's it, really.  Plenty going on around here, but not really anything I should be commenting on on the internet that anyone can read. 

I finally gave up looking for my birth certificate and just ordered another one online.  I have 7 months before it needs to get here. Last time I tried, it took 3 plus months and that was before COVID 19. 

Anyway, time to kick back, relax and enjoy the rest of my Sunday. 

G'day. 

Up at 4:40 am, off to the races. Up to the plant - and found out that the plant had not, indeed, blown up.  That news that the plant had blown up was given by 3 different level managers in the company.  Where they got their information, no clue. But the manager up there, that I get along with quite nicely - we talk about smoking meats and that is one of his greatest passions - said the plant was bought out and the new owners wanted every valve and sensor in the entire plant replaced, along with a lot of underground pipe. 

No wonder it took so long. That plant is huge, there must be thousands of valves and equal amounts of sensors, well probably a lot more sensors.  I didn't get out of the truck because another driver had said they don't want you getting out.  Over an hour sitting in a hot truck and one of the guys came up to my truck window - I also know this guy, I've spent hours chatting with him in previous trips up there before the plant shut down - and he said uhh, no, you just have to have a mask on.  OH really?  I have a mask, in fact I have several of them in my truck.  But, a friend made one for me so I use that alot. 

So I went and got a fresh hot cup of coffee out of the operating control room - that is always offered - and then went outside to chat.  The smoker man - John - said no, lol, we don't care if you get out of the truck, they are just mandating masks now.  I said well, a certain driver said we aren't allowed to get out so I was just following the rules.  Who was that driver, was it Gary?  After that? I heard a lot of negative things about Gary.  He gets there very late. He doesn't tell them he is going to be late. The paperwork you get with the run always has the same thing written on there, part of which states that you are to call them "immediately" after you get out of the plant and let them know you arrival time. 

But the biggest complaint? Gary is full of himself.  He knows everything and he is quite smug about it.  Lol, well I didn't even know that he came off like that up there. He does like to talk about himself and his endeavors and how he has done this, that and the other thing and doesn't really want to hear anything from anyone else.  I just said to them to advise the new manager, he doesn't seem to tolerate that kind of nonsense.  And then off to smoking meats talk we went for an hour after that.

I'm pretty sociable person. I don't want to sit in a damn truck and bake my ass off when I could be standing outside where it's much cooler and chat with people that are very cool people.  I'd love to work at a place like that. John knows far more about smoking meats than I do and I just gobble up his advice.  He has quite the following with bringing some of his product to work for employees to taste and I have had the opportunity to taste his finished product a few times - quite good, especially the brisket.  He took his gloves off when the truck was unloaded, disobeyed Faucci and offered a handshake. Yes, I don't give a damn about Fauci and "you should never shake hands again" bs.  We shook and then I was out of there. 

Oh, this is supposed to be their day off, so they were very happy I showed up early. John came racing up to the plant as I was sitting there waiting for security to open the gate - John opened it with remote control lol.  They all left as soon as the truck was unloaded. I fought the clock today, get this crap done.  I actually had full hours - it didn't take near as long as it normally does for them to unload, so I was out of there in 2 hours.  7-1/2 hours left on the drive clock. How far can I go?

Well, I'll tell you. I know this route and I can guess pretty close how far I can go with the amount of hours available to the miles I can drive.  I figured I could make Newport, Alabama. With a fallback to Pocahontas - 55 miles I think up the road - as a fallback now that I saw  brand new truck stop built there when I was heading to Illinois.  But I made it to Newport with time to spare.  No way to make it any further with any guarantee of a place to stop and since there was only 30 minutes left on the drive clock, I was comfortable with 652 miles driven. 

Well whatever. I can get up at 4:00 am if I want and drive this thing out.  I'll likely get up at 5:30 am and get driving by 6.  But I can tell ya, if my brain wakes me up at 4:00 am, I'll get up and got. At the same time, there is no need to get up that early as this trailer isn't needed at the yard tomorrow, so I'm not setting the alarm that early. 

More going on, but I"m getting offa here and putting this laptop to bed lol

I am so tired. I wasn't going to pull out the laptop...but...

First thing is that I didn't sleep worth a crap. Happens frequently when I get the first load, early rise.  I dunno why, it just happens that way.

Getting on the road, about 120 miles into the trip, my manager texts me. First thing I thought was this load canceled.  Wrong, he then called me.  Uh, you should be getting back from this run on Sunday afternoon, right? Yes, as long as everything goes right.  Okay, well when you get back, you'll need to take your 10 hour break and then head down to Brownsville to pick up an empty. 

I didn't much care for that idea for it would have me leaving at around midnight, maybe 1  or 2 am.  But I just agreed to it and said okay, sounds good.

Then I get a text - you 2 modules on your training that you need to do tonight before it expires.  Okayyyy? 

Heavy rains storms - the type that slows you down because of greatly reduced visibility - on and off all day.  Up and down mountains - had to pay attention to speed going down the hills.  If I go too fast, I get a ding from the company.  It's whatever, I try to not get those things but it happens, but I kept on top of it today so I didn't get any.

Then after thinking half the day about the brutal schedule coming up - 2 nights driving most of the night long - I get another text: Brownsville cancelled. Yes!  Sure, I want the money, but not at the expense of my sleep and feeling nasty for days after having to do it 2 nights in a row. 

So, I stopped at a favorite grill instead of driving up the road another 60 miles today. I would have just driven out my hours to get far enough ahead to try to gain some time on the Brownsville run.

Anyway, I got on here to do these ridiculous modules. Training  the same things I have been trained on a dozen times at various plants, orientation and previous training modules.  Most of these plants make you sit down and watch a video on safety before you can enter the place. 

Well that's that. The modules are done, it's not late - 9:00 pm  but I'm out of it. Going to sleep.