BTW, the offense Facebook said I committed to get suspended for 3 days?  A dude got into a group I'm in, started saying anti-black stuff - completely and totally racist, I came back at him. Facebook obviously just read my comment and didn't take the post itself into context.  Facebook sucks, that's what I can say.  It's nothing like it used to be, it's just a political tool now.  

Anyway.  Last night I got to Brownsville and no empty trailers.  And, there was a driver still there from the previous day.  So I was confident I was getting detention pay and get to sleep in after a miserable night's sleep the previous night - that story is in the last post.  

Well I slept okay, but the phone rang at 8:00 am.  I wasn't even thinking about getting up.  But it was the driver that left last night - they had come in late with a trailer and he decided to leave with it.  His air compressor quit working.  You know, the thing that supplies compressed air to the entire air system to do everything from fill the air bags on the cab, lift up your driver's seat, fill the air bags on the suspensions and - of course - braking.  

Bro, can you come take this trailer back? After explaining the whole situation.  I said yes instantly, thinking about getting home to day. But after getting off the phone, regretting that decision.  Tired, but I got up and got out of there.  He was only 30 miles up the road at a truck stop.  I grabbed that trailer and hoofed it back up to Longview. GPS alerted me to a traffic jam just north of Houston and gave me a route around it - glad I took it because the traffic in that miles long area would have held me up an hour, I'm guessing, if not more.  

Well, back at the yard and the only trailer to go back down to Brownsville tomorrow? The one I brought in.  They'll likely be asking someone else to drive all night long to get another one there, that run is up and cranking again.  2 or 3 loads a day going down there.  I'ts not our fault they can't get trailers back to us in time to get them back up to the yard to get loaded again the next day. they must have half a dozen of our trailers sitting at their plant.  They wanted us to commit even more trailers to that run, the company said no. 

Get your s*** together. It doesn't bother me, we get detention pay.  I made an extra $340 going to bed last night because of that.  They're our best customer - but - these trailers are $400,000 a piece.  New ones anyway.  They can convert old LNG trailers and cost a lot less, but this particular customer wants all new trailers so the product can sit there as long as they need it to and not start heating up - creating vapor - creating pressure. 

Whatever. I'm off to Oklahoma tomorrow.  Not an early load so I can deal with it.  Realtor started texting me - I haven't talked to her in days, there is nothing to report.  She sent some small properties that I could pay for with cash.  I think too small, tho.  4 acres - just don't know if I could accomplish what I need to with that.  I thanked her for sending them and then informed her of the situation - waiting on a decision from the banker.  

Cranky. Everyone is cranky here. No one is sleeping well for various reasons. 2 nights ago here, birds were the issue for me.  I dunno, I'm going to bed soon and hope for a decent sleep. I don't have to leave until after 10:00 am.  

Mother finally got her birth certificate.  She was ecstatic - she has never had a birth certificate - her entire life.  She had a "notification of birth" which is not, I found out, a birth certificate.  

My son said he wants to come out here to visit.  I kind of think he wants to come out here to stay - if temporarily.  I don't have a place for him, but we could work something out.  They've had friends living over here before for weeks at a time.  I dunno what his plans are and I dunno how's he's really doing, the divorce and end of marriage is taking a toll on him from what I am gathering.  Seemed like they were doing so well.  It is what it is and he'll learn from it and move on.  But, he's certainly welcome out here whenever.  He knows I"m not home half the time.  

I'm sure there's more but I'm weary.  Long drive, tired and ready to go to sleep. 

 Last night was crazy if not highly annoying.  Around midnight, I was jarred awake by noises coming into my ears. Unwanted noises. Noises that I could not sleep through. So I woke up and heard - birds chirping.

At midnight.  What on earth are these birds doing making all this racket in the middle of the night? It went on for hours.  I turned the fan setting up on my AC unit to try and drown out the noise to no avail.  I then realized after almost 3 hours that I have ear plugs in the bathroom. I stopped using them at night a while back.

Put them in and walaah, no more noise. Of course, I had to get up in less than an hour but I fell fast asleep.  

That was the start of my day today, 4 hours of sleep maximum.  Went through the motions, go to the plant and went to sleep in the sleeper after they started loading it.  Bang, bang, bang! The noise of the hammer hitting the fittings in the back of the trailer meant that they were unhooking the hoses and time to get up.  

After getting out of the plant, I forced myself to drive 400 miles before stopping for a break.  Fueled up at the Loves in Sinton, pulled into a parking space and fell fast asleep again - setting the alarm on my phone cause I knew if I fell asleep? It might hours before I wake up again. 

It was worth the trouble forcing myself to get down here, for there are no empty trailers and that, of course, equals more money in my pocket for doing nothing more than sitting around until the next day. They allegedly expect to have empty trailers up here by tomorrow afternoon.  

During that time, however, I was asked for more and more documentation and explanations of this and that.  Why does your tax return show adjusted income of 75k but it shows you made 90k last year?  What is this late pay for mortgage 3 years ago? That was just me forgetting to pay the mortgage, not me being too broke to be able to afford to make the payment. But, it doesn't look good on there regardless so that's a ding against me. Then I contacted this loan officer again - I forgot about 4 properties I own here outright to use as assets. 

He writes back good and I'll look into that.  And then I remembered my boat, my utility trailer and my Jeep - all paid for, owe nothing and more assets.  The more money you're worth, the better it looks.  

I really want this loan. But, I"m not going to have a meltdown if I don't get it.  My credit is good, my income is good, my assets are good, my debt isn't too high.  But, I have no idea what these people consider a good risk or not, especially with land, but they want 20% down. That's not a small chunk of change.  People putting that much money down aren't likely to just want to walk away from it.  I mean, stuff happens in life and people are forced into doing things they don't want to, I get that but I doubt most people are going to chunk down 20 grand and 6 months later say, well that didn't work out! I"m just going to give it back to the bank!  

No, I didn't get an answer today, I was hoping they would get this done and give me a reply.  I didn't ask them for an answer, tho, I didn't say anything besides what they were asking for.  No need to get pushy, they'll tell me when they've made their decision and I'll just have to wait.  

If this fails, I give up on bank loans and will just have to hope there is something decent at the next tax lien sale - which is still two months off.  and that I can actually get the winning bid - auctions can get carried away with people getting into bidding wars and end up paying far too much for land.  Might as well just go give the cash to a property owner and buy it from them for the price some of this stuff goes for. But there are definitely good deals.

The other possibility is that someone puts something up for sale that is big enough and in a good location that I can afford to pay cash for outright.  I am looking every day now for any new listings.  

Well I guess I got lucky. Two trucks left earlier today but now another empty came in here. Fortunately for me, there is another driver ahead of me that has been here 2 days waiting.  If another empty comes in? Per our manager and what he worked out with the plant? "No empty trailers available at time of arrival".  And there weren't.  That was two hours ago.  I need only shut my curtain or leave this yard altogether.  But I don't have to leave the yard since it would be legitimate for me to claim detention - if another shows up  tonight - since that's what they worked out.  My manager made the point: What, are my drivers supposed to stay up all night looking for trailers?  That may never come? 

I can tell you after last night, I want to have the opportunity to sleep in in the morning.  

Well, Facebook has suspended my FB account for 3 days.  Woo hoo!  I can't wait until Trump comes out with his platform, I would consider leaving Facebook altogether.  My time on there has been less and less and less in the last few months.  I commented on a post in a debate group - another thing I am not spending much time doing - and someone reported it and of course, Facebook took offense to it.  Facebook doesn't like conservatives and they don't even try to hide it anymore.  You will obey or you will pay.  Nah, bro, I don't care that much about Facebook anymore. If they permanently suspended my account I might miss a few aspects of it but I would get over it quickly.  Facebook is digging a hole and eventually will bury itself in it.  

I have numerous friends that have been suspended on Facebook for saying trivial, mundane things that shouldn't get them into trouble.  The post I was on ? The guy said that blacks not be allowed to have retail jobs - and went on to say extremely racist things about their service.  I dunno what happened to that person, I would assume Facebook would take offense to anything like that as well?  Who knows, but the Facebook that exists now is nothing like the Facebook I originally signed up for.  

So, y'all that know my on facebook won't be seeing me on there for 3 days lol.

With that, I am going to go to sleep.

G'nite. 

 So, this latest lender - of whom I filled out all kinds of paperwork for and sent it in - called and asked for a half dozen more documents.  

OKKKKKKKK.

But I was out and about, didn't rush home for that.  I originally went out to get breakfast, I ended up driving up and down the street where I bought one of the properties at tax sale and looking at square footage.  They told me at the city I would have to build a house that is at least 1,100 square feet.

Yes, that's small, but I was going even smaller.  600-800 square feet. Like a mini home.  I took pictures and wrote down street numbers to look up square footage, but from guesstimation, I'd say more than half the homes on that street are 900 square feet and less - a few much less.  

Take the mobile, manufactured or modular home equation out of it, simply look at the square footage.  But, there was a newer looking modular home that couldn't have been 800 square feet - and that is a generous guesstimate.  This guy from the city made his decision from the house across the street from my property.  He said it's 1,150 square feet. Oh? And the house next to it?  Around 700 square feet.  

I'm going to look up the square footage of at least half the homes on that street - big and small and in between.  Then, if I am right about my guesses at square footage - I should be pretty close on a lot of them - I am going back to this city dude and show him the facts of what this street consists of.  There are 2 mansions on the street - it's an odd mix.  Those houses must be 6,000 square feet each - and that's a conservative estimate.  They are absolutely huge and beautiful properties.  And next door to them? Old houses, falling apart, or old houses not falling apart, but old and small.  

There isn't any reason on earth the city should deny my request to put in whatever I want, really, ,as long as it meets city code requirements for being a habitable structure. My goal was to put on a small structure and put up a rent to own ad.  $2,500 down, $600 per month and figure out how long the loan should last by the amount of money spent on the structure and profit.  I did buy these properties for profit and I don't feel bad about that at all as long as I'm not taking advantage of people.  It's a small property to begin with.  

After going to the store for dinner stuff, I came home, took photos of signed papers I had to print out yet again, dug up other files and sent them off.

Now awaits the period where they do their research and determine whether they want to loan me money or not.  

I kind of think I can take it as a good indicator if they refuse me credit that probably all of the credit unions will do that as well.  I'll try a regular bank after that and see what they say and then - we are back to square one.  I might have to consider at that point if this is really meant to be, or if there is a pot of gold at the other end of this rainbow, I just have to go through the effort to find it.  Because honey, I have given a lot of time, travel and energy to just finding property.

There have been no new listings in the last week I think it is.  The house with 20 acres is already under contract.  Lol.  It was listed too high anyway, I don't want that high of payments, but it was intriguing.  

Well enough of this, time to do house chores. 

 Endless forms and information to dig up.

Contacting the wrong lender.  Out of sheer ignorance for I have never applied for a land loan before.

Endless phone calls and emails.

More digging up of more information.

Total assets and total liabilities. 

I was amazed at my total assets tho, didn't realize I was worth that much money lol.  Mostly due to 401ks and my house in Arizona. 

One lender in Houston area said I could sign up, then couldn't, then could.  But the online application won't allow me to do so without either knowing someone already in their credit union, living in  certain zip codes near them or working for a list of companies they give.  None of those apply.  The loan officer is probably getting tired of my constant emails lol.  I think I'll just put my name in the related field and see if it will work.  

Meanwhile, another lender in a town about 60 miles away called and said that these types of loans are based on regions and that I was out of their region, but that he could give me the number of the lender whose region I am in.  Note that this bank asked for all kinds of information including 2020 tax return.  

I mean, I needed to do it anyway so no big deal but dang.  It took me hours of digging up info to find out - I am not even qualified to apply with them.  

I really should have started this process long ago, I had no idea land loans were so complicated and involved, they are more difficult to obtain than a house loan. 

Regardless, I called this local lender and they said okay, sent me an application.  I have all of that information now, so I just filled that in easy peasy.  

In the end, I don't even know if they'll grant me a loan, tho the amount isn't that much, at least not by lender's standards and they will see that I will easily be able to afford a less than $300 per month payment.  

So, until I exhaust all lending options that do land loans, I will keep trying.  If it all ends up in a dead end, then I will be forced to try and buy a much smaller property for cash or go to the tax lien sale and see if I can score something there in the next auction they do.  

What I am not going to do is agree to the land owner's outrageous terms having me pay close to triple monthly payments than what I can get through a bank. He can keep that land.  

I am not giving up hope, but this process is getting rather exasperating. I only have so much free time and I really don't want to have to use it all up dealing with lenders.  I guess it's the price one must pay, and I'm getting educated at least on how the process works, but another thing I have never had any experience with is credit unions.  

They give better rates but dang, they make it hard to join up with them.  

Anyway, I'm taking a break from that for I have sent in that latest application and I'll see how that goes.  I really wanted to get the pond set up today, but I also really want to find out one way or another if I can get financed for this project or switch gears and focus on other ways to get land.  

Well, the money mom sent is now in the other account.  It's an account she set up and then added me to it so she can just send me money versus sending me checks. This is yet another process, I just found out, to be able to transfer money from that account to my checking account.  That apparently will take a couple of days to set up, lol.  

I don't need that money for a down payment. It will come handy to start doing the things it will take to set up the park.  She is okay with that, in fact she said she thought it might help. Yes, yes indeed it will if I can ever get to that point in this process.  

And, if I can qualify for a loan, perhaps I can look at other properties I put on the shelf.  Higher dollar amount for the land, but a lot more property, one of them specifically comes to mind.  They want a lot more money but the ad lists it as a "motivated seller" - which usually means they are willing to take less money to unload the property.  

I thought I was taking a break but I keep getting emails. So I set up the credit union account in my name, it was the only thing I knew to do to try and open an account there. They have 10% down payment and better terms. The loan officer from that company is the one that told me I could open an account and make a donation to some charity - so that's fine as long as the minimum donation isn't terribly much and the charity is something I can actually agree with.  

Now?  I probably should get away from the desk, my goal today was to try and get the pond set up. So far, I have done nothing with it for I am here, at my desk, attempting to answer all of these questions and fill out all of these  forms, lol.  And I'm hungry, so time to eat. The day is wasting away and I suspect I will not get to the pond after all is said and done.

I also suspect I will be sent out tomorrow somewhere, I was a bit amazed they didn't send me anywhere today.  I mean, I'm glad they didn't, gives me a chance to do all of this paperwork.  I wouldn't have been able to do it on the road with my laptop, I had to print out a lot of stuff and then scan it and send it back to the lenders.  

This whole thing isn't likely to end anytime soon, lol.  Grin and bear it, there is no use getting frustrated.  

Okay I'm offa here - for now.

Home again.

This trip to Oklahoma entailed a dispatcher wanting to know if I could make it back to the yard today by 2:30 pm.  That was before I even left the yard yesterday.  

Of course I hoofed it up there, not stopping but for 3 minutes to go the restroom, took my 30 minute break while doing the drop and hook operation (I normally pull over somewhere and take a nap instead), got back down the road and stopped at my usual spot - got there by 1 am.  

At exactly 10 hours, the clocks reset and I was out of there, back to the yard and done.  My manager informed me - in a nice way of course - that he had checked and that I had quit at 1 am and had started at the exact moment that the clock reset.

Thanks? I guess.  

Mother wanted me to call her - rather urgently it seemed - so I finally got a chance to today.  I don't normally talk on the phone while driving the truck. It's not illegal I just don't much care for it.  I guess I'd like it better if I bought one of those fancy bluetooth headsets - and I could get one free from Love's with my points - but how often would I use it?  Just one more thing to clutter up the truck, but I'll think about it.  Truckers have to have "special" headsets - there is only one ear piece on one side, we aren't allowed to have earphones in both ears.  

Anyway, she decided she wanted to hand out part of her estate.  Asking her why?  I just keep reinvesting it and I think it might help you with your project.  But what if you needed it at some point? Umm, if I thought I would need it, I wouldn't be giving it away.

My mother is very intelligent, but I had to ask anyway.  It's a sizable chunk of change that I won't go into here.  Well, I'll just say it's probably enough to put in a large septic system I may need for any given property.  

____________________

HOURS later.  I just filled out my 2020 tax return since they want it to be able to process the loan.  I'm filling out a loan application and they want a lot of stuff.  I wasn't prepared to do my taxes, but it needed to be done I guess.  Checking account, 401k, pay stubs, etc etc etc.  I had forgotten how involved these types of applications are.  But, I'm motivated and I want to at least try to get this behind me.  I've been working on this so long, it's getting to the exasperation point.  

Another option, however, is to wait for the next tax lien sale in 2 months, saving all that money my m other is giving me and adding it to my savings, I could do some serious bidding with that much cash.  

But, then you wait 6 months before you can do anything with the land.  And, there is no guarantee that if I wait 2 months from now, that there will be any suitable land in the auction.  

On the other hand, I might not qualify for a loan and will have to go that route.  I already have a house payment and they may decide I have too many expenses? Probably not with my income, but who knows how these banks look at things.  I'll wait on their decision, if it's a no, I'll apply somewhere else.  I don't want to rack up too many credit inquiries on my credit score tho.  

So hurry up and wait. That property may sit or it may sell. If I get approved for it and it sells, I'll just ask them to finance another property.  Or not, if there is nothing suitable, it will just have to wait.  

Meanwhile, I have no work tomorrow. Seemed a bit odd with no trucks in the yard.  I don't mind a day off, yet I don't mind working to get caught back up.  I'll probably - probably - try to get that pond set up.  I just get distracted by other stuff that I need to get done - the pond isn't a need. It's a want, yes, need, no.  I have everything I need - I think - to get it set up, get the water filtering and start conditioning it before putting some fish in there.  This setup will have to be far more elaborate than any other ponds I have set up before in order to try to keep birds, snakes, raccoons and other fish eating creatures out of it.  

Whatever the case, I think I will enjoy a movie and vegetate a while.

Good to be home.

 It's time.

I am putting in bank applications at several places.  I have one preferred for they only want 10% down and competitive interest rates - but I'll take a 20% property - just means a lower monthly payment.  

Meanwhile, Zillow now has my Phoenix house valued at 295k.  So tempting.  The house is 10 minutes from down town Phoenix.  On the base of a mountain, the views are over the city and can see well off on clear days - if there are any.  Selling it at that price would give me a handy 150k profit.  Not that it would sell at that price - but not that it wouldn't.

Location, location, location.  The entire city and surrounding cities are virtually landlocked and all of the land is developed.  If you wanted to build a house in the Phoenix metro area but near downtown Phoenix? Good luck.  There's nothing available. You'll have to go 50 plus miles outside of town.  Of course, you could buy a house, knock it down and build whatever you want.  That's a San Francisco scenario. We aren't quite there yet, but all of these people moving to Arizona from New York, California, Illinois and other places have created a huge demand for housing.  

It would be a fine day to have an RV park there.  I could charge $800 per month just for the lots.  

Oh, well I only got onto that subject because a realtor sent me a message - this wasn't the "I want to buy your house" junk, it was we'll do a valuation of your house with comps and give you a number of what we think it's worth.  They came up with 185k.  I laughed out loud at that.

But, this was a comprehensive list of houses they used to come up with that valuation.  The problem? Most of it were mobile homes that are 30, 40 even 50 years old.  They aren't even in the same realm as my house.  There are no comps in the neighborhood, no one has brought any new manufactured homes. The only thing that is worth more are the few, site built homes that have been built.  

NO one is moving out of that neighborhood. There is nowhere to go!  Sell your place and go - where?  Texas, in my case lol, but I"m saying there is no valid reason for anyone to sell even their old, junk mobile home if they have no place to go.  

I dropped my phone today. It landed on a concrete floor. It was the last straw.  The screen cracked and I put in a warranty claim. I have the insurance that covers you even if you do something stupid - like dropping your phone on the floor.  But it's hardly what is all wrong with it. The charging port has all but quit working.  I thought it was bad phone cord - I tried it on 5 different cords, 2 of them brand new I bought today.  Fortunately, I have a charger where you just put the phone on a pad and it somehow "infuses" energy into the battery.  I have no clue how that works, but it's working fine.  

Besides that, I click on an app or on a link or just trying to click on a facebook link and it takes forever for it to switch.  Nothing like when I first got this phone. And, the camera doesn't work right.  So I made the claim. They ask you the specifics - yup, I dropped it but it's had several other issues.  It doesn't really matter, when you're paying for the "whatever happened" insurance, they are going to replace it regardless.  

It still works, at least, til I get the new one, which should be tomorrow or the next day. But I'm leaving for Oklahoma tomorrow afternoon, seriously doubt it will be there before I leave.  

They're keeping me busy as of lates, I'll give them that.  I'd say I'm ready for a break - but my bank account disagrees with me. I've had 3 good runs in a row, that will help.  I don't mind taking one or even 2 low paying runs in a row, it's when we get to 3. Or if I get two - but it's spread out so long that I'm eating more than a week's pay's worth.  

Anyway, I have a late load tomorrow - 2:30 pm.  That's really sucky.  Means I'll be out of the plant around 4:30 - 5:00 - drive 6 hours, drop and hook (plant open 24 hours) then find the nearest place, which is 25 miles away, to park for the night.  But whatever, it is what it is.  I just like the "normal" Oklahoma run when you leave in the morning and get back the next day - in the morning.  

Finally? The 8 acres I was looking at, I could get for less than $300 per month payments if I could get one of these banks to move there @$$es and get on with the program.  30 year loan, yes.  But whatever. That payments are next to nothing so I don't care about that.  

My next mental project - things that I have to do research on, make phone calls, attempt to find the right info, etc - things that I have no knowledge about and have to get educated on - is getting my undivided interest in the hunting property - divided and in my name.  That will entail calling or emailing a lawyer specializing in land laws.  I could see spending a grand on that - if it would get me 2 acres in my name.  That would open up other possibilities that I need not go into here now because - that may never happen. It isn't a great priority, but if it were something I could get done without too much more money into that property I would definitely do it. 

And next land auction? I'm going to look at every single piece of land, the small stuff going for small stuff. Land out in the country - nothing else.  Rent to own - what I wanted to do in the city.  That's another issue, the city and their progressive rules.  Wanting things that aren't going to happen in any of their lifetimes.  Rent to own is appealing. Small  down payment, affordable monthly rates and eventually they have their own place. I have decided that at some point I'm going to take my issue up with the city council about one of my existing properties.  But not until after the 180 day period has expired and I have an actual deed/title in hand for the property, not a sheriff's deed.  

Things that cost money but hopefully make money in the end.  Things that make you have to learn about things you have no knowledge of. Things that in the end, may actually make you happy that you had to go through all of that mental fatigue in searching out information because you came to understand how it works without going to school or actually working in the field. 

And with that? I am offa here, watch a show and go to bed late.  I mean, I don't have to leave the house until 12:45 pm tomorrow......

Nite.  

Happy "He Is Risen Day" Easter!!!!

 I'm out on the road, fairly common event to be out here somewhere on a holiday, but it's no worries.  I just ate a fantastic Easter meal in my truck, talked with people and texted, stuff on face book, I'm good.  

I'm in Brownsville, btw.  I had mixed feelings of whether I wanted to find an empty here today or not.  I really didn't think they would have any - Easter  is a big holiday in Mexico and I wouldn't have expected to see them bringing up empties, but empties there are. 2 of them in fact.  So I'll be leaving out of here early tomorrow morning - I could leave as early as 4 am but I doubt I will, probably more like around 5:30 am.  

But, Happy Easter to you, your loved ones, family, friends, acquaintances and of course doggies and pets!  My doggy was clearly unhappy that I was leaving this morning, well they were both unhappy about it but Addler gets this look on his face.  He knows what I'm doing.  I get up, put the collar on his neck, get my shower, pet him and Aspyn for a while, then leave.  I didn't sleep worth a Jingle Bell last night, I woke up around 2 am and never got back to sleep. So, I'm kind of sleepy right now.

But it's only 6:30 pm, full daylight, it's much too early to be going to sleep. So I'm going to force myself to stay up at least until around 8:30 and then go to bed.  Oh, and I got down here the earliest I ever have at 5:30 pm!  I didn't waste any time, being tired? My goal is to get here and get out of the driver's seat and relax.  

I haven't looked at the property listings in a while.  Same stuff all the time, there are a few new ones that come on there here and there, but mostly it stays the same with properties that are unusable - covered with water or overpriced. They don't sell, no one wants to pay double, triple, quadruple etc for property and you can't do anything with a swamp.  You offer them fair market value to the properties that are usable? They just laugh at you. I laugh back - I see your property has been on the market for 2 years.  

Or how about a "commercial property", 6 acres, 600k? Undeveloped land next to a motel, lmao.

Oh, the situation at home. Well, I'm not going into personal details of other people's lives in great detail on the internet.  At least not that stuff.  Taylor is, however, going to be a stay-at-home mom, pull Jaxon out of daycare and do the home mommy thing.  Is it good or bad? That's not my call. People are free to live their lives as they see fit, learn from their mistakes, enjoy whatever right decisions they make and that's that.  I could be making a huge mistake in attempting to get property and start up a business.  But, it's a risk I am prepared to take.    James will start making more money after he gets down with college.  In fact, I saw a place that allegedly has excellent wages, tho I don't know that he's interested in a new job.  He gets off work and goes to college 2 blocks down the road from work. 

I never got started on my pond setup.  It keeps raining.  I need a dry day to do it.  I mean, it won't be that hard, per se, to set up it's just the fact that I need the right weather conditions.  The grass - I planted a bunch of seed out front after using the aerator machine - about half of it or less is actually growing. The rain washed the rest of the seed away.  

So that's it for me.  Just waiting out another hour so I can try to go to bed.

G'day

 Ok. Instead of sending the email telling me that they were working on the birth certificate, they just bypassed that part and - sent me the birth certificate.  My mother has never had a birth certificate - in her entire life.  It was only until she needed it to renew her driver's license that she found out her "notice of birth" wouldn't work.  It's a very old document, the only "real" and official thing she had. 

Why she waited so long to get her birth certificate is unknown, but because the state was never asked to make one, she couldn't get it on her own.  You read that right: she asked them to send her a birth certificate with the state seal on it and they refused.  Appalling? Yes, in my opinion, but whatever. They told her a family member would have to ask for it for her.

How does that  make any sense?  Whatever the case, I didn't get into it with them about it, I just sent in the form, got some stuff wrong on it, they sent me an email informing me of such, I corrected the issue and walaah.  Mom will finally have a birth certificate.  I sent her a pic earlier - just got the thing - and asked if she needed it overnighted to her.  

I suspect she's driving on an expired license - I've gone through this before. I didn't used to be that you needed a birth certificate to renew your license. I thought it was only for commercial licenses, apparently they want it for everyone now?  I didn't know anything about it, went to get my license and they told me I needed a birth certificate  The issue had me going clear back to Arizona to get one because I was not going to be able to work - it's a long story not worth going into again, I just know how she feels.  

Mobility is important. As long as she is legally/medically qualified to drive, she should be able to.  Yes, I asked her if she was driving on expired license, I didn't get an answer lol. I changed the subject after realizing she didn't want to admit to it for whatever reason - wouldn't have bothered me if she was doing so, she doesn't normally go around breaking the law everywhere and her need to go to the store and get groceries supersedes the state's desire to have everyone in a computer data base so they can keep tabs on you..... and she tried to do this on her own to no avail.  The state doesn't care what your needs are, I have learned that from ample experience and a book's worth of stories I could go into here - and won't.

So today was a "put the house back together" day.  It's been in a shambles for quite a while.  I had a box out there in the living room amidst the rest of the boxes I had forgotten about. I tried to bring it into my room when....plop....the entire contents spilled out onto the floor after the bottom gave way. 

No worries, I threw half of the stuff into the trash can and put the rest of the stuff away, problem solved. Another box to go through and I'll be done with that. But, that's nothing I'm doing today.  

I didn't finish this post but publishing it anyway.  

 Day 2 of a fairly uneventful trip.  

Well, getting passed on the shoulder this morning was interesting.  

Actually, yesterday, after getting to the plant at 5:45 am, getting loaded right away with no waiting and then going to the scale house and waiting over 2 hours for paperwork?  Well, I was a bit unhappy with that.  They have been taking longer and longer to get simple paperwork done.  There were 3 people ahead of me when I walked in, 1 of them left a few minutes later, 2 others were gone in 20 minutes.  

So, I asked if the COA wasn't in yet? No it's here, she's working on "something else". 

Hold on for a moment, I need to pull my truck up, a reefer just pulled up next to me and I refuse to listen to that noise all night long, I won't sleep.  I have no idea how those drivers can stand having that noise machine feeding that noise into their ears all  night long, nothing I want to deal with.  

Anyway, by the time I got out of there, I only had 10-1/2 hours left on the 14 hour clock.  I like to make this trip 3 days, not 4.  But I was able to get to the minimum distance I need to get in order to make this a 3 day trip - a truck stop, small one, in Barnhardt, MO.  There's a bar and grill next door, I usually go in and have some chicken wings.  

Today? Up at 4:45 am, off to the plant, where they did, of course, spend over 4-1/2 hours unloading. It's normal for that place. I haven't been there in a year at least as the other company got that contract and the only reason we get any of it is if the other company can't cover the loads going up to it.  

And I have no clue what this reefer driver is doing, he's moving back and forth and - what the hercules.  Hmm.  He pulled up, backed up, pulled up, backed up, pulled up, backed up - for what?  Ahh ok, so he stopped right next to me, the reefer unit shut off, but when it comes back on again, I'll pull up far so I don't have to tolerate that nonsense all night long.  It's always my fear whenever I park anywhere that one of those things is going to park next to me. Fortunately, I am in a huge field type of parking lot, no set spaces, I will pull up 20 feet if I have to to get away from that noise.  

So, today was a 16 hour day as I used my 16 hour exception to make it as far down the road as I could get.  I didn't want to wake up in the morning with near 600 miles to go.  I've got it down to 400 miles and I'm comfortable with that. I will have enough hours left to go to brownsville or Oklahoma, I'll take either.  My checking account is down the lowest I have seen it in years.  Never recovered from the great ice/snow event of Texas, SNOVID2021.  Now I'm not going to say being out on the road all of this time is all that wonderful, but neither is having an empty checking account.  

I heard nothing back from the realtor today and I am kind of taking a break from talking to her while I get this loan process going.  BUT, if I get home in time tomorrow, I"m going to the 11 acre property listed for 21k and find out if there is enough usuable property on it.  I don't care about easements and gas operations as long as they aren't that close to the intended area for the RV park.  I'd also like to go take a look at this house on 20 acres, but I doubt Ill have time for that.  The 8 acres isn't off the table, but I'm not going to deal with the owner's owner-finance terms. A rip-off, greed, just something I won't get myself into. I can't say that I'm desperate for property, but boy have I put a lot of time into looking around all over the place and coming up with nothing as far as results go.  

Such a beautiful property - but the monthly payments with his high interest rate and shorter length of the payoff date equals high payments that I am very much not interested in getting involved with.  This is why I started looking at acreage with houses on it.  Buy the property, rent the house, boom.  No out of pocket expense for the entire property.  Such a better idea - but there are few properties in the affordable range that I have seen.  Most of them are hundreds of acres with a huge house on it going for half a million and up.  This one just happened to show up on a real estate broker search that I hadn't looked at before. 

Well it's been a long day and I'm getting sleepy. Get up in the morning, finish this drive and go on to whatever is next. 

G'nite. 

 Well unfortunately the land owner has some pretty outrageous terms, so I had to decline.  He came down in his price - but only 10k.  He wants to charge me 8% financing, which isn't even anything I would consider getting involved with considering I have excellent credit. 

His length of the loan is too short, making the payments higher.  I could pay a house payment for the money he wants for a monthly payment.  It was a bit of a let down - however - I am applying for my own loan through a Texas land bank.  No guarantees there, they may say he's asking too much per acre - or to compensate - ask for a huge down payment.  

It will take a couple of days to get any kind of reply from the bank, but I'm absolutely not going to pay this guy's price. Even the realtor agreed that his terms were ridiculously high.  The property might be worth what he's asking, so that's why I'm going to try to see if I can get a loan. If I give them 20% down maybe they'll be motivated, considering I make good money, verifiable, annually.  

Meanwhile, I found a house out in the county on 20 acres.  High priced, yes, they want 150k for a 3 bedroom house, a 20 acre property with a pond and a couple of "barns" they described them as.  The house, however, is a "handyman's special".  The property is probably worth around 60k, I don't know what the house is actually worth since I haven't seen it, but probably not 90k.  Plenty of houses go cheap in this area - rent doesn't go cheap here but if you have the credit for a house - you can get one pretty cheap price.  

But, I don't know what banks are wanting for down payment right now or what interest rate. I'll be looking at that - soon I guess.  I wasn't even looking for houses but this one showed up on a search for land - a house like that would fetch a grand a month in rental payments and pay the entire amount for the land.  

I guess my real turn off to the 8 acres is the fact that this dude only paid around 11 grand for it.  He's rich, I've seen him at the auctions.  He can wait however long it takes for a person to come along and pay his price, I get that.  I don't hold it against him, I was just hoping he would go at least down into the 40's range.  The property has been on the market going on 80 days, if it sits around long enough perhaps he'll have a change of heart. Or not, that's up to him.  There is a reason it's sitting around so long - no one wants to pay that much for raw, undeveloped property.  It's the same all over this region, people wanting too much money for their land - it sits for half a year, a year, 2 years, in a couple of cases around 10 years.  

Well, I got back from Brownsville this afternoon, I haven't been home that long actually. 3 days, excellent paying run with 2 days worth of detention pay.  This is why this run is coveted and it sucks that dispatch/management bow to the demands of a few people and it doesn't get handed out equally to everyone..... Just before I got back, I got a text for my next load.  I had no idea I would be going out again tomorrow. 

Illinois.  I don't even remember the last time I went up there, this one is in Morris. It's the longer Illinois run.  It's also high potential for detention pay, sometimes a ridiculous amount of it.  It's 3 days.  I got a 34 hour reset in Brownsville, which sucks, I should have asked for a free hotel last night.  Well maybe not, I got up at 3:45 am, it's a bit harder to wake up out of a slumber at the early am to have to leave a hotel versus just get up in a truck, get dressed and go.

The bad part of this next run is limited time to make any food.  I got lucky - the catering lady said she would make me 3 keto meals in time to get here tonight, no problem.  Well great! but I'm cooking a whole chicken regardless.  

______________

Almost done. It's been constant this and that since I got home.  Socks left to go, they are in the dryer.  No day off here, I started at 3:45 am and I've been going the entire day. Tomorrow will not be fun getting up at 3:45 am.  It's already a quarter after 8.  I'll have to drive to St Louis tomorrow.  Then up to the plant - stay for however long, always a mystery on that one usually at least 4 hours - and then try to get back far enough to get home the 3rd day.  

But tomorrow will be the long @$$ day that will seem like an eternity because I won't have enough sleep.  

The boys wouldn't leave me alone when I got home, Addler was shoving his head into my side and trying to get all of this stuff done lol.  Not that I mind, a little loving from humans or animals isn't a bad thing.  

So now what.  Well, I'm going to dig out W-2's because the bank wants them.  If I can find them without spending too much time looking. Otherwise, it will have to wait until I get back.  I'm not going to panic over the dude lowering the price for all to see. It's still pretty high priced.  If it's meant to be, it will happen. If it isn't, oh well, move on.  The 20 acres with the house is looking pretty appealing right now anyway.  It's more land, a pond - big attraction I am finding out - not terribly far off the beaten path, a huge like across the street and I could make this a destination park, not a parking lot.  

Anyway, I need to finish up and go to bed.

G'nite.    

 So I sat out in this yard literally all day long, after I left the hotel this morning.  They said there would be an empty here in the afternoon. Afternoon is loooooooooonnnnnnnggggggggg gone.  It's almost 8:00 pm.  What does that mean? It means I get a second night of detention pay.  We had 5 trailers full of ethylene, they took one out of here around 3:45 pm, they usually come back a few hours later with an empty - that never happened.  

So what's your point? My point is I now get a second night of detention pay.  They could show up now with an empty trailer and I'd still get it.  Actually hoping they do show up tonight with at least one, I want to go home tomorrow.  No way are they going to have 3 of us sitting down here for days without either getting us empties or having us bobtail back to the yard.  But, they won't do that because there won't be any empties available if any of us leave.  They don't really need any more down here right now, 5 full trailers and possibly another behind the driver that just showed up.

We got to talking. There is one driver who gets Brownsville runs every single time.  There have been rumors about him pulling the race card - he's black - to get his way with this particular run. And now it's been verified, as the driver said our manager was confronted by this dude and claiming the - race card.

Of course.  Nowadays you can just pull the race card on anything you like.  If you're a minority but especially if you're black. Am I a racist for saying such things? Well that depends on who you are and the way you see things.  I'm going to call a spade, a spade and if you don't like it, you can go pound rocks.  I didn't grow up in a pansied society that has suddenly decided that a few offended people will not only get their way, but if you happen to take a stand against their stupidity, you are "cancel cultured".  

In actuality, it is time for white people to stand up to this foolishness and push back. Most white people are NOT racist. This is just a convenient way for people to get their way, that's all it is. Or power grabs.  In this case, get the run this person wants, every single time.  

I got a taste of Brownsville, I wonder when the next time I'll see it will be.  My issue is paychecks, that's all it is.  And if some people - there is now another driver I was informed of that is also getting a lot of these runs that isn't even a part of our division - are getting kick-ass paychecks and others are barely scraping by? No, no, and no.  I'm going to stand up for myself, that's all I can do.  The dispatcher said she'd make it up to me this week, yes please, one Brownsville run is nice, but not enough.  

Anyway, that's enough of that. I don't need to get myself worked up over this stuff. I just need to make my needs known - firmly, courteously and respectively - but firm.  I am used to X amount of pay, I am now getting Y. Y doesn't work for me, I need the X back.  Please and thank you.  This is a brand new dispatcher, everyone is in her ears, I can't remain silent.   I'm not going to be bi**** about it, but I will be persistent if I need to be.  

I wrote up a post on an RV group yesterday about what people like to see in an RV park, boy did I get a lot of replies! It's almost up to 900 the last I checked. There was some consistency: level lots.  Yes, I wouldn't want to have sloped lots unless it's just an area where I can't do otherwise - but modern RV's have automatic levelers, so I"m not sure what they are complaining about unless the lots are so sloped even the levelers don't work?  50 amp hookup a recurring theme. That's for electrical outlets available.  The newer, bigger RV's have 2 AC units and they have 50 amp plugs. They can use a converter but then they can only run one AC unit.  Now, you can have all of those AC units running, that's fine, but be prepared to pay for that luxury.  Which I am finding out most of them are. $35 seemed to be a cheap price to them.  

A lot of them want fire rings at every lot. Picnic tables.  Cement pads - that's not going to happen at first, but it's certainly something I would consider doing down the road.  Just very expensive. You'll have to have them lined with rebar to handle the weight and I simply don't have the outlay for that now.  It's going to be gravel and many of them were okay with that, a few weren't. I guess those few won't be coming to my RV park, lol.  

It was a mix tho on full hookups or not.  Some lots full, some with electric and water, some with electric and sewer, some electric only, were the mix of replies.  Interesting, tho they all wanted electricity regardless of anything else.  Some said at least have an RV dump - where you pull up, dump your grey and black water - instead of having hookups at every site. All well and fine, but that still means having a septic system installed.  It would only save on piping and fittings to each pad.  

MANY, many  of them want a dog run - fenced in. Some just want to be able to walk their dogs open on trails - that's understandable and I am definitely a dog lover, dogs will definitely be allowed.  A few were "55 plus" people, no thanks.  It's going to be open to any ages - families, loners, couples, doesn't matter, I'm not limiting the available pool of potential customers to age limits.  Trees were a plus for many, a definite no for others.  Pull throughs are popular as well. I just hate to cut down that many trees to make that possible.  

Group sites - where you do a square or rectangle and have 4 or 5 sites around it for groups to hang out with each other.  I don't know about that.  I just don't.  I don't want my options limited, but a group site could be rented to individual units if groups don't show up.  Just a different configuration.  That option was mentioned several times tho.

Garbage.  People don't want to have to walk to the other end of the park to dump their garbage. Understandable, I'll think about it.  Running around collecting people's garbage isn't really that wonderful of a notion, so I dunno.  Maybe some receptacles strategically placed throughout the park and a golf cart with a trailer to collect it.  Or just make them walk it to the big container, where most other parks force them to do it.  I don't want to get too labor intensive.  Laundry is demanded, not asked for.  Bath houses as well.  I won't have a bath house at first, tho I'd like to do a small laundry room since you can make considerable money off of such a setup.  A small C store - ice was a recurring them. Why they all want ice, I have no idea, but if they want it, I can get an ice freezer outside, just like you see at grocery and convenience stores and have them restock it. No work for me.  Money maker, sure, not a lot of money but anything that helps the bottom line, we'll be doing.  Firewood as well.

Because everyone wants fire pits, I will sell firewood.  And that does make some money.  I've seen what they charge for these little bundles of firewood.  They must be making $500 per cord or even more profit off of that stuff.  I don't want to be quite as stingy as most of them are.  Give them enough to have at least an hour's worth of a fire.  The woods will be cleaned out quickly of any logs laying around lol, then they'll have to come to papa Ben for their fire wood needs.  

More and more things were voiced that I had already thought about. Families isolated from those that want a quieter experience. You know, kids and noise? I live with kids, noise is attached to them.  If a kid isn't making noise, there's something wrong.  

If I were to get this property, the natural gas operation would get a new road.  It makes now sense to have them driving right through the middle of the campground when I could just make a road along the very western edge of the property and they can run whatever they want through there.  I don't want to redo an easement agreement, I would rather they just agree to use it and I will do the clearing work to make it happen.  Or even ask them if they would do it - I'm the property owner, I can do what I want.  They probably will say no to the clearing, I would press for them to say yes to using the new road.  They wouldn't have to go up a steep slope anymore and have undoubtedly stuck trucks when it rains.  

It's at least something I'd like to look into and keep their traffic away from campers.  But, nevertheless, I saw no truck tracks, just pickup truck tracks, that isn't that big of a deal.  But when it comes time to do the saltwater thing, I would rather they go down a separate road.  They don't have to agree to it, of course, but I can ask them.  On the other hand, the inlet road to the property is on the far eastern side of the property.  So, lots could be established well away from that road and not really bother people too much when they do run through there.  The other half of the property there is no road, all of that I won't have to worry about.  

The other thing I did today was look at satellite photos of existing RV parks in the area.  They are parking lots, that's all they are.  It's a convenience, people to pull in, stay the night and leave.  Or live there? I don't know but they have either no amenities - literally just a place to park with hookups. Amazing those places are so full.  I have to consider somewhere down the line to open up my own sardine park near the Interstate.  That will have me at more of the tax lien sales, something close to the interstate. Something not far off the highway.

Here's the other thing I learned today.  RV parks well off the beaten path?  Not many RV's in them. The only thing that drives RV'ers to out of the way places is if it's a destination park.  It has to have some kind of attraction to draw people there. Such as a river or a lake - those are popular I'm finding out.  There is a town near a lake that has property for sale.  It's about 20 miles - maybe 25 - away from my house.  The thing is, it has to be lake-river-pond front property.  People want fishing.  I can't do that on this one I'm looking at.  

But the idea that people won't drive far off the beaten path got me thanking the good Lord today that I didn't buy one of those properties I was looking at in the middle of nowhere.  The one I want?  It's about 2-1/2 miles off the Interstate, about 3 miles away from a major Highway going through our town, right off a secondary highway.  Location - it's all about location.  I guess.  I'm learning and I haven't even gotten property yet.  The more I learn, the more I feel the drive to do more research.  There is a property right off the Interstate that I had looked at - but it's right next to the airport and it's right at the end of the runway where planes do their runups. I just happened to be there the day I was looking at it when a small plane was doing that. It was quite noisy.  It's a small airport so I don't know how often that happens.  I don't even think a regional jet comes into that airport tho.  It's a thought, the price is too high for the available acreage, but it's been on the market for quite a while now.  Drive a mile off the Interstate and you're there type of thing.  

Well, still no empties.  I'm amazed. Usually when they say one or more are coming?  They get here. Sometimes later than they say, but not this much later.  So, I now have a good paycheck for  next week with 2 days of detention pay.  This is why I and everyone else likes the Brownsville run, and this is why it is so completely unfair that a couple of people have this run tied up the way they do.  I have the choice of finding a movie to watch  - or going to bed. I was going to go to bed early for I thought by now an empty would come in.  Get home earlier tomorrow by getting up early am. 

Now?  I'll get up when I darned well feel like it and get my detention pay.  And, I'll have a 34 hour reset by tomorrow morning. Mixed feelings about that - I want to work but I don't want to do crappy runs all the time.  Give me a mix, like everyone should get, not, 3 garbage runs in a row.  

I think I'll get on Dish Network and find something to watch. Usually some movie on there that will entertain me. I have shows and movies saved on there as well.  

No, I haven't heard from the realtor, she was expected to hear back tonight.  Or she was hoping anyway.  I will keep myself reserved on that matter and just wait it out. But, I can still do my research and asking questions and looking at parks and such - whatever I end up with, I'll need all of this knowledge.  

G'nite.  

 I - more often than not - write entries, get distracted, don't finish them and then they just sit in limbo. Hundreds of them, lol.  So the last one was as well.  Oh well.

I'm in Brownsville, got down here at 5:30 pm, about the earliest I have ever made it here.  There were 4 trailers in the yard when I arrived, I checked every one of them, they were all full. Meaning finally, I get to get some detention pay.  And, because I got here so early? I treated myself to a hotel.  

I wanted the Marriott Residence Inn - their prices vary widely - tonight was far too much at $142 so I just went to one that I have gone to here many times over in the past.  If I can get 15 hours in a hotel I'm good with staying in one versus hanging out in a truck, in a dirt parking lot, with it raining and muddy and pools of water everywhere.  

I haven't been down here in - a month? Maybe a little less.  

In the quest for my mother's birth certificate, I finally heard back from Pennsylvania.  This is your "final notice" to supply the "real name".  I supplied all 3 names, what on earth are they talking about? And these notices they allegedly sent before this one? Never got them.  Whatever. I knew this was going to be a hassle for a person in their 80's that's never had a birth certificate.  I don't even know how that happens. I'm calling them tomorrow and sort this out.  

The property? I have no clue. The realtor said she hopes to hear back from them on Monday - which is tomorrow.  I can't say that I am not getting a little bit impatient.  I need the decision made either way or negotiation so I can get this past me.  There are more properties available now, but still, this is the best one I have seen for the intended purpose.  

My attention has diverted on a daily basis to the setting up of one of these properties.  The electrical has been on my mind, for it's going to be quite expensive to do if I have someone do it for me.  If you think I wouldn't take on this project on my own and run all the lines, boxes and meters myself, think again.  I'm on a budget here, I don't have hundreds of thousands of dollars to do this park.  It's going to start out small, I am freely stating that for the world to see.  

I will probably spend all of that old 401k getting the thing up and running.  I need a layout made up.  I don't know if I'll try to do that myself or hire a professional to take a look at satellite images and any pics they would want me to take of the property including grades/slopes to come up with something possibly more appealing than I can do?  

I actually don't think so.  I want trees all over the place, I don't want to have to mow  down every single tree in the place and the only way you really do that is to take a first hand look and say, okay, I can put a pad here, trees, another here, more trees, another here - etc.  It may lesson the number of pads I can install, it will increase the charm and the price tag for spaces.  People want this kind of thing.  

I see ZERO parks around here or even in this region that is nothing but sardine can parks that have no allure to them anything more than a place to park your RV.  I don't have a lake or pond on this property I am currently looking at - but it does have trees. Beautiful, magnificent, tall trees.  

_______________

The next morning/Monday. 

Last night, my ears were assailed by the sounds of people having extremely loud sex in the room next door.  It went on for an hour and a half.  I shall not go into great depth, excepting to say the screams coming from the woman were getting a bit ridiculous. I decided I'd wait it out before complaining to management, but I didn't come here to listen to that all night long.  At around 9:30, I was ready to go to bed. I turned the AC fan all the way up which covered most of the sound - but thankfully, they stopped and I haven't heard a peep from next door all night long. 

I understand people go to hotels to have sex.  I'm not new to life.  It's just that it went on for soooo looooong.  Guy has stamina, I'll give him that.

Well, an 80 minute wait on the phone with PA and they say to respond to the email they sent and fix it that way. I did that earlier, but I wanted to see if they would fix it over the phone and get this over with.  Nope, I was told, because it has been "red-flagged".  Okay, I sent it in, we'll see if they fix it or - if I have to just sent in a new birth certificate request. Now that I know what I did wrong on it, I will get it right on the next try if they force the issue.

No, I haven't heard a thing about the offer on the property.  I'm trying to just bide my time patiently, but that's proving a wee tad difficult lol.  

With that, I'm putting the laptop up and taking a nap. Supposedlythere are trailers coming in the next few hours, I want to be as rested as possible.  I may have to drive all night long.  Or not, I dunno. There are 5 loaded trailers in this yard, I don't know why the company wants even more brought down here, but I think there are 2 more loaded trailers coming down here right now.  I've never seen this many loaded trailers in this yard before, yet, the company that uses it will just continue to order more. It's pretty odd stuff.  I mean, these trailers will hold the product for up to 1,711 hours - that's a lot of days. 

And, these particular trailers are all leased out to this company, we can't use them for anything else.  So it's their call I guess, have a few hundred thousand pounds of ethylene sitting around in a yard somewhere lol.  I'm hoping an empty comes in soon.  I really don't want to be driving until 3:30 am or later.  

G'day.  

 So here we go, 3rd junk run in a row.

Meanwhile, the dude that somehow gets special privilege?  Is sitting at the scale house with a Brownsville trailer.  People who spend time in the yard claim that's pretty much all he does, Brownsville. The question is, that no one has an answer to: how does he get away with that? Why does dispatch do that for him and no one else?  I could easily make 6 figures per year just doing Brownsville runs.

Whatever.  Just an annoyance that has pervaded most of the drivers for quite a while now.  I heard one of them the other day, sitting in front of the office, go off about him.  Is it his skin color? Does he make some sort of demands that the company doesn't want to deal with? He certainly doesn't do the run any better than anyone else.  He is an owner operator but we have several of those that also go down to Brownsville and they don't get that treatment.

I'll shut up about that now. Saw the manager for the first time in weeks at the office.  I wish he was doing dispatch, he wouldn't give me 3 Baker runs in a row.  He just wouldn't.  He might make me do two of them, but 3 would be out of the question.  

On the bright side, I'm employed lol.  Today's paycheck was huge.  It's a beautiful day outside, absolutely gorgeous actually. Perfect temperature and a nice slight breeze.  

Went and checked on the grass seed I planted - but it was only 4 days ago. Nothing has sprouted yet, but I remain hopeful.  Especially in the areas where there was nothing but hard, compacted dirt.  

I have no news about the property yet, but the idea of an additional 7 acres was quite appealing.  Not at the interest rate this guy is wanting tho.  I have no idea whether he's received any other offers on the property - I'm guessing that natural gas operation is a sizeable hindrance to selling it.  If this other 7 acres is on the east side, that would be great. If it's on the west side - it's still okay just not as much forest as on the east side.

There's another property available if this falls through. I'm not acting on that one yet, but it's cheap.  It also has a gas operation going on it and it takes up almost half of the property from the satellite images I was looking at.  Still enough usable property tho, but I'd have to trudge through the property and make sure it isn't a giant pool of water under those trees.  The price is what's attractive at $21,000, you are getting more than your money's worth even with the amount of property you can't use.

I've pretty much come to the conclusion that I don't want a big property right now.  I can live with a smaller one. The only way I'd do a larger property is if it's cheap and the payments aren't too high.

Remember, I'm trying not to take out loans for this project.  That means putting in maybe 20-25 pads at first, which isn't a lot but if enough spaces are filled up, covers operation expenses including the property payment, taxes and insurance.  I don't want to pay for people's electric use - not in this part of Texas where the temps get very hot in the summer and some of those rigs have 3 AC units on them.  If they are overnighters then they can pay a higher rate. If they want to live there, they can have their own power meter and pay that separate from the lot rent.  

I've been trying to come up with the rates, long termers are probably going to be around $350 per month, nightly will depend on the size of their rig and what time of year it is.  If it's summer, those big rigs are going to pay at least $40 per night.  There's no profit to be made on a unit that is going to suck so much electricity that it negates what otherwise would be profit.  Water apparently is usually given for free, so I'll try that at first.  Sewer is the biggest hangup and potentially the biggest problem with any of these pieces of land.  It's a bridge I will have to cross when I get to it.  

The huge allure of this property I want is it will be driving into a forest, literally, to get to your RV site.  If I could get 7 extra acres, I'd also put campsites on it and at least attempt to build a small cabin for rent.  I say attempt to build - I'm not paying a contractor 75k or more to build one. It's a do-it-yourself project and the county doesn't care about permits for such things, take your time and built it at your own pace.  It would take months to build one, lol.  But imagine a cabin in the woods with all the amenities of home - AC, heat, full kitchen, shower, bedroom, living room and cable.  

People don't camp the way we used to lol.  And more and more people are selling their homes and going full-time in RV's . I don't know why that's trending, but it is.  

The only drawback of this property is I really can't envision how I could set up pull throughs without taking down a large swath of trees.  Some rv'ers want pull throughs, especially the ones pulling vehicles behind them. They don't have to try to back their rig into a lot.  

As I said, I have been doing a lot of research. It certainly helps that there are online groups with people who already own RV parks and give away their expertise freely, the do's and don'ts, the pitfalls, the things people like. One of them was telling me about septic systems in Texas - highly regulated by the state, lots of cons to them but if it's all you can do, you have no choice. I'm not going to start Ben's Water Treatment plant, thanks.  Start my own sewer system, lol. That would be a hoot.  A smelly hoot! lmao

The proposal is being given to the owner today, that's all I know.  If I were the owner and was in the business, it wouldn't take me but a minute to think about it and accept or reject the offer or give a counter-offer. Which is what I would likely do - that's not enough, how about this much? And then if it's too high, I come back and say that's too much, how about this much?  

But now I know why this guy buys these properties with the gas operations. Some of them he can claim the mineral rights and get royalties off of them.  I was wondering why those properties were getting bid up so high 2 auctions ago.  Now I know.  And it's why I'm lowballing him. He only paid 10k, he's getting mineral rights and he's double and a half his money on the deal.  Just depends on how greedy the dude is.  When you're rich, you can just sit back and say, no thanks, I"ll wait for a better offer. 

When you're in my position, you are forced to say, sorry, I can't go any higher than that.  Hence the reason finding property has been a long, on-going project.  It's kind of fun, anyway, to go to all of these places and go traipsing about them, looking at all the scenery and dreaming of what I could do with it.  This one I"m looking at is by far the best property I've seen, regardless of the smaller size.  So many huge, mature trees, a road already going through it, water and electricity already at the property's edge.  

Well anyway, I'm at the plant getting loaded. 10:30 load means I'll probably be done with today between 11 pm and midnight.  Depending on how far back I want to drive before stopping.  

As for now? I'm going to put up the laptop and take a short nap before they get done with filling this trailer.

G'day

 

 An uneventful waste of a trip - low money - 2cd in a row.  Hey Ben!  I get a text today. I need you to do another one!  I replied that will be 3 in a row.  Didn't even mention her apparent lack of memory about the promise of a Brownsville trip on the next run.  It's all in writing.  I'll make it up next week!  

So I'm going on a 3rd worthless run in a row.  However, if she tries this a fourth time I'm going to refuse the load.  Come what may, I'm not doing a 4th garbage run in a row.  I'll sit and do nothing before I let her play that game on me.  

Anyway, onto another more important subject swirling around in my brain - property. I have been giving a lot of thought to this property situation.  Bigger is better? Yes, if you have the money to afford everything that comes along with "bigger is better".  The 32 acres I just gave up on that.  Annexation.  Petition for zoning change.  Try to find another water supplier.  Just too much stuff and too much money involved with it.  They make it too difficult and I think it's by design. 

If I had a 400k loan to turn that property into an RV oasis, maybe.  But I don't and I'm not looking for business loans on this first venture.  

My mind went back to the 8 acres that I had originally said no to after finding out it was residential zoned - and finding out subsequently the county has no zoning, they don't care what you do with your property, tho it still falls under state code.  

So I pulled the trigger today, asked the realtor to make an offer of 3 grand per acre.  Look, the guy that bought it bought it at the same tax lien sale that I did.  He only paid $10,500 for it.  He had to sit on it for a while before he could try to sell it.  I will go up in my offering if he demands more. If he's stuck on 69k for 8 acres - good luck.

I'm doing my homework. I knew there was an easement and I knew there is a functioning gas well on the very edge of the property.  This devalues the property - 10k is way to much money per acre for an operation like that going on.  I called the company that has the easement and doing the gas operation - their name and the lot number was posted at the front of the property.  Well, we use the road going through there, of course, the man replied.  Okay, I said, what else?

Well let me warn you, that with a functioning gas well, we have tractor trailer rigs going in there hauling off salt water.  Or bringing it in? I didn't ask that much questions about that, I don't know and I don't care. What I do care about is the volume. How many trucks come in there? And how do they mitigate that muddy road on a slope?  

Oh, I forgot to say I went back there today to take a second look.  What I hadn't noticed the first time I went but was definitely looking for the second time was the power pole.  This property has it's own pole with a feed from the main line across the street.  There is thousands of dollars worth of electrical work I won't need done.  I then found a water meter in the ground.  A lock on it - of course, but it's there. There is water.  I don't have to pay anything for any of that if I did get the property, it's right there. I can run my own line and I don't need a contractor to do that for the water. The electricity?  Well I dunno.  We'll see about that, but there is a power pole and a box on the property, that is literally thousands of dollars worth of labor and parts right there that I don't have to pay for.  

No sewer? I have no idea. Couldn't find any sewer lids anywhere, probably isn't any. Most of this property doesn't have sewer and you resolve yourself that you have to pay to have septic installed.  

The exciting part? This is the first property I have been able to actually place a bid on.  Whereas other properties I liked and found out they were already under contract.  The dude got a steal on this property at 10k, probably how he got rich.  Buying and selling properties.  It's what I want to get into more, eventually, after I get more money saved up. For right now? I'd rather try and get the land and get a business going.  Even if I were to buy more tax lien sale properties, I only want acreage.  No more city lots.  I have 3 and that is good enough for now.  If I can eventually sell them, that's great, I'll buy more. It's acreage that sells.  

But, over-priced acreage doesn't sell. This property has been on the market 70 days.  So I know at least no-one is busting down his doors wanting to buy it. The easement is undoubtedly a major part of the issue.  The road going half way back is good enough, it would be shared for I won't take up more of the property to have a separate road going in there and I don't have to.  The the portion of the road going down to their well? They can have that. I'm not going to do anything with it and it's a mess.  How they get trucks in there without them getting stuck is unknown to me.  I did examine the tracks, there were no dually big-truck tracks in there, just pickup truck tracks. 

What I know of these operations from truckers that do it is that there are times when they will send in trucks to sit and wait out loading, it can go on for a few weeks at a time. After that, you might get 2 or 3 months in between the trucks. 

From that aspect, I can develop this property so that people don't have to be exposed to excessive amounts of noise like that.  The property is rectangular. The easement road starts at one side of the property, goes halfway back and then cuts down a hill to the gas operation.  The hill - is mud.  I wasn't even going to drive my SUV down in there, I don't have 4 wheel drive and my feet work fine.  Most of the gas operation is on someone else' property next door.  The lots can be on the opposite side of the property in the back.  There's enough land in the front and back for at least 40 lots. maybe more. 

But I won't do that many, at least not to start. I'm thinking 20-25 to start with.  Just money. Electricity, sewer and water to each lot isn't free and building the lot - which in my case is going to be a leveled piece of land 65 x 15 - well not that bad.  Just level it, compact it and put rock over it. I've seen a lot of RV parks that don't have cement pads. That would be costly and I just don't have the money to do that right off the bat.  Maybe could do one at a time over a span of time.

I'm getting well ahead of myself since I don't know that they're going to accept my offer, or counter offers.  I gave the realtor a maximum amount I would pay, it's well short of 69k, I can say that.  My highest price at least for now is 5k per acre. It's probably worth that considering the surrounding area. It's so beautiful, the entire road.  So, if they insist on 69k, I'll think about it - long and hard.  Lol, if they did take my offer? My payments would be less than $300 per month for 90 months.  That's not that bad.  Even if the offer went up to say 40k, the payments still wouldn't be terribly  high.  

I'm hopeful, but I won't be crushed if it comes to the fact that they want too much money. I have at least at this point come to the conclusion that a large property is just too much, unless I can find something with load payments. I don't have to develop the whole property.  At first anyway.  

I've already designed this lot in my head lol.  Just from looking at a satellite pic and seeing the road, the woods and yes, I trudged through the woods today as I have at any property I was considering. It just rained and the ground was moist, of course, but no standing water anywhere. That's pretty easy to explain. On the west side of the property is that slope going down - about a 4% grade I'd say - the water goes down there - there where I have no plans for anything since it's easement property.  

Oh, this wouldn't be the only business in the area. Camp Bee - whatever that is - is across the street.  The only reason that is of interest is they must have water to that sprawling campus, meaning whoever the entity is supplying it must not care if there is other than residential such as the issue with that 32 acre property.  

I could be going on about nothing.  I might not get this property. I might be getting excited about things that won't come to pass. It won't be the first time and it doesn't affect me, I just move on.  

Or, it could come to pass and then what? Well, I can tell ya, whatever property I end up getting - it's going to happen sooner or later - ?  I'm not going to have an RV park opened up and ready for business the next month.  It will be a long period between purchase and park opening.  I want to do most of the work myself or hiring out individuals, not contractors.  I don't need high priced contractors for much of this work. Electricity - probably.  Septic? Definitely, too many state regulations on that one, I could do it myself but it would entail renting earth moving equipment and it's just more than I am going to get involved with.  Pads? probably not. Water? Definitely not.  Road? dunno, I need to figure out how to operate a bulldozer.  

This is why I want a lower monthly payment versus higher.  I can't really afford higher - or I suppose I could but scale back on my lifestyle in certain areas.  Or get a small business loan - who knows what that entails or what qualifications you need to get one.  I really would like a land payment I can afford right now on my current income that won't really affect much of anything.  

This property - at the right price - would fit that bill.  

I could say  more, but I won't.  I'm going to work in the morning - but not too early thankfully.  10:30 load means I don't have to get up until 8:00 am.  The realtor sent the contract via email.  I will hear back whenever she hears back.  What to expect? I have no idea. No thanks. Yes.  Counter offer. Those are the options.  Oh, what I can say is the property next door to the east is undeveloped as well. Not up for sale, but, there is no law against asking the owner about selling it.  

I think well beyond the current.  Always, especially anything that's going to drain my wallet.  In this case, will it fill the wallet back up and then some?  Would it be the boon to my retirement I'm seeking it to be?  And county land - I can put some mobiles on it.  Separate of course from the RV's, but that's a more permanent situation that brings in more money over the long run per unit.  Casitas, camp sites, log cabins - there's a lot you can do with these types of properties to lure people in.  

My mind gets so - twisted up - thinking about all of this stuff and all of the aspects there are to it.  It isn't as simple as it sounds.  

Oh, I have thought about how to take overnighters in without being there and not having staff there.  Simply do a Paypal transaction - or whatever payment they will make online - and online agreement that they sign off on with automated signing feature, such as I did today with the realtor.  No, I don't know how to do that, yes, someone else does and I will pay them to set that up for me lol.  The park would need wifi - not only for guests but also for cameras.  Entrance camera - who's coming in? did they pay?  Office camera - there will be a small portable building there.  To start anyway. 

I can't stop myself. I could just go on and on and on.  And on.  I have filled my mind up with so much information after doing so much research - and yet I feel like I don't even know the half of what I need to know to successfully operate a park. At the same time, I've lived in RV's and I can tell you, you want sewer hookups at every lot.  Try emptying a holding tank out without getting that "stuff" on you.  

The office? Big enough for a small office space, a few shelves of convenience items for sale, a couple of washers and dryers and a small living space on the side, separate by a wall and locked door.  Yup, I would love to find someone to live there - free of charge - and help run the place. I have someone in mind.  No, that wouldn't be feasible, the office couldn't be a living space as well. So, she would have ot have a separate living space.  I think she'd love that setup.  She could have her dogs and parrot, I could have someone there fulltime.  Small salary on top of free living.  

A pile of firewood for sale outside and fire pits at every site.  RV'ers like that. They like trees. They like a playground for the kids. They like a fenced in doggie park.  They like laundry facilities. They like showering facilities.  

There are so many trees that are offered for free around here from property owners that a tree has fallen, they "just want you to take it out of there". Show up with the trailer, cut it into sections. load it up, take it to the property, split it and sell it.  I'm not exaggerating. I see offers for free trees - oak mostly - all the time.  Come get it!  It's not something I'm interested while working a more than full time job such as I"m doing now, but if I were to get out of trucking, I would definitely be looking for any extra income opportunities associated with an RV park as I could get.  

There are so many options with an RV park that go well beyond RV's, again, I have been doing my research.  

Okay, I do have a question, that I may not get resolved. Why did the original property owners pay to have water and electricity run to the property?  I couldn't find any old structures that would suggest the need for it.  You don't get the power company to run a line over a street to a pole they have to install and put up a box for the meter and main power breaker for - free.  

Sorry, I just can't get myself out of this mode.  Once I get property the mode is going to go into all kinds of different directions as every step is taken and more steps needs to be taken after that.  It's definitely a process. 

Oh, and these aren't just trees on this property. These are tall, gorgeous pine trees.  Yes, I know, they make a mess with pine needles. And?  Every time I ask people that are doing the RV life, they always want trees. Nobody says, no, I want a barren spot like most parks.  Every tree in this area makes some kind of mess, I would far rather clean up pine needles than all the mess that oak and other types of trees around here make.  

I'm going to have to stop with this, for now.  If I do end up getting the property, I will take videos of it and the surrounding neighborhood and post on my Facebook account.  

For now?  I think I'm going to clear my mind of this stuff - or at least try to - and watch some TV.

 Couldn't let it go. Well I guess I could have but she was being rude and extremely curt.

Referencing a cashier at Kroger's.  The sign above her lane said "Express Lane, about 15 items".  I had 19 items and there was no one in her line. 

So I put about 3/4's of the stuff on the conveyor when she looked at me and huffed at me then said in a loud voice: How much stuff are you going to put on here?  

What? This isn't that many items and you don't have anyone waiting in line....

She insisted I go find another line to get into.  

OKKKKKKKKKKK...........I know for a fact it's not a policy at all for Kroger's to make people get out of line once they are in it regardless of how much stuff they have. I could have had an overflowing shopping cart in that line and they won't say anything.  I never do that - take a loaded cart through express lanes - I just know their policy for I have seen it in action several times.  

I asked for a manager.  A lady comes, uhh no, no offense but I want the store's general manager on this one, please.  Amazingly the dude came right up.  2 minute wait at most.  I told him what had happened.  Express lane, pointed at the items in my cart, 19 items, most of my stuff I had already put on the conveyor, and more importantly no-one was waiting in line anyway.  .

He got a look on his face, looked at the cashier and said, well that should never happen.  That's not the way we operate.  Exactly, I replied, what she did was outrageous.  Well I can assure you it won't happen again, he replied and said he'd deal with her.  

I don't want her fired, she's been there a long time according to another person working there that approached me after the fact and asked me what had happened.  But she certainly needs an attitude adjustment.  When I told that person what happened - she was also in management - she also got a scowl on her face.  Kroger's is all about customer service, I can assure you of that.  

So, I got in another line, saw her eyeballing me so I said to her, I just reported your crass behavior to your boss.  If you're digging yourself a hole, at the very least, stop shoveling.  But, by eyeballing me, she had continued with the shoveling activity.  

When you are in customer service, you are the face of the company and you are expected to show professional decorum and treat customers like they're gold. I get that people have bad days sometimes, I've been there, so maybe that's all it was with her.  But I wasn't rude to her, said hi to her when I came into her line, everything a base level of courtesy and respect should be.  

Whatever the case, I was given another Oklahoma run for today.  So, this is going to be a low paying week for next pay period.  Certain drivers - namely the owner operators - get mostly Brownsville runs when they're available and the rest of us get them sporadically.  I don't mind doing longer runs if it means getting the paycheck, but 2 low paying runs in a row doesn't work. I'm not going to say anything, yet, I'll see what happens with the next run. She claimed Brownsville would be next, she must know by now that is the most coveted run - whether there is detention pay or not.

Well I take that back, she tried to give me a Cheniere run which I can't do.  This is a new dispatcher, she has a learning curve to go through so I'm going to be patient and see what happens before I go complaining.  I'll take an Oklahoma run over cheniere any day of the week.  

But, I don't load until 1:30 pm, so I'll be out late tonight getting as much of this done before I get sleepy and decide the heck with it, I'm going to bed.  I figure around midnight.  Without doing anything but looking at the history of this run - the time I start the loading and the time I get back, I can safetly predict I will be back at the yard tomorrow around 3:30 - 4.  

I'm also glad that I got a very good night's sleep - those come and go, when they come they are relished and I will sleep in if possible to get more sleep.  Which I did by a couple of hours today. 

My mind is freshly filled with the thoughts of all the properties that I discounted because of county "zoning", which I have now found out doesn't exist, from the county itself.  I don't know if the realitors word it that way because that's what's in the area.  But the properties I have seen with "residential" zoning outside of city limits have houses that are well spaced apart and they all have plenty of land.  

Do they want an RV park in their area? I don't know, not really concerned about it.  That's the advantages of living in the county - or the pitfall.  People can do whatever they please, including having their own personal car junkyards and no one can do anything about it.  

But I have to say it was refreshing to find out this information. Very refreshing.  Hearing it from other people who don't work for county was nice, but it wasn't "official".  Now, a municipality could still exert some control by denying access to their utilities, such as the situation with the 32 acres I was looking at yesterday.  I'm still waiting to hear back from the other town as to access to water.  I won't even make an offer on that property until I know that I at least have water and electricity.  Sewer is pretty much guaranteed that you have to have a septic system installed.  

Oh, my pay for the PA run.  Just got the statement from the company.  It's over $1,800 for 5 days, that's pretty good.  But, I had to good paying runs on the trip, so the amount I grossed is excessive, meaning the government took a very large chunk of my money.  $551 worth.  Retirement took another large chunk, around $350 worth.  The first is involuntary, the latter of course voluntary.  In all, one thousand dollars was removed from my pay before I got it.

Well, yet another property I was looking at may go by the wayside.  It's not in the city but the city apparently offers utilities there.  I think there is more misinformation being given to me.  Why would they offer everything else that isn't a business water and sewer, that is also outside of their city limits?  That doesn't make any sense and I will be visiting yet again down there to inquire about this apparent disparity in who can get what. Not like I'm asking for the stuff for free.  Weird.  

Time to get ready to go.  I need to make another visit to the County Appraisial district and ask why they assessed my hunting property up to $330 per year in taxes.  It appears they are assessing me with all 12 acres worth of taxation instead of the 2 acre interest I have in it.  That needs to be changed.  The bill should be around $50.  

Okay, I'm outta here.

G'day.