Thanks to Fin for the good wishes in previous post. 

And yes, I am communicating with them quite a bit.  They want to meet with me. Their first stance was they don't want anyone back there.  But they simply cannot assert that, it's not their property but boy howdy are they extracting a lot of money's worth of gas out of that ground.  

I sent them a rather completely defined proposition of what I want to do this morning after the senior director over operations texted me back a lengthy statement of what their needs are in this situation.  

His biggest issue is 24/7 access. Noted and granted.  Fire trucks, salt water trucks and maintenance personnel all need access, I didn't need to hear that for I knew that already and outlined that to him today.  I'm not ignorant of gas well operations, no expert but it is obvious people need to be able to access it whenever they need to in case of emergency.  

He also guffawed at the idea of moving the gate.  But the gate either will be moved or it will be an automatic gate - at my expense - for access in and out with keys needed.  He apparently hasn't been out to that property in quite a while - he's more of a desk jockey than anything - and said he'd have to go out there with his gas foreman to assess the situation.  

He sent me his email address and I sent him a lengthy, respectful and professional style statement.  It contained my intentions to develop the front of the property and that both operations could operate in harmony without one greatly affecting the other.  The operations could be mutually exclusive yet be in peaceful existence of each other.  

Asserted again that I neither need nor want access to the gas operation. No need for it.  And, that a driveway built around it could have barbed wire fence installed to keep people out.  I would also agree to no trespassing signs on the fencing along that operation.  They didn't ask for a barbed wire fence or no trespassing signs, but to keep from liability I want to ensure that guests stay off and out of that area altogether and the only way I can see that happening is fencing around the entire pad and their gate moved to the front of it.  

But my insistence that that gate be moved will not change.  It's 419 feet from the street and 951 feet away from the front of the entrance to their well operation.  It would make no sense to me that they couldn't agree to simply move the thing. Their property remains gated and I have full access to the east side of the driveway, uninhibited.  

The alternative, I just thought of, is to build a driveway directly beside their driveway.  That would defeat their purpose in keeping people out of there and then they would have to install a barbed wire fence the entire length of the property.  But they couldn't do that without my permission and I won't give them permission. We can make this work out without going to court, getting lawyers and turning this into a nightmare.  I have ample room to build another driveway right next to the one they built.  But in reality, anything they do on that property that is for access purposes is subject to the owner's wishes.  

I've been reading Texas law and expert opinion on this subject, I felt I needed to arm myself with correct information instead of beliefs that may or may not be true.  It is as I suspected and specific to oil and gas well operations: anything that goes on on that property is subject to the owner's approval.  So, there is previous owner approval for the access where they have it.  All fine and dandy, I need to read the specific wording of the agreement to see it states and what addendums and clauses may have been inserted into it  

I then told him I was planning on building a recreational area out of the back 15 acres - namely walking trails and a pond at some point, hence the need to have access.  It is unlikely that any court would agree with any gas/oil operation that the owner of the property is not allowed access to all of his property outside of the gas pad area unless, perhaps, it was agreed upon in advance.  I also included my intentions of installing another driveway on the west side of the entrance.  I'm afraid I'll just have to eat it and make the curved turn also an area where even long motor coaches can turn around.  This way if one driveway is blocked there is always another way out of there. However, the only time I can foresee a driveway being blocked is if their equipment was stopped on it for whatever reasons or an RV was unhitching a car from the rear so they can back into a spot.  

Most of my spots will be back in, the standard for the industry.  Only a handful of pull-through sites will be made available and I will fetch premium prices for those.  I may see about including camp sites - tent style camping - in the rear of the property as well.  Give them a picnic table, a fire ring and a grassy area to pitch their tent.  Sorry, y'all will have to figure out elimination of internal fluids and solid waste yourselves.  

Okay, actually not. I think it's required to have a bathroom if you want tent campsites.  It doesn't have to be anything fancy but they have to have access to one.  I think. I've started reading a lot of rules and regulations on campgrounds only to find out I was reading a particular county's site, not the state site.  I wonder what the state says about outhouses, lol. When I grew up, outhouses were the norm at state parks everywhere - and we went to a lot of state parks.  A hole in the ground and that's that.  

I have lots of ideas with this property.  I am not concerned about the gas well, it's a bit of a "thing" in the middle of everything, but it isn't terribly ugly and I don't see it as a problem. I can foresee, however, if this gas company wants to make an issue out of things.  They aren't against this setup, not at all from what I read this morning in the text.  I ended the letter with the statement that I would rather come to agreement in peace instead of a strife filled, contentious, irritating relationship that will have both parties at edge with each other.  And likely end up in court, a thing I want to avoid at all costs.

You say yes, but you haven't closed on the property yet.  No, I have not and it will be a bit before that happens.  But I cannot possibly go into this situation without an understanding with this gas company before the 20% down is paid, the property closes and it's in my name. Remember, I can pull out of this anytime up until the closing is actually done.  I want guarantees, in writing, I want an understanding, in writing of the relationship between the two entities - I will get an LLC created - of what is and is not acceptable - to both parties before I close on the property.  The gate seems to be an area of contention, in fact that is the only real contention and 24/7 access. Yes, but understand I also want 24/7 access.

I also requested the code to the lock on the gate.  I hate to cut another one of their locks, but they have no right to stop people from viewing the property as potential buyers and certainly now that I am under contract they need to either give me access or I will simply take a pair of freshly purchased bolt cutters and continue on - with the seller's agent's blessing - the practice of cutting the lock.  I don't want to walk the thousand feet to the back every time. I still have some trudging to do on that property now that I looked at the satellite view again, I want to see if there are clear property delineations on the property lines on the east and west sides.  The south side has an old, destroyed, barbed wire fence and there are surveyor markings on a tree. This is clearly, at least to me, the property line to the south.  I realized after looking at the property maps on the county site that I did not go far enough east during that last trip in there to see if there was a fence or surveyor markings anywhere. I had seen much larger trees and assumed that was on the other property - but I was wrong, there is a chunk of those trees on "my" property.  

I don't think I am jumping ahead of myself to do due diligence.  I have learned a lot from looking at other properties and finding out things after the fact - but not too late after that fact - that would stop me from wanting to buy those places.  I always stop and listen.  What kinds of noises are there?  Nothing, thankfully, or very light. In the back of the property you hear the sound of the water going down the stream and the sounds of birds chirping and that's is all I have heard the two times I have been back there. I am contemplating a trip there today.  I would have gone earlier but I got busy with other things.  It's just that it's pretty hot out there right now.  There is  a heat wave going on in Texas and the rest of the west for that matter.  To the point that officials are urging residents in Texas to conserve energy for fear of blackouts.  Good luck with that, people run their AC and they don't care.  I have the generator and can run extension cords to my room and keep it cool - I have a window AC unit that helps make up for the fact that this room was an add on and tho it was connected to the central AC, there is insufficient cool air or warm air for that matter in the winter coming in here to sufficiently cool/heat the room.  The rather large window AC unit makes up for that.  

Anyway, just saying it's hot out there, but I have to go back to work tomorrow.  I've been off 3 days - I did not relent on them fixing the da** truck. They were not going to leave it broken for months simply because it still works.  My dispatcher sent me a run for Brownsville tomorrow - late load at noon unfortunately - it is what it is - but a good run nevertheless to start back up again.  I've enjoyed the 3 days off excepting for cranky kids.  The other brother is here for 2 weeks and they get into a lot of trouble and then they are cranky afterwards.  I would like to go back out today and get a look at the portion of the rear of the property that I haven't seen yet. This time? I bought a $5 machete from Harbor Freight and I will soak my exposed skin in bug spray.  The dogs I won't take, it's just too hot.  Addler doesn't seem to mind the heat but I suspect he would overheat running around out there and Aspyn is a German Shepherd - pure bred with the undercoat, she loves the winter but summer time she's panting crazy.

Speaking of her, the pills are working. She was losing so much weight she was visibly malnourished, even tho she ate tons of food. She would down a huge bowl of food every day and still starving. The vet diagnosed her with some disease that is prevalent among Shepherds that their system cannot process food - then produced a $300 bottle of pills.  I balked at that, figuring they would have the same available on line for much cheaper, they did and I got them.  She gets a pill before every feeding and has put on substantial weight.  Her habit of jumping over the fence has disappeared, a thing that was irritating me greatly and making me want to get rid of her.  

But what she was doing was foraging for food.  She was constantly hungry even tho her belly was full.  The starvation was driving her to go look for more food elsewhere. Now that she has those pills, she isn't hungry all the time, eats far less food and isn't jumping the fence.  The pills are $37 for a 100 day supply, btw, a far cry from $300.  I just can't believe they tried to pawn those off on me at that price. Petmeds is an excellent source for dog/cat medicines, you usually still have to have them call your vet for approval. I spend enough money at the vet, thank you very much, they can approve it and tough.  

Ok.  It's 91 degrees, feels like 94.  Yesterday the real feel was 105. I'm considering going out there - with a large bottle of cold water of course.  No kids, no dogs and also I want to get my ATV going now that I have a place I can ride it lol.  

Yay.  The realty sites are already showing the property as "contingent" "under contract" etcetera. It doesn't take them long.  I like that they say that for it hopefully discourages people from taking a real, hard look at any given property.  I have to say that I am kind of unhappy with myself initially dismissing this property.  I know, I had Finklea and Finklea with those towering pine trees is a beautiful site to behold.  But, realistically, Finklea would have cost more to develop. The water line was at least 200 feet away, probably more like 300, an underground water transmission line would have had to have been installed just to get water to the property.  Same with electricity - not so far away but still have to run it across the road and the same with the cable. Water is running right through the front of the property and so are power lines.  

I only need a contractor to dig down to the line, install a saddle, install a line running up to the meter that they install and then the rest is my doings after that.  The power company installs a pole and runs power to the pole for access.  I don't have to run across or under any streets. That will save a ton of money.  The cable is on the other side of the street, I don't know what they will do. Run it across the power lines most likely, that appears to be what they do out here.  It's underground but that won't stop them from getting it to me.  I need that cable for more appeal.  Sewer I have not ascertained yet if there is sewer available or if it's strictly septic. If septic, I expect 15 to 20 k expense.  I expect at least 15k expense for electricity and that's for a limited number of pads.  

I am not going to concern myself with any utilities beyond ascertaining that they are there and likely calling the entities to ensure I will have access until after the closing.  This isn't going to be a race to the finish line.  I'll need to get bids on several things right off the bat.  All utilities will have to have the basic installation to the property performed by an authorized general contractor. That will be expensive, yes, but nothing near as expensive as what I outlined above with the Finklea property.  BTW, if the Finklea property did become available now? I'd likely turn it down.  This property is 25 acres, 12 more than Finklea, is in the country yet close to the city and is close enough to the Interstate and highway 59.  It's a very appealing neighborhood and it has trees. Not pine trees but good enough.  The tallest trees on the front of the property are mostly 25 to 30 foot.  Nothing grand but they offer shade and that nature feel to it well enough.  Oh, and this property is like 3 miles from the house.  Next visit I will take odometer reading on vehicle and get exact distance, but it isn't far.  

And I will visit the Bridge and Road division of the county in person to ascertain what, if any permits I will need. Probably the one the state requires for new construction for construction over 1 acre.  I guess they come out and monitor what you are doing and if it's going to affect the ground water by disturbing the soil too much.  Minimal soil will be affected tho, it's only grading it level and that won't take much, the front of the property is fairly level as it stands.  It appears to have good drainage during any rain storms.  If a septic system needs installed, that is all by a state approved contractor that is licensed by the state, I need do nothing but tell them where I want the thing. They get the permit and they do the soil testing to determine what kind of system to install.  Preferably one with a leach field versus those types that spray the water above the ground.  That takes up space and isn't exactly appealing.  

In reading other people's woes of their attempting to build an RV park in Texas, they are encumbered by county or city officials in their county.  Different counties have different rules/regs concerning these things. Initially, when I first read all of these statements about the red tape these people were running into, I had second thoughts about what i was intending to do. Until I came to the understanding that it's specific to the area they are doing it in.  Some counties have stringent rules on construction of new RV parks, there are none here or if there are, the county doesn't know about it - I called and asked specifically - and I can't find anything online besides endless rules to be found in other counties.   There is also a similar named county in Mississippi which also really threw me off at first. They have obnoxious amount of rules - it's unbelievable. You might as well not even try to build one there - now I understand when I'm reading these rules, I need to really identify what county or city they are referring to. I put in a Google search specific to my county and then realize the results - are not specific to my county.  

But, I do read their rules anyway. There are some good ideas in all of that jungle of regulations. You can be inspired by anything, even things that may mostly be negative in nature.  Along the lines of what not to do or something you just may not have thought of.  I have done unending research on this subject in the last several months. Experts, city, county, people that own parks already, RV'ers that use the parks, all kinds of information from a myriad of sources.  It's been a fascinating adventure - when you are attempting to engage in something you really have no first hand knowledge about, you naturally dive into a sea of information and start reading, reading, reading and taking it all in. Taking notes, writing down names and phone numbers for future reference, how to do this, how to do that, etc.  

Ok, this post waxes long. Lots of thoughts in my head, have to write some of it out and then? Read all of it and attempt to understand that my reasoning and information and thought processes at least seem to be on the right track. You may see more book length entries in the future, lol. 

I think I will go over there and probably do another live Facebook streaming video after I get into the thick of it. 

G'day.  

 Well here we go.

They countered with $83,500 and I instantly accepted.  I have sold myself on the property and there isn't much of anything that will change my mind on that.  There are a few details I want to confirm before closing date - but we are a long way off from that.  They have to get an appraisal which is taking long periods of time to acquire.  I dunno if they need a new survey.  There is clearly a survey done - the ribbons were on the tree this morning.  Those ribbons weren't exceedingly faded I suspect it's a more recent survey - tho - doesn't necessarily mean it was for this property, could have been for the property behind me.  

Anyway, it's $16,700 down payment plus closing costs - which $1,000 of is required to be paid by the seller per the contract we are all signing. Same contract as before, either party can pull out at any time.  The kind of contract I like, if some information is obtained that sours the deal, I am not constrained to it. I only have to give about $900 earnest money, all of it refundable minus $100 fee.  I've already lost $350 on a property I can't buy, this best not happen again after the appraisal for I am not willing to just eat this again. I will stay in the contract if that happens.  

The mortgage payment without taxes is $450.20 per month, easily handled with current paychecks until I can get the operation up and running.  Taxes are $920 per year, not that great for undeveloped land, but that's this area. The ISD takes far more money than they need, as evidenced by building a massive covered stadium for the football team at the local high school. We don't even have that in Arizona where the temps are much higher and people die or end up in the hospital with heat related illnesses all the time.  They must have spent millions of dollars for that thing and the people that see the use of that facility say it is hardly ever used.  

Imagine that. Some school board member's pet project approved and run through likely without much debate.  Kids can take the heat - give them ample water and some electrolytes if necessary they'll be fine.  It's one reason why I started watching the city council meetings but now that I think of it, I'm going to have to see if I can find the school board's meetings online as well. I have vested interest in it, already paying property taxes here even without the purchase of this property.  

Anyway.  I checked county codes again - I keep going back to that .There are state codes but nothing really too significant beyond septic systems and construction activities that you have to get a permit for. And that is only for water run off during storms.   

_____________________________

Next day/Wednesday.  No load today - I'm hoping that means they are fixing my truck.  

We are waiting on the seller to sign off on the documents and send back to my realtor who will in turn forward it to my lender who is already apprised of the situation.  

So while that is going on - the waiting period will be long because appraisals are taking 4 to 6 weeks, the same as with the Finklea property - I will be attempting to assess what utility companies offering access in the neighborhood.  I know the city has the water supply, I'm not sure who the power company is there - there are multiple power companies with operations in this region - and I'm not sure about the cable/internet.  

I have come to learn that many of these people want home away from home situations with their RV's including access to cable tv - a hookup you have to provide at each campsite.  

I'm also awaiting delivery of the lease agreement with the gas company. I want to read all of it and find out what provisions have been made for their access to the property.  It's not their access I'm concerned about, it's mine and customer access.  I don't want and won't tolerate a locked gate on the property, period, unless they have some provision for that.  That will definitely mean creating a new driveway, tho I was going to do that anyway, but also would mean wasting a lot of space at the rear of the driveway in creating a turnaround for RV's to exit the property.  But it doesn't matter as long as I can fit at least 15 sites in there I'm good with it.  

Still even if they have some provision in there I would like to hope they would work out to have their portion of the property gated, not the entire length of the front portion of the property.  I don't really want to have to go to court and hash this out in front of a judge, it's a simple courtesy, this is my property, you are guests, you have your access rights, I'm not trying to diminish those rights, I'm simply trying to exert my right as the property owner. They already conceded we could use "their" driveway - granted they took down the trees and built it, but that's still going to be my property.  

If the gate at the front was enforceable then I would simply ask that we can install an automatic gate - something I'd like to do anyway on both driveways.  That would eliminate the need for park staff and the ensuing bills that would entail.  Online registration and payment, issued an access code to the gate/s, they come, find the pad numbered to their registration, park, hookup, enjoy.  

______________________

Well that was cute.  They tried to send me to Brownsville today last minute thing to pick up empty trailer. I'd love to take that, but there's this issue of the engine fan staying on that I've been writing up and not getting a response to. So I forced the issue. "I've been writing this thing up for days now" - the mechanic gets a copy of the writeup in his mail basket in front of his office. He claimed no knowledge of it so I replied to the dispatcher that I was not interested in taking another load or another task until the truck is fixed, that I wasn't about to allow it to continue on like the vibration thing did for TWO MONTHS.

I then contacted my manager, who never replied - as is his want when people are bringing issues to him he doesn't really want to address - but I finally got back from the dispatcher that she found another driver to head down there while they try to get my truck fixed.

After that? Off to the inspection station - my registration expires the end of this month, over to Harbor Freight - machete, wheel measurer and a cheap set of bolt cutters - and then off to the property. Soooo hot out today, I only wanted to measure the length of the driveway and the width of it.  I was literally blown away to find out my estimate was way off.  But then again, I was trying to be conservative in it so as to get my hopes up.  

The length of the driveway from the street all the way to the end where it goes into the gas well pad? 1,370 feet!  Even more dramatic, at least to me? 197 feet wide from the edge of the driveway! 

That simply means the entire RV park can be constructed in that front half, I don't the rear of the property to engage in the business and that makes this situation very much simpler in terms of dealing with this gas company. 

The back = guessing 15 acres, not really sure?  Have the power company run a line back there and set up a mobile home, make some walking trails, dig out the pond and have a place for guests to walk their dogs - hikes and have a weekend getaway.  That would be future reference. Well the hiking trails I'd probably want to get started on right away, instant appeal.  The pond and house however, yes future stuff.  

The driveway?  Very easily can plow another drive way on the other side of the property all the way to the back and curve it around to intersect back into the existing driveway.  30 pads down each driveway.  40 feet wide, that's 1,200 feet leaving 250 feet for an entrance building.  According to an online calculation to give the number of acres, that's a little of 6 acres of land there not including the existing driveway.  

What this does is allow me to put in giant, lengthy spaces - 70 feet long on each side plus have rom in the middle to keep trees in place plus have 10 feet of trees between pads, every pad.  

The initial phase will to be to install a driveway on the other side, improve the existing driveway a bit - not much work really needed and then put in around 20 pads.  To do this without getting into a huge loan and keeping payments down, that's what I want to do.  Water is definitely there, there's a fire hydrant right up the street and I saw water meter boxes in the ground along the way.  The power lines are on my side of the street.  There is cable along the street as well, the boxes don't say what company and I'm a bit hesitant to walk up on people's property - in Texas you know, guns and freedom loving patriots?  People don't take kindly to that sort of thing.  

In fact the only drawback I can see here is the neighbors at the front. Not exactly an appealing property but not trashy either. They keep the lawn groomed at least, it's just an old house that is in desperate need of a fresh paint job.  There is, however, a Pitbull and it likes to bark at strangers. It's undoubtedly not used to seeing people walking along the length of the driveway. I'd hate to think of the dog barking all day long, but once I was past it it stopped. A good sign at least.  Also they are truckers - I don't hate truckers lol - but he is parking his tractor on "my" property.  

Am I getting ahead of myself again? Well, possibly I guess. The realtor is coming today for the earnest money and after that is when it becomes official - I think.  I dunno, but I wrote a check and left it on the counter in case she shows up when I'm not here.  I just pulled out the map the city gave me - a huge thing 3 feet deep by 4 feet wide - and rechecked. The street is no in city territory.  No city restrictions.  The water I checked on the PUC, allegedly it's from the city so I have no idea what kind of ordeal I may be in for, but everyone else  has water so if they start trouble, we will go to court if necessary.  you can't legitimately tell everyone else, including other businesses, that they can have water but I can't - for whatever reasons.  Look, if I have to, I'll have a well drilled and that's that.  I don't want to, but I am not going to rule it out entirely.  There is ample water supply everywhere underground  Heck, there's a stream with clear water, not that I'd want to use that, but for non -potable use not out of the question.  

I got back in the property and then stopped. Today that is, while doing the measuring.  It is so serene and peaceful, albeit hot right now.  Yesterday the lawn maintenance people were out there making noise, but it wasn't that much and didn't last that long .Today, there was nothing. Just birds chirping. Even occasional vehicle noise wasn't loud or obnoxious. The roadway is decent. must better than most properties I have looked at.  A salt water truck came by - not terribly loud either as it passed on by while I was on the street taking measurements.  It's not a busy road.  No property is perfect, but this one certainly is well up there on the "gee this is pretty nice now that I've come here several times and taken it all in" list.  Finklea would have been nicer albeit 12 acres smaller.  Get over it, BB, that is now ancient histroy.  

Alright, I have satisfied my need to find out information. There will be more, of course, but the basics are covered.  I don't think there's sewer lines, but who knows?  If the city has water going down there they may very well also have sewer lines. That would be such a big plus. 

Anyway, that's it. That's all for now. 

 It's only getting up to 92 today, lol, I best be getting out of here.

Off to this property that I need to look at to see if there is a way to make a driveway around the gas well pad.  Well, that and hike back in that mess and see what's in there and also if I can somehow build a drive down into that basin.  

Reminds myself to pack pistol into that stuff, I have no idea what's in there and I don't want to go in without something for protection.  

_________________

Long interlude.  I went over there - no kids or dogs - I figured I would be attempting to find a way through all of that underbrush with all of those sticker bushes and vines and didn't need kids getting stuck or dogs either.  I'm glad I didn't take either for it was even worse than I imagined back in there.  It's completely over grown with that nonsense and the entire back portion of the property would need a clearing operating to get all of that out of there. Keep the trees, get rid of all of the undergrowth.  

I was happy to see the stream still flowing even tho it's not raining. There are lots of water ways in this region that only flow during a rainfall. The ground back in there is pretty moist, but that's because it doesn't get much sunlight.  Clear the small trees and the underbrush and that won't be an issue and it will dry up.  

The front portion of the property will be the RV park.  That driveway is all of 3 football fields long and then some. I estimate around 1,000 feet.  The wide of that area I'm guessing around 100 feet.  I can put 20 pads in there. At an angle, they just pull in from one driveway and then drive straight out through to the other driveway I would build, that would circle around the rear of the driveway to the main driveway and out.  

The other option, I'm guessing anyway, is to have maybe 5 fully drive through (pull throughs they call them) and the rest? Back in.  In a staggered formation, I could put alternating pads on each driveway and double the amount of pads I could have from 20 to 40.  

That isn't really an option right off the bat - it will cost too much money to put in 40 pads right off the bat.  My plan is to do as many as I can with the 401k money and not go into any further debt than what the property costs.  If I need a small loan to finish things off, I can do that.  But, I can plan the set up for 40 pads if it appears I can do it that way.  

I can tell you right now that if I could keep the thing even half full half of the month I would be making anywhere from 6 to 12 grand per month off of it, that's a conservative estimate and the variable is how often each individual lot is used and how much it is per night.  Or per week. Or per month - I plan on offering all of it. I'd really rather have full timers in there living there to have "guaranteed" income versus dealing with people coming and going.

The thing about people coming and going is you make more money, a lot more money, but you have to have someone there during the day time.  Again, this proposition isn't out of greed or believing I will become a millionaire off of it. It's simply a way to buffer retirement and get out of the trucking business sooner than later.  

I'm going off on all of this like I was with the Finklea property - until I found out I couldn't actually acquire it even tho I was under contract.  But yes, I put in a bid today for 80 grand.  The asking price is 87 grand.  I only wanted to come down a bit for the fact of the portion of the unusable part of the property that I really don't want to pay for - you consider these folks that own it got their money to sell off the easement to them, usually a good chunk of change or even royalty checks.  

I informed my realtor I would pay the full asking price if they aren't going to budge from it.  It likely is worth every penny, but since it's been sitting on the market for a while, I thought maybe a small reduction from the asking price wouldn't be terribly bad to ask for.  I don't want to insult the owners - people can get pissed about individuals low balling so much that they are basically asking for a handout - I've seen that happen and I really think I can make this property work to the extent that I'm willing to pay full asking price if necessary.  

The lots would be set up in the front and they wouldn't be driving over the gas pad area.  The sign saying no hunting, fishing, dogs, firearms, alcohol and vehicles subject to search? Coming down.  They can keep that crap and burn it . The gate? Coming down. I'll work with them about putting one up at the pad entrance, but I'm not having that nonsense on my property, if it indeed does become mine.  They've gotten away with doing whatever they please with it because the owners have done nothing with the property - they live in Atlanta Georgia. What a hellish place to live, no offense to anyone that lives there but I wouldn't live there if you paid me to do so.  

My plans would include a hiking trail along side the pad and into the rear of the property - there's probably 15 of the acres back there.  Get whatever machinery I need to clear a trail all the way around the perimeter and crisscrossing through it.  An extreme nature hike, I was back there and I know that would be a selling point.  And definitely build a pond. With a live stream running through the property, that is a no brainer. It's nothing more than digging a giant hole.  I wouldn't want to pay anyone to do that, operating trackhoes is fun lol.  I'm a bit rusty but I'm sure it would come back to me quickly.  

This property isn't quite as nice as Finklea granted - I like the massive pine trees shooting up 75 plus feet at the Finklea property, those are really my favorite trees.  This property doesn't have many pines, but I can deal with it. It has trees, that's the end of that story.  The trees aren't massive - but they're big enough to cast shade on everything and give it the nature feel. It's good enough.  I can plant pines if I really feel the need to.  

I came up with plans pretty quick.  I've gone through this several times in my mind at different properties to the point I can envision quickly how I would want a property set up.  This one I might have someone design it for paperwork's sake and get an actual blue print of where the pads go. I'll buy one of those wheel distance measuring devices that you just roll along the ground.  I'll need an accurate measurement of exactly how long that driveway is in order to be able to plan the location of the pads.  

I don't want to get too carried away here.  I've been let down several times now.  The beauty of this property is that it's only like 4 miles away from the house.  It's a rural developed area. Next door neighbors to the west have a massive cattle ranch going - but it's quite beautiful and serene.  To the east it's just another undeveloped piece of property with tall pines on it. Except at the front, there is a house there.  The entire street is a very nice area. Even the old mobile home is well kept and the lawn manicured.  Everyone takes care of their property.  And no, there is no HOA, it's just county land but people obviously take pride in their property.  I would do the same. Clean, meticulous, neat and tidy.  

Okay, sit back and wait for an answer.

Meanwhile, Brandon - one of James friends tho I consider him a friend now too - came over and showed me how to take apart my new AR15, clean it, oil it and put it back together.  He's a good teacher, he's into guns bigtime. It was like going to a classroom the way he was showing me how to do everything.  I have a working knowledge of that firearm now, something I didn't have before today. Don't worry, I haven't bought ammo for it yet, I wanted to learn how to take it apart and put it back together first.  It needed oiled for sure, the thing came from the factory with no visible oil on it.  So that was a nice mental diversion.

I've done nothing else today besides go with Taylor to do some grocery shopping. I'm awaiting word on a run for tomorrow, if there's going to be one I'd like to know soon in case it's a longer run.  Haven't been on one in a while - don't particularly want to go on one but I won't complain.  I need the truck fixed tho, that engine fan staying on constantly is very noisy.  

I think I'll stop this one here.

G'day.  

 I have slowed down on posting for there hasn't been a lot to report.  

But 4 days lapse is a bit much even by my standards lol.

I officially own all 4 of the properties I purchased at the tax sale in December.  Now I have to find out how to get titles in my name, sheriff's deeds aren't going to work, I don't think.  I'll contact the title company I have already been doing business with concerning the Finklea property and see if they know how to get it done or some advice.  

Other than that, it's contact a real estate lawyer. Someone must know.  

Property.  My 50k bid on the 8.8 acres on Cooks road hasn't been responded to yet.  Turns out the realtor forgot to bring it up to the seller.  So, I expect in the next few days to hear back something from them, tho I am not holding my breath.  This guy is a bit weird. Overpaying for tax sale properties and way overpricing the properties after the fact.  I guess if it works for him.....

The other property I haven't made a decision on but I"m getting close to thinking that I may put a bid on it.  Hurry before someone else gets it!  Although definitely possible, not highly probably.  The setup of the land makes it not so nice for people that want their own property without any other interruptions going on on it, namely, a gas well. 

I was going to go out there yesterday after I spoke - finally - with the man that runs the regional operation for that company. Turns out that company is huge.  I needed to clarify some things.  First off, the sign they have at the front of the property.  No hunting, firearms, dogs, alcohol etc nonsense.  He stated they don't really have the right to enforce that but they are interested in safety.  They don't care if they use "their" driveway, but ask it be maintained. No problem with that, I would upgrade it by widening it a bit and dumping fresh gravel on it and using a roller to compact it.  

I specifically told him I was wanting to have RV's on it - it isn't their property but I think it would be nice going into it that they know what I intend on doing with it and whatever objections they may have even if they can't really do anything about it.  I would rather operate in peace with them - they have been there a while. They don't want anything driving through the well operation.  I countered that the only way to the back of the property is through that area, y'all literally have all or most of the width of it in the back eaten up.  

Again, it was safety. I can understand that. There is a 16 inch high pressure line coming up out of the ground, you can imagine what might happen if someone ran into it.  Explosion, destruction, death, maimed, etc.  It was a good conversation even if we disagreed, it was civil and he made his desires known.  But it was as I thought, they just have an easement, the right to access, not the right to dictate terms of what a property owner is going to do on their property.  

But after studying the satellite map, it looks quite doable to build a road around the edge of their pad on the east side of the property, head south, then back west again before getting over to another easement on the side of the property. That easement is their pipeline - but it's underground there.  A road can be cleared on it, gravel dropped and they will have access to their pipeline without having to do anything and I will have access to "my" property.  

I just asked my realtor about what she thinks a good offer on it would be.  She sent me info on the Ponderosa property - the dude upped the price 25k!  LOL!  Good luck with that!  The seller also lied about there being another buyer - which means his realtor was also lying. There was no other person making bids on the land.  If it weren't for all the noise from the mining operation I probably would have still bought it - or tried to anyway, no way I'm paying $110k for 17 acres out there.  It's not a great location, the nearest water seems to be about 700 feet away - that's a lot of pipe installation - and a lot of the property is under water.

Regardless, my realtor is going to be home soon and said she would find some comps in the area and get back with me.  Lol, that's not how I have been making my offer decisions. I just decide how much I think the property is worth per acre and make an offer based on that.  Perhaps a bit simplistic since there are a lot of other factors one could take into consideration such as location, availability of phone, electric and water, noise levels, etc but it works for me.  

Enough about that, yesterday I finally got my @$$ out of bed, got dressed and got outside and started on that pond setup.  It was hot out there!  Real feel of 105, it felt hotter than that even.  Especially considering I was in the direct sunlight that entire time, that's where that thing goes, in the middle of property and attempting to keep it away from trees as much as possible.  This setup will keep the river of junk flowing from other properties from getting into the pond and help keep garbage falling from those old oak trees into it to a minimum.  I did get it all set up as far as the underlayment, liner, waterfill filter, pump and UV sterilizer - that kills algae.  It's a UV light in a specially designed case and as the water is pumped through it, the UV light kills any algae.  It's a brand new one.  I've got a lot more setup to go, but getting the hardest part over with was well worth it.  I"m glad I got a foot in the door on that, now I have to install a setup for fish to hide under.  Get some water plans, install water sprayer to help keep the water cool and other things that will need to be done.

Anyway, I'm not going to make it home tonight unless by some miracle they are done in the next hour and a half.  I don't really care, I'm exhausted. A thunder clap woke me up and had me jumping right out of the bed in the middle of the night - it hit VERY close to our house - and it took hours to get back to sleep. So, I think I'll end this one and take a nice nap.

G'day  

Brownsville, Texas. 

They're in this yard dumping material on the ground again.  

This yard gets messed up.  It's small, there are a lot of trucks coming in and out and it rains frequently.  So, they have piles of - whatever it is, concrete shavings mixed with asphalt? Kind of what it looks like.  They have these piles everywhere, difficult to get around this yard. They don't have anyone here with machinery yet to spread it out and compact it. 

I was second load yesterday, late start for getting down here, but since I was second load, the first load beat me to the only empty trailer down here and they are undoubtedly well on their way back to Longview by now.  Not that I mind, it's all detention pay for me and I didn't feel like driving this morning anyway.  

Umm, I have a couple of draft posts I never finished and therefore never posted, hence the gap in putting anything up. Not that there's anything new to report anyway.  

I went to the lender's place yesterday and met the guy in person.  Gave them a check for an appraisal for a property - I can't buy.  $350 for nothing.  I wonder if there is any way to force the seller to pay that back, I entered into a contract with him to buy the land and - he couldn't deliver, no fault of my own.  My lender was ready to get this done.  

I've scoured the properties available, nothing really stands out.  There is one property about 11 miles north of me, about a mile off of Highway 59 that is of "some" interest, but the area doesn't look like it's ever taken off.  Location is everything, that's what I read over and over when it comes to RV parks and of course that should be true.  This location? I'm just not sure about.  The 35 acres for 87k is a wonderful deal tho.  But, I don't want to dump money into a property and then find out it isn't going to attract anyone. And, this property has been for sale for almost 300 days, not like I could turn around and sell it off if it didn't work out.

I'm in no rush on that one.  I do want to walk the property and see what's on it, it appears to be elevated so thee shouldn't be any standing water, or not enough anyway to cause a problem. 35 acres is a lot of land, there must be some portion of it usable for what I want to do with it.  But, a minimal investment for around 15 lots and see what happens? Dunno.  Electric, water and ATT right there.  Might even be sewer, not sure about that one.  

No rush on that one.  I see nothing else in my price range right now that will work.  Well there is one, Taylor even said it might be worth and extra long drive each way for a location like that for that kind of money. I dunno. It's probably 35-40 minute drive each way to get there. Along a busy highway, yes, 48 acres, yes, my price range, yes.  I'd rather have something closer to home and easier and quicker to get to tho. 

So right now, there are no properties that stick out besides over priced properties that are well outside of any price range I want to pay or could even afford. Well I could afford any of it, but it would eat up all of my finances.  I'm just going to wait a while and see if anything new comes up that might fit the bill and is in closer proximity to my house.

Today is Thursday and also the second Thursday of the month, meaning a city council meeting tonight.  I will likely be driving, I can tune into it and see what kind of ridiculous nonsense they are going to engage in.  I try not to miss any of these meetings, I had no idea how clueless these people running our town are.  They don't do any research on anything, they vote out of their feelings.  They have no understanding of contractual obligations or how such things work.  The city manager has pulled his hair out of his head attempting to explain such things to these people and they still don't get it.  

I could literally do a better job than most of them on that council and I make no claims that I have any grand knowledge of those types of things, but I clearly have more knowledge than most of them. Would I run for the position? Probably not, I"m not a fan of having my entire life scrutinized from since I was a baby so that opposition can find a gotcha from when you were a teenager and declare you unfit for the position.  It is a position of power considering you are responsible for where the money goes in the city. Which is what is confounding.  They just vote on things they think sounds good and nix anything that makes far more sense.  

I will listen to it, that's for sure. And I installed Zoom on my phone just so I can voice my opinion. Last time, their zoom wasn't working and most of the meeting wasn't even broadcast due to "technical errors".  

No idea when/if an empty is coming today, but preferably before noon.  After that, they still expect you to get the trailer back before loading time in the morning, meaning you drive all hours of the night to get it back there. That's the only real drawback to this run.  If an empty shows up at 4:00 pm, they want it back, no questions asked.  

I've heard nothing from my realtor in a couple of days.  Not unusual at this point, there is nothing to go look at, she knows what I'm looking for and she knows that I have looked at or dismissed from the start everything that is available.  She won't contact me unless something comes up that she thinks might work.  Or, if by some miracle, the Finklea property actually becomes available, I get to use the $350 appraisal and get this property searching over with. That would be grand.  

Nothing else terribly important. The "other" brother is coming down for a 2 week visit with the boys.  They all like each other and get along pretty well, tho the youngest still has issues with selfishness and wanting everything to be all about him. I guess that's typical for a 4 year old, but he's slowly learning he doesn't always get his way and tough.  The temper tantrums aren't quite as ridiculous as they once were, but they are still there.  Lol.  

The house is getting cleaned up - quite nicely.  Sooner or later it's going to be time to start on that back yard.  I have already stated I will do nothing to it until I get a chance to dig out a trench in between properties and see if that can stop or greatly reduce the amount of junk coming from neighboring properties.  I have cleaned that back yard up far too many times to see it trashed with just one rainfall.  I don't see the point in spending hours and hours cleaning something up and then having it trashed again the next day or in the next few days.  I may very well get motivated to do that, but since the rest of the house is getting cleaned up, I started focusing on my room and attempting to get it looking a little more classy.  Getting rid of the convertible sofa I bought for Addler, he doesn't like it and it's taking up space.

Aspyn uses it but I can get her a doggy bed, put the two beds side by side in front of my bed and open up some space in the room. I also want a new computer desk - a more fancy looking thing with plenty of drawer space.  I have no place for my important papers besides a very small drawer in current desk, I want to change that scenario and get something with a hutch and a corner desk for more room.  The rat infestation got into my closet, they opened up a hole at the bottom of the wall and - crapped on everything.  I have to go through all of that stuff now and throw most of it away I guess. Many knick knacks from my previous living arrangement in Arizona, mostly kept for if/when I got my own house.  I suspect much of it will have to be trashed.  Rats don't care where they poop or pee. 

Well that's enough for this one. Hurry up and wait.  It's 10:30 am and have heard nothing from anyone about an empty coming.  

G'day.  

 I am in no wise in a state of desperation to sign on the dotted line, hand over the cash and call it good on any given property.

So, it is with a great sigh of relief that I went out there to inspect this property myself.  

When the realtor went out there the other day, she was there at sunset.  The mining operation had closed down for the day, apparently, and there was no noise.  

Well, this is Sunday and there was a great deal of noise coming from that operation, specifically the sounds of the backup beepers on the front end loaders and trackhoes and the sounds of what is probably the loader dumping the lignite into trucks to be hauled to the power plant.  

But, of greater concern was this small sign I saw on the street corner of Ponderosa and Holcomb road.  I got out of my vehicle to go up and read what it had to say, if someone went to the trouble of posting it there, I wanted to make sure it had nothing to do with anything going on there.

It was a notice that there is going to be a hearing before the county judge about closing the road permanently!  Holcomb road is the access road to Ponderosa road, Ponderosa road is the road these two properties I bid on are located. There is no other access to Ponderosa road besides going through Holcomb road, I know this because I drove to the end of Ponderosa and it dead ends. .

That just blew my mind.  I instantly thought of some dude selling off his property because of no access.  Yet, how could they get away with shutting off access to property owners?  That makes no sense whatsoever.  Was the mining company going to pay to build another road to access it? Was it going to pay property owners somehow? Why would they want to shut the road down?  If I owned property on Ponderosa, I would be at that hearing and pretty vocal about it.  Still, one wonders if this is actually going to happen and that's why this person is selling the property.  

With that in mind, the road closure and the constant noise, I texted my realtor and asked her to contact the realtor and bow out of it.  It is quite fortunate that on all of these contracts, they all have a provision that the seller or buyer can opt out at any time. I would be a very unhappy camper right now if I were bound to that contract. 

Now? I'm still interested in the 22 acres with the gas well on it.  I Just haven't been able to get anyone to answer the phone at the gas company to ask questions about the signs they have on the proeprty - no hunting, guns, dogs, fishing, etc.  And the fact that they feel like they can lock the property up - that they don't own.  

Other than that, some properties of slight interest.  They're far away from my house or they are well out of the way of any major highway and down county roads that really aren't suitable for people driving a motorcoach. Possibly okay for a pickup pulling a bumper pull or 5th wheel, but I just don't think such properties are appealing even if the price is fantastic.  

I guess I will just wait for more properties to come on the MLS.  My credit will have to be redone with the lender anyway.  I'd like to say time is on my side.  It really isn't.  Perhaps I should just scale this thing down to less than 5 acres and start with a parking lot style RV park versus a much nicer operation with a lot more acreage?  I'm looking online at smaller properties, they want too much money for them.  I can't get a loan on less than 10 acres of land according to this AG lender.

Well, enough of this.  Get some stuff done.  

Happy Sunday. 

 A product of my own ridiculousness last night, I got into the yard, dropped the trailer did my paperwork and headed to the property.  It was too late and it was raining.  Darkness settling in, I decided I'd go back tomorrow - which is now today - and try again.  

Headed to Applebee's - hunger and the fact that no one was home cinched that idea easily.  I got to talking to an older couple at the bar -  the place was empty - and a few hours passed by without my realizing it.  Got home - still hadn't checked the clock - saw the cop/banker guy out on his front porch - that's a pretty rare thing to see, he works 7 days a week - and went over there instead of going in the house.  That went on for a couple of hours and before I knew it, it was after midnight!

So much for getting up early to go look at the property, it's almost 9:30 am, lol.  It's supposed to rain today. That isn't going to thwart me from going over there, I figure I'll take an umbrella and still walk the property.  The only thing I can tell you is that I am not in love with the last - 100/200? - feet of roadway going back in there. 

I did see the old mobile, and yes it's overgrown with bushes and vines and there are 4 pine trees in the front of it - directly in front of it, growing up against the side of the mobile. The front door was open, not a good sign if you had any thoughts of salvaging the thing and redoing it.  That means rats, mice, snakes, animals whatever can and probably have gone inside of it.  I quickly wrote that thing off, tho I suspect I will go into it today to look anyway.  Umm, pistol in my pocket thank you very much.

I will probably take the dogs as well, they are due for a hike, that is, if I can motivate myself to get out of here soon, it's not raining right now and apparently won't be until this afternoon.  

About the time I was going to bed last night James and Taylor showed up - they went straight to bed, it was 1:00 am at that point and just have to kick myself today for staying up so late needlessly.  Oh well, it was fun socializing with people.  

Besides the portion of road I don't like, I remain hopeful to like the property at least and also hunt for the water supply.  Everything is covered with long grass, if it's out there it's going to be difficult to find. The only thing I can say is that the Texas PUC map overlay shows both properties in that grid and therefore in that water supply system.  That does does not automatically mean there is water line under the ground going through there. It just means I can get service to the property, but likely would have to pay for it to be run from wherever it stops to the properties themselves. 

Oh, it's Sunday and I have the day off. Finally, a Sunday off.  I'm going to get out of here, get over to the property, take a good long look rain or shine and then get back home, do some cleaning and enjoy the day off.  Tomorrow is off to Oklahoma - late load means I won't get to do it in one day unless I stay up until 4:00 am - no thanks, I'll just get back to the truck stop casino where I normally stop, spend the night there and finish out the trip on Tuesday.

With that, I best be going.  

Probably do a live stream on Facebook.

G'day.  

 I'm not really a big fan of washing my dogs, I'd rather take them somewhere and let people bath and brush them, I'll gladly pay the price. 

But, when I walked into this bedroom last night at 1:30 am, the smell was revolting.  It just assailed my nostrils and I decided today was going to be wash day for both of them.  

It's a chore.  It took almost an entire bottle of dog shampoo with conditioner and quite a bit of time to scrub them both down. Aspyn was loaded with excess hair, it just came off in globs.  Shedding time as it is, summer is coming and she is going to get rid of that stuff.  Well, between washing her and after she dried, pulling it out and then brushing it down, she's looking much better.  

And smelling a thousand percent better.

Addler is much easier. Short haired Great Dane, hates the baths but just stands there and takes it.  

___________

Friday, early morning.  

I saw a new listing come up, informed the realtor I would be looking at it when I get back - going to Brownsville today, leaving the house pretty quick here actually.

She grabbed her whole family, got into their car and drove over there and took two videos of this place.  It looks like a nice property, but even with a video it's kind of hard for me to try and place a bid on something that I haven't actually visited and experienced myself.  

The issue? If this property is as good as it looks, it probably won't last very long, especially at the price.  There is water and electric and perhaps even sewer nearby. The only real issue I might have with it is it isn't exactly close to any major highway.  Probably 4 or 5 miles off of 59 and another 4 miles added to that to get up to 20.  

I looked at a satellite of it and it appears there is also a pond on the property, a huge plus if it's decent.  There's lot of ponds that - are not decent - as evidenced by a small property I looked at yesterday.  Nasty, green, full of algae, it wasn't exactly pretty.  It is right off of 59 a bit south.  I was thinking of putting some mobiles on it or 10 or so rv pads.  But I would have to have electric run from across 59, water is hundreds of feet up the road and septic installed.  And of course the obligatory clearing of the entire lot - it's just filled with thick underbrush and those nasty thorn bushes.  I don't know that names of that particular plant, but this region is full of that garbage along with thorn vines.  Oh and the noise. 59 is a major truck route, this property is right next to the highway and there is constant, loud highway noise.

The odd thing? It is obvious that people don't appear to care about highway noise considering the large amounts of homes you see all over the place positioned right next to busy interstates and state highways. 

Well, I'll think about it today.  If it weren't dark I'd go look at it before going to work.  It's tempting to pull the trigger on it, I'll say that. It isn't that far out of the way, not like some other properties I've looked at. It's 20 minutes or so from my house.  

Anyway, off to work.

G'day. 

 I just stood in awe of the people that showed up.

Not because they were anything special, but because after the auction started, these people were going wayyyyyy beyond anything even reasonable for even market price, much more what you'd think you would score at an auction.  

2 acres - $18,000.

27 acres of inaccessible property - literally there is no legal way to access it - 60 grand. 

Properties with junk houses are uninhabitable - 10, 15, and more thousand. 

People buying up empty lots for ridiculous amounts of money.  I waited until all the properties I was interested in were bidded on way too far for anything I would even consider buying and left.  

No, I'm not disappointed, more properties will come next time. And the time after that.  It was just a slew of people with money-lined pockets getting into bidding wars.  I do wonder if they will regret any of it after they find out that what they bought? Was nothing worth near that much money. 

One house that was burned down sold for over 10k, I can't remember how much, but it's worthless.  The property is definitely not worth that much money,. lol. I did warn the man next to me about the 27 acres - you can't access that property, dude and the person that owns it tried for a year to sell it.  He stopped bidding on it. I don't usually warn people but this dude was standing right next to me.

So, I ended up leaving there empty handed. Yes, I could have bid way up, but why?  Here's what's going to happen, these properties will end up going for sale it ridiculous amounts of money and they will sit there forever.  No one will buy them and I will laugh at them.  

I came home after that, sat around talking with Taylor and waiting for the rain to stop.  When it did finally stop, I took the boys with me - get them out of mama's hair for a bit - and went to search out this 22 acre property. They were determined to go hiking, I described it as an adventure, but not all of it would be fun.  I knew that because this entire region is vexed with thorn vines that are not pleasant to get stuck inot your skin.  

I was as patient as I can be with a 4 and 6 year old, tho the 4 year old was definitely not liking some of it.  He didn't hate all of it, but when we got down the grade and into the thick of everything, well I was helping him quite a bit.  Not that that matters, but he was hollering and whining alot.  We got in there as far as I determined I could go with these boys and decided it was time to head out of there. The brush was only getting thicker.

I likely won't even take my dogs in that this stuff, they will get cut up pretty good plowing their way through it. 

After looking at the 2 videos I made, I determined that I need a body cam to take decent video of everything in front of me. It's too hard to try and make your way through all of that stuff and try to keep the camera - Iphone - in a position to get a good view. Neither video was all that great in those terms.  

I mean, if I'm going to take videos I don't want the view to be terrible and annoy the viewer.  I've seen enough videos of incidents and terrible views, a body cam is affixed and isn't subjected to moving of the hand that is holding the camera.  They're kind of pricey, but it's a hobby and hobbies you spend money on.  

So that's that.  I don't consider the auction a waste of time - it just depends on who shows up and some of these people knew each other - they weren't at any previous auctions, I remember the faces of the people that are doing a lot of bidding. The rich dude showed up, he was bidding up lots of properties including the 2 acres I wanted.  I went up to 8 grand and quit. The property ended up going for 18 grand, they can have it, it's simply not worth that much money.  Not to me anyway.  

Other acreage out in the middle of nowhere also got bidded way up.  I was in awe of how much money these people were willing to pay for this stuff. Do they know something I don't? Overpriced properties simply don't sell,, I could link just one of the realtors sites loaded with auction properties that no one is buying.  

Okay, so the property I was looking at today with the boys? That driveway, starting at the road, is around 900 feet long.  I could do something with that property just from the driveway alone and save the rear of the property for a later date.  If it's even accessible.   

 Memorial Day.

Got up at 7am.  Looked out the windows, no empties.  There wouldn't be any, but I had to check.  The other driver in line ahead of me nowhere to be found.  I got my coffee maker going, had a cuppa and got out of the truck and walked around, stretched.  Later on, I saw on of the yard guys had shown up, taking readings off the tankers.  

Any idea if/when an empty will show up today?  He got a blank look on his face, thought about it for a few seconds and said, I don't know if any are coming today or not.  Okay, thanks. He then asked if I had brought a certain trailer into the yard.  No, not me, why?  The driver hadn't put the papers/bills into the mailbox. 

That was my cue to contact my dispatcher.  Umm, 83911851, they're saying the driver didn't put the bills for that load into the mailbox.  She replies, the bills for which trailer?  Remember, this is all texting, in writing.  "83911851".  So the bill of lading isn't in there? No, the driver didn't leave ANY of the paperwork.  I then went on to say that the man stated that he didn't know if any trailers were coming today, and I couldn't be waiting around until this afternoon for empties to show up.

"Let me contact (the manager)".  She texted back several minutes later: You can go home, sir.

And leave I did.  All the way up 50 miles, where I passed by a large number of state troopers parked on both sides.  I passed on of them and he immediately jumped out onto the highway, cut in between the vehicle behind me and my truck and I knew I was going to get pulled over.

Inspection. And asked all kinds of questions, wanted to see my logs, lights, turn signals, tires, brakes, etc etc etc etc. And then asked where my "spare fuses" are.  I had some in there, but I don't use them and I couldn't find them.  He wrote me up for not having spare fuses......and also for the fire extinguisher. The clasp that holds the band on it had come open. Instead of just saying - the thing needs to be clamped down again  - he wrote me up for unsecured fire extinguisher.  Petty, bs nonsense.  They are warnings, yes, but warnings count against the company.  

It's the CSA crap  - just more federal bs leveled against companies and drivers to make lives miserable.  There was no good reason to write me up for either of those things, neither of them have anything to do with "safety", the fire extinguisher is in perfect working order, it's just the clasp came loose and fuses have nothing to do with highway safety.  

This crap is the reason many older generation drivers are exiting trucking.  And why the increase in the numbers of drivers needed nationwide.  None of us want to continue to put up with this bs.  The federal government won't catch a clue about it until so many drivers are gone and the cost of everything goes way up for supply and demand.  Just pile on even more garbage, watch the exodus grow. It's going to affect you - yes you, whoever you are- eventually at any store you go to.  I don't even care anymore, I'm looking to get out of trucking and hopefully tomorrow morning I'll catch a gift in the right direction to getting there.

After that bs, I got caught in a mile long wait at the immigration checkpoint about 89 miles up the road.  After that, long lines of cars going through small towns. Everyone must have been going home from Padre Island is all I could surmise.  

Arriving at the yard, I went into the office to find two drivers in there.  They were both quite drunk.  Somehow the subject got onto the tattle tale driver who reports everyone/thing to corporate.  I flatly told them do not drink in this office around that dude, he will report your @$$es and try to get you fired.  The one dude looked at me in shock after I relayed to him the fact that he had already tried to get 4 people fired.  Seriously? 

Yes.  I personally don't care what anyone does in their off time, regardless of whether they are at the yard - many of them "live" there.  But the company does - if they catch anyone drinking on the premises they will automatically be fired, no matter they aren't driving anywhere, it's a gated yard and private facility.  That means cops can't come into the yard and arrest people for DUI for sitting in an idling truck, the facility has an automatic gate.  

The company can operate however they please, everyone knows the potential for trouble, but with a driver tattle-taling?  Just don't do it when he's there guys, that's all I can tell ya, don't want to see you get fired.  Ok, in reality, the manager is never there at night.  Upper level management make visits occasionally - it's nowhere near any of them, they have to come in from out-of-state.  If they show up, it's day time, not night time, excepting one middle level manager who will arrive at night and try to catch people doing things they aren't "supposed" to.

Anyway, I made it home. Steak dinner waiting in the microwave. Decent hour, not too late, I can watch some tv, look up a few properties a second time and make a decision on whether I want to bid on them, get a decent night's sleep and get up in the morning for the sale.  It's supposed to rain - pretty much all day tomorrow.  Maybe it will keep people away from the sale, tho it  didn't last time it rained, the rain wasn't that bad last time. It looks like thunderstorms, I can hope people don't show up, especially the ones with money lol.  

I have an agenda well beyond the sale tomorrow - that shouldn't be at most a couple of hours if I end up buying the property I want - just go to the bank, get a money order, get in line, pay it up and leave.  After that, a trip to both properties on cooks road - depending on the rain. Aspyn - really need to get her into the vet. Addler - get him into the bathhouse.  Aspyn needs it too but she needs her rabies shot first.  And other things on the list that I need not go into, for I doubt I will have time after I get other things done and probably will be sent back out on Wednesday.  

Well, I really want to find the time to drive over to Longview and get this AR scoped and some ammo and try shooting it.  All of that can be done at the indoor shooting range over there.  That probably won't happen tomorrow, not if I can get the dogs into the bathhouse and the vet.  

Whatever the case, I have a couple of properties to look over again and then, watch a rerun of star trek or the Big Valley, lol and go to bed.

G'nite.  

 Pick up where I left off. We viewed the property yesterday. The front is about a 500 foot long driveway, about 100 feet wide with 75 feet of trees deep next to the driveway. At the end of the driveway is the gas well operation.  It expands to the entire width of the back of the property, hundreds of feet wide.  But it's just a couple of tanks and a piece of equipment used to bring the gas out of the ground.  The rest you can just drive through there with no problem.  

The back - is where the problem was.  I got out of the pickup, started walking back and  - found basically a dropoff.  About 10% grade for a visual.  It goes down appears to be hundreds of feet at that angle.  No RV'er is going to want to drive down that steep of a grade even if I had it paved with asphalt or concrete.  I didn't have time to walk all around and see if there are any other access points.  The boys were in the truck and we needed to go home for arrival of a new dishwasher.

Before we got to that property, however, we ended up at the other one I had originally gotten approved for.  I started reconsidering that - and eventually caved.  I offered 10 more grand less than what the owner had dropped the price to.  He's been sitting on that property quite a while now and that is his business - buy tax lien sale properties and resell them. Oh how I would have loved to have been at the sale when this one was sold. He only paid 11 grand for it, but paid other taxes apparently and it ended up being 15 grand.  I won't hear until later this coming week what his reply will be.  

Meanwhile, I had to drive down to Brownsville today.  I mean, I knew there weren't going to be any empties down here.  I pleaded with this new dispatcher to give me an Oklahoma run, she was having none of it and for whatever reason I was forced to come down here.  So, I'm going to sit here until about 10:00 am tomorrow morning and then tell her I need to start heading back up, are we still honoring the commitment to allow me to bobtail back up since no empties are here? She'll have to contact my manager and then a decision be made.  In reality, this decision should have been already been made and disclosed to me.  I was approved for the day off, there isn't any good reason not to allow me to have it.

Anyway, I knew there weren't going to be any empties because another driver called me when he was just leaving down here earlier today saying that two empties had come in, he and another driver took those and there is still another driver waiting down here. It's Sunday, they aren't bringing in any more empties or if they do, it's only going to be one for him.  

As I say, I'm not going to let them get away with just forcing me to stay down here until late afternoon for an empty to arrive. If one arrives mid morning, I'm fine with that, but I don't want to be driving until 2 am to make it back and get very little sleep and then up and at it for the auction. 

Well I'll be. A further look at satellite of this newly listed 22 acres on Cooks road reveals a road going down the side of it all the way to the back and then onto other people's property.  I never saw that road when I was there the other day.  This is worth taking a look at.  This is not part of the tax sale, it's just property for sale but I'm guessing - and will look - that it was also bought at tax sale however long ago.  Hmm, inconclusive whether that was a tax lien sale. It says HCAD trust - that's the appraisal district, but I haven't heard of that term before or how you would get a trust property?  Must be some other type of sale that I don't know about.  

Well, answered that one. They also have separate trust sales listed, currently none in my county but I have no idea how often those sales are held or even where.  I will be looking at that, this property was bought under a tax sale, apparently, just another type and apparently was done late last year in December.

Learn as I go here, folks, I never said I was an instant authority on this subject.  

Well, I'm stuck here for the night anyway, so I'm going to watch a movie : )

Have a great evening!

 Okay.

Back from Oklahoma. Opted to spend the night in my truck versus using my 16 hour exception - which adds 2 hours to the 14 hour on duty clock and get home last night.

The reason is because the dispatcher insisted that I take the Brownsville load tomorrow, even after discussing with here the fact that oftentimes on Sundays - which is what tomorrow is - there aren't any empties. The 2 hours? That helps if I have a breakdown such as a blown tire and I need the extra hours to either make it down or make it back up without going into a 3rd day.  

I informed her I would be fine with taking an Oklahoma run - they go out every day as well.  She just wouldn't have it, she is sending me to Brownsville and that's that.  Fine, but you know I need to be back Monday for my thing I'm doing Tuesday.  She informed me that she would contact my manager and ensure that if there aren't any empties available, I can bobtail back up.

So why do I have to go down there instead of someone else?  I didn't ask, I don't want to get on her bad side.  She is giving me a lot of Brownsville runs, which I like, just didn't want one this time.  But I'll take it and run with it and hope there aren't any issues and hope that there is an empty down there so I don't have to force the issue about coming back up.  It just mystifies me that there are drivers going up to Oklahoma tomorrow, any one of which would gladly take the Brownsville run save one person that doesn't like going down there.  

Now then, property. James and I are fixing to go over, cut the lock on the gate and go take a look.  Yes, I said cut the lock on the gate. The gas well company keeps putting locks up on the gate and the realtor keeps going out there and cutting them off.  The gas company doesn't own the land, it's an easement, they buy the right to use the property, not the right to control what others do on it.  They can't lock it up.  They can't put up signs saying no dogs and firearms and such - as this one has.  Unless it is written into a contract with the property owners somewhere, I'd have to take a look at that first.

If it isn't written into the contract with the property owners and if I bought that land? I'd take the gate down and remove that sign.  They have wells all over the place, one right down the street, they don't have those signs up on any of those properties....

I mean, the rear of the property is nothing but trees and enough land there to do what I need to do with it.  I could just build a separate road back in there and the gas people can have their own deal and I'd have mine.  I've noticed these well operations don't make noise - at all. Only if trucks are coming in removing salt water will you hear truck noise.  

Ugh but taking a real satellite view of the property, it doesn't look promising.  You'd have to drive through their operation to get to the rear of the property.  Curb appeal - zero, tho an RV'er wouldn't even see that until they drove all the way down the road to get to it.  Property way overpriced, they are extracting their money out of the ground, keeping the mineral rights and attempting to make even more profit off the sale of the land.  

Well we're going to go look anyway.  Just to curb my curiosity if nothing else.  

The other property on the same road is looking more appealing. I originally wrote it off because of the gas well there.  But it's on the edge of the property and most of it is on the property next door.  If I could get them to agree to me building a road for them on the same edge of the property, I wouldn't have to worry about it.  And get the perimiters of the easement clearly defined.  

Just got home, the boys are down for a nap so gotta wait til they wake up to go and cut the lock.  

Okay enough of this.  I won't be getting anything done at home today. It's already 2 and I intend on relaxing besides going and looking at this property.  The Brownsville run is a rather ruthless drive in terms of traffic, small towns and idiots on the road.  It takes it out of you.  Sunday drives are better, I won't lie.  And going down on Sunday means I don't have to content with all the Padre Island traffic coming up. 

Addler came in the house, said hello in his goofy way and proceeded to take over my bed lmao.

G'day.  

Friday morning.  

This "new" dispatcher isn't doing very well. She just doesn't know what she's doing.  She's been in the position long enough she should have learned a lot of this by now.  She contacted me last night telling me I would have to take a later load time so I can get my 34 hour reset in. 

Okay.  She never contacted me back with that load time.  So this morning, I'm laying in bed wondering if I'm going to work the time I'm scheduled or going later?  I have enough hours left on the 70 clock to do this Oklahoma trip, there's 17 on there that's plenty.  It takes about 14 on duty hours to complete that trip from start to finish.  So I contacted her a bit ago, she told the plant that I'm running late and I will be there at 11 am instead of 10:30. am.

The plant doesn't like drivers showing up late.

Regardless, I scoured the property sale sites yesterday and found only one property on there that might fit the bill, the rest of them are either too high priced, over priced per acre, under water or have other issues that make them unappealing, such as being out in the middle of nowhere.  The property I did find, I couldn't access, there is a padlock on the gate.

It's a live gas well operation, they apparently believe they own the property, replete with signage at the front declaring that guns, dogs, alcohol and other things aren't allowed.  Never saw a sign like that at any of the other properties, has my curiosity piqued.  Like, what's going on back there that makes it different than others of their properties?  It's not likely a good location for an RV park unless I create another road into the back of the property where there is plenty of room for RV pads and facilities.  That is possible, the front of the property is nothing but a long driveway at least 300 feet long with trees next to it.  Take down the trees on the corner of the property and create a separate road in there and I wouldn't have to fool with the gas operation. 

But I need to be able to get back there to see for myself if/how that would work out.  And most certainly not paying what they are asking for the property, they are getting their money out of that place, premium prices per acre are not warranted.  They must have had this property up for sale previously, for the for sale sign out front has underbrush grown up all around it and you can hardly see it.  

Whatever the case, I need to get out of here.  Another rainy day in this region, a long day to boot. Whether I make this a one day trip depends on how far I make it tonight.  I'd like to get this over with today and have tomorrow completely off, but that remains to be seen.

G'day.  

 So the bad news.  Seller's realtor contacted mine, who repeated this to me: "Agent said the chances of this property being sold without involving litigation is very slim, and more like none.".  

Heirs.  This is the problem and likely not to go away anytime soon. I was offered to end the contract and get my earnest money back or - wait indefinitely for something that may never happen.   

As much as I hated to do it, I terminated the contract.  I don't have until the second of never to get something going.  I love that property, but I had to let it go.  It was at least agreed that if this seller ever does get this stuff taken care of, we'd be the first to know before it gets put in the MLS for public acquisition.  

So here I am, after all of this, back at literally square one.  I've accomplished absolutely nothing in all of this time, other than to secure a land loan that I can't use.  

The property I was interested in looking at today (it's 1:30 am, later on today I was going to to look at it, it just came online a few days ago)?  It's already sold.  

Am I being given a sign that I shouldn't even be trying this?  I mean, I am running into dead ends at every turn.  The only thing that was encouraging is the land loan going through - albeit with quite a lot of ordeal, it's there, it's available.  

I dunno what's going on. I"m going to try and get that 2.2 acres coming up in a few days.  It would make a great "parking lot RV park", where you just cram them in there and they pay you and they - don't seem to mind. Or if they do,  they chose to come in and park.  It's prime property, it's north of 2 other RV parks and therefore, before you get to them off the Interstate.  

I mean, you really can't do a lot with 2 acres for that kind of setup.  I don't want to get too far into talking about that property, because it might go away - be withdrawn - or it will get bid too high.  Who knows, but I doubt I'm the only one that understands that the location is pretty good.  

I've had thoughts, even, about buying the 8 acres I was originally going to buy and just run with it, live gas well and all.  

There aren't many properties that would be suitable that are available and they are well over priced.  And have been sitting up for sale for very long periods of time because of it.  There are plenty of buyers out there - that's obvious whenever a good property comes up, it's gone quickly.  

Running out of time.  A property has to be closed on before the 90 day period for the loan - before I have to go through all of that again.  

I uhh, don't know now what to do.  I think people might take all of this dead ends as a sign to stop, do something else, just keep working, give up.  But the thing that keeps me going, that makes me not want to stop is the idea that I do not want to keep on trucking forever.  But that's exactly what I'd have to do if I don't find something different.  

I'm kind of at a loss here.  Is the Lord simply not in this endeavor?  Or am I just being held up for the right property?  Or...what.....

I have no idea.  Wish I had the answers - I simply don't.  

I think I'll find the resolve to simply continue on this seemingly endless search for a suitable property.  There are a couple of places I haven't seen yet except through satellite - didn't look too promising from that view but, now that I'm back to nothing, I'm going to go take a look and probably tomorrow....uhh, later on today. 

It's late. 

Some sleep might help.

 Brownsville, once again. I will never tire of coming down here, especially considering this is the 5th time in a row down here that I am getting detention pay.  This trip I would have gladly turned around this morning and gone straight back up - I have business to conduct, namely, look at the rest of these properties on the tax lien sale in person. 

I just finished going through the entire list - that took a while.  The biggest lot for sale is 27 acres for 15 grand.  Great price, but this property has been up for sale for quite a while.  NO takers.  Why? It is completely landlocked.  The description from the realtor is that "owner is attempting to gain access". Good luck with that.  Without paying for an easement, you have completely worthless property. I'm not fooled by this kind of thing.  If someone buys it, they are going to be greatly disappointed.  Only if they have money to pay a property owner a decent amount for an easement will they be able to access their property.  Otherwise, it goes to the backburner and comes up again later this year, bidding starting at $30.  Then I"d bid on it.  Yes, because there are numerous properties surrounding it - all with the potential of being greedy enough to allow easement access for the right price.  

What's more, you can see giant washes whenever it rains.  It obviously floods out whenever we get a storm.  

There's something like 20 houses on that list.  Some of them have already been redeemed for the taxes owed.  Many of them  -- not yet anyway. Yes, I have the cash to buy any of them at starting bid, but buying another house isn't high on my priority list, as long time readers well know.  I have 4 solid properties that I want to bid on. Well one of them I still need to go look at, it's out of the way -  which doesn't bother me for the price tag - but I have to see if there's water and electric available.  

On the houses, yes I"d get one of them if they bidding doesn't go too high, but I suspect this list will attract the people with deep pockets considering the large number of houses on there.  

The tax lien sale is a secondary project. It's not priority at the moment and so, getting any thing off of there will have to go pretty cheap. One property in particular I will bid as high as I can go before I have to say no more.  The one way out in the middle of nowhere possibly as well if there are utilities available.  

Speaking of that, I will call the water company after this entry - providing an empty doesn't show up, the dispatcher said one is coming this morning (it's 10:30 am, I hope it comes soon so I don't have to be out late driving tonight).  The power company will hook me up, they said that at least. The water company - who knows - but probably have to pay for the installation to the property is my guess.

Other than that? Nothing.  I'm hungry, sitting in this yard since last night, but I don't feel like eating sandwiches.  The big decision, lol: Leave and get something to eat or just sit here until I get so hungry, a sandwich starts to look appealing?  

I'm going to - slightly - bug my realtor today about the property.  She is pretty unhappy person and I hear the other realtor is too with this seller.  I dunno, people get to that age they get set in their thinking.  They're going to do things their way and if you don't like it? That isn't going to change anything.  I'm referring to the seller, at 84 years old, he probably doesn't really care how long it takes, unless he's desperate for money for some reason.  If that's true, my loan is ready and waiting.  I guess it's a good thing that I don't have to worry about the loan going away for the 90 day period - which is slowly wasting away.

Whatever the case, I'll have to take a 34 hour reset after this trip. I was only 2 hours away from a reset when I started this trip. But I'm glad it didn't happen, it's possible that I will have to work straight up to the tax sale and that wouldn't work out too well.  I need to see the properties I'm bidding on first, otherwise I won't bid on them.  A few of the houses are starting low bid price.  But who knows what condition they're in?  

Alright enough of that.  I think I'm going to get out of this truck, stand up and stretch and walk a little.

G'day

 Tuesday morning. 

Had Monday off. Can't say as I got much accomplished beyond laundry, some cleaning, getting a pond liner off and talking to my son - he turned 28 yesterday.  He's doing really good, amazingly enough, he went into full detail about how his life changed after the divorced and how he has his small grouping of friends.  

He's also saving to get his own place and has amazingly saved up 10k in a pretty short span of time. He must have my mom's genes. I am not the avid saver either of them are, I like a mix of saving and living life at the same time.  That does not, by any stretch of the imagination, mean that I am not saving.  Hundreds of dollars come out of every paycheck and go into 401k.  Hundreds more go into savings every month.  

I could be saving more, tho.  But, I see people wait until they are retired, well past the prime of their life and wonder how that works out for them.  

I finally found the utility company map from the state of Texas - something I'm going to be saving so I don't have to dig it up again.  It shows the name of what company that serves where.  Water utility to be precise. It does not show it serves my intended property, but it does show the property across the street.  I assume that means I can have a line run to my property - but assumptions are not facts and I will be calling them about that if/when I hear anything about the property.

Which, of course, no news came yesterday.  I will be contacting my realtor today to ask about what the other realtor came up with after meeting with the owner.  

Well, I'm off to Brownsville. A later load than usual, and later than I like at 10:30, but nothing as bad as when you start loading at noon or later. It's the time of day that the run keeps you out til to make it down there.  I probably won't be out of the plant until 12:30 at the earliest, meaning a 10:30 night - at the earliest - today.  That's not terrible, it's not great but it could be worse. 

And with that, time to be off to work.

G'day.