I went into the office today after dropping the trailer and hooking up to another one, asking about this new Quaalcomm and the fact it took me quite a while to figure the thing out.  The manager eventually changed the subject to that surveillance system that has cameras facing forward and inward.  "Did anyone tell youi about that". 

I was quite blunt about my feelings of inward facing cameras.  He then said "off the record" and said they were trying to figure out how to silence the microphone. "Oh, I already shut off the camera and the microphone", I replied, since we were "off the record".  The lead mechanic across the hall busted out laughing and said yes, with duct tape!  

Well I figured they knew I had the thing covered up with it. I don't take it off now. I did at first, but then I thought: why?  If they don't like it, I don't care!  My manager informed me that the microphone could probably hear me through the tape. Perhaps, I replied, and hence I have been acting like and insane person making noises and speaking gibberish, singing, ,etc etc etc to the thing. 

They all busted out laughing at that.  Yup, well he then said he'd take a look at some of my recordings and see.  Yeah, don't tell me that, I thought, from the way he was talking it was obvious he had already looked.  So, the next thing will be several - and I mean several - layers of Gorilla version of duct tape.  Probably 4 layers and covering the entire rear of the damned thing.  

If you believe that I should have a camera and a microphone viewing me 24 hours a day while I'm in the truck, I invite you to set up a camera in your bedroom, your living room, your workplace and have a body cam - and make sure you don't turn any of it off for personal conversations.  Or while you're eating.  Or drinking.  Or smoking.  Or whatever.  Please do that and then post links to online access. Then I can watch YOUR ass living YOUR life and then come back and tell me about how companies should have access to it.  

I want to hear every conversation.  Mate, work, friends.  All of it. I want to see your face, all day long. 

Yeah, I thought so.  This is communist China bullshit.  Don't tell me it's in the name of "safety". I've been driving trucks since 1985, I don't need your intrusion in to my private life.  

I started looking at videos, one in particular has a guy taking the thing apart and showing the guts of the thing, including the things that show everything in darkness - hidden behind giant blue tabs.  This is all done to make a person think in the darkness, they can't see anything. I didn't believe that for a nano second, but some drivers will.  

I've been looking at driver comments about these inward facing cameras and most of it is in my line of thinking. I have choice words for all of this s*** but I will refrain.  Y'all don't want to read that kind of stuff, I'm sure, keep it to myself.  I flat out told my manager I quit my last job for inward facing cameras.  

I was then informed that they don't review the inward facing stuff. Lol my ASS they don't, but let's hear it.  WHY did they buy units with the inward facing s*** to begin with?  That's not what they want to know.  Oh, I see, they want lily white, perfect little driving angels that never make mistakes. Might as well fire the entire fleet.  It's a foregone conclusion any of us driving through Houston will get "dinged" and I don't want to hear about it.

I'm already looking for new driving jobs. It's inevitable.  Looking local first.  They aren't going to pay as much as I'm making now but if I can make 75k at least I'm good.  Just have to scale back on "recreational" expenditures.  

Y'all can have your autonomous trucks. Then you can blame computer software for killing people instead of truck drivers.  And, you will watch thieves stealing everything inside of those trucks.  Don't even try to tell me that isn't going to happen after watching several news reports of thieves emptying out rail cars and dumping the contents all over the place in the news.  They aren't going to be able to keep up with that many trucks and driverless trucks will become instant targets for far more than your average, every day thief. Organized crime will  get techs involved with it and try to find ways to take over the computers that are driving those trucks. Whatever they do, thievery is high tech now, these thieves have upped their game in tech and thievery.  

Terrorists from foreign nations could also try to figure out how to over a truck and drive it into  into - whatever. A crowd, a nuclear plant, into other vehicles, buildings, etc.  But truck-jackings will definitely become a thing to common thieves.  What's going to stop them from simply getting in front of one of these trucks, slamming on the brakes and stopping it?  A stolen car, license plate numbers won't matter.  The truck isn't the Batmobile, it's going to sit there and obediently have everything lifted off of it.  

A strange new world we live in, indeed. I'm ready for a simple lifestyle and let's get on with it.  

This stuff - companies scrutinizing your every move - irritates me so much that as much as I abhor the thought, I am actually considering trying to get an SBA loan NOW.  God have mercy on my soul. Yes Lord, please do have mercy on me, but also just the idea of going through all of that yet again. 

Yet, it would get me out of this trucking s*** and I could join the ranks of the older generation hanging up the keys permanently - and continuing to screw the trucking industry which in turn screws the nation.  Truckers don't want to screw the nation, they just want to end this bs.  I find it hilarious and outrageous at the same time that people think we should have this kind of scrutiny. Oh really? Why aren't you advocating for everyone driving cars to be put in the same kind of scrutiny? You know, the majority of the accidents - and hellish ones at that - that are their fault? Oh, those evil TRUCKS! But those angelic cars! Bullshit.  I watch what people are doing in their cars and it's a wonder there aren't millions of accidents a day.  But those BIG trucks!  

GOOD, GET RID OF US!! Vote us out of our pathetic existence!  Something like Defund The Police, it will be "GET RID OF TRUCKS, THE DRIVERS ARE DANGEROUS!". Yes!! Yes Yes Yes!! get rid of all of us RIGHT NOW!!! We are so inherently bad and maligned, and stupid!! Shut trucking down now! Advocate for it, right now! Call you senators and representatives! Get on social media! Talk to the media! Start a drive to get rid of truckers!  I beg you to do that! Please do that! INSTEAD OF SITTING ON YOUR HIGH F***** HORSE, LOOKING DOWN YOUR DAMN SNOOTS AT US.  I am SO sick of this bs and so are so many of my fellow drivers.  They won't be able to get autonomous trucks out fast enough to equalize the numbers of drivers that are quitting NOW.  

It's SO bad that Congress is authorizing a pilot program to allow teenagers to drive trucks across state lines. You don't trust me, an old dude that's been driving 37 years but you'll trust a kid? LMAO!!! YES< GET  AS MANY OF THESE 18 YEAR OLD AS YOU CAN, LET THEM TAKE OVER THE INDUSTRY!

Why is there a shortage of truck drivers? It's not only that they have trouble recruiting people into a loner lifestyle, segregated from society.  It's also because long time drivers are quitting in droves. It's either early retirement or they're finding something else to do. I have read countless posts where drivers that own their own trucks have hung up the keys and their truck is sitting at their house, idle and not hauling freight.  

Oh, but it's such an easy job! I'm not even going to try and defend that anymore.  I'll tell you where to stick it rather than attempt to go into the entire detail of what a truckers life is - most of y'all couldn't stand it. Don't tell me about money, either, are you willing to go out there and trade your life for the road?  If you say yes, your ass better be getting into a truck and then come back after you get trained, get with a trainer in a truck and the out on your own for at least 6 months and then come back and tell ME how freaking EASY it is.  

This s*** pisses me off.  

I know the hellish thoughts I had going through these last two loans yet I can't escape the idea of just getting a huge loan, developing it all at once, get it over with and start a new life . The cons of such a proposition in attempting to get such a loan are so high, however, that it's a giant obstacle in my mind to try and get over it.

Yet, I can assure you, that in the next coming days, I'm going to try and overcome that mind jumble and see if I can find it within myself to just go ahead and do it.  

Not going to write too much about that because I certainly haven't convinced myself that I need to do that.  With only 14 lots, however, I can't live off of that.  

SBA is back in my mind again.  
Far from decided on, just in there.  And will be thinking about it - as well as looking at that infinite paperwork that's still there in my email account - and pondering.  

This post started out with the camera crap and I guess digressing into other negativity that has been eating at me.  Disdain for truckers got old long ago.  You hate trucks and truckers but you would have meltdowns and your way of living would come to an abrupt stop if we all just quit and said fine, live your life how you want to live it without our input : )

Whatever the case, I still have work tomorrow - dunno how long that's going to go on with this particular company - but as long as I have the job, I'm going to do with excellence.  

  So, I texted the owner of the construction company again today. It's Wednesday and it's not that far from a potential starting date of Monday. So I simply asked him if he was still going to be tied up in Dekalb next week?  A few hours later, he replied yes and then another text saying he will be finished next week and will be starting work on my project 2 Mondays from now.  

I'm okay with that. Would have preferred to get it started next week, it is what it is.  Oh and there was another few texts about putting in the gravel, it isn't part of the bid and I wanted to see if he does that as well.  He will basically build me an entire park as far as the driveways, lots, electricity, water and sewer/septic system is concerned.  

The office building - if that's the route I go for also installing showers, which it kind of makes sense right now to do so considering the costs of everything - would be hauled over by the seller and presumably set up by them as well.  Of that, I have no actual clue.  That will be a discussion with them. They do sell those things with a down payment and monthly payments after that, which would help keep from draining my bank account completely dry.  

So, a few things in the offing for fact-finding missions is whatever portable building I will buy, how much it's going to cost to do the interior and also getting quotes on building a swimming pool.  These are the major expenses after the contractor completes his work, the rest of it will be minor compared to the costs of these things.  I"d actually like to get under contract with them and get the prices set.  

However, the pool requires financing and tho I believe I can get financed, that's not set in stone. I looked at few pool financing options today, pretty high interest rate, I'll keep looking.  I don't need an $800 per month payment on a pool.  That just sounds like a lot of money for such a thing.  But, those were personal loan rates, I'm going to see about other types of loans with potentially lower interest rate.  

The cash out money was wired into my account today. I have all the money I'm going to get for this venture without having to borrow more money.  If you skip the pool, I have enough to pay for everything, I think, without any more loans.  Beyond the office/bath house/laundry room facility, there's advertising, signs, picnic tables, fire rings, a doggy park, grass seed/install, probably a lot more minutia I'm just not trying to think of right now. It was just encouraging to at least get a date set for the ground breaking and also the money coming in to my account.

The refi ordeal is over. Next is to pay off some debt.

If you're questioning my pool desire, it's an absolute necessity IMO.  If I'm lucky, I'll be opening by summer time. It gets hot here.  If I want people to come year round, it's going to be because I have something for them to do - year round including summer time.  A pool doesn't make your park a destination in and of itself, but it definitely adds to the appeal.  It will suck into my initial opening phase profits, of course.  It will pay off keeping  the place full (I'm hoping) and certainly when the park is expanded.  

Oh, I'm in Brownsville again.  Last 6 out of 7 trips have been to Brownsville. I was pretty annoyed when I showed up to work this morning, got in the truck to fire it up and was greeted with a new Quaalcom ELD.  I didn't know they were even considering replacing them.  No announcement was made and I had no clue how to operate the thing. Much different than the one they replaced it with.

It took a while for it to even get running and then, a lot of stuff was missing and a few things weren't even working, such as the ability to actually get into on-duty mode and log my pre-trip inspection.  It eventually worked.  

After loading this morning and driving down the road, it dawned on me that this thing might just have a camera on it.  It took 2 seconds to locate the camera and the microphone, both of which I covered with 2 layers of duct tape.  This is a non-starter for me.  I don't care what they think about me covering it up and I'm not trying to hide the fact that I'm doing it.  If they don't like it, we can part ways. This is a line they can't cross with me, this makes a total for 4 cameras that have in this truck.  2 front facing and 2 inward facing with 3 separate units.  

It is a given they can't afford to lose any more drivers, but this company will cut off it's nose to spite it's own face type of thing.  They don't care - and therefore, neither do I. I'm not married to this company, I am not under contract to this company, if they want to force their surveillance s*** down my throat, they can have their truck back and I will find employment elsewhere - without the effing cameras.  I don't care what anyone thinks about this, either and I frankly don't want to hear about it.  I have lived without these damned cameras my entire trucking career until this company.  

That particular subject irritates me.  Especially the part about the COO promising that they will only install forward facing cameras.  Liar.  

Enough of this.  I'm a bit cranky, I woke up in the middle of the night and spent 3 hours trying to get back to sleep.  Just the way it is with me, I either sleep like a log or I don't hardly sleep at all.  My afternoon nap when I stopped for my break? I would have probably slept for hours if I hadn't set an alarm on my clock.  I'm hooked up to an empty - no detention pay this time - get up at 4:45 am and get back up to Longview.  

Not to mention other things going on that I cannot - well I will not - go into on the internet.  These are hard times for some people, is what I will say about that.  And my oldest brother - I have no idea how he's faring after he became deathly sick with a Covid booster shot.  My son is feeling better at least.  My mother is doing okay as well.  We can only live one day at a time and thank God for His goodness and mercy that He freely gives us.  If we're looking to the future for "better days", probably a good time to stop and think about that assessment.  You are not guaranteed tomorrow - or months or years beyond that.  I'd like to be alive and in decent health another 30 years, but I face the reality on a daily basis that people are constantly dying all around us - and all different ages - and you could be next. 

I don't dwell on it in a negative sense, I just think how wonderful it is to be alive, even if there are tough times going on in the economy and inflation.  There are always tough times in some sector/aspect of life.  Just have to make the best of whatever is going on and enjoy life.  If you think I'm a completely negative person, think again. This is my blog and I just write the thoughts as they come to me.  The land and house loans were admittedly a pain the ass and I didn't want to deal with it, but it's over and now I can rest easy from it.  I also admittedly don't enjoy having to leave the house all the time and go on the road endlessly.  But every day presents some good things and I'm grateful to still be alive at almost 58 years old, I've live a fairly hard life. That's not a complaint, it's just reality.  

That's all this blog is, really, reality.  I could fluff it up and speak of other things, but I tend to just keep it real here.  This is the place where I write some of my thoughts and then I scrutinize them.  And make adjustments.  Or give considerable thought to what I'm doing and if there is a better or different way.  Fortunately there isn't any drama in my life such as when I was living in Phoenix and dealing with someone else's kids of whom they weren't taking care of, weren't feeding and I did my best to help them out, only to get a lot of threats and eventually carrying a gun with me all the time.  Evil, wicked people that have no conscience and have no regard for life.  

Well, that IS getting negative, thinking of the past sometimes does that for me. Regardless, it's my self imposed bed time and that is what I'm going to do - go to sleep and hopefully stay asleep all or most of the night.

 Somehow I managed - without asking for it - to get a day off.  I can't adequately convey how incredibly worn out I am right now.  I woke up early this morning but I have done nothing but had a few cups of coffee, pet the doggy and nothing else.  There is no way, at least not feeling like - lethargic, groggy - this that Im going out and marking trees today.  Perhaps I'll feel more energized this afternoon? No clue, not going to stress over it if I don't get over there.

Because the price of everything is off the charts right now, the idea of having a bath house built is likely going to go out the window. At least, not the way I intended to do it.  It's just going to cost far too much money and that is nothing I want to get involved with right now.  I am, after giving it some thought, going to likely buy a larger office building than what I was going to. You know, those portable "shell" buildings that you buy and then you have to do the interiors? 

I did check on shower trailers, the prices are absurd. 50, 60, 70k? No thanks.  I can get a larger office building for around 15k and spend around 10k putting in everything needed to have an office and 2 shower rooms.  And renting them is like a grand a month.  There are a couple of places in town that sell the portable buildings - and they have a large selection.  So I will be checking them out and looking at pricing.   

Inflation? Yes. An RV park expert who owns hundreds of them around the country was discussing the subject in a podcast.  He pointed out that costs for everything are likely to go up for at least another year, possibly much longer, and that if you had any upgrades or major purchases you needed to do for your park, you are best off doing them right now.  Don't wait even a few months.  Economists have had the same, gloomy outlook. And now Rand Paul put out his version of a report that blames the government spending spree for Covid relief as the main culprit for 7% year over year inflation, which the story labeled as a 40 year high.

As far as the cost of everything, right now is absolutely the worst time to be thinking about building anything. An RV park is filled with costs for this, that and the other thing when contemplating building one from scratch.  The only real way to save any money is to do as much of the work as you can yourself.  I don't have carpentry skills and putting up a building is a bit beyond my skill level.  Interestingly, if I wanted to do that, I wouldn't need any kind of permits from the county. They don't care and they make no bones about telling everyone.  If you live in the county, outside of any municipality city limits? You pretty much have free reign to do whatever excepting what the state imposes.

I was thinking about trying to find a competent handyman, but the last time I tried doing that they all wanted very high hourly wages or they wanted to give bids, which turned out to be very high and untenable.  I moved on quickly from that landscape.  It's true that I am in a limited market for anyone with skills, this is a rural area and it's not densely populated.  Therefore, whatever the price of a service is? You are stuck with it. You can try to get everyone in the area to give a price/bid, in the end, you'll have to deal with one of them for it isn't going to be cheaper to try to drag someone from 100 plus miles away.  

So I will just continue to look at what options I have.  I could go without a bath house, I suppose, but there is so much information that details the necessity of having one if you don't want to isolate a large portion of potential customers that might otherwise come.  It's at the top of the list of priorities many RV'ers have when considering a campground.  

It's getting a bit dismaying to see the costs of everything going up so high that the money I will have in a few days would have built this version of a park and then some plus money left over, but now I am looking at spending most all of it just for a 14 space operation.  I was quoted 28k just for gravel yesterday. Yes, that includes delivery, but 28 thousand dollars for gravel?  Did the earth run out of raw materials or something?  I can tell ya right now I am not going to spend that much money on gravel, I will find cheaper material somewhere else or I will do something different. I don't know what, but rocks simply aren't worth that much money.

Anyway, I think I will just go right back to bed and take a nap.  Why not?  

 The finance center for this RV park is becoming problematic.  I had a company quote me $26,000 for gravel.  

Twenty-six thousand dollars.  For gravel. Huh?

There is no shortage of gravel. It doesn't come from China, Indonesia, the Philippines or India. It comes from a quarry locally.  Yet they feel the need to drive up the prices for rocks as well. This is just price gouging.  

The thought of paying that much money for just 14 spaces is appalling.  Just for gravel? That's even more than the electricity quote.

I dunno, I'll pay whatever I have to pay, that's just one company and I haven't pursued it too much in asking for price per ton, delivered.

But it gave rise to the thought that having a bathhouse at this stage is premature.  Well, not having the bathhouse, but having one built.  It dawned on me that a bathhouse for 14 lots and one for 50 are 2 entirely different animals.

If I ever get the park going - which I intend to but there are so many obstacles - and if I ever get it up to 50 lots, the size bathhouse I intend on building for a 14 lot site will not be sufficient for one for 50 spaces. It means I would have to build another bathhouse.  

I looked at portable versions of it a while back, but now? I'm going to do a lot of research on it. Both for buying and if available, renting.  A 14 lot site will not have a huge demand for it and with current inflation, it doesn't make a lot of sense to me to spend the kind of money it will cost if there is a better and cheaper alternative out there that will cover the need at significantly reduce price.  

I am not trying to spend all of this money I am going to have after the house cashout arrives in my checking account just because - I have the money to do so.  

Other things but not going into that now.  I haven't been home but 2 hours and it's time to go to bed.  I was looking at hotels in San Antonio tho, found one that looks quite awesome. Actually, there are several that look good, but they have to have accommodations for 3 people and not all the in the same room.  Vacation time is coming.  No dates yet, but that's only because I'm looking at what's available.  I'm not staying at a crappy hotel for a vacation, thanks.  

Off to dreamland.  

 Completely lost track of days.  Last entry I wrote "Thursday morning". It was actually Friday morning. Down to Brownsville pick up and empty and straight back up, no detention pay this time.  Which is fine, I didn't want to wait down there.  I am dispatched to a plant in Kentucky tomorrow and wanted at least a few hours at home tonight to visit with everyone and enjoy - not being in the truck.   

The plant is about 565 miles from here.  I've never been to this plant, btw.  Apparently they normally get the product we haul via rail cars.  I would venture to guess rail cars are held up somewhere and won't be there in time enough to supply their needs.  Another driver at the yard today told me that you take the truck in there, drop the trailer and then have to leave the plant.  3 to 5 hours to off load. Which is quite a bit of time but it's whatever to me. I'm just concerned about the weather.

Anyway,  I was talking to my mother today. My oldest brother got the booster show and now is deathly sick.  This is from the booster, not from getting Covid itself. I keep hearing about how safe the vaccine is and I keep seeing how badly it's affecting members of my family.  My middle brother refuses to take it - and he's a paramedic.  I've been of the mindset not to take it regardless of what my family believes - or anyone else for that matter.  But, we are labeled traitors, people that want to kill others and other such nonsense by politicians from the President on down if we dare oppose the woke culture. 

Fortunately, I don't give a damn what any politician thinks, Hollywood elites can go suck a rotten egg, mainstream media can also jump in a lake.  I have yet to have anyone telling me to my face that garbage and if they try to, they aren't going to be having fun doing it.  These people live in bubbles, isolated from reality and from society, surrounded by their ilk, they mouth off their rantings. In love with the sound of their own voices, they mistakenly believe we all love to hear them mouthing off as well.  

Whatever the case, my son still isn't out of the woods, I was thinking he was, but he said "apparently, there are phases to this virus".  I was concerned about my oldest brother, but as normal for him, he isn't giving much details of what he is going through, just that mother said it's not good.  

Then I mentioned I wanted to come to AZ to visit everyone. She said no, that's not a good idea, it's too dangerous right now.  Ugh.  She then went into other stuff, part of which was about things she wanted to discuss about the inheritance we would all be getting after her passing.  I really don't like talking about that.  I am of the thought that whatever she desires, that's what should happen.  But she has totally changed her stance on this situation. Before, it was the idea that she was just dividing everything 3 ways, but it would be up to us to agree on who gets what. 

I dunno what changed her mind about it - she has been of that thought for decades now.  Apparently she has divvied up everything, to the point telling me that her truck will be mine.  Uhh, mother, are you sick? Been told something that we don't know about? Nope, this is just the way she is about this stuff.  I don't really enjoy the thought of my mother's passing, but she is definitely getting up there in age.  She's still in decent health is all I can say.

_______________

Sunday, 6:45 am.  Looks like it snowed over night in areas going up to Calvert City including in Arkansas.  How that plays out on driving and the roads? I have no idea.  It's going to warm up into the high 40's today in that area so hopefully any icing will be gone by the time I get going through there. 

My sign has arrived, btw, in all of it's "will be trespassed" glory.  I need a post to hang it on and time to go out there, dig a hole and put it in the ground.  Unfortunately, I will have enough hours for another trip somewhere, probably no more than a Brownsville type trip, after this trip is over.  What I'll want is an Oklahoma trip, where I can have at least most of a day off plus a full day after that to reset the 70 hour clock.  

Anyway, it's time to get out of here and go face the day.

The dude showed up late.  He also said there were 170 pages of documents he would have to go through and signing a large number of them.  

It took much longer than expected.  The land loan was a fractional amount of paperwork and signing than this behemoth.  

I have 3 business days to change my mind - which puts it at Tuesday. Monday is Martin Luther King day, they consider that a national holiday.  I doubt I will be changing my mind, but now that I have the entire thing in paper format, I'm going to go through it all again - without this guy just showing me it, explaining it and telling me I can read it later - and scrutinize everything.

Actually, I was appreciative the man showed up. It was last minute stuff for him, he certainly wasn't obligated to take the job - but I'm sure it pays well.  

I texted my dispatcher after and she informed me that they had found someone else to take the empty trailer to Amarillo.  Well thanks for telling me....I was going to ask to just take it tomorrow considering how late it's getting. Instead, she tells me I have a load for tomorrow but didn't tell me where and hasn't sent the paperwork yet.

______________________________

Thursday morning 

I'm just going to tolerate this dispatcher, act as if nothing is wrong. The other drivers are putting her through the wringer, I am not going to add on to it. And besides, she sent me yet another Brownsville run, that's 5 in a row.  Even in the best of times that was unheard of. I would actually like an Oklahoma run, that way I could have most of tomorrow off, but, this is good money and I will just deal with the nuances of this particular trip, the worst of which being the drive through Houston.

I'm going to redo the park plan map I made for the contractor and add 4 spaces to it, see what kind of increase in cost it will give me.  Probably around 10k.  18 spaces would be a better position financially if I could keep them mostly full most of the time, at least during peak season. 

Whatever the case, my math was off, I had not added on the additional 14k I received recently and just showed up in my bank account.  After the 66k is dumped in there, I should - hopefully - have ample finances to fund this project. 

With that, I'm outta here. Going to get to the yard early and get to the loading plant early as well.

G'day

 So, finishing my shower, I received an email from the loan company with the final version of the closing.  I was literally shocked to find out that instead of the 85k I was going to get, it went down to 66k.

Now there's a history behind this.  The loan officer called me the other day asking me about this 20k that was "hidden" behind the loan. Yes, I told you about that at the beginning.  Okkk, he says, well that wasn't included in the loan amount.  

So what are you telling me? I replied. Are you going to take 20 grand off of the cash out?  He was looking at it while on the phone with me for a while, said well no, it looks like it was baked into the loan itself.  I said great.  Fast forward to literally just a few minutes ago and I'm looking at this thing and my plans going right out the window.  

I wanted 70k left over after paying off debt.  I texted him my dismay and confusion about this. He immediately called me - I'm speaking of the loan officer -and went off how he told me the other day about this.  Yes, you did and you said the 20k was actually part of the original loan, nothing to worry about.  We went back and forth for several minutes, until he finally apologized.  He said he thought he had clarified it for me and it's up to me.  He did go over the details of even with only 66k, I'm saving a ton of money off of the current loan because of the way they made it up. 

Yes, I didn't know they had made it a 40 year loan, that information wasn't disclosed to me at all.  They must have just slid it on by me without my knowing it, I would never have agreed to a 40 year loan.  Or would I? My memory serves me that the loan was 30 years.  That means right now, I should have around 22 years left on it.  It was a modification made during the Obama era, well after the 2008 housing bubble that - screwed America up for quite a while.  

I knew about the 20k thing, I didn't know about the 40 year thing.  Anyway, it had dropped my monthly payment almost $300 and I was quite pleased with that.  

We discussed this new loan for a bit and I just opted to go ahead and continue on with it.  I can't get 66k loan at 2.3% interest rate anywhere else, that's a fact.  And it's only adding $300.  A 66k personal loan would have me in the $1,500 per month range.  So, still waiting on the dude to show up, but now my mind is flooded with new thoughts about how to handle everything.  Should I still pay off some debt and get 2 loans paid off and some credit card debt pay off?

I think the easy answer to that is yes, definitely. But now, how much of it should I pay down?  I am paying it down $500 over minimum monthly payments as it stands, but it was going to take a while to get them down into near zero territory.  

I'll be thinking about that for a while.  No need to rush it, but I will pay off those small loans this month.  I also realized I won't have to pay the mortgage this month.  The loan will be paid off, there is no need to make that payment.  I can use that towards paying off those loans.  

I just have to rethink what I am going to put up initially.  I still need a bath house and an office.  I'm guessing around $35k for those two, maybe 40k.  A swimming pool I wasn't going to pay cash on anyway, I was going to try to get a pool loan. 

Actually, thinking about it, I just want to get my credit cards down to 10% of total available credit. That's when your credit score cranks up nicely.  The rest I'll just pay off over time, continuing with making large cash payments towards the highest amount on one particular card that I've used quite a bit.  

Ok. Getting it down to 10% won't be that much money, I should have round 122k after all is said and down towards building out the park. 26k for the utilities, probably another 15k for the gravel and lots, 8k for the office building and unknown for the bath house.  I was thinking 20k but that might be low balling it. I'm not planning on building a huge bath house, just maybe 1 bathroom/shower for men and 1 for women plus a small laundry room on the side - or - get another portable build for laundry.  

Actually, I can get a decent sized portable building for a bath house as well, around 10k. But, you have to do all the interior work.  I bet another 10k to do all of that.  I'm not really there yet, sort of tho now that I won't have as much money as I originally anticipated.  

Well with all of that I'm at no more than 75k, I'll say 80k to be safe.  That's 42k left over to do everything else.  I think I'm safe.  The other stuff is a doggy park, finish the walking trails, dig out a pond and develop the lots - new, small trees to be planted and plant grass. Put some bushes near the trees and over time it will all grow to be a beautiful setup.  Oh, picnic tables at every lot and fire rings.  And also tent camp sites - but those shouldn't cost too much.  Primitive sites, they will have running water, picnic table, fire ring and considering building these pads they put up with sand in them - I think it's sand anyway - to pitch a tent on and have a more comfortable setting.   and that's it.  If they want electricity, they can stay home lol. No way, at least currently, that I'm running electricity all the way back there, far too costly.

Some day, if I ever decide to build a house back there, then yes, they will have to install telephone poles to run the power line over the easements.  Not sure how I'll get water back there with those easements, perhaps I can just install the line with shut off valve, if they need to dig up a portion of it in an emergency, just destroy the pipe and do what you need to do, I can fix it after they're done. A separate septic system would have to be installed back there.  

Oh, back on Keto. Went off of it for the holidays, started back up about 5 days ago.  Getting fat, the problematic point for me is contemplating having to buy the next sized up pants. No thanks.

Anyway, the officer should be here any time now.  

 News

A local loan officer will be here at 1:00 pm to do the closing signing.  You can't just have any ole' notary, I found out, you have to have one certified in closing documents. Learn something new every day? I guess, a regular notary would have just brought the papers, had me sign them, endorse it with their signature and stamp, enter into their log and be done with it. Right? I will find out soon enough, it's 11:30 am.  The loan officer from the company I'm doing the refi/cash out said that if I want to have it wire transferred, I need to fill in a block of info on the signing.  

Yup, I don't want a check, I want it wired directly into my account.  After that, it's going to go into another account. Last I checked, you are only covered up to 100k at a bank, after that,  your loss.  Just going to dump that entire amount into a new bank account after I get it set up, a local bank at that.  

Beyond that? Well my dispatcher apparently has been starting a lot of trouble with other drivers, I found out from the guy that initiated the driver texting group.  First, she sent out a text to all drivers - excepting me, I'm not on the list and knew nothing about until yesterday - saying that Comacho - he's the dude that runs the transportation department of the company that has us hauling all of that cryo product down to the border.  She informed everyone that detention pay would not longer be paid 14 hours from the moment you arrive, detention time would start after 10 hours of being down there.  

That would all-but-effectively end detention pay.  When we go down there, we start the 14 hour detention clock immediately.  After 14 hours, we are "off" for 10 and then if we stay a second day, the 14 hour clock starts again after the 10.  Note that the old company I first worked for before it was bought out by this current company gave us detention pay the entire time we were down there.  

She started a firestorm of angry drivers, apparently, contacting her, her manager and our manager.  Shortly after she sent out this text, her manager sent out a group text, including to her: Ignore Amanda's last text, nothing has changed with detention pay.  Must have been a slap in this new dispatcher's face, she for some reason hates that we get paid for waiting down there and has made it very well known to everyone, including my manager, who apparently had some choice words for her.  HE got the contracted re-worked after this  new company bought us all out and got us the 14 hour wait pay. They were going to do away with it altogether.

There would have been hell to pay with that decision, no one would want to go down there. Why should we? Wait for up to 2 sometimes even 3 days for nothing? No thanks.  Especially knowing the fact that our company gets paid for that wait time regardless.  

After that, this driver that called me went down a list of people she had pissed off. He said that if I ask literally anyone in our group if they had had a bad encounter with her, they would all give a resounding yes!  Typical truck drivers, speak first, think later.  But, perfectly understand the derision that ensued in mocking this dispatcher - tho I won't engage in that.  He then found out I wasn't on that list and apparently a viola! went up - he wondered why I hadn't jumped in there and said something immediately.  I probably would have, tho not deriding the dispatcher, I would have questioned the validity of her statement.  

Apparently this dispatcher has caused so much angst and anger among drivers, most of them are hoping she is fired and many are looking for new jobs.  This company couldn't cover a bunch of drivers walking out.  There are having a hard time finding new drivers - as are most all trucking companies - and are giving away prizes and lots of cash to anyone that can recruit new drivers into the company.  It's probably why they have, so far, tolerated me covering up the inward facing camera and microphone with duct tape.  

I'm actually glad I missed all of that.  

As for today? I have no desire to drive, yet, she wants me to take an empty to Amarillo for service and bring an empty that has been serviced, back.  She knew I had this going on today, but she told my manager "he has some personal business" to attend to. She neither knew the time it was going to occur nor did she care that I wanted the day off and that she had already given it to me. I am weary from constant working. I need a day or even two off right now.  From now on, I'm copying both the dispatch manager and my manager with any promises of time off.

We are planning a vacation to San Antonio soon - no date yet.  Probably 3 nights. Doing the river walk. I haven't been there in many, many years.  There's a lot of stuff to do there and there are some really nice hotels. But once I we get a date and I ask her for the time off, I'm making sure that this isn't going to happen again.  

The land clearing? I've asked this contractor a few times in the last couple of weeks, via text messaging, when he was planning on starting the project?  He never replied, so yesterday I asked again. No reply, so I sent a ? and then finally he said he was hung up on a project in DeKalb (small town probably 90 miles north of here) where he was building another RV park.  He said the rain had stopped work and they were waiting for the land to dry up so they could resume and finish. He said "probably" the 24th, which is two Mondays from now.

No, I am not upset about that. I have yet to finish the tree marking and frankly, I'm weary.  I could have gone out there this morning and done it, but I instead have been sitting in my bedroom for several hours.  I got up early, went with Taylor to take the 7 year old to the bus stop and then the 4 year old to day care.  Then off to breakfast, over to Super 1 to get some hamburger meat that is on sale - a lot of it - home, roasted a whole chicken, have that ready to go and now? Just going to take a shower, get ready to go after this guy shows up and we do the signing.  I wouldn't mind if he didn't show up until around 5:00 pm. I could then legitimately say the day is gone, I can go tomorrow or you can find someone else.  I've already made over $2,000 for next pay period, I'm getting a very large paycheck tomorrow, had a large paycheck last friday and the one before it was great as well.  

That's the only benefit of endless driving.  Huge paychecks.  I'm always of the thought, however, that there is more to life than working or money.  Money is good to have, yes, but it shouldn't consume an entire life to the point you have no time for anything else.  Hence, wanting to get into the RV park business - get that up and running, expand it when I have the financial capability to do so and then do that full time.  Home every day, have some part time employees helping out.  Taylor will arleady take care of the books and phone calls.  She found someone to clean the bathroom once a day.  I only need someone to clean up the property here and there - or I guess I can do it when I'm in town but I'm not sure I'm home often enough to keep up with it.  

Initially, the park will not have on sight management. It will have video surveillance to at least keep an eye on things.  And limited surveillance. The outside of the bath house, the entrance to the small office, probably the entrance and exits to the lots.  Oh, and one on the gas driveway.  That's about it, I don't want to get too intrusive with surveillance.  I'm not sure how I would sell firewood with no one there to collect the proceeds.  I'm not going to give it away.  I guess I could just have several cords out there and "please call" this number, say how many bundles you want and we will charge the credit card on file.  Maybe.  It's not just to make money, it's for all the people that want to have fires - there isn't going to be any wood laying around out there. 

Anyway, I need to get offa here, take a shower and get ready for the day ahead.

G'day.

 The person writing this article says it is a relatively "new" meaning for the word, but I've been hearing it literally all my life. 

Regardless, here is a bit of info on "being trespassed". 

BEHIND THE DICTIONARY

LEXICOGRAPHERS TALK ABOUT LANGUAGE

Trespassers Will Be Trespassed

April 25, 2013

By Neal Whitman

My sons and I arrived early at the mall movie theatre last weekend, so the three of us decided to explore a little. Doug, Adam, and I walked up to the multiplex's mostly empty upper floor, and down the hall that accessed the back exits to some of the individual theatres. We realized that we could sneak into some movies this way, by simply boarding the elevator on the ground floor, in the public area of the mall, and exiting on this floor, inside the theatre. Bypassing the box office and guest services desk, we'd be free to enter the theatres from the back.

In search of other discoveries, we continued to the end of the hall, where we saw an exit sign, and decided to see where the exit passage led. We descended a metal staircase, checking out sparse graffiti on bare drywall. At the bottom of the stairs, I was puzzled to see that the passage that had been labeled an exit at the top of the stairs was now an area for "Authorized Personnel Only." So we turned back. Back on the main level of the theatre, Doug remarked that the sign had also said, "Violators will be trespassed." Adam and I told him he must have misread, but he was insistent, so we turned away from the concession area to check out his story. We went to another out-of-the-way exit door, which Doug realized was near the bottom of the stairs we'd climbed. We held the door open while Doug went back to the sign and took this picture:

He was right!

I've seen signs that say "Violators will be prosecuted," and some that say, "Trespassers will be prosecuted" — although Garner's Modern American Usage points out that since trespassing is usually a tort rather than a crime, prosecute is usually the wrong word. And of course, there are the (semi-)joking versions that say, "Trespassers will be violated," which has been mentioned in places such as a 1983 issue of Verbatim, and dates back at least to 1958, according to Google Books. I wondered if the theatre sign was a joke, put up by a rogue employee, or maybe just some other explorer like us. Or maybe the creator of the theatre sign had had in mind Trespassers will be violated, realized it was a joke, didn't quite know how to fix it, and ended up just swapping the verbs trespass and violate. However, I've since learned that the verb trespass has picked up a new meaning in the last twenty years or so, one which hasn't yet made it into any of the dictionaries I've checked.

Following a suggestion from Jonathon Owen of Arrant Pedantry, I called the number on the sign the next day and talked with a man from mall security, who told me that trespassed meant "evicted from the premises for a certain period of time." He also said that he had been confused at first, too: "I felt the exact same way as you."

Trespass, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, comes via French from the Latin trans ‘across' and passare ‘pass'. It has been used in English since about 1300, and is usually an intransitive verb, sometimes taking a preposition, as in trespass upon or as we forgive those who trespass against us. In the past it has also been used as a transitive verb, taking as its direct object the person that the trespasser injures. An OED citation from 1523: "They had greatly trespassed the prince." Even the line from the Lord's Prayer has had transitive trespass in some translations: The OED cites a 1526 publication of the Bible as having "even as we forgeve them which treaspas vs." These days, you can find transitive trespass with the property as the direct object, as in this line from the Orlando Sentinel in 1989: "Cutting through parking lots is trespassing, and private property should not be trespassed." But both of those uses refer to going where you shouldn't go or doing what you shouldn't do, not to banning someone from your property.

The earliest attestation I've found for trespass with that meaning is from 1990, in a digest of criminal court cases from Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida:

… the defendant will stay away from the community of Plantersville so long as the Beardens and Mott family live there, particularly stay away from and is trespassed from Nina Mott or any member of her family...

The next example is from six years later, in a similar digest from the same publisher, this one with court cases in Hawaii. A police officer is quoted as saying:

If [Defendant] wanted to continue going to other clubs in Waikiki, he's more than welcome to, but he was being trespassed from [sic] Hernando's Hideaway per management.

The [sic] is especially interesting. Is it calling out this innovative usage of trespass, or just the choice of preposition? (And by the way, how do you quote something that includes a [sic] and show that it's part of the original quotation, not your own comment?)

As we enter the 21st century, this new version of trespass comes with an explanatory comment in this 2001 attestation:

…Faber alleges in his Complaint that he was "trespassed" from the Mason City Menards store, which meant that he was banned from ever reentering that Menards location.

However, to step back to the 20th century for a moment, there's an impressive blossoming of "ban-from" trespass in J. Robert Wyman's 1999 book, Loss Prevention and the Small Business: The Security Professionalʼs Guide to Asset Protection Strategies. Starting on page 90, you can find examples in various finite and nonfinite forms, in both active and passive voice, apparently written with the full expectation that the reader would have no trouble accepting them:

Fingers was trespassed from the store for two (2) years ….

If your policy states that all shoplifters will be trespassed, then trespass every shoplifter. Subsequently, prosecute every trespassed person who enters your store without permission. If you pick and choose who you trespass, or who you arrest for violating that trespass, then you open yourself up to charges of prejudice and discrimination. …

Most state laws allow you to trespass any person who disrupts the usual flow of business. …

The person being trespassed first has to know what acts constitute a disruption of the business.

You do not have the right to detain someone for no other purpose but to trespass them from your property.

The longest of those passages gives a clue as to the origin of this usage of trespass. It mentions "who you trespass, or who you arrest for violating that trespass." Evidently, trespass can be used as a noun to refer to the action of telling someone they're trespassing on your property. From there, as readers of Visual Thesaurus are probably well aware, it's an easy step to "verb" that noun, so that trespass can mean "to give someone a trespass notice", i.e. notify them that they're trespassing.

Of course, notifying someone that they are trespassing is not the same as banning them from your property for some period of time. But given the high likelihood of these events co-occurring, the meaning extension is understandable.

Examples of this "ban-from" trespass continue to turn up in the 21st century, and interestingly, although all the examples I've mentioned here are from American sources, they are noticeably more common in New Zealand. Here's the earliest one I've found, in the Christchurch Press of July 9, 1998, via ProQuest:

He said before the protesters could be trespassed each one had to be informed individually and in a clear and unequivocal way that their right to be there had been revoked.

And the most recent, also via ProQuest, from the Manawatu Standard of June 2, 2012:

A Palmerston North man shocked to find titillating toys among the tiaras in the children's section of a discount store was trespassed by police after he confronted the shop's owner.

The Kiwi affinity for this version of trespass is confirmed in the most recent corpus in Mark Davies' BYU collection of corpora: the Corpus of Global Web-Based English (GloWBE). Of the 19 Anglophone countries represented, the strongest results for BE + trespassed come from New Zealand, as do those for any form of the verb trespass followed by a pronoun or proper noun.

"Ban-from" trespass has gone mostly unnoticed, but not entirely. On the English Language & Usage Stack Exchange ("a question and answer site for linguists, etymologists, and serious English language enthusiasts"), a discussion popped up last year about a headline (in a New Zealand newspaper) that used trespass to mean "ban." One participant, James McLeod, simply called it "illiterate newspaperese," but another going by the handle of ruakh (who also happens to be a frequent commenter on my blog), offered up several hits from a Google search for "trespassed him." All but one were from states in the Deep South, which makes me wonder if the unremarked use in the 1990 Alabama case is close to the origin of this innovation.

So how can this new meaning of trespass coexist with the old one? Somehow it does. You can even find them both in the same passage. Nestled among all the examples I listed above from Loss Prevention and the Small Business, there is also this one: "…If someone is on your property without your permission, they are trespassing and can be arrested." I suppose it's no weirder than saying, "I'm baking a cake right now, but it's not finished baking." Still, I'm waiting to see a sign that says, "Trespassers will be trespassed."

 In rare form, I actually slept last night and even tho I had an ultra-early load time, I was pretty good making it down here today. Here being Brownsville, the 4th one in a row.  And as I predicted a few months ago, they are back to their old habits, no empty trailers and lots of extra pay on all of those trips except the tire/DOT crap, but I got paid breakdown pay for that and a couple of hours of wait pay down here.  So it wasn't all bad, just not as good as 14 straight hours of detention pay.   

Per the last entry, when they did show up last trip with an empty from Mexico, yet another bad tire. This time I put my foot down, I'm not pulling that thing out of here until it's fixed.  My dispatcher asked for pics to send to the transportation manager at the plant in Mexico.  Sure! Bald spots down below the tread lines and one part where the tread had been yank up out of the tire and just hanging there. Just more DOT trouble, that's all I saw.  So I had that tire replaced and luckily, I got that trailer again to pull down here today.  No tire issues.  

I knew had forgotten something with this land clearing company, but remembered and sent out the signed contract back to them - well Taylor actually dropped it off at the post office early this morning.  They won't come out to clear the land without signing off on agreement of the payment due after services rendered. Don't blame them.  

Oh, I think I forgot to write anything about my son - he has Covid. He said he felt icky the first few days but the fever is gone and he's on the road to recovery. No tubes shoved down his throat, not even the need to go to a hospital. Plus, he gets a bunch of paid time off for it. It's the Indian reservation, they have their own rules about Covid apparently that go well beyond anything the federal government is forcing down people's throats.  I'm happy he gets a bunch of time off fully paid tho and I was very happy to understand he's getting better. 

My mother, on the other hand, is experiencing yet more side effects from vax shots and I'm very, very concerned about her.  I'm not going into full details about my mother on the internet, but if any of my praying friends are reading this, well, it's a prayer request.  This Covid crap is an evil originated from the pit of hell as far as I'm concerned.  There is SO much evil going on in this nation right now, especially with politicians, but I'm not going there, at least not tonight.

On another note, Taylor was talking to one of her co-workers at the daycare about my intentions of building an RV park and lo and behold, she immediately asked her "does he need any help?". Why yes, yes I will!  She offered her services to come out once a day and clean out the bathrooms - which don't yet exist but some day hopefully soon enough, they will.  Lol.  

And for my friend, I got a message from the sign company today, they proposed a change to it before making it.  Yes, I thought they would.  They were able to put "Speed limit 10mph" and in smaller lettering "violators will be trespassed from the property"  The italics words I wasn't able to input on their platform to make a sign, but they were able to do it.  It makes a bit more sense to have it saying that than just "will be trespassed".  And yes, I will trespass them, I'm not going to continue to play these games with these people. They don't own the property and yes, they are subject to my reasonable rules for their use of it.  The next time I'm out there and if one of them goes speeding up and down that driveway, I'm going to pull my SUV right in their way and I'm going to have a little conversation with them.

Okay, now then.  The loan is done, it's ready to be signed off on!  The loan officer called today and asked where I will be in two days? Ummm, how would I know lol.  It turns out, the plant is shut down on Thursday for whatever reason - the loading plant in longview.  If I can get an empty and get out of here early enough tomorrow, I can do a signing at my house on Thursday.  Well, not my house, the house I live in with my friends lol.  I'm awaiting confirmation from them on getting that done. Apparently, they put out requests to local notary publics to do the job and whoever replies first, or gives the best price if it goes that far gets the job.  

It's almost done.  Thank God.  So yes, good news on that front. 

I asked the contractor yet again, today, when he is planning on coming to do the work? No reply.  He only replied "thank you sir" when I mentioned that I had forgotten the contract but had sent it out this morning.  I'm not gonna get too pushy, it is what it is out here. Everyone is busy and they will get to you - when they get to you.  If it doesn't happen this month, then I might go looking at the next best offer and they will do the job just the same, but for a couple thousand more. Land clearing that is. 

Ok. An empty just showed up. It's 8:00 pm lol and I have to take a 10 hour break - thankfully.  Dunno what time I'll get up, probably I could leave at 4:00 am, but that will have me going through Houston a bit after the rush hour and I'm not sure it will be cleared up enough?  I dunno, I don't need to be back early for any particular reason lol.  Get home tomorrow, I can predict what I will do: nothing. Recover from driving all day long.  That's what a lot of people do after work - go home and do whatever makes them happy.

But, I am going to get offa here, go to bed and set the alarm for 4 am, if I am "feeling it" when it goes off, I will get up and leave.  The worst that can happen is that Houston is still messed up when I arrive near it and I can just pull into a truckstop in Rosenberg and take a nice nap.  A nice long nap, if necessary lol.  

G'nite.  

 Well why not?

I was thinking about my FOMS disease and wondering how I could just bypass new ways to increase your money.  FOMS = Foolish Old Man's Syndrome.  I wrote off Bitcoin when it first came out - and you could buy virtually unlimited amounts of it for next to nothing.  Even a hundred dollars worth back then would have me a millionaire now.  Oh, I made up FOMS, it's not an actual disease lmao. 

But I figure what the heck, I might as well pick one of them that is allegedly "up and coming" and see what happens.  What's a few hundred dollars?  I used to gamble that much away at the black jack tables.  Sometimes I'd win, sometimes I'd lose.  Yea I don't gamble anymore, well maybe once a year or something just for the fun of it. I also don't smoke cigars anymore, quit that stuff 3 months ago.  Not New Year's stuff, just life decisions. 

Anyway, I am going to throw a few hundred dollars on a couple of newer crypto currencies and see what happens.  

I'm sitting in Brownsville, btw, waiting on an empty trailer.  Another cash haul sitting here doing nothing, getting paid to wait. They claimed at noon a couple of trailers would come over - but - it's Sunday and who knows what will really happen. Empties could come in at any time, early or late, or not come in at all.  I'm the only driver down here waiting, they brought 4 empties up yesterday and sent everyone else home.  I know this because I saw all 4 of them coming up the opposite direction while driving down here yesterday.  

As typical for a Sunday, it's past 9: 00 am and there is literally nothing going on in this yard.  I'll gladly go home today, tho, tomorrow is Monday. I don't think the contractor is going to start clearing the land, but if he shows up I want to be there. I need to finish up there anyway.  Yes, I know I keep saying that and I keep going out there, measuring and marking away.  I'm not even saving that many trees, but the measurements have to be pretty close to correct for those trees to be able to stay up. I guess we'll see in the end.

But, I am getting fairly excited that this project is about to move on from just water taps and electrical connections.  To that end I'm calling that contractor tomorrow morning and asking where we're at.  I want to get this thing moving.  The house cash-out is almost completed, at least according to that company, tho I have plenty of money as it stands to start and finish all of the land clearing and utility installation.  And with some money recently acquired, I also have the cash to install the gravel driveways and pads.  All of that is a huge chunk of the construction that needs to be done.  After that I'll have 85 grand to do the office - around 10k, a bath house - unknown but I'm guessing at least 20k, install wifi, etc etc etc, things I have talked about endlessly on here.  

I'm thinking about getting a quote on asphalt driveways.  Not pads, that would cost too much but I'm curious how much it would cost for driveways to be asphalt. I don't want asphalt pads tho concrete pads might be interesting.  As long as there is grass in the "living area" the concrete doesn't look so wretched.  It's the RV parks that have nothing but concrete, no trees and no grass that look horrible, at least to me.  I mean, why don't those operations at least plant some trees or shrubs after all is said and done?  There is virtually no eye appeal to those places, at least in my estimation, at all. 

I'm also still considering some kind of fencing between lots.  Just considering it, lol, I don't want chain link, that would look gaudy but wood is so expensive right now.  

Well enough. I just spoke with the owner's son, the bridge doesn't open up until 11:00 am on Sundays, hence the longer wait for empties to come over.  But, he said he didn't know if there were any empties in their yard across the border or not. So who knows.

G'day 

 Another phone call later - to the insurance agency - and the lady said yes, actually there is an estimate on file.  Why didn't the first person I talked to find this information?  It would have saved me literally HOURS of phone calls.  Whatever the case, she sent it to me and I was correct: it's more than enough to replace the house, including everything that would have to be done to install it on the property. Thought so.  I wouldn't want less than replacement cost, that would be rather useless.  

So, I sent that info to this loan officer and a few hours later, he says they are going to do a "last minute verification of employment" and then "we are golden".  Huh? I already verified my employment, including sending pay stubs. They called my employer to verify that I'm working there. What more do they need? 

As I said, this stuff grew old, long ago.  The interest rate is locked until the 8th.  Well that's tomorrow, thanks, I hope they are able to extend it.  It's a ridiculously low interest rate that you really should take advantage of if you are able to and need it.  Refinancing isn't always the best option, but in this case? Definitely the best path to take for me. 

Just before our money becomes worthless, I'd like to get this thing rolling, lol. I'm telling you, if they are ever able to pass the BBB reconciliation bill, we ain't seen nothing yet as far as inflation.  I don't want them to pass it to prove me right, I don't want to be right.  

There will be no signing tomorrow even if they can get the paperwork done.  Unless the signing can be done online, there is no way I am in Phoenix, Arizona, tomorrow lol. That's because I'll be heading down to Brownsville yet again!  This last trip took it out of me.  I really would have like a day off, but oh well. I had a lot of today off, I guess.  I went to meet up with James and Taylor at the restaurant, had a social outing and came home, went to sleep for a while and now just lounging in my office chair. 

I informed the loan officer I needed advance notice to make sure I can be in town for the signing. That was a few weeks ago, he never replied to it. Of course he didn't.  The real kicker here is that getting a flight to Phoenix is highly risky.  I've seen nothing but cancellations by the thousands since before Christmas of flights due to "Covid", they say. Perhaps that's partially true, but I suspect pilots are still doing a version of a strike without calling it one.  

Just ordered a Mammoth dog bed for Addler. His current bed is old and is worn down from his weight.  I like my doggies to be comfortable when they are in the bedroom.  Good support is better for their joints as well.  

And that's it.  I did not go to the property today, I simply didn't feel like it. Well I drove by there.  The contractor hasn't responded, if he shows up Monday with equipment, I will probably be there if this is a 2 day trip.  Lately, however, the company in Mexico hasn't been keeping up with empty trailers - which is great, we get detention pay - but right now, not knowing if he's coming or not? I'd like to be in town. This is the way it's been with all contractors in this area, they are busy and you are on their terms. They don't say it that way, of course, but that's what it really boils down to.  

Oh, and the sign is ordered.  If they don't want to deal with me on a civil level, then I will deal with it another way. "Speed limit 10 mph violators will be trespassed".  No, I can't stop the companies from coming in there, but I can stop individuals from those companies from coming in there.  It actually doesn't bother me that they are going in there, as long as they are not creating a disturbance. I want these people to understand right off the bat that I can't have them speeding down the driveway like that.  At least 2 of them go in there once a day, every single day. They aren't in there long, but they are going 30, 35 and even more down that driveway.  Those people are being paid an hourly wage to check all of these gas wells, let them earn it.  I have no sympathy, I am governed at 68 mph, all day long, every single day.  I got used to it, so can they!  

THEY have their OWN sign up that says in large lettering: SPEED LIMIT 10 MPH.  So, it's not like I'm trying to do anything that they haven't already established.     

Ok, I'm obviously not going to hear back from the lender today.  It's past his work hours. Doesn't matter, really, but just trying to get a handle on when this thing will be ready to sign off and hand me a check or transfer money to my account.  

With that, I'm offa here.  

 The day started with waiting at the scale house for an hour on paperwork.  I was the only driver in there for at least 30 minutes.  

After that, I was driving past Diboll, Texas and saw up in the distance the lights flashing.  That means they are pulling trucks in and doing random inspections - a couple of trucks will get stopped, everyone else will be let through and they turn the lights off.  

Getting up to it and about to turn in, I saw 3 trucks blast by it.  I thought for sure the troopers would go chase them down - it's quite illegal to do that and you can get a hefty fine.  Instead of chasing them down, they pulled me in the scale and then - we're doing level 1 inspections today.

Great, pick me with all of these junky trucks going through here.  This ordeal ended up taking up almost 6 hours.  That's not a typo, 6 solid hours by the time everything was said and done.

This dude got under the truck and the trailer with a creeper checking brakes and everything under there.  He also found a nick in the side of one of the trailer tires that I hadn't seen when I had done my pre-trip inspection.  Yes, I had a flashlight but the nick was so small it was hard to see it in the daylight. "Well I can see the tire cord in there so this tire is going to have to be replaced" - or something akin to that.  

In the end, he gave me a CVSA sticker for the tractor - which is a very good thing, it signals the truck has been thoroughly inspected and other troopers will likely not pull you in for another inspection - but he put the trailer out of service.

Getting put out of service is a very bad thing and I haven't had that done to me since 1985.  Back then it wasn't even that big of a deal since there were no CDL's and there wasn't a nationwide data system.  The damage to that tire would have been done by a previous driver - it was obviously someone turning the truck and cranking that tire up against a curb. Instead of inspecting the damage and having the tire replaced, they just - hoped someone else would get dumped with it I am guessing, it happens all the time and that's why I try to thoroughly inspect tires before I hook up to a any given trailer.  

Now, the trooper said I had to have the tire replaced. It was sooooo incredibly dangerous? That he had me drive the truck to the next town to wait in a truck stop versus waiting there, at the inspection station. I wanted to just get it done at the inspection station, he said no, it can be done down the road.  To want me to continue on driving the truck means there is no way he should have put that truck out of service.  It's my company I was thinking of.  They will not like an OOS violation and they may even can me for it.  I had no idea what they were going to do, but as I have said numerous times on this blog, there is no job security at my company and I am always prepared for the worst, mentally if nothing else. 

Sitting at the truck stop, it took 4-1/2 hours by the time the new tire was put on there and I could leave. A 2 day trip turned into 3, although I got back early today, I only had 242 miles to go this morning.

Upon arriving at the terminal, I saw that my manager was in. He almost never comes on Fridays, I suspected he would be handing me a reprimand at the very least, and I would be rejecting it just the same.  Whoever that other driver was that pulled it before me? Should be getting the reprimand. I was going to flat refuse it, the best I would agree to is partial responsibility - you as the driver of the truck are always blamed for everything regardless.  

So I went in the office, did my paperwork and very loudly told the mechanics - whose office is across from the manager's office - about what happened and why it happened.  My manager had his door shut but cracked open enough that I could both see him in there and figured he could hear everything I was saying.  If he wanted to call me into his office, he certainly could have done so.  He did not.  I took my time leaving there, if there is going to be a bit***** session, I want it over with, today, not lingering forever.  If it's the end of my job, so beit, but let's do this now.  I can find another job if I have to.  I don't want to, but shrugs.  

At the same time, I wasn't going to go in his office and ask for it.  That's going to be on him to call me in there.  Because if he was going to start with me, I would have let him know in no uncertain terms about my feelings of other drivers not doing pre or post trip inspections and not reporting obvious problems.  This happens frequently, I have reported it a few times, they all know about it yet they do nothing about it.  

I missed detention pay in Brownsville because of that nonsense as well.  I left the office in no huge hurry, heard nothing from the manager....and left.  I left the violation ticket in  his mailbox, he has to see it and it has to be signed off on.

Now? I'm home, relaxing and hoping not to have a run tomorrow. I will probably get one, I just don't want one. The reason being it's the oldest boy's birthday tomorrow and he was greatly hoping I would be home for it.  Those are his words lol.  I also need to finish marking trees and I can tell ya, I just don't have it in me to do any of that today. I just want to sit in my room and vegetate.  I've probably got 2 more hours left to go out there.  Finish the other side along where the driveway will be and walk the perimeter one last time to ensure I have everything marked that I want marked.  

Yes it needs to happen, but again, my motivation levels after this trip are all but gone.  Maybe in a few hours I'll get the umph I need to go out there and get all cut up and tolerate trees with spikes and thorns sticking out of them and vines that do nothing more than stick your skin.  I can't wait until that front portion of the property is CLEARED and I don't have to deal with that s*** anymore.  

I'm going to take close up shots of everything that has spikes and thorns out there and post them on Facebook. It is 5 different plants/trees that I can think of that will stick you.  And good. 

Meanwhile, the loan. The endless parade of documents they want. Now they want a - calculator that the insurance company will come up with to determine replacement cost of the house.  They don't think the current amount I have on there is enough.  I can tell ya that it's far more than enough to replace the house - with everything that would be required such as removing the old house (if it burned down I guess), having the new one hauled over there and installed.  I understand the lender wanting this info, tho, it's just another pain to deal with. 

So far, I've made 3 phone calls to the insurance company to try and get that number. So far? NOTHING.

I have also not heard back from the contractor about his intended start date. I hope it's not this coming week, that would give me more time to double check everything.  I barren, 1,400 long strip of land is not all that appealing to me.  I am also going to have a speed limit sign put on the driveway-  these oil/gas people are flying up and down that road and I have contacted 2 out of 3 so far. The main operator hasn't returned my email - that was 2 days ago. So the sign is going to say 10mph and violators will be trespassed from the property. That will get their attention.....

Anyway, I am being asked if I want to join Taylor and james for lunch, I'm outta here.

G'day. 

 Well. Starting day 2 in Brownsville in a bit.  Turns out there will be no empty trailers coming across the border today. It's 2022 and it's also Sunday. Meaning? They can't get trucks across the border because they have to have a sticker that allows border crossings.  I dunno if these stickers are available before hand, one would think so. Whatever the case, they have to wait until tomorrow morning to get them and be able to bring the empties across.  

This was news to both the dispatcher - of course - and to the man that runs transportation in Alta Mira.  Ok?  George runs the Brownsville operation, whatever he says, you can rest assured it's the actual truth contrasted to whatever everyone else is saying.  It's his trucks that bring these empties across the border, of course he will know if they are coming or not.  Just that George isn't always available.  Or even there. But, of all days, Sunday, not only was he there, he was changing out tires on a trailer!  Imagine that, the owner's son, who happens to run the place, humble enough to do whatever it takes to keep the operation running.  

I don't encounter too many people like that anymore.  Most would call someone out of their day off to deal with it.  It's pretty cool, really.  

When I found this out, I immediately looked on the phone for hotels... and namely the one I'm at now.  Marriott Residence Inn.  It was listed at $127, but I called them and they said they had a room for $109.  Yes!  My dispatcher wasn't on board.  I didn't say anything about the hotel, she just can't believe this dude in Alta Mira wasn't giving her correct info.  

Whatever!  She came on board when I explained about trucks not being able to cross the border until a decal inspection can be done, and that won't happen until tomorrow morning!  I don't care, I will gladly spend the night in my beautiful, comfortable, serene, peaceful hotel room, take the money and run.  When the yard boss says the trailers will be here in the morning, believe they will be here - some time - in the morning.  Anytime before noon means I'm home tomorrow night, hopefully off the next day and try to get this tree saving business done and over with.  

____________________________

Day 3, 10:00 am, was just informed trailers are being inspected and allowed to cross the border, so allegedly any time now. But, when they say "soon", that could be many, many hours.  Especially if there is a backlog of trucks waiting to get their decals inspected/authorized.  I would like to get out of here soon, tho so I can make it home tonight.  Unfortunately, there is another driver that is ahead of me, so whatever comes in first, he gets.  

I frankly wish I were at the house, I am motivated right now and could easily spend the day out there measuring and marking the rest of the trees.  

I read in these RV parks for sale groups of people that buy existing RV parks and they are "killing it" - everything is already done, set up for them, they just have to get the financing.  Of course, they are spending a million plus dollars on it, but still, I'm a wee bit jealous lol.  All this stuff I am going through just to even get the beginning phases of construction going!  Just calm down, Ben , patience and keep the vision alive.  Yes, the vision.  Retirement is "just around the corner" and the end of trucking as we know it isn't that far off, either.  That's what motivates me more than anything.

Honestly, running a park would BE like retirement for me.  No more dealing with nanny-state trucking companies. No more dealing with endless idiots on the road with no more common sense than a dead cow.  No more dealing with invasive and ridiculous DOT rules and regulations. No more electronic logs, getting up at 3:45 am to load, etc etc etc.  

And since I'm - hopefully - going to have far more money than I originally anticipated, I'm going to ask the contractor to please give me a quote for more lots.  Like 20 instead of 14.  That's 6 extra lots, probably add 20 grand, it is what it is.  It would be a better start with more lots and potentially more income.  It's just a thought that entered my mind - but - there is a lot of other stuff I have to pay for beyond lots so I'll just have to wait and see how this all pans out.

Wait, the contractor said the week of the 10th or the 17th. If I can just get a full day off, I can hopefully get all the rest of that done and over with!  I just asked for a day off if it can be slipped in somewhere, I usually get one anyway without asking, but I really need to make sure it happens.  If it doesn't I'm going to have to ask the contractor to please not come until the 17th.

Good grief. I could have sat in the hotel room if I had known they weren't going to show up until late, lol.

G'day

 I don't tend to write too often when there isn't much to write about and at the moment, that's still pretty much true.

I'm back in Brownsville, the same as last writing lol.  No trailers here today, I didn't expect any because of the Holiday.  The dispatcher can't understand why they can't keep up with empties, after her being our new dispatcher for several months and people endlessly explaining this to her, you'd think she would get a clue.

But she doesn't and oh well, she isn't going to change their mentality down here, they do as they please and they pay enough money for that privilege.  She said the "customer isn't always right".  When they're handing our company millions of dollars per year in transportation payments, I would take exception to that statement.  And anyway, most of us don't care about waiting, we get paid for it and so does our company.  

We get these new dispatchers and it takes quite a while for them to catch on - and then they get fired or leave on their own.  It gets old having to deal with these people - she's nice tho, I just got off the phone we had a nice conversation that went well off the trucking topic.  I've explained to her several times that most drivers like the wait time pay and therefore don't mind waiting.  She doesn't understand that either.  What's there not to understand? We sit around playing on the internet or doing nothing, taking naps, seeing local sights, going to restaurants, get paid for it and make as much as a full day's worth of driving....and you can't understand that?  

So it is.  She is trying to reinvent the wheel down here - literally trying to force this company to get on a schedule and stay on it, but the dude that runs the transportation portion of the company we haul the product for has a completely different mindset and when he doesn't have an answer or just plain doesn't want to answer, he just doesn't respond to her lmao.  I've been around Mexicans a good part of my life, I know how they think. I'm not saying it's inferior or anything like that, it's just different.  If you set an event to start at 2:00 pm, you're really setting it to start at 4:00. If you can't deal with that, you are going to be a very frustrated person lol.

I have done nothing at the property and I am running up against a deadline.  The angle of the one side has to be redone to angle the opposite direction and then re-mark all of those trees.  I still haven't done the other side. Most of the perimeter is done tho, at least.  I have been over there, but just for walks. Took the boys 3 times during their 2 week vacation from school.  I didn't feel like doing anything during the holidays, that's on me I guess.  I'll ask for a day off if I have to, I really don't know when this dude is coming. He said the 7th or the 17th.  Okkkkk, lol, I'm going to ask him to hold off until the 17th.  I dunno if I'll get home today - it's still early enough but there is a chance that no empties are going to come.  I need at least a full day off to get that done. I'll just go out there and stay out there until everything is marked.  I just wouldn't be happy if I didn't keep at least a few trees up per lot.  

Per the loan. I really dislike this guy that's handling the loan and paperwork. He has very little customer service skills and it gets old.  He initially told me that short list of things he sent me that I had to sent back for proof of this and that was it, there would be no more. Since then, of course, it's been a constant stream of it and I'm just about done with it.  I thought I actually was  done with it, but no, more and more.  Now they want a foundation certification and said there should be one with my original loan since it's FHA and a manufactured home, it's required.  

Then, he said he has a person that will do it for $300.  The next day, he came back and said they'd do it for $450.  I flatly responded to him that I had already shelled out $500 for the appraisal and that I wasn't interested in spending any more money on this deal, I would call the current mortgage company and see if I can get it from them - for free.  I made it crystal clear that I wasn't paying anything else for any of this, if they want to spend the money and get some stake in the game, feel free.

I didn't get a response from him on the texting, instead I got another "we have more things for you to do", an email that I didn't bother to open. If they want to ask me for something, they can call me or text me, I'm through with the email games as well. My mortgage company told me on Friday they had the cert and would send it by the end of business day - which they did not. And they weren't opened yesterday because of the New Year, so I will call them tomorrow (it's Sunday) and ask them to please send it right away.  I DO want the loan, but I'm very much tired of the paperwork stuff and it needs to end.  I can't even imagine trying to get an SBA loan, that would be far more complicated and far more info they want to qualify for one.  

Right now? No thanks. Maybe down the line after I get the business up and running, I can apply for one and do some major upgrades to the park.  But, I have received another large sum of money - free - from "someone", not going to mention the person or the relationship on here, that has substantially altered the situation for me. I could put all the infrastructure in now plus by one of those portable buildings and not have to get a loan at all. I was not in that position before that money was given to me. Yes, I would still need the house cash-out to do other stuff, but the park would be usable at least.  

But I don't want bare bones minimum, I have discussed this in other posts.  The quality of reviews you get directly corresponds to the amenities you give and other major factors, such as angled lots, pull through lots and level lots.  I've read numerous - and I mean lots - of people that will go to an RV park's website, look for the park map and see how it's set up. If the lots aren't angled they won't look at anything else, they go looking for somewhere else to park.  And then the kicker where the guy said "and they should be driver's side angled". I really had to kick myself for not thinking of that.  When I go to park in a truck stop, I always back in the driver's side, blind side backing into a lot is difficult at best and tho I've done it, I don't like to do it. You really have to get out of the vehicle multiple times to ensure you aren't about to smash the truck on your passenger side. 

As I said, this operation is going to take awhile to get up and running.  I'm okay with it, but I feel the need to get it going as fast as possible so the word can get out and I can start establishing a review history.  Tu Simple - it's a company that is working very hard to get fully automated trucks on the road and probably further ahead than any of the other companies trying to do the same thing - did a test in Arizona with no human at the wheel at all.  They had to get permission from the state's DOT and apparently had lots of state troopers and personnel attending the truck.

I don't know if they alerted the public to this nonsense, I would want to know if there is a truck driving itself down the road, where it's going to be, it's intended route, the day, time etc.  I wouldn't want to be anywhere near it. The article stated it "interacted" with the motoring public. Did the motoring public know it was interacting with them?  You can tell those trucks easily - they have camera equipment mounted all over the thing.  The point is - these things are coming and they are going to take over the entire industry once they are allowed. Major companies will start converting all of their trucks over to fully automated and they will get rid of human drivers.  Our usefulness in the trucking industry is going to come to an end and I want to be fully operational before that happens. Yes, it is a concern to me, not a minor concern either.  

Just about guaranteed all major trucking companies will want to switch over. I dunno about our company, I would like to think that hazmat would be on a "wait" list to see how all of this pans out, but I'm sure our company will want a piece of that automated pie as well.  I think the nation's highways are not going to be safer, at all.  Perhaps there will be fewer truck related accidents, but the thought of being run into by something that has no human at the wheel gives a chilling effect.  The software doesn't know or care about getting hurt or killed or whether it hurts or kills anyone else. It's only as good as the people that designed it.  In other words, it's still humans that are at the heart of it and humans are fallible.  I can't stop this automated nonsense from happening, but I can definitely voice my opinion.  I'm decidedly of the thinking these trucks should be limited to Interstate highways and an extra lane each direction, sealed off with rebar-reinforced concrete dividers keeping them separated from the motoring public.  I've seen no-one else saying this, but I just about guarantee you that once these things start populating the highways all over the country, people are going to start thinking about the hazards these rigs produce and what should be done to mitigate the hazards. 

And with this defund the police garbage going on, thieves will see this as a golden opportunity to hijack entire truck loads of merchandise with nothing to stop them.  Software bandits will try to figure out a way to take over the truck's navigation systems.  Thieves will just try to crash the truck or otherwise stop it somehow and take everything that's in the truck.  Insurance companies will jack up their prices and I have to wonder the net result economically to these companies that use them, if there is any gain or if it even ends up costing more.  

I'll get off my soapbox, this particular subject gets me going.  I'm not angry about it, per se, it's just that I believe there will need to be some forced restrictions on these things coming from Congress that dictates where and how these trucks are going to operate.  And I'm preparing myself for this inevitability by starting my own business. And if this RV park venture doesn't work, I have a plan B and a plan C for that matter. Plan B would work, tho, there isn't much housing available for rent in the region.  That would be to simply install mobile homes and rent them out.  With lots at 40 feet wide, I have room to put in single wide mobiles.  

Plan C would be something of a combination of mobiles and RV lots.  There are some of those around the area as well. In fact, I talked to a waitress at Applebee's the other day, she was discussing the park she lives in has a mix of mobiles, houses and RV's.  Yup, you can do that in that county, they really don't get involved in dictating too much about what you can and cannot do.  It's a major plus and gives me alternatives if I need to go there.  I'm pretty confident this park is going to work out, tho.  There is also the option of building small houses - but that would cost substantially more money and even if I could get a loan for it, I'm really not that interested in it. I do want to do some glamping stuff tho.  That's costly as well but the nightly rates are much higher.  That would be after I get full time into it an out of trucking altogether.  I would be in earthly heaven if I could just go to work at "my" park every day and spend the days working on it - improving it, cleaning it up, etc.  

Dreams and goals. 

Meanwhile, real life. I have never seen so many trucks parked at this place.  One just pulled straight in and blocked me in here, lol.  Not that I'm going anywhere, I've heard nothing from the other driver or dispatch.  There is literally no place to park trucks and now this dude is moving his truck and blocked the entire back entrance off, lol.  Their management needs to get in here and do - something - lol.  OH, I see now, he's attempting to back out of this mess, good luck!  If they don't bring me an empty today, I'm definitely going to a hotel.  Not counting my chickens on that one, there could be empties coming up from Alta Mira and the dude from that company just not telling dispatch, that's just the way he is lol.

I'd actually like to make it home tonight and have tomorrow off - but it's not looking that way.

Anyway, I'm getting offa here and watch a movie. 

G'day.