Got up, checked my phone, no reply from the contractor.  Moved vehicles, hooked up the trailer, tied down the lawn mower and the ATV and limped the trailer to the nearest tire shop, which is not that far away thankfully.  While getting all new tires put on that thing - and never loaning it out to that dude again - I started blowing up his phone.

He's either going to do it or he's not going to do it but I'm not going to sit around being ignored by this fellow.  One text after another after another.  After a while, I got a "read receipt", simply shows that the texts have been read.  That was a start.  He then finally responded: "Yes sir, sorry I was out of town".  

In his thinking, yes sir means he's coming this week.  He's kind of a redneck - not stupid or ignorant by any stretch, but redneckism has it's own unique characteristics.  Especially how they talk.  So, I am "assuming" equipment will either show up tomorrow or Wednesday morning and they will get this dirt work finally done and we can move on to the next phases which don't need it to be wet or dry as far as I know to do the work.  

Well I take that back, you wouldn't want it muddy out there while pouring the gravel for the driveway or the pads.  But it doesn't have to be perfectly dry.  Neither do you need it perfectly dry to dig trenches for the water, sewer and electrical lines.  Or to dig a pit for the septic tank.  Etc. Etc. Etc.  

I "assume" that you would want to do all the trenching and laying the underground stuff first before putting down any rock.  I will be asking him how they go about doing that, the only real thing that needs to be done is to mark the driveway and the lots and the pads on the lots.  The pads on the lots get the gravel, the rest of the lots are going to be grass.  Yes, it means cutting grass a couple times a month, oh well. It's what people want, it's what they're going to get.  Most people don't want a giant gravel parking lot unless they are just staying overnight on their way to somewhere else.  

I'm not counting my chickens before they hatch, I'm simply hoping and praying that this dude actually gets this stuff done before it starts raining again. Cause' yes, it's going to start raining again, but if he gets out there Wednesday he should be able to get it done before the rain arrives. 

I've got another guy coming to look at the trail situation. The first guy was high in his quote and he never got back to me. I at least want to know if I'm getting 10 hours out of him per day for that much money. The other guy is $150 per hour.  

_______________

Done deal.  The man showed up at the property, I took him around, showed him what I want done, "I can have this done in a day".  Well, I thought, if it spills into 2 days I'm fine with that. $350 per day cheaper than the other guy.  I expected 2 days so I'm good with getting more work done if it's possible.  I'd like to have the bottom of the rear of the property cleared out so I can get a better idea of the possibility of a pond or small lake back there.  I added more trails as well and as the first guy I was going to have it done with, a couple of campground spots for tents.  

Tent camping isn't a priority, it really isn't the right time of year for doing that if I did, indeed get this thing done before summer is over.  It's just too hot out there, I can't imagine anyone wanting to tent camp in that kind of weather.  I guess maybe if they brought a generator and a window unit air conditioner. I'd have to allow generators back there at night time during the summer.  It's a long way from the RV park portion and it is down in a recessed area, I'd like to hope it wouldn't make so much noise as to interfere with rv campers.  

If/when they get the ATV fixed, I'm getting a cheapo trailer from Harbor Freight and I can haul a generator back there, turn it on and then go up to the front and see what kind of noise there is.  I can also haul chainsaw and leaf blower back there.  I have actual use for the ATV beyond just fun.  I could get a tow-behind brush mower for it - but they want thousands of dollars for one and that being the case, a zero turn mower would be a better investment - I think.

Once the trails are cut, I will just make sure to ride the ATV over them frequently enough to destroy any vegetation trying to grow.  I'm trying to get by with not spending too much money on any one portion of this project.  I can't afford to go all out buying this and that and everything all at once, it's just not in the budget.  The walking trails were and original part of the theme and I'm not deterring from that.  And much of what needs plowed down is simply too big for a mower of any kind to start out with, I must have the services of a mulcher machine to get the initial stuff done first.  IF it were only a day, it would cost $1,350.  This includes "backdragging it" as he called it - in other words, smoothing out the trail as he goes along.  YES, please.  I don't want people tripping, getting hurt and suing me. 

Probably going to have to have a disclaimer that needs to be signed off on. You know, all that fine legal print that most nobody reads but details how you walk on the trails at your own risk, etc etc etc? They can still sue you but it helps keep liability down.  There is always risk in such ventures, insurance is available and I will be getting it.  This includes liability for dog park, walking trails, people doing stupid stuff, etc.  The more risk activities you have, the higher the insurance. We'll keep it to a dog park and walking trails to start with

There will be so much to do after they finally get the actual parking portion of the park built.  It will still take quite a bit of time to get all of it done, but at least I won't be at the mercy of that contractor.  My soft opening will only have a small shed for putting the wifi equipment in.  I might have a couple cords of firewood brought and people can buy bundles by simply indicating how many bundles they took and have it added to charges on the credit card.  That will have to have a video surveillance camera on it. There will be video surveillance at various points in the park.  While not compromising people's desire to not be bothered by such on the lots themselves, any "public" areas will likely have surveillance on it, including the driveway, the gas operation - I don't want anyone going on there at all - any sales I might have - which would be limited to firewood and possibly ice to start with, shed for wifi equipment and on the entrance to see who's coming and going.  

It's a foregone conclusion that not everyone that takes firewood will actually pay for it, or will say they took 2 bundles when they took 5.  It can make money, of course, with regular staff and overseeing it, which may be possible to some extent if I can find a good workamper to help out. 

There will be a page on my internet site that will direct people to all of the things that are available in the nearby town - convenience stores, gas stations, propane refill, walmart, tractor supply, Lowe's, all the local restaurants and I might see if I can get some kind of perk from any restaurants for directing people their way.  A small discount or maybe a free dessert or possibly free chips or something?  I've seen a mix of RV;ers that like to eat out all the time, like to cook at their campsite all the time and a mix of both.  Nearest laundromat, can't forget that.  

AS I said, there will be plenty to do after they get the sites done.  Even with a soft opening.  The website designer contacted me the other day asking how it's going. Nowhere, I replied, stalled.  But perhaps there is a sliver of light at the end of the tunnel? 

I have what was originally a 9 am appointment time to load tomorrow now a 6 am appointment time. I really hate the 6 am appointment.  Get up at 3:45 am? And when I get to work, what can I expect to find in my truck?  Another driver was driving it.  And that guy isn't exactly the cleanest dude on the planet. 

Regardless, it's early but it's bedtime. 

 As much as I don't want to talk about this subject, I can't get it off of my mind. 

There has been no rain and very little chance of it in the forecast.  I have, of course, heard nothing back from the contractor after several text messages spread out over several days. 

I want confirmation he is coming on Wednesday.  Cause if he isn't coming, I want to see if I can find someone else to come this week.  The ground is dry, it's time to get this over with and move on already.  

I just sent him another text. If I don't hear back from him, I'm going to basically blow up his phone tomorrow.  He can try to ignore me, but if I have to I'll go to his office and ask him in person about when they plan on coming.  

I just feel like I'm being put on the backburner for larger projects.  Whatever the case, I'm ready to move on to another contractor if he isn't coming this week.  Mind you, the last thing he told me was that he had to check his schedule after first telling me that he was coming next week - midweek.  That puts him there on Wednesday.  This dirt work only takes 2 days, 3 at the most and then it's done, move on to marking out the pads and driveways.  

Meanwhile, nothing has been done to the driveway as far as maintaining it. I mean, if I have to pay for gravel on that driveway, that company is not going to be in for a good time with me.  I dunno yet, I'm just sayinjg there hasn't been anything done about it.  I'm going to wait on that one for a little bit and see what happens.  Give it another week or two and then contact him again.

So I was put off for tomorrow's run, which is yet another Oklahoma.  She should have given me a Brownsville run, not a low paying Oklahoma after having had 3 in a row.  This is getting ridiculous.  The reason the run isn't going tomorrow is there won't be any trailers available. All well and fine, but almost guaranteed there ARE Brownsville trailers in the yard and at least 2 runs going down there.  I've had these 3 days off and then 3 days on and then that dreaded doctor's appointment.

I'm really not looking forward to that, I'm not into having blood drawn, it makes me feel funny and then I have to lay down for a while.  The nurses almost never believe me and try to make me sit up and then - I start to fade.  Then they get upset that I am laying down on the floor or whatever is nearby. Then, a manager will come and ask what's going on and I will tell that manager that I specifically told these people that I must be laying down to give blood.  They didn't believe me and this is the aftermath.  That's happened more than once.  

The rest of it I don't care, it's the bloodwork that makes me nauseous.  Well I don't like the "prostrate exam", either. I'm not having prostrate problems and I don't want that checked, either.  And they are not going to be setting me up for an appointment for that damn camera nonsense to shove it up your behind and examine the inside of your guts.  Gross.  They pump air in there so they can see and then when you wake up, you are farting for a long time letting all that air back out.  

I'm going, I just don't want to lol

Tomorrow's agenda, since its' forced off, is to take the 4 wheeler and the lawn mower to a local place that repairs both.  Found them on google, went over there, yes we do that! and so now the 4 wheeler is on the trailer the only problem? It has a flat tire and we don't have an air chuck, apparently, to fill tires up.  I'm going to drag the thing to the nearest tire place and they'll just have to put a new tire on it. The tire is almost bald anyway. 

In fact....

See, I loaned that trailer to a friend of the family's here.  This dude had the thing for going on 4 months.  When he left here with it, I had just replaced 2 tires. They were used tires but they had good tread on them. While he had the thing, he called and said one of the tires had blown and needed replaced.  He being alledgedly broke, I gave him the money to replace it. But after inspecting the tires yesterday, I can say with assuredness that he didn't replace any tires or if he did, he bought the $25 special.   He lied to me about putting a new tire on it and he wore down the other tires.  He had originally said that he was only using it to haul junk to the landfill.

This is why it is hard to trust people.  You try to be nice and help people out and then in the end, they just screw you over and don't think twice about doing it. Whatever the case, I may just replace all the tires on it tomorrow and just not loan it out to anyone ever again.

I want to get the 4 wheeler fixed if possible and then take it over to the property and just keep it there.  It will serve as a method to keep brush from growing on the trails.  It has huge knobby tires that tear up vegetation, perfect for trampling down all of that junk that is currently growing back up because of all the rain we have been getting.  It has a trailer hitch on it, the thing could prove to be quite useful on the property.  Anyway, if they can fix it, I can just keep it in the woods well out of view of anything, keep it covered when not in use and not really have to worry about it.

LOTS of fresh deer tracks on the property the other day, btw.  I don't know what the state laws are here in Texas about hunting on private property, gonna have to look that up.  

Well I guess I could take the tire off the trailer and get it replaced, thinking back to earlier comment.  But the rest of the tires are so low on tread it seems only fitting to just replace all of them and not have to worry about it.

We have been working on the property for 3 days now. James and I.  It is finally starting to look decent again.  There is still lots of work to be done but the jungle effect and the leaves all over the place are mostly gone. The entire back yard now needs to be raked up and burn the rest of the junk that that comes up with.  We're pretty happy with the progress tho.  I mean, at some point it starts to get embarrassing.  It was that bad.  The back, not the front. We did the front a while back.  

The next door neighbor was looking at it the other day and just said, well are y'all going to deal with all of that?  Me?  I just got to the point I was fed up with the other neighbor's constant amount of leaves, bark, twigs, dirt and whatever other junk flowing into our back yard every single time it rains.  But, I don't mind cleaning it up if everyone is going to help clean it up and keep it that way.  

To end this, I'm hoping it's 3 days away from them coming out to do the dirt work. 

 The vehicle is done.  The gas gauge works.  I put in almost 25 gallons maybe 50 miles before I took it to the shop so a bit surprising to see the gas gauge showing a quarter tank.

Either the new setup is a bit skewed or I lost some fuel in their shop, lol.  As I had thought, the sensor is a part of the fuel pump.  As I also figured, the price tag was a bit excessive.  Whatever the case, I'll fill it up tomorrow and see what happens with the gauge.  

Anyway, there is a slight chance of rain tonight and tomorrow. After that, there really shouldn't be any rain coming up until this contractor gets over there and gets this stuff done.  Daytime temps are in the 90's even if it does rain a bit, it will be dried out before they come out there.  IF they come out there.  This is basically my last straw with this dude, if he comes and gets it done, good, if he doesn't, it's time to cut ties and move on. 

That's where I'm leaving that unless it rains and then I'll be back at square one.  

As for the reunion, I don't really think I'm missing much.  I am planning a 5 to 7 day trip over there, probably in October.  Before the holidays and the madness of flying in crowded airports.  Probably 5 days, actually, that's about as much as I want to be away from home.  I have no idea where this RV park business will be by then - if anywhere - but that is a potential consideration to take into account as well.  

My manager calls me today.  Goes into this spiel about how they are shorthanded right now - drivers off for various reasons - he made it sound like he was asking me to come back to work.  I said nothing and listened to all of it. He then got to the part about another driver's truck broken down, no trucks to replace this driver's truck that also broke down, loads that need to go out, can he use your truck?

Obviously, I don't own the truck and furthermore, in other companies, even tho it may not be slip-seating, they will just take it without your input and you can deal with it. Well, those are the old days. Now, you screw over a driver bad enough and they will pack their bag and leave.  There are always greener pastures if your work conditions are so bad that it warrants moving on.  

I was impressed he actually asked me.  I said fine, but he's going to have to deal with my stuff.  Oh, he's just going to get in and drive, I will put him up at a hotel for sleeping arrangements.  I have a great manager, if nothing else at that company beyond the pay.  It's unfortunate he's planning on leaving, tho I totally understand his reasoning as to why he would want to leave.  

The company is foolish to let him go.  That's the way this company operates.  Cut off the nose to spite the face.

Anyway, I'm going to ask for time off in October - but I'm contacting mom first to make sure there are no scheduling conflicts.  It sounds as though she isn't going to be driving up to her beloved property anymore.  This is not something I wanted to hear, because that spot of hers up in the mountains is her special place.  She's been spending summers up there for going on 3 decades now.  I'm afraid of what it may do to her psychologically, or the freedom to be able to drive around anywhere, really.  She knows how to use Uber at least, but being confined to home?  I don't think that's going to go over too well. 

I really don't know where all of this is going just yet.  She has another eye appointment soon, but can they do anything?  I don't know.  

I'm going over to the property tomorrow, to finish this one off, and survey the property.  I want to see if everything has dried up.

 I took the vehicle in to get the gas gauge issue fixed.  I mentioned replacing the brakes as an afterthought.

So what do they do? Replace the brakes and not even begin to look at the fuel gauge.  This was yesterday afternoon when I called them to find out if they had been able to fix the fuel gauge.  

I need my vehicle back, I have several things I want/need to do while on these days off.  I'll be calling them again around noon and see where we're at. 

The tragedy that we call a back yard apparently is a project we are going to start on.  I stopped working on it a while back for reasons I'll just keep to myself.  It is awesomely horrific back there now and no one has touched it in quite a long time.  I don't mind going to the trouble of cleaning it up - if - everyone else is going to be involved with that project as well - and - commit to keeping it clean after the project is done and over with. 

I'm very glad to have some days off. I'll be even happier if the contractor would finally text me back and let me know his intentions. Because if he's going to blow it off again, I'm moving on and I'd like to get someone else lined up quickly to be able to get over there and get it done before any more rain hits.  

I need to at least go to the fire department now that I think about it to get a burn permit so we can start burning all this junk in the back yard.  If I don't get the permit, someone will call the fire department, they will come over here, threaten to issue a ticket and force me to put the fire out. 

No thanks.  It's a pretty good scheme to charge $25 for a permit to burn something that the government has absolutely no involvement in.  They won't be starting the fire and they won't be putting it out.  

My 401k is down about 10k. It should be approaching the mid 70's range, it was up as high as 69k I think, now its' sitting at 57k.  Pretty disheartening to throw a bunch of money at savings like that and watch it just disappear like magic.  

So, I just changed it from 12% to 5%.  I'll figure out the 7% every paycheck and stuff it into a savings account.  Yup, I will follow through with it, just like I've been taking out cash most every paycheck and putting it aside for vacation and now going to start saving for that zero turn.  The 401k money will go towards buying a rental property.  That's approximately $700 per month. In 12 months I will have near 10k and I should be able to buy a small house providing my credit score stays in the range it is in now - or goes up even higher.  Back to 750 would be nice, I'm 12 points away from it. 

To think I had it in the 770 range......for a long time....and now battling to get it back up there.  I wouldn't really care about credit but so many things it affects nowadays. Even your car insurance is affected by your credit score.  Houses, bank loans, SBA loans, car loans, all kinds of stuff.  I've heard some employers even check it.  

Anyway, the goal will be in the next year to save up 10k with what used to be that 401k money, get a rental house and - either rent the house to a family or do the room rental thing again.  I'm not sure which. Room rentals brings in more revenue - but it's a lot more hassle. You really have to either live there or have someone living there that you can trust to take care of everything. And if you have someone else living there doing it, then you have to give them discounts or free rent altogether in exchange. Which means you really need at least a 4 bedroom house to make it worth the hassle.

Renting out the whole house is much less hassle, but also less income.  I have plenty of time to think about that, in fact, if I save up this money and get the park going, it may just get dumped back into the park, which should make a lot more money than rental houses.  Who knows, I just know that I"m going to start this plan now and get it rolling.  If the stock market comes back out of it's woes, I probably won't change the rate I'm putting into the 401k account. I'll make more money off of rentals than off of a 401k, certainly at this late stage in life.  

I'm probably spending more time than I should be reading how the rich - got rich. I don't want to be rich, I just don't want to work for anyone else anymore.  I want to work for myself, have a decent income, be able to help others, give back to God and live my life peaceably, if that's at all possible in this life.  Leave something for my heirs to have that can sustain them in life without having to spend your entire life toiling for someone else and not have much of anything to show for it.  

 So.  I get to the Oklahoma plant and after dropping the loaded trailer and getting scaled out, the dude approaches me.  "The driver in here yesterday tried to take that trailer - pointing one of our very old trailers, 45 years old to be precise - and he couldn't get the brakes to release".  He couldn't figure out what was wrong with it.

I had a 99% of being correct guess what it was, but I hooked up to it anyway and tried to release the brakes. Nothing. Air would go into the trailer for about 2 seconds and then stop.  I got out, opened the doors that give access to the pipes and valves to offload the trailer and walaah.  A broken plunger.  These trailers are equipped with a safety device that locks the brakes when the doors are opened.  A plunger releases and the brakes lock up.

The plunger was gone and the threaded portion of it was destroyed.  Right about then, my dispatcher was calling about when I will make it back tomorrow (which is now today) and I went right into this problem.  "This trailer isn't going anywhere" after describing what was wrong with it.  "Are you going to call Road Squad?".  No, lol, they won't have the part to fix this thing, we are going to have to contact our shop mechanic to figure out how to get the part up here and get it fixed.  So, I took a pic and texted both dispatch and the mechanic.  Allegedly he is having a mechanic get up there and fix it today.  You're welcome.  

Then we got into the discussion about when I'm getting back.  Not only is that trailer down, but there is another trailer down at our yard, leaving us short-handed on trailers.  And loads that need to go out.  I get that, but I don't have any control, whatsoever, on the appointment times. "Well, I got a late appointment, it's going to be late when I get back".  I gave her the amount of hours it would be before I got back - I was busy unhooking from one trailer and hooking up to the other empty that was there - and she calculated I wouldn't be back in time for the latest loading time the plant will give which is 2:30 pm.  

I knew she was wrong but I was too busy trying to get hooked up and get out of there.  It took all of my 30 minute break up to figure out what was wrong with that trailer and get pics and send them to the mechanic.  It' s "not a part of my job description" to figure out mechanical issues, but I'm not that way.  If I can figure it out, the trailer is diagnosed so they can get the right part/s and mechanic up there, versus having to send a mechanic up there to figure out what's wrong and then have to go track down the part, which I suspect isn't easy to find because most trailers do not have that safety device on them and is probably a special order.

I also assume our mechanics have those plungers in stock in their shop.  

I only made it back to the Casino truck stop.  I was going to try and get closer so they could send a tractor up to get the trailer and get it loaded, but I was battling to stay awake and I determined it was getting unsafe for me to continue driving, so I stopped.  It was 1:30 am before I went to bed to give a bit of context.  Sometimes I'm fine at that hour, many times I am not and really struggle to stay awake, even with music blaring and doing whatever I can do to keep myself concentrating on the road. At some point, it's time to say no more, safety takes precedence over a scheduling problem. Especially considering what I'm hauling, tho the trailer is empty.

Even our empty trailers pose a threat, they still have flammable vapors in it and it can still wreak havoc on the general, motoring public.  I do take safety seriously with this job just because of what we are hauling. 

Whatever the case, I returned a call to dispatch - they had called while I was sleeping but I have my ringer off at night, I don't see any reason to be awakened for a phone call that can be dealt with after I get up - and informed her that I would be able to get back in time for the driver to make it to the plant to get the 2:30 appointment slot.

Of course, I am wide awake and could have left an hour ago.  But, the FMCSA knows best about everyone's sleep habits and lumps all of us drivers together into one big pot and dictates to us when we can and cannot drive.  

2 days ago, on the way to work, my SUV ran out of gas.  Mind you, I keep track of my mileage on the odometer so I know how much fuel is in the tank.  I was at 293 miles, the tank is good until around 400.  It ran out of gas the first time at 396 miles.  So, it was perplexing why I had run out of fuel early.  I wasn't idling it anywhere - sometimes I do that when I'm sitting waiting on people or something - and I have a locking gas cap on it.  I reset the trip mileage counter every time I fill up.  

Calling Taylor to come rescue me wasn't so wonderful - she has her own schedule and deals with her family in the mornings - but I had little choice. I could have called road service but it would have taken hours for them to get out there.  I can only say that I repaid her nicely for coming out and saving me. That was a trip to Baytown hauling an empty trailer to get it inspected.

Yesterday, before going to Waffle House, I took the vehicle to a local shop that was recommended and they said they could fix it.  I borrowed her truck to go to work - I didn't ask she offered, I was going to rent a car but they didn't have anything available, not even an expensive vehicle - and so I took her up on it because I am tired of this gas gauge giving me this trouble.  I am not going to replace the vehicle until all of this supply shortage and inflation is done and over with - excuses to jack up prices of everything.  

I don't know when they are going to have it finished, but I'm hoping by this afternoon. In reality, who knows if they can get the part/s expeditiously or not.  I asked them to check the front brakes as well. They have occasionally been making a noise and tho I could easily fix them myself, I find that after driving all over creation, I really don't want to do much of anything else.  "If they are bad, do you want us to do the rotors as well?".  Yup, replace them or having them turned, whichever is cheaper.  You'd be surprised, but in many cases it's now either cheaper or the same price to get brand new rotors as it is to have the old ones turned (milled). 

I did do a last minute check on flights, it's up to almost a grand now.  Not shocking, but in the "good ole days" you might have been able to find a flight cheap if you waited. Now, they overbook flights intentionally so they guarantee the airplane is going to be 100% full, so there is no discounts for attempting to book at the last minute.  I started looking a few months ago, even then it was $833 round trip.  This is a trip I have done several times for less than $400.  

Amazingly, even looking at November to get out there the prices are still high  at $600. But that's not near as bad as what I would pay now and I can take a week off. I texted my manager to find out how much vacation hours I have left, tho in November, I get my hours renewed and I will go up from 112 hours given per year to 150.  I can swallow $600, but I will be looking at other sites for fares as well and then try to get the dates secured through work.  In fact, perhaps I should just go at Thanksgiving and "see" everyone - extended family that is. It seems like we are all getting along a bit better now - my middle brother's view of everyone and life in general has completely changed and has stayed that way after his near-death experience with Covid. 

I do believe I can get a decent price with Southwest if I'm willing to drive to Dallas.  

I texted the contractor several times - first asking if he was coming next week and then just putting dots on a text to get his attention.  10 or so hours later he finally responded. "I'm coming out tomorrow to check the dirt and see if it's ready".  Tomorrow is now today.  There is a 24% chance of rain on Saturday, but after that it's a very low chance. I want this thing done.

Alas, it's time to get ready to leave here and drive out the miles back to the yard and get this trip over with.

G'day

Why is it not surprising to me that the contractor is now ignoring my text messages again?  That last time we talked, he said he had to check his calendar - he had initially committed to coming out next week but had to confirm that he could come. After all of this time, he should be coming regardless.  There is a chance of rain on Saturday which may screw things up, but if it doesn't, he either needs to come or just say he can't do it and I will find someone else to do this job.

I don't have time to go over there and check, the ground may still be wet. It was 2 days ago but it's been very warm and I suspect it's drying up nicely.  I get that he wants the dirt to be dry, but once it IS dry, it needs to be done. If I'm no priority on his list, he needs to tell me  that.  Regardless, I have determined that if it doesn't rain and the ground is dry AND he doesn't come next week, it's time to move on.  We'll see.

I was going to take my vehicle in to have the gas gauge fixed - the dealer told me 7-10 days just to get to it. Okay, this is a gas gauge, the vehicle is not broken down.  I am not going to have it sitting there for a dozen days - what it will take to actually get it fixed if they can even find the parts.  I can only imagine a $1,200 fee to rent a car that long.  

There are plenty of shops in town, I hope to find on that can do the job in a reasonable amount of time.  

Well that was easy and I will be dropping it off over at a local shop with a man who knows all about it and said it's likely the sending unit. Thanks.

Late load today - 1:30, hence I'm online doing stuff including writing posts lol.  The man that runs the rack is out of commission and the man that took it over has instantly changed everything.  The man that usually runs the rack is going to be back sooner or later, so I heard this morning anyway.  I hate late loads, tho.  I'll make it up to Oklahoma plant around 10:30 tonight if I'm lucky and then if I can stand it, drive back to the casino truck stop and get there around 2:00 am.  Yup, I probably won't do that.  Find somewhere closer to stop for the night and finish it off tomorrow.  

The strange thing is that now, instead of waiting in our trucks to load, we have to go back to sitting in the shack with the operators.  I don't really much care for that, I have gotten used to being able to lay down in the sleeper and nap if I didn't sleep well the night before, or get a bite to eat, or whatever.  Plus I have to put on all of that safety garb which I don't have to do when I'm just sitting in the truck.  Oh well, social hour has come back to the rack lol.

$933 to get to Phoenix and back lol.  I'm afraid I'm going to bow out of this class reunion.  The prices of airfare are completely out of control and I'm not paying that much money for 2-1/2 days of travel.  It just isn't worth it to me.  I'm still taking the days off, but there isn't going to be a trip to Arizona included in that time off.  I can't hardly swallow the idea of paying that much for a week over there, but at least it would have some time to visit people.  I will likely use my credit card points and go to a local hotel and use their pool. In fact, we will all likely go to that pool and have some fun.  

Anyway, we are going to Waffle House for breakfast before I have to leave.

G'day. 

Oklahoma run, done in one day. Yesterday off.  Dispatcher calls me and demands to know "how the hell did you do that in one day?!!!"  

Didn't feel much inclined to answer her question with that tone of voice.  I don't even remember exactly what I said, her instant raised voice on the phone caught me off guard.  She usually isn't like that.  I didn't respond in kind, instead I said something to the effect that I made it within 7 miles......which is when she calmed right down and said, oh, I guess I don't really need to know!

I made it within 7 miles of the yard before running out of hours which is when I switched to something else, finished it off, got back to the yard - late and drove home.  

I guess she wanted to know if this could be duplicated.  On Sundays, with all construction sites shut down and workers sent home, no heavy traffic anywhere and getting through certain towns without hitting all the lights red.  There are other days of the week where I can hit it as well, but not very often. I don't do a one day trip often as it stands.  It's a 16 hour day, usually, trying to do it in one day and I am often good enough to simply stop at the casino truck-stop and go to bed there.

Today, I went to Baytown, Texas and dropped off an empty trailer at a repair shop. Annual inspection due, we have to take them down there or other places even further away (Amarillo, for one, which is 500 miles each way) to repair shops that specialize in cryogenic trailers.  You don't exactly find those on every corner.  

Tomorrow - off to Oklahoma again. She was going to give me a Brownsville, but we decided against that since my vacation starts 2 days after tomorrow and it is highly likely that I would get stuck in Brownsville.  With tomorrow's run, I'll have over 2k gross paycheck next week anyway, nothing to worry about.  

Yesterday, a lot of phone calls.  I got over to the property with Addler and saw the driveway had been torn up by a tanker truck that had gone in there in the last few days.  The ground had been wet - muddy actually - and it did a number on it.  The gravel has turned into fine powder what with their pickups driving in and out of there on a daily basis.  I called the manager of the gas company and informed him of the situation and that they needed to come out and fix it.  Namely, grade the damaged portions and then dump fresh rock over it. 

He actually agreed to send someone out there and do whatever they determine is "necessary" to fix the problem.  I said find, I thought differently of course, but I figured I'll let them do what they're going to do and then I'll decide whether it was good enough.  I then called Midcoast energy.  Whatever company comes out there to bush hog the easement skipped the trees.  The man went into a very lengthy discussion about the other 2 energy companies, how they were once just one company but split for tax purposes, then merged again, then split again.  Okay, but this was done on the easement maintained by your company, your company's name is on the warning signs. 

He then informed me that it couldn't have been his company, they haven't come out yet this year to do anything and that they only come out once every 2 years.

TWO years?!! I'd like to see what the contract says. He informed me that it isn't in any contract.  Well, you should be coming out at least every year. We have thousands of miles of pipeline, we can't be doing it that often. I was polite but had zero sympathy. We all know the energy sector in this nation makes a lot of money and right now, it's making a lot, lot, lot more money.  I obviously can't force them to clean it up any more often than they do, which puts the onus on me to keep a pathway clear through there. In 2 years, the trees start growing and will grow up to 10 feet in that amount of time.

Ditto with weeds, bushes, shrubs, whatever is growing out there. There is a LOT growing out there.  

Anyway, I also called the county yet again - after waiting 4 weeks for a reply I knew I'd never get and this time actually got to speak with someone. They claimed they would send someone out to look at it and deal with it if it's actually on portion that is their responsibility.

Oh and today.  I was driving to work, my gas gauge quit working like 6 months ago. I keep track of the miles, once it gets to about 300 after having had filled it up, I get more fuel.  It was at 293 today when - it ran out of fuel. The last time it ran out of fuel at 396 miles.  I was not happy, I "knew" I had enough to make it to work, it was quite surprising the thing ran out a hundred miles early.

Taylor saved me, brought some gas and I did the 416 mile round trip drive today.  But, if I can get Enterprise to get me a car (it's the only rental car company in town, I have little choice but to use them), I am taking it in and getting this thing fixed.  I don't plan on buying another vehicle any time soon - not in this inflated market. The price of pickups in this region is nothing short of outrageous. Just as an example, I saw a 2001 dodge dually going for almost 40k the other day.  New trucks are ridiculous, used trucks are ridiculous, I'm just not buying anything right now, so might as well spend the money on this SUV and keep it maintained.  

Load appointment time isn't until 1:30.  

Anyway, it's starting to get late, gonna watch some reruns of western shows and hit the hay.

 Another run done and in the books. Brownsville to be precise, the second driver going down got the detention pay, I had to take the only empty available.  Doesn't matter, I have an Oklahoma tomorrow and that will make me more money - if she also dumps something else on me immediately after Oklahoma.  

Unfortunately, it looks like the way it's going to work out for the days off is that I am going to run out of hours on the 11th and will have the 12th off as well (I have the 13th - 15th off, the 12th wasn't a wanted day off).   I don't want too much time off, it always takes too long to catch back up - plus - I have the 19th off for the doctor's appointment.  I'll have to use some vacation hours to make up for all of that.  

And sadly, my mom's glaucoma condition is worsening and she says she isn't driving anywhere excepting to the grocery store.  I feel like the eye doctors that somehow missed the fact that she had glaucoma - and could have been treated - should be held accountable.  Her deteriorating condition is what motivated me to go see the eye doctor and make sure there isn't any signs of it - tho they say it doesn't happen until later on in life. 

All well and fine, but my vision has been deteriorating for a couple of years now, I at least had to make sure it wasn't anything beyond old age stuff.  I'm waiting on a pair of prescription reading glasses, that's as far as they said it needs to be taken. 

I definitely dread going to the medical family doctor on the 19th.  I haven't had a full check up in many, many moons.  Just the DOT Medical card for driving.  They're not taking blood tests and doing full checkups.  

Low chances of rain all the way through next week.  I remain hopeful it will stay that way and they will come and get this dirt work done and over with.  I'll be pressing the dude this time, if the weather holds anyway.  You coming? What day?  Wherever I am on his priority list, I'm going to ratchet it up by continuing to contact him and get updates.  \

I did drive by the property on the way home. A lot of fresh tire tracks going down that driveway.  I wrote the gas company about their pitiful maintenance of the easement, with no reply. I found an old email from a representative of that company and emailed him directly. Being the weekend, I doubt I'll hear back before Monday.  I asked to see the contract - specifically about maintenance of the easement  and also informed him of the pathetic job that whatever company they are using to bush hog it did the last time they were here. 

This coming week I'm going to call the man that is senior management over the well head on my property and discuss with him what they are going to do to fix the driveway.  It's not going to be "will you fix it", it's going to be "when are you going to fix it?".  

I feel like I need to wait until it's almost time to open the park before taking out another loan.  I don't want to pay cash for a zero turn mower, I'd rather get that on payments and might as well tack that onto any personal loan I might want to get to cover the rest of expenses in getting the park opened up.  

_______________________

Sunday - morning

What things in life make me happy? Well, going to work isn't really one of them, not anymore anyway.  I like taking the dog for a walk on the property.  I like thinking about the Lord - a lot.  I like the idea of getting out of this ridiculous grind and getting into something that will make money and make me a much happier person in the process.  The idea of being home on a daily basis is quite appealing.  This seems like a pipe dream atm but I do hope it comes to pass - maybe not this year but at least get the thing up and running?

They do I say this today? Cause' it's Sunday and in my mind, it's a day of rest, a day to stay home or go to church and then hang out at home. Not a day to spend 14 hours screwing around at a chemical plant, driving up to a wax plant and then driving back either all the way or stopping somewhere and finishing it off in the morning.  

I'm going to start a much more aggressive savings program.  I've been paying off credit card debt, that's a good thing but I want to buy another house and rent it out.  That's apart and aside from the RV park, so I want funds from my work to pay for it, not the funds I have set aside to build the park.  I've got the vacation almost paid for well in advance, now it's time to start dumping X amount per week into a savings account until it's got at least 10k in it and get another form of income going (haven't determined the amount yet, but when I do it's going to be the same every week unless it is a small paycheck).    

Whether the predictions of another housing bubble are true or not (meaning a buyer's market for greatly reduced house-buying prices), people always need a place to live. The people with a good work ethic and some kind of financial understanding will pay for their place to live first before paying anything else.  Or it will definitely be in the top tier of priorities.  I get that sometimes, your hand is forced and you put off the mortgage payment for a month or even two, getting behind, screwing up your credit, but you had "something" come up and you were living paycheck to paycheck.  

That was me for a long, long time.  I get that, I don't really throw people out for getting behind a month - as long as they aren't doing stuff that obviously isn't needed, wasting money on "priorities" that aren't priorities at all. You know, eating out, entertainment, etc.  Or starting trouble with other tenants. Or stealing stuff from other tenants.  Or trashing the place.  There are limits to my patience lol.  I'd really love to approach the bank and ask for a construction loan and build on one of the properties - but they're going to want a substantial down payment and I can't afford that right now.  A brand new house, around 1,500 square feet. Well, one property isn't big enough for a house that size, it would be more in the 800-900 square footage realm.  I'd just sell that tho, not rent it out. 

Oh, the other thing - this 401k stuff is starting to look bad to me.  I want to switch that up, 5% goes to 401k because of the "free" money my employer matches it with, but the rest going into a life insurance account of which you can borrow money against.  I've been watching these money gurus for quite a while now, the best thing to do with money you are saving is dump it into a savings account.  The kind you can borrow against.  I don't understand yet how that all works, but I'm looking into it.

My life isn't about money, per se, ie: greed or wanting to become rich. It IS about wanting to get out of the corporate scheme and just be self-sufficient.  I really want to go discuss with the bank the prospect of business loans and see what they have. My current bank offers SBA loans, but who knows the qualifications needed to get into such a thing.  

Anyway, I've become much better about spending everything on a credit card and then paying it right back off asap.  That way, I show I pay my bills, am not racking up a bunch of debt and most importantly, racking up the points.  These points are wonderful, one of my cards currently has almost a grand worth - we are going to go to a local hotel soon enough and pay for it with points. We like swimming pools lol, nothing nefarious.  The dude that says don't ever use a debit card really has it right.  My whole thinking about credit and how to use it is changing the more reading I do.  Certain kinds of credit are not bad.  Racking up credit card debt isn't good, of course not, but using credit to buy houses and also cashing out is good. Especially the cashout - it's a loan so it's non-taxable.  This is a secret a lot of the rich people use that you won't know about unless you spend endless hours reading stuff.  If the income from the house is the same or more than your monthly mortgage payment, there is no reason to not buy an "extra" one, rent it out and eventually see the value of the house go up and - take that money out.  All you are doing is refinancing the house and taking the equity out of it while you are doing it.  The only drawback to it is the lender's fees associated with it, which can be substantial. 

Anyway, it's time to change gears and get my mind into work, cause' it's going to be an all day thing.

G'day

 Not so shockingly with all things pertaining to this proposed business, new information came out concerning the original/1st contractor.

That's because I texted him, informing him of the other contractor and his statement that he knows you and that you are backed up "months out".  

Miraculously, he texted back very quickly. Because I also stated my intentions of using him since he said the dirt was dry enough and also that you aren't really able to get to my project any time soon.

I said all of that to elicit a response, yes, intentionally, to find out if there is any truth to the 2cd contractor's statements.  I don't get a lot of input from number 1 and therefore, it was time to speak a bit more directly to the situation.  

Number 1 wrote back and asked who this other guy is?  I responded with his full name and the name of his company.  

He wrote back and said I don't know this guy, :I have never heard of him and I am not "several months out".  Well that's news to me, I thought, since I've repeatedly asked him when he was going to come out and continue on with the project.  

He stood his ground on the dry dirt.  "We know dirt, if it's wet, it makes a mess".  Number 2 may or may not know dirt, he does mulching but apparently also does dirt work.  Number 1 is pretty much all about dirt, so I would have to give his assessment some credence.  He is also highly respected in this area.  

He then stated he -number 1 - could come out the week after next.  This is what I'm talking about. I need dates, intended arrival and work times.  The 10 day forecast shows a small chance of rain on virtually every day between now and then with the notable exception of today. We are under a tornado watch and there is 100% chance of rain. Actually, it's already rained here today, as it was on the way into the yard.

I just got back from Oklahoma. After 4 days off - the first 2 were due to needing a 34 hour reset, Monday was the eye doctor and Tuesday the mechanics were still working on my truck - I got another Oklahoma run instead of something that actually pays anything.  If I say anything to her about it, she gets extremely offended.

But I had an Oklahoma the last run before the 4 days off.  So in 8 days, I've made a grand, lol.  What will she give me for tomorrow? If I even get a run tomorrow? I have no idea.  But it needs to be something better than another Oklahoma run.  I'm going to have to buy a zero-turn riding mower and I don't want to have to spend too much savings on that.  It's a necessity, yes, after whoever gets done with the walking trails.  They will have to be maintained regularly.  Letting them grow would mean having to have someone come out with a bush hog setup and paying them to do so.  

Anyway, Number 1 is allegedly coming out 2 Mondays from now. IF he shows up and IF they get the dirt work done, I'm going to push hard to get the rest of this done post haste.  They don't need perfectly dry ground to dig out trenches and holes and such for all the utilities. 

There are a couple of phone calls I need to make that I don't really want to, I've had enough of confrontation.  The first is to the gas company drawing the gas out of the ground - they need to fix the driveway. The second is to the other easement - to find out what the terms are for having them come out and bush hog all of it.  They didn't even take down the trees last time, they left a bunch of junk up that they should have plowed over. 

Well, Midcoast was easy, I just sent them an email concerning their lack of keeping the easement cut down and also the last time they had whoever out there, that did not mow down all of the trees.  
They are 6 to 8 feet tall and they are on the easement.  

The other phone call I'm going to have to write down my thoughts and collect myself in my demeanor - -keep it professional regardless of how off this man comes across, for I haven't had a phone call with him yet where he didn't start going off the rails.  

 Okay then.

I just met with a contractor out at the property in order to get him to quote me finishing the walking trails.  I made him walk all the way around the property, lol, so he could see what he's getting into.  He quoted me $2,500 - of which I thought quite reasonable considering the amount of work I was asking for, for I not only want walking trails but also a couple of campground sites cleared out.

Near the end of it, he asked me who was doing the dirt work up front?  Randy - and he finished off the last name and informed me he is months out right now.  Yes, I thought, I'm already months into this.  "well he said the dirt has to dry out quite a lot before they can do it".

By that point, we were over there at the intended RV portion of the land.  I kicked the dirt which was dry a couple inches down.  Uhh, no I could do that right now, this dirt is plenty dry enough.

That was disconcerting news.  "Randy is backed up for months, we are trying to see if we can take some of his work to get him caught up."  So I've been waiting all this time for nothing? I thought in my head.  

This guy's pricing is right in line with the contractor I am supposedly using to do the install.  It makes me wonder, if this other contractor does all the dirt work and install the driveways, how long am I going to have to wait for my current contractor to put in the septic system, the electrical system and the water lines?  

Well, he's going to call me back after he talks to my contractor - but in my mind it's a foregone conclusion I'm giving the work to this guy and Randy - who could have told me right off the bat that he is booked up  - can have the utility installation, IF he can get to it.  I've already got the quote and for the dirt work? It's actually cheaper than Randy quoted me.  

I'm going to get a bit more - assertive about this - now that I understand that the ground dries up within a couple of days, enough for them to do the work.  As in, when it comes time for the utilities, I want dates, the day you are coming.  As I said, and have said before, if he is was too busy, he could have just told me. It's not like I haven't asked this guy.  But now? I'm not waiting any longer. This project will move forward with or without this contractor.  

Ugh.  Facepalm.  Thank you Jesus, I'll just eat this and move on .  Not worth getting upset over. I'm just glad I moved on with the walking trails.  This guy said his trails are smooth enough at the end that you can ride a zero turn mower over it, you don't need a bush hog (a tractor that pulls a device that cuts down the brush behind it).  I can't afford a tractor right now, I don't really want to buy a zero turn, they are a lot cheaper but still up there in price, but it's going to have to be done. I'll need one for the RV lots anyway to mow the grass.  

Yes, I intend on doing some of the monthly work that needs to be done to save money.  I'm home often enough to cut the grass, it's only 14 sites. Of course, I'd rather pay someone to do it to start with and not have a lot of extra work beyond trucking, but if I'm going to have to buy one anyway, I will likely do the work myself or, if James wants some extra work, perhaps I could pay him.  I dunno, I'll figure all of that out as it comes to me to have to make the decisions to do it. I have already found a guy that does very good work at reasonable prices, having him come out twice a month probably wouldn't cost that much. 

I'm getting a bit fired back up now that I have some hope that something is actually going to get done.  I've been in limbo for quite a while and just put everything on hold.  I have no control over these people, but still, the idea that he couldn't just have been up front and told me he's too busy.....

 Oklahoma run just about cost me my 2-1/2 days off - to be sitting on the side of the road somewhere.  The truck would start cutting out - like total loss of power, especially going up hills and starting from stop/accelerating.

Well there's a lot of hills between the loading plant and the receiving plant.  It was further complication by my dispatcher asking if I would preload a trailer when I get back?  I had to choke down a "absolutely not" reply to "sure I can".  You're basically dumped with a "refusing a load" status and that can get you fired or certainly not looked upon favorably.  

I did make it back yesterday, got to the rack, no other trucks there.  I stopped the operator and told him I have no real appointment time and I didn't really want to be bumping someone else from their assigned time spot.  "Oh you're fine, I wasn't expecting you til' noon, but the next trucks aren't going to be here for a while"...something to that effect.  Sure enough, I was almost done getting loaded when the next truck showed up.  I actually did that operator a favor, if he had wanted to get home a bit earlier. 

Whatever the case, I met Taylor over in Longview, we had a bite to eat, got some books and over to the Petsmart for a few more fish.  Specifically wanted some more small Koi, a couple of fish for the boys and another angelfish. 

The angelfish is already dead but the rest of them seem to be doing okay.  The existing angelfish in the tank had a serious problem with another angelfish showing up and started poking at it.  I dunno if that was enough to kill the fish, but it was laying on the bottom of the tank, quite dead.

Today is a nothing day, I have nothing planned (Sunday) tho that doesn't mean I won't do anything, I just haven't planned anything. There will likely be a hike over at the property at some point and the rest? I am guessing much of it will spent home, right here where I'm at, at Command Central, lol. Maybe I'll clean out the SUV or mow the front yard. 

Oh, actually I do want to start on that SBA loan now that my credit score is in the territory it needs to be to actually have them even consider it.  No idea what the loan atmosphere is right now with a devalued dollar and high inflation.  The worst they can say is no - tho that is a lot of work to go through to get a no answer.  This is much more complicated and information specific than either of the last two loans I went through.  The last loan, especially, left a very bad taste in my mouth for lenders not being up front and asking for FAR more information than they initially let on. 

I will attempt to fill out the information and then I will have to decide whether I want to go through all of that again or not.  

I finally looked at my 401k account after not for quite a while for obvious reasons.  I was a bit shocked to see it down $8,000 and personalized rate of return at -13.68%.  It is well down from what it was even 6 months ago.  Like I'm throwing money away into a bon fire, it just disappears.  I'm seriously contemplating lowering the contribution rate to the 5% to get the employer matching contribution and then starting up another savings account and start dumping the rest into it for saving towards a rental property.  I could have 20% down for a property in about a year and a half.  

Real estate experts are indicating signs of another potential 2008 looming in the near or mid future.  Inflation is a big problem right now and the cost of - literally everything - is well up.  People in my parts complaining about spending hundreds of dollars for groceries and having half a cart worth when they leave the store.  

Meanwhile, Biden was joking about Trump being the "plague" - yet this dude is doing literally nothing about the runaway inflation and only recently, finally made a feeble  attempt  at bringing gas prices down. Remember, we were energy-independent.  Now we have a President running all over the world begging other nations to ramp up their oil production. I am all for green energy, but we aren't there yet!  It can't currently replace fossil fuels and probably won't be at the stage for a long time to come.  And now they're talking about student loan debt forgiveness - with even more experts predicting if they do it, inflation is going to go up even higher!

Trump might have had a salty style of speech and contempt for certain people, I'll grant that his demeanor had rather large areas that needed improvement, but we saw results.  I can list a huge chunk of them off the top of my head.  What has Biden done? They asked his supporters and many of them couldn't come up with anything.  They apparently don't care about the price of gas and the cost of groceries, let's get those police defunded!  And look at the results of that.  Murder rates up in big cities - where all of these defund the police people live - including cops being killed at record highs. 

And cops are leaving those big PD's and moving elsewhere.  In the name of social justice and wokeness, this nation is going to hell.

It was going to hell anywhere, for some very specific reasons - the main one IMO being abortion - anyways, these people are just pressing the gas pedal a bit further down to make sure we get there quickly.  

Here's one thing I am gathering from RVer groups - not the rv owners but the people actually traveling around the country.  They are still out there.  They have the same concerns as anyone else about the economy but they mostly aren't making plans to stop traveling, there are a LOT of full-timers out there, people who got rid of their homes and now live in their RV's.  A lot of them are saying they have changed their plans about how much traveling they will do, but the idea that they are just going away and not doing it anymore? No.

Their biggest complaints are about campgrounds, as always.  Dogs incessant barking, dog poop the owners don't clean up and dogs not on leashes.  Those are the biggies that I have been taking away with campgrounds that don't enforce their rules and dog owners not giving a damn about those rules or just common civility with other campers.  Beyond that is the same things I have been discussing for a while - small lots with hardly enough room for the slideouts to not be touching the slideouts of the camper next door.  Parks without amenities get some hits, but not near as much as these and other issues.

It emboldens me to really consider the "soft opening" where you just advertise that this is full hookups, yes, but there is nothing beyond that, well I'd get wifi in there just because it's available, they can get that done fairly quickly and it's sort of the definition of "full hookups".  

Anyway, I'm looking for someone to get out on the back 15 and finish up the trails.  I want it done - not just for future reference but for now so I don't have to go wading through thick thorn vines and such to make my way around back there.  I'd also like to get some of the dense stuff where I can't even walk through cleared out as well. I think I found someone, they have to come out and take a look to give me a quote.  Makes sense.

Anyway, enough of this.  

G'day. 

 Finally.

My credit score took a huge dive a few months ago.

I thought I had a pretty good understanding of credit scores, considering all I've been through getting it up to the excellent range, but of course they threw a curve ball at me that I didn't know about.  

  I paid a bunch of stuff well down in the last several weeks and the main one that tanked it - Bank of America credit card - brought it back up 52 points.  I'm hoping after everything hits - however long that's going to take - it will get back into the excellent range. At least it's out of the fair range.  I lost 15 points just paying off a loan.

I just don't understand a credit score that says, hey! You paid off a loan! We're going to hit you for it, not give you any credit for it!  I know why they do it, but it makes no sense. You  "eliminated" a credit account, a big no-no for credit scores, but if you take out loans, you will sooner or later pay them off? Why would they hit you for that? But it's happened several times now.  

Credit score is important to me because I know I'm going to have to take out a loan to finish off this park.  Fair score isn't going to cut it.  Good score might. Excellent score will definitely do it.  

I dunno, but now I know this "new" "stuff" about credit scores, I will be keeping an eye on each card that I use at appropriate times of the month.  \

Back from Brownsville, going right back out to Oklahoma tomorrow.  I'm a wee bit tired.  5 days in a row - all day driving all 5 days and tomorrow will be no different.  What changes is getting back on Saturday, I will be off for the rest of Saturday and then Sunday and Monday as well.  

I have 20 hours left on my 70 hour clock.  Meaning, according to that thing, I have worked 50 hours in the last 5 days.  But, that's far from reality.  It's just what I logged while driving, it doesn't show a lot of other stuff I have to do that I can put the thing on off-duty status while I'm doing it.  It's legal, yes, but it's more like 70 hours.  

I've pretty much stopped researching RV parks for the moment.  It's just a bit frustrating that literally nothing is getting done on the construction of it and nothing can be done with it. More rain forecast for the next 10 days.  Monday for sure it's going to rain, the rest of the days - all of them - are in the 20 percent range.  

And finally, I haven't decided yet to fly back to AZ for the 40 year reunion.  I have never been to one but spending that much money, just don't know if it's going to be worth it for less than 3 days worth.  So many people I want to see well beyond the scope of the reunion. My son, my mother, several friends, one specifically whose wife died late last year and he is hurting.  They were married a long time.  I'd really like to spend a day with him, just talking about her and the things that were so wonderful about her.  She was a really great person.

Anyway, time for bed. Another early load appointment time.  

 Not posting much while there isn't much going on. Hence the last post being 4 days ago. The Morris trip was uneventful. I got up to the plant, they were ready for me this time, it still took them 4 hours to get it done. You just come to expect that it's minimum 3 hours and probably more.  I stayed at my favorite place going up and coming back.  Going up because the loading plant wouldn't let anyone in the gate for an hour and 15 minutes while they dealt with a power outage - at the guard shack only. The rest of the plant was operational.

They made everyone wait that long before - probably someone much higher up - told them to let people in, the plant needs it's workers to run the damn place! lol Before we got to that, however, a bright, cheery lady came up to my truck and told me, you can go in now! Hurry! We have a sliver of power!  I got to the card scanner and baam - nothing lmao.

And then, this other lady came out of the guard shack shaking her head at me, obviously in a very  bad mood, talking down to me like I was a kindergartner in trouble.  Uhh, ma'am - she - pointing to the bubbly, spirited lady that was definitely not in a bad mood - told me to come in here.  She did?  Yes, she did. 

You don't win arguments with security personnel at these plants. They will just as soon throw you out of there as deal with you.  They actually made me back out of the entrance.  I can tell ya, the entrance ain't pretty and isn't fun to try and back around that corner.  But whatever, I'm not getting thrown out of there because of any attitudes from me, I just smiled and said sure!

My job is still intact, which is surprising to me because I don't really drive they way they think I should drive. It's worked for me for 38 years in the trucking industry.

But now, I'm in Brownsville.  I drove 300 miles, stopped for a break and then was going to stop at the 400 mile mark, where there is a Love's travel center and then drive on in the rest of the way.  But, I saw that I had enough fuel to make it all the way down, so I just kept driving past it. 

About an hour out from the Brownsville yard, I received a message that the person that runs the operation in Mexico said there will be a certain trailer there "shortly".  I know this guy and his predictions, they are almost always off - wayyyyyyy off.  The last time he said that, which was the last time I was down here, it was 5 hours after he made such a statement and a trailer actually showed up.

So I drove on through, trying to beat them bringing a trailer to the yard.  I can legitimately call it 14 hours of detention if I get here and there aren't any empties, whether they show up after I get here or not.  This is the manager's deal with them, I'm all for it.  But, alas, I got here and it had arrived, the other driver before me had just pulled out of the yard as well.  No detention, but no problem.

The property? LOL.  What's to report? More rain in the forecast.  When I say that, I'm ignoring the low percentage days and focusing on the high percentage days.  Saturday, there is a 71% chance of rain. That will ruin the several days of drying that have occurred before it and will blow this thing off another - who knows how long.  I'm almost desperate at this point to just get the thing going, please.  

But I don't have that kind of power, to stop the elements. God does, but it's the "April showers bring May flowers" time of the year.  

I'm considering whether I want to go to AZ for the class reunion or not. Airfare isn't exactly cheap right now.  To fly from the town where I work out of, it's around $700 round trip.  Lol, for a 3 day trip.  "But you make good money". I won't deny that, but that doesn't mean I want to just start throwing wads of $20's in the air and dance around like the village idiot exclaiming how wonderful it is to pay almost double what it cost last year!  You know, this inflation stuff? And pilot shortages? And pilot sick call ins - planned stuff where thousands of flights are cancelled in a single day?  Yea, that stuff.  

In other news, some troll got onto my Facebook page and started saying stuff that was unbelievable.  I had some public posts up  - where anyone can see them and comment on them.  Yea, if you aren't a friend on Facebook now?  You aren't commenting on anything and you aren't seeing any of it.  My friends list is now only viewable by me.  I can't believe some of the things people do on the internet to try and inflict harm and grief to others in the name of what? Fun?  Screwing with people?  I had friends only seeing my posts and then decided to go public for a while to see what would happen.  Goodness gracious!  That was a dumb move! 

Dang tho. I really need to see about 3 people in the Phoenix area.  I'm likely going to press the button, buy the tickets and swallow the bill.  I really need to get back for a weeklong visit, that wasn't in the cards.  My dispatcher was already complaining about me wanting any time off - a bit ridiculous to have vacation hours and only be able to use them when they tell you you can? Life doesn't happen that way, miss, things happen and sometimes and the most inopportune moments.  I didn't make the date for the reunion, I just wanted to go after missing the other 2.  They didn't have a 30 year reunion, but they had the 10 and 20 version of it.  I don't expect that that many of us will still be around for a 50 year reunion, if such a thing even exists.  

I'm just flip-flopping around in my thoughts.  There was something I really wanted to discuss - that is totally eluding me right now. I got caught up with attempting to get down here and beat the empty to the yard and everything just vanished out of my mind lol.  When I get back tomorrow afternoon, I will have enough hours for a Oklahoma trip and that's it.  I won't be shocked if I get sent out on that trip, either.  But,it would give me most of Saturday and all of Sunday off. That wouldn't be such a bad thing?  I really don't know how the dispatcher will handle it.  It's either what I said above or I'll get a 34 starting after I get back tomorrow and will have to go back to work on Saturday, late load.  I prefer to take the Oklahoma run, thanks, get a weekend mostly off.

Well, fatigue is hitting and it's getting my version of late. Early rise, must needs hit the sack.

G'nite.

 So, most of yesterday and all of today off.

Tomorrow off to Morris, Illinois, yet again. I had to open my big mouth and tell my dispatcher a while back that I like that run.

And yes, I do like that run, but I don't like it more than going to Brownsville while the detention pay is running.  I can make as much in a two day trip going down there as I do on a 3 day trip to Morris.

Of course, the flip side is detention won't last forever and then I'll be getting these runs while everyone else - won't be getting these runs.  Or I would assume since she keeps giving them to me. I'm hoping to make it back up to Farmersville tomorrow - the sports bar won't be open for dinner by the time I get there but it's still a nice place to stop for the night and it's as far as you can get on the best day up towards the plant.  

Tomorrow is Sunday, so the prospects of making it there are at least good.

Today? I took both boys to the salon and got them haircuts.  They were both well overdue, then Kroger's, then the bank, then the gas station, then Super 1 and home.  We got back and the older boy wanted to go hiking.  Great idea! The younger one said he wanted to go, but it gets old listening to him screaming, crying, carrying on while we're just trying to enjoy nature.  He's going to have to get a bit older before he can enjoy it as well.

The problem is that the trails aren't exactly 5 year old friendly.  There are all kinds of obstacles and tho I help him over and around them, he still fusses and cries the entire time.  He doesn't really want to go on a hike, what he really wants is for me to take him Waffle House afterwards. 

Hence, he wants to cut the hike short and just leave.  No thank you.  If I can't build the park on the property, I'm sure going to enjoy it as a nice place to get away from everything.  The 7 year old loved the hike and didn't mention any restaurants on the way home - which made it even nicer that he didn't have ulterior motives.  So I suggested it cause' I wanted to go to Applebee's and have lunch.  

After that, home and started making road food.  I rather enjoy just having a fridge in the truck full of tasty food and not having to stop anywhere to buy food.  My intended stops will have me nowhere near any real food - excepting of course the bar and grill, but I know they will be closed by the time I get there, if I even make it that far.  

I think - completely changing the subject - that Biden truly believes he is a great man.  It is now being stated that the Biden economy is even worse than the Carter economy, which is not a good thing by any stretch of the imagination.  He's backtracked on so many things. Anyway, not going to go into that too much, I tire of the news and seeing the constant barrage of Biden this and that - mostly failures.  I just watched him saying that he's going to turn the military "completely green" and was proudly boasting that he's going to spend billions of dollars doing it.  Inflation at records high.  The absolute chaos at the southern border - etc etc etc - I'm sure most readers are well versed on what is going on in this nation. 

Anyway, the family went to someone's house with the boys for them to get with some other kids to play.  I stayed home to prep food.  Keto lasagna - it's cheese noodles - and they are really good lol.  I mean, you eat this lasagna and you don't know you're eating a keto version if you aren't told in advance, it's that good.  Some wings for the road and just get everything ready for tomorrow morning, it's going to be an early day.  7:00 am start time isn't much better than 6:00 am. It gets the day done faster, yes but that's about all it does.  

My whole strategy at the loading plant has changed. The loading times have changed and if you get there early, you are likely going to be sitting there a while. It's happened that way several times now, I'm showing up maybe 10 minutes early and that's it.  I don't want to waste my 14 hour clock needlessly, getting there early for no good reason.  It used to be you get there early and normally you'd get loaded quickly.  

That's it.  I'm still debating Arizona trip. It's ridiculously high airfare, I've tried numerous different sites and there isn't much difference.  I looked a month ago and it was ridiculous then as well.  Inflation, fuel prices, whatever, I don't know, but it's a lot of money for a 2-1/2 day stint.  

Oh, the Shepherd.  I finally had to part ways with that dog.  I have had her for several years.  I always pride myself in being able to train dogs this that and the other thing. In her case? I totally failed.  It's not for lack of effort, or lack of spending the money and time.  

Unfortunately, the problems have increased over time, not decreased.  Jumping the fence, going to the neighbor's yard, digging through their trash.  We started caging her as the neighbors were getting pretty mad about it. She can jump over a 4 foot tall fence without touching it at all.  

Incessant barking. I don't know how many of those vibration collars I bought to deter her from doing that. It's not a pain collar, it's apparently just a vibration that dogs don't like. Well, this dog doesn't care about it and will bark anyway.  That stuff went on for years, actually, as much as I tried to deal with it, I was never successful. She also taught the other shepherd to jump the fence, so now that dog is also spending time in kennels.  That one isn't my dog.  

Those two things were huge irritants to not only me, but everyone else in the house. Taylor gets the text messages about the dogs.  But, I wasn't willing to get rid of her, I really don't "believe" in that, but I guess anyone's beliefs can change in such things.  

Then we had the last few weeks. The dog jumping the fence and taking off. Not just going over to the neighbor's house.  Barking at people while in my bedroom at other people in the house. Chewing things up.  All kinds of things and attempting to destroy the carpeting in my room.  Digging at it likes it's dirt outside.  And the final straw for me: she started peeing in the house.  I think I'm an accomplished dog owner, but again, in this case, I failed miserably and I will own up to it. I put up with this behavior for years, trying to find ways to change it to no avail.  I've never had such a disobedient dog that would just do whatever she wanted to do regardless.

I can't have everyone in the house dealing with this dog peeing all over the place.  It's not like she's not given plenty of potty breaks outdoors.  

 However. Admitting that I have failed, having her gone? I don't miss her at all.  I don't miss feeding a dog that caused everyone in the house so much misery and irritation.  She will make an excellent outdoors dog - I would have done that if I were living on property somewhere right now, but I'm not.  I'm in a city and cities have dog ordinances and this dog wasn't just breaking several of those, she was also being a nuisance inside the home. It wasn't just me, I think is the point here, that her foul actions were affecting.  

Remember, I am not here all the time and I have to rely on my extended family - that's what I call them, I really feel like family here - to take care of my dogs when I'm gone. When I keep getting text messages about this, that and the other thing this dog is doing or just did, you can feel the anxiety and irritation that person is experiencing.  

I'm pretty sure the problem with her was the deal with her pancreas not producing some enzyme that helps digest food. Yes, I spent the money on the vet to find out the problem and I have months supply of the tablets I have to give her.  I doubled the dosage after seeing she was still not gaining much weight.   She was hungry all the time - yes she had all the food she wanted to eat.  As I said, I tried and i tried for YEARS. Not days, weeks or months, years.  

I hope to never have to do this again. Definitely not doing it with Addler - he has his quirks but he's a good doggy.  His whole demeanor has changed since the Shepherd has been gone and I must say, for the better.  The poor dog has obvious discomfort when running after that surgery which cut part of his butt hole out. Well I don't know if it's discomfort or just a new "arrangement" for dealing with it while running.  He still gallops through the forest like a stampeding elephant lol.  He's so dumb sometimes.  Today, we were going through the forest, he had gotten away from us, but I could still see him. I started calling him, he was looking around as if totally lost!  He finally figured it out lmao.  I'm not demeaning my giant doggy, he's all love and hugs. 

If you feel differently about me after reading that, that's your choice.  I will receive no condemnation about it.  I tried...and tried....and tried.  It was negatively affecting many people's lives.  

So beit. 

 Morris run - well they kept me there long enough that I wasn't able to get near as far back towards Longview as I had wanted, but it was sufficient that the next day I was home early afternoon.  An Easter feast that was amazing, thanks to Taylor and her excellent cooking skills.  

Off to Brownsville the next day, which was Monday - 2 days ago - early load.  6am early.  

Getting to Brownsville, I had already been advised that the driver before me was going to get the only empty trailer available and then another was coming the next morning.

However.  That first driver was playing his games again. I know this guy, I know how he operates and I wasn't falling for it.  His attempt was to get me to take the empty trailer by disappearing.  He wasn't at the truck stop and he wasn't in the yard.  He does that alot.  This new dispatcher, however, gets all upset if you don't do as she instructs you - in this case, my taking an empty trailer that she had instructed someone else to take.

I wasn't taking it anyway, that detention pay was going to be mine.  So I left the yard and parked down the street a ways, out of sight.  Spent the night there and walked back to the yard the next morning - the empty trailer was still there.  Now I was thinking maybe the other driver didn't make it down here last night?  So, I contacted the dispatcher, who said he should have been there and gone with that trailer by now. 

As I thought. So he was playing games. However, it was 10 minutes and he appeared out of nowhere after that text to the dispatcher and was dragging the trailer out of the yard.  With that run and the Morris run, I will have an excellent paycheck next week and I don't really need anything else this week.  Of course, that may not happen that way, but it would be nice to have tomorrow off as well as today, foregone conclusion another weekend working.  

I dunno, but I drove until 1 am last night because they needed the trailer for today.  That was the only drawback of getting the detention pay yesterday. Long night.    I stayed in the truck in the yard versus coming home last night. 1, because I was too tired to drive home and 2, because the 5 year old would invariably come into my room while I'm sleeping and wake me up.  It was a good choice.  Coming home, I found that the 5 year old had come into my room while I was away, got into my bag of Skittles and also destroyed the wifi adapter that plugs into my computer for wifi - which is right next to where the Skittles are.  I think my room needs to be locked up at night. 

I bent the plugin part of the adapter back into place hoping it would work at least temporarily, and it did.  But, I either need to drive around town or even drive clear back to Longview to buy another one, or buy one online and hope this one works until it arrives in the mail.

Today? I don't feel like doing anything, but I desperately need a haircut and of course would like to see if I can track down an adapter and probably stop somewhere for food  just because I want to.  Other than that? Likely nothing for I am simply going to rest and prepare myself in case another run is unloaded on me tomorrow.  Which would be a late load because I'm sure they want me to get a 34 hour reset.  However, if it's not late, she can send me out early to Oklahoma, the only run I can do with the available hours on the 70 hour clock that are remaining and then, I can come back the next day and have a weekend day off.  That would be nice.

One can dream : )

I drove by the property on the way home from work a little while ago. I didn't expect to see any equipment out there, it's been raining and raining again off and on today.  But, I do think my newest change is appropriate in moving the first spaces well back from the front.  I was surprised to see a bunch of horses, donkeys, mules and cows on the next door neighbor's property.  It's a small piece of property, the ranch next to him must be using it.  They probably have an agreement.  Those cattle will eat all of that grass down just like it was freshly mowed.  

But it was the first time I saw any livestock on that property. I don't see that as problem.  Sometimes the cows start howling when the owner comes with a trailer full of hay, other than that it's pretty quiet.

I don't have anything else, much of anything else anyway, right now. We are looking into fireworks sales.  What it will take to get the appropriate permits and license to be able to sell them.  Why? Because they obviously make a lot of money for the short period of time they are open during the year.  I want to get business going. If I can't get the RV park going for another year or however long, I will find something else that doesn't have to have the earth work done.  I can have a fireworks stand on the front of my property - it is in the county and there are no restrictions against it. You have to be properly licensed, of course, by the state, but they don't try to tell you what you can and cannot do with your property.  The city forbids the sales or use of fireworks.  

G'day  

 At the plant near Morris, Illinois, 73 miles from Chicago.  No, this is not a suburb of Chicago, thankfully, it's a farming community with very small population that also just happens to have this plant built out in the middle of it.  I always wonder why they build these plants out in the middle of nowhere.  

Anyway, I pushed it yesterday and made it 662 miles, a personal record for this run. I'm normally out of hours by the time I make it just south of St Louis and I go to an "unknown" truck stop. Well, it's known to the locals that live there, but the general trucking public never goes in to it.  It really doesn't look inviting when you get off the Interstate and look at the turn you have to make and then the little road that loops around to another highway with the truck stop right there.  Well, I had plenty of time left by the time I got to that exit and I figured I'd just wing it and find a place to stop.

Farmersville, IL is where I ended up at a Jack Flash truck stop.  It was a decent place to stop and to top it off, there is a sports bar with decent food 2 blocks away.  It was obviously a town favorite as it was full of families, versus a "bar crowd" which was fine by me.  I was looking forward to having some wings - and they were out.  I then decided on the Walleye special - they were out of that as well lol.  

Anyway, I made it up here, the plant, much earlier than I have ever arrived here - only to find a rail car sitting at the unloading rack. That pretty much did me in right then and there. The last time that happened up here, I was sitting here for 18 hours.  I was hoping to make it home tomorrow for Easter dinner.  Went up to the intercom at the gate and informed them I was here and the guy on the phone said it'll be "40 minutes" before we can come get you.  A ray of hope, only 40 minutes?  

It turned into 2 hours unfortunately.  2 hours beyond the amount of time it takes them to unload, which is usually 3 to 4 hours.  They insist on bringing the pressure in the trailer down to zero - which is neither necessary or even warranted.  Often times, when they bring the pressure all the way back down, air gets back into the trailer and then, when you go to the plant to load it, they have to get the air back out of it, which can take hours.  There is reason to keep some pressure in the tank and that's it.  Since this product is volatile and highly flammable, the possibility of explosion is high if there is anything more than a trace amount of oxygen in it.  

But, this place insists on it and that is why it takes so long to get out of here, beyond the wait to even get the trailer TO the loading rack.  I can always tell when they're done unloading because they then turn on the giant flare - which makes a LOT of noise.  I've been here 2 hours since I finally got the trailer in there and no flaring yet.  I need a minimum of 4 hours on duty time left on the clock to at least be able to make it back to St Louis so I can make it back to the yard tomorrow.  I've got 2 more hours I can sit here before I can kiss Easter at home goodbye.

Well take that back, I can use a 16 hour exception which adds 2 more hours to the 14 hour clock.  

But you see, even if I can make it back to St Louis - the longer I sit here, the later in the day tomorrow I will get back. I was "hoping" I would just have to be here 3 to 4 hours and be back no later than 3:00 pm tomorrow afternoon. 

I'm not really feeling sorry for myself, lol, I just like being home especially on holidays.  The other contention is that there are storms I will encounter on the way back that will invariably slow progress down. 

I guess I should also just shut up about the weather that continuously keeps moving over my town and dumping rain on the property. It's shrug shoulders time.  April showers bring May flowers. It's April, there's showers, property will sit with zero further progress until mother nature decides to relent from the constant onslaught of raining all over everything and give me a break and opportunity to move forward.  To think that I could have all of that done now and be working on everything else.  You know, once the utilities, sites and driveways are complete, I can do a "soft open". I don't have to have anything else out there to get the operation up and going.  Just give a reduced rate, clearly state it's just lots and full hook ups only, the rest of the park is still being built and start getting some income from the thing.  

Why not? As long as it is clearly stated - there are no bathrooms, no wifi, nothing else here but the lots - all of the rest of it is being worked on, but feel free to come and stay if you need a place to park.  The only thing I will need to be able to do a soft opening beyond all of above stated stuff are the picnic tables and fire rings.  Well, get the grass growing as well. Kind of need that going fairly well before I want to have people there - they won't like dirt lots.  Oh and the reservation system will need to be up and running, but I trust the dude that started the website will be able to do that in short order.  Ooops and will need park insurance - lol all the things this operation will need even to have a soft opening.  I'm told you need to start 3 months in advance to contact the insurance companies that actually do RV park coverage.  They are very busy right now.  RV parks are a "thing" and people are buying them up and more people are building them.  

But, even a soft opening seems like an eternity away.

Oh well.  Facing today's waiting time is enough for me.  Plenty to read about in the news - tho much of what the news is full of right now is bleak, evil and wretched.  The economy, inflation, the chaos at the border, the slaughtering of innocents in this Russian war - etc ad-infinitum.  

Maybe I should just take a nap, lol.  The world's evils will never cease until Christ returns. 

Oh  and pay. Yes, I finally got the unpaid pay deposited, it was for 2 runs.  But the other day, I also noticed that they had included one of them in this week's regular pay.  Like, they did that after I said something about it and instead of paying me immediately, they were just going to dump it into a regular paycheck.  So now, I have been paid twice for that particular run, which was $1,700 - times two.  Yup, I said something, not trying to get away with anything, but they still paid it anyway in my regular check.  I made the effort to inform them of it, that's on them if they don't come looking for it back. Which would entail deducting it out of future paychecks.  They won't be able to come back and ask my why I hadn't said anything if they don't catch it - I never erase text messages from work related stuff.

NEVER.  It's proof of many things that have been stated.  

Yes, a nap sounds good.

G'day.