I've been watching my phone blowing up for a couple of days now.  Drivers pissed about the new rule that basically gives us the shaft.  

There are so many versions of what is actually happening that I decided I would try to get my manager to tell us what is actually going on.

I wrote him a short text, it wasn't long before he called me back.

I do mean, call, not text.  The ensuing 40 minute conversation was appalling. Not because of anything he is doing, but what the company is doing to him.  I have a lot of respect for this guy, he makes things happen and he has 84 drivers under him. 

He started out with 14.  They didn't give him a pay raise to be elevated to a regional manager ...well this is way too long of a story to go into right now. I'm fixing to go to bed and I just have to say, my company is even worse than I thought it is. 

Whatever the case, he said that the detention pay isn't going away, at least as far as he knows it. Yes, they were trying to do away with it, some lady that got hired over the safety department attempting to reinvent the wheel.  

There was so much information he gave me.  Our main competitor is getting more trailers converted to the product we haul from a different product they used to haul.  We will see even more work going away I guess.  I don't really care at this point, this is the way the trucking industry goes and it's cut throat.   

Anyway, he suggested that if I don't get paid for any detention time that I am owed, call corporate and threaten to quit.  Huh?  Yes, just tell them you are quitting. They aren't letting anyone go at this point.

Interesting, because my observations are that they get rid of people at the drop of a hat.  

Right now? I'd be happy to just have an empty down there waiting and not have to try to push this thing.  Not saying I won't push it if push comes to shove, I just rather wouldn't have to deal with it.  

Oh, and nothing that has been told any of us drivers: my manager has been put "out of service" and he doesn't know if he's coming back or not.  He is not actually our manager right now, even tho the company hasn't bothered to tell us that little tidbit of information.  

He is righteously pissed about the way the company is treating him, I can say that much.  For me? Yup, just laying low and seeing what's going to happen. No threats of quitting coming from me, other drivers are out looking for new jobs.  One of which apparently already found one.  

They were having a job fair today and hiring drivers on the spot, so he told me and I looked it up and sure enough, they were. However, I'm not interested in finding a new job, I'm interested in just keeping this one and making the same damn money I've been making, not taking a pay cut.  

Whatever.  

I'll drive all day long tomorrow and operate normally, empty or no empty available, it's after the fact that the fireworks may fly.  

Price of everything has, of course, gone up.  By 4 grand just for the water and septic install. That's how much the price of pipe has gone up since I got the first quote. I don't even know about the electrical but I intend on finding out soon.  Like, now.  Totally forgot about it today, I got back from Oklahoma and then got the news that the AC in my vehicle has another bad valve. 

This valve is allegedly located in a box in the middle of the dashboard.  Like take the dashboard off to get at it and an accompanying large price tag to fix it.  Call me spoiled, but it's hot out and I"m not going to be driving all summer long in a hot vehicle.  I'm going to be driving the thing to work and back until they get the part in, I went to get it today. 

They wanted to keep it for 4 days sitting there doing nothing while they wait for the part to come. Uhh, no thanks.  I have to go to work, I'll pay up whatever now and the rest after you get the part in and then get it going.  

I dunno what else. Between everything going on at work and trying to get this park going, my mind is rather preoccupied.  

Not to mention the fact I've been off work for 13 days up until this Oklahoma run and not going to see any paycheck this week and a very small one next.  I'm going to have to keep busy until vacation at the end of next month to even think about getting caught back up.  

Yeah.  No. No as in gag, I don't want to be driving all over creation but it's how I make money currently and it is what it is.

Anyway, it's bedtime and I need to get offa here.  

 I'm finally starting to feel - much better.  Still a bit low on the energy levels but the coughing has gone way down.  I'm not asking to go back to work earlier than Monday and they probably have Monday filled up so it's probably going to be Tuesday before I can go back to work. It's far too long for taking work off, but I had little choice. There was simply no way I could have worked, especially that kind of work, feeling like that.  Even a short trip would have just been beyond miserable.

So I go a week without a paycheck? Actually more than a week, closing in on 2 weeks.  Amazing they don't push me to come back or threaten to fire me if I don't.  Then again, they aren't exactly busting at the seams with new prospects wanting to join the driving ranks.  I dunno why they allow employees off so long for sickness, it's part of life but I know some companies won't "tolerate" it.  If I can't work, I can't work. Not like I try to find excuses to get out of work on a frequent basis.  

Anyway, I went over to the property yesterday to see what the guy had done with the box attachment and then bush hogging it after I said I wanted it all done.  It's ok, but I guess there is no good way to get rid of the sticks sticking up after the initial tree clearing. The closest thing to gone that I have seen of that stuff is the dirt work they did with the bulldozer. Even that still has some "stuff" sticking out, but it's pretty minimal.  I don't know, but I'm going to put grass seed down on this freshly dragged portion, there is plenty of exposed soil.  I really don't know what else I can do besides going around with cutters and cutting all of these sticks down by hand - there are hundreds of them.  

I'll wait before going to that much trouble, see if these sticks are going to push out leaves and start trying to grow or not. If not, they can just sit there and rot, it isn't worth that much effort.  I do wonder if a riding mower would cut those things down tho.  I've been looking at used zero turns going as low as $800.  

I also met with the contractor, he was out there measuring distances.  He's aware that I'm trying to keep costs down and says he does things to make it as minimal as possible.  For example, instead of running a main sewer line along the driveway, you just cut across the lots where all of the outlets will be.  That way you save all of that pipe that you would otherwise need going up and down the lots.

Some people would balk at this - what happens if you need to repair it? Well, if I need to repair any of that within the next 20-30 years, they did a poor installation.  Otherwise,  there won't be any issues with it and nothing will have to be dug up. Same with electricity.  And water pipe.  

So, he said he doesn't make any money off of the pipe, he just charges me whatever he gets charged. Good, I replied, is it okay if I try to get it cheaper? I still have connections in the waterworks industry.  Sure!  Not trying to bring my own steak to the restaurant but since he said he doesn't make any profit there really isn't any reason not to let me at least try. I'll get middleman pricing.  Or maybe a very small percentage tacked on to it.  They'll charge me their cost plus whatever it cost them to ship it to their store.  I dunno, tho, this guy has been in business for 30 plus years, he may have good contacts.  

I'm waiting for him to send me the list.  

Well, this one isn't going to go on too long.  Just hanging out, resting mostly, trying to get better. 

 While I've been sick and out of it - still am, getting better I can say finally, but far from ready to go back to work, a new development has happened at work. 

Our manager said a while back that they are going to get rid of detention pay, which I thought a joke at the time, but apparently, that joke has become reality.  

He sent out an email several days ago saying that payroll will no longer pay for detention time that isn't done while in on-duty status.  

This is a huge blow to detention pay.  Up until now - the entire time I've worked there - we have been able to go off duty while on detention, we aren't working, we aren't responsible for any trailers, at least not in Brownsville which is the vast majority of our detention pay, but we do get some at the loading plant as well.  

Basically, the company is stealing our pay - they get paid whether we do or not for detention and they certainly don't have to go "off duty" to get it, they just bill the customer.  

It has caused a considerable uproar with all the drivers.  I estimate it's a minimum $15,000 per year of our pay, probably a lot more actually.  

Here's the Brownsville scenario before this new "initiative" it was labeled as was implemented.

You get to Brownsville, drop the loaded trailer. If there isn't an empty, you show it on your tour trip sheet and then you go off duty.  You don't go back on duty until an empty trailer shows up, which could be any amount of time later, usually no longer than a day, occasionally 2 days.  

Now, with the new "initiative", you will have to either stay on duty once you arrive for however long you can - up to 14 hours so maybe another hour and a half, but then, you have to go off duty for 10 hours.  So, if I show up down there at 9:00 pm, I might stay on duty until 10:30 pm, then have to take a 10 hour off duty break - of which we will no longer get paid for.  So, in this scenario, I go back on duty at 8:30 am and then stay on duty until an empty trailer arrives.  

So, on a typical day down there, it shows up at 3:30 pm.  I was on duty after arriving the night before for 1:30 hours, plus the 7 hours the next day, I will get 8 and a half hours of detention pay instead of the normal 14 I would have received.  See how that works? I just took a 5 and a half hour pay cut.  

But the problems have only just begun for the company.  Because while they are attempting to shaft us, they are giving themselves a huge headache as well.  If we want the detention pay at the loading plant, we will have to stay on-duty the entire time.  So, if I'm there 3 hours, that means I will definitely not be making Brownsville the same day.  Now you've turned a 2 day trip into 3 days.  What's the problem with that? Well, they won't have that empty trailer back up the next day to load it.  So now, the customer gets screwed and pissed - the Mexico company coordinator has a short fuse.  

Hire more drivers? Sure, where are the trucks? We are already driving old junk.  And you'd have to increase the number of trailers as well. At $350,000 a piece, that probably isn't going to happen.  

So, drivers are forcing their hand. I'm out of the game at the moment but I'd definitely be a part of that scenario. They want to take away pay for not more reason that corporate greed, they are going to pay as well.  Actually, several drivers are out looking for new jobs, saying they can drive a regular tractor-trailer rig (not hazmat tanker stuff) for the same money as we will now be making and not have to deal with all of the hassle.  

There is definitely some hassle involved with hazmat and cryogenics and tanker trailers.  

We're definitely looking at a pay cut and a substantial one with this new and improved driver rip-off scam.  And yes, there are plenty of regular dry van jobs that pay well, but in my case, I don't want to be out that much.  Most of that requires you to be out a minimum week at a time and most of them are longer than that. No thanks.  But, I would start seriously looking into local jobs.  

I have no idea when this RVpark is going to come to fruition or if it's going to haul in some decent revenue, as I have said several times, there is risk involved with any business venture and I will have a decent amount of money put into this project.  I'm confident I can make something work eventually if my initial business plan doesn't generate the revenue I need it to.  

This isn't exactly a situation I wanted to have to deal with right now, what with everything else that's going on and I am nowhere near making any kind of decision about what to do next.  I want to wait a bit and see what effect all of us spending extra days on runs is going to do for the motivation of the company to want to keep current, very lucrative contracts.  Or, as this company is want, they don't care who leaves and will just eat it.  

The company seems to take pleasure getting rid of people and any senior employee in the company that is open about it will tell you there is literally no job security.  You get what you can out of it while you can and the....move on.  For me, moving on was hopefully full time RV business, not another trucking company.  

Oh, and I also want to see, speaking of waiting to see what happens, what kind of paychecks I will get without any or very little detention pay on them.  You see, if they could just keep us moving on the Brownsville run - versus sitting around waiting alot - we can make as much money.  Of course, I love sitting around getting paid but I've done plenty of Brownsville runs without any detention pay at all and the paychecks came out well.  The problem, of course, is the Mexican company and their flare for getting empty trailers up whenever they please to do so.  It's a really weird thing. Because then, if they don't get them up in time, they start crying about not having enough product - be we can't haul product without trailers.  

They have fully 7 of our trailers on lease plus they have 6 of their own trailers.  Yes, they have 13 trailers of this stuff and the bulk of those trailers sit down in Alta Mira, Mexico, loaded and waiting to be used.  

Anyway, it is what it is and I'll have to somehow deal with it.  It's really kind of crappy this company is doing this to us, tho.  The dispatchers must be having a lot of added stress on them, this deal is coming from corporate, higher ups.  I don't know that they understand the headaches they are now creating for themselves with drivers being out longer than ever before getting back on any given trip.  

Coughing is subsiding even more.  I'm still having rather violent episodes but at least there are fewer of them.  

 So, this is day 8 of this nonsense.  11:00 am on a Thursday morning, I would really like to get back to work, but there is just now way I'm doing that until I feel at least a bit better than what I am now. I'm at probably 50-60% right now, that's just not good enough.  

My 401k is down almost $13,000 with the "stock market crash" some are now calling it that is currently going on.  Down another 700 points today, I can only be thankful I got the old 401k out when I did.  At least it was well ahead of where I had ended with it at that employer.  

I've been following some things closely - the food supply, gas prices-oil, inflation, supply chain.  You know, at this point, I don't care who is responsible for all of this, let's fix it.  The problem is, the current administration thinks that spending even MORE money is the answer. Why can't these people just listen to neutral academics in the world of economics and understand that government spending is NOT the answer, it's the PROBLEM.  

I was not a fan of the government Covid stimulus from the get-go, people being paid to stay home an do nothing. A bit of that was bias - I was still working and have been the entire time - but the other part is that I have never believed that the government is your daddy and you should rely on it to the point of it dictating your whole life.  I had no idea at that time, however, the extent of the problems those payments would cause' further down the road.

Now, people don't want to work. Not everyone, of course, but small business especially suffering nationwide due to labor shortages.  There are plenty of heathy, able people that can work, there is no problem with that. But they are now demanding much higher wages for unskilled labor, or so we thought. Then a bunch of places started offering those higher wages and then what? They still won't work.  I still wonder how these people are all surviving, is  a bare existence on meager government programs any kind of life?  

And we found out how dependent we are on China and how China is taking over American industry and buying up millions of acres of American farmland.  Why do we allow this to persist? It's a communist run nation, there is no good reason to allow this.  They certainly won't allow us to go over there and start buying up all of their land?  

Whatever the case, I just wonder where this all ends, or how it turns out. Because from what I'm seeing, these lefties are in love with Marxism and they will stop at nothing to get rid of capitalism and property ownership/rights.  No one owns property in a communist run nation.  And no one is motivated to do much of anything in such a scenario, when your efforts are betrayed by a nation that takes everything away from you the second you "earn" it and it is given back to the people.  The problem, of course, is that no version of socialism or communism has ever worked, that's historical fact that is easily sourced.  

Meanwhile, back to my little world, the contractor is allegedly coming out today to do measurements and the bushhog guy is going back yet again. I was like, dude, I am not paying you that much money until the whole entire thing is completed as you promised.  He did smooth out the front, yes, but he didn't mow down all the weeds.  I'm sure he wants paid, he will get it when he's actually done. 

The sign people disappeared after I offered a couple of changes.  They have full time jobs, I don't expect them to get this done overnight.  But I do want to get that sign out there.  And the ATV? Nothing lol.  That's the way things go around here lmao. 

I would say the ATV is holding up starting commencement on the bridge, but I don't have the energy to go out there and do anything like that anyway.  There is no way besides hand carrying all of that stuff back hundreds of feet to get all those materials back there without having the ATV available to 

OIC. The sign people were somehow waiting on me to get back to them, even tho I got back to them and was awaiting an answer from them lol.  Ok, whatever, let's move along here.  I also have to meet a fencing guy out at the property, but I need to determine where I want that doggy park first and lay it out.  

There are a lot of different aspects to this proposal that I am working on and there are a lot more to go. The legal aspects I haven't really even delved into yet nor the insurance, excepting I have found 2 nationwide companies that specialize in RV park insurance. Once utilities are installed, I will get general insurance to cover any losses, but not the RV park version of it until we're closer to opening day.  Taxes are a mystery to me and I'm going to need software or something that makes it easy.  I'm not fixing to try and skirt taxes, I just need help with it - like a LOT of help.  Insurance probably won't be a headache tho I'm a little leery of the price tag, I figure liability might turn into a headache and right now, I have enough headaches from being sick.  It's just something I will tackle when I get to it.  

I don't want to get burdened down with huge legal fees trying to get thing going.  I'll have to start researching it, I guess, perhaps there are some suggestions in the RV managers/owners groups I am in.  Others have asked but all I saw was "seek legal counsel". Maybe I really only need to discuss with RV park insurance agents about liability issues and not really need the input of lawyers.  

What I'm going to do, tho, is go to one of the websites of one of the huge, RV resort style places and go through the registration and see if there is a bunch of legalese included on the forms anywhere.  If anyone is going to have such verbiage, those huge resorts will. They spend millions of dollars building those parks, they have something to lose if things go south.  

Ok, my energy levels just went bye-bye. G'day.  

 I feel like I have just taken a tour of the depths of hell.

The coughing has been incessant. Prescription cough medicine only works for a little bit and then the coughing comes right back. And we aren't talking about a light cough, we're talking full throttled hacking...and it accomplishes nothing.  I can hear the sounds of wheezing every time I exhale, I haven't had bronchitis in a long time. I had forgotten how seriously foul this sickness is and how much it affects my system. 

My manager said at the beginning of this after I found out what it was: "Well thankfully it's just bronchitis".  I had to give him a history of my life with asthma and severe respiratory issues and the fact that Covid is actually preferably to bronchitis.  I haven't heard from him since, but it's been that way throughout my life, that when I get bronchitis I have to give an explanation of why it hits me so bad and that it is far worse than what happens to most people. 

Now? My head and my torso are absolutely aching from coughing so much.  I called the doc office yesterday and they just said "well wait a few more days". I would like to think they could give me more powerful cough medicine, even if it's stuff you can't drive on - I'm not driving so what difference does it make except to give me some relief from this internal animal. 

Meanwhile, the painters have come up with a pretty decent version of what a painted sign would look like.  I wanted a few changes of which I am waiting for them to show me.  The bush hogger dude was out there yesterday with a box attachment and smoothed out the dirt. I forced myself to drive over there and take a look. It looks decent but he didn't finish up by using the attachment to cut down the weeds.  So, he will have to do that to get the money I promised him for that job - I have all of that in writing.  

I have heard nothing from the contractor, but I need to get the pipe out there.  Dunno if I have the energy for that today. I did sleep last night, albeit waking up multiple times last night with extreme coughing fits, in 12 hours of laying in bed I probably got 9 hours of sleep. That's the first night I've gotten any decent amount of sleep since this thing began, but it doesn't seem prudent to just get up and walk out the door acting as if all is hunky dory, let's go back to work!  

It wouldn't take much to load up that light pipe onto the trailer tho, and it definitely needs to be done before they do any gravel work. I've sent him some texts about the next steps - I don't feel like talking to anyone on the phone atm.  

Well that was quick. The contractor has been doing doctor's appointments - in Houston? - why he would drive clear down there, who knows, maybe a specialist, but he said he forgot about the rolling, but they install the utilities first before rolling it.  He said he would measure it all and give me a quote on the pipe.  However, he already gave me a quote on that so I'm not sure what he's talking about.  Again, if there are even more costs to this than I know about, this would have been good to know before making any commitments.  I dunno, but this project has taken on more costs than I originally knew about and it's getting a bit disconcerting.  

However.  Once the pipe, electric and sewer is run to the lots, expanding won't cost near as much. The utilities will already be in place, it's only a matter of adding on to it. 

__________

Wrote that 2 days ago. The coughing is beginning to subside. When I say that, the coughing spasms are still hellish but there are few of them.  Working has been out of the question.  I just got through talking to dispatch, they're like, get better first before coming back.  Yes, thank you, at least they have that part right.   

This campground's rules is close to what I want to incorporate.  A few things I will eliminate and others I will change.  But it's a good template. I'm looking at others as well, make sure I'm not missing anything.  

 Check in time 1:00 

Check out time 12:00

Reservation cancelations must be made 48 hours in advance, by email only.  Cancelations made at: reservations@jbrv.net

Extended time for check out. Must check with office first and is based on availability.  
     * 1:00.........$10.00
        3:00.........$25.00
        5:00.........$40.00

$30 ALL NSF CHECKS

NO ONE  MAY CHANGE SITES WITHOUT PERMISSION

No clotheslines or hanging clothing or towels

10:00 pm curfew for children, they must be back at site unless with an adult.

You are allowed 1 unit and 1 car per/site.    
    *  There is a $10.00 fee for an additional vehicle.

Quiet time: 10:00pm - 8:00am. Unnecessary noise, drunkenness and disorderly conduct will NOT be allowed and may result in immediate eviction. 
     *  $250.00 Late call out fee (after hours disturbance)

Dogs must be on a leash

You are responsible for your child's safety at all times

Clean up after your pet

Personal and rental golf carts are allowed at the park. Only adults can driver motorized vehicles.

No aggressive dogs

$25 Site clean up fee (if above average cleaning needed)

No mats on the grass
     *  You are welcome to put mats on the concrete however.

All vehicles must be parked on the concrete on your site. Do not park on the roadway. No parking on the grass.
     *  Extra vehicles can be parked in designated parking areas.                   Please check with the office and get a parking permit.

No open ground fires. Fires are permitted only in certain areas of the park. 
     *  But... Personal fire pits are allowed!

General Policies

YOUR RESERVATION IS NOT CONFIRMED, UNTIL YOU RECEIVE YOUR RESERVATION NUMBER. (5 DIGITS NUMBER)
NOTE: RATES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT NOTICE.

I.

ANY RIGHTS GRANTED TO REGISTERED GUESTS IN OUR RV PARK ARE THROUGH A REVOCABLE LICENSE WHICH MAY BE REVOKED AT ANY TIME.    UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES SHOULD YOU CONSIDER YOURSELF A TENANT WITH A LEASE.

V.

THE MANAGEMENT ASSUMES NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ACCIDENTS, INJURIES OR LOSS FROM ANY CAUSE.

II.

MANAGEMENT IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR INJURY OF PERSON, PETS OR LOSS OR DAMAGE OF PERSONAL PROPERTY CAUSED BY FIRE, THEFT, ACCIDENT, OR ACTS OF GOD. NO SKATEBOARDS, ROLLER BLADES, BIKES OR RUNNING ALLOWE ON THE HANDICAP RAMP AND DECKS.

VI.

THE JAMAICA BEACH RV PARK WILL NOT TOLERATE ANY OBNOXIOUS OR OFFENSIVE ACTIVITY OF ANY SORT THAT COULD INTERRUPT AND OR ADVERSELY AFFECT THE ENJOYMENT OF OTHER PARTIES UTILIZING OUR FACILITIES.

III.

MANAGEMENT RESERVES THE RIGHT TO REFUSE OR DISCONTINUE SERVICE TO ANYONE, AT ANYTIME, FOR ANY REASON, INCLUDING CONDITION AND OR TYPE OF CAMPING UNIT, AND LIMIT OF PEOPLE PER SITE.

VII.

IN THE EVENT OF OBNOXIOUS OR OFFENSIVE ACTIVITY, IN THE JUDGEMENT OF  MANAGEMENT, THE PARTIES RESPONSIBLE FOR SUCH ACTIVITIES WILL BE REQUIRED TO LEAVE THE PARK IMMEDIATELY, WITHOUT REFUND.

IV.

ALL SALES ARE FINAL, THERE IS A ZERO REFUND POLICY IN PLACE.

VIII.

Pet Policy

I.

PET POLICY: DOG OWNERS ARE REQUIRED TO KEEP DOGS ON LEASHES AND IMMEDIATELY PICK UP AFTER THEM.  AGGRESSIVE DOGS ARE NOT ALLOWED IN THE PARK. THERE IS A DOG UNLEASH AREA BY THE FRONT OF THE PARK.  NO PETS IN THE POOL AREAS, CLUBHOUSE OR BATHROOMS.

 This idea of being awake all night long, not being able to sleep, is getting very old. I finally managed to fall asleep at around 5:00 am, slept 2 hours and that was that.  The other nights, it was coughing keeping me awake, last night it was the medication I'm taking that kept me awake.  I'm not going to stop taking the medication simply because I can't sleep, I will just not be going into work tomorrow and that's that.  

I still have the house alone, at least until sometime this afternoon, I will likely try to take a nap in between now and then.

My allotment is 200 milligrams per day, that's the max.  Cholesterol, that is.  I'm kind of treating this like keto, tho, and low carb.  Look for the lowest cholesterol options with at least semi-low carbs and that's it. I was thinking spaghetti chicken today - red meats are totally off the menu for the time being.  The sauce has a bit of cholesterol at 35 milligrams, but, I am not eating that much right now due to being sick and not doing much of anything, so that's acceptable.  

It's Sunday morning and I will not be getting anything done today beyond perusing the internet for more ideas.  I was looking at a campground yesterday with a particular set of rules that interests me.  The rule is, you clean up your lot when you leave or get assessed minimum $25 fee.  

Why would I want to do that? Because I won't be there to clean lots and I really don't want to have to pay anyone.  I can clean them when I'm in town of course, which is fairly frequently, but certainly not a daily event.  The fee, if assessed, could be given as money off to the next guests showing up and they could clean the lot up if they so choose or just get the money back and that's that. 

This isn't, I am finding, a huge issue with most campground owners besides pet owners not cleaning up dog dung and people throwing cigarette butts everywhere.  Many of them say for the most part, they really don't have any cleaning to do at sites except hauling out the ashes from the fire pits.  I don't assume that others do this, but I will be having a trash can at every lot.  This will facilitate most people to simply throw it away versus chucking it on the ground.

If I could get away with putting cameras on every lot, well, I could see who is cleaning up and who isn't.  Of course, I don't believe that would be very ethical or right - seems kind of creepy actually, so I won't be doing that.  In the eventual day that I can be there full time - I truly hope at some point - I can check every lot after people leave.  I may still charge a fee for not cleaning up when there is ample facilities there for guests to do it themselves.  What are they going to do, get on Google and leave a bad review about how that mean owner charged them a fee for them leaving their trash laying around?  

I may have to succumb to the idea of long term renters.  There are more parks going up in the region, I really didn't expect that. I say region, meaning they are at least 50 miles away, but that's relatively close when you're talking about trying to get the travelers to stop at your place for the night. 

What is so great about your place that's better than the others?  That's the question campground owners who have been in the business for years ask me and others attempting to get started in it.  You need something to appeal to the senses and make them say, yes! That's where I want to be!  I figure my doggy park to be 75X100 in size.  Not too big but not small, either.  I figure the trees and the walking trails through the forest will be an immense pleasure for those that are nature enthusiasts.  

It's going to be hyped up greatly on the website and it's going to have aerial photos and even a video of it.  There are places around with minimalist walking trails, yes, but nothing what I am creating.  It's a small investment to get people into the campground.  

When they get to the utilities, I am going to be scrutinizing the electrician's work. Not because I know anything about stringing up lines all over the place, but that's exactly the point.  I can see how they do it and then run a line clear to the back of the property and have electricity back there for more "modern" camping. This would give tent campers the option to run an AC unit in their tent.  I have done that in the past when I'm going to a place where I know it's going to be ridiculously hot.  Hopefully the well back there is still good and I can run water line from that and then....I dunno about waste.  I think to begin with, simply rent some outhouses.  

Or probably just one to start with and see what kind of interest I get. This will be heavily advertised to locals who want to go camping but don't want to drive a hundred plus miles to do so.  In fact, locals will get a discount and they can spread the word.  

A swimming pool is simply going to have to wait, much as I don't want to. I mean, I could throw up an above ground pool with a deck, but that might look gaudy and probably offer risk that insurance companies might not be interested in taking.  The sticking point is that none of the other parks in my immediate area have a swimming pool. Most of the parks are just long termers with junky RVs and extremely messy outdoor living areas, a thing I will not tolerate.  Keep it clean and keep it tidy or get out.  I am going to start working on rules, perhaps today.  

In fact, I was looking at one of the "better" RV parks here a few days ago via satellite and was surprised at how small it is and how crammed in the spaces are together.  Old school "technology", yes, but you'd think they'd upgrade it.  People want those pull-through sites and will pay more for the privilege.  I have 7 of them.   

Wifi is also on the list, something I keep spacing out to at least call them and find out how long it will take to get on their list to come out and wire everything up.  It might be a good wait, I dunno.  Having them run a line to a telephone pole would be the thing I'd think will put it on a longer waiting list.  I won't know until I call and am making that a priority this coming week.  If it's months out, I will go ahead and order it.  

Oh, and those electric sites in the rear? Just 20 amp outlets. Nothing too fancy.  Tent camping is usually not about luxuries and more about enjoying nature.  But, when it's 90 plus degrees outside, I do need think about finding a way to make that a bit more appealing.  I'd also like to get those armadillos out of there.  I didn't know until last week that Armadillos are carriers of leprosy.  I don't necessarily want to kill them, I just want them off the property, thanks and goodbye.  

Never did hear back from the shop with the ATV. I guess I will just wait a while, they need to fix it right this time, not just get it started and call it good.  

Yes, I think that's a great idea. Go back through various camp' rules and extract the ones I want.  I will compile a list and add my own if I don't find what I like and then eventually have it looked over by a lawyer.  Litigation is a thing and I want to minimize that possibility as much as possible.  

I am thinking it's at least several months before a park can be opened, just getting that into my head so I don't start getting frustrated and impatient with the contractor's process.  The ground should be dry by tomorrow - it's getting very hot here and there is very little chance of rain for a while to come - so I will be contacting him tomorrow and finding out what his plans are.  There are many things I can do now, such as rules, but there are many things that simply have to wait until closer to opening - well soft opening - day.  Hmm, I may not call it a soft opening if I have at least a doggy park and the walking trails up and running, with the office and a laundry set and a bathroom.  

Yup. Most park have some pretty strict rules in place.  Imagining that is to be able to get rid of people that are being more than just a general nuisance.  I like it.  It gives me an out - if you are going to misbehave here, you can leave and you can leave immediately.  

Well, that's what I'll be doing for the next several hours, I think, just pulling up park rules of various places small and large and picking and choosing what I want to incorporate into mine. 

Happy Sunday.  

 Thankful to be home.

After spending an entire night coughing my lungs out and getting maybe an hour's worth of sleep - and letting my employer know about that this morning - I went to the property to take a quick look to see what the dude might have gotten done with the tines and then I went to urgent care.  

At urgent care, I had as swab stuck up into my brains (certainly felt like it), another in my nose but not fare up, a blood sample, an x-ray and injected with a shot of steroids, which almost always helps with coughs like this.  

My blood pressure has come way down, something I wasn't expecting but certainly not going to complain about. After in that place for well over an hour, the doctor, who had visited me fully 3 separate times plus 2 different assistants coming and going - tole me I have bronchitis.  Before the age of Covid, I would have guessed that, but now? I wasn't sure what it was.  

I get fully 3 prescriptions to go pick up, but I went home first and got the paperwork for the septic system application and a check so I could get that done and over with and they can get moving along with it.  Over at their office, there was actually a lady working in there today, they are normally closed on Saturdays.

I dropped the envelope off and then she called me before I could get out of the driveway.  "The paperwork has to be one-sided, it can't be two-sided", talking about the fact that my printer had printed it on both sides of the sheets, so 2 sheets instead of 4. So, I went back in there, resigned everything and then she sad she'd fill out the rest for me and that she IS a notary public.  

Off to Chili's for a quick bite and then over to CVS to get the prescriptions. Getting back into my vehicle? The battery just suddenly, out of the blue, decided it didn't want to work anymore.  I'm not feeling this, I thought, I just want to go home. Instead, I had to call a local service to come jump start me and then over to O'Reillys for a new battery and then, over to Super 1 for some food. Foregone conclusion I wasn't going to want to go anywhere today, got some chicken to cook and went home.

Oh, the dude at my property? Had gotten almost nothing done. He had decided that he needed to use his box attachment which moves the dirt, pulls up the weeds and junk in the ground and smooths it out.  When he's done with that - on Monday I guess he thinks he's coming back - I will put down the grass seed and hope that a lot of it takes.  

I also saw that the newly formed RV pads on the east side were trapping water and leaving standing pools of water.  Can't have that, I texted the contractor and asked him if he could dig some trenches for some pipe.  I have the pipe, he just needs to dig the trenches.  I have old SDR35 pipe that I acquired from previous employer for free - it was all in the junk pile. There is actually nothing wrong with most of it, it's just old but this isn't pressure situation and it will work fine to carry the water under the newly formed driveway - versus - having standing pools of water to annoy guests, having mosquito farms going and general nastiness.  

Now? I'm not doing anything for the rest of today besides cooking chicken for dinner.  I am going to find a movie to watch and kick back, rest, take all of these drugs and hope to get better soon so I can get back to work.  

It is very warm outside so I brought Addler in from the heat, he can chill with me, I have the house all to myself for once.  That doesn't happen very often, almost never.  

Okay, I'll probably do some more research on RV parks and SBA loans, lol. But that's after I have rested for a while and get to feeling a bit better after the ordeal with the bad battery.  

g'day.

 It started 2 nights ago when I went to bed. A headache that Tylenol eventually took care of.

Yesterday morning, however, I had a headache all over again.  I was like, well, I took tylenol around 3:00 am, so I'll wait.  

Went to work, stopping by the property on the way, the machinery was out there and they were busy.  Got to work and noticed I was increasingly feeling - worse.  Got to the loading plant and was feeling much worse.  By the time I got out of that plant, I had already contacted dispatch and told them I wouldn't be able to take the load to Oklahoma.  There is no way I was driving an almost-80,000 pound truck down the highway, loaded with highly flammable cryogenic liquid, feeling like that.

My head was throbbing, sore throat and chest congestion, I could barely speak.  It came on that fast.  It was amazing how badly I felt in such a short period of time with all the symptoms that seemingly showed up on my doorstep so quickly.  

I went home, stopping at the property yet again: this time there was not only a dozer and a dump truck, there was also a track hoe and 2 more dump trucks.  The dozer was creating the pads out of the dirt that was being dumped, the dirt coming from the giant hole the track hoe was digging out. I suspect there will not be enough dirt in that mountain they created out of the "bad dirt" to fill it up. It's whatever to me right now, it's well out of the way and I don't need to deal with that immediately.  

The cost of this project has increased substantially with phases that I didn't know about at the beginning.  I was trying to get the contractor to give me costs for everything.  I didn't have to have the pads done up the way they are doing it, but - the will not only be level, but they will be elevated so that rain water doesn't flood out the RV and wash away the gravel.  Is it worth an extra 14k? I don't know.  The contractor told me "You don't have to do this, but in a couple of years, the gravel is going to wash away and you will be starting all over again".

The problem is that my desire to do all of this initial stuff without taking out any more loans is now at stake.  I really had decided that I wanted to get the park done in it's first phase - which is 14 spots, a doggy park and the walking trails - without any more loans.  Well, and a building. That would be a loan in itself with a 12X16 building that will be made into a small office to put the wifi equipment in, probably a washer and dryer and hopefully at least one shower.  Yes, I've downgraded my ambitions, but it's just to get the thing going initially and see if I can get some revenue coming in without having to have all the other stuff in place right up front. 

I've asked the contractor how much it will cost to upgrade the septic system from a 750 tank to 1,000 gallons.  This will afford me the option of having that laundry and bathroom and also create some more lots in the near future.  It would allow for 4 more spaces.  Nothing I would do right now, the cost of everything is out of control and would add more than I can afford.  Just that it would allow for some more spots as I get some more money saved up.  

Anyway, I haven't been over there since noon yesterday. Feeling like hell, I had no desire to go over there.  But now? I need to just go take a look.  

_____________________________

Done deal. They created the lots and the driveway - and I really like how they did the driveway - and filled in the hole to the point there is just a small pile of good dirt sitting there. I assume they want that for finishing touches.  Now, they have to "roll it". Same concept as with freshly laid asphalt, a roller comes along and compresses it, compacting it and making it firm.  I doubt they will do that today, it just rained and tho a short rain, they probably want it nice and dry for that.  

I now have another guy out there who is dragging the front portion of the property - it's not going to be used for anything right off the bat - but he's going to get all the small sticks and junk weeds out of the ground, smooth it and make it workable for planting grass.  I have the grass seed, I just need the lot finished. Well, I take that back, I'm probably going to have to buy a lot more grass seed, I just wanted some to seed the front portion to start with.  I imagine another 10 bags of that stuff at least.  I don't want to look at a land full of weeds is the point and I don't want those trees to start growing back.  

He's got his tractor with a rake attachment on the back.  If nothing else, the land will be smooth enough to either brush hog it regularly or take a zero-turn over it.  I don't want eternal brugh hogging expenses and there are already weeds and ferns growing up on portions of the trails in the back, I have to pull the trigger on some kind of machinery and soon.  The rake attachment process is going to cost a wee smickens of money, but I have really no choice unless I just want a property full of giant weeds.  I didn't pay all that money to have the land cleared of the trees only to have it replaced with weeds, thanks.

I don't know when they're coming back to steam roll it, but the contractor is sending me paperwork to fill out for the permits to install the septic system. Which means we are moving right along here.  Finally. 

Well, there goes everything. It's pouring rain. The forecast showed a small chance of rain which blew up to a full blown thunderstorm now.  I am guessing the dude with the tractor went home out there, who knows, I'm not going back out there to find out.  I also have been in contact with a local individual that creates hand painted signs.  I want to get a sign up in front of the property now and get something showing what's going on there along with a "coming soon" sign hanging over the top of it.  These people do excellent work, I've seen examples of their handiwork and the kind of product they are putting out is exactly what I want.  I don't want sterile, generic, modern looking stuff. I want natural, nature themed stuff that compliments the theme of the park, which is, obviously, nature.  

I guess I best start thinking about seeing a lawyer and an accountant about taxes, liability, rules for the park, etc.  I'm not yet ready for the web design dude to do anything further with the website until we get to within a few months of an opening day.  I want a page that shows the drone pic and footage of the property from the air. I haven't done that yet, I decided to wait until everything is done instead of a "temporary" thing that will just waste money in having to have him come back and do it all over again.  

It may very well be that I'm going to have to have the electricity and water turned on soon. That's another thing I want to wait until the last minute for.  The connections are made, they just have to turn it on  - but turning it on means I start incurring a monthly service bill whether I'm using it or not.  No point in that.  The rain is an unwelcomed nuisance that will further delay this project since they aren't going to do the rolling/compaction until it dries up again.  

Oh well.

 Thursday. 

The 5 year old decided to cut a lock of his hair out several days ago, leaving a huge gap on the front of his hair.  In an attempt to correct it - they are not only going on vacation tomorrow, they are also having family pictures taken while they're there apparently - I took him to the hair salon to fix it. 

Amazingly, the stylist was able to fix his hair without having to buzz it all off.  Disaster averted.  Of course there was a trip to the property yesterday - well take that back, there were two trips to the property.  

The first one was because I woke up early, grabbed the dog and went for a hike out there.  Just nice to have a quiet walk in nature.  After I got home from that, the 7 year old - who had stayed the night at a friend of the family's - was asking mama over the phone if he could spend another night there. 

I was on the porch as well and offered my hello to the boy while thinking about what I was going to do next.  Mostly, my thoughts on the property and when, exactly, is this contractor going to pick up the ball and get his @$$ over there and get moving with this? I do everything I have to and then some on my end to make sure that I am not the one holding him up.  

Anyway, the 7 year old heard my voice and after the phone call was ended, there was another one after I had left with the 5 year old to fix his hair.  The 7 year old wanted to come home.  He thought I was still out on the road and I guess spending the night somewhere else is more entertaining than being home -with his sick brother.  The 5 year old has had a nasty cough for several days, everyone hopeful he will be over that by the time they leave.  

Long story short, the 7 year old ended up coming home after getting rude with the people he was staying with because he wanted to come home and then, of course, got himself into trouble with mama for being a little jerk and acting like an @$$ to those people.  This is the way of things when you have kids, they are probably in trouble more often than not. 

Regardless, while I was running around town with the 5 year old, the contractor finally texted me back.  Are you available tomorrow? Uh, no, I'm going out of town.  Well, can you meet me at the property now? I'm not one to drop what I'm doing at the beckon whims of another man to fulfil the needs of their fancies, but in this case, I instantly thought: he's ready to move to my property with his personnel and equipment and therefore, he needs to meet out there to discuss what's next.

So, I said yes, give me 30 minutes.  Went home, dropped the 5 year old, picked up the 7 year old, grabbed the dog and left. The 5 year old too sick to go hiking, he didn't like it much but every time he does any physical exertion he starts gagging and coughing like crazy.  Got over there and waited - for a while - for this dude to show up.  

 We discussed his plans - he knows what he's doing with these RV parks, this is why I have stuck with him over other contractors that have a general idea of what to do but not specifics when it comes to building RV pads and such.  We then looked at my layout.  He was all good with that but wanted to change a few things.  Instead of 10 feet space next to the driver's side, why not 5? That way you give them more room on the passenger side for outdoor enjoyment. 

I was all good with that and had actually thought about it before, but I didn't know the specifics of having enough room for utilities over there. He said naw, 5 feet is plenty of room.  Ok. The trees, most of what I had left up, are going to have to come down.  I knew this, I just didn't want it to be true.  Most of them anyway, a few can stay up. The biggest heartbreaker for me is the two pine trees. They are simply in the way, but they are about 30 feet tall.  To me, that's a huge loss. Perhaps to anyone else, it's nothing.  

I got quoted yet another price on building the pads - a bit of sticker shock - and I said okay. He said, well, you don't have to build up these pads, but then he showed me the amount of grade and also the fact that when you build them up, the rainwater won't be running up against the gravel. It will have a place to run off. If you don't do it, you'll be replacing gravel in a few years and that gravel already down will be all over the place.

What I lose in extra things I didn't know needed to be done I gain in a man's experience building parks and not having to pay an engineer to design everything.  He's all on board with my way of doing it - no real plans - he tries to find ways to keep costs down for me.  He's a totally down to earth type of guy and is basically your typical redneck (and that's not an insult by any means).  A person that is a real redneck - which is basically just a plain ole' country guy with a few "things" about them that might be a bit odd to city folks - will wear that label with a badge of honor. Just saying, many people think it's an insult but if you don't live out in the sticks, you really don't know what you're talking about.  I know I didn't before moving out here.

Anyway, it's almost 8:00 am, I suspect they are out there now. The reason he was getting so antsy about wanting to meet up is because he wants to finish phase II and do phase III at the same time.  It makes no sense, he said, to just finish the mountain project and not have the dirt being hauled over, building the pads while the mountain is being dealt with. Building the pads afterwards would only be adding extra man hours and cost to the project.  So I paid him in advance of finishing Phase II to keep this in good faith and motivation running good and he should be out there now. 

He said he would have 3 dump trucks and his earth moving equipment. I shall find out shortly as I'm about to head out to work - well early of my appointment time - and stop by and see what's going on.  I would probably sit out there for several hours watching them if I could.  But, I can't and Oklahoma is calling.  And I can expect a lengthy wait at the plant. For whatever reason, they are having problems getting the paperwork out after getting loaded and drivers are sitting around for hours. What fun.

Offa here and off to the races.

G'day