I guess tehcnically it's day 3 of vacation. It was only going to be day 2, but we left Wednesday evening so we could get here and be here early for a day full of fun for yesterday.

It was a late night, not getting to be until 1:30 am.  

Yesterday, we didn't even go to the beach, lol.  We ended up at Moody Gardens. We had come here last time we came to Galveston and it was fun then. This time, with the kids, it was even more fun.  Well, backtracking, at first the kids were extremely pouty and mom was not having it. "Next vacation there will be NO kids".  She regretted almost instantly having had brought them.

Fortunately, the kids mood got much better as the day wore on.  I think it was just that we had been out so late the night before. We didn't get up particularly early, but still.

Mood Gardens is really a fascinating place.  My favorite is the Rainforest Pyramid.  This is a glass pyramid - well probably plastic but whatever - and it's full of exotic animals and the typical type of things you would see in a real rainforest. It's not a cheap imitation, they really do a great job of it.  It was hot in there, yes, well more like muggy, I made the mistake of spending the day in blue jeans.

Anyway, we spent the whole day there and then ended up at the Rainforest Cafe - I hadn't been in ages. They gave us one of the better seats in the house - not by request it just happened that way - with 2 giant primates making gestures and noises above us and occasionally going off on rants lol.  

After that? Yea, it was getting late enough, it was a long day and we decided to go home and call it a day.  

Today we are spending the whole day at the beach.  The older child was very unhappy with our decision to go to Moody Gardens instead of the beach yesterday - tho he got over it after seeing how much fun the place was - but today? Yea we couldn't do that again and don't want to anyway.  That was a bit of a pricey day yesterday, today is just eat at Denny's and spend the rest of the day at the beach.  We need to get there before the crowds hit - it's Friday and I'm sure there are going to be hoards of people heading over here from Houston if nothing else.  

I'll tell ya, if I lived anywhere near here, I would definitely want to do an Air BNB house as well.  Any destination spot is a cash cow.  And the beach is definitely a destination spot.  I know, I'm always thinking about ways to make some money, but hey, it's part of life. I'm not obsessed with money, I'm just wanting to get retirement set up . 

Speaking of that, the pedestals and the power, water and sewer lines are all in.  The septic system - not yet and apparently the contractor wants paid for this portion of the project before moving on to the next.  Ok. I get it, make sure you aren't doing the work for nothing, a lot of construction projects are "pay as you go" stuff. Contractors have to pay their employees, etc.  But, I'm not there and told him I would be back Monday.  "Have fun!".  Yes, we are!

My SUV? I took it to another shop before we left.  This dude at the other place was really playing me on and I was tired of it and very tired of driving a very hot vehicle.  I normally get into my SUV to cool down, not heat up.  Driving to or from work when it's in the heat of the day has gotten very old.  I can do it, especially with a nice big cup of ice water, yes, but it's certainly not my first choice. 

That's about it for now.  The animules are being watched by some of their friends that live in town, Addler is being well taken care of. I'm sure he's not happy we are gone for 4 days but oh well.  At least they'll show him some attention when they show up.

Time for Denny's and then the beach.

G'day

 I really don't want to sit down here for however long - tomorrow mid-afternoon I'm being told - waiting on an empty trailer. I'd rather go home and get my vacation started.  Detention pay being almost nothing compared to what it was before this new and improved change - basically screwing drivers, my way or the highway attitude, I don't mind coming down here, drop and hook, but waiting? No thanks.  I don't have a choice unless I rebel and just tell them I'm bob-tailing back up. 

Tho I won't do that for the first 24 hours, after that, I will probably push the issue.  For now, they are saying you are only getting the first day's worth of detention, that after 10 hours is up and after that? You are screwed, you can wait down here however long it takes and you aren't getting any more money.  Nope. I won't sit here for nothing at all.  The company shouldn't expect me to, either.  

A bill that I really didn't want to start incurring this early in the game will now have to start coming in on a monthly basis.  I have to have the water turned on at the property in order to test the lines.  You can't install all of that water line and just say ho-dee-ho, if it's works, it's a go if it doesn't, so so soooo!  It has to be under pressure to test everything and make sure there are no leaks and that all the hydrants work.  

That is what they're calling the outlets at the RV pads, hydrants.  I really want to be back there to see what they have done, document it with pictures and get it recorded for history's sake. 1, because I want to have it documented where, exactly, all of these lines are running and 2, to try and understand if this is something I could do myself in the future.  The water and sewer lines, yes, easily. The power line, I don't know. But I took a pic of the huge roll this morning now I know what size and kind of wire is needed to run along the driveway, I assume also to each individual pedestal, but see, I don't know that for sure. 

It will really suck if they get that all done and cover it up before I get back.  But, I'm hopeful the ditches will remain open, the hope based on the fact that they really need to be able to visually inspect the entire water line from the street to every single outlet to ensure there are no leaks anywhere.  It's time to get some insurance protection in case of any damage either weather or man caused.  I can't get RV park insurance yet, they will want to see pics of everything they are insuring and then they give a quote.  

It's also time to think about getting the building out there.  That's going to be a down payment and a monthly payment for at least 36 months. I really would rather wait a while, but I also can't get a street address until I get that building on there.  I need a street address for the park to start showing in Google searches. I can find the park in the specific name search, but it doesn't show up in a general search of the town.  

It just seems too early to be doing that.  Maybe I will wait, I dunno.  Hard to judge all of this.  The power poles will hold everything up and it seems a waste of money to be paying for a building knowing it's at least months before the park can even be opened for a soft opening.  I'm just going to have to think about this for a while, because the building is just a shell and will need the insulation, flooring, electrical .... everything - done inside of it after it's placed. OK, thinking about that little detail makes me think I need to get it there sooner than later.  

But then, how big of a building do I need?  Do I want room for at least one bathroom with a shower, plus a laundry room with at least one of each machine, plus an area for vending machines, plus the necessary, but admittedly very small space needed for wifi equipment? And speaking of wifi, when do I decide to have that installed?  These decisions will be forced down my throat soon enough and I will have to make them, one by one.  But yes, I think I need to get that building out there soon so I can get someone to start the process of building the interior.  Or, I can do some or all of the work myself.  

Yes, I have so much time to do stuff like that! lol.  

I think the family is fixing to see far less of me than it already is-n't.  I don't have unlimited funds and it will costs thousands of dollars to pay someone to do the work for me.  Right about now, I'm wishing I had kept that breaker panel and all of the breakers it had in it that I acquired at my old job for free. I don't really have anyone to help me with any of this. I can probably find people to pay as helpers - maybe. The town is suffering from "I-don't-want-to-work-itis" and local business practically begging people to work for them.  This first version of a park is going to have to be mostly automated.  I just can't be there all the time and if I can't find any paid help, it's going to be a tough sell to get people in there without any oversight beyond video surveillance.  

The whole thing is a dilemma I haven't fully figured out yet.  But there is definitely going to be 24 hour, recorded video surveillance out there, it's the only way I can have peace of mind that if anything goes wrong - thieves, vandals, problems with guests, I have some way of seeing what is happening or what happened and at least know what's going on.  There isn't a lot of theft in the area, fortunately, hopefully it stays that way.  

I'm kind of lost right now with all of this.  I guess the size of the building will be determined by the size of the monthly payment.  For I will be covering it out of paychecks for quite a while. I don't see much other options besides an even much-softer opening with no electricity.  Most rigs have generators, but they are noisy and most rv parks don't allow them. However, if I see too much money going out the window without any income being generated, I will see about opening the park without electricity and just charge a reduced rate.  A greatly reduced rate, just try to cover expenses until the power poles are installed.  Like, $15-$20 per night. People won't like the idea of not having power, the rate will have to be low enough that they can see running a generator with $4 per gallon fuel all night long.  

Cancel that idea. Gasoline is so expensive right now, I'd have to be charging $10 per day for it to be worth it for anyone to come stay.  No, the park won't open until the electricity is available.  

Well it's getting late. I didn't get out of the loading plant until 12:32 this afternoon.  I just don't have to worry about getting up early, there are no empties, the driver that loaded earlier than me got the only empty that was available.  

Ugh, my mind is just wandering around all over the place with this park setup business. 

Well anyway, I'll be going into the water department on Wednesday - if I get home early enough, again, I have no idea when I'm going to be leaving here tomorrow - and get the water service started.  I mean, maybe I can start it up and then shut it off again until I need it?  Depends on start up fees.  Of course, who knows if it's a good idea to charge up the lines with water and then have the water pressure removed from them.  I don't know.  

Well, I think I'll lay down and ponder this stuff. Long day, lots of driving, ready for bed.

G'nite

 It dawned on me a few minutes ago that after this run today - Brownsville - I will be off work for quite a while.  This was planned.  I need to check with this wonderful dispatcher to make sure she didn't somehow "forget".  I do have all of the text messages pertaining to this vacation in case the selective memory hits.  She has been starting trouble with and having meltdowns with several other drivers.

I try to avoid such nonsense with her.  The closest thing I've had lately is her attempting to tell me DOT rules and regulations and my telling her she has no clue what she is talking about - which she literally doesn't. Besides not being a particularly good dispatcher, she also has only fragments of knowledge about trucking and the rules pertaining to trucking and that because I and other drivers have taken the time to attempt to educate her.  

This is why I believe all dispatchers should have previously had "driver" as one of their job titles. To understand the complexities and nuances of driving trucks, you have to have been exposed to it in such a way that you are directly affected by it and the only way that happens is if you have been a driver yourself.  To these know-nothings, it's all magical fairy-dust that falls from the sky.  They tell you where to go and you push a button and it mysteriously happens. If these people were to spend just a week sitting in the passenger seat of a truck with a busy driver, their whole attitude towards us would undoubtedly change.  

Anyway, they are allegedly starting that installation of the utilities today.  Which, in my mind, would mean they are out there right now. It's daylights, it's 7:40 am and it's still relatively cool outside.  It's summer in east Texas and like most other places in the south/southwest, it gets hot during the day.  High 90's/low 100's slated for the next 15 days.  That translates into higher heat indexes/real-feel.  I'm leaving for work early to see if they're out there and discuss with the electrician adding an outlet for my small building I'm going to have to get.  That was not previously discussed.  I'll need 220 outlet capability in case I want to install a washer/dryer setup.  

I definitely want to put in a soda machine and possibly a candy/chips vending machine.  These are money makers with fairly small amount of effort. The products have to be purchased at the Sam's club 2 towns over, but since I go there all the time for work anyway, that's not going to add anything to the slate of financial outlets in fuel expenditure, just the cost of purchasing the soda.  The caveat for a vending machines is that it must have a cooling unit in it.  There will be no air conditioning for the contents to remain cool and not melting or otherwise being exposed to extreme heat.  I dunno if those machines come with cooling or not?  No research on that has been done, it's kind of low on the priority list right now. 

A nice visit from Taylor's folks that ended yesterday morning. I was there for one whole day of it, 2 nights ago and all of yesterday morning.  Nice people. I let them use my room/bed and i stayed on a fold down couch in the boy's bedroom. I was gone the first night and decided to just let them stay in there. Much easier than having them at a hotel and much cheaper.  I know well the costs of lodging, just paid off the Air BNB house we are using for Galveston.  It made more sense and actually much cheaper than local hotels which at this time of year are running near $300 per night range for even mediocre accommodations.  I know this because we stayed there 3 years ago and the hotel we stayed at was not a 3 plus star hotel but yes, it was near $300 per night if I recall correctly.  The house is much cheaper, has 3 bedrooms, looks really nice inside from the pics and is close to the beach.  We are going for the beach, not for the place to stay.  

We can also cook there which reduces the amount of restaurant expenditures.  

Looking forward to some time off. Yes, I know, I had 12 days off last month, but that was all sickness and there was certainly  no fun, joy or entertainment in that.  I really like Galveston beach, the water is not freezing cold and it's just plain fun.  At least it was last time.  

I just need some time off, not sick and extra days not on vacation that I can spend at the property to get some work done.  I will be buying the bridge materials and at least start the construction.  It will probably take a while to finish that. Days off here and there and whether I'm even motivated depending on if I can get out there in the morning time and get work done before the extreme heat hits.  Oh, I "think" my utility trailer will fit back there.  If it doesn't, get out the chain saw! lol 

Purchase of a piece of equipment to hack down the weeds will wait until I pay the bill for utility installation.  I really don't want to spend any money until I get the final bill for that.  See what's left over, what I can afford to do without a loan and get that done and then, if absolutely necessary, which it probably will be, get a loan just before opening the park up - like within 2 months at most - get the final items on the list done and get some revenue (hopefully) coming in.  That's the current plan which is subject to change!  If you were to go back to where I started this venture and my thoughts, ideas and plans then and compare them with what is actually happening now? Yea, 2 different animals. Not completely different, but definitely some substantial differences.  

I went back and forth about using the existing driveway. I didn't want to at first, but after seeing how much everything else was going to cost? It became a no-brainer within the last few months that I would have to use it to be able to afford everything else.  I was going to build the park close to the road. But, after all the trees came down, that became problematic. Way too much of a grade/slope and far too much money to haul dirt in to level it out, the project is now about 450 from the roadway.  And other things that have changed.  The things that have remained the same are the walking trails, the desire to install a doggy running area, tent camp grounds and wifi.  I think a bathroom is going to have to wait.  

It will be a drawback for some campers that want access to a regular bathroom and full sized shower, but I don't think it's in the cards right now.  The only way I can do that is if the building I get is big enough to install one along with everything else.  I mean, it isn't completely off the list, it just is something I have determined that can wait if finances for it become an issue.  We'll see.  What I'm figuring at this point is that when I pay off the utility installation, I'll have just enough to install the gravel and possibly do the dog park and after that? It's all going to have to be another loan.  

Of course, there is really nothing stopping me from opening up a park without wifi, dog park, etc. If the utilities are in and the pads are done, I am wondering aloud, why not?  Google reviews be damned, the park has some offerings that are rather unique and the walking trails are the biggest thing in that department.  I still have some work to do but it's about the cheapest thing I've had done and it's benefited me, personally, as I love to walk my dog back there and the occasional accompanying children. It's been hot and they get over heated too fast so I haven't been taking them that much.  I get hot, too, but living in AZ for most of my life has at least taught me how to mitigate the heat and keep cool enough as to not enter into heat exhaustion territory.  Even Addler gets overheated and I don't really like to have him exposed to it too long.  

Anyway, it's about time to leave the house, go over there and hopefully....see them out there working!

G'day

 Pool party last night, we stayed up rather late - 1:30 am - before going to bed.  They had some friends over and after the pool we were playing a card game that, well, you can't finish the game in one night's worth of play.   

Anyway, 7:30 am rolled around and it was time to get up and go.  I just can't go out to the property in 100 degree heat with a heat index of 108 or higher, it's either get out there early or don't go at all.  

So, a couple brisk-paced hikes around the permiter of the rear of the property took me 20 minutes and then off to the front of the property where I used marking paint to put arrows on the ground for a proposed route for the telephone poles/lines.  I will not be able to be there tomorrow morning, I'm going to call and leave a message today with the engineer.  He can go out there and look at my arrows without me and come up with a plan - or - if he has to have me out there, it's going to be later on in the week.  Maybe not even until next week.  

I was also wondering if my utility trailer could be pulled to the rear of the property with my ATV instead of going out and buying a small trailer for the ATV. I'm all over keeping costs down right now as the costs of the utilities mount and my finances are dwindling.  

Having said that, I still need to have the mulcher dude come out for one more day of clearing more trails and cleaning up an existing one that he missed.  I had shown it to him but it just slipped his mind.  No biggies, but there is also a road I want put in there and a couple of the camp sites I want made a bit larger.  It might not even be a full day's worth of work, but I'm budgeting 8 hours for 8 it. In fact, I can assert it's probably half a day's work - he charges by the hour but I think he has a half day minimum. Can't blame him, the cost of fuel to bring his equipment out there and the time spent I would very likely have a minimum as well.

The other thing I absolutely need is some sort of machine to keep the trails cleared.  I'm thinking just get a riding mower for now and hope that it won't get stuck or otherwise be useless back there, but some of the trails are starting to get covered with weeds and I just can't have that.  

It would be nice if Mother Nature could turn the temp down over there. Yea, it's summer in Texas, probably not going to happen anytime soon.

Well anyway, the reason I am hoping my trailer can make it back there is to be able to haul all the materials I need to build that bridge.  I have a shopping list, I need to get up to Lowe's and price everything out.  I found a particular video on YouTube showing how to build a bridge that will handle the weight of a 4 wheeler. It's 4X4's and 2X6's mostly.  About 5 feet wide with safety rails.  

I have other ideas that I am going to implement in the future. I have so much space that installing a single vehicle wash rack isn't out of the question and wouldn't cost much to put up. At least not my version of one.  

I have determined that however it has to happen, I need wifi out there.  I need to be able to monitor the property remotely, there is too much money going into that setup and I have been reading of park owners suffering vandalism at the hands of kids taking their various off road vehicles onto their land and tearing up their property.  Well, not even just kids, adults too.  Put a camera on the entrance driveway and one on whatever small building I end up with to house the wifi equipment and whatever else.  I wouldn't mind putting a soda machine in there as well as a snack vending machine.  I'm not sure about a washer dryer set up yet.  Maybe not at the start.  I've got to pick my money making schemes wisely.  A vending machine is going to sam's club, buying the snacks and drinks and taking it to the property. A washer/dryer will require the outlets, water supply and drain. 

I don't necessarily think my septic system is going to be big enough to handle all of the RV's AND a washer setup, but then again, today's modern machines don't really use that much water.  

Amazingly, it's almost 10:00 am and I'm still the only one in the house that is awake lol.  

No idea what I'm going to do today, what I needed to get done is .... done.

G'day.  

 So, finally, this coming week, they are going to install everything. It was detailed as one trackhoe with a large bucket on it digging a wide enough trench to put the sewer lines, water lines and electrical all in the same trench.  I've never really heard of or seen any contractors doing this before so I was a little iffy about that.  Water and electricity don't mix and in all the years I went to job sites delivering pipe, they always put sewer lines in a separate trench away from the water.  

But, who am I to say anything? It will definitely be easy enough to find the utilities if there's ever any problem, I'm sure it saves on labor costs only having to dig one trench, so there it is.

I stopped by the property on the way home this morning from the Oklahoma run and determined that they probably should move the telephone pole to a different location and go straight back with however many poles they think it needs.  Probably 3 of them doing it that way, otherwise it will have to be 4.  I doubt there is any savings tho going the 3 route since the original pole would have to be moved.  Okay, I said I have determined they probably should move the pole to a different location, I actually am not decided and I'm going to have to go out there and stand there for a while and just look at it and think about future projects that I may entail for the front portion and whether those poles would be in the way of that. 

The power company requires a 30 foot easement for the poles.  Now, I guess I could go out and buy my own poles, install them and then have them wire them up.  I don't think they could require an easement with that setup.  However, I'm not necessarily flush with money now that installation costs have gone way up and I suspect I can get a payment plan from the power company instead of having to dish out a bnch of cash all at once.  

I really have no idea how the power company will treat this. Will it be pay up front for all of it? A payment plan? Or do they install them for free and expect the return in power usage payments will eventually pay for it? A person "in the know" suggested the latter is true.  I don't know, but I will definitely be asking questions.  

One thing is for certain: I won't be able to meet with him on Monday.  I will be on my way to Brownsville.  So, I'm going out there tomorrow morning - when it's much cooler outside - and mark the potential routes for poles and I will take pics so I can discuss with him over the phone while he's out there. Unless he requires me to be out there, then it will have to be canceled and moved to another date.  

I think  I can say thankfully, I have the rest of today off which is more than half the day and all of tomorrow off.  I don't know how that happens when a driver quits and the work he was doing is now available.  But, I think we had too many drivers to begin with.  Well, obviously we do or they would have had me working.  Oh wait. Forgot, I looked at my 70 hour clock this morning, I might have had enough left to do an Oklahoma, but definitely not enough to do a Brownsville run.  

Any new drivers they bring in to our division are not local drivers. They have to either recruit them as OTR drivers or the driver has to move to our area.  I can say that with authority because other local tanker operations going into the same loading plant cannot find local drivers either.  They are all hired. One company hasn't been able to find a local driver for over 2 years.  My days of OTR are, hopefully anyway, over as far as having to be out on the road for weeks at a time.  

Another driver who is quitting said I should apply with a local oil/saltwater hauling company.  They're 2 cities over from me and have openings for local work, home every day.  However, I suspect it's night work and I'm definitely not good with that.  

Well, I don't want to go on too long with this, I need a haircut and go grocery shopping.

G'day

 It just seems  repetitious to keep writing the same things over and over, so I haven't been posting. 

However.

Things ramping up at work. People are quitting - make that drivers - are quitting over the pay reduction otherwise known as the near-elimination of detention pay.  One left today and 2 more are leaving soon with 4 more saying they are looking for a new job.

There aren't that many drivers in our division and we are all very well experienced, seasoned drivers that can handle the heat, whatever may come at us.  The loss of these people will be very difficult to replace.  

I have my own plan which includes various things but will likely end in my quitting as well. I have given it some serious thought and I just can't sit around with people taking away our money because they say so and no other reason given.  Trust me, drivers have been asking why and there is nothing being given back.  I personally am not going to take a demotion in pay without being told why I am going to get less pay for doing the same thing I have been doing for almost 5 year nows. 

Yeah, that's not going to fly with me.  As much as I hate having to find a new job, my next day off I'm going to start looking.  In fact, I have a good lead and it's 90k a year as well, home every night.  

The other development is the electrician finally called and said I need to get the power company to run poles and lines over to the site.  I thought we were going underground? That's what Randy (contractor) said?  

Uhh, no, this is too far from the street, it will cost a fortune to run line underground.  You can get Swepco (the local power company) to install power poles and run overhead lines for much cheapr.

Are you serious? I thought. After all this time, this dude is just now telling me this? WTH.  Do you remember, if you read this blog at all, how long it took the power company to come out and do the first power pole?  2 months? Longer?  That really irked me.  This guy could have told me this stuff a long, long time ago, it would have already been done.  

So it's going to be months before I can even get a soft opening going.  

Yeah, not a happy camper. It's so hot out right now I do wonder about anyone coming anyways.  I mean, it's ridiculously hot out, 105 with a real feel of 112?  

I'll get over it.  Work is more pressing at this point and what to do about it.  I won't quit until I have exhausted all other channels first, which includes talking to the genius that came up with this plan and the same genius who decided that billing the customer for detention pay was a bad idea (the customer had been getting billed for it for decades, literally).  This customer has 13 trailers to work with but can't get 2 of them back up to the border in time for drivers to fetch them and leave.  

Hence, I was the only driver that went down yesterday because there was only 1 of those trailers in our yard yesterday morning.  

I have no idea what's going to happen, I'm just playing this by ear.

I have a run to Oklahoma tomorrow.  The man that left today will create a gap and if others leave they will also create gaps and I will be very busy, I guess.  The company gave me 9 hours of detention pay after being down there 29 hours, I'm still waiting on that verdict, for I am not sitting down there for free. 9 hours is NOT paying me for sitting there over a day's span of time.  It is likely that if this situation doesn't stop and they force us to do this, I will find another job, get sent down to Brownsville, there will be no empties and I will drive back up to Longview bobtail - tractor only, no trailer - and they can go jump off as many cliffs as they like.  

There is no good reason for any of this except corporate greed.  You can't take away pay from the people that make it happen and expect no consequences. It's not like the market is filled with drivers looking for work right now.....

Oh. Well the electrician is going to install everything, I just have to get the power to the pads.  I have heard nothing from the contractor who the electrician is working for, I have tried to contact him several times.  The permit is likely not approved yet, but even if it is, he is very busy. I'm kind of a side job, tho I'm not getting side job prices.  

So, the whole thing gets pricier. Spending lots of money and getting nothing back out of it, yet.  Getting a loan right now is also going to be more difficult. Recession looming, banks cutting back and "notice of adverse action" was put forth by Credit Karma - they sent a notice to everyone that you will likely get some of those now, but it won't affect your credit score. 

In other words, lenders are getting fearful of borrowers not being able to repay because of economic conditions.  I'd say rightfully so.  I am not regretting not taking out a loan before now and I am still not going to try to take one out - I have no idea how much I need and I don't want more than I need.  Or less.  If loans become impossible, I'll just have to find some way to get the funds and get it done.  

I haven't heard back from the auto shop about the part for the AC - and I don't care now.  Next chance I get, the vehicle is going into a different shop.  I am so sick of driving around in this heat in a hot vehicle.  Especially considering I have the money to fix that damn thing.  Just need someone to FIX it.  GAG. 

Happy for an Oklahoma run, work all day tomorrow but have most of Saturday off.  

With that? It's bed time. 

Well, after looking at my credit accounts, I can safely say I need to stop spending money on "stuff".  And I will be starting  - actually about a week ago.  

Regardless.  I'm not going to go into too many specifics since this is on the open internet, but another driver came to me this morning while I was sitting in my truck, as I'm doing now, waiting on an empty trailer.  He gets the first one that comes in, I get the second - which isn't slated to be here until mid to late afternoon (and if it gets too late, they are SOL for me getting back there before tomorrow morning).  

He uhh - wants to hand me something.  I was a bit shocked considering what "it" was.  Not really, thanks. 

Then, after he had just started asking me, the police show up.  A lot of police show up. They are looking at me, sitting in my truck. Uhh, dude, what did you do?  Well I didn't kill anyone, he says.  Well that's good! geeze, didn't expect that kind of response.  "They're here for me".  

Police come to my truck, look at me and say, are you __________________ insert name here?  No, that's him.  I wasn't trying to out him, but since he was standing right there and he wasn't trying to run or hide, it seemed the thing to do at the time and he knew they were coming for him.  

My curiosity is more than piqued at this point, I'm involved in this to some degree now, what is going on? One of the police takes me aside and tells me that he had called the suicide hotline.  Oh dang! Yup, when people say they are ready to kill themselves, they call us to come intervene.  Yeah, sounds about right to me.  At least try to talk to the person and see if they can get him/her into some counseling, take him in for evaluation.  I'm not going to go into details of his history since that would give all of this away.  

And I'm not really going to say much more about it here.  Just the whole thing took me by surprise. Cops asking me if I knew anything about this? No, I talked to him earlier he didn't say anything about wanting to do anything like that!  Driver contacted me later - he told the police he was alright, tho they grilled him for quite a while - but at the end of it, the police said they can't force him to go get an evaluation.

Well, ladies and gentlemen, if you go so far as to call a suicide hot line and tell them you are ready to kill yourself, you are 1: in serious trouble and need immediate help and 2; you need counseling, or even a psychologist to examine you and help you deal with whatever it is that's eating you. You are obviously crying out for help.  You look at people and you can't tell that's going on inside of them.  I talked to him earlier he seemed perfectly normal.  He was in the truck stop waiting for his number to be called to take a shower. 

Okay, IMHO, you really need Jesus.  People ignore God until they - need God.  They don't think they need God and shun Him and even attempt to mock Him, but in the end, even on people's death beds (I've seen it personally) - many people who said no thanks to the Lord change their tune at some point in their lives.  Money, fame, power, earthly happiness - none of that takes the place of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Father God and the Holy Spirit.  It just doesn't, regardless of what anyone thinks.  But, when you say that kind of thing to people who think that way, the say stop shoving religion down our throats. Well sir, if you think that little bit of a statement is shoving religion down your throat, I can see why you are distressed.

Anyway, I hope the man finds help, I encouraged him to see a counselor at the very least and that's about all I can do.  

On another note, another person I know is considering becoming a surrogate mother for a couple that can't have babies.  She already has kids and doesn't want anymore, but says she is fine with carrying the baby until birth, it's the responsibility afterwards that she doesn't want to deal with.  I can understand that, kids are a handful and they take up a lot of time, energy and money.  The young ones need constant supervision and can't really do much of anything for themselves.  They get a little older and they can start dealing with things themselves but still need a lot of supervision.  Teen years I suppose they are at the point - you hope anyway - they can deal with most things themselves and don't need endless supervision. The DO need some supervision, just not constant or even near constant.  

I think it very noble of her to offer that to these people. I did suggest that she really thinks about it, maternal instincts can be very strong and maybe the person wants the baby after all.  But, she says she has given it consideration for a long, long time now and this is the first real opportunity for her to do so for someone.  She knows these people so they would stay in contact throughout the child's life.  It isn't a surrogate mother for some random people.  

And then there's little old me.  No word on the SUV, the ATV or the property.  Lol.  I'm calling the shop today to ask again if they have the part yet?  And if not, can they track it or find out what's going on? Cause' I'm spoiled and I really don't like driving hot vehicles in summer temperatures.  Feels like you're in a sweat box with the high temps and high humidity.  

Since the ATV shop never called back, I'll assume they had to order a new master cylinder. I'm not calling them today, I've had enough excitement for one day and I'm facing driving late into the night.  I will text the contractor again to see where we're at with the septic permit.  It's a bit after noon and I think I'll take a nap and try to prepare myself for the drive that's coming regardless of when it gets here - unless it's night time and then I'll just leave out tomorrow morning.  

Yes, I have been watching the latest mass shooting. Gruesome, horrifying and heart-breaking.  I guessed yesterday that someone knew about this man being unstable and afterwards? yup, the man was known to be unstable and no-one did anything about it.  That is where the breakdown is, IMO.  If someone has guns or if someone is talking about killing people or whatever it is that indicates this person is capable of carrying out such a gruesome thing, someone should probably say something.  Just like the dude today.  Should he be carrying guns in his state of mind? IMO, absolutely NOT. That doesn't mean he would go off on a killing spree, but no one wants him to shoot himself, either.  If you aren't going to say something to authorities, convince or at least try to convince the person to seek help. Offer the person help to find help. DO SOMETHING as a caring human being.  Gun control laws have no or very little effect on people intent on doing what the man did yesterday at that 4th of July parade near Chicago.  

That's my little rant, I'm not going to spend any more time on that subject.  I am going to get offa here and take nap.

G'day

Happy Independence Day! 

While half the country is not celebrating it and scorning America for it's latest affliction that has been imposed on the people, Constitutional Rights being stripped away (so they say), ie: abortion, the rest of us will remember the sacrifices and hardship endured that we could finally come to the day where we were no longer under the King's control, the Declaration of Independence and the fact that we became a -free society.  

We officially declared our Independence. I have no idea what abortion "rights" has to do with that.  The abortion debate rages with more fervency than I've seen in quite a long time. The tables have been turned, but not really.  Sort of.  People are complaining about living in a state where they can't abort their "fetuses" and that they don't have the wherewithal to drive to another state to get one.

And now, telling "all men" they won't have sex with them until the men "fix it".  So, there goes the need for abortions, just get women to stop having sex with men! These people fixed this dilemma without realizing it!  

I do give praise, glory and honor unto the Lord of Hosts for  at least a step in the right direction towards changing this nation back to some semblance of what it was, abortion-wise, before Roe.  MOST states made it illegal.  Or with severe restrictions.  Life is a gift, not a nuisance to be discarded of.  

Anyway, I'll be driving all day long so there is that. 

In fact, it's a later load time at 10:30 am so when I say I'll be driving all day, it's literally going to be driving pretty much all day.  No, I'm not feeling sorry for myself, lol, if anything, I'm motivated right now to get some work done to make up for the 12 day loss being sick and try to get my money back up to where it was and then some.

The costs of this project are escalating and I don't even know if I'll have enough to finish the basic construction setup, much more everything else that has to be done after that.  

Not to mention I have a large AC bill coming up soon - whenever they get that part in - and the ATV, who knows how much that will cost. 

Yup, I'm going to start tightening up on spending. Like, big time.  If she could keep me working like this and cut back on going out to eat and things that aren't necessary such as that, I can get my finances back up so that when this construction part is over, at least I'll still have some money in the bank.

Foregone conclusion I'll have to take out some size of a personal loan, a bridge I won't be crossing until we get much closer to some semblance of opening day.  Speaking of bridges....and something to cut down the weeds/growth....as I said, I still have a lot to go here and I'm really thinking about what I need to do for cutting the weeds back.  I dunno yet, but soon.  Before everything on those trails grows up to the point I'll have to pay a bushhog to come out yet again.  Might as well own the machinery and do it myself instead of paying exorbitant fees to someone else. 

My mind is swirling around how to pay for everything and not go into a massive amount of debt. There are just things I have to have for this park.  Weed mitigation being one of them, other things as well.  A sign, wifi, a small building, nothing fancy or huge to start with.  I can get one with a small down payment and monthly payments and that's probably the route I will go and hope I start bringing in money pretty quickly to cover expenses.  I need an accountant to help set up the tax stuff, I'll need to pay the website designer to finish the job - etc etc etc.  

Anyway, I'm leaving early for work. Take  a drive by the property.  Why? To look and keep the dream alive.

G'day

 In the world of trucking, it's the drivers that are always give, give, give and it's the companies that are always take take take.  

But in my world, getting older, I am not really taking a lot of that is a given, I want the company to be as flexible as they require me to be in working any days regardless of weekday, weekend, weather conditions, holidays, this that and the other thing.

To preface this little story, the trailer I was pulling up from Brownsville the other day had bad landing gear on it. I tried taking it to a TA truckstop and I tried fixing it myself. I found it to be junk landing gear that needed to be replaced. Well, the dispatcher was having a small cow, not a big one, but a small version of one in stating that "I need you for the holiday weekend starting Thursday".  During this ordeal, she stated that fully 3 times and I said yes, I"m available, no worries, I just need to be able to get out from under this trailer, I'll try to make that happen when I get back to the yard.

So, yesterday, she sent me a Oklahoma run. No biggies, I just had a Brownsville run, I can deal with it.  While doing that run yesterday, it was brought to my attention about some folks coming over on Sunday and hoping I would be there.  I've been off for so long being sick, I really can't just ask for time off, I need to take whatever they are going to give me.

But, I went ahead and asked to be given a second Oklahoma run in a row for tomorrow (Saturday) so I could be back in time on Sunday to be available for a - personal reason - no need to tell my company my personal plans.  We are doing a pool party is the gist of it.  The dispatcher came back and said, well I have you being dispatched on Sunday.  

Huh? I thought you said you needed me all weekend long? (this is a very short version of the story, I just don't want to go into all of the details, too much).  She was getting way over-dramatic about this, like, heading into full blown meltdown territory and I simply wasn't going to do that with her.  I succumbed to the fact that she wasn't going to give me what I wanted and I didn't complain about it. But, what had happened to needing me the entire weekend? The drivers that said they wanted off for the 4th changed their minds and decided they needed to work.

My dispatcher hadn't told me about that little detail, hence my confusion.  She started going off which is when I ended the conversation.  "You aren't hearing what I'm saying and so I'm ending this discussion. Not worth arguing over have a good day".  She didn't reply to that so I just blew the whole thing off. As I said, drivers are expected to give up their entire lives, sacrifices at the gods of the transportation industry who demand you give them every inch but are pretty uncompromising when you want or need something.

Note I did say want something. Is there something wrong with wanting to do something that might have come up at the last minute?  They certainly have no qualms contacting me on a day off and saying, oh by the way, we need you to go to such and such a place and also btw, can you come to the yard now and leave?  Anymore? If I'm in the middle of doing something? No.  I'm busy, sorry, you'll have to find someone else.  Now, if I'm not truly busy, I will likely say ok  Mostly to stay in their good graces. But I'll put my foot down if I'm doing some pre-planned thing with people.  

Anyway, I got to the casino truck stop, decided I wanted to go into the casino and have dinner at Chili's, hadn't played blackjack in quite a while so I went to a table with this rather .... fiesty - dealer, won $110, gave her a tip and left.  Dinner was great, lol, paid for by the casino.  I didn't want to play too much, I end up staying far too long and they have casinos set up so you have no idea the time of day it is.  No clocks and no sunlight or lack there of comes into those places, or very little anyway, by design.  

So, I drove back to the yard, got in my  hot vehicle - they still don't have the part to fix the AC - and drove home. On the way home, she contacts me.  I'm giving you the Oklahoma run for tomorrow per your request. Note that I had completely blown it off and expected to have tomorrow off and work Sunday.  Just flat gave up on it, she wants to do things her way, I have no control over that and my manager is still "out of service".  

Thank you! and I appreciate it!  I offered her I could work Monday - the 4th of July - as well if needed.  Didn't hear anything back on that one, but I am certainly willing to make sacrifices if they budge a little on their end.  

That's it. It isn't even noon yet, I have basically the whole day to lounge around and take it easy.  Doggy was happy to see me, very happy lol.  Kids are gone til next Friday so we're just enjoying some peace and quiet around here.  If I am home the 4th, it will be the first one in quite a while where their friends aren't celebrating it with us. That's a long story and rather personal, so I won't go into it, but we'll just call it an extreme falling out that occurred late last year.  

Y'all have a good day.

 Ok.

The part for the AC in my SUV has not come in yet - I actually wasn't expecting it to but I had to ask. The shop told me 3 to 4 days, it's been 5 I think.  The reason I didn't expect it is because anything you have to order in this current day and age is going to take a long time to show up.  Blame Covid, the Chinese, supply chain, blame who or whatever, it is what it is.  And what it is is hot and very uncomfortable driving that thing in 90 plus temps.  

The ATV is also not done and the guy couldn't even remember what it needed.  It's been there almost a month, he was supposed to call me back and tell me why it's taking so long fix the blooming thing.  He didn't call back.  No matter, I will be calling him.  I mean, if he can't fix it, I'm take it out of there and find somewhere else to take it to.  

We - Addler and I - went for a nice long walk this morning in the forest.  It was nice to get back there, stretch, get some exercise and refresh myself with the property.  It was nice and cool as well, in the mid 60's earlier, I wanted to get out before the heat started cranking it up into the mid 90's today. 

I have a list of things to do out there and I am going to find a riding mower - used - and hope that it will traverse the trails so I can keep the vegetation mowed down.  Sort of a 4x4 mower? I don't know but I'm going to start looking today.  Actually, I suppose if I found a mower I could build a funky hitch for it and pull a small trailer back there with it.  I would really like to get that bridge started.  It's going to take a while to build it because I am not full time RV park, I'm full time trucker and I only have days off here and there.

Tomorrow I expect to be back on the road.  And I expect to be on the road for a full 70 hour tour - go out on a run, come back, go right back out on another one, etc, until my 70 hours are exhausted. I assume that's why I got today off, I didn't ask for it but she kept telling me yesterday "I need you for thursday and through the holiday".  Fine, I replied, I never said anything about asking for time off at all.  "Several" drivers are off is what I am told and they will need everyone else that isn't off to be running.  I don't know why she felt the need to keep telling me this over and over?  I don't complain at all about any runs I get. The only complaint I will lodge is if she tries the 3 Oklahoma run crap in a row thing on me again.  

There is no need for it and it really isn't fair.  One person gets great runs and another gets crap runs? No.  I do take into account I no longer do Cheniere stuff and several drivers get stuck with that garbage.  I found out my manager never did turn in that ordeal to corporate.  So the only people that know about it is my  manager, his manager and dispatch.  I didn't really care who knew about it, but it does give me more leverage that I don't have some kind of history at a particular place.  No one - and I mean no one - likes going into either of those facilities.  They are anal about rules and they make you wait forever, the pay isn't good and it's a really a waste of time.  

Ok  Well, I have stuff to do today but I haven't decided whether to do anything or not.  Facing elongated days over the road, I may just well enjoy a day off before going back to the grind.  It's still early.  I am assuming the contractor has all of the materials for the project by now.  It doesn't take long to get that stuff, it just sits in a yard somewhere until a customer orders it.  He is waiting on the septic permit - you simply can't start a septic system until the county gives it's approval.  

Hurry up and wait!  

Yup, politics is "interesting" right now, to say the least.  A circus show of varying flavors, nothing I really want to go into now, but obviously abortion is the biggest thing in the news today.  What is being ignored is a potential other blockbuster decision the Supreme Court is deciding.  Virginia v EPA.  Look it up.  It has the potential to determine how much authority and power these ABC government agencies have to enact rules and regulations from unelected bureaucrats who do not (and usually don't) have citizen' best interests as their priorities.  Some readings I have done indicate that if the Court rules in favor of Virginia, it could start a cascade of lawsuits against all the rest of these agencies that lord themselves over us.  The court is basically going to decide whether the EPA has these broad, reaching powers or is most of it something that elected politicians should be deciding?

If they find in favor for Virginia, I expect the trucking industry will take it as a cue to sue FMCSA and DOT for the rules they have put into place from bureaucrats who are placed into position by the President.  For example, Buttigieg is the United States Secretary of Transportation but is completely clueless about any and all of it, not just the trucking industry.  One would expect that they would place people that have the education and expertise to make informed decisions about matters pertaining to the work lives of millions of people - but they don't. It's just a political game, but the citizens that work in the transportation industry suffer. 

Anyway, that story is basically being ignored by main stream media who is on the warpath against the abortion ruling, yet this potential ruling could have such a significant impact on regulatory agencies that it is perplexing that they aren't reporting it. I only found out about it yesterday while perusing the "back" pages of a particular news site.  I looked it up and there were a bunch of stories but mostly from unknown news outlets. 

But, I am elated that the Supreme Court finally saw the Constitutional flaws with the Roe ruling and overturned it.  Pro life people have been dealing with the agony of the deaths of tens of millions of babies over the last 50 years, now it's pro-death people's turn. But not really, the fact that people can still get abortions where states will allow is almost completely ignored by the media, who continues to call abortion a "constitutional right" and that it was overturned.  Uhh, no, you can't just overturn a Constitutional right. It takes 2/3rd's of the House, 2/3rd's of the Senate and 3/4's of the states to ratify and amendments or adjustments to them.  

Good luck finding that kind of agreement.  A constitutional convention of the States could also so it without Congress help.  That also is pretty much out of the question currently.

Anyway, enough, time to decide what to do with the rest of the day.

G'day. 

 3rd trip done and over with. Brownsville down and right back up, no detention.  

However.  After I hooked up to the empty, I saw that one side of the landing gear was lower than the other.  Huh?  It did strike me odd that the trailer was leaning when I pulled up to it.  That was the answer.  These people must have known it was like this and just dropped it anyway.

They are lucky the thing didn't collapse and the trailer tip over. It definitely would have if the trailer had been loaded.  I sent pics to everyone of interest and then an agonizingly long message trail ensued.  I took it to the TA about 250 miles up the road. Dispatch wanted it for tomorrow.

TA said 45 minutes to an hour.  After  an hour and a half, I got out of the truck, got out my adjustable wrenches and got the lock-thread nut off the bolt holding the shaft that goes from the crank side of the gear to the other side.  I adjusted one side even with the other, put the bolt back in and walaah.  

Well, not so fast.  I cranked it down okay, but cranking it back up? One side was going up and the other wasn't. You could hear the internal gears giving way and causing one side not to crank.   So, I said this landing gear is trashed and left that TA that never did anything anyway.  

I had to try to relevel it all when I got back to the yard today, the mechanics were gone. Gear kept slipping, they aren't sending that trailer out tomorrow as much as they'd like to.  Or if they do, they are going to create serious problems. 

But, not MY problem.  I did what I could to help the situation along.  The dispatcher kept telling me "I need you starting Thursday, several drivers are going on vacation".  Of course they are, 4th of July.  Yes?  I am available, I just don't trust old landing gear. Not to mention it's only Tuesday, but she said this 3 times. Seriously, I wasn't asking for July 4th off, I've been off for 13 days, I need to make all of that back up.  

So I thought it odd that she didn't send me out tomorrow. Yes, I know tomorrow is Wednesday, but her continued reutterance of the holiday.....I have tomorrow off. I'm calling the repair shop - do you have the part yet? I'm tired of driving a hot vehicle in 100 degree weather.  

That and the ATV.  What on earth? That thing is going on a month in that shop, are they fixing it or not?  

On a better note, all of the supplies, I have been informed, have been ordered to start work on installing utilities. Hallelujah! The permit for the septic isn't cleared yet, the contractor says it usually takes 2 to 3 weeks. Well, it hasn't been that long yet since they actually go the thing over there.  I don't expect any issues, this contractor's specialty is septic systems and he's been doing it over 30 years, they know him and they know his work.  

I get some things take time, but the cost of everything has gone up literally thousands of dollars, I want to get this thing over with before the costs go up even more.  Or sit on it until the recession hits and everything goes back down?  I'm not hoping for a recession, obviously, but it's a very real possibility.  

I don't know what else. I wasn't expecting tomorrow off. It's cooling off really nice in the mornings, down in the 60's, I'm hoping to get up earlier than normal for a day off and go for a nice long walk with Addler.  Kids are still in Arkansas, I actually like going for walks with Addler alone.  Kids kind of hold me up from the workout type of brisk walk I like to get.  But, the kids beg me to take them with me, even hot as hell outside, it's hard to just tell them no.  I like to encourage exercise and outdoor activity with kids, too many of them sit inside houses and play video games. 

Well that's it for me. I'm heading off to sleepy land early.

 2 trips done with, Oklahoma and Brownsville.  I get tomorrow off, which is Sunday and then back to Brownsville on Monday.  

There is so much stuff going on at work I don't even know if I want to go into all of it or even any of it.  Dispatcher having melt downs with everyone (not me, I'm just laying low right now), manager "relieved of duty" ... "temporarily" - I think he has a good case for a lawsuit against the company but nothing I want to go into here.  

No definition on what, exactly, we are going to get paid for in  Brownsville on detention pay.  I didn't get detention this time so nothing to even consider - tho on Monday a good possibility.  

The dude in Mexico telling people that if we're in the yard in Brownsville, we must be on duty.  Yea, that dude doesn't own that yard or the trucking company that operates it and I know all of those people. How would this dude even know if any of us are on or off duty?  They gonna get in my truck to check? In a pig's eye they will.  Those people at that yard wouldn't even think of doing anything like that, anyway, they are totally cool, chill, laid back Mexicans that love to have a good time.  I've never had any issues with any of them and I have partied with the owner's son who runs the place. 

Yes, I've had some beers down there. Nothing lately tho, they have shut down their parties there for some reason.  Doesn't matter, a lot of times I get down there and I don't want to do anything but go to bed.

And right now? I am still not 100% and driving all day is definitely taking it's toll on me.  Yes, I am still somewhat sick. The coughing has subsided substantially but the feeling of crud is still quite alive and well.  I stopped twice yesterday to take naps and today, I stopped once but for 40 minutes and fell right asleep.  

The kids are gone to grandma's for 2 weeks, I will be able to sleep in in the morning : )  It's so nice and quiet around here, no kids fighting, screaming, yelling, hitting each other : ) We are all enjoying it.  

Tomorrow is Sunday so I don't really have much planned. It is super hot here - over 100 degrees and tho I have some stuff to put together, unless I can do it in the living room or something and then take it outside, I doubt I will be making that any kind of priority.  

Plus the AC in my vehicle is kaput.  Monday, I'm calling the shop and seeing if they have the part in yet. The mechanic at work verified it's a 14 hour job to put that part in there. You literally have to take the entire dashboard OUT of the vehicle. Our mechanic had pics of the job he did on a car because it not only took him so long but he had to remove everything. That scares me, to be honest, what if they don't get it back together right? 

Nothing I can do, I am not driving that thing in this heat all summer long without AC.  

Umm, yes, I consider the Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe a miracle. Not even a minor miracle.  A major, unbelievably wonderful miracle. Lives will be saved.  Yes, it goes back to the states but the states that won't allow abortion or will reduce how the number of weeks before cutoff will undoubtedly save lives.

Spare me the arguments. I am not arguing it here on my site.  I have been in the pro-life movement for decades. I have stood out front of Planned Parenthoods, I have stood on street corners, I have been threatened to be arrested, I have heard every single argument and they all fall flat on their faces.

The Creator's creation should not be trifled with in such a manner.  You're literally condoning killing HIS Creation.  All Constitutional arguments aside, which there are plenty against abortion, I put God above all of it.  As do most Christians and even many faiths of varying belief systems that also don't believe abortion is acceptable.  

I will say that all of the leftie debate groups I'm in, they are having melt downs.  I have been called a slew of names in those groups by these people, even tho I am not calling them names or even trying to get into any heated arguments. I just block people on Facebook now that engage in that.  It serves no useful purpose and if they complain to Facebook about me, even tho they are the aggressor? I am the one that gets shut down for 30 days.  My blocking campaign has worked for the 6 months we've been into this year, it is working I see no reason to stop now.  

And yes, I could go into the Constitutional level of things as outlined by Alito and his written opinion in this overturning of Roe, but why?  I am tired, I am trying to cool off, I am happy to be home and my dog was let out the front door when I pulled up to the front of the house to come greet me : )  And there was extra spicy chili waiting!  Made with home grown habeneros, serranos and jalapenos, it made my forehead break out in sweat and cleared out my sinuses lol! 

Taylor has been growing a lot of stuff, but the hot peppers apparently thrive in this heat?  I dunno, but they are good and so are all of the tomatoes that those other plants are pumping out.  

Oh, well I did get revised quotes from the contractor. Yes, revised because the prices of everything has gone up since I got the first quote.  It would have been nice if he had just ordered all of it then as I wanted him to.  I tried my contact, but he can't get the 4 inch diameter schedule 40 pipe, he has to order it from a competitor, pay full price and then mark it up.  At least he was honest. 

My other contacts at my old work? There are hardly any left.  They all either moved to where this other guy is or they were offered retirement and they accepted or they moved on elsewhere. I might try calling over there Monday anyway, tell them I'm an ex employee, can I get any good pricing? I know they carry the 4 inch pipe.  The price of the entire job has, so far, gone up almost 4 grand.  That's what inflation is doing.  This isn't the cost of labor going up, it's the cost of the pipe and fittings.  I don't even know about the electrical part, yet.  It's concerning, yes.  I can afford the extra for the pipe and septic, the electrical?  I am almost afraid to find out.  

With that, this one is done. Might write some more tomorrow, but I think I'll go enjoy the company of living humans versus being alone in a truck all day long. 

G'nite.  

 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.