Finally.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

G'nite.

 So, most of yesterday and all of today off.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

So beit. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

One can dream : )

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

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

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

G'day  

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Yes, a nap sounds good.

G'day. 

 There is a 12% to 58% chance and everything in between - of rain for the next 15 days.

There is no chance of work being done at the property with all of that going on.  The contractor did say he wants to meet out there again - I changed my plan of which he immediately agreed was a better idea. (So why he didn't just suggest it in the first place I have no idea, I asked him that if he saw a better way, please let me know). 

The plan is simply to move much further back the location of where the first RV sites will go.  That way, it will be much more level. The front portion can eventually be leveled out either by hauling in a lot more dirt or scraping it down from the high side over to the low side with a two tiered park, the lower tier at the front and the higher tier at the back.  

This will allow for me to install "premium" sites at the front and simply charge twice as much.  A premium site being a site twice as large as the regular site, something like 80X80 with more amenities (such as a built in dog run where people can just put them out in it and not have to have them on a leash all the time) - perhaps natural gas run BBQ grill, larger fire pit, picnic table with a permanent canopy and charge a lot more for them.  

Give me 10 of those sites at $65 per night X 30 nights - do the math.  The rear of the park having smaller sites - but definitely not small by industry standards.  Up the number of total sites to 70, be done with it, live happily ever after, or so the fairy tale goes lol.

The plan for this park has evolved since it's inception where I'm buying property and wondering about all kinds of things. I have more confidence now that I have done ample research and even if I continue to change the plan, it isn't a daunting task that leaves me wondering if I'm making the right decision. In wanting level lots to start with and not having to spend a fortune to get them level, there is definitely nothing wrong with that and a prudent business decision, IMO.  

The idea of having it opened for the summer has gone out the window.  I'm thinking it will be summer before they can even do the dirt work.  It's going to sit there like that until then and there's nothing I can do about it, excepting I might contact a new start up business I saw on the Interstate that rents out heavy equipment. I would love to just get the lot graded smooth.  Nothing about the dirt work they want to do, just make it level and have a better idea about level lots.  

But it's probably a waste of money and I should probably just bide my time.  Heavy equipment rentals are extremely expensive and every place I contacted either don't have bulldozers or won't rent to an inexperienced operator.  

See, my mind hasn't completely departed from this project, but, I can't really dwell on it now that it's completely stalled with no start up date in sight. Mother Nature is in control of that. What I can say is that when I see a swath of enough days for drying and after that at least 3 days they can work the dirt with no rain, I'm going to be blowing up this dude's phone.  When are you coming? Have you seen the weather forecast?  Please bring your equipment, let's get moving with this.  I will want a firm commitment that he's coming for if he doesn't, I will immediately contact another company whose phone number I already have and whose owner I have already spoken with.

As for my pay? It finally showed up.  The payroll department insists they sent out a check on Monday.  Well that's funny because it's Thursday and it isn't anywhere in sight.  The second one they sent out yesterday and it arrived last night.  That's the way it always works and I don't believe they actually sent out the first one.  I think they made a mistake and are just trying to cover their @$$ by lying about it.  

I can tell ya that yesterday, I was discussing with the dispatcher about quitting. Not a threat against her, per se, but this stuff went on entirely too long and there was entirely too much pay at stake, the whole ordeal with 3 runs, all 3 of them longer runs, over $4,000 worth in total.  My manager wasn't particularly happy with me as my attitude degraded with time and nothing getting done, ie: my money actually showing up in my bank account.  I didn't care, either, I was ready to quit and frankly still thinking about it.  

It wouldn't be near as devastating to me as they think it would be if I showed up to work, they handed me walking papers and I had to clean out my truck and go home without a job.  I'm not going to sit here and say I would be happy about it, losing a job isn't normally a happy thing - tho the Ferguson ordeal and getting out of that, tough as it was to quit, I was extremely happy after I got away from it and confirmed how much abusive treatment that manager was doling out.  This one I wouldn't be quite so happy for the sole fact of the amount of money I am making at this job.  The caveat is, of course, that actually have to get paid the money and it actually has to land in your bank account for it to do you any good.  Fighting constantly over detention and breakdown pay gets very, very old. 

I just put in for next month off a couple of days to go to the High School Reunion.  I should have done it sooner, but it slipped my mind. Not a big deal if I can't go.  We are definitely set to go to Galveston Beach in July, I have the dates marked as off for working.  5 days, I'm taking more than just the vacation off. I always forget to add an extra day after vacation is over and we are home for recuperation and getting my mind into work frame of thinking - which is becoming and increasingly hard thing to do.

This is day two off. Well yesterday was half day off and all of today - the 70 hour clock was down to 8 hours and 3 minutes.  There is absolutely nothing you can do with that small amount of hours excepting to go load a trailer or even two.  This dispatcher rarely has anyone doing that anymore.  It is a good tool, tho, if you are short drivers but you need the loads to show that they have been taken on the board with both the chemical plant and the plant it's going to.  It can sit in the yard a day until a driver becomes available to take it.  

I am home with the 5 year old, who is being a bit cranky. Mommy went to an Ambassador function - it's a thing she does with the city and goes to events to help host them.  Volunteer type work.  She's been doing it for a couple of years now?  

I dunno, but this boy is going to get out of here and outdoors if he keeps it up.  The dogs need walked and I don't care if this kid is afraid of Siren Head, Cartoon Cat and Bendy.  Those are all scary, fictional cartoon type characters of which he believes are real and he also believes they live on my property and are roaming about it, looking to eat humans.  If I take my small 9mm pistol and show it to him, I can tell him I will kill Siren Head (again, this is a fictional cartoon character that does not exist in real life, no need reporting this blog lmao) if I see  him and I will keep  him (the boy) safe.  

I did that once before and it actually worked.  he feels if I have my "shoot gun", he will be safe.  I feel like my dogs could take down Siren Head lol.  

Both of these kids treat me like a parent, even tho I have repeatedly told them I am not mom or dad and I certainly had nothing to do with their inception LOL.  Doesn't matter to them, I have been here all of their lives, l am a part of their family regardless of how I see it.  I do feel like I'm a part of the family, I'm just not a "parental unit" and don't want to be.  I don't mind watching them, at all, when the real parents have other things to do, but in the end, those boys are their responsibility and they do take that responsibility quite seriously.  It's just funny to me these kids think I am a part of that equation.  I do get on their cases whenever they are disobeying or showing their age reflection of rebellion and disobedience. 

Well, winding this one down. It's Thursday, highly likely I will be sent out tomorrow.  My wish? Get sent out on a 3 day run and get home in time on Sunday to enjoy Easter dinner.  The reality? I have no idea.  Well, my real wish is that I would somehow get Easter day off and enjoy it with the family and help cook a feast - I have 4 prime rib roasts in the freezer and one of them is coming out of it for the dinner whether I'm here or not.  If not, I can always enjoy leftovers when I get home.  I far-more-often-than-not get dumped with working on holidays, I don't usually ask for them off, I just hope that it works out that I get at least a few off.  I got lucky both Thanksgiving and Christmas in that department.  

The boy is getting dressed.  He wants to go to Waffle House.  I will not take him unless agrees to and actually engages in a walk in the woods.  IF he does that, I will post a live video of it once we get back in there.  He will start talking about Siren Head  - you'll just have to look it up if you don't know what it is, but basically it's a walking tornado type siren monster.  It has a bone structure that is very tall, as tall as trees and it has sirens for a head. The sirens have mouths inside of them and they bite off the heads of humans, discarding the body and apparently swallowing the human head.  Yup, I figure someone high and on drugs thought up of that one.  Hallucinogens may have had a part of dreaming that thing up. And then it morphed into all kinds of other "heads", such as light head which is also a tall, pole like creature that has street lights as a head instead of sirens.  

Weight loss has been slow this time around.  I've been faithful to the diet, I just let it go too long and had too much fat to get rid of.  I don't intend on cheating until vacation - or the High School reunion if I go.  That will entail flying out the day of the reunion, going that evening, staying over night, going the next evening, it's a two day event, and then flying home the next day, hopefully finding time to visit some folks while I'm there.  If not, I won't be cheating on the diet again until July.  Yes, I can make it that far, I have been doing this diet for 2-1/2 years now.  It's really just a way of life at this point.  

With that, I'm going to find out what this boy wants to do. If hiking, we are leaving. If not, I'm making breakfast!

G'day

 My company said they were going to deposit my "lost" pay either Friday or today - Monday - for sure.  So yea, there aren't any deposits in my account. When they deposit it, it sits there as "pending".  No pending nothing.  

My dispatcher sent me another Oklahoma run for tomorrow.  "I'm waiting for my pay to actually be paid".  

Long story from the dispatcher - she tried, I'll give her that and my issue wasn't with her. I told her that in no uncertain terms.  Thank you for trying, I know our payroll department is incompetent, etc, stuff that makes her understand I wasn't blaming her for my not getting paid.  

She sent me more texts.  I simply stated: "This company can pay my ass before I do any more work".  

That started a firestorm of activity that basically had a threat from my manager - but only in the terms of the company forcing him to do that - and I continued on. I have never, in my 37 years of driving, had this kind of ridiculous, outrageous, unbelievable treatment from a payroll department. They literally don't give a damn.  

He eventually called me and I informed him that I have had several companies begging me to come work for them for years.  I am not concerned about turning down a load with this company - and I put that nicely, because other words came to my mind.  Like f*** this company.  Eventually, we got to him admitting they had screwed him out of 30% of his pay - a yearly bonus they promised him  if his performance met X requirements - which his performance went WELL beyond that and they told him 

_____________________________________

That was yesterday.  The "conversation" wasn't a nice one.  Pay me or I will sit home. That was my stance.  I am not going to have almost $2,500 worth of pay just sitting there in limbo, not getting it to me because...why?

There are some things companies can get away with in toying with their employees.  There is at least one sacred thing any company should never mess with if they want employee retention: their paychecks. A man - or woman - puts in X amount of hours of work, then turns it in, then expects to get paid for it the next pay period after turning it in. That's it. It's very simple.  

I have bills to pay, that was another statement I said several times over.  I don't drive for free. etc etc etc. all the things you would expect someone who is getting pissed off to say when their pay didn't show up, went through the proper channels to get it to show up - it still doesn't show up anyway and then that's it.  I was willing to quit or be fired over it yesterday, i didn't care at that point and I made it exceedingly clear.  

And what does my manager care? He is quitting - over pay - as well!  He doesn't, actually, care he just has to act like he does until he's out of there.  I don't know if he's given a notice or not, but if I were him, I would be extremely upset over 30% of my pay being denied.  Witnesses said he was letting out all kinds of f bombs and other such niceties when the company informed him they weren't giving him the bonus they promised him.

THAT after they told him his division made   a lot of money.  

The writing is on the wall. My days at that company are numbered.  I will not tolerate abusive treatment from a company - not paying a person and then demanding that person prove that the work even exists and that I actually did it? No thanks.  It's the best paying job I ever had but I will gladly walk away from it for reasons such as this.  

Well, after a long conversation, I was "guaranteed" that it will be put in my account tomorrow, which is today.  It's barely after 8:00 am so I will not be checking it until later.  He - my manager - kept saying "you're not doing yourself any favors" by refusing a load.  I was at the "I literally don't give a shit about this job at this point" stage, threats were not going to work against me.  I eventually agreed to take today's Oklahoma load under the condition that my pay is going to be in there TODAY. 

He assured me it would be. 

That's it.  IT's time to head out to the yard and - wait on a trailer. That's the other thing. There is no trailer available. Gag.

G'day

 I don't know what happened to that last entry, I thought I had finished and posted it.  Oh well, it was almost finished and I posted it anyway.

I didn't get out of the plant until 3:30 yesterday afternoon. An empty didn't show up until noon and then when I got to the plant, there were 2 trucks ahead of me. 

Motoring up there, drop and hooking, around 9:30 pm, I left the receiving plant and decided I would at least get to Okmulgee to get fuel at the Love's.  But when I got there, I became a bit irritated with the lack of schedule and just "take it when it gets there" garbage, so I decided I was going to at least try and drive the route out.  I knew it would be minimum 3:30 am before I got back, but what the heck.

I got within 50 miles and was too tired to continue driving, so I stopped at a truck stop in Pittsburg, TX, took a 15 minute nap and that was all I needed. I didn't get to bed until almost 5:00 am.  I am at home. I would still be sitting on a 10 hour break right now and I wouldn't be getting back to the yard until around 2 - 2:30, add 45 minutes to unhook tractor, do paperwork and drive home.  

I just feel better about getting home even if tired. I have nothing pressing that must be done so I can just lounge around all day if I seriously want to.  The 5 year old messed with my sleep and started knocking on the door, hence I am up much earlier than I wanted to be.  I forgot to look at the 70 hour clock last night - well this morning - it is probably around the low 20 hour range, meaning they could send me out on another trip tomorrow.  I would prefer going out on Wednesday, buffering the next pay period and have a couple days off.  

A week later and the contractor finally messaged me back: I just now seen your text, my phone has been messing up.

Well, sir, your phone appears to have been messing up for a long, long time now, perhaps you should think about fixing it or getting a new one.  I didn't actually say that to him, but he's been saying this for a while now. He owns his own company, he has a large number of employees, it's obvious he's raking in the dough, buy a phone - or stop making excuses, I'm not sure which.  

The forecast is a slight chance of rain today, possible thunderstorms tomorrow and definitely heavy rain with tornado warnings, hail and damaging winds.  Various chances of rain all the way through the 25th, as far as the forecast goes.  Yeah, this project is going to progress any time soon.  

The extended forecast is not helpful.  Enough days have to pass for the ground to dry up and then you have to have 3 days in a row after that drying period to do the dirt work.  Or so I am told.  

Anyway, I will have to find things to do to get my mind off of that.  I don't know what, but it's obvious nothing is going to happen over there for a while to come. Frustrating, absolutely.  I really need another business venture to get involved with that isn't dependent on good weather.  Rentals are my go to.  Subrenting doesn't sound like a good idea, I'd have to actually buy a house here to rent out rooms or rent the whole thing.  At 20% down, that would eat up a good chunk of finances. It wouldn't necessarily put the project in jeopardy, but it would likely mean borrowing a substantial amount more of money to make it happen.

I'm a bit cranky - 5 hours of sleep wasn't enough but once you have been awakened twice out of sleep and it's daytime and daylight, the sleep hours are gone, there is no getting back to sleep. I feel like going on a nice walk out on the property even if tired, just to get some anxiety out and enjoy nature.

It's a pretty good idea, actually. 

G'day

 Lol.

I won't mention the name of the plant for I don't want to cause any trouble.

But last night? I've never seen anything like it.  I haven't been to this particular plant in a couple of years.  The product we bring to them, they just recirculate it and regenerate it, the only reason they need more, over time, I was informed last night, is because there are leaks here and there and the product seeps out and eventually we need a truckload to replace it.

Ok. They knew what they were doing, but only on their side.  On the trailer side, I showed them everything the needed to know and stood around for quite a while, monitoring their activity. Expert me? No, but I do know what I'm doing with this stuff. Do you need anything else from me? No, I think we've got it. Okay, well if you need anything, I'll be in my truck eating dinner. 

Eat dinner I did and then I went to sleep.  I didn't actually sleep to well 2 nights ago, I wanted to rest.  It was already a long day as it was, going to the loading plant, loading, driving 600 miles and then unloading.  

A few hours later, the man came to my truck and knocked.  "How low do you want the pressure?" 20-25 is fine with me.  At some point, I got my gear back on and got out of the truck.  The pressure was down to 22, plenty fine, not dangerous at all, let's unhook.  

Well, they apparently don't know how to clear the line of the liquid before unhooking, because as soon as they cracked the giant fitting, liquid started coming out.  I just backed up. That stuff can give you serious burns just like fire, only it comes from the other end of the spectrum. I mentioned the bleeder valve - he went to open it and I'm like, uhhh, yeah you have liquid coming out, I wouldn't open it up too much or you'll have that stuff raining all over us.  I backed up plenty far.  This spectacle wasn't going to make me a victim.  Sure enough, it came shooting out the tube at the top of the cabinet and it started raining.  He immediately turned the valve to the point it slowed down.

But, we stood there and watched liquid coming out for at least 5 minutes.  Most plants would have a literal cow about doing that. Now, this stuff isn't harmful in that being exposed to the chemical will kill you, it's just very cold and highly flammable.  I think plants worry about EPA or OSHA violations more than anything. But, this stuff evaporates immediately and it's gone.  As I said, I'm not naming the plant, I actually thought it humorous that these people thought that that stuff raining down like that was somehow normal.

__________________________

I'm back at home, Sunday morning.  I was originally given a load to take out Monday, but unfortunately, instead of getting Sunday off, another driver had "issues" - some people make stuff up to get out of work - so my dispatcher called yesterday and declared I was needed for a run to Oklahoma today.  I asked why they other driver couldn't take it.  "He can't take it".  Well I prefer he would, I replied, and I get a Sunday off.  I most assuredly do not like working on Sundays. I never have, I never will.  But, she insisted and I can't say no.  I mean, I could make up a story and lie, not something I want to do so I just agreed to it.  

The problem is, the mechanic took one of the trailers out of service. This trailer is for the Oklahoma run only.  Take even one of the trailers out of service and everything is screwed up.  So now, I am waiting for a trailer to be brought back.  At home waiting, that is, I was just informed by the driver that he won't be back to the yard with it until noon.  What does that mean? It means that it's going to be an incredibly late night for working today.  And I won't be back until afternoon tomorrow.  Unless I get a wild hair and say screw it, just drive all the way back and sleep in late tomorrow morning.  

Something tells me I won't feel like doing that, but it was a nice thought anyway, lol.

 Oklahoma trip yesterday and this morning, the rest of today off. 2 days in between runs.  Probably by design, some sort of retribution for saying something about the dispatcher, I don't care.  At least I'm off again tomorrow, over to Alabama, which is usually a 2 day trip, sometimes 3.  It's a little more than the equivalent of a Brownsville trip. More miles but easier drive.  I-20 all the way over to Birmingham and then up to Decatur and walaah. 

There are 2 plants up there, this is the one that is open 24 hours and they will unload - whenever you get there. However, this is also the plant with people that have no clue what they are doing and I have spent up to 18 hours waiting to unload.  I haven't been to this plant in over 2 years, I kind of hope they might have gotten their act together.  

Anyway, I went to the property again today. The weather has cleared up temporarily, gotta take advantage of it. Went to the back 15 and just listened to the wind blowing through the trees.  The wind is howling here today, so much so that they have put out an advisory that making fires is not a good idea, the wind can blow it into a massive forest fire quickly. 10-4, I really didn't need the National Weather Service to tell me that lmao and I wasn't planning on building any fires.

I just find it relaxing to go out and enjoy my own chunk of land in a forest.  The dogs rather like it as well. 

I have revised my plan once again, tho.  The beginning of the park is going to start much further back from the front of the property.  In fact, I have considered moving all of the amenities to the front of the property and having all of the rv sites in the rear. The ground is much more level back there and guests will be much happier. 

Whatever the case, I stopped this post, went to dinner, received a run for tomorrow -  6am load time going to Alabama - and it's already time to go to bed. You know, getting up at 3:45 am stuff? Yea, that jar of wonderfulness.

G'nite

 I've actually hugged a few trees before.  Why? Because people used to call people "tree huggers" and defame and condescend to them.  I like trees.  God likes trees: "The trees of the field will clap their hands".... and references to trees all throughout scripture.  I don't mind them being cut down tho.  I mean, paper, furniture, etc, and it's totally renewable. In the region I live in, tree forests are harvested all over the place and saps are planted in their place.  I've seen a large number of them in various growth stages all over the place.  See, I think we should get rid of as much plastic as we can and go back to the paper days.  Paper is biodegradable and doesn't take forever to decompose.

It also isn't found among the floating piles of plastic in the oceans - the last one I saw on a documentary said the flotilla (yes, I know it's boats but whatever) of plastic all stuck together was the size of Texas.  The size of Texas.  

Just my thoughts on trees. They are probably my most favorite part of God's creation above the rest of anything else. Flowers come a close second.  Dogs are in contention with flowers, but they aren't really in the same category lol.

Home today, Monday. Worked all weekend taking a loaded trailer to Brownsville and empty back up to the yard.  Wasn't really into it too much yesterday.  Traffic was full of lunatics driving like they were rushing to the hospital because they are dying. Just ridiculous, getting cut off all day long.  To that end, I printed out the SBA loan application and will begin working on it.  I need the contractor to give me a price on doing the entire 60 plus lots I want, a pool contractor to give me a price on that and a builder to give me quotes on a couple of buildings and a giant canopy. 

Yes, we're talking hundreds of thousands of dollars.  The loan originators will probably want the property on it too, so add another $65,000 on top of that.  I figure I'll need ballpark 400k to do the entire park in one fell swoop.  Yea I said I was going to wait, but wait for what?  Just keep driving trucks up and down the road endlessly? No thank you.  The worst they can do is decline the loan and I'll have to figure something else out.  If I could just come up with enough cash to put in 30 spaces, I could quit my job.  

And with the manager quitting in the next few months (so he says, the company doesn't treat him very well) I have to wonder what the next manager will bring. This guy is laid back, he lets drivers get away with as much as he can let them without his @$$ being held to a burner.  If the next manager is the assistant manager he just hired, things are going to be a bit rough. She doesn't talk to anyone that I can see. She hides behind a partition in what used to be the driver's break room and literally says nothing to anyone.  Or if she does, I have yet to see it.

I'd be perfectly happy with a short, Oklahoma run tomorrow.  But, I'll have full hours available, they could send me to any of our accounts and not, I really don't feel like trekking a thousand miles each way to some of our contracts.  Other drivers love those runs, they can have them. 

I'm gong to the septic place today to drop off a check for the pedestals. If the owner is there, I'm going to ask him to work up the numbers to do the entire job.  The loan asks for quotes, specific numbers, not ballpark stuff. I understand they want that stuff, it's just very tedious in these parts to get anyone to actually do the numbers on paper and give an actual quote.   

Anyway, I was reading today a story stating the Elon Musk - Space X/Tesla - has bought a 10% stake in Twitter, making him the largest shareholder in the company.  Musk said last week that free speech is fundamental to a functioning democracy and criticized Twitter for silencing opinions from people that the company doesn't agree with.  I despise Twitter, I have never liked it, but I will be enthusiastically watching what, if anything, Musk does with his presence in the company.  A shareholder who owns a majority stake basically owns the company.......yes, this should get very interesting. 

Perhaps Musk is a rare billionaire that will actually do some good with all the money he has?  I know he isn't a godly man, but that doesn't  mean he can't do good things with his life.  And perhaps the Lord will find a way to speak to Musk in ways that only God can do without actually showing Himself to anyone.  

Regardless, I'm out the door. Take the check over, get a haircut, renew the trailer license and probably the boat as well now that I think of it, go to the bank, take the dogs to the property and give them a good long walk. It's been a while, the rain has stopped everything, including walks and construction.  Other construction sites in the area are also dead, no dirt work being done and after tonight, that will probably keep any work from being done for at least another work.

It's a bit frustrating, yes.  Oh, and we're likely going to Lowe's today.  I fixed the giant planter out front of the house a few days ago and it's ready for planting. Lowe's has a very nice selection of beautiful flowers.  Yes I'm still doing Keto, weight sort of fluctuates, but as long as the fluctuations keep going in a downward pattern, it's fine by me. Slow progress right now, that's what I can attest to.  

If you're out and about today, take the time to look at nature.  Get the world out of your mind for a bit.  That's one of the reasons I like taking the doggies for walks on the property.  Clear my mind, enjoy God's green earth and stress over nothing. It's good for the body, soul and mind.  

G'day.  

 Since it's rainy season here, it could be weeks or even a month or longer before the ground is sufficiently dry for the contractor to engage in the dirt work needed to move along with the project.  

It makes me just want to go out, buy another house and start renting it out instead.  Plenty of houses around here where I could put less than 20k down and easily rent it out, this area is short on rental housing.  

Am I seriously considering this? Well, the thought has definitely crossed my mind, I'll put it that way.  The cost of housing here isn't particularly high.  People always seem to want to rent over buying.  Or, they don't have the down payment to be able to buy.  This is why I think a rent-to-own option in these parts would work very nicely.  

Whatever the case, the dream is on hold indefinitely, as there is rain in the forecast well into the future.  Take a good week of drying out before any dirt work could be done.  I mean, I don't know what else I can do, sit here and wait.  Make decisions on other things that can't be acted on until the dirt work is done.  Engage in other undertakings.  Start up the SBA loan stuff.  

I think it's SBA loan "stuff".  It looks daunting, the paperwork and the projections and such.  And getting bids. Like pulling teeth, getting contractors out there to give bids is extremely difficult - they are all busy and they don't have a lot of extra time on their hands.  After reading a large quantity of material from other RV park owners who went through the process, I at least have an idea.  

_____________

That was days ago lol. I've written a couple of entries and just left them in limbo.  I do that a lot.  There isn't much to report.  I just got back from a trip to Oklahoma.  I have no idea what my next work assignment is, but since it's Friday, I decided on the way home to prepare myself with Keto food to take with me.  She will send me something (dispatcher) for either tomorrow, Sunday or Monday.  If I could get  a weekend off, I would love it.  

Not sure I really want to be home all weekend tho. The kids are suspended from video games and watching any videos - they ignored mom and dad and decided to come to me to ask to watch a certain movie.  I turned it on, not knowing mom had told them after dinner.  It's obviously not good for kids thinking they can just go around asking everyone until they get permission.  The older boy is highly likely going to be pouty and I don't like being around pouty kids - at all.  

Anyway, there is a huge plant sale - I think it's a yearly thing at a certain location where they put out thousands of various kinds of plants - going on tomorrow morning.  I hope I am here because the prices are supposed going to be very good with a huge selection if you get there early.  We cleaned out all the plant pots. I also fixed the giant planter that fell apart awhile ago - the screws had sheered in half, combination rust and lots of weight with all the dirt in that planter - plus the fact those tiny little screws weren't near big enough to hold the kind of weight that thing was built for.  

There's not much else. My son says he is considering moving to Tennessee.  It's fairly inevitable that anyone that grew up in the Phoenix area and lived there long enough will get sick of big city living and want to move out.  It wasn't anything like it is now when we first moved there in the early 70's.  Much of it was cotton fields and giant tumble weeds.  When it rained, the streets would flood and we would literally go tubing down the street.  The mountain camping areas weren't over run with people that are getting drunk, throwing trash everywhere and being a nuisance.  Grand Canyon wasn't shut down to auto traffic. I drove up there several times with friends and our family made trips up there as well. 

The pollution is horrible. Ozone alerts all the time, with warnings to "stay inside" - yeah right, I had an outdoor job and there wasn't any staying inside nonsense.  And a lot of other stuff that comes with big cities, especially the left politics - bigger government is always better in their view of things.  

I don't know if he's actually going to do it, but it sounds like his mother actually came up with the idea to do it and he is going to follow her out there.  He's been living with her ever since the divorce and saving up money to buy another place.  I still have a really bad taste in my mouth after buying them a brand new, $1,600 refrigerator as a new-house warming gift and then they split up a month later and she has that refrigerator.  Trust me, I wouldn't have given them an expensive gift like that if I had any idea that that was going to happen.  Them being his ex-wife and my son.  

Pretty much will never do that again.  I've given him cash gifts instead towards his savings towards a house.  Tennessee is a beautiful state and property is much cheaper there along with the cost of living. It's a good choice, I think, especially for those with more conservative thinking.  

I have no plans on going anywhere. Unless this situation with my friends I am living with ever change, I will probably stay here.  The only thing I really don't like about this area is no mountains and I really always wanted to retire in the mountains somewhere.  Nearest mountains are something like 300 miles away, not like it's a hop, skip and a jump to go on a mountain retreat over the weekend type of thing. 

Well that's enough for this one.  I would like to go get some plants tomorrow, get them home and then go for a good, long hike with the dogs.  It's been raining and we haven't been going, but the rain has stopped until Monday, when there's a 50 plus percent chance of rain - again.  Putting off the property dirt work - again.  I just have to settle in and wait until the rainy season is over, I guess, that's a couple of months from now.  

g'day

 Of course I got up here early and of course they aren't ready to unload.  So, I headed to the hotel, got a room and went to Buffalo Wild Wings for incredible bone-in wings that rock the world.  

I haven't used this laptop since the vacation, the battery was almost completely dead, gag.  

The property is dead at the moment. It's been raining and they can't do any dirt work until it's dried out. That will be next week at the earliest and then? It's supposed to rain again. 

If only they would have come last week.  The pedestals are in, there isn't any holdup there.  In fact, I got on the road and the dude called me.  Wants payment for it, I told him I'm just leaving town (literally had just left the city limits) and wouldn't be back for 4 days.  

I am still doing research on RV parks - but much of it now is coming from owners, managers and investors.  Whatever a handful of people might say on the internet does not necessarily translate into what most people either like or will tolerate. 

Not that I don't want to see what RV'ers have to say, but I was giving the internet too much credence.  What do the people that have been in it for years or decades have to say?  People that have dozens of parks in different states?  

Or people that only own one park but have been doing it a long time.  They have gone through the ins and outs of owning a park, they have an understanding.  I've gained more insight to what I should and shouldn't have - and still have people wanting to come. Most things haven't changed, but the beginning of this setup has definitely changed to address my finances versus what I "should" have.  

_____________

That was several days ago. I'm home now, it took 1-1/4 days to get back.  I was home before noon yesterday and was informed that I could take a load up to Morris in Illinois if I wanted it, she was giving me first dibs at it because she knows I like the Illinois runs. And I do.  Especially since Brownsville isn't getting any detention pay right now, they are getting empty trailers to the staging yard in time for drivers to swap out when they arrive. 

This next trip - leaving tomorrow/Sunday - will be the third long trip in a row.  I'm not a big fan of them, but I lost a lot of income on those 12 days off that I definitely haven't made back yet.  These 3 runs will help with that.  It's a 3 day run unless they hold me up at the plant. It's happened before, usually they get me out of there within 3 to 6 hours depending on who is unloading.  All I have to do is make it back to St Louis the second day and I will be able to finish out the run on the 3rd day.

It's around 1,700 miles round trip, so it's a good run and good money for 3 days gone.  3 runs around 4 grand gross pay I'm good with that. 

Diet is coming along nicely.  Some days I struggle, especially with intermittent fasting, such as this morning lol.  Another 3 hours before I can eat anything and I'm hungry right now.  But, I'm down to 213 pounds and the fat loss is noticeable.  My gut has definitely shrunken (shrank?) quite a bit and I get full quickly because of the fasting.  I don't feel so hungry during the day after I finally eat my first meal. It's not the easiest diet plan to follow, but it's probably the fastest way besides getting that operation on your stomach.  

I know people who have had that operation and they eventually end up losing hundreds of pounds. These are people that were out of control with their eating and had to take drastic action to get the weight down, facing serious health problems.  Exactly why I don't want to get big like that, my job doesn't help at all. Sitting in a truck all day long and then when the driving day is over, I don't feel like doing much of anything but going to bed.  

I'm trying to get the contractor nailed down on when he's going to come back.  The rain blew all plans right on up.  I'm going over there today to see if it's dried significantly, it's been 3 days? 2 days?  I dunno, I was out of town 4 days.  He doesn't respond right away to texts.  In fact, I'm pretty sure he doesn't look at them until he's ready to do anything, the texts show read receipts and if he has his phone set up right, he can see the beginning text of what anyone is saying.  Yes, it's kind of lame, but I have few options in this area, especially at the rates he is charging.  

There are lots of bigger projects going on with companies that have much deeper pockets, I am just worked in when they are in a lull.  It isn't optimal but so far I am patiently waiting this guy out, tho I do send short texts such as a few minutes ago asking him politely if he has a revised time frame for coming out again.  Yes, the land has to dry up, but I still would like a potential commitment.  

His electrical contractor told me 5 days ago the pedestals were in.  So we were supposed to meet yesterday to hand over the cash.  He never followed through, so I also sent him a text this morning.  He also hasn't replied.  I don't think they work weekends so it may just be that they don't deal with this stuff on Saturdays or Sundays. 

There is going to be a point in the near future where, if they don't start moving on  my project, I'm going to bite the bullet and go find other contractors to do the work.  None of the rest of them do all of it, it would have to be different contractors doing the various things that need to be done.  I don't have until the next of never to do this project. I want the work done and the money spent so I can get moving.  He really should have had this dirt work done by now, it's obvious other projects are taking priority.  

It would be nice if people would simply be upfront with their intentions and if they have other stuff going on that will cause' the project to take longer than it probably should.  This contractor is the "premiere" septic system installation company in this entire region.  I suppose I could get everything else done by other contractors and then use him just for the septic part.  

Whenever I do get to the crossing of the line - where he is just not getting the work done, I'm simply going to issue an ultimatum, get it done or I'll just move on.  He will likely respond to move on.  Hence I am not there yet.  Once a person tells me to move on, I'm done with them regardless of how good a job they may do or even the best price.  

There is another dirt contractor just outside of town that has a huge construction company. His pricing was higher but I will use him if I have to.  Actually, the more I'm thinking about it, it's really starting to get at me.  I need at least an explanation?  Well, I'll give at least another week.  If he doesn't show up by then I'll call the other guy out to give a revised quote since the land clearing is already done.  

______________

Feeling extremely lazy after doing all kinds of housekeeping stuff, I found a person to come over and do the front yard.  The person showed up with their entire family .They all got out with rakes - but they were also pulling a trailer with a large zero-turn professional style mower on it.  

I was amazed. They got straight to work, the only one that wasn't doing anything was a 5 year old (guessing) girl,lol, didn't expect her to do anything.  Raking, weed-eating, mowing, getting all the leaves up. This is leaves from fall, lmao, a bit embarrassing I guess, but it's all gone. They even supplied their own leaf size bags and hauled the leaves off. The price tab? $45!  I gave them a $5 tip for hauling off the leaves even tho they didn't have to be asked to do that. 

I have that run tomorrow, hence I don't feel like doing anything else.  I am not going to do food prep, I have a place to stop both nights and they serve excellent, tasty food.  Just grab the sandwich making stuff and I'm good to go.  A local restaurant has finally started making the keto meals they were advertising.  I was going to get  a couple for the road and try them out - but - their dishwasher broke down and they had to shut down temporarily until it is replaced.  

Maybe next trip.  

  

 Towing opportunity dissolved before my very eyes. Because I don't live in Shreveport, he can't use me.  He said he would contact his buddy in Texas that also has a wrecker operation.  I was seriously considering this as an opportunity to do something different and be home all the time, basically, or at least very close to home while at work.  I offered that I would stay in Shreveport while I am on duty, but apparently that wasn't good enough for him.  He wouldn't explain why I had to live over there, I only guessed that the reason is because they need people that are close to the yard to be available quickly for calls.  I could have rented a room over there - plenty of them available - for minimal cost. Heck, I could have rented a house and rented out rooms in the house - huge need for that as well - and have the house pay for itself. 

But, whatever. Back to square one and still looking for a local trucking job.  Towing almost always wants you to have experience before they will consider you. I've always wondered about certain industries where they want you to have experience. How do you get experience if they won't train you?  Lol.  What I'm doing now I never thought I'd get into because all of the companies I had contacted said they wanted 4, 5 whatever amount of tanker and hazmat experience before they'd hire me. I just got lucky this company hires anyone with tractor-trailer experience and will train anyone willing to learn. 

There was no equipment brought to the property, not yet anyway and with a forecast of potential tornadoes and definitely rain, I suspect he won't be having it brought over until later this week, at best. I was looking to see where a pond would go and I thought, well, it's kind of hard to determine that without the lots being mapped out first.  I think I know where I would want to put one tho. 

Yesterday, I was speaking with someone who said they have a friend who is moving to our town, but is staying in an RV temporarily. He said the guy couldn't find any spaces available in any of the RV parks in town and had to park at a place 30 plus miles away.  

The idea of having longer stays is interesting, but comes nowhere near the amount of revenues that overnights/short stays gives.  I might get away with $350 to $400 per month on monthly rates plus electricity, I can potentially make $900 per month on the same lot doing overnights.  I'd really like to get someone to move in there as a workamper who just has to greet new arrivals, clean up the lots when the guests leave and deal with any emergencies that might arise. It would eat up one lot space worth of monthly rent (and possibly still cost me money in paying a small paycheck), but it would at least have someone on site at all or most times.  

Whatever the case, I was just sent tomorrow's work dispatch. Ohio. Gag, another long run after getting back from one. And this run typically takes 4 days - well 3 full days and a 4th partial day. Simply because the plant will not unload the truck when you get up there, they make you wait until the next morning.  I think it's ridiculous that we are told we have to wait up there and not necessarily get detention pay. That company orders the product in advance, they know we will have to wait but they aren't expected to pay?  Very rarely they will have their tank empty AND someone there to offload it.  

I despise this run, lol.  Indiana is not a pleasant state to drive through.  The rest of the trip isn't bad, but Indianapolis is yucky and Indiana forces trucks to stay in the right lane on the Interstates. It's a lot of driving at slower speeds.  Almost guaranteed I will stay at the Super 8 down the road from the plant - I'm not a big fan of sitting around in a truck for anywhere from 14 to 18 hours depending on when I get up there. The super 8 is the only thing there that is under $100 and is at least half decent.  The rest of them are $139 and up.  There is a Buffalo Wild Wings right there, I love their wings and I can sit there for a few hours.  The only way I won't stay in a hotel is if I can get unloaded immediately or if something happens on the way up or at the loading plant and I don't get up there until late on Wednesday.  Last time, I got up there at noon and they didn't unload me until almost 24 hours later.

And finally, my credit score should be shooting way back up any day now.  I had no idea that going over 30% on any single card would affect your credit score that much. My understanding was it was 30% of your overall credit usage, which I am nowhere near using.  So, my Sears/Discover card I used to buy the desk?  It has a small credit limit at $3,250, which I didn't realize to begin with and using it to buy the desk took it up to almost 40% of it's credit usage.  I paid that card well down into the low 100's range and checked the rest of them to make sure I am not near or over 30% on any of the rest.  It was close on one and it's due date was tomorrow - so I paid it down $500 to make sure it isn't anywhere near that 30% threshold.

Just when you thought you had learned as much as you needed to know about credit scores, bam! and it hits you with something you didn't know about.  It's not clearly stated on any of the sites I have read, hence my confusion.  Live and learn.  The Sears card payment is due tomorrow, so they should be sending out where it's now at in the next few days.  I am going to need good credit down the road if I end up needing another loan to finish the start up and definitely if I'm going to get a much larger loan down the road to do a - huge- upgrade to the park.  Half a million would work.  Clubhouse with an attached hotel (small), the lake in the rear, the swimming pool and whatever else to make it more of a resort and a destination place.  Some "glamping" sites and around 55 sites.  It would create the potential for over 70 grand per month in gross receipts.  

Around 5 grand per month payments, I could go full time into the RV business and leave the rest of the corporate world behind.  It may sound lofty, but currently, a large loan in a year or two after I get the park up and running is my goal.  I could also have a custom house built in the rear 15 acres and simply live on the property.  Taking "my" family with me, lol.  Stake out 2 acres right near the rear of the property, clear it, put in a road, build the house, walaah.  I really do have "sky is the limit" vision for this place.  Banks will loan the money if they think it's a viable operation and a government backed loan will only help to fortify a bank's assessment of it.  I do plan on starting on the process of coming up with plans and blueprints, costs and projected income of such a much larger operation after I get the park going.  And there is a possibility of buying property next door - they are doing nothing with it and there is something like 25 acres of unused land with towering pines that were never harvested such as the situation with my property.  

Anyway, that is what goes through my mind as I continue to wait on the contractor to get this stuff done.  I just have to get this thing going!

G'day.  

 Almost guaranteed change of plan with that pond situation.  It never really crossed my mind to have a smaller version of one up front, just seemed like I would need all of that space for RV lots and amenities. But, a pond is an amenity in and of itself.  A water feature, right there.  

Speaking of that, I just texted the contractor.  I need some sort of confirmation they're coming this week - tho it's supposed to rain today and tomorrow, probably won't come til' after that is over with.  I also received my new "No Parking" signs replete with a tow away notice. Sound harsh? Well whatever, it's my property and I don't want that truck parked over there, period, end of story.  It's a nuisance both for tearing up the driveway and ugly.  At least if it was parked on the other side of their house it wouldn't stick out so much and wouldn't be destroying the driveway as well.

Heading over there in a few, whether the contractor says he's coming or not.  I want to take a look at where I might be able to sneak in a pond - probably right in the middle of where the RV's will be and have some pads encircling it.  

I'm not saying I want pads around it at the beginning, I don't have the money for more pads and I am still a go with using the existing driveway and setting up the first 14 pads in the fashion I already spoke about in previous entries.  What I could do is have that pond right there at the end of those pads with about a 25 foot wide driveway around it and create a grassy area somewhere next to it replete with a picnic table and a fire ring.  Preferably with a tree - which might cause me to think about locating it closer to the west side and have some trees for afternoon shade.  

The reason I want to go over there today is to get a real look at what something like a 75X100 foot pond would look like set up on the site.  Well, maybe not quite that big, 50X75?  I haven't decided that yet, hence the need to go over there and take some measurements and see what I can come up with.  It will be a streamless pond, meaning there is no fresh water source excepting if the water table is high enough (which it mostly is in this region) fresh water will seep up from the ground below it.  Just have to dig down into the clay.  It will need a fresh water source beyond whatever comes up from the ground tho, I'll have to have that well drilled as well.  

My walking trails will still be created through the rear of the property, giving people that want some exercise a good bit of distance they can cover, perhaps go around several times if they are really fitness gurus.  But, people just like to stroll as well, take their doggies for walks, etc.  It will create additional cleanup.  As far as I can see it, any park that allows dogs is also a park that has problems with owners not cleaning up the dog dung, even if you provide ample dog cleaning posts with a scooper, plastic bags and a trash can.  

I'd be inclined to tell those people to leave if I caught them doing it.  I still need to write up my rules, but it's a ways off so I'm kind of just getting ideas right now.  A lot of these parks have their rules right on their websites, many of the top priority rules are all the same, perhaps worded differently but the same idea.  No loud music/noise after 10 pm kind of thing.  That's a biggie - quiet time 10pm - 8 am or 7am, it's going to be one of those.  People like the quiet time, they complain about it not being enforced.  I envision an area with perhaps a canopy -down the road when I can get some more money together - that's well away from the RV sites where people can hang out after hours, enjoy a fire and do whatever, drinking probably.  I don't care if people drink, I just don't want flaming drunks creating disturbances and that will also be written into the rules.  

I struggle with amenities, because if I didn't want to install some or all of that right off the bat, I could have more spaces installed.  A septic system for more spaces will cost significantly more, because you of course need larger vaults and more pipe.  Oh how I wish the city also had sewer lines running through there.  Electricity is running about $2,300 per site.  Costs obviously adding up, I can just do what I can do.  At minimum there will be a dog park, walking trails and laundry.  I will also try to invent some way to sell pre-packaged firewood bundles for campers that want to have fires but didn't bring wood with them. 

If there is going to be anyone present there, it's going to be a very short amount of afternoon hours at first and I suspect there will be days when there is no one actually manning anything besides a cleaning lady coming in to clean the bathrooms if I can actually find a way to fund a decent bathroom setup.  Maybe 2 showers and that's it to start out with.  My mind says bigger is better, my wallet says no thanks.  I've scaled down my thinking on a few things that will cost too much to do with available finances and not taking out another loan. 

Another loan may be inevitable, but at least try to keep it a lower amount, no more than 20 grand. 

Weight loss: Still going. Down to 212 this morning.  Not substantial amount but the fact that is is still going down is what is important to me.  My gut is definitely starting to shrink - took a while to see that kind of result but I can now tell I've lost some fat.  I don't know why I let myself go like this, a bit ridiculous on my part.  Just eat whatever you want@! lmao Everyone knows the inevitable outcome of that particular scenario if you do it long enough lol

There. Spent the money on this new desk, spending the money on a leather desk top mat and natural wood coasters to protect the finish.  And with that, off to the property and then  - still have to build that wall desk, lol. We did other things yesterday, no work for me today.  Pretty glad too, other drivers are sending texts and pics of the loading plant. A long line backed up just to get into the plant and the scale house is running slow again, meaning sitting there forever waiting on paperwork.

G'day. 

 3 days worth of grueling driving over with as of last night.  Uneventful trip - that's the way I want them to go.  Just drive drive drive. 

Well I take that back. One accident after another after another after another yesterday.  2 of them huge traffic backups that took quite a while to get through.  I had extra minutes because I drove as far as I could before running out of time the night before.  That extra 50 minutes saved me, otherwise I would not have been coming home today.

But after thinking about it, coming home today would have been better.  It would have given me half of today off and all of tomorrow.  I'm on a 34 hour reset, but it will be done by 6 am tomorrow morning.  The other thing that may happen is that Mondays are usually doled out on Fridays, so there may not be any work Monday. All I need is an Oklahoma or Brownsville trip to go with the WV trip and my paycheck is set for the next pay period 2 weeks from now.  

Anyway, besides the two major accidents there were at least a dozen smaller ones.  Don't normally see that many accidents in one day's worth of driving.

I had replied to a local wrecker operator about a potential job with them. Are you local, regional or what?  I could learn the trade and be home after every shift.  I never heard back from them, instead, their competitor saw my comment and got into my Facebook inbox. We have been talking ever since. He is willing to train me - which is quite the undertaking, there is a lot to the business of towing large trucks. I have watched them endlessly while they have hooked mine up and hauled them off.

It's something I have always wanted to learn.  I'm getting a bit old to start something new, but this is trucking and I know how to unhook U-Joints and such.  You have to remove the drive shaft before towing a big truck.  There's a lot I don't know, but when he said the weekly paychecks are between $1,500 and $3,000 he definitely got my interest.  I flat out informed him I am building my own business and what kind it is, but it won't allow for me to quit working a regular job and just do that for probably years to come.  I haven't made up my mind, yet, I need a minute to think about it.

This coming week, the contractor is allegedly coming back to do the bulldozer work. Actually a bulldozer, a trackhoe and at least one dump truck.  The track hoe will be used to dig out a hole near the rear of the property.

I have also had a new thought about the design.  Instead of a pond way in the back, why not have one in the RV section?  It doesn't need to be huge and it would be a water feature right there for them to see and enjoy.  Yes, it would be much smaller, but I could still stock it with certain fish.  

I could literally have a small lake built in the rear later on when my ship comes in and I have "unlimited" money.  Lmao.  If I have a pond installed, I am also having a well dug for water. I will not pay the city the amount of money it would cost to fill up a pond or a lake.  A couple of thousand dollars for a well and a pump.  The water table is high here, they don't have to go down maybe one hundred feet if that to hit water. 

I dunno, but I just thought it a better idea to start with a pond in the front - I have plenty of room for a small version of one and it would be a neat attraction.  Nature's Design is the them, that is definitely something you find in nature. 

Today? My final piece of furniture arrived to finish my room project.  It's a wall console, they call it, I just call it a wall table. It's like 12 inches deep, 3 feet tall and 42 inches wide. It's for the stuff I need to have directly under my TV - the gaming console and the satellite receiver - and other things.  It has 2 nice, glass paned doors on the small cupboards and some drawers.  It's a project, yes, I have to put it together.  So I'm sitting here thinking about it, lol. Been putting stuff away all morning long, trying to get everything over and done with.  After that is done, I move my bed and finally, the end.  

Anyway, I sit here in hope that the contactor is actually going to show up this coming week and that he will show up earlier in the week versus later. It's a 3 day project at most and then I can stake out my lots and then - get the utilities installed. This is all holding me up from moving forward.  

The building I was wanting to buy? I saw the thing by chance driving through a town going down to Brownsville. I had known it was in that town but I didn't know where. Very small. Too small. It would only be big enough to maybe put a couple of showers in or laundry, but certainly not both.  It looked much bigger from the pictures.  For 15k, no thanks.  I can get a 12X32 for 12k - but then it needs all the interior.  

I'm actually looking for a used one, still in good condition, that has had a good, decent interior job done on it, not needing anything but perhaps additional electrical outlets and 2, small bathrooms built.  In other words, the walls and the flooring have already been installed. That would save a lot of time and money.  I found one a week ago, but the person selling it wouldn't send me interior pics of it and I wasn't going to drive 40 miles to see it without at least seeing pics of everything first. The price was right, the exterior looked good, but still.  

No huge rush. I suspect it will be months before they get the utilities installed and I don't even know if they have the pedestals yet.  They should have them, I really need to call that electrician and find out this coming week. There is a huge demand for them, we are still under supply chain issues and it's 2 to 3 months out to get them. I want them to buy them now, as I have already authorized and they said they would. Never heard any word back.  

Anyway, once they finish the dirt work I'm going to design a small pond and see what he'll charge to dig it out.  Preferably before they move the equipment, they'll need all of it to haul off the extra dirt.  I'll need a place to dump it.  

++++++++++++++++++++

Standing down. The cracked screen turned out to be nothing more than a damaged screen saver. It truly looked like a cracked screen. Taylor was looking at it today and said, umm, no, it looks like it's just the screen saver.  Huh? And sure enough, she took the screen saver off and walaah. My brand new phone still intact.  Went to Verizon after a Chili's visit and they put a new one on it.  

No work tomorrow. No work sent, no work taken.  Research into RV parks ongoing. As always. I take a break here and there and then I fire it back up.  

Talks with the wrecker service company owner ongoing.  Not sure if that's going to actually lead to a job.  He wanted to know if I live in Shreveport - no, I live 40 miles away.  I can stay in Shreveport tho for any shift. I mean, I'm out on the road for days, I work 12 to 16 hour shifts, this isn't going to be anything new to me. It's the only job that actually pays anything that I have had come along since I started looking.  The pay would be equivalent to, perhaps a bit less or even more than I am making now.

Winding down. Hoping to see something going on at the property tomorrow.  This contractor is doing his best to give me the lowest pricing he can give. He works my stuff in.  I could get someone else out there to do this stuff and it would cost significantly more.  As long as he doesn't blow me off perpetually, I'm going to stick with it.