Sunrise

The sunrise this morning was spectacular.

Why can't I stay out of the Sun?

It's been a nice couple days here. The RV is positioned so that I get shade all day long without the awning being out. Most of the time a nice breeze is blowing to keep me cool and the scenery is nice. This morning it was so foggy that I couldn't see over 300 feet and could even see my shadow against the fog with the lights on behind me.  Traffic actually slowed down for awhile, a few gravel trucks went by with their flashers on and quite a few people used the apron of the gate road as a place to turn around, and being that we have the only light tower near the road for miles we were like a beacon in the mist.  After the sun came up I turned off our generator to check to oil and left it off for almost an hour. The fog kept things nice and cool and the silence was beautiful.  As used to the drone of the thing as we are, sometimes its nice not to hear it.

Still working some bugs out of the new coach. The antenna wire for the television had become brittle and broke a few days ago. I need to fix the battery tie-downs and I will probably check the air filter and plugs soon too.  Most things seem to be small maintenance items. The old girl just needs a little TLC.

I've had a few thing rattling around the old noggin as of late about doing the gate guard thing. The list kinda goes like this:

1.) This definately is not for everyone.
2.) Talking to the safety guys is super-beneficial.
3.) Don't get attached to your Ez-Up.
4.) Flexibility is a must.

The hours can be brutal. Working 80+ hours a week, most of them outside, with no days off takes its toll. Working out a schedule quickly helps, so does going to town. Sometimes a little break is good. Being able to move reasonably well is an absolute must. The other day I was running backwards up the road towards the pad so that I could get trucks off the busy highway. One of the truck drivers told me he had never seen a gate guard do that before. There is a bit of physicality required to do this.

We have made a habit to find out who the safety guys are pretty quickly when we start a new gate.  We are H2S awareness certified and may get "fit test" certified soon too if the guys have the time.  Fit testing is to make sure you can put on a gas mask properly in case you happen to be involved in an H2S event. These classes don't cost a thing and the information can save your life.

I swear the wind in South Texas likes to eat ez-ups.  In our case, it was a wind "out of nowhere" that was the demise of both of ours.  The first one was lifted straight up into the air and then thrown over the top of the RV. The little ropes that come attached to them just aren't enough. The second one got rolled across the road and seemed to survive okay, we put it back up and tied it back down for the remainder of that gate assignment.  I even started removing the tarp when the winds picked up to prevent it from happening again. When we put it up on our next gate, a wind hit it and folded the frame like it was made of paper. A little duct tape got it through the week but it didn't survive being taken down again.

Staying flexible and keeping an open mind is an absolute must, things can change here in a matter of moments and being able to roll with the punches is an absolute requirement. Traffic can go from a nice slow pace to rush hour in a large city in seconds.

There are other things that doing this requires, a good first aid kit, a good set of tools, multimeter, a sense of humor, just to name a few.  When I was on the roof, the guys ging through the gate seemed to be entertained by it. Maybe it was because I was laying on my stomach waiting for Toie to hand me a tool and I was waving, who knows.

What Next?!?

Toie felt compelled to wake me up early today because she saw some coyotes (4 legged kind) moving around the light tower and on the lease road "behind" us. There were 3 of them and one looked like a large male, he was busy marking the road and giving the place a pretty good sniff. I guess they had been hanging around for a bit and had been pretty vocal while checking out the area. I tried getting their attention with the game caller to no avail, I guess they couldn't hear it over the noise from the generator. I tried laying back down for the short time before I actually had to get up. That was a mistake, just a few minutes after I laid on the couch we had a sand truck driver come down the hill and miss the turn to go out the gate. He stopped before he got off the road but he came pretty close to our light tower. Well, he must have scared it because a few minutes after that all the lights went out. I got back up and went outside to turn on the little lights and check the light tower to see what was wrong with it. It was still running, the circuit breaker seemed OK, the ballast indicators were lit, just no lights. So I shut it down to let it cool down for about a half an hour because these lights won't restart while they are hot. During which time I discovered the starting battery on our coach was discharged to the point that the horn won't even blow. Keep in mind this all happened between 3:30 and 4:30 this morning. At about 5am I restarted the light tower, turned back on the lights and it had no problems until I shut them back off at 7:45 this morning. Now all I have to do is re-charge that battery.  What a morning!!

Job Security

I found an interesting article today while looking up a few phone numbers.  

Economist puts Eagle Ford lifespan at 16+ years.

The Eagle Ford Shale should have a 16-year productive lifespan that could grow as drilling capabilities improve, a Texas A&M University economist told San Antonio business leaders Thursday.... To read more, click here.

Its that time of year.

Andy over at My Old RV has an excellent blog post today about the availability of Gate Guard jobs this time of year. I won't recreate it, but if you want to read it you can do so by clicking here.

Things have definitely slowed a bit here and we count ourselves lucky by having a gate. We had planned it out to spend a few of the summer months here just for that reason. It's easy to forget that up north it is quickly turning to winter and the "Winter Texans" are on the way south. I guess that we are in the same category this year being as it is one of transition for us.

We are still in our first year of full timing and so far it has been quite an adventure. We realize, now, that this is just the tiniest tip of the iceberg, so to speak and that many more adventures are in our future. We are learning that we really like the San Antonio area, not enough to re-invest into a sticks and bricks lifestyle, but enough to make it one of our winter-time favorites.

Toie and I were discussing satellite TV the other day after she saw a post on Facebook from Edgar Hansen about it being crab season in Alaska. We were weighing the option of doing it now or waiting until we get into a newer coach. She told me about a satellite setup that one of the ladies at a gate guard luncheon had told her about and how she thought that would be the way to go being as there isn't any real setup to it. Place the unit where you want it, turn it on and it does the rest. I've seen what she is talking about and will definitely research it further as an option if our newer coach doesn't have satellite installed.

We are hoping that our next gate is a longer term than the ones we have been on previously. One reason is so we can save more quickly for that newer coach and another is so we can setup mail service.  We still haven't decided if we are going to keep our residency in Iowa or change it to an RV friendlier state next year. 

We are digging the full-time RV lifestyle though.  We may check out options for the northwest soon, the freedom is so exciting.

Changes of the season... My God it's freezing in here.

It's easy to forget that most of the rest of the country is now experiencing the phenomenom known as Fall.  There already has been a freeze warning in the part of Iowa we came from and it snowed at my sister's place in Montana. With the continued warm temperatures and occasional rain shower the weather has been nothing less than fantastic here.

I decided the other day to get up on the roof and clean out the drain channels for the roof air conditioner and give it an overall look.  We hadn't been using it due to the channels becoming clogged and causing it to drip water inside. Besides, the second a/c had been keeping up pretty well with assistance from our big fan.

Everything checked out up top, I got rid of the few insect nests on the underside of the cover and buttoned everything back up.  I plugged the roof a/c back in, ran the extension from the generator for the second a/c and fired EVERYTHING back up.

I was pleasantly surprised the the roof unit is quieter than it has been recently and with both units running it never got over 72 inside yesterday when the outside thermometer was reading over 90 and we had the door open.  At 4:30am, I had to turn off the main unit because it had gotten so cold in here, chill sides of beef cold, without use of the fan.

I took some time yesterday morning and re-adjusted the lights on the tower, I haven't been real happy with the pattern and I also wanted a larger area lit up.  I am now lighting up an area large enough to cover the rv and most of the area around us, even part of the county road that passes us.

The EMS PT30C from Progressive Industries has been working great!  It's been nice to be able to see at a glance how much power the rv is consuming.  And the piece of mind knowing that if the generator should have a problem, we are protected.  It's not a matter of if it happens, but when.

Toie is going to the Ladies Luncheon today in Kenedy and I hope she has a good time.

Have a Great Day! If you are on a gate, please be safe.

Why do the cows stare at the dog?

I've noticed an interesting phenomenom going on between Moe and any neighboring cattle.  On our first gate, it was the first time that Moe had seen cattle up close.  He first noticed the juveniles in a pasture to the south of us, so I walked him nearer the fence so that he could see and smell them better.  At first the cows were a bit put off, but then they started showing up daily looking over at us. Once they got to see the dog they would move away.  Then the ranch manager moved some adults into the pasture that was behind our rv, I actually witnessed Moe do a double take at the much larger cows.  While the adults never took the interest that the juveniles did, it was still funny to witness.

Fast forward a few weeks to our present gate.  Moe spotted the cattle when I took him out.  I walked him towards the fence and the cattle moved away, I could almost sense the disappointment coming from him.  A few days later, I take Moe out again and there are a dozen cattle, adults and juveniles, lined up at the fence watching the dog walk towards the back of the pad, when he disappeared behind the rv, that peaked their interest.  They waited and watched and when he laid down a couple more came over for a look. They must have watched him for 15 minutes.  When I walked him over towards them, they stayed and let us get within about 30 feet, at which point Moe got so excited that he was wagging his tail so hard that his whole body was wagging as well.

It is so weird.

The ways the wind blows. Life stuff......

Its been a uneventful few days here. Besides counting the vultures that perch on a nearby high tension tower (67 two nights ago) and logging traffic in and out, it's been pretty quiet. The wind did actually work itself up pretty good the last few days. It kicked up so much dust at one point that we couldn't see the pad.

I did have an interesting experience with one of the local birds yesterday.  The bird landed not 6 feet from me, hopped under my chair to get under the rv, popped out from under the steps with a huge moth in its mouth, then hopped under the table and back under the chair I sit in to the place it landed in the first place, then flew off.  That is the closest anything like that has gotten to me.

We also had a scorpion wander across the mat last night.  The thing was about 2 inches long and headed for the rv when Toie spotted it.  She grabbed Moe and kept him away while I took care of it.  When it crawled back under the mat near where she was, she made me kill it. The scorpions here won't kill you, but they can put one heck of a hurtin' on ya.

I touched on the subject of caterers in a previous post and at that time we had pretty much nothing but a really good experience .  Lately I wish we had that caterer back.  Some of the food they bring out here for the boys is absolute dreck. While we do appreciate being included and getting a free meal, it should at least be
edible. We have even caught them serving the same food twice in one day.  It's been absolutely hit and miss, we never now how its going to be.

It kinda hit me the other day on how many people take interest in the old beasty. I had a 10 minute conversation with one guy about it and we have multiple offers to buy it when we replace it.  Who would have thought that a 35 year old rig would generate so much interest.  When we are through with it I would like to find someone that would either restore her or give the drivetrain a second life.  She  runs that good.

I repaired the CB the other day. The old magnetic mount for the antenna had failed  so I replaced it with a mirror mount style that I mounted to the roof rack on the rv.  We can hear the truck drivers and if need be, call for help.

On a different note, a few weeks ago an act of extreme violence was commited against a gate guard about 75 - 100 miles from where we presently are. While there aren't a lot of details available, most of us are changing the way we handle the gate, and certain kinds of traffic at night.  A light tower at the gate is quickly becoming a necessity in certain areas.  I hope everyone near that area remains safe.


Have a safe day!

My buddy Dave

Before we left Iowa to do the gate guard thing here in Texas I worked with my buddy Dave. Dave is one of those guys that will tell you like it is, EXACTLY the way he sees it. There is no being thin skinned or overly sensitive when Dave is around, he'll eat your lunch.

Dave is also one of those guys that won't hesitate to help a friend or co-worker in trouble.  Underneath that gruff exterior and above his chicken legs beats a heart of pure gold.

I'm writing this post for a couple reasons. First to wave a big ole' hello and how the
heck are ya. And second, just to poke the bear, because deep down, he likes it.

HEY DAVE!  F#¥€ Off!!

We miss you, call us!

My two cents....

I hve been wanting to put my 2 cents into our blog for quite awhile now but really didn't know what to write about.  So I decided I would ramble on about our trip to the gulf.  We had a great time..... I mostly enjoyed sitting in the ocean having the waves come up and litterally push me over.  Although Moe didn't care for the waves whatsoever....  I was kind of nervous about the sign that said jellyfish present.  After actually seeing a few of these Moon Jellies as they are called I had great reservations going into the ocean until we went down to Padre Isaland.  That's where I sat in the water.

 I had a great time at the Texas State Aquarium.  I cannot wait until we can take our grandson Kaydn there.  He will have such a blast.  

 Anyone who visits the Gulf really should take the time to go pay their respects to the USS Lexington.  It is well worth the money.   Make sure your legs are in great shape cause you go up and down a million steps.   My legs hurt so bad for two days afterwards but, it was worth the pain.

 All in all it was fantastic especially since I got to spend it with Bryan....

Rush Hour

It's funny the things you think about when you're sitting alone watching the world go by.  Shift changes can be busy times, a whole lot of vehicles come in and then a short time later, a bunch come out. Oil field rush hour I like to call it.

Our friendly neighborhood vultures are about the same way.  At last count we had 47 of them roosting on a nearby high tension tower. It makes for quite a spectacular display in the mornings when they all take off for the day. The result being a raptor rush hour. The smaller birds don't seem to enjoy this as much as I do.  I even got a low level fly over yesterday when one wanted a closer look.

The nearby cattle are never in a rush and the local turkeys dislike speeders on the county road next to where we are.  They have even slowed a few down by running towards the road and then flying up near the offending vehicle.  This is great entertainment for few vultures that hang around in the trees across the street. I call them "the goon squad" and have even gotten into a staring contest a couple of times with them.

The 30 or so hogs usually rush to cross the road between us and the well because they don't like the noise or the traffic. I haven't had the honor of seeing them yet but I think they checked us out one of the first nights we were here, the smell was something that has to be experienced first hand, there is no describing it.

Right now its about that time when the vultures have returned to their roost, the cows should be by soon and we get a little "quiet" time.

Have a Great Day everyone!

Occupying time

I've been keeping mental notes lately on how we spend our time while we are working a gate and there are a few things I've noticed.

First, television takes up quite a bit.  We watch local over the air stations and like ME TV quite a bit.

Second, Computer time like Facebook, Words with Friends, Blogging, playing the PSP or Wii
helps pass the time.

Toie and I both read the 50 shades of Gray series.

Talking to some of the delivery drivers passes some of the time.

And here is what I think is the best one:

Reprogramming your electronic game caller to see of you can get the cows to look at you.

You know you've arrived when you are trying to entertain the local animals.

And now I know why the dog looks at me like he does!

Have a great day everyone

Night Shift and a big bug just hit me in the nose.

It seems funny that on our first gate Toie had the night shift because of the South Texas heat during the day. Since then, I have been working most nights and I have enjoyed it for the most part.

Light towers are a mixed blessing. It's nice to have the abundance of light so that you can see any critters coming from a farther distance.  The bugs usually don't bother you as much and the truck drivers can see you more clearly.  The down side is the extra noise and all that light and noise make it difficult to have a window open on cool nights.

Light towers also impart a sense of security.  for example, during frac'ing the light tower provides a well lit area and a slightly busy road. The smaller lights leave me feeling slightly clausterphobic.

The old beast is starting to show her age.  The engine and transmission run like a champ but we are starting to have issues with the house end of her.  Since we are closer to a bigger town I am going to have to pick up a few things to shape her up a bit.  The rear bumper that Rob and I installed is working out great but the extra weight of the generator is causing some issues with the frame and floor, which in turn causes issues with the door.  The generator may have to become someone else's project.

Living the Dream

I haven't had a whole lot of time to sit down and put fingers to keyboard and update the blog.  Our last gate was a short one, only lasting about a week. We moved a few days ago and have been settling in.

We had a coyote walk right by the RV tonight, its the first one we have seen close up.  I don't mind seeing a single one but I don't want to see a pack.

Ez-up number two finally gave up.  It had been tossed across a road on our first gate and a strong gust of wind after being set up on our second gate, buckled the frame.  I did get it to last the week we were there with a little duck tape, but the frame didn't survive being taken down again.  The lesson learned was that the cheapy ones are just that, cheap.  I am now looking for a good quality replacement because Toie is only going to give me one more shot at this.

We received our licenses from Texas the other day.  It feels good to have them in hand. We just have to find someone with a laminating machine to seal them up.

We are in a beautiful area right now.Hopefully we get to stay awhile.

New Gate

We are on a new gate after spending a few glorious days on the coast and its fantastic to be back to work.

Corpus Christi was just what the doctor ordered for a few days off.  We left the RV in Whitsett and dropped Moe off at the vet for a few days and then we enjoyed our much needed break.

We ended up staying at the Best Western by the Marina and had a wonderful stay. The view from our room on the 7th floor was spectacular and the room came with vouchers for complimentary drinks each night of our stay.  The view from the lounge on the 11th floor was just the way to start an evening with a free drink in hand.

We took the time to see both the Texas State Aquarium and the USS Lexington during our stay and spent lots of time on the beach.  We are excited and already planning our next trip.

Closed Out

Our first gate ended yesterday and we are spending a few days on the coast.

Spotty Internet Access

We have been having slight problems with having a consistant and reliable connection.  We are working on remedying this and hopefully will be able to post again soon

End of an Era

This excerpt is pulled from the myoldrv.com blog and begins as follows:

Occam's Razor By andyj, on August 10th, 2012

“Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

Just been mighty weary the last few days with new restrictions that must be followed under threat of dismissal. The Message Forums that were just toddling toward a first anniversary were really starting to develop some old school character. A spirit of true benevolent volunteerism, a pervading attitude of step up and pay it forward whenever possible and overall unselfish nature were pleasing to my mind. Took ten months of fairly intense activity on mine and Miss Kathy’s end to get it up and running before it was murdered by yet another smothering layer of bureaucracy. It was not an easy decision to pull the plug on such a promising and rewarding project. Pleas were made to just make some adjustments and continue the Forum.

Read the rest here

http://www.myoldrv.com/?p=4982

Iowa to Texas... Day 2

I promised awhile back that I would write about our trip from Iowa to Texas I am not writing this as a manual or how-to guide, this is just to document parts of our journey. I can not and/or will not recommend that anyone takes a 35 year old motor home and attempts a trip like this one particularly in the summer months. Whenever Toie and I travel with more than one vehicle, we make use of a pair of 22 channel handi-talkies. We have found that they are easier and safer than fumbling with a cell phone and I highly recommend them when traveling with multiple vehicles

We awoke to a beautiful morning at the Stanton, Missouri KOA. One of the things we really liked was that even though it is situated close to I-44, we couldn't hear the traffic. It hit me like a ton of bricks what we were doing that morning, taking a relatively untested vehicle on a trip that still had about a thousand miles left in it. Toie and I talked about it and i finally calmed my nerves enough to begin the second leg of our journey.

After we broke camp, we made a quick run along the frontage road back to the Flying J in Sullivan to refuel. Once back out on the road we quickly got back into a nice pace moving with traffic quite nicely. When we neared Fort Leonard Wood traffic started to pick up quite a bit and we decided that if we were going to stop, we would wait until we put a few miles between us and the military base.

If you haven't ever driven I-44 through Missouri it really is a beautifully scenic drive, I found myself enjoying the landscape and the easy drive that the highway affords. We ended up making a quick stop near Lebanon, Missouri so that Moe could stretch his legs and Toie wanted to take a break and get herself a fresh fountain soda. The issue I had on our first day with the brakes dragging seemed to have cleared up. Everything was working wonderfully, we continued towards our stop in Joplin.

We reached Joplin early in the day and again our campground of choice was close to the highway,we had decided earlier that we would stay at the KOA just off of I-44 and that decision ended up being quite serendipitous. When I exited the highway and applied the brakes I heard that heart-sickening sound of metal on metal.  I nursed the RV to the campground and then set out to find out what my options were to get us fixed up and back on the road.

I had to let the rv cool for a bit before I could crawl under it and take a look at the front brakes.  It was just as I had feared, the drivers side brake pads were worn to the metal backing on the pads. I had sold the bulk of my tools a few months before leaving Iowa and I was seriously regretting that decision at this moment.  We quickly combed the listings on Google for a mobile mechanic (I did not want to move the rv and risk damaging the front rotors) and found one that did mobile rv repair. A few phone calls back and forth and it was agreed that I would run and get the parts due to the fact that the mechanic thought he may be late arriving and since I have 20+ years automotive parts experience, I could get exactly what I wanted. 

Jeff arrived around 7pm and got right to work.  The left side had completely worn the inner pad and the outer was on its last legs.  If you are ever in the Joplin area and need any kind of repair, I highly recommend Jeff and I am providing his contact information at the end of this post.  Luck would have it that we got away with just hanging a new set of pads, but the next time the front wheels come off I will be replacing the left front caliper and may also do the rotors as well. While not very damaged, the left front rotor did end up with a little scoring on the inside surface.

Parts and labor came to LESS than $160.00 and like I said earlier, Jeff was excellent,  he fit us into his schedule last minute and was friendly and we got extremely lucky by finding him.

JR mobile RV repair.
Phone #

To be continued....

The trip. Day One

I promised awhile back that I would write about our trip from Iowa to Texas.  I am not writing this as a manual or how-to guide, this is just to document parts of our journey.  I can not and/or will not recommend that anyone takes a 35 year old motorhome and attempts a trip like this one particularly in the summer months. Whenever Toie and I travel with more than one vehicle, we make use of a pair of 22 channel handi-talkies.  We have found that they are easier and safer than fumbling with a cell phone.

Our first day was planned out and mapped months in advance. the only thing that changed was our choice of campgrounds.  We went from Ainsworth, Iowa to Stanton, Missouri, a trip of about 250 miles, in the course of about 6 hours. We fueled the car and the motorhome at Four Corners in Ainsworth at about 9am and proceeded on our way. I probably didn't start to relax until we were south of Mount Pleasant, when the rv and I finally seemed to get into our groove. The rest of our trip out of Iowa went smoothly. On trips south we always seem to stop at the Flying J just south of the Iowa-Missouri border on US61 and this time was no different. When we stopped the old beast had been running quite well, the temperature gauge showed in the good range, oil pressure was good and the charging system was working top-notch.  I did notice that there was a slight drag to the brakes when we pulled out and got back on the highway, but once underway everything seemed fine. We did not travel through St.Louis instead we chose to leave US 61 at Wentzville and travel the two lane highways to St. Clair, where we picked up I-44.  Taking this route saved us about 90 miles and avoided the heavy traffic around St. Louis.  The first road (Highway W) was somewhat of a challenge being that it was quite narrow AND heavily traveled by large truck traffic. With portion of Highway W we traveled being only about 13 miles, it had to be the worst stretch of road we traveled this whole trip.  In addition to being narrow, the road subjected myself and the rv to quite a bit of rough treatment, The posted speed limit of 55 is much to fast for certain parts of this road, a lesson I quickly learned when everything started flying around behind me.  I have to admit that other than a few issues with the road condition, the scenery was beautiful and I wouldn't hesitate to drive this section again in a much smaller vehicle. Once we crossed I-70, the two lane highways became much smoother and scenic. Washington, Missouri was quite a treat, especially driving over the bridge coming into the city.  We made a quick stop so that I could check the torque of the lugnuts and were quickly on our way once again.  Once we made it to I-44 I made a beeline to the Flying J in Sullivan so that we could scout out a place to spend the night.  We decided on th KOA in Stanton because of its easy access to I-44.  The KOA was wonderful, we were treated to a nice quiet spot  in the rear, away from most of the other campers.


To be continued.....