Our RV Adventures

First up, Brandi sent over this latest Landon-ism.

I was driving Landon to school this morning and up in the sky was a Hot Air Balloon. With all the enthusiasm I could muster at 7am on a Wednesday, I exclaimed, “Landon, look at the COOL hot air balloon up ahead!!!”

Landon, in his most non-enthusiastic, deadpan voice admonished, “Hot Air Balloons aren’t COOL mommy,   Choo Choo Trains are COOL!!”

Ugh. My kid already thinks I’m a dork… LOL

Gotta love that kid!

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Several people had asked where they can get one of the Pharmacy Prescription Discount Cards that I mentioned yesterday. You can get one free from here.

http://www.rxreliefcard.com/

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I also had some inquiries about gate guarding and how to get started, so here’s some more info:

The first 4 Gate Guard companies are the main ones, with GGS the biggest.

Gate Guard Services, L.P.- 361-949-6992

LOMA Rentals, LLC – 817-964-1828

Time Keepers – 830-816-5059 Toll Free – 877-851-7676

Site Watch Gate Guards – 800-561-7202

KC Services – 956-236-5255

Pro Gate Security – 830-776-8666

Oil Field Support Services – 361-815-7050

Trinity – 956-241-1675

Primo Gate Guards – 361-563-9272

When we started last year, we just showed up at the GGS yard in Whitsett, TX and told them we wanted to gate guard. We did not call ahead.

We had heard to do it that way because they get so many calls and requests for info that they really don’t pay any attention until you get there in person.

We got there on Thursday, April 5th about 5:30, but every one had already gone home at the office. But the guy working the yard showed us where to park. They have 5 FHU sites and a number of places with power and water. There is no charge for parking there while you’re waiting for a gate or coming off a gate.

The next morning. I went to the office and got our info packets and fingerprint cards. We then drove over to Floresville about 20 miles away and got our fingerprints done at the Sheriff’s Office.

Then we had to drive down to Corpus Christi on Tuesday, April 10th to process our applications and take our security guard tests. We had to wait until Tuesday because they only process apps on Tuesday and Thursday.

Then 5 days later, on Sunday, April 15th, we were on our first gate.

Doing it this way will work in the Spring and Summer, but probably not as well in the Fall and Winter when the all the snowbirds are down in south Texas.

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After a lazy, overcast day, Jan and I headed over to the King Wha  hinese (The C fell off the sign) Restaurant to meet Al Hesselbart for dinner. After being greeted by the owner, Helen, who remember both us and Nick from last time, we enjoyed a great meal. And along with the meal, we really enjoyed Al regaling us with stories of his two trips to China to consult with them about developing the RV industry there. In fact, we had so much fun it was two hours before we said goodnight.

Working our way back to the rig, we stopped off at Kroger’s for some things, got some gas for the truck, and some Powerball tickets for tonight’s 235 million drawing. Busy, busy, busy.

Tomorrow, with better weather on tap, we’re planning driving down to the Shipshewana area, and maybe Goshen too. We’ll see.

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“The problem with people who have no vices is that generally you can be pretty sure they’re going to have some pretty annoying virtues.” ― Elizabeth Taylor

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More on the Gate Guard front:

This morning, before I got up, Jan got a call from someone looking for Gate Guard Services. I wasn’t sure why they had called us, but after thinking about it for a while, I figured he had got our number from one of our rig’s Company Men as a Gate Guard Services contact.

All the Company Men we worked with had both Jan and mine’s phone numbers and email addresses in case they needed to call us on the gate. Curious, I gave the guy a call back and that’s what had happened. Another Company Man, apparently one that we had worked with last year, had given him our number.

In addition, earlier this morning, I got an email from Jerry and Rita Scarbrough, who also work for Gate Guard Services, telling me that GGS has finally switched over to Direct Deposit for our paychecks. This will make it a lot easier for us since when I used Chase’s Online Deposit last year, I kept running into a problem because Chase has a limit on how much money you can deposit online in any one month. Who ever heard of a bank that doesn’t want your money?

About 1pm Jan and I headed out for the afternoon. Our first stop was at the RV/MH Hall of Fame to drop off a bundle of Gypsy Journals, and also check in with Al Hesselbart, the director there, and a long-time friend. After talking for a while we made a date to meet for dinner tomorrow night at King Wha, a great local Chinese restaurant.

Next up was a stop at the Sam’s Club over in Mishawaka, about 15 miles away to pick up Jan’s prescriptions and get some other Sam’s-type stuff. Since we wanted some other pharmacy items we went there first. When I went to pay for the prescriptions, I thought they were kind of high at $136.

So I pulled out my Pharmacy Discount Card. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but I picked one of these up from the payment counter at my doctor’s office last February. Figured it wouldn’t do much, but what the heck, it’s free.

When I first used it at the Sam’s Club in Friendswood, I was surprised to find that it saved me about $50. Yeah! I was also told that I only had to enter the card into the system once and it would apply to all prescriptions from then on.

Kind of.

I showed the Pharmacy Tech my card and asked her to be sure it was still in the system and if it would save me anything today. She said these cards never made much difference but she would check. She went away for about 15 minutes and then came back with a big smile on her face.

I asked her if it make any difference and she said “You could say so”. So I asked “How much?”. She just hit a few keys on the cash register and a new total came up.

My $136 total was now $50.  WOW! 

The other thing I found out is that the card has to be re-entered each time we move our prescriptions to a new Sam’s Club or Wal-Mart. Which for us is pretty much every month. Note to self.

Leaving Sam’s, we went right next door to the Wal-Mart to get me some new socks since Sam’s didn’t have what I wanted.

Then, after a quick stop at a P.O. to mail a letter, we headed over to Buffalo Wild Wings for dinner. Usually we get the regular wings, but this time since the Boneless Wings were on sale, we got those instead. We both got the Mango Habanero sauce on them, which is their third hottest sauce, behind ‘Wild’ and ‘Blazin’, which is the hottest But I always get a small cup of the ‘Blazin’ sauce as an added hit.

I do this because I like the heat of the ‘Blazin’, but overall I also like the sweetness of the Mango Habanero, so I get the best of both worlds.

On the way back to the RV park, we first stopped off for a car wash, and then a quick stop at a Chase bank to get a roll of quarters. Jan wants to use the big washers here at the park laundromat to do some of our rugs while we’re here.

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Good things come to those who go get them.

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