Our RV Adventures

We were up about 5:30am for our last morning on the gate for this year. When I checked the outside temp, it was 30 °, a little colder than the 33° that was forecast. In fact when I went out about 20 minutes later to turn the lights on, everything was covered with a thick last of frost.

And of course on our last  day here, the workover crew has to change everything up. Normally the first one doesn’t come in until about 6:15am, but today he showed up about 5:50, just what we needed this morning while we’re trying to get on the road.

But as the other mornings, the last guy was in by 6:40 so I was able to get back to finish up packing, mostly a combination of both ‘leaving the gate’ stuff and normal ‘pack up and leave the RV park’ stuff.

But it all was complicated by layer of frost covering all the stuff I had positioned outside to be packed away this morning. I set some things out in the sun, or at least out where the sun would be when it got up over the trees, hoping to thaw things out.

Giving up for a while I went inside to finish up putting away the TV’s and other regular travel day stuff. Then taking a break, I made coffee and Jan heated us up some Sausage and Egg biscuits for breakfast. While we ate we talked about all the stuff we planned to do in our post gate time. Back at work, and finding the stuff outside a little less frosty, I finished up stowing everything away from the gate.

I had planned to move our rig out of the way between 8:30 and 9:00, expecting our replacements to show up around 10. This would let them pull straight into the site and get hooked up. But I guess anxious to get started, Donna and Jim showed up a little after 8am.

One funny thing that did happen, at least funny to us, was that they first went to the wrong gate, the frack site up the road, guarded by two women, Brenda and Patsy. So Jim and Donna pull up and tell them, “We’re here to replace you.” Apparently there was a look of surprise and panic on the other guard’s faces until they got things straighten out.

We spent the next 45 minutes or so getting them briefed on what to expect here, and then I got the our rig pulled off to the side about 9:15, allowing Jim and Donna to pull their camper into our old spot.

The first problem I had was trying to wrestle a frozen power cord into the electrical bay, kind of like throttling a python with your bare hands, but finally I got it stuffed in and the bay door shut.

Then as soon as I started backing up, I kept getting a ‘Jacks Down’ alarm. I knew the jacks were up, so I figured the system was just a little low on fluid, and the cold weather probably didn’t help either. Normally when you get an alarm like this, it means that you need to add hydraulic fluid to the reservoir, and this seemed to be the case today, since I didn’t have any more problems with it after we got on the road.

In 24 hours our gate went from this,

to this,

and then to this.

We were hitched up and on our way by a little after 9:30, taking SR 315 south until we picked up US259. In Nacogdoches we turned onto US59 which took us through Lufkin and on to Livingston, home of the Escapees RV Club. Then a series of FM roads and SR roads took us through the countryside into Willis and then across I-45 and to the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails.

Lucky for us, we got the last 50amp site in our favorite ‘E’ ring, so we were happy about that. We’ve been here enough times that it seems like a home base for us. Kim, the head ranger even said, “Hello stranger, where have you been?”

But I bet she says that to all the guys.

__________________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

asdfasdf

Well, at 3:30pm we finished up our last full day of this year’s Adventures in Gate Guarding. And Jan and I both agree that this was our best gate yet.

We were in a very nice location with trees, grass, cows, and donkeys. No scorpions, no tarantulas, and no snakes. We also had good cell and data services, and we were only about 7 miles from Wal-Mart and Whataburger.

What more could you ask for?

We did manage to dodge the really cold weather this year, with our lowest temperature about 40 degrees so far. Tonight’s low is supposed to be 32 degrees, but then we won’t be out in it , now will we? One of the many advantages of being a 12 hour/10 hour/8 hour gate, take your pick.

Today was sunny and about 55 degrees, unlike two years ago when we were packing up to leave our gate down in Whitsett, TX, and it was 25 degrees and sleeting. And it never got out of the 20’s all day. Can you say FUN?

We did have a good bit of wind this afternoon, but by that time we already had the tarp off the canopy frame so it really didn’t matter.

By 4:30 I had everything stowed away, except for the foldup table we used under the canopy, and few odds and ends I’ll find a place for tomorrow morning. The table goes in the same bay as the satellite dish stand so they’ll all be stowed away at the same time.

Earlier in the afternoon our landowner came by to say goodbye since he’ll be out of town tomorrow. We’ve really enjoyed being here on his land, and he’s been a big help to us. His son Billy has been our mail drop for receiving Amazon packages, which has been a big help for us.

I finished up everything I was going to do today about 4:30, so to celebrate we heading into Carthage about 4:45pm to have one last meal at Jalapeno Tree. We’ve eaten here twice before and really enjoyed it. And tonight was no different.

It was the perfect end to what turned out to be a very nice gate guarding experience. Too bad they’re not all this way.

Tomorrow morning will be mostly just regular ‘getting ready to leave the RV park’ stuff. By about 9am I plan to have the rig moved over to the side road, while Jan runs the gate out of the truck. But if that’s like today, she’ll have 5 vehicles in between 6:15 and 6:45, and maybe nothing more until they leave around 4.

We did have a few more vehicles today, but those were mostly one-time things with them coming in to take out the last of the frack pond pumps and equipment. So that probably won’t be a factor tomorrow.

Having the rig out of the way will allow our replacement gate guards to just pull right into the parking area and get set up. Then while Jan is going over the gate stuff with them, I’ll pull the truck over behind the rig and get hooked up. Then all we’ll have to do is say our goodbyes and hit the road for Conroe, as a another year of gate guarding comes to an end.

We’ll have about a 4 hour trip down to Conroe where we’ll stay for two weeks before we move over to the Colorado River Thousand Trails. Then it’ll be the same routine back and forth for the next couple of months.

As far as I’m concerned, it’ll be nice to sleep longer than 4 hours at a time.

_____________________________________________________

Thought for the Day:

“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it. Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.”- George Washington

dghdgh