Monthly Archives: August 2020
Battening Down The Hatches . . .
Although it’s still possible that we might evacuate up to Brandi’s if Laura makes an unexpected move to the west, more than likely we’ll just ride it out here.
When Harvey made a much more direct hit here in 2017, the park here had no flooding or real damage to the facilities or rigs. So that looks good too.
I did go outside this evening and store away all of our yard chairs and other stuff in our storage shed. Anticipating this possibility I used screw-in anchors and straps to fasten the shed’s plywood base to the ground, and then lag-bolted the shed base to the plywood using steel straps. So we’ll see how it works.
I will also let in the awnings tomorrow as the winds pick up, and then wait and see about the slide.
And if this wasn’t enough, in the middle of all this I had to replace the battery in the truck this afternoon. I had to use my battery charger to jump it off this afternoon when we left the rig, thinking I just left something on. But then I had to get another jump when we were out and about later. So I picked a new one up at O’Reilly’s on the way home and swapped it out this evening.
Looking back in the blog, it was about 4 years ago that I installed the last one, which is pretty good in the Texas heat.
Watching the 10pm weather tonight it’s looking more and more like Laura is going in around the TX-LA border, but we’ll know more tomorrow morning when I decide if I’m going into work or not.
Stay Tuned.
August 25, 2009
My Brother’s Place…
Today was another travel day.
We left Pumpkin Patch RV Park a little before 11 am and headed northeast on I-95 to Houlton, ME, located right on the Canadian border.
But before we got on the Interstate, we stopped off at a truck stop to top off our propane tank.
The last time we filled up with propane was in Whitehorse, BC, last October on our way back from Alaska. In warm weather the only thing we normally use propane for is to power the frig while we’re on the road, and for hot water when we boondock.
But since we just dropped below 1/2 tank last week, I wanted to be sure we had plenty of propane before heading into Canada and colder weather, since we do use it for the two gas heaters in our coach. And it’s supposed to get colder very soon.
Tomorrow night it’s supposed to 46, and the night after, 40 degrees. We have two electric floor heaters, but sometimes we still need the coach heaters.
We pulled into My Brother’s Place RV Park about 1:45 pm, and got set up. An hour or so later we headed out to drive around the area and grab a late lunch.
After dropping off some mail at the Post Office, we stopped off at a couple of parts places to pick up a spare fuel filter and engine belt before we cross the border. It can sometimes be hard to get parts over there.
Before heading back to the coach we stopped for dinner at the local truck stop, since we were looking for a place that served breakfast all day. Jan had some great blueberry pancakes, and I had a meatlover’s omelet. All really good.
The park here is pretty nice, with big pull-thru sites and plenty of space between each coach.
Tomorrow I’m going to fix some stuff around the coach and kind of take it easy. Jan’s just gonna take it easy.
In 2011
August 25, 2011
64.8 pounds . . .
or 2 pounds and 2 inches. Take your pick.
The first one is how many pounds of stuff Jan has proudly thrown away in the last week, mostly old magazines and brochures.
The second one is how many pounds and inches Landon has grown since his 9 month checkup.
Brandi called this afternoon and said Landon had his 1 year checkup today, He’s doing great and growing like crazy. He’s grown so tall he’s been wearing 18 month sizes for a good while now.
NBA here we come.
After early morning coffee, we headed out about noon to drive about 15 miles away to Paris, IL. I wanted some more ‘F’ connecters for my satellite system upgrade, and Jan wanted to hit the Wal-Mart again.
But our first stop was at Los Tres Caminos, a local Mexican restaurant that was listed in the top ten restaurants in Paris. Of course there may be only ten restaurants in Paris, since number 10 on the top ten list was Wendy’s.
But in this case. the listing was right. This place was GOOD.
Jan had a combo plate that included a Chile Relleno. She said it was almost as good as Esther’s Taco House. Almost, but not quite. (Gina and Miss Terry will know how good this means it was.)
After lunch we drove right down the street to the Wal-Mart Supercenter. Although we were just at Wal-Mart this past Monday and spent about $140, somehow Jan found she needed another $144 worth of stuff today. I think she’s trying to fill up that 65 pound hole she made this week.
Coming back into the downtown, and after dropping off three bags of clothes at the local Goodwill, I stopped to take some photos of the beautiful Edgar County Courthouse. Built in 1891, it looks as good now as it did when it did then.
Here’s another shot from the Internet.
We noticed a number of other buildings, like churches and schools, built in the same style and probably, time period. A very nice little town of about 10,000 people.
And on a trivial note, besides their beautiful courthouse, Paris’ other claim to fame is that Carl Switzer, who played ‘Alfalfa’ in the ‘Our Gang’ comedies, was from here.
Our last stop before heading home was the local True Value Hardware for some other things I needed.
Getting home, I started back in on my chore list.
Later Jan fixed a great dinner of Potato Skins and Jalapeno Poppers, with some more of her Cherry Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies for dessert.
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Thought for the Day:
Always remember you’re unique, just like everyone else.
August 25, 2013
Gate Guarding and More . . .
I’ve had some more inquiries about gate guarding and how to get started, so here’s a repost of the info.
When we started last year, we just showed up at the Gate Guard Services 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 shop 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.
Five 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 wanting to gate guard for the winter.
Gate Guarding pays $125 a day or more depending on how busy your gate is. And just to be clear, the $125 is per couple, not per person. The company furnishes you a 11KW diesel generator, diesel to run it, a 500 gallon water tank that they keep filled, and a portable septic system. So even though you are usually out in the middle of nowhere, you have full hookups.
The one real downside to gate guarding is that most gates are 24/7. So one of you has to be on the gate at all times. Some couples do 12 hour shifts, but Jan and I prefer to split it up. She works the gate from 7am to 2pm, I work from 2pm to 6pm, she works from 6pm to 11pm, and then I work from 11pm to 7am. This seems to work for us. Your mileage may differ.
But one thing to keep in mind is that although you’re working 12 hour shifts, you don’t actually WORK that much. Last year we averaged about 80 vehicles a day, and never had more than 130. Based on about 30 seconds per vehicle, you only actually work about 30-45 minutes a day. The rest of the time you’re sitting in the shade reading or playing on the computer. Jan read 84 books in 4 months last year.
For more information you can go back on our blog starting April 5th, 2012 and read about our gate guarding adventures last year. Or just leave me a comment.
Here’s a list of Gate Guard Companies. The first 4 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
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Later in the afternoon it was time for another maintenance chore. Although I clean and wash the AC foam filters every month, it’s been awhile since I cleaned the coils.
Despite the filter, some dust and dirt always gets through and lodges on the fins of the evaporator coil and blocks the air flow, thus reducing the cooling. And with another month of 95+ temps on the gate, we need all the cooling we can get.
Removing the plastic grille shows the air intake over the coil. The screen wire is my addition. I found that because of the wide-open holes, the filter material would get sucked into the holes and deform, letting air leak by. So a couple of years ago I got some coarse screen wire and just taped it over the vent holes to provide some support for the foam filter.
Pulling the screen off, I used the brush adapter for the vacuum to clean all the dirt off the coil.
Then it was just a matter of putting it all back together and then doing the second one.
Still no new news on our gate. Tentatively we’re supposed to move tomorrow about 2pm, but we’ll see.
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Thought for the Day:
“Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” – H.L. Mencken
August 25, 2014
Counting Down to the Gate . . .
After we had our coffee this morning, I got on the phone to Jamie of Gate Guard Services to see if he had any gates available now, or maybe in the next few days. But he said he didn’t have anything on the horizon right now, but that of course things could change every day. I told Jamie that I was going to check with Diane down at the Whitsett office and that I would call him one last time before we did anything.
When I checked with Diane, she said that they had sites coming up pretty much every day, and to come on down. So as it stands right now, we’ll leave here Thursday morning, going either east or west.
I’ll call Jamie Thursday morning to see if anything’s come available. If so, we’ll head east and north to Buffalo, TX, about 200 miles away where Jamie’s yard is. If Jamie still doesn’t have anything coming up, we’ll head west and south to Whitsett about 175 miles away.
Since we now have a leave date, this Thursday, about 12:30 I went down to the park office to re-up for 3 more days. We were originally going to be here until the 30th of August, but I cut it back when we got here. But just in case I have two weeks booked at the Lake Conroe Thousand Trails starting the 30th, to be sure we had somewhere to be for the Labor Day weekend, in case the gate guard thing got delayed.
Lowell send over some photos that Landon’s grandmother Sonja had taken of Landon at Katy Mills Mall yesterday.
This is another favorite of his, the Inflatable Bouncy Crocodile Slide.
Although that Croc looks pretty realistic to be inflatable.
A few months ago Brandi and Lowell moved Landon to a new school. The Goddard School is highly rated, and talking to Landon it’s easy to see why.
While we were at Rainforest Café yesterday afternoon, Landon started talking about the large animated butterflies (about 3ft across) in the trees around our table.
He told us that butterflies are insects, and how insects, like a lot of other animals, use their colors to ‘camouflage’ themselves from things that want to eat them.
So here’s a 4 year old that knows all about butterflies, insects, and camouflage. A 4 year old (just barely) that knows the word ‘camouflage’ and knows what it means.
That’s just scary.
Tomorrow I’ve got some stuff I want to do around the rig before we head out on Thursday. Luckily, most of it is inside, out of the heat.
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Thought for the Day:
“Military justice is to justice what military music is to music.” — Groucho Marx
August 25, 2015
Carthage Gate . . .
Jan and I were up early this morning, 6:15 early. We wanted to be on the road by 7:15, leaving Henderson for our gate location about 20 miles away. We were supposed to meet Jamie, our Gate Guard Services supervisor, there at 8am.
Our new gate turns out to be about 1.5 miles off the highway, and close enough to Carthage, TX to have good cell service and good Internet. We normally name our gates by the nearest town, so this is now officially the Carthage Gate.
Jamie had already logged a couple of trucks in before we got there, but as is our usual method, Jan took over the clipboard and started logging while I got us parked and set up. Actually I got us parked twice, because after I had parked, leveled and put the slide out, the Company Man came by and asked us to move forward about 15 feet so we weren’t under the high-tension power lines overhead. Jamie and I looked, and we weren’t really under them, but we moved anyway.
The forecast was for thunderstorms this morning and they showed up with a vengeance about 9am, with lightning strikes all around and very heavy rain. One strike was so close, the hair on my arm stood up. Jan worked out of the truck during all this so she stayed pretty dry. By about 10:30 the storm had passed and the sun was out, making things nice, but humid.
We’re actually in the middle of a cattle ranch, but we haven’t seen any yet, just little reminder piles of their presence. But all in all, it’s a nice site.
We don’t have a prepared pad this time, so we’re just parked on the grass. Since we’re on kind of a rise, it should stay pretty dry.
We hope.
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Thought for the Day:
“Nothing is so permanent as a temporary government program.” – Milton Friedman
August 25, 2016
Maybe Tomorrow ?
Well, we’re still on vacation as it were, with no definite startup time. Which is fine with us.
They had the derrick in place early this morning but nothing much else seemed to be happening for most of the day, except for a lot of guys mostly standing around in hard hats.
This morning Jan cooked up 5# of ground chuck and 3# of chicken breasts, then later in the afternoon we packed and vacuum-sealed the the hamburger in 1# bags and the chicken in 4 bags. So it will be quick and easy for Jan to fix meals for us on the gate.
I spent the late morning and early afternoon getting our canopy frame up and tied down in place before getting the covering on top.
Next I laid down a couple of pallets over the rocks leading out to the roadside. Jamie brought them with him when we delivered our sewer trailer,
After I saw the large rocks that they used on the roadway, I knew we’d need something to cover them, since walking on them without twisting your ankle is not easy.
And I’m going to have to get some plywood to cover up the gaps where the mats are bolted together.
Another ankle twisting possibility.
Around 4pm I went onto the pad to drop off our phone numbers with the Company Man. When I got back, Jan wanted to know if I asked him when he wanted us to start logging vehicles in.
I said No, I didn’t want to give him any ideas. When he wants us to start, he knows where to find us.
Finally, about 30 minutes later, they started raising the derrick.
And about 90 minutes later they were done.
So I guess sometime tomorrow we’ll finally get to work.
Thought for the Day:
“Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.” – Benjamin Franklin, Signer of the Declaration of Independence
Marco . . . Laur . . . eh, Polo
As it stands right now, we probably won’t get much in the way of wind/rain from Marco/Laura. But things can change, of course.
Apparently there is a petition circulating to rename Tropical Storm Laura to Tropical Storm Polo. Sounds good to me.
In 2009, on our way to Newfoundland, we took a day trip from Bangor, ME to the Bar Harbor area, as well as the Acadia National Park.
August 24, 2009
Bar Harbor and Bubbles…
Today we made the 50 mile trip down to the Bar Harbor area to see some of Maine’s Atlantic coast. The drive was pretty uneventful, except for a 25 minute wait right outside of Ellsworth for road work. Luckily, by the time we came home they were finished for the day.
Right after we got into the Bar Harbor area, we stopped for lunch at a small seafood place called Gateway Diner and had lobster rolls and sweet potato fries, and then split a pumpkin crumb pie with ice cream. Great food, but unfortunately for me, the place also had a gift shop with a lot of moose stuff.
Mucho $$$$ later, we stopped at the Bar Harbor Visitor’s Center right down the street to check out a tip that the lady at the diner mentioned about a loop road through Acadia National Park.
Getting directions, we headed out around the loop.
The first place we stopped was a scenic viewpoint overlooking Frenchman Bay, and this was just the start of a lot of beautiful scenery.
The dock area on the right side of the picture is Bar Harbor.
The next stop was Sand Beach.
Although the beach was closed today, apparently people really swim her, even though the water temp usually doesn’t get much out of the 50’s.
And some of the other views in the area are amazing.
Leaving the Sand Beach area, we drove down to a spot that unfortunately has been in the news lately.
The area is called Thunder Hole because of the noise of the waves when the right conditions makes the sounds reverberate and sound like thunder.
The area is also popular because you can go out on a rock that juts out into the Atlantic ocean and stand where the waves come in over your feet when the tide is right.
This point is where about 20 people were smashed by a 25 foot wave caused by a combination of high tide and Hurricane Bill. 11 people were hospitalized with broken bones, and 3 people, a 7 year old girl, her father, and an unrelated 12 year old girl, were swept out to sea in the 55 degree water.
The 12 year old girl and the father were pulled from the water by the Coast Guard, but his 7 year old daughter was later found dead.
When we were there, the area was still closed off, but a ranger said the waves have to get over the top of the handrail before it’s closed off.
Leaving the area, we drove further around the loop to more fantastic scenery.
Toward the end of the 27 miles we passed the Jordan Pond Inn, a restaurant we had been told about and thought we would later have dinner there.
Leaving the loop, we headed over to Bar Harbor to look around. The first thing Jan found, wouldn’t you know it, was a couple of moose stuff gift shops.
She really wanted this one, but we couldn’t figure out how to get it in the rig.
So she settled for trying on the latest in moose wear.
Walking down the hill we were able to look out over Bar Harbor itself.
And of course the many flower beds everywhere.
One of the ships I noticed in the harbor was a beautiful 4-masted schooner called the “Margaret Todd”.
And rather than being an old ship, she’s only about 10 years old. She was launched in 1998 and built to give Windjammer cruises to the tourists.
Here’s what she looks like under full sail.
Before heading back over to Jordan Pond Inn for dinner, we drove down to the end of Bridge St. to take a look.
When it’s low tide, a sandbar is revealed that extends over to Bar Island in the distance, allowing people to walk over to the island. Unfortunately, at high tide it just looks like a boat launch ramp. Timing is everything!
Our dinner at Jordan Pond Inn was fantastic and we had a great meal. The restaurant was really something,
and the scenery was something else.
The view from the outside dining are is of an island called “The Bubbles”
Of course, the locals call it by another ‘B’ word, but I’ll leave it as an exercise for the reader to figure out what the word is.
After a really great day, we finally headed home about 7 pm. Luckily, the morning’s road work was over, so we were home in about an hour.
Today is our last day here in Bangor. Tomorrow we head about 130 miles northeast to Houlton, ME, which is about 2 miles from the Canadian border.
We’ll stay there for three or four days, cleaning up some loose ends before we head over the border.
On our way through Tennessee and on to Sikeston, MO.
August 24, 2012
Eureka!
We pulled out of Tom Sawyer RV Park a little after 9am this morning for a short 134 mile trip north on I-55 to Sikeston, MO.
And once again we had a repeat performance of the hard-starting and stalling that has occurred the previous two mornings. And once again, when we got moving we had no more problems.
And after a smooth, uneventful trip, we pulled into the Hinton RV Park in Sikeston, MO about noon. Normally we would have stayed at the Passport America park up the road, but the reviews in RV Park Reviews said Hinton RV Park was really good, and the Passport America park was really, really bad. So here we are.
One thing I noticed coming into Sikeston was. being at the conjunction of two Interstates, (I-55 and I-57) there were a lot of truck dealerships in town, so once we got parked, I made some phone calls and found there was a local Cummins dealer and they had a generator fuel filter in stock.
So as soon as we got settled in, I headed down the road to the Cummins dealer to pick up the filter, and while I was there I also got a new engine fuel filter as well.
Getting back to the rig we decided to eat before I tackled the generator fuel filter changeout. And of course, where else to eat in Sikeston, MO, but Lambert’s Throwed Rolls.
After having our usual great meal of Fried Chicken, veggies, hot ‘throwed rolls’, and of course, the great ‘pass-arounds’, we came back to the rig. I then decided to take a nap and let the temps cool off before I tackled the generator.
Finally, about 6pm I headed outside to crawl under the rig and have at it. And as usual in these things, it took longer to get to the filter than it did to actually change it out. To make matters worse, you can’t get to the filter access door with the generator extended, but when you have the generator retracted, it’s hard to get under the rig to get the filter out.
And to make things worse, the filter is not a standard spin-on type, but a rectangular metal box with flare fittings making the fuel connections.
And of course, they couldn’t allow enough slack to make it easier to disconnect the lines.
But finally, after about an hour, I had the filter installed and everything buttoned back up. Now for the ‘smoke test’.
Well, actually, I hope it doesn’t smoke. First I primed the generator for about a minute, per the manual, and then hit the start button. After cranking it over twice for about 5 seconds, the third time was the charm, and the generator fired up and ran smoothly. I let it run for about 20 minutes, and had no problems.
At this point I shut it down and considered it a job well done. And we’ll have AC on the road tomorrow. Jan says “YEA!”
I still think this problem, and my engine problem was caused by the Diesel Kleen cleaning out the build-up in my fuel lines. Although it could have possibly been a tank of bad fuel that we took on in Whitsett when I also added the Diesel Kleen, it seems to me that if it were bad diesel it would have continue to clog the engine filter until the rig engine no longer ran either.
So now I’ll change out the engine filter while we’re at Celina, and for a while I’ll use less Diesel Kleen when I fill up.
An Update On This: This problem was not caused by the use of Diesel Kleen, but was ultimately found to be a clogged fuel tank vent hose. Apparently while we were parked at the Gate Guard Services lot in Whitsett after we left our gate, but before we headed north, a wasp or dirt dauber built a nest in the fuel tank vent hose. This caused a vacuum in the fuel system which crushed the generator fuel filter insides, and ultimately actually partially collapsed our 150 gallon diesel fuel tank, reducing its capacity to about 105 gallons.
Tomorrow we’ll travel about 185 miles to Vernon, IL to visit Jan’s sister and her family before heading on to Celina on Sunday.
Thought for the Day:
Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society. — Mark Twain
On our new Gate in East Texas.
August 24, 2016
Last Date . . .
Looks like that after we get settled in, I going to have to set up my Wilson Cell Phone Booster.
When we were parked down on the pad, we had one bar of 4G, that cycled back and forth through 1X and 3G as well. But I was hoping that when we moved up to the top of the hill things would improve.
And they did. I now had 3 bars of solid 4G. But unfortunately my internet performance didn’t improve.
I haven’t had to use my booster for several years since we’ve usually been in an area with a good signal. But it looks like it’s time to pull it back out of storage.
Our Hawkwood Company Man came by this morning, a little before I got up, so Jan got to talk to him, and got a lot of good information
But first off, he wanted us to move our truck onto the pad. We had parked on the grass right across the road from us, but he said that was really on the landowner’s side, so he made a spot for us at the end of one of the trailers right inside the gate.
He also said they hoped to spud in on Friday, so we’ll start logging then I guess. And even better, he had no problem with us taking off today to head over to Bryan/College Station this afternoon.
So we headed out about 1pm, having to thread our way out between the incoming big trucks. Our first stop was about a 1/4 mile down the road at the combination convenience store/Blue Moon BBQ, our gate’s namesake.
We wanted to get gas for the truck, and also a menu from Blue Moon. The menu part went fine, but the gas part didn’t. The pumps, such as they were, were the old type with the analog rotating dials. And they obviously didn’t work.
So we headed on toward B/CS stopping at the Exxon station about 8 miles for our gas and also another menu, this time as a photo.
We’ll probably try them out soon.
Our first stop in B/CS was the Saltgrass Steakhouse for what may be our last meal out for 3 months or so. And it was its usual really good.
Jan got their regular salad, while I went with my favorite, their Wedge Salad.
Jan got her favorite Sirloin Strip, while I got my usual Ribeye with Steak Fries.
We had a nice leisurely lunch, really enjoying our temporary freedom.
Our next stop was a carwash to get the dirt and grime off, at least for a while, and then it was on to Wal-Mart to stock up for the week or so, before I have to make the trip back over here.
We got back to the rig about 5:30, and while we were unloading, the landowner, Tony, came by in his ATV. He and his daughter Addison were going to feed their horses and stopped by to say Hi and introduce himself. Seems like a real nice guy.
They still haven’t gotten the derrick up yet but they’re getting close. In fact they were still working at about 8pm tonight.
Tomorrow I’m going to try to finish getting our canopy up and get us ready to go on Friday.
Thought for the Day:
“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”
