Our RV Adventures

Jan and I were on our way up to Webster and the Saltgrass Steakhouse about 1:30 for our Easter dinner. And even though they were very busy with people waiting, our 2pm reservation got us seated immediately.

We both started off with our usual Wedge Salads, always delicious.

Next up, Jan got her usual Center Cut Filet with Grilled Green Beans,

while I got my fav 16oz Ribeye, again with the Green Beans.

And of course we had to close out the meal by sharing a piece of their Carrot Cake.

And here’s my favorite personal Easter Bunny.

Hippity Hop!

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I thought I’d catch you up on our Gate Guarding adventures this month back in 2012.

April 22, 2012

Out of Touch with the World . . .

or Two Flat Tires in One Day.

Wednesday, April 18th

Today was the last day of operation for our rig. So it was a busy day with all the equipment pulling out.

In other news, I had two flat tires today on the ‘dirt road from hell’. The 8 miles was bad enough, but then on Tuesday they brought a road grater in to smooth out the bumps.

Well, it did that all right, but it also traded the worn-down rocks with new, sharper rocks underneath. So I ended up with a second flat before I could get the first one fixed.

This means we’re kind of stranded here I until I can get someone to bring me two new tires. Both of the old ones have cuts in them, not punctures. Almost like someone had stuck a knife in them, so I doubt they can be repaired.

Thursday, April 19th

Since our drill rig and crew pulled out yesterday, we didn’t think we’d have much traffic this morning, but the day turned out to be relatively busy.

I had kind of expected Larry, our supervisor, to show up and tell us to move out

I tried to patch my leaky tires, but without success. Although they’re slow leaks, the nearest town is 35 miles away, and I don’t think I can make it that far.

We also found out why we haven’t been told to move. I was told by a consultant coming through the gate that a new rig on a new site is coming in next Tuesday, and should be operating for about a month. After that, we’ll see.

Friday, April 20th

Although I had the gate open about 5:45, the first vehicle didn’t show up until about 8am. Fine by me. I’ve read 6 books and four magazines since we got here last Sunday. Finally starting to whittle down that stack.

Our supervisor, Larry, showed up today to top off our diesel and water tanks, and also fix a couple of things.

The pump in our sewer system wasn’t working, so the liquid was filling up the collection tank (the small green tank) and not being pumped up into the big green storage tank. This meant everything was just backing up into our grey tank.

I had checked things out and the pump (a submersible macerator pump) had just died. It only took Larry about 10 minutes to replace the pump and test it out.

The other thing that needed repairing was our vehicle alarm bell. It’s one of those old-time gas station bells that rings when you drive over the rubber hoses. Replacing the bell unit fixed the problem.

Then later in the afternoon, we had a weather trifecta . . . rain, hail, and high winds. But our canopy and awnings all came through OK.

Tomorrow I hope I can get our tires replaced so I can get this posted. I also plan to order us a cell phone booster to see if we can get cell/Internet service with it.

And so it goes.

April 28, 2012

Well, after 12 days in the wilderness, we’re back in civilization.

Kind of.

The one main problem with where our gate was, was the fact that we had no cell phone or Internet service. But after days of trying, I finally found a solution.

I bought a Wilson DB 65 Pro amplifier and antenna, and then put the antenna on top of a 30 foot pole mounted to the ladder on our RV. And lo and behold, we had cell and Internet service.

Ten minutes later we got our first call from the outside world.

And of course, it was the Gate Guard Services office telling us to get packed up because we were moving to a new gate. Don’t know what they would have done if I hadn’t had the booster up and running.

So now we had to take everything down and get packed up.

Finally we pulled out about 2:50 for the 8 mile trip on the dirt road from Hell. This road is so bad we can only do about 5 mph in the rig. So it only took us about an hour and ten minutes to go the 8 miles. But once on the highway we made good time.

We pulled into our new location a little after 6 pm and got set up. Or rather I set up and Jan was already running the gate.

And unlike our other gate where the drilling rig was 3 miles away, here we’re up close and personal.

And boy is it windy here. But we do have cell and Internet, so that’s a plus.

I’ll have more later with pictures from our old gate and our new one.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and concerns when we kind of disappeared for a while. Hopefully I’ll be able to post more regularly now.

April 30, 2012

Settling In at a new Gate . . .

Well, we’re finally starting to settle in here at our new gate. We’ve got our canopy up (held down by 5 40 pound buckets. The wind here never stops.) and are getting used to the routine.

Although this is a 24 hour gate, overall it’s not that busy. We did about 90 vehicles yesterday which is less than we had some days at our old gate. But then our old gate was shut down between 10pm and 6am.

When we got here, they were cementing the casing, but now they’re drilling again so there’s a lot more activity on the rig. And noise.

The noise never stops. It’s a dull roar from the generators, coolers, chillers, and all the other equipment they use. In fact, all the power for the site comes from their own generators. There is no power coming in from outside.

We’re now located about 8 miles west of Karnes City about 3 miles off FM 99. And the road is so much better than our other gate. You can actually drive 30-40 mph on it with no problems.

Here’s what it looks like directly across from our site.

They’re hard to see, but there are two more drilling rigs visible in this photo to the right of the big tree. We don’t have near the wildlife here as we did the other gate, but Jan has killed two brown scorpions. I guess they count as wildlife too.

Our generator here runs slow, frequency-wise. It’s running at 57.5 Hz instead of 60, so our AC powered clocks lose about an hour a day. I’ve looked for a frequency adjustment on the generator, but haven’t found one yet. I’ll ask our support guy, Mark, when he comes by.

I’ll probably only be posting every other day while we’re at this gate, and I’m still going through the over 1100 emails that accumulated while we were off the grid, so it will take me a while to get back to everyone.

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Thought For The Day:

Lord, please give me patience because if you give me strength I’m probably gonna need bail money too.

   

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