2011 in review~

This has been quite a year. Just like last year, rather than feeling like the year has just whizzed by, it feels like it has been much longer than one year since we said "hello" to 2011.
We started the year off near Hattiesburg, Mississippi working at the Okatoma Resort & RV Park. It was such a beautiful area and we very much enjoyed our time there. Finances got a bit tight at the end, as this was a "site only" job.
We left on Thursday, April 7th, and over the course of the next week made our way north to Saco, Maine. We spent six months working at the Saco/Old Orchard Beach KOA. We loved it there and miss the people, the lobster and the lighthouses.
We left Saco on October 21st and drove south to Livingston, Texas -- our official home. We spent a few days relaxing and then it was back to work, gate guarding near Shreveport, Louisiana. After three weeks there, we were off for about 10 days before we headed to relieve another couple at a gate near Cotulla, Texas for a week. From there we drove directly to our present assignment near Big Wells, Texas. All told, the odometer on our truck clocked over 4,000 miles this year just traveling from one job to another. That's a lot of driving. One cool thing -- Sue drove a few hundred of those miles...WITH the 5th wheel hitched up! She is proud of that!
Overall, this has been a better year than 2010. We enjoyed our summer job in Maine immensely, unlike last year in Chicago. We worked and got paid for about 70% of the year as opposed to only about 45% last  year. Also, even though we had a great experience at Amazon, we are really enjoying the gate guarding instead this year. We are making relatively good money for a whole lot less work and very little physical difficulty.
We have high hopes that 2012 will prove to be even better. We plan on continuing to gate guard through March, and then take the month of April to vacation a bit while we drive to Idaho for our summer campground job at Montpelier Creek KOA. After Labor Day when that job is done, our intention is to come back to Texas and continue gate guarding for the winter season. Things can change, but that's the plan right now.
One more thing ... we can't wait to see our kids and grandkids in April.

Back row: Josh, Kaitlyn, Emily, Beth
Front row: Daunielle, Joe, Ray, Julie, Anne, Cristen, Jon and Madeline

Signing off for 2011!  HAPPY NEW YEAR from our little house to yours!

Friday is laundry day~

We have settled into a basic routine while we are gate guarding. It seems that Friday works for us as the day Sue goes to town to do laundry, grocery shopping, etc. Not sure why Friday, but it is what it is, you know?
We have two basic options in our location for taking care of these necessary tasks. We can go west to Carrizo Springs (26 miles or so) or northeast to Pearsall (about 36 miles). Obviously Carrizo Springs is closer, but the HEB store is smaller and the laundry is more expensive. However, our mail is being sent to Big Wells which is west of where we are by slightly over 8 miles, so Carrizo Springs makes more sense when we have mail.
Sue decided to forego logic today, get the mail from Big Wells, and then turn right around, go past our gate and on into Pearsall to take care of the rest. She really likes the HEB store as it is much bigger and thus the selection is better. They also have her favorite brand of yogurt, so hey, what could be better than that? (Oikos, in case you are wondering...the Key Lime flavor is to die for!) The laundry isn't as clean and the machines aren't as nice, but they do the job and are significantly cheaper. The difference in price probably pays for the additional diesel to go the extra miles!
Regardless, these errand days are long ones for both of us. Wayne gets up a bit sooner so Sue can leave sooner and hopefully get back before dark. Meanwhile, Sue drives 52-72 miles round trip on top of doing laundry, shopping, etc. It's nice to get out but it is tiring as well. When she was driving back today, she was treated to an absolutely gorgeous sunset. No pictures though ... that would be a bit risky while driving 70 miles an hour on a two-lane road in the "almost" darkness. Sorry!
Thanks to all who have sent Christmas cards and notes. We have loved reading them and appreciate each one. We hope you have all had a great Christmas and are looking forward to the new year. God bless~

The last week of 2011~

Four days after Christmas and all through the house, not a creature is stirring, except for the mouse ... or should we say, mice! We have now captured and killed four mice. One by one they keep finding our warm trailer and, unfortunately for them, coming inside. We wish they wouldn't ... we don't like killing them.
The gate has been relatively quiet lately. Most of the traffic is around 5:30 a.m. when a ton of guys come in and then around 4:30 p.m. when they all leave. Other than that, guys just dribble in here and there during the day. Wayne has been able to get a fair amount of sleep between 1 a.m. and 5 a.m., which means he gets plenty of sleep since he goes to bed 8:30ish and sleeps until 2:00ish in the afternoon. Sleep is important, not only for safety but for mood! All of us do better when we get enough sleep.
We had a visit from one of our company men yesterday ... finally! Hess bought out ZaZa here at La Corona Ranch just before we arrived, and Jamie from Hess visited with both of us. Nice guy! Cody from Hess also came by yesterday and today, and is arranging to fix our gate. It drags on the end when it is opened up due to wear on the hinges. That's supposed to happen this afternoon. Another positive for us: the landowner was here at the same time as Jamie yesterday and they had an impromptu meeting right at our gate. The landowner was complaining about all the trucks (really very few) that come in late at night and early in the morning. He said they were having trouble hunting the deer as the noise was scaring them away. Apparently they are going to suspend trucks after 6 or 7 at night until 5 or 6 in the morning. We really don't mind the trucks, since we knew it was a 24/7 deal coming in, but it still will be nice. We won't complain!

Jon, Julie and Joe

We got to Skype with ALL of our kids and grandkids on Christmas evening. It was awesome to get to see them all together having a nice time, even if we weren't physically there. We got to talk with each one ... it was such a blessing. On top of that, they took pictures!! We finally have a picture of our three children with promises of more pictures to come of the whole family. Yeah!
Yesterday we made a huge commitment. Sue has been reading some blogs of a group of women who went to the Philippines at the end of May. Each of their families sponsors at least one child in the Philippines through Compassion. They were able to visit each child and their families on the trip and actually see their homes and the country. We talked about it a couple of times and decided this was something we wanted to do as well. Whether we will ever have the money to actually visit the Philippines, only God knows, but we can at least help. We may not be able to feed all the needy children in the world, but we can certainly feed one! Anyway, his name is Elmer and he just turned 5 on October 11th. We are looking forward to watching him grow up and hopefully learn to love Jesus. Sue wrote him a letter yesterday as soon as we signed up, and will be sending him a couple of pictures of our family when she can. These kids treasure the letters and pictures from their sponsors, and we want him to know we care about him and pray for him and his family. If you want to know more about Compassion and how you can help, you can access it right here at the top of our blog.

Elmer Angelo Villasenco

Christmas Eve 2011

Sue here -- I am skipping the "Wayne, Sue, he, she" today, and writing entirely from my perspective. In general, I try to keep this blog "our blog" since it's about our experiences traveling and workamping, but today I decided I needed to write one just from me. Hope that's ok~
It's been pretty quiet here today so far ... too quiet. Not the trucks, or should I say the lack of trucks. No, that is nice, because it is raining ... again! Enough said about that! No, it is too quiet because Wayne is asleep, Lucy is with him, and our kids and grandkids are a million miles away -- well it feels like it anyway. Needless to say I have had a bad case of the sniffles this morning. Fortunately, Wayne slept through them.

Julie & Ray's children: Josh, (friend Ashley), Kaitlyn, Beth & Emily

It has almost been exactly two years since we saw our children and grandchildren. (We saw Jon and his family in February 2010 at Disneyland for a few days, so it has only been 1 year and 10 months since we have seen them ... way too long!) I knew it would be hard, mostly on me. I don't mean that Wayne doesn't miss them, but he and I are two very different people. I am simply a mommy ... that is all I ever wanted to be. That doesn't diminish the fact that I am also his wife, and our relationship has to take priority. Our children are all married and have their own lives, and for that I am grateful. But until we left California on January 4th, 2010, we were within a day's drive of all of them, and only minutes to our oldest child, Julie, and her family. This isn't harder than I imagined ... I had a pretty good idea of what it would mean to be so far away from them. I know myself, so it was no surprise. I am just tired of missing them. I am tired of having to not think about them in order to avoid feeling sad. I can't seem to help it today. It's Christmas Eve, and I want my family. It wouldn't matter if I were in south Florida, basking in the sun and heading out to Walt Disney World. I would still feel the same as I do, sitting here in our trailer at a very soggy oil field gate.

Jon & Cristen's oldest, Anne

... and their youngest, Madeline

I am sorry this isn't a fun, uplifting post, but I am just keeping it real. We may be having fun traveling around and seeing the beauty of our country, but I still miss my family terribly. We will be seeing them in April, but that time is going to go so fast. I dread having to say goodbye again. Oh, by the way, I wish I could post recent pictures of my children, not just my grandchildren, but I don't have any. I could find pictures on Facebook of some of them, but not all, and I would feel bad leaving anyone off. The grandchildren are cuter anyway!
On a lighter note, this morning I was outside to open the gate for a semi that was leaving, when I saw this young buck frantically trying to figure out a way through or over the fence. He had apparently been down here by our trailer, and when the semi with its loud engine came down the road, he panicked, too afraid to run alongside the semi to head back the way he came. I didn't want to open the gate and let him out, so the driver and I just waited, which gave me time to snap a few pictures. Finally the driver turned off his engine, which proved to be the key. The buck immediately darted down the road and disappeared. This has happened before, but Wayne was unable to get the camera quick enough. This time, it was right by the door, ready to go!

One very scared deer!

We do hope you all have a wonderful Christmas, as you celebrate the birth of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, and his gift of salvation to us. To our family, we love you SO much, and can't wait to see all of you.

A Mouse Tail (Tale)

Once upon a time, there was a couple who decided to work in south Texas as gate guards for the winter. They read lots of blogs, did plenty of research, and prepared as best they could for what they might need. The contacted a few gate guard companies, applied for their security licenses, took the test, and made their way down to Texas and waited with bated breath to be assigned to a gate. They were assigned to a gate  for three weeks in November. They were happy with their experience and couldn't wait for another gate to open up. They had heard all sorts of stories about gate guards being invaded by mice while they worked, and were happy to escape without meeting any small furry creatures inside their cozy trailer. Maybe they were going to be lucky!
Early in December, they were asked to take a gate for one week to allow the current gate guards time off to move into a new trailer. A couple of days before the week was up, the man heard some tiny feet scurrying across the kitchen floor late at night. Sure enough, it was a mouse -- he saw it running from the kitchen! The man told his wife, who promptly set not one, not two, but three mousetraps in strategic locations in an effort to catch this little stowaway. Of course, now that they were moving to yet a third gate, they hoped perhaps the mouse would just hop out of their trailer on the way, but alas, the mouse liked the trailer just fine. He had found lots of wheat berries, some sweet potato pancake mix and homemade bread to snack on. The woman was very unhappy when she discovered his little messes on her floor and counter. She wondered why the traps weren't working! She just decided to be patient ...

Finally, the man and his wife were watching TV one evening at their new gate and all of a sudden, SNAP! They both heard the sound and knew exactly what it was! The mouse had succumbed to the allure of the peanut butter in the traps, but which one had caught him? The woman got a flashlight and carefully peered under the table to look at the first trap. Nope, no mouse there. The man suggested she check the one behind the toilet, but she decided to look at the other one under the kitchen table first, and YES! There it was ... a cute, but very dead little gray mouse. The woman has a very soft heart towards animals, and believe it or not, even insects (except stinging ones). She has been known to catch moths that have flown inside and let them outside rather than kill them. However, a mouse in the house? NOT! She ever so carefully picked up the trap, careful not to touch the little gray mouse, and took it outside. She walked over to the new fence, opened up the trap, and tossed the little mouse onto the ground. Perhaps an owl will find him...
Oh yes, I forgot ... and they all lived happily ever after ... well, except for the mouse! The End!

Rain ... again!

Yesterday and today have both been slow for hours and hours at our gate. The main group comes in one after the other early in the morning and then they all leave in a parade around 6 p.m. Other than that, the traffic just trickles here and there. It's kind of nice ... we could get used to that!
We have been enjoying our time here since we arrived on Monday, right up until about an hour ago when it started raining again. We know Texas needs the rain ... really we do, but we have seen soooooooo much rain this year, first in Mississippi, then in Maine, and now in Texas, that we are just sick of it! Of course it really wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the fact that the rain mixes with the caliche and Texas red dirt and creates the most awful mud. I have addressed that issue before!

In other news, the ranch has had some fence construction guys here for the past two days, and they are building a high fence right across from us that continues down the ranch road as far as we can see. The process has been quite interesting, and we have had a front row seat!
We are hoping this solves a problem we have been having, namely the fact that we have been adopted by the two ranch dogs, Jackie and Girly. They are very nice Lab-mix dogs and the chocolate one (Jackie) is very lovable to the point of being ridiculously needy. She obviously doesn't get much attention at all and she craves it. They have taken to camping out on our doorstep ... literally, which makes it nigh to impossible to get out of our door and down the steps quickly to let trucks in/out of the gate.
At first it was kind of cute, but now it is just annoying. We can't leave our chairs out because they climb in them to rest, mud and all. When we sit outside, Jackie absolutely insists on being petted. She puts her head in your lap and whines. If you ignore her, she puts one muddy paw on your lap. If you still ignore her, she tries to climb in your lap. Mind you, she must weigh 70 pounds or so ... definitely NOT a lap dog. We both love animals and feel sorry for both of them. They don't appear to be abused and they seem to be well fed, but they just roam the ranch and neighboring ranches and apparently are ignored. However, we have a dog and although Lucy has tolerated (sort of) their presence, she isn't excited that these interlopers are on her porch! The ranch foreman told me that when the fence gets done, they won't be able to come over here, but we aren't convinced. They are pretty good at getting around and through obstacles. It just may be something we have to live with while we are here. Ugh!

Cenizo Ranch near Big Wells, Tx

Well, we made it! What an incredibly long day ... a good day, but l.o.n.g. For starters, Sue couldn't get to sleep last night for all the tea in China. She figures she maybe got 2-3 hours ... not good. Of course the gate was busier than normal too, so Wayne only catnapped all night. That means we were both running on empty as we packed up to move out of the Schwope Ranch in the dark. We knew Luke and Inez would be pulling in around 7 a.m., so Wayne woke Sue up at 5:30 a.m. and we both hit the ground running ... sort of. Actually we did pretty well and we were on our way to our new gate just before 7:30 a.m.
I forgot to mention in a previous post that we demolished our back stairs on our way to Schwope, so Wayne was determined NOT to go out the way we came in. He was afraid they would completely fall apart and he would have to disassemble them right on the road. Yesterday when he took a trial run to the new location in the truck with Lucy, he determined the best option would be to take a somewhat longer route up Interstate 35 in order to avoid the troublesome spot. It turned out to be quite a nice ride and we had no trouble whatsoever.
When we were about 3 miles out, an older motorhome passed us going the opposite direction, and Wayne commented that it looked like the couple we were replacing! That seemed odd to us because that would logically mean no one was watching the gate. It was only 8:15 or so and Wayne had told them it would be after 8 o'clock before we arrived. When we turned onto the road leading to our gate, the gate guard couple right at the highway (we are the 2nd gate in here) told us that yes, the couple had left but our boss Roger was at the gate. We felt much better when we heard that.
We drove the final 2 miles back into the ranch to our gate. We found it weird that the first gate says "La Corona Ranch" but apparently our gate is on the Cenizo Ranch. Don't understand that yet, but we assume we will find out how that works at some point. Regardless, Roger helped us get into the proper position, and then left us on our own to set up and set up we did. Actually, we just did critical stuff to begin with as Wayne was looking quite haggard from lack of sleep. We managed to eat a simple breakfast and then Sue ushered Wayne off to bed.

Here we are at the Cenizo Ranch!

This gate is somewhat busy and the gate itself has to be shut at all times. Of course that means we have to physically open the gate every time someone wants in or out. That's a lot of traipsing up and down the trailer steps and to/from the gate, dragging the gate open and then closed again. Running on little sleep herself, Sue is exhausted and ready for bed. There are probably numerous misspelling etc., but this is the best that can be be done for now. Good night!

We got a new gate!

Yep, that's right ... bright and early tomorrow we head out to a new gate. Roger contacted us this morning and told us Luke & Inez would be coming back to the Schwope Ranch by 7:00 a.m. and that we are to go to the Corona Ranch near Big Wells. Of course Inez called us last night and gave us a head's up -- awesome -- so we weren't surprised, but we are excited. Roger seems to think we should be able to stay at this gate for a significant time period.
Wayne is actually gone right now to scope it out, since no one will be escorting us. Roger just gave Sue the directions on the phone this morning, and when Hunter came to replenish the water supply today, he gave us a more detailed map to help us find it. It is apparently just off of 85, east of Big Wells, TX. We will let you know more about it tomorrow night, presuming we can get our Internet up and running.
We have enjoyed this gate for the week we have been here, much more so now that the mud is gone and the new road is in. We are sure Luke and Inez will like the solid surface much better than the mud soup that was here when they left last Monday.

New caliche road ... yay!

Sue checked in the field representative from Chesapeake this morning and asked him about getting some help on our little corner of the world as it relates to mud. We mentioned in our update yesterday that we have dried up considerably around here, but with all the rain in the forecast, we were concerned the road would return to the mud soup we were dealing with at the beginning of the week. When the rep checked out, he said he had ordered 3 loads of caliche to be dumped and spread right in front of our rig.
We can confirm he is a man of his word because sure enough, a huge truck with the first load drove up just after 12 noon, and he brought the other two loads over the next 3-4 hours.  When the first two loads were down, a guy on a road grader spread the caliche around, and another guy rolled and pounded the stuff into a nice, firm surface. We have no experience with caliche yet, so we really have no idea what happens when it rains, but the gate guards just a mile away said their road wasn't as bad as ours because they have a caliche base. Well here's hopin'!

Grading done, now to roll

Nice new road!

On another subject, it appears we may be here a few days longer than anticipated ... or maybe not! Luke and Inez spoke to our boss Roger today, who said he might have a gate for us to move to when they return to the ranch here. However, it depends on the rain whether it will happen on Monday. The McKnights graciously decided to check with Roger on Monday, and if the gate is ready for us, they will come back here and we will move to the new spot. If not, they will take an additional day or two or three to relax and let us stay here, hoping we will be able to move from here to the new gate, rather than going back to the company yard in Carrizo Springs. Of course this will also give them an opportunity to get used to their new 5th wheel and have a little bit of vacation while they are at it. We feel blessed! Thank you Luke and Inez for your thoughtfulness. We are finding that gate guards are a good group of people.

Sometimes titles are difficult~

Writing a blog isn't always easy if not a lot is happening, you know? This gate has so far been super easy and much slower than the one we were guarding in Louisiana. Of course, that well was being fracked and that is always a circus. This one is still in the drilling stage which is a nice change. If the weather improves, this gate will get very busy, very fast as they build more pads for drilling. By then we will be gone though and the McKnights will be back with their new 5th wheel.

Looking toward the rig~

The gate is just around the corner ... see how dry it is!

Anyway, today started out nice with temperatures in the high 60s, moving into the 70s. However by mid afternoon, we had threatening skies, the temps were dropping and the wind picked up. We have a 50% chance of showers through the night (noooooooooooo!) and a 30% chance tomorrow. Our road has just now dried up to the point that we can actually let Lucy walk all the way across without losing her in the mud! She got to run around some this afternoon (leashed of course) and you could tell she was very happy about that. Up to this point she has really been stuck in the house except for doing her business outdoors. It has just been too muddy to let her outside ... we have felt bad for her, poor baby. We just hope we don't end up with mud soup for a road again!
All in all, we are enjoying ourselves working this gate. We just hope our boss Roger has one this nice for us when we finish here on Monday.

We are drying up a bit~

Today was over 80 degrees here northwest of Cotulla, and we didn't see any precipitation at all. Praise the Lord. Yes we know, Texas needs the rain, but we really would rather they not make up all 20+ inches of shortfall this month, ok??

It was so nice this afternoon, and after Wayne got up and we had lunch, Sue and Lucy decided to take a walk up the road to see the rig. We can see the top of it from our trailer, so we knew it wasn't too far. Anyway, it was a nice walk and they found many deer tracks. Just wish we could see the deer too! Anyway, here are a couple of pictures to show you what they found.

Sleepy time has hit hard, so that's about it for the update tonight. Sorry ... yaawwwnnnn!

MUD, MUD AND MORE MUD!

Most people don't like mud, but we can honestly say now that we absolutely hate mud! Oh my word! We left the company yard in Carrizo Springs this morning around 7:30 a.m. and moved to the Schwope Ranch which is northwest of Cotulla, TX on FM 469. It started out rainy/drizzly, and it has been rainy/drizzly all day. The drive wasn't bad ... right up to the point where we turned onto FM 469 off of FM 468, at which time our back set of stairs was demolished when we went up a small incline. Wayne took it s.l.o.w. but to no avail. Then to complicate matters, we turned off FM 469 onto a dirt road and drove about a mile to the gate. That mile was composed completely of deep, soft, sticky, red Texas mud and puddles. Our GGS boss, Roger, was in front of us and kept slowing down because he was sliding around in the mud. Meanwhile, Sue was almost screaming at him from inside our truck, "Don't stop! Keep going! We will get stuck!" Now of course, he couldn't hear her, but in all seriousness, we HAD to keep the momentum going! Our truck was sliding, our trailer was slipping and sliding behind us ... absolutely NOT FUN! Both the truck and 5th wheel are covered in mud! See?!

Once we got pulled into the spot, Luke and Inez (the couple we are replacing this week) took off and we were on our own. This gate actually has a physical gate, unlike where we were in Louisiana. This would be good if it weren't for the mud. As it stands now, the mud is so bad on the road out in front of our rig that you practically take your life in your hands to walk out in it to open the gate and check the trucks in and out. During the day we can leave it open so long as we are outside, but it is 8:30 p.m. now and we are both inside, trying to stay warm and dry.

In an effort to avoid ruining our carpets, Sue resorted to an idea on one of the other blogs, and spread out one of our sheets on our living room carpet and down the steps to the kitchen area. It is impossible to not track this mud in the house, and a sheet will wash much easier than the carpet. It is already dirty from Louisiana, but this is SO much worse. The sheet does NOT look attractive, but it is better than the alternative.
Tomorrow is supposed to be warmer, although still rainy. Wednesday is supposed to be 80 degrees or more and sunny ... ahhhhhh ... we are looking forward to that. But then the storms are supposed to come back on Thursday and Friday. Who knows about the weekend. Yuck! This gate is actually in a nice location and we would really enjoy it, EXCEPT FOR THIS AWFUL MUD! Gate guarding isn't really hard, but the rain and mud make it miserable.
Okay, okay ... must stop complaining ... breathe ... whew ... breathe ....

Work for a week!

Great news for us ... we will be working at "Schwope Ranch Northwest of Cotulla Texas on Ranch Road 469" beginning tomorrow for one week. Luke and Inez McKnight work as gate guards at this site, but they need to leave for a week, so we are their replacements. (Their blog is http://memorymaker11.com/blog/ if you want to check it out.)Looks like they are getting a new truck and 5th wheel while they are gone.
Nothing more to report at this point so we will try to update again tomorrow after we move over and get to work. That is, if we have internet and cell phone reception. Hopefully we can make it work.

Still unemployed ;(

We are still parked in the company yard at Carrizo Springs unfortunately. We were offered a gate only a few miles from the border at Faith Ranch (about 21 miles from the yard), but we have decided to turn it down. We went out to see it yesterday and at first, we were willing to take it. However, after sleeping on it and talking to some gate guard friends (Kit & Jerry Bertelson) we realized the negatives way out-paced the positives. The positives included higher pay and only being responsible for the gate for 16 hours per day as there is another person working the gate as well. That would leave us time to go shopping, do laundry, etc. together instead of one of us being stuck at the gate. However, the negatives include the fact that this extra person would be working right in front of our door, leaving us with little privacy. The higher pay is a result of the fact that this gate has 400-500 trucks passing by each and every day, meaning that the gate constantly, and I do mean constantly, has a line of trucks both coming and going. It just looked completely overwhelming. Last but not least, there is apparently a real issue with illegals on the ranch. Of course there is always somewhat of a risk with that in south Texas, but we would rather not push that risk to the extreme.

Wayne, Lucy and Kit

Jerry

Anyway, we had a great time today visiting with our new friends, Kit and Jerry. We have been reading their blog for several months now, long before we ever came to Texas to become gate guards. Their experience has provided a wealth of information to us. It was nice spending time with them face to face though. The internet is great, but it certainly is a poor substitute for the personal touch! We went out to Subway for some yummy sandwiches and then they took us on a tour of Fort Clark Springs. We were delighted with several deer sightings as well as trees full of buzzards! After the tour, we came back to their motorhome to continue chatting.

White-tail deer

 We finally decided we needed to leave around 3:30 to avoid driving home in the dark which poses a major threat of hitting a deer on the road. Been there, done that years ago driving home from Yosemite National Park in California. We would rather skip that, thanks! We took a different route home, driving southwest to Eagle Pass which is right on the Mexican border, and then east back to Carrizo Springs, We saw several more deer on the way, plus a couple of wild pigs (hogs??). Nice drive though as we made it home safely. Hopefully we won't be here at the yard for many more days. We need to work~

Gate Guard Srvcs company yard in Carrizo Springs, TX

Yep, that's where we are now. Roger from GGS called us yesterday afternoon to ask if we wanted a gate in Laredo, TX. Yikes, that is seriously right on the border and obviously less than ideal. (You can see Nuevo Laredo on the map above ... that is the Mexico half of the city.) We didn't turn it down, but at the time, we were on our way to Conroe to watch the movie, "Hugo". It was mid-afternoon, and even if we had turned right around, it wouldn't have made much sense to drive part of the way last night. We told him we would leave this morning and head that direction, and if he had someone else at that gate, we would just go to the company yard in Carrizo Springs. He felt that he would have another gate for us within the next day or two, so we are banking on his experience. It was a long 381 mile, 6 1/2 hour drive from Livingston, and now that we have committed that many miles, hours and the fuel required, we aren't planning on driving back east any time soon. We will just wait it out for something within an hour or two from here. It just costs too much money to drive back and forth across Texas ... it is an awfully big state! By the way, we really enjoyed the movie!

Home again in Livingston, Texas

Our final morning at the oil field gate south of Shreveport, LA passed quickly with several trucks in and out all morning. Neither of us slept a lot last night, Wayne due to traffic at the gate through about three in the morning and picking up again around six. Sue had a hard time getting to sleep but she finally managed to get some shut-eye from 2ish to 7 a.m.
Nonetheless, we both showered and started the process of packing up to go. Wayne took off with Lucy in the truck to get diesel and Starbucks coffee (decaf for Sue of course!), while Sue swept and washed the linoleum floors and packed the inside of the trailer. When Wayne returned, he continued working on the outside stuff, both of us checking in and out trucks as needed.
By the time Brandon and Don from GGS arrived at 12:30, we were all done and basically just waiting for the final disconnect of the utilities GGS provided for us. (We sure appreciated the good equipment we had for running the necessary electricity, water and sewer for our trailer.) We handed over the many log sheets we had accumulated during our exactly three weeks here, exchanged hugs and handshakes, and pulled out. Thanks to the 4x8 sheets of 3/4" plywood Brandon had brought just a couple of days ago to help us park without getting stuck, we were also able to tow our trailer out without any trouble. Yeah!
We had a very pleasant drive to Livingston with sun all the way and the temperature in the high 60s. It was so nice to be in the car at the same time ... quite a novelty in the gate guard business! We drove into Rainbow's End (Escapees RV park in Livingston) just before 5:00 p.m. and we were greeted with hugs as usual. We were able to get a spot on the end of our favorite row and set up quickly. We were eager to go out for dinner, as we were both quite hungry. We had homemade mac and cheese available, but felt we deserved a treat. We tried out Joe's Italian Grill for the first time, sharing an awesome lasagna. We will dine there again for sure!
After filling our bellies with warm food, and enjoying some nice time together, we drove across the street to Walmart for a few necessities. When we came out, we were greeted with an incredible sight - a beautiful halo around the moon! Wayne has seen this before, but this was a first for Sue. She didn't even want to get back in the car, but by then, it was quite chilly so she finally succumbed to the cold. Wayne commented that he knew the halo meant something but wasn't sure what it was, so of course Sue had to look it up on the internet as soon as we got back home. Here is the link to what she found: http://indianapublicmedia.org/amomentofscience/a-ring-around-the-moon/, as well as the picture from the website. We are supposed to have thunderstorms starting tomorrow and going through Sunday and even into Monday, so it makes sense.
We'll let you know when we have news to report about a new gate ... here's hoping!

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Last evening :(

Well, we got a call from our GGS guy, Brandon, today and our gate is being closed out tomorrow at noon! On one hand we are sad as we like it here for the most part. On the other hand, the rain is coming this weekend which means we would be trampling around in our own personal muddy lake again. Yuck!
We will be traveling back to Livingston, TX tomorrow and then on to the Gonzales yard to wait for a gate. We sure hope it doesn't take too long to get assigned to another location.
In the meantime, we will just trust the Lord to provide.

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) 2 weeks, 4 days

We tried to write an update a few times over the past few days, but the internet simply would not cooperate. When it takes 10 minutes to load a page, it is time to shut down!
Our gate has continued to be relatively slow since early last week. This past Saturday almost no one came in or out. Sunday we had a few more "visitors" and then Monday was moderately busy, but still nothing like it has been. Today we only filled up one page plus five or so lines on page two. It's hard to know what to think.  We were hoping to be here at least a month, but I guess we will just have to wait and see what happens.

We had major rain at the end of the week that left us practically floating away. The area in front of our 5th wheel where we have been parking our truck was a shallow pond and thus, when it came time to do shopping and laundry yesterday, the truck was stuck in the mud. Fortunately, one of the oil guys was driving by at the time and offered to pull us out. Wayne connected a tow rope to the back of our truck and it was liberated from the mud quickly. However, we now have to park on the side of the road closer to the RV in order to avoid this problem. We have already given Brandon, our guy from GGS, a heads-up that we will probably have to be pulled out when it is time to leave. If we can't even drive the truck out, there is no way it can pull a 14,000 lb. 5th wheel too! Oh well, we will cross that bridge when we come to it.

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Day 15

We sincerely hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We sure did, but we'll get back to that.
Earlier this week our gate was VERY busy. Now I know, the definition of "busy" when it comes to gate guarding can depend on the perception of the individuals involved. I also know that other gates are busier than ours. However, during the days, Sue was getting traffic either in or out about every 1 to 2 minutes, and Wayne was running about every 10-15 minutes during the nights. You wouldn't think just getting up and down to log in trucks would be tiring, but it sure can be. We were both pretty tired by the time Thanksgiving came. Sue had determined to do a lot of prep the day before, but just didn't have it in her. The only thing she got done was putting the turkey breast in the crockpot. Oh well, it sure smelled good all night long!
Thanksgiving Day was very slow, with no traffic in or out of the gate except the landowners doing some hunting. Even the night before was slow, so Wayne was able to get quite a bit of sleep. He sat on the couch and dozed off and on while watching the parade and lots of football. Sue spent all morning and half the afternoon cooking. When all was said and done, we had turkey and dressing, mashed leek potatoes, gravy, sweet potatoes, made-from-scratch green bean casserole, cranberry sauce and homemade apple pie. Sue rarely makes pie, but she decided to go for it this year. Everything turned out yummy, and we enjoyed our quiet day together.
Today has been quite slow as well. We have had three Stallion bobtail trucks come in a few times, hauling off several more fluid reservoir containers. Aside from a couple other visitors, it has certainly felt like the day after Thanksgiving. Much slower than usual. Of course, we really don't know what to expect at this point anyway. Being new at this gate guard business, all we know is they are in the flow back stage and what happens next is a mystery to us. We think we will be here another week or two and then we'll see what happens.

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Day 10

This post is late because last night, rather than write an update, we watched our newly purchased "Harry Potter & the Deathly Hallows, Part II"! We have loved all the books and have thoroughly enjoyed each and every movie ... this one was no exception. We watched it twice when it was in the theaters, once in 3-D. We don't normally go for the whole 3-D experience, but in this case, it was great. Being hard of hearing, Sue felt she could hear better, not only because the sound in an IMAX is better, but also because she felt like she was "inside" the movie and better able to read lips. Weird maybe, but that was her impression.
Yesterday was MUCH, much slower than normal in the morning. Sue was able to start and finish a short book between 9:15 and 11:15 a.m. with absolutely no interruptions. Wow! The book was "The Santa Shop" by Tim Greaton. It was an unexpected treat! She also read an incredible book on Saturday by Donna Carrick called "The Noon God". This book ranks in the top 10 she has ever read!

Curious cow

Okay, back to our day here on the gate. As previously mentioned, the morning was much slower, which gave both of us a chance to separately drive back the 4.1 miles to the well and check it out. Here are a few pics, including Bessie above ...

Sand tank

The well

Fluid reservoir

Traffic picked up in spades by mid-afternoon as frac truck after frac truck plus lots of other equipment was moved out. We had quite a parade in front of our 5th wheel.

Last night was slow too, but Wayne did have a couple of water trucks in and out during the night. Although it was still interrupted sleep, it was a nice break from the past week for him.
That's it for now. We'll try to update again later.

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Day 9

It's hard to believe we have been here for more than a week! Today we had nice, mild weather and it was delightful! The sun was out in the morning and the temperature rose to around 78 degrees by mid-afternoon. It won't be this nice all winter, so we will enjoy it while we can.
We had plenty of traffic on the gate today but it felt much slower. They brought the crane out tonight and a few other large pieces of equipment.

The crane

Have no idea!

Everything else will be broken down and brought out tomorrow, so we will have a busy gate for sure.
After that, things will slow down considerably for the next couple of weeks. We understand another company will be coming in after that to do more work. We aren't at all sure whether they will leave us on this gate or move us to another Petrohawk rig site. We shall see ... we just want to stay busy.

Night-time at our gate

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Days 7 & 8

Brrrrr! It has been chilly here the past couple of days. It got down to just about freezing last night. Fortunately we realized we have a portable, propane-fueled fire pit that has made the cold a lot more tolerable. It is one thing to sit in a warm house when it is cold outside, but it is entirely different when one has to sit outside in the cold. It just doesn't work to run in and out of the house when the "gate" is busy.

Busy, busy, busy!

Yesterday, Thursday, was incredibly busy ALL day. They are still in the "fracking" process at the oil field. We had trucks in and out every few minutes, all day long -- water trucks, sand trucks, explosives, fracking equipment etc.. Wayne was up most of the night, and Sue hit the ground running at 8 a.m. She had a hard time even getting anything to eat for breakfast, as every time she tried to go inside to grab something, a truck materialized at the stop sign. Although she did a lot of "up and down" to check in/out the trucks, she had a hard time staying warm. (This was before we remembered the fire pit.)
Today was a much easier day. We still had quite a bit of traffic, but not as much and it was warmer, partially due to the fire pit, and partially due to the fact it was about 10 degrees warmer.

We talked to our "company man" Ron this evening. He said they should be done fracking the well on Sunday, and it sounds as if they are going to take two or three days off for Thanksgiving! We weren't expecting that, but we'll take it. We might even be able to go into town together! What a thought!
We aren't complaining ... we knew what to expect when we got here. Actually doing the job just gives a bit of perspective to the gate guards who do this for literally months at a time with no break. Wow! Anyway, it sounds as if we could be done on this gate by the end of the month. We'll see where we end up next.

The next several days are supposed to be in the mid to upper 70s which will be nice, but we are supposed to get rain again by Sunday. Not looking forward to that at all. The rain is tolerable, but the mud is awful.

We hate mud!

A tiny slice of NW Louisiana

By the way, we do want to mention how beautiful this area is. Sue took a few pictures when she went to the store on Tuesday. We'll try to update again tomorrow.

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Days 5&6

Missed posting yesterday ... the internet wasn't cooperating, and in general, it was a yucky day all the way around. Rain, mud, not enough sleep, mud, gray skies, mud, chilly, mud...and it went on all night long! Did we mention it was muddy? This mud is just evil. It is the slipperiest, stickiest, reddest, most awful mud I have ever come across. We have a couple of mats around plus our big patio mat, but they are all now reddish brown and covered in mud and stuck-on leaves. Even stepping on one of the mats was bad because it would slip on the slippery mud underneath! Wayne switched them around and solved that problem at least.
Of course keeping the floors clean inside the RV is an impossible task right now. We have requested some pallets to put down, but haven't heard if/when they might arrive. We really didn't even get that much rain and we have a terrible mess. If the rain was more substantial, it would be infinitely worse. We should have taken pictures today, but we were too busy trying to get the mud off of our shoes over and over again!
Here is a picture of Wayne a couple of days ago (before the rain) checking in the fracking trucks.

Oh, one more thing. Sue made more bread tonight, realizing too late that the recipe she used was for two loaves ... the loaf that just came out of the oven is humongous! That's it for today. Sorry ... not too much news ... it's time to get some sleep.

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Day 4

     Today was certainly a different day! Today was laundry/grocery shopping/post office/Starbucks day, and it was a looooonnngggg one! We started off with an unusual but very yummy breakfast. Sue reads several food blogs and came across a recipe for "Sweet Potato Hash". We had bacon topped with cubed & sauteed sweet potatoes and caramelized onions topped with a fried egg plus a biscuit w/jam on the side. Super good and super filling!
     After cleaning up from breakfast, Sue mopped and vacuumed the floors and then sorted the laundry. It was sometime shortly after 10 o'clock she set out on her first foray into Shreveport proper to take care of errands. Wayne had been nice enough to scope out addresses on the Internet and print them out, so she got the GPS all loaded up and headed to town.
     Only a mile or so from our site, a coyote crossed the road 50' in front of the truck! Sue was SO mad she had not thought to bring the camera. Hopefully that won't happen again. She went to the post office to mail a couple of items and found they were perfectly happy to accept "General Delivery" mail for us for the next month. We don't expect to be here much longer than that, so it should work out just fine.
     With that accomplished, she went to a great laundromat and then to Walmart to do the grocery shopping for the next week. Of course, the fact that the final Harry Potter movie was available for purchase didn't hurt her feelings at all! Once that was done (and it took f.o.r.e.v.e.r.) she picked up legal-size clipboards and pens at Office Depot, and Popeye's chicken and Starbucks coffee as a treat for a VERY late lunch. By the time she got back to the 5th Wheel it was 3 p.m. Wayne commented he thought Sue had left him! Poor guy, he was exhausted and starving! Sue took over the gate for a few minutes while he brought the groceries, laundry, etc. in the house and then they both sat down to enjoy lunch. The rest of the day was normal ... up and down checking trucks in and out.
     It is almost 10 p.m. and the gate is very busy. Because of yesterday's problem, today's work was mostly clean-up, and now tonight, they have to get back to the job of fracking the well. If you want to know what that means, you might want to check out this link. It explains it pretty well I think.
http://www.exxonmobilperspectives.com/2011/06/17/facts-hydraulic-fracturing-process/
     Anyway, it looks to be a long and busy night. Today has messed up our newly formed schedule. We'll see if we can get it back tomorrow!

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Day 3

We really had a good day today, but apparently the oil guys did not. Apparently they pump mud for some reason (we have a lot to learn!) and if they don't do it fast enough, it hardens and that is bad. Well, it is bad! They have to fix this problem tomorrow before they can proceed with the fracking or whatever it is they are doing now. We are still a bit confused as you can see!
We have come up with a basic schedule that is working for us so far and I alluded to this in yesterday's post. Wayne sleeps on the couch at night (the alarm bell is right outside the window next to his head) so that he can get up should any trucks pass by. For the past two nights, everything has quieted down by 7:30 or so and no one has come in or out until about 3 in the morning. That may not be the case tonight! Anyway, Sue gets up around 7 or so, makes a yummy breakfast and after eating together, she sends Wayne to bed for some uninterrupted sleep. He sleeps until noon or later, and then we get to spend the rest of the day together. We'll see if that continues to work. If it gets busy at night, Wayne will have to sleep longer. We will do what we have to do to make it work for both of us.
Sue had a couple of "friends" visit today. She isn't squeamish about bugs at all which is a good thing. She was sitting outside, enjoying the morning after cleaning up the breakfast dishes when she felt a little something on her arm. She looked over an was quite shocked to see an enormous 4" walking stick bug testing her arm to see if it was a good place to walk.
Squeamish or not, Sue didn't relish the idea of being a runway for a bug that large so she hopped up and ran inside for the camera. She got several good pictures, and then she coaxed it onto a fly swatter and carefully moved it over to the side of the 5th wheel.
An hour later, she discovered that Mrs. Walking Stick not only came back, but she brought her husband with her. Truth be told, he was intimately connected with her and was obligated to go wherever she went!

Out came the camera again to snap some more pictures. Sue decided to leave them where they were for the time being so that Wayne could see them when he got up. He wasn't quite as excited as she was, so she again coaxed them onto the fly swatter and moved them further away into the brush. We'll see if they stay away this time. We have our doubts!

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Day 2

Yesterday was a good first day, but today was so much better. It's amazing how much nicer things are when you get some sleep! Wayne was able to get some sleep from around 10:30 last night to 2:30 this morning. He then started off at "0 early 30" as he likes to say, with the first trucks coming through our "gate" just after 3:00 a.m. Shortly after 4:00, the rush began.

The fracking trucks arrived one after the other!

At one point, he had 21 trucks lined up to get back to the pad. In that type of situation, you just have to remember to deal with the truck in front of you and then move on to the next and so on. Everyone has been very friendly and patient as we learn the ropes. There are so many people moving through that we can't imagine we will learn them all. Perhaps if we were going to be here several months, but not in just one month. On top of that, 99% of the small trucks are white! We have seen one red truck and a couple of black trucks, but ALL the rest are white. Well, sort of white ... you just know under all that dirt they would be white!
Sue got up around 7:30, quickly showered, got dressed, and made a nice breakfast of sweet potato pancakes. YUM! Wayne got to eat first, as he was tired and hungry. After he was fed and on his way to bed, Sue enjoyed her pancakes, cleaned up the kitchen (signing in several trucks in the middle), and got settled in for the rest of the morning. The gate was fairly busy all day, and if we count both the "ins" and "outs" we checked close to 200 trucks today.  We are finding this gate guard business gives one a bit of exercise. Up and down the steps of the 5th wheel or up and down out of the chair and then out to the road and back ... over and over and over again! It's just a few steps each time but repeated 100 times per person! Amazon is certainly more exercise, but this isn't bad!

A look down our road ...

Wayne got up mid-afternoon, had a bit of lunch after showering, and took over the gate while Sue continued making some chili for the next few dinners. (She had the beans soaked and cooking all morning.) She used a Bobby Flay recipe from Food Network ... she didn't follow it exactly, but pretty close and it turned out fantastic. She learned one tough lesson though. She has never worked with hot peppers before, and since this recipe called for 4 different types of chili peppers, she simply bought four different, fresh hot peppers. Preparing the chili was no big deal, but while it was all simmering in the crock pot, her fingers started burning as if they were held over a flame ... literally! Apparently one is supposed to wear gloves when preparing foods with hot peppers. Oh well, live and learn. The burn will eventually go away. Despite the sore fingers, we had a nice supper of chili and cornbread muffins and topped it off later with some awesome chocolate chip ice cream. Oh yes, she also made bread this evening. Just because we live in a 5th wheel doesn't mean we don't eat well!

Just like last night, all the guys left by 7:00 p.m. or shortly thereafter. Apparently they will start coming in 4ish in the morning. We should have a pretty quiet night we hope. We like this gig!

Shreveport, LA 71115 (Gate 3-1) Day 1

We were up before the birds at 4:45 a.m. this morning to get ready to move to our new gate. Brandon (supervisor) met us at the Henderson yard at 6:00 a.m. and escorted us just south of Shreveport to the State of Louisiana 3-1 oil field. We don't actually have a physical gate here ... just a stop sign and lights next to our rig. We saw a beautiful sunrise on the way ... we are rarely up early enough to see a sunrise, but I think this will be changing for the near future!

We spent the rest of the morning getting set up, including all of our utilities, and then Sue started working around 11:30. It is 2:30 p.m. now and we have already finished one page of entries and have about 1/4 of the 2nd page done too. This is a busy gate, and if we understand it properly, has 3 or 4 wells in the frac stage behind us. No actual drilling rigs yet, but we have had trucks in and out all afternoon. They expect things to slow down by 10:00 p.m. tonight and then pick back up around 3:30 in the morning. One of the guys said that once production starts they will work daylight hours only so that will be nice.
After following several blogs for a couple of months, we feel very fortunate to be in the spot where we are. First of all, no worries about the Mexican border as we are in the next state over and way north at that! Also, most of the gates are very dusty and we don't have that issue here. We are in a very wooded, pretty spot ... we should see lots of deer we think.

All in all, we have had a very good day and we believe we will like working this gate guard gig! We will try to update often (can't promise daily, but will try) and let you know how things are going. (I'll add pictures later when we get our internet working a bit better.)

Henderson, TX - Gate Guard Services (GGS) yard

Well, that happened fast! We were just about to get out of bed this morning (sleeping in) at around 8:30 when the phone rang. Wayne hopped up to answer and it was Brandon, one of the supervisors for GGS. He asked if we would like to take a gate beginning Friday the 11th for at least a month in Shreveport, Louisiana. Uh, YES! That's what we came here for ... we are ready to work. Only one little hitch though ... not really a hitch, but for lack of a better word ... we drove approximately 210 miles southwest yesterday from Livingston to Gonzales to wait for a gate. In Livingston, we were only 115 miles directly south of Henderson. That meant today we had to drive 278 miles northeast to Henderson! Oh well, such is life. So that is where we sit tonight, in the GGS company yard in Henderson, Texas. Brandon is meeting us here bright and early at 6:00 a.m. in the morning to escort us over to the gate in Shreveport ... OUR gate, at least for the time being. It's a start, and we are excited, and if truth be told, a little nervous.

One really nice bright spot for the day is that our good friends, Dave and Kathy Monteith (worked with them in Illinois last summer) are working at a KOA in Rusk, TX this winter which is only about 36 miles from here, so we decided to sort of meet in the middle for dinner. We spent a couple of hours with them in Jacksonville at Chili's and had a wonderful time catching up. We hadn't seen them since mid-September last year so it was truly special.
That's it for tonight. We have to get up very early, so I need to try to get some sleep. Catch you in Louisiana.

Waiting in Gonzales, Texas!

As much as we absolutely love Rainbow's End in Livingston, Texas, we are SO happy to be at the Gate Guard Services yard in Gonzales, Texas now. We finally got the go ahead to move over here today, and we are sincerely hoping to be assigned to an oil field gate within the next few days.
I probably should fill you in on exactly what we expect to be doing when we are parked at a gate. It's actually pretty simple and straightforward from what we understand. When a vehicle arrives at the gate, we will need to log the date & time, the driver's name, license number, company name, and the reason for their visit. That's it ... not really rocket science, you know? Now we just need to get started.
We went through quite a thunderstorm on Tuesday when we took a trip from Livingston to The Woodlands, just north of Houston. We knew we were expecting a storm, and boy howdy did we get it! We got soaked to the skin in the 10 seconds it took to run from the car into Raising Cane's Chicken Fingera for lunch, and got equally soaked yet again running from the mall back to our car. Then on the drive home, poor Wayne had to navigate for miles and miles through an incredible downpour. We had lightening and thunder right over our car and we practically had to crawl in order to stay safe. Lucy was so scared, I ended up unbuckling her from her car seat between us and just holding her in my lap as she just trembled from the tip of her nose to the tip of her tail. Poor baby!
When we got home, I looked on www.weather.com and checked out the 3-hour loop and no wonder ... the radar showed red all the way down the road where we had been! There was even a weak tornado just a few miles east of the mall while we were there! Yikes! Shortly after we got inside our 5th wheel, it started raining here, but it never approached what we had experienced earlier.
Well, that's all the news for now. We will keep you updated on our situation. Until then, we are still waiting but encouraged!

Waiting in Livingston, Texas

It could be worse, much worse I know. We could be in 30 degree weather somewhere in the snow with no end in sight. But we're not ... we are in one of our favorite places ... Livingston, Texas. We absolutely love it here. We feel comfortable, everyone is friendly, we have a great church to go to (although we miss Coastal Community Church in Scarborough, ME terribly), and it is warm. Well, at least it has been warm, over 80 today. We are supposed to get hit by a cold front in a couple of hours and it will only make it up to 65 or so tomorrow. I know, I know, that is still warm. If my cousin Tom in New Jersey were reading this, he would probably reach through my computer and slap me. They had some 16" of snow last weekend and only just tonight got their power back. However, I digress. Back to my original point.
We came to Texas to work as gate guards for oil companies. We are confident this will happen, but we just aren't sure when, and there is the rub. Everything is set. We have filled out the paperwork, passed the background checks (no worries there!), taken the test for our licenses, etc. However, until a gate opens up, we are stuck waiting, with no idea of when we will get to work. We may love it here at Rainbow's End RV Park in Livingston, but we didn't come here to sit around. We came here to work and hopefully repair our finances to some degree from last year. We have made some good strides in that direction this year, but we need to continue that trend.
Oh well, enough moaning. The Lord knows we need work and we just have to trust Him. Sigh ... that's always easier said than done. It shouldn't be, but it is. "Lord, increase my faith."
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we have been having a marvelous time since I posted last. Let me see, last time I posted we had just left Maine and we were in Connecticut. We left Mystic KOA and found some great RV parks as we drove south. We repeated two of the campgrounds we stayed in last April while heading to Maine - Appalachian Campground in New York and Yogi Bear's Jellystone Park in Virginia. Then we stayed in Lakeview RV Park in Bristol, Tennessee, Manchester KOA in Manchester, Tennessee, Tom Sawyer's Mississippi River RV Park in West Memphis, Arkansas, and Shady Pines RV Park in Texarkana, Texas. All four of these parks were very different, but all were marvelous. We would have been very happy to stay longer than just one night at any and all of them, but we were in a hurry to get to Texas. It's actually a good thing we were in a hurry, as the first three or four campgrounds we stayed in got snow within just a couple of days after we left when the big storm hit. We "escaped" Maine just in time!
I do want to mention that we specifically stayed at the Manchester KOA in order to meet some friends. Back in November 2009 before we even left California, I became acquainted online with Penny and John Gorgei. We had never met before, but kept in touch. Penny and John are working at this KOA for the winter, and since it was mostly on our way, we made a point to stop and meet them. As it turned out, another friend, Marge Medrow, came in that same day! We all went out to dinner and had a great time getting to know one another, and catching up with Marge.
While getting ready to leave Shady Pines on Saturday morning, we observed a perfect advertisement for a product called a "Bed-Saver" that we bought the same day we purchased our 5th wheel trailer a few years ago. It's sort of like a fire extinguisher ... you should always have one, but you hope you never, ever have to use it! Well, an older couple hooked up their 5th wheel to their truck, (each person assuming the other one had completed the critical steps), started the truck, began to pull out of their site ... and then we heard it ... CRUNCH! We looked at each other and we just knew ... they had dropped their trailer into the bed of their truck! NOT GOOD! It wasn't pretty!

We spent the next half hour helping them. Wayne had to manually crank the landing gear in order to raise the trailer just enough to get it hooked up properly. It was quite a job as you might imagine. He showed them our Bed-Saver and they were quite interested. They have probably purchased one by now. We felt so sorry for them!

As I mentioned before, we love it here at Rainbow's End, and we are thankful we have such a nice park to wait in. We just don't want to have to wait too long. We'll keep you posted. In the meantime, we will continue to hang out here ...............