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!