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~