One of the great things about being on a gate is that you have time to do all the little tasks that sometimes get lost in the day to day when you are traveling alot. Right before we left the last gate I was finally able to update the pictures hanging in the rig of my two oldest girls, from their high school senior pictures to their wedding photos. Since I haven’t had a chance to share these in the blog before I wanted to take a moment and show you the pictures we chose. We even printed them ourselves (a first for me) and they turned out beautifully and now hang in a place of pride.
My middle daughter Kat and her husband Micah. It only took me 2-1/2 years to print the photo 🙂
My oldest daughter Kyrston and her husband Jeremy. They just got married this summer so I did a little better on the turnaround time on this one!
No matter what else happens in my life, I am truly blessed to have three amazing girls, and with these husbands I am going to have some beautiful grand babies!
OK, so back to our travels. We had to wait at our gate until the service tech came out to take the equipment away, but he rearranged some things to get there a little earlier and we were on the road by around 11:30am. It was a long drive from west Texas to New Braunfels, but we were motivated since our friends were there and made it in less than 7 hours with only two quick stops for food and fuel. We arrived at the Lazy L&L Campground after dark and the office was closed, but our friends Kat and Bert went up to the office for us and secured a spot two doors down from them. And when we arrived Cori and Greg were driving in themselves, and they led us right to the site. Rock star service!!
It was really great seeing everyone and the campground was really nice, with extra large sites and a nice view. After we got set up, Kat and Bert fed us some late night Bolognese (I know, fancy right?) and the we called it an early night. One of the tough parts of changing gates like this is adjusting your sleep schedule, and I in particular had a hard time going to sleep earlier.
Our campsite was really cool
With a nice view. We couldn’t see the water but it was right in front of the house across the way
Really nice fire pits too, which unfortunately we didn’t get to use because it was raining
Our buddies Bert and Kat! So great seeing them.
The next day Lee walked down and paid for four days because we had been told we definitely, wouldn’t get a gate before Monday, and I ended up sleeping in until 10:30am. I had planned on doing some exploring with Kat and Bert, but since it was overcast and rainy we decided to push it to another day. I had just woken up when we got a call from our gate guarding company. They had an immediate need for gate guards at a gate 60 miles south of San Antonio, and could we be there tomorrow? Since the rate was $175 and it was in a much nicer part of Texas it was hard to turn down. We did ask if we could wait an extra day, but they said they needed us right away so we said we would be there. We hated to tell everyone we had to turn around and leave, but really felt like we needed to jump at the chance. Plus, being so close to San Antonio makes it possible to still see people, and since this gate may only last for a few weeks there is a good chance we can get back. The good news was the campground refunded us for the extra days, which was incredibly nice of them. By the way they have an outstanding monthly rate if you are ever looking for a place to hang out in Texas. It’s $40 a night but only $14 a day if you stay for a month!
Once we found out we were leaving, Lee and I ran to Camping World because we wanted to take a look at toilets. I know, my life is incredibly exotic. Our valve had been acting up a bit and since it was three years old I wanted to see about getting a new one. Lee could have just replaced the valve, but I really miss having a porcelain toilet and wanted to see what my options were. Turns out they had one model I liked, the Revolution 320
Afterwards he dropped me off at a nail place while he went to Home Depot and Office Depot. I really wanted a pedicure since my feet have been pretty beat up since Amazon. I went to this really great place as a walk-in and got a pedicure and eyebrow wax for $43. Awesome deal, and they were super nice. The timing worked out perfectly too because Lee got done 5 minutes after I did, so we went back to the campground to get ready for happy hour. Cori and Greg had made plans to have us over at their place for drinks and dinner and we were really looking forward to it. As always, we had a wonderful time, and we got to meet John and Cathy who met Cori and Greg when Greg installed their solar. It was really fun getting to know them and their two puppies Phoebe and Leila!
Cori, me, Kat, and Bert being goofy
Cori showing Cathy her springform pan 
Cathy showed us this cool pen
She even premarked Kat and Bert’s for them which was super nice
And no surprise the puppies wanted to hang out with Greg and Lee. They know who is a soft touch.
We had a wonderful time, but had to leave kind of early because we needed to head out by 7:30am so we could get to our next gate by 9:30am. Thankfully we hitched up with no issues and although I didn’t get much sleep were on our way in no time. We met our service contact at a small yard and then followed him to our new gate. In case you are wondering how the switch works, it’s a little tricky. The pad only holds one, so they have to pull out before you can pull in. Simultaneously you always get at least one truck and you are doing the pass over while traffic keeps happening. This was our smoothest transition so far though because the road is actually paved! And there is plenty of space for us to park while they finished disconnecting.
Waiting for their rig to pull out
Then we pulled in
Lee hooked up us lickety split and I watched the gate while he finished talking to our service guy. It’s really nice here, with MUCH less dust with the pavement and the site was very level. There is cow poop in the area, because apparently the cows like to come down this way to do their business, but it doesn’t really smell and the views are very nice.
I was a bit surprised when around 3:30pm I looked out the door and saw this
The trucks have to honk to get them to move. So funny, and beats the heck out of coyotes lol
We even can see the rig for the first time, although I am happy we are not right on top of it, but it’s cool to be able to see what is going on. We also really like our service tech and we met the company man who is extremely nice, which is great since those two people really can impact the experience.
You can see the rig in the middle of the picture, it;’s still pretty far away.
Here’s a closeup I took with my zoom lens
Cellular is strong, we can see the tower from our front door. We’re only 6 mile from town, and there is a Walmart, an HEB, a UPS store and Chinese and Pizza Hut right in town. The TV signal is strong and stable, which is awesome, because great football is on tomorrow. So far we really like it here and are glad we accepted the job, Not sure how long it will be until frack, but we will enjoy it while it lasts. Plus, if we get another break we can pop back up to New Braunfels and stay with friends again. Make a little money and be close to friends, it’s the best of both worlds! Plus there are at least 12 raptors in the field behind us. Watching them swoop and dive is pretty awesome.
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Great pictures of the raptors!
Hope your stay at that gate is long enough for us to come see you there! Would love to see the whole thing in action!
I just switched out all my wall pics from HS to wedding ones and more recent ones for Billy. Ha!
What beautiful daughters!
Hi Tracy, we were wondering if you were anywhere near Hondo. We would love to meet you and Lee if time allows. Dale and I were Hobo Camp hosts the year after you guys were there. We really enjoy following your blog. Just let us know!
Hi Denise, we are near Kenedy Texas…not sure if that is near Honda. If you will be in the area feel free to drop me an email at Camperchronicles@gmail.com
Thankyou for sharing your life with everyone. You do have a beautiful family.
Two questions: what kind of printer and how do you hang pictures? Do you take them down while traveling? We’ll! That was three.
Can you hear the oil rig at your site? It should be nice being on a paved site.
Hi Ron, it’s Lee. We use an Epson Photo printer, it’s a pretty old on, at least 8 years old. We brought it along just in case, and we’ve used it three or four times a year, so I think it was good that we kept it. I use Velcro dots on all four corners of pictures, and that holds them rock solid. No need to take them down.We can’t hear the rig, probably because the generator that they provide us with for power drowns it out. It’s VERY nice having paved road in front of us, there’s no dust to speak of.
Linda sent me an email telling me they had friends who just got a gate in Kenedy. OMG, what a small world! She gave me the web address for your blog. That is my motorhome in your picture! That is a nice group of workers on that rig and they’re all pretty new because that rig is brand new. I don’t know if you’re on Facebook, but there are a few groups for gate guards with lots of helpful information. One is called Oilfield Gate Guards and another is Current Oilfield Gate Guards. Also, there’s a great Italian restaurant in town as well.
Debbie & Rod Kendall
Hi Debbie..I know crazy right. We are in the oilfield gate guards one . We love the gate so far. Not much dust and everyone is very nice although they seem to miss Rod lol. He was very popular . What’s the name of the Italian restaurant?
Yes, Rod works days so he sees all the sales people and they do love him. We’ll still see most of them over here too. The name of the Italian restaurant is Bella Sera. They make a New York style thin crust pizza that we love. The Pizza Hut is pretty nasty, or it used to be. We stopped going there. The Chinese restaurant is pretty new and so very welcome! 5D has great burgers, but they’re closed on Sunday. Flash Burger is a good alternative. RJ’s has REALLY good burgers, (also closed on Sundays) but they have very limited hours. 11:00 – 1:30 Mon – Sat. The big rush to get us moved over here on Saturday was a bust. They still haven’t started the rig move, so the Superintendent (Aaron) told us to go eat out together. Today it’s gonna be Hot Wok for Chinese food! We’re on vacation over here! LOL
Well that’s nice for you to have a bit of a break !!
Hey Traci, Greg and I are down in Rockport, Tx until the end of April. Maybe we could meet 1/2 way and meet up.
Hey Pam. We can’t both be gone at the same time unfortunately. One of the us always has to watch the gate. One of the downsides of gate guarding
Well you got to visit with friends and got another cool job even closer. Sounds like a winner! Love the bird shots! I agree, cows are much better than coyotes!