January 16, 2017 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Gate Guarding – Day 5

Day 5

We found out yesterday that the trucks wouldn’t be running 24/7 for another few days so I decided to try something different and went to be around 1 am. To talk about how that went I am going to need to get into some bodily functions, so for those of you who don’t like to read about those sort of things I recommend skipping down three paragraphs! I am in the one year transition between peri-menopause and menopause (right on schedule because the average age is 51) and why that is important is it’s a terrible year for sleep. Hot flashes that wake me up are almost a nightly occurrence and sometimes they are so bad I have to step outside to cool off. Humidity levels (along with salt and chocolate) seem to make it much worse, and since rain has been threatening for the last couple of days here, they have been particularly bad. To help with the hot flashes we listened to my mother-in-law (always a wise choice) and invested in a nice set of 800 thread count sheets from Bed, Bath, and Beyond. The sheets were over $200 so we only have one set and they really do help with the hot flashes. This matters because the first night I tried sleeping on the couch without them it was pretty bad so I needed to figure out a solution.

After thinking through the various options I decided to bring our 100% cotton, thin Chenille bed spread out to the couch. This actually worked pretty well and that in conjunction with the AC being on allowed me to get some rest last night. You also have to think about what you will wear if you are going to sleep at night. Bra or no bra? (No bra. Always no bra. -Lee) Sweats or jeans. (No pants. Always no pants. – Lee) If you do have to get up and go outside there won’t be time to change. Currently I am splitting the difference with cotton sweats and a t-shirt, but that may change as we get busier at night. Then again I may not be sleeping at all if we get busier. I think it will be much easier to stay awake if there is some activity.

Either way when you do a shift change (regardless of the time) there is a bit of an issue. Whatever time you decide to shift change, one person will need to stay up a little longer to give the incoming person time to brush their teeth, have a cup of coffee, wake up a little etc. Plus you need to think about when you are going to poop. So far the traffic has allowed for tiny breaks to run into the rig and pee while the other person is sleeping, but pooping just takes too long for that. So it needs to be done when both parties are awake, and depending on your ability to schedule that you need to take your shifts into account. And to completely take this conversation into the person, you also need to take that into account for your sex life. You can either roll the dice on a time period when few trucks are coming in (not something I would choose, but hey, I don’t judge), only have sex when you are not running 24/7 (it only happens during certain phases of the project so chances are there will be some days when you can be pretty confident no trucks will come), or not have sex at all. For us personally we feel we can work with the schedule, but some people have very active sex lives so I thought it was important to mention it. Honestly it makes sense anytime you are working 24/7, but it never really occurred to either of us until we got here. The “When are we going to have sex?” conversation was pretty funny actually. (I didn’t think it was funny at all. I’m still waiting for an answer. – Lee)

OK, enough of all the oversharing, but things are important and I would have liked to have thought it through before I tried this. I definitely think I would have looked for a different sleep outfit and may end up checking out Walmart depending on how it goes. I definitely cannot sleep in jeans, but maybe some cotton crop pants are a decent middle ground. (I recommend Zboss suitjamas. – Lee) On to other things. It rained for the first time today and it actually was OK. Rain with little wind we can handle (use the awning) or wind threatening rain is fine as well. We haven’t experienced super rainy and windy yet but that will definitely be a challenge. I reached out to our gate guard neighbor and solicited her advice and she talked about rain gear and an umbrella. Well, we have both of those, so we will have to see how it goes when it comes to that.

Luckily today wasn’t the day. Serious storms with tennis ball sized hail and tornado watches were to the north west of us, but we were largely unscathed. It was windy though, so after the 40 gravel trucks finished in the early afternoon, I decided to close the gate. Every ranch owner has different rules, but ours is mostly concerned about his livestock. He has 1,000 acres on this ranch (his family owns other as well) and they have both cattle and deer here. The deer are of particular concern as they are raised for hunting season and some of them can go as high as $20,000 depending on the size and number of points. I know, we were surprised too, but hunting is big business down here and this ranch both feeds the deer and culls the herd to encourage the stock to grow big. In any event, the rules are gate definitely closed at night (not sure how that will work if we get very busy) and open in the day as long as we are outside. We tried all kinds of combinations today including sitting inside our RV with the door open (helped blocked the wind), sitting outside under the front hitch, and just sitting outside.

The entire time Lee was “noodling” the problem of how to best close the gates in his mind, and not surprisingly he came up with a good solution. (Some people think the gates in my mind have been closed for a long time. – Lee) When we took over the gate we were given one chain and one combination lock. But despite the gates being heavy they do swing in the wind. The right side stays out of the road because the hinge pole is ever so slightly tilted, but the left side swings into the road at times if it’s windy. This made me nervous that it could hit a vehicle. The gate also swings the other way and is standing over a heavily weeded ditch which we were warned might contain rattle snakes. For obvious reasons I don’t want to walk in that ditch at night to grab the gate and close it. I was OK to walk on the cattle guard and grab it from the middle but Lee didn’t like that because he was afraid I would fall through the gap and hurt myself when he was asleep. Plus the gate is much harder to pull from that end, especially when the wind was blowing. So Lee went into full MacGyver mode and found me a solution.

Lee testing the swing on the “problem side.”

Initially he used bungees but the gate is so heavy it broke several of them so he went to caribiners and paracord, I didn’t like this first solution because I needed to step into the ditch to reach and release

So he put metal tent stakes into the ground ($.97 at Walmart) and then tied the paracord to one end and put a cam jam carabiner on the other end. This worked great as it stopped the gate before it swung over the ditch.

Once this was solved we still had the problem of keeping the gates together. The padlock would be take to long to release with vehicles waiting so he used a large carabiner he had to hold it together

Although, a couple of my issues; it’s still pretty tough to close the gates with only one person. You have to swing one beyond the closing point, then run over and swing the other one, and hope they meet in the middle when the first one starts swinging back. It often takes a few tries, and as Lee says, looks a little bit like a Chevy Chase movie. Since I will be doing this at night, it’s important I stay in the middle of the cattle guard where they welded a narrow walkway. I’m am sure I will get good at it, but for right now I am practicing. We heard a story about a gate guard who lost her finger when her ring got caught in the fence and I believe it. When the wind was blowing strong I really had to put my weight into it to avoid getting knocked off my feet. I am kind of surprised we weren’t given a solution of some kind when we were setup, but this might be the type of thing they expect you to solve as every gate is different. Definitely recommend having carabiners and paracord though if you take one of these jobs. (A well dressed man ALWAYS has carabiners and paracord handy. – Lee)

While Lee was figuring it out I walked over to get a look at a huge bird that was up on a telephone pole. The account manager told me this was a great area for bird watching, and this was my first chance to try to get some pictures. We’ve seen several road runners (a good sign as they eat rattlesnakes), but this bird was something new. I was thrilled when I used my Cornell Laboratory Merlin Bird App and discovered I had seen a Crested Caracara. Not only is this a bird I had never seen, it’s a bird I had never heard of. The picture wasn’t great, but enough to easily identify the bird and I was super excited to learn it also eats snakes. Awesome! Can’t wait to get some better pictures of it, the road runners, and the various hawks I have seen around, but for now I will take it! It’s been months since I have seen a new bird, and I am happy to have a chance to take some bird pictures again.

Crested Caracara

After Lee fixed the gate, we had our weekly budget discussion and then he went to the grocery store. In order to get a handle on our grocery budget, we are menu planning at least 7 days in advance and always before we go to the store. It’s not easy changing 10 years of bad habits (ie: buy whatever we feel like when we feel like it), but it’s definitely something we are focused on. We are also both committed to tracking food versus non food items this year, because we think we may have some opportunities to save money in the non food category.

While he came back I watched football and since everyone left by 6:00pm he made ribeye for dinner. It was really good, Costco has great steak in Texas, and I thoroughly enjoyed the Green Bay/Dallas game. That was by far the best game I have seen all year. Then Lee went to bed and I stayed up and watched Pittsburgh/Kansas City, wrote this blog post, and ultimately laid down. I am trying to get back on schedule since we were told we would have traffic 24/7 in about 5 days, but it’s tough with no trucks to keep me awake. Just going to have to play it by ear and see how busy it will be. I did reach out to our neighbor gate guard and asked how the traffic changed by phase. She said when they are drilling the majority of the traffic would be change of shift but there would be trucks throughout the day. When fracking there are constant sand tankers and during flow back constant water and oil tankers. One of the construction guys also shared with us they were working 24/7 when they started to pour the concrete and that could get a little busy. It would be nice if they shared the project schedule with us in advance, but I kind of understand why they don’t. Schedules change frequently and I am sure they want to make sure the guards stay alert no matter what. I get it, but it is helpful when the construction guys stop and share a little information with us. We generally don’t ask, but they often give us a heads up on what we can expect that day which is nice.

So we still like it and are already talking about maybe doing it after Amazon next year, but for me it is too soon to tell. The work itself I am totally fine with, and we both really like that nobody is standing over us micromanaging, but I am still a little worried about the weather and the traffic volume. Need to see what that looks like in practice before giving it a total thumbs up for me. Lee’s pretty much sold on it though. He really likes it as a winter alternative. Certainly it’s easier than anything we have done in a long time, plus it covers all of our basic expenses, which is a good thing.

One last thing. I got an email from Anna, one of our readers, who had some followup questions so wanted to answer them here. My answers are in blue italics

Are rattlesnakes attackers or will they leave you alone if you leave them alone (OK as I type this I have to admit that being an Australian expat in the US I am unable to tolerate ANY snakes in my orbit…) This made me laugh as I am not a huge fan of snakes either. From what I hear they avoid people and do rattle to let you know where they are, but people step on them anyways because they blend in to the ground so well they don’t see them in time. The babies are waaay more dangerous because they can’t control how much venom they inject, but aside from stumbling into a nest people rarely die from snake bites. According to Wikipedia “rattlesnakes rarely bite unless provoked or threatened; if treated promptly the bites are seldom fatal” and about 72% of the bites are young males who are often intoxicated.”, which is the good news but the bad news is according to the Washington Post it can cost $14,000 to treat a rattlesnake bite because the antidote is difficult to make and rarely needed. One of the reasons I am glad this company provided workers comp (not all of them do) because I am sure that would be covered.

How do you get any exercise in a job like the gate guarding – I know in the tree job and the beet job you probably built up your fitness (despite all the other issues) – I’d hate for you to lose that!!!! I am sure you must feel much better for it?? (not wanting to sound like your mom here!!) I appreciate you looking out for me so no worries. I was actually warned by our account manager to be very careful walking for exercise as rattlesnakes often are on the roads because it’s warmer and obviously it’s a bad idea to walk through high grass. If I did take a walk I should do it in high boots of some kind..no gym shoes. There is a small gym in Dilley, but I have never been a person who exercises for it’s own sake. One of the great things about the lifestyle is all the exercise I get while seeing cool stuff. Then it doesn’t feel like work to me. So the short answer is between the snake threat, third shift hours, and my natural dislike of pure exercise I doubt I do very much. Just being honest 🙂 Thanks for asking…good questions! (Exercise? You don’t get a physique like mine from diet and exercise. It takes hard work and dedication to maintain this high level of slovenly appearance, and I’m not about to just throw all that away. – Lee)

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January 15, 2017 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Gate Guarding – Day 4

Once again we had no trucks after 7:00pm, but at 1:30am I did get a visitor. The motion sensor chime went off and I looked outside and saw a man standing in the lit area near the gate. I stuck my head out and asked if I could help him, and it turned out he was looking for the ranch down the road, so I sent him farther down. As soon as I came back inside and closed the door I realized how very stupid that was. I didn’t even look and see if there was a vehicle (there was, he had parked his semi on the road before the RV) and I had absolutely no idea who he was. It was just dumb, and I knew it the minute I finished the interaction, but it was late, I was distracted, and it’s taken years for Lee to make me more safety conscious. I grew up in a small town where we didn’t lock our doors at night, so it’s been a long haul for me to be more focused on my personal safety.

When it became clear that no one else was coming I tried to lay down around 2:15am in the hopes I could get up earlier and help Lee more during the day, but it didn’t go very well. Our couch is comfortable, but too short to sleep on, and the material doesn’t breathe very well. Not surprisingly I woke up at 5am with a nasty headache and a crick in my neck. I was also sad and pretty angry. I wanted to be with my mother and I was so angry that I couldn’t be that I started to cry. My reaction was pretty normal, considering I was grieving, and after crying a little and talking to Lee I went back to sleep. I woke up at 10am feeling much more rested and quite a bit calmer. I was still sad I wasn’t with mom, but the anger had passed. I believe that God/the universe has a plan, and as much as possible you have to accept it, even when you don’t get what you want. It’s also not all about me, and that became much clearer to me as the day unfolded.

We were pretty busy with gravel trucks today, seeing 384 entrances/exits. It was a much easier day though, because almost all the trucks were gravel trucks, and we only needed to keep a tally sheet on those. It may also have been easier since we are both getting more comfortable. As our database is built it is much easier to check trucks in and out because you simply search on the license plate and all the information is there. Lee and I were both able to enter the data directly into the tablet and keep up with the pace, which helped eliminate the extra step of writing it on paper. I also covered more of the day shift which made things much easier on Lee. We took turns being outside and that certainly made the job much easier. A few big items came in the last couple of days but mostly it has been gravel trucks or pickup trucks. Here’s a couple of exceptions. Don’t know what these are but they both went to the water well area.

While I was working I texted my mom, brother, and sister to see how things were going. I needed to actually talk to my sister and at that point Lee took over and I went inside. I tried once or twice to have a phone conversation while the trucks were coming in, but it’s really not possible for us at this point. It takes all of our focus to log trucks in and out and the noise from the trucks themselves doesn’t make it much easier. Texting though works just fine, because this can be done between trucks. The conversation with my sister went very well, and I wanted to say here that I am incredibly blessed to be doing this with them. My brother has been amazing, keeping an eye on mom, and my sister has taken a week off work and is driving up to spend a couple of days with her and then bringing her back to her house for a few days as well. As you can imagine, knowing they would be with her was a huge comfort to me and allowed me to have more peace with my decision to stay.

Wendy is able to take the time off from work and the kids because her husband is recovering from back surgery. Under normal circumstances this would be very difficult because she has 4 children ranging from 2 – 17, but since Josh is home and recovering well he can take care of the kids. And that’s what I meant earlier about there being a plan. Wendy wants to do this, and leaving for a little while might be exactly what Mom needs right now. I still wish I was with them, but like I said, it’s not all about me. And it’s hard to remember that in moments of stress, especially when nothing is making sense, but what I’ve found is if I am patient and wait a bit, things become clearer. Like I have said before, I really don’t believe much in coincidence, and this many stacked up together I really don’t believe in the random. That’s just me though, and as Lee says it doesn’t really matter as long as it all turns out OK.

I felt much better after talking to Wendy, and remembered that it was playoff football weekend. Lee doesn’t watch any sports except women’s beach volleyball and no, I am not kidding about that, so every year we talk about playoff weekend. I don’t feel right just ignoring him for two solid days, and depending on what else is going on I’ll only watch my favorite games. This year of course we are working, and since we don’t have an outside TV that means he would have to work when the games were on. Talking it through though he mentioned he could easily bring the bedroom TV outside, and before you knew it he had done just that. It worked really great, because I could sit outside and check trucks in and out and still keep an eye on the game. I didn’t think anyone would care because a) I was getting my job done and b) it’s Texas, and football is practically a religion down here. It worked great and I watched the Atlanta/Seahawks game that way and Lee got some stuff done inside.

Our rig. Most days we can’t have the awning out because it’s too windy but it’s great when we can

Gate guarding with my media center. I am supposed to wear the yellow vest but it was seriously attracting bees so I kept taking it on and off

Lee came out around 5:30pm and I went inside and decided to make him an apple pie. I had bought the ingredients to make my first ever apple pie, and I was so grateful for the TV setup that I decided to surprise him. I used Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust for the first time and it worked very well. The topping was sugar, cinnamon, and graham crackers, and Lee declared it a success. I was pretty excited he liked it because it’s not only cheaper than buying a pie at the grocery store, but also we can guarantee a good pie. Being able to make pie is an important part of our 2017 budget plan. If you have been reading along, you understand why.

My first ever apple pie. Not pretty but tasted good

Score!

It was a pretty good day all in all, but then Lee told me I had received an email from a reader. He gave me a heads up on the contents, so I decided to wait until after dinner to read it. Keep in mind that this person had no idea my step father had passed away when they sent this email, and they obviously felt passionate about my last couple of posts or they wouldn’t have sent it at all. After reading it I have decided to post it here in it’s entirety with my responses. We have opened this blog up to readers questions and I believe we should also (when possible) talk about differing opinions. Especially when it comes to work positions. Some folks are researching revenue sources by reading our accounts and I certainly want to provide as much information as possible. As we always say there is no one way to full time, so I would be surprised if some folks didn’t disagree with me on a regular basis. So for those of your doing research, please keep that in mind that no one source ever tells the whole story.

Anyway, here’s the email. I thought about editing it down, but frankly that’s a slippery slope. My responses are in blue italics

Hello Tracy and Lee,

I just want to write to you and say…….you are Very NEGATIVE….!!! You have said in your blogs, you really don’t want to hear about jobs from others because they might cause you to form an opinion about a job!!! But isn’t that what you two are doing with your blog? I did say that recently, and I knew at the time that I didn’t express that thought very well. I like to hear first-hand accounts from people in person when I can. When I am reading a blog post from a person I don’t regularly follow I am a little more cautious because opinions are so subjective and I don’t know them. I would hope people who read this blog felt like they knew me enough to take what I write into account, but as I say, often everyone is very different and your mileage will probably vary.

Last year while you were in Quartzsite, YOU wanted to meet up with us so WE could tell you about our GATE GUARDING experience (20 months of it)…..but YOU put us off…..I really don’t think you were interested!!!! I do remember that, and I apologize for it. Quartzsite had a steep learning curve for us and we were a bit overwhelmed by everything going on at the time. You were very generous in your offer to get together and discuss it, but the scheduling just didn’t work out. It certainly wasn’t personal.

But now you sit and listen to ONE gate guard and started forming opinions!!!! Yes you had a water problem!!!! MY 1st question is WHY didn’t you fill your fresh water tank BEFORE heading to the site? You had to have known you would be hooked-up to a water tank with unpotable water!!!! Also make sure you have bottled drinking water…..do not drink what is in the tanks!!! We received the call to come to the job on our way to Padre Island and since we were planning to fill up there we only had a partial tank. We were told it wasn’t potable but that it could be filtered, but yes, you are right, we would always in future arrive on a job with full tanks. It’s also a fair point that I only have one person’s experience to go by so far. She was nice and seemed credible, but certainly we are trying to get more information. We have asked to join a Facebook group for gate guards and are waiting to be accepted. I am sure we will learn more as we go, and from what we hear from that group. In the meantime, I am reporting what I have experienced firsthand, or heard. It should be viewed in that context.

A hoe for snakes? Really? What brainyac told you that? Depending on size….they could jump the length of the hoe!!!! Unless they are right next to you, leave them alone!!! And if they are next to you, like a 12 inch rattler was one night for me….(I too did the night shift because my husband is on insulin), “I” CALMLY stepped away from it!!!!! Hopefully you look under the steps when you go out at night!!!!! Especially since you are right up against a fence with high grass behind your rig!!!!! I also hope you have Decon and use mothballs. Two employees with the gate guard company told me to use the hoe. When we discussed it it was only in a situation where the snake was in our main walking path and would not move. I totally agree to leave them alone otherwise. I do look under the steps, and thankfully they are well lit and the grass is somewhat far away. It is a concern though, because we walk outside frequently. The hoe is right next to the steps for that reason. I do not have Decon or use mothballs, but I appreciate the advice on those as well.

My husband use a week whacker to keep the grass down around our rig. And a TV security monitor for $300.00!!!!????? If you aren’t looking at the monitor someone could still come to your front door!!!! WOW! We too had illegals……if you are on nights with your door open…..you constantly need to be ON GUARD!!! I thought the security cameras were a cool idea. I didn’t mean to imply they were mandatory. Since my husband is a videographer he was particularly intrigued by cameras. I, by the way, worked in assets protection for a company for seven years in my 20’s. We used cameras and they worked great.

My husband put rope lighting all around our rig and trk so I had extra light at night!!!!! Also helps keep animals and snakes away. I have heard that works, or a black hose. So far we haven’t seen anything but may go that route as well.

Also I HOPE you have a generator because those darn things seem to go out at night and YOU won’t get service until the next day……AND THERE go your lights also!!!!!! We do have a propane generator and solar. Not enough to run the flood lights though, but we have talked about possible solutions for that. For right now we have a flashlight within easy reach at night in case the power goes out and Lee walked me through today how to reset the breakers on the generator.

I used candles, lanterns and flashlights!!!

Oh and if you do have a problem, don’t be demanding……I don’t know what prompted the gate guard employee to lecture you but YOU ARE IN ESSENCE BOONDOCKING with a small convenience!!!! and getting paid for it!!!!! I didn’t feel we were being demanding but rather standing up for ourselves, but it may have been perceived that way. No one ever said to us in the orientation process that we were boondocking. We were told we would have water and power onsite so I thought of it more as a construction trailer situation with our house being the trailer. To me it still feels that way. Boondocking is when services are farther away. That’s just my take on it though, I can see your perspective.

There is also a BIGGER WALMART in Pleasanton and one in Devine! Thanks I appreciate that.

OH and NOT ALL GUARD COMPANIES treat you the same!!!! We were NEVER lectured by the company we worked for when things went south!!!! Good to know.

Sorry if I sound harsh but let me tell you, Gate Guarding is NOT for everyone!!! For my husband and I, we enjoyed it….due to all the animals, people we met, being quiet and we had the loveliest sunrises and sunsets!!! Yes sometimes boring….but we watched TV and movies, listened to the radio outside and danced under the stars, saw rattlers, other snakes, coyotes (love the howling at night), wild hogs, horny toad lizards, cattle, different kinds of birds and butterflies, cougars, bobcats, deer, watched eclipses, stargazing, milky way viewing, international space station sightings and even one UFO!!!! That’s great to hear. So far we like it too, but it’s early days yet. The work is definitely MUCH easier than anything we have done to date which is nice. And in case I don’t say it enough I encourage everyone to try these jobs for themselves. People are all different and something I am not crazy about you might love. Hopefully what you read here will help you be better prepared than we were though if you accept one of the positions. And really that is my main goal, writing the blog I wish I could have read.

It really is too bad, you never met us…..maybe we could have given you some OTHER answers to your questions. Yes maybe we haven’t done it as long as the other couple did….4 years….but the MORE you hear, the more advice you can pick up!!!! Fair enough and I appreciate your reaching out.

And my suggestion to you two, be MORE POSITIVE!!!! You can tell your stories but watch the negativity!!!!! Each experience is just that, an experience!!! That’s a really fair point and one I have to say I worry very much about. To the point that when we were writing about Christmas trees, I called my mother-in-law (my moral compass on certain issues) and asked her if I was being too negative. She said it was fine as long as I admitted to my readers that sometimes I was just being whiny. So in case I haven’t made that clear, sometimes I am just having a bad day. That being said, it is always something I need to keep an eye on because I never would want to discourage anyone from trying this lifestyle. I try to be as honest as I can stand to be and not turn anyone off. I think most of the time I get it right, but sometimes I am either too “Pollyanna” or too negative, and sometimes there are other factors that I don’t talk about that are affecting me. I am a person not a personality.

This lifestyle is not a place to make money and survive!!!! Good luck on that!!!! I have to completely disagree with you on this one. I have met some people who state they are earning their entire budget by working on the road. After the last two years I now completely believe that is possible. By reducing costs and taking numerous jobs throughout the year the math can work. What I don’t know yet is whether we will want to do this. That’s what we are trying to figure out, and what I think many people find so interesting.

From an UNSOLICITED ADVISOR!!!! Appreciate you reaching out and again I am sorry we didn’t get to meet in Q. Take care, Trace

January 14, 2017 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Gate Guarding – Day 3

I had a hard time staying awake last night, but made it to 3:11pm, then took a little nap. No one has come past 7pm so far, and I am kind of wondering what the point of staying up is. It’s a 24/7 gate, but they currently aren’t working 24/7, and it’s hard to know when that will start, so for the time being I am trying to keep to this schedule, although that may change. We knew Friday would be busy and we had 132 truckloads of gravel enter and exit throughout the day. The cool thing was we didn’t have to log them though, just keep a count of those vehicles as they passed through, and report the totals at the end of the day. It was by far the busiest day so far, and the dust went up significantly once they started putting down the gravel road. At this point we have dust everywhere (not unlike Quartzsite) and have both just determined to live with it. You can make yourself crazy by cleaning all the time in an environment like this, but frankly I don’t see the point. As soon as you wipe things down they get dusty again, so in my opinion it’s best to learn to live with it and clean up at the end when we leave.

The provided generator works great, and it’s ample power to run both our air conditioners, and whatever else we need. At one point I turned them both on and closed the windows just to keep the dust levels down and it was a nice benefit. I actually couldn’t be happier about it. We were both very worried that it would be super loud or have an annoyingly pitched tone, but it’s far enough away that the sound mostly blends into the background and the tone is a mellow white noise sound that I can largely ignore. Since this was one of our biggest concerns before coming out here I am happy for it. The big lights that shine on the rig also aren’t bothering me like I thought they would. I am happy for the extra light to see potential snakes by and since it is behind the rig we do have a small pool of darker space right where we put our chairs. Lee put towels up on the two small windows in the rig with clips and it’s plenty dark in the bedroom even in the daytime. Much darker actually than it was in Alaska when it never seemed to get full dark.

Our gate

The big trucks really kick up the dust

They usually came in groups of 4

When the water truck came by it would be better for a little while but then dry out again and be dusty. But he keeps coming back to wet down the road several times each day.

Lee was kept very busy all day and after I woke up at noon (Tylenol PM is a wonderful thing) I spelled him for his lunch. We got to see what working at a very busy gate would be like and it is pretty much non-stop action. It’s not stressful, and the truck drivers are all nice, but the longest break between trucks was less than 10 minutes. Lee read quite a bit, but couldn’t really get into anything else because when you are checking a truck in or out you really need to pay attention. If they are not in the database you need licenses plate, first and last name, company, and time in or out. Once they are in the database it gets easier, but you still need to check names because multiple people use the same vehicles throughout the day. Lee had it down to a science and was even entering the non gravel vehicles directly into the tablet, but at this point I am still writing them down on paper and then putting them into the tablet on the first break between trucks. Like I said, not hard, just sort of constant activity at least until about 5pm. Things slow down at that point and as I said, so far by 7pm everyone is gone, but that could very well change. We’re enjoying that while it lasts.

We did talk about it though, because we have divided up the time evenly, but certainly not the workload. For now I am going to take some longer stints in the day when Lee has maintenance/house chores to be done, because he doesn’t want to work on those during his few off hours. That seems fair to me, but we will need to see how it works in practice and adjust accordingly. Every couple will handle this a little differently but I definitely recommend open communication throughout the process. It is not an insignificant amount of work, and should be divided carefully so everyone gets what they need.

On the plus side, the weather had been great so far (in the 70’s) and despite the wind pretty pleasant to be outside. We are expecting rain though this weekend, so we will see how that goes. We also have a pretty nice view of the fields next door and the full moons at night have been beautiful. It makes being outside all day much more pleasant. At night I can stay in the rig, but at that traffic volume Lee pretty much stayed outside all day. I’m guessing that would have been pretty unpleasant if the weather was worse. Some of these jobs has a guard shack for people sit in, but others like ours you work out of your rig. We looked at buying a small popup tent for sun and rain coverage but at this point we are going to hold off unless we really need it.

So the day was going well when about 5pm I got a call from my sister that my step father had died. We found out back in August (when we were in Alaska) that he had stage 4 lung cancer so the call wasn’t completely unexpected. My intention all along has been to go home to Columbus when we were close to the end and every job we have taken we have had a contingency plan in place if I had to leave. You never know how these things will go though, and even a few days ago when we took this job we didn’t know how long he had. When we talked about how we would handle it if I had to leave it was without really understanding what this job would entail. After the first full day I asked Lee if he would be able to do it alone and he immediately said no, it just wasn’t possible for one person to do, unless there was never any traffic at night, so he could sleep. Even though it hasn’t been super busy, he felt it would be to much for him alone if he needed to work 24/7, so at that point we weren’t really sure what we would do.

I spoke to my brother who lives next door to my mom, and is a doctor, so he’s kept a very close eye on the situation, and I have been talking to my mom almost every day. When hospice was called, my brother asked her if she wanted me to come, but she felt she was OK and had the support she needed. She reads the blogs every time they come out and is fully aware of what we are doing here. Plus, they had decided to not have a funeral service (just a small gathering of family) and between my step father’s children, my brother, and her best friend and sister she thought she would be OK. Still, when the call came I of course just wanted to jump on a plane immediately to be with her. My step father has been in my life since my late 20’s and was really good to me and my family. I would like to have done whatever I could for my mom and his kids during this time.

I haven’t written about this until now because it wasn’t my story to tell, but I do feel I should take a moment and talk about it in the context of this lifestyle. One of the major advantages of what we do is flexibility. It’s being with friends or family in moments of tragedy and for almost everyone I know (myself included) being mobile has actually worked to their benefit in a situation like this. That being said, now that we are working so much to “pay as we go” that may not always be the case. Lee could definitely have worked the beet harvest without me and probably could have made Christmas Trees work as well. But this job which is new to us and 24/7 not so much. If we were more established and there was more work available it probably wouldn’t be a big deal, but if we left 2 days into this job I have to account for the possibility that we would never be able to work as gate guards again. Again, if we had been with them longer, it’s possible they would have found a temporary solution to help us deal with this and keep Lee working but then again maybe not.

I am fully aware that with any new job I could have had the same issue, and it’s certainly not unreasonable from the employer’s perspective, but it really brings home once again that this is real life. You would like to think you could pack up and go at a moment’s notice, but it’s more complicated than that. Where would the rig go? Are you both flying or is one driving? Is the family emergency in a northern climate that is not rig friendly? These are all things that would need to be worked out in addition of course to how you will handle any job you are working at the time. I will say of course that if my Mom said she needed me to come I would be there in a heartbeat and the rest we would figure out. She knows that, and she knows the offer remains open. But this situation aside, I just wanted to say it’s not as simple as I thought it would be, and in the same situation it may not be as simple as you thought either. It’s a good thing to talk about in advance though so you know your basic plan. We had one, but as they say in this lifestyle all plans are made in sand, and so through necessity it has now changed. Real life…not vacation.

Bud, you were a really good man, you made my mother very happy, and you will be missed. Rest In Peace.

January 13, 2017 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Gate Guarding – Day 2 Setup Complete

Day 2

Well let’s start with the good news…we have water!! It didn’t happen until 6pm at night and was a bit of an odyssey, but we now have great water. As usual though, I am jumping to the end, so let me back up a bit. I went to bed around 4:15am, fell asleep pretty quickly, but unfortunately woke up around 9am. My stomach was growling and I had a headache, so I decided to just get up and give my body another day to adjust. Thankfully things are slow at night, so I have the chance to get acclimated slowly and the Account Manager (who came out to visit around 9:15am) said it was OK to catnap when traffic was slow at night. There are very different views on this in the gate guarding community, but the general consensus seems to be if you can wake up quickly and do your job quickly and efficiently, then no harm no foul. Since we are getting zero night traffic at this point, there seems to be little harm, but in anticipation of more night traffic I feel like I should keep trying. Plus I really enjoyed the quiet of last night and am looking forward to having some more time to myself. It’s a nice benefit of the gig, at least at this point. Don’t get me wrong, I love Lee to pieces, but a little alone time once in a while is good for any marriage. I have always been a light sleeper, so I am not worried about sleeping through the alarm, but I am a little worried about being as alert as I should be. On Day 2 I am playing it by ear and seeing how it goes.

The morning started off well. The traffic was still slow (gravel trucks are coming tomorrow and that’s supposed to be a pretty crazy day) and Lee was in a pretty good mood. It was quite a bit hotter though, and because our RV faces right into the morning sun we have been trying to work on a solution. We have both the awning and a sun shade but it’s been so windy we can’t leave it out all day. It’s great when we can use it because it gives us sun and wind protection and a bit of privacy, but when the wind starts moving the awning up and down we have to unzip it and put it away. Lee sat under the front of the camper for a while, which helped, and he can occasionally come inside, but it’s not optimal. The Account Manager originally wanted us on the opposite side and inside the gate. but was overruled by the oil company. The space was on the small side (between our gate and the automatic ranch gate) and I am sure they were concerned we could get clipped by a large truck pulling in and making the left turn to the pad area. I’m actually glad we aren’t between the two gates, but it would be nice to be inside the gate. I still feel very safe though, partially because of the steady stream of trucks going to the other ranch right down the road.

I even got to get out a little (after taking a very fast shower) and visited the feed store in town (disappointing), the local convenient store (super expensive; $6.49 a pound for chicken leg quarters!), and the Walmart in Pearsall (score!). It may have been the smallest Walmart I have ever been in, but they had a really good selection for it’s size. I bought everything on my rather eclectic list (razors, bread, nutty bars, pretzels, enchilada sauce, Hawaiian punch packets, flour, etc) and even found tent stakes (97 cents each) and a hoe (to push the rattlesnakes away!). I am claiming the tent stakes and hoe as business expenses (I will be more than happy to explain to any IRS person the rattlesnake necessity) so only spent about $50 on food. The prices were very good for such a small store and between that and the local HEB we should be able to get what we need between San Antonio Costco runs. Just leaving was a huge advantage over the Christmas Tree job as Lee can handle the volume of trucks himself and theoretically I could have been gone until my “shift” started at 4pm. Since there isn’t much to do in the immediate area I find it unlikely I will go that route very often, but I was extremely happy I had the option.

I made it back to the gate a little past 1pm to find out no one had called or come regarding the water tank. The vendor stated he would be at our rig with a new tank first thing in the morning and we had heard nothing from him. I had just got our account manager on the phone when the company showed up, and thought at first everything was fine, but they soon told me they were only there to fix the lights. I texted the Account Manager at that point and waited to see what would happen. A couple hours later she hadn’t been able to get hold of the vendor either and I really started to get worried. We were out of water at this point, and talking about what we were going to do. So far we like the job, and wanted to stay, but we couldn’t do that with no water. We could move the rig to the yard 18 miles away and fill up and then come back, but that would only be a temporary fix. Finally, I picked up the phone and called my initial contact when we were set up with the company. She was back at the corporate office and got her manager on the phone with the manager of the vendor very quickly. Not only were we getting a new tank, but an employee of the gate guarding company was going to supervise the cleaning of the tank. It would be onsite by 5:30pm.

After that conversation I felt quite a bit better and then something really great happened. One of the gate guards from the ranch down the road stopped by to say hi. What a fantastic thing to do, and since she and her husband have been gate guarding for the last 4 years we spent quite a bit of time asking questions. We showed her our water and tried to get a feel if we were being unreasonable, but she said she had never seen water that looked like that and we were absolutely right to be concerned. Yes, the water isn’t campground quality, but hers had never had chunks floating in it. This led to her sharing many of her experiences over the last few years and giving us some great advice. Early on when she was gate guarding at night, she turned around in her kitchen and an illegal immigrant was sitting on her steps staring at her. She used the panic alarm on her truck to scare the person away, but obviously the experience stayed with her. They invested in a camera system (around $300) and have the motion sensor cameras hooked into a TV. They have used them both gate guarding and camp hosting and really like being able to see outside when they are in the rig. Lee of course loved that idea, and I can definitely see in investing in something similar if we decide this is something we are going to do frequently.

She also hooked us up with a good gate guarding Facebook group and gave me a card with her phone number in case we had any questions. Incredibly nice! The best part of the experience for me (besides meeting a real life gate guard) was talking about being a working RVer. They, like us, have to earn as they go and have found that they really have to look out for themselves. It was interesting, because I don’t think we have done a very good job of doing this up to this point, but after talking it through I now understand why it’s so necessary. In the old corporate world, I had built relationships over several years and had people who watched my back or helped me out when I needed it. In this new world of new jobs and new companies every few months, that simply isn’t going to happen, or at least not as frequently. Relationships take time to build, and it is unreasonable for me to expect that level of relationship when most of the people know they will probably never see us again. People are people, after all, and since we come and go in their lives, when something goes wrong we are the easiest ones to blame and frankly the most expendable. It was a really good conversation and got me thinking about the new paradigm we are living in a way I never had before. It also gave me permission to look out for myself in a work environment, which is something we have been trying to work on anyway.

After she left, we both felt much better and then the water truck came. Actually they bought a whole new trailer with new generator, lights, and tanks. The gate guarding company employee explained how they had power washed the tank numerous times and at first we felt incredibly grateful the problem had been solved. But then the conversation suddenly and unexpectedly “turned”, and we got a lecture on how living in an oil field isn’t the same as living in a campground. We knew this, of course, but he apparently thought we needed reinforcement that “working in the oil fields is rough” and we “needed to understand all of our problems couldn’t be solved.” Since we had what I considered a major issue (now validated as such by an experienced gate guarder) and we had both been unfailingly polite in all of our interactions with the company, I felt this was unfair and sort of wandered off. Lee, to his credit, listened longer and said nothing, but eventually he also had enough and wandered off “to check the power in the rig”. Here’s the thing. It’s OK that they weren’t ready for us, and it’s OK that the first tank wasn’t what it needed to be. What was missing (until I called our recruiter) was someone owning the problem and just getting it fixed. A lecture on top of that was really not OK, but what could we do other than get into a pointless argument? Part of our new assertiveness policy though is to learn how future problems will be dealt with and how the situation was handled, coupled with the lecture at the end pretty much told us everything we needed to know.

Despite all that, we are determined to give this job a fair try. We think we will like it and don’t want to have one problem be the determining factor. But we also know that we have used our “one chip” with the water complaint and from now on we need to make the best of what is handed to us or run the risk of being labeled as troublemakers. Our neighbor gate guard recommended coming into every assignment with full fresh water and propane tanks and she also warned us to frequently top off our own tanks because they had experienced delays in fuel/water deliveries or delays in getting a malfunctioning piece of equipment fixed. The more remote the gate, the longer the delays, so thank heavens we are relatively close to the yard. She also recommended developing a good relationship with the site boss. If the site boss (who works for the oil company, which employs the gate guarding company) likes you, they can help get you what you need. We haven’t met ours yet, but that made perfect sense. It takes time of course to build those relationships, but the oil business is a small community. You can build a reputation as a good gate guard and that makes it easier to find jobs when things are slow or get issues resolved if there is a problem. Conversely, she warned us to never walk away from a job in process. Not only could you get black balled in the industry, but they could actually go after your state license and try to have it revoked. That never occurred to me, but it made sense when she said it, and I found it totally believable.

I’m not trying to be all negative here by the way. We have water, it sounds like the issue we had was an anomaly, and we still think we will like the job. But this job seems to come with the same kind of politics we were trying to get away from. The realization we are both coming to is if you are going to work in this lifestyle, it’s impossible to totally avoid politics. Relationship dynamics exist any time you bring two or more people together, and those dynamics are at the root of almost every political situation. One person doesn’t like another person, one person is territorial about their job, someone is incompetent, someone is an underappreciated overachiever. These scenarios happen all the time and low paying seasonal jobs aren’t exempt. One difference, of course, is we can easily pick up our toys and move to another playground, but then you have to start all over, and that gets tiring in its own way. We still believe though that sooner or later we will find the right combination for us. No job is perfect, but some are better fits than others and we just need to keep trying stuff until we find what works.

Along those lines we also locked in our summer gig and are very excited about it (been a busy couple of days). The job was actually sent to us by a reader, and since it is relatively high paying the spots were pretty competitive. We were very pleased to learn we earned one of the spots and it pays enough that we will only need to work 30 hours a week. That will feel like a vacation! It’s 60 minutes outside of Portland, Oregon (one of my favorite cities) and in a campground /marina owned by the local electric company. The interview for the job was over an hour, and not only do we really like the supervisor, but also feel he picked a job that is very well suited to our personalities. We will be covering 3 day-use parks and the marina, and then covering for the camp hosts’ days off. Lots of variety, lots of customer service activities, and in a totally beautiful place. I’ll share more later as we move farther in the process, but we are super excited that we got our first choice. We also applied online for Amazon for the 2017 season. If all goes well, we will be in Campbellsville, KY with our friends Bill and Kelly, and I am really looking forward to giving that a try. It’s also very nice the year is getting locked in, because playing things by ear adds an additional level of stress for us that at this point which I would rather avoid.

So, tomorrow is a new day, and since the gravel trucks are coming it’s going to be the real start of the work portion of this job, so I’ll let you know how it goes. It’s nice having all this time at night to blog if nothing else. I also worked on our 2017 budget, sent emails to the people we were talking to about summer jobs that we won’t now be taking, and did the dishes…very quietly! I also watched a little TV so I am finding the first part of the evening goes very quickly for me. It started dragging around midnight, but the first few hours are very productive and it’s nice to have quiet time to complete those tasks.

November 25, 2016 by Lee and Tracy

First Time Getting Setup to be a Gate Guard

A couple of weeks ago, I saw an ad in Work Kamper News to be a gate guard in Texas, and since this was on the list of things we wanted to try and we were already in Texas I decided to give them a call. Turns out we were only 45 minutes away from their office and they were very interested in talking to us and getting us set up to be gate guards. In the State of Texas you need to get certified to be an “onsite security guard”, which is how they classify gate guards, and the process was a little time consuming. The company we were working with was fully aware of that however, and scheduled a 4 hour appointment with us to complete an orientation and all of the setup. Once we were set up we would be put on their list and as jobs became available we would receive a call to see if we were interested in taking the jobs.

Gate guarding has been slow for the last couple of years as the oil industry has slowed down, but they are expecting more activity in 2017, especially since a Republican was elected president. So, our timing was perfect and we scheduled a day to come over and fill everything out. It was not easy getting a day off from the Christmas trees, but since we weren’t technically supposed to be open until the day after Thanksgiving we insisted. The other alternative would have been doing the paperwork after Christmas and we wanted to make sure we were on their radar well before then. The company was located outside of the cute little town of Boerne, in a beautifully renovated red barn. I was a little taken aback initially when we walked inside, because the walls of the barn were mounted with over a dozen animal heads, and the coffee table was full of books about duck hunting and ranching. It was definitely full on Texan, but Nicole, the young woman we were working with was so incredibly nice that I soon felt comfortable.

She had us sit down at side-by-side desks and walked us through applying online for our certifications. Some companies don’t help with this, and they also don’t tell you that once you are certified you can work for any gate guarding company, but Nicole was upfront about that. She also started by explaining the program and answering all of our questions. Some of them were as follows:

What does it pay? Rates are low right now and depend on job site, but they are ranging from $100 a day – $165 a day for a 12 hour shift.
What services will we have? Occasionally couples are at a campground, but generally they stay on the job site. They are given a generator which provides 12000-15000 watts of power, 250 gallons of water a week, and weekly pump out service.
What does the job entail? You check in truck drivers as they arrive throughout the day. Some sites have a gatehouse you sit in, but mostly you stay in your rig and come out when trucks arrive. It doesn’t matter which member of the couple performs this function and they are very flexible in how the paycheck is divided up. Only one person needs to be onsite at any given time. This was a huge benefit in my mind because Lee or I could find a second online job and earn both the gate guarding pay and the second job pay. We talked to Nicole about that and she said it was perfectly fine. One member of the couple can even be gone for extended periods if necessary as long as one person was onsite, so occasional work travel was back on the table.
How is the job divvied up? These are 1099 jobs, but worker’s compensation is included. Nicole has a list and starts calling couples and if they are not interested they pass on the assignment.
Is there cell coverage? All the jobs have some cell coverage. but it might only be Verizon or ATT, and it can be minimal. In some cases they add boosters to help with that.

The last was particularly important to us, but she definitely understood the full timing life. She stressed that she would much rather have us reject an assignment than accept something and then be unhappy or leave the position. She promised that this would not in any way be a black mark against us, she understood not everything was a good fit. It all sounded interesting, even though the money was very low, so we applied online, verified our accounts via our email, and then I paid a $62 fee. Lee received a $30 discount because he is former military, but had to provide his DD 214 discharge paperwork as proof. Thankfully we have that information. She made it all very pleasant and although we could have muddled through on our own, I was very glad to have someone to walk me through it.

After signing up we scheduled our fingerprinting and background checks at a facility in New Braunfels. This process is pretty quick and will cost an additional $10. We will also get randomly drug screened at some point in the future, and because I was curious I asked if marijuana counted as a drug and found out it does since it is illegal in the State of Texas. All of the rules follow State of Texas law since that is where the company is based, but the work could be in Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, or Louisiana. Just to be clear, we aren’t worried about the drug testing, I just wondered with all the new states that had legalized it if companies were changing their policies. Not this one at least.

Finally, we had a complete walk-through of the paperwork associated with the job and went through the employee handbook. Again, Nicole did a very nice job and actually made it interesting, but it was the longest interview process I have ever been on. It took about 3 -1/2 hours all together, but we are set up and ready to be called to be gate guards. Our original plan after the trees would be to go to Quartzsite, but if we find a paying gig we will take that instead. There are limited options for making money in the January-March time frame and limited places we can be due to weather, so this could definitely be something we can do to fill that time.

What’s the downside?

The jobs often become available sort of last minute, so we would need to stay somewhat close to Texas to avoid long travel days to reach an assignment.
The pay is low IF you view it as being for the couple. $125 a day for a twelve-hour shift is $10 an hour if it’s one person, but $5 an hour if you count it as two. If you are only working a 12 hour shift only one person is required to do the work, so you could theoretically work a second position online or in a nearby town, but cell coverage and distance to a town do vary from site to site. This might be a great job for someone who works full time from their rig and has a spouse who picks up other jobs, but again, cell coverage would be key. If you were working a 24/7 shift as a couple then you would get paid $250 which is again around $10 an hour. There is still an opportunity for someone to work another job online possibly, but becomes more difficult.
No overtime. The reason jobs like the Beet Harvest and Amazon are so lucrative is the overtime. This job doesn’t have that, but it may also have lots of down time in between trucks. It’s also less physically demanding.
Dealing with the elements. Depending on the time of year and location of site, we could be dealing with extreme heat, snow, wind, etc. Since we wouldn’t be sightseeing and will have services bad weather becomes an issue mainly because you are both “stuck” in the rig on top of each other. We have done that and it is not fun. This is a serious concern, but also one of those things we feel we would have to try and see how it goes.
You can’t do anything together. Nicole is fully aware that it gets old after awhile and tries at least once a month to give the couples one free day so they can go to dinner together or explore the area, but that is not guaranteed. The jobs are 7 days a week until their completion, and during the shift someone always needs to be there.
Many sites don’t allow pets. This was not a big deal for us, but she seemed relieved that we didn’t have dogs. I got the impression that has caused issues in the past. There are some job sites that allow dogs, but that makes you less likely to be able to fill a spot.
No drinking on the job site. Since you are living on the job site that could get tricky, but the way they handle it is you can drink in your rig, but if you drink the other person needs to cover the gate. So if you are fond of your 3pm cocktails together, that needs to go away.
No guns. I almost started laughing when I heard that. Almost all full timers have guns. Again, if the guns are in your rig they don’t care, but no open carry is allowed. That being said she was pretty clear that you could protect yourself. It wasn’t that hard to read between the lines on this one.

Which brings me to safety. These are remote areas and she made absolutely no promises about being safe. She did say that sites near the border were almost exclusively covered by off duty or retired police officers, but the others were remote. We are super safety conscious, but I think we would need to do a contract and see how it goes. The remoteness could work to our advantage. The truck driver traffic would be an advantage as well. What we have learned in this lifestyle is whether or not we feel safe is very subjective and situational. So we would have to see.

Overall I feel pretty good about trying it. But then again I want to try everything at least once. Lee is a little more cautious, but willing to give it a go. Now it just depends on there being a job opening around the time we are scheduled to leave Texas. Will see what happens and let you know.

Camper Chronicles

Travel Tales from Working Full Time RVers

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