Waitin' on a Gate... in Corpus Christi

The next phase of our full-timing life is getting employment as an oil-field gate guard, so we can replenish the depleted money pot.

What's a gate guard?    The energy companies here in Texas require a 24/7 gate at (among other places) new wells being drilled and frakked.  Couples with an RV are hired to man the gates, usually for 2 to 6 months at a time.  Wages are good, but you have to be content with isolation, dust and working 12 hour shifts opposite your sweetie.

We've signed on with Loma Flowbacks but they can't guarantee us a date for a gate, since there's currently more folks looking for work than work is available.  See what lower oil prices do?

So we'll wait here in Corpus until one opens up for us - waiting quite happily actually.  We've been parked here at the Naval Air Station RV park for the last 3 weeks, and we're just loving it.

We're close to the water and we get that lovely salt water breeze that we've been deprived of for so many years.  The temperatures are still in the 70s and 80s, and fishing has been good.  Nice town, good restaurants, pleasant little commissary and NEX just a couple blocks away.  The bird watching has been wonderful!

We could happily stay here all winter... and maybe we will.

Who is rich?* He who rejoices in his portion.* ~The Talmud 

Every day in Every Way...

We get better and better and better.

We continue the saga of mechanical issues and minor improvements as we work our way into this full-time lifestyle.  Having made it to Livingston, TX, we decided to just hang it all out for a while. 

The Escapees park at Rainbow's End is a nice, friendly place with a good deal on "pay for 15, get 5 free".  A small pool is great for an early morning splash ( I swear I bought absolutely the LAST swimming suit at Wal*Mart) and there are lots of places internal to the park to walk the pup.  This suits us fine until the end of the month.

We are changing our state of residence to Texas while we're here in Livingston, so we'll need get new drivers licenses, new voter registration and title the vehicles, but first we need to get the vehicles inspected.

Before doing THAT, we thought we'd get a few little things taken care of on Maya first, like the squealing brakes.  Yeah, right.

We brought her down to West RV Repair in Livingston and so far we've spent 3 days and 2 very pleasant evenings camped here next to the garage while they work on her.  With electric and water hook-ups  who can complain?  The neighbors are sure quiet after 6 pm.

The biggest hold-up has been replacing the mufflers, which has sort of turned into replacing a good portion of the exhaust system, but along with that has gone replacing the failed BRAND NEW steer tire on the passenger side, replacing the burned spark plug wires, replacing hoses we already paid to replace in Wisconsin, tweaking the timing and  so on.  These guys are great, and what else do we have to do other than spend money?

Traveling with Kitties

Our companions in this newest adventure are our young Saint Bernard female, Baby, and the 2 cats, Precious who is 2 and Rainbow who is approximately 8 months.

We have spent a lot of emotional energy recently worrying about the welfare of our pets on the road, having in the past traversed many miles in the Escape Pod, our old Class C accompanied by 2 Saints and the Black B@$*@rd (who we thought was a cat).

We had no real fears about Baby adapting to a peripatetic lifestyle, but the cats have totally exceeded any expectations we had.  They have smoothly accepted this 34 foot tin box as home, and seem to be enjoying themselves thoroughly.

We've made few special accommodations for them, mainly the "Cat Banana" which is their private screened porch which hangs out the passenger window of Maya when we're parked.  They have discovered their own hidey-holes  and secret places, and as in the stix-n-brix, spend most of their time sleeping and the remainder racing up and down the hallway.

We can only be grateful that the cats have so graciously allowed us to change their living arrangements,without punishing us unduly.

Surprisingly pretty Iowa back roads

We continue our brand-new journey into Iowa this second day.  I'm learning to manipulate this long and intimidating rig somewhat, but it is still pretty nerve wracking.  Watching mirrors, watching gauges, worrying about the cats and the dog, hoping I don't mess anything up.

We've planned our route to take us mostly on secondary roads (that is to say, Microsoft Streets & Trips has planned) and this last section south through the mid-section of Iowa is nicely hilly and scenic.  I'm finally able to relax a bit and enjoy the countryside.

Our destination for the night is McGowan Recreation and Wildlife Area in Bloomfield, IA, owned by the Davis County Conservation District.  What a charmer this campground is!

The place is deserted except for us, and we pull into a site parallel to one of the fishing ponds which dot this old farm.  50 amp and water,for only $14 self-service.  Grass and trees, birds and breezes- heaven!

So pleasant is this quiet and serene little piece of Iowa, that we decide to stay for a few days.  How hard it is to realize we have no more timetables, no places to be!

Monday will be time enough to get back on the road;  for now, we'll just relax. 

We finally get moving...

After so many false starts, we finally get underway on Wednesday, August 24, 2011.  Senior Chief is in the jam-packed Dodge van, while I drive the motor home, towing Pete, the Saturn wagon.
 
We get only 20 miles or so before he pulls over;  the van is handling badly and making an awful noise.  So what do you do?  Call AAA, only to be told they won't cover a tow on the van, because its a loaded cargo van. So, who knew Triple A had these little restrictions?!  Pure steam is coming from my ears by now...

$97 tow fee later, the mechanic says he believes its mostly a problem with the (overly heavy) load on the van.  Shift the weight forward, he says and most of the problems should disappear.

And so they do.  Its getting to be late in the afternoon, so we get across the bridge to Dubuque, IA and pull off into the Miller Riverside Park for the night.

Right on the riverbank of the Mississippi, with a pleasant breeze and quiet neighbors. 

Happy hour seems to be in order for these two tired full-timers!

I will chant my Mantra; Patience is a Virtue.

Three months after my last, optimistic entry, we are finally poised on the cusp of departure.

Well, we've been poised for some time now-  it's like teetering on the end of a diving board.  Almost there, but not...quite.

We have continued to sing the litany of small things breaking and getting repaired, replacing old with newer and better and just getting those darn ducks lined up in a row.

At present, our hold-up is the air conditioners.  We wanted them serviced before hitting the heat of Texas, so we trundled Maya down to the HVAC/AC shop and left her there.  And left her there.

Not for the day or two we thought it would be, but a week.  10 days.  2 weeks.  Is it sheer inefficiency on the part of the technician or it is truly that hard to get replacement parts for our 20th century vintage air conditioners?

You know the saying; Some Days You're the Bug...

...some days you're the windshield?

Yesterday was a windshield day.  Every single project the Senior Chief and I worked on had to be left unfinished until another, critical issue was addressed.

Finish installing the new fresh-water pump?  The switch on the control panel fails.  Wire up the new bathroom fan?  Blow a fuse.  Painfully crawl under the dash of the Lincoln (to fix the little problem there before we can put it up for sale); works one day and fails again the next.

Why is it inevitable that everything takes more time and more money than you estimate?

What would life be like if everything came in under budget and ahead of schedule?

Mother's Day, 2011 
"Life began with waking up and loving my mother's face."  George Eliot 

Finishing the "little" stuff.

Who knew the list of "must do" and "better do" items on the pre-departure list would grow so alarmingly?!

The Senior Chief has decided to do what appears to be a complete rehab of the engine on our motor home Maya;  since she is an elderly old party, this is undoubtedly a good idea, but golly!  He works in his own leisurely fashion and I should know (but consistently forget) after 37 years of marriage not to try to infect him with my own sense of urgency.

My own list is not minor league, but I am whittling it down.  Yesterday I installed the new bathroom vent to replace the storm-damaged one.  Today I will remove (with many a cuss word no doubt) the bizarre arrangement of caulk and broken plastic that caps our black-water vent pipe, and install the Splendiferous Vortexual Stink Remover, otherwise known as the Cyclone Sewer Vent.

Also on today's list is the removal of our DOA fresh-water pump, and a complete redo of the related plumbing.  The previous owner hacked in an ugly arrangement of CPVC to fix some freeze damage at the pump and forgot (among other things) to reinstall the system drain and the valve that keeps the city water from back-flowing into the fresh-water tank.  I'll use flex pipe for sound insulation as well as a rubber pad, and add a small accumulator as well.   It will be splendid indeed!

Spring is creeping up on us here in Wisconsin; still hoping to beat it our of here soon.

As always, reality has a way of messing with my plans.  I do possess the dubious virtues of extreme stubbornness and horns-down bullheadedness, so perseverance comes quite naturally to me.  Reality doesn't stand a chance.

One more cup of coffee, and off to the day's labors!

The auction is over

Our big sell-it-to-the-rafters ready-to-go-fulltime auction was yesterday, April 30 2011.  Everything we're not taking in the Maya the motor home or D-Ram the storage van now belongs to someone else, and this house looks so empty.

It took months to get to this point, and its hard to believe the sale is finally over.

 
A few things didn't sell, but we can unload those things, as well as the few pieces of furniture we kept in the house on Freecycle or Craigslist just before we get underway.

Bill still has some things he wants to do on the motor home before we hit the road, so our actual leaving day is still up in the air.  That's relaxing in a way, but hard for me, the uber-planner!

Among other things, Bill will change the oil & fluids and do a tune-up with performance parts.  Two new tires need to go on the front, and the manual levelers need to be welded in place.  I still have to replace the fresh-water pump, which died while we were flushing and sanitizing the water system, and replace the bathroom vent which broke and blew off in the latest windstorm.
All the parts are in hand, and were just waiting for this huge ordeal of  Auction Day to be over.

Today and tomorrow I promised Bill would be relax and deflate days;  no work and no planning!