Gate Guard Services, Whitsett, Texas

On Sunday three gate guards moved to new assigned gates, so we moved over to full hookup sites.  Nice to be settled with hookups as we wait for our paperwork to be approved and be assigned our own gate to work. I had to laugh as I had been worried when I had read some blogs that were saying the lot was full in Whitsett and I had pictured 25-30 rigs waiting for a gate LOL. Happily, it was only five sites and they seem to move out in a timely manner, although one rig has been in for nine days.

We were so excited to find out our friends, The Two Lindas, were moving from Port Aransas to Schertz and were driving right through Whitsett. We last saw them in South Fork, Colorado, this last summer. They arrived around 11:30 and we were able to spend a couple of hours together. We sure enjoyed checking out their new toy hauler Class A.  Quite a set up that I really liked, especially the loft bedroom.

We had lunch at a barbeque restaurant across Hwy 37 from us. Jim said the brisket was very good.  After more socializing and catching up, we bid them farewell, knowing we’ll see them again as we’ll be within 100 miles of each other for the next couple of months.

The Mossmans drove with us to Kennedy, Texas, to visit more friends, Rita and Jerry Scarbrough, who are the ones responsible for us being gate guards.  We first met Rita and Jerry in Coffeyville, Kansas, in 2009 when we all worked at Amazon.com together and were at the same RV park. 

I had to laugh when I took another photo, but this time with the flash on.  LOL, all you see is the reflective tape…kind of funny.

It was good to speak with yet another gate guard and learn how they do things and actually watch them do their job. The Scarbroughs have been gate guarding for almost a year, so they have a lot of good information to share.  It is an easy job, just a lot of up and down off a chair and in and out of the rig. And, of course, it is a 24/7 job, so someone has to be at the gate at all times.  That should really help the budget as there won’t be any going out to eat together anymore. 

Monday another gate guard couple got assigned a gate and off they went first thing in the morning.  Jim and I drove to Pleasanton about 30 miles away to check out the H.E.B. store and to do a little laundry.  We are so happy to be in an area with an H.E.B. grocery store as they are really nice with good meat/seafood selection and superior produce, IMHO.

By 1 p.m. it started to rain, which was actually refreshing.  We’ve only been in a couple of rain showers since September and it was kind of nice.  We sat under the Mossman’s awning with another gate guard couple again learning more about this new job.  They were hooked up and ready to go, just waiting for the service guy to hook up the water/generator trailer and take them to their new gate.  In mid-sentence they got the word and off they went.  So now it is just the Mossmans and us here in the lot waiting for a gate assignment.

We enjoyed a great navy bean soup at the Mossman’s for dinner and then enjoyed TV till bedtime.

OK, now I am caught up on my blog…goody! I’m a bit concerned how much blogging I’m going to be able to do around here, as Texas is AT&T country and Verizon cell phone and internet service can be “iffy”.  Here in Whitsett it has been full bars all around without any problem, but we’ve heard some of the gates are in areas where an antenna and booster may be needed.  Since we’ll only be here for a couple of months this time, we’ll just suffer through if need be, and may have to limit blog posts to when we go to the laundry or something.  I’ll let you’ll know though.

See you later…..remember, you are loved.

Balmorhea-Segovia-Whitsett, Texas

We left Deming on Thursday and drove to a cute little Passport America park in Belmorhea, Texas, called Saddleback Mountain RV Park.  It’s behind the gas station/convenience store off I-10.  The sites are divided by pretty cacti gardens. For $10 it was very nice.

We continued our drive across Texas on I-10, up and down hills with some interesting scenery.

This next photo Jim said to tell you, “we’ve seen Boot Hill and here you have Boob Hill”

We stopped at a TERRIBLE Passport park IMHO called Segovia RV Park in Segovia, Texas, on Friday.  It’s by the Eco no Lodge (where you pay your fee) but it was just a very bad gravel lot…several water faucets didn’t work.  But we were tired and it had been a long day with lots of miles, so we shelled out $13 and spent the night.  Certainly would not recommend it.

Come Saturday we arrived at Gate Guard Services in Whitsett, Texas, around 2 p.m.  In this photo you can see Hwy 37 on the right side that leads to Corpus Christie.

The lot was full-meaning the five full hook-up sites were occupied, so we snuggled up to a utility pole nearby that had two 50 amp outlets set-up.  After hooking up I was greeted by Debbie who writes a gate guard blog called Fork In the Road that I have been reading for a while.  Debbie is a very good writer who blogs with humor and honesty. I enjoy her insights into gate guarding. 
This is Debbie on the left and friend Heidi on the right.

Thank you, Debbie and Heidi, for taking so much time sharing  your experiences in gate guarding with Linda and I.  Our talk was very informative and helpful, and I know I will be putting it to use when we get our own gate…hopefully soon.  More next time.

Remember, you are loved.

I Got a Perm - Met with Friends

Couldn’t take it any more and made an appointment to have a perm at the Smart Styles at Deming’s Walmart.  I was so happy to find Dawna on duty.  She is kind of a rocker with piercings and tats….my kind of girl!!!  And she is tiny, like 4’10”, but with a strong, spunky attitude I loved.

           

We had a grand time during the perming process talking about life, education and the traits to look for in a mate.  Dawna was a delight.

     

And here is the final result.

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Tuesday afternoon Jim and NanC Tidball rolled into Dream Catcher Rainbow Park, so we shared happy hour together.

The Three Jims-Mossman, Tidball and Chapman

We had to laugh because while in Abbeville, Louisiana, last year we all bought graphics that said, “laissez les bons temps rouler” which is “let the good times roll” in French.  To be honest here Jim and Linda Mossman bought the graphics first and the Tidballs and Chapmans liked it and copied them.

Mossman’s rig

Tidball’s rig

Chapman’s rig

And there we were at Dream Catcher with all three rigs lined up one after the other.  Yes, many people walking by thought we belonged to some French club or something.

We had a good time together reminiscing about the our time together last year at Betty’s RV Park in Abbeyville and the reunion of the Class of 2007 in Quartzsite.

Wednesday we were off to Balmorea, Texas.

Remember, you are loved.

The Pink Store-Palomas, Mexico

We arrived in Deming, New Mexico, and hurriedly set up. Off we went heading south passed the border check point to Columbus, then past the Poncho Villa State Park and finally arrived.  The 34 mile trip seemed to crawl by on a gun-barrel straight road.

It’s only a short block-long walk from the parking lot across the border.  There isn’t much in Palomas besides The Pink Store; a couple of dentists and eye glass places, but it is pretty much a quiet little town with a few kids hanging around the border with their hands out asking for money.

We went directly to the restaurant part of the store because it was now 2 p.m. and hunger was setting in. Here are the sights we saw around us as we waited for the food.

Ah, margaritas arrived--yummmmm!!! They make their margaritas from scratch so there is fresh squeezed limes, fine sugar, etc.  Then all the food.
       

We were happy campers!!! The food was great as always - we even had a second margarita.  Does it show???

We went to the back of the store and looked through the glassware and immense inventory of pottery, picking out a few things for family and friends.

        

          

Jim Mossman tried on a terrific hat - we all thought he should have bought it, but the defining question, where do you store it in an RV?

         

We left a couple of hours later quickly walking through the U.S. Customs without any waits, and walking to our truck in a parking lot with only a couple of other vehicles.  Much different from the border crossing and parking lots at Algodones that can take an hour or more to get through.

We are staying an extra day in Deming so we can wash RVs and trucks, clean the rigs and wash clothes….oh, and of course, go back down to Palomas to have another lunch at The Pink Store!!!!!

Remember, you are loved.

Class of 2007 Reunion and Quartzsite

Monday we left Quartzsite and headed for Tucson as the first leg of our trip to Texas to be gate guards on an oil/gas field somewhere.  Here we get a nice send off by our classmates.

We had lots of fun with our classmates with many opportunities to visit during the day, around campfires and several food gatherings.  We went to the Escapees RV Club Happy Hour on last week. They had had 400 club members on Wednesday and on Thursday they had about 300.

Here is Betty Bear (sp?) who is member #42!!!!

Lots of folks attended

We worked last Sunday at the American Land and Leisure booth and then toured the Big Tent for an hour.  There were more RV related booths this year than we have in the past. No bead booths or popcorn blouses this year LOL.

 

We did see a spontaneous flash dance conducted by some ladies who carried their own boom box and performed a very good line dance and then suddenly dispersed.

 

 

 

As we walked around the Big Tent we saw some old friends, Marty and Ed, working the booth for Adventureland.  We met them when we worked for amazon.com in Coffeyville, Kansas.  It was nice to chat for a little while.

As we left Quartzsite and drove east on I-10 there were some nice photo shots.

	Love the saguaros

We arrived at Snider Hill BLM land in Tucson, which is one of our favorite places to boondock. We spent a month here back in 2008 with the Burbars and Glovers, enjoying an Easter dinner with other campers there.   We called our friends Marcie and Jim Cumberland who have been staying in the area and had them come over for a visit (we were not unhooking).  The Cumberland’s  are also amazon.com alumni from Coffeyville, Kansas. It was so nice to see them again.  Love Marcie’s new hairdo and Jim’s “Santa” beard is growing longer.

Once again traveling with Linda and Jim Mossman, we took off Tuesday morning and arrived in Deming, New Mexico around 1 p.m.  Tomorrow’s blog will be photos of our trip to Palomas, Mexico, and The Pink Store….that is definitely a blog post all of it’s own!

Remember, you are loved.

Working a Booth at Quartzsite RV Show

As most of you know, Jim and I work for American Land and Leisure supervising seven national forest campgrounds in southern Colorado in the summer.  So when we are in Quartzsite we usually work their booth outside the Big Tent, talking to people about becoming camphosts. 

Entrance to the Big Tent which I think is the length of 3 football fields.

This shows the length of the Big Tent

Our booth in the southwest corner

We got a crowd right off the bat.

I’m sorry but I don’t remember the other area manager’s names, but the tall guy is our Vice-President, Steve Werner, and to his right is the Staff Manager, Gary Huntington, and the gent on the extreme right is our Financial Manager, Matt Kemp.

We really enjoyed the five years we’ve worked for American Land and Leisure. They are a good, good company. 

Today we are leaving Quartzsite and traveling to the San Antonio area in Texas to hopefully work as gate guards.  More on that later.

Remember, you are loved.