Getting Ready For A New Life Adventure

Sitting here wrapping up our current job in Moab, Utah is a bittersweet time for me.

We’ve just finished our third year as full-time RVers. During that time we’ve worked part-time creating site maps/guest services guides for RV parks around the country.

We’ve met some wonderful RV park owners, and some who were not so great. We’ve met some wonderful people who advertise in our guides. My heart has gone out to these business owners as some of them explain to me that they’d love to either take out an ad or renew their current ad, but with the current economy, they have to choose between advertising or paying their employees… you know the choice they’ll make.

We’ve created guides for some of our parks for three years. The park owners and advertisers are friends by now. In this job I’m the one who goes out and sells the ads and it was fun at one time. Today, it’s a tough job because people are hurting. It’s also a job that takes up a lot of our time. We want less stress in our lives so we’ve decided to make a change.

We’ve been doing a lot of “workamping jobs” research. We get the Workamper News daily and that’s how we learned about gate guarding in the drilling fields of Texas, Oklahoma, and Louisiana. Right now there is a real boom in this line of work in south Texas. Since we are Texans, this seems like a good fit for us. We also are very open to the other two states.

We’ve solicited wonderful advice from those who are currently working as gate guards. All seem very positive about their experiences. Yes, I know it’s going to be dusty, and of course it will be hot (we are already full-time Texans so we know all about HOT).

Bob is a day person and I’m a night owl so he will naturally work days most of the time while I work nights. It seems the only thing we have to provide is our time and our rig. The pay is pretty good and expenses low. Compared to what our expenses are on our current job, as a gate guard they’ll be non-existent!

We can work for a spell, then take off and go visit family and travel. Then go back to work and bank more money for the next time off. Sometimes we will be very busy, other times not so much.

Overall, we are looking forward to this new adventure. After the last three years, this seems like a good change for us. If we miss our old friends too much, we’ll just plan a trip to go see them.

So far we’ve contacted six or so gate guarding companies. Three have responded. One in particular sent us a package to fill out and send back. We are having background checks done (we’re already Coast Guard Approved so that should be easy) and we went to the local police department to get our fingerprint cards created. We took a test and filled out an application and sent it all in. Hopefully we’ll know more this week.

We will be leaving Moab next week and going to Las Vegas for about a week to visit family and be tourists. Then back to Texas. Before we get shipped off to south Texas, we need to get our annual physicals and all that entails, dental visits, dermatologist visits, special medical procedures that people our age need every few years, eye exams, and doggie dental cleanings. And most importantly, play with grandchildren!!!

Oh yes, we need a few things worked on in our rig and annual maintenance items taken care of. So we won’t be ready to start until mid-December or the first of the year.

We are looking forward to being able to pursue hobbies, like reading, puzzles, games and stuff like that. I’m looking forward to working on a writing career… something I’ve been wanting to pursue, plus I’d like to take up quilting one of these days. I was quite a seamstress in high school. With five granddaughters I can keep busy for a while making them special quilts. My daughter already has three projects in mind for her daughters.

I’ll keep you posted on our transition to this new adventure!

Vicky