Rush Truck Center - Laredo, TX - Mar 28 - 29

Rush Truck Center - Laredo, TX - Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Morning 69 Degrees, Wind NNW at 1 to 3 Mph, Humidity 53%, cloudy.
Afternoon 75 Degrees, Wind N at 8 to 14 Mph, Humidity 82%, mostly cloudy.

I was over at the truck center after they opened this morning letting the foeman know the door in the floor was open. After awhile he had workers (2) at Buster to remove the fuel pump. After they started it was misting so I thought it was time for me to leave. I called my wife letting her know I was coming back to the hotel in case she wanted me to bring something back, nothing good. I stopped in at the truck center latter in the afternoon and they were installing the new pump.

Laredo had “weather” last night, with tornado warnings resulting in a bunch of traffic lights on flash disrupting traffic patterns today. Today I was feeling my trip yesterday, tired. It was a three hundred and twenty three miles Laredo to San Antino and back to Laredo plus a round trip from the hotel to the truck center

Picture of the three hundred and twenty mile key

Rush Truck Center - Laredo TX - Thursday, March 29, 2018
Morning 64 Degrees, Wind NW at calm to 1 Mph, Humidity 78%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind NW at 6 to 12 Mph, Humidity 16%, mostly sunny.

No performance change with the new fuel pump the engine will only run on starting fluid. Before noon they said they will install a primer pump and try that. We were back latter in the afternoon and no change, the engine still will not run and late in the afternoon they had another guy come to Buster with a computer to monitor the engine and he said it was a sensor needed to be changed. A new sensor, I was not told (sense what?)  what it is called but after that was changed they had the engine running, we were inside Tan Jan sitting comfortable in the air conditioned car. I went into Buster and tried the throttle myself and good response, then I shut it off and restarted it and it worked normal. We are staying one more night here in the hotel and back into Buster tomorrow. Not only the move but I need to reinstall the engine access cover above the top of the engine and pay the bill. 


Thought For The Day – This morning my brain said “crunches” but my stomach auto corrected it to “cupcakes.”

Rush Truck Center - Laredo, TX - Mar 25 - 27

Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Sunday, March 25, 2018
Morning 68 Degrees, Wind ENE at 1 to 2 Mph, Humidity 89%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 97 Degrees, Wind ESE at 10 to 18 Mph, Humidity 33%, mostly sunny.

I will call road service again tomorrow 


Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Monday, March 26, 2018
Morning 70 Degrees, Wind SSE at 1 to 2 Mph, Humidity 84%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 6 Degrees, Wind SE at 13 to 21 Mph, Humidity 31%, mostly sunny.

I called road service for the start problem and they set up a tow and a service place. So we made Buster ready to move. The tow truck came and hooked up and removed the axles for the tow. Learned something there, did not know that was the procedure. Strange to follow your vehicle down the road.

Leaving the RV Park

Rush Truck Center - Laredo, TX 
Buster is parked on a spot in the yard for the night and we can NOT stay there. Now find a hotel for .... nights. They will start troubleshooting tomorrow. We thought we were checked into a hotel and then, NO Pets, they were helpful calling other places and found one for us. When we got there was no vacancy, they pointed us to another place that takes pets, ouch. Rahlee cost money to stay at these hotels.

Waiting to turn left

Rush Truck Center - Laredo, TX - Tuesday, March 27, 2018
Morning 72 Degrees, Wind ESE at 7 to 10 Mph, Humidity %, overcast.
Afternoon 91 Degrees, Wind E at 11 to 28 Mph, Humidity 42%, mostly cloudy.

Buster at Rush Truck Center

Repeat a lot of the tests we have already done and changed the fuel filter again along with trying to start tne engine. They down loaded the comuter and then told me it is the fuel pump $$$. All the while I am holding their hand as they do not normally work on motorhomes, which is a lot of questions of where is this where is that and how do they access the engine top. Well from inside thru a opening in the floor, that I have never opened. This has a barrel lock needing a round key, where did that key go I saw it years ago. 

Well accessing the top of the engine is important to them to do their work so I called around to locksmiths with no luck there or with Google or getting any recommendations. I know in twenty-fourteen we opened the door in the closet to replace the radiator expansion tank that might have been the last time I saw the key. Anyway I called Texas RV if they could help me with a locksmith for that. Tony said yes he has them and would put one a side for me, WOW. But I need it now, do you see it coming round trip to San Antonio. I went back to the hotel and picked up my wife and I made the round trip and had the cover opened before seven o’clock tonight. They close at that hour so it was important to us. We also wanted a few things at the hotel that we had not already gotten.

Thought for the Day:

I’m going to take care of my procrastination issues. Just you wait and see.

Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Mar 21 - 24

Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Wednesday, March 21, 2018
Morning 58 Degrees, Wind E at 3 to 4 Mph, Humidity 81%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 84 Degrees, Wind E at 10 to 23 Mph, Humidity 24%, mostly sunny.

Our gate coordinator stopped by and helped for awhile but the engine still will not start. This evening we went and purchased a can of starting fluid and will try that tomorrow.


Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Thursday, March 22, 2018
Morning 61 Degrees, Wind WNW at 1 to 3 Mph, Humidity 83%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 8 Degrees, Wind  at  to  Mph, Humidity %, .

Starting fluid, I got the engine to run on the starting fluid for a few seconds but that is all. Had to stop using the starter motor as it was getting too hot from the cranking of the engine. I am keeping the batteries charged by putting the battery charger on them and also using a interconnect with the “house batteries”. During the cranking the voltage meter in the dash does go down to eight volts but comes right back to thirteen volts when I release the seart switch. Ended up going out again for two more cans of starting fluid.


Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Friday, March 23, 2018
Morning 68 Degrees, Wind N at 1 to 8 Mph, Humidity 83%, cloudy.
Afternoon 89 Degrees, Wind NW at 1 to 12 Mph, Humidity 42%, sunny.

Gate coordinators son-in-law came about four this afternoon to help we did more to try and get fuel to the engine but no trick has worked, stumped again. I was able to get the engine ro run longer (seconds) getting up to two thousand RPM but there is no throttle control, it is only the starting fluid that is burning and not the diesel fuel.


Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Saturday, March 24, 2018
Morning 69 Degrees, Wind NNW at 1 to 3 Mph, Humidity 87%, cloudy.
Afternoon 90 Degrees, Wind SE at 10 to 15 Mph, Humidity 44%, mostly sunny.

I called Good Sam road service late this morning a guy arrived about twelve-thirty. He worked with me for about an hour finally finding he did not have the correct plug to download the computer faults. He was in his pickup on the phone then just drove off. At two hours I texted him and no response? Again the engine is running on starting fluid and one time I thought I had throttle control but it was not to be today.

Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Mar 17 - 20

Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Saturday, March 17, 2018
Morning 71 Degrees, Wind SSW at 1 to 4 Mph, Humidity 86%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 99 Degrees, Wind W at 11 to 21 Mph, Humidity 12%, mostly sunny.

I was out there at the battery compartment and moved the car close to transfer
batteries from Buster to the car. First I took out the two visible and put them on the side one at a time as they weigh sixty-four pounds each. Then the inside batteries one at a time remove and bring to the car then one new battery into the compartment rest. Then repeat for the second one and connect them up. Now reinstall the outside batteries and finish the connections. In between I was trying to put Freon in the car’s air conditioner as it was not cooling Friday. After checking the battery voltage and seeing them charging properly I serviced the water level in the batteries.

I tried to start the engine today that did not work. I made six attempts no start, now I need to locate the fuel filter.


Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Sunday, March 18, 2018
Morning 70 Degrees, Wind SE at 1 to 2 Mph, Humidity 90%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 96 Degrees, Wind E at 7 to 16 Mph, Humidity 22%, mostly sunny.

We hung here at Buster and relaxed today.

Buster at Vaquero Village RV Park

Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Monday, March 19, 2018
Morning 70 Degrees, Wind SW at calm Mph, Humidity 91%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind NW at 2 to 15 Mph, Humidity 11%, mostly sunny.

We were on the road early taking Tan Jan to her doctor (Buick Dealer) to have the air conditioner checked, ouch. There is a tube hose leaking, they are ordering a part and overnight delivery. I checked on place for the fuel filter with no luck on that, tomorrow we will try again after Tan Jan is done with the doctor. It is hot riding in the car with no air conditioning, we are not keeping the windows open only a small amount, wind noise. Leaving the dealership today they washed Tan Jan before we got her back.


Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX - Tuesday, March 20, 2018
Morning 61 Degrees, Wind ENE at 6 to 17 Mph, Humidity 31%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 82 Degrees, Wind NE at 7 to 20 Mph, Humidity 18%, mostly sunny.

Again we were on the road early taking Tan Jan to her doctor (Buick Dealer) to have the air conditioner fixed. One GM part did not arrive but they found one at another parts store in town, good. After hanging at the dealer for awhile we got a ride over to a mall to walk around and have lunch at the food court. We were back at the dealer just about two and we were on the road before two-thirty, with a car washed the third one in four days. I had to clean Tan Jan Saturday and leaving the dealership yesterday and today they washed Tan Jan again.

Three more stores to finally find the fuel filter, along the way I got a filter wrench and a one gallon gas container for diesel fuel. Getting back to Buster I filled the filter with diesel fuel and installed it, but no engine start. I called our gate coordinator for help as he has a gate for us on Thursday. The ride back to Buster was nice and cool.

Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX Mar 14 - 16

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Morning 58 Degrees, Wind SE at calm Mph, Humidity 70%, cloudy.
Afternoon 77 Degrees, Wind ESE at 9 to 17 Mph, Humidity 25%, mostly sunny.

This sensor we use for vehicles coming in only detects large metal, so there is no animal or wind caused signals. With the sporadic vehicle traffic we have now with the flow back operation it is hard to test if the sensor is working. I went out to the sensor again today and checked the connections again and removed and reinstalled the batteries. The sensor seems to be working, the large water tank trucks are being alarmed but some pickup trucks are getting past without alarming. Some vehicles do not drive close enough to set the sensor off.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Thursday, March 15, 2018
Morning 61 Degrees, Wind ESE at 3 to 5 Mph, Humidity 67%, cloudy.
Afternoon 80 Degrees, Wind SE at 12 to 21 Mph, Humidity 45%, partly cloudy.

Flow back crew moved out this morning, we should be done today. I got the call about ten o’clock the gate job here ends at five tonight. So now my work begins packing up and getting Buster ready to move to another site. The guy was here today to collect Buster waste water so I had him also pick up and take the tank as we are leaving in the morning tomorrow.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Friday, March 16, 2018
Morning 66 Degrees, Wind S at calm to 1 Mph, Humidity 92%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 91 Degrees, Wind NNW at 2 to 9 Mph, Humidity 26%, mostly sunny.

We got Buster packed and ready to move with only two big problems, the Slide out again and starting Buster’s engine. The right side slide out shear pin I replaced was hitting the structure preventing rotation of the drive shaft.  It was my own fault as I installed washers (two) on the nut end thus the bolt was sticking too far thru the drive shaft. I did this to have all shank of the bolt coming thru, it did not work out. Spending as little time as I could on this I just took the washers off the bolt and put the nut on loose. When I went to start the engine it did not fire up but on the fourth attempt it started but was barely running and surging. Using the accelerator and at one thousand RPM it ran pretty good after the coordinator arrived we headed out seven and a half miles at less than ten miles per hour on the very bumpy dirt road.
Long and slow drive then when we arrived at the paved road I connected Tan Jan to the tow bar for the rest of the drive to the camp ground. My wife drove Tan Jan out to the paved road and reported the air conditioner was not working.

Vaquero Village RV Park, Botines, TX
Total drive was only thirty-three miles for Buster here on three paved roads.                                 
We went into town and did some shopping and purchased two batteries for Busters “house” twelve volt system. The store brought them out to Tan Jan and put them in the car for me.


Thought For The Day – I think my neighbor is stalking me. She’s been Googling my name on her computer. I saw it through my telescope last night.

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Mar 9 - 13

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Friday, March 9, 2018
Morning 63 Degrees, Wind SE at 1 to 2 Mph, Humidity 75%, cloudy.
Afternoon 74 Degrees, Wind SE at 1 to 17 Mph, Humidity 67%, partly sunny.

Slow day gate wise, the frequency of the water trucks is decreasing which means we are nearing the end of this gate job. The gate may close early next week. Time here is hard to gauge just day and night day after day are the same except shopping day (tomorrow) I go to town and see the real world.

Waste water from Buster has been picked up on Tuesday but this week it was today as the “guy” had truck problems.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Saturday, March 10, 2018
Morning 67 Degrees, Wind SE at calm Mph, Humidity 93%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 92 Degrees, Wind S at 4 to 8 Mph, Humidity 52%, mostly sunny.

 Generator failed again mid morning, first thing checked the generator control there I was no control battery power. I got Tan Jan into position to jump start the generator engine I got that done and while the that connection was still on I got out my battery charger and connected that to the generator battery before removing the jumper cables. So the generator engine Alternator is not keeping the batter charged.

Gray is Generator and battery is at the other end

Good thing is the gate is very slow vehicle traffic thru the gate as I am blocking the dirt road while having Tan Jan jump starting the generator engine. 

Ok so all this generator problems has also shown light on Buster’s generator starting problems. I had checked the connections at Busters house batteries (four six volt) and there were tight enough, but made them a little tighter. Then a meter check latter in the day on the batteries revealed that the inside front battery has a bad cell. So, new batteries are needed.

I was later going into Ladero shopping as my wife did not get up as early as last week. This meant I got back just about dark and she already had the lights on for the dirt road lighting.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Sunday, March 11, 2018
Morning 70 Degrees, Wind SSW at 1 to 2 Mph, Humidity 88%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 92 Degrees, Wind N at 10 to 29 Mph, Humidity 16%, partly sunny.

Slow Sunday gate traffic wise, me more television time. 


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Monday, March 12, 2018
Morning 60 Degrees, Wind ESE at 1 to 6 Mph, Humidity 32%, mostly cloudy.
69Afternoon 69 Degrees, Wind NNE at 9 to 15 Mph, Humidity 28%, mostly cloudy.

Cold slow day for a Monday nothing realy going on except for the flow back and water removal trucks.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Morning 57 Degrees, Wind SE at 1 to 4 Mph, Humidity 53%, cloudy.
Afternoon 74 Degrees, Wind E at 6 to 12 Mph, Humidity 23%, partly sunny.

Moderate vehicle traffic day, and our in alarm stopped working? In the early evening I went out to where we have set the alarm device finding it leaning over straightened it and still not working. I was out again to change the batteries (AA) and it still did not work. While walking out there to check the sensor I saw this Yucca blossoming.

                        Picture: Yucca blossoming





Thought For The Day – The reason Mayberry was so peaceful and quiet was because nobody was married. Andy, Aunt Bea, Barney, Floyd, Howard, Goober, Gomer, Sam, Earnest T Bass, Helen, Thelma Lou, Clara and, of course, Opie were all single. The only married person was Otis, and he stayed drunk.

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Mar 1 - 8

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Thursday, March 1, 2018
Morning 67 Degrees, Wind SW at 11 to 19 Mph, Humidity 32%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 80 Degrees, Wind N at 17 to 24 Mph, Humidity 16%, mostly sunny.

The wind blew and stuff flew, this came up over last night, I could hear and feel it while still in bed. With the wind blowing today it was hard to maintain a cell signal, also on the rainy and windy days. Today I wanted a cell signal more so I had to wait until latter in the day when the wind died down. Federal tax forms review from the tax preparer and getting them filed. Flow back is out and work over rig will be in soon.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Friday, March 2, 2018
Morning 54 Degrees, Wind ENE at 3 to 7 Mph, Humidity 75%, mostly sunny.
Afternoon 83 Degrees, Wind E at 8 to 13 Mph, Humidity 34%, mostly sunny.

Work over rig is in and two truck loads of pipe for down the well arrived here on site, big work weekend. Water crew was back again picking up water main hose.

                          Picture: hose reel trailer 



Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Saturday, March 3, 2018
Morning 63 Degrees, Wind ESE at 0 to 1 Mph, Humidity 90%, cloudy.
Afternoon 84 Degrees, Wind ESE at 6 to 16 Mph, Humidity 44%, mostly sunny.

Vehicle traffic picked up latter in the morning with the work over rig crew on site. They are putting in out put production pipe, I do not know how many feet of pipe but two truck loadsof pipe came in the gate. 


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Sunday, March 4, 2018
Morning 68 Degrees, Wind ESE at 3 to 4 Mph, Humidity 88%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 90 Degrees, Wind E at 8 to 18 Mph, Humidity 28%, mostly sunny.

Lights, portable work lights used here to illuminate our area, reducing wildlife coming too close to Buster and lighting our walking area. These lights travel with the generator trailer one light fixture (two lights) on a tripod stand did not work at all, in fact we had an LED light bungee to it when we were in Smiley. 

This light never worked

Anther two light fixture on a tripod stand only one fixture worked these were two bulbs to a fixture with only one bulb working. And two LED fixtures on the ground the second tripod mounted bulb lasted only two days, (halogen) and no spare bulbs. Took over a week to get more lights, a new LED tripod double fixture and two more ground LED fixtures, but one did not work.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Monday, March 5, 2018
Morning 70 Degrees, Wind E at calm Mph, Humidity 88%, partly cloudy.
Afternoon 90 Degrees, Wind N at 8 to 18 Mph, Humidity 43%, mostly cloudy.

Busy morning with the work over rig moving out and flow back equipment and crew coming in and other ins and outs.

Work Over rig moving out

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Morning 65 Degrees, Wind ENE at 7 to 13 Mph, Humidity 50%, cloudy.
Afternoon 73 Degrees, Wind E at 14 to 23 Mph, Humidity 32%, mostly sunny.

Our morning started with a rain shower, just enough to make “some” mud in our road.
It did not last long, the rain and the road dried rather quick with the traffic coming and going. Water trucks for the flow back operation, water flowing back up the well from the frack operation.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Wednesday, March 7, 2018
Morning 57 Degrees, Wind NNE at calm Mph, Humidity 65%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 76 Degrees, Wind E at 7 to 15 Mph, Humidity 10%, partly sunny.

Flow back and water trucks continue in and out the gate.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Thursday, March 8, 2018
Morning 50 Degrees, Wind ESE at calm Mph, Humidity 65%, partly sunny.
Afternoon 76 Degrees, Wind SE at 11 to 20 Mph, Humidity 31%, partly sunny.

A bad morning the company generator failed shortly after I got up this morning. No coffee no breakfast and not dressed yet. Working with a flash light getting dressed and trying to restart the generator. Battery will not start the generator I had to jump the battery from our car battery. I got the generator running and put the Tan Jan off to the side not where we want it parked. Now breakfast and get ready for my day after breakfast the generator shut down again. Harder to restart but I finally got the generator started, while keeping the car battery connected I got out my battery charger connecting it to the generators battery leaving that on trickle charge until the coordinator came to change out the battery. We had power and when he texted me he was on the dirt road I made preparation to change out the generator trailer and started Busters generator that also was a problem. I have only started it with outside electric power on for a long time, more convenient. So that made me think, it has been a while (long time) since I checked cleaned the battery connections and the batteries have installed since June 2013. No it is not how long since I did the connections maybe two years.
 


Thought for the Day:

A Hallmark greeting card that plays a little jingle when you open it has more computing horsepower than the entire USAF in 1960.

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Feb 22 - 28

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Thursday, February 22, 2018
Morning 45 Degrees, Wind NNW at 5 to 7 Mph, Humidity 94%, cloudy.
Afternoon 58 Degrees, Wind N at 9 to 14 Mph, Humidity 77%, cloudy, rain.

We “lost the road” as the trucks going in and out are slinging mud everywhere. The hard ruts we were dealing with when we came to this gate are gone and we now have sloppy mud to step over going to open and close the gates.

Wet Mud

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Friday, February 23, 2018
Morning 54 Degrees, Wind ESE at 2 to 6 Mph, Humidity 96%, cloudy.
Afternoon 67 Degrees, Wind NE at 6 to 10 Mph, Humidity 93%, cloudy.

Muddy Friday, with last night's rain we have mud. The truck tires are making new soft ridges in the road. The trucks are “wearing” the road as the wheels spray and sling the mud up as they travel to and from the well site.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Saturday, February 24, 2018
Morning 64 Degrees, Wind E at calm Mph, Humidity 96%, cloudy.
Afternoon 83 Degrees, Wind ENE at 7 to 18 Mph, Humidity 58%, mostly cloudy.

Weekly shopping day with my wife up early and me traveling the seven and a half miles on the dirt road for the thirty three mile into the closest grocery store. The dirt had went from mud back to packed dirt with the wind drting and truck traffic, still bumpy.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Sunday, February 25, 2018
Morning 67 Degrees, Wind W at 1 to 2 Mph, Humidity 93%, overcast.
Afternoon 82 Degrees, Wind NNW at 8 to 15 Mph, Humidity 51%, partly sunny.

I have picked up these cap lights in Walmart sporting section for a dollar. We use them in cabinets that are too dark to see easy tha item we are looking for. We leave it right there in the cabinet so it is handy.

Cap light

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Monday, February 26, 2018
Morning 57 Degrees, Wind NW at 1 to 5 Mph, Humidity 95%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 77 Degrees, Wind NE at 9 to 14 Mph, Humidity 46%, mostly cloudy.

Sand trucks stopped (finished) midday toady as the frack will complete today. Then the rush to move to the next location for them. Actually for me the rest of the afternoon was slower. My wife was busy with the equipment starting the rig down and move out.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Tuesday, February 27, 2018
Morning 67 Degrees, Wind SW at Calm Mph, Humidity 95%, overcast, fog, misty rain.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind SSE at 10 to 22 Mph, Humidity 50%, mostly cloudy.

It was till about noon with the misty rain and after three in the afternoon before the sun came out partially today. Very busy with the frack finished and moving out and other flow back crew moving in. The water crews were picking up water main hose. Coil tubing crew moved in getting thru the gate “just barley” with special handling.

In the afternoon I made preparation to roll Buster back giving us room to park Tan Jan in front, but inside the gate. The guy came to pump out the gray holding tank on the ground behind Buster toady (his regular day) and I can move that when empty, that is a good thing and moved it back some and we are keeping it empty for a day by using Buster’s gray water holding tank I closed Busters valve I keep open when on site.


Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Wednesday, February 28, 2018
Morning 69 Degrees, Wind SSE at calm Mph, Humidity 90%, Partly Cloudy.
Afternoon 91 Degrees, Wind SSE at 10 to 17 Mph, Humidity 41%, partly sunny.

Coiled tubing truck

I continued to prepare for the spot move back water and electric connections removed.
Still a morning busy gate traffic but mid morning our gate company man came for an audit and bring some additional lights, more about them another day. While here I had him pull the service trailer back about six feet then I moved the gray tank on the ground and connected electric. Water I will use Busters internal until late in the day.
Buster will move after my wife has her sleep time, so just before sunset. With her help I lowered Buster down off jacks amd removed the jack pads. With my wife outside checking that everything was clear we roll buster back to the new spot and re-leveled Buster with the jack pads in place. Reconnected water and sewer hose connections. Then I backed Tan Jan into place.



The Headline of the Day:   MSNBC Host: Handgun Bullets Are Ineffective In Stopping School Shooters Because They’re Too Slow.

So maybe like in the Matrix movie where you could see the bullets coming and then dodge them?

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Feb 18 - 21

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Sunday, February 18, 2018
Morning 66Degrees, Wind ESE at 2 to 3 Mph, Humidity 90%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 88 Degrees, Wind S at 8 to 18 Mph, Humidity 37%, partly sunny.

Light traffic day today work wise but a long day setting up here on location. There is a low two bar cell phone signal so I will setup our omni antenna connected to the cell phone booster to improve that. I reassembled our walk platform larger than last time. I had the boards but I kept it to only two foot deep, this time I went with the four foot deep by six foot wide. NASCAR Daytona 

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Monday, February 19, 2018
Morning 71 Degrees, Wind SW at 1 to 6 Mph, Humidity 83%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 90 Degrees, Wind SSE at 17 to 29 Mph, Humidity 38%, partly sunny.

Morning traffic is slow as the move in and rig up is beginning. Later in the morning and the rest of the day we were busy with vehicles coming and going thru the gate. Sand trucks started to pre-fill the sand silos. These sand silo's shown traveling position are stood up and are fill thru the small tubes in the upper right of the picture. the near end in the picture is the top.

Sand Silo

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Tuesday, February 20, 2018
Morning 72 Degrees, Wind SE at 4 to 7 Mph, Humidity 82%, cloudy, rain drops.
Afternoon 87 Degrees, Wind SSE at 16 to 23 Mph, Humidity 48%, partly sunny.

Sand trucks stopped in the morning, but they came again after dark. And this is only the pre fill of the sand silos. A busy day with vehicles moving equipment and supplies in to the work site. The road is rutted from vehicle traffic in rainy weather. There were heavy trucks in and out with very soft ground like the top layer of dirt of a couple of inches being mushy. Then no vehicles and drying of the road dirt thud the ruts. 
 

Busters Gate Laredo, TX - Wednesday, February 21, 2018
Morning 72 Degrees, Wind SSE at 2 to 3 Mph, Humidity 93%, mostly cloudy.
Afternoon 81 Degrees, Wind ESE at 15 to 28 Mph, Humidity 66%, cloudy.

Sand trucks in and sand trucks out all times of the day. And there is shift change time and others in and out during the day. Sometimes we leave the gate open, but the company wants the gate closed all the time. We actually also want the gate closed otherwise vehicles will not give us enough time to get outside Buster to check them out on the I-pad. License plate numbers with picture of the plate a picture of the side of the vehicle company name and drivers name with the number of riders, this is all taken on the first time at the gate. On return visits we only need the license plate number entered and the driver and company names are brought from a server and only picturers and riders need to be added. It does reduce out work load. When a vehicle leaves entering a partial plate number into the I-pad will call up a record or something like a partial company name. All of this I-pad work is easier than paper log we were keeping when we first started doing gate guarding.

I-Pad log in page

 Thought for the Day: 

Don’t be stupid. We have politicians for that.

Bar M RV Park - Pleasanton, TX - Feb 16 - 17

Bar M RV Park - Pleasanton, TX - Friday, February 16, 2018
Morning 65 Degrees, Wind ESE at calm Mph, Humidity 97%, overcast.
Afternoon 81 Degrees, Wind E at 5 to 17 Mph, Humidity 50%, partly sunny.

Our plan for the day was going to San Antonio and purchase some new bulbs for the bathroom, getting ready to go there I got a text message that my third pair of glasses were ready to pick up in Victoria. So I called the gate coordinator letting him know we are available for a gate after the weekend before leaving Buster.

Well that made for a big driving day of over three hundred miles round trip and a lot of stops. First I put gas in Tan Jan and headed to San Antonio, Texas arriving there I got a call from the gate coordinator for a gate, tomorrow. I tried to push our start time to latter in the day as we needed to shop and complete our trip today I said no earlier than noon, that would be ok. The bathroom light bulbs did not arrive at Texas RV Supply but we did pick up a couple of stick on lights. On the way to Victoria, Texas I got a call my prescription was ready in Pleasanton, Texas, so now the plan changed again.

Picture: Eye Glasses Holder

I got these glasses for the computer bifocal, the up or regular looking area of the lens is my reading but for arms out length the lower small area is regular reading I need correction to view the smaller print icons on the computer screen. While waiting I saw a desk caddy to put them in so I do not have to lay them down. We had lunch-dinner and headed to the pharmacy in Pleasanton getting there just after six-thirty as the pharmacy closes at seven. We did some other shopping while there (Walmart) fill the gas tank again ($2.109 a gallon) and went to H E B to complete our shopping.
 
Now start getting ready to move Buster, we need to leave on the early side tomorrow for a trip to Ladero, Texas.

Bar M RV Park - Pleasanton, TX - Saturday, February 17, 2018
Morning 59 Degrees, Wind ENE at Calm to 1 Mph, Humidity 96%, cloudy, misty rain.

Picture: Bolt
Move day, we did not have too much outside to put away as we were only going to be here for one week I kept that to a minimum. There was more to be done inside though, as the time went by taking something out of being packed away we did not put them back, whatever. Two slide outs went in normally but the third right side was a problem one end did not move. Checking things out I found e sheer bolt broken. I had to call our gate coordinator telling him we will not be there as planned. Now get in there and remove the parts, moving some (as little as possible) things to get me inside the compartment. My wife helped by fetching tools I forgot and operating the switches inside, saving me some climbing out and up and down inside and outside. After getting the broken parts out I needed replacements, so it was off to the hardware store for grade eight 1/4 X two inch bolts, yes bolts one replacement and three spares. Coming back and getting in the compartment again and getting the whole lined up to get the bolt in place requires bumping the switch to rotate the electric motor (my wife’s help). With the new bolt in place the slide out came in came in correctly. That was the last thing we needed before rolling Buster. So I disconnected the electric power and started the engine. Pulling out and connecting Tan Jan we are now ready to roll about three hours latter than planned. 

Picture: Compartment and Drive Shaft

Busters Gate Ladero, TX
Afternoon 82 Degrees, Wind SSE at 8 to 13 Mph, Humidity 58%, mostly sunny.

We took the same roads back to Laredo area our work area is out there in the boondocks. TX 97 thru Charlotte to TX 85 to Dilley and interstate thirty-five to TX two-fifty-five west to FM 1472 to the dirt road in seven and a half miles. We arrived about four in the afternoon. I stopped in Cotulla giving Buster a drink of diesel ($ 2.799). I could have stopped in Pleasanton and payed less but would have been more hassel getting in and reconnecting Tan Jan to Buster after fueling up. Throughout the morning everything was wet was from the misty rain. We drove out of that and driving I never needed to use the windshield wipers.

Picture: that is the drive shaft (black) in the top of the picture, the motor in on the other side of the black structure

Now the long dirt road only doing between five and ten miles per hour. I kept Buster in first gear so I would not go too fast. The worst bumpy road we have been driven on. Seven and a half miles off the paved road. I got Buster parked and started our setup.
We are on the job this will be another frack location.




Thought for the Day:

My train of thought derailed. There were no survivors.