#123 I'm Not A Boyscout but.....

First let me thank everyone who has been commenting on the blog. It's nice to know you are reading & enjoying our adventures along with us. Some of the comments come through signed anonymous which is fine but if you would like us to know who you are please sign your comments. Also we have a lot of new followers that we just met at the Escapees Rally & anyone who knows me knows I have trouble remembering names & faces. So if you are one of our new friends, hints & clues would be greatly appreciated. Nothing too specific but maybe where we met, rig type, what we talked about, etc. We want to keep up with you as much as you keep up with us.

When it comes to being prepared they say "It's better to have it & not need it than to need it & not have it" so we have tried to anticipate every situation & be ready. We did our big laundry day & will do a quick trip to get everything washed before we start working. There was a trip to the grocery store for sandwich ingredients & snack & comfort food. Mary also insisted that I get another pair or 2 of jeans so we didn't have to do laundry any sooner than necessary. Mary had plenty of jeans but they all were dragging on the floor. Now this isn't too much of a problem unless you are working in ankle deep mud so we spent the evening putting hems in all her jeans. It looked like a little sweat shop with Mary pinning & me sewing into the wee hours.

In our preparations we also put together a little first aid kit & will be packing extra socks & shoes. We got out a couple of coolers to take lunch, drinks, & snacks. You have to understand, this piling station is just a giant concrete slab out in the middle of nowhere. The nearest highway is 2-3 miles away. The closest town is a good 5 or more miles & an emergency room is closer to 20-25 miles so we have to be prepared to be out of touch with civilization as we know it for our 12 hour shift. No break rooms, no lockers, & bathrooms are porta-pottys. This is roughing it compared to what we were used to in the Post Office.

Tomorrow we are going to treat ourselves to breakfast & dinner out. We will then call it a night because we have to be on site bright & early Friday morning at 7am. 32 years of mostly night shift means that if I saw 7am it was on my way home from work. This rising with the rooster is going to take a little getting used to but we will adapt. I will close with this thought, the next blog you read might just be from a "beet piler". So until then good night from our home in Fargo ND because....

Home is where we park it,
Frank & Mary