No More

No more dirt, no more dust, no more mud, no more staying up until 3 am, no more generator lullaby, no more 3 mile dirt road and 12 mile paved bumpy road just to pick up some milk or mail, no more smelly water.

But, no more friendly neighbors, no more close up wildlife, no more wonderful gate guard community, no more friendly oil patch workers and truck drivers, no more friendly and helpful small town Texas people.

Yesterday morning after we briefed our replacements on everything gate guard (they are newbies) we departed our little patch of paradise and headed for San Antonio.  It was bittersweet to leave.  Yes we were glad to be heading back to civilization, but we were also sad to leave new found friends behind and surprisingly, we were also sad to leave our little patch of paradise.

It's noisy here, but a different sort of noise.  We've traded the generator and big rigs for trains, airplanes and freeways.  We've also traded our private piece of land for an RV park full of other people.  But, we've also traded the long trip into town to one small expensive grocery store for any store we could want within a 5 to 10 minute drive.  That comment could be positive both ways. :)  AND, we have traded only one of us leaving the site at a time for going everywhere together.  Once more being a couple together and doing couple things.  Together.

We have enjoyed our work in the oil patch and plans are to come back next fall.  We plan on keeping in touch with the friends we have made and hope to see again.

If you are thinking about gate guarding consider LOMA as the company to work for.  They have been good to us and we look forward to working for them again next fall.  Ken Robison is the contact and can be reached at 817-247-3080.

As we say goodbye to South Texas and head north to our kids and grandkids, we go knowing we have done something new and we did it well.

"N" brings us to the halfway point in the A to Z Challenge.  See  you tomorrow for "O".

To our kids and friends back home - 15 days and a wake up!