Black Gold Makes Green

Driving into west Texas, the most obvious thing is, this is oil country, which is the whole reason we came to Texas.  John applied with a company that was recruiting for workers in Idaho.  When they were asked why they were recruiting in Idaho, the recruiters said where they were from, 'anyone who wants to be in oil industry already is and they need more workers.' He was given the option to go to North Dakota and freeze his butt off nine months out of the year or Texas and sweat his butt off nine months out of the year.  Having grown up in beautiful Tucson, Arizona, and loving the warm weather, he chose the latter with my blessing.


He drove two hours for two separate interviews, completed a 20 page application, and submitted to an ATF background check and a hair follicle drug test.  Anybody with any negative marks on their history or drugs in their system is immediately disqualified.  After a few weeks of waiting, we received the call that he would be starting in 12 days in Midland,Texas.  With short notice to his employer, we packed enough things for 2 weeks, thinking he would be back for a visit or have some days off in 2 weeks to a month.

Wireline in Action

He reported for training and quickly found out that he would not be returning home, but rather working a hard and steady schedule.  Considering the pay would more than triple what both he and I were making jointly in Idaho, he gladly complied.  What he started doing was called wireline. 


There's a lot of oil deep down in the earth, but it has to be released from porous rock, and that's where wireline comes in.   The three man wireline crew lowers explosive charges which have been packed into large pipes down a pre-drilled and cement encased well.  These charges break through the casing and into the rocks four feet deep.  Next fracing crews pump pressurized water (500,000 gallons per stage), sand and acid into the rocks to further release the oil.  This procedure is sometimes done once or in several stages (40+) depending on the well.  Some jobs take several days, such as horizontal wells which reach multiple pockets of oil.

He started working hard on a wireline crew to prove his worth to the company.  He progressed rapidly and was quickly noticed by another onsite company.  This other company has single man operations which work in conjunction with wireline crews to provide grease around the actual wire which lowers the explosives, to maintain the high pressure in the well. After learning of the added benefits and pay increase of working with this new company, he applied with Oil States Services and began working mid January, after Zoey and I arrived here in Texas.

Blowout preventers in the shop

John's official title is Field Service Supervisor and he operates a wireline pressure control unit.  The pressure control unit acts as a type of air lock for the wireline tool. It consists of about 50 feet of pipe plus various valves, blow out preventives and other "stuff" that weighs around 8,000 pounds. The actual pressure controller is a large machine that is located on a flatbed trailer and can maintain a pressure of 20,000 psi in the well.  He is in charge of maintenance, delivery, integrating it with the other equipment, and the pumping of a special grease around the wireline as it goes 15,000 feet underground.  Some assignments are short day jobs and he works a normal work day, but most jobs start early in the morning and require a commute (sometimes as far as New Mexico) so John gets up as early as 3am, and may not get home until around the same time the next morning. Initially he spent a 2 week stretch living in a job site trailer and training on multistage jobs, came home for 12 hours, and was back out for another week. He is just starting another of those rotations this week. Average work weeks have been over 100 hours and days off are few and far between, though they intend to allot more days off with the new hires coming on.

Pressure control machine and equipment.

He's still considered a trainee until he receives his Class A-CDL and has completed his Pressure Training in Louisiana, after which time he will break out on his own, get his own truck and receive full pay.  Unfortunately due to the recent oil boom, there is a month and a half waiting list to take the driving portion of the  CDL test, so he will travel out of town to take an earlier one mid March.  He likes the company he works for and is excited to be moving ahead in this industry.  The only down side is the time away from us, but we call and text daily to shorten the gap between us.  Eventually when he is on his own we will be able to take a few days to visit him if he is out of town for any extended time periods. 

A Place to Call Our Own.

Some old cars parked (permanently) in Goldsmith.

About a week ago we moved from the little town of Goldsmith to the Airline Mobile Home Park which is located just outside of Midland.  Although we enjoyed the quite that a small town affords, but it's cheaper in gas and better for us to be closer to amenities and John's shop.

Due to the rapid growth of oil related jobs in the area, there is a shortage of housing including RV spaces.  We had been told everywhere we checked that all waiting lists were six months out and a hundred people long.  But, we received a call, after only a week of putting in our application, that a resident had vacated and we could enter at any time.  The move had to be executed quickly to accommodate John's work schedule and to arrive during business hours to sign our rental agreement.  I secured everything, or so I thought, for our first fully-loaded move and we traveled the 30 minutes into town.  Unfortunately my olive oil bailed out of the top cabinet and spewed all over the floor.  It only took about 3 minutes to master olive oil skating and another 5 minutes of alternating soap, water and towels to clean the whole mess.  We have a dresser in the toy hauler section which was secured with a strap which spanned from the wall, over the top and into the floor.  The floor screws pulled loose from the floor and the dresser fell against the door which leads from the main area to the toy hauler section.  We decided the hole in the bottom of our door will be the perfect spot for a kitty door so we don't have to leave that door open anymore.  All-in-all, at least we are now near town and got set up in short order.

She is braver with safety gear.

Airline Mobile Home Park is an older park with 500 spaces right next to the Midland International Airport, but the airport is situated so that the planes do not go directly overhead.  The streets have airline names like American, Delta, and Frontier; we're on Hawaiian.  The Managers are judicious when deciding who may live here and have strict requirements for residents to keep things tidy and properly care for their pets. The onsite postal annex is a happy convenience and we thought the laundromat would be a great also, but after having machines eat my quarters and finding that half the machines don't even work, I guess I'll still be driving elsewhere for now.  Some of the RV residents have sheds which they have set up with washers and dryers; we think we're going to do that also.  Zoey can now ride her bike easily alongside me while I get my walk in and we're excited that they have a pool where we can cool off this summer and Zoey can learn to swim.  Since John has had to be at work as early as 3:30 a.m. or may not make it home until that same time, he is glad he has to no longer drive over 35 minutes to work.  His new commute is now around 5 minutes. The location and setting are right, so we plan on calling this home for the foreseeable future.



We're on a nice sized spot (very large for an RV) between a single wide mobile home and another travel trailer. Our spot has parking for our two vehicles and a small patio space which we will set up for morning coffee or evening dinners.  As you can see there are some some well-established trees which will provide some nice shade in the summer once they put on their leaves (some are already budding for the March spring-like weather).  I plan on trimming up the trees and picking up some planters to dress the area up and make it look a little more like my home. 

I had located the Kingdom Hall nearest our home and found there are English, Spanish and Sign Language congregations.  I tried to go to the meeting on Sunday and found they hadn't changed the meeting times on their signs and so I had missed the English.  I quickly got back in my car and went across town to a large double Kingdom Hall, hoping to catch an English meeting.  I found my way into the English side and was overwhelmed with a huge crowd which had come for the Circuit Overseer visit.  The congregation of 115 had a total of 225 in attendance.  Every seat was filled, including the many extra seats they pulled from the other hall. It was a great time.

We're still working on finding our way around and exploring all that Midland and Odessa have to offer and enjoying it all.    Of course we miss our old home, but we are thankful for the world of technology to keep us in touch with those we love.

Small Space Living

For most people, moving into a trailer or RV is part of their retirement plan to allow them to travel as the weather or winds move them.  For us, it was a matter of necessity since the winds have blown us to west Texas.  The current economy requires us to carry our mortgage in Idaho as we save money to do the necessary upgrades to our old home to allow it to compete in the sluggish housing market.

Our new home is a 2007 Keystone Raptor fifth-wheel toy hauler.  The bedroom and bathroom areas are located in the over-cab portion which has one slide housing the queen bed.  The living room/kitchen area has tall ceilings and slides on both sides making it quite expansive.  Zoey has a loft area which extends over the toy hauler section and we have placed a desk, dresser,  and other storage items in the toy hauler section.

The Living Area/View of Zoey's Room

Preparing to move into such a tiny space required me to make a lot of decisions as to what I felt would be necessary for living without overcrowding our new space.  I found I had accumulated a lot of belongings and clothes that I could easily, or sometimes tearfully part with.  All things consolidated and placed in their carefully chosen places, I found we have plenty of room for the three of us (five if you include the cats). 

After a few weeks of living in a RV, I have found some positive and negative aspects.  Some things surprised me; for instance, I do not miss a dishwasher, large pantry or large fridge and having a long hot shower on 6 gallons of hot water is quite possible with the low-flow shower head.  The cats are easy to live with and the RV lets in lots of light which keeps the place quite cheerful.    A few more things I have found are :

Positive Aspects:

• Mobility - we can go wherever we want or need to live.
• Cut out the Fat - no frivolous purchases or possessions.
• Only the Best - minimal possessions encourages me to keep/purchase only the best.
• Organization - organized by necessity, everything has a place.
• Quick Clean up - to clean my new house top to bottom takes about half an hour, including litter-box and scrubbing all corners.
•  Family Focus - Zoey and I are always together and connected in everything we do. *To reappear on the negative list.
• Reconnect with the Outdoors - confined space requires me to make the best of the great Texas winter weather (we'll see what we do in summer).

Negative Aspects:

• NO Washer/Dryer - I currently have to go to the laundromat which is inconvenient and folding a fitted sheet in  front of strangers is just plain embarrassing.  We hope to have our own soon once we change location.
• Limited Decorating - there are only so many pictures you can hang in this small space.
• Child is Underfoot - Zoey  tends to be under/over/on me a little more than wanted.
• The Sway - We hope to get a stabilizer jack soon, but for now we sway with every step and just let ourselves get rocked to sleep by the strong west Texas winds.
• RV Construction - Drawer slides and various seals tend to be insufficient for full-time use.  We replace these items as they fail for higher quality products.

Overall, I'd have to say I'm quite happy living in a small space and hope this sentiment stays with all three of us.  Going from nearly 2500 sq feet to a mere 400 sq feet makes me wonder; was I taking up too much space before?

Zoey's Texas

Zoey has adjusted well to the move and is happy to have her daddy back.  It's her understanding that our old house was getting too big so we had to move into our fifth wheel.  She says her favorite part of her new home is her new bedroom which has a ladder up to reach it and is decorated in all girlishness. She loves going up her ladder, hiding out and pretending it's Rapunzel's tower and hiding from the ruffians, hooligans and bad guys. Although a loft room is great for a little girl, it makes putting her to bed a bit of an acrobat act and although she cleans up herself, it still needs brushing up and that would be easier if I were a contortionist. 

Zoey speaks constantly about her family back in Idaho and starts most of her stories, "When I was two in Idaho....", because everything in the past was when she was two. Sometimes she questions it and scrunches her eyebrows together and asks "or was that when I was three?"

The fun thing about this age is they are always absorbing the world around them, and Zoey is no exception.  She loves all the new things she is learning and spews facts at random times.  She has learned a lot from TV, family and such.  Some random facts I have recently heard during our long commute to and from town are the following:  "Did you know what?" (it always starts with 'Did you know what?'), "Elephants have hair!" and "Horses can sleep STANDING UP!".  Some of her facts have sprung from her new experiences too.  "See there's a cactus! I told you there are cactus in Texas, but not big ones like in Arizona."  " Mom, when I go to school I'm going to tell the teacher that Oil Derricks can also be called Pump Jacks", and "There's a Pump Jack, and another, and another, they're everywhere, but not in Idaho because there is no oil in the ground in Idaho."

Recently Zoey refuses to eat any meal unless her "tummy has grumbled".  This is nondiscriminatory so neither her favorite food nor treats can tempt her into eating a  minute early.  Although this will no doubt contribute to her never having to worry about weight issues, it does make feeding her a challenge.  I have become an on demand cook and started slipping granola bars into my purse when we leave the house because she just may get hungry at any minute, but not now.  Not to worry though, when she does eat,  she eats well, and if we're out and she has something with catchup, she'll lick the catchup container dry; must be a Campbell thing.


The best part of being in Texas right now is the warmer winter.  We've tried to make the best of our long trips to town and visit the park between errands to take advantage of the best days.  Some days it has reached nearly 80 degrees and Zoey has been upset that the swimming parks aren't open yet. She tries to make friends at the park each time we go, sometimes she is successful and sometimes she is not, but every time she is adorable.

Goldsmith

After hitting all the RV Parks we could find in Odessa and Midland, we only found ourselves on waiting lists, many of which were several months long.  So we've landed in the little town of Goldsmith, population 250.  We're about 20 minutes Northwest of Odessa and therefore John is 30 minutes from work.

 Our current RV spot is merely a patch of dirt designated ours in a lot with hookups.  Each trailer is squeezed in to a minimum of personal space.  Our nearest neighbor is about 18 inches away, which could be helpful if I needed anything: Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon?  Fortunately we are the end trailer for the moment.  The owner plans on putting in more hookups but we hope to be gone before that happens.  The town siren is right over our heads and due to the fact I am living in an RV, I'm hoping that's not to warn of tornado's ...yikes!

Is this lived in trailer falling or is it just me?

The town offers a country store with sparsely stalked shelves of necessities like dish soap, trash bags, water (not advisable to drink groundwater in oil country), etc,  but few perishable items are offered.  Although there is a gas station here, it has no working pumps so we make sure our tanks never get below a quarter full before heading here. There are mini-RV-spots, much like ours, which are set up throughout the town to accommodate the overflow of oil workers who have come to the region.  Half the houses in Goldsmith are questionably inhabitable, but the people seem to be holding out. Dogs seem to be the pet of choice, maybe its a Texas thing, maybe its a small town thing, but they're everywhere and when I take a walk I "set off" all of them in town.  Interestingly, the town doesn't have individual trash service at all, but rather there are dumpsters at intervals in which the residents deposit their trash.  This is something I've never seen before for a whole town.

Goldsmith is our home for the moment, besides the natives are friendly and we have the comfort of our little home.  We are hoping to move into one of the parks that has a playground, trees, spaced trailers, a pool, and quite paved roads.  Until then, Goldsmith it is.

We're not in Idaho anymore!!!

Oil Derrick/Pump Jack in the snow.

First day in Texas and we get a snow storm of about 6 inches!!!  I can't be sure because of all the drifting, but it was more snow than I had seen in Idaho in a while.  Unfortunately I didn't exactly pack all my winter items, so I had to tough it out in sweaters and running-shoes. We waited until mid-day to venture out because we were more afraid of other drivers not knowing how to handle the snow, then the snow itself.  Two days of the roads looking like rivers, the famous Texas sun had quickly melted it all away.

Like anyone moving, I am finding some things are different in Texas then back home.  While other things  are the same: all have Walmart and McDonalds, but who needs those anyways.  Sam's Club is like Costco, but not really as nice.  This area has had such a boom that all the stores, restaurants and car washes are packed all the time.

I'd have to say, for the most part, driving in Texas is pretty good. The freeway in this part of Texas is 80mph and the rest stops are really nice.  One rest stop about an hour from Odessa is building full air conditioned buildings, has wifi, new and very large playgrounds, and best of all Texas is okay with travelers staying a night.  This is a good for someone living in an RV.  Most rural side roads are 70mph and .  When on a side road and coming up on a slower vehicle, (because I'm never the slower vehicle), the slower traffic pulls onto the wide paved shoulder and allows you to pass in the lane -eliminating the head on traffic passing.

John has done most of the driving and neither of us would survive without GPS navigation.  How ever did people survive without it before the wonderful technology age?

The Kingdom Hall is like any other with warm loving brothers and sisters, though I admit I felt pretty home sick and alone about 10 minutes into the meeting and not knowing a soul.  The Hall I am currently attending, subject to change if we find a better place to park the RV, houses 2 Spanish and an English congregation, and half the English congregation is also Spanish speaking. I look forward to getting to know all the 100 brothers and sisters in my congregation.  Meetings are Sunday at 1pm and Tuesday at 7:30pm, so don't call me in case I forget to turn my phone off, hehe.  Oh, and remember the 1 hour time difference.