Why is Gate Guarding like a Sabbatical?

Definition of Sabbatical:  Bringing a period of rest.  Well to me it means getting away and doing some soul searching or meditating.  We have had plenty of time to do that.  Since I am awake while Ed sleeps and vice-versa, we both have had a lot of time alone.  Plus we are out here in the middle of nowhere, with no place to go and nothing to do. When we do to go to town only one of us can go, thus more time alone.  My day starts at 4 am.  I have always liked getting up early and reading my bible and praying, so this is perfect for me.  Although I have to admit 4am is a little early. 

So Ed and I  have been discussing gate guarding is like going on a sabbatical.  We are working but our trucks are few and far between so there is a lot of time of doing nothing.  Ed watches tv and I spend a lot of time on the computer.   Both of our job sites have been really slow so we  haven't worked very hard.  How often can you get paid for sitting around doing nothing.

The first month we were here was very relaxing for me.    It felt really good after a hectic couple of months just to have some down time.  The second and third month weren't bad.  But now comes the fourth month going into the fifth,  we are really ready to leave.  We have been counting down the days for the last month.  We were going to leave Feb 1st but decided to stay until Feb 15th.  We are so ready to go. We are looking forward to eating out, shopping, sightseeing and just everything. 

I have to say this gate guarding has been a good experience.  I wouldn't want to do it long term but I am glad we have done it and it served it's purpose. 

Ed went around and took pictures of some of the people that are gate guarding and got a little bit of their stories.

We try and make the most of not having any grass
 

This is a deer stand and the trucks drive by and
he gets their information.   On the right you will see a tray, it's one of
those car hop trays. His wife brings his meals out and hooks them
on the window.

This is where the guy in the previous picture lives with his wife,
the deer stand is just to the left of it.  They have done this for
1 year and plan on doing it for 4 more years.

They have been here long enough to build
a deck

This is a mother and daughter team plus 2 kids (9 and 6)
They have been gate guards for 1 year

This couple have a house just outside of San Antonio,
They do this part time to supplement their social security.
They have a real nice spot. 


 

I thought this was interesting when I saw it.  The front one shades the MH
and the one on top shades the air conditioner.
 They plan on being here for the summer.

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They look like they brought everything, sort of like me.

This was an older guy who does the gate by himself.  I guess
when you have a slow gate you can do that.
He just doses off on the couch between trucks.
 

Well you can see that people use all kinds of rv's and different sizes to gate guard in.  Some people come in for short times and others plan on staying for several years.   Our time has been almost 5 months and we are more than ready to go.

Then of course there is us,  this is the back side.  Shows you all the
brush, which is he reason we have so many mice and rats.

On a side note we are up to 5 rats and I quit counting the mice.  We have a sticky black glue trap which we hadn't check for about a week.  It was stuck up under the gas pedal so we couldn't see it very well.  I looked at it one day and it had 3 mice stuck on it.  Don't know how long they had been there.  That is one thing I won't miss about gate guarding.

With just one day of rain, we had mud everywhere.  You just sink down into it.  So Ed came up with the idea of wearing his boots out to the gate.  That way we just slip into them at the door and slip them off when we come back in.  I didn't want to do it at first.  I felt dumb walking out to the gate in these big boots, but the mud sticks to your shoes so bad, I didn't have any choice. 

Don't I look nice?

I had more pictures but my Internet is so slow I decided to stop here.

Happy Trails.   Love Ed and Lyn


James 1:5  If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who gives to all liberally
                  and without reproach, and it will be given him.