Meeting the neighbors

Wednesday was another hot and dusty day here at the Hinkle gate. I had a little business overnight, mostly people turning into our site and being in the wrong place.

The water truck did arrive as promised and made a couple of passes and as predicted the dust was back within a couple of hours :-( Oh well, the effort was appreciated.

We had a surprise visit from Lou Minichino who, along with his wife Lil, are guarding a gate a few miles from us. I was grabbing some sleep and didn't get to meet him but we have already been corresponding by email. He and Rudee had a nice visit. They are rookies at this gate guarding thing too and have only been on their gate a few days longer than us.

I needed to make a run into town for a few supplies so took care of that late in the afternoon. There is another gate about 3 miles from us that I pass by on my drive to town and on my way back I saw the guard outside so I stopped in and introduced myself to Fay. She is a widow who is gate guarding alone! She works this gate 24/7 all by herself. That has to be tough when things are busy. I have no idea how she gets to leave to get her groceries and other errands done.

Once I made it back to the 5er I started our supper. Salmon Patties with roasted potatoes and a salad. Turned out pretty well even though I was just "wingin it" for most of the meal. We had 2 patties left over and Rudee froze them for a future meal.

The gate got busy right when we were wanting to eat so we took our salads outside in the shade to eat between checking vehicles in and out.

We both had the feeling we were being watched. Ever have that feeling? Rudee found out we have more neighbors :-)

I talked to the "safety man" and the only part of the rig is here. The rest of it should arrive sometime Thursday and he said they would probably start drilling sometime this week end. The drilling will last for around 3 weeks and then they tear down and move on. Sometimes they take their gate guards along to their new site if they like them.

The drilling crew came in late this evening and moved into their housing units at the well site. Looks like Hinkle A-2H will be more than just a gravel spot on the side of the road soon. I'll keep you posted.