Training Adventures with Sage in Cheyenne, WY

So. I posted yesterday that something had happened that I disagreed with but I didn't know what to do about it. Well, I'm rather embarrassed to admit this, but.. long story short, a student asked a question, and the instructor answered it. I did not hear the question, only the answer, and mistakenly thought the instructor was teaching something that is rather, well, frowned upon by the DOT. After talking with another student today, I suddenly realized the instructor was answering the other student's question, so.. well.. I feel like a moron.

Annnnyway...... today's Sage Report! We went over trip planning today.. what a pain the butt! (But a very necessary evil, I know!)
To previous Sage students: Why'd you have to go and rip out all the pages of the atlases and put them back in completely random order?!? (I'm talkin to you, Jynxx and Hanzerik...! lol)
To future Sage students: You're welcome. My OCD kicked in and I put them all back where they're supposed to be.. At least in ONE atlas!

So.. tomorrow, more trip planning; more hours of service. Saturday, two drives (one range, one street). Sunday, I have no idea -- the schedule isn't out yet and I am obviously not a fortune-teller!

Btw, Hanzerik, if you change your mind, Sanjel is still wanting people in both Riverton (relocate) and N.D. He talked like they're even wanting people in San Antonio if you want to go that route. He was real careful to tell us that it's only about 10% driving tho. So, not for me. I'm lookin to drive, not be an oilfield worker! (Although my wife did tell me last night that, for the money, she might be willing to be apart from me for 15 days at a time.. wonder what that means.. I never was good at subtleties... LOL!)

 

Yeah, most of the time when you are working a Frac or Coiled Tubing operation, you as the "driver" don't do much. The busiest times are rigging up and rigging down. That is when you are pounding iron; connecting all of the units (trucks) up to the well head. Then from what I have seen of those guys, they check their equipment out and wait around for the frac to kick off. Then they'll position themselves where they need to be for that stage/zone, and then after that they'll jump back in the cab until the next one goes. Fracs can go smooth, and fracs can go bad, have seen both. Smooth fracs are nice because for what I was doing in Frac heating, you can get into a rhythm as far as keeping the water hot enough for the next stage/zone. When something goes wrong, like a pump truck goes down, or a cable breaks, it screws your timing up...but it does mean you can catch some zzz's while waiting.

I know Halliburton usually has two crews that run 12hr shifts. I have only worked one frac where Big Red only used one crew and only worked daylight hours. Last frac I worked was non stop, which most of them are. As far as driving goes, you may end up moving to another well site a few hundred miles away, or you may end up rigging down and only move right down the road and rig up all over again.

The frac heaters are almost always heating water to keep up. Big fracs can require one, two, and sometimes three frac heaters running to keep the water going down hole at the right temp. And I'm talking about thousands of gallons of propane a day. Frac heating is a specialized job seperate from companies like Halliburton, Sanjel, etc. Some companies are very good at it (Like my last company), and some are not so good, and cant keep the water hot. Thats the name of the game; being able to heat water fast.

Oilfield work can be fun, good paying, and in my opinion interesting. I did different things during my time in the Oilfield: Water Hauling, Frac tank movement, Propane hauling, and Frac Heating.

 

I frikkin KNEW it!! lol

See, that just does not interest me at all.. I like driving.. if I HAVE to do something besides that, well.. I'll do it.. but when it's 10% driving and 90% other stuff, I gotta pass!

 

The only LTL I've checked into locally is Conway (they want more experience than I've got). There are a couple other LTL companies that I'm going to check out tho. Also might check into Dyno Nobel again. I understand they hired a student straight out of school a couple months ago.

 

Nowwww for the Sage Report!

Busy day today! Two drives -- one this morning (on the range again...) and one tonight (on the road again...)!
This morning's range time was very beneficial.. Some great instruction which made me wayyy more comfortable backing up, especially on the 90's.
This evening's drive time was.. well.. interesting. Considering at the end of the drive the instructor says, "Well, I think we can call it a day a little early tonight. You didn't run over any curbs, you didn't squash any cars, and you avoided two very potential accidents -- I'd say you're good!" LOL

Anyway, things are looking good. I'll be finishing up classroom time this coming Wednesday, then *hopefully* finishing up my drives by the following Saturday! So, by Monday I could potentially get a job! (Somewhere!) lol

 

The LTL side of Conway is not somewhere you want to be. At least they used to... put new drivers on the dock. You do more miles schlepping freight onto the pups than you will in a truck for as much as a year.