do you want to go to work in the ND oil feilds

Good posts!

 

Here is another bit of info for u to chew one. Since I wrote my last post I have been running the same well. Let me explain: a well strats fracing and they do a prefill of sand into these massive tanks. Once those are filled. They start fracing. Once the well is fracing they continue to use sand. So all I been doing for the last 3 days is going back and forth from a pick point to here to unload. Once hear I hook one hose up and wait a hour to unload. The. Done I do it again. Pay starts once I started the job. The clock ain't stopped. U do the math on how many hours I racked up. And it's only a few days in the pay period.
Now with that said, here is the other side of the coin.
I have to live in the truck while at the job site.
Its 8 degrees outside right now.
I have to chain up going I. To the well cause they are all dirt roads and I swear them make them to test drivers. It's a one lane dirt road with drop in to big ditches on both sides. Drivers, even with chains, still manage to dump one in the ditch every once in awhile. So the whole place stops all traffic till that gets cleaned up. It gets so bad getting in and out on some jobs that they have a doozer on site to help pull u in and out. this is while u are chained with triple rail chains. This job is mandatory two triple rails on at al times once off the highway. The road to the well is only about mile. But it's the worst mile some of you highway cruisers ever seen unless u drove out here or drove a dump truck before.

It it gets better.
Once in u sit and wait till its ur turn to unload.
Your getting paid ao that's when u sleep. U get any were from 15 min wait till they call u up or 8 hours and up. It all depends on the weather and what the well is doing. That's why u rack so make hours up.

But i it know what your saying, waiting is easy lol I can do that.
Well, come on down. It's so cold my heater is on full blast and it can barly keep up. I have a pair of long jobs on, cold weather pants and top and cold weather cover all with cold weather boots that have an extra boot inside (like a massive sock..army issue cold weather gear). And I'm still cold when I get out. The wind blows and your moister off your breath freezes on your beard and gives u ice on your face if it ain't covered up. Then u have the dirt and snow while chaining. That's always a joy. Throwing on and man handling triple rail chains ( they weight a #### load) and staying clean is an oxymoron. It don't work. After u chained, u will be filthy lol. That's all there is to it. The. U have to stay dressed and ready for when they call u. So enjoy laying on your clean blanket after u just chained and are sweating like a ##### in church with frozen bugers under your nose from breathing so hard.

What i did is set my top bunk up with clean sheets and a new mattress. If I know I'm getting 5 hours for sure, I undress and climb up there. If I'm not sure I stay geared up and lay down on the bottom mattress. That has no sheets and I don't give a #### about it. So I shake my boots off and lay down for some quick naps.

And then there is the food, smokes, and tolite issues around the staging area. THERE ARE NONE. u have to bring your own and always be ready to stay for a week on end. U have to be fueled at least over a half tank at all times so u can idle for long periods if need be.
Let me also remind u about showers. I ain't had one in days. Last time I stopped to fuel I was just to plaing tired to go. I crawled back in the truck for a power nap and did another load. Don't worry u get used to washing your hands and face with clean snow ( works well) and also baby wipes in other important places.

Then you have the inside of your truck and with all that in and out and chain up and down and drag those 4 inch think 100lbs hoses all over the place u can imagine what your clothes look like. U dirty and ####. And it all tracks back inside your truck.

Good of luck finding energy to clean that. Some times u get lucky and u will have time but the energy and motivation is a diffrent story. At least it is for me. It gets dirty in 1 day again. Just throw the big stuff out and get used to the rest of the dust that drys up. Just don't turn a vent on u while u eat lolol.

From on my posts and others u should be able to comprehend what's going on out here. There are a lot of things I will not post on a public form. :/ u will need to come see for yourself or just hear about from someone else.

So there is at least most of the other side of the coin that u will see out here.

Btw tq typed from ph so I didn't proof read or spell check. Sorry I just don't feel like it right now. Lol I'm tired and hungry and grouchy.

I hope I contributed some useful Info to u rookies out there and maybe help u comprehend the ups and downs.

 

chaining isn't that bad though after you have done it a few 100 times you don't even break a sweat throwing a set of 3 railers. some of the roads out here though will really test even experienced oil field haulers esp in the winter time.

i also feel there is always time to keep your truck clean inside, 5 mins here or there goes a long way.

other than that though good post.

 

I try to keep it clean inside my truck but it's a losing fight most of the time. The sleeper stays clean but the cab gets it's fair share of dirt in it all day long.
I'm waiting right now to load crude at the lease, this will be my 7th load for the day so far, hoping to get an 8th if I can. 8 loads a day is approx $450 pay for me as a driver on percentage. Takes me about 12 hours to do 8 loads in a day.

 

The only regret I have about working in the patch is that I didn't come here sooner!

 

yeah it feel like a losing fight sometimes but i always keep them moist armor all wipes in the truck some cleaners and paper towels. a good floor mat helps a lot as well. my boots also never leave the floor mat in the truck.

 

that was my thought when i got started working in the oil feilds

your probably wishing you kept that w-9 and leased it on with a oil field hauling company....lol

 

Read the first couple pages and the last two, and the conditions seem pretty crazy. I'm 23 years from Southern California, just got laid off 1.5 weeks ago, and have enough money to go to trucking school to my CDL A and tanker/hazmat endorsements. I might just go to Texas because the conditions don't seem AS bad there as it is up in ND. No having to worry about valves or hoses freezing up and exploding on me in Texas lol Most have of my previous jobs have been doing sales and customer service for dealerships and shops (service advisor), so getting into trucking will be quite a change to me. Was debating on just going out and being a roughneck or becoming a trucker and I chose trucker in case I wanted to go into the rail road after I doing some time on the oil fields in TX or ND. I guess the easiest thing for me is that i'm not married and don't have kids, so I can just get up and go to where the work is. Quick question as well, I have two speeding tickets, one that I got one year ago, and one that I got two years ago, is that going to be a big problem in the hiring process? Some of the companies that I looked up in Texas allow you to have two moving violations in three years, but I don't know how it is in ND in case I go that route.

 

The thought has crossed my mind more than once this past few weeks! I'm going to give it 12 months to get the experience and then look at buying another truck. The money is here for sure and the work is steady year round doing this infield work so I think it wouldn't be too far out of the question to get into another truck of my own. I need to gain some more experience and knowledge before I do make a purchase but I'm already itching to go to KW and lay down some coin on a new W9!

 

2nd that If I got here in 08,09 Id be retired now.