I'm a stone cold rookie, gonna work the texas oil fields

Thanks, i try to keep it real and give the inside scoop as to what to expect. For instance, its fairly standard that most water haulers, once they are trained, will work the night shift. I myself started that over a week ago and i been working mostly 15 hour shifts on top of that. The 15 hours isnt exactly common because it depends on the work load for the night, but the night experience has really burned me out, thus why i havent posted in here for a few days. Think about it, 15 hours a day with the same person, people in mariage dont spend that kind of time together. Its easy to get burned out, irritable etc etc. with those kinds of hours, the night adjustment, lack of sleep and no life other than work. My day off is mostly spent sleeping and watching a little tv and tv is more torture than adjusting to nights.

thanks, i sure will. heres a story for ya, i been here for about 6 weeks and i still havent got paid for my first 27 hours lol.

we drive macks and they are anywhere from 8, 10 to 13 speeds. yes they are well maintained as maintenance is concerned. i heard nabors has the best maintained trucks in the area.....thats what i heard and its probably true.

lol no, this isnt north dakota, i live in a cheap motel about 5 minutes from work in sonora. Getting a motel here is no big deal but other areas start to become a problem when it comes to finding a place to stay.....but nothing like north dakota. When you find a place that is hiring, then google the motels in the area and give them a call. This will give you a good indication of what housing is like in the area. If all the motels are full, then ask them how often rooms open up etc. etc.....some of these towns are really small and the nearest towns with rooms available might be over 50 miles away. This happens in texas too, not just north dakota.....but even so, its not as bad and if there is a will, there is a way in texas, where as in north dakota, things can be virtually impossible to a reasonable extent.

A trailer solves just about all problems. If you dont have one, then in texas, you will have to be a little selective about what area you work if you are in a hurry to work and dont have time to wait for a motel or apartment to open up.

as soon as you get your license, get your butt out here if youre serious. I personally believe as time goes by, these jobs are gonna get harder and pickier to get because more and more people are discovering these driving jobs. I heard north dakota got a huge influx of people because of what they saw on a news report, it wont take long for all those who couldnt make it in north dakota to come to texas......just my opinion.

yes, to my good friend gisquid,

Paul Couto

yes, if you read my entire thread, then you should realize i am no more speacial than you or anyone else, come and get it!

well said and very accurate. when are you comin gisquid?

 

yes but the raise is a per diem type deal, it doesnt go on top of your wage which is real bs but whatever, i got a job and i can grind it out. They paying well where youre at?

 

ok, so got the weekend off. I plan on buying a gps to help me at night time because i cant see a #### thing. I have a garmin nuvi but it doesnt work well for off roads. I contacted garmin customer support and found out all the info i needed. I need a gps that tracks the trails i drive, the nuvi doesnt do this but the etrex-10 does. This really helps when you are trying to get out of a lease road which can get confusing for me because i dont see well at night and i got a horrible sense of direction. What the etrex does is leave a digital bread crumb trail behind you, so if i'm ever called to the same site on a later date, i just go to my favorites, pull up that site and just follow the trail on the screen.

Its so #### dark out here at night and these lease entrances are practically invisible for me. Ive blown past the same entrance twice in the same night before even when i'm very dilligent about looking for it. It will be so nice to have these things marked out so i dont have to waste mental energy trying to find this stuff in the dark. So what i will do is buy it tomorrow and go out for a drive to my most common locations and mark them out on the gps. As i go to new sites on the job, i'll record those too.

I'm also going to buy some new water proof boots and some rain gear. I think all these things are important to make your job as comfortable as possible because its easy to burn out towards the end of a long shift. The gps will really help with that too.

I still havent got used to nights 100%. I dont feel tired but on long drives, i still get really sleepy. It really sucks. I go from seeing double to a virtual blurr and then shake my head to clear my vision and then slowly go back to seeing double etc. etc. and i play this game with myself for miles and miles down the road. When i finally drive on my own, i'll pull over for a 10 minute power nap, i'm sure that will help, but i cant do that with a trainer on board. Nabors is still lagging on getting my certification through. I still havent got paid for my first 27 hours either.