First travel day done...

We arrived in Three Rivers South RV Park. Not a bad travel day in all. I always have an adjustment period. It's just me.
About 30 miles south of Falfurrious, Butch says there is a patrolman behind us with his lights on. So he pulled over a bit but decided it wasn't us he wanted. A big, black imposing pickup went whizzing by us and Butch says there is the guy he wants. The pickup did not slow down right away but eventually it did and all the doors flew open and about 10 people boiled out, jumped the fence and ran off into the brush. The vision of one woman/girl with long black hair in a ponytail stuck in my mind all day. And that was the most amazing thing that happened all day.
We met up with friends Tom and Wanda Burnell and they invited us over for enchiladas. Tom does the cooking in their family and the enchiladas were mighty delicious. We met Tom and Wanda at Thunder Bay Golf and RV Resort in Hillman, MI in 2010 so it has been 5 years since we have seen them.  Their lifestyle intrigues everyone including us. They are full-timer RV workcampers and they have had many interesting assignments; Campground managers in El Centro California, Stonington Maine, Matagorda Tx, a couple of stints at Amazon, and currently gatekeepers at oilfields in the Tilden Texas area.The gatekeeper job is 24/7 and their duties as a team are to check in and out trucks entering and leaving the oilfields. While working they are very well paid every two weeks. And otherwise they wait for a new assignment in a full hookup RV site with free wi-fi and cable at no cost to them. They said they waited 4 weeks for their first assignment but when the rent is not an issue why worry? They are led to their assignments as they are usually in very isolated areas and while there, they are provided a large generator, plenty of propane, water, and, sewage removal. In other words, they have all the comforts of an RV park.  On the downside of the job, they have to be ready within three hours to be led to an assignment. And someone has to be on duty throughout the night. They have a doorbell system that lets them know when a truck pulls in the gate.They lead a very interesting life. If there are people interested in doing any of this, I am sure they would be happy to lead them in the right direction.
While they were at Matagorda they would look for shells. (Matagorda is on the gulf not far from Corpus Christi.) On one of their shell gathering excursions, Tom found this item.

It is shell and barnacle encrusted and very, very heavy. After looking it over closely, Tom decided it could be a sword. And after we looked it over we decided he was right! They would love to get it x-rayed and find out for certain. What a find!!

Wanda was taking a photo of us taking a photo of her.

 This was the view out their door. As you look around the countryside where they are located there are hundreds of these "bonfires" in the air.

 This is Tom and Rosa. Rosa and Tom were singing a tune for us. Maybe an aria would be more accurate.

 Not difficult to discern that Tom and Rosa are tight.

We enjoyed our visit with our Michigan friends. One of the great benefits of the fulltime lifestyle is the number of fantastic people you meet from all different parts of the country.
 One of Wanda's choices of fun is mowing. Yes, I said mowing!  It was her job while workamping in Michigan and she was always raring to go. Tom said she was mowing after dark one night and he was trying to get her to quit and come in for supper. He said, "You can't mow after dark." She said, "They would not put lights on mowers if they were not meant to be used." She has much in common with Butch's brother Leo.