We camped out that night - about 30 of us. It was cold and miserable but it was good to have people to talk to. Anything beat being stuck alone!
After the sun rose, we all got together to discuss a plan. We had a radio and they said that the road was clear to Midwest, WY. We worked but we got out around noon or so. We eased our way down the highway making sure to stay together and not lose sight of anyone. When we got to Midwest we filled up because every single one of us was around E, it was ridiculous. That little ma & pa station was very happy that we were there I bet.
Afterwards, seeing as how we were close to an interstate we went our separate ways, I stayed to eat. I'd gone a couple days without any warm food, I missed it. I hopped in the truck finally and was on my way. I called my parents and told them that I would be home in a few hours. Sort of relaxed a little bit, knowing things were going to be fine now.
As I was driving I was able to think a lot which was lovely...
I finally got to our yard around 4 or so and parked the truck. I had a busted tail-light which I didn't care about. If you've experienced something so terrible that for a period you were a different person; this was me. I walked into the office and told the manager I needed to speak with him. We went to his office and I told him I was done. I handed him my hard hat, coveralls, and the keys to the truck. I was going to spend my last week in Wyoming relaxing and enjoying it with my folks.
I am thankful for what Wyoming offered. I was able to get my foot in the door in two fields - O&G and Safety. Because of that I was going to be moving to the area of the country that I grew up in and work as a safety consultant for oilfield companies. Life was going good.
Monday, April 27, 2015
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
The Day
The thing about Wyoming is it is absolutely beautiful. If you haven't seen it in the winter or summer, or anytime you need to at least once. It is exactly what you should picture as the old west, because it is just that - the old west.
According to land size it is in the range of 10 land area in the USA and territories. Woah, right? Well, it's also the least populated state in the country as well. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 600,000 or so. Anyways, yeah, that tells you a lot. The town I was staying at, Douglas, had no affordable grocery stores or really any shopping. The closest town that did? Roughly 1 hour on the interstate going to Casper. What was between them? A small town that had nothing. So you drove and didn't really have much to do but go straight. When it snows, forget about it.
Back to the subject at hand...
Around August and September I was desperate. I knew winter was coming (I hate snow now, fyi) and I wanted no part of it. Finally I got a call from a company that wanted to bring me on board. I was ecstatic. I remember at the end of the call, they asked how much I made so they could compare. I told them there was no way they could but I was willing to move back for a "hometown discount". I gave my employer a 2 week notice, because that's what you're supposed to do (oops, sorry Walmart).
Then it happened...
About 3 days after I gave my notice a blizzard came in. My job had me going about 2.5 hours to a location in BFE. On good days I left at 3:30 to get there at 7. This day I left at about 2:15 and called to see if I was still needed. It was dangerous I knew. My supervisor told me yes and to not be late - this was the beginning of the worst day of my working life.
I drove, drove, and drove some more. About 30 minutes from the pad, I ran up on a crash scene that had roughly 6 trucks off the road in a ditch. I got to my lease road and drove about 5 mph. Going over the hill I noticed my truck sliding. I let got of the gas and kept going at the same speeds. I tried everything and wasn't stopping when finally I went right off the hill into a ditch about 30 feet from the road in whiteout conditions. I had no service or anything, was in a white truck, and it was around -10. I waved and yelled at trucks and equipment going by but no one saw me. About 20-30 minutes I made it onto the hill and called for help.
About 30 minutes later my supervisor and a couple others came in that same equipment I saw drive by. I was numb, tired, and hungry. After getting me out they pulled me to the entrance of the lease road and told me to get to the town about 30 miles away and stay. The roads weren't safe for vehicle traffic to the pad. I went.
Stupidest thing I've ever done and I regret it to this day. Probably forever. I got about 10 maybe 15 miles in whiteout conditions when I ran into a snow drift. This wasn't a normal one. I was in a 4x4 pickup with a lift kit. The snow was over my hood. I got out and threw one of the floor mats over my muffler so I wouldn't get carbon monoxide poisoning. I hopped back in and waited. About 10 minutes later I tried to get out and the doors were frozen shut. I was trapped!
Another 2 hours later my truck died. No eat, lights, anything. Thankfully it was around noon. I saw people who were also stuck. They tried to get me out but couldn't.
This was the first time ever I thought I was going to die. My feet were freezing, my vision was getting blurry and my throat was sore. I was covered in a blanket and had 3 layers of clothes on but nothing worked. The ONLY thing that kept me going was my daughter. I used my phone to look at pictures and videos of her and I knew I couldn't go out like this. She was 1.5 at the time and I was not going to let her grow up not being to teach her things I'd learned. She was my angel and this day she truly was.
When my phone died I just kept thing of things that would happen as she grew up. It may sound corny but I truly do love her unconditionally. About 6 hours after getting stuck originally some rescue workers showed up. They got me out by using a big sledgehammer on my door. What. A. Relief. We all got out and then the rescuers told us that they'd cleared a patch to the lease road again, but towards town was too dangerous.
We formed a line and went back, worked as a team, and got to the pad site just in time for night time to come.
According to land size it is in the range of 10 land area in the USA and territories. Woah, right? Well, it's also the least populated state in the country as well. Somewhere in the neighborhood of 600,000 or so. Anyways, yeah, that tells you a lot. The town I was staying at, Douglas, had no affordable grocery stores or really any shopping. The closest town that did? Roughly 1 hour on the interstate going to Casper. What was between them? A small town that had nothing. So you drove and didn't really have much to do but go straight. When it snows, forget about it.
Back to the subject at hand...
Around August and September I was desperate. I knew winter was coming (I hate snow now, fyi) and I wanted no part of it. Finally I got a call from a company that wanted to bring me on board. I was ecstatic. I remember at the end of the call, they asked how much I made so they could compare. I told them there was no way they could but I was willing to move back for a "hometown discount". I gave my employer a 2 week notice, because that's what you're supposed to do (oops, sorry Walmart).
Then it happened...
About 3 days after I gave my notice a blizzard came in. My job had me going about 2.5 hours to a location in BFE. On good days I left at 3:30 to get there at 7. This day I left at about 2:15 and called to see if I was still needed. It was dangerous I knew. My supervisor told me yes and to not be late - this was the beginning of the worst day of my working life.
I drove, drove, and drove some more. About 30 minutes from the pad, I ran up on a crash scene that had roughly 6 trucks off the road in a ditch. I got to my lease road and drove about 5 mph. Going over the hill I noticed my truck sliding. I let got of the gas and kept going at the same speeds. I tried everything and wasn't stopping when finally I went right off the hill into a ditch about 30 feet from the road in whiteout conditions. I had no service or anything, was in a white truck, and it was around -10. I waved and yelled at trucks and equipment going by but no one saw me. About 20-30 minutes I made it onto the hill and called for help.
About 30 minutes later my supervisor and a couple others came in that same equipment I saw drive by. I was numb, tired, and hungry. After getting me out they pulled me to the entrance of the lease road and told me to get to the town about 30 miles away and stay. The roads weren't safe for vehicle traffic to the pad. I went.
Stupidest thing I've ever done and I regret it to this day. Probably forever. I got about 10 maybe 15 miles in whiteout conditions when I ran into a snow drift. This wasn't a normal one. I was in a 4x4 pickup with a lift kit. The snow was over my hood. I got out and threw one of the floor mats over my muffler so I wouldn't get carbon monoxide poisoning. I hopped back in and waited. About 10 minutes later I tried to get out and the doors were frozen shut. I was trapped!
Another 2 hours later my truck died. No eat, lights, anything. Thankfully it was around noon. I saw people who were also stuck. They tried to get me out but couldn't.
This was the first time ever I thought I was going to die. My feet were freezing, my vision was getting blurry and my throat was sore. I was covered in a blanket and had 3 layers of clothes on but nothing worked. The ONLY thing that kept me going was my daughter. I used my phone to look at pictures and videos of her and I knew I couldn't go out like this. She was 1.5 at the time and I was not going to let her grow up not being to teach her things I'd learned. She was my angel and this day she truly was.
When my phone died I just kept thing of things that would happen as she grew up. It may sound corny but I truly do love her unconditionally. About 6 hours after getting stuck originally some rescue workers showed up. They got me out by using a big sledgehammer on my door. What. A. Relief. We all got out and then the rescuers told us that they'd cleared a patch to the lease road again, but towards town was too dangerous.
We formed a line and went back, worked as a team, and got to the pad site just in time for night time to come.
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
FINALLY!!!!!
Patience, or lack thereof, finally worked! I showed up one morning for a safety meeting and afterwards my boss called me into his office. There were 2 of them in there. My first thought, like most people would expect was that I was going to get a pay raise! Ha! Just kidding. I was expecting them to let me go, of course. Well.
That was a big old nope. They asked why I moved to Wyoming. I told them "I came here to 1) spend time with my family 2) get the humongous debt off my back 3) gain experience". That won them over... no, seriously... we talked for about 30 minutes and then they asked if I'd be willing to work overnights to do gate-watch. We had 2 contracts with 2 companies and no one was willing to work overnight to gate-watch. Now, I didn't know what that entailed but it sure did sound too good to be true.
They told me this, "You will take a truck, sign, clipboard and sign-in sheet to the location. Once there, take and set the sign up, make sure your lights are on, get in the truck and wait. Make sure you bring something to do until you get relieved either by day crew or my a company man." I thought it was a joke or a trap or something. They informed me that I would still get paid the same, just I would get consistent hours since the contracts would through the end of the year.
I went home and told everybody. No one believed me at first. I went to sleep for a bit and got ready to try this whole "gate-watch" thing out. Couldn't hurt, right? Well, lo and behold it was a godsend.
This was when things really started taking off! I put in consecutive 80+ hour weeks and was finally making some money to put away. After this point, around May or so, I never made less than $1,800 a check. Matter of fact, a majority of the time, I was making $2,300/check this was every 2 weeks.
Things were finally SOLID!
That was a big old nope. They asked why I moved to Wyoming. I told them "I came here to 1) spend time with my family 2) get the humongous debt off my back 3) gain experience". That won them over... no, seriously... we talked for about 30 minutes and then they asked if I'd be willing to work overnights to do gate-watch. We had 2 contracts with 2 companies and no one was willing to work overnight to gate-watch. Now, I didn't know what that entailed but it sure did sound too good to be true.
They told me this, "You will take a truck, sign, clipboard and sign-in sheet to the location. Once there, take and set the sign up, make sure your lights are on, get in the truck and wait. Make sure you bring something to do until you get relieved either by day crew or my a company man." I thought it was a joke or a trap or something. They informed me that I would still get paid the same, just I would get consistent hours since the contracts would through the end of the year.
I went home and told everybody. No one believed me at first. I went to sleep for a bit and got ready to try this whole "gate-watch" thing out. Couldn't hurt, right? Well, lo and behold it was a godsend.
This was when things really started taking off! I put in consecutive 80+ hour weeks and was finally making some money to put away. After this point, around May or so, I never made less than $1,800 a check. Matter of fact, a majority of the time, I was making $2,300/check this was every 2 weeks.
Things were finally SOLID!
Thursday, April 9, 2015
Settling in nicely!
My new job which I had accepted was doing labor in the oil field. Money was limited to how much I was willing to do - which was nice!
Starting off, work was slow. Had to get certified to do different jobs, get on company leases, etc. My first 3 or 4 checks (about 2 months) wasn't all that great. Making less than what I was previously. Debt once again started creeping into the fold. Then a breakthrough, we got a huge contract with a company that was going to bring in the hours.
Got home from work one day, was eating with my family, when my boss called. I was being assigned to do overnight work with Halliburton. Started doing that, working a minimum of 14 hours for about 10 days. My paycheck was nice! Paid off a couple of things that had been lingering for about a year. Work got steady again; wasn't making a lot but was making consistent money.
Once again, however, work died down. I showed up for, I believe, about 3 or 4 days with nothing. A lot of people were off, getting frustrated, etc. I looked at it optimistically. I may have been new to the oil field but I was certainly aware of the cyclical nature of it. I spent time with my family, relaxed, and waited...
and waited...
and waited... Now, I wasn't going without work. Just getting paid to work around the shop and whatnot. Staying afloat not really doing much. I am just an impatient person when it comes to finances (thanks mom!). I came up here to not only see my parents more but to get out of the bind. I was doing that - I just wanted it now!
Starting off, work was slow. Had to get certified to do different jobs, get on company leases, etc. My first 3 or 4 checks (about 2 months) wasn't all that great. Making less than what I was previously. Debt once again started creeping into the fold. Then a breakthrough, we got a huge contract with a company that was going to bring in the hours.
Got home from work one day, was eating with my family, when my boss called. I was being assigned to do overnight work with Halliburton. Started doing that, working a minimum of 14 hours for about 10 days. My paycheck was nice! Paid off a couple of things that had been lingering for about a year. Work got steady again; wasn't making a lot but was making consistent money.
Once again, however, work died down. I showed up for, I believe, about 3 or 4 days with nothing. A lot of people were off, getting frustrated, etc. I looked at it optimistically. I may have been new to the oil field but I was certainly aware of the cyclical nature of it. I spent time with my family, relaxed, and waited...
and waited...
and waited... Now, I wasn't going without work. Just getting paid to work around the shop and whatnot. Staying afloat not really doing much. I am just an impatient person when it comes to finances (thanks mom!). I came up here to not only see my parents more but to get out of the bind. I was doing that - I just wanted it now!
Tuesday, April 7, 2015
On the road again
Okay everyone, so I left you off last time with The beginning of my journey and want to keep things going; have about 2.5 years left of material!
Anyways, my family moved up to Wyoming in late December 2012, I had a good job (most money I'd ever made) and started to climb out of debt. Remember, I was "sunk" with no way of getting out. When I finally started getting paychecks I was able to make payments toward my debt, getting balances lowered to reasonable amounts. Then another speed bump...
After finally thinking there was light at the end of the tunnel, I showed up to work one day and the manager called me into his office. We sat down and he said that "corporate felt there was no need for my services further". Wow, talk about a bombshell going off. I was devastated. Wasn't sure what I was going to do. I didn't move up there to live forever, but to get my self in a good spot.
Luckily, I had a couple applications still out from applying when I moved up there. Roughly 3 hours later another oil services company called offering me a job. Better pay, with overtime, and more hours if I chose. I wouldn't be doing safety but I would be getting more experience in the oil field and getting overtime which would be nice. I called back soon after and accepted the job. He gave me an orientation date for a couple days later. Once again I was on the road again!
Anyways, my family moved up to Wyoming in late December 2012, I had a good job (most money I'd ever made) and started to climb out of debt. Remember, I was "sunk" with no way of getting out. When I finally started getting paychecks I was able to make payments toward my debt, getting balances lowered to reasonable amounts. Then another speed bump...
After finally thinking there was light at the end of the tunnel, I showed up to work one day and the manager called me into his office. We sat down and he said that "corporate felt there was no need for my services further". Wow, talk about a bombshell going off. I was devastated. Wasn't sure what I was going to do. I didn't move up there to live forever, but to get my self in a good spot.
Luckily, I had a couple applications still out from applying when I moved up there. Roughly 3 hours later another oil services company called offering me a job. Better pay, with overtime, and more hours if I chose. I wouldn't be doing safety but I would be getting more experience in the oil field and getting overtime which would be nice. I called back soon after and accepted the job. He gave me an orientation date for a couple days later. Once again I was on the road again!
Friday, April 3, 2015
The start of the journey...
Hi everyone. Starting a blog about something that I actually know about - financial recovery. How do I know? Because I am currently doing it.
See, I made a mistake a few years ago when I got married. Before then, I was very good with making smart financial decisions. About 2 years into college I had achieved a credit score of 798! Woah! I was gonna be set when I graduated. Alas, that was not to be. My last year I met someone who would be my wife and the mother of my daughter. We struggled like all newlyweds do. I couldn't land a job in my field because she refused to move with me and I felt that my marriage was more important.
Anyways, our marriage was in shambles. We were both stressed balancing bills and juggling credit cards (taken out to get the kids clothes for school and food). I finally made a decision - November of 2013 - that would change my life for the better. I was making just above minimum wage, and juggling bills like someone in the circus. Had an apartment and 5 mouths to feed.
I left Oklahoma with roughly $60,000 in debt and moved to Wyoming to live with my parents and try the job market up there. Oil and Coal are huge employers. About a week after arriving and applying everywhere I got a call and offered a job as a Safety Director for a oil services company. This was the break I was needing and gave me faith and happiness because I kept trucking along.
After negotiating a salary and going over benefits I accepted. The salary was below the market up there but it was more than I've made and it was going to open doors. After I got the job, I saved up money and managed to get my family up there with me. We were finally going to make it.
See, I made a mistake a few years ago when I got married. Before then, I was very good with making smart financial decisions. About 2 years into college I had achieved a credit score of 798! Woah! I was gonna be set when I graduated. Alas, that was not to be. My last year I met someone who would be my wife and the mother of my daughter. We struggled like all newlyweds do. I couldn't land a job in my field because she refused to move with me and I felt that my marriage was more important.
Anyways, our marriage was in shambles. We were both stressed balancing bills and juggling credit cards (taken out to get the kids clothes for school and food). I finally made a decision - November of 2013 - that would change my life for the better. I was making just above minimum wage, and juggling bills like someone in the circus. Had an apartment and 5 mouths to feed.
I left Oklahoma with roughly $60,000 in debt and moved to Wyoming to live with my parents and try the job market up there. Oil and Coal are huge employers. About a week after arriving and applying everywhere I got a call and offered a job as a Safety Director for a oil services company. This was the break I was needing and gave me faith and happiness because I kept trucking along.
After negotiating a salary and going over benefits I accepted. The salary was below the market up there but it was more than I've made and it was going to open doors. After I got the job, I saved up money and managed to get my family up there with me. We were finally going to make it.
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