# I Quit Hauling Rv's



## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

I made a alot of good friends hauling rv's. I met this cool dude that lived in the very NW corner of North Dakota. We have gotten to be very good buds. Anyway he quit hauling rv's last spring. Went to hauling water for the oil field. He makes over 2500 a week. He is about 60 and has paid all of his bills off. Now he is only working weekends and makes like 800 for 2 days work.

Hmmmmm, yea, lol Im taking his spot. I bought an old dodge caravan and have outfitted it to sleep in for the winter. I will be staying at his place and using his house, but will sleep in my van. After sleeping 3 years in the backseat area of a dodge crew cab this will be like heaven! I got plenty of room.

I will start at over 2k a week and will be making 2500 or more within a month or two. I'll be hauling water in a tanker in the crazy booming oilfield up there. Will work 6-7 days a week for 2-3 weeks, my choice, and will go home for a week. There is no housing to be had. A small old mobile home is renting for like 1500 a month when they come up for rent. But doesnt really matter. There are none for rent.

The ice road truckers have deliniator posts to help them find there way. Well in that part of NoDak, they have none of those. The driving will be extreme, and the weather conditions will be extreme. Yep thats right up my alley. They recorded a 58 below wind chill up there last winter, lol so yep I will have to buy me some insulated carharts and some good long underwear!

The avg trucker makes 1000 a week. I made that hauling rv's too. So you can see why Im doing this. Im gone 2-4 weeks hauling rvs. Will be gone the same, but make double the pay.

I have seen several northern light shows in that part of NoDak. Yes I will be bringing my camera all and I will keep you all tuned into my new venture.

I will be running semis more off road than on, so it wont be long and I bet I have a good story for you all.

I had a really great time hauling rv's. Im keeping my 385k mile dodge for a while. Like whats its value now, lol I actually teared up when I told the bosses I was quiting. Hauling rvs was one of the greatest experiences in my life! I seen about every corner of western canada and will miss the days hauling those big horns and landmarks! But I just got to do this. Its another step in my driving career I just have to do. Crosby is just a couple miles south of the sask border and its like 850 miles from my house. I will run right thru the black hills each trip home so will see some beautiful snowy blachills mtns this winter.

The boss bought a chunk of land and is putting in mobile homes for us guys to stay in, but it will be spring before they are ready. So no biggie, as long as I can plug into power I will stay toasty warm in my minivan. Im gonna start me a web page on how to sleep in a minvan in the winter of NoDak so other people interested in coming up, but cant because of housing problems can see one can be comfortable sleeping in a minvan.

Will be heading out tomorrow or sat morning. You guys already know, I'll keep you tuned in.

Take Care All!
Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Oh and why so much water? They are drilling 1000's of oil wells up there in the Willston basin. Its a huge area that goes into Alberta, Saskatchewan, N & S Dakota and Montana. They are drilling verticlly and horizontally and then filling the hole with fluids and putiing that under pressure to fracture the earth so the earth bleeds oil. The oil is sucked or has its own pressure to the top. Thats short words on the subject. I will haul fresh water into 20000 gallon frac tanks. It takes many frac tanks for each well. The water is heated and circulated to keep it warm.

Nothing stops the oil companies from getting oil. They use huge semi mounted heaters to warm the water.

Then they put the muddied water that has chemicals in it back into the frac tanks after they are done. We then vacc that into our tanks and take it to a disposal site. So for a water truck driver the work is literally endless. They need us before and after. There are 1000's of truck driver openings up there with no end in site of the drilling ending. All pay 1000's a week.

Carey


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## Yianni (Aug 30, 2006)

Carey, best of luck to you my friend. It's been great following you while you delivered RV's, and this new venture sounds even more exciting. Keep the pics coming for us and keep us posted.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Yianni said:


> Carey, best of luck to you my friend. It's been great following you while you delivered RV's, and this new venture sounds even more exciting. Keep the pics coming for us and keep us posted.


Hey hows that Cyclone? Your model was my favorite Cyclone to pull. I think that size is the best Cyclone of em all! Thanks Yianni!

Carey


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## Yianni (Aug 30, 2006)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> Carey, best of luck to you my friend. It's been great following you while you delivered RV's, and this new venture sounds even more exciting. Keep the pics coming for us and keep us posted.


Hey hows that Cyclone? Your model was my favorite Cyclone to pull. I think that size is the best Cyclone of em all! Thanks Yianni!

Carey
[/quote]

Carey,
The Cyclone is great. Coming up on a year and no problems. I drove from California to Holmans in Ohio to pick it up last year. Had some 8 and 9 hour days towing it home. I thought of you doing it for a living and had to take my hat off to you. 
Good luck again Carey,

Louie


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## Joe/GA (Aug 14, 2009)

Carey,
I've sure enjoyed reading your stories and, since I have diesel envy,







I'm always reading what you say about diesels! I wish you the best in this new phase of your life and hope it is good for you. I am also looking forward to your new stories. Be careful up there!


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## Nathan (Jan 2, 2007)

Carey, best of luck in your new adventure.









Not sure if I'd be as brave as to live in a minivan, but we'll be ready for the stories! Watch out for that fracking water. They've got all sorts of nasty chemicals in it. So, is this oil, nat gas, or both?


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## CamperAndy (Aug 26, 2004)

Too bad you do not have your Outback anymore. Good luck.


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## rdvholtwood (Sep 18, 2008)

Best of luck to you Carey - keep warm and keep us informed on how its going!!


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## clarkely (Sep 15, 2008)

Congrats on the Change!!

Sounds like you are already looking forward to it.......so obviously it is the Right Move for you at the time!! I can tell/read how excited you are and how sad to be leaving the other job.......... I am sure it will be excellent for you!!

I will be looking forward to your posts and adventures!!!

Clarke


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## my3chis (Sep 2, 2010)

Welcome to North Dakota.





















Winters here are rough for a couple of weeks but I have been here since '84 and can't seem to leave. Good Luck in your new adventure.


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## Joonbee (Jan 18, 2008)

Best of luck Carey. Congrats and best wishes like everyone else and I can also tell you are excited about your new endevour. From reading and chatting with you , I have found you to be a very sincere and deticatd person. You have no doubt thought this out thoroughly and will do whatever it takes to make you the best "Warm Water Road Trucker".

Will also be looking forward to your new stories.

Hey maybe your next career move can be writing books on your adventures from the road.

Jim


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

I have a 35 foot 5er Andy. But for only one person its way too big to try and heat in that country. The guys who stay in RV's have them coated in R11 sheeting. Or at least coat the slides and skirting. There is a company in Minot that travels around and does em for everyone. They have there own patented system they use. I will only be sleeping in my van. Wont be actually living in it. The truck I will drive has a sleeper on it. I bet I spend a fair amount of time in that. I was told there can be a several hour wait at the disposal sites, so many of the guys catch up on sleep while waiting. Without somne major modification I just cant see trying to stay in an RV in that country. My lil van is easy to heat comparred to an RV. Thanks for everyones good words. Was hoping not to let you all down. Really wanted to see how long my dodge lasted. Kinda bummed about that, but just got to do this.

Joonbee the fresh water we haul isnt heated. There are torches at the well sites so we can thaw our valves. It would take days for a huge semi tanker to freeze solid, well maybe not days, but a good while. But ive already been told the valves freeze solid often.

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Nathan said:


> Carey, best of luck in your new adventure.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Its all oil in that part of Dakota. Gas wells are to the south in the Dickinson area. My boss said get some good quality chemical gloves. He said when you are loading the used stuff, knowone can really tell what the stuff has in it. Plan to wear a face shield too when messing with that stuff.

Carey


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## WYOCAMPER (Mar 28, 2007)

Good luck in the new venture, Carey! I'm sure you will do very well. I've enjoyed reading your posts as you bring a wealth knowledge/experience to this site. I hope you continue to do so.

So you say that you'll be running thru the Black Hills on your way home. Sure is some pretty country. Will you be running south thru WY on I25?


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Yeah, I'll jump off right after Douglas and head up the 2 lanes thru SD. I will try to schedule my trips home to miss the snowstorms, lol I really dont have a set schedule. They want me to spend more time working then at home. I bet someday when they finally have enough drivers that all will change. But right now if they can fill a truck for 2-3 weeks they are happy. Beats having the trucks sitting. They are in a take what they can get mode right now. I'd like to do this for a year, then move to the oregon coast. Maybe go back to rv hauling or get a lil driving job hauling logs or something around there.

Some trips I may have to stay on the interstates and run thru Casper. Sometime I will have to meet up with ya. I may have wished I bought a suburban or something 4x4. We used to have a Chevy Venture and that van was on rails in the snow. Hoping for the same with a Caravan. I do have cable chains for it to help. I couldnt decide what to buy. When looking I seen a ton of Caravans with 250-350k miles on them. I figured they must last along time. Fords and Chevy minvans seem to not last as long. I seen few for sale with over 200k on them. So who knows, mine has 150k and was a 1 owner. Had maintance records and was treated gentle. So who knows. Might have this thing up for sale after the 1st snow, lol

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

I will be working 12 hours on and 12 hours off so I didnt want to use my dually. I never slept more than about 6 hours in it. I know I will have some days off because of weather. So will spend a far amount of time in the van. My truck works great if your moving all the time. Just cant see sleeping in it for longer periods than about 6 hours. I have a twin pillow top matteress in the van and still have plenty of room. I dont know, just cant see parking the truck somewhere and and being immobile in it. Just wanted more room. My dually could use a rest, lol

Carey


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## TexanThompsons (Apr 21, 2009)

Congrats Carey! I'm excited for you. I know as a kid I was hoping to grow up and be a truck driver, but you beat me to the punch! So excited for you. Maybe you should email the history channel and tell them they need to chronicle you. I'd watch in a heartbeat!


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Yeah that would be cool. Heck they got swamp shows, logging shows, ice roads. They really should do the oil field. Bunch of crazy guys in that biz too, lol

My friend tells me the whiteouts are so bad you cant see past the hood some days. The roads blend into the wheat fields. He said you just lose touch some days. The gravel roads are all 1 lane, and many are soft. He said when it rains its like playing in a mud pit, lol He said he has had to chain up to get down muddy roads. I have no clue why all this sounds interesting. lol Just does.

Carey


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## WYOCAMPER (Mar 28, 2007)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> Some trips I may have to stay on the interstates and run thru Casper. Sometime I will have to meet up with ya.


Sounds great. Yeah, be sure to gimme a shout if you're ever rollin' thru Casper and have some time. I hear ya 'bout the winters. Seems like I25 is always gettin shut down after a blowing snow storm. Dang WY wind! Ha! I'll shoot you my contact info in case you ever get stranded...


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## Joonbee (Jan 18, 2008)

Colorado~DirtBikers said:


> Joonbee the fresh water we haul isnt heated. There are torches at the well sites so we can thaw our valves. It would take days for a huge semi tanker to freeze solid, well maybe not days, but a good while. But ive already been told the valves freeze solid often.
> 
> Carey


I thought you wrote that they were heated and the water kept circulating IN THE TRUCK, not after you dump it. Important thing was the reference to ICE road truckers









Ya know I actually know a guy who shoot for MTV and he knows some of the guys that shoot for discovery channel. HE's tryin to get on Deadliest Catch. I gonna havta chat with him about this guy I know who used to haul rv's for a living and gave it up for the oil fields in the wintery tundra of ND.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Ok cool Joonbee. They get fresh water from underground mostly. That goes in the truck. The water is unloaded into frac tanks. The water is then heated at the well site. My friend said they send it down the hole at 120 degreess or somethin like that. I dont know much about the process. It will be fun to learn. I bet the conditions are worse in Northern Alberta. Thats where they outa make a tv show. The loads they haul are double ours, plus they run off road for many miles. Far extreme over what we do in the US.

The real men of trucking live in Canada, not the US. If we brought there trucks down here, they'd fall thru all our bridges and deeply rut our highways. Our roads and bridges couldnt handle those trucks. They use the same base truck as ours. They are double slower accelerating and a guy needs to be a real pro going down a hill weighing 160,000 lbs. After spending so much time up there and seeing there conditions, trucks and weights carried, the real truckers live in Canada.

Carey


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## PDX_Doug (Nov 16, 2004)

Congratulations on the new adventure Carey! Some people have all the luck!









Keep us posted, it's always fun to hear your stories, and see your pictures.

Happy Trails,
Doug


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## Bigbopper299 (Jul 3, 2007)

Carey, Sounds like fun.

I know a lot of guy's up here in Saskatchewan that start out driving for someone, and they all ended up owning their own water trucks. Hiring someone to drive for their days off and are making a killing doing this. Good luck and stay safe!

Scott


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## jozway (Jan 28, 2008)

Congrats on the new gig carey. Cant wait to read the stories of your adventures. Not real sure about sleeping in a mini van though? LOL







You should find a small trailer it would probably be more comfortable. Good luck, have fun and be safe.








Joe


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## willingtonpaul (Apr 16, 2010)

i am all for 'ya earning a great living and having a life adventure, so hat's off to you, and i wish you the best of luck....

but as NATHAN said earlier, be careful with the used frac water....that is an interesting cocktail to be hauling around....from the chem's in there before it goes in to the radon and radioactivity it picks up down there and retains when it comes out, it is pretty scary stuff, not to mention controversial......haul the inbound and not the outbound, and don't dump it in an open pit !!!!

i look forward to hearing all about the adventures.....please keep us posted with real life stories vs. the government concocted crap.......


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## Duanesz (Jul 10, 2009)

Good luck Keep us updated. Hope the Internet works up there









Duane


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## Tex Ag (Jan 28, 2006)

Congratulations and welcome to the oilfield! I've enjoyed reading your stories and advice over the past few years, and expect by the end of winter your stories will be even more entertaining.

Good luck and stay on the road.


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## Collinsfam_WY (Nov 9, 2006)

Best of luck with the new driving job compadre'! Let me know how it goes. I am already looking forward to seeing some of your posts describing your new adventures!

Curtis


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

PDX_Doug said:


> Congratulations on the new adventure Carey! Some people have all the luck!
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Thanks Doug! I could have never been able to meet you if it hadnt been for Hauling RV's. Hope things are looking up for you too!

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

willingtonpaul said:


> i am all for 'ya earning a great living and having a life adventure, so hat's off to you, and i wish you the best of luck....
> 
> but as NATHAN said earlier, be careful with the used frac water....that is an interesting cocktail to be hauling around....from the chem's in there before it goes in to the radon and radioactivity it picks up down there and retains when it comes out, it is pretty scary stuff, not to mention controversial......haul the inbound and not the outbound, and don't dump it in an open pit !!!!
> 
> i look forward to hearing all about the adventures.....please keep us posted with real life stories vs. the government concocted crap.......


Yeah Ive heard that. Boy around here if I was hauling the outbound I know for a fact itd be hot stuff. We have so much natural uranium, that the waste the water dept takes out is low level radioactive. They are trying hard to get an open pit uranium mine about 20 miles west of town. We also have the cotter mill here that has just become a superfund site. It was a yellow cake processsor. Now its a defunct radioactive waste dump only about 5 miles south of town. Its well known not to produce or raise kids on the south side of our city. They come out missing parts ar having parts where they arent supposed to. Also Cancer is very high on the south side of our town.

Im sure we will haul the outbound stuff Ive heard that they inject the outbound into old or non producing wells to get rid of it. I dont know if its treated in a pit first. As far as I know we haul it to dead wells. I will keep you tuned in on the process they use to get rid of it.

It really is kinda sad. Western ND is beautiful. Its going to get ruined by oil wells. But what to do? I will be careful as I can. I do know there are some risks hauling the outbound. Not going to do it for too long. Bet I already glow a bit from living in the town I live in anyway. But no I dont want to glow more for sure.

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Bigbopper299 said:


> Carey, Sounds like fun.
> 
> I know a lot of guy's up here in Saskatchewan that start out driving for someone, and they all ended up owning their own water trucks. Hiring someone to drive for their days off and are making a killing doing this. Good luck and stay safe!
> 
> Scott


True fact. The guy I will be working for is in his mid 20's. Already has 10 trucks. He is buying land to put mobile homes on, and then buying more trucks. Im not even interested in living in NoDak. Dont want to own a truck either. I can tell you an avg truck in the real world gets around 70-75 an hour. A truck in the oilfield gets 150 an hour. Lets say a truck makes 20 hours a day with 2 drivers. Yep each truck is making around 3000 a day. So 10 trucks this kid has is making say 25000 a day. Times 6 days is 150,000 a week. Yes I get the feeling he is already a millionaire.

Could this change my mind about living in NoDak. I still dont think so, but I better add "you never know" lol

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

jozway said:


> Congrats on the new gig carey. Cant wait to read the stories of your adventures. Not real sure about sleeping in a mini van though? LOL
> 
> 
> 
> ...


People have a hard time believing you can sleep comfortable in a vehicle. I have a 400 dollar twin pillow top matteress in my van. I will plug into 110 power. A small electric heater will run me out of the van at any temperature. I put reflectix on all windows. Its much easier to heat a lil minivan than a camper. I will be parked at my friends house for everything else. So I only will be sleeping in my van. They have a spare bedroom but I dont feel comfortable doing that. A couple who live in the boondocks enjoy there space. Im not gonna impose upon that. They have begged me to stay with them at least during the evenings. Thats cool. Thats as far as its going as far as I am concerned. I have slept in my truck I dont know how many nights and its very comfortable once you learn how to deal. Its really no biggie at least for me.


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Duanesz said:


> Good luck Keep us updated. Hope the Internet works up there
> 
> 
> 
> ...


lol yea so do I. My verizon card shows service, just dont know if it will be 3G. Hope so! This verizon card has way better service than a cell phone.

My kid went rv hauling with me in July. He had the internet going the whole time. We only had a couple places in the entire west that it dropped service. Boy it sure aint that way for a cell phone, lol Both him and I were amazed!


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

collinsfam_tx said:


> Best of luck with the new driving job compadre'! Let me know how it goes. I am already looking forward to seeing some of your posts describing your new adventures!
> 
> Curtis


We might have to schedule our phone calls a bit more now, lol Cell service aint so great up there in that country Curtis. Hope things are well for you guys!

Carey


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Here is a recent story that happened in KillDeer, ND. http://www.bismarcktribune.com/news/state-and-regional/article_af6a8bd2-b712-11df-b4ff-001cc4c03286.html

They had used 370,000 gallons of water to fracture a well. A truck carries 7-8000 gallons. Thats about 50 truckloads of water for a frac job per well. They are using 370,000 gallons each time and they are fracing it 19 times. Thats a sick amount of water and truckloads to do the job. They are drilling 1000's of wells up there. Is this stuff good for the enviroment, heck no, but we all have rv's to haul around and cars to drive. Where does it all end? who knows..


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## Tex Ag (Jan 28, 2006)

Carey,
Check out "Superstar driver of the oilpatch" on facebook. Hopefully we never see you truck on there.

Keith


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## GO WEST (May 25, 2009)

This sounds like an extreme adventure for ya. The trucking but the camping in the van too. So who's taking your RV hauling job? Was it still going okay (enough work) when you left it? I wouldn't mind doing this part time a couple months in the summer. I teach school so I have about 10 weeks off.


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## ember (Jan 17, 2008)

Hey Carey,
This sounds like an exciting new adventure!! Keep us in the loop and well supplied with pics, and we'll send wishes for a mild winter in the Dakotas!!


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## wolfwood (Sep 19, 2005)

WOW!! We're gone for a week and look what happens!

Congratulations, Carey!! Looking forward to hearing about all of your adventures!

Stay safe!


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Go West: Yeah still had plenty of work. I think it may slow down in November his year instead of December. Lots of school teachers pull rvs in the summer. Have probably met 100 school teachers in the last 3 years. They love it cause its a great change for them and allows them to refresh there minds.

I trained for a day and they sent me on my own today. 90% of it is off road. The roads are narrow. Im pulling a 130 barrell vac trailer. There barrel is 42 gallons. I load with 120 barrells, so about 5000 gallons. Done several fresh water trips but have spent most of my time supplying a huge frac job. 4 holes at once. The well site is the most incredible formation of machinery I have ever seen. 10000 foot wells. Been hauling heated water mostly for the frac job. They have about 25 of us trying to keep up. lol

The guy who trained me has done this a lil over a year. Made 120k the first year. His best month he made 13500, of course that was this summer. Easy money in the summer. Harder money in winter. Im driving a freightliner condo classic xl, with a big cat, 13 speed. Its a nice truck with 600k miles. Cant see what color it is from the mud they had they past few weeks.

Hit two pheasants at once on the way up. The right side of my windshield in my van is destroyed. Still dont know why one of them didnt go thru the windshield. Man I was lucky. Gotta get a windshield before I go home.

Anyway thanks for the good words all. Will try to update you better when I get more comfortable with the job.

ps. North Dakota people are the nicest people I have ever met. Old school and genuine. So far its been all good.

Carey


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## vtxbud (Apr 4, 2009)

Carey, best of LUCK to you !! I am sure you will do well.

Oh, and watch your back for the Hollywood producer James Cameron. He was up here raggin' on us about the Ft Mac Oilsands. Why is it always those who are the least qualified that have the most to say about things that they have little knowledge or expertise in ??


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## Carey (Mar 6, 2012)

Well the 1st week is down. Its been an incredible experience so far. They are drilling whats called ecopads up here. They use the term ecopad cause they are drilling multiple holes in one spot. The place I have been supplying cold and hot water to is drilling and fracing 4 holes. All of the driving I do is about all off roads and right now the dust is incredible. They wont oil the roads cause we are in wheat country. They dont want the oil dragged into the wheat fields. They are still combining wheat and the fields are as big as the horizon up here.

I got my van all plugged into electricity and am ready for the cold. Been nice here though. About perfect, 70's high and 40's lows. The amount of water they use is far beyond anyones thoughts. The frac im working with is fracing 4 holes 20 times. Id say the water that will be used is in the billions of gallons. My lil tanker holds just 5000 gallons, so one can only imagine the amount of work.

Been working nights mostly cause im a green horn so pics will be tough for a while. But will get you all some when I can.

Carey


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## Jason Koney (Oct 12, 2010)

I am also a RV-hauler that is going up to North Dakota here shortly to pursue a job hauling water. The town I am going to go to Is Crosby. A friend of mine who delivered tractors up there hooked me up with the phone number of the company. I called them and they told me to come on up!!! I have to finish off a couple of committments, then its Crosby or bust. I have a feeling that you work for this company already. The two guys I talked to was Rick and Steve. I asked them if they wanted me to send an application and or any other info, but they said to just show up!!! I have a class a with tanker endorsement and a 3500 dodge dually that I can sleep in. I am very excited and looking forward to starting, but I am a little worried about spending the money getting there, just to be told to wait for a phone call"well be in touch" Is it true that it is that simple to get into? It just seems like most jobs take a week or two to give ya there yes or no. I am hoping that it is true because I have been looking into moving way out to a remote location in the far north for some time, small town America is definitely where its at!!!! I plan on being up there by the end of next week or sooner. Could you share some feedback with me so I could feel more confident? thank you Jason


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## CdnOutback (Apr 16, 2010)

You'll be getting there just in time before the snow flies!....


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