Well, it's about day 5 now, of an approx. 4 week "deployment" to the Dupont plant here in Laporte for their little TAR, courtesy of work


Left behind are the familiar views of LSU, replaced by steaming and flaming stacks as far as the eye can see.... I say I've got a "desk" job back home, tho the crew I'm part of are "working foremen", but this is a different flavor altogether....


On the one hand, it's good that work trusts me enough to give me the responsibility, but on the other, it's the first time I've been away from my wife and kids for so long, in a long long time. Quite the uhh..."tough" experience....


Thank God it's football season so I have something to occupy my "free" time....


Anyway, I know there's a lot of fellow 6.7 owners down this way, feel free to gimme a honk or a high-beam if ya see me around, I'll be here till about the 21st if the scope holds true.

 

I feel for you Chuck...that's a tough gig. I hope you and your family make it through as best you can. I was on the road for 10 years and I feel your pain. Skype or Facetime is your friend...

 

I spend 150-200 nights/year in hotels so I know the routine. Hang in there bud. I find that if I can keep busy it helps. I don't like to talk on the phone because it makes me sad but I like to text message, it's less depressing somehow.

Just don't let the blues take over and don't fight the blues with trivial stuff like booze or food. Just relax, make the best of it, and keep your truck REALLY clean.

 

I assume LaPorte, Tx? If so there's plenty to do around here to keep you occupied. You're right down the street from:
- Battleship Texas
- Texas State Monument
- Go about 10 miles south and check out the Kemah Boardwalk
- Take in a Texans home game
- 30min from Galveston
- Texas Renaissance Festival starts this weekend

 

I'd think there would be a lot to do in the 2nd biggest state in the U.S. Tough to be away from family. I am going back to finish packing up the house for 19 days and those are going to be tough on me too.

 

I did the same thing for a number of years, international travel included. Bottom line I appreciated that I had a good job and my co. had all this trust in me. Sucks being away but make the best of it and see the local sites that you may other wise never see.

 

Thanks guys, for all the well-wishes, I'm plodding along over here, counting down the days.


Looking like we're gonna be here about a week past the original scope, shocker, all kinds of stand-by time just pissing me off I'm a salaried position, so pulling 84's doesn't do anything for me, I'm pulling my hair out ready to get the job done and get the **** back home, but we can only move as fast as Dupont will let us.....


Hoping at this point I can surprise my wife for her birthday the 29th....they're making us take a fatigue day off every 14th so she was able to come visit me this past sunday, that was a good day, if ya know what I mean......lol!!


Rusch- I fell into that rut about a week in, but my wife reminded me it's not fair to her or the kids to keep myself from them, so they've been facetime'ing me every evening, we're getting a little better with the routine, sucks....


And it's not like I've got a lot of "down time" to twiddle my thumbs, in all honesty.... getting up at 5 and back to the hotel at 7:30 makes me just wanna eat shower and sleep. I'm just losing my mind over all the unnecessary delays


I really thought I'd be handling this a lot better than I am, lol, guessing that's just the "growing up" in me coming out.... my big little 5yr old is tearing it up on the football field, my shy little 9 yr old surprised both her parents by taking up cheer this year, my just-turned-teenager is driving my wife crazy, and my 2 yr old is tearing the house up, she's such an energetic little thing....


Full disclosure- we lost our 13th month old a little over 6 years ago now, she was a victim of medical malpractice.... I never took life memories for granted again after that.... so yeah, losing out on all these opportunities does suck a lot... but hey, that's what we do as men and providers, right?

 

Technology makes being away much easier for sure. I remember being deployed in my early Marine days, and waiting for mail call, it sucked to say the least. Go forward a few years and we had email connections in the middle of the desert, and on the naval ships. We could communicate almost instantly with family (sometimes good, sometimes bad), but overall, the Internet was the best thing to happen to deployed troops. Talk about a morale booster!

I cannot fathom losing a child, I am so sorry to hear about your loss.

 

Chuck...I don't even know what to say on losing your child. I'm so sorry for your loss...truly.

 

What hotel are you in? I live in Baytown and work in Pasadena at a refinery. Maybe when I get some free time, we can get a beer.

 

We'll be in Houston meeting a group of RV'ers first part of Nov to "pass a good time"
if your shift goes that long

 

Thanks Doug, and Thanks JD, I appreciate the invites. I should be ok tho for the next few days, we're wrapping up and I'll be burning it back to BR come Monday/Tuesday. It's been an experience, for sure, hopefully one I won't have to re-do anytime soon

 

I'm sure you're glad to be heading back home. If you ever find yourself out in this neck of the woods again, look me up. Hopefully, your stay here was as pleasant as possible.

 

but counting down the hours......checked outta the hotel this morning, planned to leave straight from the site once the job's done, thought we'd be wrapped up and rolling east by noon, but it seems no one but us is in any hurry to get home.....


Wife's birthday was yesterday but she took it well....with any luck, trick-or-treating tomorrow with the littl'uns is still do-able, so there is that...


Thanks Doug- from what I've learned, this is a pretty consistent every-other-year TAR for us, so I'm guessing I'll be back over this way in '16, I'll be sure to take you up on some of that brisket I caught in the one-page


I'm ready to get back into my "boring" home routine, for sure

 

Hope you are headed home soon! Sorry you missed your wife's birthday. Make it up to her