The new assignment took us back briefly to Greenville, North Carolina. It was a rather short stay, less than a month. It involved a special assignment that hadn't been done during the regular job.

We were able to visit old friends and family members that lived in the area. The East Carolina University (ECU) is home to both medical and nursing courses as well as a multitude of other options. There is also Pitt Community College which offers nursing and all sorts of courses. It is interesting that when the University first came to be, the town of Washington (little Washington according to the locals) was asked about being the university's home. Little Washington is about a 20- minute drive from Greenville. Anyway, the forefathers/ city council declined the chance because they did not want to be overwhelmed by students. I am now thinking they wish they had accepted. When that assignment was done, we were off once more.

This adventure took us to Atlanta, Georgia. Jim has a sister who lives a short distance outside of Atlanta. It was nice for him being able to visit her. We, meaning her and I, acknowledged each other. She is a staunch Catholic, which is a good thing for her. But she saw me as the enemy, so rather than ruin visits constantly in debates, I sat silently. She was and always had been interested in what Jim was doing. Being the older sister, I guess she felt she had to be protective of him as well. Her two sons enjoyed my company and we talked for what seemed like hours about various things. Most of the time it was about school, their sports activities and what they planned for college. She had become a widow a few years back, so Jim was sort of a substitute father figure for the boys. He checked in on them via phone on a regular basis and they both knew they could call at any time for either of us.

We found out only after we arrived in Atlanta that Jim was being promoted from an ordinary walking technician to a field supervisor. He was there for training. He learned about various spread sheets, payroll documentation, audits where he would walk an area that had been walked by a tech, evaluations when he would walk with a tech, observe and correction any errors noted. He would have a crew working under him. He wasn't a project manager with a specific area, but he would move around supervising the projects and reporting to the manager responsible for that project.

I think I may have mentioned this but here goes again. The company sends techs and supervisors to the northern states during the late spring, summer and early fall months. Basically, if the ground is not frozen, they can successfully survey.

After about a month of training, Jim was advised that he would be going north to replace a former supervisor. There have been many times that he has voiced he wished he was still a walking tech. His phone never stops from 6 am to 10 pm, with requests for supplies, the need for a new walking map or just to bitch about something. If he isn't taking calls from techs, then he is on conference calls or doing related computer work. I think I liked it better when he was walking a line. He was away doing what he liked.

So anyway, we were off to Bismarck, North Dakota. We actually made the drive over Labor Day weekend. It was exciting for me because we would be about three hours from Canada, not that I got that far.

Jim was to supervise a cluster of five states- North & South Dakota, Montana, Wyoming, and west Minnesota. He called each tech and introduced himself, asked about supplies and informed them that when the project manager, the person who was the next level up, showed up in a couple of weeks, they together would be out to visit everyone. He failed to mention that they would be doing company evaluations on everyone. This was supposed to be a surprise, as were the audits.

The techs were spread out over the five states, so when the manager arrived, they rented a vehicle and took off. They were gone a week. I had the rig if I needed anything. This way they could arrive unseen. It was difficult to try to sneak up on someone in a bright red semi with the hood and doors decorated with yellow flames. We have been places where children approach us for pictures of them in front of the truck.

The park we chose to stay in was about 15 miles from the city of Bismarck. It was surrounded by fields of crops that belonged to the owners. It was a self- serve park, meaning that the owners were not on site. You went to the assigned site and paid via cash or check into their locked deposit box. I believe there were 42 sites half of which were 30 amp and the other half were 50 amp. There was a building with showers/ restrooms on each side and a small laundry room in the middle. Wifi was free and that was it. It was rustic but very comfortable.

Most of the other campers were single men who worked the oil pipeline. Sometimes there were three to four men per camper. Of the 42 sites I think about 30 were oil workers, there were about five sites that were for overnighters and then those that consisted of couples, but most of the wives worked with their husbands. Not me, though.

We arrived at the park when things were peaking over the oil pipeline. It was interesting to note that the protesters were camped out on privately owned property. The property was not anywhere near the proposed pipeline. Even more interesting was the fact that at least 80% of the protesters were not Native American Indians, but they did have one horse. No sacred burial grounds were involved. They stopped traffic on the road and frequently asked for support or handouts. It got to the point where they had national guards and military posted at road blocks to prevent more from showing up and local law enforcement were arresting those that became violent. Ironically when everything was done, they packed up and left, leaving behind all of their garbage for the property owner to clean up; this was costly. And even though they claimed the pipeline would cause land damage, they managed to pollute a small river going through the land. I sometimes wonder if they ever considered that the line was actually a replacement line for one that had been buried there ages ago. Or did they remember that clothing, cell phones, computers, tires, plastics (lots of bottles and cups left behind) etc were all byproducts of oil or petroleum. People really do need to think before they protest.

One of the interesting facts that we learned the first week in October was that 98% of the parks closed on November 1st. And the 2% that stayed open jacked their rates enormously and closed their public restrooms/showers/laundry. They provided water for your tank fill up, which meant you rationed your water use weekly. Thankfully sewers were open.

The local company for utilities (gas is considered a utility) had a contract for May 1st to Oct 31st. That first year for Jim as a supervisor took us to the Monday before Thanksgiving (late November). Thankfully although it got cold the first week of November, the ground remained thawed and there was no snow until the day after Thanksgiving. Whew.

To be continued.......