Gate Guarding

Popular among many RVers, particularly snowbirds, is working the Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and other oil fields as gate guards to make some money fast. Many work only during the cooler winters while sitting out the snow in northern states or to make enough money to travel the rest of the year. Some brave the hot, humid summers to work all year. I’ll be one of the latter this year. I just got a gate in East Texas to guard. Mostly, I just check vehicles in and out at the gate. The work itself is easy but also grueling at times when the site is especially busy and you are popping in and out your door or sitting outside in the heat or cold to avoid that. You have to deal with bugs, snakes, rain, high winds, hail, tornadoes, illegals and drug traffickers in some areas and sometimes uncooperative people while keeping your cool.  It isn’t for the faint of heart. They prefer couples but there are gates for singles out there though nowhere near as many. One thing I have learned is don’t wait for the companies to contact you. They are notorious for not returning phone calls or emails both before and after you sign up with them and you can sign up with more than one company at a time. A free site is provided at the gate. Most companies provide all utilities, most hire as a contractor while a few will hire as an employee, most provide what you need to do the job while at least one I know requires you to provide much of it yourself. There are many blogs on the internet such as myoldrv.com to give you a great idea of what it takes to be a gate guard. There are also forums such as gateguards.org and many popular RVer forums discuss it under their workamping threads.

If you only want to do it during the winter, be aware that there are now too many people with that idea so gates have become much harder to come by in the winter. Keep in mind also the weather in these states. Whether you are just playing and seeing the sites or working, don’t get caught in them without a NOAA weather radio for your safety.