We were over 25 miles from base yesterday in a very rural area.?ÿ There is one county chip-seal road passing through the area in the very corner of one county where it meets up with two others.?ÿ We had pulled up to search for a bar in a road intersection that was half chip-seal and half gravel.?ÿ No more than get started and a pickup pulls up, stops and I hear the lady on the passenger side say, "Hey, he wants to know if you know anything about surveying?" and points towards the driver.?ÿ Walk over to discover it is a fellow who worked at surveying for nearly 30 years.?ÿ We had worked together on a number of projects back in the 1990's.?ÿ Great guy.?ÿ He was under 50 when he appeared to be taking a nap at his desk after lunch one day.?ÿ Turned out he was having a stroke.?ÿ Very bad deal.?ÿ Never surveyed again.?ÿ Tried to do office work.?ÿ Physically he could do quite well but, as a co-worker described it, his brain was like Swiss cheese.?ÿ Yesterday was the second time to see him since the stroke in 2000.?ÿ Had a nice but brief chat.?ÿ See another pickup with a trailer behind coming up behind him so we part ways quickly.
That pickup stops.?ÿ I hear, "Hi, Santa Claus."?ÿ It's a couple that I've known for over 25 years.?ÿ I have magically appeared in both their home and their daughter's home over the years to surprise the grandkids with a visit from Santa.?ÿ Had a nice chat with them, too.
This is a neighborhood where I probably know no more than a handful of people for several miles from the corner we were at.?ÿ The folks we chatted with don't live in that neighborhood.?ÿ They were just passing through.
Probably 15 minutes prior to the episode above we were digging up a bar in a gravel road intersection when a large trash truck needed to turn so we moved out of the way.?ÿ Waved to the driver as he is a friend of mine since grade school.
As my wife says, "I can't take you anywhere..................."
I have always enjoyed running into folks I know while surveying.
The funny thing for me is, I currently live VERY close to one of the first subdivisions I helped layout after moving to Texas in 2004. When we walk the dog, we go past where one of our main control points were located. I haven't gone to see if it's still there. About half a mile from my house is the main control point we used, it is definitely destroyed.
You know the first guy mentioned above quite well.
From Charlie Brown's, we were three east and and half north where the road turns east again when we met up.
We had just finished digging up a bar a half mile south where Glendale School sat from 1909-1959. I accused Kenny of setting that bar. He denied that, as he would have been about seven in 1959 when that bar was set.
Did you go to school with anyone named Lamb?
You know the first guy mentioned above quite well.
Did you go to school with anyone named Lamb?
I thought that's who you were speaking of. Glad to hear he's still getting around.
I did. My brother went to school with Barry and his little brother, Merrill was a year ahead of me.
Merrill is going to build a house a little east of Fairview Cemetery on the south side. His dad, Bill, is having me split a quarter section to divide between Barry and a sister someday. Four wheeler and walking country. Had a dozen buzzards watching us from a big sycamore tree. Makes you wonder what they know that you don't..................yet.
It's pretty country up there. I know the area fairly well. Had a sister-by-law living not far from Bill and his wife.
Good stuff here.
