In September I bit my lip and accepted a chance to go to the field and Inspect Horizontal Directional Drilling. Working nights for all of September! Got to make a few bucks this year.
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The sunsetting on my time in Calgary.
Off to the field. |
For September I took an opportunity to do some field inspection for
Horizontal Directional Drilling which is the technical work that I have been branching in to as a Engineer designing Trenchless Pipeline crossing primarily under rivers. Typically the night guy on the 24 hour drilling schedule is the engineer so they can do calculations and forecasting while the day inspector does more logistics and correspondence with the mother ships in Calgary. So...nights it was.
For this project we would be drilling a pilot hole of 12 inches and pulling an 8 inch product line back through for our client's field just South of Fort St. John, BC. Total length of 1734 m which is pretty damn long and scheduled for 33 days. Let's see how it goes...
All packed up and ready to head North. Check out those Ridgeline features.
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| "Crush" loaded up for the trip |
Day 1 about 700 km from Calgary to Grande Prairie, Alberta. Lots of cops and a quick stop in the Town of Fox Creek where I lived 6 months when I was 3 years old. Still got a few scars on the face from my days with my red "harley" tricycle, wooo!
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| That reminds me I need some new tires. |
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| Long straights |
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| Speed trap 2 or 3? |
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| Speed trap 4 or 5? |
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| My old backyard, Fox Creek |
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| The old house in Fox Creek |
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| I really didn't remember this place |
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| And limited cell service. |
Day 2 - Tried to sleep until 3pm at my hotel in hopes of being ready for Night shift with a smooth shave. Of course Housekeeping did not get the 3 messages I left the Front Desk. urghhhhh.
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| Holy shit, am I getting close to Alaska? |
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| Hythe |
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| Dawson Creek, just over the Alberta / BC border |
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| Safe passing Ass! |
Rush hour traffic on the Alaskan highway...I don't believe it.
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| Rush hour on the Alaska Highway |
"Oh man, am I getting close?"
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| I can't see shit |
From Highway 97 (Alaska highway) it's a 13 km dirt/gravel stretch of "Radio Control" road to the HDD rig and Drill site.
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| Almost there! |
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| Rig getting set up. |
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| Welcome to the night |
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| 20 degree entry angle, that's pretty big, trust me |
My Wellsite Shack tour.
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| Big as my apartments in Argentina |
After a few weeks it was time to go for groceries in Fort St. John which is about 35 minutes away. A bit tricky to head to town after night shift driving into the blasting morning sun. I've included some photos from the end of the month on my second trip to FSJ as well.
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Trying to keep the trip short so I
could get home and to bed.
Walmart, Farmer's Market, No Frills |
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| Boom! from the blasting sun. |
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| Taylor, BC off the Peace River |
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| Wild steel bridge |
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| Gorgeous valley |
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| Towards Taylor again |
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| Fall colours, amazing |
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Back to site and bed and then to work 7pm to 7am.
NO DAYS OFF! |
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| Pounding Casing |
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| Augering out the casing and pounding some more |
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| Clay plug |
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| Welding more casing, 40 m total |
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Tricon drill bit same as they use
in Down hole drilling of wells. |
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| Putting the bit in to the casing. |
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| Drilling away, 1734 m to go... |
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Mud fluid that helps clean and maintain the hole
Viscosity test. |
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| Mud weight test |
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Mud solids taken out of the fluid
by the centrifuges |
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| Reminds me a vietnam movies |
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| Nice full moon |
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| The crew washing uniforms with a pressure washer |
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| Lovely morning coming |
Nice evening sunset and colours of Fall.
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| Wow, wow |
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| A little rain makes a mess. |
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| Frac walking plan |
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| Dry enough to go for a Frac Walk? |
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| Yep, spending $3,000,000 to cross a 1 m stream. |
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| Climbing up the steep bank |
Other Stuff
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| Enlisted Chris to help with the GI Joe |
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| Sweet facial hair |
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| Multiples of Cobra |
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| Lots of multiples of cobra |
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| Who's this guy? |
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| Oh shit, Humpty dumpty? |
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| NBA players making too much money |
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| Make shift plates by the HDD crew |
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| Mud sample, but yes could be a turd |
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