So that means that the Nomads are on the move again. This time it is the remainder of the tower crew. Ralph and Philippa left last month and now the rest are moving out as well. So long Tibbz, Rex, Terence, Pete, Brian and Joe.
Tibbz, Rex, Terence, Brian and Pete are Canadians and are going back home to Canada for the holidays and to attend an orientation on a wind mill that they will be installing on Lake Huron next year. Joe is an American and he isn't going to Lake Huron. He is going home to Norfolk, Virginia and then on to Brunswick, Georgia, where Ralph and Philippa are putting together a 1500 foot tower. In a few weeks Tibbz and the rest of the gang will also be in Brunswick to erect those sections into that 1500 foot tower. The dance of the Nomad starts again.
Life on the road for weeks and months at a time is tough. Tibbz told me a couple weeks back that he has been doing the Nomad dance since 1984. A few years back his wife got so tired of not having him home that she quite her job and goes out on the road with him at times and as he said, "takes care of him." He hopes to be home to watch his grand kids grow up since he is missing his kids grow up now. Until then, he keeps moving from place to place, where ever the work is.
Terence is from the Maritimes of Nova Scotia, but now calls Saskatchewan home when he isn't on the road. Rex is from a small town west of Toronto and Brian is from Ontario as well, but calls Texas home now, but he still maintains his Canadian citizenship and spends more of his off time in Canada than the US.
Terence not only is a big hockey fan (I have yet to meet a Canadian that isn't) but a NFL football fan as well. Many of the guys LOVE motorcycles and some had their bikes with them to ride while they were here. Others love cars and Joe is big deer hunter.
This is my fourth career tower project and out of all of the tower crews I have worked with, these individuals are the most professional, safest and most fun to be with. I have tried to keep up with national happens in Canada so they would feel like we had more in common than just this project. I soon found out that being a Nomad, meant you didn't know what was going on back home. It turned out I knew more of what was happening in Canada then they did (and I probably have spent more time in Canada the last year than they have to boot!) For the past 4 or 5 years, these guys have spent more time in the US than in Canada. This job was their second job in North Carolina in the past 3 years and they are slated for another tower job here in the spring of 2006 on Sauratown Mountain north of Winston-Salem. They have been here in the US for so long they have lost some of their Canadian accent. An occasional "eh?" or "a-boat" does get through and betrays them as Canadians.
The last six months have in many ways flown by. I knew this day would come, and the crew had been pushing through the rain, ice storms and the mud the last two weeks to get to this day. They were ready to finish this one and move on to start the next one, not because they didn't like it here or had grown tired of the place, but after a while, the call of the Nomad can not be denied.
It is a great relief to have this part of the project completed, but it also comes with the knowledge that the chance of seeing these individuals again are slim if ever again. You share a piece of your life with people and then never see them again. But, that is part of the dance of the Nomad.
But every time I look up at the tower from now on, I will smile to myself and remember the people who built this steel monument to the Nomads.
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