In October, I and my sons Randy and Piglet attended the Virginia Water Well Association’s 2016 Outdoor Days in Christiansburg, Va. It was hosted by Eric Rorrer, owner of Rorrer Well Drilling, and R.A. Simmons Well Drilling. The one-day class qualified drillers and pump installers for eight continuing education hours toward renewing their Virginia Master Provider License.

Wayne Fenton of Fenton Well Drilling in Blacksburg, Va., gave a demonstration on cable tool drilling and antiquated tooling. R.A. Simmons provided a restored Bucyrus Erie 20-W for the drilling demonstrations. Fenton always narrates great demonstrations, whatever the equipment. I was told 150 people registered to attend. There were also several suppliers with outside tailgate displays. The Roanoke Times was there interviewing people at the show. Try looking it up at www.roanoke.com.

My sons and I visited with almost everyone. Piglet got my folding chair off our truck and set it up. I was getting around pretty well so I loaned it to an old driller friend, Mr. Mullen. I think it made his day more enjoyable.

I attended the show to be able to write this article. Piglet attended to assist me and to share his foreign drilling experiences. Randy registered to obtain his Virginia continuing education hours. All the Cutters were welcomed by the Virginia association’s directors, the tailgate displayers and the attendees. All in all, I think it was a great day.

The following day, we traveled to Richard Simmons Drilling Company near Woodbury, Tenn., to pick up some equipment and deliver it to Virginia.

Being a long distance, we pulled into a motel for the night. We immediately noticed diesel fuel pouring from somewhere in the engine compartment. We parked the truck out of the way. The guys found the problem and solution by searching YouTube. They then searched the Internet for the part needed for the repair, and found it about four miles away.

The Cutters never travel without their tools, so they proceeded to remove items to get to the source of the leak. To get around they tried to rent a car. However, due to new rental cars rules, we couldn’t rent a car unless we were local residents.

We called good friends Shelia and Steve Barton, owners of Barton Drilling & Pump Service in Lebanon, Va. They told us that they would bring a car. (They were about 40 miles from us.) Once we had a car, the guys picked up the part and installed it. The Bartons returned to pick up their car and we proceeded to our destination near Woodbury, Tenn.

We arrived at Richard Simmons Drilling and, it being a Saturday, they were closed. The manager/owner had previously made arrangements for us to get inside the locked gate and use their fork lift to load the air compressor on our truck.

We returned to our base on Monday and unloaded everything. It had been a very productive trip.

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