A Visit to
RFI Energy

Photos by: Dave Hopper

RFI Energy's Marion 7820 near West Freedom, PA

A lot of people really don't like surprise visitors, and usually, I don't like to show up without calling ahead, but on September 13th,  Jeff Solley and I showed up at RFI Energy's Mine near West Freedom, PA.

I had to make a quick trip to the area, and about 3 days before leaving I called Jeff Solley, to see if he could point me in the direction of a few drags in the area.

Since Jeff knows the location of just about every drag in Western PA,  he decided to give me a tour of the area.  After seeing a few parked machines, we showed up at RFI Energy, and to our surprise...the drag was running. 

Jeff decided to try to contact the drag on the CB, to see who might be operating at the time,  We tried the CB , but had no luck.  While we were sitting there, Jeff asked me about a guy from the message board, who was an operator for RFI Energy, and the name Harley came to mind.   As we sat there trying to remember Harley's last name, and flipping channels on the CB, we came across someone saying that this black ford looked like a hearse,.... we'll we knew.. they were talking about Jeff's Truck.

After hopping on the CB, and letting them know, "That's not Nice", jeff asked who we were talking to, It was Harley Stone...   That's the name we couldn't remember.

We Identified ourselves,  and were quickly invited onboard.  I'm not sure who was more surprised,  Harley.. because we showed up?  or Me,  because of the great welcome we were receiving?.

RFI Energy's Marion 7820

RFI Energy's Marion 7820

As we climbed aboard the Drag, I couldn't believe the luck we were having.  FInding the machine digging on a Saturday was a surprise, but finding a friend of the website in the operators seat at the time, was just incredible.

As we walked into the cab, I was surprised to see how young Harley was..it's not too often you see such a young man in that position.  After the Introductions, when Harley went back to digging, I was even more surprised. He handled the Marion like he's been on it for many years, not just the few month he's been in the seat.

Seeing this bucket swinging on a saturday,  took our minds off of the pouring rain.

  

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