Happy New Year!

 A few years ago I found a survey (or maybe I created it, I don't remember) and I've been answering these questions each New Year's Eve. This year I thought I'd share my answers with all of you. Feel free to post your own responses in the comments. 



1. What was the funniest thing that happened to you this year?

Not sure if this is the funniest...but misreading the stats at Amazon and confusing my hours worked with my rate still makes me laugh.

 2. Of all the new people you met in 2014, who are you most glad you met and who do you wish had never crossed your path? Tom and Joni, workampers we met in New Mexico and Mike, Monica and their kids are all people we're glad we met. Also glad we met Greg, our manager at Amazon. He was a nice guy and fun to talk to. 

As for who I'd wish had never crossed my path...several of the Camperforce people at Amazon...what a whiney bunch of know-it-alls. 

3. What was the best book you read?

 I didn't do much reading this year. I'm looking for suggestions.

4. What was the best meal you had---either based on food, location, company or weird circumstances.

 Our first trip to the San Marco Cafe. Read about it here. What made this meal stand out was the element of surprise. Just driving by, saw the sign and went in to find a charming restaurant with really good food. 

      

5.. Name three things that made you proud this year. 
 1    . Taking the plunge to become a full-time RVer
     2. Surviving the job at Amazon
     3. Having the courage to leave a bad situation  

6. What was the best thing?

    Heading out on our big adventure.

 

     

7. Best trip/outing?

 Our trip to the Jemez. Read about it here.

Wishing you all a wonderful 2015 full of fun and adventures!

Our New Location

We've arrived at our new location....Statesville, NC. The sun has been shining since we arrived in NC a few days ago, so I hope that's a good omen.

Another good omen is the nice site that we were given. Since we're workampers, we are at the mercy of the KOA owner to decide which site to give us, so it wouldn't be surprising if we got one of the less desirable sites so the better sites can go to the paying customers, but we're very pleased with this one.

We have an end site, so that means neighbors only on one side, plus just beyond where my car is in the picture, we have a little bit of a "yard" and a picnic table. Mostly, I love the view. Even though the interstate is just below us, it's very quiet and there are woods all around.

I was surprised how busy the campground is for this time of year. The one we stayed at in Asheville, was nearly empty. But then Chris pointed out that we're on I-77 which is a major thoroughfare for folks in PA, NY and beyond who are heading to Florida.

We're glad to be here and settled.

Let the new adventure begin!

My Least Favorite Thing About Living in A Motor Home

Life in a motor home isn't for everyone. I think we have a very nice MH and at 39' it's one of the longer ones available. Overall, I don't have any major complaints.

The bathroom and shower are small, but functional. Cooking in the kitchen with limited counter space (especially for an untidy cook like me) can be annoying, but it's do-able. It would be nice to have a residential refrigerator with more space for storage and freezing.

But, none of those things are so bad that I'd trade them for a house.

So, what is the one thing that I like least (and in fact, would go so far as to say I dislike it immensely)?

This.

An under the sink trash can. I think it's 7 gallons, or about half the size of most kitchen garbage cans.

Since we haven't stayed at any campgrounds that recycle (and we aren't so environmentally conscious that we're willing to take our recycling somewhere off site), everything goes into that little trash can.

It doesn't take long for it to fill up. A couple soda bottles, a cereal box and a milk jug and it's full.

Of course, we have large bags in it so I can take it out and continue to put stuff in it, but then it's in the middle of the floor taking up (limited) space.

It's probably an issue that's easily resolved, it's just a matter of finding a place for a larger trash can. Or we could generate less trash.

P.S. Chris is very diligent about taking the trash to the dumpster, so this isn't one of those "he never takes out the trash" complaints. 

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you all a wonderful, peaceful and memorable Christmas.


And remember to take a few minutes to dance 

Amazon Camperforce By The Numbers

By the time this posts, we'll be almost done with our time working at Amazon. We finished our third week of 55+ hours and have only two shifts left. We finish at Amazon on the morning of the 23rd and we'll leave here on the 24th for our next adventure: First to Asheville, NC for a couple days and then on to Statesville.

I thought we'd do a little recap to describe our time here.

Please note, all numbers are approximations, but it's my blog and I'm tired so don't quibble.

450---the number of hours we've each worked over a span of about 8 weeks.

One pair each---shoes we've worn out.

$600---the amount of Am Ex gift cards we've earned by showing up and working all our overtime the last three weeks.

2---number of trips to the Donut Palace (so far).

2 each---free T-shirts from Amazon

3--boxes of band aids for blisters on our feet

15-20---pounds I've lost (I hope).

1---number of TV channels we get

2---bottles of Aleve

20+---number of raffle tickets we have in the drawing for the Beats headphones (drawing is the 20th, so stay tuned for results)

2---water bottles lost

10---loaves of bread for sandwiches

less than 5---times we've seen the sun

12---loaves of homemade banana bread, pumpkin bread and apple bread I've made. I bake during our nights off and it's good to take for our break time snacks. 

And a partridge in a pear tree. 

Last Minute Gift Ideas

Since I'm working at the Mecca of gift shopping, I thought I'd share a few of the things I've seen recently that might help you with your last minute shopping.

How about some Bear Repellent?



Or a rubber horsehead mask? Maybe a combo gift of this w/the Godfather Movies.





This prank gift box caught my attention:




I might actually need to send one of these to Naomi. I don't get the Elf on the Shelf (though it's popular). This is the Jewish response:

Get Your Sp00 On!

The next time you get a package from Amazon look for a small white sticker on the outside of the box with a bar code and a series of letters and numbers. That's your Sp00!

I'm not sure if it's Spoo or Sp00. On the computer it looks like 00 but it's pronounced just like you think: Spoo.

From what I have been able to figure out so far, the Sp00 is what connects your order to your shipping address, so that's important.

In fact, the Sp00 is so important that we are constantly reminded to "Scan your Sp00!" during our start of shift meetings.

We've also been instructed in proper Spoo placement.

Sp00 is important.

And fun to say.

Which has lead to some interesting converstations. The other night I was working at a station next to another workcamper. She came out of her station and said to me, "I'm out of Sp00." Pause. "Never really thought I'd say that."

Another night the same woman said to me, "I hear your husband can fix the Sp00, is that right?" I confirmed, proudly, that Chris can fix the Sp00.

The stations we work at are next to a conveyor belt and once we have put the stuff in the box and scanned the Sp00, we put the box on the conveyor belt to be taken a few yards to the gift wrappers.
Recently, while placing a box on the conveyor belt, the Sp00 came off.

Frantically I left my work area and trotted along trying to catch the box on the conveyor belt while lamenting "My Sp00 fell off."

I hate when that happes.

Donut Palace

On Friday morning we got out of work extra early--- 5 am and went in search of a place to have breakfast to celebrate the end of our 54 hour work week. The only place we found open was a Waffle House that had been a major disappointment a few weeks before so we kept looking.

Finaly we decided to just go home and have pancakes but on the way I remembered a bakery that I'd seen when we went a different way home. What a treat!

It was a real bakery with a nice man in white baker's clothes helping us buy too many fresh donuts.

We bought a variety of donuts and decided on the following ranking

6. A cake donut covered in chocolate. Rather disappointing and we didn't finish it. Shocking, I know.
5. The cronut (combo of Croissant and Donut). It was okay, but compared to the others, it fell short.
4. Cinnamon Sour Cream Donut----this would probably get a higher ranking if I'd gotten more than a few crumbs. But Chris enjoyed it.
3. Blueberry cake donut. Yum! Nice and dense and cakey.
2. Maple cake donut with frosthing and nuts. Heavenly.
1. Giant apple fritter. So fresh!


Honorable mention: Homemade crackers called Firecrackers. A little too spicey for me to have more than a couple, but like the Cinnamon Sour Cream Donut...I didn't really have much of a chance anyway.

Thoughts On Our Time With Camperforce

By the time this posts, we'll have finished our second week of 12 hour days (hopefully) with just one full week of work to go.

The time has gone quickly, though there were many times (usually around 3 am) when it felt like time stood still.

As our time is winding down Chris and I have been talking our thoughts on the whole experience. Here are some of them, in no particular order.

Would we do it again? 
Yes, I think we definitely will do Camperforce again.

What would we do differently?

1. We might opt not to work nights. We chose nights because neither of us are early morning people and with the night shift starting at 6 pm, that was good for us, especially compared to 7 am for the day shift. Plus, nights get paid a bit more per hour and we figured between the two of us, that added up to about $500 over the course of our time here.

But, sleeping during the day is rough. It's cold when we go to bed, but gets warmer as the day goes on, so I wake up several times too warm and that makes me cranky. Plus, people call during the day or we need to have things like repairs done etc. We rarely see the sun, especially after the time change at the end of October.

2. Next time I'll take some time either before we get here or maybe arrive a few days early to cook and stock the freezer w/casseroles and other similar food. Also make sure to have 2 weeks worth of clothes so we don't have to do laundry if we just don't have the time.

Will we come back to this location? 

Quite possibly. We would probably even come back to this campground. I'd never want to stay here for anything resembling a vacation, but for work purposes, it's got a lot of benefits: about the shortest commute of the campgrounds available, laundry, groceries and other services within one mile.

I thought being in Tennessee in the Fall would be nice, but as I said above, I've hardly been outside or seen the sun, so I suppose we could be anywhere. In part, the location will depend on where we plan to go when we finish.

That being said, we have been very impressed with the people at this Amazon fulfillment center (BNA3). Professional and friendly and very approachable. We've chatted with the man who is in charge of the entire building at night (can't remember his tittle) and he's often around on the floor and recognizes us and asks how we are doing. I saw him out scanning and packing boxes on Cyber Monday.

All the managers and area managers that we've dealt with have been equally nice and helpful.

I assume that Amazon will continue to expand this program, so whether we come back here will also depend on what other options become available.

What advice do we have for other who might want to give Camperforce a try? 

1. Get some good shoes. Get two pairs.

2. This is a physical job, but it's doable and it doesn't take long to build up your tolerance. Stock up on Aleve. 

3.  Have a good attitude. Nothing makes a long work day seem even longer than listening to a bunch of complainers.

4. Don't get all worked up about the rates. Where you work it might be different and I don't mean to imply that the folks at BNA 3 were slack about our productivity, but no one ever said anything to  me or any Campers that I know of, about our productivity. Honestly, they are just glad we are there because we show up, don't spend too much time flirting w/our co-workers and stay until the end of our shifts.

5. Don't be afraid to talk to the managers or other leadership. They are happy to talk to you and want to know about your concerns.

6. Remember that compared to campground work, this is a real full time job. It also pays about the best of anything out there for full time RVers and it includes your campground fees.  This is an opportunity to work hard for a few weeks and stockpile some money, so keep that in mind when your feet are aching.

7. Work as much overtime as you can while also being mindful of how you are feeling and if you are wearing yourself out. We crashed and burned at Thanksgiving but seem to have recovered. If we'd kept going and worked the overtime available on Black Friday we might not have had the energy to finish the following week, especially after they changed our schedule.

8. We're big fans of Spark by Advocare. Energy and a better attitude. I call it "Mommy's Little Helper." 

9. It can be as fun (or awful) as you choose to make it. 

Stuck Like Chuck

Here's a little RV 101 (and one of the many things I've learned over the last few months). Most larger RVs (trailers, fifth wheels and MHs) have a hydraulic system that powers the jacks and slides.

The jacks come down from the underside of the MH and provide stability and balance. If you're on an uneven site, they will automatically level you out.

Over the last couple weeks in NM we were having some trouble with our slides and jacks, but didn't give it a whole lot of thought.

When we arrived here the jacks wouldn't go down. We did get the slides out (would have been disastrous if we hadn't).

Without the jacks to stabilize the MH, we were pretty wobbly. Think about when you've been in a van or bus and someone moves around and rocks things. That's what it was like for us every time one of us moved, including rolling over in bed. It was like living on a waterbed.

It did not deter us from our frequent dancing (more like wrestling to music) but I'm sure the neighbors wondered why our MH was rocking (and rolling. Har-har).

In addition, because the slides wouldn't go in, we couldn't leave if we wanted/needed to. You can't travel down the highway with the slides out. I guess there is a way to manually retract them. Fortunately it didn't come to that.

I had images of Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel with us stuck here at this campground forever.

 


We finally got someone out to do the repairs (after ordering parts and waiting for them). What a relief. Now we are level and not wobbly.

The repairman was a gregarious fellow in coveralls. When he finished and I asked about the slides working he said, in his booming Tennessee voice "Yep, you were stuck like Chuck, but you're all set now."

No Mo' Stow

The Sunday after Thanksgiving all the Camperforce folks were told we'd be leaving stowing and heading for gift wrap for the balance of our time at Amazon.

Yikes!

We'd heard horror stories about gift wrap---standing in one place for hours on end.

But, Amazon was prepared. The official night shift for the rest of the peak season is 57.5 hours per week (6:30 pm to 6:30 am with 1/2 hour unpaid for lunch) five days per week. Camperforce is only required to do 50 hours per week and anything over that is voluntary. But, if we do the 57.5, in addition to OT pay, we'll each get a $100 Visa gift card per week that we work the full shift. That got people pretty excited.

Turns out that gift wrap isn't as bad as we expected. Even though the shift is longer, it's not as physically demanding. Standing in one place for long periods gets painful but no one has complained when I've stopped to walk around a bit. Plus, we get two full days off. The last few weeks we've been working 5 10 hour shifts and then a half shift on Friday, but now we work a couple more hours and have a longer break.

Plus, it's only for two more weeks.

Chris and I spend most of our time processing rather than wrapping. Let's say you ordered three gifts to be wrapped and a couple things for yourself all in one order to be sent to your house. All those items are put on a cart, I scan everything and then decide if the gift wrapped items ought to go in a gift box (things that would be difficult to wrap like clothing or stuff in those hard plastic packages like a razor or remote control), then put it all in a box for shipping and send it down the line to be wrapped.

Now...here's the funny part. We have to build the shipping boxes (after figuring out which size to use, which can be tricky). The tape that seals the boxes comes out of a machine pre-measured and it's wet like wallpaper. So, imagine holding a wobbly unsecured box in one hand, hitting the button on the machine for the tape and it comes spitting out.

It's like a toaster that shoots wet wallpaper.

You have to catch it mid-flight because if it lands on the counter, it's a big mess.

If you are wrestling with a box and happen to hit the button, it will also shoot out a warm gooey strip of tape.

So the next time you get a package from Amazon, appreciate the tape!

Jim 'N Nick's

A couple weeks ago Amazon provided a holiday meal for the workers (served by management). I went into it thinking "well, this is a nice idea, but I bet the food tastes like it came from the hospital cafeteria."

Well...I was wrong.

Amazon did it up right with catering by Jim 'N Nick's, a local BBQ place. We had wonderful smoked turkey breast, real mashed potatoes and fabulous mac and cheese.

When we heard that we'd get the same meal again later in the week if we worked overtime, we were psyched. Just as good the second time and we got paid time and a half. Life is good!

So...what did we do during our time off? We went to the local Jim 'N Nick's for dinner. It did not disappoint. Chris had a combo platter with ham and brisket. I had soup, salad and a side of mac and cheese.

I'm not sure how much time we'll have for eating out during the rest of our stay, but if we do, Jim 'N Nick's will be at the top of the list.

Oh...how could I forget....Chris got a to go order of Banana Pudding. Yum!

Where To Next?

We have our next stop all arranged. We'll be working at the KOA in Statesville, NC. Click here to go to their website.

It might have been nice to go to Florida or someplace further south, but this year we are going to NC. Jobs in Florida are hard to come by, especially since we are not available until about January 1.

Another consideration is the cost. Remember, we aren't retirees or vacationers, we're working and trying to pay bills. Even with lower gas prices (I saw $2.50/gal the other day) it still costs us about 50 cents per mile to travel. Since we plan to be in DC in April, the cost of traveling from here to Florida and back to DC would have been nearly the same as the benefit of having a free site for three months.

Anyway, we are excited about the job in NC. The job is for our site only, but we only have to work 6 to 8:30 am every day. And only one of us has to be on duty then. This seems like a good deal for us, though we won't be earning any additional cash. It's possible there will be more work available, but right now that's our deal.

Plus, we're much closer to our friends in Ohio and on the East Coast...in case anyone wants to visit. hint...hint

Thankful for Some Rest

We were scheduled to work the Wednesday night/Thanksgiving morning shift. Voluntary overtime was available for Black Friday.

After we got to work in Wednesday night, Chris started not feeling well. At lunch time he decided he needed to leave. I didn't argue or try to figure out a way to finish my shift. We weren't really sure what the procedure was since neither of us had ever left a job mid-shift due to illness (at Amazon or anywhere). We found someone higher up the food chain and explained the situation. She said, "No problem. Just clock out."

No need to exaggerate his symptoms. No one questioning why he was sick the day before a holiday.

It was great. I guess this is one of the perks of not having a job with any responsibility...if you're not there, it doesn't really matter.

We got home around 11:30 pm. I thought I'd stay up the rest of the night like we usually do on our days/nights off. Instead, we both went to sleep around 2 am and slept through until 5 pm the next day. I did get up to take Dooley out at some point. We are especially thankful for his iron-clad bladder.

Basically we slept through Thanksgiving. Then we woke up and stayed up most of the night and had another long day of sleep.

Apparently two overweight middle-aged people cannot work 50+hours per week at a physically demanding job for 4 weeks without taking a tiny bit of time to catch up on their sleep.

We are both feeling much better and plan to be well rested for the last three full weeks of work at Amazon.

Raffles and Appreciation

It's peak season at Amazon. You may have heard....Cyber Monday is just a few hours away.

Amazon has several different things happening to motivate workers to show up, work hard, and put in extra time. Most of these are in the form of raffles. A couple times per week there will be a "power hour" where there is some goal for us to reach as a team and if we do, we all get a raffle ticket.

Chris and I got our first tickets and eagerly went to peruse our options.

A 50" TV---where would we put it? I know...your house.
Playstation---nope
Airline and hotel vouchers----maybe, but we live on the road.
Kindle---all set there.
Camera----doesn't everyone just take pictures w/their phone?
KitchenAide Stand Mixer---we barely have room for a couple whisks.
Bose Sounds system---got one. 

Which leads to (by default) the one item that we are attempting to win

Beats Headphones By Dr. Dre 


So far, I think our tickets are the only ones in the box.

Which leads to a nice story about raffle tickets and appreciation.

A very nice man named Greg is our manager. I'm not sure of his official title, but he seems to be pretty high up the food chain. He's in his early-mid 30s and a very nice guy. We both enjoy talking to him, though we know he's very busy.

The other night, Greg sought us each out while we were stowing and gave us each another raffle ticket to show his appreciation for our hard work and good attitudes.

Totally made my day (night). Chris too. It's not so much about the raffle ticket (though we now have four in for the Beats...) but the fact that he acknowledged our efforts.

P.S. We are far from the best stowers, but we might be the most fun.

Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to one and all!

We have much for which we are thankful, particularly our friends who follow along (and cheer us on) as we continue our adventure.

Wishing you all a blessed Thanksgiving.

Life Without TV

I'll admit that when I realized we wouldn't have cable during our stay in Tennessee, I imagined Chris staring at the TV screen, gently rocking back and forth, weeping quietly.

Turns out, he's done much better than that and I'm proud of him.

To be honest, I think that not having a TV has helped us because when we are home, we are mostly sleeping. If we had cable, we'd spend time watching when we should be sleeping.

We do get one channel: ION. It has some of the worst cop shows ever, but after a few episodes, you become numb to it all and it's not so bad.

There's also the RedBox which he visits a couple times every weekend.

Fortunately, the wifi is good enough that we can stream online videos through Youtube and Amazon Prime, so he's been able to keep up with The Blacklist. We've also been watching the Sopranos on Prime. Still a great show all these years later.

Confession: once we finish up here, my dream would be to move to a nice campground a bit further south and spend about a week just sitting in front of the TV.

Maybe Chris isn't the only one with a problem.

Time Clock

I've never had a job where I punched a time clock. I might have written my time down on some time cards at a restaurant or two back in high school, but being governed by the time clock is new to me.

At Amazon, there are specific rules about when you can and can't clock in. Everyone stands around and waits until exactly 4:30 am to clock out. One day Chris walked to the front of the line and clocked out at 4:28, figuring it was no big deal.

Turns out those people waiting in line weren't just creatures of habit. They knew the rules. I think Chris got docked for an hour or two of work for clocking out early. We haven't checked our paystubs, but I got paid about $20 more than he did that week.

At the end of the workday, a couple hundred people pile out of the innards of the warehouse and punch the time clock before heading home. I've become one of them and each time I'm in the line of people leaving the mods, it reminds me of this: 

Yabba Dabba Do!

Lean Mean Stowing Machine

I'll admit I was apprehensive about the physical demands of this job. Years ago, I walked several half marathons and was in pretty good shape. But...that was years ago.

The description of the job of stower is that you will walk 2-4 miles per shift, plus going up and down stairs, bending, lifting and squatting. But, I was also optimistic. This could be just the thing to help me get into shape. Plus, I heard of someone who lost 40 lbs while working at Amazon. I was psyched. In fact, it reminded me of this classic scene from one of my favorite movies.

(Watching this made me sad to realize that both John Candy and Harold Ramis have passed away.)

Three full weeks of work in, how is the weight loss going?

First, when paring down our possessions, the scale didn't make the cut. Darn. So, no actual numbers to share.

But, I have noticed the following:

• My thighs are rock hard. 
• My butt isn't rock hard, but it's improving. 
• My jacket that used to be too snug around the hips when zipped, fits nicely now. 
• When I go to the third floor, my calves are complaining before I finish the two flights of stairs, but my heart isn't pounding. 
• It's possible that I am developing some arm muscles. Not enough to make up for the flappy part at the bottom, but an improvement.

I don't mind the walking at all. In fact, the worst part is when I have to walk slowly (looking for bin space) or standing still. That's when my feet and legs start to ache.

I'm excited to see how buff (haha) I get before we leave in a few weeks. 

Unique Items I've Seen

At first, I paid attention to each item I stowed. What was it? How much space did it need? How many did I need to stow?

Over time my focus shifted to "how big is this and where am I going to put it?" Many items are boxed or covered so unless I take the time to look, it could be about anything.

However...one toy caught my attention. In part because it was in a clear plastic case, so hard to miss.

It's sort of creepy with those big eyes. I wondered why it came with extra diapers.

Then I read the description. 

• Feed your Lalaloopsy Babies water, press their belly "button," and check their diaper for a surprise
• Magically poops charms                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Yes, Magically Poops Charms. As you might imagine, I had a few thoughts about that, but my minimal sense of decorum has stopped me from posting them here.  

We've Got Mail

One of the challenges of life on the road is getting our mail. We can deal with most things online or by phone, but still, you need a mailing address and we'd rather not have our mail forwarded from place to place chasing us around the country.



Most campgrounds will accept UPS or FedEx packages, but they do not want campers to have their regular mail sent to the campground office. Plus, even if we stay in one place for 3-4 months, that still gets to be a pain to change our address that often.

 What's a full time RVer supposed to do? Fortunately, others have thought of this already. We have signed up with America's Mailbox, a mail forwarding service located in SD. For a fee, we get a post office box there and they will send our mail to us every week or two, depending on what we request. We've paid a bit more for to have them discard the junk mail so we don't have to pay to have the garbage forwarded. We've also deposited money to pay for the postage to have our mail forwarded. So, it's a bit more expensive than just having a mailbox on your front door.

Just in time for all the Christmas cards you'll be sending us! 

Where's My Water Bottle and Other Funny Things

As stowers our job is to get a U-Boat which is a cart of 12 totes full of merchandise. We push the U-Boat through the aisles crammed with stuff and find places to stow our items. At break time and lunch time, you leave your U-Boat to go to the break room. I finally figured out that not only are the rows numbered but they also have different sections which I try to remember so I can be reunited with my boat. After breaks it's not uncommon to see people wandering around peeking into the different boats hoping to find theirs.

If you lose your boat, you have to go to the Problem Solver and they drop your totes and you can start over. Not a big deal, other than going to the person (they are all very nice) and saying "I can't find my U-Boat", which is a little embarrassing.

During our first two weeks, Chris lost his water bottle twice (the second time appears to be permanent) and his U-Boat twice (the second time he lost both at the same time which seems to have lead to permanent loss of the water bottle).

Of course, I mocked him over this and considered putting up missing posters for the water bottle. Did I mention the water bottles were $8 each?

And yes, on the next break I lost my boat and water bottle and had to do the walk of shame to the Problem Solver.

In my defense, I think I made the mistake of parking my nearly empty boat near the area where the people who gather the empty totes work and blame them for moving it.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it.

So....our new plan is to buy a case of water and refill our bottles each shift, then start over again next time.

The other funny thing. The big deal at Amazon is your rate, which has to do with how many items you stow on your shift and were you are in relation to expectations. The goal is to be at 100. Each day the rate sheets are posted, there are about nine of them with small print and several columns and everyone crowds around to try to see how they did. Those of us with older eyes have to get closer to read.

A few days ago, my rate was 19. Yes, 19!  I was shocked. I hadn't been breaking any records, but still 19? Yikes!

So I kicked it into gear and stowed my freckled heart out. The next day...29. An improvement, but still a failing grade as far as I was concerned. How much were these other people stowing if I was busting my ass and still not even halfway to my goal?

When no one else was around, I went back to look at the sheets more closely....turns out I was reading the hours worked column and not my rate. No wonder it went up by 10 each day.

Hahaha! 

Another Recipe Review

I've become a big fan of The Simple Veganista. First there was the mashed chickpea salad then I tried these cookies. Click here to go to the blog for all the details.

Here's the recipe: 

Chocolate Chip + Banana + Oatmeal Bites 

Ingredients

• 2 very ripe bananas, mashed 
• 1 cup oats, rolled or quick (I used GF)
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• small handful semi-sweet chocolate chips (Ghirardelli or Enjoy Life mini chips)

Optional add-ins:

• dash of vanilla extract
• shredded coconut
• chopped nuts
• dried fruit

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

In a medium size bowl, mash bananas fairly smooth, a few small chunks is ok. Add oats and cinnamon, mix well. Add in chocolate chips, mix again.

Grease a cookie sheet lightly with coconut oil. Using a tablespoon, scoop mixture and place on cookie sheet. I left mine in a dome shape, you could flatten it out a bit with your fingers to make a flatter shape. Should get anywhere from 12 -16 depending on the size you scoop out, if it was a heaping tablespoon or not. 

Bake in oven for 15 - 20 minutes. If you make your scoops dome shaped and on the larger side together, bake for 20 - 25 minutes. Remove from oven, let cool a few minutes before eating.

Store leftovers loosely covered and eat within a day or two.

Notes: The riper the banana, the sweeter your end result will be. I've used rolled oats (like you see here) and quick oats, both with great success. Also, I've had batches come out looking lighter than what you see here, usually when using quick oats, so your coloring may vary. They may also darken a bit overnight due to the banana.

**** We had one really ripe banana so I cut the recipe in half. That made about 8 bite sized cookies or enough for a treat for Chris and me. The oatmeal got a little crunchy for a nice texture and the bananas and chocolate chips were a nice combo. A great way to use up those super ripe bananas without going to the hassle of making banana bread.

Dare To Dream

Long before we ever met, Chris and I each had dreamed of traveling full time in an RV. Periodically I'd indulge in reading blogs by full time RVers, but I had no idea how to go about really making that dream happen.

In fact, it was more a fantasy than a dream. I once read a quote that went something like this: Your goals and dreams are just fantasies unless you are at least taking some action (no matter how small) to make it happen.

At that point, I was in fantasy mode.

Then I met Chris and it turned out he'd wanted to do the same thing. He'd cruise RV sites on his iPad while we watched TV and show me different models. They all looked the same to me. Or I'd look at the price and freak out. But he was at least taking some action (gathering information) about making the dream a reality. He believed it was possible. I wasn't so sure.

Events in our life took some sudden turns and we found ourselves on the road. Most people plan seriously for about a year before hitting the road. Some keep their jobs but live in their RV to see how they really feel about living full time in a small space.

Not us. We hit the road in about two weeks. It was crazy and not well thought out, but if we'd stopped and thought about exactly what we were doing, maybe we would have chickened out. Postponed our dream, maybe indefinitely.

I"m not suggesting that living in a motor home is everyone's dream (or fantasy). But everyone has a dream. Even if you say you don't, I bet you do. You've just forgotten about it. Put it on the back burner.

Maybe it's time to get that dream out and dust it off a bit. It doesn't have to be a huge life changing dream. Maybe you've always wanted to learn to bake pastries. Or run a mile.

Or maybe it is a giant dream. Good for you. Now, do one thing today toward making that dream happen.

Recipe Review

It's been awhile since I've done a restaurant review. I guess that means we haven't been eating out much or at least not at any place interesting. We've been cooking more. The weather is cooler so heating up the RV is an advantage rather than a discouragement. Plus, we need decent food to take with us to work since there's not time to go out.

I did an internet search for lunch ideas and found this recipe. Seems healthy, high protein and it's easy to have all the ingredients on hand. This is from The Simple Veganista. Lots of good recipes there so check it out. 

Mashed Chickpea Salad

Ingredients

• 1 can (15 oz) chickpeas (garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup celery, sliced 
• 1/2 cup carrots, diced
• 1/4 - 1/3 cup scallions, sliced 
• 1/4 cup or so hummus or tahini (any vegan mayo works too)*
• 1 - 2 tablespoons mustard (stoneground or dijon)
• sea salt & cracked pepper, to taste
• dash of garlic powder
• juice of 1 lemon, optional
• small handful pepitos (pumpkin seeds), optional
• paprika/smoked paprika, garnish

Drain and rinse your chickpeas, place in medium size bowl and roughly mash with a fork, potato masher or pastry blender. Add the remaining ingredients and combine. Add more hummus if you like it creamier and taste for seasoning.

Serve however you like...make a sandwich, serve on a bed of leafy greens or scoop up with crackers or sliced vegetables like cucumbers, bell peppers, celery sticks, etc. 

Store leftovers in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to a week.

Notes:

If you find your hummus is a bit thick, thin it out with a tablespoon or two of water. This will make for a perfect consistency to use as a binder without being overly thick and/or drying as well. 

 

*** This was very tasty and I'll definitely make it again. We didn't have Dijon mustard so I used regular yellow mustard and probably used a bit too much (measuring spoons are for babies), so I added more hummus to balance it out. We ate it on crackers or straight from the container, but it would also make a good sandwich, maybe with some avocado or tomato. 

 

 

 

People Of The Night

We chose to work the night shift at Amazon for a couple reasons. First, it pays a bit more per hour. Second, and possibly more important, it's a time that suits us both better.

I'm not much of a morning person so getting up at 5 am to be at Amazon for a 7 am shift would not be ideal for me. My energy tends to be best starting around 4 pm. Chris is similar, though he's learned to be more adaptable due to different jobs he's had. So, for us, going to work at 6 pm is working out well.

Here are my random thoughts: 

• The time at Amazon goes quickly and often when our shift is done, it doesn't feel like an entire night has gone by.
• Going to work one day and coming home the next is a bit strange.
• Sleeping during the day is a challenge. When you sleep at night, you can anticipate the house getting cooler as you sleep. The opposite is true during the day. 
• When you wake up during the night and think of something you need to do, you can tell yourself "It's night. No one is going to respond to my email/phone call now anyway. It can wait until morning." But when you sleep during the day and wake up with those thoughts, you are more likely (at least I have been) to get up and deal it. 
• When do you eat breakfast? At 4:30 pm when we have our first meal of the "day" or at 5:30 am when we get home? Fortunately, we like breakfast any time of day. 
• Since there are no windows in the warehouse where we work, you can't tell if it's day or night anyway. 
• What do you say to someone at the end of the shift? Usually at the end of a work day, I'd say "good night". "Good day" hardly seems appropriate. Mostly I just grunt and wave. 
•  It's hard to sleep for long stretches during the day. Hopefully that will improve with time. 
• I like having an hour or two of awake time before going to work which would never happen if we were on day shift. 
• We are here for a short period of time with the goal of working and saving as much money as possible, so we can make these adjustments. I'm not sure that I'd want to live this way indefinitely.

Our First Week At Amazon

Getting ready to head in for our fourth shift of the week. We are working Sunday-Wednesday 6 pm to 4:30 am. We leave here around 5:15 p.m. and get back about 5:000 a.m. So far, so good and we are planning to work voluntary overtime on Thursday night. It would be nice to have three days off in a row, but we came here to work so we're going to take every opportunity we can. Plus, I think that it will be easier to maintain our night owl schedule with only two days off, but we'll see how it goes.

The first night my back hurt almost the entire time, so that was unpleasant. I've been working a bit smarter and although my back has hurt every night, it's a little less each night. I'm not so foolish to think that I can walk, lift and bend for 10 hours a night painlessly.

The time goes quickly. We start at 6:00 with everyone in our group (30-40 people?) gathering for announcements at the beginning of the shift. Then we have stretches. One of the workers leads stretches. They count the odd numbers and the rest of us call out the evens. Sometimes the counting gets loud, with the leader and one or two other people shouting back and forth as they count, but it's fun.

When we all bend over to try to touch our toes, I imagine a giant crackling sound as all our backs crunch.

After that, it's off to get the stuff to be stowed. We work on our own until time or the first break at 8:30. That's fifteen minutes, but it also includes the time going to and from the break room so we are getting smarter about making sure we're working closer to the break room around that time.

Back to work at 8:45 for two hours. Lunch is 10:45-11:15. Then we meet up as a group for more stretches and on to the second half of the shift. Another break from 2:00 to 2:15, then it's the final quarter and we clock out at 4:30.

One of our biggest challenges for both Chris and I is finding our cart of stuff after the breaks and lunch. Sure the aisles are numbered, but even that isn't enough. I'll be sure that I left it on one side of the aisle and I'll be darned if it isn't on the other when I finally find it.

The people are all pleasant. When I've made mistakes or had questions, everyone is nice about it.

Gotta run. More later.

Feeling (Slightly) Better About Music City

We've chatted with several others from Camperforce and it turns out that this might actually be one of the better campgrounds.

Yikes. 

Now, if you're vacationing, this ain't the place for you.

But, if you're working 40-50 hours per week, then there are some good points about Music City.

First, we seem to have about the shortest commute (25 mins). Others are driving up to 45 mins each way. And since we are punching (scanning) a time clock, you need to allow extra time just to make sure you're there on time.

The other nice thing about this location is that we are less than one mile from three grocery stores, a laundromat, plus drug stores, dollar stores and a Sonic.

Our wifi also seems to be better than most of the other places.

Plus (and this is a big bonus for a geek like me) we are right next to the public library. Since we don't have a printer, it was convenient to just go next door and print some paperwork we needed. I even got a library card and we got a couple movies (a free way to try to make up for the lack of cable).

So, we are adjusting our attitude about the campground.

Learning To Stow

There are a wide range of jobs at Amazon. We have been assigned to be stowers. That means (as far as I can tell at this point) that we will be "stowing" merchandise in the zillions of bins in the warehouse. When an item is ordered, the "pickers" rush from bin to bin collecting the items for the order.

We did a five hour shift of stowing today and I think we are both getting the hang of it. We were glad we had our water bottles with us today because it was stuffy up on the third (top) floor.

Here's what a stower does: you pick up a U boat, which is a cart with a dozen storage totes on it. Think of all the items sold on Amazon, and that's what's in the totes. Everything from slippers to wrenches to Legos. Then, within the labyrinth of the huge warehouse, you stow the items in bins. Scan the item, scan the bin. Repeat.

The trick seems to be finding space in the bins since the idea is to get as many items into each bin as possible and to empty the items from your totes as fast as possible. Not everyone has my eye for organizing a bin to max effect, so I spent some time rearranging to make room for my stuff.

It's sort of like a game. I hope I still feel that way in a few weeks. Mostly you work alone. Even though Chris and I are on the same team working the same shift, once we get our U Boats and go to different areas of the floor to work, we might not see each other until break time or lunch.

There are quotas to be met for how many items you store over the course of your shift, but those don't go into affect for us for a couple weeks. I have no idea if I am close to going at the right speed, but I assume if it's a problem, someone will let me know.

I got totally turned around in the aisles of bins today. If I hadn't seen Chris at break time, I would have spent the whole 15 mins of time off trying to find the break room. From where we were working today, it was probably close to 1/4 mile each way to the break room (plus up and down two flights of stairs), so even though we might not be walking a whole lot while we are storing, the to and from for breaks and then the back and forth to get more boats will quickly add up.

Not sure if I've lost any weight yet, but it's only been a couple days. :)

Music City Campground....Singing the Blues

In previous posts I've mentioned our trepidation about our campground here in Tennessee.

It was well-founded.

Here's some of what I've learned in my short time as a full time RVer. First, you want a level site. No one really wants to live in a house that is slanted from side to side or front to back. Most RV's come with leveling jacks (automatic) to help stabilize and level your home. Even with the jacks, we were slanting down hill. Chris went to Camping World and spent $70 for some leveling blocks. That helped but we're still not 100%.

Second, you want some amenities like cable and wifi. They did put in wifi (I have a feeling Amazon demanded it) and it's actually working pretty well. However, no cable. This is going to be a challenge (more for some of us than for others). Stay tuned for updates on that.

Other things aren't amenities but are necessities: like a laundry room. None here.

Yesterday I went into the office to register. I was there for as long as it took to get my driver's license from my wallet, have it copied and make maybe two mins of chit chat w/the woman there. When I got back to the RV, I reeked of cigarette smoke so badly I threw my shirt outside (didn't even want it in w/our dirty laundry) and took a shower. One of the questions I asked while there was whether we could have packages delivered there. (Yes, we can). But now I can't help but think every item we order online will come with a nicotine fix. So gross.

Another thing to look for in a campground is some sort of standards for people's sites. None here. There are some campers here that are so broken down, I doubt if they could get them out of here and because they've been here so long the residents have all sorts of clutter around them.

Perhaps we need to be here to learn a bit of humility and compassion. I tried to tell myself that and my heart pangs for what I imagine must be a pretty dreary existence. Not all full time RVers are traveling the country and seeing the sights, that's for sure.

There are some good things about this campground. We have a couple of trees. It's very quiet (except for the dog that is currently barking incessantly. Sadly we can't turn on the TV to drown out the noise.) It's also very close to several grocery stores, drugs stores and a laundromat (as well as a multitude of places to buy cigarettes, alcohol and get checks cashed).

Now...here's the irony. We heard about another campground that was added to the Amazon list, so we went there to check it out. We were filled with high hopes as we drove through the Tennessee countryside, past large horse farms and rolling hills of autumn colored trees. Turns out...that place was even less desirable than this one. Sites were still uneven and more narrow than what we have here. The wifi only reached a few of the campers (and would not reach the spot we would get if we decided to move) and it was at least 15 mins to any stores or laundromats. In addition, it had as many junky campers as Music City. And no cable.

For now, we'll stick with the devil we know.

First Day At Amazon

We had our first day of orientation at Amazon today.  Orientation will last the rest of the week and then we start working full time on Sunday night. We asked for nights (higher pay, we are both better later than early in the morning and we think it will be better for the dog to be left alone at night than during the day). We will be "stowing". I'm not exactly sure what we'll be doing, but we'll be walking 2-4 miles per day.

Workampers have been starting at Amazon over the last few weeks. Our group this morning consisted of about 20 people. I think they were all couples though I think there was one woman who was alone. One couple looked to be in their late 40s and everyone else (other than Chris and I) was probably 60 (or 65) and above. A couple were over 70. About half or more had worked for Amazon before. Some where rather know-it-all-ish about it so you can imagine how I felt about that.

The warehouse is huge. Really huge. And rather noisy. I suppose that's what it's like working in a factory. I'll be sort of like Debra Winger in An Officer and a Gentleman. I'll need a cool hat like hers.

We were tortured by a couple hours of training videos about "bias" and sexual harassment. The videos were at least 20 years old, the acting was horrible and the hair was big.

We were given badges w/our pictures on them and cool Amazon Camperforce T-shirts (purple!).

Tomorrow we start at 7:30. I hope they don't make us watch any more videos. 

Where Are We Now?

By the time you read this, we ought to be at or very near our next stop---Murfreesboro, TN.

We'll be working for Amazon's Camperforce in the Amazon Distribution Center in Murfreesboro. Actually, we'll be staying a few miles away from Murfreesboro, but that's where we will be working.

We heard about these Amazon jobs before we even bought the motor home. Fortunately I'd read several blogs about it and knew we'd need proof we'd graduated from high school so when I was packing and found my diplomas, I tossed them in.

Amazon actively recruits full time RVers to work seasonal jobs in their distributions centers. There are four Camperforce locations this year, with Murfreesboro being new.

From what we understand we'll be working 10 hours shifts 4 days per week filling orders and packing boxes. The work is physically taxing, but I need the exercise. We were given the choice of three different jobs, but no promise that we'd get our first choice. Two of the jobs involve walking several miles per day while one job is mostly standing in one place. I really hope I don't get the standing in one place job.

We are looking forward to spending the rest of 2014 in Tennessee. We'll be closer to friends and family and I'm excited to explore Nashville during our (limited) time off.

I don't think working in a warehouse is a job that I want to have permanently, but I'm willing to give it a try for a couple months. Plus, there won't be any phones for me to answer or customers to deal with (see previous post).

Our biggest concern is Dooley the dog. Between the commute and our jobs, we'll be gone for about 11 or 12 hours and we know he'll be lonely. We are hoping to get to our campground and settled in for a few days before we have to leave him for long periods.

The one fly in the ointment so far has been the campground. Amazon sent out a list of five campgrounds where they had made deals for Camperforce workers to stay. We were working the day the list came out so by the time we called the next day, they were all full. All except the one campground that didn't have a webpage or any information on line except a 5 out of 10 star review from 2010. Sigh.

We made a reservation at a campground that wasn't on the approved list and asked Amazon to pay at least a portion of our site rent. We were willing to pay out of pocket if need be to have a nice space. We were informed that if we were going to have a Camperforce job we had to stay in one of the approved campgrounds. Ugh. So we bit the bullet and made a reservation. I am trying to be optimistic and since we'll be working or sleeping most of the time, maybe it won't matter that much anyway.

Stay tuned for more from The Volunteer State. 

Graceland

We interrupt your regularly scheduled blog post to bring you this live update...we went to Graceland today.

Thursday night we were in Oklahoma City looking at the map. We have until Sunday the 19th to get to our location for the Amazon jobs so we decided to do a long drive yesterday (over 450 miles) and spend two nights in Memphis at the Graceland RV park...right across the street from you know where.

The Heartbreak Hotel is right in front of the campground...both are located "At the end of Lonely Street."

When we made the trip to NM, I was a newbie and didn't know anything about campgrounds or RVing. Now, I've got 3 months of campground customer service under my belt so I'm paying attention. The young woman who checked us in last night was really bad. Completely indifferent to whether we were there or not. I could have stood at the counter and made dookie in my pants and her expression still would have said BFD.

Needless to say, that didn't give me the best impression of the area. Our campsite was okay, rather close to the others and there's no cable. (We'll be w/o cable for our whole time at Amazon too...stay tuned for more posts on how Chris deals with this...). But the weather was great and we took a nice stroll down Elvis Presley Blvd.

A few days ago there were two RVs of Australians traveling together who stayed at the KOA. They were a lot of fun and I remembered that they'd said they were going to Graceland. But, really, what are the odds?

Well, as we were leaving the campground a man walked up next to us and it was one of the Australians. I pointed and said "you're one of the Australians". Like he didn't know.

He didn't seem to recognize us w/o our yellow KOA shirts (common) but he played along.

This morning we walked over to get our tickets and take the tour of Graceland. We did the basic tour of the mansion which did not include a "bonus room", the car collection or the airplanes. That was fine w/me.

What I found most interesting about the mansion was that it really wasn't that big (we only saw the downstairs). It's still the way it was when he died in 1977, but I'm sure a few of you have bigger kitchens and living rooms. However, you probably don't have your own racquetball building that has been converted to display gold records and your different jumpsuit/cape combos.

If you do have such a room, why haven't you told me?

The good news about the jumpsuits is that they were linen, not polyester. Still, you can't avoid sweating when you wear a cape, unless you are a super hero.

The tour was very nice. Everyone got their own iPad and headphones for an interactive tour w/extra features on the iPad like home movies or movie clips.

As I looked at all the photos and film clips, I couldn't help but notice just how darned good looking he was in his youth and how charismatic he was.

I remember when he died. I was on vacation at the Jersey shore with my friend Karen O'Sullivan and her family. Her dad came in w/the newspaper that said Elvis had died and he was really rattled by the news.

What about you? Do you remember where you were when you learned that Elvis had died?

Highlights Of Our Time in New Mexico

Thought it would be fun to list some of the highlights of our three months here. I'll number them but that's more the order that I remember them than a ranking. Chris contributed to this list. See if you can figure out which ones he mentioned.

1. Our trip to the Jemez Mountains.

2. KC's visit.

3. Meeting a very nice family with three small children. The two older ones (ages 4 and 2) often helped us walk Dooley. It was quite the production w/ the dog and two small kids, but it gave the parents a few mins to themselves. I suppose if we were really good, we'd have taken the 6 month old w/us too, but they never offered and neither did we.

4. Making new friends that we hope we'll keep in touch with.

5. This phone conversation: Caller: I'm calling to find out about workamping. Me: Okay, what would you like to know? Caller: Do you need an RV? Me: Well, it's called work-camping so I think you'd need a way to camp. Caller: Well, maybe I could get a tent.

6. Our drive up the Turquoise Trail and finding an unexpectedly neat place to have lunch.

7. Seeing the balloons at the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta.

8. Learning how to spell Albuquerque.

9. Learning to pronounce Bernalillo (Bern-a-le-o).

10. Meeting an 80 year old man who come here for his granddaughter's same sex marriage. It was clear he wasn't exactly comfortable with the situation, but he made the trip and had a good time.

11. The Range Cafe

12. Route 66 Diner

13. Getting our air conditioner working properly (a major highlight when it was nearly 100 degrees).

14. Using our electric fireplace on chilly evenings.

15. Sitting outside in the evening looking at the sky. The stars are brighter out here.

16. The comfy lawn chairs someone gave us.

17. Getting RV repairs done and getting to know our new home.

18. Having a working ice maker that nearly makes enough to keep up with our consumption.

19. Figuring out how to work the surround sound (because being able to hear the TV in our 8X8 living room is such a challenge).

20. Looking at the Sandia Mountains gave me a thrill every time, especially when it was cloudy or stormy.

21. Meeting tons of nice people.

22. The guy who came to the KOA to buy propane and chatted with us then told us to go to one of the bars in town and "Tell them Little Felix sent you." We never went, but the idea of it still makes me smile. 


23. Being foolish enough or brave enough to take the plunge and get out on the road.

Getting Ready to Move

I hate moving. Who doesn't? The boxes. Realizing how much junk you really have and wondering if you need it. Calling the cable company to make an appointment to get service and hoping they show up.

But...when you live in a RV moving is much easier. First, you don't have to move any furniture because you're taking your home with you fully furnished. No need to wonder if your couch will work in the new house. No need to call the cable company because when you get to your site you just hook up to the electricity, water, sewer and cable and put out the slides, get things level (done automatically by the jacks) and viola, you're home.

As we are getting ready to leave for our big drive to Tennessee I've been looking around at all the clutter. You know how I like to have everything out where I can see it just in case I need it---that's even more challenging in a motor home with limited counter space. However, I have done an admirable job of accumulating pieces of paper and clutter. Why don't I go through this stuff regularly instead of letting it pile up? Anyway, 15 mins (or less) later and it's all taken care of.

The other thing we need to be careful about is making sure that nothing is left out that will jiggle or fall while we are moving so all the toiletries that I have cluttering the counter in the bedroom will need to be put away. Basically that means tossing them all into the container they are supposed to be in that goes in the cupboard.

You never have to worry about over or under packing because all your stuff is right here with you. However, when it rained on our trip out here we learned that we need to have our things out of the closet before we close up the slides because the closet is inaccessible then. "Can you get the umbrella?" "Sure, it's in the closet. I'll go get it....Oh. Ooops."

When deciding on a new location, we don't need to be concerned about property values, taxes or whether or schools. The major question: Is the sun shining there?

Thoughts on Leaving New Mexico

By the time this post is published, we'll be on our way to Tennessee so I thought I'd share a few thoughts on our time in New Mexico and our first workamping experience.

Some of you may recall that we (me in particular) were in serious distress during our last few days/weeks on Ohio. We were unsure what was going to happen with the potential sale of our house, my parents had called us price gougers and freeloaders and my son had become more than just a little hateful. We'd committed to buy a motor home. We had no idea how we'd make it all work but knew we couldn't stay where we were.

We were also determined not to allow the "poor attitudes" of my family to keep us from doing something we'd talked about doing since we'd met but never imaged we'd get to do for many years, if at all.

So, when we saw the ad for a job in New Mexico, something about it stood out from all the others we'd seen. It was the first and only job we applied for and we were hired within an hour. (And before we'd even taken possession of our motor home).

I had no idea what we were getting into and I'm incredibly grateful that Chris knew all about RVing and RV maintenance. After driving 1500 miles safely with a vehicle we'd barely inspected, we were very lucky.


New Mexico is so different from Ohio that it was just the dramatic change we needed. The people are different with the Hispanic and Native American cultures. Although the heat was a bit much, we love the scenery and the terrain.

We've met a ton of interesting and nice people here and we've learned a ton about living full time in an RV.

We've also learned a few things that we'll take with us for our next workamping job (where ever it might be).

We'll miss the weather (that has finally cooled down) and several friends that we've made along the way, but it's time to move on to our next adventure.

Special Shapes

After the mass ascension the special shapes were inflated. It was fun to watch as they were inflated from flat on the ground and try to figure out what it was going to be when fully inflated. It was like being at the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade but without baton twirlers or marching bands.

 Spider Pig

 It took a long time to get the cow inflated and then it never flew. Not sure why but it was fun to see.

 The butterfly was one of my favorites.

 Not really sure what this thing is, but it was colorful.

 I really liked this one too. Not sure if you can tell, but it's a balloon with a dragon or snake wrapped around it.

And we all know who this guy is.