2015 In Review

In the last few hours of 2015, we thought we'd review the year. I'd planned to do these as individual posts, but that didn't happen, so we'll include everything here in a bounty of fascinating thoughts.

Things that surprised us: 

• How quickly the year went. That seems to happen every year, but it sure felt like 2015 went super fast. 
• We spent all of 2015 in North Carolina and only stayed in two different locations, 50 miles apart. For a couple of people determined to travel and see the country, spending 12 out of 18 months on the road in one state seems odd. 
• Being in North Carolina for a year hasn't been so bad. We're eager to see what's next, but not frustrated at still being here. 
• When I set out to be a workamper, I had the silly notion that employers would look at people like Chris and me, and others we've met, and think "wow, I can't believe we're able to have experienced, grown up, professional people work for us and bring all their knowledge and experience to our workplace. How can we best use these assets?" Wrong! Turns out that if you're willing to work for crap wages, people will treat you like crap, regardless of how you perform. 
• The funny way that life works out. We were in Statesville, NC working at a KOA that was dreary and depressing, but we befriended a man named Joel who was old and lonely. He told us about Carowinds. We would have never known about the opportunity to work and live at Carowinds without meeting him. Then while we were at Carowinds, Chris happened to see a truck with a sticker on it about something of interest to him and he went and talked to the guy driving it. And that's how we found out about the jobs with Southern Cross. What unexpected encounters might be coming our way in 2016?

Best things that happened:

• Our new jobs. We are earning a decent amount of money and being treated like professionals and not peons. Although we don't know where we'll be going next, we know when payday is and that we'll be compensated fairly and considered part of a team. 
• We met a lot of nice people. Nearly all of my co-workers at Carowinds were nice people with whom I enjoyed working (there were a couple of notable exceptions who may be mentioned later in this post). Richard and Lamar, our first neighbors here at Carowinds. Dan and Debbie Green who told us about Southern Cross and trained us. 
• We bought a new car. Oh, how we love our new Hyundai Santa Fe Sport! We spend 6-8 hours per day working from the car, so it's not just getting us to and from work, it's our office. It's comfortable and roomy and has space for all the stuff we need for our jobs, plus groceries and even a friend or two. 
• Rented the house in Ada. I had hoped to sell the house in Ohio, but when that didn't seem likely, I was referred to a property manager who has found a tenant and handles all the details. I get calls every now and then for repairs, but I also get a check each month and that's nice. Much nicer than making house and utility payments for a house that's sitting empty. 
• Getting a tow dolley so we can travel together in the MH. Traveling inside the MH, w/food and a bathroom, is so much better than following behind in the car. 
• We actually used the MH to travel for a couple of trips. Twice to Ohio and once to Wilmington, NC for Thanksgiving. I'm really spoiled now and don't know why anyone would travel without being able to take their house along with them. 



TV Before

• We've been able to make some improvements to the MH, including the back splash Chris installed (there's a prior post about that) and get a new TV to replace the old, giant TV that took up a lot of space. Now we have a big flat screen TV that cover the space where the old TV was and swings out so that space can be used for storage. 

  

  Storage behind the TV. 

  
  

  

  Back splash before. 

  

  TV After

  
  

  
  

  Back splash after.
  
  Sorry the pictures are out of order. They are uncooperative. I'm sure you can figure it out.
  
  Wishing you all a wonderful 2016! 

2015 In Review---Things that Confused Us

As we look back on the year that was, we've compiled some best of/worst of/most of ideas that we'd like to share with you.

First up...Things That Confused Us

The Coffee News

You've all seen these, right? A flyer that is mostly ads for local businesses. Simple enough, right?

Well, what about this guy? It says to find Mr. Coffee News in one of the ads, and tell them where you found him and possibly win a prize. One day I looked all over...and it's just the front and back of a 11 X 14 paper...and couldn't find him. 

When Chris got home, he looked too. 

We started hoarding them and comparing. We'd look at the winners in week number two to see where the ad was supposed to be in week number one. Even then we couldn't find him. 

Did he only appear in some of the flyers? 

Or were we just stupid? 

There are many things that confuse us, but being stymied by Coffee News Man is a bit embarrassing. But it makes a good blog post. 

Christmas Cheer

McAdenville, NC calls itself Christmastown USA. Our friends, Richard and Lamar, invited us to go with them to see the lights of McAdenville.

According to Lamar the tradition of Christmas lights in McAdenville started years ago when it was a mill town. Everyone who decorated with Christmas lights got their electric bill paid for November, December and January by the family who owned the mill. The incentive worked and even though everyone pays their own electric bill, the lights were awesome and plentiful.

So were the cars, but Lamar knew a back way so we were able to miss nearly all the traffic and still enjoy the lights.

Here's an article about McAdenville.

Here's a link to images of McAdenville to give you an idea of the things we saw. 

We also went to Tony's Ice Cream and had delicious milkshakes.

A fun night with good friends.

More Scenes From the Pipeline

We had to walk through some goat pens. This is the scene before we entered the pen. 

Two goats guarding the fence. We managed to get buy them because we're people and we're smarter than goats. Most of the time. 

Up close look at cotton. I'm a fan of cotton products but I've never been this close to the plant. Don't tell, but we picked some and it's really soft. Except for the seeds in the center. That's probably what inspired Eli Whitney. 

Cotton fields for as far as you can see. And more on the other side. Chris walked through all of them. That was a long day and I was worried about him. "Hello? 9-1-1? My husband is missing and he's in a cotton field. Can you help?"

Great Faces. Great Places

This is our new license plate. Look closely.

Yes, South Dakota.

We have our mail sent to America's Mailbox in Box Elder, SD and they send it on to us at intervals and locations we select. The folks there are quite entrepreneurial. They have mail service, an RV repair, RV park, small motel. They are also very helpful in assisting full time RV'ers become South Dakota residents.

Are they trying to build the population of their state? I doubt it, since most of their recruits only visit the state every few years to renew their driver's license.

When you live on the road, you can choose your state of residence, as long as you comply with their requirements.

Why South Dakota?

Well, for one thing, the folks at America's Mailbox are very helpful and do their best to make it easy to become SD residents. They handled (for a fee) registering the car and sending us the plates and registration.

But mostly, it makes good financial sense.

There's no state income tax.

The sales tax is 4% vs. nearly 8% in Ohio. By registering the car there, we saved half on the sales tax. If we'd been prepared and registered the MH there when we bought it, we would have saved a couple thousand dollars in tax and fees.

We aren't officially SD residents yet. We need to go there and spend a night and then go and get our driver's licenses. After that, we'll be official South Dakotans.

It's more than a little weird to have an address and car registered in a state that I haven't been to in 40 years. I did go to Mount Rushmore when I was in high school, but that's it.

The other day I was doing some business over the phone and the person I was talking to asked for my address. When I told him he said "Wow. What's the weather like there?" I suppose I could pretend that I know, but I explained that we are currently in the Carolinas though I didn't go into the whole thing.

I save that stuff for the blog.

Today I called and made appointments for Chris and I for massages (stay tuned for a report on that) and when I gave the girl on the phone our address she paused and said "Are you sure you want to come here?" I explained that we are just a few miles away and will certainly be there.

So the next time you see a big motor home or fifth wheel out on the road, check their plates. If they say South Dakota, chances are those folks are full timers.

Walking The Pipeline

So...just what are we doing for these new jobs?

Let's see if I can explain without being boring.

Basically, we are checking for natural gas leaks in meters at homes and businesses (active services) or at risers (a pipe sticking up out of the ground where the meter has been removed) for inactive services (often homes or businesses that are unoccupied and sometimes occupied buildings where they have simply decided not to have gas service any longer.)

Or checking for leaks along high pressure pipelines.

The first part of our job for the gas company here in South Carolina (we're living on the state line) was doing the inactive services. About 10 days ago, we started walking the pipeline. Underground pipeline, so we're walking along following markers and hoping we're in the general vicinity of the actual line.

The pipeline we're walking is 70 miles long and most of it goes through farm fields. Maybe 15 miles total is along the road, the rest is off road. We locate drop off and pick up points, usually where the pipeline crosses the road. Ideally, we're able to always make forward movement and can "hopscotch" over several miles.

For example, Chris drops me off at point A. He drives to point B and leaves the car. He walks from point B to point C. When I get to the car at point B, I drive to point C and leave the car. Repeat until I need a bathroom break.

But what happens if there's a large stream or pond or swamp that we can't get around? That's when we have to do an 'out and back', which is a little frustrating since we're walking twice as much but not covering twice as much of the pipeline.

I've commented several times that being here in the Carolinas isn't a whole lot different from being in Ohio (other than the weather) because it looks about the same. Well, there's one big difference between northwest Ohio and York County South Carolina---hills. Lots of them. In Ada it was flat and the wind came howling over the fields. Here, it's hilly and the knots in my calves can prove it.

We also have to open locks on gates along the way. They are all in the gas company right of way, so we have a key that opens all the gas company locks. But some of these locks haven't been touched in a year, so I go out packing a small can of WD40 to blast the stubborn locks.

The best equipment we've purchased is walking sticks. Mine is aluminum with a sharp point on the bottom. Chris's is wood. More distinguished. I use the stick to steady myself going down slopes and sometimes to drag myself up a hill. The right of way has been mowed, but it's not like walking through your lawn. There are holes and weeds and branches. The walking stick has kept me from falling many times.

Some days, we aren't too thrilled about walking for a living. It can be muddy and tiring.

But at other times, I stop and look around and realize "I'm getting paid to walk through some very pretty countryside." Here are a couple photos I took recently.

A stream with nice fall colors. Fortunately, this was to the side and not one I had to cross. 

These are small fungi that look like turkey tails. Very pretty. I may have to break down and get a better phone just so I can take better pictures. 

Thanksgiving

Yes, we live in an RV, but Thanksgiving was the first time that we took a trip in the RV for pleasure only. We definitely need to do that more often.

We went to Wilmington, NC to visit our friends, Tom and Joni, who we met in New Mexico. Tom and Joni are working at the KOA in Wilmington and even though we've been four hours away from each other since April, this was our first trip to visit.

First, I've got to tell you that traveling in the RV, especially to visit friends, was awesome. We had all the fun of a visit without our hosts having to wash sheets or towels for us. We had all our stuff with us, so no need to wonder what the weather would be like (though it was absolutely perfect...sunny and 70 the whole time) so we packed the right things. We could hang out together, but also each had our own space. No need to board the dog, because he went along (and visited his friend Tequila. Well, visit is probably a strong word. Both dogs happily ignored each other.)

We had Thanksgiving dinner at Cracker Barrel and I'm now a convert to eating out for Thanksgiving. We had a nice meal, no clean up, no preparation, no grocery shopping and no fridge full of leftovers.

On Saturday we went to the water front for a Christmas flotilla. We weren't sure about parking and whether we'd have to stand around for a long time beforehand, but it worked out perfectly. We left early. Found parking in a restaurant parking lot. Walked across the street to the restaurant and found out they didn't open until 4. It was about 3:30. We also found out that all the tables on the deck were reserved. But, the helpful bartender told us we could sit on 'the ledge' and have drinks and dinner and stay as long as we wanted. Not only did we have a great location, but the food and drinks were fantastic.

Drinks and appetizers on 'the ledge'. 

     

The view from 'the ledge' as the sun was setting. 

One of the boats going by. Notice the big crowd at the restaurant across from us.


P.S. I stole these pictures from Joni's Facebook page.

All in all, it was a wonderful trip. Thanks, Tom and Joni!

Football Fans

So...who do you expect to see camping? People on vacation. Of course. People like us who work and live full time in their RV's. Yes, we have that too.

But what about football fans?

Today we have several football fans parked behind us (we can see them from our windows). I'm writing this post on Saturday, December 5. The ACC football championship game is this evening at the Charlotte Stadium where the Carolina Panthers play. Clemson vs. North Carolina. I haven't seen any UNC fans, but Clemson, with their orange and purple gear, is well represented. One person has some orange paw print magnets on their truck (for the Clemson Tigers), but that is overshadowed by the guy whose truck is painted white, orange and purple.

I took this photo from our dining room window. (Okay...we don't really have a dining room. It's the window above the table where we eat.)

As you can see, it's a beautiful fall day here. 

A few weeks ago we had several campsites containing fans of the Philadelphia Eagles who were here to play the Carolina Panthers. They were a fun group and even loaded up their RVs and took them to the game to tailgate. 

When I chatted with the Eagles fans (who kindly brought me an ice cream sandwich while I was working, so now I'm a fan too), I asked if they went to every game. They told me that they usually pick one game per season and make the big road trip. Sounded like a great idea, particularly if you're a football fan. 

Oh...and another thing I've learned. The Clemson symbol is an orange tiger paw. We used to live in Ada, Ohio, the home of the Ohio Northern University Polar Bars. Their symbol is also and orange tiger paw. So when I saw a guy in a white shirt with an orange tiger paw logo, I asked if he'd gone to ONU. Given the 'duh' look he gave me, I have to assume he didn't. Apparently this is Clemson country. 

Update

Yikes! I can't believe it's been nearly a month since I posted anything. Sorry to our loyal reader(s). Sometimes I feel like life has become sort of ordinary and people might not be interested in our day to day lives. But I suppose I could still post and if you're not interested, you don't need to read.

Anyway, we are doing well. Very well, actually. We are still at Carowinds Campground, though the season is over so we are not working at Carowinds any more. One of the best perks of our jobs at Carowinds is that workampers can stay during the off season for $125/mo. That's for our site, water, electric and wifi. Compare that to your electric bill and you'll see it's quite a bargain. Monthly sites at other campgrounds range from $500-800, so every month that we can stay here and still earn our full time pay (and living expenses), it's a bonus to us. Plus, we like the area and it's a nice campground.

But, we are both getting antsy to move on. I expect that will happen sometime around the end of this month. We still don't know where we'll be going. The couple who trained us has suggested that we try to go where they are going next (southern Georgia or possibly Savannah, GA) and we might do that. It's certainly flattering that they would like to work with us in the future and it would be nice to go some place where we already know some people.

We've had "historical levels" of rain in this area during November. Neat. When it rains we are required to wait two hours before calling it a day. If we go out in the morning and it's not raining, we work and when it starts, the two hour clock starts as well. I don't think we've had any days where it rained just a short amount of time. These are all day rains. What we tend to do is leave the house (in the rain) drive to where we are working on the off chance that it's not raining there (hasn't happened yet). Then we spend some time doing errands like grocery shopping or a stop at Lowe's to fill the two hours before heading home.

We get paid for the two hours we work as well as our mileage and daily living expenses, so it's not a bad deal and much better than tromping around in the rain.

However, we still have to work the day after it rains and that means walking through lots of mud and wet grass.

Ok. More posts coming. Stay tuned.

Lake Wylie

Happy Veteran's Day and Happy Anniversary to Naomi and Marty. :)

Today we packed our lunches and enjoyed a lovely picnic next to Lake Wylie. Clear skies, sunny and about 68 degrees.

I took some pictures and thought I'd share. My phone isn't very smart and neither am I when it comes to the camera feature, but I hope you get the idea.

 

That's the bridge over Lake Wylie. We drive over it nearly every morning on our way to work. What a nice way to start the day. 

This is T-Bones. We've been there a couple times and really enjoyed it (except for the smokers on the deck...sigh). Good food and margaritas. If you come and visit, maybe we'll take you there. Here's their website.  You can probably find some better pictures there. 

Today we were working all around Lake Wylie so we had many opportunities to view the fall colors around the lake. We also saw some pretty impressive homes. 

Although we have been in this area for seven months, longer than we've been anywhere so far...there are far worse places to be. 

Home Improvement Project

This summer one of our neighbors did a project in their MH that inspired Chris. Yesterday we bought the supplies and this morning he jumped out of bed, excited to have a project. I was less excited and slept through most of it.

Here's a before picture. The rectangle that looks like a desk blotter is the cover to our stove. 

And here's the after! 

And a more panoramic view. 

Nice, huh? 

How did he do it? 

He used these peel and stick tiles from Lowe's (also available at Home Depot or online and in a variety of colors and sizes). Ours are a little more brown than they appear in this photo. 

What a big difference! 

Thanks to Chris, my talented and patient husband. 

Customer Review: Carmax

Wow, three posts this week. How exciting.

As I mentioned last time, we got a new car.

I hate car shopping. I've had limited experience with it, but generally it involves going to a car lot where some guy latches onto me (the only place that ever happens) and won't let go, asking questions, trying to be my pal.

Another reason I hate car shopping is because I really don't care much about cars. Does it run? Can I afford it? I'm good to go.

But it was obvious that we needed a new car. We'd been driving a 2008 Chevy Aveo which barely held Chris and I, let alone the equipment we need for our  jobs.

Reluctantly I agreed to visit a couple of traditional car dealers. At one, an over enthusiastic saleswoman was determined to show us a car but she wasn't sure where it was. She loaded us into a Jeep and drove around the lot with her hand out the window squeezing the key fob waiting for the car to beep.

That didn't end well.

One of our neighbors here at Carowinds works in the service department at Carmax. He and Chris had a long discussion about vehicles to consider. When we went to Carmax he introduced us to a salesman named Keith.

At Carmax the lot is gated and locked, but all the cars inside of it are unlocked. We told Keith the basics of what we were looking for and he pointed us to the areas where the SUVs were located. "Take a look, sit in a few cars and I'll check back with you in a few minutes."

What? He wasn't going to follow us around and try to make chit chat? We didn't have to ask for someone to go and get the keys for the cars we wanted to get inside?

My car shopping world was rocked.

After we found the car we wanted, the test drive and transaction were relatively painless. Everyone we met at Carmax was friendly and professional, eager to help. They also had a financing rate that was much better than my bank offered.

All in all, we're very pleased with our experience at Carmax and will go there again next time we need a car.

Meet Danger

We got a new car!

If it wasn't raining, I'd go out and take a picture to post. I found this one online which is the same year, model and color...2013 Hyundai Santa Fe Sport.  Isn't it beautiful?

When we were doing the paperwork at Carmax (more about them in another post) the woman asked if we had a name for the car yet and I remembered a previous post about combining our names...

Meet Danger our beautiful new car.

End of Carowinds Season

Although there was some speculation (by us and others) about whether we'd make it...we did. The Carowinds/Scarowinds season came to an end on November 1.

I think we'll put our experience at Carowinds in the That Was An Interesting Experience But We Don't Plan To Go Back category.

As I've mentioned before, this summer was difficult. It was hot. I mean really hot. And humid. For weeks. Our air conditioning, even after getting it fixed, just couldn't keep up. So, that's the sort of thing that just sucks the energy and good humor away rapidly.

In addition, the summer was stressful with three time-consuming and costly trips to Ohio for family events where our presence was minimally tolerated.

Neither of those things are Carowind's fault, but they added to the issues which made Carowinds an often less than inspiring place to work.

• Lack of leadership
• Rules that weren't enforced
• A general attitude of putting in our time on the clock and that's it.  
• Co-workers who sat around watching while the rest of us sweated our asses off, compounded by the fact that management was aware of these issues and did nothing. 

Stuff like that.

But, there were some good things about being here.

Overall, I liked my co-workers (with two notable exceptions mentioned above) and enjoyed working with them, even if I didn't always like working with the public.

Chris liked most of his co-workers and also didn't have to be around them much because he was driving the international students around. He enjoyed getting to know the students and hearing their impressions of the US.

The campground is nice. Large, level sites with plenty of space between us and our neighbors, excellent wifi.

We like this area and the fall weather has been outstanding.

I met some nice people. Many of them were repeat visitors who remembered me when they came back and that was nice too. One man stands out in my mind. I picked him up at Carowinds in the tram and he was by himself going back to the campground for something. During the four or five minutes we were together he told me that his wife had died a few years ago (he was probably about 70-75) and that he had re-connected with his high school girlfriend and now they were married, traveling and enjoying life. They were at Carowinds with assorted grandchildren. What touched me was when he said, "I never thought I'd be this happy again."

Even though the season is over, the campground is open year round so we'll stay here as long as we can while working our new jobs, and that's a nice perk for surviving the season. We still have to pay, but it's about 25% of what we'd pay at another campground.

Do we regret our time here? Absolutely not! We have met some people that we'll keep in touch with and we were glad for the opportunity to be here. And, if we hadn't been here, we wouldn't have met the people who led us to our new jobs. it all fits together.

What's In A Name?

When Chris and I got married, I didn't change my name. Even in 2010, and now five years later, this seems to confuse people. I'm not militant or angry when people call me by his last name, in many ways it's easier and more convenient...you know, addressing things to both first and last names, filling out forms etc.

It's been more complicated since we headed out on the road because we've been applying for jobs together. With Amazon I felt like I had to keep reminding them that we were married so they wouldn't put us on different shifts. In Amazon's defense, they never gave any indication that they didn't understand the situation, but I was paranoid.

At our current jobs, the customer we're working for asked if we were actually married and though he didn't seem judgmental about it, he seemed confused. I tried hard not to have a "What the hell is wrong with you" look on my face. Seriously, is it that uncommon?

We spend a lot of time in the car together in our current jobs which resulted in a recent conversation about combining our names in some way.

Here are some of our ideas for combining Fitzgerald and Pinkston

Pinkgerald
Fitzton
Finkston

Or maybe an amalgamation of some or all of the letters.

O'Zinger
O'Pinger


Or how about
Chris and Sue Danger?

Or maybe we should just use that as our middle name.

Suggestions?

More About Our New Jobs

Last time I shared the fascinating details of how to wiggle for gas leaks. BTW---I'm starting to get some muscles in my forearms from all the wiggling.

Our current assignment is to survey the inactive services. If you decide you don't want gas service at your house any more, the gas company will remove the meter but the gas line is still there. It's just capped off. I know, I never gave it a thought before either.

Or, if a house is empty, abandoned, or ought to be condemned, it usually has inactive service. When we turn onto a street and are trying to figure out where we're supposed to go, we look first to the dumpiest location. We're usually right.

Armed with a stack of maps where each inactive service is represented by a little green square, we head off into the wilds of South Carolina. Sometimes we drive for 10 minutes just to survey one house in the country. Other times we might have several together on one street in a town.

There's a fair amount of detective work that goes into this. Some houses don't have numbers on them. Sometimes I have the map upside down.

Earlier this week I was wiggling a house and I could not find the riser (that's the tech name for the piece of pipe sticking out of the ground that would attach to a meter if one was there. Usually about 6-12" high.) I looked all around, but nothing. They'd built a deck on the back and I feared it was underneath, so I peeked below and didn't see it. Chris came and helped me, but didn't see it either. Then I noticed a tall decorative plastic thing. Yep, it was covering the riser.

Our New Jobs

Sorry I haven't been a very diligent blogger. A few weeks ago I mentioned that we'd applied for new jobs. Well, we got them and have been working for a couple weeks now. When we get home, I'm pretty tired and sort of sit and stare for most of the evening. But, we're getting into the groove and feeling a bit peppier.

So, what are the new jobs?

We're natural gas meter surveyors.

Well, that explains it all, right?

Every year, the government mandates that 20% of all active natural gas service lines be surveyed for leaks. The company we work for contracts w/the local natural gas providers and sends crews (like us) out to perform those surveys.

We each have a piece of equipment called a flame pack. It weighs about 6 pounds and detects gas leaks. We take our flame packs and walk along the gas line moving it back and forth and then we go to the meter at the house and check it for leaks.

Basically, you wiggle the flame pack back and forth. So, I call it The Wiggler. And if I have checked a service for leaks, I tell Chris "I wiggled it."

I know you all sleep better knowing I'm responsible for gas line safety.