Halloween fun

We have worked for the past 4 years with good friends Al and Jan Schwartz.  Jan LOVES Halloween and celebrates the whole month of October.  Since we will be working on Halloween next Friday, she had her gathering last night.  Even though we worked yesterday, it was our last day for the week.  Jan had everyone over to her place for some Halloween Chili.  
           
We can’t have wood fires here at the park, but that didn’t stop us from having fires.  Seems the thing to do is head to Lowes and get these little propane firepits.

They are really nice, put off the heat without the smoke!!! If only I had room for one, but alas, our bins are stuffed to the max!!!

Our hostess with the mostest!!!!!
A great way to relax after 4 long days.

3 weeks down…13 to go!

We have survived our first 40 hour week.  Amazon starts their Camper force out working 5 hrs a day for the first 2 weeks.  This is what they refer to as “work hardening”.  We would get up at 4 am to get to work to start at 6 am.  We would get off at 11 am.  Then we would fight to stay awake for the next 5 hours so that we would be tired enough to go to bed at 8pm!  That was harder that actually working the 10 hours. 

This past week was our first week at 10hrs a day.  We start work at 6 am, have our first break at 8:30 am and are eating our lunch at 10:30am! We are stowing this year, which means we take the carts the receivers fill up and find places to put the merchandise.  So far, it hasn’t been to bad.  Only bad thing…I’ve got two blisters on my feet.  In all the years we have put in at Amazon, this is the first time that this has happened!! So I just went out and bought some new socks.  Hopefully that will solve the problem. 

Last night, we all went out to Garcia’s, a local mexican restaurant, to celebrate our first 40 hr week.

 

These friends are one of the reasons why we keep coming back.  Like family coming together once a year.  We will do this many times as the weeks progress because more “family” will be arriving each week.

Ready for Amazon

We left Rapid City behind on August 24th and drove to Sioux Falls the first night.  That was our longest drive, about 350 miles.  When traveling quickly, we use Walmarts.  We left Sioux Falls and traveled to Des Moines.  One of the pre employment requirements for work at Amazon is a drug test.  As big as Rapid City was they did not have a Quest Lab, so we had a scheduled appointment in Des Moines.  We were a day early but they were able to fit us in.  Next day, we drove to Bettendorf and stayed 3 days Isle of Capri Casino.  Ed played in a poker tournament twice, came close the second time but didn’t win either.  We played Bingo one night and I won a game. 

We left the casino and drove to Indiana for a scheduled stop at a Thousand Trails park, Horseshoe Lakes.  Our reservations were for 7 nights but when we arrived they didn’t have any FHU site that would fit us, so we ended up in overflow and had electric only.  We could have moved to a regular site after the holiday weekend, but we had decided we would leave there early.  We left there on Wednesday and drove to Louisville for a stay at another casino.  Didn’t win but had a wonderful dinner at the buffet.  Anytime I can get my fill of peel and eat shrimp, I am a happy camper!!

We left Thursday morning for the final 100 miles of our trip to Campbellsville, Kentucky. Amazon pays for your site starting 2 days before your start date, so we had to pay for 3 days.  With those extra days, we were able to take our time getting set up.  Ed washed the outside and I did a good cleaning inside.  With all the travel and staying places without full hook ups, the motorhome really needed some TLC.  It will feel good to be stationery for 4 months.  Even with the hard work, we feel like this little town is almost like home. 

So tomorrow starts our first day. 

Lets hope the weather cooperates and the freezing weather waits until after we finish!!