NEEWOLLAH

Neewollah is of course Halloween spelled backwards. Every year in Independence KS, a huge 3 day celebration goes on celebrating Neewollah. this is how it got started: ABOUT NEEWOLLAH        Neewollah celebration began in 1919 as an effort to provide positive activities for kids of all ages in place of the typical Halloween pranks that occurred in the community of Independence, Kansas. In the beginning the events centered on parades, morning, afternoon, and night on October 31. The parades consisted mainly of decorated cars and carriages. Queens and princesses from area festivals rode in the parades, along with our own Queen Neelah who was selected based on votes bought at a penny each. The Great Depression and World War II interrupted the Neewollah celebration but in 1958 four businessmen revived and elaborated on the Neewollah theme bringing it back as a 3-day celebration. Today Neewollah is the largest annual celebration in Kansas. The city of Independence will grow from a town of just under 10,000 inhabitants to 75,000. Today's celebration now includes 3 parade.  Go to: www.neewollah.com to learn more about their celebration and maybe next year if in the area you will come and join in on the fun.  It’s for the young, middle and even the old enjoy and have fun.  We only went to the parade because Amazon.com had a huge float and we wanted to see what it was about.  Any Amazonian workers could join in on the float either walking next to it and passing out candy or by riding on the float.  I choose to be a by stander next to my husband. As we were waiting along with many other spectator for the parade to start, we all of a sudden heard this loud roar and up looking up here came a military fighter planes flying very low over our heads.  It was really awesome and we soon learned that was the beginning of the parade.   They had well over 130 in the line-up with lots of marching bands playing along.  One really stuck out the most only because they put lots of extra nifty steps into their march which made them very unique and good. Of course I was waiting to see Amazon.com’s float and to see if I would recognize anyone from work.  Sure enough a few faces that I did know were either walking or riding on the float. I think it was unique for the way they paraded the antique cars with a police car next to it.  It almost appeared that they were racing or maybe preventing a race. I think we even found our future camper!  Wonder if would make it through the mountains and the back woods where we like to adventure? And there were some pretty awesome floats in the parade as well! HAPPY HALLOWEEN EVERYONE!!

BUBBLE WRAPPING

When I was younger and would receive something that was wrapped in bubble wrapping, I would have fun popping all those bubbles!  As I grew up, the kid in me didn’t change any and again I would have fun popping those bubbles!  Brian would make the comment that maybe some day I would grow up!

Well, after starting work for Amazon.com, I think I finally grew up!!!  This past  week has been a challenge on my hands.  I have been taken off receiving and mainly been in prepping.  All glass items must be put in bubble wrap to prevent breakage.

The bubble wrap is a special wrap.  It starts out on this huge roll, we pull out as much as we need, wrapping the precious glassware several times; cutting the wrap.  Then on the ends we pop,pop and pop all the bubbles.  By doing this it creates a very tight seal around the product.  This way if someone should accidentally drop the item-it should not break. 

so how much is determine that we should use?  Enough that it should never break while in this bubble wrap.  I do feel for the consumer who purchased the item, because getting this wrap off is not the easiest thing to do!

Cutting and popping after a while takes a toll on your hands.  We have exercise that we do at our morning stand up and after lunch again.  This does help, but I continue to use those exercise in between and even at hope.  My hands this week have received a few cuts and nicks, but nothing serious.  I keep a small supply of band aides always with me and I also bought liquid skin to help the owees from re-breaking open the next day and this seems to be helping so far.

Now bagging is a much simpler process, but still requires a lot of usage with your hands.  All apparel must be place in bags; including hats, gloves, sock,  and ect.  So if we get a large quantity of socks or gloves, they have to each be place in individual bags and sealed.  There are also several other items that also maybe place in bags and of course we have different size bags to use.

In order to keep the pace going fairly fast, one must not slow down for any length of time, remember we are on a schedule to get the product to the customer in the manner that they wish to receive it.  And we haven’t yet gotten to peak season….

One thing is a given: the next time I receive something in the mail that is bubble wrapped-I won’t be popping those bubbles anymore!!!

LOOSING WEIGHT

Since being a teenager I have struggled with weight loss.  It’s an ongoing battle in my life and probably always will be.  Maybe some day I will give the battle up, but for now I still have some fight left in me.


With me now working at Amazon and a little more active for a longer period during the daytime gives me the perfect opportunity to once again work on my weight loss.  It’s just a matter of packing the right foods for lunch.


In the past I lost a lot of my weight using the Richard Simmons Diet.  I did try the Allie diet, but not only was is costly, you really have to be especially careful about how much fat intake you eat!  I think I will go back to the Richard Simmons diet-his helped me the most.  Yeah, the guy is a little on the quirky side, but his eating plan is the best I have found to work for me.


Over the years I have learned that things like Pasta, breads and such are my worse enemies as far as carbs go.  I’m not big on veggies, as I should be.  I like a good salad, I will eat lots of carrots.  Fruits I don’t mind, I try my best with fresh, but I’m just way too picky for my own good-I guess.
What I looked like when I lost all my weight back in 2006. I don’t think I will get down there that far again…..but who knows

What I look like now-see I need to loose a few pounds-again….

There are other diets out there that I could try, but I already have the tools of the Richard Simmons Diet and it has worked in the past for me.  I know people who have done the  weight watchers and have lost weight on it.

All in all it’s what  you eat and how much of you eat, so good by Donuts, Good-by McDonald’s sweet tea, Good-By buffet dinners.

Now I do have one tip that I faithfully did when I lost my weight before:  I took one day off and splurge a little.  Whether it would be that donut, or maybe a burger & fries & sweet tea from McDonald.  I would eat early enough in the day, and eat very lightly for the remainder of the day.

HIDDEN GEM IN KANSAS!

Okay, we really didn’t find any hidden gems or jewels in Kansas, but if you are an avid hiker like Brian and I are, around here finding a beautiful hiking area in Kansas is almost like finding hidden Gems.

When we left Colorado and crossed over into Kansas all we saw was desolate grass land.  A tree or bush couldn’t be seen for miles and miles.  and once we did come across a bush or maybe a lone tree our little Min Pin; Leah thought it to be exciting and would start barking at it.
The closer we got to Coffeyville we then started to come across a few trees, some rolling hillside and many farms with cows and fields.

After getting settled in and starting to work at Amazon, we started to adventure out to see what there was for us to do.  Being in the middle of literally-nowhere, finding hiking trails was far and few between.  Asking some of the locals they too said there wasn’t many places to go wondering around.  Most folks spend their days off going to the cities-shopping; but that just isn’t for us.  We would prefer being out with nature.

Brian did some research and knew there were two Corps of Engineer parks not to far away from us.  One stated they had horse trail, well being in the middle of the week, we thought that it would be safe for us to walk on.  So last week we took a lunch picnic, Leah and went exploring to Big Hill Lake.



When we got on the trail, we noticed it really hadn’t been used much for the grass/weeks were tall.  We went as far as we could, apparently over a year ago they had a wind burst that came through knocking down many trees and the area that we came across showed apparent severe damage and clean-up hadn’t been completed as of yet.


After heading back we found a nice day-use area where we had our picnic lunch and then took the 1 mile trail along the lake.  It was peaceful and I think we were the only ones out there.  Not many boats were active on the lake as it was the middle of the week.

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This week we went to Elk City Lake where there were hiking trails as well.  We first took the interpreter trail and then joined on to the Over look trail that joined with the State Park.  Now that was a trail that we would never thought to be in Kansas!  It was awesome!  within the first 1/2 mile hike, we had to climb down into a crevice.  It was hard having our little dog with us.  But we manage to get down it.  Then we came across another area where the crevice was so small that if you were a large person-you would not get through!




With the leaves coming down and the terrain, Brian was having a little difficulty and with me having Leah, it was hard to really enjoy the hike to far, so when we found that it did join with the interpreter trail, we headed back towards the car.  But it’s a hike that we will adventure on again some time in the near future.

We had just one more stop to make and explore, Montgomery State Fish & Wildlife area.  Brian was told that there was a small lake there that we could take our canoe.  sure enough we found yet another what we call “Kansas Gem”!  There is free primitive camping.  Plenty to explore and yes, we can bring the canoe.  We had fun walking just on the gravel roadway, exploring and we found where there are several off road trails.  This one is must to return for a day of hiking, canoeing and who knows,if the weather cooperates; we will bring our tent as well.  If not, well we will just enjoy a day trip here.





So  you see, Kansas isn’t ALL flat and boring as one would possibly think-there are some Hidden Gems! 

WEEK TWO AT AMAZON.COM

I have now worked two weeks at amazon.com, call me crazy, but I actually like the job and the challenge it provides.  Yes, I do come home in the evenings tire and this past week, a little bit more sorer; but I’m also pushing myself to work harder.

I felt that my last two days of work wasn’t as productive as I would have liked.  It seems all that could go wrong did go wrong.  On Tuesday, right off the bat, I manage to cut my finger on God only knows what, but was bleeding all over the place.  It turned out to be a minor cut on my finger, but I’m a bleeder and just decided to keep on bleeding. 

Then we had trouble with the folks from night shift.  When boxes comes off the semi, they are opened and a skew is placed on the box.  Well the night shift we think got lazy and assigned the same screw for all the boxes and when they came down the line to us-well all kept getting the same message that nothing matched, causing us to turn on our Red Lights and Yelling “Red Light”.  On top of that we were short hand with problem solvers, so what folks we had doing that job was running around with their heads chopped off.  Within two hours of our shift-I think we all were ready to go home and start drinking!!

As the day went on-all did get better, but productivity was down for us.   the next day we again had the same problem, but this time it was our day people.  They were not putting on skews and once again, boxes had to be sent back…which again caused us to have numbers down.
Two of us got bumped off of receiving and placed on prep.  I really don’t mind prepping, but we got stuck placing hangers on coats.  That was a job I didn’t care for.  There were 3 of us, one put the hangers on the coat and two of us had to re-tape the plastics to keep the coats clean.  We got 4 pallets done before we ran completely out of hangers.

I had signed up for Overtime on Thursday.  Come Wednesday afternoon we were told unless we had the experience in prepping we wouldn’t be needed.  I went up to the supervisor and since I hadn’t had enough experience in receiving after prep, he would prefer I waited another week.  So maybe this next week I will finally have enough experience that I can finally do the voluntary overtime.
Each day we learn new things, and like the government, it appears that every week things will change at Amazon.com on how it should be process through.  I go with the flow and I do as my superiors above me tell me to do.

We have seen a few that given up and has pulled out.  No where does it state that the job would be easy, in fact is states the opposite-so you really need to come in here with an open mind and know that when you go home at night it’s a given you will be tired and a bit sore-but in the end it’s worth it-or at least to me it is.



I’m more determine to make week 3 much better and a productive week!

WEEK ONE-RECIEVING

I’m up bright and early to report to work by 6:00am. First thing we do is swipe our badge to clock-in, then it’s stretches and announcements. all newbies are assigned to a trainer. They need 4 people to go into receiving-not knowing what I was getting myself into-I raised my hand….

But before we can actually go out on the line we have to go through “school” or training on what we will be doing.  We have to learn what certain abbreviations mean. (And I’m still learning). After lunch then we were thrown to the wolves-well not literally. We had plenty of supervision and someone always there to answer our questions. 

We sign onto a computer with our username and password then we have to scan our badge.  Now we are ready to start receiving.  Boxes have been open and given what looks like a skew.  The boxes come down a conveyer belt and we have to put the boxes on our workstation.  Now comes the fun part-opening the boxes to see what’s in them!  Each items in the box also have skew.  We have to scan the skew, place it on the cart.  the computer keeps track of what and how many is in the cart.  And yes, we even have to scan the cart!  we have two different scanners that we can use, one is where we just swipe the item under it and it picks up the bar code (called the grocery scanner) or we have the hand held.  They prefer us to use the hands free scanner, but there are times you have no choice and you need to use the hand held scanner.  Even though we may have a dozen or better of the exact same thing, we still have to scan each item separately.

Thus far I have scanned loads of Halloween costume, power drinks, office supplies up the wazoo, tools, just to name a few things.  We have to separate apparels and they have to be on a completely different cart.  I hate doing apparels, because they come in large boxes and we have keep sizes, skew, colors all separate and that can become a nightmare not to mention slow you down.

If we have any questions on an item or something just won’t scan we have to turn on our Red Light and Yell “Red Light”.  This happens more times than we all would like.  someone comes around (they are literally called “Problem Solver”).  They make the decision if something should be prepped, or if it’s too small and needs to be place somewhere else or they decide if the product is considered damage when we get it.

On my 4th day ( and my Friday) we all started out with problems all morning long.  Apparently the night shift either got lazy or didn’t know what they were doing, but put the same skew on all the boxes and when we received it-our scanner didn’t like it and the boxes all had to be sent back!  We all kept yelling “Red Light”.  too boot we were short handed on ‘Problem solver” so the poor guy was running all over the place!  Then I got picked on-my red light burnt out on me!!!
Now that I have the scanning business down pat and I actually got my percentage up there, they move me to the prep line!  So now I’m learning yet another part of the job.

In prepping, you prep each individual item to according to it’s needs.  If it’s glass-it gets bubble wrapped, if it’s small individual item it gets put in bags.  The full-time year round workers prepare everything, so it’s easy to figure out what the item needs to be done.  We also learned recently that if it’s a liquid chemical, like car wax, it too has to be individually in a wrapper.

Each day we learn new things and as the days do go by it does get easier.  I do go home totally exhausted and a bit sore.  I’m a bit disappointed for I was hoping to walk more than I do, but I still love what I’m doing.  And I love opening the boxes, because you just don’t know what you will be getting.  I haven’t yet open an “naughty” things, just men's underwear!

Wonder what week 2 will bring?….Being first week, we cannot do overtime, and our area is doing volunteer overtime, so maybe by week 2 I can do that overtime.

Over the course of the summer I did a lot of reading on Amazon.com and some actually sounded frightful, but for me I’m enjoying this new adventure. 

WEEK ONE-ORIENTATION

The Day of Orientation I was really nervous and I was also getting over some kind of flu/bug.  So when I had to be at Amazon.com by 8:30am I prayed that I could handle it and not get sick.  I awoke feeling a bit queasy, but as the morning went on-I got better.

Not knowing what doors I was to go into, I decided to drive the first day and get there early.  So I found a parking spot and watched where everyone else was heading.  I saw a couple that I recognize from the park and I decided to follow them in.



Upon arriving I thought I was going into Fort Knox!  once you proceed through the door, your first greeted with security.  Of course they were ready for us.  We were handed a visitor badge and we had to sign in-matching the number on our badge.  I was number 22.

We then had to wait at in the lobby to be escorted any farther.  The first group was being led in while we waited.  Then came out a gentleman that introduce himself as Paul Strum.  He was nothing like I expected-although I’m not sure what I really expected…Anyways he made a point to greet each and everyone of us.  The most that amazed me of him-is the fact he just about remembered all of our names!

There was to be approximately 80 of us workampers to come in for orientation so they had to split us up in half.  The other half had orientation on Wednesday (glad that I didn’t get moved). First order of business was lining up against a wall and getting our mug shot.

the remainder of the day was spent on how amazon.com works and in the afternoon we had to go through Safety school.  Then it was time to finally get our badge; now we won’t need an escort if we left the conference room.  Oh, we were allowed to go to the bathroom unescorted-but that was it.



Our badges has to be on us at all times while inside Amazon.  It’s stress strongly to us that when wearing it around our neck it has to be a break-away necklace for safety reason.  If it should get caught in the conveyer it needs to break away from you.



We also at this time got our schedule and when I got mine I went; WHAT?  They put me on nights and in outbound.  I don’t mind outbound, but I really didn’t want nights.  My shift was to be from 5:00pm-3:30am.  Okay, the question I had is:  Would Leah let me sleep in the mornings?  probably not….

So I pulled Paul aside and asked him if there was any chance of changing to daytime.  He told me to give him a week and then come back to talk to him.  Okay now I’m accepting the idea of working nights and thinking maybe it won’t be so bad after all.  Then Paul’s associate, Dana calls my name and of course we all joke that I am already in trouble before I even get started!  (LOL)

She hands me a strip of paper that now has my username and password and informs me that I am now on days and I’m in Inbound/Stowe. My shift would now be 6:00am-4:30pm.  We all get our own username and password.  Even out on the floor we have to use computers.  I guess everything is computerized now-a-day in our crazy world.

So now orientation is done with and the following day (Monday) I would report to the “D” section of Amazon.com to start working in stowing/receiving. 

BIG CHIEF RV PARK

When we arrived here at Big Chief RV Park, we really didn’t have a chance to look at our surrounding since we were preparing to make a trip to WI. But once we got back and finally looked around, Big Chief is not the most desirable RV park around, but it’s convenient since it’s so close to Amazon.com.

Big Chief RV Park near Coffeyville, is a fairly new park, so it’s really hard to make any judgment on the park itself.  There are no trees, although they have planted some young trees on some sites-it will be years before they will even provide any kind of shade.

Big Chief RV Park in Coffeyville, KS

It’s easy to see that the park has been done cheaply.  they didn’t tamper down the individual sites, instead they laid large rock base for sites.  The bigger RV’s and Motor coaches are having trouble when bringing down their jacks, for they sink deeply in the ground.  Although the park is not quite two years old-they already are replacing broken water lines…

The office is the manager’s home, a small mobile home on the premises.  The downfall to that is the fact that she smokes and so when you walk in you will get a lung full of cigarette smoke; although she has never lit up while in our presence.

The Managers office/home (poor Sharon...)

Now I’m not putting her down in any way, her name is also Sharon and she seems to be a very nice lady.  Some folks are a bit leery of her because she has the “rough” look to her and her “helper/assistant” also has a rough look to him.  But  again, they have been really nice to us.  As I stated it is a new park-so what does one expect.  I’m here because of the convenience to Amazon.com and the fact that I can walk to work.

One thing I notice, is that an RV has been left while the folks to off for a spell.  Her assistant every night drives around and makes sure all looks okay with their coach and I hope while we were gone that he did the same for us.

You will find outstanding power here, the one thing that was done right was enough electric to keep even the fanciest motor coach running smoothly.  The water is city water and the only problem we have found with it, is that they seem to bleach the line often.

There is a bit of false advertisement right now on their web page.  It states that there is showers on the premises.  The shower building is up and contractors are slowly working on it-but the showers are non-operable as well as the laundry facility.  Maybe by the work we are seeing-they might get it done in a couple of weeks-or at least we are hoping so.

The new shower & laundry facility (not completed yet)

There is not too many other RV parks around or nearby.  You have the county park which has added more sites to accommodate both Amazon.com and the refinery in Coffeyville, but only a few sites have full hook-ups and when we drove by, they are literally on top of one another.  At least here at Big Chief they are spacious  and long sites, which we like.  There is another RV park in town but it’s plum full of workers for the refinery.  Otherwise you have to venture out to either the State Park or there are two Corps Of Engineer parks with-in 30 miles or less.  I think we will stay right where we are. 

We did end up with a bad site at first due to a water break behind us.  But upon requesting another site-Sharon did assist us and got us a little better site for our little dog. 

  Our site here at Big Chief-Can't complain-not a bad site


One good thing about here for sure-we can have campfires, where you can’t do that inside the city limits of Coffeyville.  We probably won’t seek out a fire grille this year or wood, but maybe next year we will-who knows.

All in all we really can’t complain.  We try not to judge people by looks or the fact that they  smoke and we do understand that it’s still a new park with lots of work yet to be done on it.  And hopefully by the amount of money they receive from Amazon.com-the work will improve each year on the property.

A beautiful sunset behind us

We will stay here at Big Chief RV and give our support to this new park and the manager that is trying to make a go of it.  They are putting on a Bash on the following Sunday (16th) for all of us here.  They will be providing hamburger, hotdogs and ribs plus music.  All we have to do is bring a dish to pass plus our own drinks.  They are doing this to where both shifts can enjoy either before they go to work or like in my case when I get home from work.

Not sure what this slab will be used-maybe an office or rec hall....

TO BUSY 2 WRITE-Part Three

After a busy weekend and helping out both at Mom’s and at Steve’s place-when Monday rolled around, Brian got up feeling sick.  It’s once again raining and chilly outdoors.  Mom wants to go shopping in yet another town and it was decided that just the girls would go and Brian would stay at home and rest.

After making the trip we found nothing that was desirable to us and it rains the whole time.  We arrived back by early afternoon and Brian still isn’t up to par.  We were to go out with Steve & Diane and the boys to a local restaurant for $1.00 make-your-own Tacos, but with him not feeling good, we just decide to stay home.

By Tuesday Brian is feeling a little better and finishes up some odd-n-end jobs inside and I finish washing down inside cupboards for mom.

Wednesday rolls around and now it’s my turn to wake up not feeling so hot.  We are deciding if we should leave or stay one more day.  Not knowing if it’s partial to the water we decide it’s best if we head out and go as far as Des Moines, IA and then get a motel for the night.

Just before leaving I start throwing up…not a good sign, but I decide to push forward and head out anyways.  Saying good-bye to mom was a hard thing, but all in all it was great seeing her once again and reconnecting with family members.

We didn’t get very far down the road when I really turn for the worse, we could turn around or go a little farther down the road.  We made it as far as Rochester MN when I finally told Brian that I need to stop and get a motel.  Ms. Garmin found us a motel 6.  We choose that particular chain because they allow pets at no extra charge.  Brian told the desk clerk that I was sick and we needed a quiet as possible room.

I slept on and off for the rest of the day.  It appeared to be quiet, until all the construction guys came back then we had banging going on over our heads and the folks in the next room was blaring their TV so loud-we couldn’t hear ours.  Brian went and complained twice and the last time, they moved us to another room and gave us $11.00 off our bill-whoopee….

The room was a little quieter, but we could hear the people next to us as she coughed almost all night long.  One thing for sure-I will NEVER go back to that motel again!!

We got up early the next morning and I’m feeling better, the tummy has settled down and all I want to do is go home.  I couldn’t drink coffee and I was getting sick of drinking 7-up, but we made sure that we both stayed hydrated for the trip home.

We got back to Coffeyville late that afternoon.  Once we got unpacked we finally got a chance to look at our surrounding and poor Leah really didn’t have a decent yard.  It was either piled with large rocks or mud.  We went to the office and asked for another site.  We were moved to a much better site. 

Now I have just a few days to rest up and get to feeling better before I start on Sunday with Amazon.com….hope I can make it!

TO BUSY 2 WRITE-Part Two

After a days rest at Brian’s mom, we now was getting ready to see Brian’s other brother,John and his family. John and his family are Vegan/Vegetarian, so mom worked on dishes that she knew they would eat and I made up a veggie tray.

John and his family have recently moved back to Monroe, WI and had about approximately a 3 hour travel time up to mom’s place.  They arrived late morning and the day began.  They have two children, ironic their oldest daughter is also named Leah.  Then they have a son named Joshua.  I immediately was fascinated with Leah’s long hair and oh what I would take to have just half of it!
After lunch we all took a walk. We mostly had clouds with peaks of sunshine-but at least the rain held out for us and it wasn’t cold.



Soon the visit had to come to an end, for John doesn’t like to travel at night; which we don’t blame him.  It was nice to finally meet Oneida (John’s wife) and finally have a conversation other than on Facebook!



Friday rolls around now and mom is eager to go garage saling.  Rise and shine early and off we go in search for sales!  Mom found some good bargains and I found some clothes (which I probably don’t need-knowing the limited space we have-but ah well).
Okay, now that we are rested and the family re-uniting is done with, it’s time to get some work done that Mom wants Brian to do.  She wants a coat closet turned into a pantry for more storage space.  Brian has a new helper-Zachary.  together they worked very well together.



At one point Brian even gets hurt on the job!  No worry-not too serious and it’s determine that he would live.



Mom lives on Steve and Diane's property where they have placed a single wide mobile home for her to live comfortably in.  The property lies just outside of Nekoosa WI on 80 acres.  Trails have been made around the property for a nice leisure walk.  Mom had found a special place along a small creek where she said she would love to have a bench placed to rest and to think.  So we purchased her a bench and again Zachary helped Brian put it together.  Once hunting season is done-the boys promise to place mom’s new “Thinking Bench” where she wants it.

Because they live out in the country-campfires are whenever one wants one.  So that Saturday night I wanted a campfire.  We bought hamburger and brats and special Mrs. Mike’s Potato Chips (from our hometown-Freeport IL) and a picnic we would have with a campfire.  One problem-it decides it wants to rain…but it didn’t stop us one bit!  We all had a great time and allow family to once again reconnect!



Steve & Diane rely a lot on wood for heating in the winter time to help on cost.  It’s the boys job (since they are old enough), to get dead wood, cut it, split it and stack it.  Since I had experience on the splitter and something I enjoy greatly, the following Sunday I got to help out by splitting wood.  Brian finally got on the action as well and before the days end-they had their last row completed.



We did take a break when Dian fixed a wonder Turkey and Dressing dinner for all of us.



You know-it’s great to be with family once again…..

TO BUSY 2 WRITE-Part One

Working my last two weeks for the Colorado State Park wasn’t what did me in, but the past several weeks….

Leaving the Park early on Sunday Morning of the 19th of Sept., we traveled as far as I was able to go; landing our feet for the night at a Wal-Mart parking lot in Colby KS. getting up refreshed and ready to get back on the road early the next morning allowed us to make good timing and ending up in Coffeyville late on Monday afternoon.

After getting the Motorhome parked-barely; we kept the slide in and just plugged in so that we could run the AC-since it was a bit on the warm side.  As tired as we were, we re-arrange the car and packed it up for a journey to WI.  We would leave our motorhome behind and travel only by car.  By doing this we could travel at a lot faster speed.  We would be camping out at Brian’s Mom for the duration of our visit. 

This would be the first time ever leaving our home in one state while traveling to another, but we had no fears since most around us were other Amazon workers and a few refinery workers and the manager lived on premises as well.

I think we finally crashed around 8:30 or 9:00pm that night, with the thought that when we awoke the first time we would head out for WI.  That would be around 1:00am and once again were back on the road by 1:30am-with the car loaded to the gill.

We had mostly two lane roads until we reached near Kansas City, then we would jump on the Interstate and would run Interstate all the way past Tomah WI, where we would once again be on two lanes for the remainder of the trip.  Driving at night we ran into very little traffic.  The only fear I had at that time was running into any drunks coming home from the bar….

It was nice being able to travel faster and I could stay at the posted speed limit, which made up time for us.  Between 7am and 9am we found a casino that did breakfast buffet and by then our tummies were growling.  Knowing it was an Indian Casino, we knew for sure it would be good food.  However that was about the worse meal we could ever ask for!  The food was cold and I think the one item was to be Corn Beef Hash-but not sure, for it didn’t taste like it.

Anyways, another long haul and by 3pm we pulled up into Brian’s moms place-tired and exhausted and ready to call it quits on the driving for a while.  She was so glad to see Brian, since it’s been a very long time!  Time to bring out the Rum & Coke and sit back for a long visit.  Ruby (Brian’s mom) even joined in on a drink.  We soon then met two of Brian’s nephews-Zachery & Christopher.  We couldn’t get over how much the boys look like their dad and uncles-you defiantly can tell they are Scofield boys! 

Leah soon had a new name once Brian’s sister-in-law, Diane, came over.  She started to call Leah “Skippy”….Leah took to almost everyone right away, except for Brian’s brother, Steve and Christopher.  Christopher liked to “pick” on her, so she would bark at him the most.  She soon learned to get along with Zachery-until he would put on his camouflage clothes-then for some unknown reason, she would carry on around him.  Soon Zachery had Leah eating out of his hands!



We would have a day’s rest before Brian’s other brother, John and his family would come for a day’s visit. 

The next morning we awoke to cooler weather and rain.  Since not much could be done, we decided to run into Wisconsin Rapids and get poor “Betsy” (our car) a well deserve oil change.  Mom said that the Chinese restaurant was really good, so we took her out for lunch.  Ironic as it was, we had just sat down, when I looked over at the buffet and I recognized a lady from Circle T Park from Mission TX!  So naturally I had to go over and say Hello!  Her husband use to bring me lollipop suckers when I use to call Bingo at that park! 

It now appears we are in for a long haul of rain….wonder what we will manage to get done….