Working Marathon

The announcement was made yesterday at work that from now until December 23, there would be mandatory overtime for the workers. They added 1 hour to each day which makes it 11 hour days, 4 days a week. Most people are adding an extra day to make it a 55 hour work week. Not only that, the company has indicated that anybody can work up to 60 hours in a week, if they choose. The only restriction is that you can't work more than 6 consecutive days. Amazon makes all the overtime hours optional for the workampers. We like the flexibility to work extra hours, but we're not crazy.

I thought I had the water problem fixed before we went to work. There was a "stopper" that wasn't performing right in the hose at the connection, so I removed it. It not only allowed more pressure but suddenly the water pump began working again. The problem isn't fixed though since we couldn't shut off the water pump - even with the switch turned off - and today we are back to no pressure - and no water pump. It is raining cats and dogs outside - 1.40" in the last 12 hours - so I won't be going outside to work on it any time soon.

The forecast is for the rain to stop sometime early this afternoon and turn cold once again. There are even snow possibilities in the long term forecast with lows in the mid 20's. I hope they are wrong. Snow is a bad word around here. In the meantime, we will just hang out and enjoy our day off before going back at 5 PM tomorrow for our "voluntary" overtime day. Until tomorrow...

Sailing Through the Work Week

Yesterday was a very different day for us as far as work location within the warehouse. They had us working in the far end of the building for most of the first half of our shift. That area is closer to the front entrance - we use the rear entrance - and is, literally, about a quarter of a mile away from our break area. That meant that most of our 15 minute break in the AM was taken up by the walk to our break area closer to the rear entrance that we use. The same for our half hour lunch. We never know until we arrive for work which area we will be in as it depends on where they need stowing performed. Our area shifted to several other locations throughout the day and we finally ended up near our usual spot. Phew! We walked a lot more than usual. I am going to wear my Pedometer today to see how much walking we really do in a day.

I need to diagnose our water problem before we go to work today. Even without the pump, our water pressure is so small that the water just trickles out of the spigot. There must be a problem somewhere with blockage or with the hose. Our neighbors all get normal pressure so there is a problem for us somewhere along the line. Anyway, it takes extreme patience to take a shower.

We are looking forward to the end of today. Our decision to work the middle day of our days off (Wednesday) for overtime is weighing heavily on us. It would be nice to have the 3 days off, but the money at time-and-a-half is too much to ignore for us. The fact that we don't have another job lined up (yet) in Florida requires us to bank as much as possible for that leg of our adventure. We are confident that it will all work out. For now, it's day 4 of our work week - and Friday for us...

Another Frosty Morning

The frost was all over our car this morning when we came out to go home. The temperature dropped to the high 20's and we had to sit while the car warmed up and the windows cleared. It's interesting that the temperature swings here are so big and sudden. It is expected to warm up again, starting today, to the mid to high 60's again. It will be welcomed, as we have a water pump problem (?) and can't use water unless we are connected to the hookup which is risky with the low temperatures. We left the water dripping into a pan at the kitchen sink when we went to bed so that we could keep it connected outside. We have to be careful not to fill our grey water holding tank before the "honey wagon" comes on Monday to empty our holding tanks. It worked as the water is fine this afternoon.

There were no giveaways at work this time but Josie redeemed her "wild card" drawing from the night before. It was a Maglite professional flashlight of all things. We already have one of these big flashlights and it was a disappointment to her. I asked her if she expected to win a trip to Hawaii. It is still better than a $5 gift card to Sonic which is a place we try to avoid.

The article that we were interviewed for about Amazon Workampers has appeared in the Kentucky Herald-Leader Newspaper in Lexington. It was, of course, disappointing since the reporter spent quite a bit of time talking with us and Hank, and he took lots of pictures - none of which appeared in the article. The article wasn't scheduled to appear until tomorrow, so we don't know what happened with that date. Anyway, it does describe that Amazon is appreciative of all the workampers.

For some reason, I wasn't able to connect to the internet on my computer today, so this is being written on Josie's system - thanks for the backup. All I need now, on top of the water pump problem, is a computer problem. I don't have enough time to work on either until I get a day off on Tuesday. So, it's 10 hour work days which allow us to do something between "nothing" and "not much" during our spare time on those days. We keep telling ourselves that it is only for 3 more weeks and the money is good. It sounds like today's entry is full of complaints, but there are occasional days like that. The sun is shining though, and we are healthy and doing what we love to do. What could be any better? Until tomorrow...

Some Nice Touches

There wasn't much to mention - other than working - about yesterday. One thing that is becoming evident to us is the nice touches that Amazon provides for its employees. I mentioned the free pies that were given out on Thanksgiving Day, and yesterday there were some more goodies handed out. It started with a huge table of fresh fruit that was set up in the lunchroom for anyone and everyone to help himself. There were bananas, pears, apples and oranges. Then, as we got closer to the end of our shift, people were walking around with bags that contained all kinds of prizes like lottery tickets, gift cards and discount certificates. Everybody got a chance to draw one of these items from the several people walking around before he left for the day. Josie drew a Sonic gift card worth $5 and a "wild card" that she can redeem at Human Resources for an Amazon gift. I drew a Sonic card worth $5 and also a lottery ticket that happened to be a winner for $4. They do treat the employees well.

We finished work at 3:30 with the temperature at 32 degrees. I disconnected the water outside when we got home and turned on the water pump so we would have water. This morning, the pump was off and the circuit appears to be dead so I need to diagnose and fix that problem. We have had more than our share of problems with the water pump - this is our 3rd pump since we bought the rig. It may not be the pump, but maybe some other problem, but I don't have a lot of time to mess around with that problem today. It is going to warm up again, so I may be able to postpone that fix until I get a day off.

One thing we decided for sure, and that is that if we return here again it will be for day shift only. The hours we have now require too much of an adjustment to the normal routine. By the time we wake up, we only have a couple hours before we need to get ready and do it all again. Of course, some of that is a result of working 10 hour days instead of 8 hour days. The problem though is on our days off. We sleep regular times during those days and then have to readjust for the night shift hours. The extra money for the night shift differential isn't worth the adjustments. Oh well, it is only for another 3 weeks...

Nice Thanksgiving Dinner

Our Thanksgiving dinner at the Creek Side restaurant in Campbellsville was very nice. There were more than the 30 people that we heard had committed to the dinner - it was more like 40 - and we had the 2 rooms on the second level reserved for our group. The restaurant had a buffet set up that was identical to the one on the main floor, so we essentially had a private meal with lots of friends. It was a complete Thanksgiving meal with all the fixin's. In our excitement to get to the dinner, we left without the camera, so there are no pictures of the dinner itself - Bummer! We usually have the camera with us as automatic as having our drivers license.

There were a couple of the Amazon supervisors there and they told us about a big cart that was outside the front entrance of the warehouse - loaded with pies for any employee that would like one. Of course, we stopped there on the way back to our rigs and stocked up on several pies - one each of Apple, Pumpkin and Pecan. When we got home, I picked up our camera and headed back to the warehouse to get a picture or two with Hank. Below are pictures of the entrance with the cart outside and yours truly holding up one for the picture:

About half of the pies were gone in just the time it took us to get home and pick up our cameras and get back. In fact, I am holding up the last of the Pecan pies as the rest of them had been taken already.

While we were there, Hank and I took pictures of the receiving area behind the warehouse. There were 3 rows of trailers sitting to be unloaded or loaded with packages to be stowed and/or delivered. The total number of trailers was probably close to 100:

As today is Black Friday, we are sure the activity level is increasing and we will see it when we start working later today. We are ready for the big push. At least we think so.

There was a dramatic shift in the weather overnight. It was 70 degrees yesterday and it went down to 30 during the night. We have a light dusting of snow on the grass and on the vehicles. It is supposed to warm up again in a couple of days so it shouldn't be too bad.

We hope everybody had a great Thanksgiving yesterday. Until tomorrow...

Heavy Rain, No Agenda

We saw the national weather radar on the Today show and it showed a heavy rain storm heading right at Kentucky. It arrived! The rain started early and was steady most of the day - .65". As a result of the rain, we decided to stay home and do some catching up. Josie did some laundry while I did some computer catch up stuff. We took a trip to Walmart to get a few things for Christmas and a few grocery items but other than that, we did nothing but watch it rain. It's ok to have days like that once in a while.

One of the items we purchased at Walmart was the movie Toy Story 3. We have the other two, and wanted to complete the set. The price we saw at Walmart was $3 less than the one at the grocery store, so we got it. Then, we saw that we could get it at Amazon.com - with our employee discount - for $3 less than Walmart. We ordered it from Amazon and will return the one we bought at Walmart. This morning, I see that Amazon.com has their Black Friday sale and the same movie we bought online yesterday is another $3 off! If we had been thinking, we could have waited until today and gotten the best price. Sometimes we don't think. Maybe we'll return it again for the second time.

Our Thanksgiving dinner will be at the Creek Side Restaurant with about 30 people. We will leave here about 12:30 for the 1PM buffet meal with Karen, George, Hank and Brenda. It should be nice. Have a great day everybody...

HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!

Phew! A Day Off Today

Our half-shift overtime stint last night was a walk in the park compared to our full day schedule. We remember when we started that the 5 hour day seemed like an eternity for our bodies. It was such an easy time that we decided to sign up for the 50 hour week beginning on Friday. Since our muscles are getting used to the work (and our weight is dropping), why not. Remember, our main goal here is to make as much money as we can without killing ourselves. We will work our regular Fri - Mon schedule, but will add Wednesday next week in the middle of our 3 day off period. Basically, we still get 2 days off, but by working the extra day at time-and-half, it is worth giving up the other day. One disadvantage with our schedule is that we don't get to visit much with our neighbors (Karen and George, Hank and Brenda) who work the day shift on different days. Actually, they don't have much time to visit among themselves as Hank works 10 hour days like us, and Karen and George only work five 5 hour days, Mon - Fri.

It was cold last night when we got off work at 10 PM and we thought it might freeze overnight, but the clouds came in and it only went down to 38. It's still pretty good weather for late November and it continues to be a pleasant surprise.

One thing I failed to mention previously was the low (relative) gas prices here in Kentucky. We were used to paying around $2.89/gallon in Cody for regular unleaded this summer and it was averaging around $3.00/gallon in the Chicago area while we were there. The price here is averaging closer to $2.65/gallon so it makes you wonder what causes the huge swing in these prices across the country. Not complaining, of course.

We talked about going to Lexington today to go to Sams Club, but we have a lot of catching up to do here before Thanksgiving tomorrow, so we will see. That's about it from here...

First Full Week Over

It seems like our muscles are slowly rebounding from the strenuous work. Our first full week (40 hours in 4 days) is over. The only thing left for us is the 5 hour overtime shift we signed up for which starts at 5 PM today. We probably shouldn't have signed up for it except our goal from the beginning was to make as much money as possible while we are here. The fact that we haven't had a paycheck for nearly 2 months is putting a strain on our budget, so the overtime is welcomed. There will be an opportunity to sign up for a 50 hour week, each week until the end. The committee (Josie and I) is still evaluating whether to do that. We will decide today.

There was a strong thunderstorm that blew through here early this morning as we were getting ready for bed that dumped nearly .5" of rain. The sun is out again this morning and we are amazed at how warm it is this late in November. The high was 74 and the low was 58 yesterday. This Kentucky thing isn't as cold as we thought it would be. In fact, we sweat all the time while we are working when we thought we would be needing long underwear.

We are looking forward to tomorrow and are talking about a trip to Lexington to visit the Sams Club there. We need several items and it would be nice to get away for a day. So far, we haven't had a lot of time to go places - and with overtime, we likely will to be kept close to home...

Thanksgiving Dinner Crowd Growing

The person that is putting together our Thanksgiving dinner outing told us last night that the crowd has grown to 30 people. Now, it seems like the restaurant is going to give us our own private room for the dinner. It should be fun and we hope the dinner turns out to be a good one.

Our 3rd day of the work week is in the books. We have today and a half day (overtime) for tomorrow, and then we can relax. It was announced yesterday that all Amazon employees will have to work a mandatory 55 hour week beginning November 26 through December 23rd. That is, all regular employees. I was told that the workampers will still be on a voluntary overtime schedule. The Christmas rush is on. There is definetly lots of money to be made here this time of year. One thing is for sure - the weight is dropping off our bodies.

We will make a run to Walmart this morning to get a few items, but other than that, we will just hang out for a couple hours until we have to leave again for work at 4 PM. We are looking forward to Wednesday when we get a full day to do something fun. It is already 71 degrees outside today and the low was 58 this morning when we left work. Not bad for late November...

The Beat Goes On

One of our Amazon coaches approached us on Friday to ask if we wanted to work some "voluntary" overtime next week. There is "voluntary", and there is "mandatory" overtime. As the busy season really gets busy, there is more and more overtime required in order to process all the orders. It was early in our work week, so we indicated that we would work an extra 1/2 shift on Tuesday - one of our normal days off. We are rethinking that decision as, after yesterday, we are limping around this morning with sore muscles again. And, there are 2 more days to go for our normal week.

The good news is that we are learning our way around the vast warehouse and we were finally given a locker last night which had been promised us for a week now. The lockers are in the breakroom and they are very convenient for items that you need to carry back and forth each day - such as knee pads.  There are many storage bins that are on the floor level and require you kneel down on the floor to stow items and perform a count of the total number of items in that bin. Also, we use a small stool to reach the top bins to perform the same duties of stowing and counting. So, there is a constant up and down all day long.

The sun is out and the temperatures are warming again. So far, the weather has been mild and very nice. Supposedly, the real winter weather doesn't arrive until January or February - after we are gone. The time between work hours seems to be shrinking, so I'll call it a day for now...

One Day Down, Three To Go

Nothing unusual occurred last night at work which was our kickoff day for the week. The time goes really fast when we are busy like we are at this place. And, it is always fascinating to see all the new products that come in for us to stow. Somebody threw out the fact that there over a million different products offered by Amazon.com. We don't know if that's true or not, but it is very believable.

Amazon has about 5 or 6 campgrounds that they contract with to house the workampers that come here for the busy season. It is quite an operation, and they treat the workampers royally. We have come to know many of the people staying at our location already as a result of having coffee breaks and lunch breaks with them at work. In fact, the Thanksgiving dinner trip to the Creek Side Restaurant I mentioned yesterday has grown to 16 people. It should be a fun occasion.

(This entry was interrupted with a phone call from Verizon to try and help activate my new "Fivespot" - again, with no success. Only an hour was wasted this time. What a frustrating experience with new technology.)

It is time to prepare for day number 2 of our work week, so we'll see ya later...

A Taste of Philly

It was mentioned before that on the day we had our "meet and greet" meeting shortly after our arrival, we were given a bag full of local merchant information, maps, coupons and flyers for businesses in town. One of the flyers was for a place that specialized in Philly Cheese Steaks and Hoagies. It is called The Little Philly, and it isn't much of a place to look at:

and it isn't in an especially pretty part of town, but boy, do they make great cheese steaks and hoagies. We went with Hank and Brenda since they are from the New York area and also can appreciate good cheese steaks. We all were pleasantly surprised as Hank, Brenda and I had the steaks, and Josie had an Italian Hoagie that was as good as we got in Philly. It is unusual to find a place that can make the real thing, but we did. The owners are from Philadelphia, so they know what they're doing.

The day was rainy again but was more typical of a Seattle day - very light rain, cool and overcast all day. Josie and I both went in the afternoon to get haircuts at a Fantastic Sam's in town, so we are set for another couple months in that department. Also, since we don't have access to the Internet using our new, problematic Verizon "Fivespot", we stopped at the park office and picked up another log-on code so Josie and I both can be logged onto the Internet at the same time on the park Wi-Fi.

One of the gentlemen that works our shift at Amazon.com and is also staying in this park stopped by to ask us if we would be interested in joining about 6 other couples that we work with - and are also staying here in this park - for Thanksgiving Dinner (buffet) at a local restaurant. We have passed this restaurant several times (The Creek Side Restaurant) and it looks like an excellent place. At least it is always packed with vehicles when we go past all the time. Hank and Brenda have also agreed to go with us so our Thanksgiving Day is beginning to take shape. Karen and George work weekdays, Mon-Fri, so they will not have an opportunity to go with us. They are becoming active in a local church though, so they probably will do something there.

Even though we never really got untracked to visit anyplace on these 3 days off we had this week, we feel rested and ready to go for our first 4-day stint of 10 hour work days. It should be interesting. Of course, the sun is out again and the forecast is for warmer days. It figures...

Unscheduled Verizon Problem

While we were staying in Gallatin, TN, just before arriving here, I purchased a wireless modem from Verizon called a Fivespot. It was a decision made that would eliminate my Alltel Data Card and allow both Josie and I to be online simultaneously and also connect our wireless printer - wherever we go and there is a Verizon signal. With accumulated credits and discounts, it only cost me $50, so we popped for it.

There was a problem at the store with installing the device but they got it to work, with some limitations, with a promissed software "fix" that would be available in about a week. To make the story short, the problem wasn't fixed so they ended up sending me a new replacement which I received yesterday AM. I followed all the installation instructions for the new device and couldn't get it to work at all so I called Verizon technical support for help. As luck would have it, they not only couldn't get the new device to connect at all, but they couldn't get me back to the limited use I had on the original device. The duration of this fiasco on the phone cost us 3 hours out of our day. They ended the call with a promise to "elevate" the problem and have another technician call in 24-72 hours. It's a good thing that we can connect to Internet with the Wi-Fi in the campground here.

Just as I was wrapping up the phone call with Verizon, a Reporter from the Lexington Herald-Leader newspaper (online at Kentucky.com) came by and was doing a feature on Workampers at Amazon.com. We spent about another hour or so with him and, after he took some pictures, left our fifth wheel to talk some more with Hank next door. The article is scheduled to appear on November 29, so we will keep you posted.

We eventually made it to Walmart to do our grocery shopping at around 4 PM so the day was basically shot.

The rain is still here this morning and our only scheduled outing is to go to lunch with Hank and Brenda at a local "Philly Cheese Steak" place to see how close they come to the real thing. Not many places outside of Philadelphia can make a "real" one. Karen and George are working so it will just be the 4 of us. That's about it from here...

Wild Storm and Muscle Recovery

Our day started late yesterday as we slept-in until after 12:30. Nothing was scheduled except to rest up and allow our muscles to recover from the last 2 nights.

We were just sitting around watching the TV shows we copied from Sunday and Monday night when the wind started blowing. We had been getting rain (.50") the last two days, but the wind started gusting and blowing everything around. We raised our awning and noticed that Karen & George's awning was flopping up and down next door, and they were still at work. One of their tie-downs came loose and the awning was about to fly off when Josie and I rushed over and fought the wind to raise it into the closed position. We managed to do it before any damage was done. They signed up for part-time work and work half the hours we work. They also have a nice schedule of 11-4 every week day. So, when they got out of work at 4 PM yesterday, they were nearly blown away by the wind and they thought for sure their awning was history. Needless to say, they were relieved when they arrived home and found it stowed and ok. The winds eventually slowed by around 6 PM, but it continued to rain off and on the rest of the day and night. It was a good day to do nothing.

We are going to get our grocery shopping done this morning and then figure out where we might start our fun activities. So far, we have been enjoying the relaxation from our strenuous work days. There are some very interesting places to go, so we hope to have some interesting stuff to report. Until tomorrow...

Aching Muscles

We were happy that this week we only worked Sunday and Monday night. Next week it is the full 4 days - in a row. I suppose it is normal to feel more aches and pains after the second day of strenuous activity since the muscles haven't had a chance to recover from the first day. We hope so. Last night (early this AM) we were both very sore from the stooping, reaching, walking and standing of the full day. The work is kind of fun though and we don't mind the different hours that we have on this job - at least not yet.

There is no time to go anywhere and see anything on the days we work. The fact that we sleep so late into the day, coupled with the 5 PM start time, doesn't allow it. We will try to do some things this week on our days off that will give us a better appreciation for Kentucky, which we already see as a very nice state. One thing we know is that Abraham Lincoln was actually born in Kentucky and lived his very early years here. We always thought he was born and raised in Illinois - the Land of Lincoln. Anyway, there is a National Historic Site that is not too far from us (30 miles) in Hodgenville, KY. There are other historical sites that we are just now exploring that will make the stay here a memorable one.

The weather has taken some swings here the last 2 days. Today it is raining (.12" so far) and rather warm, whereas yesterday it was freezing. We'll take the rain. It's nice to be looking forward to 3 days of fun. Until tomorrow...

Full Schedule Kickoff

Since it was our first day on the full 10 hour schedule - beginning at 5 PM last night - we really weren't sure when or what we should eat. We had a large dinner at around 4 PM before we left, and Josie packed a sandwich and other snacking foods for us to eat on our half hour dinner break which would be at 9:30 PM, and during our breaks at 7:30 PM and 12:30 AM . The work we do is very physical from the standpoint that we don't sit down and we are constantly moving around the warehouse floor. By the time we get a break, we don't feel much like eating, but rather we are looking for something to drink as we are sweaty and just want to sit. Today we know that we don't need to take so much food.

We were shocked when we got off work at 3:30 AM this morning as everything was frosted over including the windows on our Jeep. With the nice weather we have been having, we never expected to see frost everywhere. Actually, it was 29 degrees at the Amazon Location - 5 miles from here - but it never got below 34 at the State Park where we are located. I think the difference was that we are located on a large lake that probably keeps it a little warmer at night. Anyway, we had to sit and wait for the car to warm up before we could leave and we drove the whole way home in fairly thick fog. We'll have to make sure we are better prepared for these cold mornings which we are sure to have while we are here.

We are both happy with the job so far, and our feedback from our supervisors is very good. Physically, we expect the work to get easier as our "unused" muscles get in some kind of shape. We will definetly lose weight on this job. It also means that the blog will be posted much later on work days, but the fact we are in the Eastern time zone will still make it seem like it is pretty early for people in the west.

The final note is that the "honey wagon" that comes once a week on Mondays to empty our holding tanks came this morning while we were sleeping. The noise doesn't bother me but Josie has sharp hearing and it obviously woke her up. That is probably the only real negative for us - having to sleep part of the early day. I'm sure we will adjust to it, so we are ready for long day #2 today. Then, we have 3 days off - yeah!...

Scheduling Our Free Time

We enjoyed our off-day yesterday with another beautiful day. The first thing on the schedule was getting the flat tire repaired. The plan was to fill it with air and just drive the Jeep to get it fixed. Well, problems with my compressor nixed that idea. I ended up having to remove the tire and take it in the truck. I went to Walmart and had the flat tire repaired and dropped off Josie at the Laundromat on the way. We had both of those chores done by noon and enjoyed the rest of the day sitting outside and reading our books.

Today begins our first full day on our regular schedule. We are are trying to figure out the best way to handle our free time before we start at 5 PM. There has to be a nap in the day (today) somewhere or else we will struggle with the 10 hours of working up to 3:30 AM -including our 1/2 hour lunch break. It will probably take some trial and error during the first several work days to get the right combination. The 10 hour days also eliminate any chance to travel to local attractions on working days since we will probably be sleeping until near noon every day and that only leaves a couple hours of free time in the afternoon. Our goal is to work as much as we can and make as much money as we possibly can while here, so we are committed to that goal.

Plans for Thanksgiving next week are incomplete, but we have discussed having a potluck dinner with Karen, George, Hank, Brenda and us which would work fine. More on that as it develops.

We are also investigating options for Florida when we leave here. So far, we only know that we will probably spend Christmas Eve in Harrison, TN- at a nice state park there - near Chattanooga which is almost into Georgia. Our second night will most likely be in southern Georgia somewhere before arriving in Florida on approximately the 26th or 27th of December. Josie's sister lives in Edgewater, FL., which isn't too far from Orlando, so we might stay close to Disney World while there so we can investigate employment in and near the park.

Whatever we do, we are confident that everything will work out for us as this exciting journey continues...

End of First Week

Once again we drove the truck to work while our Jeep sat in the driveway with a flat tire. Since we leave for work at 10:30, I didn't want to take any chance on getting tied up with the flat repair and being late. It was the last work day of our first week and it was, we believe, typical of the kind of work days we will have the rest of the way.

The only two problems we are having right now are: 1-learning the commands to use on the hand-held scanner, and 2-finding bins on the warehouse floor where there is room to stow our items. The first problem will be overcome with more repetition and use of the device. That, plus we are supposed to get a "cheat-sheet" with the commands summarized. We have not yet received that. The second problem will correct itself (we hope) with the increased volume in business as we get closer to Christmas. We are all going to be evaluated on our productivity and that includes emptying your carts as quickly as possible. Josie and I feel comfortable with our assignments, but we see some people still struggling. Physically, we feel like we will be able to handle a 10 hour day. We get to try that on Sunday night.

This morning will be taken up with the repair of the flat tire. I plan to try to fill it with air from our compressor and drive it to Walmart for the fix. I hope that works, as the only other option is to remove the wheel and take it in. It should work, since the tire deflated overnight and lost the air very slowly. The rest of the day is not planned, but the weather is holding so we hope to enjoy it with some kind of outdoor activity. Until tomorrow...

Learning More

Our day started with a surprise yesterday. We went out to the car to get in and go to work, and guess what?:

Yep - a flat tire. We could see a screw sticking out of the tread of the tire so we probably ran over it on the way home on Wednesday afternoon and it was such a slow leak that we didn't discover it right away. It's a good thing we had the truck or we would have been stranded. Our neighbors all started their training day at 6 AM, so they were all gone by the time we left. It looks like we will not get it fixed until tomorrow - our first day off. We don't want to take a chance on the repair taking longer than the time we have in the morning.

The work day went fine. We spent almost the entire 5 hours actually stowing items from the carts. The biggest problem we had was locating bins that could accommodate the items we needed to stow. Either the volume of business hasn't picked up enough yet in order to empty these bins, or the area of bins we were sent to were already worked by another shift. Anyway, we are getting better and doing the work faster than the day before.

Our last training day is today, and then we will be tossed to the wolves to work on our own. There are some details that we need to work on such as instruction on how to use the scanner for problem items. We hope to learn more of that today, but the job gets the first real test on Sunday when we have to work our first 10 hour shift.

The weather continues to be excellent - high of 76 and low of 42 and clear skies yesterday. It's a real shame that we need to work while all this nice weather is here. It is the same so far today. No complaints so far...

Learning the Stowing Process

It was mentioned that the building (warehouse) we are working in is huge. As we arrived yesterday for our first hands-on training day, I took this shot of the building as we started to drive to the back parking lot where we were instructed to enter:

One of the training coaches said this building was 800,000 S.F., and the one in Coffeyville, KS., is nearly twice this size at 1.5 million S.F., if you can believe it. The amount of inventory contained in these buildings is mind boggling.

We were once again divided into several small groups and our hands-on training began on time at 11:30 AM. Our first couple of hours were spent in what they call "Stowing School" which is a training area that contains everything involved in learning the stowing process. We were given hand held scanners, and magnetic "bin" markers that we will use to place on the storage bin that we are working on. We then went out onto the floor for actual stowing experience with our trainers watching over us. The bins are mostly small, and they are like upright bookcases with slots to place your items. There are, however, some larger bins for larger items all along the rows of bins. We have to locate a bin that will fit the next item we need to stow. We scan the items, scan the bin number, and move on to the next item. If it fits in the bin, using storage rules they gave us, it is placed in the same bin. Otherwise we scan the bin number again to close it, and count the total number of items in the bin and record it in the hand held scanner. Everything is so computerized that each item is now then available for immediate "picking" to fill orders. Every item is recorded instantly in its location. We were told that there may be times when you will enter an item into a bin and a "Picker" will be right behind you to take it out to fill an on-line order. It is a very thorough and precise system. There are special handling rules for problem items such as bad bar codes, damaged product or products that should not be in your "cart" for stowing. We learned alot this first day on the floor.

Our schedule is the same today and tomorrow and we will work from 11:30 to 4:30 again. It's going to be a very different kind of experience for us which is what we want. It is physical in the sense that we will do a lot of walking, standing and reaching during the day but we feel we are up to it.

We are missing some fabulous weather while working inside though. Tuesday was 74 and yesterday was 73 for highs with clear, blue skies. It has gone down to the mid to low 40's at night, but it isn't bad. We hope it holds out until we at least get some time off to enjoy it, which will be Saturday. Until tomorrow...

Orientation and Safety Class

We all left in our own vehicles yesterday morning at 7:15 AM to get to Amazon.com, find a parking space and meet in the lunchroom by 8 AM. We all received our badges and were divided into 2 groups - there were probably close to 100 people total. The first group (all of us) would do the orientation in the AM and the safety class in the afternoon. The 2nd group obviously had the reverse schedule.

We went into a conference room and spent the next 4 hours doing the final paperwork, discussing schedules, watching videos of company policies relating to harrasement, etc., and listening to discussions about loss prevention, drug testing, code of business conduct and ethics, performance coaching program and other benefits including assignment of a code that gives all of us a 10% discount on any merchandise purchased from Amazon.com up to $1,000 total.

Our lunch period followed - 30 minutes - and we then did the safety class for the rest of the afternoon. They divided our group into 5 smaller groups and we were assigned a trainer to guide us through the facility pointing out all the safety features of the warehouse, where to go in case of a tornado warning - remember, we are in tornado territory - and generally what to do in case of any emergency. We all were fascinated and impressed by the size and quality of this whole operation. To think this whole thing started in a garage, selling some books in Seattle, in 1995 is unbelievable.

The last hour or so was spent in short demonstrations on how to lift palates and heavy boxes, how to tape containers, and how to recognize the purpose of all the various colors of tape that are all over the warehouse floor.

All in all it was an interesting and very educational day. Of course, there are no cameras allowed in the facility so we couldn't take any pictures. We are scheduled for three 5 hour days - 11:30 to 4:30, Wed-Fri - for the rest of this week and we begin our normal schedule on Sunday of 5 PM to 3:30 AM.

Stay tuned for more updates from our 1st "real" work day today when we do hands-on work for the first time...

Introduction To Amazon.com

We all arrived on time - 11 AM - for our first meeting with the Amazon.com staff that is responsible for the Workamper program. It was a great introduction and they made everyone feel like he was an important part of the team. Each of us received a bag full of goodies - local discount coupons, merchant information, telephone directory, local maps, etc - and they had a wonderful luncheon prepared with sandwiches, fruit, salad, beverages and even a huge welcome cake.

We heard from the General Manager, HR staff, Team representatives and then the Mayor of Campbellsville - who also reminded us that he was re-elected to another term in the recent election last week. They reviewed all the jobs that were being filled in Receiving, Stowing, Picking and Packaging and told each of us where we would be working and what our schedules were. Josie and I are assigned in the Stowing area of the operation and will be working the shift we were originally scheduled to work - 5 PM till 3:30 AM on Fri thru Mon. It should be interesting. The meeting broke up at 1 PM:

(That's Josie talking to Hank and Brenda)

and we were told to report today at 8 AM for an 8 hour day of training and orientation. They took pictures for our badges that we pick up this morning and we will meet in the lunchroom to kickoff our work assignments.

There are a total of 270 workampers in town to help out this holiday season. There are at least 6 different campgrounds housing this temporary staff that Amazon.com is picking up the tab for - it is really a very big deal to them. We are looking forward to the experience and hope that it goes well for us. It would be nice if it worked out so we could come back again to work for them - maybe at the Nevada facility next year. We'll see.

Karen, George, Hank and Brenda are satisfied with their assignments - so far - and we all look forward to getting started.

That's about it as we prepare our lunches to take today and get ready to kick-off our first "real day at the office"...

Final Day Before New Job Starts

The morning was cool but bright and sunny yesterday. It was the first freeze of the season but it only went down to 32 and today has already started out warmer - the low last night was 38. Once again, it is a cloudless, blue sky.

We took a walk around the lake and were surprised at how many boats and fishermen there were for this time of year. We got the following pictures of just a couple of those:

In the first picture, in addition to the blue boat that is clearly visible, there are 2 men in a boat in the upper center of the picture fishing along the bank. The yellow lines are the swimming area markers along the beach. The guy in the second picture wasn't wasting time getting back to the launch.

Our "Meet and Greet" meeting is today at 11 AM. We will get an introduction to our work schedules and have pictures taken for badges, meet supervisors and discuss other work related items. It is a 2 hour meeting and we are wondering if we will get paid for this time - we'll let you know. Evidently, we will all work a few 5 hour days for training before our regular schedules begin. By the time we get started on our regular work schedule, we calculate that we have lost almost 3 weeks of our committed time here (2 weeks as a result of starting late and 1 week of a short schedule). It may be made up though with some overtime. We understand that the time between Thanksgiving and the 23rd of December is super busy and there will be a lot of mandatory and voluntary overtime. If we are still alive and well, we will welcome the overtime.

Our "honey wagon" is scheduled today to come and empty our holding tanks. We had no problem going the week without a sewer hookup, so we should be fine with that schedule of once a week. Of course, we have been taking our showers in the bathhouse which has saved on filling our "grey" water tank. That hasn't been bad either, since they are very nice and clean. It's off to work we go...

Our First Freeze

Last night was the first time we had temperatures below freezing since we arrived. Actually, it went down to 31, which is not super cold, but still is cold enough. The forecast is for warming temperatures and no more freezing in sight. I disconnected the water hose and turned off the water at the connection so our hose wouldn't freeze last night. We have water in our fresh water tank so we just turned on the pump to use until we get reconnected later this morning. It's already above freezing outside so it won't be long.

Yesterday was a catch-up day for laundry. We also watched a good portion of the Breeders Cup Races that were being held at Churchill Downs this year. It is a 2 day event and if we had known about it, we would have considered going to Louisville to watch them. It is not held at the same track every year, so it would have been extra special. We do have a visit to the Kentucky Derby on our wish list of places to go and things to do. We will try to combine that with maybe a visit to the Indianapolis 500 some year. Those two places aren't that far away from each other and they are held around the same time of the year so it wouldn't be too difficult to do.

With only today to go as our last day, we are deciding if we want to go somewhere or enjoy the last full day just hangin out here at the rig. We'll let you know tomorrow...

Group Trip to Perryville and Lexington

Hank (and Brenda next door) had planned out a day trip to visit some historic Civil War sites and end up in Lexington at a highly rated pizza parlor. He had invited all of us to go so we accepted. Hank has the only vehicle (Durango) that can accommodate all 6 of us so he got the driver assignment. We left at around 9 AM and our first stop was at Perryville, where the famous Battle of Perryville was fought. As we arrived at the museum and visitor center:

we could see the huge area that was the site of this battle in October, 1862, that was a tactical victory for the South, but became a loss for the Confederacy when they realized that they were drastically outnumbered (16,000 Confederate troops, to about 30,000 Union soldiers in the immediate area), and not only abandoned the battle, but left Kentucky entirely. There were 7,000 casualties that made it one of the bloodiest battles of the war. It was eerie looking at all the locations where the battle took place and reading the descriptions of the battle as it unfolded. There was a Confederate Memorial:

and a Memorial for the Union soldiers:

(I wonder about the significance of the larger Confederate Memorial?)

Anyway, we left the Battlefield and proceeded toward Lexington as we passed several beautiful horse farms that Kentucky is known for. This is one that most probably is a Breeders farm for thoroughbred horses:

Eventually, we arrived at our ultimate destination for lunch - Puccini's Pasta - in Lexington. It was definetly one of the best pizza's we have ever had - anywhere. If you are ever in Lexington, it is a must-do restauarant:

It was a fun day and represents our first venture out to visit historical sites in Kentucky. It is a beautiful state that we hope to see much more of and enjoy. It was around 5 PM when we returned home and we just relaxed the rest of the evening.

There are no plans for a trip today, so we can get some things done - like laundry - to get ready for our start date on Monday. Later....

Nice Day, Good Company

We have 2 couples next to us - one on each side - that we worked with in Cody and came to work the same dates we are working. They both (Karen & George and Brenda & Hank) are only going to work part time, but it is nice to have friends around to do things with. Yesterday morning started with a coffee gathering outside our rig. That's Karen and Brenda with Josie:

I think I mentioned the cute dog that Brenda & Hank own in one of the posts from Cody. They purchased the dog last year while they were working in Cody, and named him Cody after the town. He is fun to watch playing in the grass with all the leaves and Josie treated him to a little bit of peanut butter on her finger:

and then he wouldn't let her alone:

We did some more paperwork for Amazon.com and took it to the campground office to be faxed to the HR people. Things are moving rapidly now leading up to our start on Monday with the "Meet and Greet" meeting. All of us are anxious to get started.

We have a trip planned today with all 3 couples. We will go in Hank & Brenda's Durango, since it will hold all of us and is good on gas. Tomorrow we hope to have some shots from our trip which is to some Civil War battleground areas and other areas that sound interesting. We're leaving shortly, so until then...

Lazy Day at Campground

It was drizzly, foggy and dark the whole day yesterday. This will be a short entry as we only spent the day hangin out in the fifth wheel. Except, that is, for a run up to the bathhouses where we each tried out the showers there. Since we only have water and electric hookups at this location, we need to be frugal about how we fill up the holding tanks. There is what they call "honey wagon" service once a week - on Mondays - where they provide a truck that pumps out your tanks. Amazon.com covers that expense also. Our holding tanks are larger than normal which is one reason we purchased the rig we have. It should not be a problem, but to be sure, we will use the campground showers to supplement our own in the rig.

We received another email from Amazon.com informing us of our first orientation meeting to be held on Monday at 11 AM. We will meet the supervisors at that time, get our pictures taken for badges and discuss other employment particulars. We're getting anxious to "get the show on the road".

Today is sunny once again. It's cool - 43 this AM - but it is always nice to see the sun. Maybe we will get out to see something in the area. Until tomorrow...

Taking Care of Business

Our first duty of the day yesterday was to drive to Bardstown, KY, for our drug test at the Lab Corp facility there. The information we recieved from Amazon.com indicated that it had to be done prior to starting work, so we complied. The drive was a beautiful one through rolling hills and fabulous farmland where we got a positive feel for how the people live here. There were many homes and properties like this one:

It was just about as we imagined except there weren't many horse farms and we saw mostly cattle - although there were many white fences surrounding these properties that created the "Old Kentucky Home" image.

After finishing our "pee in the cup" exercise, we stopped at a nice family restaurant for some brunch and then went to the visitors center in town. We found out that Bardstown is the bourbon capital of the world. There are 4 bourbon distilleries in and around town and we thought it would be interesting to visit one or more - they each had tasting rooms. As luck would have it, they were all closed - as were the schools and many other businesses - as a result of election day. Bad timing. The town still had many other attractions, such as civil war museums and churches, that will be worthy of visits on a return trip.

We stopped at the Amazon.com building (below) on the way home to try to find somebody that could answer a couple questions we had.

We went in the employee entrance and that is as far as we got. They had a phone there where you call the person you need to talk to. Security was extremely tight. So, we talked to the HR person briefly and then left. We did find out that there will be an orientation on Monday for our group of new hires that have arrived this week. Our start date is suppose to be Nov 7, which is Sunday, so I guess our start will be delayed a few days until they complete all the preliminary details.

We walked around the campground when we returned and took some shots of the campground - one of which is below:

and the miniature golf course (below) which is very unusual. The holes are all played in a straight line around a circle:

We hope to get a chance to play the course sometime while we are here.

Today is cloudy and raining a little bit, so we will most likely stay home and get some things done around the fifth wheel. The weather has been beautiful so we were due for this. Until tomorrow...

Arrival in Campbellsville, KY

We were on the road to Campbellsville by 10 AM yesterday. It was only a trip of 110 miles, so we expected to arrive around 1 PM. We received a phone call from Karen - remember her from Cody - saying they (she and her husband George) had checked into the campground on Sunday and were very disappointed in the campground. She suggested we take a look when we arrive and then go check out the state park that was across the street from this campground. Well, we arrived at 2:30 PM, after a time change back to Eastern time and several stops to raise the front jacks on our fifth wheel that suddenly decided to slowly drop down as we traveled - a problem that we need to get fixed before we leave here.

Karen was right-on on her description of the campground. It  is brand new and therefore full of loose gravel for the sites and lots and lots of hay that has been spread to cover dirt from the construction. If it rains - which it will sometime while we are here - the whole place will turn into a huge mudhole. Not only that, but the spaces were small and we would be on top of our neighbor. We decided to both move to the state park - Green River State Park - after verifying that Amazon.com would also cover our space rental at that location.

Here are a couple shots of our location for the next 6 weeks:

and the view of the beautiful lake from our site:

The trip to our work location will increase by about 2.5 miles each way but we feel we will be much happier at this location.

We all went to the local Walmart Superstore to get some groceries and then took a drive to see where the Amazon.com facility was located. It is a huge complex as you can imagine.

Josie and I received our letter -via email last night - telling us about our work schedule, pay and other employment facts. We will be working 4 days a week - Fri-Mon - from 5 PM till 3:30 AM. We figure for 6 weeks with the good pay, we can work almost any schedule. It's not a whole lot different from the times we worked in Cody, so it shouldn't take long to adjust. It should be interesting...

Final Day Before Campbellsville

There was still a problem with the device I purchased yesterday at Verizon, so it was back to the store yesterday morning after it opened at 11 AM. They worked on it while it was connected to my PC for almost 2 hours before they determined that it was a software glitch in the device driver and was not a problem with my computer settings. They expect to have a software fix for the product by Wednesday of this week, but they provided a work around for me to use in the meantime. Once again, it is rarely wise to purchase new products before they have been fully de-bugged by the public.

We wanted to gas up the Jeep for our trip to Campbellsville today and get some groceries so the day got away from us before we knew it. It was around 4 PM when we returned to the rig and decided to just sit outside and enjoy the rest of the evening:

Our site gave us a view of the lake on our "windows" side, and also privacy on the back side:

It was a great 2 full days that we spent in this area. We are impressed enough to want to return again and see some more in Nashville itself. We should have plenty of time on our days off - if they don't kill us on our work days. It is an adventure that we are looking forward to and hope that it turns out OK. The first 6 days we arrive in town will be spent with a combination of orientation and free time. The actual job  - for pay - begins on Nov 7, so it's getting close.

We hope to leave here by 10 AM and arrive at our destination early this afternoon. That wraps it up from Nashville...