Workamping

When we retired in 2012 the thought of returning to work was laughable. After all that's what retirement was all about - not having to work! However in the 4 years that we have been retired we have learned some "truths".

1. Just because your income becomes "fixed" doesn't mean that your expenses also become fixed.

2. Even though you have paid into SS and Medicare your entire working career, contrary to what you might have thought or have been led to believe, health care does not become "free" upon retirement. Money is deducted each month from your SS check to cover the premium for Part B of your Medicare insurance. Supplemental medical insurance is needed because Medicare doesn't cover everything. And you need a prescription drug plan to cover all your "old age" drugs.

3. For maybe the first time in your life you find yourself owing federal income tax because you no longer qualify for all those handy deductions.

4. Having an RV and the freedom to travel is great until gas jumps to nearly $4 a gallon. Thank heavens it's now lower!

5. And the most important one - maybe we should have paid closer attention to our financial advisor! Lol!

So, when we started hearing and reading about something called Workamping we took notice and that's how we ended up at Amazon last September. It was an interesting experience. The work was physically challenging and fast paced. Our job involved walking 10-12 miles a day and up and down flights of stairs.

What was the hardest part for me? The time frame. I had never been away from family during the fall/winter holidays and I was so homesick for all the preparations, decorations and festivities. Bob didn't seem to be as bothered about those things.

The best part for me? The people that we met! Workamping is a way of life for these people. They go from job to job and from one part of the country to another part as the opportunities present themselves. Some people are fully retired like us and are adding to their income. Some are retired from their jobs but not old enough to receive benefits so they are supplementing their income. And some are young, without children or a multitude of possessions and are relishing the freedom to work their way around and explore our wonderful country. Social media has allowed me to keep in touch with many of the people I met and follow them on their next adventures.

And that's why we are at Darien Lake NY this summer. Beating the heat, exploring unfamiliar territory and earning some money.

Absent way too long!

I have blogs that I follow faithfully. I am always a bit disappointed when I check these blogs and someone hasn't posted for several days. Yet I haven't posted for almost a year and a half. Shame on me! The best excuse I can come up with is that home is about the only place that we have unlimited internet and we have been on the road a lot. Good excuse? Probably not!

So first up a brief synopsis of 2015.

In January Bob, two of his sisters and myself painted the exterior of his mother's house.

In February we spent a few days at the beach with good friends. We welcomed a great nephew to the family, watched the Daytona 500 from the infield and enjoyed our granddaughter's Winter Guard performances.

March saw us at Bike Week, welcoming a great niece to the family, making a day trip to Disney and I found time for some canning.

April was another RV trip with friends. This time to St Augustine and North Beach.

June saw us heading north to escape the heat of the Florida summer. First stop was PA to attend the graduation of two nephews. Then on to upstate NY to do some genealogy research (mostly cemetery visitations) and to visit our niece and her husband at Fort Drum. Next stop Lake Ontario and Niagara Falls. We hadn't been there in years. Then on to Ohio to visit an aunt.

Since attending an RV show in January and listening to some Workamper presentations we had been toying with the idea of working at an Amazon Fulfillment Center during their peak season. In July we  visited the Murfreesboro TN and Campbellsville KY facilities. We were not impressed with the Murfreesboro area but spent a week near the Campbellsville facility. Campbellsville is in the middle of the Kentucky Bourbon trail so of course we had to tour a distillery! We also visited Lincoln's birth place.

Next stop was Murphy NC to visit some very good and long time friends. We always enjoy spending time with them! Because we were so close to one of our favorite places, the Great Smoky Mountains, we had to spend a few days in Cherokee NC and revisit Mingo Falls and Clingman's Dome.

August was spent back in PA visiting with family, enjoying the view from our campground site and canning as much yummy produce as I had time and room for. We also made the decision to apply to Amazon for work at the Campbellsville facility and we got hired.

The beginning of September saw us back in Deltona getting all of our semi-annual doctor and dentist appointments completed and repacking the motorhome for our extended stay in Kentucky. We had to report to Amazon the last week in September.

October, November and December flew by. It seemed that about all we had time for was sleep, eat and work!

We finished our stint at Amazon on December 20th and we were back in Deltona on the 23rd. Unfortunately Bob entered the hospital on the 24th and was there until the 28th. They never did figure out exactly what was wrong with him. Christmas was kind of a bust!

And that was 2015! 

2014 in Review

January:

We made our motorhome more livable by removing the bench dinette and replacing it with drawer storage, a bookshelf, and a comfy Euro Chair. I made a trip to Tampa with two of my best buds to visit another best bud who had retired to that area. We took a day trip to Blue Springs to enjoy the manatees. 

February:

Bob worked on a viewing platform for the Daytona 500. He built it for his sisters' campsite in the infield. We take our motorhome over to the infield every year but usually watch the races from their campsite. However "someone" had other plans for me. I ended up having major surgery about two weeks before the race and had to watch all the action from the comfort of my recliner in the living room! However Bob got to use the platform.

March:

We made a quick trip to Daytona to check out Bike Week activities, attended one of our granddaughter's Winter Guard Competitions and worked on re-landscaping the front yard.

April:

In April we had a cat explosion! We had been feeding a feral cat community for several years and up until this year nature had done a fairly good job of keeping the colony under control. This year nature thumbed its nose at us. By the end of the summer only six new babies had actually been added to the colony but at one time there were over fifteen babies! Needless to say the mature females were neutered! Because the tiles in the main bathroom were literally falling off the wall we had the bathroom re-tiled and a new tub installed. We also spent quality time with our granddaughter attending her Honor Roll breakfast and a band competition. 

May:

The beginning of the month saw us making plans for our summer sojourn to PA. Those plans fell by the wayside when Bob was told that he would need surgery and follow-up treatment for some bladder tumors. So instead of leaving for the North we continued to tend to the expanded cat colony, watched our granddaughter magically (or so it seemed) transform into a beautiful young lady for her final middle school dance and experienced many different emotions over our niece's deployment to Afghanistan. We thought this year would be the first time ever that we missed one of Sarah's piano recitals but because of the change in plans we were able to attend. We also were able to attend her final middle school band concert. One of the best days though was the grandparent/granddaughter day at Disney!

June:

Bob's treatments continued through June so to keep us busy and to try to win the "Battle of the Torpedo Grass" we re-did the front lawn one more time! And to celebrate our granddaughter's birthday we spent several days at Disney's Fort Wilderness Campground. 

July and August:

Finally Bob was finished with his treatment and cleared for travel. We loaded up the motorhome with supplies, 3 people (our son went part way), and some cats (duh!). We headed west.

Our first extended stop was San Antonio, TX. We then moved on to Cortez, CO where we toured Mesa Verde, Four Corners and Monument Valley.

Next stop Las Vegas. After a few days in Las Vegas Mike flew home and we traveled north to St George, UT for some much needed rest and recuperation. Then on to Lake Powell. Finally it was time to head east with a stop in Holbrook AZ to view the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert. A short visit with family and friends in PA and by the end of August we were back in FL.

September/October:

September and October were spent traveling from doctor to dentist to doctor again for our semi-annual checkups, watching Sarah and the Oviedo High School Band perform, entertaining an unexpected guest and sending good thoughts and prayers to our niece in Afghanistan for her continued safety.

November:

I like to give family and friends hand crafted Christmas presents so a lot of my time was devoted to those projects. And obviously not a lot of time devoted to taking pictures! We celebrated Thanksgiving with as many family members as possible. A niece returned to FL from the cold and snowy north and was feted with a baby shower.

December:

December saw us spending a day at Epcot with our daughter.  We were there to watch Sarah and the Oviedo HS Marching Band perform. Another day we joined Bob's family at Blue Springs as a niece and grand-niece were here for a visit. We welcomed our Army niece home from Afghanistan. And of course we prepared for and celebrated Christmas starting with an early present from my son.

And that was 2014! Hope yours was as full of happy memories as ours. Happy New Year 2015!

Home

After the Petrified Forest we headed east toward Pennsylvania. It was a long, tiring, and fortunately uneventful ride. Some hi-lights(?):

New Mexico - Delicious smoked ribs that were definitely "fall off the bone".

Oklahoma - Windmills that extended in every direction for miles.

Arkansas - Dottie's favorite way to travel.

Tennessee - Can you sleep like this?

Tennessee - Interesting place to stay!

We spent two weeks in PA visiting family and friends, relaxing:

picking blueberries:

touring a local winery:

attending our hometown's Old Home Day festivities:

and watching fireworks:

We returned to Florida in time for doctor appointments, lawn and garden maintenance, family activities, entertaining unexpected guests, and just plain everyday life.

More downed branches

Our banana plant. Unfortunately we didn't provide it with extra support soon enough
and the plant  tipped over and broke.  No bananas!

Our granddaughter, Sarah, at an Oviedo HS football game.
She performs with the Marching Band's Color Guard.

Our unexpected guest. Apparently he didn't care for the accommodations as he left shortly after.

What can I say? Retired life is exhausting!

Our Last "Scenic" Stop - Petrified Forest and the Painted Desert

As we had to be back in Florida by the end of August it was time to start heading east. We weren't looking forward to the long days of driving so we made one last stop in Holbrook AZ to explore the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert.

Having lived in Florida for almost 30 years I am very familiar with Disney's "imagineering". When I walked out the door of the visitor's center Disney was the first thing that popped into my mind. The landscape looked too perfect, almost surreal.

It was hard to believe that these "rocks" were actually trees that lived 225 million years ago and remain today approximately where they originally fell. 

The colors in this chunk were gorgeous and glistened in the sun.

A large tree trunk. It had been cut in several places. Not sure if by scavengers
before the land was turned into a national park or by park rangers later.

On some chunks the colors were exposed . . .

. . . and other chunks were completely encased in the original bark. 

Some logs were very light in color and others much darker. Perhaps different kinds of trees?

The floor of the valley was littered in wood "rocks". Erosion has caused them to fall out of the surrounding bluffs.

Just to the north of the petrified wood deposits is the Painted Desert.

Tepee formation

Desert view. The colors are much more vibrant when seen in person.

Another view. Can only imagine how colorful the landscape must be at sunrise or sunset. 

Between 1250 and 1380 A.D. a Puerco Pueblo Village occupied this site.

They left behind the remains of their villages and many fine petroglyphs.

Back in Holbrook, in a rock shop, we found this pond made from petrified wood. It was ironic that while browsing the shop our son called to tell us that a very large tree branch had fallen into our pond back in Florida!

The next day we headed for Pennsylvania.