Buzz from Coffeyville

Hi All,
We are busting at the seams here in the park. There are more rigs than there are sites to hold them all and with the new park not yet completed (was supposed to have been done Oct. 1),folks are getting antsy. The honey wagon guys are busy making their rounds every Mon/Wed/Fri..trying to keep up with so many rigs. They have been getting to our side of the park about 1:00 or so.

Here is the area where we are...


On the far side of this area is where the new park is taking shape. It will be nice when it's done so we aren't awakened every morning to the sound of back-up beepers and slamming doors on the dump trucks as they drop off a load of fill or gravel. We were told yesterday that this coming Monday we need to move our rig to the new area. It is supposed to be done by then (the crews are supposedly working all weekend on it). That will allow them to install the sewer lines down the left side of this area. The opposite side of the lot was completed within the last week. They did not have to move their rigs because they ran the line about 40 feet behind the rigs (look out Wal-Mart as you'll have a bunch of people coming to buy extra lengths of sewer hose to reach). On our side the city doesn't own the land that far behind us so they will run the lines ahead of the electrical boxes.
Only the 8 rigs on our side of the park will be allowed to move on Monday. When we first were told about the Monday move, I envisioned the great land rush in Oklahoma where everyone runs to stake their claim to a site but that won't be the case. Once they finish running the lines, we can choose to stay in the new part or return to our current site.

Here are the people currently in an "overflow area" that need a site...


We called the city this morning to ask if they have WiFi in the new area, as we paid the $50 for a months worth of service. The woman on the phone said someone would get back to us. The WiFi service is very erratic here....get bumped off alot. One of the guys said that they don't have enough bandwidth for everyone on it...whatever that means. I just know that it is a pretty common occurrence for RV parks and it gets old after awhile. We are getting closer to the day when we get Verizon's air card so we don't have to deal with this anymore.
We are concerned about the softness of the new park. A lot of new fill over there. First good rain and a bunch of us might be stuck. We will see how it goes. The guy, two rigs down from us, has a refurbished Greyhound bus and he says that he weighs 40-50,000# and no way is he going over there. He will boondock in the parking lot if need be and then move back when they are done.

We love our "picking" jobs at Amazon but don't know that we'd come back again. They move people around too much and you never know what area you will be in. They take people over to receiving, stowing, crisp plant, etc. Linda and I have been lucky to stay in picking although I got moved one night to receiving. I think that is one reason that Linda and I try to stay in the top 3 for fastest pickers so that we will stay in picking....The other thing that has been a problem here is getting the automatic deposit to go through on our paychecks. Mine finally went through last paycheck and Linda is still waiting. We did paperwork on same day (in Sept.)...same account...and her paperwork got lost or something so they had to resend it to the corporate office. She was told that it should go through on Nov. 9. We'll see...

Here is a picture of the main area of the campground.


There is another campground just down the road about a tenth of a mile called Heritage campground. There are at least 30 rigs in that park too. Then there are folks in the Elk City park and also at Altamont. These people have quite a drive to get here since there it no shuttle anymore to take us to and from work.

Our site has 30 amp electric (the end sites across from us each have 50 amp but the others have 30 amp like ours), and water hook-up. We've been told to fill our fresh water tanks when it gets to freezing temps and unhook from city connection as we will be responsible for any damages caused by busted pipes. They do not have frost proof(insulated) connections like some parks have. No cable....can pick up a few stations. Reception is better in evening and when wind isn't blowing (which is a rare occurrence). There is a bathhouse over near the other park for folks in rigs without showers. Pretty much a cinder block building with stalls with curtains. Nothing fancy...and I wonder how operable they will be if cold temps come. Speaking of weather...the weather here is perfect ! Today..for last day in October I am in t-shirt and shorts. Is in the 70's and a breeze (always seems to be a breeze here). Biggest plus of being here has been the weather. Except for very little rain, it has been gorgeous. We had two nights in the 30's but usually it has been in the 50's and 60's overnight. Amazing !! Makes us cringe to think of going back to PA to the cold where they are scraping their windshields and getting that dreaded "S" word. Yuck !! Until then we'll soak up as much of the the Kansas sun as we can.....

Sightseeing in Oklahoma

Monday and Tuesday was spent exploring the towns and countryside of nearby Oklahoma. I think I mentioned before that the Oklahoma border is just 3 miles outside of Coffeyville so we decided to check out the tourist attractions in this nearby state. On Monday we took a loop down to Pawnee, Ok and came back through Hominy and Barnsdall. The trading post we were looking for in Pawnee is no longer in operation but we had a great meal at Kacie's Diner while we were there. In Hominy a local artisan has created 18-20' sculptures, visible on a ridge just outside of town but too far away to get any pictures of. Our last stop, as nightfall set in, was to the town of Barnsdall...home of Anita Bryant and Clark Gable and the Worlds only main street oil well. It sits right in the middle of the street but appears to not be operational anymore.

On Tuesday we went to Bartlesville, OK. Our first stop was to Yocham's leather shop. What a neat place it was. Lots of cowboy memorabilia, custom saddles and furniture. In the rear of the retail area there is an area where three guys work on making the saddles and other custom items. They explained what they were doing and showed us some of the pieces they've made, that were in the back store room.


It was very interesting talking to them and learning about their craft. From there we went to the Tom Mix museum where I was surprised to see so much memorabilia. All of the items were purchased from the heir to the estate and the collection is extensive. We watched a movie in the little theater set up in the back and the saddle he used in the movie is shown here from one of the displays.

Tom's third wife was from Dewey (the town just outside of Bartlesville where the museum is) and he was also the town marshal for a short time in 1909. While in Dewey he worked on a local cattle ranch. His skill with horses is what got him a part in a movie that was being filmed near Dewey. That was the beginning of his movie career. The horse shown in this picture is in the likeness of Tony, the wonder horse that Tom rode. He was one of four horses that Tom owned throughout his career. Tom paid $600 for Tony when he was a young, undernourished colt. Tom Mix fattened Tony on oats soaked in milk. Together they made $7,500,000.
Next we went to the Price Tower, which is a Frank Lloyd Wright design. We took a tour of the building, which allowed us to see some of the private areas of the building, where the executive offices were and we also got to see one of the apartments, which has been left in its' original condition with period furnishings from the 50's. The building's uses a cantilevered design to suspend areas of the building. It was interesting to see the different Wright components and to also see the current exhibit that was in the museum. It featured artists who recycled common items into new art objects (items such as newspaper, milk cartons, plastic bottles and cassette tapes). It was fascinating to see the beautiful objects that had been created from "garbage".
Our last stop was to the Phillips petroleum museum. A lot of wonderful artifacts from the company's history in oil exploration. What I found interesting were all the items that Phillips has developed (resins, different types of plastics, etc.) that has led to them amassing over 15,000 patents and the development of many of the products we now enjoy.
We had two great days of sightseeing to see many of the interesting things that Oklahoma has to offer. Back to work tomorrow.....we have other trips planned for our upcoming days off.

Brown Mansion

Monday we took in a couple of the local attractions since we had the day off. We went to take a tour of the Brown mansion, located just a couple miles from us and it sits just on the outskirts of Coffeyville. Here is a picture of the exterior. We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside.

What a beautiful house this is ! We got to see every room in the house, starting in the basement. The basement is huge, with a tool room, big laundry area, walk-in cooler (overhead area held blocks of ice to keep it cold), butler bedroom and his own bathroom, potting room, wine making and storage room (Vicki would love this), hand operated elevator and a bowling alley. Can you believe it ? And the whole thing had concrete floors and walls and was absolutely dry. It was amazing.
Mr. Brown was the first oil and gas man in the area and that is where his wealth came from. He also got into lumbering and all the wood in the house was hand picked by him. He was a very tall man...6'3" and his wife was 4'8"....her original wedding dress was still in the bedroom and her tiny little shoes. They had 5 children, one girl the rest boys...but none of the boys survived. The daughter had one child...a boy and it too also died....so there are no descendants to this family remaining. The top floor of the house had a ballroom, with two "fainting" rooms...where the women in their ballgowns with the tight corsets could go and lay down and one of the maids would fan them....How nice !
The house had a music room, parlor, living room, kitchen with pantry, solarium, a skylight made from the bottoms of Coke bottles (he was building "green" even back then) laundry chute that sent clothes to the basement from the other floors, many bedrooms (the guest bedroom was used by President Taft when he came to visit - he was a close friend of the Browns)and several bathrooms. It is a beautiful house...several Tiffany lamps and glass work and one of the original light bulbs invented by Edison. It is still going strong and has outlasted all the other bulbs around it !!
When we asked the tour guide about the extent of their wealth, she said that he brought in $5000/day from the oil and gas business and from the bath house (he had a 15 room bath house in town where people could go and soak in sulfur water as a health thing) he brought in $3000/day..Wow, that's alot of money !! The house was started in 1898 and completed in 1906. In the 30's, they returned to the house as they were getting old and grew ill. The daughter returned to take care of them. Mr and Mrs Brown passed away, two months apart...The daughter later went into a nursing facility and left the house to the historical society.
We would encourage anyone thinking of seeing it to take the tour. We bought a combination ticket (good for Brown Mansion and the Dalton Museum) for $7.50.

Like a Phoenix rising from the ashes.....

The town of Coffeyville has been through some horrible devastation with the flood of 2007. We've seen signs like these which are reminders of what happened.



I did a search to see if there are pictures of what the area looked like during the flood and here's a great site with pictures....pretty horrifying to see the damage. As you look at them, keep in mind we are on 8th street...on the edge of town and we are staying in Walter Johnson park...There are several of the park and our area here.

http://picasaweb.google.com/kstatealec/CoffeyvilleFlood2007#

Here is the picture of the baseball field near where our rig is....

Now there are alot of concrete slabs with no buildings on them and alot of sidewalks that lead to nowhere.....



They are fighting back and there is new construction going on. Still many closed up businesses but they are making progress. Here is a look at downtown...small but cute

Little House on the Prairie

I guess I didn't realize that the TV show, Little House on the Prairie is based on an the actual accounts of the Ingalls family in the mid west, as written by Laura Ingalls. We visited the site, outside of Independence, KS, where area folks have recreated the log cabin that the Ingalls family had. no loft area, like on the TV show where the kids sleep. Just a small bed in the corner, near the fireplace.







Next door to the "little house" was the post office, from Wayside and the one room school house, that had been located in Sunnyside. The post office had actually been in use up until 1977, until that location was closed. Here are pics of the school house, inside and out. Click on the last picture to read, in greater detail, the salaries of teachers back then. Great information on what school life was like for school children in Kansas in the early days.

History Recreated....

On Saturday, we went downtown for Dalton Days…..each year they recreate the day that the Dalton gang rode into town with the intention of robbing the two banks in town. This picture kind of sums up what happened on that day…. (click on the picture to make it bigger so you can read writing)




It was a fierce gun battle, which was really loud (was nice that they handed out ear plugs beforehand) and a lot of shooting…..





At the end the “widows or mother” of each of the fallen Coffeyville citizens told about their man…age, occupation and who they left behind and how they had been in the wrong place at the wrong time. Watching it all unfold, it made me think how weird it was to see men just walking around carrying firearms in the Old West. So different from today. In the alley where it all actually took place, they have outlines painted on the road where the bodies laid and here is a picture of one of the original bullet holes left behind from the gun battle.



After the re-enactment, we went home to get ready for work. It worked out well that we were able to take in Dalton days before leaving for work. We only worked 5 - 9 p.m.and now we have Sunday - Tuesday off.