Training Underway..

Today was our first full day of training. Good day...lots of info. By 3:00 I was starting to feel like my eyes were glazing over but as soon as I walked out into the bright sunshine and warm temps, I got my second wind. We came home and have been working on our homework. Our first assignment will be in Lakehills, Texas....a pretty area some of our classmates told us. We've got a long ways to go and a lot of info to digest before we leave here but it's going well.

The weather today was awesome ! Warm temps in the 70's but a nice breeze. Last night, when we finished our introductory meeting, we took Boomer out for a walk. We were hoping to get some exercise in but he proceeded to drag me (literally) to the large K9 park across the campground from where we are. As we learned upon getting closer to the park, there was a very large dog playing in there with his owner. "Tony" looked like a small horse. His owner told us he's part Great Dane (the horse part) and black lab. Wow, is he big ! Boomer and Tony had such a good time chasing each other around the park. The more fatigued that Boomer got, after a lap around the park, he'd dart under the picnic table where Linda and I were sitting. He knew that Tony couldn't get under there. Sneaky little devil but it worked. It would give him enough of a break till Tony wandered away and then he'd sneak up on him again. By the time we came back to the rig, both dogs were thoroughly exhausted !

My mom called tonight and said that she had gotten 10" of snow last Sunday and 8" more yesterday. Ughhh...feel so sorry for her as she is truly getting cabin fever with all of the snow and not being able to get out. Luckily my brothers come and plow her out but she said they are calling for another storm on Monday and she's supposed to go to a doctor's appointment that day. Maybe it will pass her by this time. Spring can't come soon enough to folks in the Northeast...too much snow ! I really hated to tell her what the temps were here when she asked. Well, off to bed. More training tomorrow....

We Made it...

Well we made it to Montgomery, Texas ! We left on Sunday morning and arrived this afternoon. On the way we stayed Monday and Tuesday evening in Lafayette, LA so we could visit our friends Bobbie and Jim. We met them, in 2008, when we worked in Coffeyville, Kansas for Amazon. We've stayed in touch over the years and intercepted each other, when our paths would cross in some part of the country. They are spending a month at Betty's RV park in Abbeville, Louisiana and they are having a ball there. They came up to our rig on Tuesday, got caught up on what we've been up to and had lunch. After lunch we followed them back to their park so we could see their new rig. They have a Heartland Landmark 5th wheel that they purchased a few months ago. Wow, is it nice ! Such a great open floor plan and nice workmanship throughout. We're so happy that they found a rig that works better for them as full timers.

We were at Betty's RV park as happy hour started and all of the campers gather under the pavilion. Folks bring something to munch on and their favorite beverage. Then the fun begins....We left our friends to get back to our rig and get things ready for us to pull out in the morning. It was so great to spend time with Bobbie and Jim ! We also got to meet Bobbie and Jim's friends that they are hanging out with. What a great bunch of folks ! Just what the doctor ordered...

We only had a four hour drive to get to Montgomery today. On Monday as we were driving the personal coaches of some of the NASCAR drivers and the trucks hauling their race cars would pass us on I-10. Sunday's race had been in Daytona so now they are headed to Phoenix for the next race. It was a lot of fun to watch them go by. When Linda would see another one coming up in her rear view mirror, she'd say "Oh, here comes another one !" I was able to get the camera out and snap pictures of the car haulers but didn't get any of the personal coaches. By the time I figured out what they were, they had blown by us. I wonder if they drive straight through of if they stop to rest somewhere. In Jeff Gordon's truck,it looked like a husband/wife team in the truck so we were wondering if they trade off driving or if they stop somewhere. We were hoping to see them next to us at our campground but no such luck.

The Lake Conroe KOA where we are doing our training is a great campground ! Great pull through sites, complete with a fire pit, concrete site and patio and picnic table. Indoor heated pool, hot tub, two K-9 dog parks, lots of indoor and outdoor games, meeting spaces, etc. It's a beautiful place so we're really going to enjoy our time here even though our days will be spent in class, learning our new job. Our first activity is an hour long meeting tomorrow afternoon and then full blown training begins Friday morning. I have some things I want to do on the rig tomorrow, plus some laundry and check out the local area. We'll keep you posted on what we see and do as the week unfolds.

As you can see from the weather info, it's warm here. Saw on some of the bank thermometers, as we were driving today, that it was around 80 degrees. Supposed to be pretty much those same temps for the foreseeable  future so we're loving it ! Thinking of our family and friends back home where it's not very warm and a bit on the nasty side.

Are We There Yet ?

Since our new job will have us traveling every couple of weeks to any part of the country, I wanted to add a map and weather widget to our blog so our friends can see where we are and what the weather is like there. Hopefully it will let us connect with our friends as we travel about the country. The new widgets are currently showing Montgomery, TX as our location since I was messing around with it and inserted the new widget with this location. Don't panic....we're not there yet but I'm too lazy to change it right now. We are still in North Carolina...will leave here on Sunday and make our way west...to Texas.

Been finishing up last minute things. Washed the rig today. Did more sorting and throwing out. Bought some groceries, filled up with diesel (price is going up), organized the basement and went out to lunch. Also had to buy a new spigot for the kitchen faucet. Luckily the Moen brand faucet we have, has a replaceable screw-on faucet. Lowe's stocks it in chrome and white. Our original fixture is in brushed nickel so we went with the chrome...not too big of a difference.

  Busy day...I'm exhausted ! Weather was/is awesome today. Thermometer showed 68 went we were downtown. I'll take it !! Calling for warmer weather tomorrow for our trip up to Virginia Beach. Should be a nice day for a drive. We have just a few hours tomorrow to finish up things around the rig, since we'll be gone till Saturday night. Then we pull out Sunday morning.

Trying to Make Lemonade...

We're up at the rig, with all of our stuff. We had an unexpected thing come up at work so we now have a couple extra days off before we head out to Texas. We're going up to Linda's granddaughter's birthday party this weekend. We unloaded all of our stuff from the car and truck and have most of it put away. We'll tackle the rest of it tomorrow. It was a pretty weird day and we are pretty wiped out emotionally.

We can't believe how many extra items we have from when we left here and have now returned. Holy Cow ! We need to do some major sorting (and discarding) before we go much further. I know we bought some clothes for work so if we keep them, some others gotta go ! The saving grace is that we still wear the same size clothes and shoes so our wardrobe works for both of us. Tomorrow we'll finish stowing away the rest of our items and I need to organize the basement. Temps are really nice (in the low 60's today and 70 by Friday) so it makes for beautiful days to work outside.

It seems great to be back home ! Life begins again on the road....

Getting Excited....

We gave our notice on Thursday to our boss that we've accepted another job. Linda and I have been hanging in with this job since last April but we're both very happy to be getting back on the road.  We never imagined, when we took it last year how negative seniors can be (let's make that downright bitchy), along with demanding, childish and manipulative. If you had told us that last year, I would have thought you were crazy. The floating managers, that we worked with here, said that our community has the worst residents out of the 13 communities in our region and I think that is a pretty accurate assessment. There are a few we'll miss but there are about a dozen of them who complain about everything on a daily basis and do whatever they can to make waves or try to call the shots. They don't want to follow any rules...they want to do as they please, regardless of how it impacts anyone else. Add to that the personnel issues of call offs by employees....A week hasn't gone by with everyone showing up for their shifts as they should and when someone calls off, we have to do the work whether it be housekeeping, serving, cooking  (that was my job on Wednesday for dinner and supper) or dish washing. On top of this, corporate keeps adding more forms, greater expectations for more move-ins and more things that have to get done in a week's time and only two people per shift to get it done. We had planned on taking this job long enough to pay off some things and we did get the truck paid off so that is good. We also got all of our medical stuff taken care of so we are good to go !

So, on to the new job. We will be working for a company that does maps for campgrounds. We sell the ads that go in the color guides. I've been the sales and marketing person here and in my previous jobs so I'll be the one to do the selling and Linda will do the bookwork. We know it will be hard work but we've talked to several others that work for the company and they love it. We can set our own work schedule to work as little or as much as we want (we want to work all year long with some time off at holiday time) and we get two weeks free in each campground where we are working. It brings together the best of everything that we love about being on the road...no long term commitment per an area, make enough money to pay our bills, get home when we need or want to for family stuff and stay in campgrounds where you meet the greatest people ! Our timing coming on board seems to be great as there have been about eleven couples who have retired or quit for medical reasons so there is more work than there are workers at this point in time. We leave here on Sunday, February 20th to go to Montgomery, Texas for our training. We'll be there till March 4th or 5th and then head out to our first assignment. We've told the company that we'll work anywhere in the country and another cool thing....we won't be required to go anywhere where it's snowy or bad weather. (I wasn't relishing going to a place like Maine to do any jobs until summer time and as it turns out, we don't have to.) We'll be training with two other couples in Texas.

Getting things done around here before we go. Boomer went to the vet and groomer yesterday. His heart murmur has disappeared (yippee !) and he looks wonderful with his shaved coat. We go to the masseuse this Friday to use our Groupon coupons good for reflexology and a massage (ahhhhh) and also will get new tires on the RV. Dentist and chiropractor appointments will round out what we need to do before leaving the area. We've been sorting and discarding stuff but have been living with very few items that we actually brought down from the rig. All of the furniture here belongs to the community so all we have to take with us is our clothes and personal items. We have a couple of pots in the kitchen, a few plates and silverware and our table from the rig. It's a neat feeling to think that in a matter of about an hour, you could leave someplace. Gives one a sense of freedom from possessions ! Throw our clothes in an IKEA bag and we are outta here....

We'll keep everyone posted as things proceed. Hoping to meet up with our friends down the road....

Special Visit

Linda had a surprise visit this weekend from her daughter, Stephanie and her partner, Jessica. I was on the third floor giving a tour when I heard her shriek from the first floor...guessing that Steph and Jess had arrived. We've had a good time hanging out and seeing some of Winston Salem. Yesterday we went to Mt. Airy; checked on the rig, went to the thrift store and bought some blouses, got our favorite milk shake, checked out the downtown stores and old jail and ate at our favorite Mexican restaurant. Temps have been in the 50's this weekend so has made it really enjoyable to be out and about.

Today we went to the museum downtown to see some artists work that they were featuring. This is an Encaustic painting. The artist uses beeswax and powdered pigment, which is then applied to wood (most times although other surfaces can be used). A heat gun is used to smooth and keep the beeswax fluid enough to work with while the artist uses tools to make the desired shapes and designs. The paintings were all so gorgeous...I just fell in love with this style of painting. The surface is really smooth so it must take a lot of work to get the wax the way the artist wants it. It was a day for artsy things as the next place we went to was the Tattoo Archive.
Open since 1980, the front part of the store is a museum of sorts that covers the last 100 years of tattoo. It was very interesting to see and read about the older artists and see the images that many of the them created throughout their careers. There was also some of the old style equipment that has been used over the years. It doesn't appear that it has changed all that much.
This picture caught my eye as the tattoo work is amazing ! There were circus posters that depicted the fascination of the tattooed people as sideshow attractions and a special exhibit on the scarring traditions in other countries where something like a flint is used to make a cut and then its left open for several months to make a raised welt. All of the welts on the body are arranged in a specific design, which by looking at a young girl, you could tell many things about her. A cultural tradition that I'm glad I'm not a part of. It looked pretty painful to endure years of cutting to make the intricate patterns. I thought that it was pretty amazing that the owner of this Tattoo establishment thinks enough of the art form to dedicate a whole museum to archiving the history of tattoo. 

Boomer also got to take a field trip today...he went to the dog park before we came back home. I've never seen so many dogs as there was today. He ran and ran with the other pooches there. There was everything from puppies to Great Danes today. He had a good time and now as I write this post, everyone but Jessica and I are sacked out on the floor.....snoozing. Zzzzzzzzz....

Here's hoping that all of you have a restful and fun filled weekend !

Trip to the Beach

On Friday we decided to drive to the coast to hang out at the beach for the afternoon. We drove to Wrightsville Beach, which took us about 3.5 hours. The temps were around 40 degrees so not too bad. The sun felt warm and little to no breeze so it was pretty comfortable.

While walking with Boomer on the beach, we met a young man who had his dog out for a walk. Clarence and Boomer hit it off right away and we took Boomer off his leash so they could play and chase each other around. It was so cute to watch them tearing after each other at the water's edge and then come running back towards us. Clarence would look back over his shoulder as if to say, "Are you coming ?" Clarence's daddy told us he came to Wrightsville to attend college. We learned later over lunch that there are two colleges in town. The young lady, who was our waitress for lunch, is attending one of these colleges to become a CNA.

Speaking of lunch, we had a good one at Dave's Deli. Had a hot veggie sub with home-made potato chips dusted with seasoning and some ranch dressing to dunk them in. Everything was really yummy.

After we ate we drove over to one of the properties in Wilmington, NC that is like ours. They have the same color scheme and furniture that we do but the lay out of the building is quite a bit different. Their building is 22 years old....ours is 9 years old. Hmmmm....That carpet pattern and furniture fabric must have some good staying power to hang around that long. After a quick look around their building we started back home. Got back about 9:30...Not much happened today. Watching the Steelers tonight....go Ben !

Snow + South = All Things Stop

Well storm number 2 passed through the south and we got a whopping 1.5" of snow with a little glaze of ice on top, which means that all things came to a grinding halt. If it weren't for our four housekeepers/servers calling off this morning, it might be humorous. All schools are still closed tomorrow even though we received no additional accumulation today. Amazing how everything down here closes at the slightest hint of a snow storm coming. Shops, schools, colleges, bus lines, etc. People are scared to death to try to drive in the snow so they just stay home. Thank goodness there are some "northern folks" that work here that will actually come in to work. Linda and I went out to supper, when we got off work, and the roads were bare. We don't go in until 11:30 tomorrow so we'll see if it's a repeat performance of today. Linda had the foresight to schedule three other employees to come in this morning, as we anticipated the call offs. One of the women stayed overnight in the guest suite so we'd be sure to have her here this morning. They got most of the work done but not all. Enough with snow....we'd had all we want to see this winter. Mother Nature has forgotten that the white stuff should stay north....far, far north of here.

Sightseeing

Linda and I had heard that the Bodies Revealed exhibit was in nearby Greensboro, NC and since the museum was closed last weekend, we went this weekend. I wasn't sure how well I'd like it, although I'm always fascinated by muscle definition and the discipline it takes to get it. The exhibit was really neat !

There were quite a few whole human bodies, each in a
different pose with the muscles and cartilage exposed. Some had cutaway areas to show the heart and internal organs. There were also exhibits of diseased organs, which didn't look like I thought they would. Instead of a cancerous spot being black or really obvious, in several instances it looked very similar to the organ color or was a white spot. The exhibit was part of the Museum of Natural Science and there were other things to see and do, like the animal exhibit.

Isn't this Alpaca just the cutest thing you've ever seen ? I feel like I want to put lipstick on those pursed lips.


All while we were walking through the outside display area, there was a large turkey following us. We'd be walking to the next display area and we'd hear the scraping of the turkey's feet as it was scampering along behind us. Having lived on a dairy farm with geese in the pasture, I kept an eye on my heels to make sure the turkey wasn't going to nip me in the heels or calves as I walked.

The tigers enjoyed watching the turkey, as we approached. I think maybe they thought it was feeding time or something.

This guy was having a bad hair day !

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed our time at the museum and then went to the North Carolina RV show that was nearby. There were a few large Class A's in the parking lot and many more inside the two buildings. We saw a Endura super C that had a really nice layout that felt surprisingly spacious. There was a huge skylight over the drivers cab/bunk area that would be perfect for watching the aurora borealis lights in Alaska or a crystal clear night with lots of stars. It was fun to get out and see some rigs although none of them felt as homey as ours does. We miss being on the road but are making the best of our temporary detour. We went to get some things out of our rig today and she looked so lonely sitting on the site...closed up and cold.
The weather here over the next couple of days might be nasty. We're watching to see if there is snow in the forecast for Monday or Tuesday, as we know that means no employees will show up for work. Ugh !!

We've been training a couple for the last two weeks, who will ultimately go to another property in North Carolina. They've been fun to work with. The residents had a "fruitcake toss" the other day that they helped with and the residents had so much fun. They had to toss fruitcake bricks off the 3rd and 2nd floors, trying to get them into tubs on the ground floor. I couldn't believe so many people participated in the event !
Once all the throwing was completed from the upper levels, they came to the ground floor to try and get the fruitcake into squares on the floor with number values. It was a lot of fun, although I told our enrichment coordinator that I would not donate my mom's fruitcake for the contest. I love her fruitcake (actually called English Christmas cake) and hoard any that she gives me. She makes it with real candied fruit, wraps the finished product in cheesecloth soaked in brandy and I love it !

The fruit cake they used for the contest turned into mush after taking multiple falls from the third story...good thing for saran wrap to hold it all together.