April 11, 2010

Right before leaving Fairhope, AL where we had spent part of January, February and March our friend Margaret Bushon arrived for a short visit.  Our friends Dan and Rita Desmond drove over from Panama City, FL to join us also.  It was great to have all of us together for a few days. 

Once we left Alabama we headed west for Lake Charles, LA. but stopped for a couple of nights in Lafayette, LA.  Margaret and her daughter-in-law, Gerri (sorry if the spelling is incorrect) were taking in the sights and we had never spent any time there.  We were able to tour the Tabasco factory which was very interesting. The factory is located on Avery Island.  They also have gardens that were amazing.  They have everything from alligators to a huge Buddah.

The factory was so interesting.  They age the pepper “mash” in oak barrels that have been used and discarded by the Jack Daniels brewing company.  They use them for years but when they can no longer use them they chop them up into charcoal…nothing goes to waste. 

Enough for now but I will post more tomorrow…I am playing catch up as you can tell.

Moving on.

February 26, 2010…Atlanta

Upon leaving Texas we made our way to Atlanta, GA.  We arrived there on December 23.  You may remember that we lived in Atlanta for 30 years before retiring.  We were able to visit with old friends which we really enjoy.  We even got to spend a weekend in the north Georgia mountains with 3 other couples.  Helen, GA is a cute little town designed to look like something out of the Swiss Alps.  We had done this every year before leaving Atlanta so it was nice to be able to get together one more time with “The Group”.  Here are Jim, Blair, Ron and Bob at our rented cabin.

And here are the girls…Suzanne, Donna, Anita and yours truly.

The guys traditionally make the 3 mile hike from Unicoi Lodge into Helen where we join them for lunch.  They looked like street  people…see their empty cups.  All they needed was a sign that read “Will work for food”.  After lunch they hike back to Unicoi.

We were able to spend time with our good friends Linda and Richard Shepherd.  During our stay we had a delicious meal that Linda prepared for us at their home. She is a great cook. Linda and I have know each other longer than we have known our husbands.  And we’re not telling everything we know about each other!

Sorry I did not get a better picture of these good friends.

We spent a wonderful evening at Deb and Richard Boswell’s visiting with our friends from the church we used to attend, McKendree UMC.  Deb and Richard are so gracious to always get everyone together at their home when we are in town.  We really appreciate it and had such a great time.  As always, the food was outstanding.  Thanks Deb and Richard. 

Connie & Bill, Gary in the back, Bob, Bob and Karen (they are also past neighbors), Patty, Dick and Sandy in the back and Richard and then Debbie, B.J. and Lloyd.  We are so blessed to call them friends.

We also had the opportunity to visit with friends Lisa and Phil Collymore and Dan and Carol Finch.  We met these folks when we attended Crossroads Community Church in Lawrenceville before going to McKendree.  It has been several years since the 6 of us have been able to get together.  Here are Lisa and Carol. 

Bob, Dan and Phil.  Dan was and is an associate pastor at CCC which has been renamed Twelve Stone…which now has a congregation of about 10,000 people.  When we attended there were probably about 300. (Again, sorry for the photo quality.)

Okay, we are half way thru the Atlanta trip.  More to come.

Moving on…

We’re Alive…February 15, 2010

Yes, we actually are alive and well…hard to believe.  Since coming back from Alaska in September we have spent 3 months in Coffeyville, Kansas working for Amazon.com during Sept, Oct and Nov.  We hooked up with Mark and Susan Didelot and Dan and Rita Desmond while we were all working. We had not seen the Desmonds for probably a year or more. We met Dan and Rita in 2005 while we were all working at Adventureland in Altoona, Iowa.

We spent an afternoon with Dan and Rita visiting the site near Coffeyville where Laura Ingalls and her family lived for about a year or so.  Remember the TV show…Little House on the Prairie?

We left Kansas on November 28 and headed for Texas.  We spent a few weeks in Caldwell while we had work done on our house which included the removal of the original slate roof that was put on in 1941 and the installation of the new roof that we hope will last 20 years…it sure won’t outlast the slate.  We also had all of the outside trim repainted.  Hopefully we won’t have to do much for the next few years.  This was before the trim was done.

We always try to spend a few days with my sister and brother-in-law.  While there we drove out to see a winery…this area is outside of Austin.  It was really pretty there but none of us even tasted any of the wine.  But, we did enjoy the Christmas decorations and the winery itself.

We said our goodbyes and our thanks to T&S for being great hosts…as usual my sister prepared lots of great food for all of us to enjoy and we were off to Shiner, Texas for a few days.

We stayed at a really nice city park in Shiner where our friends Janie and Vince joined us for a day.  We had not seen them for almost a year.  Shiner is a very, very small town that is known for the Spoetzl Brewery that produces Shiner beer…the most well known being Shiner Bock. Vince says “We’re here!”

When you enter the gift shop area you are asked to choose to sample one of several beers.  Then you are given 3 wooden coins which you can trade for additional samples.  They ask that you only sample 2 before the tour and the final two after the tour…who were we to argue.  I do think Janie was showing a bit of attitude!

The tour did not last very long but was interesting, especially the copper vats…they have someone that shines them all the time…they were beautiful. 

After leaving the brewery we found the Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church that is know as one of the painted churches…it is so pretty and attracts many visitors each year.

Janie and I left the boys on a park bench and we visited some of the little shops downtown…I should tell you that Shiner only has about 2,000 inhabitants.

We were able to visit with friends while in Texas including Bob and Joanne Srutka in Willis, Tx.  We had not seen them since we parted ways in Alaska…we headed for work at Amazon and they continued with their travels.  We enjoyed a wonderful lunch that they prepared for us at their beautiful home in Willis, Texas that was so beautifully decorated for Christmas. 

It is always good to see Precious also…especially when she is calm enough to actually get a picture of her.

And then it was time to say goodbye to Texas and head for Atlanta, GA to spend Christmas with our family and friends there.  Stay tuned for further updates.

Moving On.  

We’re Back!

Well it has been quite a while since my last post…lots going on and yet not much of anything. 

Just to sort of catch you up…on our way back to the lower 48 states we spent a couple of days at Banff and Lake Louise.  They are both beautiful places and I am so glad we had the opportunity to see them but “been there, done that”.  We saw more tourists in these 2 locations than we dealt with in all of Alaska.  Our last stop with Susan and Mark was at Wheat Montana in Three Forks, MT.  We had separated in Calgary but caught up with each other again for one final picture.

Bob and I were going to head for Yellowstone National Park to meet our friends Janie and Vince Fleckinger.  Janie and Vince had been working in Utah this past summer.  Then our plans were to head to Kansas where we would be working for Amazon.com starting on Sept. 27.  But, after talking to friends that were already at Amazon, we decided to forgo the Yellowstone trip and head straight to Coffeyville, Kansas.  We found out that the only part of the RV park that had full hookups was starting to fill and we did not want to be stuck with only 30 amps of electricity for the next several months.  We left Calgary, Alberta on Monday, August 31st and arrived in Coffeyville on Thursday, Sept. 2.  We visited the Express Personnel office on Friday and were able to move our start date up to September 13.  We secured our space at River Crest RV Park and got settled in for a few days.  On Monday we took the rig to Joplin, MO…about an hours drive…for an appointment with Freightliner to have some routine maintenance done.  We spent 4 nights in the Joplin area…actually we were in Quapah, OK…at Downstream Casino.  Downstream is a casino that was built last year.  They have an RV parking area for about 20 rigs with water and electricity…at no charge.  And, they don’t care how long you stay!  They even encourage you to use the pool and work out area at their lovely hotel.  We returned to Coffeyville on Friday and started working on Monday the 13th.  We had lunch at Cheddars one day and were seated next to this little darling who was really enjoying her food.  How cute is she!

We are working nights on the donut shift…we work Monday, Tuesday…off Wednesday…then work Thursday and Friday.  We work from 5:00 PM until 3:30 AM.  Bob has chosen to work overtime on Wednesday nights…yours truly has chosen not to.

It is good to see folks that we have not seen since last year.  Last year they hired 300 workampers and are hiring 500 this year.  Amazon has had such good results from the workampers that they have started the same type of program at their Campbellsville, KY center.  I believe their goal is to hire 50 workampers at that location for this peak season.

Moving on.

Thursday August 27, 2009 / Friday August 28, 2009

We have spent the last 2 nights in Prince George…a city of 70,000 people.  We felt like we were uptown…had a Costco, Walmart and a Canadian Superstore.  We even had a casino that we visited a couple of times…it was pretty much a break even situation for us at the end.  It was not a huge casino but the entire building is smoke/alcohol free.  I believe there was one bar area but no drinking allowed at the machines…we liked it.  Not much else to report about Prince George except that we were able to get our car washed…that is a big thing up here.  Our vehicles get so dirty but that should improve now that we are in Canada and the roads are paved. I choose to call the dirt a “protective covering”.

We are on the road to Jasper, Alberta to the Canadian Rockies.  Again we went through some construction…here is one of the flagmen.

Cissy tried to catch a nap. 

But it’s not always easy.

We arrived in Jasper National Park.  We did not get in until early evening so we did not venture out from the campground.  At 8:00 a program on some of the animals we might find in the park was presented at the amphitheatre by one of the park personnel.  She involved several of the children in the audience in the presentation.  She did a great job and the kids were outstanding as they took on the roles of cougars, fish and birds.  An hour well spent.  Unfortunately, I forgot to take my camera.

Friday morning Bob and I poked around some of the shops in town and then drove out to the canyon for a bit of a walk. The pictures do no begin to show how beautiful this place is.

Before leaving Jasper, Mark takes time for a needed oil change on their Phaeton.

On the Icefield Parkway bound for Lake Louise.  

Moving On.