Full circle......

8:16 am - Friday - October 19th - Campbellsville, KY - 36º F, 91% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the north......clear blue skies this morning with a forecast high today of 69º F.  Sunrise here at the furthest end of the eastern time zone is 7:53 am and sundown is 6:59 pm.

Thursday dawned clear, but very cold.  As I am the first one up 98% of the time I turned on all three gas furnaces to take the chill off the interior.  Once that was done, and I put on some clothing I went outside to hookup the small generator so we could run the block heater to heat up the big 6v92.  I can do this with our on board Kohler 7.5 kw generator but that uses propane at a rapid rate.  One of the reasons I purchased the Predator 2000 was to be able to run the block heater without turning on the Kohler, which we really save for those rare times when we need A/C and happen to be dry camping, or boondocking.  

Once that cold task was accomplished I walked the trash over to the nearest Cabela's trash can, then finally got back inside to warm up my extremities again.  By 9:30 am it was time to turn over the big Detroit once again and run the last 95 miles into Campbellsville, KY.  It was another perfect driving day.....no wind, no rain, and mostly flat roads.  As we transitioned from one highway to another moving around the north end of Lexington we began to see why this is called the 'horse capital of the world'.....

 Mile upon mile of white fencing

 The famous Keenland Race Track

.....and then we rounded a corner to find this amazing modern day castle on a hill.....

 Castle Hill Winery

 .......in about 15 minutes we were out in the countryside floating along on a cushion of air towards our 5 week destination.......Amazon in Campbellsville, KY.....

We always prefer to arrive at a long term destination with a full diesel tank.  You will recall we just 'paid the rent' this past Sunday, but that was about 400 miles ago, so TLE went online while we were driving and found a Murphy Gas (Walmart) in Lebanon, KY selling diesel for $3.04/gallon.....that's the least we have paid since we left Southwest Harbor, ME.  We took on about 66 gallons and had just 16 miles to go to Campbellsville.  

There was, however, one more task to accomplish.....top off our 60 gallon propane tank.  I thought we probably had enough to last 2 months, but I am not one to roll the dice when it comes to having a steady, uninterrupted supply of hot water, so once again TLE went online to find a propane station between Lebanon and Campbellsville.  As it turned out there is a Tractor Supply in Campbellsville which had a propane station with propane at $2.69/gallon.  We last filled the propane tank the day we left Southwest Harbor, and we have done a lot of dry camping since then.  I was sure we would need anywhere from 25 to 30 gallons, which would still leave about 30 gallons.....better to be safe than sorry.  We arrived in Campbellsville around 12:15 pm and headed directly to Tractor Supply.  We ended up taking just 19 gallons.....love those analog gauges!  

Our preferred RV park in Campbellsville when working for Amazon is Heartland Campground which is directly across the street from Amazon.  When we were here 6 years ago we stayed at Heartland and really enjoyed being able to walk to and from work, as opposed to driving and then having to find a parking spot.  For the past 3 years Heartland has been a 'first come, first served' park for Amazon, meaning you could not reserve a site as you could in the past.  You can call about 5 days before arrival and save a site then, but there is no guaranty you will get one, so we made a reservation at another popular RV park called 'The Stables' which is about 4 miles from Amazon.....not our ideal, but still not a long drive either.

This past Monday I heard from our friends Ed and Jackie whom we met in Illinois on our trip to Maine back in late April.  They had just arrived at Amazon and got a site at Heartland, and suggested we call this past Monday to reserve one as there were still a lot of sites available, so I did and we did, indeed, get a site!   Once we had finished taking on propane we headed directly for Heartland.  

 Had to drop the trailer at the right rear of our site (not stage right)

Amazon pays for our site beginning 2 days before our start date to two days after our release date.  We are responsible for any other days before and after.  Since we have arrived 4 days early we paid for Thursday and Friday nights at $20/night, then went out and found a site (#57), then took a while to figure out how we would occupy it.  These sites about about 50' long which means we have to drop the trailer, but we can do that within our site as they are about 20' wide.  Ultimately we positioned the trailer at the right rear portion of our site, and the Newell at the left front right next to the power pedestal.  This campground obviously does not have the 'it factor'.....it is just a large gravel lot with RV sites lined out.  Since we will spend the bulk of our time here working and sleeping, the most important thing about Heartland is its proximity to Amazon.  It is a well run park with a nice community room, great, modern laundry and decent WiFi, although we will not be using it this time around.  When we were here 6 years ago I did use it, and was quite happy with it.

By the time we had our power, water and sewer connected it was after 2 pm and I was ready for my usual "I have a cold" mid afternoon nap.  We have 3 more days before we begin the Amazon grind, and we will use that time to finish configuring site #57 by deploying our turf, and a few decorative lights.....you know.....just enough to make the site 'ours'.....😊

So, I began blogging on a daily basis back on October 5, 2012 when we arrived in Campbellsville for our first workamping job at Amazon.  Since then I have written a daily blog post every single day, rain or shine, even when I have been in the hospital.  Initially I decided to blog every day to record for posterity's sake our 11 week Amazon experience.  When we finished I just kept on writing a blog every single day.  Now we have come full circle....back to the scene of the original 'crime'.  Thank you for following along  these past six years as we have slowly evolved into full time nomads.  

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.

Floatin' down the road....

8:14 am - Thursday - October 18th - Lexington, KY - 36º F, 80% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the east by northeast.......partly cloudy with a forecast high today of 56º F.  Coldest night we have spent on the road in almost 5 weeks since we left Southwest Harbor, ME!  All three gas heaters are rocking right now.  Got down to 50º F inside.  We roll our wheels for Campbellsville, KY and Amazon in two hours!

Wednesday was the nicest driving day we have had in a week.....no wind, no rain, mostly flat highways, and lots of sun.  We were on the road by 11 am looking forward to our drive into Lexington, KY.  We only had 95 miles to cover, and the 90+ minutes it took us to float down the road to the Cabela's on the east side of Lexington passed quickly.......

......once we parked, we were people on a mission.  We were dressed, and had the VW out within 30 minutes......first stop?  A Trader Joe's about 8 miles distant.  This is the first Trader Joe's with wine, beer and 'spirits' we have seen in literally 6 months......

 Safely ensconced at Cabela's

.....knowing we would be in Campbellsville for the next 8+ weeks, which happens to be in a 'dry' county, we stocked up on all the liquor and wine essentials.  Once that mission was accomplished we headed back to the coach to disgorge our alcoholic booty, then drove over to COSTCO, which is just on the other side of the parking lot from Cabela's....does it get any better?  COSTCO and Trader Joe's in one day!

By the time we put away all the groceries, and TLE had broken down the two rotisserie chickens she had purchased at COSTCO it was nearing 3 pm, and time for a nap for moi.  My cold is getting better each day, but still leaves me feeling tired and in need of a nap by mid afternoon whether I have been driving, or not.

Game five of the NLCS between my L.A. Dodgers and the Milwaukee Brewers began at 5:05 pm, and we were right there in front of the TV for every single pitch and out.  Clayton Kershaw started a little shakily for the Dodgers giving up a run in the top of the 1st inning, but he settled down and retired the last 13 batters he faced in a row.  Meanwhile the Dodgers tied the game in the bottom of the 5th, and then went on to score 4 more runs in the bottom of the 7th inning.  They ended up winning 5-2 and now it is back to Milwaukee for game 6 up three games to two in the series. Boston won the nightcap over the Astros to go up 3 games to 1.

We were in bed by 10 pm, looking forward to Thursday, and our arrival in Campbellsville.  Our 5 weeks of wandering have come to an end, and we are ready to sit still for a while.  If we were still on the job at Smuggler's Den we would still have 5 days to go before the end of the season, but we are not.  The last 10 weeks have been amazing, and we would not trade the experiences we have had for anything.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which helps defray our travel expenses to a small degree.