Nomadic connections.....

7:00 am - Friday - December 21st - Nashville, KY - 43º F, 85% humidity, wind 15 mph out of the northwest.....heavy cloud cover with rain today (still) and a forecast high of 43º F.....we have already reached the high for today at 7 am.

Thursday was about hanging out with long time friend Merlin, whom we first met at Tahoe Valley Campground several years ago.  Merlin was the night ranger that year, and him being retired law enforcement was an excellent opportunity for me to learn how to diffuse unhappy, in some cases, quite inebriated customers.  We became good friends that summer and have stayed in touch via text, and phone calls over the intervening years.  Merlin moved to Nashville from California about a year ago to be near his daughter who just got a job as an intern at a prominent sound studio in Nashville.  We've met Schyler before, and she is a pretty sharp young lady.  We met Merlin at Brothers Burger Joint in Nashville which was highly recommended by Merlins' daughter, and we were not disappointed.  Yelp gives them 4.5 stars on 121 reviews.  I had their Jumpin' Jack burger with pepper jack cheese, caramelized onions, candied bacon, and it was amazing! TLE had their Sweet Bacon Blue burger, and loved hers, too.  

 The Jumpin' Jack Burger....you actually get way more fries than this internet picture portrays.....way MORE!

 (Internet pictures....it was raining when we were there)

As we sat talking endlessly, and cherishing each bite of our burgers time seemed to stand still, but before we knew it 2 hours had sweetly slipped away.  Reconnecting with good nomadic friends we have met on our never ending odyssey is one of the 'cherries on top' of this vagabonding experience, and being able to sit with Merlin and talk for two hours was the highlight of our day rainy Thursday.  After saying our 'until next times' we bid Merlin adieu, knowing we will reconnect again somewhere in the future.  Love you Merlin!

From our lunch with Merlin we headed over to the local Trader Joe's to stock up on a few things we only get from them.  Trying to find a parking spot at any Trader Joe's can be challenging as their stores are always packed, and adding the rain factor into Thursday's adventure just made it more difficult, but after circling the parking lot a couple of times found a spot.  Getting out of the parking lot proved to be quite a bit more challenging, but in the end no small animals or children were harmed, and we escaped it's clutches without a scratch.

The drive over to the local COSTCO was a whole other matter.....there was an accident on the route we would normally have taken, so we opted to take an alternate route recommended by Google Maps, and it took about 30 minutes.  I've been wanting to transfer my blood pressure medication prescription to COSTCO for some time, and since I have just a month's supply left I decided to go through the process that day.  Upon our arrival at COSTCO we proceeded directly to the Pharmacy counter to begin the process.  I provided the proper documentation and the lady advised it would take about 45 minutes to an hour.  We then went and shopped, took out stuff out to the car, and then sat there waiting for the 'text' message to arrive on my phone announcing the readiness of my prescription.....after 90 minutes I went back inside and was told it would be another 10 minutes, but that stretched into another 30 minutes, but finally, at the two hour mark, it was ready and we were on our way home.  I knew it would be a little complicated, and even though it took much longer than I expected, it is now done, and I can get my refills at COSTCO wherever we may travel.

By this time it was after 4 pm, however, and smack dab in the middle of Nashville 'rush hour', and man do they ever have a brutal 'rush hour'!  It took us another hour to get back to the Newell where we arrived after a very long day about 5:15 pm.  While TLE put away the groceries I went inside to pay for our stay here at the Madison Elks Lodge.

When I returned TLE was just putting away the final things from our shopping and it was time for both of us to sit down and relax.  We watched a couple more Christmas movies on the Hallmark Channel, and were in bed by 10:30 pm.  It looks like more rain will be with us on Friday until early afternoon, so I think we'll take a day off, and just rest.  If we were still working we would have been back at work Friday, so you can imagine the big smiles on faces this morning!

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.

One

6:41 am (Central Time) - Thursday - December 20th - Nashville, TN - 47º F, humidity  94%, wind 5 mph out of the northeast......cloudy, rainy today with a forecast high of 50º F.

LIFT OFF!!!

We were up around 6:45 am Wednesday....it's going to take a few days to get used to sleeping in past 7 am again after 8 weeks of getting up at 4 am.    We had little to do to get ready to roll our wheels.....TLE takes care of organizing the interior of the Newell so objects are not likely to become flying projectiles in the case of a panic stop, and I take care of the outside.....put away the mats, the step, dump the tanks, put away the heated hose, the sewer hose, the wheel covers, and then unplug.

We were ready to start the Newell for the first time in 4 weeks, and then reattach the trailer to the hitch.  We were ready to roll by 11:15 am and thus began our 127 mile drive south to Nashville......

.....we waved goodbye to the Campbellsville water tower just to the west of Heartland RV Campground, and then began a wonderful, sunny drive south to Columbia where we entered the Central Time Zone.....have to move all our clocks back 1 hour to be sure we arrive at the airport on time for our December 24th flight home!  Most of the drive was easy driving sitting on cruise control and just steering, but at the Tennessee border we ran into a 3 mile construction zone where the 3 lane Interstate 65 was compressed to just one lane.....

.....it took us about 30 minutes to go just 3 miles, but we finally reached the end of the construction zone, and then made use of a Rest Area at the end of the construction zone to take a break, and make a call to Sunset Isle in Cedar Key, FL to see if they had any availability for a few days after we get back from SoCal.  I got voicemail, so left a message.  About 20 minutes later a lady from Sunset Isle returned my call and TLE took the call.  10 minutes later we had secured a site (the same one we had 6 years ago), which also happened to be the only site they had available for the time frame we had requested.....PERFECT!  A few minutes after reentering the Interstate we entered Tennessee.....

.....and within another 20 minutes we had arrived at the Elks Lodge where we will park the Newell for 9 days....we will be here 5 of those days, and in SoCal the other 4.  Upon our return on the 28th we will then beat a path south to Cedar key arriving there 12/29 for 6 days.  

Once we had parked, and plugged in the Newell we changed clothes and drove into Nashville for a late lunch, and then a run by the Antique Archeology store.  We are big fans of American Pickers, and I have always wanted to visit one of their stores.  TLE selected Tennessee Brew Works for our late lunch and we were there by 3 pm.

 Baja Fish Tacos, and the Cheese plate with two Porters (Imperial for TLE, and Session for me)

The ambiance, service, brews and food were well worth the 4.5 star rating they have on Yelp on 823 reviews, and TripAdvisor on 140 reviews.  We lingered over a second brew, and then headed over to Antique Archeology arriving about 4:30 pm just as the sun was setting.....

 
....they are located in the quite old Marathon Automobile (1914) building which stretches for a least a block in each direction.  There are numerous interesting tenants in the nicely restored building, but my attention was completely focused on the Antique Archeology store.....

...I love how they do not restore things...sometimes they will replace the neon as on the sign below, but the rest of the sign is still as it was found with decades of patina left intact....very, very cool....

....I remember watching the episode where they 'picked' the Von Dutch motorcycle in the picture above....it was built by the very famous pinstriper named Von Dutch (nickname for Kenny Howard)....he installed a VW engine in a Harley Davidson XA frame.....it is not for sale.  Mike Wolfe had heard stories about this motorcycle and eventually came across it and was able to purchase it for quite a sizable price ($21,000)....very cool to be able to see it in person.....

 TLE took this cool picture of me from outside the store while I was examining the Von Dutch XAVW

....we were home by 5:30 enjoying the fact that we did not have to get up at 4 am Thursday morning.....we are free.....free at last!  What a cool first day of our 'Post Amazon' life!

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.

Two

6:56 am - Wednesday - December 19th - Campbellsville, KY - 30º F, 100% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the south......clear today with a forecast high of 57º F.....tomorrow our location will finally read differently, and we will have a new view....today is the 3rd day in a row without rain.

 December 19th.....we roll our wheels in 4 hours!

As we made the 1/4 mile downhill walk to the concrete bunker for the last time in our 8 week sojourn working at Amazon I felt a lightness in my step, and a surge of optimism.....this would be my last day on someone else's schedule for a very, very long time.  We have worked a lot in the last 12 months, and now it is time to enjoy the fruits of those labors!  

Our 10 hour shift seemed to pass quickly, and I, thanks to the big Amazon AI* in the sky, managed to remain in Building 'A' for the entire shift, even though I was moved around quite a bit.  I finally ticked off the last Pick Mod in the 1 million square foot building......P-4-A.  I only picked 4, or 5 things there, but I was there.  As I heard the final chimes announcing the end of the shift, and the end of our obligation here at Amazon I gave a short fist pump in the air and thought....."I did it!  I finished!".  As we waited in line at the time clock to record our final time stamps in the computer I felt totally out of gas both mentally and physically.....I literally felt like I could not work one more hour, let along another day like several of our Amazon friends are doing, and as I write this morning they are still trudging up and down the endless aisles of Amazon obediently pulling the next item on their Motorola scanners from the designated bin to scan and drop in their tote.....just one tote of about 120 they will fill on this day.

Our friend, Fred, made reservations at Colton's for Tuesday evening at 6 pm about 10 days ago for our orientation group to celebrate the end of our Amazon days this year.  We were home by 5:10 pm, and relaxing before we got dressed to go out to dinner.  Fred had arranged for a private room at Colton's for our party, and it was perfect......

Left to right: Moi, TLE, Fred, Di, Don, Jim, Connie and Wendy

.....in all we had 10 people in our original orientation group, and 8 of us managed to make it to Colton's.  Len and Darlene still have one more day (Wednesday), and will be working their sixth consecutive day in a row, so they were focused on rest and recovery for their final Amazon day.  We had a great group of 10, and were by far the smallest orientation group that I saw this year.  I'm glad we were only 10 as we were able to get to know everyone, and really enjoyed each others company.  Without these friends to laugh with, and talk with each day Amazon would have been almost unbearable.  We talked and laughed for almost 3 hours before finally breaking up for the evening and heading to our respective homes.  I can only speak for TLE and I, but we had a very satisfied, warm feeling as we drove home.

Now we turn out attention to what comes next.  We have left our schedule for the next few weeks necessarily vague waiting for things to develop.  We will head to Nashville where we will spend time being tourists for 5 days before boarding a plane on Monday to fly home for Christmas.  We'll be back in Nashville on the 28th, and then head south into Florida.....from there the Jello is a little murky, but we'll figure it out and life will continue to be good.

Thanks for stopping by!

*AI = Artificial Intelligence

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.

Three

4:15 am - Tuesday - December 18th - Campbellsville, KY - 30º F, 91% humidity, wind 1 mph out of the west by northwest......clear today with a forecast high of 49º F.  Our last day in the concrete bunker is about to begin!  After today no more getting up at 4 am!

December 18th....our last day of work at Amazon!

That vague feeling of ennui (än-wē) is settling in again......it will soon, very soon, be time to exchange 'until next times' with our new friends.  On Tuesday we will enter the concrete bunker one final time through the revolving gate after scanning our ID badges, we will sit in the break room from 6:10 am until about 6:22 am talking and laughing with friends before we walk to swipe our ID badges on the time clock to clock in for the day.  We will head to 'Stand Up' one more time to stretch, hear a few safety and quality tips, some current Amazon news and then pick up our Motorola scanners to begin scanning the first of another 800-1,000 items for the day.

So, what happened Monday, our second to last day in the concrete bunker?  Nothing really exceptional, except maybe that I had my highest picking quarter ever in the 3rd quarter......394 items scanned and 'picked'.....that's what it is like when the 'picking' is easy.  Sometimes you just get on a run where nothing will stop you until the very end of the quarter when you have to empty everything in one 'A' bin (the one at ground level) to find a tiny item....that one bin was all that stood between me and breaking the 400 mark for the one and only time in my life, and, alas, I fell 6 items short as the chimes sounded shortly thereafter announcing the end of the 3rd quarter and break time.

TLE and I worked in P-1-A (Pick Mod 'A') together most of the day, and frequently crossed paths throughout the day.  Sometimes I would see her first and whistle, and sometimes she would see me first and call out 'HOCKWALD!'.....sometimes we would stop to chat for a couple of minutes before continuing.  It was just a nice day all around.  Everyone I saw had a smile on their face, even those whom I have never seen smile the entire 8 weeks we have been here.  Our bodies are kind of worn down by the mostly 50 hour weeks....our eyes are tired, and we're all tired of getting up way too early every morning.  It is time to return to a life of leisure.  As I walk up and down the endless aisles of the concrete bunker I distract myself by thinking about standing bare footed in the warm ocean waters on Florida's Gulf Coast while watching the sun dip beneath the western horizon....I think about taking numerous leisurely bicycle rides.....I think mostly about not being on anyone's schedule except for my own.....no chimes, no conveyor buzzers blaring announcing a conveyor jam up, no more whirring fans.....no more gigantic 'Big Ass Fans' high overhead putting off their 'field of crickets' sounds.....just the sounds of waves lapping around my feet, and warm zephyrs caressing my face....the feel of the warm sun on my body....no more chilly walks at 6 am downhill to the concrete bunker for me!

It is time to hitch up the trailer and roll our wheels once again.....stay tuned and 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.

Four

4:18 am - Monday - December 17th - Campbellsville, KY - 34º F, 98% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the south by southwest.....clear today with a forecast high of 50º F.

Only two work days left!

Sunday was forecast to be cloudy, but not rainy, but oh did it rain!  We first became aware of the rain at lunch via the large windows in Break Room A, and when we exited the bunker at 5 pm you could tell it had only stopped raining an hour, or two prior.

As we walked to 'Stand Up' I turned on my scanner to find that I had once again been assigned to Pick Mod 'E'......'Oh well' I thought....it's only 3 more days of 'E' and I will be free.  Not to fast Clarke.....at 10 am after having picked on all four levels of 'E', and a little in 'F' I got the message I had been hoping for on my scanner...."Change areas.....move to P-2-B and scan a new tote"!  So off to Building 'A' I trundled with a big grin upon my face.  And Building 'A' is where I spent the rest of my day picking.  I was in P-1-B (Low) picking as the final chimes announced the end to day three of our work week.....we are now over the proverbial 'hump'.

It was announced at 'Stand Up' that Amazon would be providing a pizza lunch for us on Monday, so we've got that going for us.  I have noticed that most of my Camperforce associates are wearing big smiles the past couple of days as the the realization that their tour of duty is almost over here at Amazon begins to seem real.  We are all kind of worn down physically, and tired.....in between the smiles I see yawning from almost everyone.  How anyone does this job 12 months a year is beyond me.  Just the overwhelming background sound will wear you down....forget about the miles of walking, and stair climbing each day.  It is my sincere hope I will not be called upon by my Motorola scanner to climb to the fourth floor of any Pick Mod in my remaining time.....the first two flights are alright, but that final 3rd flight to the 4th floor is a killer, especially in the 9th hour of a 10 hour shift.

TLE made her famous anchovie pizza for dinner, and I quickly slipped into a food coma....OMG that pizza is soooo good!  We were again in bed by 8 pm dreaming of just two more shifts in the concrete bunker.

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.

Five (I was wrong yesterday....yesterday was Six)

4:17 am - Sunday - December 16th - Campbellsville, KY - 46º F, 94% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the west by northwest......cloudy today with a forecast high of 52º F.  

Things are winding down here at Peak Season 2018.  People you pass in the long picking aisles of the concrete bunker are talking about where they will be in a few days, or a week.  The end of our sojourn in Campbellsville, KY is in sight....the days of being able to sleep past 4 am are in sight.....the days of sitting on warm beaches south of our current location are in sight.

Saturday I continued toiling in Building 'C' mostly in Pick Mod 'E'....I only spent about 15 minutes in Pick Mod 'F', but picked extensively on all four floors of 'E', and I ended my day on P-2-E as the chimes announcing the end of Saturday's picking session sounded.  In between there was time spent with friends at breaks and lunch, and much laughter.  I will truly miss our good friend Fred and his wonderful sense of humor.  He has a knack for making unexpected comments about sometimes serious subjects that leave you convulsing in laughter.  We will also miss Don and Di (Diantha) and their hilarious stories about their two Whippets (dogs.....kind of a smaller version of a greyhound).  Di is the true expert picker in the group....she managed 1,100 picks Saturday far eclipsing our meager, by comparison, numbers.

When we exited the concrete bunker shortly after 5 pm it had just stopped raining, and it must have rained hard as there were small lakes of water everywhere to avoid.  It is the last rain (fingers crossed) we should have before our departure on Wednesday, so everything, including the gravel at Heartland, should be dry.  The temps over the next few days will be in the 50's with overnight lows mostly in the 40's, so it is also warming a little.

I fell asleep in my recliner about 7 pm and slept for about an hour which messed up my sleep last night.  Oh well, only a few days left and then it won't matter anymore!  By the way, the number in the title of each days blog the past days is the number of days left before we roll our wheels counting from the day I am writing about that day.  For instance, today's title is Five, or 5 days including Saturday until we roll our wheels.  The calendar I post each day shows how many days from today, which is four....confusing, right?

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.

Six

4:13 am - Saturday - December 15th - Campbellsville, KY - 50º F, 97% humidity, wind 7 mph out of the north by northeast......heavy cloud cover, rainy all day today with a forecast high of 53º F.

Gettin' close!

It was back to work Friday, and as we walked to work under threatening skies I reminded myself that it is just 4, or 5 more days of work and then we are free to return to 'Every day is Saturday' mode once again.  As often I do, I struggled to get a rhythm going Friday....I ended the first quarter with 199 picks, so not too bad, but my second quarter was a measly 177 picks.  I try to hit 200 picks per quarter, but the picking Friday morning was not conducive to that goal.  Another factor is that I was merrily picking along in Pick Mod 'A' when I got the dreaded 'Move to a new area' message on my scanner....and that new area is?  Pick Mod 'E'.....ugggghh!  And Building 'C' is where I remained for the rest of the day picking on all four floors of 'E' with a 2.5 hour stint in 'F' thrown in for good measure.  Remarkably, and hence I remark, I managed 350 picks in the third quarter, and an additional 225 picks in the fourth quarter, so I managed to get my quarterly average up to 237 for the day!  Of course, whenever I have a record setting quarter (350 picks is my high water mark this year) TLE almost always out does me, and she managed 368 picks for the third quarter to best me by 18.  I really don't mind getting beat by TLE, because she is really a very fine picker.  She is consistently at 125% of expectations.

When you reach the 320 hours worked mark at Amazon you automatically receive 5 hours of PTO (Personal Time Off).  Normally, as seasonal workers, if you don't use the PTO you lose it at the end of your seasonal job, but because they are letting us go much earlier than normal they are 'paying it out' if you don't use it, so that's an extra 10 hours (combined) we'll get paid for and we don't even have to pick a single thing, or show up for work to collect it!

We emerged from the concrete bunker to pelting rain, and since we did not drive the VW to work we walked home in the rain.  It wasn't really that bad....in fact I kind of enjoyed it.  We both wore our rain proof parkas to work so all we suffered for the quarter mile uphill walk home was slightly damp shoes.

TLE reheated about half of the spare ribs we brought home from Brothers for dinner, and oh how amazing they were again.  Now we have one more dinner of spare ribs, making it 3 meals for the price of one.  As is our custom we turned the lights out and were in bed by 8 pm prepping our tired bodies for another 10 hour shift Saturday.

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.