Monday, October 17, 2011

Out and about in Coffeyville

There are a few museums right here in Coffeyville so we took the time this week to visit 2. The Dalton Defender Days were taking place the weekend we arrived, but we just happened upon it so we have no pictures of the event itself.  We started this weekend out by visiting the actual Dalton Museum.  As you probably know, the Dalton Gang spent a lot of time in this part of the world robbing banks -- until they reached Coffeyville.  They had the bright idea to rob two banks at once.  The only problem was there was a nearby hardware store with a lot of available guns and there was road construction, of all things, which forced them to change their route into and out of town...  to make a long story short, they didn't make it out.  Here's their post robbery photo outside the bank.


Here's there route


A few scenes from town.  These people look a little seedy too  -- can't be locals...


very suspicious...


Luckily our hero showed up just in time and scared away the vagrants!


Here's one the actual banks that was robbed


Then we were off to the Brown Mansion.  Mr Brown made his fortune in oil and natural gas, among other ventures.  We'll add more when we have time to add some detail.  Until then, here's a side view of his house.


Here's the visitor entrance.


Diana and Isabel sitting out front

Out and About in Independence, Kansas

After our first week, which seemed like a month, we finally had a few days off and an opportunity to get out and see the surrounding area.  It's about time too as Sadie was starting to stare longingly out the window.


 The Little House on the Prairie was located near here so we made this our first destination.  Here is the Little House on the Prairie where Laura Ingalls and Family lived.  The cabin itself is located about 10 miles SW of Independence.


After the Ingalls family moved on the site was used to house a post office and one room school.  The post office is shown here.


Here's the inside of the school


and here's the outside.


Here's another view of the cabin from another angle.


Now off to Independence.  It has become one of our new favorite places as it has a great city park with, get this, a zoo that is totally free. We couldn't believe it at first, but you are able to just walk right in at several locations through simple push gates.  I had a picture of the zoo, but I can't find it now.  We'll visit again so stay tuned for photos.  In the mean time, here's a train engine that is located in the park as well.


Isabel and I decided to hold a race down the slide.  It seemed like a good idea at first, until I actually climbed all the way up and got this view.  Notice Diana sitting at the bottom standing by to call 911 if necessary.


Some weird caterpillars at the park.

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Night Shift... Oh, my feet!

OK, we're a few weeks into this gig and our feet (ankles, calves, knees, hips, shoulders, back, neck, etc) hurt!  We signed on to be "pickers" which means you order something from Amazon.com on the computer and Diana and I get a shopping cart and walk around a 1-million square foot plus warehouse to pick it out off a shelf for you.  The item then goes onto a conveyor to another group of folks who packs it up and sends it to you.  There is also a third group of folks who keep the shelves stocked with new stuff.  But we're your personal shoppers -- you order it, we pick it.  The only thing is, you're not the only one ordering online, that would be too easy.  There are millions of people ordering, all the time, so we are shopping for millions of people!  Did I remember to say that Amazon carries absolutely everything in the world?  I can be picking mini-sd cards for your computer, then 12 packs of coconut water, then a laptop computer, costumes, shirts, wrench sets, organic rice, motor oil, etc, etc, etc.

Due to proprietary processes, we can't take pictures inside, but safe to say, it's the biggest store you've ever seen in your life!

Diana and I are on night shift so we work from 5 pm to 3:30 am four nights a week.  Things are getting busy now though, so we get OVERTIME this week!  It's kind of bitter-sweet since we want to make more money, but we also want our feet to heal from all this walking!  Did I tell you we walk anywhere from 12 to 15 MILES per shift?  That means we can walk up to 90 miles a week!

We are getting used to it though.  It gets easier with time and we're learning new tips each night.  One tip is bring a rain jacket since we walk to work and you never know what the weather will be like when we get off shift!  There are no windows at the warehouse so imagine our surprise when we got off work the other night to find it pouring down rain!  We got really wet on the way home.  Here's Diana accepting her fate ( I know it's a bit dark, but it is almost 4 am!).  At least we din't have to shower when we got home!


Here's another fun thing to do when you're walking home at 4 am!  Get your picture taken next to the warehouse sign!  Too bad you can't tell it's us in the picture...  We may have to come back when the sun is up, but for now, it's off to bed!  Good night (morning)!

On to the next adventure! Amazon.com!

Well, after leaving California and taking a short week at home we're on to our next adventure!  We've signed on to be seasonal work campers at Amazon.com.  It was really nice to get home, see Lisa, and rest for a bit before moving on!  We also took the opportunity to switch out our mattress in the fifth wheel since we could feel every spring in it whenever we layed down.  We took the junky mattress that came with the trailer to the dump and replaced it with our pillow top from home!

On to Amazon.com.  We signed on to work at the Coffeyville, Kansas warehouse so our travel route will take us through Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, then into Kansas.  And we're off!

One of the things we like best about traveling with the fifth wheel is that we have our house with us wherever we are.  Here we are in a Utah rest area taking a break and having lunch!


Here's a view from the outside at the rest area.


We are making good time making our way across the country so we decided to stop in Fort Collins, Colorado for a few days and take a mini-vacation!  Notice our site with a hot tub!   (One of the things we miss the most while we're on the road is our hot tub.  We're still trying to figure out a way to bring one along!)


We noticed something strange about Sadie as time went on.  She was missing something!


After finding a dog park in Fort Collins, Colorado, we found out that she was missing the water!  Now she's happy again!


We even found  a farmers market in Fort Collins and bought some great apples that were just coming into season!  We also found a store that sold all kinds of olive oil from all over the world!  We spent a lot of time tasting (I loved the white and black truffle oil) and we ended up carrying out a few bottles for future use!  Fort Collins seems to have it all.  We really enjoyed our visit here.


Our friend Barb gave us some beautiful green bell peppers while we were at home and now we had the opportunity to use them!  Diana stuffed them and we put them on the grill!

 

Here's the finished product!  They didn't last long.  They were great!  Thanks again Barb!


We'll be at Amazon.com October - December so we figured we'd augment the furnace and give us a homey feel during the Christmas season!  And it fits under the desk perfectly!


Life on the road can get boring at times so Sadie and Isabel took time to practice new tricks... 


Wait! Not yet...


Entering Western Kansas.  This was taken by Isabel from the truck along the way.


And then the scenery flattened out...


And we're here!  Notice the blank look on Sadie's face.  She's wondering why we left the California mountains and her lake.


We're here to work so I guess frills aren't as important.  The RV park ("Big Chief RV Park") is basic to say the least but it will serve our purpose and it's right across the street from Amazon which will let us walk to work.  The park reminds me a lot of the military camps and disaster relief we used to build  in remote parts of the world!  Here is a view of the neighborhood.
 


Finishing up!

Our time in California came to a close and we're on to our next adventure.  We can't believe how fast the time passed!  All in all, we had a great time.  Here are a few more photos to close out our time at Peninsula.

Here's Sadie during one of her daily jaunts in the water.  She's waiting patiently for us to throw the ball.


This is a view of the back of the work truck.  As part of our job we empty fire pits, usually into the small metal bucket.  We then empty the small bucket into the large metal container and eventually dump all the ashes on to a burn pile.  In this case, however, we ran out of room.  Believe it or not, all these ashes came out of one fire pit.  We filled the small bucket.  We then filled the large container, then just started filling the back of the truck!  The large logs came out of the same pit!


Here's the front end of our "office".  Her name is Eloise.


A view toward the campground from the gatehouse.  I think there's deer in there somewhere!


Here's Diana waiting for the weekend arrivals.


More wildlife!  This little guy was hanging out by the restrooms.


I thought he would hop away when I got close, but I guess he thought I couldn't see him if he stayed still.


Here's another of the resident cats.  This one is a newly adopted arrival and is still kind of shy.  His name is Conner.


Well, I guess we're done.  Gary, the owner,is giving us a hint that it's time to move on!







Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Catching up again!

Time flies when you're having fun! Here's what we've been up to in California:

Diana and I walked a lot!  This is at the turn around point of one of our outings.  The road that leads into the campground is 8 miles long so we had a lot of room to roam.


Isabel tuned up her swimming skills by taking a few lessons in Grass Valley.  It made for some nice outings and Sadie enjoyed it since there was REAL grass at the park that she could lay in.


One night we took a boat to the sand bar beach at one end of the lake.  There is a stream that feeds into the lake at this end and the water stays shallow quite a ways out.  Here is Isabel and Sadie exploring 100' from shore.


Here's the view from the sand bar lookinig out at one arm of the lake.





and here's the creek.  The main sand bar is on the left...


On the way back home after the sand bar.  Sadie dons a life jacket just in case...


and then comes the resting phase...


and my resting phase in the reclining lounge chair.  Here's the view.  It never gets old.


Here we are at the Empire Gold Mine in town.  They have miles of hiking trails! 


Here's Isabel, mom and Sadie at a bridge on the trail.


and us.


Our Isabel with a flower in her hair!


We hiked a few miles and ended up back in the parking area for one of our favorite activities -- a picnic!  


Back home.  Probably taken after work since a beer is on the table.


Diana's brother Rick visited for a few days from Lake Shasta. Here's all of us at our camp.


Another visitor checking why we haven't emptied the recycle bins yet.


A day out in Colfax at the train depot.  The town reminds us a lot of Glenns Ferry.


Sadie enjoying life.


A butterfly at camp.


The Russian Olives are fruiting.  Fall must be near!


Another visitor at camp.


And even Stellar jays!


Sadie relaxing again!  Look below to see why she needs more rest.


Here's Sadie's absolute favorite activity in life -- running in the water.  She'll go back and forth for hours if you let her.  One day we let her go too long and she slept almost the entire next day.


It's even more fun if there's a duck to chase.


"Come on Isabel, the water's fine"


And this is Gibson, one of the resident cats.  Gibson is invincible.  He will lay in the middle of the road and force campers, cars and everything else to go around.  He took on a 4' rattle snake, was bitten, and survived while we were there (though he puffed up to about double his size for a few days).  Gibson is a legend at the camp.