Oct. 8-12 First Full Week

Tuesday, we did our half day voluntary overtime shift for 5 hours.  Some of the group we started with 2 weeks go signed up for the full day.  We were glad to go home at 11:30.  We did see other couples from our orientation group.  They are on shift one, so they work Sunday - Wednesday.  it was nice to visit with them.  Gary and I started off working in the same area, but then he and others were moved to another section.  Once home, we rested and organized our lunch bag and menu items for the next day.  Supper, relaxing, then to bed.

Wednesday to Saturday - The alarm goes off at 5:00 AM for us.  We shower the night before so we can get up, have breakfast, throw the last lunch items in and leave at 6:00 AM.
Wednesday went quickly, we found that we eat our lunch determinedly and try to relax in the half hour time period.  Sandwiches, chips, grapes and cookies.  The lunch room provides water, ice, coffee, sweet tea, styro cups, plates, plastic silverware, salt & pepper. There are also coolers/refrigerators for us to put our lunch bags in and shelves for coats, bags, etc. that we bring in. A lot of the full-time people have lockers, they must use combination locks.  Some of the Camperforce people made sure they got a locker too, but we are using the cooler and shelves.

We were tired and my feet were sore by the end of the first 10 hour day.  We are not really walking many miles at this time, but we are on our feet all day on the cement floors.  Stowing items involves pushing carts of products to the stowing aisles, bending and reaching when scanning the cart code, the item code and the shelf/bin code.  It sounds like it could get boring, but we have to pay attention with every item, watching to make sure the product scanned shows up correctly on the scanner, the bin number shows correctly and then we must enter the correct number of the item that we placed in the bin.   If we miss a step, the scanner reminds us with a beep sequence.  It is our new background music, we can hear that sound in the rows next to us from the other stowers.

Thursday to Saturday -   pretty much the same each day.   Gary and I were assigned separately many times, but we were each with others from our training group.  We are in the same break room for lunch, but not always at break time.  Many, many interesting products we are stowing.  Costumes, books, hunting items - all those make sense, some items are less common.  We are amazed at the grocery type items in sacks and boxes that people must order.

Thursday night after work I went to Dollar General to find bobby pins for keeping my hair up.  I'm actually braiding my hair some mornings, I was tired of my fuzzy pony tail on the humid days.  The bobby pins will help.  At the store, the clearance rack called to me and I found plastic sandwich boxes.  These special items will help us save money on sandwich bags each day and will remind us of our two favorite little boys at lunch time.  Riley and Sam educated Grandpa about Monsters University and Monsters Incorporated - Gary always tells the twins we are going to "the plant" to work, like Sully and Mike do in the movie.

Monsters University sandwich boxes

Saturday night after work we got home in time to watch the Michigan football game.  Disappointing ending this week.  Now at the end of the 4.5 days, I can really feel my quad muscles!  The last two days we have been doing more squatting to stow in the lower shelves and reaching to the higher shelves - a good workout.  And we were all being observed for following safety rules, so I made sure I was not bending over from my waist to reach down.  We are pleased with how we feel after the first full shift, maybe we are in better shape than we thought we were.

Oct. 6 & 7 Days Off

Sunday - of course, we took advantage of being able to sleep in.  We actually had stayed up later than 10:00 last night, amazingly.  10:00 AM Mass again, we had our guitar playing song leader again, a little different to get used to.  Back home, I put some laundry in and settled on the couch to watch the Chiefs game. 5-0 now!  I knew they would cycle back in to winning.  Gary is determined now that I get some Chiefs sportswear, I will have to stop by the local sports store here.
Later in the afternoon, I cleaned house and then we grilled pork chops for supper.  It was a beautiful day and nice to sit outside without sweating.

Sunset tonight from our back window

Monday - today is project day since we are working tomorrow morning.  We restrung the window blind again, this time with double cord.  This is the large window blind over the couch that broke before we left Sioux Falls and we re-strung a month ago.  Now we are going to order the exact replacement cord from Winnebago that the other windows have.  We were not able to find the same strength of cord in the stores.  Gary is also recharging the water softner today, it has been nice to have soft water for showering and washing clothes.  A beautiful sunny day here, highs in the upper 60's this week.
My followup dentist appointment was today.  I think the mouthpiece I have worn during the nights has helped all my teeth, but I still am having trouble with tenderness around my crowns.  He checked again and said the tenderness is still from my mouth adjusting to the crowns.  I will get the special implement made to wear at night in a couple weeks.  I am so impressed with this dentist and staff - they are really trying to help me.  Stopped for groceries on the way home and then helped Gary finish his screen door project.  A beautiful evening.  We will enjoy it and then get ready for work tomorrow.

Oct. 4 & 5 Amazon

Friday - off to work again.  It is dark when we get up and when we leave the motorhome.  We have been switching pairs of shoes to wear each day and have gel inserts in them.  That seems to help. Today we gather for stand up/announcements and then have a round of questions again about safety items when working.  Things like push the carts with both hands, squat to lift, don't bend over, don't twist to reach something, should be nose over the toes.  No tiptoes to reach, use a stool.  Really smart reminders, we and they don't want anyone to hurt anything!  Also reminders to drink water every 15 minutes, it is very dry in the building with all the product, cardboard, etc.  We can carry water bottles with us, they gave us a harness the first day to carry a bottle in and attach to our belt. They also have water coolers and fountains every where in the warehouse next to the bathrooms.
More stowing today.  We started in a different area and then moved back to our area from yesterday.  Walking, organizing in the bins, reaching, lifting, squatting - a good full body workout. The morning went fast again and soon we were done.

Home for lunch and another nap.  Then we cleaned up to go downtown for Dalton Defender Days, Coffeyville's big annual celebration.  We went down for the 6:00 reenactment of the Dalton raid. On October 5, 1892, the Dalton Gang tried to rob two banks in Coffeyville.  The gang was made up of Grat, Bob and Emmett Dalton, Bill Power and Dick Broadwell.  As the gang crossed the Plaza to enter the two banks, they were recognized and the townspeople armed themselves with weapons. When the bandits with nearly $25,000 of their money emerged from the Condon and First National Banks, they were fired upon.  In the battle, 8 men died, 4 of the outlaws and 4 local men. Emmett Dalton was severely wounded and captured.  Three other citizens were wounded as well.

We watched the local community restage the raid.  Men, women and children were dressed in vintage clothing, the robbery took place and the robbers and local men were shot and died on the plaza.  After the shootout, they had 4 women read history about their husbands and son that died defending the town.  Afterward you could have your picture taken with the four dead bandits (they were laid out in a row against a building - just like in 1892) or a picture with the jailed bandit.

The rest of the three day celebration included food vendors, craft booths, live bands, car show, chili cookoff, kids games, eating contests (jello, hot dogs, corn on the cob, pie) and rodeo events at the city park.

We enjoyed the reenactment, toured the bank building and then had supper at Lanning's Grill - another nice place to eat downtown.  The clouds were starting to build, this is our last day of hot, humid weather.  There were some storms north of us and in Nebraska, but it just rained here, starting after midnight.

The Condon Bank museum

Local townspeople - the boys were so cute.

Three of the Dalton Gang

Local men shooting at the Dalton's

Two robbers at the other bank

The four dead Dalton Gang members

Saturday - Our last day of work this week.  It really seems like Friday today, we will have to adjust to that.  It is still sprinkling and cooler, so I did wear a light coat, which we can have with us during the day or leave in the lunchroom.  We cannot tie jackets around our waists while working, it could get caught in carts or conveyors.
Today in standup, they announced mandatory overtime for Tuesday for the fulltime employees and told us Camperforce workers could sign up for a full or half day if they wished.  We decided we would try 1/2 day for Tuesday, because then we go to our four 10 hour days Wed - Sat. The veteran Camperforce workers tell us we will be in bed an hour after we get home on the ten hour days. Sounds like a good plan to me.
We were sent to another new area for stowing this morning and did not have any of our ambassadors (trainers) with us, they were assigned to other work.  We did have one Problem Solver with us to answer our questions and keep the carts of product coming.  Then after break we went to the Library area, stowing books and many small items.  We certainly are seeing a variety of products, big and small.
Coming out of the plant today, the temps were much cooler, which will be nice.  Home again and shower.  Another afternoon to get rested and watch college football!

Sounds like South Dakota has had fall and winter weather!  We would love to hear from you too!

Amazon - Here we go! Oct. 2 & 3

Wednesday - Up at 5:00 AM, work begins at 6:30.  It takes us about 15+ minutes to drive out there. Heavy dew and fog outside, the car and windows are covered with moisture.  Reminds us of potential road hazards as it gets colder.

Reported to work and were gathered up by our training supervisor, Roddy.  He gave us all radios so we could hear him as we toured the plant and went through Safety School.  We also met our other trainers, we have been assigned to Albertha, she is patient, caring and awesome to work with.  This day was a lot of standing around and listening, although we were tested on maneuvering a pallet jack, pushing carts the correct way and lifting and moving pallets.  We were given helpful hint cards to hang on our ID badge lanyards and got work gloves from the dispensing machine. They provide gloves, safety vests, earplugs and box knives for us to use.  Our legs were sore from standing on the concrete, it will be better when we are moving around.  This was just a half day, we had our break at 9:00 am and checked out at 11:30 am.  Home for lunch, a nap and rest for tomorrow.

Tuesday morning view from our front window at the campsite

Thursday - Here we go.  I'm wearing capris today and a light t-shirt, our experience yesterday and the veterans of the group have helped us realize it can be warm inside and today we will be working. We check in and gather for what they call "stand up". There are numbers on the floor you line up on so they can get a head count, then you can move and do stretching exercises while they make the morning announcements. On the wall there is a power point display of the area everyone is assigned to.  We, being trainees, are all assigned to one area and wait today for our trainers to give us instruction.
Then we are lead to the stowing area and shown how to stow the product.  "Stowers: the team that safely shelves millions of items that come through each Amazon facility."Amazon has a lot of acronyms, it will take some time to learn them all. Albertha takes 5 of us to train, it is great working with her.  After some instruction, she turns us loose with each of us having a cart full of product to stow.  We each have a scanner and have to remember how to scan the cart, our badge to get checked in, then scan each items barcode and stow it in a bin.  Then the bin is scanned, so the computer system knows the product is available to sell and the "picker" knows where to find the product when it needs to be shipped out.  A lot of steps to remember, but it is good to be working and feeling productive.
The products we stowed are interesting.  Everything from toys, to books, to hunting equipment, caps, photo albums - anything you find on Amazon that you can buy is on the shelves here.  Nothing real heavy for us today, but we had a quantity of some items that we had to find a cubby to put them in.  Today, we were given our orange reflective vests to wear.
The morning flew by and then it was 9:00 break time.  After break we had a short skill/rule testing for stowing and then back to our carts and aisles.  The rest of the morning went quickly, they came around and told us it was time to go home.  So we checked out and headed home.  Stopped at Subway for a sandwich, then home to eat and nap time again.  Gary strolled around the campground and talked to some of the other campers/Amazon workers.  Had supper, showers (we are showering at night, so we can sleep later in the morning) and to bed.

Here is a recent article from Motorhome magazine with a couple pictures.  The first picture is of the stand up gathering when we check in every morning, the second picture is of receiving (I think) and the third picture shows stowing.
www.motorhome.com/motorhome-travel/lifestyle/amazon-Camperforce-your-next-adventure#.Uk3uB5wW-kM.gmail

Sept. 30 & Oct. 1

Monday - The last day of September.  Wow, where have the last two months gone?  We have traveled a lot of miles and seen a lot of new areas.  Time spent with family and friends, time we never were able to spend when we were working our full time jobs and had limited vacation days.   That is one of the best things about being retired!

Today we drove over to Joplin, MO.  The closest Sam's Club is there and we wanted to pick up some lunch supplies and other bargains we know they have.   We also went to some of the thrift stores, I picked up some jeans to wear to work.  I realized after our orientation and hearing about the job that I really did not want to wear all my good jeans there.  Mission accomplished for $10.00! Had a nice Mexican cuisine lunch with margaritas, yum!

On the way home, we detoured 7 miles to stop to see Big Brutus, the world's second largest electric shovel!  (The first largest was demolished, so Brutus remains).  I am going to let Gary tell you about that, he went in and saw the full exhibit and climbed around inside.  www.bigbrutus.org

Gary:
This was cool !!    Especially for a guy who loves Big Iron!!  This behemoth cost $6.5MM in 1960's dollars, and only operated for 11 years. (1963-1974)  It took 150 rail cars to haul in the parts, it was assembled at Hollowell, KS, and only traveled 12 miles, stripping the overburden over coal veins, up to a depth of 60 feet.  Due to environmental restrictions regarding the high sulphur content in the coal  being mined the company shut the shovel down.  It sat next to its last dig until the 1980's when the Company stripped out the motors and fluids, then donated it to the local historical society.  It is quite a sight sitting in the Kansas countryside!! Think I will tell some of my contractor friends that I have purchased it with my retirement fund to start a new construction company!!!!!
They will truly know I am crazy!!  I had a blast taking the tour and if you get down this way, take time to see it!
What we have learned is that southeast Kansas was a huge coal and lead mining area in the early and mid 1900's.  A lot of the lakes nearby are a result of the strip mining that was done.

Look at the machinery sitting next to it.

Big Brutus!

Look closely for the two people - you can see the size difference!

Tuesday - October is here!   We were home all day, getting book work, projects and laundry done before starting our jobs tomorrow.  Went for a walk late afternoon up by the Community College stadium and the former airport.  It was warm, but up on the hill there was a good breeze.  Discovered a trail that ends up there and starts at the bottom by the river.  We will have to hike that another day.  Quite the drop-off/gully from that trail, reminded us of the treed low areas at Newton Hills.  It should be beautiful when the leaves turn in the weeks ahead.

Sept. 28 & 29

Saturday - woke up to rain and thunder.  It rained all morning so we had breakfast and did our inside chores.  I thawed a pork loin and put it in our new crockpot.  And, read a book!  It's been a long time since I have done much of that.  The rain continued, so we watched college football and relaxed.  I pulled my sewing machine out again and did a little mending too.  I'm glad I brought it along for now, it has come in real handy.
The sun finally came out at supper time.  We had our hot, home cooked meal and then went for a short walk before dark.
We have had lazy, rainy days some weekends when we were camping, but now we always seem to have a project to work on.  Funny how that is, just like having a bricks and sticks place.  I am thankful more and more that we have our washer/dryer.  It is so much easier to throw in a load every day, even though they are small loads, than to go to the laundry room at the campgrounds or a laundromat (they called them wash-a-terias in Texas)  We also don't really have a place to accumulate a lot of laundry in our home.

Sunday - went to 10:00 Mass today.  Then came home to change and drove out to explore more towns around us.  First we drove by Altamont, where we knew there was a county campground with a lake.  We found it about 4 miles south of town, the interior roads were pretty muddy from the rain. There were quite a few campers out there.  We had read about previous Amazon Camperforce people staying there, it was about a 30 mile drive for them to come to work.
Then we headed west to Independence, KS.  Stopped at a Walgreens (there is not one in Coffeyville) and then picked up what we needed at the Walmart.  Independence has a celebration the last week of October called Neenwollah Festival (Halloween spelled backwards).  We had hoped to go, but now we know we will be working Friday and Saturday each week.
We drove home on another road, Hwy 75 and went by the Little House on the Prairie site.  What? My research told me the Ingalls family moved here from Wisconsin for 1 year, when she was 3 years old, then moved back. We drove through Caney, KS before heading east to Coffeyville.  The town and area around Caney will be growing more soon, they are going to build a new oil pipeline there.

On the way home, we found the Kansas City Chiefs radio network and listened to the game.  We got home in time for me to watch the last 10 minutes, my Chiefs are now 4-0!  The kicker on the team, Ryan Succop, must be one hell of a guy - his last name is pronounced Suck-up!  Can you imagine how he was teased as a kid?
We took a short walk after supper, then watched Sunday night football.  Fall is a great season!

Sept. 26 & 27 - Amazon!

Thursday - Gary here...well, we have started as Warehouse Associates at Amazon Fulfillment Center!  We have been blest with many jobs in our lives, and now a new one!!  Our orientation class met both days from 1:00 until almost 6 pm.  Typical first days, lots of paperwork to fill out, policies to review, and some introductions.  We have a great HR person, Michael.  He was the gentlemen that hired us back on March 30th following a 5 minute phone interview!
Being a natural curious person from my days in commercial lending, this should be a fascinating facility and operation to be a part of.  The amount of product moved is nothing short of phenomenal.

Deb again - Thursday morning we were up and excited for our starting day.   The morning passed slowly, but then it was 11:30, we had some lunch, got dressed and headed out to the plant.  We weren't the first ones there, but some of the first.  That was okay because security had to issue each of us visitor passes for the day.  Our HR guy, Michael, came and led us to the training room and then went back for more beginners.  A first impression of the security and entrance procedures.

Today consisted of getting our pictures taken for our ID badges, hearing about Amazon - the Corporation, talking about schedules and different jobs and areas we may work within the plant.


Friday - Decided we better walk again, since we sat most of yesterday in training.  Another beautiful day, we enjoyed the morning and then went to work - our second day.  More information to digest and final papers to sign.  We also received our assignment for the days and times we will work.
We have talked to many of the people in our group, there are three couples who have worked for Amazon before, one couple is starting their fifth year.  Another new couple we talked to have been full-timing for 20 years, this is their first time at Amazon.  We hope to visit more with them, they have done many workcamper jobs in their years on the road.
I talked to one of the veterans, getting more information and other advice from her about what to expect.  She and her husband have enjoyed Amazon and have two more couples joining them this year here, that worked with them in Kentucky the last couple years.

Gary - We will start our shifts, Wednesday thru Saturday, 6:30 am-5 pm on Oct. 2nd, so we will have a few days to get some more walking in.  At the peak season coming up in November and December, they anticipate 1,500 workers total, consisting of full-time associates and us Camperforce workers.  Should be fun!