Here it is – the update you’ve all been anxiously waiting for!  I left so many cliffhangers in my last post – will she return to work?  Will they have an AK job?  I know it’s been a long time waiting, but I will do my best to answer these and others mysteries for my faithful readers! (ok – I doubt I will have the answers to great mysteries – but it sounded fun to say that!)

Before we get into it, I wanted to mention, I posted the recipe for my chicken soup that I made last week.  It is YUMMY!  and easy!  If you are looking for a new chicken soup recipe – check it out here:  chicken corn noodle soup

Last Friday was a beautiful day here in central KY. Bill took care of another tire in the morning before we had our scheduled phone interview for a workamper job in AK.  We also had been invited to a picnic for RV-Dreamers that are here working at Amazon this fall.  The second tire went a lot smoother than the first, Bill says mostly b/c he had done it before and knew what to expect.

Our interview went (we think) very well.  We are VERY hopeful for this one, as the owner sounded very nice and his “deal” was the best so far.  Also, it was specifically mentioned (by someone who knows about these things) as a great place to work.  I don’t want to say too much in case it doesn’t work out, but we are hoping to get a contract with this place!  We were also discouraged about one of the other places we interviewed with.  Can’t get into detail on that one, but we will take it into consideration.  This is so much harder than expected, finding the perfect workamper job in AK.  Part of it is, we have now interviewed for 3 and we have had numerous email exchanges with another, and what if they ALL offer us something?  What if none of them do?  We’ve been told that just showing up and finding work is not difficult, that we might not find a workamper job, but stores, restaurants, etc. have signs out all summer.  Not sure I can do that.  When we first talked about going to AK, we were just going to go, drive up and see all the sights, but then after talking to friends who have recently gone, it is a VERY expensive trip – which we sort of knew – but it’s even more than we thought.  We don’t want the purse strings to take that much of a hit, that could mean much more serious issues further down the line.  More than one person has said something to the effect of “why would you want to go all the way there and stay in one place the whole summer?”.  To be honest, that was my first thought as well, but after much thought and before I mentioned the idea of a workamper job to Bill, I decided that working and living “like a local” actually sounded good to me.  For those of you reading that are not full-time RV’ers, that might seen like a strange thing, how would living in a CG all summer be like living like a local?  Consider this – we ALWAYS live in CG’s now!  So, it’s our version of living – just in their part of the world.  I think I’ve said this before, Bill and I like staying in a place a while.  Some people we know like to move a lot, every week (some even more than that!), but we (for the most part) like at least 2 weeks.  We’ve stayed in some places a month.  We like getting to know an area, more than just “seeing the sights” and moving on.  The idea of living anywhere in AK for the summer makes me so excited, I almost can’t think about it.  All the places we’ve been in touch with are aware and understand that we would want time off to see the further away places we can’t see in a day trip from wherever we are.  I will keep you posted on how the search goes.

After our interview, which went much longer than expected, we left for the RV-Dreams picnic, which was at the pavilion at the Green River Lake State Park.  We had checked it out when we first arrived.  It is a beautiful location!  There were a bunch of people already there and after a few introductions, we all helped ourselves to the snacks people brought and just enjoyed the conversation and gorgeous weather!

Everyone brought a yummy snack to share and their own beverages.  It was a wonderful afternoon getting to know each other better!

After getting back to the rig, we learned that Nancy and Neil were having a campfire at their site.  They have an off-ground (raised) fire pit.  We hadn’t had a campfire in a long time, so it was very nice.  What made it even nicer was that Nancy and Neil had celebrated their 36th wedding anniversary earlier in the week, so we had a toast to the special couple!

Saturday the weather was less cooperative, but we didn’t care, we had a lazy morning then got ready and left to see friends we’ve known a long, long time!  We met the Degnan’s way back when we lived in Toms River, NJ and were attending St. Andrews UMC.  They weren’t even married then!  Christine worked in the church nursery a lot, and I had two small kids.  We got to know them better when we went on a retreat together and we’ve been great friends since.  They moved from NJ to KY after we did, came and stayed with us while Mike found a job and a house.  We didn’t end up staying in KY (due to a job change) but they did and they still love it there!  It was awesome to see them and catch up on news!  I didn’t get a pic of it, but Christine even made me my fav – a carrot cake!

Thanks again for an awesome day!

Sunday was pretty much a lazy day.  It rained most of it and the sun didn’t show itself at all.  After relaxing and doing some small household chores, we decided to check out a local Mexican restaurant that was recommended, which was ok at best.

Monday and Tuesday I was home alone after Bill went to work.  I was pretty bored honestly.  I reorganized some cabinets, cleaned, cooked a bit, nothing exciting at all.  My kitty was happy I was home and sat on my lap whenever I was sitting in my chair.

Wednesday I dropped Bill off at work and made my way to E-Town to see the doc about my knees.  He said he was happy I was doing better and we discussed my options about returning to work.  He believed (as did I) that even though I was doing much better, doing the amount of walking a picker has to do was a bad idea.  We agreed I could try a position that only required me to stand (mostly) and use more of my upper body.  I went back to Amazon and showed them my revised restrictions and learned they were moving me to packing!  I was so happy to be able to return to work in a way that would be less stressful for my knees!  I was told to return the next day at my regular time and I would go to pack school!

Thursday I was very happy to be getting back on the clock!  The week before’s paycheck (we can view our stub online on Thursdays even though payday isn’t until Friday – every Friday, imagine that?) was pretty lame to say the least!  So, I was introduced to Jamie and she brought me upstairs to the “loft” area and showed me how to make and pack boxes.  The totes that pickers fill with items comes up on a conveyor belt and we have to grab them down onto a slot at our station.  We make sure the bar code off the tote is scanned and then we take out the items one at a time.  These are known as singles, only one thing in a box.  After the item is scanned in, the screen tell us what size box to make.  There are about 20 different size boxes, 4 different size plastic bags, 2 size padded envelopes, and 2 “V” boxes, which are mostly for books.  There are also these HUGE carts with flexible size “bins” that are used for what they call “multi’s”.  All items in each “bin” are all go in one box.  The screen tells us which size box to use, but it isn’t always right, so if we believe a different size box or bag is needed, we use that size.  There is also these air-puff things used as filler, which is called “donage” – I have no idea what it means – Bill says its a freight/shipping term.  There are other area’s in packing that I haven’t been anywhere near yet, but I’m told I will learn them all, if and when it’s needed.  I love learning new things, so that is good for me!  I also told them I wouldn’t mind learning/going to gift wrap, when that is available.  I think I am going to like packing.  I wore my pedometer and I still walked almost 10,000 steps my first day back.  That is more than enough.  My knees were ok, getting sore at the end of the day, but ok.  I am just happy to be back on the clock and not home alone! (ok, except for Callie!)

So, we have more good news!  After 2 months of looking, 4 interviews and 3 “official” offers (with a 4th expected next week) – we have a job for ALASKA for next summer!  We will be at Renfro’s Lakeside Retreat in Seward.  The owner, Gary, sounds like a great guy!  We couldn’t be happier!  TripAdvisor reviews are all 5 star!  Recent RV Park Reviews reviews are also excellent.  The schedule is the BEST – one week (full 7 days) on followed by one week (full 7 days) off.  Plenty of time to go off and see other areas of AK.  We will be starting June 1 and ending on Sept 30!  I’ve been told that the Kenai Peninsula is beautiful and has lots of things to do, like fishing boats, wildlife boat tours, glacier boat tours, etc.  Ok – enough of that!  I could go on and on, but I think you get the idea – I am HAPPY!

So – that’s all for today faithful readers!  I may or may not be posting every week – I hear overtime is coming!  Thanks for following…