Checking Things Out

This morning we drove to Coffeyville to check things out. It’s a pretty small town about 7 miles from us, with one main road that has tons of fast food places, but no Dairy Queen :(

There is also a new Wal-Mart in town with a Redbox, so we were able to rent the new X-Men movie for tonight.

Since we had a buy-one, get-one coupon for a Blizzard, we had to also check out the town of Independence, which does have a Dairy Queen, as well as another Wal-Mart. Independence is about twice as far as Coffeyville, so I don’t see a reason why we’ll have to go back there, unless we need a Dairy Queen fix. Both towns are pretty small. We are about an hour from any type of larger city, either Joplin, Missouri or Tulsa, Oklahoma.

Since tomorrow is our official start day at Amazon, it’s also my first day of eating less, especially snacks. So, we may not be visiting Independence again :(

Because we will be doing so much walking at work, I hope to use this as motivation to eat better and lose 10 pounds. We’ll see how that goes. I’m hoping that instead of paying to belong to a health club, I can get paid to lose weight :)

When we got back from shopping, we rode out bikes over to Amazon. Even though our campground is across the street, it’s still a couple of miles to the employee entrance. Amazon is huge.

It took us about 7 minutes on our bikes, and they have bike racks for employees. So, as long as the weather holds out, we’ll be riding our bikes to and from work. Kevin wanted to walk, but that will take too long when our start time is at 6:30 a.m. The bikes are a good compromise.

Quite a few readers have expressed interest in how this Amazon job will work out. So, I will try to give you a good look at exactly what we’ll be doing. Hopefully, I won’t be boring anyone.

Did you know that Kansas is the Sunflower State. I haven’t seen too many of them, but it may be too late in the season. It’s quite dry here. I think this area may have experienced some drought this summer. These are the only sunflowers I’ve seen so far, and they are next to Amazon’s parking lot.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

A Very Eventful Travel Day

The day started with a beautiful sunrise.

Today we were only going to travel about 100 miles to Coffeyville, Kansas. We weren’t in any hurry, so we got up, packed up and were on the road at about 10:00, planning to arrive at around noon.

About 15 miles before we were supposed to reach our destination, we saw a huge cloud of smoke ahead of us. At about the same time, I noticed all kinds of loose hay scattered along the side of the highway. Traffic on Highway 169 came to a stop. This is what I saw about 100 yards ahead of us.

I also noticed that the grass along the side of the road next to us was smoking.

Pretty soon I saw actual flames in the grass. The wind was blowing the smoke and ash towards our camper, and the fire was growing. I kept thinking a fire truck would come, but as the fire got bigger, I got scared. So, I called 911 and reported it. The dispatcher connected me to the Sheriff’s Department, and they did not know about this grass fire. They only knew about the truck that was on fire ahead of us.

Within a few minutes, a pumper truck came driving up along the shoulder and began spraying water on the grass fire. I’m sure glad I called. It would have been a really bad day if our RV caught fire!

After waiting for about 1-1/2 hours, a DOT worker came and told us it would be another 30 minutes or so to clear the debris off of the road. We weren’t going anywhere. There was no way to turn around. At one point, there were two semi-trucks stuck across the road while trying to turn around; one on each side of the accident. We were thinking we might never get out of there.

Luckily, both trucks were able to get themselves turned around before traffic started flowing again. Our total wait time was 2-1/2 hours. Here’s what we saw when we finally were able to get past the fire. The driver of that trailer was not having a good day!!!

We’re staying at Big Chief Campground which is across the street from Amazon. Sharon checked us in, and she was very nice. We’re in site E-10. Last season was the first time this campground was open. It’s basically a big field with pull-through sites with full hook-ups. They are in the process of building a new  bathhouse which will have laundry facilities. That’s a plus.

But, the location is great, and Amazon is paying for our stay. Sunday the campground is sponsoring a cookout after we get back from orientation. Tomorrow we’ll do a little exploring. Right now it’s time for Happy Hour!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Hillsdale State Park, Kansas

We left Iowa yesterday morning, and drove for about 7 hours to Hillsdale State Park in Kansas. We encountered some rain a few times, but it wasn’t too bad. We both prefer shorter travel days, but I had checked out this park online, and it looked very nice. So, Kevin drove a few extra hours so we could spend 2 nights here.

I’m so glad he did. This is a great park. I’d say one of the nicest we’ve stayed at. It is situated along the shores of a reservoir that was built as part of a flood control plan in the 1980s. There are 200 campsites in 6 different camping loops, with 3/4 of them having electric and water hook-ups. The fall camping fee was $20.20 per night, which included the daily fee for park entrance.

We’re in the Scott Creek loop. That’s Scott Creek behind our site. We have a fantastic view out of our back window. When the reservoir was built, 70 percent of the standing timber was left to provide fish habitat. That’s why you can see dead trees sticking out of the water.

Each site has a pole cemented into a tire with a hook on the end. It’s to the left of the picnic table in the picture. We can’t figure out what the poles are for.

The park is huge with just under 3,000 acres. In addition to the camping, there are 2 beaches, shelters, hiking and biking trails, boat launches, fishing and a marina. This morning we hiked for 2 hours. After lunch we rode our bikes for an hour. Trying to condition our bodies for those long hours on our feet at Amazon.

Here’s one of the beaches. Today was a beautiful day with highs in the mid 70s, but the beach was empty except for a few geese. The marina is to the right.

I saw this huge wasp or hornet on the sand. It had to be at least 3 inches long. I’ve never seen a wasp or bee this big, it was scary looking.

The hiking trail loops around the water, and so we saw our camper from across the creek. That’s our home in the middle.

There were many trees with these large green balls growing on them. We don’t know what they’re called. However, several years ago when we were in Amana, Iowa, one of the shops was selling these balls. Supposedly, they keep spiders out of your basement. At that time, I bought some and put them in the basement at home. I can’t really say I noticed a difference in the amount of spiders we had down there that year.

We got a kick out of this sign.

It’s for one of the other camping loops. We realize that it’s referring to the fish; but at first glance, it made us think of crappie, as in something is crummy or nasty.

It was a pleasant surprise to discover that one of the camping loops actually has a small laundry room with 2 washers and 2 dryers. I was able to wash all of our dirty clothes, so we won’t have to think about it during our first week at Amazon.

As I said, we really like it here, and definitely would come back again. Tomorrow we head to Coffeyville. It’s only about 100 miles from here, so it will be a short travel day.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Another Fantastic Day

Today was another gorgeous day, made even better because it was spent with family.

In the morning, we rode our bikes in the opposite direction we traveled on the bike trail yesterday. We ended up in Cedar Falls. Much of the trail is along the banks of the Cedar River, very pretty. I just love these bike trails.

We came upon the Ice House Museum in Cedar Falls. It was closed, but had an information sign. This large icehouse was built in 1921, is 100 feet in diameter, and 30 feet high.  In it’s day it stored 6,000 to 8,000 tons of ice harvested from the river.  The blocks weighed up to 200 pounds and could last up to 12 months stored in the sawdust. The last ice was harvested in 1934. In 1975, funds were raised and the building was restored.

Our ride also took us through Island Park. I saw this building with the sign that says Island Park Beach House. I was joking with Kevin that it was the smallest beach house I’ve ever seen.

It turns out there was a lovely beach house built along the shores of the Cedar River in 1920. Sadly, it fell victim to the terrible flooding this area experienced in 2008 and was demolished. Here’s a picture of what it looked like in the 1920s.

I saw this huge bird in one of the trees in the park. I thought it was possibly an owl. After zooming in, I think it’s actually some type of hawk. It was really big. Maybe my blogger friend, Judy, will know what it is.

Kevin noticed that all the houses along the river have a unique architectural style. The first level is the garage built out of concrete block. The main living area is built above the garage. Kevin’s brother, Joe, told us that there is frequent flooding along the river, and these homes are built with that in mind. Interesting.

 

 

 

We had made plans to golf with Joe so we met him and his wife, Julie, at their house in Waverly and headed to the golf course. Kevin, Joe and I golfed, and Julie rode along in the cart with Joe. Kevin and Joe haven’t golfed together in many years, and I think they really enjoyed themselves. I didn’t play very well. The course had many rolling hills. I felt like I was always standing on an incline, and my fairway shots were not good. Oh well, it was such a nice day, and we had a good time anyway.

Joe and Julie took us on a tour of their workplace. They both work at Wartburg College.

Julie took a vacation day, and Joe doesn’t have classes on Tuesday, so was able to arrange his schedule to spend the afternoon with us. Julie works in the IT Department, and Joe is a Math and Computer Science professor. Here’s Dr. Breutzmann in his office.

Waverly also has a bike path, so we walked a portion of it along the Cedar River. We spent some time visiting at their home, and then they treated us to dinner at a great Mexican restaurant in town. Their son, Robert, was able to join us for dinner. Thanks for a great day!

A full moon was just coming up as we arrived back home. A beautiful end to a perfect day.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I had to laugh at the comment fellow bloggers, Kevin and Ruth, left yesterday. They wanted to know why we paid an extra $5 a day for a full hook-up site. I had that same question. We’re only here for 2 nights, and I thought an electric only site would be just fine. Kevin had other ideas. He told me he didn’t want to have to spend the time filling up with water when we got here, and he didn’t want to guess how much water to put in, and he didn’t want to tow with the weight of extra water when we left, etc., etc., etc. None of it made sense to me, since he’s done all of that in the past. Well, after a little teasing, he admitted that he’s on vacation this week between his job in Wisconsin and Amazon, and he just didn’t feel like messing with the water. I get it, that’s just fine. We tend to be frugal, too; but sometimes you just want to splurge a little. This was Kevin’s little splurge :)

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

We’ve Arrived in Iowa

Yesterday we had an uneventful drive from Beaver Dam, Wisconsin to Cedar Falls, Iowa. It was another beautiful day with highs in the 80s. I love uneventful driving days!

We’re staying at Black Hawk Park. It’s a county campground, and is very nice. We have a full-hook up site with 50 amp service for $22 a night. They also have electric only sites for $17. 

We’ve heard that Iowa has lots of bike trails. That’s the case at this park. There are miles of bike trails that go through this park. You can ride to many of the surrounding cities. Yesterday we rode for about an hour. The trails are paved, and it was a great ride. We went to Big Woods Lake Park. There is another county campground there.

I’m loving these bike trails. Today, we’ll ride in the opposite direction we went yesterday and see what we can find.

The main reason we stopped in Iowa on our way to Kansas was to visit Kevin’s brother, Joe, and his family. Last night Joe and his youngest son, Robert, came for a visit. Joe’s wife, Julie, was at a meeting, so we’ll see her today. We cooked hot dogs and smores at the campfire and had a nice visit. Today, we’re driving up to there house in Waverly.

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Fabulous Weather and an Interview

The past seven days have been some of the most beautiful weather ever. Sunny, highs near 80* every day, and no humidity. The sky is that gorgeous crisp blue color you only get in fall.  The great weather brought many campers to our park. We only had one vacant site by the time Saturday evening rolled around. The fantastic weather has caused the trees to explode with color.

Unfortunately, the unit camped right next to us this weekend were the most annoying people we’ve encountered during the entire season. We don’t have a problem being friendly, but the woman talked non-stop. As soon as she saw us, she was over here. Then she acted like she was our helper, telling other campers the rules. Their dog was a yappy little barker. Her grandchildren came Saturday afternoon and ran wild through the park without any supervision. They were running around behind our camper. I was afraid they’d knock our satellite dish over. One of them had an accident in the bathroom. They were just a real pain!

Thank goodness we’re leaving tomorrow. We’ve had enough of “customers” for a while. Don’t get me wrong, we loved our summer here. But, after almost six months, it’s time to move on for a while. We’ve agreed to come back next year, and are happy to do so. Kevin will be the caretaker again, and we’ll be camphosting, too. Just need a break :)

On Thursday I went to Eric’s one more time before we leave. He had to replace a few boards while siding his garage. So, I gave them a coat of paint for the winter. I also did our laundry. Now it’ll be back to laundromats for a while.

A couple of weeks ago I got an email from Shane who hosts a website called NationalRVParks.com. He’s been reading my blog, and wanted to know if we’d be willing to be interviewed for his website. I said sure. So, he sent me some questions, I responded, and here is the result. Isn’t the internet amazing.

Tomorrow we leave for Iowa for a few days to visit Kevin’s brother and family. We’ll make our way to Coffeyville, Kansas where we begin our job at Amazon on October 16th. So, the next adventure begins.

I’ll leave you with a picture from our “yard”. If you haven’t guessed by now, we’re Wisconsin sports fans. Our Milwaukee Brewers won the first round of the play-offs in dramatic fashion in the tenth inning of game five. They begin round two against the St. Louis Cardinals this afternoon. Go Brewers!!! So far this season, the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers are undefeated. How exciting!!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!

Another Bike Ride

Prior to yesterday we had seven days in a row with rain. We did manage to take some walks during that time, but not much else. Highs last week were in the 50s. Time to be heading south.

Yesterday the sun finally reappeared. Temperatures were still in the high 50s and we had frost the last two nights. However, the forecast for all of the upcoming week is highs in the mid 70s. That’s more like it. With the frosty conditions this morning, the lake was steaming.

Since it was sunny yesterday, we decided to take another bike ride on the Wild Goose State Trail. I thought the leaves would be full of color.  We had a nice ten mile ride, but there was very little color. Quite a few brown leaves were on the ground, but the trees were still full of green. I’m thinking the trees along the trail aren’t the colorful type. There was some beautiful red sumac.

The fuzz is coming out of the Milkweed pods, and there’s lots of Goldenrod around. Not good for allergy sufferers. You can see the dry cornstalks in the background of the picture. I’m amazed how many corn fields have not been harvested. I ‘m not positive, but I think they grind up the entire dry cornstalk and use it as silage to feed the cows during the winter.

We got home in time to watch the Milwaukee Brewers win their first playoff game. After that, the Wisconsin Badgers handily beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Today the Brewers play game two, and the Green Bay Packers have a game. Kevin is in sports heaven right now!

Our park has several Shaggy Bark Hickory trees. The last two weeks, there have been a number of people coming by and collecting the nuts. I asked one couple what they do with them. They told me they are very tasty, and they also sell them. After a little online searching, I found out people are selling them for $9 to $12 a pound. I had no idea. I’ve been collecting a pocketful on my walks. So far, I have collected this many.

I understand they are difficult to crack and get out of the shells. I’m letting them dry out for a few weeks, and then I’ll see how it goes. I did crack open a few of them, and they are very tasty; reminded me of pecans.

On Thursday we went back to the dentist. Kevin had his root canal and I had a cavity filled. About $1,100 later, we’re in good dental shape again. Hopefully, other than cleanings, that’s it for several years.

We leave a week from tomorrow. Lots to accomplish this last week!

Don’t wish upon a star – Reach for one!