Aaaggghhhh, it's black Friday!

Heartland Campground
Campbellsville, KY

We sure hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving day.

A bunch of us (34 in all!) got together at a local restaurant

for our turkey dinner.

There were fellow RV-Dreamers and Amazonians attending.

Diana Brown

Richard Waltman, Kelly Murray, Diana Brown, Bonnie Waltman

George and Bill Murray

We really enjoyed being with friends old and new yesterday.

Today we began a stretch of 5-11 hour days.

This year for this stretch we are starting 1/2 hour early, at 6 am (yuck!).

To get the 11 hours in, we don't leave until 5:30.

To keep us motivated for this week,

they are doing some special things.

We played a couple games of bingo..

...and they passed out some fresh fruit at our second break.

The camperforce is not required to work the 11 hour days,

but still must work the mandatory overtime day.

It helps the bank account if we work the extra hour every day!

We figure we're already there, why not stay the extra hour?

3 1/2 weeks to go!

Feeling like fall

Heartland Campground
Campbellsville, KY

It's definitely fall trending to winter here in Kentucky.

We've been running the fireplace at night, and the electric heater

in the bedroom cycles on and off during our sleep.

This morning we woke to 33 degrees, so George even turned

on our furnace to get it toasty.

We still walk to work in shorts and hoodies,

because it's very warm in the plant!

This past week of 5 days (one overtime day) was pretty busy.

We're starting to pick items like toys, Christmas sweaters (ugly and regular!),

People are starting their Christmas shopping for sure.

This FC is approximately 75% apparel now,

and we seem to pick a lot of socks, underwear, and tee shirts.

Amazon very graciously provides a Thanksgiving meal every year,

and actually to make sure all shifts are covered,

they serve it twice in the week.

Ours was on Monday, but since our overtime day was yesterday,

we got another one :-)

The food is pretty good, with a slice of ham & turkey,

mashed potatoes and gravy, green beans,

stuffing casserole, a roll, and a piece of pecan or pumpkin pie.

Of course with a bigger lunch than usual,

we're all a bit sleepy for the second half of the day :-)

George and I are still doing a lot of walking.

We've averaged daily miles of around 12.

This week's total for me was 58.62 miles!

Today is laundry day and getting a much needed pedicure with friends!

We're starting to research our summer plans,

possibly a gig in South Dakota, we'll see.

We're ready to move on!

Not all work, no play!

Heartland Campground
Campbellsville, KY

Time is flying by, 5 weeks and change left!

Both of us have concurred that this will be our last

time working at Amazon.

This year has been tough on our bodies.

My feet hurt the last part of the day,

even switching shoes at lunch.

It takes a couple of days for my swollen feet

to recover, then it's back to work again.

George's back is bothering him.

We're too old for this stuff!

We've decided to take the gate guard position,

starting mid-January in Oklahoma.

Our friends Wes & Mary Lou are working there now,

and thought of us as potential workers.

They've told us everything there is to know about it,

the good and bad :-)

We've talked to their boss,

and he's welcomed us on board!

It won't be a piece of cake,

as it's a 24 hour, 7 day a week job,

with us covering 2 separate shifts..

which means we'll see each other coming and going :-)

However...

because of that, we'll get double the income.

That will help us to pay off the RV,

get that truck repair paid off,

and get some extra padding in our savings account again,

with no pain!

We plan on working through the end of April,

but depending how things are going,

we may stay a bit longer.

By then we'll need a break I'm sure!

Our days off here (sometimes only 2!)

are usually spent doing laundry,

and just relaxing.

Last week we decided to have some play time.

We took a ride to White Moon Winery.

There are a lot of bourbon distilleries in the area,

but wine tasting is our preference.

We were the only ones there,

and the owner, Alex Payne (no relation to Howard & Linda, we asked!),

gave us a great tasting line up,

and a tour of her winery.

There was a nice view of the countryside from the tasting room windows.

They do grow some of their own grapes,

but a lot of the 'juice' they buy from California.

That's why it's so good! :-)

We really enjoyed being treated so nicely by Alex.

Our 6 bottles of wine showed our appreciation!

We're spending our 3 days off doing chores, grocery shopping,

and resting up.

Starting next week it's mandatory overtime,

then Black Friday and Cyber Monday start PEAK.

It'll be crazy, but the bank account loves it :-)

Anything for a buck

Heartland Campground
Campbellsville, KY

6 weeks to go...we can do it!

We finished another week of mandatory overtime.

All of us were surprised when it showed up on the schedule,

because it seemed very slow in the picking department.

We can tell when it's slow, because at times our scanners

will beep with a 'no work for picker' message.

At that point we just have to keep logging out,

then logging back in until it sends us somewhere.

Yesterday was our overtime day,

and it was no different than any other day, 

except that I got a message on my scanner to meet

after our morning break at the entrance to breakroom A

for a 'special project'.

This FC (fulfillment center) is transitioning to apparel.

The construction that has been going on is to help in that transition

by deconstructing old bins to make room for apparel bins.

These are cardboard drawers of various sizes in metal racks.

Some of the Amazon workers put together the drawers,

and others label the drawers with bin numbers and Datamatrix codes

which pickers scan with the scanners.

My special project for most of the day was to help

apply these labels to the drawers.

What fun! :-)

Nothing like working at overtime pay sticking labels on cardboard :-)

At least I got a bit more interaction with fellow RVers

while we were doing our project.

Today is a rainy, dreary day.

Perfect for staying in and getting laundry done.

Maybe we'll watch movies!