Welcome to Amazon, Coffeyville KS

Welcome to our new followers: Good Idea at the Time, Good Luck Duck and Jammin' Along.  Hopefully we'll get in a better routine of posting.  For now I'll start at the present and work backwards... 


We're still missing our puppy, Sage, but we're slowly adjusting.  I still look for her every time I get up at night to make sure I don't step on her.  And now I have to clean up those things that drop on the floor while I'm cooking.  Travel days were especially tough, but as I said, we're adjusting.  We'll miss her every day.


I survived my first week at Amazon.  It wasn't too bad.  I'm working nights which is really just fine with me, since I'm not much of a morning person.  I work 5 pm to 3:30 am Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.  Thursday, Friday and Saturday off for now.   The time goes really fast as there is really no downtime.  You're busy all the time and I'm sure that it will only get busier as the season goes on.  I'm working in an area called Crisplant.  I'm responsible for a line of chutes.  After a picker pulls an item for an order it gets put on a conveyor belt and eventually ends up in one of the chutes. Once all the items for an order have arrived in the chute a light at the end illuminates and signals me to come pack it up.  I make up the appropriate size box for the order, check that all the items are there and in good condition, put them in the box along with the packing material, seal it up and send it on it's way to shipping.  Each shift I look for the most interesting order of the evening.  Even though I've been a loyal Amazon customer since the beginning I had no idea they sold some of this stuff!  Now if only they would carry RV parts...


Update:  Make that survived first 2 weeks!  Spent the 2nd week packing singles.  The advantage of singles is you don't have to look for missing items. The disadvantage is that you mostly stand in one spot.  I've asked if it's possible to transfer to an area with more walking.  Will see how that goes.


We're staying at Big Chief RV Park.  It's a FHU park but pretty no frills.  It has 3 main advantages for us:

1. There's nothing to block the DishTV satellite signal.
2. It's right across the street from Amazon, which means if I get off work at 3:30 I can be in bed by 4.
3. There are lots of other Amazon WorKampers staying here and they are all very friendly.  It's almost like a rally without the sessions...  Now if we could only figure out how to organize a potluck.

Update:  Lots of great Workampers here.  Played golf with some on Friday and then went to dinner at Jack's Place.  Had a campfire on Thursday night and met some more nice folks.  Tonight we'll do the campfire again and put a TV outside to keep track of the college football action.  Parked in our area are LSU, Iowa, Nebraska, OU and Texas fans.  Of course I'm an NDSU fan, but they are seldom on TV -- Except for last week when they "whooped up" on University of Minnesota... Go Bison!

We had a somewhat eventful trip up here.  We had a tire blowout on the 5er between Temple and Waco on IH-35.  For those not familiar with the area, it's about 75 miles from the house and one of the busiest interstate highway sections in the nation.  Thank heavens for roadside assistance!  We were pretty fortunate in that we didn't have huge amounts of damage.  It did take out the propane line to the refrigerator and stove, so we had to get that fixed.  
We finally found someone who could make up the necessary line and I installed it.  We added some zip ties to keep it up and got back on the road after a 2 day delay.  We still have some repairs to take care of but nothing too major.


When we finally got back on the road, we made it to the Chickasaw National Recreation Area outside of Sulphur, OK.  We had a beautiful campsite there with water and 50 amp hook ups.  No sewer but we were only there for 2 nights so it was fine.  They do have some FHU sites, we just didn't spend enough time finding them.  With the Golden Access Pass we paid $11 a night.  We visited the Chickasaw Cultural Center while we were there.  It is a beautiful facility and very interesting.  We recommend a stop at both if you are in the area.