March of the Minions

 

 

When we started the full-time RVing more than nine and a half years ago we never imagined “work camping”.  Volunteering – yes.  Work camping – no!  There is quite the difference.  Many people (hard core work campers) blow off the difference with statements such as “If I’m going to work doing anything, I’m going to get paid”.  “Volunteering is just taking advantage of cheap labor by old folks for the government.”  And the best one I’ve heard is - “All they want you to do is clean the bathrooms.”  Over the years we have heard these and many more comments which only tells me that these folks have never tried volunteering or are really bad at selecting their volunteer positions.  I suspect that some of it may just be rationalization of having to work for some reason or other well past retirement time.  Oh well, we all have our reasons.  So we decided to broaden our experience base and try this work camping thing based on information passed on to us through good friends who used the extra pocket change to take various adventurous trips.  Since there was talk of a “family” cruise up the inside passage to Alaska next year, we decided to take advantage of that and take a one-way cruise with the family and then spend a bit of an extended stay exploring the state.  Our friends’ experiences spurred us to try this work camping thing to supply that bit of extra pocket change for our adventure and promptly sent our applications to the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Haslett, Texas. 

As you can tell, or have heard, we were accepted (I don’t think many were turned down – if any).  At the time we were excited and anxious to get there and start.  We made a couple different reservations at the “Amazon approved campgrounds” and promptly found out that they were under construction and/or because of technicalities with the local government that the “good” ones that we had picked out would not be completed in time for this season of Amazon work camping. So we took a second look and picked what we thought were the better of the available campgrounds and made reservations for the season.  It turns out that the campground we chose was more of a derelict trailer park than an RV park with a number of “party on Friday and Saturday night until the cops come” crowd (which they have – a couple of times).  There is no level spot in the entire park, the “Stars and Bars” are flying in a couple locations and the dogs run free and are a bit on the mean side.  We should feel rather un-nerved here but we don’t, most of the residents did come and greet us and I have a feeling they watch out for us and our rig as well as the other Amazon workers here.  Nothing like a bunch of rednecks watching your back, and that is probably the best security we could ask for.

 

 On our appointed day we went to our orientation and met many of our soon to be fellow workers.  After seeing the size of this place and the number of people involved I couldn’t help but think of the “Minions” and what we must look like to anyone watching.

We were immediately overwhelmed by the scope of this place with its sheer size (1.7 million square feet with 250 truck docks, and 5,000+ workers).

 

 

 

  Here is a view of the south docks and the processing lines where we work.  This place set a world record of processing (receiving, identifying, and stowing) over 1.2 million individual items in one day while we were here.  When it is manned, this place is like a beehive of activity with extremely loud noises and movement.  All controlled by one monster of a computer system.  The process of receiving one item on the dock and seeing it go through the entire process to where it is delivered to a person is amazing to say the least.  This is logistics on steroids!

 

 When you look down the length of the facility you cannot even see the other end.  To think of the heating and cooling and maintenance costs of this structure is mind boggling.  It has the foot print the size of 8 entire football fields and is four stories high, with literally hundreds of miles of conveyor systems within it.  The noise level when all the systems are running is deafening! (And I’m used to being up and close to jet engines!)  The most common response to any comment in this facility is “What?”.

 

 

 Every morning and after lunch we are subjected to a “Stand Up” briefing of the activities of the facility and the current “numbers”, mandatory or voluntary overtime, various safety tips (mostly the same ones over and over) and rather comical stretching exercises preformed by some poor  “chosen” volunteer.  For some reason the supervisor doing the standup never does do the stretches he or she is recommending.

 

 

 

 

 One of the most fascinating things about this place is the robotics involved.  They have high lift forklifts that are all robotic, shuttle bots that move stands of shelves literally miles per day for the stowing and picking process.  Automated pallet movers that are running up and down the facility loaded with who knows what and even beeps at you if you get too close when your walking in the vicinity.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here is a view of the shuttle bots and the shelves they carry around.  When you look down the rows and rows of shelving where these things work it seems that they go on forever.  About 1/3 of the bottom floor of the facility is filled with these things and the second through the fourth floor are nothing but these things.  I’ve seen the numbers or names of these things and there are over 3,000 of them running around.  They are all computer controlled and follow bar codes on the floor.  They tuck themselves underneath one of the shelving units, raise an electronic ram to raise the shelf, check for balance and then off they go to the person or robot that removes an item or inserts one (pickers and stowers).  Quite the process!

  

  This is what we look like at the end of each day – if you can see a total “What the @#$#!” on our faces you’re right.  You should see us at the end of an 11 hour work day on day five!  Although we took the advice of good friends to try the work camping at Amazon, I don’t believe we could ever recommend this particular venue for any of our friends – that is unless your into self abuse, then it’s ok.  I will admit though, that the purpose of this adventure was to earn cash to off set the expenses of an Alaskan/Canadian trip – in that aspect it is doing quite well.  That and it will give me some interesting stories to tell, embellished over time of course.

 

 

 Oreo’s Wisdom

For those of you who don’t know Oreo passed away on October 28th.  We miss him terribly!!  If he would have anything to pass along I’m sure he would say “It’s a beautiful and amazing country – get out and see it, I did!”

 

“Oreo”

 

 

 

With all things you have to take them with a dash of humor and a positive perspective, a negative view does not help anything or any body.  If you can do that you will have a happy life ahead of you.  I have to keep telling myself that – it keeps me going.  My loving spouse of 43 years (Dec 2) keeps reminding me how to do just that and has been my inspiration for many years.  For now – goodbye from the land of the minions!

 

Home is where we park it!

Lee & Linda

(Minions Pictures are courtesy of Google Search)

Good Bye to the “Hole”

 

 

 As always the summer slipped by way to soon and we were looking again at “road time” - planning the route, making reservations, and doing any maintenance needed on the truck and 5th wheel.  We were getting itchy feet once again.  The mornings were getting cooler, the Aspen leaves were changing to a golden hue giving us the the subtle hint that fall and winter were on their way. 

But we couldn’t leave just yet, we still had some things to do, you know important stuff, like having some more fun before we left.

 Also Jackson Hole and the Elk Refuge had a few more pleasant surprises waiting for us.

 

 

Linda took a number of jaunts to various “former” dude ranches in the area.  At the Bar B C Dude Ranch she found an old shell of a car complete with bullet holes.  The Bar B C Dude Ranch was established in 1912 by Struthers Burt and Dr. Horace Carncross, thus the B and C.  As most of the guests in the early days were invited from the Philadelphia area, so were guests for this dude ranch.  At the peak of operation, the ranch could house 50 dudes and dudettes in 45 buildings.  It was a time of “Party, Party, Party” for these dudes and we have even seen pictures of one of the “dudes” on his knees with a funnel in his mouth as two others were pouring some form of liquor into the funnel.  Something like Vegas on a Friday night.  There are several cabins remaining and they are being restored – very slowly.  The Carncross Cabin and the main lodge have been stabilized and several fireplaces on the smaller cabins have been taken apart and put back together as they would have been seen in earlier times.  The Snake River runs close by and there were two swimming pools at one time – just large dry areas today.  It was great to visit the Bar B C in the evening – it gave the area a different look and the mountains, of course, had that “purple majesty” look!

 

 Ok, one more dude ranch – the 4 Lazy F Dude Ranch in the Grand Teton National Park.  This ranch was purchased by the William Frew family in 1927.  The purpose of this ranch was to be a family retreat and get away from the “party, party, party” crowd.  It had seven cabins, a lodge, barn and some smaller cabins on the bank of the Snake River.  The family allowed paying guests by invitation only – from Pittsburgh!  Beautiful setting for a lunch with friends and for viewing some wildlife – Moose, for example!  Linda wants to thank all of the volunteer friends from the Refuge that shared the hikes, snack/lunch breaks and information about these marvelous places called “dude ranches”!

 

 

  

 

 One morning as I was getting ready to go out to the shop for my volunteer stint I looked out the window through the fog and right next to our neighbors rig were a couple of young buck mule deer.  This one even let me walk up to him and take his picture.  He did have a bit of an attitude though and stuck out his tongue as I took the picture.  It kind of reminded me of my daughter, she does the same thing!

 

 

 

 

 

 Linda and I participated in a charitable fun run/walk called Old Bill’s Fun Run put on by the city of Jackson. A rather large number of the volunteers from the Refuge participated also along with a few thousand other close friends that just happened to be in the area.

 

As we finished the 5K portion and came back into town I turned around to take a picture of the flag and got quite a surprise when I saw the refraction of the sun behind it - pretty cool!

 

 

 

 

 

 We couldn’t leave the area without doing what turned out to be an absolute wonderful afternoon ride from Jenny Lake in the Grand Tetons back to Jackson and the Refuge.  Good friends - Tony, Ann, and Joe joined Linda and I on a 21 mile, absolutely beautiful and scenic ride.  The two above pictures are from that ride.

 

  The photo below is from a viewpoint that Joe and I found one day as we rode up Curtis Canyon and Joe taught me what determination and stamina really is.  It was a very long uphill and I will admit that I had to stop a number of times.  The downhill part was my favorite by far.

 

  One morning, as the maintenance folks were out at the main shop, we were standing around talking when suddenly a cow moose and a calf walked out from behind the shop with the bull close behind.  I went running to the truck to get my camera and this quick shot gives you an idea how close they were to us as they walked by.  They didn’t pay a lot of attention to us as the cow and calf were only interested in eating and the bull was only interested in the cow.  It was that time of year!

 

 All of us that had our cameras followed them for awhile as they headed to the nearest pond, just a short distance from the shop.  The below pictures are some that I got as they graciously posed for us. 

 

 

 

 

 

 During our last few days at the Refuge I took the opportunity to wander a bit and take a few pictures of the projects I was involved with.  As you can see it involved hanging Elk heads in the visitor center; building bird houses; reinforcing the visitor center observation deck and offices; cleaning, rehabbing, and insulating the old blacksmith shop; along with many other projects.  It was a very busy and intensive summer, with lots of sore muscles.  I have to admit I failed when it came to taking pictures of Linda in her environment of the Miller house, Visitor Center or doing interpretive programs on the deck of the Visitor Center.  Every time I had the camera when I was around her she was surrounded with lots and lots of people either listening to her or asking her questions.  So I ended up with no (good) pictures.

 

So it was time to hit the road once again and we headed down to the interstate and then east towards the Midwest.  As we made our way through Wyoming I couldn’t help but notice the 12 foot high snow fences along the road.  I’ve seen them before on prior trips but this time the realization hit that 12 foot high snow fences would create huge snow drifts in this area.  It was indeed time to head south. 

 

 

A view of the hills surrounding Rock Springs, WY.  Nice set up and campground on a local Fairground.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 A nicely decorated dino near our campground in North Platte, Nebraska.  Notice the Nebraska Huskers’ football helmet – cute!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We knew when we were back in the Midwest and tornado alley when we started running into these little shelters built in the RV parks.  This one was around Woodward, OK.

 Then it was down to Texas and the Fort Worth Area for our stint as work campers for Amazon. 

 

 

 

 

 

 The Wisdom of OREO

 My pride member asked me what I did today.  I told him “nothing” and he said “but you did that yesterday”.  So I had to tell him that “I wasn’t finished yet”.  I’m not sure he liked that answer, maybe he thought I was supposed to be mousing or something.  Yea right!  I’m an old kitty, I like laying around – it feels good.  Anyway the mouse hair gives me gas.  Time for a nap.

 

“Oreo”

 

 So as all of our adventures from this past summer came to an end, we leave you with a sight that we will be seeing, at least four times a week - morning and evening - for the next couple of months and usually in the dark.  It’s going to be an interesting time.  We’ll let you know how it goes - if we survive dodging all the robots zipping around this place.

 

Home is where we park it!

Lee & Linda

Shoot’n the Snake

 

Hello once again from the National Elk Refuge in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.  Since we have been here we have not been able to get a good picture of a bull Elk so I asked one of our friends (and also a volunteer here) for one of his pictures.  The below photo is courtesy of Max Aldredge and is a beautiful example of the herd that is in the area.  Thanks Max!

 

 

While we have been here our volunteer duties have been, shall I say, rather varied.  To the left is some photos of the Miller House which is a historic attraction on the Refuge.  Linda does interpretive tours there on a weekly basis as well as working at the area visitor center.  I, as you can see, volunteered to do the dirty work.  In this case cleaning out the basement of the Miller House which was filled with various forms of carcasses and feces of numerous rodents, which was sprayed with a bleach compound and then removed. Over forty 55 gallon trash bags full of fiberglass, rodent poop, carcasses and other unmentionables were carried off.  And I thought doing breakneck downhill mountain biking was dangerous!

 

 

Here is the facility maintenance crew doing a roofing job on an old historic blacksmith shop.  I wasn’t on the roof when Linda showed up with the camera but I did spend a lot of time up there complete with body harness.  We put a new metal roof on the structure as well as plugging holes, installing heaters, fixing the doors and windows and cleaning the whole thing out.  Exterior staining comes next!

 

 

 

 

 

Here I am again working on spray foam insulation on the Blacksmith Shop.  I had never done spray foam insulation so this was a new adventure for me.  I can’t say it was fun but it was really messy.  Getting tired of the Bio Suits though!

I made the suggestion to make this old historic blacksmith shop into a winter time man cave complete with big screen TV, surround sound, beer/wine cooler, popcorn machine, bear rugs, Elk mounts and such.  It has a huge picture window looking out on the Refuge so when the football games go bad you would just switch the direction of the lounge chairs and watch the Elk and Bison out the window.  I even volunteered to do the work.  I got shot down!  Go figure.

 

There’s an old saying about life – “you’ll be one of a kind and extremely lucky if you ever get out of it alive!”  With that in mind, knowing that eventually we are going to die, we decided to enjoy some excitement, take the proverbial reins in hand and one weekend went Shoot’n the Snake.

 

We started our two day rafting adventure with a casual eight mile float down the Snake River one evening.  There were 12 of us, Linda and I; a family of four; and four teenage boys with two escorts.  The first evening for the float we were all in one large raft and pretty much got our fill of young “male” inappropriate comments.  The rafting company had a campsite set up with an outdoor cook camp and tepees for us and provided an excellent dinner – and then a breakfast the next morning.  After breakfast we were separated into two smaller groups of six each plus a guide in the rafts you see above.  So with our guide spouting numerous bad jokes and instructions of how to stay in the raft through the rapids (a very important aspect!) on we went down the next eight mile section with all the rapids.  The majority of the trip was rather smooth and our guide was most excellent with instructions of when and how to paddle – then came the rapids!  Three Oar Deal, Lunch Counter, Rope Rapids, and then the Big Kahuna (the big photo above) - all names of the various rapids.  Hanging on to the paddle was hard enough let alone trying to paddle and stay in the raft.  We all did though - wet, cold, and on a wild eyed adrenaline high.  It was awesome!

Then it was back on the bus to the office for the raft company.  We thought we had experienced a rather unique ride and experience.  Then as we rode the bus back up the road along the river we saw the hundreds of rafts coming down the river, filled with people doing the exact same thing we had just done – like a line at an amusement park, just without the cotton candy.  Would we do it again?  In a heartbeat!

 

Good friends, Janet and Mitch, came down from North Dakota just to visit us (well maybe it was their vacation also in the Yellowstone/Grand Teton area!)!  Their daughters, Julia and Chole, greeted us just like family - and in a way we are.  Janet is our daughter, Angela’s, best friend - for many, many years - and Janet has always seemed like a daughter to us (Mitch didn’t have a choice, he just had to accept us).  Good visit, great lunch at Leeks Marina on Jackson Lake and after that we gave them a whirlwind tour of some of the Grand Tetons wonderful sights.

 

 

 

Linda’s sister, Jeanette, and her husband, Keith, came up from St. George, Utah for a visit.  Unfortunately the sky was really smoky from all the forest fires up north and west of here, so the scenic views were vastly diminished.  We had lots of fun though with a few walks/hikes and sight seeing of what was available.

 

 

 

 

 

Took Keith out on the Gros Ventre River road one day, just looking at the sights and all of a sudden we saw a herd of Bison up on a nearby ridge.  They were moving our way so I decided to stop and see what direction they were going to head.  It turned out that they headed right for us and the herd that we saw at first was growing in size as more and more Bison came up over the ridge.  The herd grew from a couple of dozen to hundreds as they lumbered towards us and the truck.  We were standing near the truck as they came closer and closer and then the bulls let us know that it was the rutting season and were in a rather feisty mood.  Time to get into the truck!  Quickly!

The big guy below came almost close enough to touch - while we were in the truck!

 

 

 

While Keith and Jeanette were here we took the opportunity to go to the Bar J Ranch cookout and show - dude ranch style!  The dinner was good – cafeteria, or some people would say prison, style -but really nice steaks.  The show was outstanding and had us laughing, clapping and singing along well into the night.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

On the way to the Gros Ventre Slide and Lower Slide Lake Linda and I happened on to these old abandoned cabins along the road.  We wandered around them for a while and then moved on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A view of the Lower Slide Lake from one of the hiking trails.  This area is a favorite camping area of the volunteers here at the Elk Refuge when they want to get away for a bit. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Took a drive one Sunday morning up through the Grand Teton National Park and up through the lower part of Yellowstone National Park.  The skies were clear and the vistas were incredible.

This is the Grand Tetons from the north side.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 This is a view from Signal Mountain looking out over Jackson Lake at the north end of the Teton range.  The one to the left is Mount Moran and has glaciers all year around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As we were driving up Signal Mountain for the above photo we ran into these young Mule deer fawns – gotta love the ears on these guys.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here is a view of the Teton range from Jackson Lake.  One of the iconic photos of the area.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 As we drove through the parks, one of our intentions was to visit sights and areas we had never been in.  The day was a busy one for the park as people from all over the world were visiting and we had to wade through the forests of tourists with “selfie” sticks and cameras to see these wonderful areas.

 

 Here are some views of the different hot springs and pools we visited that day, the colors were vivid with the oranges, greens and blues.  The weather was rather cool so the steam sometimes obscured the views but you just had to wait until the wind would pick up a bit and the colors would come out.

 

 

 Here is a Red Tailed Hawk that stopped to watch us as we were on one of the Hot Springs hikes in Yellowstone.  At least I think it is a Red Tail Hawk, not quite sure.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Here is a view of the Upper Falls of the Yellowstone River.  We took a walk to the lower part of the falls on Uncle Tom’s Trail.  As we were climbing down the stairs that are attached to the side of the canyon cliffs I decided I had gone far enough and took a break on one of the side benches while Linda continued on down a ways – there is a total of 328 steps.  The rocks that the metal stair case was attached to on the canyon walls vibrated from the force of the falls – quite an eerie feeling as I waited for my dearest to return from the depths of the canyon.

 

 

 

 

 

The Wisdom of Oreo

It always seems that my pride members are gone someplace and I just have to guard the house all by myself.  It’s not too bad though, they go hunting sometimes at a wonderful place called a “store”.  I’ve heard them call the hunting grounds “Smiths” or “WalMart” or “WinCo” or something like that.  The fresh kill they bring back for me is what I deserve for guarding the house on a daily basis.  When they peel back the hard shells (they call them cans) and scoop out the tender guts, I can’t help but drool until they serve me.  My pride members are very well trained!

Oreo

 

Once again we leave you with a stunning sunset and warm wishes from Jackson, Wyoming.  We are winding down the season here and will be headed towards our winter homes in Texas this year, we hope we see some of you along the way.

 

 Hope you have enjoyed the pics and the adventures with us here in the “hole”!

Home is where we park it!

Lee & Linda