The holiday weekend started off early - my shift ended at 12:30am instead of 3:30am. That meant I actually got a good night of sleep before running off to eat my turkey feast with cousins Tommie Navarro and Madeline Ruth and their families. Good food and lots of catching up. I hadn't seen the girls in at least 10 years. That Tommie Hasn't aged a day!
Got up early this morning and headed out AWAY from the stores and malls. I did the Black Friday thing one time only and I will never make that mistake again. Seemed like a great day to go caching so that's what I did along with some sightseeing. Ended my day with a visit to Cumberland Falls and they were roaring but there wasn't enough moonlight for a moonbow. Just my luck. Tomorrow morning I plan to visit the restaurant where the original colonel started his chicken fortune. Till then, stay safe!
Friday, November 25, 2011
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Getting out and about in Kentucky
This morning I woke up to raindrops on my roof. Gus is crossing his legs and refusing to go out for his morning constitutional. I don't blame him. I'm no fan of the rain either. But up until this morning my weekend off has been gorgeous and quite warm for this time of year. Thursday afternoon I drove up to Richmond, KY to grab some caches. Whenever I can I like to combine caching with interesting side trips and this short run was no exception. I found a cache near an old graveyard in Paint Lick, KY which contains the grave of Tom Kennedy who locals say was the real life role model for Uncle Tom of Uncle Tom's Cabin. Locals claim that lightning strikes the grave often and there is even a chain border around the grave of him and his wife with lightning rods incorporated. I don't know if any of that is true but the grave stone did have a lot of damage while his wife's stone next to him was perfectly untouched. Go figure.
Friday afternoon I picked up my fellow Amazon camper Lana and we went for a ride to explore some countryside before meeting a friend from work for dinner. We stopped at Abe Lincoln's boyhood home because she had never been there and I needed some info to complete the earthcache there. It's a beautiful setting and is in fact the land Lincoln's family lived on when he was a small boy. One hundred years ago someone decided they needed to enshrine Lincoln's boyhood cabin so an impressive structure was built out there in the woods with the old log and mud cabin sitting in the center of it. I find that kind of strange but Kentucky is proud of this native son so it is fitting I suppose. By the way, if you're reading this and want to log the virtual I can tell you that the number of rosette windows matches the number president he was and the steps out front equal his age at death. You do the rest of the math.
Speaking of native sons, I watched an interesting program on the public station last night about Jefferson Davis who is a son of the bluegrass state. In the state capital you will find his statue beside that of Lincoln's. Go figure.
From there Lana and I drove up 31E to Elizabethtown to see the Schmidt Coke Museum. Sadly it is closed down but there's still a lot of stuff inside the front lobby that you can see through the glass windows and of course the cache is there on the outside of the building below the giant hand that sticks out holding an even larger Coke bottle. There was also an early 60s model Coke delivery truck. Took a couple of pix there, showed Lana the cache, then went a little bit up the road toward Ft. Knox. Lana was curious about my geocaching hobby so I was glad to show her some different caches. So far I had shown her a regular cache and an earthcache. This time I had picked out a puzzle cache and it was impressive.
This cache was in the town of Radcliff which is almost to Ft. Knox and is home to a new veterans cemetery and memorials. It sits off the side of 31E and as much as possible the designers have tried to keep the setting natural. Near the office/information center is a large cross made from debris of the 9/11 attacks and fittingly it is a memorial to the military personnel who died in the 9/11 attacks. There is a large columbarium that backs up to a hillside in the southwest corner of the park (?) with an open air pavillion which contains a large stained glass star set into the top center. On a sunny day the light through it is amazing. In the center of this memorial park is a paved walking trail that takes you past memorials and benches that memorialize some branch or group of the armed services. It is one of the prettiest memorial parks I've ever seen. The puzzle cache requires you to visit 3 places in the park to gather information and after computing your final coordinates you have to walk the path to find a way into the wooded area in the center where the cache is discreetly hidden. We spent an hour there and it was worth it. Even Lana was impressed with the puzzle and the park.
Finally we headed back south on 31E to meet Amy for dinner at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Glendale, KY. The food was great homestyle southern fare which Lana, from Maine, was amazed by. Several times during our meal the place rattle as trains flew by on the tracks outside the window. I saved room for dessert and ordered butterscotch pie. Yummy! The meringue was at least 3 inches high! I ate part of it there and brought the rest home to finish later, It was too good to rush. That was a great note to finish the day on. About 90 minutes later we were back at the campground and with my belly full I was ready for bed.
Yesterday I got up early and met up with my caching buddy Filbertv to go up into northern Kentucky and find some caches. We started off in Radcliff where I just had to take him through that puzzle cache so he could find it and sign off. He was just as impressed. Then we took a short hop up the road passing by Ft. Knox and stopping in the town of Muldraugh to do a cache at a building that was the setting for a scene in the movie Goldfinger. Then on up toward Louisville and off to grab caches and see the sights . By the end of the day we had amassed 32 caches and driven through 18 counties (Kentucky has 120). We saw some beautifully manicured horse farms outside of Lexington/Frankfort, stopped near the Jim Beam Distillery, ate lunch in a good local restaurant that had been a Dairy Queen before a bad fire destroyed the building. We got back to the rv around 8:30 and some friends from Amazon came by to visit for a while. By the time they left I finished logging my finds I was really pooped. Even Gus was tired out. We got him out and let him run whenever we hunted a cache in the woods or a park so he ran a lot. And I always wonder, where does he get all that water? He must leave a little squirt on every tree we pass and we pass a lot.
So it's Sunday which is back to work day, laundry day, and grocery shopping day. Don't you just love my glamorous life? I sure do.
More next time!
Friday afternoon I picked up my fellow Amazon camper Lana and we went for a ride to explore some countryside before meeting a friend from work for dinner. We stopped at Abe Lincoln's boyhood home because she had never been there and I needed some info to complete the earthcache there. It's a beautiful setting and is in fact the land Lincoln's family lived on when he was a small boy. One hundred years ago someone decided they needed to enshrine Lincoln's boyhood cabin so an impressive structure was built out there in the woods with the old log and mud cabin sitting in the center of it. I find that kind of strange but Kentucky is proud of this native son so it is fitting I suppose. By the way, if you're reading this and want to log the virtual I can tell you that the number of rosette windows matches the number president he was and the steps out front equal his age at death. You do the rest of the math.
Speaking of native sons, I watched an interesting program on the public station last night about Jefferson Davis who is a son of the bluegrass state. In the state capital you will find his statue beside that of Lincoln's. Go figure.
From there Lana and I drove up 31E to Elizabethtown to see the Schmidt Coke Museum. Sadly it is closed down but there's still a lot of stuff inside the front lobby that you can see through the glass windows and of course the cache is there on the outside of the building below the giant hand that sticks out holding an even larger Coke bottle. There was also an early 60s model Coke delivery truck. Took a couple of pix there, showed Lana the cache, then went a little bit up the road toward Ft. Knox. Lana was curious about my geocaching hobby so I was glad to show her some different caches. So far I had shown her a regular cache and an earthcache. This time I had picked out a puzzle cache and it was impressive.
This cache was in the town of Radcliff which is almost to Ft. Knox and is home to a new veterans cemetery and memorials. It sits off the side of 31E and as much as possible the designers have tried to keep the setting natural. Near the office/information center is a large cross made from debris of the 9/11 attacks and fittingly it is a memorial to the military personnel who died in the 9/11 attacks. There is a large columbarium that backs up to a hillside in the southwest corner of the park (?) with an open air pavillion which contains a large stained glass star set into the top center. On a sunny day the light through it is amazing. In the center of this memorial park is a paved walking trail that takes you past memorials and benches that memorialize some branch or group of the armed services. It is one of the prettiest memorial parks I've ever seen. The puzzle cache requires you to visit 3 places in the park to gather information and after computing your final coordinates you have to walk the path to find a way into the wooded area in the center where the cache is discreetly hidden. We spent an hour there and it was worth it. Even Lana was impressed with the puzzle and the park.
Finally we headed back south on 31E to meet Amy for dinner at the Whistle Stop Cafe in Glendale, KY. The food was great homestyle southern fare which Lana, from Maine, was amazed by. Several times during our meal the place rattle as trains flew by on the tracks outside the window. I saved room for dessert and ordered butterscotch pie. Yummy! The meringue was at least 3 inches high! I ate part of it there and brought the rest home to finish later, It was too good to rush. That was a great note to finish the day on. About 90 minutes later we were back at the campground and with my belly full I was ready for bed.
Yesterday I got up early and met up with my caching buddy Filbertv to go up into northern Kentucky and find some caches. We started off in Radcliff where I just had to take him through that puzzle cache so he could find it and sign off. He was just as impressed. Then we took a short hop up the road passing by Ft. Knox and stopping in the town of Muldraugh to do a cache at a building that was the setting for a scene in the movie Goldfinger. Then on up toward Louisville and off to grab caches and see the sights . By the end of the day we had amassed 32 caches and driven through 18 counties (Kentucky has 120). We saw some beautifully manicured horse farms outside of Lexington/Frankfort, stopped near the Jim Beam Distillery, ate lunch in a good local restaurant that had been a Dairy Queen before a bad fire destroyed the building. We got back to the rv around 8:30 and some friends from Amazon came by to visit for a while. By the time they left I finished logging my finds I was really pooped. Even Gus was tired out. We got him out and let him run whenever we hunted a cache in the woods or a park so he ran a lot. And I always wonder, where does he get all that water? He must leave a little squirt on every tree we pass and we pass a lot.
So it's Sunday which is back to work day, laundry day, and grocery shopping day. Don't you just love my glamorous life? I sure do.
More next time!
Monday, November 7, 2011
Welcome to my neighborhood!
Internet connections have been a bit spotty lately so I haven't posted a lot. Since it seems to be doing really well this morning I thought I'd try posting a tour of the neighborhood. Enjoy.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Keeping busy - Keeping in touch
Talked to big brother Mike last night after getting home from work and was informed that I hadn't posted in a couple of weeks. So folks are wondering what's up here in KY. Work, work, and work. Yep. I am now working full time for Amazon which means 4 days in a row at 10 hours a shift. So if I haven't posted forgive me, I've been a bit tired. Actually last night I got home early because the system was slow or something and they offered to let who ever wanted to leave early a chance to go home. I think I was the first one out the door. My dogs are tired folks. The big question is: will she be able to complete the tasks and survive 8 more weeks of this pace? I'll give it my best shot.
Did run down to Nashville last weekend on my days off to take care of some business. Got a great haircut. Thanks, Cindy! Took care of some bank business and some insurance stuff. Then I was ready to get out of Nashville and all that Friday afternoon traffic and come home to my Seeker and the peace and quiet of the park. Got home Saturday afternoon and the park was packed! Seems they have a special Halloween in the Park weekend and every space was filled. It was fun to sit and watch the kids trick or treating. Later they played mini golf with glow in the dark golf balls and clubs. Lots of campfires and some of the campers went way over the top in decorating. It was fun to see. By Sunday afternoon the place was a ghost town - only us Amazon campers left behind.
This weekend I will be moving to a site closer to the water and to other Amazon campers. I hope to get in some more kayaking before the season gets too cold. I have talked to other workers who live at the camps closer to work but I just love waking up near the lake and hiking nearby trails. It's just a wonderful place to be everyday and I'm sure I will miss it when I leave. But for now I think I'll finish my laundry and get dresssed for work. Today is my Friday so tomorrow I will sleep in and start the weekend. Will try to have some great adventure so I have something to blog about.
Stay safe and have an adventure!
Did run down to Nashville last weekend on my days off to take care of some business. Got a great haircut. Thanks, Cindy! Took care of some bank business and some insurance stuff. Then I was ready to get out of Nashville and all that Friday afternoon traffic and come home to my Seeker and the peace and quiet of the park. Got home Saturday afternoon and the park was packed! Seems they have a special Halloween in the Park weekend and every space was filled. It was fun to sit and watch the kids trick or treating. Later they played mini golf with glow in the dark golf balls and clubs. Lots of campfires and some of the campers went way over the top in decorating. It was fun to see. By Sunday afternoon the place was a ghost town - only us Amazon campers left behind.
This weekend I will be moving to a site closer to the water and to other Amazon campers. I hope to get in some more kayaking before the season gets too cold. I have talked to other workers who live at the camps closer to work but I just love waking up near the lake and hiking nearby trails. It's just a wonderful place to be everyday and I'm sure I will miss it when I leave. But for now I think I'll finish my laundry and get dresssed for work. Today is my Friday so tomorrow I will sleep in and start the weekend. Will try to have some great adventure so I have something to blog about.
Stay safe and have an adventure!
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Motorcycle Diaries: American Style
Having completed my first full week of work at Amazon most people I'm sure thought I would take a long nap. Nope, not me. Phil surprised me Friday by showing up on his motorcycle to take me for a ride. Now, as wild as some of you may think I am, motorcycles have always been something I stayed away from. But that changed in Asia. It's the main mode of transportation on those crowded streets. Tuktuks are just taxi motorcycles which I made extensive use of in every country I traveled in except Singapore which had an excellent subway system. And while I was outside of Bangkok I rode "motor cy" which was usually a Kawasaki or some other small, fast, lightweight motorcycle with an eager young male driver that took you quickly from one place to another in a hurry and cheaply. But I never rode one more than a mile or two. And finally, while in Vietnam I took a two day trip on the back of a large motorcycle up the new highway to the mountain town of Dalat. It was a very scenic drive with a driver who was very thoughtful and made sure we had a stop every hour or two to "rest my bum".
Still, here in the U.S. I had never traveled any where on two wheels unless I was pedaling. But about 2 weeks ago Phil showed up in Hohenwald on his bike and took me on my first American ride. The Natchez Trace is a beautiful ride for a beginner like me. We rode into town to deliver some things to the grandkids who of course had to have a ride too. Then we went through town where we stopped for dinner then went by the shop where my neice Karly and her friends were working on parade vehicles for the next day's homecoming. My total first day mileage: less than 30 miles. And I really enjoyed it, so when Phil showed up this weekend and said he wanted to take me out to see some fall color with some of his Gold Wing friends, I had no idea what I was in for.
Saturday was a beautiful day for riding the backroads and seeing fall colors. We rode over to a place called Pine Knot, KY and met up with the group then rode with them to Pineville, KY where we stopped for lunch. The group headed on east from there toward Hazard, KY but we went south to Harrogate, TN by way of the tunnels at Cumberland Gap and then back through the mountain and headed back to camp. It was all so much fun and the weather was perfect fall temps with lots of sunshine and good leaf color. The group was friendly and I had a good time visiting with folks at lunch. But, when we got back to camp my body knew that it had been on the back of a bike for over 300 miles. I was very sore. Started humming the Madonna song "Like a virgin" and making jokes about being bowlegged. Needless to say, the next day I did all my traveling by car!
So am I a full fledged biker babe now? Not yet, but why not? Could be a new direction for my retirement. Thanks Phil, for showing me a new way to have fun.
Still, here in the U.S. I had never traveled any where on two wheels unless I was pedaling. But about 2 weeks ago Phil showed up in Hohenwald on his bike and took me on my first American ride. The Natchez Trace is a beautiful ride for a beginner like me. We rode into town to deliver some things to the grandkids who of course had to have a ride too. Then we went through town where we stopped for dinner then went by the shop where my neice Karly and her friends were working on parade vehicles for the next day's homecoming. My total first day mileage: less than 30 miles. And I really enjoyed it, so when Phil showed up this weekend and said he wanted to take me out to see some fall color with some of his Gold Wing friends, I had no idea what I was in for.
Saturday was a beautiful day for riding the backroads and seeing fall colors. We rode over to a place called Pine Knot, KY and met up with the group then rode with them to Pineville, KY where we stopped for lunch. The group headed on east from there toward Hazard, KY but we went south to Harrogate, TN by way of the tunnels at Cumberland Gap and then back through the mountain and headed back to camp. It was all so much fun and the weather was perfect fall temps with lots of sunshine and good leaf color. The group was friendly and I had a good time visiting with folks at lunch. But, when we got back to camp my body knew that it had been on the back of a bike for over 300 miles. I was very sore. Started humming the Madonna song "Like a virgin" and making jokes about being bowlegged. Needless to say, the next day I did all my traveling by car!
So am I a full fledged biker babe now? Not yet, but why not? Could be a new direction for my retirement. Thanks Phil, for showing me a new way to have fun.
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
An Official Member of Amazon CamperForce
It's official! As of Monday, October 3, I have become a member of Amazon CamperForce. There's even a domain site by that name although it's not up and running yet. In other words, I'm a work camper at the Amazon fullfillment center in Campbellsville, KY. I live in my rv and go to work 4 days at week in a warehouse which pays for my campsite and puts a little cash in my pocket. Exciting, don't you think?
Well, ok, exciting may be stretching it a bit. But I do like living in my rv in this beautiful state park and not having to pay a bill for it. Yesterday was orientation and safety school. Today, or I guess I should say tonight since I don't go to work until 5pm, is on the job training. It certainly looks like an adventure in the making. And I'm making a whole new set of friends. Yesterday I met Carol who was one of the original workers from 3 years ago. She and her husband are very nice. They are camping at the rv campground in town which is just across the road from the warehouse. But there are plenty of us right here in the state park - so far 10 campsites are taken by camperforce workers but more arrive every day. I'm camped in between Lana who is a newbie like me and a very nice couple who worked here last year. And Sandy is in a site across from us.
What I really enjoy, besides the quick friendships I'm making, is seeing how differently we all live. One couple has a very nice 38' class A with all the comforts. Sandy has a 2003 BT Cruiser that she is totally reconfiguring on the inside to suit the needs of her and her 2 cats. Lana has a very cute puppy named Alex and they live in a vintage 1970 PlaMore travel trailer that she is totally redecorating. There are even some hardy souls here in tents I'm told although I'm yet to meet them.
I guess I could have picked a location closer to the plant - my commute is 8 miles - but the state park has so much to offer: water for the kayaks, trails for me and Gus to walk, caches along the trails, beautiful night skies, and a good internet connection. TV requires a dish or something stronger than my antenna but I can get along fine Hulu.
This week I will be working half days in a program Amazon calls "hardening" to get my body used to a more physical work. After that it's 4 ten hour days a week or more if I choose to take overtime. So I'll try to post more this week before the long hours set in.
Well, ok, exciting may be stretching it a bit. But I do like living in my rv in this beautiful state park and not having to pay a bill for it. Yesterday was orientation and safety school. Today, or I guess I should say tonight since I don't go to work until 5pm, is on the job training. It certainly looks like an adventure in the making. And I'm making a whole new set of friends. Yesterday I met Carol who was one of the original workers from 3 years ago. She and her husband are very nice. They are camping at the rv campground in town which is just across the road from the warehouse. But there are plenty of us right here in the state park - so far 10 campsites are taken by camperforce workers but more arrive every day. I'm camped in between Lana who is a newbie like me and a very nice couple who worked here last year. And Sandy is in a site across from us.
What I really enjoy, besides the quick friendships I'm making, is seeing how differently we all live. One couple has a very nice 38' class A with all the comforts. Sandy has a 2003 BT Cruiser that she is totally reconfiguring on the inside to suit the needs of her and her 2 cats. Lana has a very cute puppy named Alex and they live in a vintage 1970 PlaMore travel trailer that she is totally redecorating. There are even some hardy souls here in tents I'm told although I'm yet to meet them.
I guess I could have picked a location closer to the plant - my commute is 8 miles - but the state park has so much to offer: water for the kayaks, trails for me and Gus to walk, caches along the trails, beautiful night skies, and a good internet connection. TV requires a dish or something stronger than my antenna but I can get along fine Hulu.
This week I will be working half days in a program Amazon calls "hardening" to get my body used to a more physical work. After that it's 4 ten hour days a week or more if I choose to take overtime. So I'll try to post more this week before the long hours set in.
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Just a smidgen less
It’s amazing how quickly time slides by us. Day to day details take up our hours and before we know it a week passes, then a year, and much too soon, a lifetime. One goal of my new lifestyle is to slow down and relish those hours before they become lost to the past tense stories of our lives. I know that statement just got a big laugh from those of you who know good and well how much mileage I’ve covered in Seeker over the past 6 months, but there were good reasons for those long, hard road trips and they are about to be a thing of the past. Soon I will be sitting in one spot for a month at a time or even more, but there was just one more thing I wanted to accomplish before I settled down. I had to see Charlie Ray.
On my father’s side of the family most of the cousins were older than me and most, including my brothers, were boys. My oldest brother Mike, while being the 4th of my grandfather Riggan’s grandchildren, had the distinction of being the first grand SON. Soon more boys followed until 54/55 when my cousin Mary Frances and I were born. Smidget, as I liked to call her, was born one week before her mother turned 40 despite her parents having been told for years that they were barren. Perhaps because of her mother’s advanced age, I really don’t know, Smidget was born with Rheumatoid Arthritis which among other things, meant that at her grandest height she was able to stretch all the way to 4’9”. I teased her once in the 60s saying that even Gidget was taller than her and the nickname Smidget was born.
We were thick friends as well as cousins and every summer I looked forward to spending time in Lebanon with Smidget and going swimming (in the water she was free without those heavy leg braces) at the pool, listening to The Beatles, The Monkeys, and all those other animal groups filled with shaggy headed boys. Smidget might have been short in stature, but she was ten feet tall and wall to wall in spirit. Lebanon High School never had a more boisterous booster, right up to the day she died her blood ran blue devil blue. It was her sudden death this winter and the phone call I had to make that drove me to Arkansas this week.
You see, along with being the one with all the spirit, Mary Frances was the one who kept up with everyone in the family. She knew just about everyone in Lebanon and at any given time could tell you where anyone of my cousins was living and how they were doing. She wrote the letters, made the phone calls, and kept the contacts alive. Her death at 56 was sudden and blessedly quick. She spent her whole life battling pain and never complaining about it. In return the universe took her quickly without making her suffer. It was at her funeral that we realized no one had called Charlie Ray, and somehow I got the job. An awkward task given that it was the first time we had talked in over 35 years. One last time Smidget was connecting family members.
We talked for a long time and Charlie’s wife Brenda remarked that she had talked to Mary Frances only a week before. It was a sharp reminder to us of how quickly life can change. I promised to come see them soon. That was February, so I am considering 6 months soon. Charlie Ray is still the handsome boy cousin I remember albeit a little grayer. His voice sounds a lot like I remember his dad sounding and I can see hints of his dad in his facial expressions. We swapped lots of stories about family and the places life has carried us. We were both in the Navy – him in the 70s and me in the 80s. Otherwise our lives took very different paths, but we still remembered Sundays and Christmases at Granny and Pee Paw’s farm. I made a copy of an old Christmas photo and framed it for him as a gift. We decided it must have been around 1958 because he remembers those new cowboy pistols. That would make me about 3 and still a blonde. For those of you who didn’t know I was ever a blonde, well, that probably explains a lot!
The day ended with him rushing back to work, but I think I got him to thinking about retiring next year at 62. I highly recommend it. More time to slow down and enjoy the hours/days/weeks before they’re gone. Smidget would agree.
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