2017.12.25-Memphis, TN

2017.12.25-Memphis, TN

Merry Christmas!!

We started our Memphis tour with breakfast at Brother Juniper’s, which is a small dive, but had delicious food!  While there, we met one of the waitresses who had lived in Boerne!!  Small world.  She suggested we go to the Peabody Hotel to see the duck march.  Duck march?

Every day at 11am the Peabody Duckmaster leads 5 ducks down from the roof to the lobby fountain.  The ducks stay in the fountain until 5pm when they march back upstairs.  The Duck Palace is on the hotel roof and has a screened in area where the ducks stay when they are not in the fountain.  The ducks are on march duty for about 3 months, then they are returned to the wild.

While downtown at the Peabody we walked around Beale Street, where all the jazz dives are.  It was cold and there was a wind, so we didn’t stay too long.  We did see the outside of the Gibson guitar factory, but it was closed for Christmas.

Of course, while in Memphis, we took the Graceland tour.  It was interesting to think that Elvis actually lived there and walked the halls.  He also died there.  So sad.

We also toured one of his airplanes, the Lisa Marie.  Decadence is the only word I can come up with to describe the plane.  The sinks were flecked with 24 carat gold and the seat belts were gold plated.  My, my, my…

One story they told us was that Elvis realized Lisa Marie had not seen snow.  So he gets his family and who knows how many others, flies to Colorado so Lisa Marie can play in the snow for a few minutes, then flies back.  WOW!

Tomorrow we leave Memphis for the Jackson MS area to visit with some family and then on to Vicksburg MS to quickly view the Civil War battlefield.  After that stop we’ll head back to Texas.

2107.12.17-Campbellsville, KY

2107.12.17-Campbellsville, KY

Believe it or not we’re coming up on the last few days here in Kentucky so last week we took the Maker’s Mark distillery tour which is one of the 8 formal distilleries on the Kentucky Bourbon Trail.  You just have to while in Kentucky, right?!  The grounds were lovely and still had green grass.  There was a Chihuly glass exhibit there for the last 6 months.  The day we were there they were in the process of disassembling the outside art work.  There were some lovely pieces, both inside and outside.

Notice that this is the actual first barrel made!

While on the tour we tasted several of the mash vats that were in varying stages of fermentation.  Some tasted like a luke warm corn soup and others like a very thick warm beer.  I was surprised they let us put our fingers in the vat to taste it.  I guess the distillation process gets rid of any germs we might have introduced while tasting right along with all the impurities of the water and other ingredients.  We even saw the production line where they dunk the filled and capped bottles into red wax for their characteristic bottle finishing.

This is the barrel of warm corn mash that tastes like tepid beer.

 

Each distilling line distills twice to remove impurities.

More outside Chihuly

Even more Chilluly inside in storage barrels of their special reserve

And one final permanent Chiluly piece in the barrel storage area

While on the tour, we learned about the barrels used for Maker’s Mark bourbon.  They use only barrels that hold 53 gallons and are made of American white oak; filling about 1000 of these per a day!  After hearing about the barrels, we wanted to learn more so we also toured Kentucky Cooperage where Maker’s Mark exclusively gets their barrels.  This cooperage company, which is in Lebanon KY, makes barrels for many major distillers including Crown Royal, Wild Turkey and Jim Beam to name just a few.  We toured the entire barrel making process from raw lumber into staves, then into rough barrels and finally the fire charring process, one of the important details of aging Kentucky bourbon.

As mentioned earlier we are quickly coming to an end here in Kentucky with our Amazon adventure.  One interesting detail of our employment is that 2 weeks ago after having us work for 2 months “stowing” items into storage containers we were moved to “picking” which is where you actually pick out the items from the storage bins going to customers.  It is a LOT more walking, but all the movement around these gargantuan buildings makes the day go by much faster.  We both like this task much better than “stowing.”  Our release date is this Thursday 12/21; we'll be pulling out Friday 12/22.  We’re glad to be moving on as the Kentucky winter is here and as you know our objective is a search for 65 degrees.

2017.11.23-Campbellsville, KY

2017.11.23-Campbellsville, KY

Happy Thanksgiving!  Only one more month to go!!  Our last day is Dec 23!

We will be meeting some other Amazon work campers for Thanksgiving dinner this evening.  We woke up to 25 degrees and frost.  A good day to stay inside and enjoy our newly installed Direct TV.  Yea – TV again!!

Work has kept us close to the coach.  We are so tired after our 10 hour shift that we don’t go anywhere, unless it is to dinner.  😊  Then, on our days off, it is laundry and grocery shopping.  Not much time to explore.

There are not that many choices for places to eat here.  However we have purchased a meal ticket from Campbellsville University.  It’s a pretty good deal - $60 for 10 meals.  At least the salads are fresh and no dishes to do.

We did visit Mammoth Cave National Park a couple weeks ago.  However, after going to the Cave Without a Name in Boerne, TX, we were disappointed in the Mammoth Cave tour, even though it is the largest cave in the world with over 400 miles of tunnels.  We only took one tour, so maybe the others are more dazzling.

We toured a local distillery with our friends, Mark and Kathy from Tennessee.  The Limestone Distillery is not one of the original 8 Kentucky Bourbon tour sites but is one of the very few American owned distilleries still in operation.  This was started by one of the Jim Beam cousins and is the sole provider of bourbon for the famous Mint Julip at the Kentucky Derby each year.  It was so refreshing to go here because it is still family owned and operated.  We were able to see all aspects of the production.  Very nice.

2017.10.16-Campbellsville, KY (Working at Amazon)

2017.10.16-Campbellsville, KY (Working at Amazon)

Where to start?  It is a physically demanding job in that we are on our feet the entire shift, walking all over the building.  We do get two 15 minute breaks and a 30 minute lunch.  We have already had mandatory overtime and have just completed a 5 day week.  Our shifts are 10 hours and we start at 6am and get off at 4:30pm, Friday through Monday.  We WERE hoping to use those 3 days off to explore, but we are just too tired to go anywhere - yet.  Maybe in a few weeks, when we have adjusted to our work schedule, we will go exploring.

I don't think I would really call this a 'playful city'

There is not much else to say.  We are looking forward to our 2 days off, then another 50 hour week.  At this point, the week after that one is scheduled to be only 40 hours, but, only time will tell.

Our campground is known as The Stables.  Those are indeed stables in front of our coach and are used every weekend by trail riders.

Happy Trails to you, until we meet again.....  :)

2017.10.2-Campbellsville KY

Linda was gone all last week to her high school reunion in San Antonio leaving Lady Di and me to our own devices in northern Indiana.  Below are a few highlights.

Nappanee is the home of Newmar the maker of our RV.  We were there for service; they start early, like before sun-up.

Sunrise not sunset as usual, we're in corn and Amish country.

There are a number of life size bronze statues around town.

Just up the road in Elkhart IN is the National RV/Motorhome Hall of Fame.  I had to go.

1917 Motor home... with slides!

Yep, even Mae West had one!

I also visited the National Train museum for the New York Central.  This steam engine actually was on display on the Texas State Fair grounds in Dallas for many years.  Now it's back "home".

Interesting place.  Over 120 trains A DAY still pass through Elkhart In!

Only a few miles down the road is South Bend.  Home of the beautiful Notre Dame campus, and ... 

The Studebaker Museum!  I didn't know they were built in South Bend.

Who doesn't enjoy a good hood ornament!

That brings us to today and the dawn of a new adventure here in Campbellsville KY with Amazon.  Our orientation starts in just a few short hours.  Gosh other campers around us here are already talking overtime; oh my!

We'll post more when we're awake, rested and have something relevant to add.  Oh yes, Linda got back from San Antonio just fine.  She really enjoyed all her high school friends.  The rig had a a full week's worth of work done and we're ready to take it out for more travels, but probably not before the end of December.  And Lady Di, well she's always fine and enjoying life on the road.

          Jerry and Linda

2017.09.19-Benzonia, MI

We’re in the Traverse City Michigan area.  Benzonia is a small town about 25 miles away and where our campground is located.  This is a fish camp and the catch from the past few weeks is salmon.  I’m going to show my fishing ignorance here, having spent last summer in Alaska, I didn’t know that salmon would/could be exclusively a fresh water fish.  Apparently they stay out in Lake Michigan for the majority of their lives and then come into local streams to spawn.  The fisher men and women in this campground are all smiles, there’s plenty to go around at the moment.

For our first outing we went to see two close-by lighthouses.  You can imagine with as much shoreline as is around the Great Lakes, they have lots of lighthouses and are built uniquely for the lake shore and not sea shore.  One of the biggest details I’ve noticed is the height; these are usually only 3 to 4 stories.

Frankfort Lighthouse

Point Benzie Light house

Later the same day we went to Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.  Driving around the Scenic Drive we again saw huge sand dunes on the lake shore and numerous maritime museums and displays.  Did you know that before there was the US Coast Guard there was an organization called The US Lifesaving Service?  I didn’t, but these two organizations are critical to these areas.

Covered Bridge from Pierce Stocking Scenic Drive

Sandy inclined shoreline on Lake Michigan

After a couple days set aside for rest and chores we rendezvoused with Carol and Darrel, two good camping friends from our Texas camping chapter and toured the downtown Traverse City area.  Among many attractions we found some interesting shopping and yet another lighthouse a few miles from town.  Oh, yes we have the t-shirt to prove it.

Lifeboat US Lifesaving Service, predecessor to US Coast Guard

 

Light house 18 miles north of Traverse City MI

An update on our adventure with Amazon.  We have been called to start on October 2, just a short couple weeks away!  Our plans for the next few weeks are to tour facilities that produced both the chassis and the coach for our RV.  After that the plan is to work in the Campbellsville Kentucky distribution facility until December 23 when the contract is over.  Hopefully we’ll take a few trips during that time and we can post entries to this blog, but we expect the work will put a big crimp into our blogging energy and material.

Eastern shore of Lake Michigan is great for sunsets!

2017.09.9-Mackinaw City MI

This was easily one of the most commercialized tourist areas we’ve been too.  That’s not to say it isn’t beautiful, interesting and enjoyable, but after three months in the Great Lakes we’ve already seen so much of this.

We started our adventure here by walking around the Old Mackinac Point Lighthouse on the Lake Huron side.  It was very nicely restored and kept up, but seemed oddly short for a lighthouse to me.  It does have the look though.

Then our day took us on a comprehensive tour of the old fort at Colonial Michilimackinac, on the Lake Michigan side of the 5 mile long Mackinaw bridge.  There were a number of restored buildings illustrating life at this 1700s British fort and trading center.  We watched musket, mortar and artillery demonstrations and toured through the Commander’s House, Blacksmith shop, barracks, fur traders seasonal homes and several others.  Very interesting and all well done.  We’re at the end of the season so the crowds are much smaller and the historical interpreters all had their parts down very well.  I never knew, for example, that it was the Indians that taught colonials how to make maple syrup or that “wampum” was actually beads woven into belts that documented events, details and treaties of Indian life.  Imagine a binary series of colored beads forming words.  Here are a couple other views of the old fort.

Mackinaw Bridge on Lake Huron side

South Rowhouse within the British Fort Michilimackinac

Live Musket fire

Notice the Union Jack flag

Obviously there are lots of lighthouses around the Great Lakes and the Old McGulpin Point lighthouse is one more example we couldn’t pass up.  This one was interesting because it’s location was more political than practical; notice how short it is and then know that it’s placement prevented it from being seen by ships during half their journey around this point!  We found an interesting tree carcass on the grounds, notice how the branches extended into the inside of this white cedar log.  I never realized they grew as spokes in a wheel.

branches grow like spokes on a wheel

Lighthouse at McGulpin Point

Another day we took the ferry to the ultra tourist destination of Mackinac Island.  No motorized vehicles allowed on the entire island.  Except for EMS everyone either walks, rides a bike or takes a horse drawn conveyance of some sort.  Interesting history and stories surround this place but you can find all that on-line and at your fingertips.  Here are a few of the sights which caught our eye.

Arch Rock on Mackinac Island

All aboard to the Grand Hotel

don't miss the kitty at the front door

notice how the leaves are turning and the flowers continue to bloom

So now we’ve spent time on Lakes Superior, Huron and Michigan and visited the critical connecting points of Superior to Huron, and Huron to Michigan, all very interesting.  Our next stop will be much more rural and is about a hundred miles west and slightly south of here.  Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore is on the eastern banks of Lake Michigan.  Oh and for those interested, details of our fall jobs with the Amazon camper-force in Kentucky are beginning to firm up.  We’ll get back with you in a few days.