Well, here we are…….just finishing up our 1st full week at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Coffeyville, Kansas. We left Denver Oct 8 and made the trip in one day which was a really long trip as the wind in western Kansas was terrible ( as in Wizard of Oz terrible) It was blowing right across the interstate and when you passed a semi the break in velocity almost blew you off the road. Ditto for when you came out from under an overpass. It was a white knuckle ride at times and I swear we were passed by an old witch on a bicycle. Before leaving we checked Google maps and it showed the driving time as about nine hours but apparently it doesn't factor in the wind.  Memo to navigator always plan on the wind blowing in this part of the world generally at you rather than from behind you. 

Amazon pays for our RV space so we researched the available parks and called one for reservations. We got into town way after dark ( the trip took almost 14 hours ) and just barely managed to find the place. No, Coffeyville isn't that big; we were just really tired and it was really dark. Decided to just pull in and park in an open area and went to sleep. In the morning we found out where to park and  got set up. It is beautiful little park with 2 ponds and lots of trees around the edges. Then we took a drive around to get our bearings. Coffeyville is a pretty small town in southeast Kansas just 10 minutes north of the Oklahoma border. It has a lot of industry for its size… a big oil refinery, Amazon, John Deere and Sherwin Williams all have facilities here. 

There is an amazing amount of history here , too. The Dalton gang meet their demise here, Dalton gang info and the world’s heaviest hailstone landed here in 1970 , Hailstone history

The Amazon facility is located on the other side of town about a 10 min drive from where we are parked ( I know that sounds funny to those of you who have long commutes ) but it is worth the drive as it is so quiet where we are parked.  Both of the other big RV parks are closer (one within walking distance to work) but are located right next to the highway. Since we are working the night shift, quiet is really important! We were concerned about leaving Lucy unattended for ten hours and considered leaving her in Denver with the kids which would have broken our hearts and hers but Amazon told us we'd be working different shifts so no problem, right..... wrong. We both ended up on nights but as luck would have it  we found a dogwalker to come and let Lucy out at late in the evening. What a blessing and she digs it cause she gets out more than normal and we've the added benefit of having someone checking on the coach while we're gone.

We had 2 days of orientation. FYI, believe it or not, this building is 1.2 MILLION square feet and has 27 miles of conveyor belts. The job description told us to be prepared to walk 10 miles a day. We started our 1st night on a Monday at 5:30 pm. We just worked ½ days our 1st week, to get used to the physical requirements of the job. They call it "hardening". Thankfully we figured out that only a "picker" would walk that much (they go to the bins and "pick" items to fill orders.) We were assigned to be "stowers". We take a cart filled with an amazing variety of items and "stow" them in bins. Even so, we walk a lot, especially between sections and it's all on concrete. So yes, we are on our feet the whole time except for breaks and lunch. Then this past week we worked our first full shift, from 5:30 pm until 4 am. Four days on and three off. We get home hit the sack sleep until 1 or 2 pm and get up and do it again. 

All in all it is a good gig so far and interesting to see how things work in an enterprise like this. But no questions please cause we had to sign a non-disclosure agreement and would have to kill or be killed if in violation (just kidding). So far it's shaping up to be an okay way to make some good bucks for a couple months work and who knows; we may end up with enough funds to put the boat back in the water. Then y'all will have a place to stay when visiting us in Mexico and you gotta love that.  Kansas pictures

That's the jist of it for this time.... so Hi Ho, Hi Ho, it's off to work we go.

Vaya con Dios until the next time.....Becky and Jim