Workamper Thanksgiving 2008

Living on the road full time, special days take on a different look than they had when we lived in a house. Sometimes we are near family and they are more traditional, but mostly we spend them with other travelers who have become our second family. Some years we have gone out to a restaurant with friends who are in a similar situation. We enjoy a good meal, companionship and laughter. This year we are part of a large group of workampers, some of which we knew before and others whom we met here. The employment agency we work for arranged for a Thanksgiving dinner for us. They provided the location, many pounds of turkey and ham and beverages. Each one of us provided a dish to share. Not everyone was there, as the amazon facility was open and some opted to work all day. We just worked the morning so we could attend the mid-day meal. We had a wonderful time and a variety of delicious food. We were home in time to call our children and visit with friends. We certainly have much to be thankful for.

The food table extended across the large room.

Our 'second family' enjoys a meal together.

Working at amazon.com

We have been working quite a bit lately. Even with the slow economic times, we have started the busy season here. Last week we worked 50 hours and will continue with at least that many hours until December 23. Some of you have asked, so here is a little about the work we are doing here. This fulfillment center is the largest of the 26 amazon has around the country. It's a million square foot facility, and during their peak time last year they processed in excess of 300,000 orders per day. Never a dull moment, for sure. We work in the inbound section, mostly on the receive line. Our job involves opening cases of product once they have been unloaded from the trucks. We sort like items, enter into the computer system and place in plastic totes. It's not a difficult job, but we are working constantly, sometimes processing as many as 400 items per hour, per person. In a way we are like Christmas elves helping in the workshop. When we see the toys, we imagine the happy child that will receive it as a gift. It's a surprise when we open the boxes as they can contain anything you can imagine and maybe some things you can't. We work with many nice people, managers, permanent employees and workampers alike. We have renewed friendships with people we have worked with before and have made some new friends.

An interesting mural on the side of a truck box we saw on one of our rides.

The amazon facility in Coffeyville is only 5 miles from the campground.

A view of the amazon facility. It is so large we could not get a picture of the whole building from the road.

Little House on the Prairie, Independence, KS

Yesterday, October 11, we visited the Little House on the Prairie historic site, which is only about 20 miles from where we are staying. This is the site where Laura Ingalls Wilder lived with her family from 1869 to 1871. She used her experiences here for her Little House novels. In 1977 volunteers built a one room cabin similar in size and shape to the one described in her book here. The Sunnyside Schoolhouse was moved to this site in 1976 from it's original location four and a half miles to the northwest. It is a schoolhouse from the same era. There is also a small post office on the site. They had a bluegrass prairie festival on the grounds yesterday. Music was plentiful as was talent of all ages, and yes, there was food. A windy, warm, sunny day on the prairie with good music, homemade food and friendly country folks for company. A truly enjoyable day.

The one room cabin. And to think people wonder how we live in such a small home.

Inside view of the schoolhouse. Schoolteachers in that time were paid $25 to $35 per month.

Kids having a sack race.

Some of the younger musicians jamming on the grounds.

Typical young girl cuddling a very small kitten.

A six year old in the children's fiddle contest.

Some of the older kids in the fiddle contest.

The Coles are a local family. Two sisters married to two brothers. Each couple has two sons. We are convinced that musical talent is hereditary.

Dalton Defender Days, Coffeyville, KS

On October 4 we attended the Dalton Defender Days right here in Coffeyville. Every year they hold this festival in honor of those who defended the community during the Dalton Raid on October 5, 1892. The Dalton Gang attempted to rob two banks in town at the same time when they were recognized. The townspeople armed themselves to confront the bandits. In the gun battle that followed, 4 local men were killed along with 4 of the gang. The fifth gang member, who was injured, went to jail.
We watched the re-enactment in the plaza and enjoyed listening to performances and walking around the booths.

Townspeople before the raid. One bank is at the right of the screen.

Two members head for the bank across the plaza after the other three entered the bank on the left.

The townspeople firing at the robbers in the banks on either end of the plaza.

The end of the battle.

Moving the bodies of the gang members to the bank.

The four dead Dalton Gang members in front of the bank windows and the injured one in front of the door.

Old Iron Days, Fredonia, KS

We have found some interesting things to do in the area. It's not the scenic surroundings from Yellowstone, but interesting none the less. On September 27 we attended the Wilson County Old Iron Days in Fredonia, KS. It was a small gathering of old machinery owners, (old tractors, but some of the owners were old too). They had displays of rock crushers, balers, sawmills, shingle saws, threshing machines, etc. from the early 1900's. They were all in operation which made for a variety of sounds and smells. In addition they had antique tractors on display in all stages of restoration and demonstrations including rope making, outdoor cooking, broom making, and an ice cream machine. We had a great time wandering around and enjoying the many culinary delights such as venison chili, apples & onions, and cabbage & bacon. For dessert we had homemade ice cream and apple cookies. In the early afternoon they had a tractor parade. Before the parade, a local boy played the national anthem on his trumpet as everyone faced the flag. This to us is real America.

The National Anthem

One of the participants in the parade. She is the proud owner.

Old fashioned home made ice cream. What a treat.

Hay compactor and baler.

A series of machines used for crushing rock.

An old air compressor with whistles at the top. Pulling one of the chains made sure everyone was awake.

A blacksmith adding air to the fire to heat it up.

Walter Johnson Park, Coffeyville, Kansas

Our weather has improved since we first arrived in Coffeyville, Kansas. The first week here we had more rain than we had seen in the last couple of years and it was very humid. Now we have settled into sunny, warm weather and the humidity has dropped some. Hope it lasts.
We are staying at Walter Johnson Park, which has campsites with water and electric. Most of the others here are also working at Amazon.com for the season. Since the park is on the edge of town everything is close by. The park is named for a former Washington Senators pitcher and one of the first inductees into the Baseball Hall of Fame. He lived in Coffeyville during the off season. He played in the Major League between 1907 and 1927 and set many pitching records, some of which remained unbroken for more than 50 years. Besides the campground there is a playground, picnic area, horseshoe pits, baseball fields and buildings used during the fair.

Our campsite

View of part of the campground. Some of the sites are under pecan trees.

Looking towards the playground and picnic area.

As you can see from this picture taken in the park, they had a major flood here last year. When the local refinery shut down for the flood, a valve was left open and 90,000 gallons of oil were spilled into the flood waters. The oil company had to purchase almost 400 homes that were damaged and tear them down.

Trip from West to Coffeyville

We left West Y on August 31 and traveled three days to get to Coffeeville, KS where we will be for a while. It was a faster trip than we normally like, but we were trying to stay ahead of a weather front.

We traveled through YNP one more time, for this year, and went out the south entrance where we enjoyed a distant view of the Tetons blanketed in low clouds.




Traveling on US 26 in Wyoming, we went over Togwotee Pass at 9658 feet. Right near there we were fortunate to see a mother grizzly with two cubs.

Even as we left the Rockies behind, it was a scenic route.

The great plains extending ahead of us.

In these wide open spaces, you can see distant storms, while enjoying blue skies overhead.

Since there was a weather front following us, it made for interesting cloud formations.

Our Last Week in Yellowstone Area

Our last week in West Yellowstone we had another visit from friends. What a treat to be able to share the area with Jean and Joe. Along with other places we have already posted here, we visited Big Springs and The St. Anthony Sand Dunes, both in Idaho. Big Springs is the primary source of the Henrys Fork of the Snake River. It is one of the largest freshwater springs in North America with a daily flow of 120,000,000 gallons of water (yes, it's that many zeros) at 52 degrees Fahrenheit. Look at our previous post on Upper and Lower Mesa Falls, which are on Henrys Fork, to better see the volume of water.

At Big Springs, water runs out of the side hill. The water is very clear, which makes it easy to see the fish which are plentiful here.

It was impressive to see sand dunes in this part of the country near St. Anthony. They cover about 175 square miles with dunes ranging from 50 to 400 feet tall.

Claudia and Jean atop one of the sand dunes.


The view from the top.

We also visited YNP with them which we always enjoy. Our trip that day took us on the lower loop where we visited many of the geothermal areas.

Grand Prismatic Spring.

Bacteria grows in the warm water creating the greens and oranges.

This pool was very deep

Spasm Geyser

Female elk in the Madison River.

Old Bison Bull having a drink

Lone Star Geyser

Today we took the hike to Lone Star Geyser in Yellowstone. Since we are Texas residents, (the Lone Star State), and have recently purchased a lot at Lone Star Corral, in Hondo, TX, it was something we were drawn to. The trail is 4.8 miles round trip, but even though it was a very warm day here, (mid 80's), it was enjoyable and relaxing. We had read that it erupts very regularly at about 3 hour intervals, but had no idea when it would happen. It was our lucky day, because just as we arrived we enjoyed a major, 40 foot high eruption that lasted almost a half hour. There were 8 others there with us to witness this, compared to the many hundreds we saw at Old Faithful the last time we went there.

The Lone Star Geyser

It was named the Lone Star because the nearest large geyser (Old Faithful) is 3 air miles away.

This geyser earned early fame because of it's large, colorful, sinter cone out in the middle of the forest.

As the major eruption gets towards the end, the water is all expelled and it goes into a powerful steam phase, which can be heard up to a mile away.

The geyser was not to be our only treat today. As we traveled through the park on our way to the hike we spotted this young eagle looking for some breakfast in the Madison River.

Young eagles don't get their white head feathers until they are 3 or 4 years old.

The first part of our walk followed the Firehole River.

A very large, colorful dragonfly we saw on the trail. It's amazing how thin and transparent the wings are.

This flower made us think of fireworks. The bee is just after the nectar.