Moderate or strenuous?

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There are many hiking trails to choose from in the Black Hills of South Dakota, several of which are very close to my new campground. Recently, I got to complete the Hell Canyon trail (5.25 mile loop trail), about 13 miles west of Custer SD.

I specifically used the word ‘complete’ because I’d been on that trail twice before without completing it. The first time was with Jean and we turned around early in the hike. The second time I went by myself, missed a trail sign and wandered aimlessly for a couple of hours, although I did get some very good pix.

So, third time’s the charm, as they say. I got to the trailhead fairly early although it wasn’t forecast to get very hot that day. From the trailhead, you have 2 options. Start to the left and you’re faced with a steep 1/2 mile switchback trail to begin. Start to the right and you have 5 creek crossings before you start going uphill and finish downhill on that switchback.

The scenery was different than most of my hikes. Lots of rocks and cliff faces, open ground with only a few trees. At one point I saw a rock climber coming down a cliff face. At the bottom of the cliff face was a low cave opening. When it gets hotter here I may revisit that cave just for the cooler temps.

So, back to the title question. Moderate or strenuous? Most of these trails have descriptions in local brochures or at the trailhead that describe the level of difficulty. At this stage of my life, I have to admit that a trail that would have been moderate, at worst, a couple decades ago is now tilted toward the strenuous side of the line. And that’s OK. I can still finish the hikes even if I take a few more breaks. The scenery looks just as good and my body still reaps the physical benefits of getting out into nature.

Finally settled in

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Well, the site we initially parked on didn’t seem like it would be that desirable for paying guests, but there were enough reservations for it that we finally had to move.

The water was turned on throughout the park so we didn’t have to worry about running a hose across the street to fill up the freshwater tank. Moving day was very uneventful. We did a slightly abbreviated prep since we were only driving about 150 yards. Got positioned on the new site without too much trouble and relaxed the rest of the day.

Because of some forecast low temps at night, we still didn’t drop the deck and expose the sliding glass doors. Hopefully, that will come this week.

So far, we’ve found a great Mexican food truck in town, a decent pizza place for takeout and a Dairy Queen with a drive thru. With that many calories, it’s a good thing I’m also jogging and bike riding up and down hills. US Hwy 16 has huge shoulders to keep me safe. As long as I only go out in daylight, life is good.

On the road again

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As the coronavirus restrictions continue, I found a job at a private campground in Custer SD. They wanted me right away even though the place doesn’t officially open until mid-May. So, we did a little route planning, called a few RV parks along the way and departed NCBC Gulfport on a mild Friday morning.

First stop was in the boot heel of Missouri after a fairly long driving day, about half of it on secondary roads. All things considered it was a decent drive with no close calls and no mechanical problems. We got to the park late in the afternoon, filled out the after hours registration and headed for our site. Just hooked up electric for the residential frig. Had a quick supper and watched a little TV before hitting the sack.

Off again the next morning for the other side of Missouri. This time we stopped just before Kansas City, about mid afternoon. Jean had time to check out the Amish country store while I unhitched to fill up with cheap diesel down a winding country road. So far, so good. The highways were mostly empty and we were making good time.

Somewhere along the line, I realized I’d forgotten about an Amazon webinar that I needed to attend for my next job. We discussed staying for several days at our next stop so I could do that where I had reliable Wi-Fi, then decided to press on to Rapid City instead.

The next day we headed off to our next stop just outside Mitchell SD. This was probably my best driving day of the trip. I picked up a great tail wind on I-29 and at one point the truck display read 14.0 mpg. We stopped at a Subway for sandwiches just before checking in to the next campground. This time I also hooked up water so we could take showers. The next morning we even unhitched to backtrack a few miles and pick up a few necessities at the local WalMart. After restocking, we hit the interstate again for what should have been our next to last leg.

It was very windy again, but this time it was a crosswind. I thought I saw something funny with one of my slide toppers but since it wasn’t billowing out, just kept driving. We got into Rapid City SD about 2 PM, pulled into an RV park where I’d previously stayed and found a sign on the door that they’d be back in 2 hours. I found a nearby electric box and plugged in for the frig after calling the office number and leaving a message. Well, about 3:30 someone showed up and told me that we could not stay there for a night because of the coronavirus. Nothing else was open nearby so we called Custer and left a voice mail that we were on our way a little earlier than expected. We arrived while it was still daylight but the owners hadn’t checked the voicemail so they were a little surprised. We picked a spot for the night and settled in for a well-deserved rest. That was close to 1800 miles in 4 days.

Now we just have to survive some very low temps in the next week, then change to our permanent site for the season once the water gets turned on. The campground looks really nice but the deer are still wandering through like they own it. I imagine one of my jobs in the near future will be picking up all their droppings. Never a dull moment as a workamper!

Oh, that slide topper that looked a little off on the last leg of the trip? The wind did a real number on it. One end of the fabric is sewed around a plastic rod, which slides into a channel on the RV. Well, the wind undid most of the stitching. The only things that kept it from flying free were a couple of screws in the channel holding the ends of the plastic rod. I now get to remove that topper completely to make repairs, then reattach. Lucky me.

Travel update

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Maybe the title for this one should have been “Lack of travel”. Jean and I were discussing our future travel plans yesterday and decided to try extending here in Gulfport since Ft. Sam Houston RV park (our next planned stop) has a strict 30 day limit. Turned out to be a very good decision. Last night I checked out the closure list again on http://militarycampgrounds.us

Ft. Sam was now showing up on the list of closures. I checked the post website to verify and it was confirmed there. I guess they’ve been very busy and reduced their hours since I didn’t get a call cancelling my reservation.

Current Navy policy says no new reservations until May 11 but current campers can extend until May 11 so that’s what we did this morning. Who knows what will happen between now and then? We may be better off heading north in early May but we’ll see what the commercial RV park situation looks like as we get closer. Until then, we’re safe and sound on the Gulf Coast – just bored like many other folks.

Fulltiming during a national health emergency

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We’re definitely in uncharted waters now folks. When I first heard about the coronavirus it was restricted to a small area in China. Quite frankly, I didn’t see it as much of a threat to my health or way of life. Then it started spreading around the globe. The first cases in the US were reported. The medical experts were given more air time and talking about how bad it already was and how much worse it could get.

At that time, we’d already settled in a military RV park in Mississippi. As the pandemic progressed our life started changing. The governor closed the casinos so Jean couldn’t gamble anymore. People were inexplicably stockpiling toilet paper and paper towels. Still, we were OK. We still went to the movies on senior discount day. Sometimes we were the only ones in the theater. The local ice cream shop was still open so we had the occasional treat.

Then it ramped up another notch. I haven’t checked the movie theater but all the restaurants terminated their dine in option. You could still get stuff for takeout or delivery. The commissary on base started rationing everything to combat the hoarding. They also said only military ID card holders could shop, so Jean now has to wait in the truck 🙁

Ramp up another notch. All across the Navy, RV parks were cancelling future reservations. This also happened at some Air Force and Army installations but it seemed to be more selective. State and national park campgrounds were closing. PA decided to close all of its rest areas. Some governors directed the closing of non-essential businesses. Unfortunately, they decided that RV parks and campgrounds were non-essential. That made absolutely no sense to me since motels and hotels were considered essential. The camping lobbies quickly went into action and appealed that decision in 4 states. For full-timers and traveling workers, these places are essential. For others, it’s a way to get out of congested cities and practice an excellent type of social distancing.

If we didn’t already have other plans (financially booked), we would probably stay put while things shake out. So far, I’ve checked with our overnight, enroute park and our destination park. Both are still open for business. With any luck they’ll stay that way until we get to San Antonio in a few days. What comes next is anyone’s guess. Our current plans are to stay there for 1 month but if there are more lockdowns we could be there longer.

Supplementing your income on the road

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I’ve written previously about working the sugar beet harvest, Amazon peak and various campgrounds or RV parks. These are the more traditional methods of ‘workamping’ that many people are aware of but they’re not the only ways to make extra money. There are some internet groups dedicated to helping people find non-traditional ways to support an RVing lifestyle.

Many of these options are more or less telecommuting jobs. They’re geared toward folks without a retirement income yet. They can include jobs such as accounting, proofreading, transcription, website design and teaching. Pretty much any job that does not require a physical presence can be done from virtually anywhere you have a good internet connection. These options are great for someone who still wants to work fulltime but I just don’t need that much extra income each month.

Some people in my situation perform services on the road (RV repair, hair care, pet grooming, massage). I tried in person computer support for a couple of years but discovered that RVers can be a very frugal bunch of people when it comes to computer services. Others sell arts and crafts. Count me out on that one. I’ve never been very artsy or crafty.

Tally ho! I stumbled across something recently that seems to be right up my alley. The website is http://app.usertesting.com

Companies with websites or smartphone/tablet apps are always trying to improve and need a lot of unbiased user input to make decisions. They contact usertesting.com and get testers to perform specific tasks and provide opinions and impressions.

Before I explain further, I need to emphasize that this is NOT a way to get rich or replace a fulltime income. It’s also not very steady work. When I first signed up, I had to create a basic profile and complete an in-house test. They listened to it, graded me, offered suggestions and cleared me to accept live tests. Between signing up and being cleared for actual work took only a couple of days.

So, I signed in to their website and waited for tests to start popping up. At this point, it really helps if you’re a multitasker. It could be hours between tests popping on your page so you don’t want to just sit there staring at the monitor all day long. Your computer will ding when a test pops in. Prepare yourself for a little more frustration here. Each client wants a particular skillset or demographic to check their website or app. You probably won’t qualify for most tests. When you do qualify, accept it quickly since only a limited number of people will get paid for it.

Within a day or 2, I qualified for a test. I completed it and thought I did a fairly good job. According to my dashboard, I had earned $10. They pay to a PayPal account exactly 7 days to the hour after you upload a test. Now, enter more frustration. Your first live test has to be manually graded by someone at usertesting before you can take another test. They were backlogged after my first test and I had to wait nearly 3 weeks before I could take another test. After that, I started qualifying for several tests a week. Depending on how much time you want to spend, you could probably make $50-$100 a week.

Again, this is not going to make you rich but it could pay for dinners out or campground fees without breaking your back or putting in set hours for someone else.

Truck Maintenance

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I mentioned at the end of my last post that I had some repairs done to my truck after arriving here in MS. It’s an area that I believe needs to be stressed for people who are considering a fulltime RV lifestyle, or workamping as a career. Unless you’re already independently wealthy, you’ll need some emergency funds. When I started in 2006, I was able to pay cash for a 5th wheel and pickup truck after the sale of a house. That was great, from a financial standpoint, for several years. Now I have a new 5th wheel, along with monthly payments and the truck is 14 years old. I suspected that the motor would last a very long time and it has. But there are other components that wear out and need to be repaired or replaced. Just in the last 5 months, I’ve spent about $5k in truck repairs. The first big ticket item was a clutch replacement. I’ve owned manual transmission vehicles before but never had clutch repairs. It failed on I-29 heading to Fargo ND. I have roadside assistance for both the truck and the RV so that saved me a lot of towing fees. I was already planning to get the clutch replaced so I had a transmission shop in mind. They completed the repairs for about half the cost quoted to me previously by a Dodge dealer and in a fraction of the time.

Fast forward to my next job in TN. It was starting to get very cold at night. One morning the truck just wouldn’t start. My neighbor was heading in to work at the same time so I caught a ride with him. That night I walked to a nearby auto parts store and bought a battery charger. After 2 days of charging, the truck would still not start. I had jumper cables and a neighbor with a big truck so I was able to start the truck and drive back to the auto parts store for testing and 2 new batteries. Yep, my 1 ton diesel engine requires 2 batteries. With the cold weather in TN I made sure that my ventilation system in the truck stayed in the position to route some air towards the windshield and some on the floor. This was not as simple as it sounds since that system has been getting a little wonky the last few years.

On the drive to MS, it became impossible to change airflow and very difficult to change temperature so that was the next visit to a dealer. Sounds like a fairly simple fix but they had to remove the entire dash to complete the repairs. And of course, the parts were all make and model specific from Dodge. Translate to expensive.

Even through all this, I consider myself very lucky. For the last 4 months of 2019, I was working at high paying, seasonal, temp jobs (sugar beet harvest and Amazon) so I had the money to cover the repairs. The breakdowns happened either before I started work or when I was able to carpool with a coworker. In other circumstances, either of the first 2 incidents could have been disastrous. I did NOT miss any work due to the repairs. I did NOT have to pay high rates to camp while repairs were being made. I did NOT have to run a credit card balance or take out a loan for the repairs. I was able to get repairs done in a timely manner and stay safe on the road. Those last few sentences are for the folks who think fulltiming and workamping are cheap ways to live. It can be for a time but expenses WILL jump out at you when least expected. Please be prepared.

Made it to Gulfport

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My last day at Amazon was supposed to be 12/21 and was I ever ready for that. Then they offered an additional day on 12/22. What to do, what to do. My future plans included picking up my girlfriend Jean at the Nashville Airport on 12/25. Seeing that I didn’t have any other plans, I took the extra day, and the extra money.

We spent an extra day in the Nashville area to see the Zoolumination exhibit at the Nashville Zoo. They hired a team from China to put up a lot of illuminated decorations, kind of like they do for Chinese New Year. It was very impressive and I’m glad we went.


Normally when traveling from point A to point B, I try to do it in the minimum time possible. This time, with Jean and her dog, I planned for a 2 day trip. We left Smyrna mid-morning on 12/27. Less than 10 miles down the road I noticed one of my twist on valves bouncing on the pavement under the 5er. Pulled on to the shoulder to disconnect it from the sewer cap and stow it in the truck. Fortunately, that was the worst incident during the drive. We made it to Meridian MS that afternoon while it was still daylight. Got a level, pull thru site, very cheap at Bonita Lakes RV Park https://www.campgroundreviews.com/regions/mississippi/meridian/bonita-lakes-rv-park-4811

We even got there early enough to unhitch the truck and head into town for some inexpensive diesel. I need to interject something here. I’m a big fan of Gas Buddy and use it extensively but it does have its flaws. Twice in TN and once in MS, I went to stations with false prices posted. I corrected Gas Buddy each time and did NOT get diesel at any of those stations. I don’t know if it’s the owners or some jackass just messing with other people but I sure don’t appreciate it.

Early start the next day for the final leg of the trip, a straight shot down the Interstate and US 49 to the Naval base at Gulfport. Once south of I-10, we disregarded the directions coming from Google Maps and relied on the directions from the military campgrounds website: http://www.militarycampgrounds.us/

Again, it was an early arrival so there were people in the office. We were directed to a site in the new section and given a stack of papers to read. At first glance, the sites were very spacious, full cement pad. But, because of our deck that drops down from the kitchen slide, I had to do a lot of maneuvering to get situated just right. Even with all that, the outside legs for the deck would be in the grass. Before dropping the deck, I reviewed all the park rules and found many restrictions about things in, on, or over the grass. I requested someone come by my site on Monday morning before setting up the deck. Thankfully, they had no problem with the legs in the grass.

Since then, I’ve kept busy with doctor/dentist appointments, getting more repairs on the truck and checking out local buffets. I’ll get more into that in a future post.

Chinese buffets near Smyrna TN

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I didn’t have a lot of time to check out the local buffets since Amazon kept me very busy. The first one I found was the Asuka Hibachi and Buffet, just a couple of miles from the campground in Smyrna. It was an average place in a plaza. On the plus side, they did have rice noodles and sugared peanuts. I never saw crab legs or any other ‘exotic’ dishes on the steam tables. Food quality, décor and service were OK for the price. I quickly got bored here and decided to look elsewhere.

After some research on Google, I tried out the Yoki Buffet in Murfreesboro TN. The drive was a little longer but turned out to be well worth it. I was only able to visit during dinner or holiday hours. During this time they always had froglegs and large shrimp available. For you crab lovers, they had either stone crab or blue crab, but no king crab legs. This place was always busy so expect a crowd. Dessert selections were limited but they also had a hibachi and sushi.


Amazon 2019 update

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Well, it’s been 7 years since I’ve wandered the aisles of an Amazon fulfillment center during the Christmas rush. I’m at a different location now. The last time was at Campbellsville KY, where the RV park was a short 2 block walk from work. Now I’m working at Murfreesboro TN and staying in an RV park in Smyrna TN. That’s about a 20 minute drive down I 24, usually not too bad but metro Nashville traffic can really get intense. The first few days I used Google Maps and about 6 times per trip I would get a notice about a disabled vehicle.

Is the work any different? Not really. There are a few small differences that I’ve noticed. Here at BNA3 (Amazon slang for Murfreesboro) , they have 2 start of shift briefing locations instead of the 1 at Campbellsville. That means you have to get logged in to your scanner a few minutes early to see which side you’ll be picking and go to the correct briefing/stretching location. They also use walkie talkies extensively. That makes it much easier to get help anywhere in the warehouse but it also means they can’t pipe music out to take our minds off the drudgery of the work.

After a 7 year break, I obviously had questions about my physical abilities. Good news/bad news there. 3 weeks in and I haven’t been bothered by blisters or chafing rashes like the first time. My feet are in fairly good shape. I can still walk after a 10 hour shift without problem. But…… have you ever heard a sportscaster talk about an athlete losing a step late in their career? I know the true meaning of that now. While I can still scoot down the aisle at a pretty quick pace, it’s not quite as fast as it used to be. I got one more surprise – my eyesight. Those scanners have fairly small type so I frequently have to use my reading glasses. I don’t use glasses for distance or own bifocals so I do a lot of flipping the glasses on and off the top of my head.

My attitude has also changed. The first time around I was constantly trying to get the highest numbers possible, strictly an ego thing. This time I’ve come to a couple of realizations. First, no matter how quick I pick, my pick rates will always be limited by the scanner and by the stowers. The scanner tells me where to go and what to pick. If it sends me on a 20 second walk to pick just one item several times an hour, my numbers will be low. The best hour I had at Campbellsville was standing at a bin full of gift cards for the better part of an hour, picking 10 or 20 at a time without moving. Stowers are the people who put merchandise in the bins for me to pick. If they jam a bin with many similar items, I have to spend extra time pawing through the entire bin for the one item I need. Beyond those 2 limitations, it simply doesn’t make sense for me to kill myself trying to get high numbers. I get paid the same regardless of my pick rate. As long as I meet Amazon standards, I keep getting paid. They also print out reports of all the pickers rates and hang those on a board for review. There are still many pickers with lower numbers than me so I feel fairly secure in my job.

Right now, I have 4 work weeks left. At least 2 of those will be 50 hour weeks. I’ve done one 50 hour week so far but the extra day was in the middle of my 3 day weekend. Future overtime will be 5 days in a row so I’ll be a very tired puppy by the end of the week. The permanent employees refer to a workday as 4 quarters, marked by 2 breaks and lunch. After talking to some coworkers, it seems like many of us are surviving from one quarter to the next. With my first pick of the day, I start counting down to the first break, then to lunch, then to the afternoon break. Maybe they need to figure out a way to get that music in the warehouse to get our minds off that.

My last scheduled shift is 12/21. I’ll take a few days off and tow the 5th wheel down to MS for the winter.