Post-Retirement from ORNL – 2016

Miriam - my last day of work was April 15 and official retirement date was May 1. Ben’s last day of work was July 1 and his official retirement date is September.  

So of course we don’t know how to be idle yet and decided to try local workcamping jobs initially in order to get used to living in the motorhome and to get organized. Thus the jobs at Dollywood. They have a really big workcamping program. Plus, we love Dollywood and have been season pass holders for several years. Since our Winnebago Journey is a 2003, we also thought if we it needed mechanical tweaking or fixes it would be best to use local mechanics that we knew and trusted. We had only traveled as far as Gaffney, SC, in the Winnebago and had never been in the motorhome over five days at a time.

We moved our motorhome to the Bear Cove Village and RV park (http://www.bearcovevillage.com/) in Pigeon Forge on April 23 in order to get ready for my first post-retirement workcamper job working at Dollywood. Ben got everything hooked up and ready to go so I could spend time organizing and settling into the camper when not working at Dollywood.  This turned out to be an interesting and somewhat challenging adventure.  

First, I found that I really didn’t mind being on my own in the camper. This is probably because I was familiar with Pigeon Forge and I knew Ben was only about an hour away if I needed him. I also felt safe at the campground. Camp hosts were nearby and the managers were also onsite much of the time. We stayed at this campground for a few days in 2015 so we were familiar with it and the surrounding area.

I also quickly got into an exercise routine which was a goal of mine post –retirement- more exercise! Patriot Park was just minutes away and one loop around it is ½ mile so I would manage to walk  1 ½ to 2 miles daily, usually first thing in the morning. Then I would walk the campground in the evening because it had more hills.

I had ample time while up there to sort through our belongings and organizing the camper.  At first going through clothing to decide what would actually be kept in the camper was daunting. Having plastic vacuum-sealed storage bags handy was a godsend.  But since Dollywood provides uniforms I quickly discovered I didn’t need that many changes of clothing when off work and was able to efficiently store clothing at our place in Lake Tansi/Crossville (http://holidayoutrvpark.com/) . Shoes were more of a challenge- mainly because I love shoes and it was hard to part with them. As we were also moving out of our condo in Knoxville at the end of June, much of my “work” wardrobe from ORNL as well as several pairs of shoes were donated to KARM. Ben had the same exercise to go through. We decided that if we were ever in a place in the future where we needed office work again we would deal with clothing needs at that time. But we also hope we won’t be in that situation!

  I quickly discovered what would fit in the small refrigerator/freezer in the camper and took into account the limited space when planning meals/buying groceries. There is ample kitchen cabinet space as well as two pull out pantries so I needed to plan on more packaged/canned food. Thank goodness there is a much better selection today of organic foods as we prefer these and feel they are better for us! I limited what pots and pans I would be using. We have a convection oven/microwave that is wonderful! I also purchased a small crockpot. Of course we had an outdoor grill as well but during our initial stay here we really didn’t use it very much. In Pigeon Forge a new Publix grocery had just opened nearby and they had a wonderful deli department. For the two of us we found that this was a good and relatively inexpensive option, especially on days when working at Dollywood. We also took the opportunity to try out some small local cafés that we had been curious about but had not tried before.

There is ample shopping in Pigeon Forge and a store close to the campground where we could buy storage cubes and boxes to help with organization. I highly recommend the folding cloth cubes. They are quite handy for books, shoes, crafts, office supplies. It really took us most of May and June to move what we needed into the camper and get everything organized. But we did it and were very pleased with our results.

Now I wanted to talk a little about my experience working at Dollywood. First, I wish I had given myself at least two-three months break before beginning another job. Working at Dollywood can be a rewarding and fun experience (and it was).  I worked at the Sweet Shop making candy.  My experience with Ben managing a Pizza restaurant a few years ago probably helped me get this job. But it is also very physical work and can take getting used to if you have been in an office environment for many years. The first week I worked there I really thought I might not make it. You are on your feet for several hours at a time. There are not many written instructions.  On the job training often consists of repeatedly asking many questions.  In addition to making various candies and decorating apples, we also cooked up big batches of apple butter and caramel over gas elements. Then there was much dishwashing and cleaning and keeping up with stock. Closing shifts had to take out boxes and trash, sweep and mop, and finish dishes as well. I seemed to be on closing shift a lot! Even though we were given at least 45 minutes for lunch and 10 minute breaks depending on hours worked, your feet, legs and back are in pain by the end of your shift if you aren’t used to this type of work. I was routinely taking Tylenol and Aleve, and every night I was applying icepacks on my back and legs. May is also a busy time for the park as they have their Bluegrass and BBQ festival during this time and it is very popular.  So I hired on at one of the busiest times. I was determined to stick it out though and got as much rest as I could. That was hard to do as I had to come back to Knoxville quite a bit to continue packing at the condo.

After about a month I found that I my feet and legs were holding up much better. My back was somewhat better as well. I lost six pounds which I was very happy about (!).  June turned out not to be quite as busy as May. I think this had something to do with the heat that arrived in June and also the fact that Splash Country was open and in full swing. So the pace wasn’t quite as hectic at work. That being said, you still don’t lack for things to do.

Dollywood has a separate entrance and parking lot for employees. They have shuttles that constantly run from the entrance to parking lot. These are great, especially at the end of your shift when you may be too tired to walk to your car (the parking lot is uphill). This also gives you a chance to chat with other employees and get to know them. I found this to be a definite perk when working there.  Having a uniform is another perk – you don’t have to worry about your wardrobe! Fellow employees are very friendly and helpful.

Dollywood also has a perks program for employees that provides free passes to many local attractions as well as deep discounts. While there we saw Titanic, Ripley’s Aquarium, and the Hollywood Wax Museum free of charge. We also saw Souls of Motown (WONDERFUL!) and Sweet Fanny Adams (funny!!) shows at deep discounts.  My friend Lynne came up for a couple of days to see me on my days off and I got her into the park for free. We had a great time.

But then the big push to move happened at the end of June and I also started working almost all closing shifts and training to do fudge at work and that proved to be too much for my right shoulder. I have never had shoulder problems so was caught off guard by this but I also couldn’t retire just to injure myself permanently. So I quit Dollywood to focus on getting healed from rotator cuff tendonitis. That has proved challenging and slow-going. So I was able to work at Dollywood for 10 weeks before my injury. They suggested I go on leave of absence but I knew this wasn’t an injury I could recover from quickly and I wasn’t sure what type of job I could go back to once healed.  I really enjoyed working there. My co-workers were very nice and the theme park experience was wonderful. I hope I can do it again sometime. Ben has a job there in the fall so we will be returning. I’ll play while he works!

Now a little more about the campground. One thing I really liked about our camping spot was the awesome view we had of the Dollywood fireworks once Dollywood’s summer of fun began. I love fireworks and was very excited to see the fireworks! I watched them whenever I got a chance. I also liked the close proximity to the amusement park. It only took me five-ten minutes to get back and forth to work. The campground felt safe and secure as well.

We were on the ‘long-term camper’ side of the campground and landscaping was not as nice. We didn’t have grass- basically gravel and concrete. We did have trees/woods behind us and there were pretty shrubs planted by each camper. But once the heat arrived the gravel and concrete absorbed it and it could be uncomfortable to sit outside. There were also two swimming pools at the campground but they were both pretty small and almost always crowded. So we really didn’t use them. They did have very clean and roomy restrooms and nice laundry mats. The management was great and the workcampers helpful and friendly.

So- we are up at our place in Crossville organizing and visiting with grandchildren whenever possible (that’s a whole other blog entry coming soon) and planning to do more camping.

I have to say I really do LOVE retirement.

From Ben-
First post in a while and I have to do it from my phone so forgive the typos and goofs! One thing I do miss about work besides the people is a fast internet!! Having connectivity withdrawals is bad ha! Anyway we left Dollywood early for a couple reasons, one is that Miriam hurt her shoulder lifting stuff in the kitchen and the other was working a ride there is harder than it seems. There are a lot of things happening at once and you have to keep your head on a swivel trying to make sure people are staying safe. With my hearing and the noise in the building I just couldn't keep up. Those folks running the rides there are working hard! I'll go back in the fall around the end of September to the end of October and work a food booth which is more up my alley.

For now we are in Crossville getting our storm shelter and covered porch put in. Then off for a week of vacation at Myrtle Beach for a break. I know who needs a break from retirement?? Well we haven't had a beach trip on our own in a while so this will be a treat.

As for Workamping we are looking at working at the KOA at Lake Tahoe next spring and summer. We'll just have to see how it goes.

So far retirement has been wonderful and hopefully soon we'll get started on our travels and have some adventures to report back!

Gaffney SC March 2014

Well we haven't posted in a bit but we haven't taken any trips in our motorhome in quite a while! We had it parked on our lot in Tansi last summer and fall and then it rained and rained and rained! We cancelled two planned short trips because of the rain. And of course we aren't fulltimers yet so we have our day jobs to consider.  ...

So- we did take our first trip of the season to Gaffney, South Carolina- peach capital of the South. Also featured on Netflix's House of Cards from town to town as the hometown of Kevin Spacey's wickedly delicious  character.

We did spend the first night outside of Asheville so we could take our time. It's always nice not to rush. We were refreshed when we headed out for Gaffney on Wednesday.

Our Gaffney trip was a combined business and pleasure trip. Ben had arranged for some service to be done on our Journey at the Freightliner center there and along with that we took a two day training course on our motorhome chassis- general information and maintenance. Well, he got me in the course for just a few dollars more so why not- although I have to admit the second day I spent a great deal of time playing on the IPad.

The service at the freightliner center was excellent as was the class. But by the second day it was a little over my head- as I am mechanically challenged. There were several couples in the class and we got to meet some nice people who all had travel and camping in common. One couple was from Crossville and they have joined the Tennessee WIT chapter so I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them! We were fed very well while we attended class and they even provided dinner one night.

We camped in the Freightliner parking lot, but we had electricity and we had filled up our water tank as well. It was really not bad camping in their lot as the spots were spaced apart and we got out and saw the sites when in the evening. We always like to check out places we haven't visited before.

Gaffney is an interesting little town. Howards proudly displays their visit from "Diners and Drive-Ins" Food Network show. Their claim to fame is their chili burger

Of course Ben had to try it but I was in the mood for soup. And it was still a little cold and windy out. The are also home to Liberty College, which used to be an exclusive women's college but as since gone co-ed. Very cute little campus and they have quite a bit to choose from in the way of degrees.

Then there is the giant peach - because of course it is the Peach capital. The peach that looks like a butt. . .

Or course it wasn't peach season yet- I'd like to go back when it is because there is nothing better than South Carolina peaches.

We make a visit to Cowpens - Civil War battlefield while we were there - which is a few miles outside of Gaffney. Every January they have a reenactment of the battle. It is quite a lovely site to take a stroll or bike ride. And by the second day it was a bit warmer. . .

We had a lovely three day trip. If only it could have been longer!

May Winnebago Rally in Townsend

We recently joined the Winnebago Rocky Top Travelers and attended our first rally in May in Townsend at Big Meadow Campground. We arrived on Friday, May 17 in time to pull our Journey through the car/camper wash and give it a good scrubbing and then head to the campground. Once we checked into the campground, we headed over to the Pavilion to officially check in with our club president and get the scoop on the weekend activities. Then we took a bike ride through Townsend, stopped and ate peach pie and ice cream (of course) and picked up a few groceries. After we got back to the campground we headed back to the pavilion, got to know fellow club members, and made new friends.

To start off the weekend activities, we had a meeting before dinner to get the rules of the "Murder Mystery" game we would all be participating in over the weekend. We each had to draw a card; whoever had the ace of spades was the "murderer" and would "murder" five members by displaying the card to them at an opportune moment, hopefully unseen by others. Then on Saturday afternoon, we would get clues from those "murdered" and try to guess who did them in. After the cards were chosen, we enjoyed some really yummy deluxe (Nathans with various trimmings) hot dogs from Campfire Grille, who came to the campground to cook them for us.  After dinner we played a marshmallow toss game. For this game you need a partner and decide who will toss and who will try to catch them with a basket. When we got down to the three couples with the most points, there was a playoff to decide the winners. We didn't win, or even come close, but it was fun to play!

It started to rain Friday night and into Saturday morning, so it's a good thing we had books and cable because we didn't bring a car- only our bikes. But we still had a yummy pancake breakfast, and the rain let up long enough for us to take a short bike ride and a couple of strolls around the campground. We also got to talk to some really nice folks from Knoxville who joined about the same time that we did and looked at their coach. In fact, we met so many nice people on this trip. Most had been transplants from other states after or close to retirement. Several were from Crossville and one couple lived at Lake Tansi, where we have our park model.  All were very happy in retirement (who wouldn't be!!).

We met back at four as a group to decide the "murderer." In the process, I unintentionally misled the group to think Ben was the "murderer." But he was at most of the places at or near the same time as the "murders" took place; plus he just acted guilty. The real guilty party was very good at keeping it to himself and even fooled his wife and mother-in-law! We also had an ice cream social before dinner time- what a good idea to have dessert before dinner! Each party was then on there own for dinner plans. We stayed at the camper and relaxed.

We met back as a group in the morning for a "grab and go" breakfast and said goodby to all for now. We will be meeting them again in November for a Pigeon Forge rally. Hopefully we will be traveling with them more regularly in a few years!

By the way, Big Meadow is a really nice campground run by friendly folks. It doesn't have a pool but the campsites are nicely laid out, you have a good view, and there is a nice playground for the little ones.

Too much water = Roughing it!

View of Watts Bar lake out our front window at Caney Creek RV Resort

For some reason we thought since it was going to be a rainy weekend that it would be fun to get the RV out of storage and check things out. After some fun hooking up in a down pour we finally got settled in to discover we had not restocked the essentials like toilet paper. aaaagh! Since we didn't pull the car one of us had to trudge to the office to borrow some in the rain. Well then it rained non stop all day Saturday and throughout the night which wasn't too bad since we had a couple of movies, plenty of books and wi-fi, what else do you need besides toilet paper. So when a break came in the morning we thought we'd high tail it out of there. Last thing to do is to roll up the awning; push the button and a little movement and then nothing, Push the button many more times and still nothing aaagggh and it has starting raining again. While Ben was outside scratching his head saying bad words Miriam jumped on the internet and do what we refer to as praying to the Google Gods for an answer and sure enough she came across some blogs that gave us enough info to decide something was weighing it down. Back outside Ben has stopped grumbling to discover that water has somehow gotten between the seam and had collected into a large pocket of water or dead weight. No amount of coaxing would get it out so we had to resort to drastic field surgery... poke a small hole in the bubble... "We have a gusher" the water came out on top of Ben of course. When the extra weight was removed the awning rolled up as designed. Whew quick hit the road before anything else can go wrong.. Well of course one more thing had to finish out the trip; driving down the road Ben sees a compartment door open up. Thats what we get for rushing. Back out in the rain close the door and then head home to some dry clothes and hot food!

No Water Hookups = Roughing it :)

Pigeon Forge / Dollywood quick trip after winterizing.

Spent a very warm weekend in Pigeon Forge at Pine Mountain RV Park which is one of our favorites parks there. We had already winterized the RV so we couldn't hook up the water hose but we were about 30 feet from the bath house so it wasn't too bad. The RV pad #7 was so wide I wasn't sure where to park the Beast. It was their Deluxe site and now I see why. It had a nice table and fire ring plus it was the closest to the pool so would be an excellent site if we had any little ones and it was summer.

Then On to DollyWood...



Looked at the Christmas decorations..

Saw the Bald Eagles. We got to hear their call on this day. Very interesting.

Here we are flying like eagles on the old Ferris Wheel.

Then as dusk settled in the lights came on. A perfect ending to a great day!

Asheville trip - continued
Friday

Friday after we unpacked at Tapps R.V. Park we headed into Asheville, one of our favorite cities. First we ate at our favorite pizza place for lunch. Our grandsons would love the Star Wars murals. This place has awesome pizza and home-brewed beer. Can't go wrong there!

Then we headed into the city. It was certainly packed for a Friday afternoon. We assume there were a lot of vacationers around plus students out of school for fall break. It was also a little warmer than we thought it would be - almost 80. We headed to Mast General Store. Then checked out the Biltmore Arcade shopping center.

We also saw a street performer. Hey California family - check it out. This would rival the performers at San Francisco!

We love Asheville. To us it's a transplanted West Coast city. Or it's been transformed into one!  Friday night we stayed in our motorhome. It's really cozy and comfortable.

Saturday we took a 20-mile road trip to Chimney Rock State Park and Lake Lure. On the way to Chimney Rock we took a nice drive through mountain roads and through the town of Bat Cave. We've seen the sign for Bat Cave many times on interstate 26 and now we've been there. It's a small town in the hollows of the mountains and it seemed very shady and a little gloomy in places.

There is an elevator that will take you over 20 stories to the top of Chimney Rock. However, there is a $15 a person charge to enter the park and Saturday in the fall it's very crowded. Plus Ben is the only one of us who would have dared go to the top. There is also a scary staircase and bridge that is another route to the top. Wow. So we hung out in the shops and had a bite to eat and took some pictures instead.

Since Lake Lure was only five miles down the road, we decided to check it out as well. It's a man-made lake and there isn't alot there besides boat tours, a resort and restaurants. But there is a pretty walkway by the lake and a paths for bikes. There were quite a few people there. There was some sort of metal detector contest going on at the beach.

After a busy day out and about, we went back to the camper to freshen up and headed to Grove Park Inn. 

There were displays of winners from the pumpkin carving contest from earlier in the day. Again, there was quite a crowd at the Inn, including a wedding party.

We had the most wonderful dinner buffet ever! It was awesome. We had smoked trout and salmon, crab and shrimp salad, prime rib, and other tasty items. We were so full when we left. Hey, we dress up pretty nice!

The weather was starting to get cooler. It was almost 70 for the high on Saturday and by the time we got back to the camper it was probably in the 40s. But we stayed nice and warm in the motorhome.

Sunday it was on to Biltmore. We had purchased tickets in advance and so we pretty much drove straight through the gate to the parking lot. It was fairly crowded for a rainy, rather cold day. There were already some Christmas decorations up in preparation for the official opening of the Christmas season at Biltmore. All the bedrooms as well as some of the sitting areas had decorated trees on display. New (to us) were displays of clothing worn during the era that the first Vanderbilts occupied the house. There was also a temporary display with additional information about Biltmore on the second floor. It took us about 2 hours to tour the house. After the tour we were starving so we ate lunch at the Stable. Food was great as always. I had a yummy stew and Ben had chicken salad sandwich.

We left the house and headed to the gardens. The mums were really pretty and there were still roses in bloom.

On to the winery and Antler Village. Now the rain was coming down in earnest. We toured the Vanderbilt friends and family display and learned even more about the family and the type of life they lived. They did some really wonderful things for the community. They were really people to be admired. This includes the present family as Biltmore has helped to keep Asheville thriving. My dream retirement job is to work at Biltmore, at least for a few months. I could give tours or help decorate!!

This was the weekend that hurricane Sandy hit the Northeast and it was getting ready to blow snow into Asheville on Monday so we got out of there in the nick of time. We had a pretty calm drive back home. Riding in the big motorhome does take some getting used to but it turns out it's quite fun!