'22/#18 "Oh Give Me A Home With Wheels To Roam....

...and Buffalo is so far away!" That's Buffalo, NY if you didn't get it.  I'll have to work on the rest of the lyrics!

Yes the RV has been on the road and we are in our old home at our new home in Bar Harbor Maine. On the way from Corfu to Bar Harbor we made a point of stopping in and seeing an old friend of mine. I'm not going to say how old we are but we've known each other since we were two years old! It is always good to see friends along the way when we can and especially long time friends. That's another perk of the nomad lifestyle. We never know when we may be passing near and having the opportunity to visit friends or family. That wouldn't be possible without the traveling we do as full time Rvers.

Now Bar Harbor is our home for the next three months. We have jobs at the Hampton Inn in Bar Harbor and are looking forward to making new friends, seeing the area, and of course eating "lobstah"! I've fallen down on he job. We were here for 24 hours before I got  Mary her first lobster roll and I'm sure it will be the first of many. Most of the menus we have seen serve a variety of food but can almost always be ordered with a side of lobster. Who would have thought of lobster as a "side"?

Right now our job at the hotel is in the laundry. Bedding in the washer then in the dryer then fold and send out to the room staff..... aaaand repeat. Not difficult or exciting but it is never ending. It will be easier when we get our own rhythm as the laundry comes and goes. Everyone we have met is very friendly and we will get to know them better as time goes on. There are a number of exchange students from a variety of countries but we have worked with these types of young people before and always enjoyed their company.

We only have one day off this week as they blend us into the schedule so we took advantage of this day off to do our own laundry. Not that we had a problem before, but we look at folding our own bedding with a different point of view. At least ours has a design on it to look at instead of white, white , and more white.

Well we are now in Bar Harbor and I will keep posting from our home here in Maine because....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'22/#17 I Hear The Road Calling

 ..... and Mary hears it in a lobster voice! Wink, wink? Today is our last day in Darien Lakes. The past week we have been getting the RV cleaned up, things stowed away, and plans made. Today we put all our hoses away and are living off our holding tanks. Tomorrow can't get here quick enough.

Well, yes and no. We do want to get on the road and we also don't want to work here anymore but we still made some good friends that we will miss. Apparently they will miss us also. There was a cake and a card, and that was with us leaving in mid-season. They all understand. Even the big supervisor understands and appreciates that we gave them notice instead of leaving in the middle of the night like some workcampers will do. We are not built that way. Besides, you know what they say about burning your bridges behind you.

Well it was a busy morning so we will rest for a couple of hours before we start our last shift. This is goodbye for the last time from our home in Darien Lakes because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'22/#16 Jello Shots? No, Jello Melts!

 As much as we like it here in Darien Lakes it is time to move on. Yes it is the middle of the season and we like to finish our commitment but the Jello strikes again! There are several reasons for us picking up and leaving. Some is our doing while some fall in the laps of others.

First let me say that our decision to return here was not the best idea. We tell all of our employers that we are a "one and done" workcamping couple. We almost never come back to the same place twice. Once we have seen the area we like to move on to new adventures. We also feel that coming back to the same place is too much like having a regular job. We are retired and this is not a regular job, but a means to an end. That being said the shine of a new experience was not there and the job just became the routine, daily grind, hum drum life we retired from. Our bad!

Second let me say that working for Six Flags Amusement is like working for any other large corporation. The bottomline is that it is all about the bottom line. Where we worked the A/C has not worked all season. With temperatures outside reaching the mid 90's and having to keep the doors to the store shut because of food prep the inside temeratures were getting close to 100 degrees. The Hershey bars all turned to Hershey syrup in an envelope! On top of being miserable the heat was aggravating some of our health issues. Does the company care? NO! The A/C is not in the budget this year. The A/C didn't work very much last year! Oh did I say we shouldn't have come back for a second season? Now of course the A/C is working somewhat (???) but who knows for how long? I am starting to sound like a career employee instead of a workcamper. It is time to move on.

While all this was going on we put out some feelers to see if anyone was looking for mid season workcampers. An opportunity came up in Maine and all Mary heard was "LOBSTER"! The weather is cooler and we will be working at a hotel that will assuredly keep the A/C working for their guests so we accepted the positions. 

We leave in just over a week. Like any job we always try to give at least a weeks notice. No sense burning bridges that may be of use later on. There will be an overnight stop to see a good friend or two along the way. We should arrive and have a little time to scout out the area before we start working. And I am sure Mary will mark all the lobster "pounds" on the map.

Well, we still have work to do here so I will close this blog from our home in Corfu, New York because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'22/#15 Older, Longer, Harder......

 Sounds like the old PF Flyers commercial for those of you who are old enough to remember PF Flyers. For those who aren't, they were sneakers back in the '60's. But I am not talking about athletic shoes right now.  I am talking about the march of  time. As we get older things take longer, become harder to do, and are more difficult to rebound from. This is weekend number three for us and it is taking longer to get into the swing of things than we expected. Getting older ain't for sissies.

 My back and knee are telling me that I am not 25 years old any more. Mary over worked a muscle in her hip that started spasming right on her sciatic nerve. After two weeks of  pain  I took her protestingly to the doctor. Once diagnosed and prescribed muscle relaxers and stretching excersizes she is getting better. Oh did I forget to say she needed to get some rest? Needless to say with the muscle relaxers getting rest is not a problem. Waking her now takes a little longer than usual, but who cares? We are retired. 

While she is "resting" I don't know what is going on. I wake up freezing and Mary is out from under the covers but, and here is the big BUT, Mary has stolen all the covers and is lying ON TOP of them. I guess in her sleep state if she doesn't need the covers then neither do I. Oh well, she is feeling better and I can usually get enough of the covers to cover my feet. This is the result of over 30 years of marriage.

Well I have been busy this morning with all things RV related to do and waking my lovely bride from her drug induced sleep. She wants to cook dinner before work and I have another project to work on so I will sign off now from our home here in upstate New York because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'22/#14 Ow, Ow, Ow.....

 It's been two days of work here at Darien Lakes and we are feeling it. Between a month of travel (sitting in the truck) and visiting friends (sitting in restaurants) we have not been getting too much exercise. So the old muscles are getting a work out. Add to that our age which I have come to accept but Mary is fightimg to the bitter end. Today is day three and then we have four days to rest the aching bones. 

Resting will involve some work on the truck, laundry, shopping, and the whole list of chores that need  to be done around the RV. Next week we go to two days a week until the first of July. YAY! Starting that weekend the park will be open six days a week and we start our four day schedule. By then we should be back in the swing of things,

Right now I am just sitting here blogging and watching the clock get closer to the time to go to work. So I will sign off and rest in our home in Corfu because.....

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary

'22/#13 D-Day

 Well tomorrow is D-Day for us. That is "D" for Darien Lakes. A quick trip to the Post Office and a stop in at our work place to see if there is anything special we need to know  for day #1 of the 2022 season. The rest of the day we will be resting because once the fun starts we will be off and running. Right now it is only three days a week so that gives us four days to recuperate and have some fun of our own.

Now to blog specific tech support. That's funny, me talking about tech support. I mean I can play a mean game of solitare and feel like I am a computer genius. Anyway I can talk a little about my blog. First thank you to everyone who reads the blog and follows our adventures. Most will connect through the Facebook post anouncing a new blog post. For ready access to the blog go to Google, type in "postalpairretired.blogspot.com", add to home screen, and VOILA! One click service to the blog. 

I see and hear a lot from Mary about comments people leave on Facebook. I would love to see your comments right on the blog in the comment section. It is easier than it used to be. Just click on the comment box and there is a place to comment then click publish. Easy as that. I would also like to know who you are. Click the pull down next to "anonymous", click "name/URL" and type in your name and click continue. First names are all I need. I can figure it out from my short list of friends and Mary's much longer list and the content of the comment.

Now remember this is all based on my limited skills using an Android device. I have zero knowledge on I-phones or any other Apple device. Well that is the end off my tech tutorial so I will sign off now. Keep your fingers crossed that we have a good day tomorrow and another great summer in our home in Darien Lakes because.....

Home is where we park it,

Fran and Mary

'22/#12 On Your Mark, Get Ready, ........

 Today and tomorrow are our last days before we start work here at Darien Lakes Six Flags Amusement Park. Our work papers are all filled out, we have seen all the orientation as well as the safety movies, and have our uniforms. Today we take care of some last minute errands in town. A hair cut is needed, a stop at the Post Office, and some last minute shopping for lunch items for our work days.

Friday we start off all bright eyed and bushy tailed for the 2022 season. This year will be different. With eased covid restrictions we will now have Canadians in the park. With the border a mere 45 minutes away we are told that the Canadians will come in droves. There is also a church group that didn't come last year because of covid restrictions but are expected this year. They take over the whole campground and fill the amusement park. 

Relaxed covid restrictions have also allowed a larger number of international students to come here and work for the summer. This will help accomodate the larger crowds and hopefully let the park open all the rides this year.  This year the park will be closed completely on Tuesdays all summer long. In spite of this the word is that we are still short staffed by anything between a few hundred to a thousand employees. Everyday more work campers show up and more international students arrive so with any luck staffing will not be too much of an issue. 

Our store will have all the same employees showing up this year as last, so General Store staffing won't be a problem. We no longer have to run the deli counter since Subway has taken over that responsibility, but we do have more golf carts to rent this year. With more golf carts comes more and new maintenence procedures. This will easily take up the hours that formerly were spent in the deli, not to mention more guests in the store than last year. 

Yes, this is the same job we had last year but it will be different this year. At least we know we will be working with a good crew based on 2021's experience. As they say, the only thing that stays the same is the fact that things will change. Bring on the Summer of Fun 2022!

Signing off now to get started on those errands from our home in Darien Lakes campground because...... 

Home is where we park it,

Frank and Mary