We have decided to take our first "paying" job since being on the road. Until now, we have been "volunteers" for the Corps of Engineers at Lake Allatoona in Georgia. Volunteers get their site for free in exchange for various duties such as surveillance for closed campgrounds or opening and closing gates for boat ramps and Day Use Areas. Campground "hosts" are required to bid on these jobs and if your bid is accepted you become contractors for the government. This entails a lot of rigmarole since it is the government you are dealing with!
We have started the process of getting our Dun and Bradstreet number as we are considered a business now. After you receive your D&B number, you are ready to register with CCR.gov. All of the information you provide D&B must be exactly how you register with CCR, down to the last dot or dash. I was very careful when talking to the D&B rep, going so far as to spell out our street address. I said "Oak Hills Dr." and he asked me to spell it. I did! "O-A-K- new word H-I-L-L-S Dr." Imagine my surprise when I pulled up our account and our address read "Oak New Word Hills Dr." I was laughing so hard I couldn't tell Bob what was so funny. Talk about doing your job on automatic pilot! Duh!
Well, if we can get all the "stuff" done, pass our background checks and get bonded, we have the positions of campground hosts for Clark Creek North Campground. We chose this park as it is small, only 24 sites. (Some parks have 200 sites) We are just getting our feet wet so we wanted to make it easy on ourselves. We have another couple who will share the duties, 4 days on and 4 days off. The gatehouse must be manned (or woman'ed) from 7 AM to 10;30 PM. The reservation system as well as the check-in process is all computerized which should make it easier. And how hard can it be to register 24 sites? We have camped at some of the other big campgrounds here on the lake and those "hosts" work their tails off! They are so busy they have 4 huge lanes for RVs to line up while waiting to register. We don't want the pressure! Hey, I'm looking forward to the days we are full and I can put my feet up and relax. (If our ranger, Linda, is reading this, I'm only kidding)
We are required to make rounds to ensure all the rules and regulations are being followed and actually have some clout if things are not as they should be. Stay tuned for updates on how it goes.
It may be that we will decide this is not for us but we have to give it a try! The contract is only 4 months, May thru Labor Day, and I figure we can do anything for 4 months. We will be back in Arkansas in March to see the doctors, dentists, etc. and then head back here for training. So we know where and what we will be doing through September 8th, 2010 but after that who knows where our travels will take us?? That is the beauty of this life.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Big City Opportunities
Being in a large metropolitan area is not our usual environs so we are trying to make the most of all the varied entertainment opportunities that come with the territory. Richard, Bob's brother, turned 60 in November so to celebrate we went with Marion and Richard to see "Cavalia" at Atlantic Station in Midtown Atlanta. Cavalia is an amazing show mixing 60 horses and 40 people on one stage in various acts of revelry including acrobats, aerialists, musicians and dancers. It was created by a co-founder of Cirque du Soleil, Normand Latourelle. It was a magnificent performance as all Cirque performances are with a different spin by adding the horses. You don't have to be a horse lover to enjoy this show. At one point, one of the trainers was on stage with 10 of the horses and to see her put them through their paces was incredible. The communication between her and the steeds was amazing to see as well as the respect she had for them and they for her. You could feel the true affection these gorgeous animals had for their trainer. The energy that runs through out the performance is what you expect from a Cirque show and they don't disappoint with their usual acrobatic maneuvers.
They have a great band for live music and every show is unique in that the band leader adjusts the music to the horse's behavior rather than the other way around! If this show comes to your area, you should consider seeing it.
They have a great band for live music and every show is unique in that the band leader adjusts the music to the horse's behavior rather than the other way around! If this show comes to your area, you should consider seeing it.
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Sleeping Sisters
The sleeping beauties here are my sisters, Jodi, on the left and Beth. Beth and I "kidnapped" Jodi and the three of us shared some fun time. We rarely get to do this and it was a special time for us. I woke early to this sight and had to preserve it for future embarassment (like posting it here) and to remind us how wonderful that time together was.
It has occurred to me that I have only pix of Lucie on our blog and none of the other family members! So to begin, I start with my Mom and Dad. Other family members will follow!
Monday, October 5, 2009
New member of the Johnson Family
I must introduce you to Lucie, our Jack/Dach. (Jack Russell terrier and Dachshund) We adopted her last February while we were still in Georgia.As some of you may remember, we re-homed Jeffrey and Buddy to a wonderful family with a fenced yard and 3 kids that can keep up with them. We did this prior to going on the road so when we took the volunteer job last year, it was OK that there were pet restrictions at our park. This year we made sure pets were allowed as there is no doubt Lucie is staying with us!
She is fully grown, about 2-3 years old and weighs about 12 pounds. Perfect for us to take on the back of our harleys which we have done and which she seems to enjoy.
She is very loving and just the best pup ever. Can you tell I'm smitten??
And no, I do not dress her up all the time! But she does love it, she is very cold natured and loves to wear her clothes. And of course she thinks Bob is the greatest and I think the feeling is mutual!
Keep scrolling down, I goofed before publishing this!
Keep scrolling........
New Lease on Life!
Hello to all. It has been 8 months since my last post and it is difficult to know where to start. Rather than go through all the details, I will summarize very briefly the reason for my absence from here.
I was diagnosed with colon cancer in March and had the surgery. If you have to have cancer, this is the best outcome possible. It was only stage 2, no lymph nodes were involved and so I did not need chemo or radiation. How blessed am I!!!!! And I only tell you all this so I can say the following: if you have not had a colonoscopy and you are over 50, run to your doctor now. If I had had my colonoscopy when I should have, we would not be having this discussion. If colon cancer runs in your family, it is even more important. My Grandfather had it in the 1950's but no one remembered it until my diagnosis!
Anyway, we had gone back to Arkansas to see all our doctors, etc so I had the surgery there and we spent the rest of the spring and summer recovering. I am back to normal (or as normal as I've ever been) and ready to get on with our lives.
Bob has been incredible during this very trying time. He was my sole caregiver for quite a few months and my love. Our biggest decision was what to do next with our lives! After much discussion and soul searching, we decided to carry on as originally planned with one exception. We decided to enroll in Cobra for insurance when ours ran out in August. We had planned to take our chances and self insure due to the cost of Cobra but after the surgery bills started coming in we realized it is a bargain compared to the actual cost of health care. So we are good for 18 months and by then there will be options that President Obama is working on right now! I can hear you all laughing but it could happen.........
So we have commenced with the rest of our adventure. We came back to Georgia for the winter and are "volunteering" at Lake Allatoona, Sweetwater Campground in Canton. The campground closed on Labor Day so we are here just for surveillance purposes. We are on duty 4 days and off 4 days. The work days consist of making the rounds of the 151 camp sites. Round trip from our site around the park and back is 5 miles under normal circumstances. Unfortunately most of the park is inaccessible due to the lake spilling over much of the roads and sites. You may have heard of the flooding in Atlanta about 10 days ago. It has been quite an experience and photos will follow. They are predicting a very cold winter here and last year they broke all kinds of records with the temperature so we are bracing ourselves. Our family is petitioning us not to come back for a third winter!
I was diagnosed with colon cancer in March and had the surgery. If you have to have cancer, this is the best outcome possible. It was only stage 2, no lymph nodes were involved and so I did not need chemo or radiation. How blessed am I!!!!! And I only tell you all this so I can say the following: if you have not had a colonoscopy and you are over 50, run to your doctor now. If I had had my colonoscopy when I should have, we would not be having this discussion. If colon cancer runs in your family, it is even more important. My Grandfather had it in the 1950's but no one remembered it until my diagnosis!
Anyway, we had gone back to Arkansas to see all our doctors, etc so I had the surgery there and we spent the rest of the spring and summer recovering. I am back to normal (or as normal as I've ever been) and ready to get on with our lives.
Bob has been incredible during this very trying time. He was my sole caregiver for quite a few months and my love. Our biggest decision was what to do next with our lives! After much discussion and soul searching, we decided to carry on as originally planned with one exception. We decided to enroll in Cobra for insurance when ours ran out in August. We had planned to take our chances and self insure due to the cost of Cobra but after the surgery bills started coming in we realized it is a bargain compared to the actual cost of health care. So we are good for 18 months and by then there will be options that President Obama is working on right now! I can hear you all laughing but it could happen.........
So we have commenced with the rest of our adventure. We came back to Georgia for the winter and are "volunteering" at Lake Allatoona, Sweetwater Campground in Canton. The campground closed on Labor Day so we are here just for surveillance purposes. We are on duty 4 days and off 4 days. The work days consist of making the rounds of the 151 camp sites. Round trip from our site around the park and back is 5 miles under normal circumstances. Unfortunately most of the park is inaccessible due to the lake spilling over much of the roads and sites. You may have heard of the flooding in Atlanta about 10 days ago. It has been quite an experience and photos will follow. They are predicting a very cold winter here and last year they broke all kinds of records with the temperature so we are bracing ourselves. Our family is petitioning us not to come back for a third winter!
Monday, February 9, 2009
Savannah and Tybee Island
The oldest structure still standing in Savannah
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