First of all, we have cancelled all plans of selling our Mobile Suites. In about three days, a mobile technician will by here to replace the axles on our unit. For those that may not have read about this, we had leaking bearings with the Never-Lube bearings on our 2010. While we have found that there are still some bearings available for the Never-Lube hubs, we decided to go ahead with replacing the axles to get hubs with bearings that can be greased. So, we aren't giving up full-timing yet.
However, after nearly 5 years of retirement (which has been great, by the way), we are going back to work. We will still be "based" out of Oklahoma with our RV being parked in a small RV park here, our new job will be one where we will be driving, but in other states. Here is about a week or 10 days, we will leave the Oklahoma City area to go visit family in the Panhandle of Oklahoma, Colorado, and Idaho. The whole trip is kind of predicated around a cousin's 50th wedding anniversary in Idaho at the end of May. Plus, we plan to spend almost a month in Idaho to get around and see more of the state and take pictures.
About mid-June, we will return to Oklahoma and almost immediately (maybe a two day delay), go to Broken Arrow, OK to be trained in our new job. The new job is to drive specially equipped full-sized Ford Transit vans and drive the roads of various states. The vans are equipped with cameras, sensors, and lasers that collect data on road and highway conditions, and the information from that data is provided to the Departments of Transportation of those states. That data output will be visuals on the condition of the surface of the roads, as well as conditions regarding lane striping, guardrails, signage, rumble strips, and even information on gutters and such in the ditches. Basically, I will be driving the van while Jo monitors the computers that are recording the road data.
Essentially, we will be paid to drive around the state we are assigned to while scouting out places to see later. We could be "away from home" for anywhere from 3 to 6 months at a time, and as indicated by the lady managing the drive teams, we will start out working in Georgia. That is good to us as we've never been to Georgia.
Oh, and I told the drive team manager that I would be using this job for scouting purposes in order to check out where I might want to visit later. I mentioned that it was unlikely that they would allow us to use the work van for sightseeing. She surprised us by saying that if there was something we wanted to see within 120 mile radius of where we would be staying in a hotel, we could use the van for that purpose. Oh, and they pay us a daily rate per person, per diem per person, and pay our hotel expenses. We even get to redeem any points earned with hotel membership benefits, even though the company is paying the bills.
So, if any of you have good suggestions as to places to see in Georgia, whether it be natural features, historical sites, or whatever, feel free to advise us.
Terry
igotjam said
07:26 PM Apr 28, 2019
Cool......sounds like fun......
vannchan said
08:35 PM Apr 28, 2019
I hope you keep us updated now and then.
-- Edited by vannchan on Tuesday 30th of April 2019 03:20:08 PM
LarryW21 said
08:46 PM Apr 28, 2019
Andersonville Prison on cold rainy day when no one else is around. Spooky.
PIEERE said
07:18 AM Apr 29, 2019
Way to go on someone elses wallet! Enjoy!
PrairieRV said
07:21 AM Apr 29, 2019
That sounds like a great job. The only thing is staying in a different place each night. I've done a lot of hotel traveling for extended periods. After a short while it becomes disorienting to wake up in a different place each morning. Also the packing and unpacking each time. But I would do that for 3-6 months for a job like that. I hope you enjoy it.
I lived in north Georgia about 4 years in the late nineties. I spent a lot of my spare time in the Appalachian Mountains. There are lots of cool places to stop and look around, hiking, etc. And there will be lots of places to pull of a get a bag of fresh boiled peanuts. They're good. Don't let the muddy water fool you.
-- Edited by PrairieRV on Monday 29th of April 2019 07:22:39 AM
arcaguy said
05:32 PM Apr 29, 2019
The hotel points come in handy. I don't know what your budget will be but Marriott has a better plan than Hilton as you can get to be lifetime pretty quick. After only about 6 months or so a few years ago I'm Gold for life, but Gold ain't what it used to be.
If you're going to be around Dahlonegha Georgia on a Saturday make sure and stop by the town square. They have a jam session with local acoustic musicians. When they sing Irene Goodnight, it's over. Bring your own lawn chair. You might also want to try your hand a panning for gold. Dahlonegha was the site of the first gold rush in the United States. There's also some trout fishing in the nearby rivers, I once hooked, but didn't land a 10 or 12 inch brookie in one of the rivers up there. There is also one, maybe more of Bill Elliott's race cars in a museum in Dawsonville, it used to be in the middle of the highway on the way through town but I heard recently they move it into a museum. This stuff is all in the mountains about a 100 miles north of Atlanta. Have fun. I spent about 6 months there a few years ago and enjoyed it.
If you're in south Georgia there's always Savannah which has a lot of history and then if you're into onions you can visit Vidalia. There's not a whole lot there but you can get some onion souvenirs at the Vidalia Onion Company just to the east of the Hampton Inn on the main east-west road through town. A little further south there's the Okefenokee swamp. I'm sure someone has tours.
Good luck with the new job.
NWescapee said
02:56 PM Apr 30, 2019
Glad to hear you are continuing the RV life!! Best of luck with the new job.
PrairieRV said
04:47 PM Apr 30, 2019
+1 about Dahlonaga & Dawsonville. I used to live near Dawsonville, right next to Awesome Bill’s granddad’s place (a junkyard). In town there’s a pool hall/hamburger joint. On the walls of the cafe are old news articles about the early stock car racers (moonshine runners). It’s interesting reading while you wait for your food.
jrzygrl64 said
01:58 PM May 4, 2019
Interesting sounding gig! Best of luck!
Sushidog said
08:23 PM Jun 2, 2019
I third Dahlonega. In addition to finding some gold about $120 worth of gold at Gold & Gem Grubbin, my DW found a large pyrope garnet that looks exactly like a ruby. It cut out to 6.5 carats. i51.tinypic.com/2ijnncy.jpg">
While in the area, don't miss Helen, Ga - especially during October Fest. There are some excellent waterfalls in the area too.
Chip
Terry and Jo said
09:14 AM Jun 12, 2019
How about another update?
We've been in touch with the Drive Team Manager and were informed that we will start June 24 and that we will likely be working in Indiana instead of Georgia. Wherever they need us, I guess we will go.
We also just got back yesterday from our trek to Idaho and back. Lots of miles driven and photos taken.
Terry
arcaguy said
10:46 AM Jun 14, 2019
Bummer about Indiana instead of Georgia, maybe Georgia next year. I guess the good thing about Indiana is there's not lots of hills and it does have some interesting places. Maybe you can catch the boat race in Madison whenever it is. There's actually a pretty interesting town on the Ohio river by the name of Rabbit Hash, Kentucky. Pretty much just a general store, a very small hotel and an antique shop. Lots of motorcycles and locals hanging out but pretty laid back, but it's a trip in the TW not with the 5er. Look it up on the Internet. Can't think of anything else really interesting in Indiana right now. Keep us updated.
dentalassistant said
04:16 PM Jun 30, 2019
Good luck with your new job. Please let us know if you decide to put your RV and truck up for sale again. Mike & Rose
Ckerr said
09:28 AM Jul 2, 2019
Sounds like an interesting new job. Hope you enjoy it!
Terry and Jo said
05:47 PM Oct 11, 2019
OK, time for an update. We've spent the last 3 months working the central area of Indiana, including Indianapolis. While it can be taxing, as long as the couple in the team being "good with each other," it is doable. We had our "cranky moments" in stressful positions (think working roads in Indianapolis), but we "got glad in the same pants that we got mad in."
Saw some beautiful country, especially with driving lots of the smaller, less traveled roads. The last week had us in southern Indiana and we really enjoyed driving those smaller roads with all their hills and curves. Loved seeing all the styles of homes, all the cemeteries in unusual places with the really old tombstones, and getting to see where we might want to go to at times when we aren't having to work.
I was disappointed in that we were so busy that I didn't get much photographing done. In fact, practically nothing compared to what I normally do. Also, while we got to see some changing of leaves to Fall colors, we were disappointed that the leaves didn't have any vibrant colors. They almost just turned dull and dead and started falling from the trees. Still lots of green trees yet, but our time in Indiana is over and we are headed home.
Made enough money to pay off a major credit card balance and put more into savings.
Now, we'll take a few months off for medical issues and tests. I have a knee issue and both of us need to get our annual physicals out of the way. After the first of the year, we hope to do this at least one more time, this time in a different state, and we are hoping for Arkansas for that one.
Terry
phyllen said
08:51 AM Oct 14, 2019
As we are no longer fulltimers for almost 3 years, I haven't checked in here for a while. Great to see a few names I remember.
First of all, we have cancelled all plans of selling our Mobile Suites. In about three days, a mobile technician will by here to replace the axles on our unit. For those that may not have read about this, we had leaking bearings with the Never-Lube bearings on our 2010. While we have found that there are still some bearings available for the Never-Lube hubs, we decided to go ahead with replacing the axles to get hubs with bearings that can be greased. So, we aren't giving up full-timing yet.
However, after nearly 5 years of retirement (which has been great, by the way), we are going back to work. We will still be "based" out of Oklahoma with our RV being parked in a small RV park here, our new job will be one where we will be driving, but in other states. Here is about a week or 10 days, we will leave the Oklahoma City area to go visit family in the Panhandle of Oklahoma, Colorado, and Idaho. The whole trip is kind of predicated around a cousin's 50th wedding anniversary in Idaho at the end of May. Plus, we plan to spend almost a month in Idaho to get around and see more of the state and take pictures.
About mid-June, we will return to Oklahoma and almost immediately (maybe a two day delay), go to Broken Arrow, OK to be trained in our new job. The new job is to drive specially equipped full-sized Ford Transit vans and drive the roads of various states. The vans are equipped with cameras, sensors, and lasers that collect data on road and highway conditions, and the information from that data is provided to the Departments of Transportation of those states. That data output will be visuals on the condition of the surface of the roads, as well as conditions regarding lane striping, guardrails, signage, rumble strips, and even information on gutters and such in the ditches. Basically, I will be driving the van while Jo monitors the computers that are recording the road data.
Essentially, we will be paid to drive around the state we are assigned to while scouting out places to see later. We could be "away from home" for anywhere from 3 to 6 months at a time, and as indicated by the lady managing the drive teams, we will start out working in Georgia. That is good to us as we've never been to Georgia.
Oh, and I told the drive team manager that I would be using this job for scouting purposes in order to check out where I might want to visit later. I mentioned that it was unlikely that they would allow us to use the work van for sightseeing. She surprised us by saying that if there was something we wanted to see within 120 mile radius of where we would be staying in a hotel, we could use the van for that purpose. Oh, and they pay us a daily rate per person, per diem per person, and pay our hotel expenses. We even get to redeem any points earned with hotel membership benefits, even though the company is paying the bills.
So, if any of you have good suggestions as to places to see in Georgia, whether it be natural features, historical sites, or whatever, feel free to advise us.
Terry
I hope you keep us updated now and then.
-- Edited by vannchan on Tuesday 30th of April 2019 03:20:08 PM
That sounds like a great job. The only thing is staying in a different place each night. I've done a lot of hotel traveling for extended periods. After a short while it becomes disorienting to wake up in a different place each morning. Also the packing and unpacking each time. But I would do that for 3-6 months for a job like that. I hope you enjoy it.
I lived in north Georgia about 4 years in the late nineties. I spent a lot of my spare time in the Appalachian Mountains. There are lots of cool places to stop and look around, hiking, etc. And there will be lots of places to pull of a get a bag of fresh boiled peanuts. They're good. Don't let the muddy water fool you.
-- Edited by PrairieRV on Monday 29th of April 2019 07:22:39 AM
If you're going to be around Dahlonegha Georgia on a Saturday make sure and stop by the town square. They have a jam session with local acoustic musicians. When they sing Irene Goodnight, it's over. Bring your own lawn chair. You might also want to try your hand a panning for gold. Dahlonegha was the site of the first gold rush in the United States. There's also some trout fishing in the nearby rivers, I once hooked, but didn't land a 10 or 12 inch brookie in one of the rivers up there. There is also one, maybe more of Bill Elliott's race cars in a museum in Dawsonville, it used to be in the middle of the highway on the way through town but I heard recently they move it into a museum. This stuff is all in the mountains about a 100 miles north of Atlanta. Have fun. I spent about 6 months there a few years ago and enjoyed it.
If you're in south Georgia there's always Savannah which has a lot of history and then if you're into onions you can visit Vidalia. There's not a whole lot there but you can get some onion souvenirs at the Vidalia Onion Company just to the east of the Hampton Inn on the main east-west road through town. A little further south there's the Okefenokee swamp. I'm sure someone has tours.
Good luck with the new job.
While in the area, don't miss Helen, Ga - especially during October Fest. There are some excellent waterfalls in the area too.
Chip
How about another update?
We've been in touch with the Drive Team Manager and were informed that we will start June 24 and that we will likely be working in Indiana instead of Georgia. Wherever they need us, I guess we will go.
We also just got back yesterday from our trek to Idaho and back. Lots of miles driven and photos taken.
Terry
Good luck with your new job. Please let us know if you decide to put your RV and truck up for sale again. Mike & Rose
OK, time for an update. We've spent the last 3 months working the central area of Indiana, including Indianapolis. While it can be taxing, as long as the couple in the team being "good with each other," it is doable. We had our "cranky moments" in stressful positions (think working roads in Indianapolis), but we "got glad in the same pants that we got mad in."
Saw some beautiful country, especially with driving lots of the smaller, less traveled roads. The last week had us in southern Indiana and we really enjoyed driving those smaller roads with all their hills and curves. Loved seeing all the styles of homes, all the cemeteries in unusual places with the really old tombstones, and getting to see where we might want to go to at times when we aren't having to work.
I was disappointed in that we were so busy that I didn't get much photographing done. In fact, practically nothing compared to what I normally do. Also, while we got to see some changing of leaves to Fall colors, we were disappointed that the leaves didn't have any vibrant colors. They almost just turned dull and dead and started falling from the trees. Still lots of green trees yet, but our time in Indiana is over and we are headed home.
Made enough money to pay off a major credit card balance and put more into savings.
Now, we'll take a few months off for medical issues and tests. I have a knee issue and both of us need to get our annual physicals out of the way. After the first of the year, we hope to do this at least one more time, this time in a different state, and we are hoping for Arkansas for that one.
Terry
Phyllis