Is that a UFO? Nov. 11-13, 2011

Fallon/Fernley, NV: Work at amazon.com is challenging, both physically and mentally. I have to turn off the "thinking cap" at work because there are a lot of inefficiencies. Some of us with lots of work experience think we know how to make it better, but that's not why we're there. Seasonal helpers in "Receiving" are there to receive product correctly and start things on their way through the warehouse.

One thing about opening boxes all day is you get "box burn," scrapes and scratches on your forearms. Another person at work told me the Safety Desk has "forearm protectors." I will check on those Tuesday when we go in for overtime. 

Yes, we're now on overtime (five, 10-hour days). We signed up when it was voluntary overtime; overtime has since been made mandatory.

Friday we worked as hard as we could, but the sorting department apparently couldn't keep up with us. Many of us were standing around waiting for product to be put on the line. Then, when we had product, we had no carts to put it on so we stood around some more.


We have met some great people who are also work kampers. They invited us to go to dinner with them Friday after work at Louie's China Bistro. We had a great time with them and their friend, Marsha. I had cashew fish and Bob had vegetarian noodles.

After dinner as we were driving out of the strip mall parking lot, I said to Bob, "What's that? It looks like UFOs!" There were bright white lights in the sky zooming around, then hovering. It was pitch black, no street lights up that high. As we drove closer, the lights turned to rainbow colors. What were those things? We had never seen anything like it. When we got near the local softball field we saw that there were some people in the dark field doing remote control airplanes and the airplanes had lights on them. One of the remote-controlled planes was a bi-plane. UFO sighting solved!


Saturday morning on our way to work we saw a dead dear next to the road and a dead coyote in the road. Farther down the road, I saw a live coyote who was going to cross the road just as we got there, but thought better of it, turned tail and rapidly ran back into the scrub brush.

We were running late. Bob was going 70 mph in a 60 mph zone. I saw an officer on the other side of the highway and I said, "Cop!" Bob slowed down, but it was too late. The officer did a U-turn across the highway and came after us with lights blazing. Bob pulled over immediately. 


The officer asked for license, registration and insurance. Bob gave him his temporary Oregon driver's license (which is paper). The officer asked why his license was paper. Bob explained that we moved from Hawaii in late October and just got our Oregon licenses. The plastic ones will be mailed to us. Bob pulled out his canceled Hawaii license and gave that to the officer as well. 


Come to find out, the officer's wife was from Kauai. A short "talk story" session followed as the officer wanted to know which island we were from. Of course Bob loves to talk about Hawaii whenever he can.

Bob explained we were running late for work. The officer said, "Work?" (It was Saturday morning.) He wanted to know where we were working, how long we had been in Nevada and when we were going back to Oregon. He took all of Bob's info back to the cruiser. When he came back, he let us go with a warning. Phew! Close call. 

Bob dropped me off at the door of work while he parked the car. I clocked in at 6:58 and he clocked in at 7:00 a.m.


Note to anyone driving US Hwy 50 from Fallon to Fernley, Nevada. Can you say "speed trap?" This stretch of road is heavily patrolled. Don't say we didn't warn you. Every day on our way to and from work we see people pulled over.


At work on Saturday, we started the day receiving large boxes...particularly hard work. Usually large items are big, bulky, or heavy. Opening the large boxes leads to the above-mentioned scrapes and box burn.


After work we hustled home (within the speed limit) so Bob could change his clothes and drop me off. Bob wanted to go to Reno to see the Reno vs. Hawaii college football game in Reno. He left in plenty of time. He was bummed because Hawaii lost. Later he told me, he was pretty late to the game (about 45 minutes) because of a big wreck on the freeway in Reno. 


When he was driving home from Reno about 11:15 p.m., about 2-3 miles from our RV Park in Fallon, he saw an accident involving a car and a cow. Apparently neither car nor cow were in good condition. We will have to be extremely careful driving at night through the open range land. If the cows are black, it will be extremely difficult to see them against the blacktop and night sky, especially if they are turned away from oncoming headlights which would, at least, reflect in their eyes.


Today we got to sleep in! I think we got up around 10 a.m. I made pumpkin pancakes (served with banana syrup or pure maple syrup) and fried eggs. A nice change from our cold cereal!


Bob went out for a short (5-mile) run/walk when the early afternoon temperature was 60 degrees. When he got back, he watched some football, napped and about an hour later we both went for a 45-minute walk. The sun was getting low in the sky and the temperature was dropping. 


This evening we went out to dinner with some friends from Reno. They chose the Black Bear Diner in Fernley. What a good place...excellent food with reasonable prices and good service. Pete and I had the Asian Chicken Wrap which tasted like I hoped it would with a sweet and spicy flavor. Bob had a turkey dinner and Marley had an omelet and hash browns. All of us were happy with our choices.


Life in the 5er is cozy and comfortable. The black water tank is still a mystery, so we're learning how often we need to empty that. Bob discovered while we're hooked up to water and sewer at a park, he can leave the grey water tank valve open so it drains as we use the water. That way he doesn't have to go out and drain the grey water tanks all the time. He will have to clean out the black tank from time to time though.


Tomorrow is the second day of our weekend. We have chores to do: bank, laundry, grocery shopping, post office, phone calls to make. This night owl needs to sleep so she can get up at a reasonable hour in the morning. It is getting late. 

P.S. I received our "lost" and "found" storage unit keys in the mail today from Pheasant Ridge RV Park. Yay!


Travel Bug out.