Last Day At The Kiosk

Port Charlotte (62 degrees, sunny skies)

Santa's Helpers (me, John, Bev, and JC)

 

We are now finished working  at the kiosk selling sport memorabilia for Slippermania.  Woo Hoo!  Except for Thanksgiving and Christmas Day we’ve worked 58 days in a row.  We are exhausted but grateful to have fulfilled our financial goals.  We were able to pay off the cost of the new tires for the motorcoach and a new Corian sink in the kitchen that had cracked.  Plus, we have some extra cash to play the rest of the winter in Florida.

 

 

 

Our friends Bev and JC arrived earlier than scheduled to help out.  We had to suddenly fire our extra help.  Our friends changed their plans and came to the rescue.  Now that’s a good friend.  The hours at the mall during the week prior to Christmas were long and intense.  We traded off working four on and four off to keep our sanity.  Let’s just say the girls (Bev and me) rock when it comes to sales. 

 

 

Our daughter, Jen, also flew in to spend Christmas with us.  She did a great job helping us out too.  Thanks so much!  We are very grateful. 

 

Victor and Ruth

 

 

 

Ruth and her sunglasses

We said good bye to some of our mall friends. Victor worked for us several times and did a great job.  His sister, Ruth, manages a sun glass booth and was fun to talk to each day.  She works long hours each and every day. 

 

We are now considering whether to return next season and work again.  Our sales were very good and the owner said he’d like for us to come back. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Pros: 

• Good pay due to the long mall hours.  You are paid for every hour worked regardless of sales
• Happy customers – they love the items we sell and the prices are reasonable. 
• Quality product
• Simple fax machine, cash register, and credit card machine to learn how to use
• No micro management by the owner. His staff delivers the product daily and lets you run it your own way
• You can hire extra staff if you want but this comes out of your pay
• Nice working conditions

 

Cons:

• Long, long, hours.  You have to be open during all mall hours.  During December this can be from 7am to 11pm.  Black Friday lasted 22 hours. 
• Finding good help is difficult . We hired four people and only one worked out.
• The last week prior to Christmas is just crazy.  Customers can be unhappy when you run out of merchandise for their team. 
• No day off
• No site for your RV is provided

We'd love to find another couple to share the hours with next winter.  We could then have a day or two off each week and splitting the pay would still be worth it.  If you are interested is sharing this with us please send us an email.  This is one of the busiest locations and next year the product line is expanding which will allow us to be paid more. 

 

 

Celebrating Our Second Anniversary As Full Timers

 

Port Charlotte, FL (78 degrees, sunny with clear skies)

Today we celebrate our second anniversary as full timers. It's humbling to look back over the past two years and review some of the amazing things we have seen and done. We are very blessed and continue to enjoy this lifestyle. Although this may not be for everyone, it is perfect for us. 

 

We started our second year in White Sands National Monument in Alamogordo, New Mexico and are currently in Port Charlotte, Florida.  Here is a map of our different stops along the way.   

This year we have

• Traveled 7076 miles in the motorhome
• Explored many more miles in the jeep
• Spent at least one night in 15 States
• Managed a sport memorabilia kiosk in Port Charlotte, Florida
• Worked for a KOA in Watkins Glen, New York
• Volunteered at White Sands National Monument
• Participated in one NOMADS project in Tucson Arizona
• Attended two rally’s (FMCA Indio, CA & Gypsy Journal Rally Yuma, AZ)
• Marveled at many beautiful waterfalls, sunsets, sunrises, and star filled skies
• Paddled several rivers and lakes in our kayak
  
• Took the motorcoach and jeep on a ferry ride
  
• Made many new friends
  
• Treasured several visits from family and friends
  
• Plus so much more.  Here are a few of the highlights

White Sands National Monument was a magical place.  We even had the whole place to ourselves with several volunteers when the main road closed due to a snow storm. 

 

The deserts in Arizona and California were so beautiful and we were awed by the spectacular sunsets. 

 

 

 

We had a lot of fun locating creasted cactus, a unusual and rare phenomenon which some cactus form.

One morning we woke up to a sudden snowfall in Sedona Arizona.  The 17 inch snowfall dusted the spectacular red rocks and for a few hours before it melted we experienced a very rare event. One photographer next to me said “it’s moments like this when you really know there is a God”. 

 

 

Before

After



We spent five months workamping at Watkins Glen KOA in New York.  The Finger Lakes are very pretty and the extended stay allowed us a chance to really experience New York.  We saw lots of waterfalls

The very small….

To the humongous Niagara Falls

Touring some wineries in the Finger Lakes was very interesting.  I learned a lot about wine from the wine tastings over the summer and have a new appreciation. 







A visit to NYC was a highlight and we especially enjoyed being able to see John’s sister, Martha, perform a lovely concert. 

 

We enjoyed moose hunting and celebrating Martha’s birthday in Vermont.  The cousins were all together and it was so much fun.  

 

 

 

On our way to Florida we even took the motorcoach and our jeep on two ferry rides to the Outer Banks of North Carolina.  

 

 

 

A new roof was put on our motorhome in Indiana and we added a comfy new sofa bed.  Plus in Delaware the motorhome got six new shoes (tires). My brother helped us also improve our sound system for the TV and we installed a new radio.  The IPOD capability sure has been fun to use as we travel down the road. 

 

 

We are now in Florida and and will soon be starting a  fun filled trip with our friends JC and Bev for three months all around Florida. Life is good.   We remain very grateful that we can travel and enjoy this lifestyle.  It’s been another great trip around the sun. 

 

30 Days and Counting At The Kiosk

Port Charlotte, FL (80 degrees, clear blue skies)

A Handsome Saints Fan

We have now worked 30 days at the Slippermania kiosk in Port Charlotte. Our latest "gig" is selling sports memorabilia for two months in a mall.  The hours are long but our customers are a lot of fun. This young man is a huge fan of the Saints and will soon be flying to New Orleans to attend a game. He was so excited. 

 

We enjoy talking to our customers about their favorite teams and try to find the perfect item for them.   Patriots, Steelers, Yankees, Gators, and Ohio State fans are some of our best customers. Christmas wreaths, ornaments, and fleece throws sell very quickly.

 

The mall was closed Thanksgiving Day and we drove to one of our favorite beaches, Siesta Key. It is about 1 1/2 hours from here. The long stretch of beach is beautiful and the sand is just like confectionery sugar. We spent several hours and had a delicious dinner at Turtles restaurant overlooking Little Sarasota waterway.  It was very reasonable and we will definitely return again soon.  It was a relaxing day as we tried to gain strength for Black Friday. 

 

 

 

The mall was open 22 hours on Black Friday.  John and I worked in shifts and we hired several young  adults to help us too.  We sold more  in one day than we had all week.  It was crazy when the doors first opened at midnight. I've never gone shopping on Black Friday but there sure are a lot of folks who do. 

 

Rush of shoppers entering at midnight

 

 

We have one more month to go.  Only 25 more shopping days left before Christmas.  Happy shopping.  Stay tuned.  Our second anniversary as full timers is approaching. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



Our First Week Working A New "Gig" - Kiosk In A Mall

Port Charlotte, FL (82 degrees, clear blue skies)

 

We have worked for one week now at a kiosk in a mall.  It's located in a very nice Simon Mall in Port Charlotte Florida.  This is new type of job for us and it will last for two months until just after Christmas. 

 

Slippers and fleece blankets

 

 

We are selling sport memorabilia of all types.  Our location is right next to Starbucks and the food court.  Perfect!  The company we work for is called Slippermania and the owner hires fulltimers for 26 locations all over Florida.  He advertises in Workamper.com but we heard about him through fellow workampers at Indy KOA. 

 

Santa Hats

 

 

Wreaths

Four guys with the company arrived the night before and set up the booth for us.  All the merchandise was arranged by them and when we arrived to was ready to rock.  Well sort of...the mall supervisor had us move the booth slightly and it took a couple of days to get the fax and phone line hooked up. 

 

 

Most of the merchandise is football (pro and college) and basketball.  We keep track of what we sell and this is faxed to the warehouse at the end of the day.  New merchandise arrives every few days. 

 

 

Gnomes

 

 

 

 

I've struggled a little learning all the team logos.  However,  it has been much easier for John and he  is really good at helping the customers find their teams.  I added a app to my IPAD that tells us the scores and stats for the teams.  Our best sellers are the Steelers, Patriots, Yankees, Ravens, and Ohio State.  Interesting!

 

 Monkeys

 

 

We have not worked retail in the past but its a quick learning curve.  The customers are fun to serve and they get so excited when they find their favorite team. Plus, they sure don't seem to blink at the prices although the items are reasonable and good quality. 

 

"Big Footed" Santas

 

Christmas Ornaments

 

The owner originally started with sport slippers and has expanded with more items each year.  We work every day until just after Christmas. However, we can hire staff to fill in for us.  During the 23 hour marathon of Black Friday and Thanksgiving weekend we'll probably arrange that if possible. Our friends JC and Bev are helping us during the week of Christmas. 

 

Everybody love Mickey

We've enjoyed it and are making friends with some of the mall staff.  The hours are long and my only  complaint is my feet hurt from standing on concrete floors.  John found a good deal on a stool that we added to the booth today.  Our goal is to pay off our new tires for the motorcoach and have some extra spending money for diesel this winter.  We will be playing in Florida with our friends JC and Bev for three months after the booth closes down. 

 

We found a campground four miles from the mall called Harbor Lake RV Resort.  It's an Encore park and very nice.  The streets are wide and there is a nice pool and activities.It is a mixture of RV sites and park models. 

Our site

 

 

Park Model

 

 

This little guy came up to greet us after we first arrived.  My friend Gaye says the wood storks remind her of little old men.  :)

 

The beach is about ten minutes away.  We won't be seeing much of it for awhile except on Sunday when the mall hours are shorter.  However, we did go out the first day we arrived and checked out the beach near Venice. It was really rough and windy that day with some after affects Hurricane Sandy. We sure do love the ocean...don't you? 

 

 

 

I think we are going to like it here.  Stay tuned. 

 

 

 



Visit With Friends In Beautiful Tampa

Seffner, FL (62 degrees, blue skies, windy)

 

I love palm trees!  It just made my heart sing as we started seeing more and more of them.  The weather has been windy & chilly due to the hurricane weather changes, but the sky is blue.  Life is good and we are far away from Sandy’s destruction.

 

We stayed at Lazy Days Campground in Seffner for three nights.  It’s expensive but the location worked well for us.  We wanted to see Karen and Al.  They are blogging friends (be sure to check out their blog especially if you like to kayak) that we met up with two years ago just after they sold their “sticks and bricks” in Georgia.  We got together  twice and it was fun to catch up with each others adventures.  Our friendship quickly took off again.  It was just like we’d seen them yesterday.  Al had just had sinus surgery and we were grateful he still felt like getting together. 

 

We did some shopping at the Camping World at Lazy Days and found a few cool items on sale.  I especially liked the light weight micro flannel blankets.  It will replace our down comforter.  We tried it last night and it works perfectly. 

 

We also met up with our friends Jean and Dick.  Jean and I used to work together at a hospital in Indianapolis.  She recently retired and has moved to Tampa to be with Dick.  Jean cooked us  a delicious brunch at their lovely home.  We had not met Dick before but instantly liked him.  We are so happy for them and glad they are so happy together.

 

 

 

We checked out the MacDill Air Force base.  It’s one of our favorite military campgrounds.  It looked great and is starting to fill up for the winter.  The beach side restaurant had a live band and it was fun to sit out and enjoy the sunset. 

 

We are now on our way to Port Charlotte for two months.  We’ll be working as my brother calls as  “one of those annoying kiosk people”.

 

It’s with the company Slippermania and we’ll be selling sport memorabilia at the shopping mall.  The items are great for stocking stuffer  This is a new type of “gig” for us.  Check back soon for more details.