Fantastic Springfield

Friday was a day of much traveling. We stayed in a KOA RV Park on Thursday night and were neighbors with Paris and Delwin who are on one of the other teams that we became buddy buddy with. We had a nice cookout and the Wilthrap brothers (another tour team) came by as well. Friday morning we all had breakfast together along with the Wilthraps' parentals who also are a tour team. We had a great time and lots of laughs. Our waitress Jo was yuking it up right along with us. Anilia and I then proceeded to drive about 10 hours from Clarksville, IN past St Louis where we had started and on to Springfield, MO. Checked in around midnight and went straight to bed thoroughly exhausted. Saturday we had the day off so we went to go check out Battlefield Mall where we will be working Mon-Wed. However we got distracted by the signs for Fantastic Caverns which has a Jeep tour that drives you through the caverns. So we ended up going there instead. Our tour guide talked like an auctioneer super fast and was prettty funny too. Afterwards we picked up some supplies at Lowes and Walmart, the later of which we have spent more time and money in over the past few days than I think I HAVE IN MY ENTIRE LIFE. And we haven't even started the promotions at the WALMARTS yet. But the KOA we are at here in Springfield has these cool cow sculptures out front, see. Mmmmmooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!

Training and Raining

I haven't had much of a chance to blog until now as we have had a pretty intensive schedule since we arrived in St. Louis for training. So here is the rundown of events of the past few days. We arrived in St. Louis with a multitude of suitcases and checked into our hotel. The first two days of training were classroom style. We went over reporting, basic dos and don'ts and got as lesson on the ins and outs of Medicare and Medicaid and learned the value of the phrase "I Don't Know". We also got to meet the other teams and spent a lot of time bonding over the next few days. Each day was about 14 hours of training with about 4-5 hours of sleep in between so it was quite the workout. Oh, and the second day a low grade tornado came through and wiped out the power to the hotel. So we got to spend the night like in the olden days with candles meandering through the darkness. After the storm we went out for a drive and saw the damage it had left in its wake. Apparently it rained so much that Noah's Ark had actually set up shop near by. That night we all went to Dave and Busters for some food and fun. I ran the pool table for a while until I impaled myself on the cue stick. The power was still out when we got back to the hotel and remained out for the next couple days! We did switch to another hotel the next night which did have power though our floor was wet and soppy. The next two days we spent outside receiving all of our gear, loading the trailers and practicing driving the RV. It rained pretty much non stop the second day so that the setting and striking of the tent was more like a synchronized swimming event. Eventually the rain did subside and we were able to dry out our gear as we were chosen to set up our tent for a photo shoot. I didn't get a picture of the tent yet but I did get a shot of some of the fleet. Having completed our training 8 of the RV teams hit the road to Louisville, KY for a big PR event. We went to Humana headquarters and had a big ribbon cutting ceremony with lots of people and media. You may see our picture in the paper because we are important and almost famous like. We parked all the RVs around a park there and let Humana people come inside and check them out. Here I am sporting my "Let's Talk" pose. I know, I know, too sexy. I have to go shower and get ready to hit the road, so that's all for now. Over and out!

St. Louis The Adventure Begins

So we got up in the wee hours this morning to catch our 5:30 am flight out to St Louis. We spent the night over at Dickfer's house since he lives basically on the tarmac. We arived safe and sound at 9 am this morning and checked into the Holiday Inn Riverport. Luckily they had a room available for us that early, so we had some time to kill before our initial meeting tonight. So we splished and splashed in the pool a while amidst bird feathers and leaf debris. We got the call from our boss around two that they needed some hands to go mount some D-rings inside the trailers that are being towed behind the RVs. So we got to get a good look at the Rvs up close and personal and they are pretty swank. Here is what one looks like without the graphics. Soon I'll have pics of ours with the graphics and the trailer. But for now you can click on this one to see their website and some interior pics. (Imagine a photo of an RV here instead of a dad link to a picture that is no longer on the internets) Well I've been up since 4 am so I am going to try and get some rest for a big day of training tomorrow.

Destinations Known

So we received our tour route today, which is sure to change often. But as it stands now it looks like we will be hitting Little Rock, Atlanta. Memphis, Chattanooga and Knoxville. Don't know what order we are going where yet and we start in St Louis. I imagine we will receive more refined details then which will of course continue to change as we are traveling. It seems though we should be able to catch up with some family and friends which is a bonus. Also it has been confirmed that the RV will have a shower so we will be in the lap of luxury, or at least in the general groin area of luxury.