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Southeast (Gulf Coast), Texas, United States

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Un-Retirement – Going Back to Work!!

Six years ago this past January, I retired from ALCOA after 34 and 1/2 years.    I did work for 3 months in the summer of 2006 during a potential strike after the Plant Manager quit, but that was it.  I have been perfectly content being ‘unemployed’!

In December, I was contacted by the acting Plant Manager about coming back to work for a short while.  He wanted me to fill the Production Manager position while a new Plant Manager and a new Production Manager were hired and got into the jobs.  That was a job that I did not want, because it is a tough 24hr/day-7day/wk position.  However, after thinking about it for a few days, the challenge got to me, and I caved…… and took it!!

I told them that I could probably do it for 3—5 months.  I knew this when we left for Quartzsite, but some of the negotiations continued by cell phone and email while we traveled.  On our way back from Quartzsite, I saw this billboard on the side of the freeway going into Tucson……..

Retirement Sign 02

 

I thought it was a little eery!!!

I went in for my one day of required safety on the Friday of the big freeze, and then began full time last Monday.  I got up at 5:30am, and left for work at 6:00am.   I got home about 7:00pm.   It was a long tough day, after not really working for six years.  I have worked during retirement, and worked hard, but at my pace!!!   I really hate my day being so structured.

The second day was not much better, but by the third day, I seemed to be getting into the groove.  By Thursday, I remembered why working people love Fridays!!   It’s been a nice weekend, but very short.  I even went out to storage to get some things out of the Bus…….and gave it a big hug!!!

The plant has a lot of new people and old problems!   It is going to be a lot of work getting things running well again.  It will require some really long, hard days, but I expect a lot of satisfaction at the end!!

Except for one or two weekend trips, I don’t expect any long RV trips until December or January of next year.

Stay safe on the road………….. and if you find a job, run for your life!!!

We Got Home!!

From El Paso, we took a day and a half to finish the trip home.  We drove from El Paso to Fredericksburg, TX and spent the night in the Wal-Mart parking lot. 

Here are some of the scenes that we saw on I-10 in West Texas.  It is barren, but beautiful……

I-10 in West Texas 003 I-10 in West Texas 009 I-10 in West Texas 011 I-10 in West Texas 018 I-10 in West Texas 019 I-10 in West Texas 025 I-10 in West Texas 033 I-10 in West Texas 037 I-10 in West Texas 039 I-10 in West Texas 045

Sunday morning, we decided to go home via the large outlet mall in San Marcos, TX.   I needed some work jeans and Patsy wanted to do some shopping.  We did, however, want to get home with time to clean up the Bus and get it put into storage before the ‘big freeze’ hit.  

We made in home Sunday afternoon, and washed the Bus, and then on Monday, we spent the day un-packing, and cleaning the inside,   On Monday evening, we sadly took the Bus out to the storage garage, and parked it.

The grandkids spent some time with us.  In fact, because of the freezing and wet weather, school was let out at noon on Thursday and all day Friday.  Here are a few pictures…….

Kid's at End of Trip 005 Kid's at End of Trip 015 Kid's at End of Trip 017 Kid's at End of Trip 020 Kid's at End of Trip 021

It was good to be home.  However, we have just finished our last long trip for a while, because I am going back to work!!!!!   More in next post!