Omahiker's new life

“Hi to all of my TT friends (those of you who remember me, anyway),

I thought I'd just post here and let you know what's going on in my life. Last month I got laid off from my job of 20 years. The incident was rather a shock to me, but as the saying goes, "When God closes a door He opens a window." That is a good explanation for what has happened to me and my family.

My husband John and I spent a good deal of time and money last year helping my brother-in-law, Chet, run the concession at Memphis State Park (Nebraska). This did not work out very well for us, since he was a poor business partner for a number of reasons. We always liked the park and the concession but our experience working with Chet left us pretty disappointed. We were not planning to help him this year because of that. It turns out that he had a balloon payment due in June, for which he was unable to obtain financing. After all that we had done and spent last year, we did not want to just give up on the place, so we made an agreement with the original owner to rent it for the summer and see how it goes. We have an option to purchase (for ten thousand dollars), which we will probably exercise, so that we can either keep the business ourselves or sell it to someone else for more money. Anyway, Chet has moved out and we have taken over with the help of our friend Jimmy, who has been in the bar and restaurant business for many years. We offered to help Chet find an apartment and move his things, but he is pretty angry with us - apparently he thought we should co-sign for his financing and let him continue to live there and trash the place - so he is refusing our help.

We have had tons of work to do cleaning and fixing up. The restaurant has not operated for the last three years so a lot of the equipment was not maintained properly. I have been trying to do whatever I can myself, with a lot of help from Jimmy, but unfortunately my skills are somewhat limited, and John's are almost nonexistant. I guess lawyers don't make very good handymen. In spite of all that, we do have the restaurant open now on weekends for breakfast and lunch (great food, low prices!), and we have finished cleaning out all of the buildings, with the exception of a "junk pile" for which we are renting a disposal bin this week, and some personal possessions of Chet's and another guy who was living there before he got sent to jail. I'm not sure yet what will become of all that stuff, but for now I have managed to cram it into closets and other nooks and crannies so we can start bringing more of our own things out there. Upstairs from the store and restaurant is a two room apartment where we will be staying some of the time.

In addition to the restaurant being open, we are also selling bait (nightcrawlers, minnows, leeches, and turkey livers!), firewood, ice, pop, snacks, camping supplies, state park permits and fishing licenses, and renting paddleboats. My visions of the future never involved running a bait store and restaurant with a lawyer, but it seems to suit me well so far. There is the tiny little problem of having to make a profit eventually, but I think I could be happy with a lot less than I have earned in the past. The only thing I miss about my old job is talking with my friends there.

I am enjoying the change of pace from my old job as a programmer. There is a great variety of work to be done in Memphis and the surroundings are very pleasant. If I get up early enough I can just walk outside and go fishing in the morning, or take a spin around the lake in one of our kayaks. My wardrobe consists of shorts, T-shirts, and work gloves. Being more active than before has helped me to improve my physical condition. Business is a little slow during the week, which isn't all bad, since it allows me to spend more time cleaning and doing repairs. I think people had gotten used to the concession being closed frequently and never having anything to sell anyway. On weekends things pick up a bit, depending on the weather.

I don't expect to be able to read or post much on TT in the future, but I wanted to let all of my old friends know what was going on in my life. At home I am on a dial-up connection, and out at the lake we don't have any internet service as of yet.”

“That sounds great good luck to you.”

“Good luck, Omahiker.

Doug”

“Glad to hear you're moving on with things, Omahiker. I got the note where you said you were gonna do this (and don't think I responded - BAD lizs!).

I bet things will turn out great. Is hubby (whose face HAS been seen on TT. LMAO!) still a practicing attorney, so you have that income to help?

And just where is this park from Omaha?

I'll send good thoughts your way. Hey, it's too bad we can't send Stratdewd your way, too. He just quit a job... and it sounds like he was doing work setting up restaurants as in maybe electrical and/or hvac? He has some free time in other words....”

“Hope you enjoy the new life that has been thrust upon you and your family.....sounds like fun to me!”

“lizs, hubby has been sort of burned out on practicing law. He has suffered recently from depression and this change of pace will be good for him I think. Quitting the practice has been sort of traumatic but in the long run I think he will benefit from starting a new career (although not as a Newgirl impersonator).

Yes, Stratdewd could probably be helpful, but I doubt if he would be willing to work for what we can pay right now, i.e., nothing.

We aren't hurting for money and won't be for a few months, since I got a really good severance package, but I might have to send John to work at McDonald's or something so that we can get medical insurance eventually.”

“I agree, that sounds great. Rat races suck... rat's butts.”

“I hope you guys can make something good from this. State and National Parks are treasures, IMO, and don't always receive enough care.

Where abouts is Memphis SP? I don't recall it.”

“Look... I know how to use Google. :-)

Memphis State Recreation Area”

“T Mac,

Memphis State Park is about seven miles north of Ashland, Nebraska, on Hwy. 63. It is kind of off the beaten path, but we get overflow from Mahoney State Recreation Area, which is one of the major tourist attractions off of I-80 between Omaha and Lincoln. Are you located in the "real" Midwest (Nebraska, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa, etc.)?”

“I was an Omahan for a while, ending about four years ago. Now I'm an Illini again. I will be backin Omaha and Lincoln in September for the Huskers vs my Western Illinois Leathernecks football game -a single purple hat in a sea of red :) - and maybe I can get to Memphis.

I never cared for Mahoney. I spent my free time in Platte River or Schramm (sp?) SPs and just made a return visit and the end of May. There are so many good ones along the bluffs of the Misery, er, Missouri River.

lizs: I'm too lazy to google today. :)”

“T Mac, I don't like Mahoney much either, it is too much like Disneyland on the Prairie for my tastes, and the crowds of people that flock there are distasteful to say the least. Memphis, on the other hand, is very primitive, with no electric sites or showers. The state spent a million bucks in 2001 improving the lake but they ran out of money when it came to other modernizations. So if you like tent camping in a quiet atmosphere, this is the place for you! We have lots of beautiful grassy areas & mature shade trees, it's perfect for wanna-be backpackers. Our family spent many weekends car camping there before we had any interest in the concession business.”

“I only made one pass through Mahoney. The crowds drove me crazy. I don't think I even got out of the car.

For the Memphis improvements, sounds like the State ran out of money at just the right time. I wandered in and out of a lot of SPs in the area, but can't say for sure if I was in Memphis. I remember one that had old rail cars converted for overnight visits, but that name has slipped my mind.”

“T Mac, the park with the cabooses is Two Rivers, I have actually stayed in one of those for a weekend. That is a nice park too, they have a lake that is stocked with trout of all things. It's funny how Nebraska allocates funds for the parks, our area is better-maintained than Two Rivers even though that park is much more heavily used than ours. For example, Two Rivers has at least one campground that is closed due to "reduced services" but we have full-time guys at our little park that mow the campgrounds & care for all of the trees and bushes. They have even planted pretty native flowers in front of our store! I sometimes wonder if the Game & Parks Commission is trying to influence the public somehow, to encourage voting for higher budgets.”

“Good luck with your venture.”

“Sounds like a LOT of hard work that can be VERY rewarding and satisfying for you guys. I really hope you make it. Just reading your posts, it sounds like yall have the attitude and the guts to do it (and thats a HUGE part of what it takes).”

“Yes, bad, bad lizs :) I was glad to receive your e-mail and hope to get another one from you in the next year or two, lol.

Omahiker, good luck. It was brave of you and your husband to make this leap. I'm sure you are both working very hard, but no more going to an office; that's sounds great.”

“I spent the weekend in Nebraska to see old friends and also watch my Western Illinois Leathernecks make good money getting beat by the Nebraska Huskers. Sunday afternoon I drove through Memphis State Park and met Omahiker. She didn't know I was coming, and I imagine the last thing she expected on a random Sunday was a TrailTalker showing up. :-)

Memphis is a nice little park and the restaurant is in good hands with Omahiker and Omahubby. They're good folk, even if they did ask about the thrashing my Necks took. :)

Pictures:

Memphis 1


Memphis 2”

“Ruh roh... I did write her an e-mail saying the evil TMac might show up... least I THINK I did (unless the 'puter locked up or somethin' before it was sent)

Hey TMac... I went through YOUR town Friday around noon. OMG! Talk about traf(uking)ic jam!!!!! I was so disillusioned after that, I had to cut toward St. Louis, then county road it up to I-whatever to Springfield, then "But will it play in Peoria? town" and quad cities, etc.

So how long does it take you to get to Lincoln from there? My trip to S. Illinoiz was basically 12 hours coming and going.... but there were stops and traffic jams and accidents.”

“Hi lizs & T Mac,

Wow I was surprised when T showed up in Memphis on Sunday! I had been out there since Thursday & did not read lizs' email until today. We had a busy weekend & I was not able to spend a lot of time visiting but fortunately my husband & his friend are a couple of sports freaks who were happy to talk with an actual Western Illinois fan that had been at the Nebraska game the previous day. T Mac I love the pictures you took! I'm glad that you got the flag in the second picture, we recently got a new one and are very proud of it.”

“hehehe, omahiker, I gave him links to some photos so he had an idea who to look for... ;-P

And where are the photos of YOU GUYZ???! don't tell me you're pullin' a "newgirl??" LOLOLOL!

TMac I glanced at the rest of your shots, too. Ex-hubby and I spent the second night of our marriage/honeymoon/prelude to the life from hell (heheh) at the Hilton across from that phallic tower at Husker stadium.

Let me tell ya, that hotel was definitely not worth the moola!!!

>8-O”

“"an actual Western Illinois fan" - yea, we do exist. :-) I was actually surprised at the number of WIU fans at the game. There's a lot more of "us" come Division I-AA playoff time.

omahiker: I have a few more pictures I took that I can email to you if you want. I am a webshots cheapskate so I can only post a fraction of the pictures I take.

lizs: Holy cow. You went from Bloomington to Springfield to Peoria to the Quads? I hope I read that wrong, cuz that's a seriously messed up route. From here to Lincoln is less than an hour on I-55.”

“no no no... LOL!

I hit lots of Illinois interstates, but it wasn't quite that convoluted. Let's see... map is still in the Jeep.

On the way TO, I came down I-90 to Rockford, then straight south on, is it I-39? Lotsa cornfields. Then to Bloomington-Normal. I was ticked after getting stuck for so long in traffic there, so I took Highway 51 south. Then got sick of that when I had a semi on my ass and it looked like he had metal "cutter" type things on his hubcaps.

Backtracked over to Shelbyville and got back on I-57 at Effingham (??) (gotta love that name! lol) And then the route you'd expect....

coming back I was on I-24, then I-57 (think that is the right order).... Around Mt. Vernon I took the Interstate northwest toward St. Louis. Didn't want to go all the way to St. Louis to hit the interstate toward Springfield, so cut north on, umm, Highway 4??

then I hit that interstate through going north through Springfield. Had a little debate on whether to go toward Quincy and up through MO, but stayed on this one up to Peoria. From there to Galesburg and Quad Cities.

Hope that helps!!

LOL... and I didn't mean how far is it to Lincoln, ILLINOIZ!!! The other one! Where you went! :-)”

“Hehe, my bad. I was thinking Lincoln, IL b/c you might have went by it during your wanderings.

Lincoln, NEBRASKA is about 7 or 8 hours away, depending on how often I stop and how well traffic flows.”