Sept, 2024
After the rain of Cincinnati, we started to head to West Viriginia. But, unfortunately we didn't get far.
After this break down, coporate offered for us to head to the office in Minnesota while the vehicle was being worked on/until it was running fine again and I decided to take them up on the offer. It was a very tough decision, as Ryan and Katie decided to stay behind with Marshell, but I was looking forward to a change of pace and a look into life at the corporate office - in case I wanted to continue with Hormel at the end of my Peanut year.
From beginning of October to November I worked for Planters out of Austin, MN! I wrote up the brand new Peanutter handbook to help the next class transition into the job, and also worked on some other side projects assigned to me by the team. I even got to do a Mr. Peanut gig - we brought him all the way to Chicago for the Miller High Life/Planters wedding!
Mr. Peanut had the honor of walking the bride down the aisle, which was pretty hilarious and also spectacular. The happy couple totally embraced the nuttiness of the event - they won the all-expenses-paid wedding in a contest. I had the pleasure of making friend with a past Hotdogger names Ashley who helped me with Mr. Peanut for the day and I definitely will be reconnecting with her when I come back to Chicago! She was so cool!
Unfortunately, during basically the entire time I was working in Minnesota, I was very sick. I came down with some sort of flu on week 2, ruptured my ear drum and then dealt with the after-effects of that until Thanksgiving when I finally got my ear flushed out by my old PCP in Michigan. Mind you, that was after 2 separate urgent cares, 1 trip to the ER, and 3 rounds of antibiotics. The vertigo I experienced from this was brutal, but thankfully it has almost completely subsided! Although, not before our family trip to Disney World... lets just say I have a charge on my credit card for 2 days of wheelchair rentals at Disney and Universal.
By the end of November I had finished the Peanutter handbook and Marshell had been running fine - so I packed up my things and and officially back on the road as of December 1st! More adventures to come!
I think the time apart was tough but it also gave me the space to grieve the loss of my grandmother - something I hadn't really taken the time to do. I was able to be alone, slow down a bit, and we were finally able to have a memorial service for her on November 29th. The grief is still there, but in many ways I feel that the time I got to take really helped me process everything more.
I am so excited to be back on the road with the NUTmobile. Next stop - NEW YORK CITY!
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