Too Fast for Final Day

As is always the problem with trips like this - they go too fast. We started with breakfast at the McDonald's located in the "Adventuredome" theme park that is part of the hotel where the circus entertainment occurs. The whole upper level of this building is ringed with carnival type games such as basketball toss, knock down the bottles with baseballs, dart games, softball toss into baskets, etc. - you get the idea. The center of the building is where the circus acts perform. Examples of this are below:

Acts perform all day long. There is also a trapeeze area where high wire acts take place at various times during the day and night. Never a dull moment in this place.

After our morning of enjoying this part of the hotel, we came back to the room and got ready to go to the pool. The pool is actually across from the hotel parking lot and is in an unusual location. Most hotels have their pools tucked into a garden area or some opening within the hotel complex. This one is only accessable by taking several different elevators and walkways and exiting onto street level. Or, you can go out the hotel lobby, cross the street and go in that way. The following picture illustrates, somewhat, the location of the pool:

Those palm trees actually line the street on the other side of the wall. The glass circular building is the Adventuredome mentioned earlier. The tower building is one of two huge hotel towers and is the one we stayed in. We were on the 16th floor of that tower, and actually had a view of the pool and the Adventuredome from our room.

It got very windy in the afternoon so we went back to the room to shower and get ready for our last night in Vegas. We wandered down to the main casino at about 6 PM for our last night of slot play. Our luck has been with us for the whole trip. We had been hitting some medium size jackpots all along to keep us playing. Then it happened. Josie was playing a great penny machine that was keeping her entertained for at least an hour on the same, original $20 she put in. Bob went to a different area to play another, brand new penny machine in an area of all penny and nickel machines. Bob put in his ticket that had about $15 dollars on it. On the first spin, he won a $600 jackpot. He immediately cashed it out and went to tell Josie. She had simultaneousy hit a $250 jackpot on her machine. We have heard about people putting money into a machine and hitting a jackpot on the first spin, but it has never happened to us before. Imagine, winning that much money on a first spin - on a penny machine. It doesn't always happen that way though.

We will be leaving Vegas at about noon today. It was a terrific trip and we are thankful that it is all paid for now- and then some. Our next 5 days will be marathon work days but we are ready.
Until tomorrow...

Great Second Day in Vegas

The day started slowly for us yesterday. We slept in until 8 AM - late for us for any day. Of course, we didn't get to bed until real late so in terms of total hours, it was pretty close to normal. We headed down to get some breakfast at about 9 AM. It is like an obstacle course to get to the restaurants from our room. The obstacles are the slot machines. In short, we never made it to the breakfast table.


Anybody that has been to the Circus Circus knows that it is very family oriented and has all kinds of attractions and shops. We spent a lot of time familiarizing ourselves with everything the hotel has to offer. There are actually three casinos in the hotel and we tried all three of them. Our day was very successful as both of us were able to hit some decent jackpots that kept us playing. We decided to take a walk up the street in the afternoon. We had been down the strip on previous trips to Vegas, but we never have been "up" the strip. We started walking with the Stratosphere as our objective, but as you can see from the picture below, there was an "obstacle" on the way called the Sahara Hotel and Casino:

We both did well playing the slots at the Sahara and left with a stake for the rest of the day. We were getting close to dinner time and getting a little tired so we headed back to the Circus Circus. We stopped at a CVS Pharmacy on the way and picked up some miscellaneous stuff along with some food that we could eat in the room. After spending some time in the room, we headed down to the casino. We didn't fare as well last night as we did earlier in the day but we are still ahead and are in good shape for today.

Our plan is to get some breakfast - without stopping on the way - and spend some time relaxing at the pool and reading our books. Tonight will be the last night here so we want to make sure we can enjoy it.

Later...

Arriving in Vegas

We were able to leave work a little early, thanks to Chi Chi and Jaymie "pushing" us out at about noon. By the time we got everything together, it was 1:30 when we finally hit the road. The car was so filthy we decided to stop in Flagstaff and get it washed and also make a stop at the bank to "fund" our Vegas trip. We again were on our way by 3 PM.

The drive on the way to Vegas takes us over the Hoover Dam and gives us a chance to see the progress on the new highway that is being built over the Colorado River at the dam. It is an amazing project and is becoming almost as fascinating as the dam itself. Below is a picture of the current status:

Anybody that knows me, knows that I have a deathly fear of heights. I cannot imagine being a member of the crew that has to stand and work on that center section. Josie said they are obviously strapped to something for safety. The strap hasn't been made that would entice me to stand there, even to take a picture, let alone work there.

Another surprise for us was to see how low the lake level had fallen in Lake Mead. This picture shows the dramatic drop in the water level:

It will take several years of record snow melt and runoff from the Rockies to get the level back to normal - especially with the release of so much water from the dam into the river.

We finally made it to the hotel at about 6:30 PM. After checking in and getting settled we decided to try the buffet in the hotel and then cruise the casino. The buffet was excellent, but expensive ($30). The days of the $5 buffet's in Vegas are over. Time to hit the slots!

We budget so much money for each night so that we don't run out of all our cash the first night. I ran out of my allotment within an hour. Josie found a couple hot machines and walked away from the night $150 ahead. Great start!

We finally got to bed at 11:30. So far, so good...

Family Visit and One Work Day to Go

It turned out to be a very nice visit yesterday with Amy and the kids and a little bit of time with Brian. They came into the store shortly after 7:30 AM. It was nice to see Pastor Minor again and he was looking great, after about a three year bout with cancer. He and Brian, and a couple other friends, left to go on their hike on a portion of the Arizona Trail that cuts through Happy Jack. The portion they hiked was between the Blue Ridge Reservoir and Allan Lake. They actually began a little north of the Blue Ridge Reservoir. Josie and Bob had to work in the morning so Amy had breakfast at the lodge and then just hung out with the kids and (hopefully) enjoyed the resort. The kids rode their bikes and played in the playground. Josie got off at about 12:30 so she was able to spend some time with them. Brian arrived back from his hike at 3 PM and they left shortly thereafter to go to one of the hiker's cabins that is not too far from here. It was great seeing them and we shot the following picture before they left.

Hopefully, we can see them again before we head to places unknown, farther from Arizona.

Today will be a relatively short day. We switched with Chi Chi and Jaymie so we could leave early for Vegas. The target is a 1 PM off work time and a departure for Vegas as close to 2 PM as we can get. The four hour drive would get us there around 6 PM.

Bring it on...

Plans Finalized for Vegas

The final arrangements were made yesterday for our planned trip to Vegas on Sunday. We will stay at the Circus Circus Hotel & Casino on Sunday and Monday on a complimentary stay, and on Tuesday night for $29.95. That means that we will get off work about 1 PM on Sunday in order to get an earlier start. It should be fun. We need to enjoy it because it is a marathon work schedule when we return while Chi Chi and Jaymie take their 4 day trip to Vegas.


Josie again worked a split day yesterday although she got home at a decent time, 8 PM. We had a bout with wasps in the afternoon and Bob had to go locate wasp spray to get rid of them before they built a nest. Since our store only carries insect spray, he had to go to the store at Clint's Well to get it. The job is done.


We are expecting a visit today from our niece, Amy and her two children Jason and Jessica. It turns out that Brian, our nephew, has scheduled an 8 mile hike in the Happy Jack area. He will be hiking with the Pastor (George Minor) from our old church in California whom he has hiked with for many years. Amy and the kids will just hang out at the trailer and enjoy the resort until the hikers return. We hope to be able to spend some time with them today between work schedules. They are all meeting for breakfast at the Long Valley Cafe at Clint's Well at 7:30 this morning. It will be great to see them again.

That's it for now.

Day Filled with Chores & Frustration

Just as we planned, the day yesterday was filled with chores that we have been putting off because of our schedule. After a breakfast of pancakes and sausage, we started with cleaning the inside of the fifth wheel and taking out the screens to wash. That was followed by putting air into the jeep tires to eliminate the "low tire pressure" light that we have been driving with for awhile. We took out the compressor and filled all the tires, including the spare. No more light. Josie had to do laundry, so it was off to the laundry room for her. There were several other small items that were taken care of and it was time to relax.

One of the stops we made in Flagstaff on Wednesday was at the Alltel store. We have been having a problem receiving our messages in a timely manner. Sometimes, it would be almost a week before a message would show up on the phone. The gentleman in the store spent quite some time on the phone with a person from another location and he claimed that the problem was fixed. Well, yesterday we noticed that we had a couple messages. Now, we cannot even get to our messages. Every time we enter the security code, it takes us to the "personal options" menu and wants us to set up our voicemail. Bob tried several times to get help from the Alltel people. Each time, he reached a person who could barely speak English, and had to end the call. He even tried to call the Alltel store in Flagstaff and ended up with the same foreign customer service help. What is happening with this country? No matter what product you try to get help with, you end up talking with somebody from Asia or the Philippines, or Japan, and you can't even understand them. The definition of "customer service" is changing. With all the Americans out of work, we have to talk with foreigners to get help. Sheesh!

Today is a relatively normal one for Bob (8 to 3), but Josie may have a long day as she splits time between housekeeping and the store and then later helping out in the restaurant for dinner. This will be the last "scheduled" weekend for the restaurant so her time spent there will diminish. We also hope to wrap up the arrangements for our trip to Vegas. We will have to determine if we stay a third night at Circus Circus or stay in Laughlin on the way to Vegas.

That's it for now...

Brrr! First Freezing Temperature

This morning we recorded the first temperature below freezing since we arrived. It was 30 degrees at 5:30 AM. The high yesterday was only 65 so the weather is definitely changing. We hope it doesn't get too cold before we leave for our next job. At least the wind has stopped.

Our trip to Flagstaff was a bit longer than we planned. Josie decided she needed to get some things at Kohl's while we were there. She can never just go into a clothing store, buy what she needs, and come out. Plan on at least an hour every time. We finally got home at almost 6 PM, unloaded the supplies for the store and settled in for the evening. One thing that was a surprise to us was the water level at Mormon Lake. There are only a couple puddles left in the entire lake bed. The whole lake has drained now. It will be interesting to see if the water returns by next spring.

We will be going to Vegas on our extended three days off beginning Sunday afternoon. The only question now is if all three nights will be at Circus Circus. The free stays that Chi Chi gave us are for two nights and three days. If we can't get a free stay - or a very low price for Sunday night - we will stop at Laughlin on Sunday night and go to Vegas on Monday morning. We know we can get a room in Laughlin for $29. That will be settled today. Vegas is about one hour north of Laughlin so it's almost on the way. We're looking forward to it.

Today will be a catchup day on laundry and cleaning around the rig. There are some things that we have been putting off because we haven't had the time to do as a result of our schedule. That, and we haven't felt like doing much work on our little bit of time off during the week. I also spoke too soon about still being on our first propane tank as we ran out of propane on the first tank last night while cooking. That tank will be refilled today - free, as one of our benefits here.

Til tomorrow...

Windy Night

It was a little rough sleeping last night as the wind began to blow, big time, at about 1 AM. We recorded a high wind gust of 29 MPH at 2:30 AM but it was blowing steadily all night long. When it blows that hard it shakes the trailer and makes it tough to sleep. Just when we were hoping to get a good night's rest to begin our two days off.

Our plan is to go into Flagstaff today to pick up some supplies for the store and for ourselves. Jamie faxes a list of goods required at the lodge and Mercy, the GM's wife, does the shopping so all we need to do is pick them up. We also have some personal errands to do like Josie's nails, and a visit to the grocery store to get our usual stuff like milk, eggs, etc.

We're beginning to get a picture of our extended three days off beginning on Monday. Chi Chi had indicated that they have free stays at Circus Circus in Las Vegas that we can use. They are going to let us get off early on Sunday to go, and then we have until Wednesday afternoon to return. That will be a nice trip for us before we begin covering for them on their trip to Vegas for five days beginning on Thursday of next week. They are staying at the Sahara in Vegas for their bike event. That is where the headquarters will be located for all scheduled events. It looks like one big party for five days with events taking place all over Vegas.

It appears that the winds are dying down a bit so we are getting ready to leave for Flagstaff. We should get back at a decent hour this afternoon and relax for the rest of the day. More tomorrow...

Elk Finally Bugling

There has been a lot of discussion at the lodge by the elk archery hunters about how the season this year has been one of the toughest. There are two factors mentioned. The first is that the archery season started one week earlier this year, and the second is that the weather has been warmer than usual. That means that the rut (mating season) was delayed and therefore the elk haven't been bugling as they normally do at this time during the hunting season. There are a couple days left in the season and it is estimated that about half the animals have been taken this year versus last year. We have been hearing the elk bugle, finally, for the last two evenings. They sound like they are right next to the lodge property. It is also beginning to cool down. This should help the hunters have a good ending to the season.

We are getting close to the time that our managers, Chi Chi and Jamie, take their 5 day trip to Las Vegas for their motorcycle rally. The dates are Oct 1-4. That means we have to cover the lodge alone for the time they are gone. They have suggested that we will probably have three days off in a row beginning on Sept 28 so we are trying to decide what we should do for those three days before we do the marathon work schedule. It will be somewhere we can relax, that's for sure.

The days are beginning to get cool as was mentioned earlier. Yesterday was a perfect day with a high of 77 and a low of 41. We have been turning on the heater for one cycle in the morning but it sure is good sleeping weather. We are still running on our first tank of propane since we arrived so that is a sign that it hasn't been too cold. It appears that the monsoon is probably gone for the season. It was a very mild and dry monsoon in this area. Our total rainfall this summer has only been 2.2".

Later...

Dump Down and Another Bike Run

Just as Bob arrived at the store to begin his shift at noon, Chi Chi came in with the lock and key to the dump station. He said that the dump was clogged and we would have to use the vacant pull thru sites for dumping business. This has happened twice before since we arrived here and it does create a little problem for us. Many of the people that come in to empty their tanks will drop off a person outside to come in and pay while the driver proceeds directly to the dump station. So, the person that comes in to pay has to quickly go out and try to catch the driver before he gets into the dumping lane. Also, we lose some water business because the people can fill their tanks while dumping at the RV sites. There is no way for us to meter the water at those sites so we can't charge the people. Oh, well.

There also was another bike (motorcycle) run for charity that was being conducted by a club out of Pine, AZ. Our lodge was the third stop out of five in the area where bikers would stop and pick up a different colored bead. Our bead color was pink, and the idea was for all the bikers to collect a bead at each of the five stops before returning to the bar in Pine for the festivities. We actually only had about ten bikers stop at our location so it really didn't impact us very much.

Yesterday was the final day in our pay period and we turned in our time cards for the week. Josie had worked nearly 50 hours last week and Bob worked 43. Before the staff was reduced to just the four of us, we were averaging 32-33 hours per week. The lodge is still saving a lot of money even though we get overtime. The salaries they are saving by eliminating the other staff members more than makes up for our overtime. The management's concern now is that we don't burn out with all our hours. We don't mind the hours as much as we miss doing some of the fun things that we did before. We look forward to the rest now when we have our days off plus, we need to do necessary chores, such as laundry, that takes up some of our time off. The money is good though...

Successful Charity Event

The Poker Run for Charity event was very successful yesterday. It actually began earlier than scheduled as several bikers showed up around noon for the 2 PM event. We were prepared for the early arrivals though as the food bar was already set up in Jack's Place in the back. The only problem all day was that there was another bike rally that the Cliff Castle Casino in Camp Verde, AZ, had scheduled today that was to conclude at the Long Valley Cafe in Clints Well down the road. Bikers would show up at our lodge thinking we were the end point for their run. Especially since they saw so many bikes in our parking lot. It looked like a national rally for awhile with motorcycles everywhere and bikes roaring up and down the road in front of the lodge. Following is a picture of part of the crowd that showed up by 3 PM:

The event was open to everybody and there were lots of other people, besides bikers, that came and participated. There were even hunters that were here for the archery elk hunt and came in for the afternoon festivities. There were a couple gentlemen that came all the way from Pennsylvania to hunt elk. A picture was taken of them but it didn't turn out very well. They were from the same city that Bob's mother was born in - Troy, PA. Small world. We hope to get a report today on the proceeds that will be turned over to the woman that was the subject of the benefit.

It was a very long work day for us. We both worked about 10 hours for the day. Josie is again into work at 7 AM today and will work all morning helping with breakfast and then take a break until later this afternoon. Bob is scheduled for 12 to 6 today and probably will only work his scheduled hours. We are sleeping very well!

Until tomorrow...

Poker Run for Charity

Yesterday was pretty much an uneventful day. It was another long one for Josie and we didn't have much time for anything else. She is accumulating a bit of cash in tips while she is working as a waitress in the restaurant and, although it isn't burning a hole in her pocket yet, I can see her beginning to wonder what special event to splurge on.

Today will be an all day work day for both of us. There is a charity bike (motorcycle) run for a woman who was seriously injured in an accident on the day in July that we helped host the bike rally at the lodge. On that day (July 24) she and her boyfriend were riding their cycles behind a car on Rt 87 not too far from here when the car that they were following hit an elk. The elk flew over the car and hit the both of them on their bikes. Her boyfriend died, and she received serious facial damage and is requiring many surgeries to repair. Today's benefit actually begins in several cities and winds up at our lodge at around 2 PM where everyone will get together for a barbecue and special poker games in which all proceeds go to her medical account. The event is expected to last well into the evening. The biker community is very special when it comes to these kind of charitable events and they really do take care of each other.

No word yet on our next Workamping gig as the Manager here keeps trying to get us to stay longer. We received an email yesterday from one of the places we applied, thanking us for our interest but they received 150 applicants for one position. That's how difficult it is to find good winter gigs. Again, the number of parks that stay open for the winter is a fraction of the number of parks that are open during the summer months. Also, we don't want to accept just any job because we still want to feel good about where we stay. It will all work out...

Payson and Water Wheel Fire

After breakfast yesterday, we finally got going at 11:30 to go to Payson. We stopped at the store to see if anybody needed anything from Payson while we were there. Of course, the maintenance guys needed some roofing nails from Home Depot, so that added another stop for us.

After spending about 45 minutes at Home Depot, it was decided that the best match for the nails the maintenance guys needed was no match, so we left there without the nails. After stopping at WalMart to pick up Josie's prescription, we stopped at Dairy Queen to get a Blizzard, Chocolate Sundae and talk about a short detour on the way home. There were several campgrounds just north of the city, one of which was named Water Wheel Campground. It was located on Houston Mesa Rd that leads to several mountain housing areas and Forest Service Roads that eventually come back out onto US 87, the main road back to Happy Jack. This is the campground that was the source of the big fire just a couple weeks ago that caused a lot of concern among people traveling to Happy Jack from the Valley.

The road leading to the campground was excellent, with gorgeous views of the Rim. Below is one shot leading into this area and you can see the burned out area in the upper center of the photo:

The campground itself was about 5 miles in on this road and as we approached the burn area, we could see mass areas of fire damage that went all the way to the top edge of the Mogollon Rim. Here are two more shots of the fire damaged areas:

After leaving the burn area, we stayed on this road until it ended at a very good dirt road that was the connector to US 87, almost at Pine which was actually 12 miles north of Payson. We passed several areas that had homes tucked into the forest. Most of these homes seemed like homes from a movie like Tobacco Road and were not very nice at all. There were a few that were decent, but not many. Anyway, it turned out to be a nice little side trip for us and we returned back home at 5 PM and relaxed the rest of the night.

Today begins our new week. It will be a long day for Josie who needs to help out at the restaurant tonight. Bob gets off at 3 PM so Josie will work the AM until about noon, then rest until 4 PM when she goes back to work until about 9 PM.

That's about it for now...

Flagstaff Trip

The day went just according to plan yesterday. We had a leisurely breakfast and left for Flagstaff at about 10:30.

It is interesting that every time we pass the Mormon Lake on the way to Flagstaff, it is getting more and more dry. If it loses any more water it will be completely dry. We did have some rain yesterday but that lake needs a lot more than a brief storm. It will be even more interesting to see the lake level when we return next summer - assuming that we do. Flagstaff is becoming very familiar to us now that we go there often. We don't even have to set the GPS any more to get around. Our errands yesterday included stopping at the Alltel office to put time on our prepaid phone (there is a discount if you do it at the store vs on-line), a haircut for Bob (one of the worst ever), and visits to Sam's Club and Safeway. We were done and on the way home by 3 PM and relaxed the rest of the day.

Today will require a short trip to Payson to pick up a prescription for Josie and then we plan to spend a lot of time calling prospective Workamping opportunities and emailing our resume. It sure is a lot easier locating summer gigs than it is one for winter. It would really be nice if we could locate a good one that we could return to for a couple years so we don't have to search for a new one each year. After a couple years we expect to have the pressure off for having to find work. We are looking forward to that time...

Laid Back Day

It was a long day yesterday. We are getting a little anxious to see the long days end and begin a new chapter in our adventure. The fact that four of the staff members have already departed places more pressure on us to cover the work that was done by them. Of course, the lodge isn't quite as busy as it was before but we still have to cover the shifts.

The hunters came in at the expected mid-day break in their hunt to shower and do laundry. For the most part, they are a nice bunch of people. There haven't been a large number of elk taken yet because the weather has been a little warm and the bulls aren't bugling yet. It has started to cool down now and the activity is expected to pick up. The meat processor from across the street related a story to us in the store yesterday morning about a guy that came into his site at 2 AM blowing his horn to wake him up to process a huge bull (5 x 7) he had taken right at darkness. It took the hunter that long to get the animal in his truck and to the processor.

Our day today will include a large breakfast and a trip to Flagstaff to run errands. Bob needs a haircut and Josie has to have her nails done. We also need some "stuff" from Sam's Club. It will be nice to relax a little too...

Developing a Dilemma

Yesterday was a long day that revealed a couple new situations for us. The day started slowly but picked up rapidly beginning at about 11 AM as the hunters began coming in after their morning hunts. We had a barrage of sales for shower tokens and hunters asking for quarters so they could do laundry. The problem created was that we ran out of hot water and the hunters started complaining about cold water in the showers. With all the showers and laundry, we had no way to keep the hot water flowing. We managed to get through it with only a couple tokens reimbursed. Most of the hunters understood the problem and just rescheduled their showers for later in the day.

We are developing a dilemma with our Workamping choices. The people here at the lodge have again stated that we can stay as long as we want and as long as there is work for us. That could be well into November, or later. Our dilemma is that we really can't commit to a new job because we can't give a definite start date. Also, two of the jobs we are discussing with owners involve a one year commitment, which would mean we could not return here next year. Worse, if we stay here until the November time frame, the chances of our landing work for the rest of the winter, December through April, diminish greatly. We cannot afford to go from November to April with no additional income. Decisions, Decisions.

Today is our last "long" day before our two days off. Both of us had overtime last week with Josie having almost 50 hours of work. Whatever happens with our decision, we will be making good money for the rest of the time we are here.

Later...

More Seasonals Depart

The end of the weekend saw more of the seasonal people leave to take their rigs back to the Valley. Several people that we have come to know came in to the store to give farewells for the winter and give up their spaces that they have held since early May. When you stop to think about it, these people have a summer home in the mountains, away from the extreme heat in the Phoenix area, for $550 per month - plus whatever they spend on their rigs, if anything. It's not easy to find a cheaper summer escape than this. Some of the people still have to work, so they store their rigs in our storage area for $60 per month and come up on weekends to take it out of storage and place it on a site for the weekends. At $32 per day, it is still a bargain if you can only come up on weekends.

We appreciated the comments that the departing people made regarding the difference in the resort this summer. Evidently, the resort was not as clean as this year, plus the staff was a much more friendly group than last year. If all works out well, we will be returning again next year.

Today and tomorrow are our full days, 8 to 6. The days will drag as the weekday business has fallen off dramatically. We have been given the decision to close a little early at the end of the day if business is too slow. Josie will again assist in the housekeeping area as all of our cabins need to be turned around again for the coming weekend. Our hours will each reflect overtime this pay period and we will probably have overtime from here on out. It is still cheaper for the management to pay our overtime since we are now four staff members short of the summer staff. It makes us look more forward to our days off on Wednesday and Thursday.

Later...

Compliments From the Group

It was nice to hear some compliments from the church group yesterday. Several people came into the store and commented about how much cleaner everything was this year vs last year - especially the cabins (nice work Josie and Jamie). It was a very busy day in the store as we had lots of people from the group and also many hunters who came in after the morning hunt.

We still haven't heard about a lot of elk taken this year unless the hunters are mostly going to the meat processing center at Clint's Well down the road instead of the one across the street. The weather seems to be cooperating though - we had a high of 78 yesterday and a low of 43. There was a brief storm in the afternoon (.03") but that was good news.

The hours that we are working have certainly increased since four of the staff members have departed. We are getting the same work done with just the four of us. Even with overtime for us, it doesn't amount to what was spent with the full staff. Josie especially is working longer hours with added responsibilities in housekeeping and the restaurant. Yesterday we were asked to stay on through October if we don't find something to go to for the early winter. It makes sense since the hunters will be coming here for the various seasons right through November and into December. That could throw a wrench into our plans to go to Chicago in October but we hope not.

Josie goes in at 7 AM this morning to help with the restaurant but Bob doesn't go in until noon. She will get about a three hour break after the breakfast and then return to work at probably 4 PM to help Bob with the rest of the afternoon shift and to close out. The group goes home today so we look forward to a slower pace again for the rest of the week...

A Quiet Church Group

Most of the expected church group came in yesterday, and so far, they are a very quiet group. They are members of the Church of the Immaculate Conception in Cottonwood, AZ. As was mentioned before, the owner of the resort and the General Manager are both members of this church so the members get 50% off their lodging, RV sites and tent sites. You would think that with this kind of discount they would be appreciative, but some of the check-ins were looking for even more favors - such as staying an extra night for free. Some of the people haven't been camping in a long time. One couple had no idea why they were not getting electricity at their site. Bob drove up to the site and turned on the circuit breaker. Sheesh!

All in all, the group has been quiet and they gather in small groups at different sites and don't make a lot of noise. It is also quiet during the day with a lot of hunters staying here. They leave long before sun-up and don't return until dark. Of course, some of them take lunch breaks at mid day and the store is filled with people dressed in camouflage. Only a few elk have been taken so far. At least, that's what the report is from the meat processors that are set up across the street. That amazes us since we have seen so many elk in the forest.

It was a long work day for us - especially Josie. She went in with Bob at 7:30 and worked until about noon when she clocked out (Bob worked until 3 PM). She then went back at 4 PM to work as a waitress in the restaurant until after 9 PM. The restaurant is now set up in Jack's Place in the back of the lodge and we have a new cook for the few nights it will be open until the season ends after next week. The new cook is Jamie (one of our managers) and she did a great job with the meal.

That's about it for now...

A Lucky Change in Plans

We looked up the store locations for Costco on the Internet and discovered that there was not a Costco located in Cottonwood. The store that we remembered on the main drag was a Super WalMart and not Costco. The nearest Costco is in Prescott - too far to go for what we need. So, we changed our plans, and decided to get everything at the WalMart in Payson and the Safeway in Payson. Of course, there is also the Mazatzal Casino there.

After a late start at about 11:30, we went to the WalMart and got most of the things we needed, then went to to the casino to have their buffet lunch. It was good as usual and only cost $16. What a deal. Since we were there anyway (hah), we decided to play the slots for a while with a small stake for each of us. Bob hit two jackpots totalling $300, so we left with our gambling paid, the food paid for and the gas paid that we put in the truck. We're having a pretty good run at the casinos right now. It must be that the stars are lined up right or something. It can also go the other way. After going to Safeway and getting our final list of groceries, we headed home and watched a little TV before bedtime.

Today is the start of our 5 day work week and we have a church group coming in for the weekend. The owner of the resort is a member of this congregation and the people are all getting a 50% discount on their lodging. From the conversations we've had with several of these people on the phone leading up to this weekend it sounds like we are going to be spending a lot of our time catering to mundane requests from them. We'll see.

Our day starts at about 7:30 today and winds up at 3 PM. This should be the final heavy weekend of the season. Later...

Relaxing and Rainy Day

We both slept in yesterday and spent the whole day around the fifth wheel. Josie did some laundry in the afternoon, but other than that, we just watched it rain. The rain wasn't heavy (.04") but was like a drizzle most of the afternoon. Our temperature range was 73 and 49 for the day. It would have definitely been warmer if we had more sun in the afternoon, but we enjoyed the day anyway.

We watched as a company set up a refrigerated trailer and a camper across the street in front of our storage area. This will be the meat processing area for the hunters beginning tomorrow. The forest is loaded with archery hunters and we would expect to see a lot of activity at that trailer.

Today is another "sleep-in" day but we do have activities planned. We need to go into Payson to pick up a prescription for Josie and then we thought we would go to Cottonwood to the Costco there. We haven't been to a Costco since about early June. There is a Sam's Club in Flagstaff though that we have been to many times, and they aren't that different actually. Oh, and the Cliff Castle Casino is near Cottonwood. Gee, I guess we have to stop there to see if any changes have been made.

We will be taking the truck on our trip today. We've only put about 400 miles on it since we arrived and have put zero fuel in it since May. The truck is supposed to last a lifetime, and it definitely will at this rate. It has 11,000 total miles on it and we have owned it for almost 2 years (October). Of course, much of the time we have owned it the Diesel prices were hovering around $4 per gallon and getting only about 12 miles per gallon doesn't encourage local use. The prices are way down now, but the Jeep is a better option for our local travel.

The day has started bright and sunny, so we hope our second day off is a nice one...

Whew! Two Long Days End

Two days straight of nearly 10 hours on the job was something we haven't done in a while. We welcomed the start of our two day weekend at about 6PM last night. We had a record number of dumps for the two days, Monday and Tuesday, and finished with a total of 103. It just amazes us that so many people stay in the forest in their rigs.

There a lot of hunters that have moved into the forest to do some scouting before the opening of elk archery season on the 11th of September. Many have come into the resort to ask us for recommendations on places to look for elk. As a result, we have sold many maps of the Coconino Forest which is the map we use all the time to locate the trails.

Today will be a laid back day with a possible trip to Payson so Josie can pick up a prescription she had phoned in to Wal Mart. The day of rest will be welcomed. It is difficult to post entries when the days are filled with work. Now that everybody is gone, our schedules will be this way for the rest of our stay here. These two days will give us an opportunity to contact several more locations for winter work. We'll report those as they occur. That's about it for now...

Longest Day

The longest day that we have had to work here was yesterday. We started at just before 7 AM and, except for a half hour break, didn't leave until 6:15 PM last night. We will have another long day, 8 to 6 today as our managers have Monday and Tuesday off and we need to cover the day without them.

The day went pretty smooth though. Except for a couple long backups at the dump station the crowd was spaced evenly throughout the day. We did 71 dumps yesterday, so there were a lot of people coming out of the forest to go home, or store their rigs. We had a lot of people paying to extend their storage spaces another month, and we took the usual reservations for future dates. We've spent so much time working this weekend that we haven't had time to plan our days off for this Wednesday and Thursday. We'll include some rest though along with a couple errands.

Our search for winter work will heat up now that we are getting closer to the time we will leave here. One option that we haven't really seriously considered yet is to pick a place we would really like to spend the winter and go there, set up our rig, and then look for work. That's not at the top of our list though. Maybe in a couple years when Josie is on Social Security and Medicare we can consider something like that more seriously. There are still some options that have not been totally rejected yet, so stay tuned...

One Last Push for the Weekend

Fortunately, it didn't rain yesterday. So far we have non of the muddy mess we had on Memorial Day weekend. The day was super busy and probably will be the same for most of today. This is the first day we have run the resort with just the four of us - the two managers and Josie and I. We expect a lot of dumps and will probably will have to use one or more vacant pull thru RV site to help off set the dump station line. We expect to have to work most of the day and will be super tired by days end. This is the fourth day in a row that we've had to start at 7 AM, and we will be happy to see this day end.

We had hoped to be able to get together with Bob's brother George and his wife Cheryl, and close family friends Cot and Lois, but our schedule doesn't appear to have enough free time. They are all at Cot and Lois' cabin in Munds Park this weekend which is only about an hour or so away. We will somehow figure a way to get together before we leave Happy Jack.

We squeezed in another phone interview yesterday with a campground in San Marcos Texas. We can probably eliminate that one since they require a one year commitment and the money isn't quite there. We hear that San Marcos is one of the nicer areas of Texas - in the hill country - and is close to San Antonio and Austin. The area would probably work for us but not for one year. We have tentatively committed to return here next summer anyway. We'll keep shopping.

Later...

Dreary, Rainy Day

Yesterday was the first day that we had overcast skies and rain for most of the day. Usually, we get a storm sometime during the afternoon on days we get rain, but yesterday was a steady, but slow rain. Our total rainfall for the day was only .24" but it seemed like more. The temperature range was 69 high and 50 low - a typical fall day.

The arrivals of the Labor Day crowd went smoothly and we're once again filled to capacity in the campground. There are still a few cabins available which surprised us for the holiday weekend. The store was busy non-stop most of the day. The concern now is that it may turn out be a repeat of the Memorial Day weekend where we also had rain and it created a situation of mud everywhere. We had to spend a lot of time heading off people with muddy boots and shoes that were using our restrooms and showers. The problem compounds itself with the hunting season being open now. There are several hunters that, even though they are staying in the woods, come into our place to shower and do laundry. Uhg!

Today is the last work day for Grayce, our co-worker in the store. She does not have a commitment for a winter Workamping job so she will use the time between now and her next job to go back to her native Wisconsin to have some surgery performed that she has been delaying. The folks here at the lodge have told her she could leave her rig here until that is over which would be about two weeks. That is a nice gesture.

We normally work the late shift on Sundays but today we were asked to switch with Chi Chi and Jamie because the bar and lounge (Jack's Place) will be open tonight for the holiday weekend and they wanted to work the afternoon shift to cover that tonight. So, today we are on from 7 to 1. Starting tomorrow, we will have to work the entire day on Mondays and Tuesdays since they are the days that Chi Chi and Jamie have off. We look forward to that challenge, so until tomorrow...

Beginning to Say Good Byes

This is the time of year when staffers begin to load up and head out to their next destinations. We had dinner at the Lodge last night and exchanged addresses and emails with the Chef and his wife who are leaving for Memphis on Tuesday to do a pumpkin patch in November and then manage a campground in central Tennessee. We also spoke with Rick, the entertainer in Jack's Place, and he and his wife Judy (the bartender in Jack's Place) are leaving for Monument Valley in Arizona next week and then on to California for some vacation time. Tomorrow is Grayce's last day also. She is our co-worker in the store and is a single woman in her early sixties. She is a very nice lady that has been Workamping for many years. Her background also includes driving a Greyhound bus around the country for about 12 years. It's hard to imagine this little lady driving a bus, but she does have grit. It's been a lot of fun working with her as she has been about everyplace in the country and can give information on about anyplace you might consider for Workamping.

So, after the Labor Day weekend it will be just Chi Chi and Jamie and us to run the resort. We think we will be here until at least the second week in October. Chi Chi and Jamie are going to a rally in Las Vegas the early part of October and we will be the only ones to run the resort. It will really get quiet after about the middle of September and the hours of the resort will change to probably 9 to 4 everyday. The General Manager and his wife are checking to see if any of their other properties can use us for the winter season since that would keep us close for a return here next summer. Our plans right now call for us to return next summer, unless there is an offer we can't refuse somewhere else. That is a possibility since some of the winter options we are looking at require a one year commitment.

Our plans will begin to firm up over the next couple weeks. We definitely plan to visit Patty (our oldest daughter) and our grand kids in the Chicago area sometime in October before our next job.
It is fun looking at different opportunities in different areas. There is so much to see and do that it makes these decisions difficult.

Today is an early day, 7 to 3, so we are getting ready to go. Until tomorrow...

End of Laughlin Trip

After having our last buffet breakfast at the Aquarius Hotel, we left at about 9 AM and made a stop at the Davis Camp, which is a campground at the northern edge of Bullhead City. This wasn't on our list on Wednesday because we knew we had to pass it on the way out of town. This place always looked inviting to us because it was right on the river and looked like a huge place. It is huge. The campground is at the base of Davis Dam. It is made up of several areas, including two large day use areas on the water and several areas for camp sites including full hookups, partial hookups and no hookups, which included tent sites. Below is a picture of one of the day use areas on the river:

This shot was taken looking north on the river. The following shot was taken looking south where you can see the bridge connecting Bullhead City to Laughlin. It also shows the casino strip behind the bridge:
Of course, Josie had to test the water. You can see how crystal clear the water is:

This is a state park campground so any Workamping positions are volunteer -that means no pay. The advantage to working in these places though is you get your site for free, so it does pay that much. The normal rates for staying are fairly reasonable although the maximum stay is two weeks for paying customers. This would be a great place to stay if you wanted to stay in Laughlin for two weeks or less.

We headed home and stopped in Flagstaff so Josie could get her nails done before the holiday weekend. It was about 3:30 by the time we pulled into our site at Happy Jack Resort. We stopped in the store to pick up the computer that arrived on Wednesday and talked a little bit with Chi Chi and Jamie about what we missed while we were gone. It seemed like it was business as usual.

Today it's back to work - 7 to 3 - and the check ins begin for the busy weekend. There are several changes that will take place at the Lodge after the Labor Day weekend and we will discuss those tomorrow...

A Nice Full Day

Our day started yesterday with the excellent buffet breakfast at our hotel. The rest of the morning we decided we were going to check out all the campgrounds that were in Bullhead City, and also check the Riverside Campground that is part of the Riverside Hotel and Resort in Laughlin. Counting the Riverside, we had a list of 10 campgrounds. It was about 9:30 when we started. Our first stop was the Riverside up the street. It is a very nice, tiered campground, where every space has a great view of the river and the casinos. We found out that all of the campground workers were part of the hotel staff and you had to be hired by the Human Resource staff in the main hotel. We did pick up applications there but will likely not submit one. Also, we thought the rates were a little steep for a casino campground.

We then went across the river into Bullhead City to see the rest. Some of these campgrounds - most, in fact - were pretty old and were full of old rigs and not very modern. In those cases, we just went in, turned around and came right back out. These campgrounds were almost all filled with permanent residents. There were a few really nice ones though. The picture below is a view from the spaces that are at the edge of a hill at the Silverview RV park:

All of the spaces along this hillside had great views of the casinos and the river. That is Bullhead City on the right across the river from the casinos. The rates were very reasonable - $375 per month - and included all utilities. They do have Workampers but had no openings at this time. We decided that this would be the likely place for us to pursue, if we decided to spend a winter here. After talking about places to spend a winter, this would be nice, but we felt that, except for the casinos and the river, there was not a whole lot to do or see within a short distance. We are trying to select places that offer a variety of new things to see and do. Plus - it gets pretty darn hot here.

We finished our campground tours at 2 PM and came back to the hotel to spend some time at the pool. The pictures below are taken from our room and, although they have some glare from the windows, you can see that it was a good deal for $29 a night:

We had a room on the fifth floor which was a little lower than we were used to at this hotel. We have always gotten a room though with this view. The first picture is of the very nice pool area and tennis courts. The second, of course, is of the river itself.

After a couple hours at the pool, it was time to "hit the slots". We decided to walk down the river-walk to the Colorado Belle, another of our favorites, to check out the changes since we were last there about a year ago. We didn't see anything that jumped out at us to say "play me", so we went next door to the Pioneer Hotel and Casino. Bob won a decent jackpot to keep both of us playing for a while longer. As we were both near zero for our budgeted gambling money, we started back to our hotel at about 9 PM. While walking through the Colorado Belle again on the way back, Josie put a $5 bill in a quarter machine and won a jackpot large enough to pay for the whole trip. Way to go Josie! Our room and gambling money were covered!

It was hard to go to sleep when we got back to the room at 10:30 because of the excitement of winning the jackpot. It doesn't always happen, but it sure is nice to have the trip paid for once in a while.

We had our last breakfast at the buffet and are now getting packed to return to Happy Jack. It's always sad to leave here after such a fun - and rewarding -time. Tomorrow is the start of the last big weekend crowd at the resort and we are prepared.

A side note- the computer was delivered to the Lodge yesterday - all fixed and ready to go...

Laughlin and Sleeping In

Our workday was uneventful and we were anxious to get a head start for Laughlin after we got off at 2 PM. Just about everything was set out on the bed before we left for work in the morning so all we had to do was pack it and get the cooler ready when we got off. We finally left at 3 PM and headed toward Flagstaff where we would pick up I-40 West to Laughlin. We received a call about halfway to Flagstaff from a prospective employer in Palm Springs. Because the signals are erratic in this area, we pulled off the road in order to keep the signal and spent about 20 minutes talking to this individual. We probably would not consider this job though as it sounds too much like a corporate environment which we will avoid at all costs.

Our plan was to stop in Flagstaff at the bank to get some cash (can't go to Laughlin without it) and go to the grocery store to get some "fattening goodies" to snack on and keep in the room. By the time we got all this done and back on the road, we didn't arrive in Laughlin until 7 PM. After checking in and freshening up, we hit the slots. It's important to budget your money when you're in a place like this and we always try to do this, regardless of the temptation. We did pretty well though and managed to leave the casino at 10 PM with about 1/3 of our budget gone. The first day though is always spent trying to find a good machine that will allow you to play for a long time. We stumbled on the only nickel machines in the casino as we were ready to take the elevator back to the room so we stayed and played a long while on those.

Today we will have our breakfast at the hotel buffet which we always look forward to at the Aquarius. Already, we slept in which was real nice. We got up at 7:30 - late for us. We brought reading material so we will spend some time poolside and then take a drive around Bullhead City at the campgrounds to check out Workamping opportunities. There are several, including a nice one on the top of the hill with drop-dead views of the Laughlin strip. It would be nice to get a job in this area for the winter but we don't hold out much chance since they are always in demand. We'll give it a shot though.

After our drive, we plan to check out the other casinos that we like to see if there are any changes to them as far as new slots. We also enjoy the walk down the river - the walking path connects all the casinos on the river and is very pretty. Besides, we can use the exercise.

Let's hope we can fight the temptation, or hit some jackpots so we can play some more tonight and tomorrow morning. Stay tuned...

Big Storm

The big event yesterday was the storm we got that lasted about an hour. It started with some thunder and lightening at 4:15 and came full force by 4:30 with lots of lightening and thunder. We didn't get a lot of wind but the total rainfall we received was just over 1" in an hour. That more than doubled the total rainfall we've received all summer here. It looked like a pond outside our rig and it looked like creeks flowing throughout the campground. We desperately needed the rain.

We received a lot of phone calls yesterday from people wanting to know about the latest fire in the area - The Water Wheel fire as the media calls it. It is just north of Payson and really is not a threat to us - it's about 35 miles east of us - but some of roads around Payson were closed for a time yesterday and the day before. That affects the visitors coming up from the West Valley and we get a lot of those.

Today is our last work day until Friday. We start at 8 and work until 2 and we are getting everything ready to go to Laughlin before we go to work. Josie had a few laundry items to do for the trip so she was up real early to get it done. We're looking forward to the trip. It should take us about 3 hrs to get to Laughlin from here. It always took us about 3 1/2 hours from the Valley and we may be about 1/2 hour closer. More tomorrow...